Method, apparatus and system for managing policy conflicts

Abstract

The present application relates to the field of communications, and in particular to a policy conflict management method, apparatus and system. The method includes the steps of: applying to a first controller, receiving first policy information, the first policy information including a first policy configured by a core network for a UE; detecting that a policy conflict occurs between the first policy information and second policy information, the second policy information including a second policy configured by a second controller for the UE or a first decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to the second policy; making a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy to obtain a second decision result; and sending the second decision result to a radio access network RAN ​​network element to make the radio access network RAN ​​network element execute the second decision result. Thus, the present application avoids the generation of UE policies with policy conflicts, ensures the applicability of policies, and improves the policy execution success rate.

Description

[Technical field]

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communications technology, and in particular to a policy conflict management method, apparatus, and system. [Background technology]

[0003] With the development of wireless network technology, automation and intelligence are considered as important development directions of future wireless networks. For example, the open radio access network shown in Figure 1 reconstructs the RAN (Radio Access Network) network based on technologies such as AI (Artificial Intelligence) or ML (Machine Learning) to implement automation and intelligence of the wireless network. The radio access management controller in Figure 1 can configure policies for UEs (User Equipment).

[0004] In current wireless mobile networks, UE-level policies or UE group-level policies are configured by the core network, and in the UE access or session access procedure, the core network sends the corresponding policies to the RAN. The RAN network elements perform corresponding radio resource allocation and parameter configuration based on the corresponding policy information.

[0005] However, in an open radio access network, a policy conflict may occur between the UE policy configured by the radio access management controller and the UE policy configured by the core network. Currently, there is no optimized solution for resolving the policy conflict. Summary of the Invention [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The embodiments of the present application provide a policy conflict management method, apparatus and system to avoid policy conflicts using different implementations such as proactive preventative policy conflict handling or policy conflict feedback handling.

[0007] According to a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management method, the method being applied to a first controller, comprising: receiving first policy information, the first policy information including a first policy configured by a core network for the UE; detecting that a policy conflict occurs between first policy information and second policy information, where the second policy information includes a second policy configured by a second controller for the UE or a first decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to the second policy; making a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy to obtain a second decision result; sending the second decision result to the radio access network (RAN) network element to cause the RAN network element to implement the second decision result; Includes.

[0008] In other words, in this method, the first controller is responsible for detecting policy conflicts. When detecting a policy conflict, the first controller may make a policy decision according to a first policy configured by the core network for the UE and a second policy configured by the second controller for the UE. This avoids the generation of UE policies with policy conflicts, ensures policy applicability, and improves the policy execution success rate.

[0009] The first policy in this method may include information such as UE subscription information or QoS.

[0010] The second policy in this method may include information such as a policy type, a policy application object (Scope), and a policy target.

[0011] In a possible embodiment, the step of receiving the first policy information comprises: receiving first policy information via a RAN network element; Includes.

[0012] In other words, in this embodiment, the first controller may obtain policy information of the UE using the signaling plane, detect policy conflicts in the policy decision phase, and avoid generating UE policies with policy conflicts.

[0013] In a possible embodiment, the step of receiving the first policy information via the RAN network element comprises: sending a first subscription request message to a RAN network element requesting subscription information of the UE; receiving a first subscription response message from the RAN network element, the first subscription response message including first policy information; Includes.

[0014] In other words, in this embodiment, a new parameter feature may be added to the signaling plane to support policy conflict detection in order to avoid unnecessary signaling message interactions generated when a policy conflict occurs.

[0015] The first subscription request message in this embodiment may include a UE identifier and a subscription info type. The UE identifier is used to identify a target UE of the requested subscription information. The value of the UE identifier may be one of RNTI (Radio Network Temporary Identifier), 5G-GUTI (Globally Unique Temporary Identifier), and IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identify), etc. (It is not limited to these types and may be another UE identifier). The subscription info type indicates the type of the requested subscription information. The value of the subscription info type may be one or more of RRM Policy, Service Area Restrictions, CSG (Closed Subscriber Group), and CAG (Closed Access Group) (It is not limited to these types and may be another subscribed location information policy).

[0016] The first subscription response message in this embodiment may include a UE identifier and specific parameter information of the policy information of the subscription request, such as one or more of RRM policies, Service Area Restrictions, CSG, and CAG (this is not limited to these types and may be another subscribed location information policy).

[0017] In a possible embodiment, the method comprises the steps of: receiving a first policy instance creation message from a second controller, the first policy instance creation message including a second policy; Further includes:

[0018] In other words, in this embodiment, the second controller may be responsible for configuring a second policy and sending the second policy to the first controller. The first controller is responsible for detecting a policy conflict. When detecting a policy conflict, the first controller may make a policy decision according to the first policy configured by the core network for the UE and the second policy configured by the second controller for the UE. This avoids the generation of a UE policy with a policy conflict, ensures the applicability of the policy, and improves the policy execution success rate.

[0019] The first policy instance creation message in this embodiment may include information such as a policy type (Policy Type), a policy target, and a policy application object (Scope).

[0020] The policy target may be a Quality of Experience (QoE) target, i.e., QoE Target. The policy application object (Scope) may be one of a UE identifier list (UE id list) and a UE group identifier (UE group id), etc. For example, the UE group identifier may be an attribute feature identifier of a UE group, such as a Quality of Service Class Identifier (QCI), a slice identifier (slice id), and a location area.

[0021] For example, the Policy policy may be a service offload policy, a specific type of service, and when the QoE of the current serving cell cannot meet the QoE target of the UE, the UE is handed over to a target cell that meets the QoE of the service. The service offload policy is the policy type, the specific type of service is the policy application object (Scope), and the QoE target is the policy target.

[0022] In a possible embodiment, the method comprises the steps of: Receiving the first policy information via the second controller. Includes.

[0023] In other words, in this embodiment, the first controller may use the management plane interface service to obtain policy information of the UE, detect policy conflicts in the policy decision phase, and avoid generating UE policies with policy conflicts.

[0024] In a possible embodiment, the step of receiving the first policy information via the second controller comprises: receiving a second policy instance creation message from a second controller, the second policy instance creation message including first policy information and a second policy, the first policy information being information received by the second controller from the core network via an operation, administration, and maintenance OAM entity; Includes.

[0025] In other words, in this embodiment, the second controller may be responsible for configuring the second policy and sending the first policy information to the first controller when sending the second policy to the first controller. In this way, the first controller is responsible for detecting policy conflicts. When detecting a policy conflict, the first controller may make a policy decision according to the first policy configured by the core network for the UE and the second policy configured by the second controller for the UE. This avoids the generation of UE policies with policy conflicts, ensures the applicability of policies, and improves the policy execution success rate.

[0026] The first policy information in the second policy instance creation message in this embodiment may be subscriptionInfo list information.

[0027] In a possible implementation, the first controller is a radio access intelligent controller and the second controller is a radio access management controller.

[0028] In other words, in this embodiment, the radio access management controller is responsible for configuring the second policy. The radio access intelligent controller is responsible for detecting policy conflicts. When detecting policy conflicts, the radio access intelligent controller may make policy decisions according to the first policy configured by the core network for the UE and the second policy configured by the second controller for the UE. This avoids the generation of UE policies with policy conflicts, ensures policy applicability, and improves policy execution success rate.

[0029] In a possible implementation, both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers.

[0030] In other words, in this embodiment, the radio access management controller is responsible for configuring the second policy and detecting policy conflicts. When detecting a policy conflict, the radio access management controller may make a policy decision according to the first policy configured by the core network for the UE and the second policy configured by the second controller for the UE. This avoids the generation of UE policies with policy conflicts, ensures policy applicability, and improves the policy execution success rate.

[0031] In a possible embodiment, the step of receiving the first policy information comprises: receiving first policy information via an OAM entity; Includes.

[0032] In other words, in this embodiment, the radio access management controller may use the management plane interface service to obtain the policy information of the UE, detect policy conflicts in the policy decision phase, and avoid generating UE policies with policy conflicts.

[0033] In a possible embodiment, the step of receiving the first policy information via the OAM entity comprises: sending a second subscription request message to the core network via an OAM entity to request subscription information of the UE; receiving a second subscription response message from the core network via the OAM entity, the second subscription response message including the first policy information; Includes.

[0034] In other words, in this embodiment, the radio access management controller may add a new parameter feature to the management plane interface to support policy conflict detection in order to avoid unnecessary signaling message interactions generated when policy conflicts are optimized.

[0035] The second subscription request message in this embodiment may include a UE group id, a subscription info type, and an info update notification. The subscription info type indicates the type of requested subscription information, and the value of the subscription info type may be one or more of RRM Policy, Service Area Restrictions, CSG, CAG, etc. (It is not limited to these types and may be another subscribed location information policy). The UE group id may be an attribute feature identifier of the UE group, such as a QCI (Quality of Service Class Identifier), a slice id, and a location area. The info update notification is used to subscribe to the info update notification. Specifically, when the UE subscription information or QoS changes, the core network element is triggered to initiate an information update and notify the radio access management controller of the latest updated policy information.

[0036] In a possible embodiment, the step of receiving the first policy information comprises: receiving first policy information via a RAN network element; Includes.

[0037] In other words, in this embodiment, the radio access management controller may obtain policy information of the UE using the signaling plane, detect policy conflicts in the policy decision phase, and avoid generating UE policies with policy conflicts.

[0038] In a possible embodiment, the step of receiving the first policy information via the RAN network element comprises: Sending a third subscription request message to a RAN network element via a radio intelligent management controller, requesting subscription information of the UE; receiving a third subscription response message from the RAN network element via the radio intelligent management controller, the third subscription response message including the first policy information; Includes.

[0039] In other words, in this embodiment, the radio access management controller may add a new parameter feature to the signaling plane to support policy conflict detection in order to avoid unnecessary signaling message interactions generated when a policy conflict occurs.

[0040] The third subscription request message in this embodiment may include a UE identifier and a subscription info type. The UE identifier is used to identify a target UE of the requested subscription information. The value of the UE identifier may be one of RNTI, 5G-GUTI, IMEI, etc. (This is not limited to these types and may be another UE identifier). The subscription info indicates the requested subscription information. The value of the subscription info may be one or more of RRM Policy, Service Area Restrictions, CSG, and CAG (This is not limited to these types and may be another subscribed location information policy).

[0041] The third subscription response message in this embodiment may include a UE identifier and specific parameter information of the policy information of the subscription request, such as one or more of RRM policies, Service Area Restrictions, CSG, and CAG (this is not limited to these types and may be another subscribed location information policy).

[0042] According to a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management method, the method being applied to a first controller, comprising: receiving a first message from a radio access network RAN ​​network element, the first message including policy conflict indication information, a UE identifier, and first policy information, the policy conflict indication information indicating that a policy conflict has occurred between the first policy information and a first decision result, the first policy information including a first policy configured by the core network for a UE corresponding to the UE identifier, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, and the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for the UE corresponding to the UE identifier; making a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy to obtain a second decision result; sending the second decision result to the RAN network element to cause the RAN network element to implement the second decision result; Includes.

[0043] In other words, in the method, the RAN network element is responsible for detecting a policy conflict and reporting the policy conflict when the policy conflict is detected. The first controller is responsible for making a policy decision according to a first policy configured by the core network for the UE and a second policy configured by the second controller for the UE, so as to avoid generating a UE policy with a policy conflict. In particular, the RAN network element is extended to support policy conflict detection, and the radio access intelligent controller is supported in directionally acquiring corresponding UE policy information where a policy conflict occurs, so as to acquire less unnecessary UE information and reduce the consumption of interface resources for data acquisition.

[0044] In a possible embodiment, the method comprises the steps of: receiving a policy instance creation message from a second controller, the policy instance creation message including a second policy; Further includes:

[0045] In other words, in this embodiment, the RAN network element is responsible for detecting policy conflicts. The second controller may be responsible for configuring a second policy and sending the second policy to the first controller. The first controller is responsible for making a policy decision according to the first policy configured by the core network for the UE and the second policy configured by the second controller for the UE. This avoids the generation of UE policies with policy conflicts. In particular, the RAN network element is extended to support policy conflict detection, and the radio access intelligent controller is supported in directionally acquiring corresponding UE policy information where a policy conflict occurs, so as to acquire less unnecessary UE information and reduce the consumption of interface resources for data acquisition.

[0046] In a possible implementation, the first controller is a radio access intelligent controller and the second controller is a radio access management controller.

[0047] In other words, in this embodiment, the RAN network element is responsible for detecting policy conflicts. The radio access management controller is responsible for configuring the second policy. The radio access intelligent controller is responsible for making policy decisions according to the first policy configured by the core network for the UE and the second policy configured by the second controller for the UE. This avoids the generation of UE policies with policy conflicts. In particular, the RAN network element is extended to support policy conflict detection, and the radio access intelligent controller is supported in directionally acquiring corresponding UE policy information where a policy conflict occurs, so as to acquire less unnecessary UE information and reduce the consumption of interface resources for data acquisition.

[0048] In a possible implementation, both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers.

[0049] In other words, in this embodiment, the RAN network element is responsible for detecting policy conflicts. The radio access management controller is responsible for configuring a second policy and making a policy decision according to the first policy configured by the core network for the UE and the second policy configured by the second controller for the UE. This avoids the generation of UE policies with policy conflicts. In particular, the RAN network element is extended to support policy conflict detection, and the radio access intelligent controller is supported in directionally acquiring corresponding UE policy information where a policy conflict occurs, so as to acquire less unnecessary UE information and reduce the consumption of interface resources for data acquisition.

[0050] According to a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management method, the method being applied to a radio access network (RAN) network element, comprising: receiving first policy information from a core network, the first policy information including a first policy configured by the core network for the UE; detecting that a policy conflict occurs between first policy information and a first decision result, where the first decision result is a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, and the second policy is a policy configured by the second controller for the UE; sending a first message to a first controller, the first message including policy conflict indication information, a UE identifier of the UE, and first policy information, the policy conflict indication information indicating that a policy conflict occurs between the first policy information and a first decision result; receiving a second decision result from the first controller, the second decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy; Implementing the second decision result. Includes.

