Communication method and device

Abstract

Provided are a communication method and device, relating to the technical field of communications, an access network device receiving at least two pieces of first information, each piece of first information comprising: an operation identifier, the operation identifier being used for indicating information of a corresponding service operation; if the operation identifiers in the at least two pieces of first information are the same, the operation identifiers indicate the information of the corresponding service operation, if the access network equipment receives the at least two same operation identifiers, it is considered that multiple same operation instructions are received, and then the access network equipment only executes the service operation corresponding to the operation identifiers once; on the basis, the situation that the same operation instruction is executed for multiple times and multiple same operation results are reported can be avoided, the problem of information redundancy can be avoided, signaling interacted by the access network equipment can be reduced, signaling resources can be further saved, and the data processing efficiency can be improved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present application relate to the field of communication technology, and in particular, to a communication method and device. Background Art

[0002] In the passive IoT (P-IoT; also known as ambient ioT, A-IoT) service, the server can send operation instructions to the passive IoT device through the core network. The operation instructions may include but are not limited to executing to obtain passive IoT device information, operation types (inventory, read, write, etc.), etc. The radio access network (RAN) sends access instructions to the passive IoT device. When the passive IoT device successfully accesses randomly, the RAN will send instructions to the passive IoT device (the instructions include the operation instructions forwarded by the base station). The passive IoT device obtains or sends corresponding operation information according to the instructions and uploads the operation information to the core network.

[0003] However, multiple core network devices used to govern multiple areas may select the same RAN, resulting in the same RAN receiving the same operation instructions sent by multiple core network devices for terminals within the coverage of the RAN. Since the RAN cannot perceive the receipt of multiple identical operation instructions in the P-IoT service, the RAN executes the same operation instructions multiple times to obtain the same operation results. When the RAN reports multiple identical operation results, information redundancy will occur. Summary of the invention

[0004] The present application provides a communication method and device to avoid executing the same operation instructions multiple times and causing information redundancy when a RAN receives multiple same operation instructions.

[0005] In a first aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to an access network device, and the access network device may be a radio access network device (RAN), a transmission reception point (TRP), a 5th generation (5G) base station (gNodeB, gNB), a pole station, a micro base station, an indoor pole station, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, etc., and may also be a chip for implementing the functions of the access network device. The present application is not specifically limited here, and is executed as follows:

[0006] The access network device receives at least two first information, each of which includes: an operation identifier, which is used to indicate information of a corresponding service operation; if the operation identifiers in at least two first information are the same, the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier is executed once.

[0007] Usually, there is a corresponding relationship between the operation identifier and the business operation information. The business operation information usually includes the business operation requested by the business requester for a certain area (wherein the operation types of the business operation include: inventory, read operation, write operation, interactive operation, deactivation operation and positioning operation, etc.). For example, business operation information 1 is the inventory operation of business requester 1 for area 1, and the business operation identifier determined based on the business operation information is operation identifier 1, then operation identifier 1 indicates business operation information 1. If the access network device receives two operation identifiers 1 at the same time, the business operation corresponding to operation identifier 1 is only executed once, that is, the corresponding terminal of business requester 1 in area 1 is inventoried.

[0008] In the present application, the operation identifier indicates the information of the corresponding business operation. If the access network device receives at least two identical operation identifiers, it is considered that multiple identical operation instructions have been received. Then the access network device only executes the business operation corresponding to the operation identifier once. Based on this, it can avoid executing the same operation instructions multiple times and reporting multiple identical operation results. It can avoid the problem of information redundancy and reduce the signaling of access network device interaction, which can further save signaling resources and improve data processing efficiency.

[0009] In an optional manner, the access network device receiving at least two first information includes: receiving first information from at least two core network devices.

[0010] The above-mentioned core network equipment can be 5G core network equipment such as AMF, TMF, NEF, or it can be 3G, 4G, 6G or even future core network equipment, which is not specifically limited here.

[0011] In an optional manner, if the operation identifiers in at least two first information are the same, the access network device performs a service operation corresponding to the operation identifier, including:

[0012] If the operation identifiers in at least two first information are the same, broadcast the random access information once; obtain the information of the terminal that performs the random access, the terminal information includes: the terminal identifier; determine the first target core network device associated with the terminal according to the terminal identifier, the first target core network device is one of at least two core network devices; send the terminal information to the first target core network device. Subsequently, the first target network device can perform service operations on the terminal, such as reading and writing, according to the service operation information.

[0013] In an optional manner, if the operation identifiers in at least two first information are the same, the access network device performs a service operation corresponding to the operation identifier, including:

[0014] If the operation identifiers in at least two first information are the same, broadcast the random access information once; obtain the information of the terminal that performs the random access, the terminal information includes: the terminal identifier and the operation information obtained by the terminal performing the service operation; determine the first target core network device associated with the terminal based on the terminal identifier, the first target core network device is one of at least two core network devices; send the terminal information to the first target core network device.

[0015] The random access information includes: indicating that passive IoT devices within the coverage of the access network device randomly access the access network device. Optionally, indicating that passive IoT devices within the coverage range randomly access the access network device also includes indicating that IoT devices within the coverage range that meet the mask range randomly access the access network device.

[0016] Optionally, after sending the terminal information to the first target core network device, the access network device may also reject other core network devices among the at least two core network devices. One possible form is to send a rejection message to other core network devices among the at least two core network devices.

[0017] In this application, when the access network device determines that the operation identifiers from multiple core network devices are the same, it only broadcasts the random access information once, which can avoid executing the same operation instructions multiple times. In addition, the access network device selects the core network device for uplink transmission based on the information of the random access terminal, which can avoid the situation where multiple core network devices exchange terminal context information and perform security verification on the terminal performing random access based on the obtained terminal context information. Once the access network device obtains the information of the terminal performing random access, it can select the core network device associated with the terminal based on the terminal information, and send the information obtained by the terminal performing service operations to the selected core network device. This method reduces the signaling interaction between multiple core network devices and can save signaling resources.

[0018] In an optional manner, if the operation identifiers in at least two first information are the same, the access network device performs a service operation corresponding to the operation identifier, including:

[0019] If the operation identifiers in at least two of the first information are the same, the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier of the second target core network device from the at least two core network devices is executed, and the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier of other core network devices from the at least two core network devices except the second target core network device is refused to be executed, and the second target core network device is one of the at least two core network devices.

[0020] If the access network device determines that the operation identifiers in at least two first information are the same, then randomly select an operation instruction of a core network device to execute (usually, when the core network device sends the operation identifier to the access network device, it will also carry the operation instruction, and the operation instruction may include the area where the service requester requests the operation and the service type of the requested service operation, etc., which will not be explained in detail here), and then broadcast the random access information once; obtain the information of the terminal that performs random access, the terminal information includes: the terminal identifier; determine the core network device associated with the terminal (that is, the core network device that stores the terminal context information) according to the terminal identifier, and the core network device associated with the terminal is one of the at least two core network devices; if the core network device associated with the terminal is the above-mentioned randomly selected core network device, the access network device sends the terminal information to the core network device associated with the terminal. If the core network device associated with the terminal is not the above-mentioned randomly selected core network device, the randomly selected core network device needs to request the terminal context information from the core network device associated with the terminal, and authenticate the identity of the terminal based on the terminal context information. After the authentication is passed, the access network device sends the terminal information to the randomly selected core network device. The core network equipment then performs service operations on the terminal, such as reading and writing, based on the service operation information.

[0021] The random access information includes: indicating that passive IoT devices within the coverage of the access network device randomly access the access network device. Optionally, indicating that passive IoT devices within the coverage range randomly access the access network device also includes indicating that IoT devices within the coverage range that meet the mask range randomly access the access network device.

[0022] In the present application, when the access network device determines that the operation identifiers from multiple core network devices are the same, it only executes the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier from one of the at least two core network devices, and rejects the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier from other core network devices among the at least two core network devices. In this way, the execution of multiple identical operation instructions can be avoided.

[0023] In an optional manner, after refusing to execute the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier from the other core network devices except the second target core network device among the at least two core network devices, the method further includes:

[0024] Send indication information to other core network devices, where the indication information is used to indicate that the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier of the other core network devices is a repeated service operation.

[0025] In the present application, the access network device can avoid repeatedly executing random access instructions based on the information used to indicate repeated service operations, thereby reducing the redundancy of the access network device operations.

[0026] In a second aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a first core network device, and the first core network device may be a network exposure function (NEF). The present application is not specifically limited here, and is executed as follows:

[0027] Determine an operation identifier, where the operation identifier is used to indicate information of a corresponding business operation; and send the operation identifier.

[0028] In an optional manner, the first core network device sends an operation identifier, including: sending an operation identifier to at least two second core network devices (the second core network device may be an AMF, a passive IoT device management function (tag management function, TMF), etc.).

[0029] The at least two second core network devices mentioned above can be core network devices determined by the first core network device to perform corresponding service operations. The first core network device can determine the second core network device based on the location information in the first information of the service requester, or obtain information from other devices to determine the information of at least two first core network devices, which is not specifically limited in this application.

[0030] In an optional manner, the first core network device determines the operation identifier, including receiving first information from a service requester, where the first information includes the operation identifier and information about the service operation; and determining the operation identifier based on the first information.

[0031] Optionally, if the first core network device determines that there is only one second core network device, there is no need to construct (generate or determine or obtain) an operation identifier.

[0032] In an optional manner, the first core network device determines the operation identifier, including: receiving second information from a service requester, the second information including information of the service operation; and generating the operation identifier according to the information of the service operation.

[0033] In an optional manner, the information of the service operation indicates at least one of the following information: a service requester, an operation type, a scope to be operated, and a request time of the service operation.

[0034] The service requester may be indicated by at least one of the following information: an identifier of the service requester, an Internet protocol (IP) address of the service requester, a media access control address (MAC address) of the service requester, and a port number of the service requester; the scope to be operated is an area to be operated of the service requester, or an identifier of a group to be operated of the service requester; the area to be operated is indicated by at least one of the following information: cell information covered by an access network device where the area to be operated is located, tracking area information where the area to be operated is located, and geographic location information where the area to be operated is located.

[0035] In a third aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a first core network device. The first core network device may be an AMF, a TMF, etc. The present application is not specifically limited here, and is executed as follows:

[0036] Obtain information of a core network device group, where the core network device group includes a first core network device and at least one second core network device (the second core network device may be AMF, TMF, etc., and the first core network device and the second core network device have the same device type, such as the first core network device is AMF, the second core network device is also AMF, etc.); receive identifiers of second access network devices respectively sent from at least one second core network device, and a second access network device is a candidate device for a corresponding second core network device; select a target access network device according to the identifier of the first access network device and the identifiers of multiple second access network devices, the target access network device is different from the target access network device respectively selected by at least one second core network device, and the first access network device is a candidate device for the first core network device.

[0037] In the present application, the first core network device and the second core network device negotiate to select an access network device, which can avoid the situation where the same access network device receives operation instructions from different core network devices and avoid executing the same operation instructions multiple times.

[0038] In an optional manner, before the first core network device selects the target access network device according to the identifier of the first access network device and the identifiers of multiple second access network devices, it also includes: sending the identifier of the first access network device to at least one second core network device.

