Policy association processing method, access control network element, medium and electronic device

Abstract

A policy association processing method, an access control network element, a computer-readable storage medium and an electronic device. The policy association processing method comprises: receiving capability information of a user equipment; in response to the capability information containing first indication information, establishing a subscription relationship for user subscription data with a user subscription data storage network element, wherein the first indication information indicates that the user equipment supports an access control network element in issuing a user equipment policy to the user equipment; and in response to the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element containing second indication information, not establishing policy association with a policy control network element, wherein the second indication information indicates that the access control network element is prohibited from establishing policy association with the policy control network element. The method enables more flexible and efficient processing of policy association, so as to adapt to network environments and user requirements, thereby providing better network service experience for users.

Description

Policy association processing methods and access control network elements, media, and electronic equipment

[0001] Cross-references to related applications

[0002] This disclosure claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202410516706.7, filed on April 26, 2024, entitled "A Method for Processing Policy Association and Access Control Network Element, Medium, and Electronic Equipment", the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] This disclosure relates to the field of wireless communication technology, and in particular to a policy association processing method, an access control network element, a computer-readable storage medium, and an electronic device. Background Technology

[0004] 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) is a collaborative project agreement among telecommunications industry partners (organizational partners) aimed at formally defining a global mobile 3G wireless system based on radio access technologies and the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSMC) specification.

[0005] Currently in 3GPP, when a user equipment connects to the network, the network establishes policy associations for the user equipment indiscriminately, resulting in a waste of network resources.

[0006] Therefore, there is an urgent need in this field to develop a new method for processing policy associations.

[0007] It should be noted that the information disclosed in the background section above is only used to enhance the understanding of the background of this disclosure.

[0008] Summary of the Invention

[0009] The purpose of this disclosure is to provide a policy association processing method, an access control network element, a computer-readable storage medium, and an electronic device, thereby at least to some extent overcoming the technical problem of network resource waste caused by the limitations of related technologies.

[0010] Other features and advantages of this disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, or may be learned in part from practice of this disclosure.

[0011] According to a first aspect of this disclosure, a method for processing policy association is provided, applied to an access control network element, the method comprising:

[0012] Receive user equipment capability information;

[0013] In response to the first indication information included in the capability information, a subscription relationship for user-subscribed data is established with the user-subscribed data storage network element; the first indication information indicates that the user equipment supports the access control network element in issuing user equipment policies to it.

[0014] In response to the second indication information included in the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element, a policy association is not established with the policy control network element; wherein, the second indication information indicates that the access control network element is prohibited from establishing a policy association with the policy control network element.

[0015] According to a second aspect of this disclosure, an access control network element is provided, comprising:

[0016] The information receiving module is used to receive capability information of user equipment;

[0017] The subscription relationship establishment module is used to establish a subscription relationship for user-subscribed data with the user-subscribed data storage network element in response to the first indication information included in the capability information; the first indication information indicates that the user equipment supports the access control network element in issuing user equipment policies to it.

[0018] The policy association processing module is configured to respond to the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element containing second indication information, and not establish a policy association with the policy control network element; wherein, the second indication information indicates that the access control network element is prohibited from establishing a policy association with the policy control network element.

[0019] According to a third aspect of this disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is provided having a computer program stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements the policy association processing method described in the first aspect above.

[0020] According to a fourth aspect of this 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 policy-associated processing method described in the first aspect by executing the executable instructions.

[0021] As can be seen from the above technical solutions, the policy association processing method, access control network element, computer-readable storage medium, and electronic device in the exemplary embodiments of this disclosure have at least the following advantages and positive effects:

[0022] In some embodiments of this disclosure, the technical solutions provided involve receiving user equipment capability information. In response to the capability information containing first indication information (indicating that the user equipment supports access control network elements issuing user equipment policies), a subscription relationship for user subscription data is established with the user subscription data storage network element. In response to the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element containing second indication information (indicating that access control network elements are prohibited from establishing policy associations with policy control network elements), no policy association is established with the policy control network element. On one hand, this allows for dynamic adjustment of the policy association method based on the user equipment capability information, thereby providing the most appropriate service according to the user's actual needs and optimizing the user experience. Furthermore, when the user equipment has sufficient capability to process policies, there is no need to establish a policy association between the AMF and PCF, thus avoiding unnecessary network interaction leading to increased network load, avoiding network resource waste, and helping to improve network performance. On the other hand, by determining whether to establish a policy association based on the indication information in the user subscription data, it is possible to ensure that the user receives a service experience consistent with expectations, thereby facilitating more granular policy control of the user.