[0051] In other words, in this embodiment, the RAN network element is responsible for detecting policy conflicts. The second controller may be responsible for configuring a second policy and sending the second policy to the first controller. The first controller is responsible for making a policy decision according to the first policy configured by the core network for the UE and the second policy configured by the second controller for the UE. This avoids the generation of UE policies with policy conflicts. In particular, the RAN network element is extended to support policy conflict detection, and the radio access intelligent controller is supported in directionally acquiring corresponding UE policy information where a policy conflict occurs, so as to acquire less unnecessary UE information and reduce the consumption of interface resources for data acquisition.

[0052] In a possible implementation, the first controller is a radio access intelligent controller and the second controller is a radio access management controller.

[0053] In other words, in this embodiment, the RAN network element is responsible for detecting policy conflicts. The radio access management controller is responsible for configuring the second policy. The radio access intelligent controller is responsible for making policy decisions according to the first policy configured by the core network for the UE and the second policy configured by the second controller for the UE. This avoids the generation of UE policies with policy conflicts. In particular, the RAN network element is extended to support policy conflict detection, and the radio access intelligent controller is supported in directionally acquiring corresponding UE policy information where a policy conflict occurs, so as to acquire less unnecessary UE information and reduce the consumption of interface resources for data acquisition.

[0054] In a possible implementation, both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers.

[0055] In other words, in this embodiment, the RAN network element is responsible for detecting policy conflicts. The radio access management controller is responsible for configuring the second policy and making policy decisions according to the first policy and the second policy configured by the core network for the UE. This avoids the generation of UE policies with policy conflicts.

[0056] In a possible embodiment, the method comprises the steps of: receiving a first determination result from the wireless access management controller via the wireless access intelligent controller; Further includes:

[0057] In other words, in this embodiment, the radio access intelligent controller is responsible for the information forwarding function. The radio access management controller is responsible for configuring the second policy and making policy decisions according to the first policy and the second policy configured by the core network for the UE. This avoids the generation of UE policies with policy conflicts.

[0058] According to a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management method, the method being applied to a radio access network (RAN) network element, comprising: obtaining a first decision result, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for the user equipment UE; sending the first determination result to the core network, so that the core network detects whether a policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and first policy information, where the first policy information includes a first policy configured by the core network for the UE; receiving a policy conflict detection result from the core network, the policy conflict detection result including: a policy conflict has occurred between the first determination result and the first policy information; or a policy conflict has not occurred between the first determination result and the first policy information; Includes.

[0059] In other words, in this embodiment, the RAN network element is responsible for sending the first decision result of the controller side (e.g., the first controller or the second controller) in the open radio access network to the core network. The core network is responsible for detecting the policy conflict and returning the policy conflict detection result to the RAN network element. In this way, the RAN network element can use the policy conflict detection result to know whether a policy conflict occurs between the first decision result and the first policy information. This avoids the generation of a UE policy with a policy conflict and ensures the applicability of the policy.

[0060] In a possible implementation, the first controller is a wireless access intelligent controller and the second controller is a wireless access management controller, or both the first controller and the second controller are wireless access management controllers.

[0061] In other words, in this embodiment, the first controller and the second controller may be the same. For example, both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers. Alternatively, the first controllers may be different. For example, the first controller is a radio access intelligent controller and the second controller is a radio access management controller.

[0062] In a possible embodiment, the step of transmitting the first determination result to the core network comprises: adding the first determination result to a protocol data unit (PDU) session resource change indication message or a policy change request message; Sending a PDU session resource change indication message or a policy change request message to a core network, so that the core network obtains a first determination result from the PDU session resource change indication message or the policy change request message; Includes.

[0063] In other words, in this embodiment, the first determination result can be sent to the core network using a PDU session resource change indication message or a policy change request message, which improves the flexibility of sending the first determination result.

[0064] In a possible embodiment, the step of receiving a policy conflict detection result from the core network comprises: receiving a PDU session resource change confirmation message from a core network, the PDU session resource change confirmation message including a policy conflict detection result or indication information indicating the policy conflict detection result; determining a policy conflict detection result based on the PDU session resource change confirmation message; Includes.

[0065] In other words, in this embodiment, the policy conflict detection result or the indication information indicating the policy conflict detection result may be transmitted using a PDU session resource change confirmation message to improve the reliability of information transmission.

[0066] In a possible embodiment, the policy conflict detection result is that no policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and the first policy information; The method comprises: receiving a PDU session modification request message from a core network; Executing a first decision result based on the PDU session modification request message, and sending a PDU session modification response message to the core network; Further includes:

[0067] In other words, in this embodiment, when no policy conflict occurs between the first decision result and the first policy information, the core network may initiate a UE policy change to ensure that the policy information of the UE, the RAN, and the core network is consistent (i.e., policy synchronization).

[0068] According to a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management method, the method being applied to a core network, comprising: receiving a first decision result from a radio access network RAN ​​network element, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for the user equipment UE; detecting whether a policy conflict occurs between a first determination result and first policy information, where the first policy information includes a first policy configured by a core network for the UE; sending a policy conflict detection result to the RAN network element, the policy conflict detection result including: a policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and the first policy information, or a policy conflict does not occur between the first determination result and the first policy information; Includes.

[0069] In other words, in this embodiment, the RAN network element is responsible for sending the first decision result of the controller side (e.g., the first controller or the second controller) in the open radio access network to the core network. The core network is responsible for detecting the policy conflict and returning the policy conflict detection result to the RAN network element. In this way, the RAN network element can use the policy conflict detection result to know whether a policy conflict occurs between the first decision result and the first policy information. This avoids the generation of a UE policy with a policy conflict and ensures the applicability of the policy.

[0070] In a possible implementation, the first controller is a wireless access intelligent controller and the second controller is a wireless access management controller, or both the first controller and the second controller are wireless access management controllers.

[0071] In other words, in this embodiment, the first controller and the second controller may be the same. For example, both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers. Alternatively, the first controllers may be different. For example, the first controller is a radio access intelligent controller and the second controller is a radio access management controller.

[0072] In a possible embodiment, the step of receiving a first determination result from the RAN network element comprises: receiving a protocol data unit (PDU) session resource change indication message or a policy change request message from a core network, where the PDU session resource change indication message or the policy change request message includes a first determination result; obtaining a first determination result from a PDU session resource change indication message or a policy change request message; Includes.

[0073] In other words, in this embodiment, in order to enhance the method of obtaining the first decision result, the first decision result can be obtained using a PDU session resource change indication message or a policy change request message.

[0074] In a possible embodiment, the step of transmitting the policy conflict detection result to the RAN network element comprises: adding a policy conflict detection result or an indication information indicating the policy conflict detection result to a PDU session resource change confirmation message; sending a PDU session resource change confirmation message to the RAN network element; Includes.

[0075] In other words, in this embodiment, the policy conflict detection result or the indication information indicating the policy conflict detection result may be transmitted using a PDU session resource change confirmation message to improve the reliability of information transmission.

[0076] In a possible embodiment, the policy conflict detection result is that no policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and the first policy information; The method comprises: Sending a PDU session change request message to the RAN network element, so as to cause the RAN network element to execute a first decision result based on the PDU session change request message. Further includes:

[0077] In other words, in this embodiment, when no policy conflict occurs between the first decision result and the first policy information, the core network may initiate a UE policy change to ensure that the policy information of the UE, the RAN, and the core network is consistent (i.e., policy synchronization).

[0078] According to a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management apparatus for use in a first controller, the apparatus comprising: a receiving module configured to receive first policy information, the first policy information including a first policy configured by a core network for the UE; a detection module configured to detect that a policy conflict occurs between first policy information and second policy information, where the second policy information includes a second policy configured by a second controller for the UE or a first decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to the second policy; a decision module configured to make a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy to obtain a second decision result; a transmitting module configured to transmit the second decision result to a radio access network (RAN) network element so as to cause the RAN network element to execute the second decision result; Includes.

[0079] According to a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management apparatus for use in a first controller, the apparatus comprising: a message receiving module configured to receive a first message from a radio access network RAN ​​network element, the first message including policy conflict indication information, a UE identifier, and first policy information, the policy conflict indication information indicating that a policy conflict has occurred between the first policy information and a first decision result, the first policy information including a first policy configured by the core network for a UE corresponding to the UE identifier, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, and the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for the UE corresponding to the UE identifier; a policy decision module configured to make a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy to obtain a second decision result; a policy sending module configured to send the second decision result to the RAN network element so as to cause the RAN network element to implement the second decision result; Includes.

[0080] According to an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management device for use in a radio access network (RAN) network element, comprising: an information receiving module configured to receive first policy information from a core network, the first policy information including a first policy configured by the core network for the UE; a conflict detection module configured to detect a policy conflict occurring between first policy information and a first decision result, where the first decision result is a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, and the second policy is a policy configured by the second controller for the UE; a conflict sending module configured to send a first message to the first controller, the first message including policy conflict indication information, a UE identifier of the UE, and first policy information, the policy conflict indication information indicating that a policy conflict occurs between the first policy information and the first decision result; a decision receiving module configured to receive a second decision result from the first controller, the second decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy; a decision execution module configured to execute the second decision result; Includes.

[0081] According to a ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management device for use in a radio access network (RAN) network element, comprising: an obtaining module configured to obtain a first decision result, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for the user equipment UE; A decision result sending module configured to send a first decision result to the core network, so as to cause the core network to detect whether a policy conflict occurs between the first decision result and first policy information, where the first policy information includes a first policy configured by the core network for the UE; a conflict detection result receiving module configured to receive a policy conflict detection result from the core network, the policy conflict detection result including: a policy conflict has occurred between the first determination result and the first policy information, or a policy conflict has not occurred between the first determination result and the first policy information; Includes.

[0082] According to a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management device for use in a core network, the device comprising: a decision result receiving module configured to receive a first decision result from a radio access network RAN ​​network element, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for a user equipment UE; A policy conflict detection module configured to detect whether a policy conflict occurs between a first determination result and first policy information, where the first policy information includes a first policy configured by a core network for the UE; a conflict detection result sending module configured to send a policy conflict detection result to the RAN network element, the policy conflict detection result including: a policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and the first policy information, or a policy conflict does not occur between the first determination result and the first policy information; Includes.

[0083] According to an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management device for use in a first controller, the device including a processor, a memory, and a transceiver, The memory is configured to store computer instructions; When the policy conflict management apparatus operates, the processor executes computer instructions which cause the policy conflict management apparatus to perform the method according to the first aspect.

[0084] According to a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management device for use in a first controller, the device including a processor, a memory, and a transceiver, The memory is configured to store computer instructions; When the policy conflict management apparatus operates, the processor executes computer instructions which cause the policy conflict management apparatus to perform the method according to the second aspect.

[0085] According to a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management apparatus for use in a radio access network (RAN) network element, the apparatus comprising: a processor, a memory, and a transceiver; The memory is configured to store computer instructions; When the policy conflict management apparatus operates, the processor executes computer instructions which cause the policy conflict management apparatus to perform the method according to the third aspect.

[0086] According to a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management apparatus for use in a radio access network (RAN) network element, the apparatus comprising: a processor, a memory, and a transceiver; The memory is configured to store computer instructions; When the policy conflict management apparatus operates, the processor executes computer instructions which cause the policy conflict management apparatus to perform the method according to the fourth aspect.

[0087] According to a fifteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management device for use in a core network, the device including a processor, a memory, and a transceiver, The memory is configured to store computer instructions; When the policy conflict management apparatus operates, the processor executes computer instructions which cause the policy conflict management apparatus to perform a method according to the fifth aspect.

[0088] According to a sixteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management system including a first controller, a second controller, and a radio access network (RAN) network element, wherein the first controller is configured to perform the method according to the first aspect.

[0089] According to a seventeenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management system including a first controller, a second controller and a radio access network (RAN) network element, the first controller configured to perform the method according to the second aspect and the RAN network element configured to perform the method according to the third aspect.

[0090] According to an eighteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a policy conflict management system including a first controller, a second controller, a radio access network (RAN) network element, and a core network, the RAN network element configured to perform the method according to the fourth aspect, and the core network configured to perform the method according to the fifth aspect.

[0091] According to a nineteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer storage medium comprising computer instructions which, when executed, are capable of performing a method according to the first aspect, a method according to the second aspect, a method according to the third aspect, a method according to the fourth aspect or a method according to the fifth aspect.

[0092] According to a twentieth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product comprising computer instructions which, when executed, are capable of performing a method according to the first aspect, a method according to the second aspect, a method according to the third aspect, a method according to the fourth aspect or a method according to the fifth aspect.

[0093] According to the policy conflict management method, device and system provided in the embodiments of the present application, when a policy conflict is detected, a policy decision can be made according to a first policy configured by a core network for the UE and a second policy configured by a second controller for the UE, which avoids the generation of a UE policy with policy conflict, ensures the applicability of the policy, and improves the policy execution success rate. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0094] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an open wireless access network architecture. [Diagram 2] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a radio access network. [Diagram 3] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an open wireless access network architecture. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an open wireless access network architecture. [Diagram 5] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an open wireless access network architecture. [Figure 6] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of policy conflict management. [Figure 7]FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of policy conflict management. [Figure 8] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of policy conflict management. [Figure 9] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of policy conflict management. [Figure 10] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of policy conflict management. [Figure 11] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of policy conflict management. [Figure 12] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a policy conflict management method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 13] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a policy conflict management method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 14] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a policy conflict management method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 15] 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a policy conflict management device according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 16] 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a policy conflict management device according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 17] 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a policy conflict management device according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 18] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of policy conflict management. [Figure 19] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a policy conflict management method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 20] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a policy conflict management method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 21] 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a policy conflict management device according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 22] 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a policy conflict management device according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 23] 1 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0095] The following describes the technical solutions of the embodiments in the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings. It is obvious that the described embodiments are only some, but not all, of the embodiments of the present application.

[0096] In the description herein, "one embodiment" or "some embodiments" and the like indicate that one or more embodiments of the present application include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic that is described with reference to the embodiment. Thus, statements herein such as "in one embodiment," "in some embodiments," "in some other embodiments," and "in other embodiments" that appear in different places do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Instead, unless specifically emphasized otherwise, these statements refer to "one or more, but not all, of the embodiments."

[0097] In the description of this specification, unless otherwise specified, " / " means "or". For example, A / B may represent A or B. In this specification, "and / or" describes only the association relationship between associated objects and represents that three relationships may exist. For example, A and / or B may represent the following three cases: only A exists, both A and B exist, and only B exists. In addition, in the description of the embodiments of this application, "multiple" means two or more.

