Method, network device, communication system, storage medium and program product

Abstract

The disclosed embodiments provide a method, a network device, a communication system, a computer readable storage medium, and a computer program product. In the method, a request for establishing a bearer for a communication service between a calling device and a called device is received, where the request includes media service information associated with the communication service, first information associated with the calling device, and second information associated with the called device; and sending a response to the request, the response comprising identification information of a media plane network element on a bearer path corresponding to the bearer, the bearer path and / or the media plane network element being determined based on the media service information, the first information and the second information. Therefore, according to the embodiment of the invention, the problems of long time delay, high overall packet loss rate, influence on audio and video experience and the like caused by an overlong path between the calling device and the called device can be solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to the field of communications, and more particularly to a method, a network device, a communication system, a computer-readable storage medium, and a computer program product. Background Art

[0002] With the continuous development of mobile technology, operators can provide users with more colorful communication services such as voice, data, and video. At the same time, a large number of communication services also bring about problems such as network congestion and traffic control difficulties. Since different services have different requirements for latency, bandwidth, etc., the introduction of QoS (Quality of Service) solutions can achieve differentiation of various services, make data pipelines controllable and manageable, provide guarantees for high-speed data services, and enhance users' network experience. An important advantage of operators' real-time audio and video services over OTT (Over-the-Top) is dedicated bearers, which are information transmission channels with defined capacity, latency, bit error rate, etc. For example, in some VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) applications, the PCC (Policy and Charging Control) architecture provides QoS guarantees for voice services by establishing dedicated bearers to isolate the traffic of VoLTE (Voice over LTE) services and the traffic of Internet services. Summary of the invention

[0003] The present disclosure provides a method, a network device, a communication system, a computer-readable storage medium and a computer program product, which are used to solve the problems of large delay, high overall packet loss rate, and impact on audio and video experience caused by a long path between a calling device and a called device.

[0004] In the first aspect, a method is provided, the execution subject of the method may be a first network device, the first network device is, for example, a network device, or a chip used in a network device. In the method, a request for establishing a bearer for a communication service between a calling device and a called device is received, wherein the request includes media service information associated with the communication service, first information associated with the calling device, and second information associated with the called device; and a response to the request is sent, wherein the response includes identification information of a media plane network element on a bearer path corresponding to the bearer, and the bearer path and / or media plane network element are determined based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information. In this way, the detour of the media path between the calling and called devices is avoided, thereby solving the problems of large delay, high overall packet loss rate, and impact on audio and video experience caused by the long media path between the calling and called devices.

[0005] In some implementations, at least one of the following: the media service information includes a media service type and a media parameter; the first information includes a calling device type and a calling device identifier; the second information includes a called device type and a called device identifier; or the media plane network element provides a media function instance. In this way, the request for establishing a bearer for a communication service between the calling device and the called device includes the media service type and the media parameter, the calling device type, the called device type and the called device identifier, thereby avoiding a circuitous media path between the calling device and the called device that results in an excessively long path.

[0006] In some implementations, the identification information includes an address of a media function instance, so that the second network device can apply for media resources according to the address.

[0007] In some implementations, the method further includes: determining a bearer path and / or a media plane network element based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information, so that an optimal media path for the calling device and the called device, and a media plane network element with a smaller delay via the optimal media path can be obtained.

[0008] In some implementations, the bearer path is selected from multiple bearer paths based on the performance of multiple bearer paths corresponding to the bearer. In this way, the selected bearer path is the bearer path with the best performance, thereby improving the problems of large delay, high overall packet loss rate, and poor audio and video experience caused by the long path between the calling device and the called device.

[0009] In some implementations, the bearer path and / or media plane network element are determined in the following manner: based on the first information and the second information, a candidate bearer path for bearer is determined; based on the candidate bearer path and the media service information, a bearer path and / or media plane network element is determined. Since the second information and the media service information are taken into consideration when determining the bearer path, the delay between the calling device and the called device is reduced, the packet loss rate is reduced, and the audio and video experience is improved.

[0010] In some implementations, determining the bearer path and / or media plane network element based on the candidate bearer path and the media service information includes at least one of the following: determining the media plane network element based on the positional relationship between the candidate media plane network element corresponding to the media service information and the user plane forwarding network element corresponding to the candidate bearer path; or determining the bearer path based on the position of the media plane network element and the candidate bearer path. The media plane network element selected in this way can improve the situation where the bearer path between the calling and called devices is circuitous, and reduce the delay and packet loss rate.

[0011] In some implementations, the positional relationship between the candidate media plane network element and the user plane forwarding network element includes: the candidate media plane network element is deployed on the user plane forwarding network element; or the candidate media plane network element is not deployed on the user plane forwarding network element. This allows the optimal candidate bearer path between the calling and called devices to detour to the candidate media plane network element, and the corresponding delay is small.

[0012] In some implementations, when the candidate media plane network element is not deployed on the user plane forwarding network element, and the number of candidate media plane network elements is multiple, the media plane network element is the candidate media plane network element that minimizes the delay increase of the bearer path relative to the candidate bearer path. In some implementations, the user plane forwarding network element is a user plane function. In this way, it is ensured that when the candidate media plane network element is not deployed on the user plane forwarding network element, the delay corresponding to the bearer path is small.

[0013] In some implementations, the media plane network elements include computing nodes in the computing network. In this way, the computing network can improve processing efficiency and ensure service quality and user experience.

[0014] In some implementations, the bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined by: sending the media service information, the first information, and the second information to a node in the computing power network, the node being different from the media plane network element; and receiving indication information for indicating the bearer path and / or the media plane network element from the node. The bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined by the computing power network, thereby improving processing efficiency.

[0015] In some implementations, the first network device is a policy control function, which can solve the problems of long delay, high overall packet loss rate, and poor audio and video experience caused by a long path between a calling device and a called device in an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network.

[0016] In the second aspect, a method is provided, the execution subject of the method may be a second network device, the second network device may be a second network equipment, or may be a chip applied to the second network equipment. In the method, a request for establishing a bearer for a communication service between a calling device and a called device is sent, the request includes media service information associated with the communication service, first information associated with the calling device, and second information associated with the called device; and a response to the request is received, wherein the response includes identification information of a media plane network element on a bearer path corresponding to the bearer, and the bearer path and / or media plane network element are determined based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information. In this way, the detour of the media path between the calling and called devices is avoided, thereby solving the problems of large delay, high overall packet loss rate, and impact on audio and video experience caused by the long path between the calling and called devices.

[0017] In some implementations, at least one of the following: the media service information includes a media service type and a media parameter; the first information includes a calling device type and a calling device identifier; the second information includes a called device type and a called device identifier; or the media plane network element includes a media function instance. In this way, the request for establishing a bearer for a communication service between the calling device and the called device includes the media service type and the media parameter, the calling device type, the called device type, and the called device identifier, thereby avoiding a circuitous media path between the calling device and the called device that results in an excessively long path.

[0018] In some implementations, the identification information includes an address of a media function instance, so that the second network device can apply for media resources according to the address.

[0019] In some implementations, the bearer path is selected from multiple bearer paths based on the performance of multiple bearer paths corresponding to the bearer. In this way, the selected bearer path is the bearer path with the best performance, thereby improving the problems of large delay, high overall packet loss rate, and poor audio and video experience caused by the long path between the calling device and the called device.

[0020] In some implementations, the media plane network elements include computing nodes in the computing network. In this way, the computing network can improve processing efficiency and ensure service quality and user experience.

[0021] In some implementations, the second network device is a session control function. In some implementations, the session control function is a proxy-call session control function (P-CSCF). This can solve the problems of long paths between the calling device and the called device in the IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) network, resulting in large delays, high overall packet loss rates, and poor audio and video experience.

[0022] In a third aspect, a first network device is provided, and the beneficial effects can be found in the description of the first aspect and will not be repeated here. The device has the function of implementing the behavior in the method example of the first aspect. The function can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. In one possible design, the first network device includes: a receiving unit, which is used to receive a request for establishing a bearer for a communication service between a calling device and a called device from a second network device, wherein the request includes media service information associated with the communication service, first information associated with the calling device, and second information associated with the called device; and a sending unit, which is used to send a response to the request to the second network device, wherein the response includes identification information of a media plane network element on a bearer path corresponding to the bearer, and the bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information.

