Communication method, apparatus and system

Abstract

Embodiments of the present application relate to the technical field of communications, and disclose a communication method, an apparatus and a system, which help to flexibly select edge application services for terminal devices. The method comprises: a first network element acquires one or more of the following parameters: a delay parameter or a load parameter, wherein the delay parameter comprises the transmission delay between at least one edge application service and a user plane function network element, and the load parameter comprises the load of the at least one edge application service; and, on the basis the acquired parameter, the first network element selects a target edge application service from among the at least one edge application service.

Description

Communication method, device and system

[0001] This application claims priority to the Chinese patent application filed with the State Intellectual Property Office on December 29, 2023, with application number 202311869410.5 and application name “Communication Methods, Devices and Systems,” the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this application. Technical Field

[0002] The present application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular to communication methods, devices, and systems. Background Art

[0003] For some services with low latency and large bandwidth requirements, such as virtual reality (VR), cloud gaming, or industrial automation, deploying application services at the edge of the network can provide users with a better service experience. This application service deployed at the edge of the network can be called an edge application server (EAS).

[0004] Currently, networks typically select edge application services close to the access point of terminal devices. If the access point of the terminal device does not change significantly, the network may not be able to flexibly adjust to select the appropriate edge application service for the terminal device. Summary of the Invention

[0005] The embodiments of the present application provide a communication method, apparatus, and system that can flexibly adjust and select appropriate edge application services for a terminal device when the access location of the terminal device does not change significantly.

[0006] The embodiments of this application adopt the following technical solutions:

[0007] In a first aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be executed by a first network element, or by a component of the first network element (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the first network element. The following description takes the first network element as an example of the execution subject of the method. The method includes: the first network element obtains one or more of the following parameters: a delay parameter or a load parameter; wherein the delay parameter includes the transmission delay between at least one edge application service and the user plane function network element, and the load parameter includes the load of at least one edge application service. The first network element selects a target edge application service from at least one edge application service based on the obtained parameters.

[0008] Selecting a target edge application service can also be referred to as determining a target edge application service. In some scenarios, selecting a target edge application service can also be understood as reselecting a target edge application service. Based on the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the first network element can select a target edge application service based on delay parameters and / or load parameters related to the edge application service. Compared to current solutions that only consider the terminal device access location to select edge application services, the edge application service selection solution provided in the present application is more flexible. Even when the terminal device access location has not changed significantly, adjustments can be made based on delay parameters and / or load parameters to select an appropriate edge application service for the terminal device. Furthermore, the edge application service selection solution provided in the embodiments of the present application takes into account factors such as network status or application status, allowing the selection of a target edge application service with better performance. For example, when considering network status, the target edge application service can be selected based on delay parameters related to the edge application service to avoid selecting an edge application service with excessive transmission delay, which would affect the user experience. When considering application status, the target edge application service can be selected based on load parameters related to the edge application service to avoid selecting an edge application service that is overloaded and unable to provide services in a timely manner.

[0009] In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the first network element determining a target user plane function network element according to the acquired parameters.

[0010] Among them, selecting the target user plane functional network element can also be called determining the target user plane functional network element. In some scenarios, selecting the target user plane functional network element can also be understood as reselecting the target user plane functional network element. In the embodiment of the present application, the target user plane functional network element refers to the user plane functional network element connected to the target edge application service. Based on this solution, the first network element can also determine the target user plane functional network element based on the acquired parameters. The embodiment of the present application not only provides a new way to determine the target user plane functional network element, but also, since the edge application service can access the core network through the user plane functional network element, based on the parameters related to the edge application service, the target user plane functional network element suitable for the target edge application service can be determined. For example, if the target user plane functional network element is determined based on the delay parameter, it can be avoided to select the target user plane functional network element with too large a transmission delay between the target edge application service and the target edge application service.

[0011] In one possible implementation, when the parameters acquired by the first network element include a latency parameter, the target user plane function network element meets the latency requirement. The latency requirement includes a latency requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the user plane function network element, or a latency requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the terminal device.

[0012] Based on this solution, when determining the target user plane functional network element, the first network element can exclude user plane functional network elements that do not meet the delay requirements, thereby avoiding selecting user plane functional network elements that have too large a transmission delay with the target edge application service, or that have too large a transmission delay between the target edge application service and the terminal device, thereby affecting the user experience.

[0013] In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the first network element sending information of the target user plane function network element to the session management function network element.

[0014] Based on this solution, the first network element can provide the session management function network element with information of the target user plane function network element to help the session management network element establish a user plane channel between the target user plane function network element and the terminal device. Alternatively, the session management network element can establish or modify a session related to the uplink classifier (ULCL) based on the target user plane function network element.

[0015] In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the first network element sending information of the target edge application service to the session management function network element.

[0016] In one possible implementation, when the parameters acquired by the first network element include latency parameters, the target edge application service is an edge application service that meets latency requirements. The latency requirements include latency requirements for transmission between the edge application service and the user plane function network element, or latency requirements for transmission between the edge application service and the terminal device. When the parameters acquired by the first network element include load parameters, the target edge application service is an edge application service that meets load requirements. The load requirements are load requirements for the edge application service.

[0017] Based on this solution, when determining the target edge application service, the first network element can exclude edge application services that do not meet the latency requirements, thereby avoiding selecting edge application services with excessive transmission delay between the edge application service and the terminal device (since the edge application service can access the core network through the user plane functional network element, the transmission delay between the edge application service and the user plane functional network element is also an important factor affecting the transmission delay between the edge application service and the terminal device), which affects the user experience.

[0018] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the first network element receiving a first message from a session management network element, the first message being used to request session establishment, the first message including one or more of the following requirements: a latency requirement or a load requirement. Alternatively, the first network element receiving one or more of the following requirements: a latency requirement or a load requirement from an application function network element.

[0019] Based on this solution, the first network element can obtain the delay requirement or load requirement from the session management function network element or the application function network element.

[0020] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the first network element receiving a second message from the application function network element, the second message including first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate that a load of the source edge application service exceeds a load threshold; and the first network element determining, based on the second message, to select a target edge application service.

[0021] In this application, if an edge application service is already providing services to a terminal device before the first network element determines the target edge application service, then the edge application service providing services to the terminal device can be referred to as the source edge application service. In this scenario, based on this solution, the application function network element can notify the first network element when the load of the source edge application service exceeds a certain threshold, triggering the first network element to select the target edge application service, that is, reselecting the edge application service to replace the source edge application service, thereby avoiding further increase in the load of the source edge application service.

[0022] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: the first network element sending a third message to the application function network element, where the third message is used to request the application function network element to monitor whether the load of the source edge application service exceeds a load threshold.

[0023] Based on this solution, the application function network element can monitor the load of the source edge application service based on the request of the first network element, and provide timely feedback to the first network element when the load of the source edge application service exceeds the threshold.

[0024] In a possible implementation, the first network element may obtain the parameters in the following manner: the first network element receives a fourth message from a user plane function network element, a network capability exposure function network element, or an application function network element, where the fourth message includes one or more parameters.

[0025] Based on this solution, the first network element can obtain parameters for determining the target edge application service from multiple types of network elements.

[0026] In a possible implementation, the method further includes: the first network element sending a fifth message, where the fifth message is used to request information related to delay or load. In this case, the fourth message is a response message to the fifth message.

[0027] Based on this solution, the first network element can request the parameters it needs from other network elements.

[0028] On the second aspect, a communication method is provided, which can be executed by a session management function network element, or by a component of the session management function network element (such as a processor, chip, or chip system, etc.), or by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the functions of the session management function network element. The following is an illustration of the method using the session management function network element as the execution subject, and the method includes: the session management function network element sends one or more of the following requirements to the first network element: a delay requirement or a load requirement; wherein, one or more requirements are used by the first network element to determine the target edge application service, the delay requirement includes the delay requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the user plane function network element or the delay requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the terminal device, and the load requirement is the load requirement for the edge application service. Afterwards, the session management network element receives information about the target edge application service from the first network element.

[0029] Based on the communication method provided in the embodiments of the present application, the session management network element can provide requirements related to edge application services to the first network element, so that the first network element can determine the target edge application service based on the obtained requirements. Compared to current solutions that only consider the terminal device access location to select edge application services, the edge application service selection solution provided in the present application is more flexible. Even when the terminal device access location has not changed significantly, it can also be adjusted based on latency requirements and / or load requirements to select the appropriate edge application service for the terminal device. Furthermore, the edge application service selection solution provided in the embodiments of the present application takes into account factors such as network status or application status, and can select target edge application services with better performance. For example, considering network status factors, latency requirements can be provided to the first network element to enable the first network element to exclude edge application services that do not meet the latency requirements, thereby avoiding the selection of edge application services with excessive transmission delays that affect user experience. Taking application status factors into account, the session management function network element can provide load requirements to the first network element to enable the first network element to exclude edge application services that do not meet the load requirements, thereby avoiding the selection of edge application services that are overloaded and cannot provide services in a timely manner. In addition, the session management network element provides requirements to the first network element, allowing the first network element to select the target edge application service, which can reduce the pressure of centralized processing on the session management network element.

[0030] In a possible implementation, the one or more requirements are also used by the first network element to determine the target application function network element. In this case, the session management network element may also receive information about the target application function network element from the first network element.

[0031] Based on this solution, the first network element can also determine the target user plane function network element based on the requirements provided by the session management network element. The embodiment of the present application not only provides a new way to determine the target user plane function network element, but also, since the edge application service can access the core network through the user plane function network element, based on the requirements related to the edge application service, the target user plane function network element suitable for the target edge application service can be determined. For example, if the target user plane function network element is determined based on the latency requirement, the user plane function network element that does not meet the latency requirement can be excluded, avoiding the selection of the target user plane function network element with excessive transmission delay between the target edge application service and the target user plane function network element, which affects the user experience.

[0032] In a possible implementation, the one or more requirements are carried in a first message, and information about the target edge application service is carried in a response message to the first message, wherein the first message is used to request establishment of a session.

[0033] Based on this solution, the session management network element can provide requirements to the first network element during the session establishment process, that is, the selection of the target edge application service can occur during the session establishment process.

[0034] In a third aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be executed by a user plane function network element, or by a component of the user plane function network element (such as a processor, chip, or chip system, etc.), or by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the user plane function network element functions. The following description takes the user plane function network element as an example of the execution subject of the method. The method includes: the user plane function network element receives a fifth message from the first network element, and the fifth message is used to request information related to delay or load. The user plane function network element sends a fourth message to the first network element, and the fourth message is a response message to the fifth message. The fourth message includes one or more of the following parameters: a delay parameter or a load parameter. Among them, the delay parameter includes the transmission delay between at least one edge application service and the user plane function network element, and the load parameter includes the load of at least one candidate edge application service. The one or more parameters included in the fourth message are used by the first network element to select a target edge application service from at least one candidate edge application service.

[0035] Based on the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the user plane functional network element can provide the first network element with delay parameters and / or load parameters related to the edge application service in response to the request of the first network element, so that the first network element can select the target edge application service based on the obtained parameters. Compared with the current solution of selecting edge application services based only on the access location of the terminal device, the solution for selecting edge application services provided by the present application is more flexible. When the access location of the terminal device has not changed significantly, it can also be adjusted based on the delay parameters and / or load parameters to select a suitable edge application service for the terminal device. In addition, the solution for selecting edge application services provided in the embodiment of the present application takes into account factors such as network status or application status, and can select a target edge application service with better performance. For details, please refer to the technical effects of the communication method of the first aspect.

[0036] In one possible implementation, the delay parameter also includes one or more of the following: the transmission delay between the user plane function network element and the access network device, or the transmission delay between the user plane function network element and the intermediate user plane function network element, wherein the intermediate user plane function network element is used to transfer information between the user plane function network element and the access network device.

[0037] Based on this solution, for end-to-end transmission (from terminal equipment to edge application service), not only the transmission path between the user plane functional network element and the edge application service is taken into account, but also the transmission path between the user plane functional network element and the access network device, and the transmission path between the user plane functional network element and the intermediate user plane functional network element. The user plane functional network element can obtain the delay parameters related to the user plane functional network element and provide them to the first network element, so that the first network element can integrate multiple delay parameters and select a suitable target edge application service.

