Network cloud deployment method and apparatus, storage medium and electronic device

Abstract

A network cloud deployment method, comprising: on the basis of a user plane editing and management function entity of a user plane, receiving a session creation request for a target service and issued by an SMF of a control plane, wherein the user plane and the control plane are deployed in a same virtual cloud (S601); on the basis of the session creation request for the target service, determining forwarding path information from a routing topology (S602); and sending service data of the target service to a data forwarding device corresponding to the forwarding path information for data forwarding, so that the data forwarding device transmits the service data (S603).The present application can improve the utilization rate of network resources and the flexibility of cloud deployment.

Description

Network cloud deployment method, device, storage medium and electronic device

[0001] This application claims priority to a Chinese patent application filed on January 3, 2024, with application number 202410011228.4, entitled “Network Cloud Deployment Method, Apparatus, Storage Medium and Electronic Device,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0002] The present disclosure relates to the field of computer technology, and in particular to a network cloud deployment method, a network cloud deployment device, a computer storage medium, and an electronic device. Background Art

[0003] In the fifth-generation mobile communication technology (5G) network architecture defined by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), the cloudification and virtualization of the 5G network user plane are realized, enabling it to be deployed in public clouds or enterprise clouds.

[0004] Currently, User Plane Function (UPF) devices are not yet cloud-based, but instead connect to other networks via dedicated lines through the N3 / N4 interfaces. As mentioned above, UPF devices are not deployed in the cloud, which prevents UPF resources from being dynamically deployed on demand. This results in low network resource utilization efficiency and poor flexibility.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a network cloud deployment method is provided, the method comprising: a user plane editing management function entity based on the user plane receives a session creation request for a target service issued by a session management function entity SMF of the control plane; wherein the user plane and the control plane are deployed in the same virtual cloud; forwarding path information corresponding to the target service is determined from a routing topology according to the session creation request; and the forwarding path information is sent to a corresponding data forwarding device so that the data forwarding device transmits the service data.

[0007] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, forwarding path information corresponding to the target service is determined from the routing topology based on a session creation request, including: obtaining service perception information of the target service, and determining a service quality policy for the target service based on the service perception information; and determining forwarding path information corresponding to the target service from the routing topology based on the session creation request and the service quality policy.

[0008] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the session establishment request also includes network quality parameters required for transmitting business data of the target business; wherein, before determining forwarding path information corresponding to the target business from the routing topology based on the session creation request, the method further includes: obtaining resource information of each general routing device in the general resource pool, the resource information including at least one of communication resources and computing resources; determining a data forwarding device for transmitting the business data based on the network quality parameters required for the business data of the target business and the resource information of each general routing device; generating forwarding path information based on the data forwarding device, and adding the forwarding path information to the routing topology.

[0009] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the method further includes: receiving a registration request initiated by a data forwarding device, the registration request being a request initiated when the data forwarding function of the data forwarding device is initially started; if the registration is successful, sending a registration success response to the data forwarding device, and adding the forwarding path information generated by the data forwarding device to the routing topology; or, receiving a deregistration request initiated by the data forwarding device, the deregistration request being a request initiated when the data forwarding function of the data forwarding device is offline; if the deregistration is successful, sending a deregistration success response to the data forwarding device, and removing the forwarding path information generated by the data forwarding device from the routing topology.

[0010] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, forwarding path information is sent to a corresponding data forwarding device so that the data forwarding device transmits business data, including: sending forwarding path information to the corresponding data forwarding device so that the data forwarding device transmits business data based on the target communication protocol; wherein the target communication protocol includes the Fast UDP Internet Connection QUIC protocol and the Segment Routing SRv6 protocol based on the IPv6 forwarding plane.

[0011] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the session establishment request also includes network quality parameters required for transmitting service data of the target service, and the network quality parameters required for the service data of the target service are added to an extension header of the SRv6 protocol.

[0012] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, after sending the forwarding path information to the corresponding data forwarding device, the method further includes: sending the address of the data forwarding device corresponding to the forwarding path information to the SMF of the control plane.

[0013] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a network cloud deployment device is provided, which includes: a request receiving module, which is used to receive a session creation request for a target service issued by a session management function entity SMF of a control plane based on a user plane editing management function entity of a user plane; wherein the user plane and the control plane are deployed in the same virtual cloud; a path determination module, which is used to determine forwarding path information corresponding to the target service from a routing topology according to the session creation request; and an information sending module, which is used to send the forwarding path information to a corresponding data forwarding device so that the data forwarding device can transmit the service data.

[0014] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, a path determination module is used to obtain service perception information of a target service and determine a quality of service policy for the target service based on the service perception information; and determine forwarding path information corresponding to the target service from a routing topology according to a session creation request and the quality of service policy.

[0015] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the session establishment request also includes network quality parameters required for transmitting business data of the target business; the device also includes an information acquisition module, which is specifically used to obtain resource information of each general routing device in the general resource pool, and the resource information includes at least one of communication resources and computing resources; a path determination module is used to determine the data forwarding device for transmitting the business data based on the network quality parameters required for the business data of the target business and the resource information of each general routing device; generate forwarding path information based on the data forwarding device, and add the forwarding path information to the routing topology.