[0098] In the description herein, the terms "first" and "second" are for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood as an indication or implication of relative importance or an implicit indication of the number of technical features depicted. Thus, a feature qualified by "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more features. The terms "including," "comprising," "having," and variations of these terms all mean "including but not limited to," unless specifically emphasized otherwise.

[0099] With the development of wireless network technology, automation and intelligence are considered to be the key development directions of future wireless networks. For example, the open radio access network shown in Figure 1 reconstructs the RAN network based on technologies such as AI or ML to implement automation and intelligence of the wireless network. The functions of the main functional modules in Figure 1 are described as follows:

[0100] The radio access management controller controls and optimizes latency-insensitive services of network elements and resources, executes AI or ML workflows including model training and updates, and manages applications or features according to policies.

[0101] The radio access intelligent controller controls and optimizes RAN function network elements and resources based on data collection and operation instructions via the R2, R3, or R4 interface. The R2 interface is used between the radio access intelligent controller and the CU (Central Unit)-CP (Control Plane). The R3 interface is used between the radio access intelligent controller and the DU (Distributed Unit). The R4 interface is used between the radio access intelligent controller and the CU-UP (User Plane).

[0102] The CU-CP is the central unit-control plane of the RAN, and implements the Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) protocol control plane functions.

[0103] The CU-UP is the central unit-user plane of the RAN, implementing the PDCP protocol user plane and service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) protocol functions.

[0104] The DU is a distributed unit of the RAN and implements the RLC (radio link control) / MAC (media access control) / High-PHY (high physical layer) protocol functions.

[0105] OAM (Operation, Administration and Maintenance) provides operation and maintenance management of open RAN functional modules.

[0106] It should be noted that the radio access management controller of FIG. 1 may configure policies for the UE.

[0107] In current wireless mobile networks, UE-level policies or UE group-level policies are configured by the core network, and in the UE access or session access procedure, the core network sends the corresponding policies to the RAN. The RAN network elements perform corresponding radio resource allocation and parameter configuration based on the corresponding policy information. For example, in the radio access network shown in FIG. 2, the UE-level policy information obtained from the core network by the CU in the RAN is mainly the subscribed policy information and the dynamically generated policy information of each UE (Per-UE).

[0108] (1) The subscribed policy information may include Radio Resource Management (RRM) policies, Service Area Restrictions, Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) membership status, and Closed Access Group (CAG), etc.

[0109] (2) Dynamically generated policy information for each UE (Per-UE) may include a Quality of Service (QoS) policy, etc.

[0110] The RRM policy may include a subscribed Reference Signal Received Power (RFSP). The Service Area Restrictions may include a Handover Restriction List (HO restriction list) and a RAN Access Technology (RAT), etc.

[0111] However, in an open radio access network, a policy conflict may occur between the UE policy configured by the radio access management controller and the UE policy configured by the core network. Currently, there is no optimized solution for resolving the policy conflict.

[0112] Therefore, in order to resolve policy conflicts that may occur between UE policies configured by a radio access management controller and UE policies configured by a core network, the present application provides a policy conflict management method, apparatus, and system to avoid policy conflicts using different implementations, such as proactive preventive policy conflict handling or policy conflict feedback handling.

[0113] It should be noted that proactive preventive policy conflict handling may mean that the radio access management controller or radio access intelligent controller is responsible for detecting conflicts, so as to avoid the generation of UE policies with policy conflicts and ensure the applicability of policies. The specific solution is as follows: the radio access management controller or radio access intelligent controller obtains the subscription information or QoS of the corresponding UE from the core network, and the relevant subscription information or QoS corresponding to the UE is referred to when the policy decision is made, so as to avoid policy conflicts.

[0114] The policy conflict feedback process may mean that the radio access management controller or radio access intelligent controller makes a policy decision and delivers a policy action to the CU-CP. The CU-CP detects a policy conflict based on the received policy action and the UE subscription or QoS. When a policy conflict occurs, the policy conflict information and the UE subscription or QoS are reported. The radio access management controller or radio access intelligent controller makes a policy decision again with reference to the UE subscription or QoS.

[0115] The following provides an explanation using a specific embodiment.

[0116] Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of an open radio access network. As shown in Figure 3, the RAN network elements include a CU-CP, a CU-UP, and a DU. The core network includes the following network elements:

[0117] (1) AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function) is responsible for UE access control and mobility functions, including UE authentication and location area tracking.

[0118] (2) SMF (Session Management Function) is primarily responsible for managing PDU sessions, including creation, modification, and deletion.

[0119] (3) PCF (Policy Control function) is primarily responsible for policy management functions such as QoS and charging.

[0120] (4) UDM (Unified Data Management) is primarily responsible for managing data such as UE subscription information and dynamic context.

[0121] (5) UPF (User Plane Function) is mainly responsible for functions such as user service data transmission and QoS monitoring.

[0122] (6)NWDAF (Network Data Analysis Function) is primarily responsible for analyzing core network data based on ML models.

[0123] (7) NEF (Network Exposure Function) is primarily responsible for exposing network capability information to third-party devices.

[0124] It should be noted that the radio access intelligent controller in FIG. 3 may be combined with a CU-CP. The network structure shown in FIG. 3 is for the case where the CU is further separated into a CU-CP and a CU-UP after the CU and the DU are separated. In addition, in addition to the case shown in FIG. 3, the policy conflict management method provided in this application may further be applied to the case where the CU and the DU are separated, as shown in FIG. 4. Similarly, the policy conflict management method provided in this application may also be applied to the case where the RAN network elements are not separated. As shown in FIG. 5, the RAN network elements include a gNB (next generation node base station).

[0125] Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of policy conflict management. As shown in Figure 6, the embodiment of policy conflict management is a proactive preventive policy conflict handling. That is, to avoid policy conflict, the radio access intelligent controller obtains UE policy information (including UE subscription or QoS information) delivered to the RAN by the core network from the RAN using a signaling plane procedure, and determines the final optimization measure of the UE by referring to the obtained policy information and the policy information delivered by the radio access management controller.

[0126] The specific implementation process includes the following steps:

[0127] Step 6-0: The OAM may collect performance data from a RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in FIG. 3, the CU and DU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) based on a management plane performance management procedure. The RAN network element that can provide the performance data may be the CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in FIG. 3, or the CU and DU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5.

[0128] Step 6-1: OAM receives an external input management request, that is, a policy deployment request. The policy deployment request may include information such as a policy type, a policy target, and a policy application object (Scope).

[0129] The policy target may be a Quality of Experience (QoE) target, i.e., QoE Target. The policy application object (Scope) may be one of a UE identifier list (UE id list) and a UE group identifier (UE group id), etc. For example, the UE group identifier may be an attribute feature identifier of a UE group, such as a Quality of Service Class Identifier (QCI), a slice identifier (slice id), and a location area.

[0130] For example, the Policy policy may be a service offload policy, a specific type of service, and when the QoE of the current serving cell cannot meet the QoE target of the UE, the UE is handed over to a target cell that meets the QoE of the service. The service offload policy is the policy type, the specific type of service is the policy application object (Scope), and the QoE target is the policy target.

[0131] Step 6-2: After receiving the policy deployment request, the OAM instructs the radio access management controller to create a policy instance through the internal interface. The radio access management controller performs policy modeling in step 6-1 according to the policy model of the P1 interface, and sends a policy instance creation request message to the radio access intelligent controller through the P1 interface. The message includes information such as the policy type, policy application object (Scope), and policy target (QoE Target) in step 6-1.

[0132] It should be noted that OAM and radio access management controller are logically two different functional modules and can also be used separately as independent network elements. For example, radio access management controller is integrated into service management and orchestration functions. OAM is a general name for management network elements and can be specifically implemented by management network elements such as ONAP (Open Networking Automation Platform) and NMS (network management system). The policy conflict management solution provided in this application is also applicable to deployment scenarios where the radio access management controller and OAM are independent of each other.

[0133] Step 6-3: The radio access intelligent controller receives the policy information sent by the radio access management controller, and determines the data that needs to be collected from the RAN based on the policy decision requirements, i.e., sends a data subscription request message to the RAN network element (e.g., CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in FIG. 3, or CU and DU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5) via the R2 or R3 or R4 interface. This request message may include information such as a request data type, and the request data type may include UE performance data, cell performance data, and UE signal measurement data. The UE signal measurement data may include measured signal quality, such as RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) and RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality).

[0134] It should be noted that in this application, the network architecture of the RAN may be shown in Figure 3, Figure 4, or Figure 5. Correspondingly, the RAN network element configured to request a data subscription may be the CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in Figure 3, or the CU and DU in Figure 4, or the gNB in ​​Figure 5.

[0135] After collecting the subscription data, the RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in FIG. 3, the CU and DU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) reports the UE performance data, cell performance data, and UE signal measurement data to the radio access intelligent controller using a Data report message on the R2, R3, or R4 interface.

[0136] Step 6-4: The radio access intelligent controller calculates the current QoE of the UE based on the UE performance data, and analyzes whether the current QoE meets the policy target (QoE Target) in the policy delivered in step 6-2. If the current QoE does not meet the policy target (QoE Target), the radio access intelligent controller determines that the UE needs to be handed over, and determines a UE list (list) if the UE's QoE does not meet the QoETarget.

[0137] After determining the UE or UE list that needs to be handed over, the radio access intelligent controller further needs to determine the target cell to which the UE should be handed over. Therefore, the radio access intelligent controller needs to evaluate the performance of the neighboring cells of the current cell serving the UE, and then find the target cell that meets the QoE Target. Therefore, the radio access intelligent controller predicts the performance (QoE Predicted) of the neighboring cells based on the UE performance data, the performance data of the neighboring cells, and the UE signal measurement data, and further determines the neighboring cells that can meet the service QoE Target of the UE as candidate target cells based on the performance QoE of the neighboring cells.

[0138] It should be noted that in the radio access intelligent controller, the services of calculating the current QoE of the UE, predicting the QoE of neighboring cells, and determining a target cell based on the QoE may be performed by different internal function modules (these modules can be independently deployed to form independent network elements), or may be implemented by an integrated function module, which is not limited in this application.

[0139] Step 6-5: To avoid conflicts between the determined target cell and the related policies in the subscription information of the UE, the radio access intelligent controller requests subscription information of the UE from a RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) via the R2 interface. For example, the radio access intelligent controller sends a UE subscription request message to the CU-CP in FIG. 3. The UE subscription request message includes a UE identifier and a subscription info type.

[0140] The UE identifier is used to identify the target UE of the requested subscription information. The value of the UE identifier may be one of the following (it is not limited to these types and may be another UE identifier): RNTI (Radio Network Temporary Identifier), 5G-GUTI (Globally Unique Temporary Identifier), and IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identify).

[0141] The Subscription info type indicates the type of subscription information requested. The value of the Subscription info type may be one or more of RRM Policy, Service Area Restrictions, CSG (Closed Subscriber Group), and CAG (Closed Access Group) (it is not limited to these types and may be another subscribed location information policy).

[0142] Step 6-6: The RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) retrieves the locally stored policy information delivered by the core network and returns the requested policy information to the radio access intelligent controller. For example, the CU-CP in FIG. 3 returns a UE subscription response message to the radio access intelligent controller. This message carries the UE identifier and specific parameter information of the policy information requested in step 6-5, such as one or more of RRM policy, Service Area Restrictions, CSG, and CAG (this is not limited to these types and may be another subscribed location information policy).

[0143] Step 6-7: The radio access intelligent controller refers to the policy information obtained in step 6-6 to determine whether the candidate target cell determined in step 6-5 meets the subscription policy of the UE, and if a conflict occurs between the candidate target cell and the subscription policy of the UE, returns to step 6-4 to select another cell that meets the QoE target requirement of the UE as the target cell and performs policy conflict detection again, or performs step 6-8 if no conflict occurs.

[0144] Step 6-8: The radio access intelligent controller sends a policy execution action command message to a RAN network element (e.g., CU-CP in FIG. 3, CU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5) via the R2 interface. The message includes a UE identifier (UE id), a target cell identifier (Target cell id), and an action type (ActionType) that is a handover indication (HO indication). For example, the radio access intelligent controller in FIG. 3 sends a policy execution action command message to the CU-CP via the R2 interface. The radio access intelligent controller in FIG. 4 sends a policy execution action command message to the CU. The radio access intelligent controller in FIG. 5 sends a policy execution action command message to the gNB.

[0145] Step 6-9: The RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) executes the handover procedure of the UE corresponding to the UE identifier according to the policy execution operation command in step 6-8, and hands over the UE to the target cell corresponding to the target cell identifier (Target cell id). The specific handover procedure is not described in this application. For example, after the CU-CP in FIG. 3 receives the policy execution operation command from the radio access intelligent controller, the CU-CP executes the handover procedure of the UE corresponding to the UE identifier. After the CU in FIG. 4 receives the policy execution operation command from the radio access intelligent controller, the CU executes the handover procedure of the UE corresponding to the UE identifier. After the gNB in ​​FIG. 5 receives the policy execution operation command from the radio access intelligent controller, the gNB executes the handover procedure of the UE corresponding to the UE identifier.

[0146] It can be seen that in this embodiment of the present application, the radio access management controller is responsible for configuring the UE policy. The RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) is responsible for providing the UE policy configured by the core network. The radio access intelligent controller is responsible for detecting policy conflicts.

[0147] In other words, the radio access intelligent controller obtains the policy information of the UE using the signaling plane, and detects the policy conflict in the policy decision phase to avoid generating the UE policy with the policy conflict. In particular, the radio access intelligent controller may add a new parameter feature via the R2 interface to support the policy conflict detection to avoid unnecessary signaling message exchange generated when the policy conflict occurs.

[0148] Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of policy conflict management. As shown in Figure 7, the embodiment of policy conflict management is a proactive, preventive policy conflict handling. That is, the radio access management controller directly obtains related UE policy information (including UE subscription or QoS information) from the core network using a management plane procedure, and sends this information to the radio access intelligent controller when creating a policy instance. The radio access intelligent controller refers to the obtained policy information and the policy information delivered by the radio access management controller to determine the final optimization measure of the UE to avoid policy conflict.