[0039] In an optional manner, the first core network device obtains information about the core network device group, including: receiving first information from a third core network device (the third core network device may be NEF, etc.), the first information including information about the core network device group; and obtaining information about the core network device group based on the first information.

[0040] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a third core network device, and the third core network device may be a NEF, etc. The present application is not specifically limited here, and is executed as follows:

[0041] Determine the information of the core network device group, which includes a first core network device and at least one second core network device (the first core network device and the second core network device can be AMF, TMF, etc., and the first core network device and the second core network device are of the same device type, such as the first core network device is AMF, the second core network device is also AMF, etc.); send the information of the core network device group to the first core network device.

[0042] In an optional manner, the third core network device determines the information of the core network device group including: receiving request information from a service requester, the request information including: information on service operations, the information on service operations indicating information on the area to be operated of the service operations; determining the information of the core network device group based on the information on the area to be operated; the third core network device sends the information of the core network device group to the first core network device including: sending first information to the first core network device, the first information including: information on the core network device group.

[0043] In an optional manner, the first information further includes: an operation identifier, where the operation identifier is used to indicate information of a corresponding business operation.

[0044] In an optional manner, the information of the service operation indicates at least one of the following information: a service requester, an operation type, a scope to be operated, and a request time of the service operation.

[0045] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a first core network device, and the first core network device may be a NEF. The present application is not specifically limited here, and is executed as follows:

[0046] Acquire at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information; select at least two second core network devices (the second core network devices may be AMF, TMF, etc.) according to the target location information, and the at least two second core network devices are located in the location area corresponding to the target location information, and the target location information is one of the at least one location information; allocate different access network devices to the at least two second core network devices according to the identifier of the access network device corresponding to the target location information, and send the identifier of the allocated access network device to the at least two second core network devices respectively.

[0047] In the present application, the first core network device obtains at least one location information and an identifier of the access network device corresponding to each location information, and based on this, different access network devices are assigned to different second core network devices. This can avoid the situation where the same access network device receives operation instructions from different core network devices, and can avoid executing the same operation instructions multiple times.

[0048] In an optional manner, the first core network device obtains at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information, including: receiving first information from a data management network element, the first information including at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information.

[0049] In an optional manner, the first core network device also receives request information from the service requester, the request information including: information on the service operation, the information on the service operation indicating information on an area to be operated for the service operation; and determining target location information based on the information on the area to be operated.

[0050] In a sixth aspect, the present application provides a communication method, which is applied to a second core network device, and the second core network device may be an AMF, a TMF, etc., which is not specifically limited in the present application and is executed as follows:

[0051] Acquire at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information; send at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information to a data management network element; receive an identifier of a first access network device from a first core network device, the identifier of the first access network device being an identifier of an access network device corresponding to target location information, the target location information being one of the at least one location information, and the second core network device being located within a location area corresponding to the target location information.

[0052] In the seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, which may be an access network device (such as the access network device in the first aspect or a chip arranged inside the access network device, or a core network device or a chip arranged inside the core network device. The communication device has the function of implementing any one of the first to sixth aspects above. For example, the communication device includes a module or unit or means corresponding to the steps involved in any one of the first to sixth aspects above. The function or unit or means may be implemented by software, or by hardware, or the corresponding software may be implemented by hardware.

[0053] In one possible design, the communication device includes a processing unit and a transceiver unit, wherein the transceiver unit can be used to send and receive signals to realize communication between the communication device and other devices, for example, the transceiver unit is used to receive request information from a service requester; the processing unit can be used to perform some internal operations of the communication device. The transceiver unit can be called an input-output unit, a communication unit, etc., and the transceiver unit can be a transceiver; the processing unit can be a processor. When the communication device is a module (such as a chip) in a communication device, the transceiver unit can be an input-output interface, an input-output circuit or an input-output pin, etc., and can also be called an interface, a communication interface or an interface circuit, etc.; the processing unit can be a processor, a processing circuit or a logic circuit, etc.

[0054] In another possible design, the communication device includes a processor and may also include a transceiver, the transceiver is used to send and receive signals, and the processor executes program instructions to complete the method in any possible design or implementation of the first to sixth aspects above. The communication device may also include one or more memories, the memory is used to couple with the processor, and the memory can store the necessary computer programs or instructions for implementing the functions involved in any of the first to sixth aspects above. The processor can execute the computer program or instructions stored in the memory, and when the computer program or instructions are executed, the communication device implements the method in any possible design or implementation of the first to sixth aspects above.

[0055] In another possible design, the communication device includes a processor, which can be used to couple with a memory. The memory can store necessary computer programs or instructions for implementing the functions involved in any one of the first to sixth aspects. The processor can execute the computer program or instructions stored in the memory, and when the computer program or instructions are executed, the communication device implements the method in any possible design or implementation of the first to sixth aspects.

[0056] In another possible design, the communication device includes a processor and an interface circuit, wherein the processor is used to communicate with other devices through the interface circuit and execute the method in any possible design or implementation of the first to sixth aspects above.

[0057] It can be understood that in the seventh aspect above, the processor can be implemented by hardware or by software. When implemented by hardware, the processor can be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, etc.; when implemented by software, the processor can be a general-purpose processor, which is implemented by reading the software code stored in the memory. In addition, the above processors can be one or more, and the memories can be one or more. The memory can be integrated with the processor, or the memory can be separately set from the processor. In the specific implementation process, the memory can be integrated with the processor on the same chip, or can be set on different chips respectively. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the type of memory and the setting method of the memory and the processor.

[0058] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes the access network equipment and core network equipment in the above-mentioned first to sixth aspects.

[0059] In a ninth aspect, the present application provides a chip system, which includes a processor and may also include a memory, for implementing the method described in any possible design of the first to sixth aspects above. The chip system may be composed of a chip, or may include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0060] In the tenth aspect, the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, in which computer-readable instructions are stored. When the computer-readable instructions are executed on a computer, the computer executes a method in any possible design of the first to sixth aspects.

[0061] In an eleventh aspect, the present application provides a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the methods of the various embodiments of the first to sixth aspects described above.

[0062] For the technical effects that can be achieved in the above-mentioned second to eleventh aspects, please refer to the description of the technical effects that can be achieved by the corresponding possible design schemes in the above-mentioned first, third and fifth aspects, and this application will not repeat them here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0063] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a network architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0064] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of another network architecture provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0065] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a passive IoT service is shown;

[0066] Figure 4A A schematic diagram of the inventory process is shown;

[0067] Figure 4B A schematic diagram of the reading and writing process is shown;

[0068] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of a business operation process of a passive IoT business is shown;

[0069] Figure 6 A flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0070] Figure 7 A flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0071] Figure 8 A flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0072] Fig. 9 A flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0073] Fig.10 A flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0074] Fig.11 A flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0075] Fig.12 A flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0076] Fig.13 A schematic diagram showing the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0077] Fig.14 A schematic diagram showing the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown;

[0078] Fig.15 A schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0079] In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present application clearer, the present application will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The specific operating method in the method embodiment can also be applied to the device embodiment or system embodiment. Among them, in the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified, the meaning of "multiple" is two or more. Therefore, the implementation of the device and the method can refer to each other, and the repetitions will not be repeated.

[0080] In order to meet the challenges of wireless broadband technology and maintain the leading edge of the third generation partnership project (3GPP) network, the 3GPP standards group has developed the next generation mobile communication network system (Next Generation System) architecture, called the 5G network architecture. This architecture not only supports the wireless access technology defined by the 3GPP standards group (such as long term evolution (LTE) access technology, RAN access technology, etc.) to access the 5G core network (CN), but also supports the use of non-3GPP (non-3GPP) access technology through the non-3GPP interworking function (N3IWF) or the next generation packet data gateway (ngPDG) to access the core network.

[0081] Figure 1 Schematic diagram of 5G network architecture based on service-oriented architecture. Figure 1 The 5G network architecture shown may include access network equipment and core network equipment. The terminal accesses the data network (DN) through the access network equipment and the core network equipment. Among them, the core network equipment includes but is not limited to some or all of the following network elements: authentication server function (AUSF) network element (not shown in the figure), unified data management (UDM) network element, unified data repository (UDR) network element, network storage function (NRF) network element (not shown in the figure), network exposure function (NEF) network element (not shown in the figure), application function (AF) network element, policy control function (PCF) network element, access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, session management function (SMF) network element, user plane function (UPF) network element, binding support function (BSF) network element (not shown in the figure).

[0082] The terminal can be user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. The terminal can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle to everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wear, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, wearable device, vehicle, urban air transportation (such as drone, helicopter, etc.), ship, robot, robotic arm, smart home equipment, etc.

[0083] The access network equipment may be a base station, a pole station, an indoor base station (e.g., a lamp site), a home base station (e.g., a home NB), a micro base station, an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a mobile base station, a radio access network (RAN) device, or a wired access network (FAN) device. Among them, the radio access network equipment includes 3GPP access network equipment, untrusted non-3GPP access network equipment, and trusted non-3GPP access network equipment. 3GPP access network equipment includes, but is not limited to: evolved nodeB (eNodeB) in LTE, next generation nodeB (gNB) in 5G mobile communication systems, base stations in future mobile communication systems, or modules or units that complete some functions of base stations, such as centralized units (CU), distributed units (DU), etc. Untrusted non-3GPP access network equipment includes, but is not limited to: untrusted non-3GPP access gateways or N3IWF devices, untrusted wireless local area network (WLAN) access points (AP), switches, and routers. Trusted non-3GPP access network equipment includes but is not limited to: trusted non-3GPP access gateway, trusted WLAN AP, switch, router. Wired access network equipment includes but is not limited to: wireline access gateway, fixed telephone network equipment, switch, router.

[0084] The access network equipment and terminals can be fixed or movable. The access network equipment and terminals can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld or vehicle-mounted; they can also be deployed on the water surface; they can also be deployed on airplanes, balloons, and artificial satellites in the air. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios of the access network equipment and terminals.

[0085] The AMF network element performs functions such as mobility management and access authentication / authorization. In addition, it is also responsible for transmitting user policies between the terminal and the PCF network element.

[0086] The SMF network element includes functions such as performing session management, executing control policies issued by the PCF, selecting UPF, and allocating IP addresses of terminals.

[0087] UPF network element, including the functions of completing user plane data forwarding, session / flow-level billing statistics, bandwidth limitation, etc.

[0088] UDM network element includes functions such as execution and management of contract data and user access authorization.

[0089] The UDR network element includes the storage and access functions of contract data, policy data, application data and other types of data.

[0090] NEF network element is used to support the opening of capabilities and events.

[0091] AF network elements transmit the requirements of the application side to the network side, such as quality of service (QoS) requirements or user status event subscriptions. AF can be a third-party functional entity or an application service deployed by an operator, such as the IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) voice call service. Among them, AF network elements include AF network elements in the core network (i.e., AF network elements of operators) and third-party AF network elements (such as an enterprise's application server).

[0092] The PCF network element includes policy control functions such as billing for sessions and service flow levels, QoS bandwidth guarantee, mobility management, and terminal policy decision-making. PCF network elements include access and mobility management policy control function (AM PCF) network elements and session management policy control function (SM PCF) network elements. Among them, the AM PCF network element is used to formulate AM policies for terminals, and the AM PCF network element can also be called a policy control network element that provides services for terminals (PCF for a UE). The SM PCF network element is used to formulate session management policies (session management policies, SM policies) for sessions, and the SM PCF network element can also be called a policy control network element that provides services for sessions ((PCF for a PDU session)).

