Communication method, and apparatus

Abstract

The embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of communications. Provided are a communication method and an apparatus, which are used for achieving accurate charging before and after slice replacement in scenarios of slice replacement or slice recovery, thus improving charging accuracy. The method comprises: a first apparatus determining that a slice corresponding to a first data connection session is updated from a first slice to a second slice; and sending a first charging message to a second apparatus, the first charging message comprising an identifier of the first slice, an identifier of the second slice and correlated charging parameters, and the first charging message being used for performing correlated charging on the use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

Description

Communication method and device

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on November 17, 2023, with application number 202311547013.6 and application name “A Communication Method and Device”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a communication method and device. Background Art

[0003] Network slicing is a new type of network architecture. It provides multiple logical networks on the same shared network infrastructure, and each logical network (i.e., a network slice) can serve a specific business type or industry user. Network switching application scenarios include slice replacement and slice recovery. Slice replacement means that when the network detects that the network slice currently providing the service is unavailable or congested, it can update the original slice to a replacement slice. Correspondingly, after the slice is replaced, when the network detects that the network slice before the replacement is available or congestion is relieved, the network can restore the replaced slice to the original slice. This process is called slice recovery.

[0004] Currently, network slicing billing includes billing for the number of times a user accesses a slice (including a single access) based on statistics, and / or billing for slice usage based on statistics of user usage of slices. However, in the scenarios of slice replacement and slice restoration, the billing system cannot perceive the changes in slices and cannot determine the correlation between the billing information before and after the network slice update, which may lead to inaccurate billing.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] This application is used to solve the scenario of slice replacement or slice recovery, to achieve accurate billing before and after slice replacement, and to improve billing accuracy.

[0007] To achieve the above objectives, this application adopts the following technical solutions:

[0008] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be performed by a first device or a module (such as a chip or circuit) of the first device. For example, the first device can be a session management function. The method includes: determining that a slice corresponding to a first data connection session is updated from a first slice to a second slice; and sending a first billing message to a second device, the first billing message including an identifier of the first slice, an identifier of the second slice, and related billing parameters, the first billing message being used to perform associated billing based on a user's use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0009] In the above embodiment, in the scenario of slice replacement or slice recovery, the reported billing message carries the identifiers of the slices before and after the update (such as the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice), so that the billing system can perceive the changes in the slices, and associate the billing for the user's use of the slices before and after the update, thereby improving the accuracy of billing.

[0010] In one embodiment, sending a first billing message to a second device includes: based on the slice corresponding to the first data connection session being updated from the first slice to the second slice, determining that a trigger event corresponding to slice replacement is satisfied, and sending the first billing message to the second device; or, based on the slice corresponding to the first data connection session being updated from the first slice to the second slice, determining that a trigger event corresponding to slice recovery is satisfied, and sending the first billing message to the second device.

[0011] In the above implementation, a specific trigger event is used to trigger a corresponding billing event based on the occurrence of slice replacement or slice recovery, thereby realizing associated billing based on the user's use of the slices before and after the update in the slice replacement or slice recovery scenario, thereby improving the accuracy of billing and the flexibility of associated billing.

[0012] In one embodiment, sending a first billing message to a second device includes: updating the slice corresponding to the first data connection session from the first slice to the second slice, determining that a trigger event corresponding to the release of the first data connection session is satisfied, and sending the first billing message to the second device.

[0013] In the above implementation, through specific triggering events, when slice replacement or slice recovery occurs, the corresponding billing event can be triggered according to the release of the data connection session, thereby realizing associated billing based on the user's use of the slices before and after the update in the slice replacement or slice recovery scenario, thereby improving the accuracy of billing and the flexibility of associated billing.

[0014] In one embodiment, the method also includes: according to the slice corresponding to the first data connection session, the first slice is updated to the second slice, determining that the trigger event corresponding to the new second data connection session is met, and sending the second billing message to the second device, wherein the second billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice and related billing parameters, which are used to perform associated billing based on the user's use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0015] In the above implementation, through specific trigger events, when slice replacement or slice recovery occurs, the corresponding billing event can be triggered according to the establishment of a new data connection session, thereby realizing associated billing based on the user's use of the slices before and after the update in the slice replacement or slice recovery scenario, thereby improving the accuracy of billing and the flexibility of associated billing.

[0016] In one embodiment, the first billing message includes quota usage information corresponding to the first slice and / or quota request information corresponding to the second slice.

[0017] In the above implementation, the associated billing requested in the slice replacement or slice recovery scenario can carry information related to the slice quota, so that the slice update does not affect the quota management of the slice usage, thereby improving the accuracy of billing.

[0018] In one embodiment, before sending the first billing message to the second device, the method also includes: closing the first counter corresponding to the statistics of the first slice usage, and opening the second counter corresponding to the statistics of the second slice usage; sending the first billing message to the second device includes: when the next billing event occurs, sending the first billing message to the second device, the first billing message including the statistical information of the first counter, and / or the statistical information of the second counter.

[0019] In the above implementation, the request for associated billing triggered in the slice replacement or slice recovery scenario can be triggered immediately or delayed, such as by closing the counter corresponding to the old slice and opening the counter corresponding to the new slice, and merging the reported billing information when the next billing event occurs, thereby achieving flexible and accurate billing management.

[0020] Optionally, the immediate trigger or delayed trigger mode can be configured on the first device and can be changed by the second device as needed. The specific billing event enabling when slice replacement and / or slice restoration occurs can also be configured on the first device and can be enabled or disabled by the second device as needed.

[0021] In one embodiment, the method also includes: sending a third billing message to the session management function SMF corresponding to the home operator, indicating that the slice of the visited location corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the first slice to the second slice, and the third billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice and related billing parameters.

[0022] In the above implementation, for slice replacement or slice recovery in a roaming scenario, a billing message can be sent to the corresponding session management function of the home operator, so that the billing system of the home operator can associate the slice billing corresponding to the first data connection session with the first slice and the second slice, thereby realizing associated billing before and after the slice update, thereby improving the billing accuracy in the roaming scenario.

[0023] In one embodiment, sending a first billing message to a second device includes: if the first device is a session management function SMF of a visited operator, sending a first billing message to the billing function of the visited operator; or, if the first device is a session management function SMF of a home operator, sending a first billing message to a corresponding billing function of the home operator, for supporting the update of the slice corresponding to the first data connection session from the first slice to the second slice, the first billing message including an identifier of the first slice, an identifier of the second slice and / or an identifier of a third slice, wherein the third slice is a network slice of the home operator.

[0024] In the above implementation, for different roaming scenarios, when slice replacement or slice recovery occurs, the session management function of the visited operator can send a billing request to the billing function of the visited operator. The billing system of the visited operator can associate the slice billing corresponding to the first data connection session with the first slice and the second slice, to achieve associated billing before and after the slice update, thereby improving the billing accuracy and flexibility in the roaming scenario.

[0025] In one embodiment, if the first device is the SMF of the visited operator, the method also includes: sending a fourth billing message to the billing function corresponding to the home operator, the fourth billing message including the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice, the identifier of the third slice and related billing parameters, which are used to perform associated billing based on the user's use of the first slice and / or the second slice, and for mapping the first slice, the second slice and the third slice.

[0026] In the above implementation, for different roaming scenarios, when slice replacement or slice recovery occurs, the session management function of the visiting operator can send a billing request to the billing function of the home operator. The billing system of the home operator can associate the slice billing corresponding to the first data connection session with the first slice and the second slice, thereby realizing associated billing before and after the slice update, thereby improving the billing accuracy and flexibility in the roaming scenario.

[0027] In one embodiment, the first billing message or the fourth billing message also includes an identifier of the fourth slice, which is used to indicate that the home slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the third slice to the fourth slice. The first billing message or the fourth billing message is used to perform associated billing for the use of the third slice and / or the fourth slice, and also includes a mapping relationship between the first slice and the second slice and the third slice and the fourth slice.

[0028] In the above implementation, for slice replacement or slice recovery in the roaming scenario, it may include the simultaneous replacement / recovery of the visited slice and the home slice, then the billing message may also include the identifiers of the third slice and the fourth slice, which is used for the billing system to associate the use of the third slice and / or the fourth slice for billing, thereby improving the billing accuracy and flexibility in the roaming scenario.

[0029] In one embodiment, the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice are carried in at least one of the following information: protocol data unit PDU session billing information; or, the network slice identifier in the PDU session billing information, including the replacement network slice identifier; or the usage container UUC field or network slice mapping information.

[0030] In the above implementation, the replaced slice identifier is added to the billing message, or the original slice identifier corresponding to the slice recovery is added. The identification information can be carried in the above possible information, thereby improving the flexibility of information indication and eliminating the need to send information separately, thereby reducing signaling overhead.

[0031] In one embodiment, the first charging message includes first indication information, which is used to indicate that a slice replacement or a slice recovery occurs in the first data connection session.

[0032] In the above embodiment, by adding indication information for indicating slice replacement or slice recovery in the billing message, the billing system can obtain information before and after the slice update according to the indication, perform associated billing, and improve the flexibility of information indication and billing efficiency.

[0033] In one embodiment, the slice identifier includes the identifier of the single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI and / or the network slice instance NSI.

[0034] In the above implementation, the replacement of network slices or the replacement of slice instances in the scenario can be distinguished by an identifier indicating the slice information. The replacement of network slices or the replacement of slice instances can execute similar associated billing processes to improve the accuracy and flexibility of billing.

[0035] In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be performed by a second device or a module (such as a chip or circuit) of the second device. For example, the second device can be a billing function. The method includes: receiving a first billing message from a first device, the first billing message including an identifier of a first slice, an identifier of a second slice, and related billing parameters for associated billing of use of the first slice and / or the second slice corresponding to a first data connection session; and managing a billing data record (CDR) corresponding to the first data connection session based on the first billing message, the CDR including billing information corresponding to the first slice and / or billing information corresponding to the second slice.

[0036] In one embodiment, the first billing message includes quota usage information corresponding to the first slice and / or quota request information corresponding to the second slice.

[0037] In one embodiment, the quota management corresponding to the first slice is identified by the first slice, and the quota management corresponding to the second slice is identified by the first slice.

[0038] In one embodiment, operating the CDR includes: updating a first CDR corresponding to the first data connection session, the first CDR including billing information corresponding to the first slice and / or billing information corresponding to the second slice.

[0039] In one embodiment, operating the CDR includes: closing a first CDR corresponding to the first data connection session, the first CDR including billing information corresponding to the first slice; and creating a second CDR corresponding to the second data connection session, the second CDR including billing information corresponding to the second slice.

[0040] In one embodiment, the first device is a session management function SMF of a visitor operator of a user corresponding to the first data connection session.

[0041] In one embodiment, receiving a first billing message from a first device includes: if the second device is a billing function of a home operator, receiving a first billing message from a session management function SMF corresponding to the home operator; or, if the second device is a billing function of a visited operator, receiving a first billing message from a session management function SMF corresponding to the visited operator, the first billing message including an identifier of the first slice, an identifier of the second slice, and an identifier of a third slice, for associated billing for the use of the first slice and / or the second slice, wherein the third slice is a network slice of the home operator.

[0042] In one embodiment, if the second device is the billing function of the home operator, the method also includes: receiving a fourth billing message from the session management function SMF corresponding to the visited operator, the fourth billing message including the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice, the identifier of the third slice and related billing parameters, for associated billing of the use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0043] In one embodiment, the first billing message also includes an identifier of the fourth slice, which is used to indicate that the home slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the third slice to the fourth slice, and is used to perform associated billing for the use of the third slice and / or the fourth slice.

[0044] In one embodiment, the method also includes: sending a fifth billing message to the billing function CHF corresponding to the home operator, the fifth billing message including the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice and related billing parameters, for associated billing of the use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0045] In one embodiment, the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice are carried in at least one of the following information: PDU session billing information; or, the network slice identifier in the PDU session billing information, including the replacement network slice identifier; or the usage container UUC field or network slice mapping information.

[0046] In one embodiment, the first charging message includes first indication information, which is used to indicate that a slice replacement or a slice recovery occurs in the first data connection session.

[0047] In one embodiment, the slice identifier includes the identifier of the single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI and / or the network slice instance NSI.

[0048] In one embodiment, the method also includes: sending a CDR corresponding to the first data connection session, used to determine the billing corresponding to the first slice tenant based on the contract information between the first slice and the first slice tenant, and / or the billing information of the first slice and the second slice corresponding to the first data connection session and / or the corresponding generated CDR.

[0049] In the above implementation, the second device (such as CHF) can send the generated CDR to other devices of the billing system (such as Billing, or account management, etc.). The billing system can determine the billing for the end user or the billing for the slice tenant based on the CDR corresponding to the data connection session and the slice mapping relationship.

[0050] According to a third aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be performed by a third device or a module (such as a chip or circuit) of the third device. For example, the third device can be an access and mobility management function. The method includes: determining that a slice corresponding to a first user is updated from a first slice to a second slice; and sending a sixth charging message to a second device, the sixth charging message including an identifier of the first slice, an identifier of the second slice, and related charging parameters for associated charging of the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0051] In one embodiment, sending a sixth billing message to a second device includes: based on the slice corresponding to the first user being updated from the first slice to the second slice, determining that the first user meets the trigger event corresponding to registration management, and sending the sixth billing message to the second device; or, based on the slice corresponding to the first user being updated from the first slice to the second slice, determining that the first user meets the trigger event corresponding to connection management, and sending the sixth billing message to the second device; or, based on the slice corresponding to the first user being updated from the first slice to the second slice, determining that the first user meets the trigger event corresponding to location update, and sending the sixth billing message to the second device.

[0052] In one embodiment, the first device is an access and mobility management function AMF corresponding to the operator of the visited location of the first user, and the second device is used to provide a billing function CHF for the operator of the visited location.

[0053] In one embodiment, the method also includes: sending a billing message to the billing function CHF corresponding to the home operator of the first user, the billing message including the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice and related billing parameters, which are used to perform associated billing on the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0054] In one embodiment, the slice identifier includes the identifier of the single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI and / or the network slice instance NSI.

[0055] In one embodiment, the sixth charging message includes second indication information, which is used to indicate that a slice corresponding to the first user undergoes slice replacement or slice recovery.