[0149] The specific implementation process includes the following steps:

[0150] Step 7-0: The OAM may collect performance data from a RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in FIG. 3, the CU and DU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) based on a management plane performance management procedure. The RAN network element that can provide the performance data may be the CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in FIG. 3, or the CU and DU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5.

[0151] Step 7-1: OAM receives an external input management request, that is, a policy deployment request. The policy deployment request may include information such as a policy type, a policy target, and a policy application object (Scope).

[0152] The policy target may be a Quality of Experience (QoE) target, i.e., QoE Target. The policy application object (Scope) may be one of a UE identifier list (UE id list) and a UE group identifier (UE group id), etc. For example, the UE group identifier may be an attribute feature identifier of a UE group, such as a Quality of Service Class Identifier (QCI), a slice identifier (slice id), and a location area.

[0153] For example, the Policy policy may be a service offload policy, a specific type of service, and when the QoE of the current serving cell cannot meet the QoE target of the UE, the UE is handed over to a target cell that meets the QoE of the service. The service offload policy is the policy type, the specific type of service is the policy application object (Scope), and the QoE target is the policy target.

[0154] Step 7-2: The radio access management controller receives the external policy deployment, and obtains policy application object (Scope) information from the deployed policy, such as UE group identifier (UE group id). In addition, the radio access management controller queries subscription information or QoS corresponding to all UEs that subscribe to the UE group identifier (UE group id) from the core network element through the management service interface between the OAM and the core network element.

[0155] The UE Subscription Request message includes a UE group identifier (UE group id), a Subscription info type, and an InfoUpdateNotify Indication.

[0156] The Subscription info type indicates the type of subscription information requested. The value of the Subscription info type may be one or more of the following (it is not limited to these types, and may be another subscribed location information policy): RRM Policy, Service Area Restrictions type, CSG, and CAG.

[0157] The UE group identifier may be an attribute feature identifier of the UE group, such as a Quality of Service Class Identifier (QCI), a slice identifier (slice id), and a location area.

[0158] Info Update Notify Indication is used to subscribe to the information update notification. Specifically, when the UE subscription information or QoS changes, the core network element is triggered to initiate an information update and notify the radio access management controller of the latest updated policy information. The information update notification in this application is only an exemplary message, and may alternatively be implemented using another message, which is not limited in this application.

[0159] It should be noted that the core network element configured to provide related UE policy information may be at least one of the NEF, NWDAF, UDM, AMF, and SMF in the core network shown in Figure 3. In other words, in addition to the NEF and NWDAF, the radio access management controller may further obtain related UE policy information from the AMF, SMF, or UDM based on the management plane interface service, which is not limited in this application.

[0160] Step 7-3: The core network element queries the UDM to confirm the UEs related to the UE group id, further queries the subscription information or QoS of the corresponding UEs, and returns the information, i.e., subscriptionInfo list, to the radio access management controller. The subscriptionInfo list is a set of information pairs: [UE identifier, QoS, RRM policy, Service Area Restrictions, CSG, and CAG].

[0161] Step 7-4: The wireless access management controller performs the policy modeling of step 7-1 according to the policy model of the P1 interface to generate a P1 interface policy.

[0162] Step 7-5: The radio access management controller sends a policy instance creation request message to the radio access intelligent controller through the P1 interface. This message includes information such as the policy type, policy application object (Scope), and policy target in step 7-1, and includes the UE subscription information or QoS obtained in step 7-3. That is, the policy instance creation message includes subscription information list (subscriptionInfo list) information.

[0163] Step 7-6: The radio access intelligent controller receives the policy information sent by the radio access management controller, and determines the data that needs to be collected from the RAN based on the policy decision requirements, i.e., sends a data subscription request message to the RAN network element (e.g., CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in FIG. 3, or CU and DU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5) via the R2 or R3 or R4 interface. This request message may include information such as a request data type, and the request data type may include UE performance data, cell performance data, and UE signal measurement data. The UE signal measurement data may include measured signal quality such as RSRP and RSRQ.

[0164] It should be noted that in this application, the network architecture of the RAN may be shown in Figure 3, Figure 4, or Figure 5. Correspondingly, the RAN network element configured to request a data subscription may be the CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in Figure 3, or the CU and DU in Figure 4, or the gNB in ​​Figure 5.

[0165] After collecting the subscription data, the RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in FIG. 3, the CU and DU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) reports the UE performance data, cell performance data, and UE signal measurement data to the radio access intelligent controller using a Data report message on the R2, R3, or R4 interface.

[0166] Step 7-7: The radio access intelligent controller calculates the current QoE of the UE based on the UE performance data, and analyzes whether the current QoE meets the policy target (QoE Target) in the policy delivered in step 7-5. If the current QoE does not meet the policy target (QoE Target), the radio access intelligent controller determines that the UE needs to be handed over, and determines a UE list (list) if the UE's QoE does not meet the QoETarget.

[0167] After determining the UE or UE list that needs to be handed over, the radio access intelligent controller further needs to determine the target cell to which the UE should be handed over. Therefore, the radio access intelligent controller needs to evaluate the performance of the neighboring cells of the current cell serving the UE, and then find the target cell that meets the QoE Target. Therefore, the radio access intelligent controller predicts the performance (QoE Predicted) of the neighboring cells based on the UE performance data, the performance data of the neighboring cells, and the UE signal measurement data, and further determines the neighboring cells that can meet the service QoE Target of the UE as candidate target cells based on the performance QoE of the neighboring cells.

[0168] It should be noted that in the radio access intelligent controller, the services of calculating the current QoE of the UE, predicting the QoE of neighboring cells, and determining a target cell based on the QoE may be performed by different internal function modules (these modules can be independently deployed to form independent network elements), or may be implemented by an integrated function module, which is not limited in this application.

[0169] Step 7-8: The radio access intelligent controller refers to the policy information obtained in step 7-5 to determine whether the optimization policy decision determined in step 7-7 meets the subscription policy of the UE, and if a conflict occurs between the optimization policy decision and the subscription policy of the UE, returns to step 7-7 to select another optimization policy decision that meets the policy target requirement and performs policy conflict detection again, or performs step 7-9 if no conflict occurs. If multiple selected optimization policy decisions conflict with the policy information obtained in step 7-5 and the optimization policy decision does not meet the policy target, the procedure ends.

[0170] Step 7-9: The radio access intelligent controller sends a policy execution operation command message to a RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) via the R2 interface. The RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) performs an optimization processing procedure for the designated UE according to the policy execution operation command sent by the radio access intelligent controller, for example, reallocates radio resources to the UE and configures corresponding parameters. For example, the radio access intelligent controller in FIG. 3 sends a policy execution operation command message to the CU-CP via the R2 interface. After the CU-CP receives the policy execution operation command from the radio access intelligent controller, the CU-CP performs a handover processing procedure for the UE corresponding to the UE identifier. The radio access intelligent controller in FIG. 4 sends a policy execution operation command message to the CU. After the CU receives the policy execution operation command from the radio access intelligent controller, the CU performs a handover processing procedure for the UE corresponding to the UE identifier. The radio access intelligent controller in FIG. 5 sends a policy execution operation command message to the gNB. After the gNB receives a policy execution operation command from the radio access intelligent controller, the gNB executes a handover processing procedure for the UE corresponding to the UE identifier.

[0171] Step 7-10: When the UE policy information of the core network changes, the core network element (e.g., NEF or NWDAF) sends an information update notification to the radio access management controller using the management plane interface service, and sends the updated UE policy information (subscriptionInfo list) to the radio access management controller. Only the information about the UE whose information has changed may be sent in the updated UE policy information (subscriptionInfo list), and it is not necessary to send the information about all the UEs identified by the UE group identifier (UE group id). In addition, the information update notification here is only an exemplary message, and may alternatively be implemented using another message, which is not limited in this application.

[0172] Step 7-11: The radio access management controller determines the managed P1 interface policy instance, and sends the updated UE policy information to the corresponding radio access intelligent controller via the P1 interface.

[0173] Step 7-12: The wireless access intelligent controller locally updates the stored policy information, ie, updates the latest policy information into the local policy.

[0174] In this embodiment of the present application, it can be seen that the radio access management controller is responsible for configuring the UE policy. The OAM is responsible for providing the UE policy configured by the core network. The radio access intelligent controller is responsible for detecting policy conflicts.

[0175] In other words, the radio access intelligent controller obtains UE policy information based on the management plane interface service using the radio access management controller, and detects policy conflicts in the optimization policy decision phase to avoid generating UE policies with policy conflicts. In particular, the radio access intelligent controller may add a new parameter feature via the management plane interface to support policy conflict detection to avoid unnecessary signaling message exchanges generated when policy conflicts are optimized.

[0176] Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of policy conflict management. As shown in Figure 8, the embodiment of policy conflict management is a proactive preventive policy conflict handling. That is, the radio access management controller obtains UE policy information (including UE subscription or QoS information) delivered to the RAN by the core network from the RAN using a signaling plane procedure to avoid policy conflict, and determines the final optimization measure of the UE by referring to the obtained policy information and the UE policy information configured by the radio access management controller. The specific implementation process is similar to that of Figure 6. That is, the functions implemented by the radio access intelligent controller are implemented by the radio access management controller, and the details are not described again here.

[0177] In this embodiment of the present application, it can be seen that a RAN network element (e.g., CU-CP in FIG. 3, CU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5) is responsible for providing UE policies configured by the core network. The radio access intelligent controller is responsible for information forwarding functions. The radio access management controller is responsible for configuring UE policies and detecting policy conflicts.

[0178] In other words, the radio access management controller obtains UE policy information using the signaling plane, detects policy conflicts in the policy decision phase, and avoids generating UE policies with policy conflicts. In particular, the radio access management controller may add a new parameter feature via the R2 interface to support policy conflict detection to avoid unnecessary signaling message exchanges generated when a policy conflict occurs.

[0179] Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of policy conflict management. As shown in Figure 9, the embodiment of policy conflict management is a proactive preventive policy conflict handling. That is, the radio access management controller directly obtains related UE policy information (including UE subscription or QoS information) from the core network using a management plane procedure to avoid policy conflict, and determines the final optimization measure of the UE by referring to the obtained policy information and the UE policy information configured by the radio access management controller. The specific implementation process is similar to that of Figure 7. That is, the functions implemented by the radio access intelligent controller are implemented by the radio access management controller, and the details are not described again here.

[0180] In this embodiment of the present application, it can be seen that the OAM is responsible for providing UE policies configured by the core network. The radio access intelligent controller is responsible for information forwarding functions. The radio access management controller is responsible for configuring UE policies and detecting policy conflicts.

[0181] In other words, the radio access management controller obtains UE policy information based on the management plane interface service, and detects policy conflicts in the optimization policy decision phase to avoid generating UE policies with policy conflicts. In particular, the radio access management controller may add a new parameter feature via the management plane interface to support policy conflict detection, so as to avoid unnecessary signaling message exchanges generated when policy conflicts are optimized.

[0182] Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of policy conflict management. As shown in Figure 10, the embodiment of policy conflict management is policy conflict feedback processing. That is, the radio access intelligent controller does not obtain the UE policy information of the core network in advance, but obtains the UE policy information when a policy conflict occurs, and then makes an optimization policy decision again. That is, a RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in Figure 3, the CU in Figure 4, or the gNB in ​​Figure 5) detects a policy conflict and reports the policy conflict and the UE policy information. The radio access intelligent controller makes an optimization policy decision again with reference to the UE policy information to resolve the policy conflict.

[0183] The specific implementation process includes the following steps:

[0184] Step 10-0: The OAM may collect performance data from a RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in FIG. 3, the CU and DU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) based on a management plane performance management procedure. The RAN network element that can provide the performance data may be the CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in FIG. 3, or the CU and DU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5.

[0185] Step 10-1: OAM receives an external input management request, that is, a policy deployment request. The policy deployment request may include information such as a policy type, a policy target, and a policy application object (Scope).

[0186] The policy target may be a Quality of Experience (QoE) target, i.e., QoE Target. The policy application object (Scope) may be one of a UE identifier list (UE id list) and a UE group identifier (UE group id), etc. For example, the UE group identifier may be an attribute feature identifier of a UE group, such as a Quality of Service Class Identifier (QCI), a slice identifier (slice id), and a location area.

[0187] For example, the Policy policy may be a service offload policy, a specific type of service, and when the QoE of the current serving cell cannot meet the QoE target of the UE, the UE is handed over to a target cell that meets the QoE of the service. The service offload policy is the policy type, the specific type of service is the policy application object (Scope), and the QoE target is the policy target.

[0188] Step 10-2: After receiving the policy deployment request, the OAM instructs the radio access management controller to create a policy instance through the internal interface. The radio access management controller performs policy modeling in step 10-1 according to the policy model of the P1 interface, and sends a policy instance creation request message to the radio access intelligent controller through the P1 interface. This message includes information such as the policy type, policy application object (Scope), and policy target (QoE Target) in step 6-1.

[0189] It should be noted that OAM and radio access management controller are logically two different functional modules and can also be used separately as independent network elements. For example, radio access management controller is integrated into service management and orchestration functions. OAM is a general name for management network elements and can be specifically implemented by management network elements such as ONAP (Open Networking Automation Platform) and NMS (network management system). The policy conflict management solution provided in this application is also applicable to deployment scenarios where the radio access management controller and OAM are independent of each other.

[0190] Step 10-3: The radio access intelligent controller receives the policy information sent by the radio access management controller, and determines the data that needs to be collected from the RAN based on the policy decision requirements, i.e., sends a data subscription request message to a RAN network element (e.g., CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in FIG. 3, or CU and DU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5) via the R2 or R3 or R4 interface. This request message may include information such as a request data type, and the request data type may include UE performance data, cell performance data, and UE signal measurement data. The UE signal measurement data may include measured signal quality, such as RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) and RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality).

[0191] It should be noted that in this application, the network architecture of the RAN may be shown in Figure 3, Figure 4, or Figure 5. Correspondingly, the RAN network element configured to request a data subscription may be the CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in Figure 3, or the CU and DU in Figure 4, or the gNB in ​​Figure 5.

[0192] After collecting the subscription data, the RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in FIG. 3, the CU and DU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) reports the UE performance data, cell performance data, and UE signal measurement data to the radio access intelligent controller using a Data report message on the R2, R3, or R4 interface.