[0023] In a fourth aspect, a second network device is provided, and the beneficial effects can be found in the description of the second aspect and will not be repeated here. The device has the function of implementing the behavior in the method example of the second aspect. The function can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. In one possible design, the second network device includes: a sending unit, which is used to send a request for establishing a bearer for a communication service between a calling device and a called device to a first network device, the request including media service information associated with the communication service, first information associated with the calling device, and second information associated with the called device; and a receiving unit, which is used to receive a response to the request from the first network device, wherein the response includes identification information of a media plane network element on a bearer path corresponding to the bearer, and the bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information.

[0024] According to a fifth aspect, a first network device is provided, comprising: a processor, and a memory storing instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by the processor, the electronic device executes any one of the methods according to the first aspect and its implementation manner.

[0025] According to a sixth aspect, a second network device is provided, comprising: a processor, and a memory storing instructions, wherein when the instructions are executed by the processor, the electronic device executes any method according to the second aspect and its implementation manner.

[0026] In a seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed by an electronic device, the electronic device executes the method executed by the first network device or the second network device in the above aspects.

[0027] In an eighth aspect, a computer program product is provided, the computer program product comprising instructions, which when executed by an electronic device causes the electronic device to execute the method executed by the first network device or the second network device in the above aspects.

[0028] In a ninth aspect, the present disclosure provides a chip system, the chip system including a processor, for implementing the functions of the first network device or the second network device in the above-mentioned methods. In a possible design, the chip system also includes a memory for storing program instructions and / or data. The chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0029] In a tenth aspect, the present disclosure further provides a communication system, comprising: a first network device for executing the method of the first aspect, or a second network device for executing the method of the second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0030] Figure 1A A schematic diagram of a communication system according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0031] Figure 1B A schematic diagram showing the corresponding relationship between various services and delays based on QoS type classification.

[0032] Figure 1C The following is an architecture diagram of real-time audio and video services for some solutions.

[0033] Figure 1D An architectural diagram of real-time audio and video services according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0034] Figure 2 An exemplary flowchart of some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0035] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of an interaction process based on a computing power service model of some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0036] Figure 4 A flowchart implemented at a first network device in some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0037] Figure 5 A flowchart implemented at a second network device in some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0038] Figure 6 A schematic diagram showing the main components of an example device of a possible implementation method of the embodiments of the present disclosure is shown.

[0039] Figure 7 A simplified block diagram of an example device showing one possible implementation of an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in more detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Although certain embodiments of the present disclosure are shown in the accompanying drawings, it should be understood that the present disclosure can be implemented in various forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments described herein, which are instead provided for a more thorough and complete understanding of the present disclosure. It should be understood that the drawings and embodiments of the present disclosure are only for exemplary purposes and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0041] In the description of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the term "including" and similar terms should be understood as open inclusion, that is, "including but not limited to". The term "based on" should be understood as "based at least in part on". The term "one embodiment" or "the embodiment" should be understood as "at least one embodiment". The terms "first", "second", etc. may refer to different or the same objects. Other explicit and implicit definitions may also be included below.

[0042] Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented according to any appropriate communication protocol, including but not limited to cellular communication protocols such as third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), fifth generation (5G) and future communication protocols (e.g., sixth generation (6G)), wireless local area network communication protocols such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, and / or any other protocol currently known or developed in the future.

[0043] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure are applied to communication systems that follow any appropriate communication protocols, such as: General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Datarate for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000), Time Division-Synchronization Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) system, Time Division Duplex (TDD), fifth generation (5G) system (e.g., New Radio (NR)) and future communication systems (e.g., sixth generation (6G) system), etc.

[0044] For the purpose of illustration, the embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with the 5G communication system in 3GPP as the background. However, it should be understood that the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the communication system, but can be applied to any communication system with similar problems, such as wireless local area network (WLAN), wired communication system, or other communication systems developed in the future. And the embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to 6G communication systems.

[0045] The term "terminal" or "terminal device" used in this disclosure refers to any terminal device that can communicate with network devices or with each other by wire or wirelessly. Terminal devices may sometimes be referred to as user equipment (UE). Terminal devices may be any type of mobile terminal, fixed terminal or portable terminal. Terminal devices may be various wireless communication devices with wireless communication functions. With the rise of Internet of Things (IOT) technology, more and more devices that did not previously have communication functions, such as but not limited to household appliances, vehicles, tools and equipment, service equipment and service facilities, have begun to obtain wireless communication functions by configuring wireless communication units, so that they can access wireless communication networks and accept remote control. Such devices have wireless communication functions because they are configured with wireless communication units, and therefore also fall into the category of wireless communication devices. As an example, the terminal device may include a mobile cellular phone, a cordless phone, a mobile terminal (MT), a mobile station, a mobile device, a wireless terminal, a handheld device, a client, a subscription station, a portable subscription station, an Internet node, a communicator, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a personal communication system device, a personal navigation device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless data card, a wireless modem (Modulator demodulator, Modem), a positioning device, a radio broadcast receiver, an e-book device, a gaming device, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a vehicle-mounted device, an aircraft, a virtual reality (VR) device, an augmented reality (AR) device, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch, etc.), a terminal device in a 5G network or any terminal device in an evolved public land mobile network (PLMN), other devices that can be used for communication, or any combination thereof. The embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to this.

[0046] The term "network node" or "network device" used in the present disclosure is an entity or node that can be used to communicate with a terminal device, for example, it can be an access network device. The access network device can be a device deployed in a wireless access network to provide wireless communication functions for mobile terminals, for example, it can be a radio access network (RAN) network device. The access network device may include various types of base stations. The base station is used to provide wireless access services for terminal devices. Specifically, each base station corresponds to a service coverage area, and the terminal device entering the area can communicate with the base station through wireless signals to receive the wireless access service provided by the base station. There may be overlaps between the service coverage areas of the base stations, and the terminal device in the overlapping area can receive wireless signals from multiple base stations, so that multiple base stations can provide services for the terminal device at the same time. Depending on the size of the service coverage area provided, the access network device may include a macro base station providing a macro cell, a micro base station for providing a micro cell, a micro base station for providing a micro cell, and a micro micro base station for providing a micro cell. In addition, the access network equipment may also include various forms of relay stations, access points, remote radio units (RRU), radio heads (RH), remote radio heads (RRH), etc. In systems using different wireless access technologies, the names of access network equipment may be different, such as evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB) in the Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, NodeB (NB) in the 3G network, gNB or NR NB in ​​the 5G network, etc. In some scenarios, the access network equipment may include a centralized unit (CU) and / or a distributed unit (DU). CU and DU can be placed in different places, for example: DU is remote and placed in an area with high traffic volume, and CU is placed in a central computer room. Alternatively, CU and DU can also be placed in the same computer room. CU and DU can also be different components under one rack. For the convenience of description, in the subsequent embodiments of the present disclosure, the above-mentioned device that provides wireless communication functions for mobile terminals is collectively referred to as a network device. The device may also refer to a chip or module that implements related wireless communication functions in a mobile terminal or access network device, and the embodiments of the present disclosure are no longer specifically limited.

[0047] Figure 1A Schematic diagram of a communication system of some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 1AAs shown, an example communication system 100 of some embodiments may include terminal devices and network devices. The network devices may specifically include access network devices and core network devices, wherein the terminal devices are such as terminal devices 110 and 120, the access network devices are such as network devices 130, and the core network devices are such as network devices 140 and 150. The network devices 140 and 150 are located in the core network 160. In some embodiments, the terminal devices 110 and 120 may serve as calling devices and called devices, respectively, and may communicate with network devices or functions in the core network 160 through the network device 130, respectively. In some embodiments, the network devices in the core network 160 may communicate with each other. For example, one of the network devices 140 and 150 may send a request to the network device 150 for establishing a bearer for communication services between the terminal devices 110 and 120, and accordingly, the other of the network devices 140 and 150 may return a response to the request. It should be noted that the number of terminal devices and network devices in the communication system 100 is not limited to Figure 1A The number shown is not intended, but may be any number of terminal devices and network devices.