[0056] In a fourth aspect, a communication device is provided for implementing the above method. The communication device may be the first device in the first aspect, the second device in the second aspect, or the third device in the third aspect, or a node or device comprising the first, second, or third device, or a module in the first, second, or third device, such as a chip, chip system, or circuit, or a logical node, logic module, or software that can implement some or all of the functions.

[0057] The communication device includes modules, units, or means corresponding to the above-mentioned method, which can be implemented by hardware, software, or hardware executing corresponding software implementation. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the above-mentioned functions.

[0058] In conjunction with the fourth aspect above, in one possible implementation, the communication device may include a processing module and a transceiver module. The processing module may be configured to implement the processing functions described in any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof. The processing module may, for example, be a processor. The transceiver module, also referred to as a transceiver unit, may be configured to implement the transmitting and / or receiving functions described in any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof. The transceiver module may be comprised of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver, or a communication interface.

[0059] In combination with the fourth aspect above, in a possible implementation, the transceiver module includes a sending module and a receiving module, which are respectively used to implement the sending and receiving functions in any of the above aspects and any possible implementations thereof.

[0060] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor; the processor is configured to be coupled to a memory, and after reading instructions from the memory, execute the method described in any of the above aspects according to the instructions. The communication device can be the first device described in the first aspect, or the second device described in the second aspect, or the third device described in the third aspect, or a node or device comprising the first, second, or third device, or a module in the first, second, or third device, such as a chip, chip system, or circuit, or a logical node, logical module, or software that can implement some or all of the functions.

[0061] In combination with the fifth aspect above, in a possible implementation, the communication device further includes a memory, which is used to store necessary program instructions and data.

[0062] In conjunction with the fifth aspect above, in one possible implementation, the communication device is a chip or a chip system. Optionally, when the communication device is a chip system, it can be composed of a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0063] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and an interface circuit; the interface circuit is configured to receive a computer program or instruction and transmit it to the processor; and the processor is configured to execute the computer program or instruction so that the communication device performs the method described in any of the above aspects. The communication device may be the first device described in the first aspect, or the second device described in the second aspect, or the third device described in the third aspect, or a node or device comprising the first, second, or third device described above, or a module in the first, second, or third device described above, such as a chip, chip system, or circuit, or a logical node, logical module, or software capable of implementing some or all of the functions.

[0064] In conjunction with the sixth aspect above, in one possible implementation, the communication device is a chip or a chip system. Optionally, when the communication device is a chip system, it can be composed of a chip or include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0065] In a seventh aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, wherein instructions are stored in the computer-readable storage medium, and when the computer-readable storage medium is run on the computer, the computer can execute the method described in any one of the above aspects.

[0066] In an eighth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed on a computer, enables the computer to execute the method described in any one of the above aspects.

[0067] In a ninth aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes a first device for executing any possible implementation of the first aspect, and a second device for executing any possible implementation of the second aspect.

[0068] In combination with the ninth aspect above, in a possible implementation, the communication system further includes a third device for executing any possible implementation of the third aspect above.

[0069] Among them, the technical effects brought about by any possible implementation method in the second to ninth aspects can refer to the technical effects brought about by different possible implementation methods in the above-mentioned first aspect, and will not be repeated here.

[0070] It is understandable that, provided that the solutions are not contradictory, the solutions in each aspect can be combined. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0071] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0072] FIG2 is a schematic diagram of a network structure corresponding to a roaming scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0073] FIG3 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0074] FIG4 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0075] FIG5 is a flow chart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] FIG6 is a flow chart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0077] FIG7 is a flow chart of another communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0078] FIG8 is a flow chart of a communication method in a roaming scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0079] FIG9 is a flow chart of another communication method in a roaming scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0080] FIG10 is a flow chart of another communication method in a roaming scenario provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0081] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0082] In the following, the terms "first" and "second" are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be understood to indicate or imply relative importance or implicitly specify the number of the technical features indicated. Therefore, a feature defined as "first" or "second" may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of the features. In the description of this embodiment, unless otherwise specified, "plurality" means two or more.

[0083] It should be noted that, in this application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations, or descriptions. Any embodiment or design described in this application as "exemplary" or "for example" should not be construed as being preferred or advantageous over other embodiments or designs. Rather, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present the relevant concepts in a concrete manner.

[0084] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of this application to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of this application. Obviously, the embodiments described are only part of the embodiments of this application, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments in this application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts are within the scope of protection of this application.

[0085] First, a brief introduction to the relevant technologies involved in this application is given.

[0086] Data connection session: abbreviated as session, is an association between a terminal device and a data network (DN), used to provide a data connection service for the user. Exemplarily, the data connection session can be a protocol data unit (PDU) session or other form of session. The data connection session is used to provide data connection services. The sessions in the following embodiments of the present application are not limited to PDU sessions, which are uniformly described here and will not be repeated below.

[0087] Network Slicing: This technology divides a physical network into multiple virtual logical networks. The physical network is partitioned based on service requirements such as latency, bandwidth, security, and reliability to accommodate different application scenarios. Different network slices support different functions and optimize network functions.

[0088] Network Slice Instance (NSI): A network slice instance is a set of network function instances allocated to a deployed network slice and the resources required by the network slice, such as computing resources, storage resources, or network resources. NSI IDs can be used to identify different network slice instances.

[0089] The identification of a network slice can be represented by network slice selection assistance information (NSSAI). NSSAI includes one or more single NSSAIs (S-NSSAIs), which is a collection of S-NSSAIs.

[0090] S-NSSAI consists of a slice / service type (SST) and a slice differentiator (SD). SST includes the characteristics of standardized or operator-defined network slices in terms of features and services; SD is optional information that supplements SST and is used to distinguish different network slices with the same SST. Network slices can provide different slices or service types through SST and / or SD. One network slice can correspond to multiple network slice instances, or one network slice instance can correspond to multiple network slices.

[0091] The types and functions of NSSAI include the following.

[0092] Subscribed NSSAI: The network slice corresponding to the user's subscription data.

[0093] Default NSSAI: Based on operator policy, one or more network slices in a user's subscribed NSSAI may be set as the default NSSAI. When a default NSSAI is set, if the user device does not carry a requested NSSAI in the Registration Request message, the network will use the default NSSAI to provide services to the user device.

[0094] Requested NSSAI, that is, the NSSAI identification information of the network slice carried by the user equipment in the Registration Request message. Specifically, when the user equipment first requests a service, the Registration Request message can carry the configured NSSAI, i.e., the configured NSSAI. When the user equipment requests the service again, the Registration Request message can carry the allowed NSSAI as the requested NSSAI.

[0095] Allowed NSSAI indicates one or more S-NSSAIs allowed by the network device in the NSSAI requested by the user equipment. Specifically, the network device may inform the user equipment of the information that the NSSAI is allowed by carrying the Allowed NSSAI network element in the Registration Accept message.

[0096] Slice replacement and slice recovery: When a network slice is detected to be unavailable or congested, the original slice can be updated to a replacement slice, such as updating the first slice to the second slice. Correspondingly, after a slice is replaced, if it is detected that the original slice before the replacement is available again or the congestion has been alleviated, if the network side determines that the terminal can use the original slice before the replacement again, then the replacement slice is updated to the original slice, which is slice recovery.

[0097] Among them, when slicing is deployed, network slice S-NSSAI and / or network slice instances can be deployed according to the needs of operators and / or business commercialization. Slice unavailability or congestion refers to the situation where the deployed network slice and / or network slice instance is unreachable due to network link congestion, or the network slice and / or network slice instance is temporarily inactive due to business overload, processing timeout, no response, slice release or slice management operation, resulting in the network slice being unable to provide slice services.

[0098] In this application, S-NSSAI identifies and refers to a network slice, NSI ID identifies and refers to a network slice instance, network slices and network slice instances are collectively referred to as slices, slice replacement or slice recovery may refer to network slice S-NSSAI replacement or recovery, or may refer to replacement or recovery of a network slice instance (NSI ID), which will not be elaborated below.

[0099] Next, the implementation environment and application scenarios of the embodiments of the present application are briefly introduced.

[0100] The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can be applied to the network architecture shown in Figure 1. Figure 1 takes the network service architecture of the fifth generation (5G) mobile communication system as an example to illustrate the interaction relationship between network functions (NFs) and entities and the corresponding interfaces. The network functions and entities included in the service-based architecture (SBA) of the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) of the 5G system mainly include: user equipment (UE), access network (AN) or radio access network (RAN), user plane function (UPF), data network (DN), access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), policy control function (PCF), application function (AF), network slice selection function (NSSF), charging function (CHF), etc.

[0101] Among them, UE, (R)AN, UPF and DN are generally referred to as user plane network functions and entities (or user plane network elements), and the other parts are generally referred to as control plane network functions and entities (or control plane network elements). The control plane network element is defined by 3GPP as the processing function in a network. The control plane network element has 3GPP-defined functional behaviors and 3GPP-defined interfaces. NF can be a network element running on dedicated hardware, or a software instance running on dedicated hardware, or a virtual function instantiated on a suitable platform, such as being implemented on a cloud infrastructure.

[0102] A UE is a device with wireless transceiver capabilities and is sometimes referred to as a terminal device, access terminal device, vehicle-mounted terminal, industrial control terminal, UE unit, UE station, mobile station, mobile station, remote station, remote terminal device, mobile device, UE terminal device, wireless communication device, machine terminal, UE agent, or UE device. A terminal can be fixed or mobile. It can be deployed on land, indoors or outdoors, handheld, wearable, or in a vehicle; on water (such as on ships); or in the air (for example, on aircraft, balloons, and / or satellites). The terminal may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a virtual reality (VR) terminal device, an augmented reality (AR) terminal device, a terminal in industrial control, a vehicle-mounted terminal device, a terminal in self-driving, a terminal in assisted driving, a terminal in remote medical care, a terminal in smart grid, a terminal in transportation safety, a terminal in smart city, a terminal in smart home, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios.

[0103] The following is a detailed introduction to the main functions of each network element.

[0104] (R)AN: (R)AN can be either AN or RAN. Specifically, (R)AN can be various forms of base stations, such as macro base stations, micro base stations, distributed unit-control units (DU-CU), etc. In addition, the above-mentioned base stations can also be wireless controllers in cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenarios, or relay stations, access points, vehicle-mounted devices, wearable devices, or network devices in future evolved public land mobile networks (PLMN). (R)AN is mainly responsible for wireless resource management, service quality management, data compression and encryption, etc. on the air interface side.

[0105] UPF: Responsible for forwarding and receiving user data. The UPF receives downlink data from the DN and transmits it to the UE via the (R)AN. The UPF also receives uplink data from the UE via the (R)AN and forwards it to the DN.

[0106] DN: For example, a DN can be a carrier service network, an Internet access network, or a third-party service network. The DN can exchange information with the UE through PDU sessions. PDU sessions can be of various types, such as Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) and IPv6.

[0107] AMF: Primarily responsible for processing control plane messages and user mobility management, including mobility status management, assigning temporary user identities, and authenticating and / or authorizing users. Examples include access control, mobility management, registration and deregistration, and / or network element selection. Furthermore, the AMF is the decision point for slice replacement or restoration. It obtains slice status based on notifications and determines whether to perform a slice replacement or restoration.

[0108] SMF: Mainly used for session management, session establishment, UE IP address allocation and / or management, responsible for session establishment, modification, release, and / or quality of service (QoS) control.

[0109] Among them, the AMF and / or SMF may be integrated with a charging trigger function (CTF) for reporting charging information to the CHF based on the configured trigger event. For example, in an embodiment of the present application, the CTF integrated with the SMF may be used to report charging information related to switching replacement and / or slice recovery to the CHF.

[0110] CHF: is the entity in the billing system responsible for interacting with core network elements. It is responsible for receiving billing information reported by core network elements integrated with CTF, such as AMF and / or SMF, including usage information and / or quota management requests. It can also control the billing operations of the core network elements, such as enabling or disabling billing trigger events, quota termination or quota reauthorization, etc. CHF can generate charging data records (CDRs) based on the billing information and send the CDRs to the billing system (such as Billing) for billing.

[0111] Among them, CDR records the duration of the data connection or session between the user and the network, or the traffic usage, and can also include the corresponding fees, etc. It is the basis for telecommunications operators to conduct billing and can be used to generate bills for users or tenants.

[0112] NSSF: Mainly responsible for the selection of network slices.

[0113] PCF: Mainly used to manage policy rules and user subscription information.

[0114] The AMF receives access and / or mobility policies issued by the PCF and is responsible for managing user mobility. The AMF can obtain slice status by interacting with the NSSF or PCF. For example, the slice status may include slice unavailability or congestion, slice recovery, or normal slice load. The AMF can interact with the PCF via the N15 interface and with the NSSF via the N22 interface to subscribe to or unsubscribe from slice status notification information.

[0115] Among them, the functions of other network elements included in Figure 1 can be referred to the relevant descriptions in conventional technologies and will not be repeated here.

[0116] In addition, the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application can also be applied to the network architecture of the roaming scenario shown in Figure 2.

[0117] 5G core network roaming refers to the ability of a terminal on the home network to use the 5G network within the roaming area by accessing the 5G network of the visited network in a standalone networking mode. For example, there are two main networking modes for roaming scenarios: Home Routed (HR) and Local Breakout (LBO). In HR or LBO architectures, user access services are provided by the visited network operator, while in HR architectures, the session anchor point is provided by the home network operator. In other words, the communication transmission related to the PDU session needs to be routed from the visited network element to the home network element, with the home network operator providing service services. The session anchor point refers to the core network element that provides access services and allocates Internet Protocol (IP) to the terminal. In contrast, in LBO architectures, the session anchor point is provided by the visited network operator. In other words, the communication transmission related to the PDU session interacts with the visited network element, and the visited network operator provides service services. Therefore, in roaming scenarios, both the visited and home network operators in the HR architecture can implement billing, but the service transmission path is longer. The LBO architecture has a shorter service transmission path and a better service experience, but the home location cannot obtain the network status of the roaming terminal.