[0023] It should be understood that the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only, and are not intended to limit this disclosure. Attached Figure Description

[0024] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with this disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of this disclosure. It is obvious that the drawings described below are merely some embodiments of this disclosure, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without any inventive effort.

[0025] Figure 1 shows a flowchart of the strategy association processing method in an embodiment of this disclosure;

[0026] Figure 2 illustrates a flowchart of how the AMF maintains policy independence from the PCF in an embodiment of this disclosure.

[0027] Figure 3 illustrates a flowchart of how the AMF establishes a policy association with the PCF in an embodiment of this disclosure;

[0028] Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram of the overall process of a strategy association processing method in an embodiment of this disclosure;

[0029] Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram of the overall process of another strategy association processing method in an embodiment of this disclosure;

[0030] Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of the access control network element in an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure;

[0031] Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of an electronic device in an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure. Detailed Implementation

[0032] Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, example embodiments can be implemented in many forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided to make this disclosure more comprehensive and complete, and to fully convey the concept of the example embodiments to those skilled in the art. The described features, structures, or characteristics can be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to give a full understanding of embodiments of this disclosure. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that the technical solutions of this disclosure can be practiced with one or more of the specific details omitted, or other methods, components, apparatus, steps, etc., can be employed. In other instances, well-known technical solutions are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring various aspects of this disclosure.

[0033] The terms “a,” “an,” “the,” and “the” are used in this specification to indicate the presence of one or more elements / components / etc.; the terms “including” and “having” are used to indicate an open-ended inclusion and to mean that there may be other elements / components / etc. in addition to the listed elements / components / etc.; the terms “first” and “second” are used only as markings and are not a limitation on the number of objects.

[0034] Furthermore, the accompanying drawings are merely illustrative of this disclosure and are not necessarily drawn to scale. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or similar parts, and therefore repeated descriptions of them will be omitted. Some block diagrams shown in the drawings are functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically or logically independent entities.

[0035] Currently, in 3GPP, when a user equipment initially registers with a 5G (5th-Generation Mobile Communication Technology) network, the AMF will establish an AM policy association and / or UE policy association with the PCF based on the local pre-configured information.

[0036] However, in reality, operators may not have pre-configured specific AM policy association or / and UE policy association rules for this user (SUPI), or the user equipment may not support network-issued UE policies. Therefore, indiscriminately establishing policy associations for user equipment will result in a waste of network resources.

[0037] This disclosure proposes a method for triggering the establishment and deletion of associations between access and mobility management policies (AM policies) and / or terminal policies (UE policies) based on demand. The method allows the network (AMF) to temporarily refrain from establishing AM policy associations and / or UE policy associations based on user subscription data. Simultaneously, it allows the application (AF) to request changes to the user's AM policy and / or UE policy from the network to meet the specific service needs of different applications, triggering the establishment of new AM policy associations and / or UE policy associations. Furthermore, when a policy is no longer needed, the method triggers the deletion of the policy association to save network resources.

[0038] The following explains the communication terms used in this disclosure:

[0039] User Equipment (UE): Also known as terminal equipment, terminal device, access terminal, user unit, user station, mobile station, mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), remote station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal, terminal, wireless communication equipment, user agent, or user device. Terminal equipment can be a device that provides voice / data connectivity to a user, such as a handheld device with wireless connectivity or an in-vehicle device. Currently, examples of terminals include: mobile phones, tablets, computers with wireless transceiver capabilities (such as laptops and PDAs), mobile internet devices (MIDs), virtual reality (VR) devices, augmented reality (AR) devices, wireless terminals in industrial control, wireless terminals in self-driving vehicles, wireless terminals in remote medical care, wireless terminals in smart grids, wireless terminals in transportation safety, wireless terminals in smart cities, wireless terminals in smart homes, cellular phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (SIP) phones, wireless local loop (WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (PDAs), handheld devices with wireless communication capabilities, computing devices or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, in-vehicle devices, wearable devices, terminal devices in 5G networks, or future public land mobile communication networks. Terminal devices in a network (PLMN), etc.

[0040] For example, the user equipment in this disclosure may refer to a terminal using a single SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card / SUPI (Subscription Permanent Identifier), a multi-card terminal with dual SIM cards / SUPI, or a set of dual terminals using dual SIM cards / SUPI (based on the internal data diversion and switching of the dual terminals). It can be set according to the actual situation, and this disclosure does not make any special limitations on it.