[0016] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the path determination module is used to receive a registration request initiated by a data forwarding device, where the registration request is a request initiated when the data forwarding function of the data forwarding device is initially started; if the registration is successful, a registration success response is sent to the data forwarding device, and the forwarding path information generated by the data forwarding device is added to the routing topology; or, the information receiving module is used to receive a deregistration request initiated by the data forwarding device, where the deregistration request is a request initiated when the data forwarding function of the data forwarding device is offline; if the deregistration is successful, a deregistration success response is sent to the data forwarding device, and the forwarding path information generated by the data forwarding device is removed from the routing topology.

[0017] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the information sending module is used to send forwarding path information to a corresponding data forwarding device so that the data forwarding device can transmit business data based on a target communication protocol; wherein the target communication protocol includes the Quick UDP Internet Connection (QUIC) protocol and the Segment Routing (SRv6) protocol based on the IPv6 forwarding plane.

[0018] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the device further includes a data adding module, which is used to include network quality parameters required for transmitting service data of the target service in the session establishment request, and add the network quality parameters required for the service data of the target service to the extension header of the SRv6 protocol.

[0019] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the information sending module is used to send the address of the data forwarding device corresponding to the forwarding path information to the SMF of the control plane.

[0020] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, on which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the network cloud deployment method as described above is implemented.

[0021] According to one aspect of the present disclosure, an electronic device is provided, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to perform the above network cloud deployment method by executing the executable instructions. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] FIG1 schematically shows a schematic diagram of a 5G standard network architecture defined by 3GPP according to this exemplary embodiment;

[0023] FIG2 schematically shows a schematic diagram of a network virtualization deployment according to this exemplary embodiment;

[0024] FIG3 schematically illustrates a mobile network architecture diagram corresponding to one type of network cloud deployment in this exemplary embodiment;

[0025] FIG4 schematically shows an application scenario diagram of a network cloud deployment in this exemplary embodiment;

[0026] FIG5 schematically shows another application scenario of network cloud deployment in this exemplary embodiment;

[0027] FIG6 schematically shows a flow chart of a network cloud deployment method according to this exemplary embodiment;

[0028] FIG7 schematically shows a schematic diagram of an N3 interface protocol stack between UPFs in this exemplary embodiment;

[0029] FIG8 schematically shows a schematic diagram of a user plane protocol stack according to this exemplary embodiment;

[0030] FIG9 schematically shows a schematic diagram of an SRv6 protocol according to this exemplary embodiment;

[0031] FIG10 schematically shows a schematic structural diagram of a network cloud deployment device according to this exemplary embodiment;

[0032] FIG. 11 schematically shows a structural diagram of an electronic device according to this exemplary embodiment. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0033] The exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the exemplary embodiments can be implemented in many forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; on the contrary, these embodiments are provided so that the present disclosure will be more comprehensive and complete and the concepts of the exemplary embodiments will be fully conveyed to those skilled in the art. The described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in one or more embodiments in any suitable manner. In the following description, many specific details are provided to provide a full understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the technical solutions of the present disclosure may be practiced while omitting one or more of the specific details, or that other methods, components, devices, steps, etc. may be employed. In other cases, well-known technical solutions are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring various aspects of the present disclosure.

[0034] In addition, the accompanying drawings are merely schematic illustrations of the present disclosure and are not necessarily drawn to scale. Identical reference numerals in the figures denote identical or similar parts, and thus repetitive descriptions thereof will be omitted. Some of the block diagrams shown in the accompanying drawings are functional entities that do not necessarily correspond to physically or logically separate entities. These functional entities may be implemented in software, in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or in different networks and / or processor devices and / or microcontroller devices.

[0035] The flowcharts shown in the accompanying drawings are merely illustrative and do not necessarily include all steps. For example, some steps may be decomposed, while some steps may be combined or partially combined, so the actual execution order may change according to actual circumstances.

[0036] In order to help those skilled in the art better understand the technical solution of the present disclosure, the relevant contents involved in the technical solution of the present disclosure are introduced below.

[0037] 1) Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6): This is a new generation of Internet Protocol Address (IP). It uses existing IPv6 forwarding technology and flexible IPv6 extension headers to achieve network programmability. SRv6 technology is more flexible, scalable, secure, reliable, and versatile.

[0038] 2) Quality of Service (QoS): refers to a network's ability to use various basic technologies to provide better service for specified network communications. It is a network security mechanism and a technology used to solve problems such as network delays and congestion.

[0039] 3) User Plane Function (UPF): A key component of the 3GPP 5G core network system architecture, the UPF is responsible for user plane packet routing and forwarding, data and service identification, and action and policy execution within the 5G core network. The UPF serves as the connection anchor between the 5G network and multi-access edge computing. All core network data must be forwarded by the UPF before it can flow to external networks. The UPF interacts with the SMF through the N4 interface, being directly controlled and managed by the SMF. The UPF also performs service flow processing based on various policies issued by the SMF (such as path planning and QoS management).

[0040] In order to facilitate those skilled in the art to understand the relevant technical solutions, the existing technical solutions will be described below with reference to FIG1 and FIG2 .

[0041] Figure 1 schematically shows a schematic diagram of a 5G standard network architecture defined by 3GPP in this exemplary embodiment. The 5G standard network architecture defined by 3GPP is shown in Figure 1. The user plane UPF device has not yet entered the cloud (that is, it has not been virtualized and deployed), but is connected by a dedicated line through the N3 or N4 interface.