[0038] In a fourth aspect, a communication method is provided. The method can be executed by an application function network element, or by a component of the application function network element (such as a processor, a chip, or a chip system, etc.), or by a logic module or software that can implement all or part of the application function network element function. The following is an illustration of the application function network element as the execution subject of the method. The method includes: the application function network element receives a fifth message from the first network element, and the fifth message is used to request information related to delay or load. Then, the application function network element sends a fourth message to the first network element, and the fourth message is a response message to the fifth message. The fourth message includes one or more of the following parameters: a delay parameter or a load parameter. Among them, the delay parameter includes the transmission delay between at least one edge application service and the user plane function network element, and the load parameter includes the load of at least one edge application service. The one or more parameters included in the fourth message are used by the first network element to select a target edge application service from at least one edge application service.

[0039] Based on the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, the application function network element can provide the first network element with delay parameters and / or load parameters related to the edge application service in response to the request of the first network element, so that the first network element can select the target edge application service based on the obtained parameters. Compared with the current solution of selecting edge application services based on only the access location of the terminal device, the solution for selecting edge application services provided by the present application is more flexible. When the access location of the terminal device has not changed significantly, it can also be adjusted based on the delay parameters and / or load parameters to select a suitable edge application service for the terminal device. In addition, the solution for selecting edge application services provided in the embodiment of the present application takes into account factors such as network status or application status, and can select a target edge application service with better performance. For details, please refer to the technical effects of the communication method of the first aspect.

[0040] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the application function network element sending one or more of the following requirements to the first network element: a latency requirement or a load requirement. The one or more requirements are used by the first network element to select a target edge application service. The latency requirement includes a latency requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the user plane function network element, or a latency requirement for transmission between the edge application service and a terminal device. The load requirement is a load requirement for the edge application service.

[0041] Based on this solution, the application function network element can also provide the first network element with requirements related to edge application services, so that the first network element can determine the target edge application service based on the obtained requirements, avoiding selecting edge application services that do not meet the requirements, which affects the user experience.

[0042] In one possible implementation, the method also includes: the application function network element sends a second message to the first network element, the second message includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the load of the source edge application service exceeds the load threshold; the second message is used by the first network element to determine and select the target edge application service.

[0043] Based on this solution, the application function network element can notify the first network element when the load of the source edge application service exceeds a certain threshold, triggering the first network element to select the target edge application service, that is, reselect the edge application service to replace the source edge application service, thereby avoiding further increase in the load of the source edge application service.

[0044] In one possible implementation, the method further includes: the application function network element receiving a third message from the first network element, the third message being used to request the application function network element to monitor whether the source edge application service exceeds a load threshold. The application function network element monitors whether the source edge application service exceeds the load threshold based on the third message.

[0045] Based on this solution, the application function network element can monitor the load of the source edge application service based on the request of the first network element, and provide timely feedback to the first network element when the load of the source edge application service exceeds the threshold.

[0046] In a fifth aspect, a communication device is provided for implementing the various methods described above. The communication device includes modules, units, or means corresponding to the methods described above. The modules, units, or means may be implemented in hardware, software, or by hardware executing corresponding software implementations. The hardware or software includes one or more modules or units corresponding to the functions described above.

[0047] In some possible designs, the communication device may include a transceiver module and a processing module. The transceiver module, which may also be referred to as a transceiver unit, is configured to implement the sending and / or receiving functions described in the first, second, third, or fourth aspects and any possible implementations thereof. The transceiver module may be comprised of a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver, or a communication interface. The processing module may be configured to implement the processing functions described in the first, second, third, or fourth aspects and any possible implementations thereof.

[0048] In some possible designs, the transceiver module includes a sending module and a receiving module, which are respectively used to implement the sending and receiving functions in the above-mentioned first aspect, second aspect, third aspect or fourth aspect and any possible implementation methods.

[0049] In a sixth aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: a processor and a communication interface; the communication interface is used to communicate with a module outside the communication device; the processor is used to execute a computer program or instruction so that the communication device executes any of the methods described above.

[0050] In a seventh aspect, a communication device is provided, comprising: at least one processor; the processor is configured to execute a computer program or instruction stored in a memory, so that the communication device performs the method of any of the above aspects. In one possible implementation, the memory may be coupled to the processor, or may be independent of the processor. In another possible implementation, the communication device further includes the memory. Optionally, the memory and the processor are integrated.

[0051] In aspects 5 to 7, the communication device may be the first network element in the first aspect or any implementation of the first aspect, or a device including the first network element, or a device included in the first network element, such as a chip. Alternatively, the communication device may be the session management function network element in the second aspect or any implementation of the second aspect, or a device including the session management function network element, or a device included in the session management function network element, such as a chip. Alternatively, the communication device may be the user plane function network element in the third aspect or any implementation of the third aspect, or a device including the user plane function network element, or a device included in the user plane function network element, such as a chip. Alternatively, the communication device may be the application function network element in the fourth aspect or any implementation of the fourth aspect, or a device including the application function network element, or a device included in the application function network element, such as a chip or chip system.

[0052] In an eighth aspect, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, which stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is run on a communication device, the communication device can execute any of the above aspects or any of its implementation methods.

[0053] In a ninth aspect, a computer program product comprising instructions is provided, which, when executed on a communication device, enables the communication device to execute the method of any of the above aspects or any of its implementations.

[0054] In a tenth aspect, a communication device is provided (for example, the communication device may be a chip or a chip system), which includes a processor for implementing the functions involved in any of the above aspects or any of its implementation methods.

[0055] In some possible designs, the communication device includes a memory for storing necessary program instructions and data.

[0056] In some possible designs, when the device is a chip system, it can be composed of a chip, or it can also include a chip and other discrete devices.

[0057] It can be understood that when the communication device provided in any one of the fifth to seventh aspects is a chip, the above-mentioned sending action / function can be understood as output, and the above-mentioned receiving action / function can be understood as input.

[0058] Among them, the technical effects brought about by any implementation method of the fifth to tenth aspects can refer to the technical effects brought about by the corresponding implementation methods of the first to fourth aspects, and will not be repeated here.

[0059] It should be noted that various possible implementations of any of the above aspects can be combined under the premise that the solutions are not contradictory.

[0060] In the eleventh aspect, a communication system is provided, which includes a first network element and a second network element. The first network element is used to send a fifth message to the second network element, and the fifth message is used to request information related to latency or load. The second network element is used to receive the fifth message and send a fourth message to the first network element; the fourth message is a response message to the fifth message, and the fourth message includes one or more of the following parameters: a latency parameter or a load parameter; wherein the latency parameter includes the transmission latency between at least one edge application service and the user plane function network element, and the load parameter includes the load of at least one edge application service. The first network element is also used to receive the fourth message and select a target edge application service from at least one edge application service based on the parameters included in the fourth message.

[0061] In some possible designs, the first network element is also used to execute any implementation method of the above-mentioned first aspect.

[0062] In some possible designs, the second network element is a user plane function network element, a network capability exposure function network element, or an application function network element.

[0063] In some possible designs, the second network element is an application function network element, and the second network element is also used to execute any implementation method of the third aspect mentioned above.

[0064] In some possible designs, the communication system also includes a session management function network element, which is used to execute the method of any implementation method of the above-mentioned second aspect. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0065] FIG1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a communication system applicable to an embodiment of the present application;

[0066] FIG2 is a flow chart of a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0067] FIG3 is a schematic diagram of obtaining delay parameters and / or load parameters according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0068] 4 is a schematic diagram of triggering a first network element to select a target edge application service according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0069] FIG5 is a schematic diagram of selecting a target edge application service in a session establishment process according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0070] FIG6 is a schematic diagram of obtaining a delay requirement and / or a load requirement in a session establishment process according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0071] FIG7 is a schematic diagram of obtaining delay parameters and / or load parameters according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0072] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of another method for obtaining delay parameters according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0073] FIG9 is a schematic diagram of another method for obtaining delay parameters according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0074] FIG10 is a schematic diagram of selecting a target edge application service after a session is established according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0075] FIG11 is a schematic diagram of a communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application;

[0076] FIG12 is a schematic diagram of another communication device provided in an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0077] The embodiments of the present application provide communication methods, devices and systems. The following describes the specific implementation of the communication method provided by the embodiments of the present application. In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise specified, " / " indicates that the objects associated before and after are in an "or" relationship. For example, A / B can represent A or B; "and / or" in the embodiments of the present application is only a description of the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there can be three relationships. For example, A and / or B can represent: A exists alone, A and B exist at the same time, and B exists alone, where A and B can be singular or plural. In addition, in the description of the present application, unless otherwise specified, "multiple" refers to two or more than two. "At least one of the following" or similar expressions refers to any combination of these items, including any combination of single or plural items. For example, at least one of a, b, or c can represent: a, b, c, ab, ac, bc, or abc, where a, b, c can be single or multiple. In addition, in order to facilitate the clear description of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "first" and "second" are used to distinguish between identical or similar items with substantially the same functions and effects. Those skilled in the art will understand that words such as "first" and "second" do not limit the quantity and execution order, and words such as "first" and "second" do not necessarily limit differences. At the same time, in the embodiments of the present application, words such as "exemplary" or "for example" are used to indicate examples, illustrations or explanations. Any embodiment or design described as "exemplary" or "for example" in the embodiments of the present application should not be interpreted as being more preferred or more advantageous than other embodiments or design schemes. Specifically, the use of words such as "exemplary" or "for example" is intended to present related concepts in a concrete way for easy understanding.

[0078] In the embodiment of the present application, "indication" may include direct indication and indirect indication, and may also include explicit indication and implicit indication. The information indicated by a certain information is called information to be indicated. In the specific implementation process, there are many ways to indicate the information to be indicated, such as but not limited to, the information to be indicated can be directly indicated, such as the information to be indicated itself or the index of the information to be indicated. The information to be indicated can also be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, wherein there is an association relationship between the other information and the information to be indicated. It is also possible to indicate only a part of the information to be indicated, while the other parts of the information to be indicated are known or agreed in advance. For example, the indication of specific information can also be achieved by means of the arrangement order of each piece of information agreed in advance (such as specified in the protocol), thereby reducing the indication overhead to a certain extent. At the same time, the common parts of each piece of information can also be identified and indicated uniformly to reduce the indication overhead caused by indicating the same information separately.

[0079] It should be understood that the information to be indicated can be sent as a whole or divided into multiple sub-information and sent separately, and the sending period and / or sending time of these sub-information can be the same or different. The specific sending method is not limited in the embodiments of this application. The sending period and / or sending time of these sub-information can be predefined, for example, predefined according to a protocol, or can be configured by the transmitting device by sending configuration information to the receiving device.

[0080] In an embodiment of the present application, "pre-definition", "pre-defined", "pre-configured", "pre-configured" or "local configuration" can be implemented by pre-saving corresponding codes, tables or other methods that can be used to indicate relevant information in the device. For example, it can be burned into the device when the device leaves the factory, or configured when accessing the network for the first time. The embodiment of the present application does not limit its specific implementation method. Among them, "saving" can mean saving in one or more memories. The one or more memories can be set separately or integrated in an encoder or decoder, a processor, or a communication device. The one or more memories can also be partially set separately and partially integrated in a decoder, a processor, or a communication device. The type of memory can be any form of storage medium, which is not limited by the embodiment of the present application.

[0081] In the embodiments of the present application, descriptions such as "when...", "in the case of...", "if" and "if" all mean that the device will perform corresponding processing under certain objective circumstances. It does not limit the time, nor does it require the device to perform judgment actions when implemented, nor does it mean that there are other limitations.

[0082] In the embodiment of the present application, "sending information to... (taking the first network element as an example)" can be understood as the destination end of the information being the first network element. This can include sending information to the first network element directly or indirectly. "Receiving information from... (taking the first network element as an example)" can be understood as the source end of the information being the first network element, which can include receiving information from the first network element directly or indirectly. The information may be processed as necessary between the source end and the destination end of the information transmission, such as format changes, etc., but the destination end can understand the valid information from the source end. Similar expressions in the embodiments of the present application can be understood similarly and will not be repeated here.