[0118] As shown in Figure 2, when the terminal is roaming, the roaming AMF, also known as the visited AMF or visited AMF (V-AMF), is responsible for user access and mobility management. It interacts with the visited CHF (V-CHF) through the N41 interface to report billing information related to slice access. The V-CHF is responsible for generating CDRs. In addition, the V-AMF can be responsible for sending user session requests to the V-SMF through the N11 interface.

[0119] The roaming SMF (Visited-SMF, V-SMF) can interact with the home SMF (Home-SMF, H-SMF) through the N16 interface and is responsible for roaming user session management.

[0120] H-SMF can interact with the home CHF (Home-CHF, H-CHF) through the N40 interface to report billing information and / or quota information related to slice usage, etc., and H-CHF generates CDR.

[0121] It should be noted that the embodiments of the present application are not limited to the above two roaming architectures, and can also be applied to other roaming architectures. For example, in one embodiment, the V-AMF can interact with the H-CHF and V-CHF respectively to report the billing information related to slice access, and the V-SMF can interact with the H-CHF and V-CHF respectively to report the billing information related to slice usage. For another example, the V-AMF interacts with the V-CHF to report the billing information related to slice access, the V-CHF interacts with the H-CHF to forward and report the billing information related to slice access, the V-SMF interacts with the V-CHF to report the billing information related to slice usage, and the V-CHF interacts with the H-CHF to forward and / or report the billing information related to slice usage.

[0122] Regarding slice billing, as mentioned above, the AMF and CHF interact to implement billing for user access to slices. The AMF and CHF can trigger billing based on events such as user registration, deregistration, N2 connection, N2 release, and / or location movement. For example, when a user accesses a service through a slice, they first register on the network and establish an N2 connection, triggering a billing event for the AMF's access management function. When a registration or deregistration billing event is triggered, the AMF reports to the CHF information related to slice access, including the subscriber's user ID, the network slices the user has subscribed to, and / or the network slices allowed to be accessed. The CHF can perceive the actual slices used by the user. Based on the user ID or slice ID, the CHF can associate the information at different granularities to determine the actual number of user registrations within a slice, or the number of slices a user has actually used. The slice-related information reported by the AMF to the billing system includes, for example, the user's permitted network slices and the user's subscribed network slices. Furthermore, in the case of roaming, this information may also include the user's home network slice and / or the network slice of the roaming service.

[0123] In addition, SMF interacts with CHF to implement network billing for users' use of slices. The specific implementation process includes: the user or the network initiates a PDU session operation, including the establishment, modification or release of a PDU session. SMF interacts with CHF to implement billing for the use of slices, such as flow-based billing, duration-based billing or session-based billing. SMF reports the PDU session identifier, the identifier of the user or tenant who subscribes to the slice, the identifier of the slice used, and / or quota information to CHF. The quota information may include the requested usage of the quota, and / or the actual usage of the quota, and other billing information about the use of the slice, which is reported to CHF.

[0124] When the user plane requests data flow or duration, it can include the requested quota information in the charging request message, and the CHF will include the authorized quota information in the charging response message. The SMF can determine the user's use of the service based on whether the quota is authorized. Specifically, if the CHF does not grant the quota or fails to grant the quota, the SMF can terminate the service. If the CHF grants the quota, the SMF can count the usage and report the billing information of the usage to the CHF.

[0125] Among them, the interaction between SMF and CHF can perform billing according to the granularity of PDU session, and can independently bill the PDU session of each terminal. The creation of billing resources and billing processing are all independently billed without interfering with each other. For the billing processing of PDU sessions, online and / or offline converged billing mechanisms can be used for billing. The credit control of billing information collection and / or quota management is based on traffic or duration. The collected usage information and the granted quota information are usually related. For example: CHF grants the PDU session a 5M quota, then SMF can only release 5M traffic for the PDU session; correspondingly, the usage of the PDU session collected by SMF is 5M traffic, and the usage reported to CHF is 5M traffic.

[0126] For slice billing, a user can connect to multiple slices simultaneously. The SMF billing object can be based on end-user billing or PDU session billing. During information collection, it is necessary to carry the slice information accessed by the user and report the S-NSSAI information. The billing system can identify the PDU session of a single access user in a single network slice based on the S-NSSAI, and perform credit control for traffic and / or quota management of a single network slice.

[0127] Furthermore, CHF can associate billing of different granularities through billing, such as service-based billing, user-based billing, or tenant-based billing. Specifically, CHF can associate the usage of billing information with the same PDU session identifier in multiple billing messages reported in batches or multiple times based on the PDU session identifier to implement service usage billing. For another example, CHF can associate the usage of billing messages with the same user identifier in billing messages reported in batches or multiple times based on the user identifier to implement user usage billing. For another example, CHF can associate the usage of different users corresponding to the same slice identifier in billing messages reported in batches or multiple times based on the slice identifier to implement slice usage billing. Furthermore, CHF can also implement billing based on a combination of different granularities, such as a combination of user and slice granularity, to distinguish usage billing for different users in the same slice.

[0128] The CHF can generate one or more corresponding CDRs based on the billing information reported by the SMF or AMF. The CHF sends the CDRs to the billing system through the Charging Gateway Function (CGF) for subsequent call record association. Depending on the actual deployment business model of the operator, different bills or business models may be used, and this application does not limit this.

[0129] In the scenario of slice replacement or slice restoration, the above-mentioned billing information collection and / or billing management mechanism cannot dynamically perceive the change of slices, cannot accurately identify the association between the network slice actually used by the user and / or the replacement network slice, or cannot perform credit control on the traffic and / or quota management of the network slice and / or the replacement network slice, so the billing is inaccurate. For example, the replacement slice may be the slice subscribed by the user, or it may not be the slice subscribed by the user. When a slice replacement occurs, only the traffic of the original slice can be counted according to the S-NSSAI identifier corresponding to the original slice, and the subscription management relationship of the tenant or user can only match the traffic information of the original slice. In other words, the billing information before and after the slice replacement cannot be associated, which will result in the usage of the replacement slice not being accumulated to the billing information of the user or tenant, or the accumulation is missing or inaccurate. For slice tenants, whether it is a shared network slice (one S-NSSAI provides services to multiple tenants at the same time) or an exclusive network slice (one S-NSSAI is only provided to one tenant), it may cause the billing information of the slice usage and the replacement slice usage, or the slices used by different tenants in different time periods to be inaccurate, which may lead to disputes caused by inaccurate billing information or inconsistent subsequent billing information.

[0130] Based on the above problems, this application establishes an association relationship between the slices before and after the slice replacement to achieve billing association in the slice replacement or slice recovery scenario, thereby improving billing accuracy and achieving precise billing.

[0131] It should be noted that the present application can be applied to the billing management of slice replacement and / or slice recovery in non-roaming scenarios, and the billing of slice replacement and / or slice recovery in roaming scenarios.

[0132] In addition, the embodiments of the present application do not limit the slice deployment method. For example, the network can deploy an SMF or UPF for each network slice separately, or the network can deploy one SMF or one UPF for multiple network slices. The billing process for different deployment scenarios may be different, which is not limited by this application.

[0133] It should be noted that the network architecture shown in Figures 1 or 2 is for example purposes only and is not intended to limit the technical solutions of this application. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that, in a specific implementation, other network elements or devices may also be included, and the number of network devices, terminals, and / or core network devices may also be determined based on specific needs.

[0134] Optionally, each network element shown in FIG1 or FIG2 may be a device, a functional module within a device, or a logical functional unit. It is understood that the above functions may be network elements in a hardware device, such as a communication chip in a mobile phone, or software functions running on dedicated hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform).

[0135] For example, each network element described in FIG1 or FIG2 can be implemented by the communication device 300 in FIG3. FIG3 shows a schematic diagram of the hardware structure of a communication device applicable to embodiments of the present application. The communication device 300 includes at least one processor 301, a communication line 302, a memory 303, and at least one communication interface 304.

[0136] The processor 301 may be a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the present application.

[0137] The communication link 302 may include a path for transmitting information between the above components, such as a bus.

[0138] The communication interface 304 uses any transceiver or other device for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as an Ethernet interface, a RAN interface, a wireless local area network (WLAN) interface, etc.

[0139] The memory 303 can be a read-only memory (ROM) or other types of static storage devices that can store static information and instructions, a random access memory (RAM) or other types of dynamic storage devices that can store information and instructions, or an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disc storage, optical disc storage (including compressed optical disc, laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc, Blu-ray disc, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store the desired program code in the form of an instruction or data structure and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited to this. The memory can be independent and connected to the processor via a communication line 302. The memory can also be integrated with the processor. The memory provided in the embodiment of the present application can generally have non-volatility. Among them, the memory 303 is used to store the computer execution instructions involved in executing the solution of the present application, and is controlled by the processor 301. The processor 301 is used to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 303, thereby implementing the method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0140] Optionally, the computer-executable instructions in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as application code, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0141] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 301 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in FIG. 3 .

[0142] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 300 may include multiple processors, such as the processor 301 and the processor 307 in FIG3 . Each of these processors may be a single-core (single-CPU) processor or a multi-core (multi-CPU) processor. The processor herein may refer to one or more devices, circuits, and / or processing cores for processing data (e.g., computer program instructions).

[0143] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 300 may further include an output device 305 and an input device 306. The output device 305 communicates with the processor 301 and can display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 305 can be a liquid crystal display (LCD), a light emitting diode (LED) display device, a cathode ray tube (CRT) display device, or a projector. The input device 306 communicates with the processor 301 and can receive user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device 306 can be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or a sensor device.

[0144] The communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application is described in detail below.

[0145] It should be noted that the message names between network elements or the names of parameters in the messages in the following embodiments of the present application are only examples, and other names may be used in specific implementations. The embodiments of the present application do not specifically limit this.

[0146] It is understood that in the embodiments of the present application, network elements such as the first device and the second device may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application. These steps are merely examples, and the embodiments of the present application may also perform other steps or variations of various steps. For example, the first device may be an SMF and the second device may be a CHF. In addition, the various steps may be performed in a different order than those presented in the embodiments of the present application, and it is possible that not all steps in the embodiments of the present application need to be performed.

[0147] As shown in FIG4 , a communication method is provided in an embodiment of the present application, and the method includes the following steps.

[0148] 401: The first device determines that the slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the first slice to the second slice.

[0149] That is, the first device determines that a slice corresponding to the first data connection session undergoes slice replacement, such as replacing the first slice with the second slice to provide slice service; or determines that a slice corresponding to the first data connection session undergoes slice recovery, and the first slice is restored to provide slice service for the second slice.

[0150] This application does not limit the original slice or replacement slice corresponding to the user. For example, in a slice replacement scenario, the first slice can be the original slice and the second slice can be the replacement slice; for example, in a slice recovery scenario, the first slice can be the replacement slice and the second slice can be the original slice. In addition, the slice corresponding to the first data connection session can only undergo slice replacement or slice recovery, or multiple slices corresponding to the first data connection session can undergo slice replacement and / or slice recovery simultaneously. This application does not limit this.

[0151] For example, the data connection session may be a PDU session or other types of data connection sessions, which is not limited in this application. In the various embodiments of the present application described below, only the data connection session being a PDU session is used as an example for illustration. For example, the slice corresponding to the first PDU session is updated from the first slice to the second slice. This will not be further described in detail.

[0152] The first device may be a logical function, entity or network element responsible for session management in the network, for example, the first device may be an SMF.

[0153] In one embodiment, the first device can determine that slice replacement or slice recovery occurs in the first data connection session based on the received message. For example, the first device can receive a message from the access and mobility management logical function AMF to determine that slice replacement or slice recovery occurs in the first data connection session.

[0154] Exemplarily, the AMF may send a PDU session operation request message to the SMF carrying a notification: a slice replacement or slice recovery occurs in the slice corresponding to the first PDU session, and carrying the slice identifier before and / or after the update.

[0155] Further illustratively, the AMF may receive a notification message sent from another network element to obtain the status of the service slice accessed by the user terminal. For example, when the NSSF or PCF detects that the first slice is unavailable or congested, it determines that the first slice is unavailable or congested, and sends a notification message to the AMF, carrying the identifier of the first slice. The notification message is used to indicate that the first slice is unavailable or congested. When the network detects that the network slice is unavailable or congested, the AMF may determine whether a slice replacement is to occur based on the notification message.

[0156] If the AMF determines that a slice replacement occurs, it may send a PDU session operation request message to the SMF, which may carry the identifier of the updated slice, such as the second slice, or may carry the identifier of the slices before and after the update, such as the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice (such as S-NSSAI and replacement S-NSSAI). The request message for the PDU session operation may specifically be a request message for PDU session establishment or a request message for PDU session update.

[0157] At this time, SMF can transfer the original slice associated with the PDU session to the replacement slice according to the slice identifier carried in the request message of the PDU session operation from AMF, such as updating from the first slice to the second slice. Optionally, SMF can reply to AMF with a response message corresponding to the PDU session operation, such as a response message for PDU session establishment or a response message for PDU session update.

[0158] In one embodiment, the SMF receives the updated slice information in the request message of the PDU session operation sent by the AMF, and determines that the PDU session has undergone slice replacement or slice recovery. Then the SMF can determine whether to retain the PDU session or to release and reconstruct the PDU session, thereby determining the subsequent billing information reporting process.

[0159] Among them, the session and service continuity (Session and Service Continuity Mode, SSC) modes corresponding to the PDU session include Mode 1, Mode 2 and Mode 3. SSC Mode 1 refers to Internet Protocol (IP) continuity, and the PDU session is maintained. SSC Mode 2 means that IP continuity is not provided, and the PDU session can be released first and then rebuilt, such as executing the operation of closing the first PDU session and then executing the operation of rebuilding the second PDU session. SSC Mode 3 means providing short-term IP continuity, and the PDU session can be rebuilt first and then released, such as executing the operation of rebuilding the second PDU session and then executing the operation of closing the first PDU session.

[0160] In addition, in the scenario where handover recovery occurs, if the AMF receives a notification message that the original slice is available or the congestion is relieved, the AMF may determine that a handover recovery operation is required. The AMF may send a request message for a PDU session operation to the SMF, carrying the identifier of the original slice (such as the S-NSSAI and the identifier of the replacement slice). Exemplarily, the request message for the PDU session operation may be a request message for establishing a PDU session.