[0042] Based on the 5G standard network architecture shown in Figure 1, Figure 2 is schematically illustrated from the perspective of cloud deployment. Figure 2 schematically shows a schematic diagram of a network virtualization deployment in this exemplary embodiment. As shown in Figure 2, the mobile network architecture includes user equipment (User Equipment, referred to as UE), access network (Access Network, referred to as AN), user plane, and control plane. Among them, the control plane functional entities are all deployed in the control cloud, and the user plane UPF is deployed in the forwarding cloud to better realize the separation of the control plane and the user plane (wherein, the user plane UPF can be deployed in the forwarding cloud after virtualization, or the device can be independently deployed in a non-cloud state). Among them, the control plane functional entities can be, for example: Session Management Function (SMF), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Network Repository Function (NRF), Policy Control Function (PCF) and other functional entities, etc., which are not exhaustively listed in the embodiments of this disclosure.

[0043] It should be noted that since the user plane UPF in 5G is a traditional device form, the user plane UPF can be virtualized and deployed in a public cloud or enterprise cloud; UPF may also be deployed independently in a non-clouded device state and connected to the clouded control plane functional entity through a dedicated line to forward data.

[0044] In the mobile network architecture shown in Figure 2, the SMF is responsible for configuring the UPF's traffic control to route traffic to the destination. Specifically, the SMF is responsible for forwarding path planning and routing solution determination, and for issuing routing solutions to the UPF. The UPF then implements packet forwarding and routing on the user plane according to the delivered routing solution. This approach requires the control plane and user plane to be deployed in different virtual clouds. For example, the user plane UPF shown in Figure 2 is deployed in the forwarding cloud, while the control plane is deployed in the control cloud.

[0045] In this regard, the above technical solution has at least the following technical problems:

[0046] First, the non-cloud-deployed UPF solution means that UPF resources cannot be dynamically deployed on demand, resulting in low network resource utilization efficiency and poor flexibility. In addition, the UPF deployment location is far away from business resources, affecting the efficiency of network forwarding. In addition, UPF does not support general network equipment, which makes the network deployment cost high.

[0047] Secondly, the virtualized user plane UPF and control plane functional entities do not share the same cloud, requiring cross-cloud processing between the forwarding plane and the control plane, and between different devices on the forwarding plane, which leads to high complexity in network deployment, large latency, and low network forwarding efficiency.

[0048] In view of the above-mentioned problems, an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure proposes a network cloud deployment method, wherein a user plane editing and management function entity based on the user plane receives a session creation request for a target service issued by a session management function entity SMF of the control plane, where the session establishment request includes at least service data of the target service; forwarding path information is determined from a routing topology based on the session creation request of the target service; and the service data of the target service is sent to a data forwarding device corresponding to the forwarding path information for data forwarding; wherein the user plane and the control plane are deployed in the same virtual cloud.

[0049] This method does not follow the traditional 5G network structure, where the SMF functional entity of the cloudified control plane plans forwarding paths and allocates routing solutions, and the UPF of the user plane executes data forwarding according to the received routing solutions. Instead, the SMF of the control plane only sends a session creation request to the user plane. After receiving the session creation request, the user plane uses the newly added user plane editing and management functional entity to uniformly allocate various data forwarding devices to achieve data forwarding path planning and forwarding route management. In the mobile network architecture provided by this solution, the dedicated UPF device of the user plane in the traditional 5G network structure is updated to a user plane editing and management functional entity that supports unified management of routing information. Universal data forwarding equipment is used for data forwarding. Therefore, the control plane and user plane can be deployed in the same virtual cloud, thereby improving data forwarding efficiency and network resource utilization. The use of universal data forwarding equipment also reduces equipment deployment costs.

[0050] To address the above issues, the present disclosure proposes a network cloud deployment method and apparatus, which can be applied to the mobile network architecture of the exemplary application environment shown in Figure 3. This mobile network architecture can support forwarding plane devices in the cloud, thereby realizing a fully cloud-based mobile network architecture.

[0051] FIG3 schematically illustrates a mobile network architecture diagram corresponding to a network cloud deployment in this exemplary embodiment. As shown in FIG3 , the mobile network architecture includes: UE, base station, AN access network, control plane (used to carry signaling or control messages) and user plane (also referred to as forwarding plane or data plane, used to carry data traffic). The user plane includes a newly added user plane editing and management functional entity (hereinafter also referred to as user plane editing manager). The user plane editing manager includes multiple functional modules such as path planning and editing, data routing management, service perception and measurement, service forwarding quality management, and network resource perception and management. Among them, the path planning and editing functional module is used to plan the forwarding path according to the forwarding requirements of the SMF in the control plane, and send the generated path forwarding rules to the data forwarding module for execution. Among them, the data forwarding module is a data forwarding device composed of a resource pool composed of general hardware, which is used to realize the forwarding function of service data. The data routing management functional module is used to realize the registration of the data forwarding module, the maintenance of the forwarding routing table, and other functions. Service Forwarding Quality Management Module: This module generates data packet forwarding policies based on service forwarding quality requirements and network monitoring. This forwarding policy, along with path forwarding rules, is then delivered to the data forwarding module for execution, ensuring the quality of data forwarding. Computing Network Resource Perception and Management Module: This module perceives and manages communication and computing resources within a resource pool comprised of general-purpose hardware, enabling the configuration of appropriate data forwarding modules as needed.

