Application context transfer scenario determination method and communication apparatus

Abstract

An application context transfer scenario determination method and a communication apparatus, which are used for realizing application context transfer in a plurality of EASs at the same time, such that a service interruption during an application context transfer process is avoided. The method comprises: on the basis of first information, a first entity determines whether a plurality of application context transfer scenarios comprise an EAS-decided application context transfer scenario, wherein the first information indicates that application contexts in a plurality of first EASs need to be transferred together; and the first entity may select a target application context transfer scenario amongst the plurality of application context transfer scenarios.

Description

A method for determining application context migration scenario and a communication device

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on March 29, 2022, with application number 202210323867.5 and application name “A method for determining an application context migration scenario and a communication device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application; this application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the China Patent Office on June 16, 2022, with application number 202210689587.6 and application name “A method for determining an application context migration scenario and a communication device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular to a method for determining an application context migration scenario and a communication device. Background Art

[0004] Multi-access edge computing (MEC) refers to the use of wireless access networks to provide users with the services and cloud computing capabilities required by internet technology (IT) nearby, creating a carrier-grade service environment with high performance, low latency, and high bandwidth.

[0005] In MEC, an application client (AC) can be served by multiple edge application servers (EAS). Accordingly, each EAS stores the application context corresponding to the AC. When an EAS among multiple EASs performs application context migration, the service provided to the AC may be interrupted.

[0006] How to avoid service interruption during application context migration is a technical problem that needs to be solved urgently.

[0007] Summary of the Invention

[0008] The present application provides a method for determining an application context migration scenario and a communication device for implementing the simultaneous migration of application contexts in multiple EASs to avoid service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0009] In a first aspect, the present application provides a method for determining an application context migration scenario, comprising: a first entity determining, based on first information, whether multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario determined by an EAS, wherein the first information indicates that application contexts in multiple first EASs need to be migrated together. The first entity may select a target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios.

[0010] In one possible implementation, the first entity determines, based on the first information, whether multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario decided by EAS. Specifically, the first entity determines, based on the first information, whether multiple application context migration scenarios do not include an application context migration scenario decided by EAS.

[0011] In the above technical solution, if the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS, the first entity may select a target application context migration scenario from other application context migration scenarios except the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS. Through the application context migration scenario decided by the edge enabler client (EEC), AC, or edge enabler server (EES), multiple application contexts in the first EAS can be migrated together to avoid service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0012] In a possible implementation manner, the first entity may further receive first information.

[0013] In a specific implementation, the AC may send the first information to the first entity, and correspondingly, the first entity may receive the first information from the AC. The AC may be served by multiple second EASs, and the multiple first EASs are part or all of the multiple second EASs.

[0014] In a specific implementation, the first entity receives the first information from the AC. Specifically, the first entity receives AC configuration information (AC profile) from the AC, where the AC configuration information includes the first information.

[0015] In a possible implementation, the first information includes identifiers of multiple first EASs and / or first indications; the first indication is used to indicate that application contexts in the multiple first EASs need to be migrated together.

[0016] In one possible implementation, the first entity may also receive second information, where the second information indicates whether a third EAS exists among the multiple first EASs, wherein the third EAS has the ability to migrate application contexts in the multiple first EASs together, or it is believed that the third EAS has the ability to discover other EASs among the multiple first EASs except the third EAS, or the third EAS has the ability to notify other EASs among the multiple first EASs except the third EAS to perform application context migration.

[0017] In one possible implementation, the first entity determines, based on the first information, whether multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario decided by EAS. Specifically, the first entity determines, based on the first information and the second information, whether multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario decided by EAS.

[0018] Specifically, when there is no third EAS among multiple first EASs, the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS; or, when there is a third EAS among multiple first EASs, the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0019] In the above technical solution, if the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS, the first entity can select a target application context migration scenario from other application context migration scenarios other than the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS. In this way, the application contexts in multiple first EASs can be migrated together using the application context migration scenarios determined by the EEC, AC, or EES, thus avoiding service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0020] In the case where multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario decided by EAS, the first entity may select a target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios. Furthermore, when the target application context migration scenario selected by the first entity is an application context migration scenario decided by EEC, AC or EES, the application contexts in multiple first EASs may be migrated together. When the target application context migration scenario selected by the first entity is an application context migration scenario decided by EAS, the decision may be executed through a third EAS, that is, other EASs except the third EAS in the multiple first EASs may be discovered or notified, thereby enabling the application contexts in multiple first EASs to be migrated together. This helps to avoid service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0021] In one possible implementation, the first entity is an EEC or an EES.

[0022] Specifically, when the first entity is an EEC, the AC is pre-configured with the first information, and the EEC receives the first information from the AC; or, the EEC is pre-configured with the first information, and the EEC receives second information forwarded by the EES.

[0023] Specifically, when the first entity is an EES, the AC is pre-configured with the first information, and the EES receives the first information forwarded by the EEC from the EEC. Alternatively, the EEC is pre-configured with the first information, and the EES receives the first information from the EEC. The EES receives the second information from a third EAS.

[0024] In a possible implementation, the AC may also send multiple identifiers of the first EAS to the third EAS. In this way, the third EAS may send the second information to the first entity based on the received multiple identifiers of the first EAS.

[0025] In the second aspect, the present application provides a method for determining an application context migration scenario, including: a first entity receives first information, the first information indicating that application contexts in multiple first EASs need to be migrated together; the first entity sends identifiers of multiple first EASs to a third EAS based on the first information, and the third EAS is one or more of the multiple first EASs.

[0026] In the above technical solution, the first entity sends multiple identifiers of the first EAS to the third EAS. Accordingly, after the third EAS obtains the identifiers of the multiple first EAS, it can have the ability to migrate the application contexts in the multiple first EASs together. When selecting the target application context migration scenario, the first entity can select the application context migration scenario decided by EEC, AC or EES, thereby realizing the migration of the application contexts in the multiple first EASs together. Alternatively, the first entity can also select the application context migration scenario decided by EAS. Accordingly, the third EAS can discover or notify other EASs in the multiple first EASs except the third EAS based on the identifiers of the multiple first EASs, thereby realizing the migration of the application contexts in the multiple first EASs together. This helps to avoid service interruptions during the application context migration process.

[0027] In one possible implementation, the first entity may also determine the target application context migration scenario. The first entity sends multiple first EAS identifiers to the third EAS based on the first information. Specifically, when the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS, the first entity sends multiple first EAS identifiers to the third EAS based on the first information. In the above technical solution, after determining that the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS, the first entity may send multiple first EAS identifiers to the third EAS based on the first information. This helps to avoid unnecessary signaling transmission.

[0028] In one possible implementation, the first entity receives the first information. Specifically, the AC sends the first information to the first entity, and the first entity receives the first information from the AC. The AC is served by multiple second EASs, and the multiple first EASs are part or all of the multiple second EASs.

[0029] In a specific implementation, the first entity receives the first information from the AC. Specifically, the first entity receives AC configuration information from the AC, where the AC configuration information includes the first information.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the first information includes identifiers of multiple first EASs and / or first indications; the first indication is used to indicate that application contexts in the multiple first EASs need to be migrated together.

[0031] In one possible implementation, the first entity is an EEC or an EES.

[0032] Specifically, when the first entity is an EEC, the AC is pre-configured with the first information, and the EEC can receive the first information from the AC. Alternatively, the EEC is pre-configured with the first information. Further, the EEC can also send multiple identifiers of the first EAS to the third EAS via the EES.

[0033] When the first entity is an EES, the AC is pre-configured with the first information, and the EES receives the first information from the EEC and forwarded by the EEC. Alternatively, the EEC is pre-configured with the first information, and the EES receives the first information from the EEC. Furthermore, the EES may also send multiple identifiers of the first EAS to the third EAS.

[0034] In a third aspect, the present application provides a method for determining an application context migration scenario, comprising: an EAS determining, based on first information, that an application context migration scenario supported by the EAS does not include an application context migration scenario determined by the EAS, the first information indicating that application contexts in multiple first EASs need to be migrated together; and the EAS sending the application context migration scenario supported by the EAS. The EAS herein may specifically be the fourth EAS in the present application.

[0035] In this way, the first entity can select an application context migration scenario other than the application context migration scenario decided by EAS as the target application context migration scenario. That is, when the target application context migration scenario selected by the first entity is the application context migration scenario decided by EEC, AC or EES, it helps to achieve the migration of multiple application contexts in the first EAS together, thereby avoiding service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0036] In one possible implementation, the application context migration scenarios supported by the EAS may be used to determine the target application context migration scenario.

[0037] In one possible implementation, EAS sends the application context migration scenario supported by EAS. Specifically, EAS may send the application context migration scenario supported by EAS to a first entity. Accordingly, the first entity receives the application context migration scenario supported by EAS and determines a target application context migration scenario based on the application context migration scenario supported by EAS. The first entity may be an EEC or an EES. Specifically, if the first entity is an EEC, EAS sends the application context migration scenario supported by EAS to the EEC via the EES.

[0038] In a possible implementation, the first information may be preconfigured in the EAS, or the first information is received by the EAS from the AC or the EEC.

[0039] In a possible implementation manner, the EAS receives the first information from the AC. Specifically, the AC may send AC configuration information to the EAS, where the AC configuration information includes the first information.

[0040] In a fourth aspect, the present application provides a method for determining an application context migration scenario, including: a first entity obtains capability information of multiple first EASs; the first entity determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for the multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the multiple first EASs; wherein the multiple first EASs are associated EASs, and the application contexts in the associated EASs need to be migrated together; the capability information of the first EAS indicates whether the first EAS has the ability to handle the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs together.

[0041] In one possible implementation, when the first entity determines the corresponding target application context migration scenarios for multiple first EASs based on the capability information of multiple first EASs, specifically, the first entity determines whether the target application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenarios decided by one of the multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the multiple first EASs.

[0042] In the above technical solution, the capability information of the first EAS indicates whether the first EAS has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs together, so that the first entity determines whether there is a first EAS in the multiple first EASs that has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs together based on the capability information of the multiple first EASs, and then determines the corresponding target application context migration scenarios for the multiple first EASs. In this way, when there is a first EAS in the multiple first EASs that has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs together, the first entity can use the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS as the target application context migration scenario, so that in the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS, the first EAS can instruct other EASs in the multiple first EASs (i.e., other first EASs) to perform application context migration together, thereby avoiding service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0043] In one possible implementation, when the first entity determines, based on the capability information of multiple first EASs, that one of the multiple first EASs has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in associated EASs together, the first entity determines that the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by the one first EAS among the multiple first EASs; when the first entity determines, based on the capability information of multiple first EASs, that none of the multiple first EASs has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in associated EASs together, the first entity determines that the target application context migration scenario does not include the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS.

[0044] In one possible implementation, the first entity determines, based on the capability information of the first EAS, whether the first EAS has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. Specifically, the first entity determines, based on the capability information of the first EAS, whether the first EAS supports one or more of the following capabilities 1 to 4:

[0045] Capability 1: the ability to obtain the identifiers of multiple first EASs;

[0046] Capability 2: capability of sending migration notifications to other EASs among the plurality of first EASs except the first EAS;

[0047] Capability 3, capability of receiving migration notifications from other EASs other than the first EAS among the plurality of first EASs;

[0048] Capability 4: Supporting application context migration scenarios determined by the first EAS;

[0049] The migration notifications in capabilities 2 and 3 are used to trigger application context migration.

[0050] In one specific implementation, when the first entity determines that the first EAS has the first capability, it determines that the first EAS has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. When the first entity determines that the first EAS does not have the first capability, it determines that the first EAS does not have the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. The first capability is one of capability 1, capability 2, and capability 4.

[0051] In another specific implementation, when the first entity determines that the first EAS has the first capability group, it determines that the first EAS has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. When the first entity determines that the first EAS does not have any capability in the first capability group, it determines that the first EAS does not have the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. The first capability group is a combination of multiple capabilities of capability 1, capability 2, and capability 4.

[0052] In addition, when the first entity determines that a certain first EAS has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS together, it can also determine that the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by the one first EAS among the multiple first EASs, when it further determines that other first EASs among the multiple first EASs except the one first EAS have the above-mentioned capability 3.

[0053] In one possible implementation, when the first entity is an EEC, the EEC further receives capability information of multiple first EASs forwarded by the EES from the EES; or, when the first entity is an EES, the EES further receives capability information of each of the multiple first EASs from the first EAS to obtain capability information of the multiple first EASs. In this way, an implementation method for the first entity to obtain capability information of multiple first EASs based on different first entities is provided.

[0054] In one possible implementation, the first entity further receives first information indicating that the multiple first EASs are associated EASs. Thus, after receiving the first information, the first entity determines that the multiple first EASs are associated EASs, that is, determines that the application contexts of the multiple first EASs need to be migrated together.

[0055] Specifically, when the first entity is the EEC, the AC is pre-configured with the first information, and the EEC receives the first information from the AC; or, the EEC is pre-configured with the first information.

[0056] Specifically, when the first entity is an EES, the AC is pre-configured with the first information, and the EES receives the first information forwarded by the EEC from the EEC. Alternatively, the EEC is pre-configured with the first information, and the EES receives the first information from the EEC.

[0057] In a fifth aspect, the present application provides a method for determining an application context migration scenario, including: a first entity obtains capability information of a second entity; the first entity determines a corresponding target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS among multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the second entity; wherein, the multiple first EASs are associated EASs, and the application contexts in the associated EASs need to be migrated together; the capability information of the second entity indicates whether the second entity has the ability to handle the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs together.

[0058] In one possible implementation, the second entity may be one or more. For example, there is one second entity, where the one second entity is AC, EEC, or EES; there are two second entities, where the two second entities are AC and EEC, or AC and EES, or EEC and EES; and there are three second entities, where the three second entities are AC, EEC, and EES. Furthermore, if the plurality of second entities include EES, the plurality of second entities may include multiple EESs, such as five second entities, where the five second entities are AC, EEC, and three EESs, or where the five second entities are AC and four EESs, or where the five second entities are five EESs, etc.

[0059] In one possible implementation, when a first entity determines a corresponding target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS among a plurality of first EASs based on capability information of a second entity, specifically, when the capability information of one or more second entities indicates that one of the second entities has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs together, the first entity determines that the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS among the at least one first EAS. In addition, when the capability information of one or more second entities indicates that none of the one or more second entities has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs together, the first entity determines that the target application context migration scenario does not include the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS.

[0060] In the above technical solution, the first entity determines whether there is a second entity among one or more second entities that has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS based on the capability information of one or more second entities. When it is determined that there is a second entity that has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS, a corresponding target application context migration scenario is further determined for at least one first EAS among the multiple first EASs. In this way, when a second entity has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS, the first entity can use the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS as the target application context migration scenario corresponding to at least one first EAS among the multiple first EASs, so that in the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS, the second entity can be used to trigger other EASs among the multiple first EASs to perform application context migration together under the instruction of one first EAS among the multiple first EASs, thereby avoiding service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0061] In one possible implementation, the capability information of the second entity indicates whether the second entity supports one or more of the following capabilities:

[0062] Capability a: the ability to obtain the identities of multiple first EASs;

[0063] Capability b: Supports application context migration scenarios decided by the first EAS;

[0064] Capability c: receiving an indication of a triggered relocation notification from one of the plurality of first EASs, and sending a relocation notification to other first EASs in the plurality of first EASs based on the indication of the triggered relocation notification;

[0065] The migration notification is used to trigger application context migration.

[0066] In one specific implementation, when the first entity determines that the second entity possesses the second capability, it determines that the second entity possesses the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. When the first entity determines that the second entity does not possess the second capability, it determines that the second entity does not possess the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. The second capability is one of capability a, capability b, and capability c.

[0067] In another specific implementation, when the first entity determines that the second entity possesses the second capability group, it determines that the second entity possesses the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. When the first entity determines that the second entity does not possess any capability in the second capability group, it determines that the second entity does not possess the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. The second capability group is a combination of multiple capabilities of capability a, capability b, and capability c.

[0068] In one possible implementation, an application context migration scenario supported by a first EAS among multiple first EASs includes an application context migration scenario determined by the first EAS. The first EAS supporting the application context migration scenario determined by the first EAS can be understood as follows: the first EAS can detect, trigger, and determine application context migration; and when determining that application context migration is required, the first EAS can send a migration notification triggering indication to a second entity, instructing the second entity to send migration notifications to other EASs among the multiple first EASs except the first EAS.

[0069] In one possible implementation, the application context migration scenario supported by other EASs other than one of the multiple first EASs includes an application context migration scenario triggered by second entity detection. The other EAS supporting the application context migration scenario triggered by second entity detection can be understood as being able to receive a migration notification from the second entity and, in response to the migration notification, perform application context migration.

[0070] As mentioned above, the first entity determines a target application context migration scenario for at least one of the multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the second entity and the application context migration scenarios supported by the multiple first EASs. The target application context migration scenario includes an application context migration scenario decided by a certain first EAS. Using the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS can avoid service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0071] In a possible implementation, the first entity is an EEC or an EES.

[0072] When the first entity is an EEC, the second entity can be an AC or an EES. When the second entity is an AC, the EEC also receives AC capability information from the AC; and / or, when the second entity is an EES, the EEC also receives EES capability information from the EES. Furthermore, when there are multiple second entities, for example, two second entities, the AC and the EES, the EEC also receives AC capability information from the AC and EES capability information from the EES.

[0073] or,

[0074] When the first entity is an EES, the second entity may be an AC or an EEC. When the second entity is an AC, the EEC further receives AC capability information from the AC; and / or, when the second entity is an EEC, the EES further receives EEC capability information from the EEC. Furthermore, when there are multiple second entities, for example, two second entities, the AC and the EES, the EEC further receives AC capability information from the AC and EES capability information from the EES.

[0075] In this way, based on different first entities and second entities, an implementation method for the first entity to obtain the capability information of the second entity is provided.

[0076] In one possible implementation, the first entity further receives first information indicating that the multiple first EASs are associated EASs. Thus, after receiving the first information, the first entity determines that the multiple first EASs are associated EASs, that is, determines that the application contexts of the multiple first EASs need to be migrated together.

[0077] Specifically, when the first entity is the EEC, the AC is pre-configured with the first information, and the EEC receives the first information from the AC; or, the EEC is pre-configured with the first information.

[0078] Specifically, when the first entity is an EES, the AC is pre-configured with the first information, and the EES receives the first information forwarded by the EEC from the EEC. Alternatively, the EEC is pre-configured with the first information, and the EES receives the first information from the EEC.

[0079] In one possible implementation, when the multiple second entities include multiple EESs, that is, when multiple first EASs are registered with multiple EESs, the first entity may obtain capability information of the multiple EESs. The capability information of each EES may indicate whether the EES has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs.

[0080] For example, one EES (denoted as the first EES) among multiple EESs is used for illustration, wherein the capability information of the first EES indicates whether the first EES supports one or more of the following capabilities:

[0081] Capability A: the ability to obtain the identifiers of multiple first EASs;

[0082] Capability B: capability to obtain an identifier of at least one first EAS registered in the first EES, where the at least one first EAS registered in the first EES is at least one of the plurality of first EASs (associated EASs);

[0083] Capability C, the ability to obtain the identities of multiple EESs;

[0084] Capability D: receiving an indication of triggering a migration notification from one of the plurality of first EASs, and sending a migration notification to the other EASs in the plurality of first EASs except the one first EAS;

[0085] For example, capability D may further include one or more of the following capabilities D1 to D3:

[0086] Capability D1: the ability to receive an indication of triggering a migration notification from a first EAS registered in the first EES and send a migration notification to other EASs registered in the first EES (i.e., other first EASs);

[0087] Capability D2: the ability to receive an indication of triggering a migration notification sent by an EES other than the first EES in a plurality of EESs, and to send a migration notification to at least one first EAS registered in the first EES according to the indication of triggering the migration notification;

[0088] Capability D3: the ability to receive an indication of a triggered migration notification from a first EAS registered in a first EES, and send an indication of a triggered migration notification to other EESs in a plurality of EESs except the first EES, so that the other EES sends a migration notification to at least one first EAS registered in the other EES.

[0089] The migration notification is used to trigger application context migration.

[0090] In one specific implementation, when the first entity determines that the first EES possesses the third capability, it determines that the first EES possesses the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. When the first entity determines that the first EES does not possess the third capability, it determines that the first EES does not possess the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. The third capability is one of capability A, capability B, capability C, and capability D. Furthermore, the third capability may be one or more of capabilities D1 through D3.

[0091] In another specific implementation, when the first entity determines that the first EES possesses the third capability group, it determines that the first EES possesses the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. When the first entity determines that the first EES does not possess any capability in the third capability group, it determines that the first EES does not possess the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. The third capability group is a combination of multiple capabilities among capability A, capability B, capability C, and capability D. Furthermore, the third capability group is a combination of multiple capabilities among capability A, capability B, capability C, capability D1, capability D2, and capability D3.

[0092] In one possible implementation, when the first entity determines the corresponding target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS among multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the second entity, specifically, when the first entity is an EEC, the EEC determines the corresponding target application context migration scenario for all first EASs among the multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the second entity; when the first entity is a first EES, the first EES determines the corresponding target application context migration scenario for all first EASs among the multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the second entity, or the first EES determines the corresponding target application context migration scenario for some first EASs among the multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the second entity, wherein the some first EASs are specifically at least one first EAS among the multiple first EASs that is registered in the first EES.

[0093] In one possible implementation, when a first entity determines a corresponding target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS among multiple first EASs based on capability information of a second entity, specifically, when the first entity is a first EES, the first EES determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for all EASs among the multiple first EASs (i.e., the multiple first EASs) based on the capability information of the second entity. The first EAS may be referred to as a primary EAS, where the first EES is one of the multiple EESs designated by an AC or EEC; or the first EES may be pre-configured with a third indication, the third indication being used to indicate that the first EES is the EES among the multiple EESs used to determine the corresponding target application context migration scenario for the multiple first EASs; or the first EES is an EES among the multiple EESs that is registered with a designated EAS. The designated EAS may be referred to as a primary EAS, where the designated EAS may be one of the multiple first EASs designated by an AC or EEC, or the designated EAS may be pre-configured with a fourth indication, the fourth indication being used to indicate that the EAS is the primary EAS.