[0083] The technical solutions provided in this application can be used in various communication systems, for example, long term evolution (LTE) systems, fourth generation (4G) mobile communication systems, fifth generation (5G) mobile communication systems and their evolution systems, non-terrestrial networks (NTN) systems, vehicle to everything (V2X) systems, LTE and new radio (NR) hybrid networking systems, or device-to-device (D2D) systems, machine to machine (M2M) communication systems, Internet of Things (IoT), and future next generation communication systems, such as sixth generation (6G) mobile communication systems. In addition, the term "system" and "network" can be used interchangeably.

[0084] It should be noted that the network architecture and business scenarios described in the embodiments of the present application are intended to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and do not constitute a limitation on the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application. Ordinary technicians in this field can know that with the evolution of network architecture and the emergence of new business scenarios, the technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present application are also applicable to similar technical problems.

[0085] It should be noted that the names of the network elements appearing in this document are only possible exemplary names. If the names actually used by the network elements in subsequent communication networks (such as 6G networks) are different from the names appearing in this document, it does not affect the application of the communication method provided in the embodiments of this application.

[0086] Taking the application of the embodiment of the present application to the 5G system as an example, 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D in Figure 1 are possible, non-limiting architecture diagrams of communication systems applicable to the embodiment of the present application. The communication system applicable to the embodiment of the present application includes terminal equipment, a core network (CN) and an access network (AN). Logically, the core network can be divided into two parts: the user plane and the control plane. The control plane is responsible for the management of the mobile network, and the user plane is responsible for the transmission of service data.

[0087] As shown in 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D in Figure 1, in this communication system, the core network user plane function (UPF) network element, together with the access network network element (AN in Figure 1) and the terminal equipment, constitute the user plane network element of the 5G system (5GS). The core network control plane mainly includes the following network elements: access and mobility management function (AMF) network element, session management function (SMF) network element, network exposure function (NEF) network element, network function repository function (NRF) network element, policy control function (PCF) network element, application function (AF) network element, unified data management (UDM) network element, and edge application server discovery function (EASDF) network element.

[0088] As shown in 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D in Figure 1, the communication system may further include an EAS. The EAS may be deployed in a data network (DN), such as a local data network. Optionally, the EAS may be controlled by an operator or a third party. Exemplarily, the entity providing the EAS may be a server. For example, in a mobile edge computing (MEC) scenario, the EAS may be provided by an edge computing server, or in other words, the EAS may be deployed on an edge computing server.

[0089] In the embodiment of the present application, the server that provides EAS may also be referred to as an EAS server.

[0090] As shown in 1A, 1B, 1C, and 1D in Figure 1, the communication system may further include a first network element. The first network element may execute the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application to determine / select / reselect a target edge application service. The target edge application service refers to an edge application service that provides services to the terminal device.

[0091] Optionally, the first network element may be a newly defined network element. For example, the first network element may be called a service routing function (SRF) network element, or a local session management function network element (local SMF, L-SMF). Alternatively, the first network element may be an existing network element. For example, the first network element may be an intermediate session management function network element (I-SMF). When the terminal device is located in an area not managed by a session management network element, the intermediate session management function network element may be inserted to locate a session management network element that supports the session.

[0092] Exemplarily, as shown in 1C in Figure 1, the first network element may be an I-SMF network element connected to the AMF network element. As shown in 1D in Figure 1, the first network element may be an I-SMF network element connected to the SMF network element.

[0093] In one possible architecture, the first network element can also manage the local user plane function (local UPF, L-UPF) network element and / or EAS. The local user plane function network element is a user plane function network element connected to the edge application service (deployed in the DN). When the application that the terminal device wants to access has deployed the edge application service in the DN close to the local user plane function network element, or the network provides the edge application service for the terminal device, the connection can be provided to the terminal device through the local user plane function network element. For example, the first network element (SRF, or L-SMF) in 1A and 1B in Figure 1, and the I-SMF network element in 1C and 1D in Figure 1 can manage the local LUPF and EAS.

[0094] For example, as shown in 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D in FIG1 , the UPF network element connected to the EAS may be referred to as a local UPF network element in this application.

[0095] Optionally, the first network element may further execute the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application to determine / select / reselect the target user plane function network element. The target user plane function network element may establish a connection with the entity providing the target edge application service (or, the entity providing the target edge application service may communicate with the target user plane function network element). At the same time, the target user plane function network element may establish a user plane channel with the terminal device. In other words, the terminal device may use the services provided by the target edge application service through the target user plane function network element.

[0096] The target user plane function network element may also be referred to as a local user plane function network element connected to the target edge application service.

[0097] Taking the interaction between the first network element and another network element in the communication system (hereinafter referred to as the second network element) as an example, a possible implementation of the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application may include: the first network element sends a fifth message to the second network element, and the fifth message is used to request information related to delay or load. The second network element receives the fifth message and sends a fourth message to the first network element. The fourth message is a response message to the fifth message, and the fourth message includes one or more of the following parameters: delay parameter or load parameter. The delay parameter includes the transmission delay between at least one candidate edge application service and the user plane function network element, and the load parameter includes the load of at least one candidate edge application service. The first network element receives the fourth message and selects a target edge application service from at least one candidate edge application service based on the parameters included in the fourth message.

[0098] Exemplarily, the second network element may be a user plane function network element, an application function network element, a network open function network element or other network elements in the communication system.

[0099] It should be noted that 1A, 1B, 1C and 1D in Figure 1 are only illustrative examples of network elements or entities in the communication system. The communication system may also include some network elements or entities not shown in Figure 1, and the embodiments of the present application do not make specific limitations on this.

[0100] Among them, as shown in 1A in Figure 1, the terminal device accesses the network through the AN device, and the terminal device communicates with the AMF network element through the N1 interface (N1 for short); the AN device communicates with the AMF network element through the N2 interface (N2 for short); the AN device communicates with the UPF network element through the N3 interface (N3 for short); different UPF network elements communicate through the N9 interface (N9 for short); the entity providing EAS can communicate with the UPF network element through the N6 interface (N6 for short); the SMF network element can communicate with the first network element through the Nx interface; the first network element can communicate with the UPF network element through the Ny interface.

[0101] In one possible implementation, the first network element in Figure 1 can determine / select / reselect a target EAS from the EAS based on the N6 delay between the EAS and the UPF network element and / or the load of the EAS. Optionally, the first network element can also determine / select / reselect a UPF network element connected to the target EAS.

[0102] As shown in 1B of Figure 1 , the terminal device accesses the network through the AN device, and the terminal device communicates with the AMF network element through N1; the AN device communicates with the AMF network element through N2; the AN device communicates with the ULCL / branchpoint (BP) UPF network element through N3; the PDU session anchor (PSA) UPF network element communicates with the DN through N6; different UPF network elements communicate with each other through N9; the entity providing EAS can communicate with the UPF network element through N6. The SMF network element can communicate with the first network element through the Nx interface; the first network element can communicate with the UPF network element through the Ny interface.

[0103] In one possible implementation, the first network element in Figure 1 can determine / select / reselect a target EAS based on the N6 delay between the EAS and the UPF network element and / or the load of the EAS. Optionally, the first network element can also determine / select / reselect a UPF network element connected to the target EAS.

[0104] In one possible implementation, the first network element in Figure 1 can determine / select / reselect the target UPF network element based on the N6 delay between the EAS and the UPF network element and / or the load of the EAS. Optionally, the first network element can also determine / select / reselect the EAS connected to the target UPF.

[0105] As shown in 1C in Figure 1, the terminal device accesses the network through the AN device, and the terminal device communicates with the AMF network element through N1; the AN device communicates with the AMF network element through N2; the AN device communicates with the UL CL UPF network element or the BP UPF network element through N3; the AMF network element communicates with the I-SMF network element through the N11 interface (referred to as N11); the SMF network element communicates with the PSA1 UPF network element through the N4 interface (referred to as N4); the PSA1 UPF network element communicates with the DN through N6; the I-SMF network element can communicate with the SMF network element through the N16a interface (referred to as N16a); the I-SMF network element can communicate with the UL CL UPF network element and the PAS2 UPF network element through N4; different UPF network elements communicate with each other through N9; the entity providing EAS can communicate with the UPF network element through N6.

[0106] In one possible implementation, in FIG1 , the AMF network element in 1C may select an I-SMF network element (i.e., the I-SMF network element in 1C in FIG1 ) during session establishment or modification. The I-SMF network element may then determine / select / reselect the EAS based on the N6 delay between the EAS and the UPF network element and / or the load of the EAS. Optionally, the I-SMF network element may also determine / select / reselect the UPF network element connected to the target EAS.

[0107] In one possible implementation, in Figure 1, the I-SMF network element in 1C can determine / select / reselect the target UPF network element based on the N6 delay between the EAS and the UPF network element and / or the load of the EAS. Optionally, the I-SMF can also determine / select / reselect the EAS connected to the target UPF.

[0108] As shown in 1D in Figure 1, the terminal device accesses the network through the AN device, and the terminal device communicates with the AMF network element through N1; the AN device communicates with the AMF network element through N2; the AN device communicates with the ULCL UPF network element or the BP UPF network element through N3; the AMF network element communicates with the SMF network element through N11; the SMF network element communicates with the PAS1 UPF network element and the UL CL UPF network element through N4; the PSA1 UPF network element communicates with the DN through N6; different UPF network elements can communicate through the N9 interface (abbreviated as N9); the I-SMF network element can communicate with the SMF network element through N16a or Nx; the I-SMF network element can communicate with the PSA2 UPF network element through N4 or Ny; the entity providing EAS can communicate with the UPF network element through N6.

[0109] In one possible implementation, in FIG1 , the AMF network element in 1D selects the SMF network element during session establishment or modification, and the SMF network element further selects the I-SMF network element (i.e., the I-SMF network element in 1D in FIG1 ). The I-SMF network element can then determine / select / reselect the EAS based on the N6 delay between the EAS and the UPF network element, and / or the load of the EAS. Optionally, the I-SMF network element can also determine / select / reselect the UPF network element connected to the target EAS.

[0110] In one possible implementation, in Figure 1, the I-SMF network element in 1D can determine / select / reselect the target UPF network element based on the N6 delay between the EAS and the UPF network element and / or the load of the EAS. Optionally, the I-SMF can also determine / select / reselect the EAS connected to the target UPF.

[0111] In addition, the core network control plane network elements shown in Figure 1 interact using service-based interfaces. For example, the service-based interface provided by the AMF network element is Namf; the service-based interface provided by the SMF network element is Nsmf; the service-based interface provided by the NEF network element is Nnef; the service-based interface provided by the NRF network element is Nnrf; the service-based interface provided by the PCF network element is Npcf; the service-based interface provided by the UDM network element is Nudm; the service-based interface provided by the AF network element is Naf; and the service-based interface provided by the EASDF network element is Nasdf. For relevant functional and interface descriptions, please refer to existing standards and are not detailed here.

[0112] All or part of the functions of the network element or device in the embodiments of the present application may also be implemented by software functions running on hardware, or by virtualization functions instantiated on a platform (e.g., a cloud platform). The network element in the embodiments of the present application may also be a logical node, logical module, or software that can implement all or part of the network element functions.

[0113] Access network equipment, also known as AN entity or access node, constitutes part of the communication system and is used to help terminal devices access the network. In one possible scenario, the access network equipment can be a base station, an evolved NodeB (eNodeB), an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a next-generation nodeB (gNB), a next-generation base station in a 6G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access node in a wireless fidelity (WiFi) system. The access network equipment can be a macro base station, a micro base station or an indoor station, a relay node or a donor node, or a wireless controller in a cloud-radio access network (C-RAN) scenario. Optionally, the access network equipment can also be a server, a wearable device, a vehicle or an on-board device. For example, the access network equipment in V2X technology can be a road side unit (RSU).