[0193] Step 10-4: The radio access intelligent controller calculates the current QoE of the UE based on the UE performance data, and analyzes whether the current QoE meets the policy target (QoE Target) in the policy delivered in step 10-2. If the current QoE does not meet the policy target (QoE Target), the radio access intelligent controller determines that an optimization process needs to be performed for the UE, and determines a UE list (UE list) if the QoE of multiple UEs does not meet the policy target (QoE Target).

[0194] Step 10-5: After determining the UE or UE list for which the optimization process needs to be performed, the radio access intelligent controller further needs to determine a specific optimization process policy decision (i.e., policy execution action). For example, the radio access intelligent controller needs to evaluate the performance of neighboring cells of the current cell serving the UE to find a target cell that meets the policy target (QoE Target).

[0195] Step 10-6: The radio access intelligent controller sends a policy execution operation command message to a RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) via the R2 interface. For example, the radio access intelligent controller in FIG. 3 sends a policy execution operation command message to the CU-CP via the R2 interface. The radio access intelligent controller in FIG. 4 sends a policy execution operation command message to the CU. The radio access intelligent controller in FIG. 5 sends a policy execution operation command message to the gNB.

[0196] Step 10-7: A RAN network element (e.g., CU-CP in FIG. 3, CU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5) detects a policy conflict and determines whether a conflict occurs between the policy execution operation execution information delivered by the radio access intelligent controller and the UE policy delivered by the core network, and if a conflict occurs, determines specific information of the policy conflict including the corresponding UE identifier (UE id) and UE policy information (policy delivered by the core network). For example, after the CU-CP in FIG. 3 receives a policy execution operation command from the radio access intelligent controller, the CU-CP detects a policy conflict and reports the policy conflict if a policy conflict is detected. After the CU in FIG. 4 receives a policy execution operation command from the radio access intelligent controller, the CU detects a policy conflict and reports the policy conflict if a policy conflict is detected. After the gNB in ​​FIG. 5 receives a policy execution operation command from the radio access intelligent controller, the gNB detects a policy conflict and reports the policy conflict if a policy conflict is detected.

[0197] Step 10-8: The RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) reports the policy conflict to the radio access intelligent controller via R2, and includes a policy conflict indication, a UE identifier, and UE subscription info in the reported message. The policy conflict indication indicates that a policy conflict has occurred, and the radio access intelligent controller determines, based on the indication, that a policy decision (i.e., a policy action instruction) needs to be updated.

[0198] Step 10-9: The radio access intelligent controller refers to the policy information obtained in step 10-8 to make an optimization policy decision again, that is, to re-determine another optimization policy decision that satisfies the policy target requirements.

[0199] Step 10-10: The radio access intelligent controller sends an updated policy execution operation command message to a RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) via the R2 interface. For example, the radio access intelligent controller in FIG. 3 sends an updated policy execution operation command message to the CU-CP via the R2 interface. The radio access intelligent controller in FIG. 4 sends an updated policy execution operation command message to the CU. The radio access intelligent controller in FIG. 5 sends an updated policy execution operation command message to the gNB.

[0200] Step 10-11: The RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) executes an optimization process procedure for the designated UE according to the policy execution operation command in step 10-10, for example, reallocates radio resources to the UE and configures corresponding parameters. For example, after the CU-CP in FIG. 3 receives a policy execution operation command from the radio access intelligent controller, the CU-CP executes a handover process procedure for the UE corresponding to the UE identifier. After the CU in FIG. 4 receives a policy execution operation command from the radio access intelligent controller, the CU executes a handover process procedure for the UE corresponding to the UE identifier. After the gNB in ​​FIG. 5 receives a policy execution operation command from the radio access intelligent controller, the gNB executes a handover process procedure for the UE corresponding to the UE identifier.

[0201] In this embodiment of the present application, it can be seen that the radio access management controller is responsible for configuring UE policies. The radio access intelligent controller is responsible for making policy decisions. The RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) is responsible for detecting policy conflicts.

[0202] In other words, the radio access intelligent controller directionally acquires corresponding UE policy information where policy conflict occurs based on the conflict detection result of the RAN network element (e.g., CU-CP in FIG. 3, CU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5), and in the optimization policy decision phase, makes a policy decision based on the UE policy information where policy conflict occurs, to avoid generating a UE policy with policy conflict. In particular, the RAN network element (e.g., CU-CP in FIG. 3, CU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5) is extended to support policy conflict detection, and the radio access intelligent controller is supported in directionally acquiring corresponding UE policy information where policy conflict occurs, so as to acquire less unnecessary UE information and reduce the consumption of interface resources for data acquisition.

[0203] Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of policy conflict management. As shown in Figure 11, the embodiment of policy conflict management is policy conflict feedback processing. That is, the radio access management controller does not obtain the UE policy information of the core network in advance, but obtains the UE policy information when a policy conflict occurs, and then makes an optimization policy decision again. That is, a RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in Figure 3, the CU in Figure 4, or the gNB in ​​Figure 5) detects a policy conflict and reports the policy conflict and the UE policy information. The radio access management controller makes an optimization policy decision again with reference to the UE policy information to resolve the policy conflict.

[0204] The specific implementation process is similar to that of Figure 10. That is, the functions implemented by the wireless access intelligent controller are implemented by the wireless access management controller, and the details are not described again here.

[0205] In this embodiment of the present application, it can be seen that the radio access management controller is responsible for configuring UE policies and making policy decisions. The radio access intelligent controller is responsible for information forwarding functions. The RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) is responsible for detecting policy conflicts.

[0206] In other words, the radio access management controller directionally acquires corresponding UE policy information where policy conflict occurs based on the policy conflict detection result of the RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5), and in the optimization policy decision phase, makes a policy decision based on the UE policy information where policy conflict occurs, to avoid generating a UE policy with policy conflict. In particular, the RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) is extended to support policy conflict detection, and the radio access management controller is supported in directionally acquiring corresponding UE policy information where policy conflict occurs, so as to acquire less unnecessary UE information and reduce the consumption of interface resources for data acquisition.

[0207] Next, Fig. 12 is a schematic flowchart of a policy conflict management method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method can be applied to a first controller, and the first controller can be a radio access intelligent controller or a radio access management controller in any scenario of Fig. 3 to Fig. 5. As shown in Fig. 12, the method can include the following steps:

[0208] S1201: Receive first policy information, where the first policy information includes a first policy configured by a core network for a UE.

[0209] In one embodiment, the first controller may receive the first policy information via a RAN network element. For example, the first controller sends a first subscription request message to the RAN network element for subscription information of the UE, and receives a first subscription response message from the RAN network element. The first subscription response message includes the first policy information. The RAN network element here may be the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5.

[0210] In one embodiment, the first controller may alternatively receive the first policy information via the second controller. For example, the first controller receives a second policy instance creation message from the second controller. The second policy instance creation message includes the first policy information and the second policy, and the first policy information is information received by the second controller from the core network via the OAM entity.

[0211] It should be noted that when the first controller may be a radio access intelligent controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5, the second controller may be a radio access management controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5. When the first controller may be a radio access management controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5, the second controller may also be a radio access management controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5.

[0212] In one embodiment, when both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers in any one of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5, the radio access management controller may receive the first policy information through the OAM entity. For example, the first controller sends a second subscription request message to the core network through the OAM entity, requesting subscription information of the UE, and receives a second subscription response message from the core network through the OAM entity. The second subscription response message includes the first policy information.

[0213] In one embodiment, when both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers in any one of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5, the radio access management controller may alternatively receive the first policy information via a RAN network element. For example, the first controller sends a third subscription request message to the RAN network element via the radio intelligent management controller to request subscription information of the UE, and receives a third subscription response message from the RAN network element via the radio intelligent management controller. The third subscription response message includes the first policy information. The RAN network element here may be the CU-CP in Figure 3, the CU in Figure 4, or the gNB in ​​Figure 5.

[0214] S1202: Detect that a policy conflict occurs between first policy information and second policy information, where the second policy information includes a second policy configured by a second controller for the UE or a first decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to the second policy.

[0215] In one embodiment, when the first controller may be a radio access intelligent controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5, and the second controller may be a radio access management controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5, the first controller may receive a policy instance creation message from the second controller. The policy instance creation message includes first policy information and a second policy. The first policy information is information received by the second controller from the core network via an OAM entity.

[0216] S1203: Make a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy to obtain a second decision result.

[0217] S1204: Send the second decision result to the RAN network element, so as to cause the RAN network element to execute the second decision result. Here, the RAN network element may be the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5.

[0218] Specifically, for the specific implementation process of this step, please refer to step 6-8 and step 6-9 in Figure 6, or step 7-9 in Figure 7, or step 8-8 and step 8-9 in Figure 8, or step 9-9 in Figure 9. Details will not be described again here.

[0219] It can be known that the radio access intelligent controller or the radio access management controller may be responsible for detecting a policy conflict, and when detecting a policy conflict, may make a policy decision according to a first policy configured by the core network for the UE and a second policy configured by the second controller for the UE, in order to avoid generating a UE policy with a policy conflict.

[0220] Figure 13 is a schematic flowchart of a policy conflict management method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method can be applied to a first controller, and the first controller can be a radio access intelligent controller or a radio access management controller in any scenario of Figure 3 to Figure 5. As shown in Figure 13, the method can include the following steps:

[0221] S1301: Receive a first message from a RAN network element, the first message including policy conflict indication information, a UE identifier, and first policy information, the policy conflict indication information indicating that a policy conflict occurs between the first policy information and a first decision result, the first policy information includes a first policy configured by a core network for a UE corresponding to the UE identifier, the first decision result is a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, and the second policy is a policy configured by the second controller for a UE corresponding to the UE identifier. The RAN network element here may be a CU-CP in FIG. 3, a CU in FIG. 4, or a gNB in ​​FIG. 5.

[0222] In one embodiment, the first controller may further receive a policy instance creation message from the second controller, the policy instance creation message including the second policy.

[0223] It should be noted that when the first controller may be a radio access intelligent controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5, the second controller may be a radio access management controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5. When the first controller may be a radio access management controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5, the second controller may also be a radio access management controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5.

[0224] S1302: Make a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy to obtain a second decision result.

[0225] Specifically, for the specific implementation process of this step, please refer to step 10-10 and step 10-11 in Figure 10, or step 11-10 and step 11-11 in Figure 11. The details will not be described again here.

[0226] S1303: Send a second decision result to the RAN network element, so as to cause the RAN network element to execute the second decision result. Here, the RAN network element may be the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5.

[0227] Specifically, for the specific implementation process of this step, please refer to step 10-9 in Figure 10 or step 11-9 in Figure 11. The details will not be described again here.

[0228] In this embodiment of the present application, it can be known that a RAN network element (e.g., CU-CP in FIG. 3, CU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5) may be responsible for detecting policy conflicts. The radio access intelligent controller or radio access management controller is responsible for making a policy decision based on the UE policy information reported by the RAN network element where policy conflicts occur, so as to avoid generating UE policies with policy conflicts. In particular, the RAN network element (e.g., CU-CP in FIG. 3, CU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5) is extended to support policy conflict detection, and the radio access intelligent controller or radio access management controller is supported in directionally acquiring corresponding UE policy information where policy conflicts occur, so as to acquire less unnecessary UE information and reduce the consumption of interface resources for data acquisition.

[0229] Figure 14 is a schematic flowchart of a policy conflict management method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method can be applied to a RAN network element, which can be a CU-CP in Figure 3, a CU in Figure 4, or a gNB in ​​Figure 5. As shown in Figure 14, the method can include the following steps:

[0230] S1401: Receive first policy information from a core network, where the first policy information includes a first policy configured by the core network for a UE.

[0231] Specifically, a RAN network element (e.g., the CU-CP in FIG. 3, the CU in FIG. 4, or the gNB in ​​FIG. 5) may receive the first policy information via an interface between the RAN network element and the core network.

[0232] It should be noted that the core network element configured to provide the first policy information may be at least one of the NEF, NWDAF, UDM, AMF, and SMF in the core network shown in Figure 3. In other words, in addition to the NEF and NWDAF, the radio access management controller may further obtain related UE policy information from the AMF, SMF, or UDM based on the management plane interface service, which is not limited in this application.

[0233] S1402: Detect that a policy conflict occurs between first policy information and a first decision result, where the first decision result is a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, and the second policy is a policy configured by the second controller for the UE.

[0234] Specifically, for the specific implementation process of this step, please refer to step 10-7 in Figure 10 or step 11-7 in Figure 11. The details will not be described again here.

[0235] It should be noted that when the first controller may be a radio access intelligent controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5, the second controller may be a radio access management controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5. When the first controller may be a radio access management controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5, the second controller may also be a radio access management controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5.

[0236] S1403: Send a first message to a first controller, where the first message includes policy conflict indication information, a UE identifier of the UE, and first policy information. The policy conflict indication information indicates that a policy conflict occurs between the first policy information and a first determination result.

[0237] Specifically, for the specific implementation process of this step, please refer to step 10-8 in Figure 10 or step 11-8 in Figure 11. The details will not be described again here.

[0238] S1404: Receive a second decision result from the first controller, where the second decision result is a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy.

[0239] Please note that for the specific implementation process of this step, please refer to step 10-10 in Figure 10 or step 11-10 in Figure 11. The details will not be described again here.

[0240] S1405: The second determination result is executed.

[0241] Please note that for the specific implementation process of this step, please refer to step 10-11 in Figure 10 or step 11-11 in Figure 11. The details will not be described again here.

[0242] In this embodiment of the present application, it can be known that a RAN network element (e.g., CU-CP in FIG. 3, CU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5) may be responsible for detecting policy conflicts, and when a policy conflict is detected, may report the policy conflict to a radio access intelligent controller or radio access management controller responsible for making a policy decision. In this way, the radio access intelligent controller or radio access management controller responsible for making a policy decision may make a policy decision based on the UE policy information where a policy conflict occurs, so as to avoid generating a UE policy with a policy conflict. In particular, the RAN network element (e.g., CU-CP in FIG. 3, CU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5) is extended to support policy conflict detection, and the radio access intelligent controller or radio access management controller is supported in directionally acquiring corresponding UE policy information where a policy conflict occurs, so as to acquire less unnecessary UE information and reduce the consumption of interface resources for data acquisition.