[0094] In a possible implementation, when the first entity is a first EES and the second entity is another EES among a plurality of EESs, the first EES further receives capability information of the other EESs from the other EESs.

[0095] In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device.

[0096] The device has the function of implementing the first entity in the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the function of the first entity in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or the function of the first entity in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation of the fourth aspect, or the function of the first entity in the fifth aspect or any possible implementation of the fifth aspect. The device can specifically be EEC or EES.

[0097] The device has the function of implementing the AC in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the function of AC in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or the function of AC in the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect, or the function of AC in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation of the fourth aspect, or the function of AC in the fifth aspect or any possible implementation of the fifth aspect.

[0098] The device has the function of implementing the EAS in the third aspect or any possible implementation manner of the third aspect.

[0099] The device has the function of implementing the second entity in the fifth aspect or any possible implementation of the fifth aspect. Specifically, the device may be an EEC, an EES, or an AC.

[0100] The functions of the above-mentioned communication device can be implemented by hardware, or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules, units or means corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

[0101] In a possible implementation, the structure of the device includes a processing module and a transceiver module, wherein:

[0102] The processing module is configured to support the apparatus in performing the function of the first entity in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or the function of the first entity in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation of the fourth aspect, or the function of the first entity in the fifth aspect or any possible implementation of the fifth aspect, where the first entity may specifically be an EEC or an EES; or,

[0103] The processing module is configured to support the apparatus in performing the functions of AC in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect, or the functions of AC in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation of the fourth aspect, or the functions of AC in the fifth aspect or any possible implementation of the fifth aspect; or,

[0104] The processing module is configured to support the apparatus in performing the EAS function in the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect; or,

[0105] The processing module is configured to support the device to perform the functions of the second entity in the fifth aspect or any possible implementation of the fifth aspect. The second entity may specifically be EEC, EES or AC.

[0106] The transceiver module is used to support communication between the device and other communication devices. For example, when the device is a first entity, the transceiver module is used to receive first information from the AC. The communication device may also include a storage module, coupled to the processing module, which stores program instructions and data necessary for the device. As an example, the processing module may be a processor, the communication module may be a transceiver, and the storage module may be a memory. The memory may be integrated with the processor or provided separately from the processor.

[0107] In another possible implementation, the structure of the device includes a processor and may also include a memory. The processor is coupled to the memory and can be configured to execute computer program instructions stored in the memory to cause the device to perform the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or the method of the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect, or the method of the fourth aspect or any possible implementation of the fourth aspect, or the method of the fifth aspect or any possible implementation of the fifth aspect.

[0108] Optionally, the apparatus further includes a communication interface, and the processor is coupled to the communication interface. When the apparatus is a network device or a terminal device, the communication interface may be a transceiver or an input / output interface; when the apparatus is a chip included in the network device or a chip included in the terminal device, the communication interface may be the chip's input / output interface. Optionally, the transceiver may be a transceiver circuit, and the input / output interface may be an input / output circuit.

[0109] In the seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a chip system, comprising: a processor, the processor being coupled to a memory, the memory being used to store programs or instructions, and when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the chip system implements the method of the above-mentioned first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or implements the method of the above-mentioned second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or implements the method of the above-mentioned third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect, or implements the method of the above-mentioned fourth aspect or any possible implementation of the fourth aspect, or implements the method of the above-mentioned fifth aspect or any possible implementation of the fifth aspect.

[0110] Optionally, the chip system further includes an interface circuit for transmitting interactive code instructions to the processor.

[0111] Optionally, there may be one or more processors in the chip system, and the processor may be implemented in hardware or software. When implemented in hardware, the processor may be a logic circuit, an integrated circuit, etc. When implemented in software, the processor may be a general-purpose processor implemented by reading software code stored in a memory.

[0112] Optionally, the chip system may include one or more memories. The memory may be integrated with the processor or provided separately from the processor. For example, the memory may be a non-transient processor, such as a read-only memory (ROM), which may be integrated with the processor on the same chip or provided on separate chips.

[0113] In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer-readable storage medium having a computer program or instruction stored thereon. When the computer program or instruction is executed, the computer executes the method of the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or executes the method of the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or executes the method of the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect, or executes the method of the fourth aspect or any possible implementation of the fourth aspect, or executes the method of the fifth aspect or any possible implementation of the fifth aspect.

[0114] In the ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product. When a computer reads and executes the computer program product, the computer executes the method in the first aspect or any possible implementation of the first aspect, or executes the method in the second aspect or any possible implementation of the second aspect, or executes the method in the third aspect or any possible implementation of the third aspect, or executes the method in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation of the fourth aspect, or executes the method in the fifth aspect or any possible implementation of the fifth aspect.

[0115] In a tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication system, comprising one or more of the first entity, AC, or third EAS in the first aspect; or one or more of the first entity, AC, or third EAS in the second aspect; or one or more of the first entity, AC, or EAS in the third aspect; or one or more of the first entity, AC, or EAS in the fourth aspect; or one or more of the first entity, second entity, or EAS in the fifth aspect. Specifically, the first entity may be an EEC or EES; and the second entity may be an EEC, EES, or AC.

[0116] The technical effects that can be achieved in any of the sixth to tenth aspects mentioned above can refer to the description of the beneficial effects in any of the first to fifth aspects mentioned above, and will not be repeated here. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0117] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of an edge application architecture provided by this application;

[0118] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a process of an EEC discovering EES and EAS provided by the present application;

[0119] Figures 3 to 6 are flowcharts of a method for determining an application context migration scenario in the first implementation provided by this application;

[0120] 7-9 are flowcharts of a method for determining an application context migration scenario in the second implementation manner provided by this application;

[0121] 10 and 11 are flowcharts of a method for determining an application context migration scenario in the third implementation manner provided by this application;

[0122] Figures 12-16 are flowcharts of a method for determining an application context migration scenario in a specific scenario provided by this application;

[0123] FIG17 is a flow chart of a method for determining an application context migration scenario according to implementation mode 1 provided in the present application;

[0124] FIG18 is a flow chart of a method for determining an application context migration scenario according to implementation mode 2 provided in this application;

[0125] FIG19 is a flow chart of a method for determining a context migration scenario in a specific scenario according to Implementation 1 provided by the present application;

[0126] 20-22 are flowcharts of a method for determining a context migration scenario in a specific scenario according to Implementation 2 provided in this application;

[0127] FIG23 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided by the present application;

[0128] FIG24 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in this application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0129] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is conducting research on application-enabled multi-access edge computing (MEC) and has defined an edge application architecture as shown in Figure 1.

[0130] The application architecture includes a terminal, an edge data network (EDN), and an edge configuration server (ECS). The terminal may include an application client (AC) and an edge enabler client (EEC). The edge data network (EDN) may include an edge application server (EAS) and an edge enabler server (EES).

[0131] A terminal may also be referred to as a terminal device, user equipment (UE), mobile station, mobile terminal, etc. The terminal can be widely used in various scenarios, such as device-to-device (D2D), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things (IOT), virtual reality, augmented reality, industrial control, autonomous driving, telemedicine, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation, smart city, etc. The terminal can be a mobile phone, tablet computer, computer with wireless transceiver function, wearable device, vehicle, drone, helicopter, airplane, ship, robot, robotic arm, smart home device, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form adopted by the terminal.

[0132] AC is the client program for edge applications on the terminal side. AC is used by users to obtain application services from application servers (AS). Specifically, AC can connect to AS in the cloud to obtain application services, or it can connect to EAS deployed and running in one or more EDNs to obtain application services.

[0133] The EEC is the terminal-side counterpart of the EES. The EEC can be the terminal's middleware layer, specifically located within the operating system, or between the AC and the operating system. The EEC is used to register EEC and AC information with the EES, perform security authentication and authorization, obtain the EAS's Internet Protocol (IP) address from the EES, and provide edge computing capabilities to the AC. For example, the EEC can provide edge-enabling services to the AC via an application programming interface (API).

[0134] An EDN is a special local data network (LDN). It has edge-enabling capabilities and can be identified using a data network access identifier (DNAI) and a data network name (DNN). An EDN is a local data center (a geographic location concept) that can contain multiple local data networks (LDNs). A local data network refers to an access point to a data network that is very close to the user's attachment point.

[0135] EAS refers to an application deployed in an EDN. Specifically, EAS can be an instance of a server application (for example, social media software, augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR)) deployed and running in an EDN. An application can deploy one or more EASs in one or more EDNs. EASs deployed and running in different EDNs can be considered different EASs of the same application. These different EASs can share a domain name, use a single IP address, or use different IP addresses. EAS can also be called edge application (service), application instance, edge application instance, MEC application (service), EAS function, etc.

[0136] EES can also be called MEC platform or edge platform. EES is deployed in EDN, and one or more EES can be deployed in an EDN. EES is used to provide some enabling capabilities for EAS deployed in EDN, so as to better support the deployment of applications in MEC. Specifically, EES can support the registration of edge applications, authentication and authorization of terminals, provide EAS IP address information for terminals, provide EAS identification and IP address information for ECS, etc. Generally, EAS is registered on an EES, or the information of an EAS is configured on an EES through the management system. The EES is called the EES associated with the EAS, and the EES controls / manages the EAS registered / configured on the EES.

[0137] ECS, also known as the edge data network configuration server (EDN CS), is responsible for EDN configuration, such as providing EES information to terminals, providing EAS information to terminals, interacting with the application's domain name system (DNS) to obtain EAS information, and obtaining and storing EAS and IP address information from other functional entities.

[0138] In this application, a connection can be established between a terminal and an EDN to transmit application data. The AC, EEC, EAS, EES, and ECS are collectively referred to as entities. Two entities can communicate with each other via interfaces corresponding to the edge application architecture, such as EDGE-5 between the AC and EEC, or EDGE-4 between the EEC and ECS.

[0139] 1, the process of EEC discovering EES and EAS is explained as follows, which can be seen in FIG2. Steps 201 to 203 are the process of discovering EES, and steps 204 to 206 are the process of discovering EAS.

[0140] The discovery process of EES:

[0141] Step 201: The EEC requests / subscribes to the EES from the ECS.

[0142] Exemplarily, the EEC sends an EES discovery request to the ECS. Correspondingly, the ECS receives the EES discovery request from the EEC. The EES discovery request may include the terminal location.

[0143] Step 202: The ECS selects an EES based on the terminal location.

[0144] Specifically, the ECS can determine the DNAI of the data network that the terminal needs to access based on the terminal's location. The ECS then selects the corresponding EES for the EEC based on its recorded EES profiles, DNAIs, and fully qualified domain names (FQDNs). Optionally, before selecting an EES, the ECS can obtain the current / potential DNAI from the session management function (SMF).

[0145] Step 203: The ECS sends the EES information to the EEC.

[0146] The discovery process of EAS:

[0147] Step 204: The EEC sends an EAS discovery request to the EES, wherein the EAS discovery request may include a filter parameter, and the filter parameter may include one or more of an AC identifier and a terminal identifier.

[0148] Step 205: EES matches the registered EAS.

[0149] The EES locally records the configuration information (EAS profile) of one or more registered / online EASs. The EES can determine the EAS that meets the EEC request based on the filtering parameters and the configuration information of one or more EASs recorded locally. Optionally, the EES can match one or more EASs that meet the EEC request.

[0150] Step 206: The EES sends an EAS discovery response to the EEC, wherein the EAS discovery response may include information discovered by the EES that satisfies the EEC's EAS request.

[0151] Furthermore, the EEC may provide the AC with information about the EAS, so that the AC may connect to the EAS based on the information about the EAS. In this way, the EAS may provide relevant services to the AC.

[0152] It can be assumed that the EAS currently serving an AC (referred to as the source EAS, source-EAS, or S-EAS) has a certain geographical service range. When an AC (or the terminal where the AC resides) moves, for example, from its current EDN to another, the source EAS may no longer be able to serve the AC, or the source EAS may no longer be the optimal EAS for that AC. In this case, a new EAS (referred to as the target EAS, target-EAS, or T-EAS) is needed to serve the AC. This target EAS replaces the source EAS.

[0153] Furthermore, the EES registered with the source EAS can be denoted as source EES, source-EES, or S-EES, and the EES registered with the target EAS can be denoted as target EES, target-EES, or T-EES. In some examples, the source EAS and the target EAS can be registered in the same EES. In this case, the source EES and the target EES are the same.

[0154] When the target EAS replaces the source EAS, both the target EAS and the source EAS need to perform application context relocation (ACR). That is, the source EAS migrates the locally stored application context (AC) to the target EAS to minimize the impact of application operation interruption.

[0155] Among them, application context refers to the operating status information related to the user. The application context may include the context of the source EAS and the core network subscription, such as the subscription transaction identifier, etc., or it may also include the user's context in the EES, such as the transaction identifier of the source EAS subscription for the user.

[0156] The application context migration process can include the following four steps:

[0157] Step 1, detection process:

[0158] Exemplarily, the change of the terminal's location may be detected, or whether the terminal user plane path is updated, etc. may be detected to obtain the detection result.

[0159] The detection process may be performed by one or more of the source EAS, source EES, EEC, and AC.

[0160] Step 2, decision-making process:

[0161] Based on the detection results, it is determined whether application context migration needs to be performed. This decision-making process can be performed by one or more of the source EAS, source EES, EEC, and AC.

[0162] Step 3, execution process:

[0163] The execution process may include a discovery process of the target EAS, which may be performed by one or more of the source EAS, source EES, EEC, and AC.

[0164] The execution process may further include a migration process of the application context. Specifically, the source EAS may migrate the application context in the source EAS to the target EAS. The migration process may be initiated by the source EAS, the target EAS or the EEC.

[0165] In addition, after migrating the application context from the source EAS to the target EAS, the source EAS may notify the terminal or network of the target EAS's information. Alternatively, after obtaining the application context from the source EAS, the target EAS may notify the terminal or network of the target EAS's information. The target EAS's information may include the target EAS's address information (such as IP address, FQDN, etc.), the target EAS's corresponding N6 routing information, etc.

[0166] Step 4: Cleaning process:

[0167] After the application context is migrated from the source EAS to the target EAS, multiple entities perform cleanup work for the application context migration. For example, the AC may initiate a new socket connection to the target EAS.

[0168] This application provides the following multiple application context relocation scenarios (ACR scenarios). In this application, the application context relocation scenario can also be referred to as an application context migration mode, an application context migration method, or the like.

[0169] Application context migration scenario 1: Application context migration scenario of EEC decision or AC decision.

[0170] The detection process of application context migration is performed by EEC.

[0171] The decision-making process for application context migration is performed by the EEC or AC.

[0172] The specific execution process of application context migration may be that the EEC discovers the target EES and the target EAS, the EEC requests the source EES to initiate user plane path modification, and the EEC and AC initiate application context migration.

[0173] The cleanup process for application context migration is performed by multiple entities.

[0174] Application context migration scenario 2: EEC-decided application context migration scenario. Furthermore, the EEC executes the application context migration scenario through the source EES.

[0175] The detection process of application context migration is performed by EEC.

[0176] The decision-making process for application context migration is also performed by the EEC.

[0177] The specific execution process of application context migration may be that the EEC discovers the target EES and the target EAS, the EEC requests the source EES to initiate user plane path modification, and then the source EES notifies the source EAS to initiate application context migration.

[0178] The cleanup process for application context migration is performed by multiple entities.

[0179] Application context migration scenario 3: Application context migration scenario decided by EEC. Furthermore, EEC performs application context migration through the target EES.

[0180] The detection process of application context migration is performed by EEC.

[0181] The decision-making process for application context migration is also performed by the EEC.

[0182] The execution process of application context migration may specifically be that the EEC discovers the target EES and the target EAS, the EEC requests the target EES to initiate user plane path modification, and the target EES notifies the target EAS to initiate application context migration.

[0183] The cleanup process for application context migration is performed by multiple entities.

[0184] Application context migration scenario 4: Application context migration scenario for EAS decision making.

[0185] The detection process of application context migration may specifically be that the source EES detects and notifies the source EAS that application context migration is required, or the source EAS detects and determines that application context migration is required.

[0186] The decision-making process for application context migration is performed by the source EAS.

[0187] The execution process of application context migration may specifically be that the source EAS discovers the target EES and the target EAS, the source EAS initiates user plane path modification, and initiates application context migration.

[0188] The cleanup process for application context migration is performed by multiple entities.

[0189] Application context migration scenario 5: Application context migration scenario of source EES decision.

[0190] The application context migration detection process may be performed by one or more of the source EES, source EAS, and EEC.

[0191] The decision-making process for application context migration is also executed by the source EES. Specifically, the source EES may decide to migrate the application context based on the detection results of the above detection entities (ie, one or more of the source EES, source EAS, and EEC).

[0192] The execution process of application context migration may specifically be that the source EES discovers the target EES and the target EAS, the source EES initiates user plane path modification, and notifies the source EAS to initiate application context migration.

[0193] The cleanup process for application context migration is performed by multiple entities.

[0194] Application context migration scenario 6: Application context migration scenario of source EES decision.

[0195] The application context migration detection process is performed by the source EES.

[0196] The decision-making process for application context migration is also performed by the source EES.

[0197] The specific execution process of application context migration may be: the source EES discovers the target EES and the target EAS, the source EES initiates user plane path modification, and initiates application context migration.

[0198] The cleanup process for application context migration is performed by multiple entities.

[0199] ACs may be served by multiple EASs. For example, a gaming AC may require services from two EASs: a graphics rendering EAS and a chat function EAS. Another example is a traffic flow prediction AC, which may require services from two EASs: a road monitoring EAS and a weather forecast EAS.

[0200] It can be considered that the application contexts of the AC in multiple EASs are associated, which means that the application contexts of the AC in multiple EASs need to be migrated together. This helps to ensure the continuity of services provided by multiple EASs to the AC. In this application, the EAS whose application contexts need to be migrated together can be referred to as the first EAS.

[0201] In the example of the game AC described above, the two first EASs providing services for the game AC are represented as graphics rendering EAS11 and chat function EAS12. Application context 1 in graphics rendering EAS11 and application context 2 in chat function EAS12 need to be migrated together. Specifically, graphics rendering EAS11 migrates application context 1 in graphics rendering EAS11 to graphics rendering EAS12, and chat function EAS12 migrates application context 2 in chat function EAS12 to chat function EAS22. In this way, graphics rendering EAS21 and chat function EAS22 can continue to provide services for the game AC based on their respective migrated application contexts.

[0202] In the above multiple application context migration scenarios:

[0203] The EEC and AC are both located in the terminal and can obtain the identifiers of multiple first EASs. That is, in an application context migration scenario determined by the EEC or the AC, the EEC or AC can instruct the multiple first EASs to perform application context migration together based on their identifiers.

[0204] The EES registers configuration information for multiple first EASs, and the EES can also obtain the identifiers of multiple first EASs. In an application context migration scenario where the EES decides, the EES can instruct the multiple first EASs to perform application context migration together based on the identifiers of the multiple first EASs. In this application, the configuration information can specifically be a profile.

[0205] However, for one of the multiple first EASs, it can only obtain its own configuration information, but cannot obtain the identifiers of other first EASs except itself. Therefore, it cannot instruct other first EASs except itself to perform application context migration together. For example, in the example of the game AC mentioned above, graphics rendering EAS11 can migrate application context 1 to graphics rendering EAS12, but cannot instruct chat function EAS12 to migrate application context 2 to graphics rendering EAS22. In other words, in the application context migration scenario determined by the first EAS, there is a situation where multiple first EASs cannot migrate the application context together, resulting in service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0206] In the present application, the identifier of the first EAS may specifically be the address information of the first EAS, such as the IP address and / or FQDN of the first EAS.

[0207] To this end, this application provides implementations of multiple methods for determining application context migration scenarios, which are used to determine appropriate target application context migration scenarios to avoid service interruptions during application context migration. For example:

[0208] In implementation method 1, the first entity may determine whether multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario determined by the EAS, and then select a target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios. Implementation method 1 is described in detail in the embodiments related to Figures 3 to 6, Figure 12, and Figure 13.

[0209] In Implementation Method 2, the first entity sends the identifiers of multiple first EASs to a third EAS among the multiple first EASs, enabling the third EAS to migrate application contexts from the multiple first EASs together. The first entity then selects a target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios (including the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS). Implementation Method 2 is described in detail in the embodiments related to Figures 7 to 9, 14, and 15.

[0210] In implementation method three, after obtaining an indication that application contexts from the multiple first EASs need to be migrated together, the fourth EAS among the multiple first EASs determines that the application context migration scenarios it supports do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS, and sends the supported application context migration scenarios to the first entity. Implementation method three is described in detail in the embodiments related to Figures 10, 11, and 16.

[0211] The first entity is EEC or EES, and details can be found in the descriptions of each implementation.

[0212] In implementations 1 and 2, the multiple application context migration scenarios may be considered as multiple candidate application context migration scenarios. Furthermore, the first entity selects a target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios. The target application context migration scenario is specifically an application context migration scenario selected by the first entity for at least one of the multiple first EASs and corresponding to the at least one first EAS.

[0213] As follows, implementation methods 1 to 3 provided in this application are explained in conjunction with the flowcharts.

[0214] Implementation method 1

[0215] FIG3 is a flow chart of a method for determining a first application context migration scenario according to the first implementation mode provided by this application:

[0216] Step 301: The first entity determines, based on first information, whether multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0217] The first entity may be EEC or EES.

[0218] The first information indicates that the application contexts in the multiple first EASs need to be migrated together. That is, the first information indicates that the application contexts in the multiple first EASs are associated, or that the multiple first EASs are associated. The application contexts in the multiple first EASs need (or require) to be migrated together, which can also be referred to as the application contexts in the multiple first EASs waiting to be migrated together.

[0219] In Example 1, the first message includes multiple first EAS identifiers, which indicate that the application contexts in the multiple first EASs need to be migrated together. In the example of the game AC, the first message may include two first EAS identifiers: graphics rendering EAS11 and chat function EAS12.

[0220] In Example 2, the first information includes a first indication, which can be used to indicate that multiple application contexts in the first EAS need to be migrated together. For example, the first indication occupies one bit, and when the value of this bit is 1, it indicates that multiple application contexts in the first EAS need to be migrated together. For another example, the first indication is a "yes" field, and the "yes" field indicates that multiple application contexts in the first EAS need to be migrated together.