[0161] At this time, SMF transfers the alternative slice associated with the PDU session to the original slice according to the slice identifier carried in the request message of the PDU session operation from AMF, such as updating from the first slice to the second slice. Optionally, SMF can reply to AMF with a response message of the PDU session operation, such as a response message of the PDU session establishment.

[0162] 402: The first device sends a first billing message to the second device, including an identifier of the first slice and an identifier of the second slice. The first billing message is used to associate and bill the use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0163] In one embodiment, the first device determines that the current first data connection session satisfies a billing-related trigger event, and then sends a first billing message to the second device, where the first billing message includes relevant billing parameters. For example, the first billing parameter may include the billing parameter corresponding to the first slice and the billing parameter corresponding to the second slice.

[0164] Among them, the billing parameters refer to the relevant information or parameters on the use of a certain slice generated by the network based on a single data connection session corresponding to a single user, for example, information such as the duration and / or traffic volume corresponding to the user's use of the slice. For example, if the network charges based on the duration of the user's use of the slice, the billing parameters may include the duration information of the first data connection session corresponding to the first terminal user using the first slice, such as the billing information including the duration indication T1, and / or the traffic volume information used by the first data connection session corresponding to the first terminal through the first slice, or the applied quota information. Optionally, the billing parameters may include the billing parameters corresponding to the first slice and / or the billing parameters corresponding to the second slice.

[0165] Among them, the billing trigger event corresponding to the first device may include a trigger event corresponding to slice replacement, a trigger event corresponding to slice recovery, a trigger event corresponding to session release, or a trigger event corresponding to session creation, etc. If the first device determines that the trigger conditions corresponding to any of the above trigger events are met, the first device can report the relevant billing message to the second device.

[0166] In which, based on the slice corresponding to the first data connection session being updated from the first slice to the second slice, determining that a trigger event corresponding to slice replacement is satisfied is: determining that the slice corresponding to the first data connection session is replaced from the first slice to the second slice. Based on the slice corresponding to the first data connection session being updated from the first slice to the second slice, determining that a trigger event corresponding to slice release is satisfied is: determining that the first data connection session is released. Similarly, based on the slice corresponding to the first data connection session being updated from the first slice to the second slice, determining that a trigger event corresponding to slice creation is satisfied is: determining that the first data connection session is released.

[0167] Exemplarily, the first device updates the slice corresponding to the first data connection session from the first slice to the second slice, determines that a trigger event corresponding to the slice replacement is satisfied, and sends a first charging message to the second device; or

[0168] The first device updates the slice corresponding to the first data connection session from the first slice to the second slice, determines that a trigger event corresponding to slice recovery is satisfied, and sends a first charging message to the second device; or

[0169] The first device updates the slice corresponding to the first data connection session from the first slice to the second slice, and the first data connection session is released due to slice replacement or slice recovery, then determines that the trigger event corresponding to the release of the first data connection session is satisfied, and sends a first charging message to the second device; or

[0170] When a slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the first slice to the second slice, and a new second data connection session is established due to slice replacement or slice recovery, the first device determines that a trigger event corresponding to the new second data connection session is satisfied, and sends a second charging message to the second device. The second charging message includes an identifier of the first slice and an identifier of the second slice, and is used to perform associated charging for use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0171] It should be noted that this application does not limit the order of the above-mentioned first device releasing and establishing a new data connection session, that is, the first device can first release the first data connection session and then establish a new second data connection session, or the first device can first establish the second data connection session.

[0172] In one implementation, the second device may be a charging function CHF, or other network elements including CHF, or other logical functions or physical units capable of implementing a charging function, which is not limited in this application.

[0173] In one embodiment, the slice identifier may be an S-NSSAI and / or an NSI ID. For example, the first slice may be S-NSSAI#1, and the second slice identifier may be S-NSSAI#2; or the first slice may be NSI ID#1, and the second slice identifier may be NSI ID#2.

[0174] Correspondingly, the second device receives the first billing message from the first device and can determine whether a slice replacement or slice recovery occurs in the first PDU session based on the content carried in the first billing message. Exemplarily, the first billing message may include first indication information for indicating slice replacement or slice recovery, or the first billing message may implicitly indicate slice replacement or slice recovery using slice identifiers before and after the update. The detailed indication method is introduced below and will not be repeated here.

[0175] Among them, the first billing message includes the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice, which are used to associate the billing of the PDU session caused by the slice replacement or slice recovery. That is to say, the associated billing in this application means that the slices corresponding to the PDU sessions before and after the slice update are different, but the user's use of the slices before and after the update is related. For example, in the scenario where the PDU session is maintained, the CHF can determine to replace the service slice of the first PDU session based on the identifier of the first PDU session carried in the received first billing message, as well as the identifiers of the first slice and the second slice carried. Therefore, the CHF can associate the billing of the first slice and the second slice to the billing of the same PDU session. Exemplarily, the billing message can indicate the identifier of the original slice before the slice replacement and the identifier of the replacement slice after the slice replacement through different indicator bits.

[0176] Alternatively, for the scenario of PDU session reconstruction, the first billing message sent by the SMF to the CHF includes the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session, as well as the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice, so that the CHF can determine the scenario of PDU session reconstruction based on the identifier of the first PDU session and the identifier of the second PDU session, such as associating the billing of the first slice and the second slice to the first PDU session and the second PDU session respectively, that is, associating the slices before and after the update to different PDU session billing. In this way, the billing function can determine slice replacement or slice recovery based on the associated information, so that the billing function can associate the billing information before and after the slice update based on the associated information.

[0177] Exemplarily, for the scenario of slice recovery, if the service slice corresponding to the first PDU session is restored from the second slice to the first slice, and the first PDU session is maintained, the SMF can send a billing message to the CHF, which carries the identifier of the first PDU session, the identifier of the second slice, and the identifier of the first slice. The CHF receives the billing message, determines that the first PDU session is maintained based on the information carried, and associates the usage billing of the first slice and the second slice to the first PDU session. The CHF charges for the use of the first slice used by the first PDU session based on the first slice identifier and the identifier of the first slice.

[0178] For another example, for the scenario of slice recovery, the PDU session is released and rebuilt, such as the second PDU session is released, the third PDU session is newly established, and the service slice is restored from the second slice to the first slice. Then the SMF can send a billing message to the CHF, and the billing message carries the identifier of the second PDU session and the identifier of the third PDU session, as well as the identifier of the second slice and the identifier of the first slice. Among them, the first slice identifier corresponds to the identifier of the third PDU session, indicating that the third PDU session uses the first slice to access the network, and the second slice identifier corresponds to the second PDU session, indicating that the second PDU session uses the second slice to access the network. The CHF receives the billing message, determines the PDU session reconstruction based on the information carried, and can then associate the usage billing of the first slice and the second slice with the second PDU session and the third PDU session. Or the CHF charges for the use of the first slice based on the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the third PDU session.

[0179] In one embodiment, the first billing message may include quota usage information corresponding to the first slice, or quota request information corresponding to the second slice, or the first billing message includes quota usage information corresponding to the first slice and / or quota request information corresponding to the second slice.

[0180] For example, for the aforementioned scenario where the PDU session is first released and then re-established, the first billing message may include the quota usage information of the first slice, and the second billing message sent by the SMF to the CHF may include the quota request information of the second slice. For the scenario where the PDU session is first re-established and then released, the first billing message may include the quota request information of the second slice, and the second billing message sent by the SMF to the CHF may include the quota usage information of the first slice. For the scenario where the PDU session is maintained, the first billing message may include the quota usage information of the first slice and / or the quota request information of the second slice.

[0181] In one embodiment, in the first billing message, the quota management corresponding to the first slice can be identified by the first slice, and the quota management corresponding to the second slice can also be identified by the first slice. In other words, the quota request corresponding to the second slice can be associated with the identifier of the first slice, so that the usage quota of the slice for the same user will not be affected by slice replacement or recovery, achieving accurate billing in slice replacement or slice recovery scenarios and improving billing flexibility.

[0182] For example, the first user has signed a contract for the first slice. If a slice replacement occurs in the first PDU session of the first user, the first slice is replaced by the second slice. Therefore, the first user's use of the second slice is based on the user's contract with the first slice (the first user may not have signed a contract for the second slice). Therefore, the user's usage of the second slice during the slice replacement needs to be associated with the usage quota of the first slice of the first user. When the billing information is charged, it is necessary to perform associated billing based on the first billing message, the second billing message and the mapping relationship between the first slice and the second slice indicated therein.

[0183] The following will introduce the billing interaction process in different implementation scenarios in combination with different embodiments.

[0184] 403: The second device operates the CDR according to the first charging message.

[0185] The CDR needs to add the billing information corresponding to the slices before and after the update, such as the billing information corresponding to S-NSSAI#1 and S-NSSAI#2.

[0186] In one embodiment, for a scenario where the PDU session is maintained, the second device may update the CDR to add the billing information of the first slice and the second slice, so that the CHF can associate the billing information of the first slice and the second slice with the billing CDR corresponding to one PDU session.

[0187] Alternatively, in another embodiment, for the scenario of PDU session reconstruction, the second device can add the billing information corresponding to the replacement S-NSSAI and the original S-NSSAI, such as S-NSSAI#1 and S-NSSAI#2, when closing the first CDR corresponding to the first PDU when the first PDU session is released; and when the second PDU session is established, create a new second CDR corresponding to the second PDU, including the billing information corresponding to the replacement S-NSSAI and the original S-NSSAI. There is no restriction on the order in which CHF closes the first CDR and creates the new second CDR, and the execution order of CDR operations corresponding to different SSC modes may be different. Thus, the billing system, which may include but is not limited to the Billing system / domain, can associate the billing information of the first slice and the second slice to multiple billing CDRs for different PDU sessions, such as at least the first CDR and the second CDR.

[0188] Specifically, for the billing of the first terminal user, the billing system can associate the billing CDR corresponding to the first slice corresponding to the first PDU session with the billing CDR corresponding to the second slice newly created due to the slice update based on the identifier of the first terminal user, the slice identifier and / or the identifier of the updated slice (such as the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice) in the CDR, that is, associate them with the billing of the same terminal user, i.e., the first terminal user, so that the billing is accurate.

[0189] Alternatively, for the billing of a slice tenant such as the first tenant, the billing system can associate the billing CDR corresponding to the first slice corresponding to the first PDU session with the billing CDR corresponding to the second slice newly created due to the slice update based on the slice identifier and / or the updated slice identifier in the CDR (such as the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice), that is, associate it with the billing for the same slice tenant such as the first tenant. In other words, the billing system associates the user's usage billing for the second slice generated during the period when the first tenant leases and uses the first slice due to congestion of the first slice and the replacement of the slice, and the service provided by the second slice, with the usage billing for the first tenant, so as to make the billing accurate.

[0190] The above implementation is introduced by taking a non-roaming scenario as an example, and the communication method provided by the present application is also applicable to a roaming scenario. In one implementation, if the user's current PDU session is in a roaming scenario and a slice replacement or slice recovery occurs, if the home operator perceives the slice update, it can notify the visited network element V-AMF to implement the associated billing of the slice replacement. Among them, the slice update in the roaming scenario may include the slice update of the home operator, or the slice update of the visited operator, or the slice update of both the home operator and the visited operator. Among them, since the visited AMF needs to determine whether to perform slice replacement or slice recovery based on the slice status, whether the slice status of the V-PLMN or H-PLMN is unavailable or congested, the V-AMF needs to be notified.

[0191] For example, if slice replacement or slice recovery occurs in the HPLMN, the H-NSSF may notify the V-PLMN of the updated slice information of the home operator; if slice replacement or slice recovery occurs in the V-PLMN, the V-NSSF may notify the H-NSSF of the updated slice information of the visited operator, or the V-NSSF may directly interact with the V-AMF to notify the visited operator of the updated slice information; if slice replacement and / or slice recovery occurs in the HPLMN and the V-PLMN at the same time, the H-NSSF may notify the V-NSSF of the V-PLMN of the updated slice information of the home operator, and the V-NSSF may directly interact with the V-AMF to pass the updated slice information of the visited and home operators; the V-NSSF may notify the H-NSSF of the visited operator of the updated slice information.

[0192] In one embodiment, the first device (such as V-SMF) can send a third billing message to the session management function SMF (such as H-SMF) corresponding to the home operator, indicating that the slice of the visited location corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the first slice to the second slice, and the third billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice and related billing parameters.

[0193] Exemplarily, the first slice and the second slice may be slices of the operator in the visited location, that is, the first device determines that a slice replacement or slice recovery occurs in the slice of the operator in the visited location, and updates the first slice to the second slice.

[0194] In addition, in a roaming scenario, the V-SMF may report a charging message to the V-CHF and / or H-CHF, where the charging message is used to determine that the slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the first slice to the second slice. The charging message includes an identifier of the first slice, an identifier of the second slice, and an identifier of the third slice, where the first slice and the second slice are network slices of the visited operator, and the third slice is a network slice of the home operator.

[0195] Optionally, different roaming modes have different methods for reporting billing messages. For LBO roaming mode, the V-SMF can report billing messages to both the V-CHF and the H-CHF, or the V-SMF reports the billing messages to the V-CHF, which then forwards the billing messages to the H-CHF. For HR roaming mode, the V-SMF reports the billing messages to the V-CHF, and the H-SMF also reports the billing messages to the V-CHF.

[0196] Optionally, the billing message may also include an identifier of a third slice, where the third slice may be a network slice of the home operator.

[0197] In another example, the first slice and the second slice may be slices of the home operator. That is, the first device determines that a slice replacement or slice recovery occurs in the slice of the home operator, and the first slice is updated to the second slice. Optionally, the charging message may further include an identifier of a third slice, where the third slice may be a network slice of the visited operator.

[0198] Further optionally, the charging message may also include an identifier of a fourth slice, wherein the fourth slice is associated with the third slice and is used to indicate that the third slice is updated to the fourth slice. In other words, slice replacement or slice recovery occurs for both the visited operator and the home operator.

[0199] For example, if the third slice and the fourth slice are network slices of the home operator, the charging message can be used to indicate that the home slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the third slice to the fourth slice. Alternatively, if the third slice and the fourth slice are network slices of the visited operator, the charging message can be used to indicate that the visited slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the third slice to the fourth slice.