[0243] Figure 15 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a policy conflict management device according to an embodiment of the present application. The device can be used in a first controller, and the first controller can be a wireless access intelligent controller or a wireless access management controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5. As shown in Figure 15, the policy conflict management device: A receiving module 151 configured to receive first policy information, the first policy information including a first policy configured by a core network for the UE; a detection module 152 configured to detect that a policy conflict occurs between first policy information and second policy information, where the second policy information includes a second policy configured by a second controller for the UE or a first decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to the second policy; a decision module 153 configured to make a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy to obtain a second decision result; a transmitting module 154 configured to transmit the second decision result to the radio access network RAN ​​network element so as to cause the RAN network element to implement the second decision result; Includes.

[0244] In one embodiment, the receiving module 151 includes: a first receiving sub-module configured to receive first policy information via a RAN network element; may include.

[0245] In one embodiment, the first receiving sub-module comprises: a first sending unit configured to send a first subscription request message to a RAN network element, the first subscription request message requesting subscription information of the UE; a first receiving unit configured to receive a first subscription response message from a RAN network element, the first subscription response message including first policy information; may include.

[0246] In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises: a creation message receiving module configured to receive a first policy instance creation message from the second controller, the first policy instance creation message including the second policy; Further includes:

[0247] In one embodiment, the receiving module 151 includes: a second receiving sub-module configured to receive the first policy information via the second controller; may include.

[0248] In one embodiment, the second receiving sub-module: a second receiving unit configured to receive a second policy instance creation message from a second controller, the second policy instance creation message including first policy information and a second policy, the first policy information being information received by the second controller from the core network via an operation, administration, and maintenance OAM entity; may include.

[0249] In one embodiment, the first controller is a radio access intelligent controller and the second controller is a radio access management controller.

[0250] In one embodiment, both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers.

[0251] In one embodiment, the receiving module 151 includes: a third receiving sub-module configured to receive the first policy information via the OAM entity; may include.

[0252] In one embodiment, the third receiving sub-module: A second sending unit configured to send a second subscription request message to the core network via the OAM entity, the second subscription request message requesting subscription information of the UE; a third receiving unit configured to receive a second subscription response message from the core network via the OAM entity, where the second subscription response message includes the first policy information; may include.

[0253] In one embodiment, the receiving module 151 includes: a fourth receiving submodule configured to receive the first policy information via the RAN network element; may include.

[0254] In one embodiment, the fourth receiving sub-module: A third sending unit configured to send a third subscription request message to the RAN network element via the wireless intelligent management controller, the third subscription request message requesting subscription information of the UE; a fourth receiving unit configured to receive a third subscription response message from the RAN network element via the radio intelligent management controller, where the third subscription response message includes the first policy information; Includes.

[0255] It should be understood that the present apparatus is configured to execute the policy conflict management method in any of the embodiments of Figures 6 to 9. The implementation principle and technical effect of the corresponding program modules in the present apparatus are similar to those described in the policy conflict management method in any of the embodiments of Figures 6 to 9. For the operation process of the present apparatus, please refer to the corresponding process of the policy conflict management method in any of the embodiments of Figures 6 to 9. Details will not be described again here.

[0256] Figure 16 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a policy conflict management device according to an embodiment of the present application. The device can be used in a first controller, and the first controller can be a radio access intelligent controller or a radio access management controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5. As shown in Figure 16, the policy conflict management device: a message receiving module 161 configured to receive a first message from a radio access network RAN ​​network element, the first message including policy conflict indication information, a UE identifier, and first policy information, the policy conflict indication information indicating that a policy conflict occurs between the first policy information and a first decision result, the first policy information including a first policy configured by the core network for a UE corresponding to the UE identifier, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, and the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for the UE corresponding to the UE identifier; a policy decision module 162 configured to make a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy to obtain a second decision result; a policy sending module 163 configured to send the second decision result to the RAN network element so as to cause the RAN network element to implement the second decision result; Includes.

[0257] In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises: a policy instance creation message receiving module configured to receive a policy instance creation message from the second controller, the policy instance creation message including the second policy; Further includes:

[0258] In one embodiment, the first controller is a radio access intelligent controller and the second controller is a radio access management controller.

[0259] In one embodiment, both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers.

[0260] It should be understood that the present apparatus is configured to execute the policy conflict management method in any of the embodiments of Figures 10 and 11. The implementation principle and technical effect of the corresponding program modules in the present apparatus are similar to those described in the policy conflict management method in any of the embodiments of Figures 10 and 11. For the operation process of the present apparatus, please refer to the corresponding process of the policy conflict management method in any of the embodiments of Figures 10 and 11. Details will not be described again here.

[0261] 17 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a policy conflict management device according to an embodiment of the present application. The device can be used in a RAN network element, which can be a CU-CP in FIG. 3, a CU in FIG. 4, or a gNB in ​​FIG. 5. As shown in FIG. 17, the policy conflict management device: An information receiving module 171 configured to receive first policy information from a core network, the first policy information including a first policy configured by the core network for the UE; a conflict detection module 172 configured to detect a policy conflict occurring between first policy information and a first decision result, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, and the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for the UE; a conflict sending module 173 configured to send a first message to the first controller, the first message including policy conflict indication information, a UE identifier of the UE, and first policy information, the policy conflict indication information indicating that a policy conflict occurs between the first policy information and the first decision result; a decision receiving module 174 configured to receive a second decision result from the first controller, the second decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy; a decision execution module 175 configured to execute the second decision result; Includes.

[0262] In one embodiment, the first controller is a radio access intelligent controller and the second controller is a radio access management controller.

[0263] In one embodiment, both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers.

[0264] In one embodiment, the apparatus comprises: a decision result receiving module configured to receive a first decision result from the wireless access management controller via the wireless access intelligent controller; Further includes:

[0265] It should be understood that the present apparatus is configured to execute the policy conflict management method in any of the embodiments of Figures 10 and 11. The implementation principle and technical effect of the corresponding program modules in the present apparatus are similar to those described in the policy conflict management method in any of the embodiments of Figures 10 and 11. For the operation process of the present apparatus, please refer to the corresponding process of the policy conflict management method in any of the embodiments of Figures 10 and 11. Details will not be described again here.

[0266] Figure 18 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of policy conflict management. As shown in Figure 18, the embodiment of policy conflict management is based on a service processing procedure of the 3GPP (the 3rd Generation Partnership Project) standard specification, namely, a PDU (Protocol Data Unit) session resource modify indication procedure described in Figure 18. This procedure is extended to support the RAN in sending a policy (e.g., QoS in Figure 18) that needs to be modified to the core network to perform policy negotiation between the RAN and the core network. In this way, the policy conflict is resolved.

[0267] The specific implementation process includes the following steps:

[0268] Step 18-1: Create a policy.

[0269] Specifically, the OAM collects performance data from RAN network elements (e.g., CU-CP, CU-UP, and DU in FIG. 3, CU and DU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5) based on management plane performance management procedures, and instructs the radio access management controller to create a policy instance based on an external input management request (i.e., policy deployment request) via an internal interface. The policy deployment request may include information such as policy type, policy target, and policy application object (Scope). The policy target may be a QoE (Quality of Experience) target, i.e., QoE Target. The policy application object (Scope) may be one of a UE identifier list (UE id list) and a UE group identifier (UE group id), etc. For example, the UE group identifier may be an attribute feature identifier of the UE group, such as a QCI (Quality of Service Class Identifier), a slice identifier (slice id), and a location area.

[0270] The radio access management controller determines a policy execution action (e.g., QoS change) for the UE based on the policy deployment request and the performance data of the UE, performs modeling of information such as the policy execution action according to the information model of the P1 interface, and sends a policy instance creation request message to the radio access intelligent controller via the P1 interface. For example, if the policy execution action for the UE is QoS change, the request message may include information such as a UE identifier (i.e., UE ID), a service identifier (i.e., QoSId) whose QoS needs to be changed, and the QoS that needs to be changed.

[0271] It can be seen that in this embodiment of the present application, the radio access management controller may be responsible for configuring UE policies and delivering the configured UE policies to the radio access intelligent controller via the P1 interface.

[0272] In addition, the radio access intelligent controller may also be responsible for configuring UE policies. That is, the radio access intelligent controller determines policy enforcement actions (e.g., QoS changes) for the UE based on policy deployment requests and UE performance data. The policy deployment requests and UE performance data may be obtained using the radio access management controller.

[0273] Step 18-2: The radio access intelligent controller sends a policy action execution instruction message to a RAN network element (ie, the CU).

[0274] Specifically, after receiving the request message from the radio access management controller, the radio access intelligent controller sends a policy action execution instruction message to a RAN network element (i.e., CU) through an R2 interface, where the message includes a UE identifier and policy action information (e.g., QoS) of the UE.

[0275] Step 18-3: The RAN network element initiates a PDU session modification indication procedure.

[0276] Specifically, after receiving the policy action execution instruction message sent by the radio access intelligent controller, the RAN network element (e.g., CU) needs to send the received policy action information (e.g., QoS) of the UE to the core network.

[0277] Step 18-4: The RAN network element sends the policy behavior information of the UE to the core network.

[0278] Specifically, the RAN network element (e.g., CU) sends the UE's received policy behavior information (e.g., QoS) to a core network element (e.g., AMF or SMF) using an N2 interface message procedure between the RAN network element and the core network.

[0279] The RAN network element may send the policy action information of the UE using an N2 interface message procedure, i.e., a PDU session resource modify indication procedure, or may send a policy change request message to the core network by adding an N2 interface message procedure. The specific implementation is not limited in this application.

[0280] Step 18-5: The core network detects a policy conflict.

[0281] Specifically, the core network element (e.g., AMF or SMF) performs conflict detection on the UE's policy action information received in step 18-4 based on the locally stored UE subscription policy information or the UE subscription policy information obtained from the UDM. If a conflict occurs, the core network element rejects the request of the RAN network element (e.g., CU), otherwise, it accepts the request of the RAN network element (e.g., CU).

[0282] Step 18-6: The core network element sends a policy conflict detection response to the RAN network element.

[0283] Specifically, after performing policy conflict detection, the core network element (e.g., AMF or SMF) may respond to a request from the RAN network element, i.e., a PDU session resource modify confirm message. This message carries policy conflict detection result indication information. The policy conflict detection indication information indicates the policy conflict detection result of the core network element. If a policy conflict occurs, the value of the policy conflict detection indication information is failure, which means that a policy conflict occurs and the policy change request of the RAN network element (e.g., CU) is not approved. Otherwise, the value of the policy conflict detection indication information is success, which means that a policy conflict does not occur and the policy change request of the RAN network element (e.g., CU) is approved.

[0284] Optionally, if the policy conflict detection result is that there is no policy conflict, the method may further include steps 18-7 to 18-10.

[0285] Step 18-7: The core network modifies the UE policy.

[0286] Specifically, a core network element (e.g., AMF or SMF) accepts the CU's policy request and initiates a change to the UE policy (e.g., QoS).

[0287] Step 18-8: The core network element sends a PDU session modification request message to a RAN network element (eg, CU).

[0288] Step 18-9: The RAN network element (eg, CU) sends an AN (Access Network) resource modification message to the UE.

[0289] Step 18-10: The RAN network element (eg, CU) sends PDU session modification response information to the core network element.

[0290] All steps 18-7 to 18-10 are defined in the PDU session modification procedure of the 3GPP standard specification and will not be described in detail here.

[0291] It can be seen that in this embodiment of the present application, the core network is responsible for detecting policy conflicts. The implementation process of the core network does not change the policy processing service procedure of the radio access management controller or the radio access management controller, and is consistent with the service processing mechanism specified in the 3GPP standard specification. In addition, in this embodiment of the present application, the final transmission of the UE policy change is initiated by the core network. This can ensure that the policy information of the UE, the RAN, and the core network is consistent (i.e., policy synchronization).

[0292] The PDU session resource modify indication procedure is extended to support the RAN in sending specific information regarding the policy to be modified, e.g., the QoS parameters that need to be modified, to the core network, and the core network elements are extended to perform UE policy conflict detection and final UE policy modification.

[0293] Figure 19 is a schematic flowchart of a policy conflict management method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method can be applied to a RAN network element, which can be a CU-CP in Figure 3, a CU in Figure 4, or a gNB in ​​Figure 5. As shown in Figure 19, the method can include the following steps:

[0294] S1901: Obtain a first decision result, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after a first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, and the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for the UE.

[0295] Specifically, for the specific implementation process of this step, please refer to step 18-1 and step 18-2 in FIG. 18. The details will not be described again here. The first determination result may be the policy action information (e.g., QoS) of the UE in FIG. 18.

[0296] The first controller and the second controller may be the same. For example, in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5, both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers. Alternatively, the first controllers may be different. For example, the first controller is a radio access intelligent controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5, and the second controller is a radio access management controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5.

[0297] S1902: Send a first decision result to the core network, so that the core network detects whether a policy conflict occurs between the first decision result and first policy information, where the first policy information includes a first policy configured by the core network for the UE.

[0298] Specifically, for the specific implementation process of this step, please refer to step 18-3, step 18-4, step 18-5, and step 18-6 in Figure 18. Details will not be described again here. The first policy may be UE subscription policy information locally stored or obtained by a core network element (e.g., AMF or SMF) from the UDM in Figure 18.

[0299] The first decision result may be sent to the core network using an N2 interface message procedure, i.e., a PDU session resource change indication procedure. Specifically, the first decision result is added to a PDU session resource change indication message, and the PDU session resource change indication message is sent to the core network. In this way, the core network can obtain the first decision result from the PDU session resource change indication message. Alternatively, the RAN network element may send a policy change request message to the core network by adding an N2 interface message procedure. Specifically, the RAN network element adds the first decision result to a policy change request message, and sends the policy change request message to the core network. In this way, the core network can obtain the first decision result from the policy change request message.

[0300] S1903: Receive a policy conflict detection result from the core network, where the policy conflict detection result includes: a policy conflict has occurred between the first determination result and the first policy information, or a policy conflict has not occurred between the first determination result and the first policy information.

[0301] Specifically, the RAN network element uses the policy conflict detection result to know whether a policy conflict occurs between the first decision result and the first policy information.