[0052] As can be seen from Figure 3, the above-mentioned AN access network, control plane, and user plane are all deployed in the same virtual cloud (for example, all deployed in a public cloud or an enterprise cloud), thereby achieving one-point access on the wireless side and overall network virtualization. It should be understood that the SMF, AMF, NRF, and PCF included in the control plane in Figure 3 are merely schematic. Other control plane functional entities may also be included according to the functional requirements of the implementation, and the embodiments of the present disclosure do not impose any special restrictions on this. The DN in Figure 3 refers to the data network.

[0053] For example, in an exemplary embodiment, a user initiates a service subscription request for a target service through a UE, and a session creation request for the target service is issued by the SMF in the control plane. The user plane receives the session creation request issued by the SMF in the control plane based on the user plane editing management function entity, and the session establishment request includes at least the service data of the target service; the forwarding path information is determined from the routing topology according to the session creation request of the target service; the service data of the target service is sent to the data forwarding device corresponding to the forwarding path information for data forwarding; wherein, the user plane and the control plane are deployed in the same virtual cloud.

[0054] The network cloud deployment method and apparatus provided by the present disclosure, as well as the mobile network system architecture shown in FIG3 , can be applied to the following exemplary application scenarios, for example, network deployment and user plane creation in a hotspot area as shown in FIG4 , and network deployment and user plane creation in an edge area as shown in FIG5 . As can be seen from FIG4 and FIG5 , wireless signals enter the cloud through the access network, while the control plane function, user plane editing manager, and data forwarding device are all in a resource pool, making the allocation of network resources more flexible and data forwarding more efficient.

[0055] However, it is easy for those skilled in the art to understand that the above application scenarios are only for example and are not limited to this exemplary embodiment.

[0056] The following uses the user plane editing management function entity of the user plane as the execution subject and applies the network cloud deployment method to the user plane editing management function entity as an example to illustrate. Figure 6 schematically shows a flow chart of a network cloud deployment method in this exemplary embodiment. Referring to Figure 6, the network cloud deployment method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure includes the following steps S601-S603:

[0057] S601. A user plane editing management function entity based on the user plane receives a session creation request for a target service sent by a session management function entity SMF of the control plane; wherein the user plane and the control plane are deployed in the same virtual cloud.

[0058] S602: Determine forwarding path information corresponding to the target service from the routing topology according to the session creation request of the target service.

[0059] S603: Send the forwarding path information to the corresponding data forwarding device so that the data forwarding device transmits the service data of the target service.

[0060] In the technical solutions provided by some embodiments of the present disclosure, a user plane-based user plane editing and management function entity receives a session creation request for a target service, issued by a session management function entity (SMF) on the control plane. The user plane and the control plane are deployed in the same virtual cloud. Based on the session creation request, forwarding path information corresponding to the target service is determined from the routing topology. The forwarding path information is sent to the corresponding data forwarding device so that the data forwarding device can transmit the service data. This method allows the SMF to only send a session creation request to the user plane, and the user plane can confirm the forwarding path information based on the received session creation request. This avoids the technical problem in related technologies where the control plane SMF issues a forwarding routing solution while the user plane only performs data forwarding, resulting in the user plane and control plane being unable to share the same cloud after cloud deployment, and thus resulting in low data forwarding efficiency and low network resource utilization. This achieves the technical effect of improving data forwarding efficiency and network resource utilization. Furthermore, this method eliminates the need for a UPF device, instead using a general-purpose device, thereby increasing deployment flexibility.

[0061] The specific implementation of each step in the embodiment shown in FIG6 will be described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments:

[0062] In S601, a user plane editing management function entity based on the user plane receives a session creation request for a target service sent by a session management function entity SMF of the control plane; wherein the user plane and the control plane are deployed in the same virtual cloud.

[0063] For example, in a traditional 5G mobile network architecture, the SMF on the control plane is required to confirm the routing plan and send it to the UPF on the user plane so that the UPF can forward data according to the sent routing plan.

[0064] However, the above traditional methods result in the user plane and control plane not sharing the same cloud when deployed in a cloud environment. To address this, the disclosed embodiments add a new user plane editing and management function entity in the user plane. This user plane editing and management function entity enables the control plane's SMF to only issue session creation requests, while the user plane's user plane editing and management function entity performs forwarding path planning.

[0065] In S602, forwarding path information corresponding to the target service is determined from the routing topology according to the session creation request.

[0066] The routing topology includes multiple forwarding path information. The forwarding path information refers to the routing devices that the service data passes through during the forwarding process. For example, for: sending device—A1—B1—B2—C1—destination device, the forwarding path information in the network process is A1—B1—B2—C1.

[0067] Exemplarily, when the user plane editing management function entity receives a session creation request sent by the SMF of the control plane, it can select forwarding path information that meets the target service requirements from the network topology according to the session creation request.

[0068] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, when executing step S602, the service perception information of the target service can also be obtained, and the service quality policy of the target service can be determined based on the service perception information; the forwarding path information corresponding to the target service can be determined from the routing topology according to the session creation request and the service quality policy.

[0069] The service perception information refers to information used to detect the service quality required by the service in order to formulate a corresponding QoS strategy (ie, service quality strategy).