[0093] NRF network elements can be used to provide network element discovery functions and provide network element information corresponding to the network element type based on requests from other network elements. NRF also provides network element management services, such as network element registration, update, deregistration, and network element status subscription and push.

[0094] BSF network element can provide BSF service registration / deregistration / update, NRF connection detection, session binding information creation, UE information acquisition, IP address duplicate session binding information query and other functions.

[0095] The AUSF network element is responsible for authenticating users to determine whether users or devices are allowed to access the network.

[0096] DN is a network outside the operator network. The operator network can access multiple DNs. Multiple services can be deployed on DN, which can provide data and / or voice services to terminals. For example, DN is the private network of a smart factory. The sensors installed in the workshop of the smart factory can be terminals. The control server of the sensors is deployed in DN, and the control server can provide services for the sensors. The sensors can communicate with the control server, obtain instructions from the control server, and transmit the collected sensor data to the control server according to the instructions. For another example, DN is the internal office network of a company. The mobile phones or computers of the company's employees can be terminals. The employees' mobile phones or computers can access information, data resources, etc. on the company's internal office network.

[0097] Figure 1Npcf, Nurf, Nudm, Naf, Namf, and Nsmf are service interfaces provided by the above PCF, UDR, UDM, AF, AMF, and SMF, respectively, and are used to call corresponding service operations. N1, N2, N3, N4, and N6 are interface serial numbers, and the meanings of these interface serial numbers are as follows:

[0098] 1) N1: The interface between AMF and the terminal, which can be used to transmit non-access stratum (NAS) signaling (such as QoS rules from AMF) to the terminal.

[0099] 2) N2: The interface between AMF and access network equipment, which can be used to transmit wireless bearer control information from the core network side to the access network equipment.

[0100] 3) N3: The interface between the access network equipment and UPF, mainly used to transmit uplink and downlink user plane data between the access network equipment and UPF.

[0101] 4) N4: The interface between SMF and UPF can be used to transmit information between the control plane and the user plane, including controlling the issuance of forwarding rules, QoS rules, traffic statistics rules, etc. for the user plane and reporting information on the user plane.

[0102] 5) N6: The interface between UPF and DN, used to transfer the uplink and downlink user data flows between UPF and DN.

[0103] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the 5G network architecture based on point-to-point interfaces. The functions of the network elements can be found in Figure 2 The introduction of the functions of the corresponding network elements will not be repeated here. Figure 2 and Figure 1 The main differences are: Figure 1 The interfaces between the various control plane network elements in the system are service-oriented interfaces. Figure 2 The interfaces between the various control plane network elements are point-to-point interfaces.

[0104] exist Figure 2 In the architecture shown, the interface names and functions between the various network elements are as follows:

[0105] 1) For the meanings of the N1, N2, N3, N4 and N6 interfaces, please refer to the above description.

[0106] 2) N5: The interface between the AF network element and the PCF network element, which can be used to send application service requests and report network events.

[0107] 3) N7: The interface between PCF network element and SMF network element, which can be used to send protocol data unit (PDU) session granularity and service data flow granularity control strategy.

[0108] 4) N8: The interface between the AMF network element and the UDM network element, which can be used by the AMF network element to obtain access and mobility management related contract data and authentication data from the UDM network element, and the AMF network element to register terminal mobility management related information with the UDM network element.

[0109] 5) N9: User plane interface between UPF network elements, used to transmit uplink and downlink user data flows between UPF network elements.

[0110] 6) N10: The interface between SMF network element and UDM network element, which can be used by SMF network element to obtain session management related contract data from UDM network element, and SMF network element to register terminal session related information with UDM network element.

[0111] 7) N11: The interface between SMF network element and AMF network element, which can be used to transmit PDU session tunnel information between access network equipment and UPF, transmit control messages sent to terminals, transmit wireless resource control information sent to access network equipment, etc.

[0112] 8) N15: The interface between the PCF network element and the AMF network element, which can be used to issue terminal policies and access control related policies.

[0113] 9) N35: The interface between the UDM network element and the UDR network element, which can be used by the UDM network element to obtain user contract data information from the UDR network element.

[0114] 10) N36: The interface between the PCF network element and the UDR network element, which can be used by the PCF network element to obtain policy-related contract data and application data-related information from the UDR network element.

[0115] It is understandable that the above network element or function can be a network element in a hardware device, a software function running on dedicated hardware, or a virtualized function instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). Optionally, the above network element or function can be implemented by one device, or by multiple devices, or a functional module in one device, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0116] The user plane network element, session management network element, and mobility management network element in this application can be the UPF network element, SMF network element, and AMF network element in the 5G system, respectively, or can be a network element having the functions of the above-mentioned UPF network element, SMF network element, and AMF network element in future communications such as the 6th generation (6G) network, and this application is not limited to this. In the embodiment of the present application, an example in which the UPF network element, SMF network element, and AMF network element are respectively the user plane network element, the session management network element, and the mobility management network element is described. In addition, the UPF network element, the SMF network element, and the AMF network element are referred to as UPF, SMF, and AMF, respectively.

[0117] For ease of explanation, in the embodiments of the present application, a base station (such as the 4th generation (4G) eNB, 5G gNB or base stations in future communications) is used as an example of an access network device for explanation, and the subsequent "base station" can be replaced by "access network device". In the embodiments of the present application, a UE is used as an example of a terminal for explanation, and the subsequent "UE" can be replaced by "terminal".

[0118] It is understandable that the core network may also include other network functional entities, which is not limited in this application.

[0119] The technical solution provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to various communication systems. For example, it can be applied to 5G systems, and it can also be applied to other new systems facing the future, such as 6G systems, etc. The embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit this. In addition, the term "system" can be interchangeable with "network".

[0120] To facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, several basic concepts involved in the embodiments of the present application are briefly explained.

[0121] 1. P-IoT, that is, some network nodes can be passive (for example, passive device), semi-passive (for example, semi-passive), semi-active (for example, semi-active) or active (for example, active device), and obtain energy through solar energy, radio frequency, wind energy, hydropower or tidal energy. Please do not specify the way of obtaining energy here. These nodes themselves may not be equipped with or rely on power devices such as batteries, but obtain energy from the environment to support data perception, transmission and distributed computing. Network nodes can also store the obtained energy. The passive Internet of Things architecture may include terminals, readers (readers, or readers and writers) and servers. Passive terminals can be in the form of tags or any other terminal forms without restriction. Terminals can be passive, semi-passive, semi-active or active. Terminals may not have energy storage capabilities (for example, no capacitors), or may have energy storage capabilities (for example, capacitors to store electrical energy). Terminal devices can be passive terminal devices, semi-passive terminal devices, or active terminal devices. The reader can be an access network device, such as a base station, a pole station, a micro base station, a macro station, etc.; the reader can also be a terminal, such as a mobile phone, an IoT device, a handheld reader, etc. Here, the terminal is taken as an example to explain, but it is not limited to tags. The reader (Reader) performs non-contact two-way data communication through wireless radio frequency, and uses wireless radio frequency to read and write electronic tags or radio frequency cards (Tags), so as to achieve the purpose of identifying targets and exchanging data. One is that when the tag enters the effective identification range of the reader, it receives the radio frequency signal emitted by the reader, and uses the energy obtained by the induced current to send the information stored in the chip (corresponding to passive tags); the other is that the tag can store part of the electrical energy through solar energy and other methods, so that it can actively send a signal of a certain frequency (this can also be called a semi-passive or semi-active tag). After the reader receives and decodes the information, it sends it to the central information system for relevant data processing.

[0122] Figure 3 A schematic diagram showing passive IoT services is shown. Figure 3 The reader will be described as a base station (pole station or macro station) as an example, but the present application does not limit the device form of the reader.

[0123] When the server operates the tag, it can pass through the core network (such as the tag management function TMF, TMF can be integrated with the core network equipment, access network equipment or application function, or it can be an independent core network equipment; it can also be AMF, Figure 3The operation instruction may include an inventory operation (or an inventory operation) (which can also be understood as obtaining the tag's identifier, and each tag will have its identifier. The tag's identifier may be assigned by the enterprise (i.e., written into the tag when the enterprise prints the tag), or assigned by the operator. In one possible implementation, the tag's identifier may be a globally unique code, such as an electronic product code (EPC), or a temporary identifier or an identifier that is not globally unique. In the inventory process, the server may issue an inventory instruction. Usually, the inventory instruction includes information such as the tag's identifier range, reader identifier, and location information. After receiving the inventory instruction, the reader will take inventory of the tag according to the inventory instruction and send the tag's identifier to the server. Alternatively, the server sends an instruction, and the reader forwards the instruction to the tag. The following specifically introduces the processing logic of different operation types, as described below:

[0124] The tag learns that it is an inventory operation according to the content of the instruction. The tag sends the tag identification to the reader, and the reader sends the tag identification to the server; or, the tag sends the tag identification signal to the core network through the reader, and the core network sends the tag identification to the server. ), read operation (i.e., reading data from the tag. The tag can have a storage function, and its storage area can store data. If the server wants to read the tag, it will send a read instruction. The reader or the core network performs a read operation on the tag according to the instruction, reads data from the tag storage area, and sends the data to the server), write operation (i.e., writing data to the tag. The server can send a write instruction, and the reader or the core network performs a write operation on the tag according to the instruction, and writes data to the tag storage area), deactivation operation (i.e., invalidating or deactivating the tag. The server can send a deactivation instruction, and the deactivation instruction can include a tag identification (i.e., the identification of the tag to be deactivated or invalidated). The reader or the core network performs an invalidation operation on the tag according to the instruction. After the operation is completed, the tag will be invalidated or deactivated, and cannot be inventoryed or deactivated again. Other operations are performed), obtaining tag information (which can be understood as a higher-level description of the above-mentioned operations (for example, a higher-level description of inventory operations and read operations), regardless of whether the server is taking inventory of tags or reading tag data, this operation will obtain tag information, which can be the tag identifier or the information stored in the tag storage area), and interacting with tags (which can be understood as a higher-level description of the above-mentioned operations. After the reader receives the instruction sent by the server, it interacts with the tag for information or messages, and sends information from the tag to the server. This operation is mainly for the above-mentioned reader that does not view the content of the instruction, but is only responsible for forwarding the message sent by the server to the tag and the message sent by the tag to the server. Therefore, in this scenario, the operation performed by the reader on the tag can be understood as a message interaction operation with the tag). The instruction may include regional location information, tag identifier, etc. The base station sends an access instruction to the tag. When the tag successfully accesses randomly, the base station sends an instruction to the tag (the base station can forward the instruction sent by the core network to the tag). The tag obtains or sends corresponding information according to the instruction. For example, when the instruction is an inventory instruction or an inventory operation is performed, the tag will send the tag's identification; when the instruction is a read instruction or a read operation is performed, the tag will send the data information stored in the tag storage area; when the instruction is a write instruction or a write operation is performed, the tag will store the data information to be written to the tag included in the instruction in the tag storage area. The base station sends (or forwards) the information sent by the tag to the core network; the core network sends the information to the server. The core network performs access management operations on the tag based on the feedback information from the server.