[0048] It should be understood that the above network devices, such as access network devices, can be network devices under various network systems, for example, any device with wireless transceiver functions. Including but not limited to: in UMTS / LTE (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, Universal Mobile Telecommunications System / Long Term Evolution) wireless communication system, it can be a macro base station eNB (evolved node B), in HetNet (Heterogeneous Network, heterogeneous network) scenario, it can be a micro base station eNB, in a distributed base station scenario, it can be a baseband processing unit BBU (Base Band Unit, Baseband Unit) and a radio frequency unit RRU (Remote Radio Unit, Radio Frequency Remote Unit), in a CRAN (Cloud Radio Access Netowrk, Cloud Radio Access Network) scenario, it can be a baseband pool BBU pool and a radio frequency unit RRU, in future wireless communication systems, it can be a gNB, a base station that is subsequently evolved by 3GPP, an access node in a WiFi system, a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, etc. The base station can be: a macro base station, a micro base station, a pico base station, a small station, a relay station, or a balloon station, etc. The network device 130 may also be a server, a wearable device, or a vehicle-mounted device, etc. The terminal device may also be various user communication devices, such as a vehicle-mounted communication module or other embedded communication module, a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a tactile terminal device, a vehicle-mounted terminal device, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical, a wireless terminal in smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home, a wearable terminal device, etc.

[0049] In order to clearly introduce the solution of the embodiment of the present disclosure, QoS and VoLTE (Voice over LTE, Long Term Evolution Voice) / VoNR (Voice over New Radio) bearer are first introduced. With the continuous development of mobile technology, operators can provide users with more colorful communication services such as voice, data, video, etc. (the "service" in the embodiment of the present disclosure may refer to communication services, which will not be explained one by one below). At the same time, a large number of communication services also bring about problems such as network congestion and traffic control difficulties. Since different communication services have different requirements for latency, bandwidth, etc., the introduction of QoS (Quality of Service) mechanism can achieve differentiation of various communication services, make data pipelines controllable and manageable, provide guarantees for high-speed data services, and enhance user experience. In order to ensure the quality of communication services such as voice and video on the LTE network, the VoLTE solution adopts the PCC architecture defined by 3GPP. Compared with various existing VoIP applications, the PCC architecture provides QoS guarantee for voice services by establishing bearers (such as dedicated bearers) to isolate the traffic of VoLTE services and the traffic of Internet services, thereby improving user experience and enhancing the competitiveness of operators.

[0050] Quality of Service (QoS) is used to evaluate the ability of service providers to meet customer service needs. In the Internet, QoS evaluates the service capability of the network to transmit packet data, mainly measuring and evaluating indicators such as service availability, latency, jitter, bandwidth, packet loss rate, bit error rate and signal-to-noise ratio during packet data transmission. The purpose of the QoS solution is to give priority to the quality of service for high-priority users or communication services when the network is congested. QoS is measured by the following basic elements: 1. Bandwidth / throughput, that is, the average rate of a specific application service flow between two nodes of the network; 2. Latency, that is, the time it takes for the original data to be sent from the sender after a series of processing such as encoding, transmitted through the channel, reach the receiver and be decoded and restored to the original data; 3. Jitter, that is, the change in latency; 4. Packet loss rate, that is, the percentage of the number of data packets lost during network transmission to the number of data packets sent, which is used to measure the ability of the network to correctly forward user data.

[0051] As shown in Table 1, 3GPP divides communication services into session services (or call services), streaming services, interactive services, and background services according to their sensitivity to latency. QoS types are also divided into four categories: session, streaming, interactive, and background. The corresponding relationship between each type of service and latency is as follows: Figure 1B As shown in the figure, session services have the highest latency requirements and the lowest packet loss rate requirements, while background services have the lowest latency requirements and the highest packet loss rate requirements.

[0052] Table 1

[0053]

[0054] A bearer is an information transmission channel with defined capacity, delay, bit error rate, etc. The bearer ID ranges from 5 to 15, that is, each user can establish up to 11 bearers. Taking VoLTE as an example, in the LTE-EPC (Evolved Packet Core) network, the object to which the network allocates QoS parameters is the bearer. A user can have one or more bearers, one of which is the default bearer, or the default bearer, and the others are dedicated bearers. An important advantage of operators' real-time audio and video services over OTT (Over-the-Top) is dedicated bearers. For example, the LTE-EPC network adopts the QoS (Quality of service) solution described in the 3GPP Release 8 protocol, called the R8 QoS solution. Regardless of whether it is the default bearer or the establishment of a dedicated bearer initiated by the P-GW (Packet Data Network Gateway), the bearer ID is allocated by the MME (Mobility Management Entity). The bearer QCI (QoS Class Identifier) ​​of the default bearer and dedicated bearer corresponding to the same APN (Access Point Name) must be different. The default bearer is the default bearer, which is established when the UE is connected to a PDN (Packet Data Network). The bearer will not be released during the life cycle of this PDN connection. A default bearer will be created when the user goes online. The bearer is used for signaling transmission and basic service applications. All additional EPS bearers to the PDN are called dedicated bearers. The purpose of a dedicated bearer is to establish a bearer with special QoS and transport flow template (TFT) between the UE and EPC to meet the needs of certain services (such as voice, video, etc.). Bearers can also be divided into GBR (Guaranteed Bit Rate) bearers and Non-GBR (Non-Guaranteed Bit Rate) bearers. QCIs of 1 to 4 identify GBR bearers, and QCIs of 5 to 9 identify Non-GBR bearers. All default bearers are Non-GBR bearers, and dedicated bearers can be either GBR bearers or Non-GBR bearers. Among them, QCI is used to indicate the identification of service QoS characteristics. Services with different QCIs need to use different bearers. The parameters corresponding to the standard QCI are pre-configured on each device, and each QCI corresponds to a set of parameters. The 3GPP standard only defines QCI values ​​1 to 9, and QCI values ​​can also be customized and extended, with a value range from 10 to 255. The mapping relationship between standard QCI values ​​and QoS parameters is shown in Table 2.

[0055] Table 2

[0056]

[0057] In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a computing network can be used. The computing network is a network architecture for deep collaboration between computing and network in the future. The computing network connects distributed computing nodes through the network to achieve automatic deployment of services, optimal routing and load balancing. Its main features include: real-time and fast business scheduling. Specifically, based on the network layer, it perceives business needs and network and computing status in real time. Compared with centralized cloud computing scheduling, the computing network can combine real-time information to achieve fast business scheduling; ensure consistency of user experience. Specifically, the network can perceive computing and services. Users do not need to care about the location and deployment status of computing resources in the network. The network and computing collaborative scheduling ensures a consistent user experience; multi-dimensional collaborative orchestration. Specifically, the network is based on the user's SLA (Service Level Agreement) requirements, comprehensively considers the real-time network resource status and computing resource status, dynamically orchestrates distributed computing power, storage, and network services, and bidirectionally matches network resources and business needs to achieve optimization of business experience and global optimization of resources.

[0058] The mobile computing network is an open computing network infrastructure based on mobile network capabilities and infrastructure, and is composed of mobile network architecture and computing resources. Its purpose is to achieve the coordination of mobile networks and computing power to achieve the optimal experience of computing power access within the mobile network. It is the concrete manifestation of the computing network in the mobile access scenario.

[0059] In terms of the technical requirements for the endogenous computing power of mobile networks, first of all, the mobile computing power network should not only route services to the corresponding computing network nodes through the network, but also have the ability to provide endogenous computing power. This capability can provide ubiquitous computing power for various application layer services, especially in the scenario of end-to-end network collaboration, providing general computing power for intelligent applications, such as AI (artificial intelligence) reasoning capabilities and media video super-resolution capabilities of end-to-end network collaboration. Secondly, the endogenous computing power of the mobile network should be uniformly registered to the network so that it can be discovered and used by other services. When a mobile terminal accesses the network, it can register its own computing power requirements with the network, and the services on the terminal can automatically discover and use the computing power on the network. The type of endogenous computing power that the mobile terminal can discover and use depends on factors such as the location of the mobile terminal, network coverage performance, edge computing node deployment (location, resource status, etc.), and user contracts. Finally, the endogenous computing power framework should provide an open API (Application Programming Interface) for upper-layer application development, the network side provides a general computing power operating environment for the application server, and the end side provides a localized calling interface for the application client.