[0221] In Example 3, the first information includes identifiers of multiple first EASs and a first indication. The identifiers of the multiple first EASs can be as described in Example 1, and the first indication can be as described in Example 2.

[0222] In addition, the present application may also be one of the following situations: the first information is multiple first EAS identifiers; the first information is a first indication; the first information is a combination of multiple first EAS identifiers and the first indication.

[0223] Optionally, the first entity may receive the first information from the AC. Specifically, the AC is pre-configured with the first information. When the first entity is an EEC, the EEC may receive the first information from the AC, i.e., the AC sends the first information to the EEC. When the first entity is an EES, the EES may receive the first information from the EEC and forwarded by the EEC, i.e., the AC sends the first information to the EEC, and the EEC then sends the first information to the EES.

[0224] Alternatively, the first information may be pre-configured in the EEC. In this case, if the first entity is the EEC, the EEC may also obtain the first information from a local pre-configuration. If the first entity is the EES, the EES may obtain the first information from the EEC.

[0225] After determining, based on the first information, that the application contexts in the plurality of first EASs need to be migrated together, the first entity needs to further determine whether the plurality of application context migration scenarios does not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0226] The first entity determines whether the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS. There are two situations as follows:

[0227] In a first scenario, the first entity determines that multiple application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS. Exemplarily, the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS is application context migration scenario 4. The first entity determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include application context migration scenario 4. In other words, the first entity may determine that the multiple application context migration scenarios include application context migration scenarios 1 through 3, application context migration scenario 5, and application context migration scenario 6.

[0228] In the second scenario, the first entity receives the second information and determines, based on the first information and the second information, whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0229] The second information indicates whether a third EAS exists among the plurality of first EASs.

[0230] The third EAS has the ability to migrate application contexts in multiple first EASs together. It can also be understood that the third EAS has the ability to discover other EASs in the multiple first EASs except the third EAS, or the third EAS has the ability to notify other EASs in the multiple first EASs except the third EAS to migrate application contexts.

[0231] In one specific implementation, the third EAS is capable of migrating application contexts from multiple first EASs simultaneously. This may involve storing identifiers of multiple first EASs in the third EAS. Alternatively, the third EAS may receive identifiers of multiple first EASs from the AC, receive identifiers of multiple first EASs from the EEC, or be pre-configured with identifiers of multiple first EASs.

[0232] When the third EAS receives identifiers of multiple first EASs from the AC, the AC may establish a connection with the third EAS, and the AC may send the identifiers of the multiple first EASs to the third EAS via the established connection. For example, the AC may send the identifiers of the multiple first EASs to each of the multiple first EASs, and the first EAS with decision-making functionality among the multiple first EASs may store the identifiers of the multiple first EASs as the third EAS.

[0233] The first EAS with the decision-making function is, for example, an EAS that supports an application context migration scenario (such as supporting application context migration scenario 4) of EAS decision-making.

[0234] Furthermore, the third EAS can be all or part of the multiple first EASs. That is, among the multiple first EASs, if each first EAS has the ability to migrate the application contexts of the multiple first EASs together, then each first EAS is the third EAS; and if some of the multiple first EASs have the ability to migrate the application contexts of the multiple first EASs together, then this part of the first EAS is the third EAS.

[0235] In one possible embodiment, a first entity may receive second information sent from each of a plurality of first EASs, where the second information indicates whether the first EAS sending the second information is a third EAS. The first entity may determine whether the third EAS exists in the plurality of first EASs based on the second information from each of the plurality of first EASs.

[0236] Exemplarily, the second information may include the first option or the second option. The first option indicates that the first EAS that sends the second information stores identifiers of multiple first EASs, that is, the first EAS that sends the first option is the third EAS. The second option indicates that the first EAS that sends the second information does not store identifiers of multiple first EASs, that is, the first EAS that sends the second option is not the third EAS.

[0237] Exemplarily, the second information may be the first option or the second option. For example, the second information may occupy 1 bit, wherein the first option is that the value of the 1 bit is 1, and the second option is that the value of the 1 bit is 0.

[0238] In another possible embodiment, a first entity may receive second information from a third EAS among multiple first EASs. Specifically, after receiving the second information from the first EAS, the first entity may determine that the first EAS that sent the second information is the third EAS. Exemplarily, the second information may include the first option, or the second information is the first option. Furthermore, the second information may include identifiers of multiple first EASs, or the second information is the identifiers of multiple first EASs.

[0239] In a possible manner of the second situation, when there is no third EAS among the multiple first EASs, the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include an application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0240] Specifically, if the first entity determines, based on the first information, that the application contexts in multiple first EASs need to be migrated together, and determines, based on the second information, that no third EAS exists in the multiple first EASs, then the first entity may further determine that the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS. For example, the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS is application context migration scenario 4, and the first entity determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include application context migration scenario 4, that is, the first entity determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios include application context migration scenarios 1 to 3, application context migration scenario 5, and application context migration scenario 6.

[0241] In another possible manner of the second scenario, when a third EAS exists among the multiple first EASs, the multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0242] Specifically, the first entity determines, based on the first information, that application contexts in multiple first EASs need to be migrated together, and determines, based on the second information, that a third EAS exists among the multiple first EASs, and then determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS. Exemplarily, the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS is application context migration scenario 4. The first entity determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios include application context migration scenario 4, that is, determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios include application context migration scenarios 1 to 6.

[0243] Step 302: The first entity selects a target application context migration scenario from a plurality of application context migration scenarios.

[0244] In one possible approach, if the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS, the first entity may select a target application context migration scenario from other application context migration scenarios excluding the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS. In this way, the application contexts in multiple first EASs are migrated together using the application context migration scenario determined by the EEC, AC, or EES, thereby avoiding service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0245] In another possible embodiment, multiple application context migration scenarios include application context migration scenarios decided by EAS, and the first entity can select a target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios. Furthermore, when the target application context migration scenario selected by the first entity is an application context migration scenario decided by EEC, AC, or EES, the application contexts in multiple first EASs can be migrated together. When the target application context migration scenario selected by the first entity is an application context migration scenario decided by EAS, the decision can be executed through a third EAS, that is, other EASs except the third EAS in the multiple first EASs are discovered or notified, thereby achieving the migration of application contexts in multiple first EASs together. This helps to avoid service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0246] FIG4 is a flow chart illustrating a method for determining a second application context migration scenario according to the first implementation method provided by this application. The method for determining an application context migration scenario illustrated in FIG4 is a specific implementation of the method for determining an application context migration scenario illustrated in FIG3 . For any technical solutions not described in detail in the embodiments related to FIG4 , please refer to the description in the embodiments related to FIG3 .

[0247] Step 401: The first entity determines, based on first information, that multiple application context migration scenarios do not include an application context migration scenario decided by an EAS.

[0248] The first information may refer to the description of the first information in step 301 .

[0249] Optionally, the first entity determines, based on the first information, that the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS. For specific implementation, please refer to the description of Case 1 in step 301 .

[0250] Step 402: The first entity selects a target application context migration scenario from a plurality of application context migration scenarios.

[0251] Specifically, the first entity selects a target application context migration scenario from other application context migration scenarios except the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0252] In this way, the application contexts in multiple first EASs are migrated together through the application context migration scenario decided by the EEC, AC, or EES, which helps to avoid service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0253] FIG5 is a flow chart illustrating a method for determining a third application context migration scenario according to the first implementation of the present application. The method for determining an application context migration scenario illustrated in FIG5 is another specific implementation of the method for determining an application context migration scenario illustrated in FIG3 . For any technical solutions not described in detail in the embodiments related to FIG5 , please refer to the description in the embodiments related to FIG3 .

[0254] Step 501: The first entity receives second information.

[0255] The second information may refer to the description of the second information in step 301 .

[0256] Step 502: The first entity determines, based on the first information and the second information, whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0257] The first information may refer to the description of the first information in step 301 .

[0258] Optionally, the first entity determines, based on the first information and the second information, that the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS. For specific implementation methods, please refer to the description of situation 2 in step 301 regarding the multiple first EASs not including the third EAS.

[0259] Optionally, the first entity determines, based on the first information and the second information, that the multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario decided by an EAS. For specific implementation, see the description of case 2 in step 301 regarding the inclusion of a third EAS in the multiple first EASs.

[0260] Step 503: The first entity selects a target application context migration scenario from multiple application context migration scenarios.

[0261] For specific implementation, please refer to the description in step 302.

[0262] It should be added that, in the above step 301, before the first entity determines, based on the first information, whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS, the first entity may further perform the following operations:

[0263] The first entity may obtain application context migration scenarios supported by the EES, AC, multiple first EASs, and EEC, and then determine an application context migration scenario commonly supported by the multiple entities based on the application context migration scenarios supported by the multiple entities. The first entity may further determine whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario determined by the EAS based on the application context migration scenarios commonly supported by the multiple entities and the first information.

[0264] For example, EES, AC, and EEC all support application context migration scenarios 1 to 6, and multiple first EASs all support application context migration scenarios 1 to 4. Accordingly, the first entity can use application context migration scenarios 1 to 4, which are commonly supported by multiple entities, as multiple application context migration scenarios. The first entity then determines whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include application context migration scenario 4. If so, the first entity can select a target application context migration scenario from application context migration scenarios 1 to 4; if not, the first entity can select a target application context migration scenario from application context migration scenarios 1 to 3.

[0265] Similarly, before the above step 401 and before the above step 502, the first entity can obtain the application context migration scenarios supported by EES, AC, multiple first EAS, and EEC, and then determine the application context migration scenarios commonly supported by the multiple entities based on the application context migration scenarios supported by these entities, and then determine whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenarios decided by EAS.

[0266] Optionally, after the first entity selects a target application context migration scenario from a plurality of application context migration scenarios, the first entity may further send the target application context migration scenario.

[0267] Specifically, when the first entity is an EES, the EES may send the target application context migration scenario to the AC, multiple first EASs, and the EEC. Specifically, when the EES sends the target application context migration scenario to the AC, the EES may send the target application context migration scenario to the EEC, which then sends the target application context migration scenario to the AC. Accordingly, the EES, the AC, multiple first EASs, and the EEC may perform relevant actions in the application context migration based on the target application context migration scenario.

[0268] When the first entity is an EEC, the EEC may send the target application context migration scenario to the EES, the AC, and multiple first EASs. Specifically, when the EEC sends the target application context migration scenario to the first EAS, the EEC may send the target application context migration scenario to the EES, which then sends the target application context migration scenario to the first EAS. Accordingly, the EES, the AC, the multiple first EASs, and the EEC may perform relevant actions in the application context migration based on the target application context migration scenario.

[0269] Figure 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method for determining a fourth application context migration scenario according to the first implementation method provided by this application. The method for determining an application context migration scenario illustrated in Figure 6 is a specific implementation of the method for determining an application context migration scenario illustrated in Figure 5 , which can be implemented through interaction between the AC, EEC, EES, and a third EAS. For any technical solutions not described in detail in the embodiments related to Figure 6 , please refer to the description in the embodiments related to Figure 5 , or further refer to the description in the embodiments related to Figure 3 .

[0270] Step 601: The AC is pre-configured with multiple first EAS identifiers.

[0271] Optionally, the AC configuration information (AC profile) includes a first EAS list (EAS list), and the first EAS list may be a list consisting of multiple first EAS identifiers.

[0272] The AC configuration information may also include an AC identifier (AC ID), application context migration scenarios supported by the AC, and the like.

[0273] Step 602: The AC sends multiple first EAS identifiers (or referred to as a first EAS list) to a third EAS.

[0274] For the specific implementation, please refer to the description of the second case in step 301 regarding the AC sending the identifiers of multiple first EASs to the third EAS.

[0275] When the first entity is an EES, reference may be made to steps 603 - a to 607 - a .

[0276] Step 603 - a : The third EAS sends second information to the EES.

[0277] Exemplarily, the EES can obtain the second information from the third EAS during the EAS registration process. Specifically, the third EAS sends an EAS registration request to the EES, which includes EAS profile information, and the EAS profile information includes the second information. Accordingly, the EES sends an EAS registration response to the third EAS. Optionally, the EAS profile information also includes the third EAS ID and the application context migration scenarios supported by the third EAS.

[0278] In addition, the above EAS registration process can also be replaced by an EAS update process, that is, the EAS registration request is replaced by an EAS update request (EAS update request), and the EAS registration response is replaced by an EAS update response (EAS update response).

[0279] Step 604 - a : The AC sends first information to the EES.

[0280] Exemplarily, the EES can obtain the first information from the AC based on the AC registration process and the EEC registration process. Specifically, the AC sends an AC registration request to the EEC. The AC registration request includes AC configuration information, which includes the first information. Optionally, the AC configuration information also includes application context migration scenarios supported by the AC. In response, the EEC sends an AC registration response to the AC.

[0281] The EEC further sends an EEC registration request (EEC registration request) to the EES, wherein the EEC registration request includes the AC configuration information, that is, the first information. Correspondingly, the EES sends an EEC registration response (EEC registration response) to the EEC.

[0282] In addition, the AC registration process described above can also be replaced by an AC update process, that is, the AC registration request is replaced by an AC update request, and the AC registration response is replaced by an AC update response. Similarly, the EEC registration process described above can also be replaced by an EEC update process, that is, the EEC registration request is replaced by an EEC update request, and the EEC registration response is replaced by an EEC update response.

[0283] In this application, the order of step 603 - a and step 604 - a is not limited.

[0284] Step 605 - a : The EES determines, based on the second information and the first information, whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0285] Step 606 - a : EES selects a target application context migration scenario from multiple application context migration scenarios.

[0286] Step 607 - a : The EES sends the target application context migration scenario to the AC, the EEC, and the first EASs, respectively.

[0287] The EES may send the target application context migration scenario to the AC through the EEC, that is, the EES first sends the target application context migration scenario to the EEC, and then the EEC sends the target application context migration scenario to the AC.

[0288] The specific implementation of steps 603 - a to 607 - a may further refer to the description of step 502 , or the description of case 2 in step 301 .

[0289] When the first entity is the EEC, reference may be made to steps 603 - b to 607 - b .

[0290] Step 603 - b : The third EAS sends the second information to the EEC.

[0291] Specifically, the third EAS may send the second information to the EEC via the EES, that is, the third EAS first sends the second information to the EES, and then the EES sends the second information to the EEC.

[0292] Exemplarily, the EEC may obtain the second information based on the EAS registration process and the EEC registration process. Exemplarily, the third EAS sends an EAS registration request to the EES, where the EAS registration request includes EAS configuration information, and the EAS configuration information includes the second information. Optionally, the EAS configuration information also includes an identifier of the third EAS and application context migration scenarios supported by the third EAS. Accordingly, the EES sends an EAS registration response to the third EAS.

[0293] Furthermore, the EES receives the EEC registration request from the EEC and sends an EEC registration response to the EEC, wherein the EEC registration response includes the second information. Optionally, the EEC registration response also includes application context migration scenarios supported by the EES, an identifier of the third EAS, and application context migration scenarios supported by the third EAS.

[0294] In addition, the above-mentioned EAS registration process can also be replaced by the EAS update process, that is, the EAS registration request is replaced by the EAS update request, and the EAS registration response is replaced by the EAS update response. Similarly, the above-mentioned EEC registration process can also be replaced by the EEC update process, that is, the EEC registration request is replaced by the EEC update request, and the EEC registration response is replaced by the EEC update response.

[0295] Step 604 - b : AC sends first information to EEC.

[0296] For example, the EEC can obtain the first information from the AC during the AC registration process. Specifically, the AC sends an AC registration request to the EEC, which includes AC configuration information, and the AC configuration information includes the first information. In response, the EEC sends an AC registration response to the AC. Furthermore, the aforementioned AC registration process can be replaced by an AC update process, where the AC registration request is replaced by an AC update request, and the AC registration response is replaced by an AC update response.

[0297] In this application, the order of step 603 - b and step 604 - b is not limited.

[0298] Step 605 - b : The EEC determines, based on the second information and the first information, whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0299] Step 606 - b : The EEC selects a target application context migration scenario from multiple application context migration scenarios.

[0300] Step 607 - b : The EEC sends the target application context migration scenario to the AC, the EEC, and the first EASs, respectively.

[0301] The EEC may send the target application context migration scenario to the first EAS via the EES, that is, the EEC first sends the target application context migration scenario to the EES, and then the EES sends the target application context migration scenario to the first EAS.

[0302] The specific implementation of steps 603 - b to 607 - b may refer to the description of step 502 , or may refer to the description of case 2 in step 301 .

[0303] Implementation method 2

[0304] FIG7 is a flow chart of the method for determining the first application context migration scenario of the second implementation provided by this application. For terms and technical solutions not described in detail in the method for determining the application context migration scenario shown in FIG7 , please refer to the description of the relevant embodiments in the first implementation.

[0305] Step 701: A first entity receives first information.

[0306] [Corrected 26.04.2023 according to Rule 91] The first information and the instructions for the first entity to receive the first information may refer to the description in step 301, step 604-a, or step 604-b.

[0307] When the first information includes identifiers of multiple first EASs or identifiers of multiple first EASs, the first entity may determine the identifiers of the multiple first EASs according to the first information.

[0308] When the first information includes identifiers of multiple first EASs and first indications, or a combination of identifiers of multiple first EASs and first indications, the first entity may determine the identifiers of the multiple first EASs according to the first information.

[0309] When the first information includes the first indication or is the first indication, the first entity may further obtain identifiers of multiple first EASs based on the first indication. For example, when the first entity is an EES, the EES may receive the identifiers of multiple first EASs from an AC or an EEC. When the first entity is an EEC, the EEC may receive the identifiers of multiple first EASs from an AC.

[0310] Wherein, step 701 is optional, and when the first entity is an EEC, the EEC may be pre-configured with the first information. Alternatively, the EEC may be pre-configured with multiple first EAS identifiers.

[0311] Step 702: The first entity sends multiple first EAS identifiers to the third EAS according to the first information.

[0312] The description of the third EAS may refer to the description of the second case in step 301 .

[0313] Optionally, the first entity may first receive an application context migration scenario supported by the third EAS from the third EAS. After determining that the third EAS has the decision-making function, the first entity sends multiple first EAS identifiers to the third EAS. For example, the third EAS supports the EAS-determined application context migration scenario (e.g., application context migration scenario 4).

[0314] For example, the multiple first EASs include EAS1 to EAS5, EAS1 supports application context migration scenarios 1 to 4, while EAS2 to EAS5 only support application context migration scenarios 1 to 3. The first entity determines that EAS1 supports application context migration scenario 4 and sends the identifiers of the multiple first EASs to EAS1 (i.e., the third EAS). The first entity determines that EAS2 to EAS5 do not support application context migration scenario 4 and may not send the identifiers of the multiple first EASs to EAS2 to EAS5.

[0315] In a possible implementation, after determining the target application context migration scenario, the first entity sends identifiers of multiple first EASs to the third EAS according to the first information.

[0316] In yet another possible implementation, after determining the target application context migration scenario, the first entity further determines whether to send identifiers of multiple first EASs to the third EAS according to the first information.

[0317] Exemplarily, when the first entity determines that the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by EAS (such as step 703 in Figure 7), the first entity further sends multiple first EAS identifiers to the third EAS based on the first information. When the first entity determines that the target application context migration scenario does not include the application context migration scenario decided by EAS, the first entity may not send multiple first EAS identifiers to the third EAS. Exemplarily, the first entity may send the target application context migration scenario and multiple first EAS identifiers to the third EAS through the same message, or may send the target application context migration scenario and multiple first EAS identifiers to the third EAS through two different messages.

[0318] In another possible implementation, the first entity may first send multiple identifiers of the first EAS to the third EAS based on the first information, and then determine the target application context migration scenario. In this case, the first entity may select the target application context migration scenario from multiple application context migration scenarios including the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0319] Optionally, when determining the target application context migration scenario, the first entity may also first determine, based on the first information, that the application contexts in multiple first EASs need to be migrated together, and then determine the target application context migration scenario. For details, please refer to the relevant description of the first entity determining the target application context migration scenario in step 302.

[0320] Optionally, when the first entity is an EES, after determining the target application context migration scenario, the EES may send the target application context migration scenario to the multiple first EASs, EECs, and ACs. Accordingly, the EES, AC, the multiple first EASs, and EECs may perform relevant actions in the application context migration based on the target application context migration scenario.

[0321] When the first entity is an EEC, after determining the target application context migration scenario, the EEC may send the target application context migration scenario to the multiple first EASs, EESs, and ACs. Accordingly, the EESs, ACs, the multiple first EASs, and the EEC may perform relevant actions in the application context migration based on the target application context migration scenario.

[0322] FIG8 is a flow chart illustrating a method for determining the second application context migration scenario of Implementation Method 2 provided in this application. The method for determining the application context migration scenario illustrated in FIG8 is a specific implementation of the method for determining the application context migration scenario illustrated in FIG7 . For any technical solutions not described in detail in the embodiments related to FIG8 , please refer to the description in the embodiments related to FIG7 , or further refer to the description in the embodiments related to Implementation Method 1.

[0323] Step 801: The AC is pre-configured with multiple first EAS identifiers. This step can be described in step 601.

[0324] When the first entity is the EEC, reference may be made to steps 802 - a to 805 - a .

[0325] Step 802-a: The AC sends the first information to the EEC. This step can be described in step 701.

[0326] It should be added that the EEC may also be configured with the first information, and the EEC may not need to receive the first information from the AC, that is, step 802 - a is an optional step.

[0327] Step 803 - a : The EEC sends multiple identifiers of the first EAS to the third EAS according to the first information.

[0328] Step 804 - a : The EEC determines a target application context migration scenario.

[0329] Step 805 - a : The EEC sends the target application context migration scenario to the AC, the EEC, and the first EASs, respectively.

[0330] Among them, steps 803 - a to 805 - a can refer to the description in step 702 .

[0331] When the first entity is an EES, reference may be made to steps 802 - b to 805 - b .

[0332] Step 802-b: AC sends first information to EES.

[0333] Specifically, the AC may send the first information to the EES via the EEC, that is, the AC first sends the first information to the EEC, and then the EEC sends the first information to the EES. This step can be described in step 701.

[0334] Here, the EEC may also be configured with the first information, and the EES may directly receive the first information from the EEC.