[0125] The server can send instructions through the control plane channel, such as Figure 3As shown: the server sends instructions to the tag management function or the passive IoT function; at this time, the server can be an application function (AF), an application server (AS) or a passive IoT application function (P-IoT AF). In one possible implementation, the P-IoT AF sends instructions to the tag management function or the passive IoT function. In another possible implementation, the P-IoT AF sends instructions to the tag management function or the passive IoT function through a control plane device. The control plane device can be NEF, SMF, PCF, UDM, network slice and SNPN (independent non-public network) authentication and authorization function (NSSAAF), AMF. In addition, the server can also send instructions to the reader through the user plane channel. In one possible implementation, the server sends instructions to the base station through UPF. In one possible implementation, the server sends instructions to the tag management function or the passive IoT function through the user plane device (UPF) and SMF, and the tag management function or the passive IoT function sends instructions to the tag through RAN. In another possible implementation, the server sends instructions to the reader through the user plane device and the access network device, such as RAN (when the reader is a terminal). In a possible implementation, the tag management function or the passive IoT function can be co-located or co-deployed with the core network device, the access network device or the application function. When two devices or functions are co-deployed, the interaction between the two functions or devices provided in the embodiment of the present application becomes the internal operation of the co-located function or device or can be omitted.

[0126] 2. Random access operation process of tags

[0127] In one implementation, for the label inventory process, during the inventory process, the label needs to execute Figure 4A The random access (step 1 to step 4) in the process is completed and the EPC code is sent to the reader after the random access is successful, so that the reader can know which tags are within its coverage. This information will eventually be reported by the reader to the middleware and server. The reading and writing process is as follows:

[0128] Step 1. The reader receives the inventory command sent by the server (the inventory command can be sent by the server to the middleware, and then sent by the middleware to the reader), generates a Select command, which carries the tag range (such as certain specific ranges of EPC codes), and sends the Select command. After listening to the Select command, the tag determines whether it belongs to the tag range that needs to be judged in the Select command. If it does, it will feedback information after hearing the Query command. If it does not, it will not take any action later.

[0129] Step 2. The reader sends a Query command; the Query command may include a value (denoted as Q value), and the tag generates a random number based on the Q value, for example, between 0 and 2 to the power of Q. Subsequently, the tag will reduce the random number by one each time the reader sends a Query or QueryRep command. When the random number is reduced to zero, the tag initiates random access.

[0130] Step 3. When the tag finds that it belongs to the tag range selected in the Select command, it will feedback a random number RN16 (which can be understood as a random number with a length of 16 bits) to the reader through a competitive manner (for example, when the random number is reduced to zero in step 2, a random number RN16 is sent to the reader).

[0131] Step 4. When the reader receives the random number sent by the tag, it will send an ACK command, which contains the random number just received (RN16).

[0132] Step 5. When the tag receives the ACK command sent by the reader and verifies that the random number is correct, it will feedback its EPC code to the reader, thus completing the inventory process.

[0133] For the tag reading and writing process, in the reading and writing process, the reader will set the tag range in the Select command to the tag range to be read and written (for example, if the range in the Select command is a certain EPC code, the tag corresponding to the EPC code will be read and written). Figure 4B Steps 1 to 5 in the above are the inventory process, but this inventory process is not the inventory process of a group of tags, but the inventory of a certain tag. Starting from step 6, it is the reading and writing process, which is roughly as follows:

[0134] Step 6. The reader sends a Req_RN command to the tag, which carries the random number RN16 received previously.

[0135] Step 7. If the tag verifies that the random number is correct, it sends a handle to the reader. This handle is required in all subsequent reading and writing processes.

[0136] Step 8. The reader sends a read or write command to the tag, which must carry a handle. If it is a write command, it must also carry the data to be written into the tag storage area.

[0137] Step 9. If step 8 is a read instruction, the tag needs to feedback the data in its own storage area and also carry a handle.

[0138] It should be noted that the tag deactivation process is similar to this. After receiving the deactivation instruction in step 8, the tag executes the deactivation and then optionally feedbacks the handle in step 9.

[0139] In the data processing flow of multicast broadcast service (MBS), each radio access network (RAN) only transmits sessions with different TMGI (group identifiers). If a session activation request for the same TMGI is received after a session with a certain TMGI has been activated, the session activation is rejected. However, in the P-IoT service, RAN cannot perceive the group identifier requested by the core network, so it cannot reuse the judgment mechanism of MBS based on TMGI.

[0140] like Figure 5 As shown in Figure 1, when the active device registers with the core network, considering the load balancing of AMF, different tags under the same RAN may be registered with different AMFs. Figure 5 As shown, active device 1 is registered with AMF1 through RAN1, and active device 2 is registered with AMF2 through RAN1. AMF1 maintains the context information of active device 1, and AMF2 maintains the context information of active device 2. When AF subsequently initiates an operation request, NEF determines to forward the operation request to AMF1 and AMF2. If RAN1 rejects the downlink instruction of AMF2, active device 2 will perform subsequent operations through AMF1 after random access. At this time, AMF1 does not have the context information of active device 2 and cannot perform security verification on active device 2, so it needs to ask AMF2 for the context information of active device 2, which increases the signaling interaction.

[0141] Based on this, the present application provides a communication method to avoid RAN from executing the same operation instructions multiple times in the P-IoT service, and further reduce the signaling interaction between core network devices. The method can be implemented through data interaction between an access network device and a first device. The access network device can be RAN, TRP, gNB, pole station, micro base station, indoor pole station, IAB node, etc., or a chip used to implement the function of the access network device. The first device can be a control plane device or a user plane device or a service requester. The first device can be an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), a tag management function (TMF), a policy control function (PCF), a network exposure function (NEF), a unified data management (UDM), a unified data repository (UDR), etc. This application does not specifically limit this. Figure 6 Taking the first device as device 1, device 2, and the access network device as RAN as an example for illustration, in actual application, it is not limited whether the number and type of the first devices are the same (for example, device 1 is AMF, device 2 is also AMF; or device 1 is AMF, device 2 is TMF, which is only an example and not specifically limited here), refer to Figure 6 Execute as follows:

[0142] Step 601A: Device 1 sends first information to RAN, where the first information includes operation identifier 1.

[0143] Step 601B: Device 2 sends first information to RAN, where the first information includes operation identifier 2.

[0144] The execution order of the above step 601A and step 601B does not distinguish between the first and the last, and can also be executed simultaneously. This application does not specifically limit this. If the above-mentioned device 1 and device 2 are not the same type of devices, the first information can be carried in different signalings and sent. For example, if device 1 is a service requester, then the first information can be carried in a service request message (servicerequest) and sent. If device 2 is AMF, then the first information can be carried in an N2 message and sent. This is only an example, and does not specifically limit which signaling is used to send the first information to RAN; if the above-mentioned device 1 and device 2 are the same type of devices, the first information can be carried in the same signaling and sent. For example, if device 1 is AMF1 and device 2 is AMF2, then the first information can be carried in an N2 message and sent. This is only an example, and does not specifically limit which signaling is used to send the first information to RAN.

[0145] In addition, operation identifier 1 and operation identifier 2 are used to indicate the information of the corresponding business operation. It can be understood that the operation identifier is determined based on the information of the business operation, but the operation identifier does not include the information specifically included in the information of the business operation. Usually, there is a corresponding relationship between the operation identifier and the information of the business operation. The business operation information usually includes the business operation requested by the business requester for a certain area (wherein the operation types of the business operation include: inventory, read operation, write operation, interactive operation, deactivation operation and positioning operation, etc.). For example, business operation information 1 is the inventory operation of the business requester 1 for area 1, and the business operation identifier determined based on the business operation information is operation identifier 1, then operation identifier 1 indicates business operation information 1. If the access network device receives two operation identifiers 1 at the same time, the business operation corresponding to operation identifier 1 is only executed once, that is, the corresponding terminal of the business requester 1 in area 1 is inventoried.

[0146] Specifically, the information of the service operation may indicate at least one of the following information: a service requester, an operation type, a scope to be operated, and a request time of the service operation.

[0147] The information of the service requester is indicated by at least one of the following information: the identifier of the service requester, the IP address of the service requester, the MAC address of the service requester, and the port number of the service requester. The scope to be operated is the area to be operated of the service requester, or the identifier of the group to be operated of the service requester; the area to be operated can be indicated by at least one of the following information: the cell information (Cell) covered by the access network device where the area to be operated is located, the tracking area information (TA) where the area to be operated is located, and the geographical location information of the area to be operated; the group identifier to be operated of the service requester can be an externally defined identifier, or an internally defined identifier agreed upon between the devices, such as: TMGI, etc. Operation types include inventory, read operation, write operation, interactive operation, deactivation operation, and positioning operation, etc. The request time of the service operation is the time when the service requester initiates the service request.

[0148] The above-mentioned operation identifier 1 can be determined by device 1 according to the information of the business operation, and can also be received from other devices. This application does not specifically limit the source of the operation identifier. For example, NEF selects two AMFs (AMF1, AMF2) for the inventory request (area 1) from AF1, and then generates Operation ID (operation identifier) ​​= 1 and sends it to AMF1 and AMF2; NEF selects two AMFs (AMF1, AMF2) for the read request (area 1) from AF2, and then generates Operation ID = 2.

[0149] For example, device 1 and device 2 are the same type of devices and are both first core network devices (taking AMF as an example). The first core network device can receive an operation identifier from a second core network device (taking NEF as an example). Specifically, the second core network device can receive first information from a service requester, and the first information includes an operation identifier and information about the service operation. The first core network device can determine the operation identifier based on the first information. Of course, the second core network device can also receive second information from the service requester, and the second information includes information about the service operation. The second core network device generates an operation identifier based on the information about the service operation. This application does not specifically limit how to determine the operation identifier. It can be flexibly set according to the needs of actual applications. For example, the information of the business operation is the read information from AF1, and the equipment is inventoried in the TA1 area. NEF constructs Operation ID=1 (i.e., operation identifier). At this time, NEF determines to select two AMFs on TA1, namely AMF1 and AMF2, and NEF sends Operation ID=1 (i.e., operation identifier) ​​to AMF1 and AMF2 respectively; after a period of time, NEF receives a write operation of TA1 from AF1, and NEF constructs Operation ID=2, and NEF sends Operation ID=2 to AMF1 and AMF2 respectively; after another period of time, although the operation type is still a write operation, due to different request times, NEF constructs Operation ID=3 again. This is only an example description, and the construction method of the operation identifier is not specifically limited.

[0150] In addition, the above-mentioned first information may also include information on service operations, information on random access indication (for example, instructing terminals within the operating range to perform random access), mask information (if the terminal receives the mask information, it determines that the terminal's identifier matches the identifier in the mask information by parsing the mask information, then random access is performed), etc., which are not specifically limited here.

[0151] Step 602: If the operation identifier 1 is the same as the operation identifier 2, the RAN executes a service operation corresponding to the operation identifier.