[0200] In the embodiment of the above roaming scenario, the first device may be an SMF corresponding to the operator of the visited location of the first data connection session.

[0201] In one embodiment, the billing information reported by the first device to the second device can be expanded to add an identifier of the second slice. For example, the identifier of the second slice in the first billing message can be carried in at least one of the following information: the protocol data unit PDU session billing information carried in the first billing message; or, the network slice identifier carried in the PDU session billing information, or, the replacement network slice identifier carried in the PDU session billing information, or, the usage container (Used Unit Container, UUC) carried in the PDU session billing information, or the network slice mapping information carried in the PDU session billing information, etc. This application does not limit this.

[0202] In the roaming scenario, the billing information reported by the first device to the second device is expanded, and slice mapping information can be added, including the identifier of the original slice corresponding to the HPLMN and the alternative slice corresponding to the HPLMN, and / or the identifier of the original slice corresponding to the V-PLMN and the alternative slice corresponding to the V-PLMN. Specifically, the slice identification information can be carried in the PDU session billing information or UUC, etc. This application does not limit this.

[0203] In one embodiment, the first billing message may include first indication information for indicating that a slice replacement or a slice recovery has occurred in the first data connection session. For example, the first indication information may be added to the first billing message, and the first indication information is used to indicate that a slice replacement has occurred. When the billing reported by the AMF or SMF includes both the identifier of the original slice and the identifier of the replacement slice, the CHF can determine that a slice replacement has occurred based on the indication of the slice replacement carried in the first billing message, and update the original slice to the replacement slice. Alternatively, the first indication information is used to indicate that a slice recovery has occurred. When the billing reported by the AMF or SMF includes both the identifier of the original slice and the identifier of the replacement slice, the CHF can determine that a slice recovery has occurred based on the identifier of the slice recovery carried in the first billing message, and update the replacement slice to the original slice.

[0204] Exemplarily, the indication bit corresponding to the first indication information is set to 1, which can be used to indicate slice replacement; the indication bit corresponding to the first indication information is set to 0, which can be used to indicate slice recovery. Alternatively, the charging message includes the indication bit corresponding to the first indication information, which can be used to indicate slice replacement; the charging message does not include the indication bit corresponding to the first indication information, which can be used to indicate slice recovery.

[0205] In another example, the order of the indicator bits of the slice identifier can be used to implicitly indicate whether a slice replacement or a slice recovery occurs. For example, the indicator bits of the slice identifier with an earlier order are used to indicate the slice information before the update, and the indicator bits of the slice identifier with a later order are used to indicate the slice information after the update. Then, when a slice replacement occurs, the identifier of the first slice is in front and the identifier of the second slice is in the back, which is used to indicate that the original slice is replaced by the replacement slice; if a slice recovery occurs later, the identifier of the second slice can be replaced with the indicator sequence of the identifier of the first slice. This application does not limit the specific indication method of the first indication information.

[0206] The above implementation method carries the slice information before and after the update in the billing message reported to the billing function, so that the billing function can perform associated billing on the use of slices associated with the data connection session based on the association relationship of the slices, thereby realizing accurate billing in slice replacement or slice recovery scenarios and improving billing accuracy.

[0207] The above embodiment introduces the billing related to the use of slices associated with data connection sessions reported by the session management function. In addition, the billing scenario may also include the billing related to access to slices associated with user access services reported by the access and mobility management function. As can be seen from the above, the interaction between AMF and CHF can be used to implement billing for user access slices. Specifically, AMF can trigger billing according to events such as user registration, deregistration, N2 connection, N2 release and / or location movement.

[0208] As shown in FIG5 , the method may further include the following steps.

[0209] 501: The first user accesses the core network, and the third device determines that the slice corresponding to the first user is updated from the first slice to the second slice.

[0210] Among them, the third device can be a logical function, entity or network element responsible for access and mobility management in the network. Exemplarily, the third device is AMF.

[0211] The third device may determine, based on a received notification message related to the slice status, such as a notification message received from the NSSF, that a slice corresponding to the first user has undergone slice replacement or slice recovery. For example, the slice corresponding to the first user may be updated from the first slice to the second slice. The specific process of the third device determining whether a slice has undergone slice replacement or slice recovery can be found in the description related to step 401 above and will not be repeated here.

[0212] 502: The third device sends a sixth billing message to the second device. The sixth billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice and related billing parameters. The sixth billing message is used to associate billing for user access to the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0213] Exemplarily, the billing parameters may include, as mentioned above, slice access related information or parameters generated by the network for a single user accessing a certain slice. For example, the billing parameters included in the billing message reported by the AMF to the CHF may include user registration or N2 connection-related timestamps, etc.

[0214] In one embodiment, if the third device determines that the current network status of the first user satisfies a billing-related trigger event, the third device may optionally send a billing message, such as a sixth billing message, to the second device. The billing trigger event corresponding to the third device may include a trigger event corresponding to registration management, a trigger event corresponding to connection management, or a trigger event corresponding to location update. If the third device determines that the trigger condition corresponding to any of the above trigger events is met, the third device may report the relevant billing message, such as the sixth billing message, to the second device.

[0215] For example, the third device updates the slice corresponding to the first user from the first slice to the second slice, determines that the first user meets the trigger event corresponding to registration management, and sends a billing message to the second device. The trigger event corresponding to registration management may include an event corresponding to a user request to register or deregister. In other words, the third device determines that a slice is replaced or restored, and upon receiving the first user's registration or deregistration request, may trigger a billing request corresponding to registration management.

[0216] The third device updates the slice corresponding to the first user from the first slice to the second slice, determines that the first user meets the trigger event corresponding to connection management, and sends a charging message to the second device. The trigger event corresponding to connection management may include a user requesting an N2 connection or releasing an N2 connection. In other words, the third device determines that a slice is replaced or restored, and upon receiving the first user's N2 connection or N2 connection release request, may trigger a charging request corresponding to connection management.

[0217] The third device determines that the first user has satisfied a triggering event corresponding to a location update based on the first slice being updated from the first slice to the second slice corresponding to the first user, and sends a billing message to the second device. In other words, the third device determines that the slice is replaced or restored, and upon receiving the first user's location movement message, can trigger a billing request corresponding to the location update.

[0218] 503: The second device operates the CDR according to the charging message.

[0219] The CDR may add the billing information corresponding to the slices before and after the update, such as the billing information corresponding to the first slice S-NSSAI#1 and the second slice S-NSSAI#2.

[0220] Exemplarily, the second device can create a CDR based on the billing message corresponding to the registration management, which is used to generate a billing bill related to the registration management, wherein the CDR may include billing information corresponding to the first slice and / or billing information corresponding to the second slice.

[0221] The above implementation is introduced using a non-roaming scenario as an example. The communication method provided in this application is also applicable to roaming scenarios. In one implementation, if a slice replacement or slice recovery occurs for a user in a roaming scenario, such as a slice update of a home operator and / or a slice of a visited operator, the AMF of the home operator may notify the billing function H-CHF of the home operator and / or the billing function V-CHF of the visited operator to implement associated billing before and after the slice update.

[0222] In one embodiment, the third device is V-AMF, and the aforementioned step 401 can be specifically that V-AMF sends a billing message to V-CHF, the billing message including the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice and related billing parameters, which are used to associate billing for access to the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0223] The method may also include: V-AMF sends a charging message to H-CHF, the charging message including the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice, which is used to associate and charge access to the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0224] Exemplarily, the first slice and the second slice may be slices of the visited operator, that is, the slice of the visited operator corresponding to the first user undergoes slice replacement or slice recovery, and the first slice is updated to the second slice. Alternatively, the first slice and the second slice may be slices of the home operator, that is, the slice of the home operator corresponding to the first user undergoes slice replacement or slice recovery, and the first slice is updated to the second slice.

[0225] Further optionally, the request message may also include identifiers of the third slice and the fourth slice, wherein the fourth slice is associated with the third slice, and is used to indicate that the service slice corresponding to the first user is updated from the third slice to the fourth slice. That is to say, slice replacement or slice recovery occurs in the slices of both the visited operator and the home operator. Exemplarily, the billing information reported by V-AMF to V-CHF and H-CHF may include the original S-NSSAI corresponding to the HPLMN and the replacement S-NSSAI of the HPLMN, and / or the original S-NSSAI of the V-PLMN and the replacement S-NSSAI of the V-PLMN.

[0226] The above implementation method carries the slice information before and after the update in the billing message reported to the billing function, so that the billing function can perform access-related billing on the associated slices based on the association relationship of the slices, thereby realizing accurate billing in slice replacement or slice recovery scenarios and improving billing accuracy.

[0227] For example, the implementation process of this application in different scenarios is described below in conjunction with specific embodiments.

[0228] Example 1:

[0229] Applicable to non-roaming scenarios, when slice replacement occurs: the first slice (identified by S-NSSAI#1) is updated to the second slice (identified by S-NSSSAI#2). The SMF determines the scenario in which the PDU session is retained.

[0230] As shown in FIG6 , the method includes the following steps.

[0231] 601: AMF determines that a slice replacement occurs.

[0232] Specifically, the AMF may receive slice status notification information indicating that the used slice is replaced from the first slice to the second slice, and the AMF determines the switching replacement based on the communication information. For example, the first slice is S-NSSAI#1 and the second slice is S-NSSSAI#2. The specific process of the AMF determining the occurrence of slice replacement can refer to the relevant description of step 401 in the aforementioned embodiment and will not be repeated here.

[0233] Before step 601, the terminal has completed the establishment of the first PDU session, and the corresponding billing session between the SMF and the CHF has also been established, and the following steps are also included.

[0234] 600: SMF sends billing information to CHF.

[0235] Among them, the billing information reported by SMF to CHF may include the identifier of the first PDU session, the subscriber identifier such as the user ID, and / or the slice information used by the first PDU session, for example, it may carry the identifier S-NSSAI of the first slice, or carry S-NSSAI and DNN information, etc.

[0236] 602: AMF sends a PDU session update request message to SMF, carrying the identifiers of the first slice and the second slice.

[0237] Correspondingly, the SMF receives the PDU session update request message and determines that the first PDU session has a slice replacement, where the first slice is replaced by the second slice, which can trigger a billing event. In addition, the SMF determines that the PDU session is maintained and establishes an N4 connection with the UPF.

[0238] 603: SMF determines that the PDU session is maintained and triggers a corresponding billing event based on the slice replacement.

[0239] Among them, this application extends the billing operation of SMF as follows, by extending or adding a new trigger function to trigger the billing of the replaced slice. The trigger function (Trigger) can be set to: if a switching replacement occurs, the billing event corresponding to the slice replacement is triggered.

[0240] In another embodiment, the trigger function (Trigger) can also be set to: if switching recovery occurs, the billing event corresponding to the slice recovery is triggered, or another trigger function (Trigger) is used to trigger the billing for slice recovery.

[0241] Therefore, the SMF triggers the corresponding billing event according to the setting of the trigger function when it determines that a switching replacement occurs.

[0242] In one embodiment, the trigger function can be set to an immediate trigger (or instant trigger) function or a delayed trigger function. Wherein, the trigger function is set to an immediate trigger function (Immediate trigger), then when the SMF obtains the PDU session update request message sent by the AMF and carries the information of the second slice, the SMF determines that a slice replacement has occurred, triggers a billing event, and immediately reports the billing information to the CHF.

[0243] Alternatively, if the trigger function is set to a delayed trigger function (Deferred trigger), when SMF obtains the PDU session update request message sent by AMF and carries the information of the second slice, SMF determines that a slice replacement has occurred and reports it delayed by default, that is, SMF can close the counter for the current slice billing statistics, open a new counter to count the billing information related to the replacement slice, and merge the billing information corresponding to this trigger event into the next reported billing information.

[0244] For example, the SMF may first disable the first counter corresponding to the first slice and enable the second counter to collect the billing information corresponding to the second slice. Thus, when the next billing event occurs, the SMF reports the billing information to the CHF, including the statistical information corresponding to the first counter of the first slice and / or the statistical information corresponding to the second counter of the second slice, that is, the billing information corresponding to the next billing event is combined and reported to the CHF.

[0245] Optionally, the immediate trigger or delayed trigger mode can be configured on the first device and can also be changed by the second device as needed. The specific billing event enabling when slice replacement and / or slice restoration occurs can also be configured on the first device and can also be enabled or disabled by the second device as needed.

[0246] 604: The SMF sends a first charging message to the CHF.

[0247] Specifically, the first billing message can be carried in a billing data update request message. The message sent by the SMF to the CHF may include the identifier of the first PDU session, the identifier of the first slice, and the identifier of the second slice, such as S-NSSAI#1 and S-NSSAI#2, which are used to indicate that the first slice and the second slice corresponding to the first PDU session are respectively associated with billing; and include associated billing parameters. In addition, the billing data update request message may also include the usage corresponding to the first PDU session when the slice is running, such as the usage corresponding to the first slice.

[0248] Exemplarily, as described in the aforementioned step 603, the value counted by the first counter can be used to represent the usage corresponding to the first slice.

[0249] Optionally, the message may also include quota request information for the second slice.

[0250] Correspondingly, the CHF receives the first billing message from the SMF. Based on the identifier of the first PDU session, the identifier of the first slice, and the identifier of the second slice carried in the first billing message, the CHF determines that the billing of the first PDU session for the use of the first slice, and the subsequent billing of the first PDU session for the use of the second slice are all associated with the first PDU session.

[0251] 605: CHF updates CDR.

[0252] The CDR corresponding to the first PDU session includes the billing information corresponding to the first slice and the second slice. For example, CHF updates the CDR and adds the billing information corresponding to S-NSSAI#1 and S-NSSAI#2 so that the billing system can associate and bill the first slice and the second slice respectively.

[0253] Optionally, the CHF can also generate partial CDRs to perform associated billing on the first slice and the second slice respectively, and subsequently merge multiple partial CDRs into one CDR corresponding to one session. For example, a partial CDR is generated for the first CDR corresponding to the first PDU session, wherein the first CDR is used to record the billing of the first slice used by the first PDU session, and the partial CDR is used to record the billing of the second slice used by the first PDU session. Subsequently, the first CDR and the partial CDR can be merged as the CDR corresponding to the first PDU session.