[0335] Step 803 - b : The EES sends multiple identifiers of the first EAS to the third EAS according to the first information.

[0336] Step 804 - b : EES determines the target application context migration scenario.

[0337] Step 805 - b : The EES sends the target application context migration scenario to the AC, the EEC, and the first EASs, respectively.

[0338] Among them, steps 803 - b to 805 - b can be referred to the description in step 702 .

[0339] FIG9 is a flow chart illustrating a method for determining a third application context migration scenario according to Implementation Method 2 of this application. The method for determining an application context migration scenario illustrated in FIG9 is another specific implementation of the method for determining an application context migration scenario illustrated in FIG7 . For any technical solutions not described in detail in the embodiments related to FIG9 , please refer to the description in the embodiments related to FIG7 , or further to the description in the embodiments related to Implementation Method 1.

[0340] Step 901: The AC is pre-configured with multiple first EAS identifiers.

[0341] This step may refer to the description in step 601 .

[0342] Furthermore, when the first entity is an EEC, reference may be made to steps 902 - a to 904 - a .

[0343] Step 902 - a : The AC sends first information to the EEC.

[0344] It should be added that the EEC may also be configured with the first information, and the EEC may not need to receive the first information from the AC, that is, step 902 - a is an optional step.

[0345] For details not described in step 902 - a , please refer to the description in step 701 .

[0346] Step 903 - a : The EEC determines the target application context migration scenario.

[0347] Step 904 - a : The EEC sends the target application context migration scenario and identifiers of multiple first EASs to the third EAS based on the first information.

[0348] Specifically, EEC can send the target application context migration scenario and the identifiers of multiple first EASs to the third EAS through EES, that is, EEC first sends the target application context migration scenario and the identifiers of multiple first EASs to EES, and EES then sends the target application context migration scenario and the identifiers of multiple first EASs to the third EAS.

[0349] When forwarding the target application context migration scenario and the identifiers of the plurality of first EASs, the EES may also obtain the target application context migration scenario.

[0350] The EEC may also send the target application context migration scenario to the AC and the other first EASs except the third EAS in the plurality of first EASs. Accordingly, the EES, AC, the plurality of first EASs and the EEC may perform relevant actions in the application context migration according to the target application context migration scenario.

[0351] For details not described in step 903 - a and step 904 - a , please refer to the description in step 702 and step 703 .

[0352] When the first entity is an EES, reference may be made to steps 902 - b to 904 - b .

[0353] Step 902-b: AC sends first information to EES.

[0354] Specifically, the AC may send the first information to the EES through the EEC, that is, the AC first sends the first information to the EEC, and then the EEC sends the first information to the EES.

[0355] It should be supplemented that the first information may also be configured in the EEC, and the EES directly receives the first information from the EEC.

[0356] For details not described in step 902 - b , please refer to the description in step 701 .

[0357] Step 903 - b : EES determines the target application context migration scenario.

[0358] Step 904 - b : The EES sends the target application context migration scenario and identifiers of the multiple first EASs to the third EAS based on the first information.

[0359] In addition, the EES may also send the target application context migration scenario to the AC, other first EASs except the third EAS among the multiple first EASs, and the EEC. Accordingly, the EES, AC, multiple first EASs, and EEC may perform relevant actions in the application context migration based on the target application context migration scenario.

[0360] For details not described in step 903 - b and step 904 - b , please refer to the description in step 702 and step 703 .

[0361] Implementation method three

[0362] FIG10 is a flow chart of the method for determining the application context migration scenario of the first embodiment of the third embodiment provided by the present application. For any technical solution not described in detail in the method for determining the application context migration scenario shown in FIG10 , please refer to the descriptions in the relevant embodiments of the first and second embodiments.

[0363] Step 1001: The fourth EAS determines, based on first information, that the application context migration scenarios supported by the fourth EAS do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0364] The first information may refer to the description of the first information in step 301 .

[0365] The fourth EAS may be one or more of the plurality of first EASs. The fourth EAS may be preconfigured with the first information, or the fourth EAS may receive the first information from the AC, EEC, or EES. For specific implementations, see the implementations of preconfigured first information for the third EAS or receiving the first information from the AC, EEC, or EES for the third EAS.

[0366] Specifically, the fourth EAS determines, based on the first information, that application contexts in multiple first EASs need to be migrated together, and further determines that the application context migration scenario supported by the fourth EAS does not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0367] Exemplarily, the fourth EAS is configured to support application context migration scenarios 1 to 4. Based on the first information, the fourth EAS determines that application contexts in multiple first EASs need to be migrated together, and then determines that the fourth EAS can support application context migration scenarios 1 to 3.

[0368] Step 1002: The fourth EAS sends an application context migration scenario supported by the fourth EAS.

[0369] Specifically, the fourth EAS may send the application context migration scenario supported by the fourth EAS to the first entity. When the first entity is an EES, the fourth EAS may send the application context migration scenario supported by the fourth EAS to the EES. When the first entity is an EEC, the fourth EAS may send the application context migration scenario supported by the fourth EAS to the EEC via the EES.

[0370] Accordingly, the first entity receives the application context migration scenarios supported by the fourth EAS and selects a target application context migration scenario based on the application context migration scenarios supported by the fourth EAS (excluding the application context migration scenarios determined by the EAS). In conjunction with the above example, the first entity determines that the fourth EAS can support application context migration scenarios 1 to 3. The first entity can select a target application context migration scenario from application context migration scenarios 1 to 3. The implementation method for the first entity selecting the target application context migration scenario can also be found in step 302.

[0371] In this way, the first entity can select an application context migration scenario other than the application context migration scenario decided by EAS as the target application context migration scenario. That is, when the target application context migration scenario selected by the first entity is the application context migration scenario decided by EEC, AC or EES, it helps to achieve the migration of multiple application contexts in the first EAS together, thereby avoiding service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0372] Optionally, when the first entity is an EES, after determining the target application context migration scenario, the EES may send the target application context migration scenario to the multiple first EASs, EECs, and ACs. Accordingly, the EES, AC, the multiple first EASs, and EECs may perform relevant actions in the application context migration based on the target application context migration scenario.

[0373] When the first entity is an EEC, after determining the target application context migration scenario, the EEC may send the target application context migration scenario to the multiple first EASs, EESs, and ACs. Accordingly, the EESs, ACs, the multiple first EASs, and the EEC may perform relevant actions in the application context migration based on the target application context migration scenario.

[0374] FIG11 is a flow chart of the method for determining the application context migration scenario of the second embodiment of the third embodiment provided by the present application. The method for determining the application context migration scenario shown in FIG11 is a specific embodiment of the method for determining the application context migration scenario shown in FIG10. For technical solutions not described in detail in the embodiments related to FIG11, please refer to the description in the embodiments related to FIG10, or further refer to the description in the embodiments related to the first and second embodiments.

[0375] Step 1101: The AC is pre-configured with multiple first EAS identifiers.

[0376] The specific implementation of pre-configuring the AC with multiple first EAS identifiers may refer to the description in step 601 .

[0377] Step 1102: The AC sends multiple identifiers of the first EAS to the fourth EAS.

[0378] Exemplarily, the AC sends identifiers of the multiple first EASs to all or part of the multiple first EASs.

[0379] The AC is connected to the fourth EAS, and the AC can directly send multiple identifiers of the first EAS to the fourth EAS.

[0380] Alternatively, AC may send multiple first EAS identifiers to the fourth EAS through EEC and EES. As shown in FIG11 , AC first sends multiple first EAS identifiers to EEC, EEC then sends multiple first EAS identifiers to EES, and EES then sends multiple first EAS identifiers to the fourth EAS.

[0381] When the first entity is an EES, see steps 1103 - a to 1106 - a .

[0382] Step 1103 - a : The fourth EAS determines, based on the identifiers of the multiple first EASs, that the application context migration scenario supported by the fourth EAS does not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS. For details, see the description of the relevant embodiments of step 1001 .

[0383] Step 1104 - a : The fourth EAS sends the application context migration scenario supported by the fourth EAS to the EES.

[0384] Step 1105 - a : The EES selects a target application context migration scenario based on the application context migration scenarios supported by the fourth EAS.

[0385] Step 1106 - a : The EES sends the target application context migration scenario to the AC, the EEC, and the first EASs, respectively.

[0386] The EES may send the target application context migration scenario to the AC through the EEC, that is, the EES first sends the target application context migration scenario to the EEC, and then the EEC sends the target application context migration scenario to the AC.

[0387] Among them, steps 1104-a to 1106-a can also refer to the description in the relevant embodiment of step 1002.

[0388] [Corrected 26.04.2023 according to Rule 91] When the first entity is the EEC, see steps 1103-b to 1106-b.

[0389] In step 1103 - b , the fourth EAS determines, based on the identifiers of the multiple first EASs, that the application context migration scenario supported by the fourth EAS does not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS. Please refer to the description of the relevant embodiments of step 1001 .

[0390] Step 1104 - b : The fourth EAS sends the application context migration scenario supported by the fourth EAS to the EEC.

[0391] Step 1105 - b : The EEC selects a target application context migration scenario based on the application context migration scenarios supported by the fourth EAS.

[0392] Step 1106 - b : The EEC sends the target application context migration scenario to the AC, EES, and multiple first EASs, respectively. The EEC may send the target application context migration scenario to the first EAS via the EES.

[0393] [Corrected 26.04.2023 according to Rule 91] Among them, steps 1104-b to 1106-b can also be referred to the description in the relevant embodiment of step 1002.

[0394] In the present application, AC can also be served by other EASs in addition to the multiple first EASs. It can be understood that AC is served by multiple second EASs, wherein the multiple first EASs are part of the multiple second EASs. For example, the game AC not only needs to be served by the graphics rendering EAS and the chat function EAS, but also needs to be served by the game acceleration EAS. The graphics rendering EAS and the chat function EAS are the first EAS, that is, the application context of AC in the graphics rendering EAS is associated with the application context of AC in the chat function EAS. The application context in the game acceleration EAS can be independent of the application context in the graphics rendering EAS and the chat function EAS. The application context of AC in the game acceleration EAS does not need to be migrated together with the application context in the graphics rendering EAS and the chat function EAS.

[0395] In this application, the first EAS can also be referred to as a linked EAS, that is, multiple first EASs are associated with each other, that is, the application contexts of multiple first EASs are associated with each other. The other EASs in the multiple second EASs except the first EAS can be referred to as non-linked EASs. Linked EAS and non-linked EAS are just exemplary names, and those skilled in the art can also use other names. For example, the first EAS can also be referred to as a paired EAS, and the other EASs in the multiple second EASs except the first EAS can also be referred to as non-paired EASs. In this case, the second EAS can also be referred to as an associated EAS or a jointly serving EAS, etc. For another example, the first EAS can also be referred to as a jointly migrating EAS (ACR-together EAS), and the second EAS can also be referred to as a non-jointly migrating EAS (non-ACR-together EAS). In this case, the second EAS can also be referred to as an associated EAS or a jointly serving EAS, etc. Furthermore, the first EAS list composed of the identifiers of the first EAS may also be called a linked EAS list, a pair EAS list, or an ACR-together EAS list, etc.

[0396] It is understood that the application context in a non-linked EAS can be independent of the application context in a linked EAS. When the application context in a linked EAS is migrated together, the application context in the non-linked EAS may not be migrated, or may not need to be migrated together with the application context in the linked EAS. When the context in a non-linked EAS is migrated, the non-linked EAS can migrate only its own local application context without triggering other non-linked EASs or linked EASs to migrate their application contexts.

[0397] In implementation method 1, the AC may be pre-configured with multiple second EAS identifiers. The AC may send the multiple second EAS identifiers to the first entity. The multiple second EAS identifiers may further include first information (specifically, multiple first EAS identifiers). Accordingly, the first entity may obtain the multiple first EAS identifiers from the multiple second EAS identifiers. The implementation method for the AC sending the multiple second EAS identifiers to the first entity can refer to the implementation method for the AC sending the multiple first EAS identifiers to the first entity in step 301. Alternatively, if the first entity is an EEC, the EEC may also be pre-configured with multiple second EAS identifiers, and the first entity may obtain the multiple first EAS identifiers from the multiple second EAS identifiers. Furthermore, a third EAS may obtain the multiple second EAS identifiers from the AC or EEC and send the second indication to the first entity based on multiple first EAS identifiers among the multiple second EAS identifiers. Alternatively, the third EAS may be pre-configured with multiple second EAS identifiers and send the second indication to the first entity based on multiple first EAS identifiers among the multiple second EAS identifiers.

[0398] In implementation method 2, the AC may be pre-configured with multiple second EAS identifiers. The AC may send the multiple second EAS identifiers to the first entity, where the multiple second EAS identifiers may further include the first information (specifically, multiple first EAS identifiers). Accordingly, the first entity may obtain the multiple first EAS identifiers from the multiple second EAS identifiers. The first entity may send the multiple second EAS identifiers to the third EAS, or send the multiple first EAS identifiers. Accordingly, the third EAS obtains the multiple first EAS identifiers.

[0399] In implementation method three, the AC may be pre-configured with multiple second EAS identifiers, and the AC may send the multiple second EAS identifiers to the fourth EAS, wherein the multiple second EAS identifiers may further include the first information (specifically, multiple first EAS identifiers). Accordingly, the fourth EAS obtains the multiple first EAS identifiers from the multiple second EAS identifiers and determines that the application context migration scenario supported by the fourth EAS does not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0400] Furthermore, before the first entity determines the target application context migration scenario, the first entity may obtain the application context migration scenarios supported by each of the EES, AC, multiple second EASs, and EEC entities, and then determine the application context migration scenario commonly supported by the multiple entities based on the application context migration scenarios supported by each of these entities. The first entity then determines the target application context migration scenario from the application context migration scenarios commonly supported by the multiple entities based on any one of Implementations 1 to 3 above.

[0401] After the first entity determines the target application context migration scenario, the target application context migration scenario can be sent to multiple second EASs. Specifically, when the first entity is an EEC, the EEC can send the target application context migration scenario to multiple second EASs, ACs, and EESs. Accordingly, the multiple second EASs, ACs, EESs, and EECs can perform relevant actions in the application context migration based on the target application context migration scenario. When the first entity is an EES, the EES can send the target application context migration scenario to multiple second EASs, ACs, and EECs. Accordingly, the multiple second EASs, ACs, EESs, and EECs can perform relevant actions in the application context migration based on the target application context migration scenario.

[0402] Furthermore, multiple first EASs can also be all of multiple second EASs, meaning that multiple first EASs are multiple second EASs, and the application contexts in the multiple second EASs are all associated and need to be migrated together. Alternatively, it can be understood that the multiple first EASs are EASs that provide services to the same AC. Therefore, for the purposes of this application, the first EAS and the second EAS are the same and can be used interchangeably, and can also have the same name.

[0403] As follows, five embodiments of scenarios in which the first entity determines target application context migration are provided in combination with specific scenarios.

[0404] Example 1

[0405] This embodiment 1 is a more specific implementation of FIG6 .

[0406] In the flowchart of Example 1 shown in Figure 12: Step 1201 is a specific implementation of step 602, step 1202 and step 1203 are specific implementations of step 603-a, steps 1205 to 1208 are specific implementations of step 604-a, step 1209 is a specific implementation of step 605-a and step 606-a, and steps 1204 and 1210 to 1213 are specific implementations of step 607-a.

[0407] Step 1201: The AC sends the first EAS list to the third EAS.

[0408] In step 1202, the third EAS sends an EAS registration request to the EES. The EAS registration request includes EAS profile information, which may include the third EAS ID, the second information, and the application context migration scenarios supported by the third EAS. The second information is specifically the first EAS list.

[0409] Step 1203: The EES sends an EAS registration response to the third EAS.

[0410] Step 1204 : The EEC and the third EAS respectively subscribe to the target application context migration scenario with the EES.

[0411] Step 1205: The AC is pre-configured with AC configuration information, wherein the AC configuration information may include application context migration scenarios supported by the AC, an AC identifier, and a first EAS list.

[0412] Step 1206: The AC sends an AC registration request to the EEC, where the AC registration request includes AC configuration information (ie, includes the first EAS list).

[0413] Step 1207: The EEC sends an AC registration response to the AC.

[0414] Step 1208: The EEC sends an EEC registration request to the EES, wherein the EEC registration request includes AC configuration information (ie, the first EAS list) and application context migration scenarios supported by the EEC.

[0415] In step 1209, the EES determines that application contexts of multiple first EASs need to be migrated together based on the first EAS list in the AC configuration information. Based on the application context migration scenarios supported by the AC, EEC, EES, and the multiple first EASs, the EES determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS. The EES then selects a target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios.

[0416] Step 1210: The EES sends an application context migration scenario notification to the third EAS, where the application context migration scenario notification includes a target application context migration scenario.

[0417] Step 1211 : The EES sends an EEC registration response to the EEC. The EEC registration response includes a target application context migration scenario.

[0418] Step 1212: The AC subscribes to the target application context migration scenario from the EEC.

[0419] Step 1213: The EEC sends an application context migration scenario notification to the AC. The application context migration scenario notification includes the target application context migration scenario.

[0420] Example 2

[0421] This embodiment 2 is specifically another specific implementation of FIG6 .

[0422] In the flowchart of Example 2 shown in Figure 13: Step 1301 is a specific implementation of step 602, steps 1302 to 1305 are specific implementations of step 603-b, step 1306 is a specific implementation of step 601, steps 1307 and 1308 are specific implementations of step 604-b, step 1309 is a specific implementation of step 605-b and step 606-b, and steps 1310 to 1315 are specific implementations of step 607-b.

[0423] Step 1301: The AC sends the first EAS list to the third EAS.

[0424] Step 1302: The third EAS sends an EAS registration request to the EES, wherein the EAS registration request includes second information, specifically the first EAS list.

[0425] Step 1303: The EES sends an EAS registration response to the third EAS.

[0426] Step 1304: The EEC sends an EEC registration request to the EES.

[0427] Step 1305 : The EES sends an EEC registration response to the EEC. The EEC registration response may include application context migration scenarios supported by the EES, application context migration scenarios supported by the third EAS, and the first EAS list.

[0428] Step 1306: The AC is pre-configured with AC configuration information, where the AC configuration information may include application context migration scenarios supported by the AC, an identifier of the AC, and a first EAS list.

[0429] Step 1307: The AC sends an AC registration request to the EEC, where the AC registration request includes AC configuration information (ie, includes the first EAS list).

[0430] Step 1308: The EEC sends an AC registration response to the AC.

[0431] In step 1309, the EEC determines that the application contexts of multiple first EASs need to be migrated together based on the first EAS list in the AC configuration information. The EES determines that the application context migration scenarios supported by the AC, EEC, EES, and the multiple first EASs include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS among the multiple application context migration scenarios. The EES then selects a target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios.

[0432] Step 1310: The EEC sends an EAS discovery request to the EES. The EAS discovery request includes a target application context migration scenario.

[0433] Step 1311 , the EES sends an EAS discovery response to the EEC.

[0434] Step 1312: The third EAS subscribes to the target application context migration scenario with the EES.

[0435] Step 1313: The EES sends an application context migration scenario notification to the third EAS, where the application context migration scenario notification includes the target application context migration scenario.

[0436] Step 1314: The AC subscribes to the target application context migration scenario from the EEC.

[0437] Step 1315 : The EEC sends an application context migration scenario notification to the AC. The application context migration scenario notification includes the target application context migration scenario.

[0438] Example 3

[0439] This embodiment 3 is specifically a specific implementation of Figure 8.

[0440] In the flowchart of Example 3 shown in Figure 14: Step 1402 is a specific implementation of step 801, steps 1403 to 1405 are specific implementations of step 802-b, steps 1406 and 1407 are specific implementations of step 803-b, step 1408 is a specific implementation of step 804-b, and steps 1401 and 1409 to 1412 are specific implementations of step 805-b.

[0441] Please refer to Figure 14 for details:

[0442] Step 1401 : The EEC and the third EAS respectively subscribe to the target application context migration scenario from the EES.

[0443] Step 1402: The AC is pre-configured with AC configuration information, wherein the AC configuration information includes application context migration scenarios supported by the AC, the AC identifier, and a first EAS list, where the first EAS list may be a list consisting of multiple first EAS identifiers.

[0444] Step 1403: The AC sends an AC registration request to the EEC, where the AC registration request includes AC configuration information.

[0445] Step 1404: The EEC sends an AC registration response to the AC.

[0446] Step 1405 : The EEC sends an EEC registration request to the EES, where the EEC registration request includes AC configuration information and application context migration scenarios supported by the EEC.

[0447] Step 1406: The third EAS sends an EAS registration request to the EES, wherein the EAS registration request includes EAS configuration information, including the identifier of the third EAS and application context migration scenarios supported by the third EAS.

[0448] Step 1407: The EES sends an EAS registration response to the third EAS, where the EAS registration response includes the AC identifier and the first EAS list.

[0449] In step 1408, the EES determines that multiple first EASs need to migrate application contexts together based on the first EAS list in the AC configuration information. Based on the application context migration scenarios supported by the AC, EEC, EES, and the multiple first EASs, the EES determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS. The EES then determines the target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios.

[0450] Step 1409 : The EES sends an application context migration scenario notification to the third EAS, where the application context migration scenario notification includes the target application context migration scenario.

[0451] Step 1410: The EES sends an EEC registration response to the EEC. The EEC registration response includes a target application context migration scenario.

[0452] Step 1411 : The AC subscribes to the target application context migration scenario from the EEC.

[0453] Step 1412: The EEC sends an application context migration scenario notification to the AC. The application context migration scenario notification includes the target application context migration scenario.

[0454] Example 4

[0455] This embodiment 4 is specifically a specific implementation of Figure 9.

[0456] In the flowchart of Example 4 shown in Figure 15: Steps 1504 to 1507 are specific implementations of Step 902-b, Step 1508 is a specific implementation of Step 903-b, and Steps 1501 to 1503 and Steps 1509 to 1512 are specific implementations of Step 904-b.

[0457] Step 1501: The third EAS sends an EAS registration request to the EES, wherein the EAS registration request includes EAS configuration information. The EAS configuration information includes an identifier of the third EAS and application context migration scenarios supported by the third EAS.

[0458] Step 1502: The EES sends an EAS registration response to the third EAS.

[0459] Step 1503 : The EEC and the third EAS respectively subscribe to the target application context migration scenario from the EES.