[0302] When receiving the policy conflict detection result from the core network, the RAN network element may receive a PDU session resource change confirmation message from the core network. The PDU session resource change confirmation message includes a policy conflict detection result or indication information indicating the policy conflict detection result. The RAN network element determines the policy conflict detection result based on the PDU session resource change confirmation message. For example, the value of the indication information is failure, which means that a policy conflict occurs and the policy change request of the RAN network element (e.g., CU) is not approved. Otherwise, the value of the policy indication information is success, which means that a policy conflict does not occur and the policy change request of the RAN network element (e.g., CU) is approved.

[0303] In this embodiment of the present application, it can be known that a RAN network element (e.g., CU-CP in FIG. 3, CU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5) is responsible for sending the first decision result of the controller side (e.g., the first controller or the second controller) in the open radio access network to the core network. The core network is responsible for detecting the policy conflict and returning the policy conflict detection result to the RAN network element. In this way, the RAN network element can use the policy conflict detection result to know whether a policy conflict occurs between the first decision result and the first policy information. This avoids the generation of a UE policy with a policy conflict and ensures the applicability of the policy.

[0304] In addition, when the policy conflict detection result is that no policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and the first policy information, the RAN network element may further receive a PDU session modification request message from the core network, execute the first determination result according to the PDU session modification request message, and send a PDU session modification response message to the core network. For a specific implementation process, please refer to steps 18-7 to 18-10 in Figure 18. Details will not be described again here.

[0305] In this embodiment of the present application, it can be known that the final transmission of the UE policy change is initiated by the core network, which can ensure that the policy information of the UE, the RAN, and the core network is consistent (i.e., policy synchronization).

[0306] 20 is a schematic flowchart of a policy conflict management method according to an embodiment of the present application. The method can be applied to a core network. As shown in FIG. 20, the method can include the following steps:

[0307] S2001: Receive a first decision result from a RAN network element, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after a first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, and the second policy is a policy configured by the second controller for a user equipment UE.

[0308] S2002: Detect whether a policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and first policy information, where the first policy information includes a first policy configured by the core network for the UE.

[0309] Specifically, the first policy may be UE subscription policy information locally stored or obtained by a core network element (e.g., AMF or SMF) from the UDM of FIG. 18.

[0310] S2003: Send a policy conflict detection result to a RAN network element, where the policy conflict detection result includes: a policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and the first policy information, or a policy conflict does not occur between the first determination result and the first policy information.

[0311] For the specific implementation process of steps S2001 to S2003, please refer to steps 18-1 to 18-6 in FIG. 18. Details will not be described again here. The first determination result may be the policy action information (e.g., QoS) of the UE in FIG.

[0312] The first controller and the second controller may be the same. For example, in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5, both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers. Alternatively, the first controllers may be different. For example, the first controller is a radio access intelligent controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5, and the second controller is a radio access management controller in any of the scenarios of Figures 3 to 5.

[0313] When the first determination result is received from the RAN network element, a PDU session resource change indication message or a policy change request message may be received from the core network. The PDU session resource change indication message or the policy change request message includes the first determination result. The first determination result is obtained from the PDU session resource change indication message or the policy change request message.

[0314] When the policy conflict detection result is sent to the RAN network element, the policy conflict detection result or indication information indicating the policy conflict detection result may be added to the PDU session resource change confirmation message. The PDU session resource change confirmation message is sent to the RAN network element, so that the RAN network element can determine the policy conflict detection result based on the PDU session resource change confirmation message. For example, the value of the indication information is failure, which means that a policy conflict occurs and the policy change request of the RAN network element (e.g., CU) is not approved. Otherwise, the value of the policy indication information is success, which means that a policy conflict does not occur and the policy change request of the RAN network element (e.g., CU) is approved.

[0315] In this embodiment of the present application, it can be known that a RAN network element (e.g., CU-CP in FIG. 3, CU in FIG. 4, or gNB in ​​FIG. 5) is responsible for sending the first decision result of the controller side (e.g., the first controller or the second controller) in the open radio access network to the core network. The core network is responsible for detecting the policy conflict and returning the policy conflict detection result to the RAN network element. In this way, the RAN network element can use the policy conflict detection result to know whether a policy conflict occurs between the first decision result and the first policy information. This avoids the generation of a UE policy with a policy conflict and ensures the applicability of the policy.

[0316] In addition, after the core network sends the policy conflict detection result to the RAN network element, when the policy conflict detection result is that no policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and the first policy information, the core network can further send a PDU session modification request message to the RAN network element. In this way, the RAN network element can execute the first determination result based on the PDU session modification request message.

[0317] In this embodiment of the present application, it can be known that the final transmission of the UE policy change is initiated by the core network, which can ensure that the policy information of the UE, the RAN, and the core network is consistent (i.e., policy synchronization).

[0318] Figure 21 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a policy conflict management device according to an embodiment of the present application. The device can be used in a RAN network element, and is configured to execute the policy conflict management method shown in Figure 19. The RAN network element can be a CU-CP in Figure 3, a CU in Figure 4, or a gNB in ​​Figure 5. As shown in Figure 21, the device includes: an obtaining module 211 configured to obtain a first decision result, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for the user equipment UE; A decision result sending module 212 configured to send a first decision result to the core network, so as to cause the core network to detect whether a policy conflict occurs between the first decision result and the first policy information, where the first policy information includes a first policy configured by the core network for the UE; a conflict detection result receiving module 213 configured to receive a policy conflict detection result from the core network, the policy conflict detection result including: a policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and the first policy information, or a policy conflict does not occur between the first determination result and the first policy information; may include.

[0319] In one embodiment, the first controller is a wireless access intelligent controller and the second controller is a wireless access management controller, or both the first controller and the second controller are wireless access management controllers.

[0320] In one embodiment, the decision result sending module 212 is specifically configured to add the first decision result to a protocol data unit PDU session resource change indication message or a policy change request message, and send the PDU session resource change indication message or the policy change request message to the core network, so as to cause the core network to obtain the first decision result from the PDU session resource change indication message or the policy change request message.

[0321] In one embodiment, the conflict detection result receiving module 213 receives a PDU session resource change confirmation message from the core network, where the PDU session resource change confirmation message includes a policy conflict detection result or indication information indicating the policy conflict detection result, and is specifically configured to determine the policy conflict detection result based on the PDU session resource change confirmation message.

[0322] In one embodiment, the policy conflict detection result is that no policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and the first policy information. A PDU session modification request message receiving module configured to receive a PDU session modification request message from a core network; a decision result execution module configured to execute a first decision result based on the PDU session modification request message and send a PDU session modification response message to the core network; may include.

[0323] It should be understood that the present apparatus is configured to execute the policy conflict management method of Fig. 18 or Fig. 19. The implementation principle and technical effect of the corresponding program modules in the present apparatus are similar to those described in the policy conflict management method of Fig. 18 or Fig. 19. For the operation process of the present apparatus, please refer to the corresponding process of the policy conflict management method of Fig. 18 or Fig. 19. The details will not be described again here.

[0324] Figure 22 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a policy conflict management device according to an embodiment of the present application. The device can be used in a core network in any scenario of Figure 3 to Figure 5, and is configured to perform the policy conflict management method shown in Figure 20. As shown in Figure 22, the device includes: a decision result receiving module 221 configured to receive a first decision result from a radio access network RAN ​​network element, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for the user equipment UE; a policy conflict detection module 222 configured to detect whether a policy conflict occurs between a first determination result and first policy information, where the first policy information includes a first policy configured by the core network for the UE; a conflict detection result sending module 223 configured to send a policy conflict detection result to the RAN network element, where the policy conflict detection result includes: a policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and the first policy information, or no policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and the first policy information; may include.

[0325] In one embodiment, the first controller is a wireless access intelligent controller and the second controller is a wireless access management controller, or both the first controller and the second controller are wireless access management controllers.

[0326] In one embodiment, the decision result receiving module 221 receives a protocol data unit PDU session resource change instruction message or a policy change request message from the core network, where the PDU session resource change instruction message or the policy change request message includes a first decision result, and is specifically configured to obtain the first decision result from the PDU session resource change instruction message or the policy change request message.

[0327] In one embodiment, the conflict detection result sending module 223 is specifically configured to add a policy conflict detection result or indication information indicating the policy conflict detection result to a PDU session resource change confirmation message, and send the PDU session resource change confirmation message to a RAN network element.

[0328] In one embodiment, the policy conflict detection result is that no policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and the first policy information. a PDU session change request message sending module configured to send a PDU session change request message to the RAN network element to cause the RAN network element to execute a first decision result based on the PDU session change request message; It may further include.

[0329] It should be understood that the present apparatus is configured to execute the policy conflict management method of Fig. 18 or Fig. 20. The implementation principle and technical effect of the corresponding program modules in the present apparatus are similar to those described in the policy conflict management method of Fig. 18 or Fig. 20. For the operation process of the present apparatus, please refer to the corresponding process of the policy conflict management method of Fig. 18 or Fig. 20. The details will not be described again here.

[0330] Next, FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. The communication device may be a first controller, and the first controller may be a radio access intelligent controller or a radio access management controller in any scenario of FIG. 3 to FIG. 5. The communication device may implement the function of the first controller in the embodiment of the aforementioned method. Alternatively, the communication device may be a RAN network element, and the RAN network element may be a CU-CP in FIG. 3, a CU in FIG. 4, or a gNB in ​​FIG. 5. The communication device may implement the function of the RAN network element in the embodiment of the aforementioned method. For ease of explanation, FIG. 23 shows the main components of the communication device. As shown in FIG. 23, The communication device includes at least one processor 1811, at least one memory 1812, at least one transceiver 1813, at least one network interface 1814, and one or more antennas 1815. The processor 1811, the memory 1812, the transceiver 1813, and the network interface 1814 are connected to each other, for example, via a bus. In this embodiment of the present application, the connection may include various interfaces, transmission lines, or buses, etc. This is not limited in this embodiment. The antenna 1815 is connected to the transceiver 1813. The network interface 1814 is configured to allow the communication device to be connected to another network device via a communication link.

[0331] The processor 1811 is primarily configured to process communication protocols and communication data, control the entire node, execute software programs, and process data of the software programs.

[0332] In an optional embodiment, the processor may include a baseband processor and a central processing unit. The baseband processor is mainly configured to process communication protocols and communication data. The central processing unit is mainly configured to control the entire terminal device, execute software programs, and process data of the software programs. Alternatively, the functions of the baseband processor and the central processing unit may be integrated into the processor. Those skilled in the art may understand that the baseband processor and the central processing unit may alternatively be processors independent of each other and are interconnected using a technology such as a bus. Those skilled in the art may understand that a node may include multiple baseband processors to accommodate different network standards, a node may include multiple central processing units to expand the processing capabilities of the node, and the components of the node may be connected via various buses. The baseband processor may also be expressed as a baseband processing circuit or a baseband processing chip. The central processing unit may alternatively be expressed as a central processing circuit or a central processing chip. The function of processing communication protocols and communication data may be incorporated into the processor or may be stored in the memory in the form of a software program. The processor executes the software program to implement the baseband processing function.

[0333] The memory 1812 is mainly configured to store software programs and data. The memory 1812 may exist independently and be connected to the processor 1811. Optionally, the memory 1812 and the processor 1811 may be integrated together, for example, integrated on a single chip, i.e., on-chip memory, or the memory 1812 is an independent storage element. This is not limited in this embodiment of the present application. The memory 1812 can store program codes for executing the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, and the processor 1811 controls the execution. Various types of computer program codes executed may also be considered as driver programs of the processor 1811.

[0334] The transceiver 1813 may be configured to perform conversion between baseband signals and radio frequency signals and process the radio frequency signals. The transceiver 1813 may be connected to an antenna 1815. The transceiver 1813 includes a transmitter (Tx) and a receiver (Rx). Specifically, the one or more antennas 1815 may receive radio frequency signals. The receiver Rx of the transceiver 1813 receives the radio frequency signals from the antenna, converts the radio frequency signals into digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, and provides the digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals to the processor 1811, so that the processor 1811 is configured to further process the digital baseband signals or digital intermediate frequency signals, for example, perform demodulation and decoding processes. In addition, the transmitter Tx of the transceiver 1813 may be further configured to receive a modulated digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency signal from the processor 1811, convert the modulated digital baseband signal or the digital intermediate frequency signal into a radio frequency signal, and transmit the radio frequency signal via one or more antennas 1815. Specifically, the receiver Rx may selectively perform one or more levels of frequency downmixing processing and analog-to-digital conversion processing on the radio frequency signal to obtain a digital baseband signal or a digital intermediate frequency signal. The sequence of the frequency downmixing processing and the analog-to-digital conversion processing is adjustable. The transmitter Tx may selectively perform one or more levels of frequency upmixing processing and digital-to-analog conversion processing on the modulated digital baseband signal or the modulated digital intermediate frequency signal to obtain a radio frequency signal. The sequence of the frequency upmixing processing and the digital-to-analog conversion processing is adjustable. The digital baseband signal and the digital intermediate frequency signal may be collectively referred to as a digital signal. Optionally, the transmitter Tx and the receiver Rx may be implemented by different physical structures / circuits or may be implemented by the same physical structure / circuit, i.e., the transmitter Tx and the receiver Rx may be inherited together.

[0335] The transceiver may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, a transceiver machine, a transceiver device, or the like. Optionally, a component in the transceiver unit configured to perform a receiving function may be considered a receiving unit, and a component in the transceiver unit configured to perform a transmitting function may be considered a transmitting unit. In other words, the transceiver unit includes a receiving unit and a transmitting unit. The receiving unit may also be referred to as a receiver, an input port, a receiving circuit, or the like. The transmitting unit may also be referred to as a transmitter, a transmitting machine, a transmitting circuit, or the like. Alternatively, the Tx, Rx, and the antenna may be combined into a transceiver.

[0336] In FIG. 23, when the communication device is the first controller, the first controller may communicate with the RAN network element through the R2 interface to accomplish the transmission and reception of information and / or messages between the first controller and the RAN network element in this embodiment of the present application. When the communication device is the RAN network element, the RAN network element may communicate with the first controller through the R2 interface to accomplish the transmission and reception of information and / or messages between the RAN network element and the first controller in this embodiment of the present application. For specific information and / or messages, please refer to the contents of the preceding embodiment. Details will not be described again here.

[0337] An embodiment of the present application further provides a policy conflict management system, which includes a first controller, a second controller, and a RAN network element. The first controller can execute the policy conflict management method of FIG.