[0041] The access control network element in this disclosure is mainly responsible for UE registration management, UE connection management, UE reachability management, UE access authorization and authentication, UE security functions, UE mobility management, network slice selection, and SMF (Session Management Function) selection.

[0042] For example, the access control network element mentioned above can be the MME in 4G, the AMF (Access & Mobility Management Function) in 5G, or a network element with the same function that appears in 6G networks. In the following embodiments, the AMF is used as an example for illustration.

[0043] The policy control network element in this disclosure can be a 5G PCF (Policy Control function, which supports a unified policy framework to manage network behavior, provides policy rules to network entities for implementation, and accesses subscription information of a unified data warehouse), or a network element with the same function that appears in 6G networks. It can be set according to the actual situation, and this disclosure does not make any special restrictions on it.

[0044] The user subscription data storage network element in this disclosure can be a 5G UDM, a 4 / 5G converged network element UDM+HSS, or a network element with the same function appearing in a 6G network. In the following embodiments, the user subscription data storage network element is described as UDM.

[0045] Among them, UDM (Unified Data Management) is responsible for the management of user identifiers, subscription data, authentication data, and user service element registration management (such as the AMF and SMF that currently provide services to the terminal; if a user switches to a different AMF, UDM will also send a deregistration message to the old AMF, requesting the old AMF to delete the user's relevant information).

[0046] HSS (Home Subscriber Server) is a server in EPS (Evolved Packet System) used to store user subscription data. It is an evolution and upgrade of the 2G / 3G network element HLR (Home Location Register), and is mainly responsible for managing user subscription data and mobile user location information.

[0047] The user configuration data storage network element in this disclosure can be a 4G CUDB, a 5G UDR, or a network element with the same function appearing in a 6G network. In the following embodiments, the user configuration data storage network element is described as a UDR.

[0048] Among them, CUDB (Centralized Unit Database) is used to store data related to users or sessions in the 4G network.

[0049] UDR (Unified Data Repository) is used by UDM to store or retrieve subscription data, and PCF to store or retrieve policy data.

[0050] Optionally, the user subscription data storage network element and the user configuration data storage network element in this disclosure can be combined into one network element. This can be set up according to the actual situation, and this disclosure does not impose any special restrictions on this.

[0051] The Application Function (AF) in this disclosure is mainly responsible for interacting with other functional entities in the core network to provide various services required by users. The AF can be regarded as a service provision platform. It can call other functional entities in the core network to perform corresponding operations according to user needs and business logic, thereby realizing the processing of business logic.

[0052] The Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF) disclosed herein can provide network analytics services based on request data from network services. For example, a network service may request specific analytics information at a load level of a particular network slice. Alternatively, a network service may subscribe to a service that notifies the NWDAF when a network slice changes or when a certain threshold is reached.

[0053] In the embodiments of this disclosure, a method for processing policy association is first provided, which at least to some extent overcomes the defects in related technologies that cause waste of network resources.

[0054] Figure 1 shows a flowchart of the policy association processing method in an embodiment of this disclosure. The execution subject of the policy association processing method can be an access control network element.

[0055] Referring to FIG1, a policy association processing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure includes the following steps:

[0056] Step S110: Receive the capability information of the user equipment;

[0057] Step S120: In response to the capability information containing first indication information, establish a subscription relationship for user-subscribed data with the user-subscribed data storage network element; the first indication information indicates that the user equipment supports the access control network element in issuing user equipment policies to it.

[0058] Step S130: In response to the second indication information being included in the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element, no policy association is established with the policy control network element.

[0059] The second indication information indicates that access control network elements are prohibited from establishing policy associations with policy control network elements.

[0060] In the technical solution provided by the embodiment shown in Figure 1, by receiving the capability information of the user equipment, and in response to the first indication information (indicating that the user equipment supports the access control network element to issue user equipment policies to it) included in the capability information, a subscription relationship for user subscription data is established with the user subscription data storage network element. In response to the second indication information (indicating that the access control network element is prohibited from establishing policy association with the policy control network element) included in the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element, no policy association is established with the policy control network element. On the one hand, the policy association method can be dynamically adjusted according to the capability information of the user equipment, thereby providing the most appropriate service according to the actual needs of the user and optimizing the user experience. Furthermore, when the user equipment has sufficient capability to process policies, there is no need to establish a policy association between the AMF and PCF, thereby avoiding unnecessary network interaction and network load increase, avoiding network resource waste, and helping to improve network performance. On the other hand, by deciding whether to establish a policy association based on the indication information in the user subscription data, it can be ensured that the user receives a service experience consistent with expectations, thereby facilitating more granular policy control of the user.