[0060] In terms of the technical requirements for the measurement modeling and state perception of diversified computing resources, the current mobile network only supports coarse-grained computing power measurement based on physical hardware, such as the number of cores and main frequency of the CPU. The mobile computing network needs to provide more refined unified computing power measurement and modeling for heterogeneous hardware infrastructure, including unified modeling based on multi-vendor CPUs (central processing units), GPUs (graphics processing units), NPUs (Neural Network Processing Units), FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Arrays), and ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits) for the main frequency, number of cores, and memory size of the CPU, CUDA cores (Compute Unified Device Architecture), video memory of the GPU, and Peak fixed-point performance and Peak floating-point performance of the FPGA, shielding the underlying hardware differences and abstracting the computing service behavior. Secondly, different applications have different requirements for computing power, so it is also necessary to uniformly measure and model the application's demand for computing power. For example, XR (Extended Reality) immersive services require ultra-low latency computing services, and AI migration requires AI model reasoning with large computing capacity. The mobile computing network should have the ability to perceive business needs and network and computing status in real time. By perceiving and analyzing the needs of upper-layer applications, it can establish a mapping relationship between diversified services and diversified computing resources and combined computing resources, thereby realizing on-demand provision and flexible scheduling of computing services. At the same time, the mobile computing network also needs to have comprehensive resource and situational awareness of the network and applications, including the collection and aggregation of resource status, resource location, resource changes at all levels of the cloud network edge, computing load on each computing node, computing service deployment, and network path information between computing nodes. Finally, the mobile computing network should support the notification capability of computing resources, including centralized notification and distributed notification. Combined with the above requirements and capabilities, the mobile computing network can form the ability that the business layer can fully understand and use, and the network layer can efficiently allocate and manage, thereby providing a better business experience.

[0061] In terms of the technical requirements for user experience consistency and service continuity under wide-area mobility, the mobile computing network needs to have wide-area continuous computing coverage capabilities and support joint planning of wireless coverage, core network user plane, and edge computing nodes. In both static and dynamic modes, it can provide users and services with the best service experience. For static access, the mobile computing network not only needs to address the best computing instance for UE anytime and anywhere, without the UE needing to perceive the specific deployment location of the computing power, but also the computing instance selected for the UE needs to be based on the end-to-end SLA guarantee of the service, while ensuring the maximum utilization of network resources and computing resources to improve the overall capacity of the system. In the mode of dynamic user mobility, the mobile computing network needs to be able to automatically adjust the connection QoS, the computing power required for the running instance of the computing power, and the deployment location according to the mobility of the UE and the fluctuation of the wireless network quality, so as to ensure the business continuity and user experience of the computing power in a dynamic environment. In a weak network environment, it can predict and adjust the computing power in advance to achieve graceful service degradation and recovery. In addition, the business scenarios of the mobile computing network often involve multi-terminal collaboration. Therefore, the mobile computing network needs to be able to provide the association and synchronous transmission of multi-device connection sessions such as mobile terminals, XR (Extended Reality) head-mounted display terminals, UAV (unmanned aerial vehicle) or AGV (automated guided vehicle), and various sensors / controllers, so as to achieve hybrid rendering and application logic synchronization of the physical world and the virtual world.

[0062] In terms of the technical requirements of computing services based on end-edge-cloud collaboration, the current potential business scenarios of mobile computing networks often require computing services based on edge computing. However, under the current 5G network architecture, only a single MEC (Multi-access Edge Computing) is supported as a single business service. Therefore, the mobile computing network needs to change the limitation of single edge computing access diversion, and support the full use of computing power at the edge of the network according to the network connection status to form a locally interconnected MEC group. And through computing offloading, multi-point collaboration and other methods, the optimal computing task allocation is carried out in the MEC group to solve the problem of insufficient terminal computing power and extended communication time of cloud computing, and provide low-latency and highly reliable computing services. At the same time, the mobile computing network should make full use of the computing power of the central cloud, edge computing, and terminals at all levels, and flexibly utilize multi-level computing power across layers through algorithms. For example, in some business scenarios involving AI, cloud-based ultra-large-scale model training and distribution can be realized, and edge computing supports more complex reasoning, while the terminal only needs to perform a small amount of data preprocessing.

[0063] In terms of the technical requirements for integrated orchestration and joint scheduling of mobile network computing networks, mobile computing networks are a close combination of computing power and network capabilities. For low-latency interactive services such as XR and mobile terminal AI, on the one hand, information interaction between the core network and the wireless access network is required to provide efficient network transmission; on the other hand, cloud-edge computing power and mobile terminal computing power need to be coordinated to meet computing power requirements such as rendering and AI training. The existing mobile communication network has a relatively simple management mechanism for ubiquitous computing power and lacks a coordinated scheduling mechanism for cloud-edge computing power, making it difficult to cope with dynamic business needs and tidal effects. In order to meet the end-to-end QoS requirements of services, it is necessary to comprehensively consider network connection status, available bandwidth, heterogeneous computing power types of end-edge cloud, computing power load and other computing network resource information, and through the joint management of computing network resources and the integrated orchestration of computing network services, flexibly distribute and schedule services to distributed computing nodes on demand, and provide dynamic computing network services to ensure business quality and user experience. With the development of new converged technologies, mobile communication networks will support capabilities such as perception and positioning, and provide diversified network services on a large network. At the same time, the trend of end-to-end network service requires the separation and abstraction of underlying computing resources into independent network functions, and further realizes the flexible deployment and scheduling of network functions to improve network management efficiency. At present, the orchestration and scheduling of network functions are limited to the core network control plane, lacking the flexible orchestration and management of end-to-end network overall services, resulting in the waste of computing network resources and high network operation costs. In order to further improve network management efficiency, mobile computing networks are required to uniformly orchestrate and manage ubiquitous networks and computing power. According to the dynamic changes and predictions of business needs and computing network resource status, the computing power deployment strategy of network function virtualization instances is efficiently adjusted, and the optimal service access path is provided in combination with dynamic routing and addressing technologies, realizing on-demand service scheduling and efficient network operation and maintenance management for diversified business scenarios.

[0064] In terms of the opening of the integrated capabilities of the mobile network computing network, facing the increasingly rich business demands in the future, mobile computing power should provide an end-to-end collaborative operating environment for operators' self-operated services or third-party applications. In addition to providing general endogenous computing power for online services, the application development process should be simplified by shielding the underlying complex end-to-end collaborative process and computing power resource scheduling mechanism, so that operators and third parties can quickly develop and deploy applications directly on the mobile computing network infrastructure layer. In 5G-A, the mobile computing network, as a unified infrastructure layer, should be able to provide a unified capability exposure interface for the computing network to the AF (Application Function) through NEF (Network Exposure Function). AF dynamically adjusts business deployment and routing strategies based on computing network information. AF can be an application server, the computing network brain of the computing network, or a mobile computing network in other domains.

[0065] In the process of establishing a dedicated bearer for real-time audio and video services in some solutions, the UE sends an INVITE (Offer) call to the called party through the default bearer. The P-CSCF (Proxy-Call Session Control Function) forwards the INVITE (Offer) message to the S-CSCF (Serving-Call Session Control Function). After the S-CSCF receives the 183 (Answer) message (carrying the called party's SDP (Session Description Protocol) information) returned by the called side, it forwards it to the P-CSCF. After receiving the 183 (Answer), the P-CSCF sends an AAR message to the PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function) to start establishing a dedicated bearer. The AAR includes media description information (including classifiers, bandwidth requirements, media types, etc.), user identification, IMS application layer charging identification, etc. When the PCRF receives the resource reservation success event report from the P-GW, it sends a RAR message to the P-CSCF to notify the bearer establishment status. The architecture diagram of real-time audio and video services of some solutions is as follows: Figure 1C As shown, Figure 1C In the architecture shown, the media path is circuitous relative to the calling and called positions. For example, the path 103a between the calling user (or calling device) 101a and the called user (or called device) 102a needs to be circuitous to the UMF (Unified media function) 104a in the real-time audio and video control plane, resulting in a too long path between the calling and called, which increases the delay and the overall packet loss rate, and ultimately leads to a higher possibility of impaired audio and video experience. The media network element is far from the user, and the path is too long, which increases the delay and the overall packet loss rate, and ultimately leads to a higher possibility of impaired audio and video experience.