[0254] 606: CHF sends a charging data update response message to SMF.

[0255] Exemplarily, when CHF can associate billing information according to the granularity of the PDU session, the PDU session identifier can be used to count the billing information of a PDU session corresponding to a user.

[0256] In addition, billing information can be associated at the slice granularity, that is, the billing information can distinguish the usage and billing of different slices. If billing information is associated at the tenant granularity, the usage of the original slice and the usage of the replacement slice can be associated and billed.

[0257] In one possible implementation, if the slice corresponding to the first PDU session is subsequently restored, that is, the service slice is restored from the second slice to the first slice, the SMF can trigger a corresponding billing event based on the slice recovery and send a billing message to the CHF, carrying the identifier of the first PDU session, the identifier of the second slice, and the identifier of the first slice, to indicate that the use of the first slice and the second slice corresponding to the first PDU session are to be associated and billed. Thus, the CHF can update the CDR based on the billing message and associate the billing of the use of the first slice corresponding to the first PDU session with the billing of the use of the second slice corresponding to the first PDU session.

[0258] Exemplarily, for billing of terminal users, the billing system can associate the billing CDRs corresponding to the first PDU session with the billing of the same terminal user based on the terminal user's identifier, the first slice identifier, and the second slice identifier in the CDR, so as to ensure accurate billing.

[0259] As previously mentioned, for tenant-based billing, for example, for billing the first slice tenant, assume that the first slice tenant has signed up for the first slice but not the second slice. However, during the implementation of the first PDU session, due to congestion, overload, or unavailability of the first slice, the first slice switches to the second slice, and the second slice replaces the first slice to provide services to the user. The billing system can determine the billing for the first slice tenant based on the contract information between the first slice and the first slice tenant, the billing information for the first and second slices corresponding to the first PDU session and / or the second PDU session during this period, and / or the corresponding one or more CDRs generated. In other words, if billing is based on slice usage duration, assuming the duration during which the second slice replaces the first slice is T1, the billing system needs to associate the billing information for the second slice during T1 with the first slice tenant for billing. If billing is based on slice usage flow, assuming the statistical flow of service provided by the second slice instead of the first slice is C, the billing system needs to associate the billing information related to process C corresponding to the second slice with the first slice tenant for billing.

[0260] In one embodiment, taking the billing of the first slice tenant as an example, the billing system (such as including CHF or other devices, and further including Billing) can determine the billing corresponding to the first slice tenant based on the contract information between the first slice and the first slice tenant, the billing information of the first slice and the second slice corresponding to the first PDU session, and / or the corresponding generated CDR. Optionally, the second device can send the CDR corresponding to the first data connection session to the billing system for determining the billing for the terminal user, or determining the billing corresponding to the first slice tenant, etc.

[0261] In the above embodiment, the reporting of billing messages may also involve quota management corresponding to the slice.

[0262] For the billing management of end users, slice replacement or slice recovery does not affect quota management. The SMF can detect the billing event according to the configured trigger function Trigger and determine whether quota management is required based on the billing event. If the quota granted by the network to the session is used up when the billing event is triggered, then in step 604 of the above implementation process, the billing data update request message sent by the SMF to the CHF can carry quota request information and / or information corresponding to the trigger function Trigger that triggered this quota request.

[0263] For the billing management of tenants (slice users), slice replacement or slice recovery has no effect. The billing system's account management for tenants is based on the contract information between the operator and the tenant. For example, a slice user (tenant) rents a slice provided by an operator and can rent a network slice individually or multiple tenants can rent a network slice. Through the association relationship in the embodiments of the present application, the usage during the original slice use period and the replacement slice use period (carrying S-NSSAI and replacement S-NSSAI information) can be associated with the tenant's billing information.

[0264] Tenant billing may involve a variety of different billing system deployment modes. For example, CHF is divided into UE CHF and tenant CHF. SMF is connected to UE CHF, and the information of tenant CHF is forwarded through UE CHF. Another mode is that SMF directly connects to UE CHF and tenant CHF respectively, sending UE and tenant billing information and credit control of quota management respectively. The present invention does not limit the deployment mode of CHF and is adaptable to all modes.

[0265] Example 2:

[0266] Applicable to non-roaming scenarios, when a slice replacement occurs: the first slice (identified as S-NSSAI#1) is updated to the second slice (identified as S-NSSSAI#2). The SMF determines the scenario of PDU session release and re-establishment.

[0267] As shown in FIG7 , the method includes the following steps.

[0268] 701: AMF determines that a slice replacement occurs.

[0269] Refer to the aforementioned related steps 401, 601 or 600.

[0270] 702: AMF sends a PDU session update request message to SMF, carrying the identifiers of the first slice and the second slice.

[0271] Correspondingly, the SMF receives the PDU session update request message and determines that a slice replacement occurs in the PDU session, with the first slice being replaced by the second slice.

[0272] 703: SMF releases the first PDU session and triggers a charging event.

[0273] The SMF determines that a PDU session update is required and releases the first PDU session. The slice corresponding to the first PDU session is updated from the first slice to the second slice, and a PDU session release is determined to have occurred. Based on the billing event, it is determined that the trigger event corresponding to the first PDU session release is met (such as determining that the setting of the PDU Session Release Trigger is met), that is, the billing event is triggered and a billing message is reported.

[0274] 704: The SMF sends a first charging message to the CHF.

[0275] Exemplarily, the first charging message may be carried in a charging data release request message. The first charging message sent by the SMF to the CHF may include an identifier of the first PDU session, an identifier of the first slice, and an identifier of the second slice, such as S-NSSAI#1 and S-NSSAI#2, for indicating that the first slice and the second slice are to be associated with each other. In addition, the first charging message may also include relevant charging parameters, such as the usage corresponding to the first PDU session when the slice is running, such as the usage corresponding to the first slice.

[0276] Correspondingly, the CHF receives the first billing message from the SMF. Based on the identifier of the first PDU session, the identifier of the first slice, and the identifier of the second slice carried in the first billing message, it is determined that the billing of the first PDU session for the use of the first slice and the billing of the newly created session for the use of the second slice are both associated with the terminal user corresponding to the first PDU session.

[0277] 705: CHF closes CDR.

[0278] Based on the received first billing message, the CHF closes the first CDR corresponding to the first PDU session. The first CDR includes the billing information corresponding to the first PDU session and adds an association between the first slice and the second slice. The billing information corresponding to the first slice is associated with the billing information of the second slice. Since the first CDR corresponds to the first end user and the first end user corresponds to the first PDU session, the first CDR corresponding to the first PDU session associates the billing information of the first slice and the second slice. That is, the first CDR associates the billing information of the first slice and the second slice.

[0279] Optionally, step 706 may also be performed.

[0280] 706: CHF sends a response message corresponding to the first charging message to SMF.

[0281] Correspondingly, if the first charging message is a charging data release request message, the CHF may send a charging data release response message to the SMF, ie, a response message corresponding to the first charging message in step 704, to indicate completion of the release of the charging data.

[0282] 707: Create a second PDU session.

[0283] After the SMF releases the first PDU session, the SMF receives a request to establish a second PDU session, and the slice corresponding to the second PDU session is the second slice. The establishment of the second PDU session is caused by slice replacement or slice recovery.

[0284] Optionally, the SMF that releases the first PDU session and the SMF that reestablishes the second PDU session can be executed by the same SMF, or they can be executed by different SMFs, depending on the slice usage basis and deployment method. For example, the network can deploy the same SMF for multiple network slices, or the network can deploy an SMF separately for each network slice, for example, the first slice corresponds to SMF-1, and the second slice corresponds to SMF-2. This application does not limit the deployment method of the slice.

[0285] 708: The SMF sends a second charging message to the CHF.

[0286] SMF receives the establishment request of the second PDU session. Since the slice corresponding to the first PDU session is updated from the first slice to the second slice, it is determined that the PDU session establishment occurs. According to the billing event, it is determined that the trigger event corresponding to the establishment of the second PDU session is met (such as determining that the setting of the PDU Session Establishment Trigger is met), that is, the billing event is triggered and the billing message is reported.

[0287] Exemplarily, the second charging message may be carried in the initial charging request message.

[0288] The second charging message may include an identifier of the first PDU session, an identifier of the second PDU session, an identifier of the first slice, and an identifier of the second slice, such as S-NSSAI#1 and S-NSSAI#2, for indicating that associated charging is performed on the first slice and the second slice, respectively. Optionally, the second charging message may also include a requested quota.

[0289] Correspondingly, CHF receives a second billing message from SMF. According to the identifier of the first PDU session, the identifier of the second PDU session, and the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice carried in the second billing message, the PDU session reconstruction is determined, the billing of the first slice and the second slice is associated with the first PDU session, and the billing of the first slice and the second slice is associated with the second PDU session, that is, the slices before and after the update are associated with different PDU session billing.

[0290] 709: CHF creates CDR.

[0291] Create a second CDR corresponding to the second PDU session, the second CDR including billing information corresponding to the first slice and / or the second slice, wherein the billing information corresponding to the first slice is associated with the billing information of the second slice.

[0292] It should be noted that, in the above implementation, this application does not limit the execution order of the above steps 703-706 and steps 707-710. The above embodiment takes the SMF first releasing and then creating a new PDU session as an example. The SMF can also first create and then release the PDU. This application does not limit this.

[0293] Optionally, the following steps may also be included.

[0294] 710: CHF sends a response message corresponding to the second charging message to SMF.

[0295] Correspondingly, if the second charging message is a charging data release request message, the CHF may send a charging data release response message to the SMF, ie, a response message corresponding to the second charging message in step 707, to indicate completion of the updating of the charging data.

[0296] Exemplarily, the subsequent billing system can associate the billing CDR corresponding to the first slice corresponding to the first PDU session with the second CDR corresponding to the newly created second PDU due to slice update or slice recovery based on the identifier of the first terminal user in the first CDR, such as the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice. That is, the billing of slice usage before and after the slice update is associated with the billing of the slice usage of the first terminal user, so that the billing is accurate.

[0297] In a possible implementation, if the SMF subsequently receives a second PDU session update request message, it determines that the second PDU session has undergone slice recovery, and the service slice is restored from the second slice to the first slice. The second PDU session is released, and a third PDU session is established. The SMF can send a billing message to the CHF, carrying the identifier of the second PDU session, the identifier of the third PDU session, and the identifier of the second slice and the identifier of the first slice, which is used to indicate that the use of the second slice corresponding to the second PDU session and the first slice corresponding to the third PDU session are associated with billing. Thus, the CHF can determine the PDU session reconstruction based on the billing message, close the second CDR corresponding to the second PDU session, and create a third CDR corresponding to the third PDU session. The third CDR includes the billing information of the second slice and the billing information of the first slice, which is used to associate the billing of the use of the second slice corresponding to the second PDU session and the billing of the use of the first slice corresponding to the third PDU session to the billing of the same terminal user.

[0298] Exemplarily, for billing of terminal users, the billing system can associate the second CDR corresponding to the second PDU session and the third CDR corresponding to the third PDU session with the billing of the same terminal user based on the terminal user's identifier, the first slice's identifier, and the second slice's identifier in the CDR, so as to ensure accurate billing.

[0299] Alternatively, for the billing of slice tenants, for example, the billing system can associate the second CDR corresponding to the second slice corresponding to the second PDU session with the third CDR of the first slice corresponding to the newly created third PDU due to slice recovery based on the identifiers of the first slice and the second slice in the second CDR and the third CDR, that is, associate them with the billing of the same slice tenant, such as the first tenant. In other words, the billing system associates the user's usage billing of the second slice generated during the period when the first tenant leases and uses the first slice due to congestion of the first slice, and the process of providing services by the second slice, with the usage billing of the first tenant, thereby ensuring accurate billing.

[0300] In another possible implementation, the AMF can determine the PDU session reconstruction and release, and report the slice identifiers before and after the update, such as the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice, to the SMF. Then the SMF can add the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice to the billing information reported to the CHF, for associated billing of the first PDU session release and the second PDU session reconstruction caused by slice replacement or recovery.

[0301] Example 3:

[0302] In a roaming scenario, a slice replacement occurs: the first slice (identified as S-NSSAI#1) is updated to the second slice (identified as S-NSSSAI#2). For example, the HPLMN perceives the slice replacement and notifies the V-AMF of the visited network element to implement billing reporting for the slice replacement.

[0303] As shown in FIG8 , the following embodiment takes the HR roaming mode as an example to introduce the implementation method of the present application, and the method includes the following steps.

[0304] 801: The H-NSSF notifies the V-NSSF of information about the second slice.

[0305] Among them, when the slice status of the HPLMN is unavailable or congested, the NSSF in the HPLMN can send a notification message to the NSSF in the V-PLMN to provide information on alternative slices, such as S-NSSAI#2.

[0306] Before step 801, the terminal has completed the establishment of the PDU session, and the corresponding billing session between the SMF and the CHF has also been established, and the following steps are also included.

[0307] 800-1: V-SMF sends billing information to V-CHF.

[0308] Among them, the billing information reported by V-SMF to V-CHF may include the identifier of the PDU session, the subscriber identifier such as the user ID, and / or the slice information used by the PDU session (such as S-NSSAI, DNN information). In the roaming scenario, the slices used include the slices of the visited location and the slices of the home location. For example, the billing information may carry the identifier of the slice of the home location operator such as HS-NSSAI#1, and / or the slice identifier of the visited location operator such as VS-NSSAI#1.

[0309] 800-2: H-SMF sends billing information to H-CHF.

[0310] Similar to step 800-1 above, the charging information reported by the H-SMF to the H-CHF may include the PDU session identifier, the subscriber identifier such as the user ID, and / or the slice information used by the PDU session. In a roaming scenario, the slices used include the slice of the visited location and the slice of the home location. For example, the charging information may carry the slice identifier of the home location operator such as HS-NSSAI#1 and / or the slice identifier of the visited location operator such as VS-NSSAI#3.

[0311] 802: The V-NSSF notifies the V-AMF of the information of the second slice.