[0061] The following is a detailed explanation of the specific implementation process of each step in Figure 1:

[0062] In step S110, the capability information of the user equipment is received.

[0063] In this step, the Access Control Element (AMF) can receive the capability information of the User Equipment (UE). The capability information can carry feedback information on whether the UE supports the AMF issuing UE policies to it.

[0064] In step S120, in response to the first indication information included in the capability information, a subscription relationship for user-subscribed data is established with the user-subscribed data storage network element.

[0065] In this step, the User Equipment Policy (UE Policy) mainly focuses on the behavior and configuration of the UE. Specifically, it can include: UE capability management (i.e., identifying and managing the UE's capabilities, such as the communication protocols and data processing capabilities supported by the UE), UE configuration management (configuring the UE's parameters and settings according to network requirements and the UE's capabilities to optimize UE performance and network resource utilization), and UE behavior management (managing the UE's behavior in the network, such as the UE's power consumption and data transmission policies).

[0066] After receiving the aforementioned capability information, if the AMF determines that the capability information does not contain the first indication information (i.e., it does not contain feedback information indicating that the UE supports the AMF in issuing UE policies), then the AMF does not need to initiate any requests related to UE policies in subsequent steps. For example, it does not need to establish a subscription relationship for user-subscribed data with the user-subscribed data storage network element (e.g., UDM), nor does it need to initiate a request to establish a policy association with the policy control network element (e.g., PCF).

[0067] If it is determined that the aforementioned capability information includes the aforementioned first indication information (i.e., feedback information indicating that the UE supports the AMF in issuing UE policies to it), then the AMF can send a subscription request for the user's subscribed data to the user's subscribed data storage network element (e.g., UDM). After receiving the subscription request, the UDM can change "do not establish a subscription relationship" to "establish a subscription relationship" and then return a response message approving the subscription request to the AMF. Thus, the AMF and the UDM can establish a subscription relationship for the user's subscribed data.

[0068] User subscription data refers to the data generated when a user signs a service contract with a network service provider. This data mainly includes various parameters and settings related to user services to ensure that the user can correctly access and use network services. For example, the aforementioned user subscription data may include indications regarding whether the UE allows the AMF to establish a policy association with the PCF.

[0069] Specifically, when the aforementioned relevant indication information is negative (e.g., no / not positive / not allowed, etc.), it can be called the second indication information, which indicates that the UE prohibits the AMF from establishing a policy association with the PCF (i.e., it does not allow the establishment of a UE policy association and / or an AM policy association); while when the aforementioned relevant indication information is positive (e.g., yes / positive / allowed, etc.), it can be called the third indication information, which indicates that the UE allows the AMF to establish a policy association with the PCF (i.e., it allows the establishment of a UE policy association and / or an AM policy association).

[0070] AM policy is primarily responsible for handling user access requests, mobility management, and session management. This can include: access control (determining whether to allow a user's device to access the network and which network resources to allocate to the user), mobility management (when a user moves within the network, such as when a user switches from one base station to another, AM policy is responsible for updating the user's location information to ensure service continuity), and session management (managing the user's network connection sessions, including session establishment, modification, and termination).

[0071] After a subscription relationship for user subscription data is established between AMF and UDM, UDM can notify AMF of the specific changes and the updated user subscription data when changes occur in the user subscription data.

[0072] Specifically, when an application function network element (AF) (e.g., the operator management system) or a network data analysis function network element (NWDAF) (e.g., other network nodes) changes the target policy parameters in the user configuration data storage network element (UDR), the UDR can send a parameter change notification to the UDM (for example, the parameter change notification may include the target policy parameters before and after the change). These target policy parameters can be parameters that determine whether a policy association needs to be established between the AMF and PCF, such as network transmission rate, data transmission latency, and access restriction areas.

[0073] After receiving the above parameter change notification, UDM can determine whether to trigger the modification of the instruction information in the user's subscription data based on the target policy parameters before and after the change.

[0074] Specifically, when the changed target policy parameters correspond to the second indication information (i.e., the target policy parameters indicate that the AMF and the policy control network element do not need to establish a policy association for the time being), and the current user subscription data contains the second indication information, then there is no need to modify the user subscription data. However, when the changed target policy parameters correspond to the second indication information (i.e., the target policy parameters indicate that the AMF and the policy control network element do not need to establish a policy association for the time being), and the current user subscription data contains the third indication information, then the third indication information can be changed to the second indication information.