[0152] In actual application, RAN performing service operations can be understood as RAN only feeding back the terminal identifier (such as the identifier of the terminal that performs random access and the random access is successful) to the core network device, and the core network device performs specific service operations such as read and write operations on the terminal according to the terminal identifier; it can also be understood as RAN sending specific operation instructions to the terminal after the terminal random access is successful, performing specific service operations, and then feeding back the operation results such as the identifier of the terminal that is successfully read or the identifier of the terminal that is successfully written to the core network device. This application does not specifically limit how RAN performs service operations, and can be flexibly determined according to the actual application situation.

[0153] Here, device 1 and device 2 are taken as the first core network device (ie, AMF) as an example for explanation. Specifically, in actual implementation, the following two methods may be included:

[0154] Method 1: RAN selects the uplink AMF based on the terminal identifier

[0155] If the operation identifiers in at least two first information are the same (that is, operation identifier 1 and operation identifier 2 are the same), RAN broadcasts random access information once; RAN obtains information of the terminal that performs random access, and the terminal information includes: the terminal identifier; determines the first target core network device associated with the terminal according to the terminal identifier, and the first target core network device is one of the at least two first core network devices; sends the terminal information to the first target core network device. Subsequently, the first target network device can perform service operations on the terminal, such as reading and writing, according to the service operation information.

[0156] The random access information includes: indicating that passive IoT devices within the coverage of the access network device randomly access the access network device. Optionally, indicating that passive IoT devices within the coverage range randomly access the access network device also includes indicating that IoT devices within the coverage range that meet the mask range randomly access the access network device.

[0157] Optionally, after sending the terminal information to the first target core network device, the access network device may also reject other core network devices among the at least two first core network devices. One possible form is to send a rejection message to other core network devices among the at least two first core network devices.

[0158] In this application, when the access network device determines that the operation identifiers from multiple core network devices are the same, it only executes the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier once, and can only broadcast the random access information once, so as to avoid executing the same operation instruction multiple times. In addition, the access network device selects the core network device for uplink transmission according to the information of the randomly accessed terminal, so as to avoid the exchange of terminal context information (i.e. Figure 5 In the process, AMF1 requests a context from AMF, and a security verification is performed on the terminal that performs random access based on the obtained terminal context information. Once the access network device obtains the information of the terminal that performs random access, it can select a core network device associated with the terminal based on the terminal information, and send the information obtained by the terminal to perform business operations to the selected core network device. This method reduces the signaling interaction between multiple core network devices and can save signaling resources.

[0159] Next, specific examples are used to illustrate that in actual applications, the terminal can be a terminal in the above-mentioned passive Internet of Things services, such as a passive device, semi-passive, semi-active or active device, etc. This application is not specifically limited here. Here, only the terminal is an active device as an example for illustration. Of course, it can also be applied to other types of terminals.

[0160] See also Figure 7 , using the data interaction between active device 1, active device 2, RAN, AMF1, AMF2, NEF, and AF (i.e., the service requester) as an example, assuming that the context information of active device 1 is registered in AMF1, and the context information of active device 2 is registered in AMF2, the execution is as follows:

[0161] Step 701: AF sends an operation request to NEF.

[0162] Specifically, the operation request may be sent via a request message service request. If the operation request is an operation request at a geographic location granularity, the operation request includes: the operation type, the area to be operated, and the identifier of the AF. If the operation request is an operation request at a group granularity, the operation request includes the operation type, the identifier of the group to be operated, and the identifier of the AF. This can be understood by referring to the description of the information of the service requester in step 601 above, which will not be repeated here.

[0163] Step 702, NEF selects AMF according to the geographical area (the area to be operated or the identifier of the group to be operated). If the geographical area covers multiple AMFs, it generates a corresponding Operation ID (ie, operation identifier) ​​according to the current operation request and sends it to the selected AMF.

[0164] In a possible implementation, the AMF is selected by the AF and provided to the NEF, and the AF constructs an Operation ID and sends it to the selected AMF through the NEF.

[0165] In another possible implementation, the AMF is selected by the AF and provided to the NEF. The NEF generates an operation id according to the current operation request and sends it to the selected AMF.

[0166] In addition, the above Operation ID is generated only when AF or NEF selects multiple AMFs. If NEF finds that only one AMF is selected for the current operation, Operation ID may not be generated. The specific construction of Operation ID can be understood by referring to the above text and will not be repeated here.

[0167] Step 703, NEF forwards the operation request from AF to the selected AMFs, and sends the Operation ID to AMFs (that is, Figure 7 For example, AMFs are AMF1 and AMF2).

[0168] Specifically, when NEF forwards an operation request, if the operation request is an operation request at a geographic location granularity, NEF can obtain the corresponding TA / Cell information based on the geographic location information, replace the original geographic location information (such as longitude and latitude) and send it to AMF1 and AMF2; if the operation request is an operation request at a group granularity, NEF can convert the external group id into an internal group id.

[0169] Step 704A, AMF1 selects a RAN according to the geographical area, and sends a random access indication, mask information, and Operation ID obtained from NEF (ie, the content of the first information) to the selected RAN.

[0170] In a possible implementation, AMF1 sends an N2 message to the selected RAN, which carries a random access indication, instructing the RAN to broadcast a select command carrying a mask, and the N2 message also carries an operation id. Usually, the mask can be composed of one or more of a network identifier, a user identifier, and a serial number (serial number of a passive IoT device). After receiving the mask, the passive IoT device determines whether its own network identifier and / or user identifier and / or serial number are consistent with the information in the received mask. If they are consistent, it responds to the query command after the select and executes the random access process.

[0171] In another possible implementation, AMF1 sends an N2 message to the selected RAN, which carries a Paging message, the Paging message instructs the RAN to paging the device, and the Paging message carries a mask so that the RAN can send it to the passive IoT device in the paging. The mask can be directly present in the Paging message, or as a separate information element in the N2message, which is not specifically limited here.

[0172] Step 704B, AMF2 selects a RAN according to the geographical area, and sends a random access indication, mask information, and Operation ID obtained from NEF (ie, the content of the first information) to the selected RAN.

[0173] Step 704B may be understood by referring to the above step 704A and will not be described in detail here.

[0174] Step 705: RAN screens the received Operation IDs. If multiple messages containing the same Operation ID are received, random access is performed only once.

[0175] Step 706A: After accessing the RAN, the active device 1 sends identification information of the active device 1, such as S-TMSI or GUAMI, to the RAN, and sends a NAS message, where the NAS message includes the identification information of the active device 1.

[0176] Step 706B: After accessing the RAN, active device 2 sends identification information of active device 2, such as S-TMSI or GUAMI, to the RAN, and sends a NAS message, where the NAS message includes the identification information of active device 2.

[0177] In step 707A, the RAN determines AMF1 based on the identification information of active device1 in step 706A, and sends a NAS message to AMF1.

[0178] Step 707B: RAN determines AMF2 based on the identification information of active device 2 in step 706B, and sends a NAS message to AMF2.

[0179] If the operation type is inventory, deactivation, or positioning, the execution is as follows:

[0180] Step 708A, AMF1 sends an operation request response message to AF through NEF.

[0181] Specifically, the operation request response message may be sent via a request message service respones, and includes identification information of active device1.

[0182] Step 708B, AMF2 sends an operation request response message to AF through NEF.

[0183] Specifically, the operation request response message may be sent via a request message service respones, and includes identification information of active device2.

[0184] If the operation type is a read operation, a write operation, etc., the read operation is taken as an example and executed as follows:

[0185] Step 709A, AMF1 sends a read operation request to active device1.

[0186] Step 709B, AMF2 sends a read operation request to active device2.

[0187] Step 710A, active device 1 feeds back the result of the read operation to AMF 1.

[0188] Specifically, the operation result includes the identification information of the active device 1 that has been read. The figure only takes the active device 1 as an example, but in actual application, there may be multiple active devices (the context information of the active device is stored in AMF1) connected to the RAN, but not all of the multiple active devices can necessarily be read.

[0189] Step 710B, active device 2 feeds back the result of the read operation to AMF 2.

[0190] Step 711A, AMF1 sends an operation request response message to AF through NEF.

[0191] Specifically, the operation request response message may be sent via a request message service respones, including the identification information of the active device 1 that has been read.

[0192] Step 711B, AMF2 sends an operation request response message to AF through NEF.

[0193] Specifically, the operation request response message may be sent via a request message service respones, including the identification information of the active device 2 that has been read.

[0194] It is worth noting that the above Figure 7 AF-NEF-AMF / TMF-RAN is only one architecture selection, and it can also be applied to AF-UPF-SMF-AMF / TMF-RAN, AF-AMF / TMF-RAN, AF-RAN and other architectures to complete this embodiment, and this application is not specifically limited here.

[0195] Method 2: RAN rejects operation instructions from any AMF

[0196] If the operation identifiers in at least two first information are the same, RAN executes the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier of the second target core network device from the at least two first core network devices, and refuses to execute the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier of other core network devices from the at least two core network devices except the second target core network device, and the second target core network device is one of the at least two first core network devices.

[0197] Optionally, the RAN sends information indicating repeated service operations to other first core network devices, based on which repeated sending of operation instructions can be avoided, reducing the redundancy of information transmission between core network devices. When the access network device determines that the operation identifiers from multiple first core network devices are the same, it only executes the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier from one of the at least two first core network devices, and rejects the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier from other first core network devices in the at least two first core network devices. This method can avoid executing the same operation instruction multiple times, but this method randomly selects an AMF operation instruction to reject, refer to Figure 7 , RAN1 rejects the downlink instruction of AMF2, then active device2 will perform subsequent operations through AMF1 after random access. At this time, AMF1 does not have the context information of activedevice2 and cannot perform security verification on active device2. Therefore, it needs to ask AMF2 for the context information of activedevice2, which increases the signaling interaction.

[0198] visible Figure 8 In the illustrated embodiment, if the access network device determines that the operation identifiers in at least two first information are the same, then the operation instruction of a core network device is randomly selected for execution (usually, when the core network device sends the operation identifier to the access network device, it also carries the operation instruction, and the operation instruction may include the area where the service requester requests the operation and the service type of the requested service operation, etc., which are not explained in detail here), and then the random access information can be broadcast once; the information of the terminal that performs the random access is obtained, and the terminal information includes: the terminal identifier; determining the core network device associated with the terminal (that is, the core network device that stores the terminal context information) according to the terminal identifier, and the core network device associated with the terminal is one of the at least two core network devices; if the core network device associated with the terminal is the above-mentioned randomly selected core network device, the access network device sends the terminal information to the core network device associated with the terminal, if the core network device associated with the terminal is not the above-mentioned randomly selected core network device, then the randomly selected core network device needs to request the core network device associated with the terminal for the context information of the terminal, and authenticate the identity of the terminal based on the context information of the terminal. After the authentication is passed, the access network device sends the terminal information to the randomly selected core network device. The core network equipment then performs service operations on the terminal, such as reading and writing, based on the service operation information.

[0199] The random access information includes: indicating that passive IoT devices within the coverage of the access network device randomly access the access network device. Optionally, indicating that passive IoT devices within the coverage range randomly access the access network device also includes indicating that IoT devices within the coverage range that meet the mask range randomly access the access network device.

[0200] In the present application, when the access network device determines that the operation identifiers from multiple core network devices are the same, it only executes the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier from one of the at least two core network devices, and rejects the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier from other core network devices among the at least two core network devices. In this way, the execution of multiple identical operation instructions can be avoided.