[0066] The solution of the disclosed embodiment can solve the problem that the current media path is circuitous and the media network element is far away from the calling / called device, resulting in the path between the calling and called devices being too long, thereby causing increased latency and overall packet loss rate, and ultimately leading to a higher possibility of impaired audio and video experience. Figure 1D FIG. 4 shows an architecture diagram of real-time audio and video services of some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 1D In the architecture shown, the computing network is divided into the application enablement layer, the management and orchestration layer, and the infrastructure layer. The infrastructure layer includes the directional computing pool and the universal computing pool. The directional computing pool can include multiple forwarding and computing nodes, such as UMF. The media path is a media path through the UMF in the computing network, such as Figure 1D As shown in , that is, a path from the calling device 101b, via the corresponding UMF at 103b, to the called device 102b, Figure 1D The called device 102b is a gateway as an example. An example of 103b may be an IP forwarding / routing device. Figure 1D In some embodiments, the P-CSCF may send a dedicated bearer establishment application to the PCF (Policy Control Function), which carries the media service type and media parameters as well as the calling device type and calling ID, the called device type and called ID. The PCF receives the dedicated bearer establishment application sent by the P-CSCF, and collaborates with the computing network to establish a dedicated bearer with an optimal path between the calling and called devices, and at the same time obtains a UMF instance on the optimal path corresponding to the dedicated bearer. This UMF instance can implement the media service type in the above request message, and returns the address of the UMF instance to the P-CSCF through a bearer establishment response. The P-CSCF receives the bearer establishment response from the PCF, then sends a media resource application to the UMF instance address, and completes subsequent call-related processing.

[0067] Figure 2 Schematic diagrams of example processes of some embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. Figure 2 As shown, for convenience of describing process 200, Figure 2 In the example, the first network device 210 and the second network device are used as examples of the execution subjects of the corresponding steps in the process 200. However, the process 200 of the embodiment of the present disclosure is not limited to being executed between the first network device 210 and the second network device. In other examples, other devices, equipment, modules and / or chips with functions capable of executing the corresponding steps can also be used. At the second network device 220, a request 202 for establishing a bearer for a communication service between a calling device and a called device is sent (201) to the first network device 210, and the request 202 includes media service information associated with the communication service, first information associated with the calling device, and second information associated with the called device.

[0068] In some embodiments, the communication service may be a session-type service, i.e., a call service. For example, the call service is a call service between two ends (e.g., a calling end and a called end). The call service may also be, for example, a multi-end call service, such as a call service for a multi-party video conference. In other embodiments, the communication service may not be limited to the call service, for example, it may be other communication services that do not involve calls. The media service information associated with the communication service is used to implement other additional services on the basis of the communication service. The additional service is a service with enhanced communication service functions on the basis of the communication service of the embodiment of the present disclosure. By implementing the additional service, the user's communication service experience can be enhanced. Taking the communication service as an example of a call service, the media service information associated with the call service may be the information required to implement other additional services on the basis of the call service, including information indicating the specific type of the additional service and information on parameters related to the additional service. These additional services are, for example, related to media. In some embodiments, the media service information includes a media service type, such as a virtual avatar service, and the specific type of the additional service is the virtual avatar service. The media service information may also include media parameters. In the above-mentioned example of the virtual avatar service, the media parameters are, for example, parameters such as the negotiated resolution of the video and the negotiated maximum bit rate of the video. In some embodiments, the first information may include the calling device type and the calling device identifier. The calling device may be a terminal device, such as Figure 1A In some embodiments, the second information may include the called device type and the called device identifier. The called device may be a terminal device (e.g. Figure 1A Another terminal device in the terminal devices 110, 120) or a gateway device, etc.

[0069] At the first network device 210, the request 202 for establishing a bearer for a service between the calling device and the called device is received (203) from the second network device 220. In some embodiments, the bearer may be a dedicated bearer, and the following description is taken as an example that the bearer is a dedicated bearer. After receiving the request 202, the first network device 210 may send (205) a response 204 to the request 202 to the second network device 220, so that at the second network device 220, the response 204 to the request 202 may be received (207) from the first network device 210. The response may include identification information of a media plane network element on a bearer path corresponding to the dedicated bearer, and the bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information. In some embodiments, the media plane network element may provide a media function instance, for example, the media plane network element may provide a unified media function (UMF) instance, and the identification information may include an address of the UMF instance. The bearer path is selected from a plurality of bearer paths based on the performance of the plurality of bearer paths corresponding to the dedicated bearer. In some embodiments, the first network device 210 may determine a bearer path and / or a media plane network element based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information. Specifically, in the process of determining the bearer path and / or the media plane network element, the first network device 210 may determine a candidate bearer path for a dedicated bearer based on the first information and the second information, and then determine the bearer path and / or the media plane network element based on the candidate bearer path and the media service information.

[0070] In some examples, in order to determine the candidate bearer path, the first network device 210 can determine the location of the calling device and the called device according to the calling device identifier in the first information and the called device identifier in the second information, and then determine multiple candidate paths between the calling device and the called device, and select a candidate path with the lowest packet loss rate from the multiple candidate paths according to the statistical value as the candidate bearer path. In some examples, in order to determine the bearer path and / or the media plane network element based on the candidate bearer path and the media service information, the first network device 210 can determine the media plane network element on the bearer path corresponding to the dedicated bearer based on the position relationship between the candidate media plane network element corresponding to the media service information and the user plane forwarding network element corresponding to the candidate bearer path, and determine the bearer path based on the position of the media plane network element and the candidate bearer path. As an example, the position relationship between the candidate media plane network element and the user plane forwarding network element may include: the candidate media plane network element is deployed on the user plane forwarding network element, or the candidate media plane network element is not deployed on the user plane forwarding network element. In some examples, the user plane forwarding network element may be a user plane function (UPF). In other examples, for the case where the embodiments of the present disclosure are used in future communication systems, such as using the embodiments of the present disclosure in 6G or later communication systems, the above-mentioned user plane forwarding network element can specifically adopt UPF or other network elements, such as alternative network elements that are similar to the functions of UPF or can also implement the embodiments of the present disclosure. The following further illustrates the case where the user plane forwarding network element is UPF. In some examples, the candidate media plane network element is deployed on the UPF, then the candidate media plane network element can be determined as the media plane network element on the bearer path corresponding to the dedicated bearer. In other examples, when the candidate media plane network element is not deployed on the UPF, and the number of candidate media plane network elements is multiple, then the media plane network element on the bearer path corresponding to the dedicated bearer can be the candidate media plane network element that minimizes the delay increase of the bearer path relative to the candidate bearer path.

[0071] In some embodiments, the media plane network element may include a computing node in a computing power network. In some examples, the computing power network also includes nodes different from the media plane network element. In order to determine the bearer path and the media plane network element on the bearer path corresponding to the dedicated bearer, the first network device 210 may send media service information, first information, and second information to the node (different from the media plane network element) in the computing power network, and determine the bearer path and the media plane network element on the bearer path corresponding to the dedicated bearer in the computing power network. The computing power network may specifically determine the bearer path and the media plane network element on the bearer path corresponding to the dedicated bearer in the manner described above. For example, the computing power network may determine the location of the calling device and the called device according to the calling device identifier and the called device identifier, and then determine multiple candidate paths between the calling device and the called device, and determine the end-to-end packet loss rate of the multiple candidate paths according to the statistical value, select a path with the lowest packet loss rate as a candidate bearer path, and then determine the media plane network element on the bearer path corresponding to the dedicated bearer based on the positional relationship between the candidate media plane network element corresponding to the media service information and the UPF corresponding to the candidate bearer path. The nodes of the computing power network (different from the media plane network elements) can send indication information for indicating the bearer path and / or the media plane network elements to the first network device 210, so that the first network device 210 receives the indication information for indicating the bearer path and / or the media plane network elements from the nodes of the computing power network.

[0072] As an example, the first network device 210 is a policy control function (PCF), and additionally or alternatively, the second network device 220 is a session control function. In some examples, the session control function may be specifically a proxy-call session control function (P-CSCF).