[0075] Alternatively, if the changed target policy parameters correspond to third indication information (i.e., the target policy parameters indicate that a policy association needs to be established between the AMF and the policy control network element), and the current user subscription data contains the third indication information, then there is no need to modify the user subscription data. However, if the changed target policy parameters correspond to third indication information (i.e., the target policy parameters indicate that a policy association needs to be established between the AMF and the policy control network element), and the current user subscription data contains second indication information, then the second indication information can be changed to the third indication information.

[0076] If the UDM modifies the user subscription data, the UDM can send the modified user subscription data to the AMF. The AMF can then read the modified instruction information from the modified user subscription data and re-determine whether it is necessary to establish a policy association with the PCF based on the modified instruction information.

[0077] Therefore, this disclosure can monitor changes in user subscription data in real time and dynamically adjust policy association based on changes in user subscription data, thereby flexibly performing policy association processing to adapt to the network environment and user needs, and thus providing users with a better network service experience.

[0078] Referring to Figure 1, in step S130, in response to the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element containing third indication information, no policy association is established with the policy control network element.

[0079] In this step, if the user subscription data sent by UDM to AMF contains the aforementioned third instruction information, then in an optional implementation, if AMF and PCF have not yet established a policy association, AMF may not send a policy association establishment request to PCF, that is, it may not establish a policy association between the two.

[0080] In another alternative implementation, if the AMF and PCF have already established a policy association, the AMF can request the PCF to delete the established policy association to cancel the policy association between the AMF and PCF. Specifically, refer to Figure 2, which shows a flowchart illustrating how the AMF and PCF maintain policy independence in this embodiment of the present disclosure, including steps S201-S202:

[0081] In step S201, a policy association deletion request is sent to the policy control network element.

[0082] In this step, the AMF can send a policy association deletion request to the PCF to request the deletion of the policy associations established between the AMF and the PCF for the UE, that is, to delete the UE policy associations and / or AM policy associations.

[0083] In step S202, upon receiving a successful deletion response from the policy control network element, it is determined that the policy association between the policy control network element and the user equipment is cancelled.

[0084] Upon receiving a successful deletion response from the policy control network element, it can be determined that the policy association established between AMF and PCF has been successfully deleted / cancelled, thus preventing the establishment of a policy association between AMF and PCF.

[0085] Based on the above technical solutions, this disclosure can change the technical problem that the previous indiscriminate configuration of policy associations for user equipment may lead to mismatch with the actual needs of user equipment and waste of network resources. When it is not necessary to establish policy associations, the policy association between AMF and PCF can be left unestablished, or the established policy association can be deleted, thereby saving network resources.

[0086] It should be noted that after step S120, if the user subscription data sent by the UDM contains third indication information (i.e., allowing the AMF and PCF to establish a policy association), then the AMF can establish a policy association with the policy control network element. Specifically, please refer to Figure 3, which shows a flowchart illustrating how the AMF establishes a policy association with the PCF in this embodiment of the present disclosure, including steps S301-S302:

[0087] In step S301, a policy association establishment request is sent to the policy control network element.

[0088] In this step, the AMF can send a policy association establishment request to the PCF. This policy association establishment request can be an association establishment request for UE policies and / or AM policies.

[0089] In step S302, upon receiving a successful establishment response from the policy control network element, it is determined that a policy association for the user equipment is established between the policy control network element and the policy association.

[0090] In this step, if the AMF receives a response from the PDF indicating that the policy association has been successfully established, the AMF can determine that a policy association for the UE has been successfully established with the PCF.

[0091] Based on the above technical solutions, this disclosure can flexibly determine whether the AMF needs to establish a policy association with the PCF, thereby avoiding the problem of wasted network resources caused by the indiscriminate establishment of policy associations in related technologies.

[0092] Referring to Figure 4, Figure 4 shows a schematic flowchart of a strategy association processing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, including steps S401-S407:

[0093] In step S401, a subscription relationship for user subscription data is established between AMF and UDM;

[0094] In step S402, UDM changes "Do not establish subscription relationship" to "Establish subscription relationship";

[0095] In step S403, when the user subscription data sent by the UDM contains third indication information, the AMF establishes an AM policy and / or UE policy association with the PCF;

[0096] In step S404, it is determined whether the target strategy parameters have changed;

[0097] If not (parameters have not changed), proceed to step S405 to maintain the policy association;

[0098] If (the parameters have changed), proceed to step S406 to determine whether UDM has modified the third instruction information in the user's contract data to the second instruction information;

[0099] If no changes are made, proceed to step S405;

[0100] If modifications are made, proceed to step S407, where the AMF initiates the deletion of AM policy associations and / or UE policy associations.