[0114] In another possible scenario, multiple access network devices collaborate to assist terminal devices in achieving access, and different access network devices respectively implement part of the functions of the base station. For example, the access network device can be a centralized unit (CU), a distributed unit (DU), a CU-control plane (CP), a CU-user plane (UP), or a radio unit (RU). The CU and DU can be set separately, or they can be included in the same network element, such as a baseband unit (BBU). The RU can be included in a radio frequency device or radio frequency unit, such as a remote radio unit (RRU), an active antenna unit (AAU), or a remote radio head (RRH).

[0115] In different systems, CU (or CU-CP and CU-UP), DU or RU may also have different names, but those skilled in the art can understand their meanings. For example, in an open radio access network (open RAN, O-RAN), CU may also be called O-CU (open CU), DU may also be called O-DU, CU-CP may also be called O-CU-CP, CU-UP may also be called O-CU-UP, and RU may also be called O-RU. For the convenience of description, the embodiments of the present application are described by taking CU, CU-CP, CU-UP, DU and RU as examples. Any of the CU (or CU-CP, CU-UP), DU and RU in the embodiments of the present application may be implemented by a software module, a hardware module, or a combination of a software module and a hardware module.

[0116] Terminal devices may also be referred to as terminals, user equipment (UE), mobile stations, mobile terminals, etc. Terminal devices can be widely used in various scenarios, such as D2D, V2X communication, machine-type communication (MTC), Internet of Things, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), industrial control, self-driving, remote medical, smart grid, smart furniture, smart office, smart wearable, smart transportation or smart city, etc. Terminal devices can be mobile phones, tablet computers, computers with wireless transceiver functions, wearable devices, vehicles, drones, helicopters, airplanes, ships, robots, robotic arms, smart home devices, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the device form of the terminal device.

[0117] The communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application is described below in conjunction with the architecture of the communication system shown in FIG1 .

[0118] It should be noted that in the following embodiments of the present application, the names of the various network elements, the names of the messages exchanged between the various network elements, the names of the various parameters, or the names of the various information are only examples. In other embodiments, they may also be other names, and the method provided in this application does not make specific limitations on this.

[0119] It is understood that in the embodiments of the present application, each network element or entity may perform some or all of the steps in the embodiments of the present application. These steps or operations are merely examples, and the embodiments of the present application may also perform other operations or variations of various operations. In addition, the 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 operations in the embodiments of the present application need to be performed.

[0120] Referring to FIG. 2 , a communication method provided in an embodiment of the present application includes steps S201-S202:

[0121] S201. The first network element obtains one or more of the following parameters: a delay parameter or a load parameter; wherein the delay parameter includes the transmission delay between at least one edge application service and a user plane function network element, and the load parameter includes the load of at least one edge application service.

[0122] S202: The first network element selects (or determines, which may also be called reselecting in some scenarios) a target edge application service from at least one edge application service according to the acquired parameters.

[0123] In an embodiment of the present application, the target edge application service can provide an application service for the terminal device. After the first network element selects the target edge application service, the entity providing the target edge application service can establish a connection with the user plane function network element (or in other words, can communicate with the user plane function network element), thereby providing the application service to the terminal device based on the user plane channel between the user plane function network element and the terminal device.

[0124] In the embodiment of the present application, the number of target edge application services determined by the first network element may be one or more.

[0125] The embodiments of the present application do not limit the application scenarios of S201-S202. For example, S201-S202 can be applied in a session establishment scenario, in which the first network element can select a target edge application service based on the session established by the terminal device. For another example, S201-S202 can be applied in a scenario where a session has already been established, in which the first network element can reselect a target edge application service for the terminal device.

[0126] Based on the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application, an edge application service can be selected for a terminal device based on the delay parameters and / or load parameters related to the edge application service. Therefore, compared to the current solution of selecting edge application services based only on the access location of the terminal device, the solution for selecting edge application services provided by the present application is more flexible. When the access location of the terminal device does not change significantly, it can also be adjusted based on the delay parameters and / or load parameters to select a suitable edge application service for the terminal device. In addition, the solution for selecting edge application services provided in the embodiment of the present application takes into account factors such as network status or application status, and can select a target edge application service with better performance. For example, when considering the network status factor, the target edge application service can be selected based on the delay parameters related to the edge application service. This can avoid selecting a target edge application service with excessive transmission delay, which affects the user experience. When considering the application status factor, the target edge application service can be selected based on the load parameters related to the edge application service, avoiding selecting an edge application service with excessive load pressure that cannot provide services in a timely manner.

[0127] First, let’s introduce S201 in detail.

[0128] For at least one edge application service involved in the latency parameter or load parameter, since the first network element selects a target edge application service from the at least one edge application service, the at least one edge application service can be understood as a candidate (or alternative) for the target edge application service. To facilitate understanding of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, in the following embodiments, the at least one edge application service is referred to as a candidate edge application service.

[0129] The number of candidate edge application services can be one or more. If there are multiple candidate edge application services, the latency parameter includes the transmission latency between each candidate edge application service and the user plane function network element. The load parameter includes the load of each candidate edge application service.

[0130] In one possible implementation, the user plane function network element in the embodiment of the present application may be a local user plane function network element. For details, please refer to the above introduction to the communication system applicable to the embodiment of the present application, which will not be elaborated here.

[0131] In one possible scenario, the transmission delay between the candidate edge application service and the user plane function network element may be the transmission delay between the entity providing the candidate edge application service and the user plane function network element. For example, it may be the transmission delay between the server providing the candidate edge application service and the user plane function network element.

[0132] Regarding the transmission delay between the candidate edge application service and the user plane function network element included in the delay parameter, the number of the user plane function network elements involved may be one or more.

[0133] When there is only one user plane function network element, the user plane function network element is the target user plane function network element, or in other words, the first network element can determine the user plane function network element as the target user plane function network element. The target user plane function network element can establish a connection with the target edge application service selected by the first network element, and at the same time, the target user plane function network element can establish a user plane channel with the terminal device.

[0134] When there are multiple user plane function network elements, these multiple user plane function network elements can be considered as multiple candidate user plane function network elements. The first network element can select a target user plane function network element from these multiple candidate user plane function network elements based on the obtained parameters. The first network element selects the target user plane function network element from the candidate user plane function network elements in detail below in conjunction with S202 and is not expanded here.

[0135] Optionally, the delay parameter may further include one or more of the following: the transmission delay between the user plane function network element and the access network device (referring to the access network device that communicates with the terminal device), or the transmission delay between the user plane function network element and the intermediate user plane function network element. For these two delays, the number of user plane network elements involved may be one or more. When there are multiple user plane network elements, the user plane network element may also be referred to as a candidate user plane network element. For details, please refer to the above introduction.

[0136] The intermediate user plane function network element is used to transfer information between the user plane function network element and the access network device. If the access network device cannot directly establish a tunnel with the user plane function network element, the tunnel information can be transferred through the intermediate user plane function network element.

[0137] Optionally, the delays included in the above-mentioned delay parameters can also be named based on the communication interface. For example, if the candidate edge application service communicates with the user plane function network element through the N6 interface, the transmission delay between the candidate edge application service and the user plane function network element can also be called the N6 delay. If the user plane network element and the access network device communicate through the N3 interface, the transmission delay between the user plane network element and the access network device can also be called the N3 delay. If the user plane network element and the intermediate network element communicate through the N9 interface, the transmission delay between the user plane network element and the intermediate network element can also be called the N9 delay.

[0138] The above describes the delay parameter and the load parameter. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific implementation of the first network element obtaining the delay parameter or the load parameter. The following describes several possible acquisition methods provided by the embodiment of the present application.

[0139] Method 1: As shown in Figure 3, the first network element may receive a fourth message from another network element (hereinafter referred to as the second network element), wherein the fourth message includes at least one of the above-mentioned delay parameter or load parameter.

[0140] Exemplarily, the second network element may be a user plane function network element, a network capability exposure function network element, an application function network element or other network elements.

[0141] Optionally, as shown in Figure 3, a fifth message sent by the first network element to the second network element can trigger the second network element to send a fourth message to the first network element. In other words, the fourth message is a response message to the fifth message. The fifth message is used to request information related to latency and / or load.

[0142] If the sending of the fourth message is triggered by the fifth message, in one possible case, each time the first network element sends the fifth message to the second network element, it triggers the second network element to send the fourth message to the first network element.

[0143] In another possible case, the first network element sends the fifth message to the second network element once, which triggers the second network element to send the fourth message to the first network element multiple times. Exemplarily, the first network element sends the fifth message to the second network element, which triggers the second network element to periodically send the fourth message to the first network element.

[0144] If the fifth message triggers the sending of the fourth message, in one possible implementation, the fifth message may carry information about candidate edge application services and / or information about user plane function network elements. In this implementation, the second network element may determine the candidate edge application services and / or user plane function network elements based on the information carried in the fifth message, and thereby send the corresponding delay parameters and / or load parameters to the first network element.

[0145] Exemplarily, the fifth message may carry the Internet Protocol (IP) address or port number of the candidate edge application service, and the IP address or port number of the user plane function network element.

[0146] In another possible implementation, the second network element may carry locally stored information about the edge application service and / or user plane function network element in a fourth message and send it to the first network element. After receiving the fourth message, the first network element may determine at least one of the above-mentioned delay parameters or load parameters from the information carried in the fourth message.

[0147] Exemplarily, the fourth message may include at least one piece of information, such as the fully qualified domain name (FQDN), application (App) serial number (identity, ID), IP address, data network access identifier (DNAI), data network name (DNN), load value, and the value of the delay transmitted between the user plane functional network element, corresponding to multiple edge application services.

[0148] In one possible scenario of method one, if the second network element is a user plane functional network element, after the second network element receives the fifth message, it can trigger the second network element to request the relevant network element to measure the delay parameter or load parameter. For example, the second network element can request the candidate edge application service to measure the transmission delay between the candidate edge application service and the second network element or the load of the candidate edge application service. For another example, the second network element can also request the access network device to measure the transmission delay between the access network device and the second network element. For another example, the second network element can also request the intermediate user plane functional network element to measure the transmission delay between the intermediate user plane functional network element and the second network element.

[0149] The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific implementation of the second network element requesting the relevant network element to measure the delay parameter or load parameter. For example, the second network element may request the candidate edge application service to measure the transmission delay between the candidate edge application service and the second network element or the load of the candidate edge application service through a transport layer message. For another example, the second network element may request the access network device to measure the transmission delay between the access network device and the second network element through QoS monitoring. For another example, the second network element may request the intermediate user plane function network element to measure the transmission delay between the intermediate user plane function network element and the second network element through a general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol (GPRS tunnelling protocol for the user plane, GTP-U) message at the user layer.

[0150] In another possible scenario, if the second network element is a network capability exposure function network element, at least one of the delay parameters or load parameters sent by the second network element to the first network element may be provided to the second network element by the application function network element.

[0151] In another possible scenario, if the second network element is an application function network element, at least one of the delay parameters or load parameters sent by the second network element to the first network element may be provided to the second network element by an operator or a third party.

[0152] Method 2: The first network element may pre-configure information about edge application services and / or user plane function network elements. After determining candidate edge application services and user plane function network elements, the first network element determines at least one of the aforementioned latency parameters or load parameters from the locally configured information. For example, a staff member may periodically write information about edge application services and / or user plane function network elements within the coverage area of ​​the first network element to the first network element.

[0153] In a possible example, in the above manner, the information related to the edge application service and / or user plane function network element obtained by the first network element may be referred to as edge application service deployment information (EAS deployment information).

[0154] The following describes S202 by taking as an example the case where the number of user plane function network elements involved in the delay parameter is one (ie, the user plane function network element is the target user plane function network element).

[0155] In S202 , when there are multiple candidate edge application services, the first network element may select one or more candidate edge application services as target edge application services from the multiple candidate edge application services according to the acquired parameters.

[0156] The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific implementation of the first network element selecting the target edge application service from multiple candidate edge application services.

