Network element discovery method and apparatus, service request method and apparatus, device, storage medium, and product

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a network element discovery method and apparatus, a service request method and apparatus, a device, a storage medium, and a product. In the present disclosure, by means of communication interaction between a first network function (NF) of a first network and a second NF of a second network, the first NF forwards, to the second NF in the second network, first information of a target NF of another network (i.e., the second network) that needs to be accessed in the local network. Therefore, the second NF can perform internal network element discovery in the second network in which the second NF is located, and send a first feedback message to the first NF. Thus, the first NF can know candidate NFs in the second network that can satisfy the first information. Thus, according to the technical solution provided by the present disclosure, secure cross-network NF discovery and access can be achieved while ensuring that sensitive information of a peer network is not exposed to the outside, which is simple and efficient.

Description

Network element discovery and service request method, device, equipment, storage medium and product TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of communication, and particularly relates to a network element discovery and service request method, device, equipment, storage medium and product. BACKGROUND

[0002] With the development of communication technology, multiple subnets will be involved in the future network, and cross-network access will be involved between multiple subnets. For example, in the scene of multiple small cloud units (SCUs), the situation that a user accessing a network function (NF) of another SCU will be involved. The basis of cross-network access is cross-network network element discovery, and how to achieve cross-network network element discovery without exposing sensitive information in the subnet is a technical problem to be solved in the field at present. SUMMARY

[0003] The present disclosure provides a network element discovery and service request method, device, equipment, storage medium and product, which can realize safe cross-network NF discovery and access while ensuring that sensitive information of the opposite network is not exposed to the outside, and is simple and efficient.

[0004] In a first aspect, the present disclosure provides a network element discovery method, applied to a first network function (NF) of a first network, and the method comprises:

[0005] sending a first request message to a second NF of a second network, the first request message being used to request to discover an NF satisfying the first information in the second network;

[0006] receiving a first feedback message from the second NF, the first feedback message carrying second information of a first candidate NF.

[0007] In a second aspect, the present disclosure provides a network element discovery method, applied to a second NF of a second network, and the method comprises:

[0008] receiving a first request message from a first NF, the first request message being used to request to discover an NF satisfying first information in the second network;

[0009] performing network element discovery in the second network based on the first information to obtain a first candidate NF;

[0010] sending a first feedback message to the first NF, the first feedback message carrying second information of the first candidate NF.

[0011] In a third aspect, the present disclosure provides a service request method applied to a first NF of a first network, the method comprising:

[0012] sending a fourth request message to a second NF of a second network;

[0013] wherein the fourth request message carries at least one of sixth information, first information of a target NF, and seventh information; wherein the sixth information is used to indicate the load of a consuming NF; and the seventh information is used to indicate the determination manner of the target NF;

[0014] the fourth request message is used to request access to the service of the target NF in the second network that meets the first information, wherein the target NF is determined based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information;

[0015] the second NF is further used to proxy the consuming NF to request the service from the target NF.

[0016] In a fourth aspect, the present disclosure provides a service request method applied to a second NF of a second network, the method comprising:

[0017] receiving a fourth request message from a first NF, the first NF belonging to a first network; the fourth request message carries at least one of sixth information, first information of a target NF, and seventh information; wherein the sixth information is used to indicate the load of a consuming NF; and the seventh information is used to indicate the determination manner of the target NF;

[0018] determining the target NF in the second network; the target NF meets the first information and is determined based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information;

[0019] sending a fifth request message to the target NF, the fifth request message being used for the second NF to proxy the consuming NF to request the service from the target NF.

[0020] In a fifth aspect, the present disclosure provides a service request method applied to a fourth NF of a first network, the fourth NF being an NRF; the method comprising:

[0021] receiving a sixth request message from a consuming NF, the sixth request message carrying a network element identifier of a fifth NF and first information;

[0022] sending an eighth request message to the fifth NF, the eighth request message carrying the first information; the fifth NF being an NRF in the second network;

[0023] receive an eighth feedback message from the fifth NF, the eighth feedback message carrying eighth information and ninth information of a second NF of the second network, the eighth information being used to indicate a proxy access support situation of the second network, and the ninth information being used to indicate the second NF;

[0024] send a sixth feedback message to the consumer NF, the sixth feedback message carrying the eighth information and the ninth information.

[0025] In a sixth aspect, the present disclosure provides a service request method, applied to a fifth NF of a second network, the fifth NF being an NRF; the method comprising:

[0026] receive an eighth request message from a fourth NF, the eighth request message carrying first information; the fourth NF being an NRF in the first network;

[0027] send an eighth feedback message to the fourth NF, the eighth feedback message carrying eighth information and ninth information of a second NF of the second network, the eighth information being used to indicate a proxy access support situation of the second network, and the ninth information being used to indicate the second NF.