[0201] In an optional manner, after the RAN refuses to execute the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier from other core network devices except the second target core network device among at least two core network devices, it also sends indication information to the other core network devices, and the indication information is used to indicate that the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier of the other core network devices is a repeated service operation.

[0202] In the present application, the access network device can avoid repeatedly executing random access instructions based on the information used to indicate repeated service operations, thereby reducing the redundancy of the access network device operations.

[0203] See also Figure 8 , using the data interaction between active device 1, active device 2, RAN, AMF1, AMF2, NEF, and AF (i.e., the service requester) as an example, assuming that the context information of active device 1 is registered in AMF1, and the context information of active device 2 is registered in AMF2, the execution is as follows:

[0204] Step 801: AF sends an operation request to NEF.

[0205] Step 802, NEF selects AMF according to the geographical area (the area to be operated or the identifier of the group to be operated). If the geographical area covers multiple AMFs, it generates the corresponding Operation ID (ie, operation identifier) ​​according to the current operation request and sends it to the selected AMF.

[0206] Step 803, NEF forwards the operation request from AF to the selected AMFs, and sends the Operation ID to AMFs (that is, Figure 8 For example, AMFs are AMF1 and AMF2).

[0207] Step 804A, AMF1 selects a RAN according to the geographical area, and sends a random access indication, mask information, and Operation ID obtained from NEF (ie, the content of the first information) to the selected RAN.

[0208] Step 804B, AMF2 selects a RAN according to the geographical area, and sends a random access indication, mask information, and the Operation ID obtained from the NEF (ie, the content of the first information) to the selected RAN.

[0209] Steps 801 to 804B may be understood by referring to the above steps 701 to 704B, and will not be described in detail here.

[0210] Step 805, RAN screens according to the received Operation ID. If multiple messages containing the same Operation ID are received (that is, the Operation IDs in AMF1 and AMF2 are the same), the service operation corresponding to the operation ID from AMF1 is selected for execution, and the service operation corresponding to the operation ID from AMF2 is rejected.

[0211] Optionally, a data value indicating a repeated operation may be sent to AMF2, whereby the data value indicates that the business operation corresponding to the Operation ID in AMF2 has been executed.

[0212] Step 806A: After accessing the RAN, the active device 1 sends identification information of the active device 1, such as S-TMSI or GUAMI, to the RAN, and sends a NAS message, where the NAS message includes the identification information of the active device 1.

[0213] Step 806B: After accessing the RAN, active device 2 sends identification information of active device 2, such as S-TMSI or GUAMI, to the RAN, and sends a NAS message, where the NAS message includes the identification information of active device 2.

[0214] Step 807: RAN sends a NAS message to AMF1.

[0215] In step 808, AMF1 requests context information of active device2 from AMF2, and authenticates active device2 through the context information of active device2.

[0216] If the operation type is inventory, deactivation, or positioning, the execution is as follows:

[0217] Step 809A, AMF1 sends an operation request response message to AF through NEF.

[0218] Specifically, the operation request response message may be sent via a request message service respones, and includes identification information of active device1.

[0219] Step 809B: If AMF1 successfully verifies the identity of active device2, it sends an operation request response message to AF through NEF.

[0220] Specifically, the operation request response message may be sent via a request message service respones, and includes identification information of active device2.

[0221] If the operation type is a read operation, a write operation, etc., the read operation is taken as an example and executed as follows:

[0222] Step 810A, AMF1 sends a read operation request to active device1.

[0223] Step 810B: If AMF1 successfully verifies the identity of active device2, it sends a read operation request to active device2.

[0224] Step 811A, active device 1 feeds back the result of the read operation to AMF 1.

[0225] Specifically, the operation result includes the identification information of the active device 1 that has been read. The figure only takes the active device 1 as an example, but in actual application, there may be multiple active devices (the context information of the active device is stored in AMF1) connected to the RAN, but not all of the multiple active devices can necessarily be read.

[0226] Step 811B, active device 2 feeds back the result of the read operation to AMF 1.

[0227] Step 812: AMF1 sends an operation request response message to AF through NEF.

[0228] Specifically, the operation request response message may be sent via a request message service respones, and includes the identification information of the active device 1 that has been read and the identification information of the active device 2 that has been read.

[0229] It is worth noting that the above Figure 8 AF-NEF-AMF / TMF-RAN is only one architecture selection, and it can also be applied to AF-UPF-SMF-AMF / TMF-RAN, AF-AMF / TMF-RAN, AF-RAN and other architectures to complete this embodiment, and this application is not specifically limited here.

[0230] Therefore, mode 2 has more interactive signaling and consumes more signaling resources than mode 1. In addition, a preset time period can be set when executing step 602. If the same operation identifier is received within the preset time period, the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier is executed once. For example, the preset time period is 10 minutes. If multiple identical operation identifiers are received within 10 minutes, the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier is executed once. If one identical operation identifier is received after 10 minutes, the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier is executed again. The specific execution method needs to be flexibly selected according to the actual application requirements, and this application does not specifically limit it here.

[0231] In the present application, the operation identifier indicates the information of the corresponding business operation. If the access network device receives at least two identical operation identifiers, it is considered that multiple identical operation instructions have been received. Then the access network device only executes the business operation corresponding to the operation identifier once. Based on this, it can avoid executing the same operation instructions multiple times and reporting multiple identical operation results. It can avoid the problem of information redundancy and reduce the signaling of access network device interaction, which can further save signaling resources and improve data processing efficiency.

[0232] In actual application, in addition to avoiding executing the same operation instruction multiple times based on the operation identifier, different RANs can be selected through negotiation between core network devices (the core network device can be AMF, TMF, etc., and the first core network device and the second core network device are used as examples for explanation, wherein the first core network device and the second core network device are of the same device type, such as the first core network device is AMF, and the second core network device is also AMF, etc.), then RAN will receive different operation instructions, and the same operation instruction will not be received. Fig. 9 , the first core network device is AMF1, wherein the number of second core network devices may be multiple, only AMF2 is used as an example for illustration, and the number of second core network devices is not specifically limited, and the third core network device is used as NEF as an example for illustration, and the execution is as follows:

[0233] Step 901: NEF determines information of a core network device group, where the core network device group includes a first core network device and at least one second core network device.

[0234] Specifically, NEF can receive request information from the service requester, and the request information includes: information on the service operation, the information on the service operation indicates information on the area to be operated of the service operation (it can be understood that the information on the service operation includes information on the area to be operated of the service operation, and it can also be understood that the information on the service operation indicates information on the area to be operated of the service operation through certain information, which is not specifically limited in this application, and can be understood by referring to the information on the area to be operated at the above step 601B, which will not be repeated here); determine the information on the core network device group according to the information on the area to be operated.

[0235] Step 902A, NEF sends information about a core network device group to AMF1, where the core network device group includes a first core network device and at least one second core network device.

[0236] Step 902B, NEF sends the core network device group information to AMF2.

[0237] In one embodiment, NEF may send a first message to AMF1 and AMF2 respectively, and the first message may carry a group message of the core network device. Of course, the first message may also carry an operation identifier, and the operation identifier is used to indicate information of the corresponding service operation. Figure 6 The description of the operation identifiers can be understood by reference and will not be repeated here.

[0238] Step 903: AMF1 receives the identifier of the second access network device sent by at least one second core network device, and a second access network device is a candidate device for a corresponding second core network device. Fig. 9 The example of receiving the identifier of the second access network device from AMF2 is used for explanation.

[0239] Optionally, before executing step 903, AMF1 may also send the identifier of the first access network device to at least one second core network device, where the first access network device is a candidate device for the first core network device.

[0240] Step 904: AMF1 selects a target access network device according to the identifier of the first access network device and the identifiers of multiple second access network devices. The target access network device is different from the target access network device selected by at least one second core network device.

[0241] For example, the second access network device of AMF2 is identified as RAN1, RAN2, and RAN3, and the first access network device of AMF1 is identified as RAN1, RAN3, and RAN4. In order to avoid conflicts in the RAN selected by AMF, AMF1 can select RAN4 as the target access network device.

[0242] Optionally, before executing step 903, AMF1 may also send the identifier of the first access network device to at least one second core network device, where the first access network device is a candidate device for the first core network device, so that AMF2 may also select a RAN that does not conflict with AMF1.

[0243] In addition, it should be noted that in actual application, AMF1 can determine the identifier of the first access network device it selects and send it to AMF2. AMF2 determines the identifier of the second access network device that does not conflict with the identifier of the first access network device.

[0244] In the present application, the first core network device and the second core network device negotiate to select an access network device, which can avoid the situation where the same access network device receives operation instructions from different core network devices and avoid executing the same operation instructions multiple times.

[0245] Specifically, see Fig.10 , using the data interaction between active device 1, RAN, AMF1, AMF2, NEF, and AF (i.e., the service requester) as an example. Assuming that the context information of active device 1 is registered in AMF1, the execution is as follows:

[0246] Step 1001: AF sends an operation request to NEF.

[0247] Step 1002, NEF selects AMF according to the geographical area (the area to be operated or the identifier of the group to be operated). If the geographical area covers multiple AMFs, the AMF group information is obtained.

[0248] Step 1003, NEF forwards the operation request from AF to the selected AMFs, and sends the AMF group information to AMFs ( Fig.10 For example, AMFs are AMF1 and AMF2).

[0249] Steps 1001 to 1003 may be understood by referring to the above steps 701 to 703 and will not be described in detail here.

[0250] Step 1004: AMF1 negotiates with AMF2 to select a RAN, and the RANs selected by AMF1 and AMF2 do not overlap.

[0251] The negotiation process between AMF1 and AMF2 can be referred to Fig.11 To understand, execute as follows:

[0252] Step 1101, AMF1 sends a negotiation request to AMF2.

[0253] Optionally, the negotiation request includes information about the RAN selected by AMF1, and the negotiation request may exist in the context of per AF, wherein the context of per AF includes the serving AF and the reason for sending the negotiation request - negotiating RAN. Optionally, the negotiation request may also carry an Operation ID (that is, the operation identifier can be understood by referring to the above and will not be repeated here) to enable AMF1 and AMF2 to confirm that they are negotiating RAN for the same service operation.

[0254] Step 1102, after receiving the negotiation request, AMF2 confirms that AMF1 is the AMF in the AMF group and serves the same AF, and then sends the RAN information selected by AMF2, the AF served, and the reason for sending the information - negotiated RAN to AMF1.

[0255] Optional, carries the Operation ID.

[0256] Step 1103, after AMF1 receives the RAN information selected by AMF2, if it is found that the RAN selected by AMF2 overlaps with the RAN selected by AMF1, it can choose not to use the RAN as the service RAN, or notify AMF2 not to use the RAN.

[0257] Next, we will take the operations related to AMF1 as an example to explain, and AMF2 can be understood by reference and will not be described in detail.

[0258] Step 1005: AMF1 sends a random access indication and mask information to the selected RAN.

[0259] Step 1006 , after accessing the RAN, the active device 1 sends identification information of the active device 1 , such as S-TMSI or GUAMI, to the RAN, and sends a NAS message, where the NAS message includes the identification information of the active device 1 .

[0260] Step 1007: RAN sends a NAS message to AMF1.

[0261] If the operation type is inventory, deactivation, or positioning, the execution is as follows:

[0262] Step 1008: AMF1 sends an operation request response message to AF through NEF.