[0073] Figure 3 The following is a schematic diagram of the interaction process based on the computing power service model of some embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 3 As shown, some network elements / functions are exemplarily shown in the process 300, such as PCF 310, P-CSCF 320, UMF 330 and IMS-T 340. PCF 310 provides policy rules for control plane functions, computing power and network optimal path bearer establishment interface functions, and P-CSCF 320 is a proxy-call session control function. UMF 330 has control plane interaction, media computing power service registration, media endpoint resource management and media service provision functions. PCF 310 can be an example of the first network device 210. P-CSCF 320 can be an example of the second network device 220. The calling device, called device, etc. involved in the process 300 are Figure 3 As not shown in the figure, the calling device is for example a calling terminal, and the called device is for example a called terminal. Figure 3As shown, in step 301, the calling terminal initiates a session request and sends an INVITE request message, and the P-CSCF 320 eventually forwards the INVITE request to the IMS-T 340. In step 303, the called terminal picks up the phone and sends a 200OF INVITE response, and the IMS-T eventually forwards the response to the P-CSCF. In step 305, the P-CSCF 320 determines that the user's current service is not suspended and it is a video call, and the virtual avatar needs to be triggered, so the audio and video anchoring is started. In step 307, the P-CSCF 320 sends a computing power service application to the PCF 310 to request a specific computing power service and to establish an optimal bearer path. In some embodiments, the computing power service application sent in this example, such as the Nmfn_NFResource_Request message, is an example of a request for establishing a dedicated bearer for communication services between the calling device and the called device. The specific example is as follows:

[0074] Post / nnrf-nfm / v1 / nf-instances / FF01-1 HTTP / 2.0

[0075] host:10.2.83.10:31070

[0076] content-type:application / json

[0077] content-length:3225

[0078] accept-encoding:gzip

[0079] user-agent: Go-http-client / 2.0

[0080] {"serviceName":"3D-virtual-avatar",

[0081] "resolution":"720P","max-bit-rate":"2048",

[0082] "caller_type": "user", "caller_id": "+8613388888888",

[0083] "called_type": "GateWay", "called_id": "beijing.cmcc.com",

[0084] …

[0086] The serviceName field indicates the type of media service required by the P-CSCF 320. In this example, its value is 3D-virtual-avatar, indicating that the NF needs a virtual avatar service, that is, the media service type in this example is a virtual avatar service. Resolution indicates the negotiated resolution of the final video. In this example, its value is 720P. max-bit-rate indicates the negotiated maximum bit rate of the final video. In this example, its value is 2048bps. Resolution and max-bit-rate are examples of media parameters. caller_type indicates the type of the calling user, that is, the type of the calling device. In this example, its value is user, indicating that the calling device is an ordinary user device. caller_id indicates the identifier of the calling user, that is, the calling device identifier, which can be referred to as the calling identifier. In this example, its example value is +8613388888888. called_type indicates the type of the called user, that is, the called device type. In this example, its value is GateWay, indicating that the called device is a gateway. called_id represents the ID of the called user, that is, the called device ID, which can be referred to as the called ID. In this example, its example value is beijing.cmcc.com. It should be noted that this example is for the scenario where the called side is a gateway. In other embodiments, for two users in the same network, the call does not go through the gateway. When P-CSCF 320 requests computing power service, the called_type corresponding to the called device in the computing power service application is user, and called_id is the specific ID of the called user.

[0087] In step 309, PCF 310 cooperates with the computing power network to obtain a media plane network element that provides services for this session, and the media plane network element is a media plane network element on the bearer path corresponding to the dedicated bearer. The media plane network element is, for example, UMF 330. At the same time, a candidate bearer path for the dedicated bearer is determined based on the caller ID and the gateway ID. The determined candidate bearer path can be the best path among the multiple candidate bearer paths. In order to determine the candidate bearer path, as an example, the computing power network can determine the locations of the calling user and the called user based on the caller ID and the gateway ID, and then the computing power network determines n candidate paths between the caller ID and the gateway ID, and determines the end-to-end packet loss rate of the n paths based on the statistical value, and can select a path with the lowest packet loss rate as the candidate bearer path. When determining UMF 330, if a UMF that meets the requirements is deployed on the UPF (User Plane Function) corresponding to the candidate bearer path, then this UMF is directly used as the UMF 330 on the bearer path corresponding to the dedicated bearer; otherwise, a UMF is determined so that the UMF ensures that the delay added to the candidate bearer path after the candidate bearer path detoured to the UMF is the smallest relative to the candidate bearer path, that is, the bearer path determined based on the position of the UMF has the shortest delay increase relative to the candidate bearer path (the optimal candidate bearer path) determined above, then the UMF that meets this requirement is used as the UMF 330 on the bearer path corresponding to the dedicated bearer. It should be noted that the above-mentioned method of determining the bearer path and UMF 330 is only an example implementation method, and UMF 330 can be selected by other methods according to needs, so as to determine the bearer path based on the position of UMF 330 and the optimal candidate bearer path.

[0088] In step 311, PCF 310 sends a response message to P-CSCF 320, i.e., a response to the request to establish a dedicated bearer for the communication service, which may carry a UMF identifier of the media plane network element, where the UMF identifier is an example of the identification information of the media plane network element on the bearer path corresponding to the dedicated bearer. A specific example of the response message is as follows:

[0089]

[0090] The field UMF-id indicates the identifier of the required UMF instance selected this time, and its value in this example is umf-beijing-haidian-2.cmcc.com.

[0091] In steps 313 and 315, P-CSCF 320 sends a media resource request to the returned UMF 330, which carries the calling SDP and the called SDP. UMF 330 returns a media resource response, which includes two endpoint information T1 and T2. In steps 317 and 319, P-CSCF 320 constructs a new SDP based on the addresses of T1 and T2 to send it to the calling terminal and the called terminal respectively, thereby realizing the diversion of the media stream to the current UMF. Then P-CSCF 320 issues an instruction to start the media processing related to the virtual avatar. In steps 321 and 323, the original video stream based on RTP is sent to UMF330 via P-CSCF 320, PCF 310, etc. After the virtual avatar is processed, UMF 330 sends the video stream processed by the virtual avatar based on RTP to the called terminal.

[0092] Some embodiments of the present disclosure take the P-CSCF of the IMS network and the PCF of the packet network as examples, that is, the P-CSCF sends a dedicated bearer establishment application to the PCF, carrying the media service type and media parameters, the calling device type and calling identity, the called device type and called identity. The PCF cooperates with the computing power network to establish a dedicated bearer of an optimal path between the calling and called users, and at the same time obtains a UMF instance on the optimal path corresponding to the dedicated bearer. This UMF instance can implement the media service type in the above request message and return it to the P-CSCF. The P-CSCF sends a media resource application to the returned UMF instance address and completes subsequent call-related processing. However, the embodiments of the present disclosure may not be limited to the IMS network, but may also be used in networks other than the future IMS network. For network elements / devices / equipment / modules that can implement the above P-CSCF and PCF functions in future networks, the solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented, and are within the scope of protection of the present disclosure. In some embodiments, the computing power network may also be replaced by other networks including network entities that can provide both computing power services and bearer paths at the same time.

[0093] Figure 4 The flowchart implemented at the first network device in some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. In some embodiments, the first network device 210 described above may be an example of the first network device in process 400, and the second network device 220 described above may be an example of the second network device in process 400.

[0094] like Figure 4As shown, at box 410, at the first network device, a request for establishing a bearer for a communication service between a calling device and a called device is received from a second network device, wherein the request includes media service information associated with the communication service, first information associated with the calling device, and second information associated with the called device. At box 420, the first network device sends a response to the request to the second network device, wherein the response includes identification information of a media plane network element on a bearer path corresponding to the bearer, and the bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information. The bearer is, for example, a dedicated bearer.

[0095] In some embodiments, the media service information includes a media service type and a media parameter. In some embodiments, the first information includes a calling device type and a calling device identifier. In some embodiments, the second information includes a called device type and a called device identifier. In some embodiments, the media plane network element provides a media function instance. In some embodiments, one or more of the above embodiments can be combined to achieve the above.

[0096] In some embodiments, the media function instance may be a unified media function (UMF) instance. In some examples, the identification information may include a media function instance address, such as an address of a UMF instance.

[0097] In some embodiments, the first network device may determine a bearer path and / or a media plane network element based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information.

[0098] In some embodiments, the bearer path is selected from a plurality of bearer paths based on performance of the plurality of bearer paths corresponding to the bearer.

[0099] In some embodiments, determining the bearer path and / or media plane network element specifically includes: determining a candidate bearer path for bearing based on the first information and the second information, and determining the bearer path and / or media plane network element based on the candidate bearer path and the media service information.