[0460] Step 1504: The AC is pre-configured with AC configuration information, where the AC configuration information includes application context migration scenarios supported by the AC, an identifier of the AC, and a first EAS list.

[0461] Step 1505: The AC sends an AC registration request to the EEC, where the AC registration request includes AC configuration information.

[0462] Step 1506: The EEC sends an AC registration response to the AC.

[0463] Step 1507 : The EEC sends an EEC registration request to the EES, where the EEC registration request includes AC configuration information and application context migration scenarios supported by the EEC.

[0464] Step 1508: The EES determines that application contexts of multiple first EASs need to be migrated together based on the first EAS list in the AC configuration information. The EES determines a target application context migration scenario based on application context migration scenarios supported by the AC, EEC, EES, and multiple first EASs.

[0465] Step 1509: The EES sends an application context migration scenario notification to the third EAS. The application context migration scenario notification includes the target application context migration scenario and the first EAS list.

[0466] Step 1510: The EES sends an EEC registration response to the EEC. The EEC registration response includes a target application context migration scenario.

[0467] Step 1511 : The AC subscribes to the target application context migration scenario from the EEC.

[0468] Step 1512: The EEC sends an application context migration scenario notification to the AC. The application context migration scenario notification includes the target application context migration scenario.

[0469] Example 5

[0470] This embodiment 5 is specifically a specific implementation of Figure 11.

[0471] In the flowchart of Example 5 shown in Figure 16: step 1602 is a specific implementation of step 1101, steps 1603 to 1606 are specific implementations of step 1102, step 1607 is a specific implementation of step 1103-a, steps 1608 and 1609 are specific implementations of step 1104-a, step 1610 is a specific implementation of step 1105-a, and steps 1601 and 1611 to 1614 are specific implementations of step 1106-a.

[0472] Please refer to Figure 16 for details:

[0473] Step 1601 : The EEC and the fourth EAS respectively subscribe to the target application context migration scenario from the EES.

[0474] Step 1602: The AC is pre-configured with AC configuration information, wherein the AC configuration information includes application context migration scenarios supported by the AC, the AC identifier, and a first EAS list, where the first EAS list may be a list consisting of multiple first EAS identifiers.

[0475] Step 1603: The AC sends an AC registration request to the EEC, where the AC registration request includes AC configuration information (ie, includes the first EAS list).

[0476] Step 1604: The EEC sends an AC registration response to the AC.

[0477] Step 1605 : The EEC sends an EEC registration request to the EES, wherein the EEC registration request includes AC configuration information (ie, the first EAS list) and application context migration scenarios supported by the EEC.

[0478] Step 1606: The EES sends an AC information notification to the fourth EAS, wherein the AC information notification may include the first EAS list.

[0479] Step 1607 : The fourth EAS determines, based on the first EAS list, that the application context migration scenarios supported by the fourth EAS do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0480] Step 1608: The fourth EAS sends an EAS registration request to the EES.

[0481] The EAS registration request includes EAS configuration information, which includes the identifier of the fourth EAS and application context migration scenarios supported by the fourth EAS.

[0482] Step 1609: The EES sends an EAS registration response to the fourth EAS.

[0483] Step 1610 : The EES determines a target application context migration scenario based on the application context migration scenarios supported by the AC, the EEC, the EES, and the plurality of first EASs.

[0484] Step 1611: The EES sends an application context migration scenario notification to the fourth EAS. The application context migration scenario notification includes a target application context migration scenario.

[0485] Step 1612: The EES sends an EEC registration response to the EEC. The EEC registration response includes the target application context migration scenario.

[0486] Step 1613: The AC subscribes to the target application context migration scenario from the EEC.

[0487] Step 1614: The EEC sends an application context migration scenario notification to the AC. The application context migration scenario notification includes the target application context migration scenario.

[0488] In addition, in the above embodiments 3 to 5, the first entity can also be replaced by an EEC. The difference lies in whether the first entity communicates directly with the first EAS or indirectly through the EES; and whether the first entity communicates directly with the AC or indirectly through the EEC. The specific messages between the entities are also different.

[0489] In the above-mentioned steps of Examples 1 to 5, the registration request can be replaced by an update request, and the registration response can be replaced by an update response. For example, the EAS registration request is replaced by an EAS update request, and the EAS registration response is replaced by an EAS update response. Of course, the above-mentioned information can also be carried in other types of messages, and this application does not limit this.

[0490] In addition, in the above-mentioned implementation method one, the first entity can further determine whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by EAS (or called the application context migration scenario decided by EAS, the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS) based on the capability information of multiple first EASs, or based on the capability information of the second entity, and then select the target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios.

[0491] Specifically, it may include implementation method 1 and implementation method 2:

[0492] In implementation method 1, the first entity determines, based on capability information of multiple first EASs, whether any of the multiple first EASs is capable of migrating application contexts in associated EASs. Subsequently, the first entity determines whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include an EAS-determined application context migration scenario, and selects a target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios.

[0493] For details, please refer to FIG17 , which shows a flowchart of a method for determining an application context migration scenario.

[0494] Step 1701: A first entity obtains capability information of multiple first EASs.

[0495] Optionally, the first entity receives capability information of multiple first EASs.

[0496] The first entity may be an EEC or an EES. Exemplarily, when the first entity is an EEC, the EEC receives capability information of multiple first EASs forwarded by the EES; when the first entity is an EES, the EES receives capability information of each of the multiple first EASs from the first EAS, thereby acquiring capability information of the multiple first EASs.

[0497] The multiple first EASs are associated EASs, meaning that the application contexts in the multiple first EASs are associated with each other. Furthermore, the application contexts in the associated EASs (or EASs with associated relationships) need to be migrated together. The multiple first EASs, associated EASs, and the need to migrate the application contexts together can all be found in the description of step 301 above, as well as the supplementary description following the embodiment related to FIG. 11 above.

[0498] Optionally, the first entity may further receive the first information and, based on the first information, determine that the multiple first EASs are associated EASs, or determine that the application contexts of the multiple first EASs need to be migrated together. Regarding the interpretation of the first information, the manner in which the first entity receives the first information, and the manner in which the first entity determines that the application contexts of the multiple first EASs need to be migrated together, please refer to the description of step 301 above.

[0499] For a first EAS among the multiple first EASs, the capability information of the first EAS indicates whether the first EAS has the capability of processing the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS.

[0500] In a specific implementation, the capability information of the first EAS indicates whether the first EAS has one or more of the following capabilities 1 to 4:

[0501] Capability 1: the ability to obtain the identifiers of multiple first EASs, or in other words, the ability to obtain the identifiers of associated EASs, or the ability to obtain the identifiers of EASs that require application context migration.

[0502] Optionally, the first EAS may receive multiple first EAS identifiers from the AC, or receive multiple first EAS identifiers from the EEC, or be pre-configured with multiple first EAS identifiers, or pre-store multiple first EAS identifiers. In this way, the first EAS is capable of obtaining multiple first EAS identifiers.

[0503] Capability 2: capability of sending a migration notification to other EASs (ie, other first EASs) among the multiple first EASs except the first EAS.

[0504] Illustratively, capability 2 is a capability of sending a migration notification to other EASs except the first EAS in the plurality of first EASs through an application layer between the first EAS and the other EASs.

[0505] Capability 3: the ability to receive migration notifications from other EASs other than the first EAS in the plurality of first EASs. Exemplarily, capability 3 is the ability to receive migration notifications from other EASs other than the first EAS in the plurality of first EASs via the application layer between the first EAS and the other EASs other than the first EAS.

[0506] In this application, a migration notification is used to trigger application context migration. That is, after an EAS receives the migration notification, it performs application context migration based on the triggering of the migration notification. For example, EAS1 sends a migration notification to EAS2, and EAS2 performs application context migration based on the triggering of the migration notification. EAS1 has the ability to send migration notifications to other EASs in the first multiple EASs (i.e., capability 2), and EAS2 has the ability to receive migration notifications from other EASs in the first multiple EASs (i.e., capability 3).

[0507] Capability 4: Supporting application context migration scenarios determined by the first EAS.

[0508] Exemplarily, if the configuration information of the first EAS includes application context migration scenarios supported by the first EAS, and the application context migration scenarios supported by the first EAS include application context migration scenarios decided by the first EAS, it indicates that the first EAS has capability 4.

[0509] Step 1702: The first entity determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for the multiple first EASs based on capability information of the multiple first EASs.

[0510] In a specific implementation, the first entity determines, based on capability information of multiple first EASs, whether the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS.

[0511] Exemplarily, when the first entity determines, based on capability information of multiple first EASs, that one of the multiple first EASs has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in associated EASs, the first entity determines that the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by the one first EAS.

[0512] As another example, when the first entity determines, based on capability information of multiple first EASs, that none of the multiple first EASs has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs, the first entity determines that the target application context migration scenario does not include the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS.

[0513] Specifically, when the first entity determines, based on the capability information of the first EAS, whether the first EAS has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS, the first entity may determine, based on the capability information of the first EAS, whether the first EAS has one or more of the aforementioned capabilities 1, 2, and 4. When the first entity determines that the first EAS has one or more of the aforementioned capabilities 1, 2, and 4, it determines that the first EAS has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS.

[0514] It can be understood that when the first entity determines that the first EAS has the first capability, it determines that the first EAS has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS; when the first entity determines that the first EAS does not have the first capability, it determines that the first EAS does not have the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. The first capability is one of capability 1, capability 2, and capability 4. For example, if the first capability is capability 1, when the first entity determines that the first EAS has capability 1, it determines that the first EAS has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS; when the first entity determines that the first EAS does not have capability 1, it determines that the first EAS does not have the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. When the first capability is capability 2 or capability 4, the implementation method is similar to the above-mentioned capability 1, and the above-mentioned "capability 1" can be replaced with "capability 2", or the above-mentioned "capability 1" can be replaced with "capability 3".

[0515] The first entity may also determine that the first EAS has the first capability group, that is, it determines that the first EAS has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS together. When the first entity determines that the first EAS does not have any capability in the first capability group, it determines that the first EAS does not have the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS together. The first capability group is a combination of multiple capabilities among capability 1, capability 2, and capability 4. For example, the first capability group consists of capability 1 and capability 2. When the first entity determines that the first EAS has capability 1 and capability 2, it determines that the first EAS has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS together; when the first entity determines that the first EAS does not have capability 1 or capability 2, it determines that the first EAS does not have the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS together. In addition, the first capability group can also be other combinations of capability 1, capability 2 and capability 4. The implementation of these other combinations is similar to the above-mentioned combination of capability 1 and capability 2. For example, for the first capability group composed of capability 2 and capability 4, the above-mentioned "capability 1 and capability 2" can be replaced with "capability 2 and capability 4", and the above-mentioned "capability 1 or capability 2" can be replaced with "capability 2 or capability 4".

[0516] In addition, the capability information of the first EAS may indicate whether the first EAS has other capabilities (such as capability 3) to indicate whether the first EAS has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS, which is not limited in this application.

[0517] Here, the first EAS used for decision-making is one of multiple first EASs. For ease of description, the first EAS here can be referred to as the fifth EAS, and the other EASs in the multiple first EASs except the fifth EAS can be referred to as the sixth EAS. It is understood that the sixth EAS is the EAS in the multiple first EASs that performs application context migration based on the triggering of the fifth EAS. The sixth EAS can be one or more.

[0518] In another specific implementation, the first entity can not only determine whether the fifth EAS has one or more of the above-mentioned capabilities 1, 2, and 4 based on the capability information of the fifth EAS, but can also determine whether the sixth EAS has the above-mentioned capability 3 based on the capability information of the sixth EAS. For example, if the first entity determines that the fifth EAS has one or more of the above-mentioned capabilities 1, 2, and 4, and the sixth EAS has the above-mentioned capability 3, then it is determined that the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS (or, the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS), that is, it is determined that the fifth EAS can instruct the sixth EAS to perform application context migration together.

[0519] It should also be added that when the first entity determines the target application context migration scenario based on the capability information of the plurality of first EASs, the following steps a and b may be specifically included:

[0520] In step a, the first entity determines whether multiple (candidate) application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS based on capability information of multiple first EASs.

[0521] Exemplarily, when the first entity determines, based on capability information of multiple first EASs, that one of the multiple first EASs (i.e., the fifth EAS) has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in associated EASs, the first entity determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS.

[0522] As another example, when the first entity determines, based on capability information of multiple first EASs, that none of the multiple first EASs has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs, the first entity determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS.

[0523] In step b, the first entity determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for the plurality of first EASs from the plurality of application context migration scenarios. The specific implementation of step b can be found in the description of step 302 .

[0524] Exemplarily, when it is determined that multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS, the first entity determines a target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios, and the determined target application context migration scenario may include the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS.

[0525] Optionally, the method further includes: the first entity sending the target application context migration scenario. The specific implementation of the first entity sending the target application context migration scenario can be found in the description of the embodiment related to FIG5 above.

[0526] In the above technical solution, the first entity determines whether there is a first EAS (i.e., the fifth EAS) among the multiple first EASs that has the ability to process the application context migration of the associated EAS based on the capability information of the multiple first EASs, and then the first entity determines whether the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS (i.e., the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS). In this way, when there is a fifth EAS among the multiple first EASs, the fifth EAS can instruct other first EASs (i.e., the sixth EAS) to perform application context migration together. Accordingly, the first entity can determine that the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS, which helps to avoid service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0527] In implementation method 2, the first entity determines, based on the capability information of the second entity, whether the second entity has the capability to process the migration of the associated application contexts in the EAS. Subsequently, the first entity determines whether multiple application context migration scenarios include an EAS-determined application context migration scenario (i.e., an application context migration scenario determined by the first EAS, or an application context migration scenario determined by the first EAS), and selects a target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios.

[0528] For details, please refer to FIG18 , which shows a flowchart of a method for determining an application context migration scenario.

[0529] Step 1801: The first entity obtains capability information of the second entity.

[0530] The second entity may be one or more. For example, the second entity is one, and the one second entity is AC, EEC, or EES; the second entity is two, and the two second entities are AC and EEC, or AC and EES, or EEC and EES; the second entity is three, and the three second entities are AC, EEC, and EES.

[0531] Optionally, the first entity and the second entity are the same entity or different entities.

[0532] When the first entity and the second entity are the same entity, the first entity may obtain the capability information of the first entity. For example, the first entity obtains the capability information of the first entity from a configuration of the first entity.

[0533] When the first entity and the second entity are different entities, the first entity may receive capability information from the second entity. For example, when the first entity is an EEC and the second entity is an AC, the EEC receives capability information from the AC; when the first entity is an EEC and the second entity is an EES, the EEC receives capability information from the EES; when the first entity is an EES and the second entity is an AC, the EES receives capability information from the AC forwarded by the EEC; and when the first entity is an EES and the second entity is an EEC, the EES receives capability information from the EEC.

[0534] The following takes a second entity as an example to illustrate the capability information of the second entity:

[0535] The capability information of the second entity may be used to indicate whether the second entity has the capability of processing the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS.

[0536] It should be noted that the ability of the second entity to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS is different from the ability of the first EAS in the above implementation mode 1 to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS.

[0537] In a specific implementation, the capability information of the second entity indicates whether the second entity supports one or more of the following capabilities a to c:

[0538] Capability a: the ability to obtain the identifiers of multiple first EASs, or in other words, the ability to obtain the identifiers of associated EASs, or the ability to obtain the identifiers of EASs that require application context migration.

[0539] Exemplarily, the second entity is an AC, and the AC is configured with multiple first EAS identifiers. Exemplarily, the second entity is an EEC, and the EEC is configured with multiple first EAS identifiers, or the EEC receives multiple first EAS identifiers from the AC. Exemplarily, the second entity is an EES, and the EES is configured with multiple first EAS identifiers, or the EES receives multiple first EAS identifiers from the EEC, wherein the multiple first EAS identifiers may be configured in the EEC and sent to the EES, or the multiple first EAS identifiers may be configured in the AC and forwarded by the EEC to the EES. In this way, the second entity has the ability to obtain multiple first EAS identifiers.

[0540] Capability b: supports application context migration scenarios decided by the first EAS.

[0541] Exemplarily, the configuration information of the second entity includes application context migration scenarios supported by the second entity, and the application context migration scenarios supported by the second entity include application context migration scenarios decided by the first EAS.

[0542] Capability c: receiving a migration notification triggering indication from one of the multiple first EASs and, based on the migration notification triggering indication from the one first EAS, sending migration notifications to other first EASs in the multiple first EASs. The migration notification is used to trigger application context migration.

[0543] Furthermore, based on whether the second entity is an AC, an EEC, or an EES, the capability c of the second entity is explained as follows:

[0544] When the second entity is an AC, the capability c possessed by the AC is specifically the ability to receive an indication of triggering a migration notification from one of the multiple first EASs through the application layer, and to send migration notifications to the other first EASs based on the indication. The AC receives the indication of triggering a migration notification, for example, by subscribing to an event triggering application context migration from the first EAS. When the first EAS triggers the event of application context migration, the AC can receive the event triggering the application context migration, i.e., receive the indication of triggering a migration notification from the first EAS.

[0545] When the second entity is an EEC, the capability c possessed by the EEC is specifically that the EEC can receive an indication of triggering a migration notification from one of the multiple first EASs through the AC, and then send the migration notification to other first EASs through the AC.

[0546] The EEC and AC communicate via the EDGE-5 interface, and the EAS and AC communicate via the application layer. Specifically, the AC receives a relocation notification triggering instruction from one of the multiple first EASs via the application layer, and then sends the relocation notification triggering instruction to the EEC via the EDGE-5 interface. After receiving the relocation notification triggering instruction, the EEC sends a relocation notification to the AC via the EDGE-5 interface, and the AC then sends relocation notifications to the other first EASs in the multiple first EASs via the application layer.

[0547] Alternatively, the capability c possessed by the EEC is specifically the capability that the EEC can receive an instruction for triggering a migration notification from one of the multiple first EASs through the EES, and send the migration notification to the other first EASs through the EES.

[0548] The EEC and EES communicate via the EDGE-1 interface, and the EAS and EES communicate via the EDGE-3 interface. Specifically, the EES receives a relocation notification triggering instruction from one of the multiple first EASs via the EDGE-3 interface, and then sends the relocation notification triggering instruction to the EEC via the EDGE-1 interface. After receiving the relocation notification triggering instruction, the EEC sends a relocation notification to the EES via the EDGE-1 interface, and the EES then sends relocation notifications to the other first EASs in the multiple first EASs via the EDGE-3 interface.

[0549] When the second entity is an EES, the capability c possessed by the EES is specifically that the EES can receive an indication of triggering a migration notification from one of the multiple first EASs through the AC and the EEC, and can send migration notifications to other first EASs through the AC and the EEC.

[0550] Among them, the EES and EEC communicate via the EDGE-1 interface, the EEC and AC communicate via the EDGE-5 interface, and the EAS and AC communicate via the application layer. That is, the AC receives an indication of triggering a migration notification from one of the multiple first EASs via the application layer, and then sends the indication of triggering a migration notification to the EEC via the EDGE-5 interface; the EEC then sends the indication of triggering a migration notification to the EES via the EDGE-1 interface. Correspondingly, after receiving the indication of triggering a migration notification, the EES sends a migration notification to the EEC via the EDGE-1 interface, the EEC sends a migration notification to the AC via the EDGE-5 interface, and the AC sends a migration notification to the other first EASs in the multiple first EASs via the application layer.

[0551] Alternatively, capability c possessed by the EES is specifically the ability of the EES to receive an indication of triggering a migration notification from one of the multiple first EASs and send the migration notification to the other first EASs. Specifically, the EES is capable of receiving an indication of triggering a migration notification from one of the multiple first EASs via an EDGE-3 interface and sending the migration notification to the other first EASs via the EDGE-3 interface.

[0552] Step 1802: The first entity determines a corresponding target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS among the plurality of first EASs according to the capability information of the second entity.

[0553] In a specific implementation, the first entity determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for all first EASs in the plurality of first EASs (ie, the plurality of first EASs) according to capability information of one or more second entities.

[0554] Exemplarily, when there are multiple second entities, the first entity determines, based on the capability information of the multiple second entities, that one of the multiple second entities (denoted as the third entity) possesses one or more of the aforementioned capabilities a to c, thereby determining that the third entity possesses the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. The first entity determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for the multiple first EASs, including the application context migration scenario determined by the first EAS.

[0555] As another example, when there is only one second entity, the first entity determines, based on the capability information of the second entity, that the second entity possesses one or more of capabilities a to c, i.e., that the second entity possesses the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. Furthermore, the first entity determines that the corresponding target application context migration scenarios for the multiple first EASs include the application context migration scenario determined by the first EAS. The second entity herein may also be referred to as the third entity.

[0556] In a specific implementation, when the first entity determines that the second entity has the second capability, it determines that the second entity has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. When the first entity determines that the second entity does not have the second capability, it determines that the second entity does not have the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. The second capability is one of capability a, capability b, and capability c. For example, the second capability is capability a. When the first entity determines that the second entity has capability a, it determines that the second entity has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS; when the first entity determines that the first EAS does not have capability a, it determines that the second entity does not have the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. Capabilities b and c are similar to the above-mentioned capability a. The above-mentioned "capability a" can be replaced with "capability b", or the above-mentioned "capability a" can be replaced with "capability c".

[0557] In another specific implementation, when the first entity determines that the second entity possesses the second capability group, it determines that the second entity possesses the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. When the first entity determines that the second entity does not possess any capability in the second capability group, it determines that the second entity does not possess the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. The second capability group is a combination of multiple capabilities of capability a, capability b, and capability c. For example, if the second capability group consists of capability a and capability b, when the first entity determines that the second entity possesses capability a and capability b, it determines that the second entity possesses the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. When the first entity determines that the second entity does not possess capability a or capability b, it determines that the first EAS does not possess the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. Other combinations of capability a through capability c can be implemented similarly. For example, for the second capability group consisting of capability a and capability c, the phrase "capability a and capability b" can be replaced with "capability a and capability c," and the phrase "capability a or capability b" can be replaced with "capability a or capability c."