[0157] For example, assuming that the first network element obtains the delay parameter, the first network element can select the candidate edge application service with the smallest transmission delay to the user plane function network element from multiple candidate edge application services as the target candidate edge application service.

[0158] For another example, assuming that the first network element obtains the load parameter, the first network element may select a candidate edge application service with the smallest load from multiple candidate edge application services as the target candidate edge application service.

[0159] For another example, assuming that the first network element obtains a delay parameter and a load parameter, the first network element can combine the delay parameter and the load parameter to select a target edge application service from multiple candidate edge application services. For example, the first network element can set coefficients (or weights) for the delay value included in the delay parameter and the load value included in the load parameter, respectively, and thus select the target candidate edge application service based on the weighted results of the multiple candidate edge application services. For example, the candidate edge application service with the smallest weighted result can be selected as the target candidate edge application service.

[0160] Optionally, the first network element may further obtain at least one of a latency requirement or a load requirement. The latency requirement may include a latency requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the user plane function network element, or a latency requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the terminal device (also referred to as end-to-end (E2E) transmission). The load requirement is a load requirement for the edge application service.

[0161] Exemplarily, the latency requirement or load requirement can be represented by different forms of information. For example, the latency requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the terminal device can be represented by the allowed / preferred E2E latency field or the max E2E latency field. For another example, the latency requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the user plane functional network element can be represented by the allowed / preferred N6 latency field or the max N6 latency field. For another example, the load requirement for the edge application service can be represented by the allowed / preferred EAS load field or the max EAS load field.

[0162] Furthermore, the first network element may select a target edge application service from multiple candidate edge application services based on the acquired parameters and requirements. The specific implementation of how the first network element selects the target edge application service from multiple candidate edge application services may also vary based on the acquired parameters and requirements, as described below.

[0163] When the first network element obtains the latency requirement, the first network element may select a target edge application service from multiple candidate edge application services based on the obtained latency parameter. In this case, the target edge application service meets the latency requirement. Meeting the latency requirement may mean that the latency specified by the timing requirement does not exceed the latency requirement, or that the latency specified by the latency requirement is less than the latency requirement.

[0164] Optionally, if the delay requirement obtained by the first network element includes the delay requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the user plane function network element, the first network element can determine whether the candidate edge application service meets the delay requirement based on the obtained transmission delay between the candidate edge application service and the user plane network element.

[0165] For example, assume that the latency requirement for transmission between an edge application service and a user plane function network element obtained by the first network element is 5ms. The latency between the three candidate edge application services obtained by the first network element (candidate edge application service 1, candidate edge application service 2, and candidate edge application service 3) and the user plane function network element is 4ms, 6ms, and 7ms, respectively. Only candidate edge application service 1 meets the latency requirement, so the first network element can select candidate edge application service 1 as the target edge application service.

[0166] Optionally, if the latency requirement acquired by the first network element includes a latency requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the terminal device, the first network element may determine whether the candidate edge application service meets the latency requirement based on the sum of at least one of the acquired transmission latency between the user plane network element and the access network device or the acquired transmission latency between the user plane function network element and the intermediate user plane function network element, and the transmission latency between the candidate edge application service and the user plane network element. Alternatively, the first network element may determine whether the candidate edge application service meets the latency requirement based solely on the transmission latency between the candidate edge application service and the user plane network element.

[0167] For example, assume that the delay requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the terminal device obtained by the first network element is 10 time units. The delays for transmission between the three candidate edge application services (candidate edge application service 1, candidate edge application service 2, and candidate edge application service 3) obtained by the first network element and the user plane function network element are 4ms, 6ms, and 7ms, respectively. The first network element also obtains that the delay for transmission between the user plane function network element and the access network device is 3ms, and the delay for transmission between the user plane function network element and the intermediate user plane function network element is 2ms. The first network element then determines that the total delay corresponding to candidate edge application service 1 is 4+3+2=9ms, the total delay corresponding to candidate edge application service 2 is 6+3+2=11ms, and the total delay corresponding to candidate edge application service 3 is 7+3+2=12ms. Only candidate edge application service 1 meets the delay requirement, so the first network element can select candidate edge application service 1 as the target edge application service.

[0168] Optionally, if there are multiple candidate edge application services that meet the latency requirement, the first network element may select the candidate edge application service with the minimum latency targeted by the latency requirement from the multiple candidate edge application services as the target edge application service.

[0169] When the first network element obtains the load requirement, the first network element may select a target edge application service from a plurality of candidate edge application services according to the obtained load parameters. In this case, the target edge application service meets the load requirement.

[0170] For example, assume that the load demand for the edge application service obtained by the first network element is 10%. The loads of the three candidate edge application services (candidate edge application service 1, candidate edge application service 2, and candidate edge application service 3) obtained by the first network element are 9%, 11%, and 12%, respectively. Only candidate edge application service 1 meets the latency requirement, so the first network element can select candidate edge application service 1 as the target edge application service.

[0171] Optionally, if there are multiple candidate edge application services that meet the load requirement, the first network element may select a candidate edge application service with the smallest load from the multiple candidate edge application services as the target edge application service.

[0172] When the first network element obtains the latency requirement and the load requirement, the first network element can select a target edge application service from multiple candidate edge application services based on the obtained latency parameters and load parameters. In this case, the target edge application service meets the load requirement and the latency requirement.

[0173] For example, assume that the first network element obtains a latency requirement of 5 for transmission between an edge application service and a user plane functional network element, and a load requirement of 10% for the edge application service. The first network element obtains three candidate edge application services (candidate edge application service 1, candidate edge application service 2, and candidate edge application service 3) with transmission latency of 3%, 4%, and 6% respectively, and the loads of the three candidate edge application services are 11%, 9%, and 12% respectively. Only candidate edge application service 2 meets both the latency requirement and the load requirement. In this case, the first network element can select candidate edge application service 2 as the target edge application service.

[0174] Optionally, if there are multiple candidate edge application services that meet both load and latency requirements, the first network element may select the candidate edge application service with the smallest load from these multiple candidate edge application services, or select the candidate edge application service with the smallest latency required by the latency requirement, as the target edge application service. Alternatively, the first network element may set coefficients for the delay value included in the delay parameter and the load value included in the load parameter, respectively, thereby selecting the target candidate edge application service based on the weighted results of the multiple candidate edge application services.

[0175] The above describes how the first network element selects a target edge application service from a plurality of candidate edge application services. The following describes a case where the number of candidate edge application services is one.

[0176] In S202 , when the number of candidate edge application services is one, the first network element may determine whether the candidate edge application service can be used as a target edge application service according to the acquired parameters.

[0177] For example, if the load included in the delay parameter is too large, the first network element will determine that the candidate edge application service cannot be used as the target edge application service.

[0178] Optionally, if the first network element also obtains a latency requirement and / or a load requirement, the first network element may determine whether the candidate edge application service can be used as a target edge application service based on whether the candidate edge application service meets the latency requirement and / or the load requirement. For details, please refer to the above description of the first network element selecting a target candidate edge application service from multiple candidate edge application services.

[0179] Furthermore, if there is only one candidate edge application service, and the first network element determines that the candidate edge application service cannot serve as the target edge application service, the first network element may determine that selection of the target edge application service has failed. Alternatively, if the first network element selects the target edge application service during session establishment, the first network element may send an indication indicating a failure in target edge application service selection to the session management network element. Exemplarily, the indication indicating a failure in target edge application service selection may be included in the first network element's response message to session establishment.

[0180] The above describes how to determine the target edge application service based on latency requirements and / or load requirements. Regarding latency requirements and / or load requirements, the present embodiment does not impose specific restrictions on how the first network element obtains the latency requirements and / or load requirements. The following describes several possible implementations provided by the present embodiment.

[0181] In one possible implementation, a session management function network element sends a first message to a first network element. Correspondingly, the first network element receives the first message from the session management function network element. The first message is used to request session establishment, and the first message includes at least one of a latency requirement and a load requirement.

[0182] Exemplarily, the first message may be a protocol data unit (PDU) session establishment request (PDU session creat) message. That is, in a session establishment scenario, the session establishment request message of the session management network element may trigger the first network element to select a target edge application service.

[0183] In this implementation, at least one of the delay requirement or the load requirement obtained by the session management function network element may be sent by the application function network element to the session management function network element.

[0184] Alternatively, the session management function network element may determine at least one of the delay requirement and the load requirement from the obtained subscription data of the terminal device. Exemplarily, the session management function network element may obtain the subscription data of the terminal device from the unified data management network element.

[0185] Alternatively, the session management function network element locally configures at least one of the delay requirement and the load requirement.

[0186] Optionally, a correspondence may exist between the latency requirement or load requirement and the application. The session management network element may determine the latency requirement or load requirement corresponding to the application based on the application service requested by the terminal device, and send the latency requirement or load requirement corresponding to the application to the first network element for use in determining the latency requirement or load requirement of the target edge application service.

[0187] In one possible implementation of this method, the latency requirement acquired by the session management function network element includes the latency requirement for transmission between the candidate edge application service and the terminal device, and the latency requirement sent by the session management function network element to the first network element includes the latency requirement for transmission between the candidate edge application service and the user plane function network element. In this case, the session management function network element can determine the latency requirement for transmission between the candidate edge application service and the user plane function network element based on the latency requirement for transmission between the candidate edge application service and the terminal device.

[0188] Exemplarily, the session management function network element can determine the delay of transmission between the terminal device and the user plane function network element, such as the packet delay budget (PDB) delay between the terminal device and the user plane function network element, and subtract the value of the PDB delay between the terminal device and the user plane function network element from the value of the delay requirement for transmission between the candidate edge application service and the terminal device to obtain the value of the delay requirement for transmission between the candidate edge application service and the user plane function network element.

[0189] In another possible implementation, the application function network element sends at least one of a delay requirement or a load requirement to the first network element. Correspondingly, the first network element receives at least one of a delay requirement or a load requirement from the application function network element.

[0190] In another possible implementation, the first network element locally configures at least one of a delay requirement or a load requirement.

[0191] Optionally, after the first network element selects the target edge application service, a channel may be established between the target edge application service and the user plane function network element. Data may be transmitted between the entity providing the target edge application service and the user plane function network element through the established channel.

[0192] For example, an N6 channel can be established between the target edge application service and the user plane functional network element.

[0193] Optionally, after the first network element selects the target edge application service, the session management network element may establish a user plane channel between the user plane function network element and the terminal device, so that the terminal device can use the target edge application service.

[0194] Optionally, the first network element may send information of the target edge application service, such as the IP address and port number of the target edge application service, to the session management function network element.

[0195] For example, if the first network element selects a target edge application service in a session establishment scenario, the first network element may include information about the target edge application service in a session establishment response message sent to the session management function network element. In one possible scenario of this example, if the session management network element sends at least one of a latency requirement or a load requirement to the first network element via a first message, the first network element may include information about the target edge application service in a response message to the first message, such as a PDU session create response message.

[0196] Optionally, as shown in FIG4 , before S201 , the communication method may further include the following steps:

[0197] S203: The application function network element sends a second message to the first network element, and correspondingly, the first network element receives the second message from the application function network element, wherein the second message includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the load of the source edge application service exceeds the load threshold.

[0198] In S203, the source edge application service is an edge application service that is currently providing services to the terminal device (referring to when S203 occurs). In other words, before S203, the source edge application service has already been connected to the core network through the user plane functional network element, and the terminal device can use the source edge application service through the user plane channel between the user plane functional network element and the user plane functional network element.

[0199] Optionally, the second message may include information of the source edge application service, for example, an IP address, a port number, etc. of the source edge application service.

[0200] S204. The first network element determines to select a target edge application service according to the second message.

[0201] Based on the second message, the first network element determines that it needs to reselect the target edge application service. Furthermore, the first network element can select the target edge application service based on S201-S202 above. In other words, the second message can trigger the first network element to select the target edge application service to replace the source edge application service. Before S203, the transmission path from the terminal device to the user plane function network element, and then from the user plane function network element to the source edge application service, is modified after S202 to the transmission path from the terminal device to the user plane function network element, and then from the user plane function network element to the target edge application service.