[0100] In some embodiments, determining the bearer path and / or media plane network element based on the candidate bearer path and media service information specifically includes at least one of the following: determining the media plane network element based on the positional relationship between the candidate media plane network element corresponding to the media service information and the user plane forwarding network element corresponding to the candidate bearer path, or determining the bearer path based on the position of the media plane network element and the candidate bearer path. It should be noted that the determined bearer path may be formed by connecting multiple user plane forwarding network elements. In some embodiments, the user plane forwarding network element is a user plane function (UPF), then the determined bearer path may be a path formed by connecting multiple UPFs.

[0101] In some embodiments, the positional relationship between the candidate media plane network element and the user plane forwarding network element includes: the candidate media plane network element is deployed on the UPF, or the candidate media plane network element is not deployed on the user plane forwarding network element.

[0102] In some embodiments, when the candidate media plane network element is not deployed on the user plane forwarding network element and there are multiple candidate media plane network elements, the media plane network element is the candidate media plane network element that minimizes the delay increase of the bearer path relative to the candidate bearer path.

[0103] In some embodiments, the media plane network element includes a computing node in a computing network. In some embodiments, determining the bearer path and / or the media plane network element specifically includes: sending media service information, first information, and second information to a node in the computing network, and receiving indication information for indicating the bearer path and / or the media plane network element from the node. The node is different from the media plane network element.

[0104] In some embodiments, the first network device is a policy control function (PCF), and / or the second network device is a session control function. In some embodiments, the session control function is a proxy-call session control function (P-CSCF).

[0105] Figure 5 The flowchart implemented at the second network device in some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown. In some embodiments, the first network device 210 described above may be an example of the first network device in process 500, and the second network device 220 described above may be an example of the second network device in process 500.

[0106] like Figure 5 As shown, in box 510, at the second network device, a request for establishing a bearer for a communication service between a calling device and a called device is sent to the first network device, the request including media service information associated with the communication service, first information associated with the calling device, and second information associated with the called device. In box 520, a response to the request is received from the first network device, wherein the response includes identification information of a media plane network element on a bearer path corresponding to the bearer, and the bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information. The bearer is, for example, a dedicated bearer.

[0107] In some embodiments, the media service information includes a media service type and media parameters. Additionally or alternatively, the first information includes a calling device type and a calling device identifier. Additionally or alternatively, the second information includes a called device type and a called device identifier. Additionally or alternatively, the media plane network element includes a media function instance.

[0108] In some embodiments, the identification information includes an address of the UMF instance.

[0109] In some embodiments, the bearer path is selected from a plurality of bearer paths based on performance of the plurality of bearer paths corresponding to the bearer.

[0110] In some embodiments, the media plane network element includes a computing node in a computing power network.

[0111] In some embodiments, the first network device is a policy control function, and / or the second network device is a session control function.

[0112] In some embodiments, the session control function is a Proxy-Call Session Control Function (P-CSCF).

[0113] Figure 6 Schematic diagram of the structure of possible communication devices provided by embodiments of the present disclosure. These communication devices can implement the functions of the first network device (e.g., the first network device 210) or the second network device (e.g., the second network device 220) in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments. For example, in some embodiments of the present disclosure, the communication device can be as follows: Figure 1A The network device 140 or 150 shown may also be a module (such as a chip) applied to the network device 140 or 150.

[0114] like Figure 6 As shown, the communication device 600 includes a receiving unit 610 and a sending unit 620. The communication device can be used to implement the above Figure 4 The functions of the first network device in the method embodiment shown are as follows: The receiving unit 610 may be a receiver, and the sending unit 620 may be a sender.

[0115] When the communication device 600 is used to implement the above Figure 4 In the method embodiment shown, when the function of the first network device is implemented, the receiving unit 610 is used to receive a request from the second network device to establish a bearer for a communication service between a calling device and a called device, wherein the request includes media service information associated with the communication service, first information associated with the calling device, and second information associated with the called device; the sending unit 620 is used to send a response to the request to the second network device, wherein the response includes identification information of a media plane network element on a bearer path corresponding to the bearer, and the bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information.

[0116] When the communication device 600 is used to implement the above Figure 5 In the method embodiment shown, the function of the second network device is: Figure 6The receiving unit 610 in the embodiment can be replaced by a sending unit, which is used to send a request for establishing a bearer for a communication service between a calling device and a called device to the first network device, wherein the request includes media service information associated with the communication service, first information associated with the calling device, and second information associated with the called device. The sending unit 620 can be replaced by a receiving unit in a second network device (different from the receiving unit 610 in the first network device described above), which is used to receive a response to the request from the first network device, wherein the response includes identification information of a media plane network element on a bearer path corresponding to the bearer, and the bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information.

[0117] For a more detailed description of the above-mentioned units, please refer to the relevant description in the above-mentioned method embodiment, which will not be described again here.

[0118] like Figure 7 As shown, the communication device 700 includes a processor 710 and an interface circuit 720. The processor 710 and the interface circuit 720 are coupled to each other. It can be understood that the interface circuit 720 can be a transceiver or an input-output interface. Optionally, the communication device 700 can also include a memory 730 for storing instructions executed by the processor 710 or storing input data required by the processor 710 to run the instructions or storing data generated after the processor 710 runs the instructions. It should be noted that, in some embodiments, the processor 710 and the memory 730 can be integrated into the same device.

[0119] When the communication device 700 is used to implement the method in the above method embodiment, the interface circuit 720 is used to execute the functions of the above receiving unit 610 and the sending unit 620.

[0120] When the communication device is a chip applied to the first network device, the first network device chip implements the function of the first network device in the above method embodiment. The first network device chip receives information from other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the first network device, and the information may be sent by other network devices; or the first network device chip sends information to other modules (such as a radio frequency module or an antenna) in the first network device, and the information is sent to other network devices.

[0121] It is understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be a central processing unit (CPU), or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, transistor logic devices, hardware components or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0122] The present disclosure provides a communication system. The communication system may include the above Figure 6 The communication device involved in the embodiment shown is a first network device and / or a second network device. Optionally, the first network device and / or the second network device in the communication system may execute Figure 4 or Figure 5 The communication method shown.

[0123] The present disclosure also provides a circuit, which can be coupled to a memory and can be used to execute a process related to the first network device or the second network device in any of the above method embodiments. The chip system may include the chip and other components such as a memory or a transceiver.

[0124] It should be understood that the processor mentioned in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be a CPU, or other general-purpose processors, digital signal processors (DSP), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, etc. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may also be any conventional processor, etc.

[0125] It should also be understood that the memory mentioned in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be a volatile memory or a non-volatile memory, or may include both volatile and non-volatile memories. Among them, the non-volatile memory may be a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or a flash memory. The volatile memory may be a random access memory (RAM), which is used as an external cache. By way of example and not limitation, many forms of RAM are available, such as static RAM (SRAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM), synchronous DRAM (SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (doubledatarate SDRAM, DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), synchronous link dynamic random access memory (synchlink DRAM, SLDRAM), and direct rambus RAM (DR RAM).

[0126] It should be noted that when the processor is a general-purpose processor, DSP, ASIC, FPGA or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic device, discrete hardware component, the memory (storage module) is integrated in the processor.

[0127] It should be noted that the memory described herein is intended to include, but is not limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0128] It should be understood that in the various embodiments of the present disclosure, the size of the serial numbers of the above-mentioned processes does not mean the order of execution. The execution order of each process should be determined by its function and internal logic, and should not constitute any limitation on the implementation process of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0129] Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the modules and algorithm steps of each example described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this disclosure.

[0130] Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and brevity of description, the specific working processes of the systems, devices and modules described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the aforementioned method embodiments and will not be repeated here.

[0131] In the several embodiments provided in the present disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed communication methods and devices can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are only schematic. For example, the division of the module is only a logical function division. There may be other division methods in actual implementation, such as multiple modules or components can be combined or integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0132] The modules described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as modules may or may not be physical modules, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed on multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0133] In addition, each functional module in each embodiment of the present disclosure may be integrated into one processing module, or each module may exist physically separately, or two or more modules may be integrated into one module.

[0134] If the function is implemented in the form of a software function module and sold or used as an independent product, it can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the present disclosure can be essentially or the part that makes the contribution or the part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the method of each embodiment of the present disclosure. The aforementioned computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example but not limitation, computer-readable media may include random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read only memory (EEPROM), compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), universal serial bus flash disk, mobile hard disk, or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer.