[0558] In a possible specific manner, the first entity determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for the multiple first EASs based on the capability information of one or more second entities and the application context migration scenarios respectively supported by the multiple first EASs. Specifically, when the application context migration scenarios supported by a first EAS (recorded as the fifth EAS) among the multiple first EASs include: the application context migration scenarios decided by the first EAS (i.e., the application context migration scenarios decided by the fifth EAS); and the application context migration scenarios supported by other EASs (recorded as the sixth EAS) among the multiple first EASs except the first EAS include: the application context migration scenarios detected and triggered (also referred to as decisions) by the third entity; and when the third entity meets one or more of the above-mentioned capabilities a to c, the first entity determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for the multiple first EASs, including the target application context migration scenarios decided by the first EAS (i.e., the application context migration scenarios decided by the fifth EAS). Here, the capability b possessed by the third entity is specifically that the third entity supports the application context migration scenarios decided by the fifth EAS.

[0559] Among them, the fifth EAS supports the application context migration scenario determined by the fifth EAS. It can be understood that the fifth EAS can detect, trigger and decide on application context migration. When the fifth EAS determines that application context migration is required, it can send an indication of triggering a migration notification to the third entity, instructing the third entity to send a migration notification to the sixth EAS. The sixth EAS supports the application context migration scenario triggered by detection by a third entity. It can be understood that the sixth EAS can receive a migration notification from the third entity and, in response to the migration notification, perform application context migration.

[0560] Optionally, the first entity may further receive multiple application context migration scenarios supported by the first EAS. Specifically, when the first entity is an EEC, the EEC receives multiple application context migration scenarios supported by the first EAS and forwarded by the EES; when the first entity is an EES, the EES receives application context migration scenarios supported by each first EAS from the first EAS, thereby obtaining multiple application context migration scenarios supported by the first EAS.

[0561] Optionally, the first entity not only uses the application context migration scenario determined by the fifth EAS as the target application context migration scenario, but also uses the application context migration scenario detected and triggered by the third entity as the target application context migration scenario. Thus, for the fifth EAS and the third entity, in the application context migration scenario determined by the fifth EAS, the fifth EAS sends an indication of triggering a migration notification to the third entity. And for the sixth EAS and the third entity, the third entity sends a migration notification to the sixth EAS based on the indication of triggering the migration notification, so that the sixth EAS can perform application context migration according to the migration notification.

[0562] For example, the three second entities are AC, EEC and EES. When the fifth EAS supports the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS, the sixth EAS supports the application context migration scenario triggered by AC detection, and the AC has the ability to process the application context migration of the associated EAS together, the EEC does not have the ability to process the application context migration of the associated EAS together, and the EES does not have the ability to process the application context migration of the associated EAS together, the first entity can determine that the fifth EAS can instruct the sixth EAS to perform application context migration together through the AC, that is, determine the corresponding target application context migration scenarios for multiple first EASs, including the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS and the application context migration scenario triggered by AC detection.

[0563] For another example, the three second entities are AC, EEC and EES. When the fifth EAS supports the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS, the sixth EAS supports the application context migration scenario triggered by AC detection and the application context migration scenario triggered by EEC detection, and the AC has the ability to process the application context migration of the associated EAS together, the EEC does not have the ability to process the application context migration of the associated EAS together, and the EES does not have the ability to process the application context migration of the associated EAS together, the first entity can determine that the fifth EAS can instruct the sixth EAS to perform application context migration together through the AC, that is, determine that the corresponding target application context migration scenarios for multiple first EASs include the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS and the application context migration scenario triggered by AC detection.

[0564] It should also be added that when the first entity determines the target application context migration scenario based on the capability information of the plurality of first EASs, the following steps A and B may be specifically included:

[0565] In step A, the first entity determines, based on the capability information of the second entity, whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS.

[0566] Exemplarily, when the first entity determines, based on the capability information of the second entity, that the third entity has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS, the first entity determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS.

[0567] As another example, when the first entity determines, based on the capability information of the second entity, that the second entity does not have the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS, the first entity determines that the application context migration scenario of the fifth EAS decision is not included in the multiple application context migration scenarios.

[0568] In step B, the first entity determines a target application context migration scenario from a plurality of application context migration scenarios. Specific implementation of step B can be found in the description of step 302 .

[0569] Exemplarily, in a case where multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS, the first entity determines a target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios, and the target application context migration scenario may include an application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS.

[0570] Optionally, the method further includes: the first entity sending a target application context migration scenario. The specific implementation of the first entity sending the target application context migration scenario can be found in the description of the embodiment related to FIG5 . In another implementation, the first entity may send the application context migration scenario determined by the fifth EAS to the third entity and the fifth EAS, respectively, and send the application context migration scenario triggered by detection by the third entity to the sixth EAS.

[0571] In the above technical solution, the first entity determines whether there is a second entity (i.e., the third entity) that has the ability to process the migration of the application context in the associated EAS based on the capability information of one or more second entities. The third entity is specifically capable of receiving an indication of a trigger migration notification from a first EAS (i.e., the fifth EAS) among multiple first EASs, and sending a migration notification to another first EAS (i.e., the sixth EAS) among the multiple first EASs, so that the sixth EAS performs application context migration together. In this way, the first entity can determine that the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS. Accordingly, when the fifth EAS determines that application context migration is required, the third entity can trigger the sixth EAS to perform application context migration together with the fifth EAS based on the indication of the trigger migration notification of the fifth EAS, which helps to avoid service interruption during the application context migration process.

[0572] It is understood that in steps 1801 and 1802 above, multiple first EASs are registered with the same EES, so that the first entity obtains the capability information of the one EES, or obtains the capability information of the one EES and the capability information of other second entities as the capability information of the second entity. The first entity then determines the corresponding target application context migration scenario for all first EASs in the multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the second entities.

[0573] Furthermore, this application does not exclude the possibility that multiple first EASs are registered in multiple different EESs, i.e., each EES may have one or more first EASs registered in it. For example, the multiple first EASs are EAS1 to EAS3, where EAS1 and EAS2 are registered in EES1, and EAS3 is registered in EES2.

[0574] That is, the multiple second entities may include multiple EESs. For example, if there are five second entities, the five second entities may be an AC, an EEC, and three EESs, or the five second entities may be an AC and four EESs, or the five second entities may be five EESs. Of course, the multiple second entities may also be implemented in other ways, which will not be listed one by one.

[0575] In this case, the first entity can obtain the capability information of the multiple different EESs, or obtain the capability information of the multiple EESs and the capability information of other second entities as the capability information of the multiple second entities. The first entity then determines a corresponding target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS among the multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the multiple second entities. It should be understood that the multiple EESs are the EESs registered with the multiple first EASs.

[0576] Specifically, when the first entity is an EEC, the EEC may determine corresponding target application context migration scenarios for all first EASs in the plurality of first EASs based on the capability information of the plurality of second entities. For example, if the plurality of first EASs are EAS1 to EAS3, the EEC may determine corresponding target application context migration scenarios for EAS1 to EAS3.

[0577] When the first entity is one of multiple EESs (denoted as the first EES), the first EES can determine corresponding target application context migration scenarios for all of the multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the multiple second entities. For example, if the multiple first EASs are EAS1 to EAS3 and the first entity is EES1 (i.e., the first EES), EES1 can determine corresponding target application context migration scenarios for EAS1 to EAS3.

[0578] Alternatively, the first EES may determine corresponding target application context migration scenarios for some of the first EASs in the plurality of first EASs based on the capability information of the plurality of second entities. For example, if the plurality of first EASs are EAS1 to EAS3 and the first entity is EES1 (i.e., the first EES), EAS1 may determine corresponding target application context migration scenarios for at least one first EAS registered in EAS1 (e.g., EAS1 and EAS2).

[0579] The following describes case a and case b based on whether the first entity is an EEC or an EES.

[0580] In case a, the first entity is the EEC.

[0581] It will be appreciated that steps 1801-a and 1802-a described below are a specific implementation of steps 1801 and 1802 when the first entity is an EEC and the plurality of second entities include a plurality of EESs. For portions not fully described in steps 1801-a and 1802-a, reference can be made to the description of steps 1801 and 1802 above.

[0582] Step 1801 - a : The EEC obtains capability information of multiple second entities.

[0583] The multiple second entities include multiple EESs, and accordingly, the EEC obtains capability information of the multiple EESs.

[0584] Exemplarily, the EEC receives capability information of each EES from the plurality of EESs, thereby acquiring the capability information of the plurality of EESs.

[0585] For an EES among multiple EESs, the capability information of the EES may be used to indicate whether the EES has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. Taking the first EES among the multiple EESs as an example, the capability information of the first EES may be used to indicate whether the first EES has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS.

[0586] In this application, each of the multiple EESs is registered with one or more first EASs. The one or more first EASs registered by the multiple EESs constitute the above-mentioned multiple first EASs. The multiple first EASs are associated EASs, and the multiple EESs can be called associated EESs.

[0587] In a specific implementation, the capability information of the first EES indicates whether the first EES has one or more of the following capabilities A to D:

[0588] Capability A: the ability to obtain identifiers of multiple first EASs.

[0589] Optionally, the first EES can not only obtain the identifier of at least one first EAS registered in the first EES, but also obtain the identifier of at least one first EAS registered in another EES of the plurality of EESs.

[0590] For example, the multiple EESs are EES1 and EES2, and the multiple EASs are EAS1 to EAS3. Among them, the first EES is EES1. EES1 can not only obtain the first EAS registered in EES1 (such as EAS1 and EAS2), but also obtain the first EAS registered in EES2 (such as EAS3) from EES2. In this way, EES1 can obtain the identification of multiple EASs (i.e., EAS1 to EAS3).

[0591] Capability B: capability of obtaining the identifier of at least one first EAS registered in the first EES.

[0592] Optionally, the first EES can obtain the identifier of at least one first EAS registered in the first EES. For example, if the first EES is EES1, EES1 can obtain the identifiers of the first EASs (such as EAS1 and EAS2) registered in EES1.

[0593] It can be understood that the at least one first EAS registered in the first EES is at least one of the plurality of first EASs (associated EASs), that is, the at least one first EAS registered in the first EES is included in the plurality of first EASs.

[0594] Capability C: Capability of obtaining identifications of multiple EESs. For example, a first EES may receive identifications of EESs sent from other EESs in the multiple EESs except the first EES.

[0595] Capability D, a capability of receiving an indication of triggering a migration notification from one of the plurality of first EASs, and sending a migration notification to other EASs in the plurality of first EASs;

[0596] For example, capability D may further include one or more of the following capabilities D1 to D3:

[0597] Capability D1: the ability to receive an indication of a triggered migration notification from a first EAS registered in the first EES, and to send a migration notification to other EASs registered in the first EES (i.e., other first EASs); for example, the first EES is EES1, and EAS1 and EAS2 are registered in EES1. Capability D1 is the ability of the first EES to receive an indication of a triggered migration notification from EAS1, and then send a migration notification to EAS2 based on the indication of the triggered migration notification.

[0598] Capability D2: the ability to receive a relocation notification trigger indication from an EES other than the first EES in multiple EESs, and send a relocation notification to at least one first EAS registered in the first EES based on the relocation notification trigger indication. For example, the multiple EESs include EES1 and EES2, where the first EES is EES1 and EAS1 and EAS2 are registered in EES1. EES1 is capable of receiving a relocation notification trigger indication from EES2 and sending a relocation notification to EAS1 and EAS2 registered in EES1 based on the relocation notification trigger indication.

[0599] Capability D3: The capability to receive a relocation notification trigger indication from a first EAS registered in a first EES and send relocation notification trigger indications to other EESs in a plurality of EESs other than the first EES, causing the other EESs to send relocation notifications to at least one first EAS registered in the other EESs. For example, the plurality of EESs includes EES1 and EES2, where the first EES is EES1. Capability D3 is the capability of EES1 sending a relocation notification trigger indication to EES2, thereby instructing EES2 to send a relocation notification to at least one first EAS registered in EES2.

[0600] Furthermore, during the process of the EEC acquiring capability information of multiple second entities, the EEC may also acquire capability information of other second entities besides the multiple EESs. Specifically, the EEC may also acquire capability information of the AC and / or capability information of the EEC. For the capability information of other second entities, please refer to the description of step 1801 above.

[0601] Step 1802 - a : The EEC determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for the multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the multiple second entities.

[0602] In a first specific example, the plurality of second entities are a plurality of EESs, that is, the capability information of the plurality of second entities is capability information of the plurality of EESs. The EEC determines target application context migration scenarios corresponding to the plurality of first EASs based on the capability information of the plurality of EESs.

[0603] In the first specific example, when the first entity determines, based on the capability information of multiple EESs, that a certain EES among the multiple EESs (denoted as the second EES) has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs, it determines that the target application context migration scenarios corresponding to the multiple first EASs include the application context migration scenarios decided by the first EAS.

[0604] Alternatively, when the first entity determines, based on capability information of multiple EESs, that none of the multiple EESs have the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs, it determines that the target application context migration scenarios corresponding to the multiple first EASs do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS.

[0605] The first entity determines whether the EES has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. Specifically, the first entity determines whether the second EES has one or more of the capabilities A, B, C, and D.

[0606] In a specific implementation, when the first entity determines that the first EES has the third capability, it determines that the first EES has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. When the first entity determines that the first EES does not have the third capability, it determines that the first EES does not have the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. The third capability is one of capability A, capability B, capability C, and capability D. For example, the third capability is capability A. When the first entity determines that the EES has capability A, it determines that the EES has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS; when the first entity determines that the EES does not have capability A, it determines that the EES does not have the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. When the third capability is capability B, capability C, or capability D, the implementation method is similar to the above-mentioned capability A, and the above-mentioned "capability A" can be replaced with "capability B", "capability C", or "capability D" respectively.

[0607] In another specific implementation, when the first entity determines that the first EES has the third capability group, it determines that the first EES has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. When the first entity determines that the first EES does not have any capability in the third capability group, it determines that the first EES does not have the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. The third capability group is a combination of multiple capabilities among capability A, capability B, capability C, and capability D (such as capability D1 or capability D3). For example, the third capability group consists of capability A and capability C. When the first entity determines that the EES has capability A and capability C, it determines that the EES has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS; when the first entity determines that the EES does not have capability A or capability C, it determines that the EES does not have the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS. When the third capability group is obtained by other combinations of capability A, capability B, capability C, and capability D, the specific implementation method is similar to the above. For example, for the third capability group composed of capability A and capability D, the above "capability A and capability C" can be replaced with "capability A and capability D", and the above "capability A or capability C" can be replaced with "capability A or capability D".

[0608] In addition, the EEC can further determine whether other EESs among the multiple EESs except the second EES have one or more of the above-mentioned capabilities A, capability B, and capability D (such as capability D2), and after determining that other EESs have one or more of the above-mentioned capabilities A, capability B, and capability D, determine the target application context migration scenarios corresponding to the multiple first EASs, including the application context migration scenarios decided by the first EAS.

[0609] It is understood that the application context migration scenario determined by the first EAS is specifically the application context migration scenario determined by the fifth EAS, where one or more first EASs are registered in the second EES, the fifth EAS is a first EAS among the one or more first EASs, and the fifth EAS supports the application context migration scenario determined by the fifth EAS. In addition, if multiple first EASs are registered in the second EES, a first EAS among the multiple first EASs other than the fifth EAS can be recorded as a sixth EAS, and the sixth EAS can support the application context migration scenario triggered by the second EES detection.

[0610] For details on whether the fifth EAS supports an application context migration scenario determined by the fifth EAS and whether the sixth EAS supports an application context migration scenario triggered by detection by the second EES, please refer to the description in step 1802 .

[0611] It can be understood that the second EES here is a specific implementation of the third entity in the above step 1802, that is, for the fifth EAS and the second EES, the fifth EAS can send an indication of triggering a migration notification to the second EES when determining that the application context needs to be migrated; for the sixth EAS and the second EES, the second EES can send a migration notification to the sixth EAS based on the indication of triggering the migration notification, and the migration notification is used to trigger the sixth EAS to migrate the application context.

[0612] In addition, the second EES can also send an indication of triggering a migration notification to other EESs in multiple EESs except the second EES based on the indication of triggering a migration notification, so that the other EES can send a migration notification to at least one first EAS registered in the other EES based on the indication of triggering a migration notification. The migration notification is used to trigger at least one first EAS registered in the other EES to migrate the application context.

[0613] In a second specific example, the multiple second entities include multiple EESs, ACs, and / or EECs. That is, the capability information of the multiple second entities includes capability information of the multiple EESs, as well as capability information of the ACs and / or capability information of the EECs. The EEC determines target application context migration scenarios corresponding to the multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the multiple EESs, the capability information of the ACs, and / or the capability information of the EECs.

[0614] In this scenario, when a second entity (i.e., a third entity) among multiple second entities (including multiple EESs, and AC and / or EEC) has the ability to handle the migration of application contexts in associated EASs, the EEC determines the corresponding target application context migration scenarios for multiple first EASs, including the application context migration scenarios decided by the first EAS.

[0615] Furthermore, when the third entity is an AC or an EEC, the AC or EEC has the capability of processing the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS, that is, has one or more of the above capabilities a to c.

[0616] When the third entity is an EES (i.e., a second EES) among the multiple EESs, the second EES has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS, i.e., it has one or more of the aforementioned capabilities a through c; or, more specifically, it has one or more of the aforementioned capabilities A, B, C, and D (e.g., capability D1 or capability D3). Furthermore, other EESs among the multiple EESs, excluding the second EES, may also have one or more of the aforementioned capabilities A, B, and D (e.g., capability D2).

[0617] Case b: the first entity is an EES, that is, the first entity is one EES among a plurality of EESs.

[0618] Here, any one of the multiple EESs may be used as the first entity.

[0619] Alternatively, a designated EES among the plurality of EESs is used as the first entity. In this application, the EES used as the first entity may be referred to as the master EES.

[0620] In Example a, the AC or EEC designates one of the multiple EESs as the first entity. For example, the AC sends a first designation message to each of the multiple EESs. The first designation message includes the identifier of the one of the multiple EESs. Upon receiving the first designation message, the multiple EESs determine the EES corresponding to the identifier in the first designation message as the primary EES, i.e., the first entity.

[0621] In Example b, one of the multiple EESs is pre-configured with a third indication, where the third indication is used to indicate that the EES is the EES among the multiple EESs used to determine corresponding target application context migration scenarios for the multiple first EASs. The EES pre-configured with the third indication is used as the master EES, i.e., the first entity.

[0622] In example c, a specific EAS is registered in one of the multiple EESs, and the EES with the specific EAS registered is used as the first entity. The specific EAS can also be called the main EAS, which can be the EAS used to provide the main service for the application among the multiple first EASs, or the EAS used to run the main program of the application among the multiple first EASs. Taking the game AC as an example, the three first EASs that provide services for the game AC are the graphics rendering EAS, the chat function EAS, and the game acceleration EAS, among which the game acceleration EAS can be used as the main EAS for the game AC.

[0623] The designated EAS can specifically be one of multiple first EASs designated by the AC or EEC. For example, the AC sends a second designation message to each of the multiple first EASs, where the second designation message includes the identifier of a particular first EAS among the multiple first EASs. Accordingly, upon receiving the second designation message, the multiple first EASs determine the first EAS corresponding to the identifier in the second designation message as the primary EAS. Alternatively, the designated EAS is preconfigured with a fourth indication, which indicates that the EAS is the primary EAS.

[0624] In this application, “designated” may also be referred to as “determined”, “selected”, “specific”, etc.

[0625] It will be appreciated that steps 1801-b and 1802-b below are a specific implementation of steps 1801 and 1802 when the first entity is a master EES among multiple EESs, and the multiple second entities include multiple EESs. For portions not fully described in steps 1801-b and 1802-b, refer to steps 1801 and 1802 above, or to steps 1801-a and 1802-a. The following description uses the example of the master EES being the first EES.

[0626] Step 1801 - b : The first EES obtains capability information of multiple second entities.

[0627] The multiple second entities include multiple EESs, and accordingly, the first EES obtains capability information of the multiple EESs.

[0628] For example, the first EES can not only obtain the capability information of the first EES, but also obtain the capability information of other EESs in the multiple EESs except the first EES. For example, the first EES receives the capability information of other EESs in the multiple EESs, thereby obtaining the capability information of the multiple EESs.

[0629] In a specific implementation, the first EES may send a first capability request to the other EES. The first capability request is used by the first EES to request the capability information of the other EES from the other EES. Accordingly, after receiving the first capability request, the other EES sends the capability information of the other EES to the first EES.

[0630] The capability information of the EES may be used to indicate whether the EES has the capability to process the migration of the application context in the associated EAS. For details, please refer to the description of the capability information of the EES in step 1801-a above.

[0631] Furthermore, during the process of the first EES acquiring capability information of multiple second entities, the first EES may also acquire capability information of other second entities in addition to the multiple EESs. That is, the first EES may also acquire capability information of the AC and / or capability information of the EEC. For the capability information of other second entities, please refer to the description of step 1801 above.

[0632] Step 1802 - b : The first EES determines a corresponding target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS among the multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the multiple second entities.

[0633] The corresponding target application context migration scenario is determined based on whether the first EES is all of the first EASs or some of the first EASs, as explained below in Example (1) and Example (2).

[0634] In example (1), the first EES determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for all first EASs in the plurality of first EASs based on the capability information of the plurality of second entities. For specific implementation, see the description of step 1802-a in case a above, where the EEC can be replaced by the first EES.

[0635] In Example 1, multiple EESs include EES1 and EES2, where EES1 has EAS1 and EAS2 registered, and EES2 has EAS3 registered. EES1 is the first EES. Based on EES1's capability information, EES2's capability information, and the application context migration scenarios supported by EAS1 through EAS3, EES1 determines that target application context migration scenarios for EAS1, EAS2, and EAS3 include the application context migration scenario determined by EAS1.

[0636] Among them, EAS1 supports application context migration scenarios decided by EAS1, EAS2 supports application context migration scenarios triggered by EES1 detection, and EAS3 supports application context migration scenarios triggered by EES2 detection. EES1 has one or more of capabilities A, capability B, capability C, and capability D (such as capability D1 or capability D3), and EES2 has one or more of capabilities A, capability B, and capability D (such as capability D2).

[0637] Furthermore, in a scenario where application context migration is triggered, EES1 receives a migration notification trigger from EAS1, sends a migration notification to EAS2, and sends a migration notification trigger instruction to EES2. Correspondingly, EES2 receives the migration notification trigger from EES1 and sends a migration notification to EAS3. In this way, EAS1 through EAS3 can jointly execute application context migration.