[0338] An embodiment of the present application further provides a policy conflict management system, including a first controller, a second controller, and a RAN network element, where the first controller is configured to perform the policy conflict management method of Figure 13, and the RAN network element is configured to perform the policy conflict management method of Figure 14.

[0339] An embodiment of the present application further provides a policy conflict management system, including a first controller, a second controller, a RAN network element, and a core network, where the RAN network element is configured to perform the policy conflict management method of Figure 19, and the core network is configured to perform the policy conflict management method of Figure 20.

[0340] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer storage medium. The computer storage medium includes computer instructions. When the computer instructions are executed, the policy conflict management method of Fig. 12, the policy conflict management method of Fig. 13, the policy conflict management method of Fig. 14, the policy conflict management method of Fig. 19, or the policy conflict management method of Fig. 20 can be performed.

[0341] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer storage medium. The computer storage medium includes computer instructions. When the computer instructions are executed, the policy conflict management method of Fig. 12, the policy conflict management method of Fig. 13, the policy conflict management method of Fig. 14, the policy conflict management method of Fig. 19, or the policy conflict management method of Fig. 20 can be performed.

[0342] It may be understood that the processor in the embodiments of the present application may be a central processing unit (CPU), and the processor may further be another general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or another programmable logic device, a transistor logic device, a hardware component, or any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor or any conventional processor.

[0343] The method steps in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented in a hardware manner or in a manner of executing software instructions by a processor. The software instructions may include corresponding software modules. The software modules may be stored in a random access memory (RAM), a flash memory, a read-only memory (ROM), a programmable read-only memory (PROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a register, a hard disk, a removable hard disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. For example, the storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from the storage medium and write information to the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium may alternatively be a component of the processor. The processor and the storage medium may be located in an ASIC.

[0344] All or part of the above-mentioned embodiments may be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When software is used to implement the above-mentioned embodiments, all or part of the above-mentioned embodiments may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the procedures or functions according to the embodiments of the present application are generated in whole or in part. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in or transmitted using a computer-readable storage medium. The computer instructions may be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center in a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, or digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, radio, or microwave) manner. The computer-readable storage medium may be any available medium accessible by a computer, or a data storage device, such as a server or data center, incorporating one or more available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (eg, a floppy disk, a hard disk, or a magnetic tape), an optical medium (eg, a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (eg, a solid state disk (SSD)).

[0345] It can be understood that the number symbols contained in the embodiments of the present application are merely distinguished for ease of explanation and are not used to limit the scope of the embodiments of the present application. [Explanation of symbols]

[0346] 151 Receiver Module 152 Detection Module 153 Decision Module 154 Transmitting Module 161 Message Receiving Module 162 Policy Decision Module 163 Policy Transmission Module 171 Information Receiving Module 172 Conflict Detection Module 173 Competitive Transmission Module 174 Decision Receiving Module 175 Decision Execution Module 211 Acquisition Module 212 Decision result transmission module 213 Conflict decision result receiving module 221 Decision result receiving module 222 Policy Conflict Detection Module 223 Conflict detection result transmission module 1811 Processor 1812 Memory 1813 Transceiver 1814 Network Interface 1815 Antenna

Claims

1. 1. A policy conflict management method, the method being applied to a first controller, receiving first policy information, the first policy information including a first policy configured by a core network for the UE; detecting that a policy conflict occurs between the first policy information and second policy information, where the second policy information includes a second policy configured by a second controller for the UE or a first decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to the second policy; making a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy to obtain a second decision result; sending the second decision result to a radio access network (RAN) network element so as to cause the RAN network element to implement the second decision result; Including, The step of receiving first policy information includes: receiving the first policy information via the RAN network element; A method for managing policy conflicts.

2. The step of receiving the first policy information via the RAN network element further comprises: sending a first subscription request message to the RAN network element, requesting subscription information for the UE; receiving a first subscription response message from the RAN network element, the first subscription response message including the first policy information; 2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

3. receiving a first policy instance creation message from the second controller, the first policy instance creation message including the second policy; The method of claim 1, further comprising:

4. A policy conflict management method, the method being applied to a first controller, comprising: receiving first policy information, the first policy information including a first policy configured by a core network for the UE; detecting that a policy conflict occurs between the first policy information and second policy information, where the second policy information includes a second policy configured by a second controller for the UE or a first decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to the second policy; making a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy to obtain a second decision result; sending the second decision result to a radio access network (RAN) network element so as to cause the RAN network element to implement the second decision result; Including, The step of receiving first policy information includes: receiving the first policy information via the second controller; A method for managing policy conflicts.

5. The step of receiving the first policy information via the second controller includes: receiving a second policy instance creation message from the second controller, the second policy instance creation message including the first policy information and the second policy, the first policy information being information received by the second controller from the core network via an operation, administration, and maintenance (OAM) entity; 5. The method of claim 4, comprising:

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the first controller is a radio access intelligent controller and the second controller is a radio access management controller.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers.

8. The step of receiving first policy information includes: receiving the first policy information via an OAM entity; or receiving the first policy information via the RAN network element; 8. The method of claim 7, comprising:

9. The step of receiving the first policy information via an OAM entity includes: sending a second subscription request message to the core network via the OAM entity, requesting subscription information of the UE; receiving a second subscription response message from the core network via the OAM entity, the second subscription response message including the first policy information; Contains or The step of receiving the first policy information via the RAN network element further comprises: sending a third subscription request message to the RAN network element via a radio intelligent management controller, requesting the subscription information of the UE; receiving a third subscription response message from the RAN network element via the radio intelligent management controller, the third subscription response message including the first policy information; 9. The method of claim 8, comprising:

10. 1. A policy conflict management method, the method being applied to a first controller, receiving a first message from a radio access network RAN ​​network element, the first message including policy conflict indication information, a UE identifier, and first policy information, the policy conflict indication information indicating that a policy conflict has occurred between the first policy information and a first decision result, the first policy information including a first policy configured by a core network for a UE corresponding to the UE identifier, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, and the second policy being a policy configured by a second controller for the UE corresponding to the UE identifier; making a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy to obtain a second decision result; sending the second decision result to the RAN network element so as to cause the RAN network element to implement the second decision result; A method for managing policy conflicts.

11. The first controller is a radio access intelligent controller, and the second controller is a radio access management controller; The method comprises: receiving a policy instance creation message from the second controller, the policy instance creation message including the second policy; 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first controller is a radio access intelligent controller and the second controller is a radio access management controller, or both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers.

13. A policy conflict management method, the method being applied to a radio access network (RAN) network element, comprising: receiving first policy information from a core network, the first policy information including a first policy configured by the core network for a UE; detecting that a policy conflict occurs between the first policy information and a first decision result, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after a first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, and the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for the UE; sending a first message to the first controller, the first message including policy conflict indication information, a UE identifier of the UE, and the first policy information, the policy conflict indication information indicating that a policy conflict has occurred between the first policy information and the first determination result; receiving a second decision result from the first controller, the second decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy; implementing the second decision result; A method for managing policy conflicts.

14. the first controller is a radio access intelligent controller and the second controller is a radio access management controller; or The method of claim 13 , wherein both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers.

15. both the first controller and the second controller are radio access management controllers; The method comprises: receiving the first determination result from the radio access management controller via a radio access intelligent controller; 14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

16. A policy conflict management method, the method being applied to a radio access network (RAN) network element, comprising: obtaining a first decision result, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after a first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for a user equipment (UE); sending the first determination result to the core network, so that the core network detects whether a policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and first policy information, the first policy information including a first policy configured by the core network for the UE; receiving a policy conflict detection result from the core network, the policy conflict detection result including: a policy conflict has occurred between the first determination result and the first policy information; or a policy conflict has not occurred between the first determination result and the first policy information; A method for managing policy conflicts.

17. The step of transmitting the first determination result to a core network further comprises: adding the first determination result to a protocol data unit (PDU) session resource change indication message or a policy change request message; sending the PDU session resource change indication message or the policy change request message to the core network, so as to cause the core network to obtain the first determination result from the PDU session resource change indication message or the policy change request message; 17. The method of claim 16, comprising:

18. The step of receiving a policy conflict detection result from the core network includes: receiving a PDU session resource change confirmation message from the core network, the PDU session resource change confirmation message including the policy conflict detection result or indication information indicating the policy conflict detection result; determining the policy conflict detection result based on the PDU session resource change confirmation message; 17. The method of claim 16, comprising:

19. 1. A policy conflict management method, the method being applied to a core network, comprising: receiving a first decision result from a radio access network RAN ​​network element, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after a first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for a user equipment UE; detecting whether a policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and first policy information, the first policy information including a first policy configured by the core network for the UE; sending a policy conflict detection result to the RAN network element, the policy conflict detection result including: a policy conflict has occurred between the first determination result and the first policy information; or a policy conflict has not occurred between the first determination result and the first policy information; A method for managing policy conflicts.

20. The step of receiving a first determination result from a RAN network element includes: receiving a protocol data unit (PDU) session resource change indication message or a policy change request message from the core network, the PDU session resource change indication message or the policy change request message including the first determination result; obtaining the first determination result from the PDU session resource change indication message or the policy change request message; 20. The method of claim 19, comprising:

21. A policy conflict management device, the device being used in a first controller, a receiving module configured to receive first policy information, the first policy information including a first policy configured by a core network for the UE; a detection module configured to detect that a policy conflict occurs between the first policy information and second policy information, where the second policy information includes a second policy configured by a second controller for the UE or a first decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to the second policy; a decision module configured to make a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy to obtain a second decision result; a transmitting module configured to transmit the second decision result to a radio access network (RAN) network element so as to cause the RAN network element to implement the second decision result; Equipped with The receiving module is a first receiving sub-module configured to receive the first policy information via the RAN network element; A policy conflict management device comprising:

22. A policy conflict management device, the device being used in a first controller, a message receiving module configured to receive a first message from a radio access network RAN ​​network element, the first message including policy conflict indication information, a UE identifier, and first policy information, the policy conflict indication information indicating that a policy conflict has occurred between the first policy information and a first decision result, the first policy information including a first policy configured by a core network for a UE corresponding to the UE identifier, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, and the second policy being a policy configured by a second controller for the UE corresponding to the UE identifier; a policy decision module configured to make a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy to obtain a second decision result; a policy sending module configured to send the second decision result to the RAN network element so as to cause the RAN network element to implement the second decision result; A policy conflict management device comprising:

23. A policy conflict management apparatus, the apparatus being adapted for use in a radio access network (RAN) network element, comprising: an information receiving module configured to receive first policy information from a core network, the first policy information including a first policy configured by the core network for a UE; a conflict detection module configured to detect a policy conflict occurring between the first policy information and a first decision result, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after a first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, and the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for the UE; a contention sending module configured to send a first message to the first controller, the first message including policy conflict indication information, a UE identifier of the UE, and the first policy information, the policy conflict indication information indicating that a policy conflict occurs between the first policy information and the first decision result; a decision receiving module configured to receive a second decision result from the first controller, the second decision result being a decision result obtained after the first controller makes a policy decision according to the first policy and the second policy; a decision execution module configured to execute the second decision result; A policy conflict management device comprising:

24. A policy conflict management apparatus, the apparatus being adapted for use in a radio access network (RAN) network element, comprising: an acquiring module configured to acquire a first decision result, the first decision result being a decision result acquired after a first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for a user equipment (UE); a decision result sending module configured to send the first decision result to the core network, so that the core network detects whether a policy conflict occurs between the first decision result and first policy information, the first policy information including a first policy configured by the core network for the UE; a conflict detection result receiving module configured to receive a policy conflict detection result from the core network, the policy conflict detection result including that a policy conflict has occurred between the first determination result and the first policy information, or that a policy conflict has not occurred between the first determination result and the first policy information; A policy conflict management device comprising:

25. A policy conflict management device, the device being used in a core network, a decision result receiving module configured to receive a first decision result from a radio access network RAN ​​network element, the first decision result being a decision result obtained after a first controller makes a policy decision according to a second policy, the second policy being a policy configured by the second controller for a user equipment UE; a policy conflict detection module configured to detect whether a policy conflict occurs between the first determination result and first policy information, where the first policy information includes a first policy configured by the core network for the UE; a conflict detection result sending module configured to send a policy conflict detection result to the RAN network element, the policy conflict detection result including: a policy conflict has occurred between the first determination result and the first policy information, or a policy conflict has not occurred between the first determination result and the first policy information; A policy conflict management device comprising:

26. A policy conflict management apparatus for use in a first controller, comprising a first processor, a first memory and a first transceiver, the first memory being configured to store computer instructions, and when the policy conflict management apparatus is operated, the first processor executes the computer instructions, whereby the policy conflict management apparatus performs the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9 or the method according to any one of claims 10 to 12; or The apparatus is for use in a Radio Access Network RAN ​​network element and comprises a second processor, a second memory and a second transceiver, the second memory being configured to store computer instructions, and when the policy conflict management apparatus operates, the second processor executes the computer instructions, whereby the policy conflict management apparatus performs the method according to any one of claims 13 to 15 or the method according to any one of claims 16 to 18; or The policy conflict management apparatus is configured for use in a core network and comprises a third processor, a third memory, and a third transceiver, the third memory being configured to store computer instructions, and when the policy conflict management apparatus operates, the third processor executes the computer instructions, thereby causing the policy conflict management apparatus to perform the method of claim 19 or 20.

27. A policy conflict management system comprising a first controller, a second controller and a radio access network (RAN) network element, the first controller being configured to execute the method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, or The system comprises a first controller, a second controller and a RAN network element, the first controller being configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 10 to 12 and the RAN network element being configured to perform the method according to any one of claims 13 to 15; or 21. The system comprises a first controller, a second controller, a RAN network element, and a core network, the RAN network element configured to perform the method of any one of claims 16 to 18, and the core network configured to perform the method of claim 19 or 20.

28. 13. A computer storage medium comprising computer instructions which, when executed, are capable of performing a method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, any one of claims 10 to 12, any one of claims 13 to 15, any one of claims 16 to 18, or any one of claims 19 or 20.

29. 13. A computer program product comprising computer instructions which, when executed, are capable of performing the method of any one of claims 1 to 9, the method of any one of claims 10 to 12, the method of any one of claims 13 to 15, the method of any one of claims 16 to 18, or the method of claim 19 or 20.

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