[0263] Specifically, the operation request response message may be sent via a request message service respones, and includes identification information of active device1.

[0264] If the operation type is a read operation, a write operation, etc., the read operation is taken as an example and executed as follows:

[0265] Step 1009, AMF1 sends a read operation request to active device1.

[0266] Step 1010, active device 1 feeds back the result of the read operation to AMF 1.

[0267] Specifically, the operation result includes the identification information of the active device 1 that has been read. The figure only takes the active device 1 as an example, but in actual application, there may be multiple active devices (the context information of the active device is stored in AMF1) connected to the RAN, but not all of the multiple active devices can necessarily be read.

[0268] Step 1011, AMF1 sends an operation request response message to AF through NEF.

[0269] Specifically, the operation request response message may be sent via a request message service respones, including the identification information of the active device 1 that has been read.

[0270] In actual application, in addition to avoiding the execution of the same operation instruction multiple times based on the operation identifier, different RANs can be selected through negotiation between AMFs, and different RANs can be directly assigned to different AMFs through NEF. Fig.12 , the first core network device is NEF, wherein the number of second core network devices may be multiple, here only AMF1 and AMF2 are used as examples for explanation, and the number of second core network devices is not specifically limited here, and the data management network element is used as UDM for explanation, here active device1, RAN, AMF1, AMF2, UDM, NEF and AF (that is, the service requester) are executed as follows:

[0271] Step 1201A, AMF1 obtains at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information.

[0272] For example, the identifiers RAN1 and RAN2 of the access network devices corresponding to geographic location 1. When the access network device and the core network establish a connection (such as when the access network device is powered on), the access network device provides its own information to the core network device (such as AMF), including the TA information (or geographic location information, etc.) supported by itself. Optionally, it can also provide capability information to indicate that this access network device can support passive IoT operations. The above information can be provided to AMF by the access network device through the NG setup process in the prior art, so that AMF can obtain the above information.

[0273] Step 1201B, AMF2 obtains at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information.

[0274] Step 1202A, AMF1 sends at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information to UDM.

[0275] Step 1202B, AMF2 sends at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information to UDM.

[0276] Step 1203, AF sends an operation request to NEF. Figure 7 This can be understood from step 701 in the figure and will not be described in detail here.

[0277] Step 1204: NEF selects AMF according to the geographical area (the area to be operated or the identifier of the group to be operated), and determines the target location information according to the geographical area (such as the information of the area to be operated).

[0278] Step 1205: The NEF obtains at least one piece of location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each piece of location information.

[0279] Specifically, NEF can receive first information from NEF, and the first information includes at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information, thereby obtaining at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information. It can also be received from other core network devices, which is not specifically limited here.

[0280] In step 1206, NEF selects at least two second core network devices AMF1 and AMF2 according to the target location information, and allocates different access network devices to the at least two second core network devices according to the identifier of the access network device corresponding to the target location information (for example, AMF1 allocates RAN1, and AMF2 allocates RAN2), and the at least two second core network devices are located in the location area corresponding to the target location information, and the target location information is one of the at least one location information.

[0281] Step 1207A, NEF sends the identifier of RAN1 to AMF1.

[0282] Step 1207B, NEF sends the identifier of RAN2 to AMF2.

[0283] Next, we will take the operations related to AMF1 as an example to explain, and AMF2 can be understood by reference and will not be described in detail.

[0284] Step 1208: AMF1 sends a random access indication and mask information to the selected RAN.

[0285] Step 1209 , after accessing the RAN, active device 1 sends identification information of active device 1 , such as S-TMSI or GUAMI, to the RAN, and sends a NAS message, where the NAS message includes the identification information of active device 1 .

[0286] Step 1210: RAN sends a NAS message to AMF1.

[0287] If the operation type is inventory, deactivation, or positioning, the execution is as follows:

[0288] Step 1211, AMF1 sends an operation request response message to AF through NEF.

[0289] Specifically, the operation request response message may be sent via a request message service respones, and includes identification information of active device1.

[0290] If the operation type is a read operation, a write operation, etc., the read operation is taken as an example and executed as follows:

[0291] Step 1212, AMF1 sends a read operation request to active device1.

[0292] Step 1213, active device 1 feeds back the result of the read operation to AMF 1.

[0293] Specifically, the operation result includes the identification information of the active device 1 that has been read. The figure only takes the active device 1 as an example, but in actual application, there may be multiple active devices (the context information of the active device is stored in AMF1) connected to the RAN, but not all of the multiple active devices can necessarily be read.

[0294] Step 1214: AMF1 sends an operation request response message to AF through NEF.

[0295] Specifically, the operation request response message may be sent via a request message service respones, including the identification information of the active device 1 that has been read.

[0296] In the present application, the first core network device obtains at least one location information and an identifier of the access network device corresponding to each location information, and based on this, different access network devices are assigned to different second core network devices. This can avoid the situation where the same access network device receives operation instructions from different core network devices, and can avoid executing the same operation instructions multiple times.

[0297] The above mainly introduces the solution provided by the embodiment of the present application from the perspective of device interaction. It is understandable that, in order to implement the above functions, each device may include a hardware structure and / or software module corresponding to each function. It should be easily appreciated by those skilled in the art that, in combination with the units and algorithm steps of each example described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the embodiments of the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware 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 exceed the scope of the present application.

[0298] The embodiment of the present application can divide the functional units of the device according to the above method example, for example, each functional unit can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one unit. The above integrated unit can be implemented in the form of hardware or in the form of software functional units.

[0299] In the case of an integrated unit, Fig.13 FIG. 1 shows a possible exemplary block diagram of a communication device involved in an embodiment of the present application. Fig.13 As shown, the communication device 1300 may include: a processing unit 1301 and a transceiver unit 1302. The processing unit 1301 is used to control and manage the actions of the communication device 1300. The transceiver unit 1302 is used to support the communication between the communication device 1300 and other devices. Optionally, the transceiver unit 1302 may include a receiving unit and / or a sending unit, which are respectively used to perform receiving and sending operations. Optionally, the communication device 1300 may also include a storage unit for storing program code and / or data of the communication device 1300. The transceiver unit may be called an input-output unit, a communication unit, etc., and the transceiver unit may be a transceiver; the processing unit may be a processor. When the communication device is a module (such as a chip) in a communication device, the transceiver unit may be an input-output interface, an input-output circuit or an input-output pin, etc., and may also be called an interface, a communication interface or an interface circuit, etc.; the processing unit may be a processor, a processing circuit or a logic circuit, etc. Specifically, the device may be the above-mentioned access network device, core network device, etc.

[0300] In one implementation, the communication device is an access network device, wherein the transceiver unit 1302 is used to receive at least two first information, each first information includes: an operation identifier, the operation identifier is used to indicate information of a corresponding business operation; and the processing unit 1301 is used to execute a business operation corresponding to the operation identifier once if the operation identifiers in at least two first information are the same.

[0301] In an optional manner, the transceiver unit 1302 is specifically used to receive the first information from at least two core network devices.

[0302] In an optional manner, the processing unit 1301 is specifically used to broadcast random access information once if the operation identifiers in at least two first information are the same; obtain information about a terminal that performs random access, the terminal information including: an identifier of the terminal; determine a first target core network device associated with the terminal based on the identifier of the terminal, the first target core network device being one of at least two core network devices; and send the terminal information to the first target core network device.

[0303] In an optional manner, the processing unit 1301 is specifically used to execute the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier of the second target core network device from the at least two core network devices if the operation identifiers in at least two first information are the same, and refuse to execute the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier of other core network devices from the at least two core network devices except the second target core network device, and the second target core network device is one of the at least two core network devices.

[0304] In an optional manner, the transceiver unit 1302 is further used to send indication information to other core network devices, where the indication information is used to indicate that the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier of the other core network device is a repeated service operation.

[0305] In another embodiment, the communication device is a first core network device, which may be a NEF, etc., wherein the processing unit 1301 is used to determine an operation identifier, which is used to indicate information of a corresponding business operation; and the transceiver unit 1302 is used to send the operation identifier.

[0306] In an optional manner, the transceiver unit 1302 is specifically used to send an operation identifier to at least two second core network devices (the second core network devices may be AMF, TMF, etc.).

[0307] In an optional manner, the transceiver unit 1302 is used to receive first information from a service requester, where the first information includes an operation identifier and information about the service operation; and the processing unit 1301 is used to determine the operation identifier according to the first information.

[0308] In an optional manner, the transceiver unit 1302 is used to receive second information from the service requester, where the second information includes information about the service operation; and the processing unit 1301 is used to generate an operation identifier according to the information about the service operation.

[0309] In an optional manner, the information of the service operation indicates at least one of the following information: a service requester, an operation type, a scope to be operated, and a request time of the service operation.

[0310] In another embodiment, the communication device is a first core network device, which may be AMF, TMF, etc. The transceiver unit 1302 is used to obtain information of a core network device group, which includes a first core network device and at least one second core network device (the second core network device may be AMF, TMF, etc., and the first core network device and the second core network device have the same device type, such as the first core network device is AMF, the second core network device is also AMF, etc.); respectively receive the identification of the second access network device sent by at least one second core network device, and a second access network device is a candidate device for a corresponding second core network device; the processing unit 1301 is used to select a target access network device according to the identification of the first access network device and the identifications of multiple second access network devices, the target access network device is different from the target access network device selected by at least one second core network device, and the first access network device is a candidate device for the first core network device.

[0311] In an optional manner, the transceiver unit 1302 is further used to send the identifier of the first access network device to at least one second core network device.

[0312] In an optional manner, the transceiver unit 1302 is specifically used to receive first information from a third core network device (the third core network device may be NEF, etc.), the first information including information of a core network device group; and obtain information of the core network device group according to the first information.

[0313] In another embodiment, the communication device is a third core network device, which may be NEF, etc. The processing unit 1301 is used to determine the information of the core network device group, which includes a first core network device and at least one second core network device (the first core network device and the second core network device may be AMF, TMF, etc., and the first core network device and the second core network device are of the same device type, such as the first core network device is AMF, the second core network device is also AMF, etc.); the transceiver unit 1302 is used to send the information of the core network device group to the first core network device.

[0314] In an optional manner, the transceiver unit 1302 is specifically used to receive request information from a service requester, the request information including: information about a service operation, the information about the service operation indicating information about a pending operation area for the service operation; the processing unit 1301 is used to determine information about a core network device group according to the pending operation area information;

[0315] In an optional manner, the transceiver unit 1302 is further used to send first information to the first core network device, where the first information includes: information of the core network device group.

[0316] In an optional manner, the first information further includes: an operation identifier, where the operation identifier is used to indicate information of a corresponding business operation.

[0317] In an optional manner, the information of the service operation indicates at least one of the following information: a service requester, an operation type, a scope to be operated, and a request time of the service operation.

[0318] In another embodiment, the communication device is a first core network device, which can be an NEF, and the transceiver unit 1302 is used to obtain at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information; the processing unit 1301 is used to select at least two second core network devices according to the target location information, and the at least two second core network devices are located in the location area corresponding to the target location information, and different access network devices are allocated to the at least two second core network devices according to the identifier of the access network device corresponding to the target location information, and the target location information is one of the at least one location information; the transceiver unit 1302 is also used to send the identifier of the access network device allocated by the first core network device to the at least two second core network devices respectively.