[0070] For example, using the mobile network architecture shown in FIG3 as an example, after the user plane editing and management function entity receives a session creation request from the SMF, it can send a service management policy request to the service forwarding quality management function module based on the path planning and editing function module, so that the service forwarding quality management function module can obtain service perception information from the service perception and measurement function module, determine the QoS policy (i.e., service quality policy) for the target service based on the service perception information, and send it to the path planning and editing function module. In response, the path planning and editing function module can select the corresponding data forwarding device (i.e., the data forwarding module shown in FIG3 ) based on the QoS policy, and then obtain the forwarding path information.

[0071] In this embodiment, since the user plane editing and management function entity and the data forwarding device are both in the same resource pool, the user plane editing and management function entity can flexibly allocate network resources, thereby improving the efficiency of service data forwarding. In addition, the user plane editing and management function entity can also formulate QoS policies based on real-time service perception information and then determine forwarding path planning based on the QoS policy, thereby ensuring the reliability and forwarding quality of service transmission.

[0072] In one embodiment, the user plane editing management function entity provided by the present disclosure can determine the forwarding path (i.e., forwarding path information) according to the session creation request issued by the SMF, which is mainly divided into two embodiments:

[0073] In an optional embodiment, if it is determined that the forwarding path information corresponding to the target task is included in the network topology for data forwarding, the user plane editing management function entity can transmit the service data based on the forwarding path information existing in the existing network topology.

[0074] In another optional embodiment, if it is determined that the forwarding path information corresponding to the target task is not included in the network topology for data forwarding, the user plane editing management function entity needs to construct new forwarding path information and add it to the current network topology to update the network topology.

[0075] When the user-side editing management function entity constructs new forwarding path information, it can obtain the resource information of each general routing device in the general resource pool; determine the data forwarding device for transmitting business data based on the network quality parameters required by the business data of the target business and the resource information of each general routing device; generate forwarding path information based on the data forwarding device, and add the forwarding path information to the routing topology.

[0076] The general resource pool is a resource pool composed of general hardware. Each general hardware can be used as a routing device for forwarding. The resource information of each general resource includes at least one of a communication resource and a computing resource.

[0077] For example, in the mobile network architecture shown in FIG3 , the user plane editing management functional entity can perceive and manage the communication resources and computing resources of each routing device in the general resource pool through the computing network resource perception and management functional module shown in FIG3 , so as to screen out data forwarding devices that meet the network quality parameters required by the business data of the target business from the general resource pool based on the network quality parameters required by the business data of the target business, thereby forming forwarding path information.

[0078] In this embodiment, the forwarding path is planned according to the needs of the target business based on the network quality parameters required by the business data of the target business and the resource information of each general routing device. This process not only ensures the forwarding quality of the data, but also enables the user plane to perform path planning, thereby facilitating the co-clouding of the user plane and the control plane after cloudification, thereby reducing data forwarding delay and improving forwarding efficiency.

[0079] In the above embodiment, after the newly added forwarding path information is successfully created, it is necessary to add the newly added forwarding path information to the routing topology. At the same time, in order to reduce the complexity of the network topology and improve the availability, it is also necessary to remove the forwarding path information that is no longer used so as to continuously update the existing network topology.

[0080] 1) For adding new forwarding path information to the routing topology:

[0081] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, a registration request initiated by a data forwarding device is received; if the registration is successful, a registration success response is sent to the data forwarding device, and forwarding path information generated by the data forwarding device is added to the routing topology.

[0082] Exemplarily, a registration request is initiated when the data forwarding function of a data forwarding device is initially started. That is, the user plane editing and management function entity constructs new forwarding path information based on the session creation request issued by the SMF. The data forwarding device in the forwarding path information then needs to send a registration request to the user plane editing and management function entity to apply for inclusion in the data forwarding network topology.

[0083] Exemplarily, when the user plane editing management function entity receives the registration request initiated by the data forwarding device in the forwarding path information, it sends a registration response to the data forwarding device.

[0084] If a registration success response is sent to the data forwarding device, the forwarding path information formed by the data forwarding device is added to the routing topology to update the network topology. Otherwise, if the registration fails, a registration failure response message is sent to the data forwarding device.

[0085] In this embodiment, a registration request initiated by a data forwarding device is received during the first startup so that the network topology can be updated if the registration is successful. This allows the newly added forwarding path information to be quickly found in the network topology and transmitted data when used later, thereby improving the efficiency of data forwarding.

[0086] 2) Regarding the forwarding path information when the function is offline:

[0087] In another optional embodiment of the present disclosure, a deregistration request initiated by a data forwarding device is received, where the deregistration request is a request initiated when the data forwarding function of the data forwarding device is offline; if the deregistration is successful, a deregistration success response is sent to the data forwarding device, and the forwarding path information generated by the data forwarding device is removed from the routing topology.

[0088] The deregistration request is a request to remove forwarding path information in the network topology.

[0089] For example, for the forwarding path information of the offline data forwarding function, it will no longer be selected subsequently. In order to simplify the network topology, the forwarding path information of the offline data forwarding function can be removed. When removing, the data forwarding device of the forwarding path information sends a deregistration request to the user plane editing management function entity. If the deregistration is successful, a deregistration success response is sent to the data forwarding device, and the forwarding path information generated by the data forwarding device is removed from the routing topology. Conversely, if the deregistration fails, a deregistration failure response is sent to the data forwarding device for subsequent operations.