[0202] Optionally, before S203, the communication method may further include the following steps:

[0203] S205. The first network element sends a third message to the application function network element. Correspondingly, the application function network element receives the third message from the first network element. The third message is used to request the application function network element to monitor whether the load of the source edge application service exceeds the load threshold.

[0204] Furthermore, after receiving the third message, the application function network element starts to monitor whether the source edge application service exceeds the load threshold, and if it exceeds the load threshold, sends a second message to the first network element.

[0205] Optionally, in S205, the third message may include information about the source edge application service, such as the IP address and port number of the source edge application service. The third message may also include information about a load threshold corresponding to the source edge application service, such as information indicating the load threshold corresponding to the source edge application service.

[0206] Optionally, S203-S204 may occur after the session is established.

[0207] The embodiment of the present application does not limit the selection of candidate edge application services. For example, if the edge application service is managed by the first network element, the candidate edge application service may be an edge application service within the management scope of the first network element.

[0208] For another example, in a session establishment scenario, the first network element may determine a candidate edge application service based on one or more pieces of information related to the edge application service provided by the terminal device when requesting the service. Exemplarily, the first network element may pre-acquire the information of the edge application service (e.g., the IP address of the edge application service) and the association between one or more pieces of information: App ID, FQDN, DNAI, DNN, or slice information. When the terminal device requests a service from the network, the first network element may obtain one or more pieces of information provided by the terminal device: App ID, FQDN, DNAI, DNN, or slice information. The first network element may determine one or more candidate edge application services that can provide application services to the terminal device based on the information provided by the terminal device and the pre-acquired association. In one possible example, the association between the edge application service information obtained by the first network element and one or more pieces of information may be referred to as edge application service deployment information. Optionally, the edge application service deployment information may be provided to the first network element by an application function network element or a network capability exposure function network element.

[0209] For another example, in a scenario where a session has already been established, the first network element may determine, based on the EAS deployment information, an EAS with the same first parameter as the source EAS as a candidate EAS. The first parameter may include one or more of the following parameters: FQDN, DNAI, App ID, or DNN.

[0210] In the above embodiment, the first network element can determine the target edge application service based on the acquired parameters. In addition, in the embodiment of the present application, the first network element can also determine (or select, in some scenarios, also called reselect) the target user plane function network element.

[0211] Optionally, the first network element may select a candidate user plane function network element from multiple candidate user plane function network elements as the target user plane function network element. Alternatively, the first network element may determine whether a candidate user plane function network element can be used as the target user plane function network element.

[0212] The embodiments of the present application do not limit the selection of candidate user plane function network elements. For example, if the first network element manages the local user plane function network element, the candidate user plane function network element may be a local user plane function network element within the management scope of the first network element. For another example, the first network element may determine the candidate user plane function network element based on one or more items of information included in the EAS deployment information.

[0213] The embodiments of the present application do not limit the scenario for determining the target user plane function network element. For example, the first network element may determine the target user plane function network element in the scenario of session establishment. For another example, the first network element may reselect the target user plane function network element after the session is established.

[0214] The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific implementation of the first network element determining the target user plane function network element. Exemplarily, the first network element can determine the target user plane function network element based on DNAI information in the EAS deployment information.

[0215] In one possible implementation, after the first network element determines the target user plane function network element, it may further determine the target edge application service from the candidate edge application services. For example, the first network element may determine the target edge application service based on a latency parameter and / or a load parameter. The latency parameter may include the transmission delay between the target user plane function network element and the candidate edge application service. The load parameter may include the load of the candidate edge application service.

[0216] For example, assume that the first network element selects LUPF1 as the target UPF network element during session establishment. Two EASs (EAS1 and EAS2) are deployed near LUPF1 to provide backup for each other. The first network element can further select a target EAS from EAS1 and EAS2 based on the transmission delay between LUPF1 and EAS1, and the transmission delay between LUPF1 and EAS2.

[0217] In another possible implementation, the first network element may simultaneously determine the target user plane function network element and the target edge application service. The following describes how the first network element determines the target user plane function network element and the target edge application service.

[0218] In this implementation, the first network element can determine the target user plane function network element and the target edge application service based on at least one of the acquired delay parameters or load parameters. The delay parameter may include the transmission delay between the candidate user plane function network element and the candidate edge application service. Optionally, the delay parameter may also include one or more of the following: the transmission delay between the candidate user plane function network element and the access network device, or the transmission delay between the candidate user plane function network element and the intermediate user plane function network element.

[0219] The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific implementation of the first network element determining the target user plane functional network element based on the obtained parameters.

[0220] Exemplarily, if the delay parameter includes the transmission delay between the candidate user plane function network element and the candidate edge application service, the first network element can determine the minimum transmission delay between the candidate user plane function network element and the candidate edge application service in the acquired delay parameters, and determine the candidate user plane function network element corresponding to the delay as the target user plane function network element, and determine the candidate edge application service corresponding to the delay as the target edge application service.

[0221] For another example, if the delay parameters include the transmission delay between the candidate user plane function network element and the candidate edge application service, and one or more of the following: the transmission delay between the candidate user plane function network element and the access network device, or the delay between the candidate user plane function network element and the intermediate user plane function network element. For each candidate user plane function network element and each candidate edge application service, the first network element may combine the multiple delays included in the delay parameters to determine the candidate user plane function network element and candidate edge application service corresponding to the multiple delays with the smallest total value, and determine the candidate user plane function network element as the target user plane function network element and the candidate edge application service as the target edge application service.

[0222] In another possible implementation, after the first network element determines the target edge application service, the first network element may further select a target user plane function network element from candidate target user plane function network elements. For example, the first network element may select the target user plane function network element from the candidate user plane function network elements based on a latency parameter. The latency parameter includes the transmission latency between the target edge application service and the candidate user plane function network elements.

[0223] For example, assume that the first network element selects EAS1 as the target EAS based on load parameters. There are two LUPFs (LUPF1 and LUPF2) within the management scope of the first network element. The first network element selects the target LUPF from between LUPF1 and LUPF2 based on the transmission delay between EAS1 and LUPF1, and the transmission delay between EAS1 and LUPF2.

[0224] Optionally, in the implementation of the above-mentioned determination of the target user plane function network element by the first network element, the first network element may further obtain a latency requirement and determine the target user plane function network element based on the obtained latency parameter and the latency requirement. In this case, the target user plane function network element meets the latency requirement. Details of how the first network element determines the target user plane function network element based on the latency requirement and latency parameter can be found in the above description of the first network element determining the target edge application service based on the latency requirement and latency parameter, and will not be elaborated here.

[0225] Optionally, the first network element may send information about the target user plane function network element to the session management function network element, such as the IP address and port number of the target user plane function network element. Furthermore, the session management network element may establish a user plane channel between the target user plane function network element and the terminal device based on the information about the target user plane function network element.

[0226] The following assumes that the terminal device is a UE, the access network device is a RAN device, the session management network element is an SMF network element, the target user plane function network element is a target L-UPF, and the target edge application service is a target EAS. In the above embodiment, the possible process of the first network element determining the target edge application service and the target user plane function network element is introduced.

[0227] Assuming that the target EAS and target LUPF are determined in a session establishment scenario, as shown in FIG5 , a possible process may include the following steps:

[0228] S301. The UE sends a session establishment request message to the SMF network element.

[0229] The UE can send a session establishment request message to the SMF network element to initiate session establishment.

[0230] S302: The SMF network element sends a session establishment request message to the first network element. Correspondingly, the first network element receives the session establishment request message.

[0231] The first network element may determine that a target EAS and a target LUPF need to be selected according to the session establishment request message.

[0232] Optionally, in S302, the session establishment request message sent by the SMF network element to the first network element may include a delay requirement and / or a load requirement for the target EAS.

[0233] Exemplarily, as shown in FIG6 , the SMF network element may determine the delay requirement and / or load requirement by any of the following methods: S3013a, S3013b, or S3013c.

[0234] S3013a. The AF network element sends delay requirements and / or load requirements to the SMF network element.

[0235] S3013b: The SMF network element requests the UDM network element for the subscription data. The UDM network element sends the subscription data to the SMF network element, including the delay requirement and / or load requirement.

[0236] S3013c, SMF network element locally configures delay requirements and / or load requirements.

[0237] S303: The first network element obtains a delay parameter and / or a load parameter.

[0238] The following describes S303 by taking the first network element obtaining the delay parameter and the load parameter as an example.

[0239] For example, taking the example in which the delay parameter includes the transmission delay between the candidate EAS and the candidate UPF, assuming that the candidate UPF network elements include UPF1 and UPF2, and the candidate EAS include EAS1 and EAS2, as shown in Figure 7, the first network element can obtain the delay parameter and load parameter by any of the following methods S303a, S303b or S303c.

[0240] S303a, the first network element sends a request message requesting delay parameters and load parameters to each candidate UPF network element. The request message requesting delay parameters and load parameters may include information of the candidate EAS. After receiving the request message, the candidate UPF network element requests each candidate EAS to measure delay and load through a transport layer message. After receiving the measurement request sent by the candidate UPF network element, the candidate EAS feeds back a response message to the candidate UPF network element. The candidate UPF network element can determine the transmission delay between the candidate UPF network element and the candidate EAS, as well as the load of the candidate EAS based on the response message sent by the candidate EAS. Furthermore, the candidate UPF network element sends a response message including delay parameters and load parameters to the first network element.

[0241] S303b. The first network element sends a request message requesting delay parameters and load parameters to an NEF network element or a local NEF network element (L-NEF network element). The request message requesting delay parameters and load parameters may include information about candidate EAS and candidate UPF network elements. After receiving the request message, the NEF network element sends a response message including the delay parameters and load parameters to the first network element. The local NEF network element may be deployed at the network edge.

[0242] S303c. The first network element sends a request message to the AF network element requesting delay parameters and load parameters. The request message requesting delay parameters and load parameters may include information about candidate EAS and candidate UPF network elements. After receiving the request message, the AF network element sends a response message including the delay parameters and load parameters to the first network element.

[0243] Optionally, if the delay parameter also includes the transmission delay between the candidate UPF network element and the access network device, assuming that the candidate UPF network elements include UPF1 and UPF2, as shown in Figure 8, the first network element can obtain the transmission delay between the candidate UPF network element and the access network device in the manner shown in S303d.

[0244] S303d. The first network element sends a request message to each candidate UPF network element requesting the transmission delay between the candidate UPF network element and the access network device. After receiving the request message, the candidate UPF network element requests the access network device to measure the delay through QoS monitoring. After receiving the measurement request sent by the candidate UPF network element, the access network device feeds back a response message to the candidate UPF network element. The candidate UPF network element can determine the transmission delay between the candidate UPF network element and the access network device based on the response message sent by the access network device. Furthermore, the candidate UPF network element sends a response message including the transmission delay between the candidate UPF network element and the access network device to the first network element.

[0245] Optionally, if the delay parameter also includes the transmission delay between the candidate UPF network element and the intermediate UPF network element (I-UPF), assuming that the candidate UPF network elements include UPF1 and UPF2, as shown in Figure 9, the first network element can obtain the transmission delay between the candidate UPF network element and the intermediate UPF network element in the manner shown in S303e.

[0246] S303e. The first network element sends a request message to each candidate UPF network element requesting the transmission delay between the candidate UPF network element and the intermediate UPF. After receiving the request message, the candidate UPF network element requests the intermediate UPF network element to measure the delay. After receiving the measurement request sent by the candidate UPF network element, the intermediate UPF network element feeds back a response message to the candidate UPF network element. The candidate UPF network element can determine the transmission delay between the candidate UPF network element and the intermediate UPF network element based on the response message sent by the access network device. Furthermore, the candidate UPF network element sends a response message to the first network element including the transmission delay between the candidate UPF network element and the intermediate UPF network element.

[0247] S304: The first network element determines the target EAS and target UPF based on the acquired parameters. Optionally, if the session establishment request message includes a delay requirement and / or a load requirement, the first network element may also determine the target EAS and target UPF based on the delay requirement and / or the load requirement.