[0101] Referring to Figure 5, Figure 5 shows an overall flowchart of another strategy association processing method in this embodiment of the present disclosure, including steps S501-S508:

[0102] In step S501, the UE sends capability information to the AMF, which includes feedback information on whether the user equipment supports the access control network element issuing user equipment policies to it.

[0103] In step S502, the AMF sends a request to the UDM to establish a subscription for the user's contracted data;

[0104] In step S503, UDM returns a response approving the subscription request;

[0105] In step S504, when the user subscription data sent by the UDM contains the second indication information, the AMF establishes an association between the AM policy and / or the UE policy with the PCF;

[0106] In step S505, the application function or other network nodes trigger the modification of the target policy parameters in the UDR;

[0107] In step S506, the UDR sends a parameter modification notification to the UDM, which can change the third indication information in the user's subscription data to the second indication information.

[0108] In step S507, UDM sends the modified contract data to AMF;

[0109] In step S508, the AMF initiates a process to the PCF to delete the association between the AM policy and / or the UE policy.

[0110] Based on the above technical solutions, this disclosure has at least the following technical effects:

[0111] First, it can flexibly perform policy association processing: by determining whether to establish a policy association with PCF based on the user equipment's capability information and the indication information in the user's subscription data, it provides greater flexibility and configurability, allowing the network to dynamically adjust the policy association status according to the user's actual needs and the equipment's support.

[0112] Second, it can optimize user experience: by determining whether to establish a policy association based on the indication information in the user's contract data, it can ensure that the user receives a service experience consistent with expectations, thereby facilitating more granular policy control over the user.

[0113] Third, it can optimize network performance: when user equipment can handle relevant policy issues independently, the AMF in this disclosure does not need to establish a policy association with the PCF, thereby avoiding unnecessary network interactions, reducing network load, and saving network resources.

[0114] Therefore, this disclosure can be applied to the following scenarios:

[0115] Third-party service applications trigger changes to Access Management (AM) policies. This disclosure allows for different AM policies for different services, times, and locations, improving user experience. For example, after logging into an online interactive video service provided by a scenic spot, the user's AM policy will be updated to improve the visitor experience. Another example: a service provider plans to hold an online game competition on a future day and needs to boost and guarantee the speed of participating users during a specific time period. When the service (game competition) ends or the validity period of the service request expires, unnecessary policy associations can be deleted to save network resource overhead.

[0116] This disclosure also provides an access control network element. Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram of the structure of the access control network element in an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure. As shown in Figure 6, the access control network element 600 may include an information receiving module 610, a subscription relationship establishment module 620, and a policy association processing module 630. Wherein:

[0117] Information receiving module 610 is used to receive capability information of user equipment;

[0118] The subscription relationship establishment module 620 is used to establish a subscription relationship for user-subscribed data with the user-subscribed data storage network element in response to the first indication information included in the capability information; the first indication information indicates that the user equipment supports the access control network element in issuing user equipment policies to it.

[0119] The policy association processing module 630 is configured to respond to the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element containing second indication information, and not to establish a policy association with the policy control network element; wherein, the second indication information indicates that the access control network element is prohibited from establishing a policy association with the policy control network element.

[0120] In an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure, the subscription relationship establishment module 620 establishes a subscription relationship for user-subscribed data with the user-subscribed data storage network element, including:

[0121] Send a subscription request for the user's subscribed data to the user's subscribed data storage network element;

[0122] In response to the user-subscribed data storage network element's reply message approving the subscription request, a subscription relationship for the user-subscribed data is established with the user-subscribed data storage network element.

[0123] In an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure, the policy association processing module 630, in response to the second indication information contained in the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element, does not establish a policy association with the policy control network element, including:

[0124] In response to the second indication information being included in the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element, a policy association deletion request is sent to the policy control network element; the policy association deletion request is used to request the deletion of the policy associations already established with the policy control network element for the user equipment;

[0125] Upon receiving a successful deletion response from the policy control network element, it is determined to cancel the policy association between the policy control network element and the user equipment.

[0126] In an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure, the policy association processing module 630 is configured to:

[0127] In response to the third indication information contained in the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element, a policy association is established with the policy control network element;

[0128] The third indication information indicates that the access control network element and the policy control network element are allowed to establish a policy association.