[0319] In an optional manner, the transceiver unit 1302 is further configured to receive first information from a data management network element, where the first information includes at least one piece of location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each piece of location information.

[0320] In an optional manner, the transceiver unit 1302 is further configured to receive request information from a service requester, the request information including: information on service operations, the information on service operations indicating information on a pending area for the service operations; and determining target location information based on the pending area information.

[0321] In another embodiment, the communication device is a second core network device, which may be an AMF, TMF, etc. The transceiver unit 1302 is used to obtain at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information; send at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information to a data management network element; receive an identifier of a first access network device from a first core network device, the identifier of the first access network device is an identifier of an access network device corresponding to the target location information, the target location information is one of at least one location information, and the second core network device is located in a location area corresponding to the target location information.

[0322] like Fig.14As shown, a communication device 1400 is also provided in the present application. The communication device 1400 may be a chip or a chip system. The communication device may be located in a device involved in any of the above method embodiments, such as an access network device, or a first core network device, etc., to perform actions corresponding to the device.

[0323] Optionally, the chip system may consist of the chip, or may include the chip and other discrete devices.

[0324] The communication device 1400 includes a processor 1410 .

[0325] The processor 1410 is used to execute the computer program stored in the memory 1420 to implement the actions of each device in any of the above method embodiments.

[0326] The communication device 1400 may further include a memory 1420 for storing computer programs.

[0327] Optionally, the memory 1420 is coupled to the processor 1410. Coupling is an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units or modules, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms, for information exchange between devices, units or modules. Optionally, the memory 1420 is integrated with the processor 1410.

[0328] The processor 1410 and the memory 1420 may be one or more and are not limited.

[0329] Optionally, in practical applications, the communication device 1400 may include a transceiver 1430 or may not include the transceiver 1430, which is illustrated by a dotted box in the figure. The communication device 1400 may exchange information with other devices through the transceiver 1430. The transceiver 1430 may be a circuit, a bus, a transceiver, or any other device that can be used for information exchange.

[0330] In a possible implementation, the communication device 1400 may be an access network device or a first core network device in the implementation of the above methods.

[0331] The specific connection medium between the transceiver 1430, the processor 1410 and the memory 1420 is not limited in the embodiment of the present application. Fig.14 The memory 1420, the processor 1410 and the transceiver 1430 are connected by a bus. Fig.14 The connections between the other components are shown in bold lines, which are only for illustration and are not intended to be limiting. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, Fig.14Only one thick line is used to represent it, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus. In the embodiment of the present application, the processor can be a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, a discrete hardware component, and can implement or execute the methods, steps and logic block diagrams disclosed in the embodiment of the present application. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor or any conventional processor, etc. The steps of the method disclosed in the embodiment of the present application can be directly embodied as a hardware processor for execution, or can be executed by a combination of hardware and software modules in the processor.

[0332] In the embodiment of the present application, the memory may be a non-volatile memory, such as a hard disk drive (HDD) or a solid-state drive (SSD), etc., or a volatile memory (volatile memory), such as a random-access memory (RAM). The memory may also be any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory in the embodiment of the present application may also be a circuit or any other device that can implement a storage function, for storing computer programs, program instructions and / or data.

[0333] Based on the above embodiments, see Fig.15 The embodiment of the present application also provides another communication device 1500, including: an interface circuit 1510 and a logic circuit 1520; the interface circuit 1510 can be understood as an input and output interface, which can be used to execute the sending and receiving steps of each device in any of the above method embodiments, and the logic circuit 1520 can be used to run codes or instructions to execute the method executed by each device in any of the above embodiments, which will not be repeated.

[0334] Based on the above embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide a computer-readable storage medium, which stores instructions. When the instructions are executed, the method executed by each device in any of the above method embodiments is implemented. The computer-readable storage medium may include: a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory, a random access memory, a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and other media that can store program codes.

[0335] Based on the above embodiments, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, which includes the access network equipment (such as RAN) and core network equipment (such as AMF, NEF, UDM) mentioned in any of the above method embodiments, and can be used to execute the method executed by each device in any of the above method embodiments.

[0336] In addition, the above-mentioned communication system may also include a terminal (such as UE), which can execute the relevant method in any of the above-mentioned method embodiments by interacting with the access network device and the core network device.

[0337] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the embodiments of the present application may be provided as methods, systems, or computer program products. Therefore, the present application may adopt the form of a complete hardware embodiment, a complete software embodiment, or an embodiment in combination with software and hardware. Moreover, the present application may adopt the form of a computer program product implemented in one or more computer-usable storage media (including but not limited to disk storage, CD-ROM, optical storage, etc.) that include computer-usable program code.

[0338] The present application is described with reference to the flowcharts and / or block diagrams of the methods, devices (systems), and computer program products according to the present application. It should be understood that each process and / or block in the flowchart and / or block diagram, as well as the combination of the processes and / or blocks in the flowchart and / or block diagram, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions can be provided to a processor of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, an embedded processor, or other programmable data processing device to produce a machine, so that the instructions executed by the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing device generate instructions for implementing the processes in the flowchart and / or block diagram. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A device that provides the functions specified in a block or multiple blocks.

[0339] These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable memory capable of directing a computer or other programmable data processing device to operate in a specific manner, so that the instructions stored in the computer readable memory produce an article of manufacture including an instruction device, which implements the process Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 A function specified in one or more boxes.

[0340] These computer program instructions can also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing device so that a series of operating steps are executed on the computer or other programmable device to produce a computer-implemented process, thereby providing instructions for implementing the process. Figure 1 A process or multiple processes and / or boxes Figure 1 The steps for the functions specified in one or more boxes.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to access network equipment, including: Receive at least two first information, each of which includes: an operation identifier, where the operation identifier is used to indicate information of a corresponding business operation; If the operation identifiers in the at least two first information are the same, the business operation corresponding to the operation identifier is executed once.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The receiving at least two first information comprises: The first information is received from at least two core network devices.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that If the operation identifiers in the at least two first information are the same, executing the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier once includes: If the operation identifiers in the at least two first information are the same, broadcasting random access information once; Acquire information of a terminal that performs random access, the information of the terminal including: an identifier of the terminal; Determine, according to the identifier of the terminal, a first target core network device associated with the terminal, where the first target core network device is one of the at least two core network devices; Send the information of the terminal to the first target core network device.

4. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that: If the operation identifiers in the at least two first information are the same, executing the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier once includes: If the operation identifiers in the at least two first information are the same, the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier from the second target core network device among the at least two core network devices is executed, and the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier from other core network devices among the at least two core network devices except the second target core network device is refused to be executed, and the second target core network device is one of the at least two core network devices.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that After the refusing to execute the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier of the other core network devices except the second target core network device from at least two core network devices, the method further includes: Send indication information to the other core network device, where the indication information is used to indicate that the service operation corresponding to the operation identifier of the other core network device is a repeated service operation.

6. A communication method, characterized in that: Applicable to the first core network equipment, including: Determine an operation identifier, where the operation identifier is used to indicate information of a corresponding business operation; The operation identifier is sent.

7. The method according to claim 6, characterized in that The sending of the operation identifier includes: The operation identifier is sent to at least two second core network devices.

8. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that: The determining of the operation identifier includes: receiving the first information from the service requester, where the first information includes the operation identifier and information about the service operation; The operation identifier is determined according to the first information.

9. The method according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that: The determining of the operation identifier includes: receiving second information from a service requester, wherein the second information includes information about the service operation; The operation identifier is generated according to the information of the business operation.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that: The business operation information indicates at least one of the following information: The service requester, the operation type, the scope to be operated, and the request time of the service operation.

11. A communication method, characterized in that: Applicable to the first core network equipment, including: Acquire information of a core network device group, where the core network device group includes the first core network device and at least one second core network device; Respectively receiving identifications of second access network devices respectively sent from the at least one second core network device, one of the second access network devices being a candidate device for a corresponding second core network device; A target access network device is selected based on an identifier of the first access network device and identifiers of multiple second access network devices, the target access network device is different from the target access network device selected by at least one second core network device, and the first access network device is a candidate device for the first core network device.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that Before selecting the target access network device according to the identifier of the first access network device and the identifiers of the plurality of second access network devices, the method further includes: Sending an identifier of the first access network device to the at least one second core network device.

13. The method according to claim 11 or 12, characterized in that: The obtaining of the core network device group information includes: First information is received from a third core network device, where the first information includes information of the core network device group.

14. A communication method, characterized in that: Applicable to the third core network equipment, including: Determine information of a core network device group, where the core network device group includes a first core network device and at least one second core network device; Send information about the core network device group to the first core network device.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The information for determining the core network device group includes: Receiving request information from a service requester, the request information including: information of a service operation, the information of the service operation indicating information of a region to be operated on the service operation; Determining information of the core network device group according to the information of the area to be operated; The sending the information of the core network device group to the first core network device includes: Sending first information to the first core network device, wherein the first information includes: information of the core network device group.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that The first information also includes: an operation identifier, where the operation identifier is used to indicate information of a corresponding business operation.

17. The method according to claim 16, characterized in that The business operation information indicates at least one of the following information: The service requester, the operation type, the scope to be operated, and the request time of the service operation.

18. A communication method, characterized in that: Applicable to the first core network equipment, including: Acquire at least one piece of location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each piece of location information; Selecting at least two second core network devices according to the target location information, wherein the at least two second core network devices are located in a location area corresponding to the target location information, and the target location information is one of the at least one location information; Allocating different access network device identifiers to the at least two second core network devices according to the access network device identifier corresponding to the target location information; The allocated identifier of the access network device is sent to the at least two second core network devices respectively.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that Acquiring at least one piece of location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each piece of location information includes: First information is received from a data management network element, where the first information includes at least one piece of location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each piece of location information.

20. The method according to claim 18 or 19, characterized in that Also includes: Receiving request information from a service requester, the request information including: information of a service operation, the information of the service operation indicating information of a region to be operated on the service operation; The target position information is determined according to the information of the area to be operated.

21. A communication method, characterized in that: Applicable to the second core network equipment, including: Acquire at least one piece of location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each piece of location information; Sending the at least one location information and an identifier of an access network device corresponding to each location information to a data management network element; Receive an identifier of a first access network device from a first core network device, where the identifier of the first access network device is the identifier of the access network device corresponding to the target location information, the target location information is one of the at least one location information, and the second core network device is located in a location area corresponding to the target location information.

22. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A functional module for implementing the method according to any one of claims 1 to 21.

23. A communication device, characterized in that: include: at least one processor and memory; The memory is used to store computer programs or instructions; The at least one processor is configured to execute the computer program or instructions so that the method according to any one of claims 1 to 21 is performed.

24. A chip system, characterized in that: The chip system comprises: a processing circuit; the processing circuit is coupled to a storage medium; The processing circuit is used to execute part or all of the computer programs or instructions in the storage medium, and when the part or all of the computer programs or instructions are executed, it is used to implement the method according to any one of claims 1 to 21.

25. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores instructions, and when the instructions are executed by a computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 21 is executed.

26. A computer program product comprising a computer program or instructions, characterized in that When the computer program or instruction is executed on a computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 21 is executed.

Images