[0248] Optionally, after the first network element determines the target EAS and target UPF, it can also send a session establishment response message to the SMF network element. The session establishment response message includes information of the target EAS and target UPF network elements.

[0249] S305. A channel is established between the target EAS and the target UPF network element, and the target EAS accesses the core network through the target UPF network element.

[0250] S306: The SMF network element establishes a user plane channel between the UE and the target UPF network element. The UE can use the services provided by the target EAS through the target UPF.

[0251] Assuming that the target EAS is determined in a scenario where the session is established, as shown in FIG10 , a possible process may include the following steps:

[0252] S401. The AF network element sends indication information to the first network element, indicating that the load of the source EAS exceeds a load threshold. Correspondingly, the first network element receives the indication information from the AF network element.

[0253] The first network element may determine, based on the indication information, that a target EAS needs to be selected, or in other words, that a target EAS needs to be reselected. Furthermore, the first network element may also determine that a target LUPF needs to be reselected.

[0254] Optionally, before S401, the method may further include S402: the first network element requests the application function network element to monitor whether the load of the source EAS exceeds a load threshold. Correspondingly, the application function network element receives the request message from the first network element. Based on the request of the first network element, the application function network element begins to monitor whether the load of the source EAS exceeds the load threshold. When it is determined that the load threshold is exceeded, the application function network element sends an indication message to the first network element indicating that the load of the source EAS exceeds the load threshold.

[0255] S403: The first network element obtains a delay parameter and / or a load parameter.

[0256] For example, taking the example where the delay parameter includes the transmission delay between the candidate EAS and the candidate UPF, assuming that the candidate UPF network elements include UPF1 and UPF2, and the candidate EAS include EAS1 and EAS2, the first network element can obtain the delay parameter and load parameter through one or more methods as shown in Figure 7, Figure 8 or Figure 9. For details, please refer to the above introduction.

[0257] S404: The first network element determines a target EAS and a target UPF according to the acquired parameters.

[0258] S405. A channel is established between the target EAS and the target UPF network element, and the target EAS accesses the core network through the target UPF network element.

[0259] S406: The SMF network element establishes a user plane channel between the UE and the target UPF network element. The UE can use the services provided by the target EAS through the target UPF.

[0260] It should be understood that the processes shown in Figures 5 and 10 are merely schematic logical processes provided to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application and do not represent the actual timing of the embodiments of the present application. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the timing between the different steps in Figures 5 and 10. For example, in Figure 5, S306 follows S305, which does not mean that S305 is completed before S306. S305 and S306 can be independent processes.

[0261] The above mainly introduces the solutions provided by the embodiments of the present application from the perspective of interaction between various network elements. Accordingly, the embodiments of the present application also provide a communication device, which is used to implement the various methods described above. The communication device can be each network element in the above method embodiments, or a device that includes each of the above network elements, or a component that can be used for each of the above network elements. It is understood that in order to implement the above functions, the communication device includes hardware structures and / or software modules corresponding to performing each function. Those skilled in the art should readily appreciate that, in combination with the various exemplary units and algorithm steps 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 implemented in hardware or in a hardware-driven manner by computer software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Professionals and technicians may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of this application.

[0262] In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device can be divided into functional modules according to the above method embodiment. 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 in the form of software functional modules. It should be understood that the division of modules in the embodiment of the present application is schematic and is only a logical functional division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods.

[0263] Figure 11 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of a communication device 1100. The communication device 1100 includes a processing module 1101 and a transceiver module 1102. Optionally, the communication device 1100 may also include a storage module 1103. The transceiver module 1102, also known as a transceiver unit, is used to implement transceiver functions and may be, for example, a transceiver circuit, a transceiver, a transceiver, or a communication interface.

[0264] Taking the communication device 1100 as the first network element in the above embodiment as an example, in a possible implementation manner:

[0265] Transceiver module 1102 is configured to obtain one or more of the following parameters: a latency parameter or a load parameter; the latency parameter includes the transmission latency between at least one edge application service and a user plane function network element, and the load parameter includes the load of at least one edge application service. Processing module 1101 is configured to select a target edge application service from the at least one edge application service based on the obtained parameters.

[0266] Optionally, the processing module 1101 is further configured to determine a target user plane function network element according to the acquired parameters.

[0267] Optionally, when the acquired parameters include delay parameters, the target user plane function network element meets the delay requirement, wherein the delay requirement includes the delay requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the user plane function network element, or the delay requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the terminal device.

[0268] Optionally, the transceiver module 1102 is further configured to send information of the target user plane function network element to the session management function network element.

[0269] Optionally, the transceiver module 1102 is further configured to send information of the target edge application service to the session management function network element.

[0270] Optionally, when the acquired parameters include latency parameters, the target edge application service is an edge application service that meets latency requirements. The latency requirements include latency requirements for transmission between the edge application service and the user plane functional network element, or latency requirements for transmission between the edge application service and the terminal device. When the acquired parameters include load parameters, the target edge application service is an edge application service that meets load requirements. The load requirements are load requirements for the edge application service.

[0271] Optionally, the transceiver module 1102 is further configured to receive a first message from a session management network element, the first message being used to request session establishment, the first message including one or more of the following requirements: a latency requirement or a load requirement. Alternatively, the transceiver module 1102 is further configured to receive one or more of the following requirements from an application function network element: a latency requirement or a load requirement.

[0272] Optionally, the transceiver module 1102 is further configured to receive a second message from the application function network element, the second message including first indication information, the first indication information being used to indicate that the load of the source edge application service exceeds a load threshold. The processing module 1101 is further configured to determine and select a target edge application service based on the second message.

[0273] Optionally, the transceiver module 1102 is further configured to send a third message to the application function network element, where the third message is used to request the application function network element to monitor whether the load of the source edge application service exceeds a load threshold.

[0274] Optionally, the transceiver module 1102 is specifically configured to obtain parameters in the following manner: receiving a fourth message from a user plane function network element, a network capability exposure function network element, or an application function network element, where the fourth message includes one or more parameters.

[0275] Optionally, the transceiver module 1102 is further configured to send a fifth message, where the fifth message is used to request information related to latency or load. In this case, the fourth message is a response message to the fifth message.

[0276] Taking the communication device 1100 as the session management network element in the above embodiment as an example, in a possible implementation manner:

[0277] Transceiver module 1102 is configured to send one or more of the following requirements to the first network element: a latency requirement or a load requirement. One or more of these requirements are used by the first network element to determine a target edge application service. The latency requirement includes a latency requirement for transmission between the edge application service and a user plane function network element or a latency requirement for transmission between the edge application service and a terminal device. The load requirement is a load requirement for the edge application service. Transceiver module 1102 is further configured to receive information about the target edge application service from the first network element.

[0278] Optionally, the one or more requirements are also used by the first network element to determine the target application function network element. The transceiver module 1102 is further configured to receive information about the target application function network element from the first network element.

[0279] Optionally, the one or more requirements are carried in a first message, and information about the target edge application service is carried in a response message to the first message, wherein the first message is used to request establishment of a session.

[0280] Taking the communication device 1100 as the user plane function network element in the above embodiment as an example, in a possible implementation manner:

[0281] The transceiver module 1102 is configured to receive a fifth message from the first network element, where the fifth message is used to request information related to latency or load. The transceiver module 1102 is also configured to send a fourth message to the first network element, where the fourth message is a response message to the fifth message, and the fourth message includes one or more of the following parameters: a latency parameter or a load parameter. The latency parameter includes the latency of transmission between at least one edge application service and the user plane function network element, and the load parameter includes the load of at least one candidate edge application service. The one or more parameters included in the fourth message are used by the first network element to select a target edge application service from at least one candidate edge application service.

[0282] Optionally, the delay parameters also include one or more of the following: the transmission delay between the user plane function network element and the access network device, or the transmission delay between the user plane function network element and the intermediate user plane function network element, wherein the intermediate user plane function network element is used to transfer information between the user plane function network element and the access network device.

[0283] Taking the communication device 1100 as the application function network element in the above embodiment as an example, in a possible implementation manner:

[0284] The transceiver module 1102 is configured to receive a fifth message from the first network element, where the fifth message is used to request information related to latency or load. The transceiver module 1102 is also configured to send a fourth message to the first network element, where the fourth message is a response message to the fifth message, and the fourth message includes one or more of the following parameters: a latency parameter or a load parameter. The latency parameter includes the latency of transmission between at least one edge application service and the user plane function network element, and the load parameter includes the load of at least one edge application service. The one or more parameters included in the fourth message are used by the first network element to select a target edge application service from the at least one edge application service.

[0285] Optionally, the transceiver module 1102 is further configured to send one or more of the following requirements to the first network element: a latency requirement or a load requirement. These one or more requirements are used by the first network element to select a target edge application service. The latency requirement includes a latency requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the user plane function network element, or a latency requirement for transmission between the edge application service and the terminal device. The load requirement is a load requirement for the edge application service.

[0286] Optionally, the transceiver module 1102 is also used to send a second message to the first network element, where the second message includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the load of the source edge application service exceeds the load threshold; the second message is used by the first network element to determine and select the target edge application service.

[0287] Optionally, the transceiver module 1102 is further configured to receive a third message from the first network element, the third message being used to request the application function network element to monitor whether the source edge application service exceeds a load threshold. The processing module 1101 is configured to monitor whether the source edge application service exceeds the load threshold based on the third message.

[0288] Among them, all relevant contents of each step involved in the above method embodiment can be referred to the functional description of the corresponding functional module and will not be repeated here.

[0289] Alternatively, the modules in FIG11 may also be referred to as units. For example, the processing module may be referred to as a processing unit, and the transceiver module may be referred to as a transceiver unit. In addition, in the embodiment shown in FIG11 , the names of the units may not be those shown in the figure. For example, the transceiver module may also be referred to as a communication module or a communication unit.

[0290] If the various units in Figure 11 are implemented in the form of software function modules and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application is essentially or the part that contributes to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including a number of instructions for enabling a computer device (which can be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the method described in each embodiment of the present application. The storage medium for storing computer software products includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a U disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk.

[0291] In the embodiment of the present application, the communication device 1100 is presented in the form of various functional modules divided in an integrated manner. The "module" here can refer to an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a circuit, a processor and memory that executes one or more software or firmware programs, an integrated logic circuit, and / or other devices that can provide the above functions.

[0292] In a simple embodiment, those skilled in the art may appreciate that the communication device 1100 may take the form of the communication device shown in FIG. 12 .

[0293] As shown in Figure 12, the communication device 1200 includes one or more processors 1201, a communication line 1202, and at least one communication interface (Figure 12 is only an example of including a communication interface 1204 and a processor 1201), and may optionally also include a memory 1203.

[0294] The processor 1201 may be a general-purpose central processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an ASIC, or one or more integrated circuits for controlling the execution of the program of the present application.

[0295] The communication line 1202 may include a path for connecting different components.

[0296] Communication interface 1204 may be a transceiver module for communicating with other devices or communication networks, such as Ethernet, RAN, terminals, and wireless local area networks (WLANs). For example, the transceiver module may be a device such as a transceiver or a transceiver. Alternatively, communication interface 1204 may be a transceiver circuit or input / output interface within processor 1201, used to implement signal input and output to the processor.

[0297] The memory 1203 may be a device having a storage function. For example, it may 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, an optical disc storage (including a compact 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 desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and can be accessed by a computer, but is not limited thereto. The memory may exist independently and be connected to the processor via a communication line 1202. The memory may also be integrated with the processor.

[0298] The memory 1203 is used to store computer-executable instructions for executing the solution of the present application, and the execution is controlled by the processor 1201. The processor 1201 is used to execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1203, thereby implementing the communication method provided in the embodiment of the present application.

[0299] Alternatively, optionally, in an embodiment of the present application, the processor 1201 may also perform processing-related functions in the communication method provided in the following embodiments of the present application, and the communication interface 1204 is responsible for communicating with other devices or communication networks, which is not specifically limited in the embodiments of the present application.

[0300] 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.

[0301] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the processor 1201 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 in FIG12 .