[0312] Specifically, after the NSSF of the V-PLMN receives the notification message from the NSSF of the H-PLMN, it notifies the AMF of the information of the alternative slice, such as S-NSSAI#2.

[0313] 803: The V-AMF determines that a slice replacement occurs.

[0314] Specifically, when V-AMF determines that a slice replacement or slice recovery occurs in the HPLMN slice, such as HS-NSSAI#1 is updated to HS-NSSAI#, V-AMF can provide the user with a mapping relationship between the original slice corresponding to the HPLMN and the replacement slice, such as notifying the user of the mapping relationship between HS-NSSAI#1 and HS-NSSAI#2.

[0315] Optionally, if the slice status corresponding to the V-PLMN is unavailable or congested, the NSSF of the V-PLMN can provide the V-AMF with information about the alternative slice of the V-PLMN. When the V-AMF determines that the original slice corresponding to the V-PLMN undergoes slice replacement or slice recovery, such as when VS-NSSAI#3 is updated to VS-NSSAI#4, the V-AMF can provide the user with a mapping relationship between the original slice corresponding to the V-PLMN and the alternative slice, such as notifying the user of the mapping relationship between VS-NSSAI#3 and VS-NSSAI#4.

[0316] 804: V-AMF notifies V-SMF of slice replacement.

[0317] Specifically, V-AMF can send the updated slice information of the home operator to V-SMF, and / or send the updated slice information of the visited operator.

[0318] 805: The V-SMF sends a charging message to the V-CHF.

[0319] According to the trigger function corresponding to the configured slice replacement, the billing event corresponding to the slice replacement is triggered, and the V-SMF sends an update message of the billing data request message to the V-CHF, including the PDU session identifier, H-PLMN S-NSSAI and H-PLMN replacement S-NSSAI, V-PLMN S-NSSAI and V-PLMN replacement S-NSSAI.

[0320] 806: V-SMF sends a charging message to H-SMF to notify slice replacement.

[0321] The billing message is like the third billing message mentioned above, which is used to indicate that the slice of the access location corresponding to the first PDU session is updated from the first slice to the second slice. The billing message includes the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice, as well as related billing parameters.

[0322] Optionally, if the slice of the home location corresponding to the first PDU session is updated from the third slice to the fourth slice, the third billing message may also include the identifier of the third slice and the identifier of the fourth slice.

[0323] For example, when the original slice corresponding to the aforementioned V-PLMN undergoes slice replacement or slice recovery, such as when VS-NSSAI#3 is updated to VS-NSSAI#4, the V-SMF can provide the H-SMF with the mapping relationship between the original slice corresponding to the V-PLMN and the replacement slice, such as the mapping relationship between VS-NSSAI#3 and VS-NSSAI#4. If the original slice corresponding to the HPLMN undergoes slice replacement or slice recovery, such as when HS-NSSAI#1 is updated to HS-NSSAI#, the V-SMF can provide the H-SMF with the mapping relationship between the original slice corresponding to the HPLMN and the replacement slice, such as notifying the user of the mapping relationship between HS-NSSAI#1 and HS-NSSAI#2.

[0324] 807: H-SMF sends a charging message to H-CHF.

[0325] Specifically, after receiving the charging message from the V-SMF, the H-SMF may report an update message of the charging data request message to the H-CHF.

[0326] Correspondingly, after receiving the charging message, H-CHF and V-CHF can operate CDR according to the charging message. The specific process of CHF operating CDR can refer to the aforementioned embodiment 1 and embodiment 2, which will not be repeated here.

[0327] It should be noted that the above embodiment is based on the example of slice replacement by the home operator, so the H-NSSF notifies the V-NSSF of the information of the updated second slice by the home operator. If a slice replacement occurs in the visited operator, or a slice replacement occurs in both the visited and home locations, it may also include: the V-NSSF notifies the H-NSSF of the information of the updated slice by the visited operator, which will not be described in detail in this application.

[0328] In one embodiment, for the LBO roaming mode, in combination with the LBO roaming architecture shown in FIG2 , the V-SMF may determine that after a slice replacement or slice recovery occurs, the V-SMF may report a charging message to the V-CHF and the H-CHF.

[0329] Optionally, for LBO roaming mode, the interactive process of reporting charging messages when slice replacement or slice recovery occurs may be as shown in Figure 9, and steps 801-805 may refer to the relevant description shown in Figure 8. The method may further include the following steps.

[0330] 808: The V-SMF sends a charging message to the H-CHF.

[0331] Correspondingly, the charging message sent by the V-AMF to the H-CHF corresponds to the fourth charging message in the claims. That is, the V-AMF sends the fourth charging message to the H-CHF. The fourth charging message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice, and the identifier of the third slice, and is used to perform associated charging for the use of the first slice and / or the second slice. It may also include relevant charging parameters.

[0332] In a possible embodiment, the fourth billing message also includes an identifier of the fourth slice, which is used to indicate that the home slice corresponding to the first PDU session is updated from the third slice to the fourth slice, and the first billing message or the fourth billing message is used to perform associated billing for the use of the third slice and / or the fourth slice.

[0333] Optionally, for another LBO roaming mode, the interactive process of reporting charging messages when slice replacement or slice recovery occurs may be as shown in Figure 10, and steps 801-805 may refer to the relevant description shown in Figure 8. The method may further include the following steps.

[0334] 809: V-CHF sends a charging message to H-CHF.

[0335] Correspondingly, the charging message sent by the V-CHF to the H-CHF corresponds to the fifth charging message in the claims. That is, the V-CHF sends the fifth charging message to the H-CHF. The fifth charging message includes the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice, is used for associated charging for the use of the first slice and / or the second slice, and may also include relevant charging parameters.

[0336] It should be noted that the above embodiment introduces the implementation method of billing management association by taking slice replacement as an example. For the scenario of slice recovery, the implementation process is similar. For example, slice recovery includes updating the service slice from the replacement slice to the original slice, that is, the first slice in the above embodiment can be a replacement slice, and the second slice can be the original slice.

[0337] The various embodiments mentioned above in this application can be combined without limitation if there is no contradiction between the solutions.

[0338] The above mainly introduces the solution provided by this application from the perspective of interaction between various network elements. Accordingly, this application also provides a communication device, which can be the first device in the above method embodiment, or a node or device containing the above second device, or a component that can be used for the first device; or, the communication device can be the second device in the above method embodiment, or a node or device containing the above second device, or a component that can be used for the second device. Further, the communication device can be the third device in the above method embodiment, or a node or device containing the above third device, or a component that can be used for the third device.

[0339] It is understandable that, in order to implement the above functions, the above communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to the execution of each function. Those skilled in the art should easily realize that, in combination with the units and algorithmic operations of the various examples described in the embodiments disclosed herein, the present application can be implemented in the form of hardware or a combination of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is executed in the form of hardware or computer software driving hardware depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professional and technical personnel can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of this application.

[0340] It should be understood that the above description only uses the first device, the second device, or the third device as an example to describe the interaction between various network elements. In fact, the processing performed by the above terminal is not limited to being performed by a single network element, and the processing performed by the above network device is not limited to being performed by a single network element.

[0341] The present application can divide the functional modules of the communication device according to the above method example. For example, each functional module can be divided according to each function, or two or more functions can be integrated into one processing module. The above integrated modules can be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional modules. It is understood that the division of modules in this application is schematic and is only a logical functional division. In actual implementation, other division methods may be used.

[0342] For example, in the case of dividing the functional modules in an integrated manner, FIG11 shows a schematic structural diagram of a communication device 1100. The communication device 1100 includes a processing module 1101 and an interface module 1102.

[0343] In some embodiments, the communication device 1100 may further include a storage module (not shown in FIG. 11 ) for storing program instructions and data.

[0344] Exemplarily, the communication device 1100 may be used to implement the function of the first device. The communication device 1100 is, for example, the first device or SMF described in the above embodiments.

[0345] The processing module 1101 is configured to determine that the slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the first slice to the second slice.

[0346] The interface module 1102 is used to send a first billing message to the second device, where the first billing message includes an identifier of the first slice, an identifier of the second slice, and related billing parameters, and is used to perform associated billing for the use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0347] In one embodiment, the processing module 1101 is used to determine that a trigger event corresponding to slice replacement is satisfied based on that the slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the first slice to the second slice, and the interface module 1102 is used to send the first billing message to the second device; or, the processing module 1101 is used to determine that a trigger event corresponding to slice recovery is satisfied based on that the slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the first slice to the second slice, and the interface module 1102 is used to send the first billing message to the second device.

[0348] In one embodiment, the processing module 1101 is used to update the slice corresponding to the first data connection session from the first slice to the second slice, determine that the trigger event corresponding to the release of the first data connection session is satisfied, and the interface module 1102 is used to send the first billing message to the second device.

[0349] In one embodiment, the processing module 1101 is used to update the slice corresponding to the first data connection session from the first slice to the second slice, determine that the trigger event corresponding to the new second data connection session is met, and the interface module 1102 is used to send the second billing message to the second device, wherein the second billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice and related billing parameters, which are used to associate the use of the first slice and / or the second slice with billing.

[0350] In one embodiment, the first billing message includes quota usage information corresponding to the first slice and / or quota request information corresponding to the second slice.

[0351] In one embodiment, the processing module 1101 is configured to disable a first counter that counts usage of the first slice and enable a second counter that counts usage of the second slice. When the next billing event occurs, the interface module 1102 is configured to send the first billing message to the second device, where the first billing message includes statistical information of the first counter and / or statistical information of the second counter.

[0352] In one embodiment, the interface module 1102 is also used to send a third billing message to the session management function SMF corresponding to the home operator, indicating that the slice of the access location corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the first slice to the second slice, and the third billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice and related billing parameters.

[0353] In one embodiment, if the first device is a session management function (SMF) of a visited operator, the interface module 1102 is configured to send a first charging message to a charging function of the visited operator; or if the first device is a session management function (SMF) of a home operator, the interface module 1102 is configured to send a first charging message to a corresponding charging function of the home operator, to support updating the slice corresponding to the first data connection session from the first slice to the second slice. The first charging message includes an identifier of the first slice, an identifier of the second slice, and / or an identifier of a third slice, wherein the third slice is a network slice of the home operator.

[0354] In one embodiment, if the first device is the SMF of the visited operator, the interface module 1102 is also used to send a fourth billing message to the billing function corresponding to the home operator, and the fourth billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice, the identifier of the third slice and related billing parameters, which are used to associate the use of the first slice and / or the second slice with billing, including the mapping of the first slice and the second slice to the third slice.

[0355] In one embodiment, the first billing message or the fourth billing message also includes an identifier of the fourth slice, which is used to indicate that the home slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the third slice to the fourth slice. The first billing message or the fourth billing message is used to perform associated billing for the use of the third slice and / or the fourth slice, including the mapping of the first slice and the second slice with the third slice and the fourth slice.

[0356] In one embodiment, the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice are carried in at least one of the following information: protocol data unit PDU session billing information; or, the network slice identifier in the PDU session billing information, including replacing the network slice identifier or using the usage container UUC field or network slice mapping information.

[0357] In one embodiment, the first charging message includes first indication information, which is used to indicate that a slice replacement or a slice recovery occurs in the first data connection session.

[0358] In one embodiment, the slice identifier includes the identifier of the single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI and / or the network slice instance NSI.

[0359] In addition, the communication device 1100 may also be used to implement the steps performed by the second device or CHF in the aforementioned embodiments, for example.

[0360] Interface module 1102 is used to receive a first billing message from a first device, where the first billing message includes an identifier of a first slice, an identifier of a second slice, and related billing parameters, and is used to perform associated billing for the use of the first slice and / or the second slice corresponding to a first data connection session.

[0361] The processing module 1101 is used to operate the charging data record CDR corresponding to the first data connection session according to the first charging message, and the CDR includes the charging information corresponding to the first slice and / or the charging information corresponding to the second slice.

[0362] In one embodiment, the first billing message includes quota usage information corresponding to the first slice and / or quota request information corresponding to the second slice.

[0363] In one embodiment, the quota management corresponding to the first slice is identified by the first slice, and the quota management corresponding to the second slice is identified by the first slice.

[0364] In one embodiment, the processing module 1101 is used to update a first CDR corresponding to the first data connection session, where the first CDR includes billing information corresponding to the first slice and / or billing information corresponding to the second slice.

[0365] In one embodiment, the processing module 1101 is used to close the first CDR corresponding to the first data connection session, and the first CDR includes the billing information corresponding to the first slice; and create a second CDR corresponding to the second data connection session, and the second CDR includes the billing information corresponding to the second slice.

[0366] In one embodiment, the first device is a session management function SMF of a visitor operator of a user corresponding to the first data connection session.

[0367] In one embodiment, if the second device is a billing function of a home operator, the interface module 1102 is used to receive a first billing message from a session management function SMF corresponding to the home operator; or if the second device is a billing function of a visited operator, the interface module 1102 is used to receive a first billing message from a session management function SMF corresponding to the visited operator, wherein the first billing message includes an identifier of the first slice, an identifier of the second slice, and an identifier of a third slice, and is used to perform associated billing for the use of the first slice and / or the second slice, wherein the third slice is a network slice of the home operator. The first billing message also includes a mapping of the first slice and the second slice to the third slice.

[0368] In one embodiment, if the second device is the billing function of the home operator, the interface module 1102 is used to receive a fourth billing message from the session management function SMF corresponding to the visited operator, and the fourth billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice, the identifier of the third slice and related billing parameters, which are used to perform associated billing for the use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0369] In one embodiment, the first charging message also includes an identifier of a fourth slice, which is used to indicate that the home slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the third slice to the fourth slice, and is used to perform associated billing for the use of the third slice and / or the fourth slice. The first charging message also includes a mapping of the first slice and the second slice to the third slice and the fourth slice.

[0370] In one embodiment, the interface module 1102 is used to send a fifth billing message to the billing function CHF corresponding to the home operator, and the fifth billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice and related billing parameters, which are used to perform associated billing for the use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0371] In one embodiment, the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice are carried in at least one of the following information: PDU session billing information; or, the network slice identifier, replacement network slice identifier or usage container UUC field or network slice mapping information in the PDU session billing information.