[0090] In this embodiment, invalid forwarding path information in the network topology can be removed through the deregistration request, thereby simplifying the network topology, facilitating improving the efficiency of determining the forwarding path information corresponding to the target service from the network topology, and further improving data forwarding efficiency.

[0091] In S603 , the forwarding path information is sent to a corresponding data forwarding device so that the data forwarding device transmits the service data of the target service.

[0092] Exemplarily, after the forwarding path information is determined, the service data of the target service may be sent to the data forwarding device corresponding to the forwarding path information for data forwarding.

[0093] In related technical solutions, in traditional 5G mobile network architectures, the user plane UPFs (UPFs) do not support common network equipment, resulting in high network deployment costs. Furthermore, in traditional 5G mobile architectures, data forwarding between UPFs typically uses the N3 interface protocol stack, as detailed in Figure 7 . As shown in Figure 6 , data transmission between UPFs uses the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) and the GPRS Tunneling Protocol-User Plane (GPR-U) protocol.

[0094] It's important to explain that GTP-U is a user data transmission protocol used in General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) networks. GTP-U is a protocol that establishes tunnels on the user plane. It can transmit Internet Protocol (IP) data packets from one GPRS support node (SGSN) to another GPRS support node (GGSN), thereby enabling user data transmission within the GPRS network.

[0095] In order to overcome the above technical problems and adapt to the mobile network architecture shown in FIG3 , a new protocol stack between multiple data forwarding devices is provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure, and specific reference may be made to FIG8 .

[0096] In some example embodiments of the present disclosure, forwarding path information is sent to a corresponding data forwarding device so that the data forwarding device can transmit business data based on a target communication protocol; wherein the target communication protocol includes the Quick UDP Internet Connection (QUIC) protocol and the Segment Routing (SRv6) protocol based on the IPv6 forwarding plane.

[0097] For example, the QUIC protocol and the SRv6 protocol are used at the TCP / IP layer to replace the N3 interface protocol defined by 3GPP.

[0098] This is because, compared to the traditional UDP protocol, QUIC interweaves negotiation, encryption, and transport handshakes to reduce connection establishment latency, resulting in lower latency, multiplexing to avoid congestion, better support for mobility management, and enhanced security management capabilities. The SRv6 protocol, on the other hand, uses segment IDs to indicate network paths, leveraging the powerful header extension capabilities of IPv6 to directly identify the packet's route within the packet header. Furthermore, the SRv6 protocol has been widely deployed in bearer networks. Using SRv6 on the user plane of mobile networks allows them to share the same network and equipment as the bearer network, achieving hardware interoperability.

[0099] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the session establishment request also includes network quality parameters required for transmitting service data of the target service, and the network quality parameters required for the service data of the target service are added to an extension header of the SRv6 protocol.

[0100] For example, since SRv6 packets have strong scalability, the network quality parameters (also known as service management QoS policy) required for the service data of the target service can be added to the extension header of the SRv6 protocol to ensure data forwarding quality during the data forwarding process.

[0101] In this embodiment, reference may be made to FIG. 9 . As shown in FIG. 9 , the extensible header field in the SRv6 data packet supports carrying the QoS policy rules of the mobile network, thereby achieving end-to-end forwarding and delivery of the rules.

[0102] Finally, in some example embodiments of the present disclosure, after executing S603 , the address of the data forwarding device corresponding to the forwarding path information is sent to the SMF of the control plane.

[0103] For example, after determining the forwarding path information corresponding to the target service, session creation information may be returned to the SMF. The session creation information includes the IP addresses of the data forwarding devices corresponding to the forwarding path information and may also include QoS policy rules.

[0104] In this embodiment, by sending the address of the data forwarding device corresponding to the forwarding path information to the SMF of the control plane, the control plane can also grasp the routing plan, thereby achieving message synchronization between the user plane and the control plane, facilitating the co-cloud deployment of the user plane and the control plane.

[0105] In order to implement the above-mentioned network cloud deployment method, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a network cloud deployment device. Figure 10 schematically shows a schematic architecture diagram of the network cloud deployment device.

[0106] Among them, the network cloud deployment device 1000 includes a request receiving module 1001, a path determination module 1002 and an information sending module 1003.

[0107] The request receiving module 1001 is used to receive a session creation request for a target service issued by a session management function entity SMF of the control plane based on the user plane editing management function entity of the user plane; wherein the user plane and the control plane are deployed in the same virtual cloud; the path determination module 1002 is used to determine the forwarding path information corresponding to the target service from the routing topology according to the session creation request; the information sending module 1003 is used to send the forwarding path information to the corresponding data forwarding device so that the data forwarding device can transmit the service data.

[0108] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the path determination module 1002 is used to obtain service perception information of the target service and determine the service quality policy of the target service based on the service perception information; determine the forwarding path information corresponding to the target service from the routing topology according to the session creation request and the service quality policy.

[0109] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the session establishment request also includes network quality parameters required for transmitting business data of the target business; the device also includes an information acquisition module, which is specifically used to obtain resource information of each general routing device in the general resource pool, where the resource information includes at least one of communication resources and computing resources; a path determination module 1002 is used to determine the data forwarding device for transmitting business data based on the network quality parameters required for the business data of the target business and the resource information of each general routing device; generate forwarding path information based on the data forwarding device, and add the forwarding path information to the routing topology.