[0129] In an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure, the policy association processing module 630, in response to the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element containing third indication information, establishes a policy association with the policy control network element, including:

[0130] In response to the fact that the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element contains third indication information, a policy association establishment request is sent to the policy control network element;

[0131] Upon receiving a successful establishment response from the policy control network element, it is determined to establish a policy association between the policy control network element and the user equipment.

[0132] In an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure, the policy association processing module 630 is further configured to:

[0133] When the target policy parameters in the user configuration data storage network element change, the user configuration data storage network element sends a parameter change notification to the user subscription data storage network element so that the user subscription data storage network element can determine whether to change the second indication information or the third indication information in the user subscription data.

[0134] Receive the modified user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element;

[0135] The target policy parameter determines whether a policy association needs to be established between the access control network element and the policy control network element.

[0136] In an exemplary embodiment of this disclosure, the strategy includes at least one of the following:

[0137] The user equipment policy;

[0138] Access and mobility management policies. The specific details of each module in the aforementioned access control network element have been described in detail in the corresponding policy association processing methods, and therefore will not be repeated here.

[0139] It should be noted that although several modules or units for the device used to perform actions have been mentioned in the detailed description above, this division is not mandatory. In fact, according to embodiments of this disclosure, the features and functions of two or more modules or units described above can be embodied in one module or unit. Conversely, the features and functions of one module or unit described above can be further divided and embodied by multiple modules or units.

[0140] Furthermore, although the steps of the method in this disclosure are described in a specific order in the accompanying drawings, this does not require or imply that the steps must be performed in that specific order, or that all the steps shown must be performed to achieve the desired result. Additional or alternative steps may be omitted, multiple steps may be combined into one step, and / or a step may be broken down into multiple steps.

[0141] From the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily understand that the exemplary embodiments described herein can be implemented by software or by combining software with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solutions according to the embodiments of this disclosure can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (such as a CD-ROM, USB flash drive, external hard drive, etc.) or on a network, including several instructions to cause a computing device (such as a personal computer, server, mobile terminal, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods according to the embodiments of this disclosure.

[0142] This application also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which may be included in the electronic device described in the above embodiments; or it may exist independently and not assembled into the electronic device.

[0143] Computer-readable storage media can be, for example—but not limited to—electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor systems, apparatuses, or devices, or any combination thereof. More specific examples of computer-readable storage media may include, but are not limited to: electrical connections having one or more wires, portable computer disks, hard disks, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, or any suitable combination thereof. In this disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium can be any tangible medium that contains or stores a program that can be used by or in conjunction with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0144] A computer-readable storage medium can be sent, propagated, or transmitted for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The program code contained on the computer-readable storage medium can be transmitted using any suitable medium, including but not limited to: wireless, wireline, optical fiber, RF, etc., or any suitable combination thereof.

[0145] A computer-readable storage medium carries one or more programs that, when executed by an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the methods described in the above embodiments.

[0146] Furthermore, this disclosure also provides an electronic device capable of implementing the above-described method.

[0147] Those skilled in the art will understand that various aspects of this disclosure can be implemented as a system, method, or program product. Therefore, various aspects of this disclosure can be specifically implemented in the following forms: a completely hardware implementation, a completely software implementation (including firmware, microcode, etc.), or a combination of hardware and software aspects, collectively referred to herein as a "circuit," "module," or "system."

[0148] The electronic device 700 according to this embodiment of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to FIG7. The electronic device 700 shown in FIG7 is merely an example and should not be construed as limiting the functionality and scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0149] As shown in Figure 7, the electronic device 700 is presented in the form of a general-purpose computing device. The components of the electronic device 700 may include, but are not limited to: at least one processing unit 710, at least one storage unit 720, a bus 730 connecting different system components (including storage unit 720 and processing unit 710), and a display unit 740.

[0150] The storage unit stores program code that can be executed by the processing unit 710, causing the processing unit 710 to perform the steps described in the "Exemplary Methods" section of this specification according to various exemplary embodiments of this disclosure. For example, the processing unit 710 may perform the following steps as shown in FIG1: Step S110, receiving capability information of a user equipment; Step S120, in response to the capability information containing first indication information, establishing a subscription relationship for user subscription data with a user subscription data storage network element; the first indication information indicates that the user equipment supports the access control network element issuing user equipment policies to it; Step S130, in response to the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element containing second indication information, not establishing a policy association with the policy control network element; wherein, the second indication information indicates that the access control network element is prohibited from establishing a policy association with the policy control network element.