[0372] In one embodiment, the first charging message includes first indication information, which is used to indicate that a slice replacement or a slice recovery occurs in the first data connection session.

[0373] In one embodiment, the slice identifier includes the identifier of the single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI and / or the network slice instance NSI.

[0374] In one embodiment, the processing module 1101 is also used to determine the billing corresponding to the first slice tenant based on the contract information between the first slice and the first slice tenant, the billing information of the first slice and the second slice corresponding to the first data connection session and / or the corresponding generated CDR.

[0375] In addition, the communication device 1100 can also be used to implement, for example, the steps performed by the third device or AMF in the aforementioned embodiment.

[0376] The processing module 1101 is configured to determine that the slice corresponding to the first user is updated from the first slice to the second slice.

[0377] The interface module 1102 is used to send a sixth billing message to the second device, where the sixth billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice, and related billing parameters, and is used to perform associated billing on the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0378] In one embodiment, the processing module 1101 is used to determine that the first user meets the trigger event corresponding to the registration management based on the slice corresponding to the first user being updated from the first slice to the second slice, and the interface module 1102 is used to send the sixth billing message to the second device; or, the processing module 1101 is used to determine that the first user meets the trigger event corresponding to the connection management based on the slice corresponding to the first user being updated from the first slice to the second slice, and the interface module 1102 is used to send the sixth billing message to the second device; or, the processing module 1101 is used to determine that the first user meets the trigger event corresponding to the location update based on the slice corresponding to the first user being updated from the first slice to the second slice, and the interface module 1102 is used to send the sixth billing message to the second device.

[0379] In one embodiment, the first device is an access and mobility management function AMF corresponding to the operator of the visited location of the first user, and the second device is used to provide a billing function CHF for the operator of the visited location.

[0380] In one embodiment, the interface module 1102 is also used to send a billing message to the billing function CHF corresponding to the first user's home operator, and the billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice and related billing parameters, which are used to perform associated billing on the first slice and / or the second slice.

[0381] In one embodiment, the slice identifier includes the identifier of the single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI and / or the network slice instance NSI.

[0382] In one embodiment, the sixth charging message includes second indication information, which is used to indicate that a slice corresponding to the first user undergoes slice replacement or slice recovery.

[0383] When the communication device 1100 is used to implement the functions of the first device, the second device, the third device, SMF, AMF or CHF in the above embodiments, for other functions that can be implemented by the communication device 1100, please refer to the relevant introduction of the embodiments shown in Figures 4 to 8, and no further details will be given.

[0384] In a simple embodiment, those skilled in the art may appreciate that the communication device 1100 may be in the form shown in Figure 3. For example, the processor 301 in Figure 3 may call the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 303 to enable the communication device 1100 to execute the method described in the above method embodiment.

[0385] Exemplarily, the functions / implementation processes of the processing module 1101 in FIG. 11 may be implemented by the processor 301 in FIG. 3 .

[0386] Exemplarily, the functions / implementation processes of the interface module 1102 in FIG. 11 may be implemented through the communication interface 304 in FIG. 3 .

[0387] It is understandable that one or more of the above modules or units can be implemented by software, hardware or a combination of the two. When any of the above modules or units is implemented by software, the software exists in the form of computer program instructions and is stored in a memory, and a processor can be used to execute the program instructions and implement the above method flow. The processor can be built into an SoC (system on chip) or an ASIC, or it can be an independent semiconductor chip. In addition to the core used to execute software instructions to perform calculations or processing within the processor, it can further include necessary hardware accelerators, such as field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), PLDs (programmable logic devices), or logic circuits that implement dedicated logic operations.

[0388] When the above modules or units are implemented in hardware, the hardware can be any one or any combination of a CPU, a microprocessor, a digital signal processing (DSP) chip, a microcontroller unit (MCU), an artificial intelligence processor, an ASIC, a SoC, an FPGA, a PLD, a dedicated digital circuit, a hardware accelerator or a non-integrated discrete device, which can run the necessary software or not rely on the software to execute the above method flow.

[0389] Optionally, the present application also provides a chip system, comprising: at least one processor and an interface, wherein the at least one processor is coupled to a memory via the interface, and when the at least one processor executes a computer program or instruction in the memory, the method in any of the above method embodiments is executed. In one possible implementation, the chip system also includes a memory. Optionally, the chip system can be composed of a chip, or can include a chip and other discrete devices, which is not specifically limited in this application.

[0390] Optionally, the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium. All or part of the processes in the above-mentioned method embodiments can be completed by a computer program to instruct the relevant hardware. The program can be stored in the above-mentioned computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed, it can include the processes of the above-mentioned method embodiments. The computer-readable storage medium can be an internal storage unit of the communication device of any of the above-mentioned embodiments, such as a hard disk or memory of the communication device. The above-mentioned computer-readable storage medium can also be an external storage device of the above-mentioned communication device, such as a plug-in hard disk, a smart memory card (smart media card, SMC), a secure digital (secure digital, SD) card, a flash card (flash card), etc. equipped on the above-mentioned communication device. Furthermore, the above-mentioned computer-readable storage medium can also include both the internal storage unit of the above-mentioned communication device and an external storage device. The above-mentioned computer-readable storage medium is used to store the above-mentioned computer program and other programs and data required by the above-mentioned communication device. The above-mentioned computer-readable storage medium can also be used to temporarily store data that has been output or is to be output.

[0391] Optionally, the present application also provides a computer program product. All or part of the processes in the above method embodiments may be completed by a computer program instructing related hardware. The program may be stored in the above computer program product, and when executed, the program may include the processes in the above method embodiments.

[0392] Optionally, the present application also provides a computer instruction. All or part of the process in the above method embodiment can be completed by the computer instruction to instruct the relevant hardware (such as a computer, processor, network device or terminal, etc.). The program can be stored in the above computer-readable storage medium or in the above computer program product.

[0393] Optionally, the present application also provides a communication system, including: the first device and the second device in the above embodiment.

[0394] Optionally, the present application also provides a communication system, including: the third device and the second device in the above embodiment.

[0395] Optionally, the present application also provides a communication system, including: the first device, the second device and the third device in the above embodiment.

[0396] Through the description of the above implementation methods, technical personnel in the relevant field can clearly understand that for the convenience and simplicity of description, only the division of the above-mentioned functional modules is used as an example. In actual applications, the above-mentioned functions can be assigned to different functional modules as needed, that is, the internal structure of the device can be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the functions described above.

[0397] In the several embodiments provided in this application, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods can be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely schematic. For example, the division of the modules or units is merely a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods, such as multiple units or components can be combined or integrated into another device, or some features can be ignored or not executed. Another point is that the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed can be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units, which can be electrical, mechanical or other forms.

[0398] The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separate, and the components shown as units may be one physical unit or multiple physical units, that is, they may be located in one place or distributed in multiple places. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

[0399] In addition, the functional units in the various embodiments of the present application may be integrated into a single processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into a single unit. The aforementioned integrated units may be implemented in the form of hardware or software functional units.

[0400] The above is only a specific embodiment of the present application, but the scope of protection of this application is not limited to this. Any changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this application should be included in the scope of protection of this application. Therefore, the scope of protection of this application should be based on the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to a first device, the method comprises: Determine that the slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the first slice to the second slice; A first billing message is sent to a second device, wherein the first billing message includes an identifier of the first slice, an identifier of the second slice, and related billing parameters, and the first billing message is used to perform associated billing for the use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The sending a first charging message to the second device includes: According to the slice corresponding to the first data connection session being updated from the first slice to the second slice, determining that a trigger event corresponding to the slice replacement is satisfied, sending the first charging message to the second device; or According to the fact that the slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the first slice to the second slice, it is determined that a trigger event corresponding to slice recovery is satisfied, and the first billing message is sent to the second device.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The sending a first charging message to the second device includes: According to the fact that the slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the first slice to the second slice, it is determined that the trigger event corresponding to the release of the first data connection session is met, and the first billing message is sent to the second device.

4. The method according to claim 1 or 3, characterized in that: The method further comprises: According to the update of the slice corresponding to the first data connection session from the first slice to the second slice, it is determined that the trigger event corresponding to the new second data connection session is met, and a second billing message is sent to the second device, wherein the second billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice and related billing parameters, which are used to perform associated billing on the use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The first billing message includes quota usage information corresponding to the first slice and / or quota request information corresponding to the second slice.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that: Before sending the first charging message to the second device, the method further includes: Close a first counter corresponding to the first slice usage statistics, and open a second counter corresponding to the second slice usage statistics; The sending the first charging message to the second device includes: When the next charging event occurs, the first charging message is sent to the second device, where the first charging message includes the statistical information of the first counter and / or the statistical information of the second counter.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, characterized in that: The method further comprises: A third billing message is sent to the session management function SMF corresponding to the home operator, indicating that the slice of the visit location corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the first slice to the second slice, and the third billing message includes the identifier of the first slice and the billing parameters related to the identifier of the second slice.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, characterized in that: The sending a first charging message to the second device includes: If the first device is a session management function SMF of the visited operator, sending a first charging message to a charging function of the visited operator; or, If the first device is the session management function SMF of the home operator, it sends a first billing message to the corresponding billing function of the home operator, so as to support the updating of the slice corresponding to the first data connection session from the first slice to the second slice, and the first billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice and / or the identifier of the third slice, wherein the third slice is the network slice of the home operator.

9. The method according to claim 8, characterized in that If the first device is an SMF of a visited operator, the method further includes: A fourth billing message is sent to the billing function corresponding to the home operator, where the fourth billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice, the identifier of the third slice and related billing parameters, and is used to perform associated billing on the use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

10. The method according to claim 8 or 9, characterized in that: The first billing message or the fourth billing message also includes an identifier of a fourth slice, which is used to indicate that the home slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the third slice to the fourth slice, and the first billing message or the fourth billing message is used to perform associated billing for the use of the third slice and / or the fourth slice.

11. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, characterized in that: The identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice are carried in at least one of the following information: Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session charging information; or The network slice identifier, replacement network slice identifier, usage container UUC field or network slice mapping information in the PDU session billing information.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 11, characterized in that: The first billing message includes first indication information, which is used to indicate that a slice replacement or a slice recovery occurs in the first data connection session.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 12, characterized in that: The slice identifier includes the identifier of the single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI and / or the network slice instance NSI.

14. A communication method, characterized in that: Applied to the second device, the method includes: receiving a first charging message from a first device, the first charging message including a charging parameter related to an identifier of a first slice and an identifier of a second slice, the first charging message being used to perform associated charging for use of the first slice and / or the second slice corresponding to a first data connection session; A charging data record CDR corresponding to the first data connection session is operated according to the first charging message, and the CDR includes charging information corresponding to the first slice and / or charging information corresponding to the second slice.

15. The method according to claim 14, characterized in that The first billing message includes quota usage information corresponding to the first slice and / or quota request information corresponding to the second slice.

16. The method according to claim 15, characterized in that The quota usage information corresponding to the first slice uses the first slice identifier, and the quota request information corresponding to the second slice uses the first slice identifier.

17. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that: The operating CDR comprises: Update the first CDR corresponding to the first data connection session, wherein the first CDR includes the billing information corresponding to the first slice and the billing information corresponding to the second slice.

18. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 16, characterized in that: The operating CDR comprises: closing a first CDR corresponding to the first data connection session, where the first CDR includes charging information corresponding to the first slice; Create a second CDR corresponding to the second data connection session, and the second CDR includes billing information corresponding to the second slice.

19. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 17, characterized in that: The first device is a session management function SMF of an operator at a visited location of a user corresponding to the first data connection session.

20. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 19, characterized in that: The receiving a first charging message from the first device includes: If the second device is a charging function of the home operator, receiving a first charging message from a session management function SMF corresponding to the home operator; or, If the second device is the billing function of the visited operator, it receives a first billing message from the session management function SMF corresponding to the visited operator, and the first billing message includes an identifier of the first slice, an identifier of the second slice, and an identifier of the third slice, and is used to perform associated billing on the use of the first slice and / or the second slice, wherein the third slice is a network slice of the home operator.

21. The method according to claim 20, characterized in that If the second device is a billing function of a home operator, the method further includes: Receive a fourth billing message from the session management function SMF corresponding to the visited operator, wherein the fourth billing message includes the identifier of the first slice, the identifier of the second slice, the identifier of the third slice and related billing parameters, and is used to perform associated billing for the use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

22. The method according to claim 21, characterized in that The first billing message also includes an identifier of the fourth slice, which is used to indicate that the home slice corresponding to the first data connection session is updated from the third slice to the fourth slice, and is used to perform associated billing on the use of the third slice and / or the fourth slice.

23. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 22, characterized in that: The method further comprises: A fifth billing message is sent to the billing function CHF corresponding to the home operator, where the fifth billing message includes billing parameters related to the identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice, and is used to perform associated billing on the use of the first slice and / or the second slice.

24. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 23, characterized in that: The identifier of the first slice and the identifier of the second slice are carried in at least one of the following information: PDU session charging information; or, The network slice identifier, replacement network slice identifier, usage container UUC field or network slice mapping information in the PDU session billing information.

25. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 24, characterized in that: The first billing message includes first indication information, which is used to indicate that a slice replacement or a slice recovery occurs in the first data connection session.

26. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 25, characterized in that: The slice identifier includes the identifier of the single network slice selection auxiliary information S-NSSAI and / or the network slice instance NSI.

27. The method according to any one of claims 14 to 26, characterized in that: The method further comprises: Send the CDR corresponding to the first data connection session to determine the billing corresponding to the first slice tenant based on the contract information between the first slice and the first slice tenant, and / or the billing information of the first slice and the second slice corresponding to the first data connection session and / or the corresponding generated CDR.

28. A communication device, characterized in that: include: A processor, wherein the processor is coupled to a memory, wherein the memory is used to store a program or an instruction, and when the program or the instruction is executed by the processor, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 27 is executed.

29. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program or instruction stored thereon, characterized in that: When the computer program or instructions are executed, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 27 is performed.

30. A computer program product, comprising computer program code, characterized in that: When the computer program code is run on a computer, the method according to any one of claims 1 to 27 is executed.

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