[0110] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the path determination module 1002 is used to receive a registration request initiated by a data forwarding device, where the registration request is a request initiated when the data forwarding function of the data forwarding device is initially started; if the registration is successful, a registration success response is sent to the data forwarding device, and the forwarding path information generated by the data forwarding device is added to the routing topology; or, the information receiving module is used to receive a deregistration request initiated by each data forwarding device, where the deregistration request is a request initiated when the data forwarding function of the data forwarding device is offline; if the deregistration is successful, a deregistration success response is sent to the data forwarding device, and the forwarding path information generated by the data forwarding device is removed from the routing topology.

[0111] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the information sending module is used to send forwarding path information to a corresponding data forwarding device so that the data forwarding device can transmit business data based on a target communication protocol; wherein the target communication protocol includes the Quick UDP Internet Connection (QUIC) protocol and the Segment Routing (SRv6) protocol based on the IPv6 forwarding plane.

[0112] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the device further includes a data adding module, which is used to include network quality parameters required for transmitting service data of the target service in the session establishment request, and add the network quality parameters required for the service data of the target service to the extension header of the SRv6 protocol.

[0113] In an optional embodiment of the present disclosure, the information sending module is used to send the address of the data forwarding device corresponding to the forwarding path information to the SMF of the control plane.

[0114] The network cloud deployment device 1000 provided in the embodiment of the present disclosure can execute the technical solution of the network cloud deployment method in any of the above embodiments. Its implementation principle and beneficial effects are similar to the implementation principle and beneficial effects of the network cloud deployment method. Please refer to the implementation principle and beneficial effects of the network cloud deployment method, and no further details will be given here.

[0115] In exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is also provided, on which is stored a program product capable of implementing the methods described above. In some possible implementations, various aspects of the present invention may also be implemented in the form of a program product comprising program code that, when executed on a terminal device, causes the terminal device to execute the steps according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention described in the "Exemplary Methods" section above.

[0116] According to an embodiment of the present invention, a program product for implementing the above-mentioned method can be a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) and include program code, and can be run on a terminal device, such as a personal computer. However, the program product of the present invention is not limited thereto. In this document, a readable storage medium can be any tangible medium containing or storing a program, and the program can be used by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0117] The program product may employ any combination of one or more readable media. The readable medium may be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium. The readable storage medium may be, for example, but not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, device, or component, or any combination thereof. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of readable storage media include: an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0118] A computer-readable signal medium may include a data signal propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave, which carries readable program code. Such propagated data signals may take a variety of forms, including but not limited to electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination thereof. A readable signal medium may also be any readable medium other than a readable storage medium that can transmit, propagate, or transfer a program for use by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0119] The program code contained on the readable medium may be transmitted using any appropriate medium, including but not limited to wireless, wired, optical cable, radio frequency (RF), etc., or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0120] The program code for performing the operations of the present invention may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java, C++, and the like, as well as conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as "C" or similar programming languages. The program code may be executed entirely on the user computing device, partially on the user device, as a stand-alone software package, partially on the user computing device and partially on a remote computing device, or entirely on a remote computing device or server. In cases involving a remote computing device, the remote computing device may be connected to the user computing device via any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or may be connected to an external computing device (e.g., via the Internet using an Internet service provider).

[0121] In an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, an electronic device capable of implementing the above method is also provided.

[0122] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that various aspects of the present invention may be implemented as systems, methods, or program products. Therefore, various aspects of the present invention may be implemented in the following forms: a complete hardware implementation, a complete software implementation (including firmware, microcode, etc.), or a combination of hardware and software implementations, which may be collectively referred to herein as "circuits," "modules," or "systems."

[0123] The electronic device 1100 according to this embodiment of the present invention is described below with reference to Figure 11. The electronic device 1100 shown in Figure 11 is merely an example and should not limit the functions and scope of use of the embodiments of the present invention.

[0124] As shown in FIG11 , electronic device 1100 is implemented as a general-purpose computing device. Components of electronic device 1100 may include, but are not limited to, the aforementioned at least one processing unit 1110, the aforementioned at least one storage unit 1120, a bus 1130 connecting various system components (including storage unit 1120 and processing unit 1110), and a display unit 1140.

[0125] The storage unit stores program code, which can be executed by the processing unit 1110, so that the processing unit 1110 performs the steps according to various exemplary embodiments of the present invention described in the "Exemplary Method" section above. For example, the processing unit 1110 can perform S601 to S603 as shown in Figure 6.

[0126] The storage unit 1120 may include a readable medium in the form of a volatile storage unit, such as a random access memory unit (RAM) 11201 and / or a cache memory unit 11202 , and may further include a read-only memory unit (ROM) 11203 .

[0127] The storage unit 1120 may also include a program / utility 11204 having a set (at least one) of program modules 11205, such program modules 11205 including but not limited to: an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each of which or some combination may include an implementation of a network environment.

[0128] The bus 1130 may represent one or more of several types of bus structures, including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, a processing unit, or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.

[0129] Electronic device 1100 can also communicate with one or more external devices 2000 (e.g., keyboards, pointing devices, Bluetooth devices, etc.), one or more devices that enable a user to interact with electronic device 1100, and / or any device that enables electronic device 1100 to communicate with one or more other computing devices (e.g., routers, modems, etc.). Such communication can occur via input / output (I / O) interface 1150. Furthermore, electronic device 1100 can also communicate with one or more networks (e.g., local area networks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), and / or public networks such as the Internet) via network adapter 1160. As shown, network adapter 1160 communicates with other modules of electronic device 1100 via bus 1130. It should be understood that, although not shown in the figure, other hardware and / or software modules can be used in conjunction with electronic device 1100, including but not limited to microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, Redundant Arrays of Independent Disks (RAID) systems, tape drives, and data backup storage systems.