[0638] In this example (1), the capability information of other EESs obtained by the first EES can not only be used to indicate whether the other EES has one or more of the above capabilities A to D, but can also be directly used to indicate whether the other EES has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS.

[0639] In a specific implementation of the latter possible approach, the first EES obtains capability information of other EESs from among the multiple EESs, excluding the first EES. This capability information specifically represents the processing results of the other EESs. Specifically, the other EES determines whether it has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS based on its capability information and the application context migration scenarios supported by at least one first EAS registered with the other EES. Exemplarily, the processing result is "capable" or "not capable." For example, the processing result is represented by a single bit, where a value of 1 indicates "capable," and a value of 0 indicates "not capable."

[0640] Here, because the other EES determines whether it has the capability to process the migration of the application contexts in the associated EAS based on its own capability information and the application context migration scenarios supported by at least one first EAS registered therein, the other EES does not need to send the application context migration scenarios supported by at least one first EAS registered therein to the first EES. That is, in this specific implementation, the first EES obtains the processing results of the other EESs other than the first EES from the multiple EESs, and determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for all the first EASs in the multiple first EASs based on the processing results of the other EESs, the capability information of the first EES, and the application context migration scenarios supported by at least one first EAS registered therein.

[0641] Example 2, multiple EESs include EES1 and EES2, wherein EES1 has EAS1 and EAS2 registered, and EES2 has EAS3 registered. The first EES is EES1, wherein EES2 first determines that EES2 has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS based on the capability information of EES2 and the application context migration scenarios supported by EAS3, and the obtained processing result is "possessing". EES1 obtains the capability information of EES1, the processing result of EES2, and the application context migration scenarios supported by EAS1 and EAS2, and determines for EAS1, EAS2, and EAS3 that the target application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenarios decided by EAS1. Among them, the application context migration scenarios supported by EAS1 to EAS3 respectively, the capabilities possessed by EES1 and EES2 respectively, and how to implement the migration of application contexts executed by EAS1 to EAS3 together can all be described in the above example 1.

[0642] Example (2): The first EES determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for some of the first EASs among the multiple first EASs based on capability information of the multiple second entities.

[0643] Optionally, the portion of the first EAS is at least one first EAS registered in the first EES.

[0644] It is understood that each of the multiple EESs is registered with at least one first EAS. For each of the multiple EESs, the EES determines a corresponding target application context migration scenario for the at least one first EAS registered in the EES based on the capability information of the multiple second entities. That is, in this application, not only does the first EES determine a corresponding target application context migration scenario for the at least one first EAS registered in the first EES based on the capability information of the multiple second entities, but it also includes other EESs other than the first EES in the multiple EESs determining a corresponding target application context migration scenario for the at least one first EAS registered in the other EES based on the capability information of the multiple second entities.

[0645] The first EES, or other EESs except the first EES among the multiple EESs, determines the implementation method of the corresponding target application context migration scenario for one or more first EASs registered in their respective EESs based on the capability information of the multiple second entities. Please refer to the description of the above example (1).

[0646] Example 3: Multiple EESs include EES1 and EES2, wherein EES1 has EAS1 and EAS2 registered, and EES2 has EAS3 registered. The first EES is EES1, and EES1 determines target application context migration scenarios for EAS1 and EAS2 based on the capability information of multiple second entities and the application context migration scenarios supported by EAS1 and EAS2, wherein the determined target application context migration scenarios include, for example, the application context migration scenarios decided by EAS1. Similarly, the other EESs (i.e., EES2) in the multiple EESs determine target application context migration scenarios for EAS3 based on the capability information of multiple second entities and the application context migration scenarios supported by EAS3, wherein the determined target application context migration scenarios include, for example, the application context migration scenarios decided by EAS3. In this example, the application context migration scenarios supported by EAS1 to EAS3, the capability information of EES1 and EES2, and how to implement the migration of application contexts by EAS1 to EAS3 together can all be described in the above examples 1 and 2.

[0647] In the above technical solution, the first entity determines whether there is an EES (i.e., a third entity, or a second EES) capable of handling the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS based on the capability information of multiple EESs. The EES, as the third entity, is specifically capable of receiving a migration notification trigger instruction from a first EAS (i.e., a fifth EAS) registered in the EES, sending a migration notification to another first EAS registered in the EES, and sending a migration notification trigger instruction to other EESs so that the other EESs send a migration notification to at least one first EAS registered in the other EESs. In this way, the first entity can determine that the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS. Accordingly, when the fifth EAS determines that application context migration is required, the EES, as the third entity, can trigger the other EASs registered in the EES to perform application context migration together with the fifth EAS based on the migration notification trigger instruction of the fifth EAS, and instruct the other EESs to send a migration notification to at least one first EAS registered in the other EESs, so as to instruct the at least one first EAS to perform application context migration together with the fifth EAS. This helps avoid service interruption during application context migration.

[0648] It should be added that implementation method 1 also includes implementation method 3, where the first entity determines whether multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario decided by EAS (or called an application context migration scenario decided by EAS, an application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS) based on the capability information of multiple first EASs and the capability information of the second entity, and then selects the target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios.

[0649] Specifically, the first entity obtains capability information of multiple first EASs and capability information of one or more second entities. For the acquisition methods, refer to the descriptions in the above implementation 1 and implementation 2, respectively.

[0650] Furthermore, the first entity determines whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS based on the capability information of the multiple first EASs and the capability information of the one or more second entities, and then determines the target application context migration scenario.

[0651] In one example, the first entity first determines, based on the capability information of multiple first EASs, whether there is a first EAS among the multiple first EASs that has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs together. If the first entity determines that the first EAS with the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs exists among the multiple first EASs, then it is determined that the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS, that is, the first entity no longer determines, based on the capability information of the second entity, whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS. If the first entity determines that the first EAS with the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs does not exist among the multiple first EASs, then it further determines, based on the capability information of the second entity, whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS. Specifically, if the first entity determines that the second entity with the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs exists among the one or more second entities, then it is further determined that the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS. If the first entity determines that the one or more second entities do not include the second entity capable of processing the migration of the associated application context in the EAS, it further determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0652] In another example, a first entity first determines, based on capability information of one or more second entities, whether there is a second entity among the one or more second entities that has the capability to process application context migration in an associated EAS. If the first entity determines that the second entity with the capability to process application context migration in an associated EAS exists among the one or more second entities, the first entity determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS. That is, the first entity no longer determines, based on capability information of multiple first EASs, whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS. If the first entity determines that the second entity with the capability to process application context migration in an associated EAS does not exist among the second entities, the first entity further determines, based on capability information of multiple first EASs, whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS. Specifically, if the first entity determines that the first EAS with the capability to process application context migration in an associated EAS exists among the multiple first EASs, the first entity further determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario determined by the EAS. If the first entity determines that the first EAS capable of processing the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS does not exist among the multiple first EASs, it further determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

[0653] In addition, the first entity can also determine whether one or more second entities have the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS based on the capability information of one or more second entities; and determine whether one or more first EASs have the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS based on the capability information of multiple first EASs. The first entity can thus further determine multiple application context migration scenarios. Of course, this application can also have other methods, which are not listed here.

[0654] In implementation manner 3, the first entity determines whether multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario decided by EAS based on the capability information of multiple first EASs. For example, the implementation manner in which the first entity determines whether multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario decided by EAS based on the capability information of one or more second entities can be found in the description in implementation manner 2.

[0655] The following explains the above implementation method 1 and implementation method 2 in conjunction with specific implementation scenarios.

[0656] FIG19 illustrates a specific implementation of Implementation 1, in which the first entity is an EES. The EES determines, based on capability information of multiple first EASs, whether the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario determined by the first EAS. In this specific implementation, any details not fully described can be found in Implementation 1 or the related embodiments of FIG17 .

[0657] In step 1901 , multiple first EASs send EAS registration requests to the EES respectively. Correspondingly, the EES receives the registration requests from the multiple first EASs.

[0658] Taking a first EAS as an example, the registration request of the first EAS includes configuration information of the first EAS. The configuration information of the first EAS includes capability information of the first EAS, which indicates whether the first EAS has one or more of capabilities 1 to 4.

[0659] For the description of capabilities 1 to 4, please refer to the description in the relevant embodiment of Figure 17.

[0660] Here, the configuration information of the first EAS also includes the identifier of the first EAS and the application context migration scenarios supported by the first EAS. The application context migration scenarios supported by the first EAS can be used to indicate whether the first EAS has capability 4, that is, the application context migration scenarios supported by the first EAS can be considered as capability information of the first EAS.

[0661] Step 1902: The EES sends an EAS registration response to each of the plurality of first EASs.

[0662] Step 1903 : The EEC and the multiple first EASs subscribe to the target application context migration scenario to the EES respectively.

[0663] In step 1904, the AC is pre-configured with AC configuration information. The AC configuration information may include application context migration scenarios supported by the AC, an AC identifier, and first information. The first information may be, for example, a first EAS list, which is a list consisting of multiple first EAS identifiers.

[0664] Step 1905: The AC sends an AC registration request to the EEC, where the AC registration request includes AC configuration information.

[0665] Step 1906: The EEC sends an AC registration response to the AC.

[0666] Step 1907 : The EEC sends an EEC registration request to the EES, where the EEC registration request includes AC configuration information and application context migration scenarios supported by the EEC.

[0667] In step 1908, the EES determines, based on the first information, that the application contexts of the multiple first EASs need to be migrated together; and based on the capability information of the multiple first EASs, the EES determines whether there is a first EAS (i.e., the fifth EAS) among the multiple first EASs that has the capability to process the migration of the application contexts in the associated EASs together. Specifically, if the EES determines that the fifth EAS among the multiple first EASs has the capability to process the migration of the application contexts in the associated EASs together, then the EES determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS; if the EES determines that none of the multiple first EASs has the capability to process the migration of the application contexts in the associated EASs together, then the EES determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS. The EES selects a target application context migration scenario from the multiple determined application context migration scenarios.

[0668] Step 1909 : The EES sends application context migration scenario notifications to the multiple first EASs respectively, where the application context migration scenario notifications include the target application context migration scenario.

[0669] Step 1910: The EES sends an EEC registration response to the EEC. The EEC registration response includes a target application context migration scenario.

[0670] Step 1911 : The AC subscribes to the target application context migration scenario from the EEC.

[0671] Step 1912: The EEC sends an application context migration scenario notification to the AC. The application context migration scenario notification includes the target application context migration scenario.

[0672] In addition, in the above embodiment, the first entity can also be replaced by an EEC. The difference lies in whether the first entity communicates directly with the first EAS or indirectly through the EES; and whether the first entity communicates directly with the AC or indirectly through the EEC. The specific messages between the entities are also different.

[0673] In the above embodiments, registration requests can be replaced with update requests, and registration responses can be replaced with update responses. For example, an EAS registration request can be replaced with an EAS update request, and an EAS registration response can be replaced with an EAS update response. Of course, the above information can also be carried in other types of messages, and this application does not limit this.

[0674] Figure 20 illustrates a specific implementation of Implementation 2, in which the first entity is an EES, and the multiple second entities include an AC, an EEC, and an EES. The EES is a single entity, meaning that the multiple first EASs that need to perform application context migration together are registered with the single EES. Based on the capability information of the multiple second entities, the EES determines whether the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario determined by the first EAS. For details not described in detail in this specific implementation, please refer to Implementation 2 or the related embodiments of Figure 18.

[0675] In step 2001, a plurality of first EASs respectively send EAS registration requests to an EES. Correspondingly, the EES receives the registration requests from the plurality of first EASs.

[0676] Taking one of the first EASs as an example, the registration request of the first EAS includes the configuration information of the first EAS. The configuration information of the first EAS includes the application context migration scenarios supported by the first EAS. The description of the application context migration scenarios supported by the first EAS can be found in the description of the relevant embodiment of Figure 18. Here, the configuration information of the first EAS also includes the identifier of the first EAS.

[0677] Step 2002: The EES sends an EAS registration response to each of the plurality of first EASs.

[0678] Step 2003: The EEC and the multiple first EASs subscribe to the target application context migration scenario to the EES respectively.

[0679] Step 2004: The AC is pre-configured with AC configuration information.

[0680] The AC configuration information includes the AC's capability information, which indicates whether the AC has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS, or in other words, whether the AC has one or more of the above-mentioned capabilities a to c. For descriptions of capabilities a to c, please refer to the description of the relevant embodiment in FIG18 .

[0681] AC configuration information may also include application context migration scenarios supported by the AC, the AC's identifier, and first information. The first information may be, for example, a first EAS list, i.e., a list consisting of multiple first EAS identifiers. The application context migration scenarios supported by the AC can be used to indicate whether the AC has capability b. The application context migration scenarios supported by the AC can also be considered as AC capability information.

[0682] Step 2005: The AC sends an AC registration request to the EEC, wherein the AC registration request includes AC configuration information, that is, the first information and AC capability information.

[0683] Step 2006: The EEC sends an AC registration response to the AC.

[0684] Step 2007: The EEC is pre-configured with EEC configuration information.

[0685] The EEC configuration information includes EEC capability information, which indicates whether the EEC is capable of handling the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS, or in other words, whether it possesses one or more of the aforementioned capabilities a to c. For descriptions of capabilities a to c, see the description of the relevant embodiment in FIG18 .

[0686] The EEC configuration information may also include the application context migration scenarios supported by the EEC and the EEC identifier. The application context migration scenarios supported by the EEC may be used to indicate whether the EEC has capability b. The application context migration scenarios supported by the EEC may also be considered as EEC capability information.

[0687] In step 2008, the EEC sends an EEC registration request to the EES, wherein the EEC registration request includes AC configuration information and EEC configuration information. Correspondingly, the EES receives the EEC registration request from the EEC.

[0688] In step 2009, the EES determines that the application contexts of multiple first EASs need to be migrated together based on the first information carried in the AC configuration information in the EEC registration request; the EES determines whether there is a second entity (i.e., a third entity) in the AC, EEC, and EES that has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EASs based on the application context migration scenarios supported by the multiple first EASs, the capability information of the EES, the capability information of the AC, and the capability information of the EEC. Specifically, if EES determines that there is a third entity among AC, EEC, and EES that has the ability to process the application context migration of associated EASs, that is, it determines that the fifth EAS among multiple first EASs can instruct other EASs among multiple first EASs (that is, the sixth EAS) to perform application context migration together through the third entity, then it determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS; if EES determines that there is no third entity among AC, EEC, and EES that has the ability to process the application context migration of associated EASs, that is, it determines that the fifth EAS among multiple first EASs cannot instruct other EASs among multiple first EASs (that is, the sixth EAS) to perform application context migration together through the third entity, then it determines that the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS.

[0689] Here, the fifth EAS can instruct the sixth EAS among the multiple first EASs to perform application context migration together through the third entity. It can be understood that the third entity can receive an instruction to trigger a migration notification from the fifth EAS and then send a migration notification to the sixth EAS. This description can also be applied to other examples of this application.

[0690] Here, it can also be understood that the EES is pre-configured with EES configuration information. The EES configuration information includes EES capability information, which indicates whether the EES has the ability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS, or in other words, whether it has one or more of the above-mentioned capabilities a to c. For an explanation of capabilities a to c, please refer to the description of the relevant embodiment in Figure 18.

[0691] The EES configuration information may also include the application context migration scenarios supported by the EES and the EES identifier. The application context migration scenarios supported by the EES may be used to indicate whether the EES has capability b. The application context migration scenarios supported by the EES may also be considered as EES capability information.

[0692] In step 2010, EES selects a target application context migration scenario from multiple application context migration scenarios.

[0693] When EES determines that multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS, EES can determine the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS and the application context migration scenario decided by the third entity as the target application context migration scenario.

[0694] Taking the third entity being AC as an example, when the AC has capabilities a to c and the sixth EAS supports the application context migration scenario decided by the AC, the EES can determine that the fifth EAS among multiple first EASs can instruct the sixth EAS among multiple first EASs through the AC to perform application context migration together, that is, the EES determines the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS and the application context migration scenario decided by the AC as the target application context migration scenarios.

[0695] Step 2011: The EES sends application context migration scenario notifications to multiple first EASs respectively, where the application context migration scenario notifications include a target application context migration scenario.

[0696] In combination with the above example, the target application context migration scenario included in the application context migration scenario notifications sent by the EES to the multiple first EASs respectively includes: the application context migration scenario decided by the fifth EAS and the application context migration scenario decided by the AC.

[0697] Step 2012: The EES sends an EEC registration response to the EEC. The EEC registration response includes the target application context migration scenario.

[0698] Step 2013: The AC subscribes to the target application context migration scenario from the EEC.

[0699] Step 2014: The EEC sends an application context migration scenario notification to the AC. The application context migration scenario notification includes the target application context migration scenario.

[0700] In addition, in the above embodiment, the first entity can also be replaced by EEC. The difference lies in whether the first entity communicates with the first EAS directly or indirectly through EES; the communication method between the first entity and the second entity; and the specific messages between the entities are different.

[0701] In the above embodiments, registration requests can be replaced with update requests, and registration responses can be replaced with update responses. For example, an EAS registration request can be replaced with an EAS update request, and an EAS registration response can be replaced with an EAS update response. Of course, the above information can also be carried in other types of messages, and this application does not limit this.

[0702] FIG21 shows another specific implementation of Implementation 2, in which the multiple second entities include an AC, an EEC, and an EES, wherein there are multiple EESs, that is, multiple first EASs that need to perform application context migration together are registered in multiple different EESs. The first entity is one of the multiple EESs (denoted as the first EES), and the first EES determines the target application context migration scenario for all the first EASs in the multiple first EASs based on the capability information of the multiple second entities. In this specific implementation, for matters not described in detail, please refer to the description of Implementation 2 or the related embodiments of FIG18 or FIG20.

[0703] It should be noted that, for ease of description, FIG21 only illustrates the first and second EESs, where the second EES is an EES other than the first EES in the plurality of EESs. When the plurality of second entities also includes other EESs (e.g., a third EES), the interaction between the first and third EESs can be similar to the interaction between the first and second EESs. This application does not limit the number of EESs.

[0704] Furthermore, steps 2001 to 2014 included in FIG. 21 can refer to steps 2001 to 2014 shown in FIG. 20 , and the EES in FIG. 20 can be replaced with the first EES for better understanding.

[0705] In addition, the difference is:

[0706] In steps 2001 and 2002 of FIG. 21 , one or more first EASs among the plurality of first EASs may be registered with a first EES, and the other one or more first EASs may be registered with a second EES.

[0707] In step 2009 of Figure 21 , the first EES needs to determine whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS based on the first information, multiple application context migration scenarios supported by the first EAS, the AC's capability information, the EEC's capability information, the first EES's capability information, and the second EES's capability information. The implementation of step 2009 can be found in the description of step 1802-b above. Furthermore, when the second entity also includes other EESs (e.g., a third EES), the first EES also needs to consider the capability information of the third EES, which will not be further described.

[0708] In addition, FIG. 21 also includes the following steps 2015 and 2016:

[0709] Step 2015: The first EES sends a first capability request to the second EES. The first capability request is used by the first EES to request the second EES for capability information of the second EES.

[0710] In step 2016, after receiving the first capability request, the second EES sends the capability information of the second EES to the first EES. In this way, the first EES obtains the capability information of the second EES.

[0711] Of course, the present application may also have other implementation methods for the first EES to obtain the capability information of the second EES.

[0712] Among them, step 2015 and step 2016 are before step 2009.

[0713] Figure 22 shows another specific implementation of implementation method 2, in which the multiple second entities include AC, EEC and EES, wherein there are multiple EESs, that is, the multiple first EASs that need to perform application context migration together are registered in multiple different EESs. The first entity is an EES among the multiple EESs (denoted as the first EES), and the first EES determines the target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS among the multiple first EASs and registered in the first EES based on the capability information of the multiple second entities. In addition, other EESs among the multiple EESs (such as the second EES) can also determine the target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS among the multiple second EASs and registered in the second EES based on the capability information of the multiple second entities. In this specific implementation, the content that is not described in detail can be found in the description of the relevant embodiments of implementation method 2 or Figure 18 or Figure 20 or Figure 21.

[0714] It should be noted that, for ease of description, FIG22 only illustrates the first and second EESs, where the second EES is an EES other than the first EES in the plurality of EESs. When the plurality of second entities also includes other EESs (e.g., a third EES), the interaction between the first and third EESs can be similar to the interaction between the first and second EESs. This application does not limit the number of EESs.

[0715] Furthermore, steps 2001 to 2016 included in FIG22 can refer to steps 2001 to 2016 shown in FIG21 . The difference is that, when the first EES determines the target application context migration scenario, it specifically determines it for at least one first EAS registered in the first EES. Correspondingly, in FIG22 , the second EES can also execute steps 2009 and 2010, so that the second EES determines whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS based on the first information, the application context migration scenarios supported by the multiple first EASs, the capability information of the AC, the capability information of the EEC, the capability information of the first EES, and the capability information of the second EES, and then determines the target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS registered in the second EES. The implementation of steps 2009 and 2010 can be found in the description of step 1802-b above.

[0716] In addition, FIG. 22 also includes the following steps 2017 and 2018:

[0717] Step 2017: The second EES sends a second capability request to the first EES. The second capability request is used by the second EES to request the first EES for capability information of the first EES.

[0718] In step 2018, after receiving the second capability request, the first EES sends the capability information of the first EES to the second EES. In this way, the second EES obtains the capability information of the first EES.

[0719] Of course, the present application may also have other implementation methods for the second EES to obtain the capability information of the first EES.

[0720] Among them, step 2017 and step 2018 are before step 2009.

[0721] Based on the above content and the same concept, Figures 23 and 24 are schematic diagrams of possible communication devices provided by this application. These communication devices can be used to implement the functions in the above method embodiments, and thus can also achieve the beneficial effects of the above method embodiments.

[0722] In the present application, the communication device may be the EEC, EES, AC or EAS as shown in FIG1 .

[0723] As shown in FIG. 23 , the communication device 2300 includes a processing module 2301 and a transceiver module 2302 .