[0135] As used herein, the term "including" and similar terms should be understood as open inclusion, i.e., "including but not limited to". The term "based on" should be understood as "based at least in part on". The term "one embodiment" or "the embodiment" should be understood as "at least one embodiment". The terms "first", "second", etc. can refer to different or identical objects, and are only used to distinguish the objects referred to, without implying a specific spatial order, temporal order, order of importance, etc. of the objects referred to. In some embodiments, values, processes, selected items, determined items, equipment, devices, means, components, assemblies, etc. are referred to as "best", "lowest", "highest", "minimum", "maximum", etc. It should be understood that such descriptions are intended to indicate that a selection can be made among many available functional options, and such selections do not need to be better, lower, higher, smaller, larger or otherwise preferred than other options in other aspects or all aspects. As used herein, the term "determine" can cover a variety of actions. For example, "determine" can include calculation, calculation, processing, export, investigation, search (e.g., search in a table, database or another data structure), ascertainment, etc. Additionally, "determining" may include receiving (eg, receiving information), accessing (eg, accessing data in a memory), etc. Furthermore, "determining" may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, etc.

[0136] The above is only a specific implementation of the present disclosure, but the protection scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Any technician familiar with the technical field can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure, which should be included in the protection scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure. Therefore, the protection scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A method comprising: receiving a request for establishing a bearer for a communication service between a calling device and a called device, wherein the request includes media service information associated with the communication service, first information associated with the calling device, and second information associated with the called device; as well as Send a response to the request, wherein the response includes identification information of a media plane network element on a bearer path corresponding to the bearer, and the bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the following: The media service information includes a media service type and media parameters; The first information includes the calling device type and the calling device identification; The second information includes the called device type and the called device identifier; or The media plane network element provides a media function instance. The method according to claim 2 , wherein the identification information comprises an address of the media function instance. 4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the bearer path is selected from a plurality of bearer paths based on performances of the plurality of bearer paths corresponding to the bearer.

5. The method according to claim 1, comprising determining the bearer path and / or the media plane network element by: Determining a candidate bearer path for the bearer based on the first information and the second information; The bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined based on the candidate bearer path and the media service information.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein determining the bearer path and / or the media plane network element based on the candidate bearer path and the media service information comprises at least one of the following: Determine the media plane network element based on a positional relationship between a candidate media plane network element corresponding to the media service information and a user plane forwarding network element corresponding to the candidate bearer path; or The bearer path is determined based on the location of the media plane network element and the candidate bearer path.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the position relationship between the candidate media plane network element and the user plane forwarding network element comprises: The candidate media plane network element is deployed on the user plane forwarding network element; or The candidate media plane network element is not deployed on the user plane forwarding network element.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein, when the candidate media plane network element is not deployed on the user plane forwarding network element and the number of the candidate media plane network elements is multiple, the media plane network element is the candidate media plane network element that minimizes the delay increase of the bearer path relative to the candidate bearer path.

9. The method according to any one of claims 6-8, wherein the user plane forwarding network element is a user plane function.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1-9, wherein the media plane network element comprises a computing node in a computing power network.

11. The method according to claim 1, comprising determining the bearer path and / or the media plane network element by: Sending the media service information, the first information, and the second information to a node in the computing power network, where the node is different from the media plane network element; and Indication information indicating the bearer path and / or the media plane network element is received from the node.

12. A method comprising: Sending a request for establishing a bearer for a communication service between a calling device and a called device, the request comprising media service information associated with the communication service, first information associated with the calling device, and second information associated with the called device; as well as A response to the request is received, wherein the response includes identification information of a media plane network element on a bearer path corresponding to the bearer, and the bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein at least one of the following: The media service information includes a media service type and media parameters; The first information includes the calling device type and the calling device identification; The second information includes the called device type and the called device identifier; or The media plane network element includes a media function instance. The method according to claim 13 , wherein the identification information comprises an address of the media function instance.

15. The method according to any one of claims 12 to 14, wherein the bearer path is selected from a plurality of bearer paths based on performance of the plurality of bearer paths corresponding to the bearer.

16. The method according to any one of claims 12-15, wherein the media plane network element comprises a computing node in a computing power network.

17. A first network device, comprising: A receiving unit, configured to receive a request for establishing a bearer for a communication service between a calling device and a called device, wherein the request includes media service information associated with the communication service, first information associated with the calling device, and second information associated with the called device; as well as A sending unit, used to send a response to the request, wherein the response includes identification information of a media plane network element on a bearer path corresponding to the bearer, and the bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined based on the media service information, the first information and the second information.

18. The first network device according to claim 17, wherein at least one of the following: The media service information includes a media service type and media parameters; The first information includes the calling device type and the calling device identification; The second information includes the called device type and the called device identifier; or The media plane network element provides a media function instance. The first network device according to claim 18 , wherein the identification information comprises an address of the media function instance.

20. The first network device according to any one of claims 17 to 19, further comprising a determining unit, configured to: The bearer path and / or the media plane network element is determined based on the media service information, the first information, and the second information.

21. The first network device according to any one of claims 17 to 20, wherein the bearer path is selected from a plurality of bearer paths based on performances of the plurality of bearer paths corresponding to the bearer.

22. The first network device according to claim 20, wherein the determining unit is further configured to: Determining a candidate bearer path for the bearer based on the first information and the second information; The bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined based on the candidate bearer path and the media service information.

23. The first network device according to claim 22, wherein the determining unit is further configured to: Determining the media plane network element based on a positional relationship between a candidate media plane network element corresponding to the media service information and a user plane forwarding network element corresponding to the candidate bearer path; and The bearer path is determined based on the location of the media plane network element and the candidate bearer path.

24. The first network device according to claim 23, wherein the position relationship between the candidate media plane network element and the user plane forwarding network element comprises: The candidate media plane network element is deployed on the user plane forwarding network element; or The candidate media plane network element is not deployed on the user plane forwarding network element.

25. The first network device according to claim 24, wherein, when the candidate media plane network element is not deployed on the user plane forwarding network element and the number of the candidate media plane network elements is multiple, the media plane network element is the candidate media plane network element that minimizes the delay increase of the bearer path relative to the candidate bearer path.

26. The first network device according to any one of claims 23-25, wherein the user plane forwarding network element is a user plane function.

27. The first network device according to any one of claims 17-26, wherein the media plane network element comprises a computing node in a computing power network.

28. The first network device according to claim 20, wherein the determining unit is further configured to: Sending the media service information, the first information, and the second information to a node in the computing power network, where the node is different from the media plane network element; and Indication information indicating the bearer path and / or the media plane network element is received from the node.

29. The first network device according to any one of claims 17-28, wherein the first network device is a policy control function.

30. A second network device, comprising: a sending unit, configured to send a request for establishing a bearer for a communication service between a calling device and a called device, the request comprising media service information associated with the communication service, first information associated with the calling device, and second information associated with the called device; as well as A receiving unit is used to receive a response to the request, wherein the response includes identification information of a media plane network element on a bearer path corresponding to the bearer, and the bearer path and / or the media plane network element are determined based on the media service information, the first information and the second information.

31. The second network device of claim 30, wherein at least one of the following: The media service information includes a media service type and media parameters; The first information includes the calling device type and the calling device identification; The second information includes the called device type and the called device identifier; or The media plane network element includes a media function instance.

32. The second network device of claim 31, wherein the identification information comprises an address of the media function instance.

33. The second network device according to any one of claims 30 to 32, wherein the bearer path is selected from a plurality of bearer paths based on performances of the plurality of bearer paths corresponding to the bearer.

34. The second network device according to any one of claims 30-33, wherein the media plane network element comprises a computing node in a computing power network.

35. The second network device according to any one of claims 30-34, wherein the second network device is a session control function.

36. The second network device of claim 35, wherein the session control function is a proxy-call session control function.

37. A communication system comprising: The first network device according to any one of claims 17 to 29 and the second network device according to claims 31 to 37.

38. A computer-readable storage medium storing instructions, which, when executed, cause the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11 or claims 12 to 16 to be executed.

39. A computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed, cause the method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, or claims 12 to 16 to be performed.

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