[0130] Through the description of the above embodiments, it is easy for those skilled in the art to understand that the example embodiments described herein can be implemented by software or by combining software with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solution according to the embodiments of the present disclosure can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (which can be a CD-ROM, a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, etc.) or on a network, and includes several instructions to enable a computing device (which can be a personal computer, a server, a terminal device, or a network device, etc.) to execute the method according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0131] Furthermore, the above-described figures are merely illustrative of the processes included in the method according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention and are not intended to be limiting. It is readily understood that the processes illustrated in the above-described figures do not indicate or limit the temporal order of these processes. Furthermore, it is readily understood that these processes may be executed synchronously or asynchronously, for example, in multiple modules.

[0132] It should be noted that although several modules or units of the device for action execution are mentioned in the detailed description above, this division is not mandatory. In fact, according to the embodiments of the present disclosure, the features and functions of two or more modules or units described above can be concretized in one module or unit. Conversely, the features and functions of one module or unit described above can be further divided into multiple modules or units to be concretized.

[0133] Other embodiments of the present disclosure will readily occur to those skilled in the art after considering the specification and practicing the invention disclosed herein. This disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the present disclosure that follow from the general principles of the present disclosure and include common knowledge or customary techniques in the art not disclosed herein. The description and examples are to be considered as exemplary only, with the true scope and spirit of the present disclosure being indicated by the claims.

[0134] It should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the exact structures that have been described above and shown in the drawings, and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A network cloudification deployment method, comprising: A user plane editing and management function entity based on the user plane receives a session creation request for a target service sent by a session management function entity SMF of the control plane; wherein, the user plane and the control plane are deployed in the same virtual cloud; Determine the forwarding path information corresponding to the target service from the routing topology according to the session creation request; Send the forwarding path information to the corresponding data forwarding device so that the data forwarding device transmits the service data of the target service.

2. The network cloudification deployment method according to claim 1, wherein, The determining the forwarding path information corresponding to the target service from the routing topology according to the session creation request includes: Obtain the service awareness information of the target service, and determine the quality of service policy of the target service based on the service awareness information; Determine the forwarding path information corresponding to the target service from the routing topology according to the session creation request and the quality of service policy.

3. The network cloudification deployment method according to claim 1, wherein, The session establishment request includes network quality parameters required for transmitting the service data of the target service; wherein, before determining the forwarding path information corresponding to the target service according to the session creation request, the method further includes: Obtain the resource information of each general routing device in the general resource pool, and the resource information includes at least one of communication resources and computing resources; Determine the data forwarding device for transmitting the service data according to the network quality parameters required for the service data of the target service and the resource information of each general routing device; Generate the forwarding path information of the target service based on the data forwarding device, and add the forwarding path information to the routing topology.

4. The network cloudification deployment method according to claim 3, wherein, The method further includes: Receive a registration request initiated by the data forwarding device, and the registration request is a request initiated by the data forwarding device when initially performing the data forwarding function; If the registration is successful, send a registration success response to the data forwarding device, and add the forwarding path information generated by the data forwarding device to the routing topology; or, Receive a deregistration request initiated by the data forwarding device, and the deregistration request is a request initiated when the data forwarding function of the data forwarding device goes offline; If the deregistration is successful, send a deregistration success response to the data forwarding device, and remove the forwarding path information generated by the data forwarding device from the routing topology.

5. The network cloudification deployment method according to claim 1, wherein, The sending the forwarding path information to the corresponding data forwarding device so that the data forwarding device transmits the service data includes: Send the forwarding path information to the corresponding data forwarding device so that the data forwarding device transmits the service data based on the target communication protocol; wherein, the target communication protocol includes the Quick UDP Internet Connection QUIC protocol and the Segment Routing SRv6 protocol based on the IPv6 forwarding plane.

6. The network cloudification deployment method according to claim 5, wherein, The session establishment request further includes network quality parameters required for transmitting the service data of the target service, and add the network quality parameters required for the service data of the target service to the extension header of the SRv6 protocol.

7. The network cloudification deployment method according to claim 1, wherein, After sending the forwarding path information to the corresponding data forwarding device, the method further includes: Sending the address of the data forwarding device corresponding to the forwarding path information to the SMF of the control plane.

8. A network cloudification deployment device, the device includes: A request receiving module, configured to receive a session creation request for a target service sent by a session management function entity SMF of the control plane based on a user plane user plane editing and management function entity; wherein, the user plane and the control plane are deployed in the same virtual cloud; A path determination module, configured to determine the forwarding path information corresponding to the target service from a routing topology according to the session creation request; An information sending module, configured to send the forwarding path information to a corresponding data forwarding device, so that the data forwarding device transmits the service data of the target service.

9. A computer-readable storage medium, on which a computer program is stored, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, it implements the network cloudification deployment method according to any one of claims 1 to 7.

10. An electronic device, including: A processor; And A memory, configured to store executable instructions of the processor; Wherein, the processor is configured to execute the network cloudification deployment method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 by executing the executable instructions.

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