[0724] The processing module 2301 in the communication device 2300 can be used to implement the functions of the first entity (such as EEC, EES), AC or EAS (such as the third EAS) in the method embodiments shown in any of Figures 3 to 6, 12 and 13. The transceiver module 2302 can be used to support communication between the communication device 2300 and other communication devices. For example, when the communication device 2300 is an EES, the transceiver module 2302 can be used by the EES to receive the first information from the AC. Or,

[0725] The processing module 2301 in the communication device 2300 can be used to implement the functions of the first entity (such as EEC, EES), AC or EAS (such as the third EAS) in the method embodiments shown in any of Figures 7 to 9, 14 and 15. The transceiver module 2302 can be used to support communication between the communication device 2300 and other communication devices. For example, when the communication device 2300 is an EES, the transceiver module 2302 can be used for the EES to receive the first information from the AC. Or,

[0726] The processing module 2301 in the communication device 2300 can be used to implement the functions of the EAS (such as the fourth EAS) or AC in the method embodiments shown in Figures 10, 11, or 16 above. The transceiver module 2302 can be used to support communication between the communication device 2300 and other communication devices. For example, when the communication device 2300 is the fourth EAS, the transceiver module 2302 can be used by the fourth EAS to send the application context migration scenario supported by the fourth EAS to the first entity (such as EEC, EES). Or,

[0727] The processing module 2301 in the communication device 2300 can be used to implement the functions of the first entity (such as EEC, EES), AC or EAS (such as the first EAS) in the method embodiments shown in Figures 17 or 19 above. The transceiver module 2302 can be used to support communication between the communication device 2300 and other communication devices. For example, when the communication device 2300 is the first entity (such as EES), the transceiver module 2302 can be used by the EES to receive the capability information of the first EAS from the first EAS. Or,

[0728] The processing module 2301 in the communication device 2300 can be used to implement the functions of the first entity (e.g., EEC, EES), the second entity (e.g., EEC, EES, or AC), and the AC or EAS (e.g., the first EAS) in the method embodiments shown in Figures 18, 20, 21, or 22. The transceiver module 2302 can be used to support communication between the communication device 2300 and other communication devices. For example, when the communication device 2300 is the first entity (e.g., EES) and the second entity is the EEC, the transceiver module 2302 can be used to enable the EES to receive EEC capability information from the EEC.

[0729] FIG24 shows an apparatus 2400 provided in an embodiment of the present application. The apparatus shown in FIG24 may be a hardware circuit implementation of the apparatus shown in FIG23. The apparatus may be applied to the flowchart shown above to perform the functions of the first terminal device or the second terminal device in the above method embodiment.

[0730] For ease of illustration, FIG24 shows only the main components of the device.

[0731] The device 2400 shown in Figure 24 includes a communication interface 2410, a processor 2420, and a memory 2430, wherein the memory 2430 is used to store program instructions and / or data. The processor 2420 may operate in conjunction with the memory 2430. The processor 2420 may execute program instructions stored in the memory 2430. When the instructions or program stored in the memory 2430 are executed, the processor 2420 is used to perform the operations performed by the processing module 2301 in the above-described embodiment, and the communication interface 2410 is used to perform the operations performed by the transceiver module 2302 in the above-described embodiment.

[0732] Memory 2430 is coupled to processor 2420. In the embodiments of the present application, coupling refers to an indirect coupling or communication connection between devices, units, or modules, and can be electrical, mechanical, or other forms, for information exchange between the devices, units, or modules. At least one of memory 2430 may be included in processor 2420.

[0733] In the embodiments of the present application, the communication interface may be a transceiver, circuit, bus, module, or other type of communication interface. In the embodiments of the present application, when the communication interface is a transceiver, the transceiver may include an independent receiver or an independent transmitter; or a transceiver or communication interface that integrates transceiver functions.

[0734] Device 2400 may also include a communication line 2440. Communication interface 2410, processor 2420, and memory 2430 may be interconnected via communication line 2440; communication line 2440 may be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, for example. Communication line 2440 may be classified as an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of illustration, FIG. 24 shows only one thick line, but this does not imply that there is only one bus or only one type of bus.

[0735] A computer-readable storage medium is also provided in an embodiment of the present application, comprising instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to implement the functions of the first entity (e.g., EEC, EES), AC, or EAS (e.g., the third EAS) in the method embodiment shown in any one of Figures 3 to 6, 12, and 13; or implement the functions of the first entity (e.g., EEC or EES), AC, or EAS (e.g., the third EAS) in the method embodiment shown in any one of Figures 7 to 9, 14, and 15; or implement the functions of EAS (e.g., the fourth EAS) or AC in the method embodiment shown in any one of Figures 10, 11, or 16; or implement the functions of the first entity (e.g., EEC, EES), AC, or EAS (e.g., the first EAS) in the method embodiment shown in Figure 17 or 19; or implement the functions of the first entity (e.g., EEC or EES), the second entity (e.g., EEC, EES, or AC), AC, or EAS (e.g., the first EAS) in the method embodiment shown in Figures 18, 20, 21, or 22.

[0736] A computer program product is also provided in an embodiment of the present application, including computer instructions, which, when executed on a computer, enable the computer to implement the functions of the first entity (e.g., EEC, EES), AC, or EAS (e.g., the third EAS) in the method embodiment shown in any one of Figures 3 to 6, 12, and 13; or implement the functions of the first entity (e.g., EEC or EES), AC, or EAS (e.g., the third EAS) in the method embodiment shown in any one of Figures 7 to 9, 14, and 15; or implement the functions of EAS (e.g., the fourth EAS) or AC in the method embodiment shown in Figure 10, 11, or 16; or implement the functions of the first entity (e.g., EEC, EES), AC, or EAS (e.g., the first EAS) in the method embodiment shown in Figure 17 or 19; or implement the functions of the first entity (e.g., EEC, EES), second entity (e.g., EEC, EES, or AC), AC, or EAS (e.g., the first EAS) in the method embodiment shown in Figure 18, 20, 21, or 22.

[0737] An embodiment of the present application also provides a chip system, including: a processor, the processor is coupled to a memory, the memory is used to store programs or instructions, when the program or instructions are executed by the processor, the chip system implements the function of the first entity (such as EEC, EES), AC or EAS (such as the third EAS) in the method embodiment shown in any one of Figures 3 to 6, 12, and 13; or implements the function of the first entity (such as EEC, EES), AC or EAS (such as the third EAS) in the method embodiment shown in any one of Figures 7 to 9, 14, and 15 above; or implements the function of EAS (such as the fourth EAS) or AC in the method embodiment shown in Figure 10, 11 or 16 above; or implements the function of the first entity (such as EEC, EES), AC or EAS (such as the first EAS) in the method embodiment shown in Figure 17 or 19 above; or implements the function of the first entity (such as EEC, EES), second entity (such as EEC, EES or AC), AC or EAS (such as the first EAS) in the method embodiment shown in Figure 18, 20, 21 or 22 above.

[0738] The present application also provides a communication system including: a first entity (e.g., an EEC, an EES), an AC, or one or more of an EAS. The first entity has the functions of the first entity in the method embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 6, 12, and 13 above, the AC has the functions of the AC in the method embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 6, 12, and 13 above, and the EAS has the functions of the third EAS in the method embodiments shown in Figures 3 to 6, 12, and 13 above.

[0739] The present application also provides a communication system including: a first entity (e.g., an EEC, an EES), an AC, or one or more of an EAS. The first entity has the functions of the first entity in the method embodiments shown in Figures 7 to 9, 14, and 15 above, the AC has the functions of the AC in the method embodiments shown in Figures 7 to 9, 14, and 15 above, and the EAS has the functions of the third EAS in the method embodiments shown in Figures 7 to 9, 14, and 15 above.

[0740] The present application also provides a communication system including: a first entity (e.g., an EEC, an EES), an AC, or one or more of an EAS. The first entity has the functions of the first entity in the method embodiments shown in Figures 10, 11, and 16 above, the AC has the functions of the AC in the method embodiments shown in Figures 10, 11, and 16 above, and the EAS has the functions of the fourth EAS in the method embodiments shown in Figures 10, 11, and 16 above.

[0741] The present application also provides a communication system, including: a first entity (such as an EEC or EES), an AC, or one or more of an EAS. The first entity has the functions of the first entity in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 17 or FIG. 19 , the AC has the functions of the AC in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 17 or FIG. 19 , and the EAS has the functions of the first EAS in the method embodiment shown in FIG. 17 or FIG. 19 .

[0742] The embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, including: a first entity (such as an EEC or EES), a second entity (such as an EEC, EES, or AC), and one or more of an AC or an EAS. The first entity has the functions of the first entity in the method embodiment shown in any one of Figures 18 and 20-22 above, the AC has the functions of the AC in the method embodiment shown in any one of Figures 18 and 20-22 above, the second entity has the functions of the second entity in the method embodiment shown in any one of Figures 18 and 20-22 above, and the EAS has the functions of the first EAS in the method embodiment shown in any one of Figures 18 and 20-22 above.

[0743] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When software is used for implementation, it can be implemented in whole or in part 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 process or function according to the embodiment of the present application is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from a website, computer, server or data center to another website, computer, server or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrations. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid-state drive (SSD)).

[0744] The various illustrative logic units and circuits described in the embodiments of the present application can be implemented or operated by a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic, a discrete hardware component, or the design of any combination thereof. The general-purpose processor can be a microprocessor, alternatively, the general-purpose processor can also be any traditional processor, controller, microcontroller or state machine. The processor can also be implemented by a combination of computing devices, such as a digital signal processor and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a digital signal processor core, or any other similar configuration to implement.

[0745] In one or more exemplary designs, the above-described functions described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, these functions may be stored on a computer-readable medium or transmitted in the form of one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media that facilitate the transfer of computer programs from one location to another. Storage media can be any available medium that can be accessed by a general-purpose or specialized computer. For example, such computer-readable media may include, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store program code in the form of instructions or data structures and other forms that can be read by a general-purpose or specialized computer, or a general-purpose or specialized processor. In addition, any connection can be appropriately defined as a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote resource via a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair cable, digital subscriber line (DSL), or wirelessly, such as infrared, wireless, and microwave, it is also included in the definition of computer-readable media. Disks and discs include compact disks, laser discs, optical discs, digital versatile discs (DVDs), floppy disks, and Blu-ray discs. Disks typically reproduce data magnetically, while discs typically reproduce data optically using lasers. Combinations of these may also be included in computer-readable media.

[0746] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, in one or more of the examples above, the functions described herein may be implemented using hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using software, these functions may be stored in a computer-readable medium or transmitted as one or more instructions or codes on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media include computer storage media and communication media, wherein communication media include any medium that facilitates the transmission of a computer program from one place to another. The storage medium may be any available medium that can be accessed by a general-purpose or special-purpose computer.

[0747] Although the present application has been described with reference to specific features and embodiments thereof, it is apparent that various modifications and combinations may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the present application. Accordingly, this specification and the drawings are merely illustrative of the present application as defined by the appended claims and are deemed to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of the present application. Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various modifications and variations to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, the present application is intended to include such modifications and variations if they fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A method for determining an application context migration scenario, characterized in that: include: The first entity determines, based on the first information, whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario decided by an edge application server EAS, wherein the first information indicates that the application contexts in the multiple first EASs need to be migrated together; The first entity selects a target application context migration scenario from the multiple application context migration scenarios.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The first entity determines, according to the first information, whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS, including: The first entity determines, based on the first information, that the multiple application context migration scenarios do not include an application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that Also includes: The first entity receives first information.

4. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that The first entity receives first information, including: The first entity receives the first information from an application client AC, where the AC is served by a plurality of second EASs, where the plurality of first EASs are part or all of the plurality of second EASs.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The first information is included in the configuration information of the AC.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: The first information includes identifications and / or first indications of the plurality of first EASs; The first indication is used to indicate that the application contexts in the multiple first EASs need to be migrated together.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: Also includes: The first entity receives second information, where the second information indicates whether there is a third EAS among the plurality of first EASs, and the third EAS has the ability to migrate application contexts in the plurality of first EASs together; The first entity determines, according to the first information, whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS, including: The first entity determines, based on the first information and the second information, whether the multiple application context migration scenarios include an application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

8. The method according to claim 7, characterized in that In a case where the third EAS does not exist in the plurality of first EASs, the plurality of application context migration scenarios do not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS; or, In a case where the third EAS exists in the plurality of first EASs, the plurality of application context migration scenarios include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that The first entity is an edge enabling client EEC or an edge enabling server EES.

10. The method according to claim 9, characterized in that When the first entity is the EEC, the EEC receives the first information from the AC, and the EEC receives the second information forwarded by the EES from the EES; or, In a case where the first entity is the EES, the EES receives the first information from the EEC, and the EES receives the second information from a third EAS.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that: Also includes: The AC sends the first information to the first entity.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that: Also includes: The AC sends the identifiers of the plurality of first EASs to the third EAS.

13. A method for determining an application context migration scenario, characterized in that: include: The first entity receives first information, where the first information indicates that application contexts in a plurality of first edge application servers EAS need to be migrated together; The first entity sends the identifiers of the plurality of first EASs to a third EAS according to the first information, where the third EAS is one or more of the plurality of first EASs.

14. The method according to claim 13, characterized in that The method further comprises: the first entity determining a target application context migration scenario; The first entity sends the identifiers of the plurality of first EASs to the third EAS according to the first information, including: In a case where the target application context migration scenario includes an EAS-determined application context migration scenario, the first entity sends the identifiers of the multiple first EASs to the third EAS according to the first information.

15. The method according to claim 13 or 14, characterized in that The first entity receives first information, including: The first entity receives the first information from an application client AC, where the AC is served by a plurality of second EASs, where the plurality of first EASs are part or all of the plurality of second EASs.

16. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 15, characterized in that: The first information is included in the configuration information of the AC.

17. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 16, characterized in that: The first information includes the identification and / or first indication of the plurality of first EASs; The first indication is used to indicate that the application contexts in the multiple first EASs need to be migrated together.

18. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 17, characterized in that: The first entity is an edge enabling client EEC or an edge enabling server EES.

19. The method according to claim 18, characterized in that When the first entity is the EEC, the EEC receives the first information from the AC, and the EEC sends the identifiers of the plurality of first EASs to the third EAS through the EES; or, In a case where the first entity is the EES, the EES receives the first information from the EEC, and the EES sends the identifiers of the plurality of first EASs to the third EAS.

20. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 19, characterized in that: Also includes: The AC sends the first information to the first entity.

21. A method for determining an application context migration scenario, characterized in that: include: The edge application server EAS determines, based on the first information, that the application context migration scenario supported by the EAS does not include the application context migration scenario decided by the EAS, wherein the first information indicates that the application contexts in the plurality of first EASs need to be migrated together; The EAS sends an application context migration scenario supported by the EAS.

22. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that The application context migration scenario supported by the EAS is used to determine the target application context migration scenario.

23. The method according to claim 21 or 22, characterized in that The EAS sends the application context migration scenario supported by the EAS, including: The EAS sends the application context migration scenario supported by the EAS to a first entity, where the first entity is an edge enabling client EEC or an edge enabling server EES.

24. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 23, characterized in that Also includes: The EAS receives the first information from an application client AC, where the AC is served by a plurality of second EASs, where the plurality of first EASs are part or all of the plurality of second EASs.

25. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 24, characterized in that The first information is included in the configuration information of the AC.

26. A method for determining an application context migration scenario, characterized in that: include: The first entity obtains capability information of multiple first edge application servers EAS; The first entity determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for the multiple first EASs according to the capability information of the multiple first EASs; The multiple first EASs are associated EASs, and the application contexts in the associated EASs need to be migrated together; The capability information of the first EAS indicates whether the first EAS has the capability to process the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein: The capability information of the first EAS indicates whether the first EAS supports one or more of the following capabilities: an ability to obtain identities of the plurality of first EASs; an ability to send migration notifications to other EASs in the plurality of first EASs; an ability to receive migration notifications from other EASs in the plurality of first EASs; Supporting application context migration scenarios decided by the first EAS; The migration notification is used to trigger application context migration.

28. The method according to claim 26 or 27, characterized in that The first entity determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for the multiple first EASs according to the capability information of the multiple first EASs, including: The first entity determines, according to the capability information of the multiple first EASs, whether the target application context migration scenario includes an application context migration scenario decided by a first EAS among the multiple first EASs.

29. The method of claim 28, wherein: The first entity determines, according to the capability information of the multiple first EASs, whether the target application context migration scenario includes an application context migration scenario decided by a first EAS among the multiple first EASs, including: When the first EAS among the multiple first EASs supports one or more of the following capabilities: the ability to obtain the identifications of the multiple first EASs, the ability to send migration notifications to other EASs among the multiple first EASs, and support for application context migration scenarios decided by the first EAS, the first entity determines that the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS.

30. The method according to any one of claims 26 to 29, characterized in that Also includes: In the case where the first entity is an edge enabling client EEC, the EEC receives capability information of the plurality of first EASs forwarded by the edge enabling server EES from the EES; or, In a case where the first entity is an EES, the EES receives capability information of the first EAS from the first EAS.

31. The method according to any one of claims 26 to 30, characterized in that Also includes: The first entity receives first information indicating that the plurality of first EASs are associated EASs.

32. A method for determining an application context migration scenario, characterized in that: include: The first entity obtains capability information of the second entity; The first entity determines, according to the capability information of the second entity, a corresponding target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS among the plurality of first edge application servers EAS; The multiple first EASs are associated EASs, and the application contexts in the associated EASs need to be migrated together; The capability information of the second entity indicates whether the second entity has the capability of processing the migration of application contexts in the associated EAS.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein: The second entity is an application client AC, an edge enabling client EEC or an edge enabling server EES.

34. The method according to claim 32 or 33, characterized in that The capability information of the second entity indicates whether the second entity supports one or more of the following capabilities: an ability to obtain identities of the plurality of first EASs; receiving an indication of triggering a migration notification from one of the plurality of first EASs, and sending the migration notification to other first EASs of the plurality of first EASs; The migration notification is used to trigger application context migration.

35. The method according to any one of claims 32 to 34, characterized in that The application context migration scenario supported by a first EAS among the plurality of first EASs includes: an application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS; The application context migration scenarios supported by the other EASs among the multiple first EASs except the one first EAS include: an application context migration scenario triggered by the second entity detection.

36. The method according to any one of claims 32 to 35, characterized in that The first entity determines, according to the capability information of the second entity, a corresponding target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS among the plurality of first EASs, including: When the capability information of the second entity indicates that the second entity has the capability to process the application context migration in the associated EAS, it is determined that the target application context migration scenario includes the application context migration scenario decided by the first EAS in the at least one first EAS.

37. The method according to any one of claims 32 to 36, characterized in that Also includes: In the case where the first entity is an EEC: if the second entity is an AC, the EEC receives capability information of the AC from the AC; and / or, if the second entity is an EES, the EEC receives capability information of the EES from the EES; When the first entity is an EES: if the second entity is an EEC, the EES receives capability information of the EEC from the EEC; and / or, if the second entity is an AC, the EES receives capability information of the AC forwarded by the EEC from the EEC.

38. The method according to any one of claims 32 to 37, characterized in that Also includes: The first entity receives first information indicating that the plurality of first EASs are associated EASs.

39. The method according to any one of claims 32 to 38, characterized in that The plurality of first EASs are registered in a plurality of EESs.

40. The method of claim 39, wherein: The second entity includes the multiple EESs, and the capability information of the first EES indicates whether the first EES supports one or more of the following capabilities: an ability to obtain identities of the plurality of first EASs; A capability of obtaining an identification of at least one first EAS registered in the first EES; A capability to obtain identifications of the plurality of EESs; receiving an indication of triggering a migration notification from one of the plurality of first EASs, and sending a migration notification to other EASs in the plurality of first EASs; Wherein, the migration notification is used to trigger application context migration; The first EES is one of the plurality of EESs.

41. The method according to claim 39 or 40, characterized in that The first entity determines, according to the capability information of the second entity, a corresponding target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS among the plurality of first EASs, including: When the first entity is a first EES, the first EES determines a corresponding target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS registered in the first EES among the multiple first EASs according to capability information of the second entity, and the first EES is one of the multiple EESs.

42. The method according to claim 39 or 40, characterized in that The first entity determines, according to the capability information of the second entity, a corresponding target application context migration scenario for at least one first EAS among the plurality of first EASs, including: When the first entity is a first EES, the first EES determines corresponding target application context migration scenarios for the multiple first EASs according to the capability information of the second entity; The first EES is one of the plurality of EESs designated by the AC or the EEC; Or, a third indication is preconfigured in the first EES, and the third indication is used to indicate that the first EES is an EES among the multiple EESs and is used to determine corresponding target application context migration scenarios for the multiple first EASs; Alternatively, the first EES is an EES in which a master EAS is registered among the plurality of EESs.

43. The method according to any one of claims 39 to 42, characterized in that When the first entity is a first EES and the second entity includes other EESs among the plurality of EESs, the first EES receives capability information of the other EESs from the other EESs; The first EES is one of the multiple EESs.

44. A communication device, characterized in that: Comprising a module for executing the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 12; or comprising a module for executing the method as described in any one of claims 13 to 20; or comprising a module for executing the method as described in any one of claims 21 to 25; or comprising a module for executing the method as described in any one of claims 26 to 31; or comprising a module for executing the method as described in any one of claims 32 to 43.

45. A communication device, characterized in that: The invention comprises a processor connected to a memory, the memory being used to store a computer program, the processor being used to execute the computer program stored in the memory, so that the apparatus performs the method as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 12, or the method as claimed in any one of claims 13 to 20, or the method as claimed in any one of claims 21 to 25, or the method as claimed in any one of claims 26 to 31, or the method as claimed in any one of claims 32 to 43.

46. ​​A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program or instructions. When the computer program or instructions are executed by the communication device, the method described in any one of claims 1 to 12 is implemented, or the method described in any one of claims 13 to 20 is implemented, or the method described in any one of claims 21 to 25 is implemented, or the method described in any one of claims 26 to 31 is implemented, or the method described in any one of claims 32 to 43 is implemented.

47. A computer program product, characterized in that The computer program product includes a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by a communication device, implements the method as described in any one of claims 1 to 12, or implements the method as described in any one of claims 13 to 20, or implements the method as described in any one of claims 21 to 25, or implements the method as described in any one of claims 26 to 31, or implements the method as described in any one of claims 32 to 43.

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