[0151] Storage unit 720 may include a readable medium in the form of a volatile storage unit, such as random access memory (RAM) 7201 and / or cache memory 7202, and may further include a read-only memory (ROM) 7203.

[0152] The storage unit 720 may also include a program / utility 7204 having a set (at least one) program module 7205, such program module 7205 including but not limited to: an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules and program data, each or some combination of these examples may include an implementation of a network environment.

[0153] Bus 730 can represent one or more of several types of bus structures, including a memory cell bus or memory cell controller, a peripheral bus, a graphics acceleration port, a processing unit, or a local bus using any of the various bus structures.

[0154] Electronic device 700 can also communicate with one or more external devices 800 (e.g., keyboard, pointing device, Bluetooth device, etc.), and with one or more devices that enable a user to interact with electronic device 700, and / or with any device that enables electronic device 700 to communicate with one or more other computing devices (e.g., router, modem, etc.). This communication can be performed via input / output (I / O) interface 750. Furthermore, electronic device 700 can also communicate with one or more networks (e.g., local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), and / or public networks, such as the Internet) via network adapter 760. As shown, network adapter 760 communicates with other modules of electronic device 700 via bus 730. It should be understood that, although not shown in the figures, other hardware and / or software modules can be used in conjunction with electronic device 700, including but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data backup storage systems.

[0155] Other embodiments of this disclosure will readily occur to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of this disclosure that follow the general principles of this disclosure and include common knowledge or customary techniques in the art not disclosed herein. The specification and embodiments are to be considered exemplary only, and the true scope and spirit of this disclosure are indicated by the claims.

Claims

1. A method for processing strategy association, wherein, Applied to access control network elements, the method includes: Receive user equipment capability information; In response to the first indication information included in the capability information, a subscription relationship for user-subscribed data is established with the user-subscribed data storage network element; the first indication information indicates that the user equipment supports the access control network element in issuing user equipment policies to it. In response to the second indication information included in the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element, a policy association is not established with the policy control network element; wherein, the second indication information indicates that the access control network element is prohibited from establishing a policy association with the policy control network element.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The establishment of a subscription relationship for user-subscribed data with the user-subscribed data storage network element includes: Send a subscription request for the user's subscribed data to the user's subscribed data storage network element; In response to the user-subscribed data storage network element's reply message approving the subscription request, a subscription relationship for the user-subscribed data is established with the user-subscribed data storage network element.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, The response to the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element includes second indication information, and no policy association is established with the policy control network element, including: In response to the second indication information being included in the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element, a policy association deletion request is sent to the policy control network element; the policy association deletion request is used to request the deletion of the policy associations already established with the policy control network element for the user equipment; Upon receiving a successful deletion response from the policy control network element, it is determined to cancel the policy association between the policy control network element and the user equipment.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The method further includes: In response to the third indication information contained in the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element, a policy association is established with the policy control network element; The third indication information indicates that the access control network element and the policy control network element are allowed to establish a policy association.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein, The response to the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element, which includes third indication information, establishes a policy association with the policy control network element, including: In response to the fact that the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element contains third indication information, a policy association establishment request is sent to the policy control network element; Upon receiving a successful establishment response from the policy control network element, it is determined to establish a policy association between the policy control network element and the user equipment.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein, The method further includes: When the target policy parameters in the user configuration data storage network element change, the user configuration data storage network element sends a parameter change notification to the user subscription data storage network element so that the user subscription data storage network element can determine whether to change the second indication information or the third indication information in the user subscription data. Receive the modified user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element; The target policy parameter determines whether a policy association needs to be established between the access control network element and the policy control network element.

7. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein, The strategy includes at least one of the following: The user equipment policy; Access and mobility management policies.

8. An access control network element, wherein, include: The information receiving module is used to receive capability information of user equipment; The subscription relationship establishment module is used to establish a subscription relationship for user-subscribed data with the user-subscribed data storage network element in response to the first indication information contained in the capability information. The first indication information indicates that the user equipment supports the access control network element in issuing user equipment policies to it; The policy association processing module is configured to respond to the user subscription data sent by the user subscription data storage network element containing second indication information, and not establish a policy association with the policy control network element; wherein, the second indication information indicates that the access control network element is prohibited from establishing a policy association with the policy control network element.

9. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, wherein, When the computer program is executed by the processor, it implements the policy association processing method as described in any one of claims 1 to 7.

10. An electronic device, wherein, include: processor; as well as Memory for storing the executable instructions of the processor; The processor is configured to execute the policy association processing method according to any one of claims 1 to 7 by executing the executable instructions.

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