[0302] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 1200 may include multiple processors, such as the processor 1201 and the processor 1207 in Figure 12. Each of these processors may be a single-core processor or a multi-core processor. The processor here may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: a CPU, a microprocessor, a digital signal processing (DSP), a microcontroller unit (MCU), or an artificial intelligence processor, etc., various types of computing devices that run software, each of which may include one or more cores for executing software instructions to perform calculations or processing.

[0303] In a specific implementation, as an embodiment, the communication device 1200 may further include an output device 1205 and an input device 1206. The output device 1205 communicates with the processor 1201 and can display information in a variety of ways. For example, the output device 1205 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 1206 communicates with the processor 1201 and can receive user input in a variety of ways. For example, the input device 1206 can be a mouse, a keyboard, a touch screen device, or a sensor device.

[0304] The communication device 1200 described above may sometimes also be referred to as a communication device, which may be a general-purpose device or a dedicated device. For example, the communication device 1200 may be any of the network elements, access network devices, or devices having a similar structure as shown in FIG12 . The embodiments of the present application do not limit the type of the communication device 1200.

[0305] In addition, the composition structure shown in Figure 12 does not constitute a limitation on the communication device. In addition to the components shown in Figure 12, the communication device 1200 may include more or fewer components than shown in the figure, or combine certain components, or arrange the components differently.

[0306] Optionally, the functions / implementation processes of the transceiver module 1102 and the processing module 1101 in FIG11 may be implemented by the processor 1201 in the communication device 1200 shown in FIG12 calling computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1203. Alternatively, the functions / implementation processes of the processing module 1101 in FIG11 may be implemented by the processor 1201 in the communication device 1200 shown in FIG12 calling computer-executable instructions stored in the memory 1203, and the functions / implementation processes of the transceiver module 1102 in FIG11 may be implemented by the communication interface 1204 in the communication device 1200 shown in FIG12.

[0307] It should be understood 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 in 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 or 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 FPGAs, programmable logic devices (PLDs), or logic circuits that implement dedicated logic operations.

[0308] 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 DSP chip, an 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.

[0309] Optionally, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication device (for example, the communication device may be a chip or a chip system), which includes a processor for implementing the method in any of the above method embodiments. In one possible design, the communication device also includes a memory. The memory is used to store necessary program instructions and data, and the processor can call the program code stored in the memory to instruct the communication device to execute the method in any of the above method embodiments. Of course, the memory may not be in the communication device. When the communication device is a chip system, it may be composed of a chip, or it may include a chip and other discrete devices, which is not specifically limited in the embodiment of the present application.

[0310] Optionally, an embodiment of the present application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program or instruction. When the computer program or instruction is run on a communication device, the communication device can execute the method described in any of the above method embodiments or any of its implementation methods.

[0311] Optionally, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, which includes the multiple network elements described in the above method embodiment, for example, a first network element and a second network element.

[0312] In the above embodiments, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented by software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When implemented using a software program, all or part of the embodiments can be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, all or part of the processes or functions according to the embodiments of the present application are generated. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from one website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via a wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.) method. The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more media integrated therein. The available media may be magnetic media (eg, floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes), optical media (eg, DVDs), or semiconductor media (eg, solid state drives (SSDs)).

[0313] Although the present application is described herein in conjunction with various embodiments, in the process of implementing the claimed application, those skilled in the art may understand and implement other variations of the disclosed embodiments by reviewing the drawings, the disclosure, and the appended claims. In the claims, the word "comprising" does not exclude other components or steps, and "a" or "an" does not exclude multiple situations. A single processor or other unit may implement several functions listed in the claims. Certain measures are recorded in different dependent claims, but this does not mean that these measures cannot be combined to produce good results.

[0314] Although the present application has been described with reference to specific features and embodiments thereof, it is apparent that various modifications and combinations may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present application. Accordingly, this specification and the drawings are merely illustrative of the present application as defined by the appended claims and are deemed to cover any and all modifications, variations, combinations or equivalents within the scope of the present application. Obviously, those skilled in the art may make various modifications and variations to the present application without departing from the scope of the present application. Thus, the present application is intended to encompass such modifications and variations as fall within the scope of the claims of the present application and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: A first network element obtains one or more of the following parameters: a latency parameter or a load parameter; wherein, the latency parameter includes at least the latency of transmission between at least one edge application service and a user plane function network element, and the load parameter includes the load of the at least one edge application service; The first network element selects a target edge application service from the at least one edge application service according to the obtained parameters.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The method further includes: The first network element determines a target user plane function network element according to the obtained parameters.

3. The method according to claim 2, characterized in that, When the obtained parameters include the latency parameter, the target user plane function network element meets the latency requirement; the latency requirement includes the latency requirement for transmission between an edge application service and a user plane function network element, or the latency requirement for transmission between an edge application service and a terminal device.

4. The method according to claim 2 or 3, characterized in that, The method further includes: The first network element sends information of the target user plane function network element to a session management function network element.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The method further includes: The first network element sends information of the target edge application service to a session management function network element.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that, When the obtained parameters include the latency parameter, the target edge application service is an edge application service that meets the latency requirement; the latency requirement includes the latency requirement for transmission between an edge application service and a user plane function network element, or the latency requirement for transmission between an edge application service and a terminal device; When the obtained parameters include the load parameter, the target edge application service is an edge application service that meets the load requirement; the load requirement is the load requirement for the edge application service.

7. The method according to claim 3 or 6, characterized in that, The method further includes: The first network element receives a first message from a session management function network element, the first message is used to request to establish a session, and the first message includes one or more of the following requirements: the latency requirement or the load requirement; or, The first network element receives one or more of the following requirements from an application function network element: the latency requirement or the load requirement.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1-7, characterized in that, The method further includes: The first network element receives a second message from an application function network element, the second message includes first indication information, and the first indication information is used to indicate that the load of the source edge application service exceeds a load threshold; The first network element determines to select a target edge application service according to the second message.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein The method further includes: The first network element sends a third message to the application function network element, and the third message is used to request the application function network element to monitor whether the load of the source edge application service exceeds the load threshold.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that, The first network element obtains one or more of the following parameters, including: The first network element receives a fourth message from a user plane function network element, a network capability open function network element or an application function network element, and the fourth message includes the one or more parameters.

11. The method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The method further includes: The first network element sends a fifth message, and the fifth message is used to request information related to latency or load, and the fourth message is a response message to the fifth message.

12. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: The session management function network element sends one or more of the following requirements to the first network element: latency requirement or load requirement; wherein, the one or more requirements are used for the first network element to determine the target edge application service, and the latency requirement includes the latency requirement for the transmission between the edge application service and the user plane function network element or the latency requirement for the transmission between the edge application service and the terminal device, and the load requirement is the load requirement for the edge application service.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein The one or more requirements are also used for the first network element to determine the target application function network element, and the method further includes: The session management function network element receives the information of the target application function network element from the first network element.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that, The method further includes: The session management function network element receives the information of the target edge application service from the first network element.

15. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: The user plane function network element receives a fifth message from the first network element, and the fifth message is used to request information related to latency or load; The user plane function network element sends a fourth message to the first network element, and the fourth message is a response message to the fifth message, and the fourth message includes one or more of the following parameters: latency parameter or load parameter; wherein, the latency parameter includes the latency of the transmission between at least one edge application service and the user plane function network element, and the load parameter includes the load of the at least one edge application service; the one or more parameters are used for the first network element to select the target edge application service from the at least one edge application service.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein The latency parameter further includes one or more of the following: the latency of the transmission between the user plane function network element and the access network device, or the latency of the transmission between the user plane function network element and the intermediate user plane function network element, wherein the intermediate user plane function network element is used to relay the information between the user plane function network element and the access network device.

17. A communication method, characterized in that, The method includes: The application function network element receives a fifth message from the first network element, and the fifth message is used to request information related to latency or load; The application function network element sends a fourth message to the first network element, and the fourth message is a response message to the fifth message, and the fourth message includes one or more of the following parameters: latency parameter or load parameter; wherein, the latency parameter includes the latency of the transmission between at least one edge application service and the user plane function network element, and the load parameter includes the load of the at least one edge application service; the one or more parameters are used for the first network element to select the target edge application service from the at least one edge application service.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein The method further includes: The application function network element sends one or more of the following requirements to the first network element: latency requirement or load requirement; the one or more requirements are used for the first network element to select the target edge application service; wherein, the latency requirement includes the latency requirement for the transmission between the edge application service and the user plane function network element, or the latency requirement for the transmission between the edge application service and the terminal device, and the load requirement is the load requirement for the edge application service.

19. The method according to claim 17 or 18, characterized in that, The method further includes: The application function network element sends a second message to the first network element, where the second message includes first indication information for indicating that the load of the source edge application service exceeds a load threshold; the second message is used for the first network element to determine to select a target edge application service.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein The method further includes: The application function network element receives a third message from the first network element, where the third message is used to request the application function network element to monitor whether the source edge application service exceeds the load threshold. The application function network element monitors whether the source edge application service exceeds the load threshold according to the third message.

21. A communication system, characterized in that, The communication system includes a first network element and a second network element; The first network element is configured to send a fifth message to the second network element, where the fifth message is used to request information related to delay or load. The second network element is configured to receive the fifth message and send a fourth message to the first network element; the fourth message is a response message to the fifth message, and the fourth message includes one or more of the following parameters: a delay parameter or a load parameter; where the delay parameter includes at least the delay of transmission between at least one edge application service and the user plane function network element, and the load parameter includes the load of the at least one edge application service. The first network element is further configured to receive the fourth message and select a target edge application service from the at least one edge application service according to the parameters included in the fourth message.

22. The communication system according to claim 21, characterized in that, The second network element is a user plane function network element, and the delay parameter further includes one or more of the following: the delay of transmission between the user plane function network element and the access network device, or the delay of transmission between the user plane function network element and an intermediate user plane function network element, where the intermediate user plane function network element is used to relay the information between the user plane function network element and the access network device.

23. The communication system according to claim 21 or 22, characterized in that The first network element is further configured to receive a second message from the application function network element, where the second message includes first indication information for indicating that the load of the source edge application service exceeds a load threshold. The first network element is further configured to determine to select a target edge application service according to the second message.

24. The communication system according to claim 23, characterized in that The first network element is further configured to send a third message to the application function network element, where the third message is used to request the application function network element to monitor whether the source edge application service exceeds the load threshold.

25. The communication system according to any one of claims 21-24, characterized in that The first network element is further configured to receive one or more requirements from the session management function network element or the application function network element: a delay requirement or a load requirement; the delay requirement includes a delay requirement for transmission between an edge application service and the user plane function network element or a delay requirement for transmission between an edge application service and a terminal device, and the load requirement is a load requirement for the edge application service. Wherein, when the fourth message includes the delay parameter, the target edge application service is an edge application service that meets the delay requirement; when the fourth message includes the load parameter, the target edge application service is an edge application service that meets the load requirement.

26. The communication system according to any one of claims 21-25, wherein the first network element is further configured to send information about the target edge application service to a session management function network element.

27. A network element, characterized in that, The network element includes a module or unit for performing the method according to any one of claims 1-11; or the network element includes a module or unit for performing the method according to any one of claims 12-14; or the network element includes a module or unit for performing the method according to claim 15 or 16; or the network element includes a module or unit for performing the method according to any one of claims 17-20.

28. A communication device, characterized in that, The communication device includes: a processor; the processor is configured to execute computer programs or instructions stored in a memory, so that the communication device performs the method according to any one of claims 1-11 or 12-14 or 15-16 or 17-20.

29. A chip system, characterized in that, Comprising: a processor and an interface circuit; The interface circuit is configured to receive computer execution instructions and transmit them to the processor; The processor is configured to execute the computer execution instructions, so that the communication device performs the method according to any one of claims 1-11 or 12-14 or 15-16 or 17-20.

30. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, A computer program or instruction is stored thereon, and when the computer program or instruction is executed by a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method according to any one of claims 1-11 or 12-14 or 15-16 or 17-20.

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