[0028] In a seventh aspect, the present disclosure provides a network element discovery apparatus, comprising:

[0029] a sending unit, configured to send a first request message to a second NF of a second network, the first request message being used to request to discover an NF satisfying the first information in the second network;

[0030] a receiving unit, configured to receive a first feedback message from the second NF, the first feedback message carrying second information of a first candidate NF.

[0031] In an eighth aspect, the present disclosure provides a network element discovery apparatus, comprising:

[0032] a receiving unit, configured to receive a first request message from a first NF, the first request message being used to request to discover an NF satisfying first information in the second network;

[0033] a discovering unit, configured to perform network element discovery in the second network based on the first information, to obtain a first candidate NF;

[0034] a sending unit, configured to send a first feedback message to the first NF, the first feedback message carrying second information of the first candidate NF.

[0035] In a ninth aspect, the present disclosure provides a service request apparatus, comprising:

[0036] a sending unit, configured to send a fourth request message to a second NF of a second network;

[0037] The fourth request message carries at least one of sixth information, first information of a target NF, and seventh information, wherein the sixth information is used to indicate the load of the consuming NF, and the seventh information is used to indicate the determination manner of the target NF.

[0038] The fourth request message is used to request access to the service of the target NF in the second network that meets the first information, and the target NF is determined based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information.

[0039] The second NF is further configured to proxy the consuming NF to request the service from the target NF.

[0040] In a tenth aspect, the present disclosure provides a service request device, comprising:

[0041] a receiving unit, configured to receive a fourth request message from a first NF, wherein the first NF belongs to a first network, and the fourth request message carries at least one of sixth information, first information of a target NF, and seventh information, wherein the sixth information is used to indicate the load of a consuming NF, and the seventh information is used to indicate the determination manner of the target NF;

[0042] a determining unit, configured to determine the target NF in the second network, wherein the target NF meets the first information and is determined based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information.

[0043] a sending unit, configured to send a fifth request message to the target NF, wherein the fifth request message is used to proxy the consuming NF to request the service from the target NF.

[0044] In an eleventh aspect, the present disclosure provides a service request device, comprising:

[0045] a receiving unit, configured to receive a sixth request message from a consuming NF, wherein the sixth request message carries the first information and the network element identifier of a fifth NF.

[0046] a sending unit, configured to send an eighth request message to the fifth NF, wherein the eighth request message carries the first information, and the fifth NF is a NRF in the second network.

[0047] The receiving unit is further configured to receive an eighth feedback message from the fifth NF, wherein the eighth feedback message carries eighth information and ninth information of a second NF in the second network, the eighth information is used to indicate the support situation of the proxy access of the second network, and the ninth information is used to indicate the second NF.

[0048] The sending unit is further configured to send a sixth feedback message to the consumer NF, wherein the sixth feedback message carries the eighth information and the ninth information.

[0049] In a twelfth aspect, the present disclosure provides a service request apparatus, comprising:

[0050] a receiving unit configured to receive an eighth request message from a fourth NF, wherein the eighth request message carries first information, and the fourth NF is an NRF in the first network;

[0051] a sending unit configured to send an eighth feedback message to the fourth NF, wherein the eighth feedback message carries eighth information and ninth information of a second NF in a second network, the eighth information is used to indicate a proxy access support condition of the second network, and the ninth information is used to indicate the second NF.

[0052] In a thirteenth aspect, the present disclosure provides an electronic device, comprising a memory configured to store computer readable instructions, and a processor configured to execute the computer readable instructions, so that the electronic device performs the method according to any one of the first aspect to the sixth aspect.

[0053] In a fourteenth aspect, the present disclosure provides a non-transitory computer readable storage medium configured to store computer readable instructions, when the computer readable instructions are executed by a processor, the processor performs the method according to any one of the first aspect to the sixth aspect.

[0054] In a fifteenth aspect, the present disclosure provides a computer program product, comprising a computer program, when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method according to any one of the first aspect to the sixth aspect is implemented.

[0055] The present disclosure provides a network element discovery and service request method, device, equipment, storage medium and product. In the network element discovery scheme, the first information of the target NF of the other network (i.e. the second network) required to be accessed in the network is forwarded to the second NF in the second network by the communication interaction between the first NF of the first network and the second NF of the second network, so that the second NF can perform network element discovery in the second network where the second NF is located, and send a first feedback message to the first NF. In this way, the first NF can know the candidate NF in the second network that can meet the first information. Further, the first NF can determine the target NF accordingly, and feed back the related information (i.e. the third information) of the target NF to the consumer NF of the network, to realize the feedback of cross-network NF discovery. In the process, the first NF does not participate in the network element discovery process in the second network, and the first NF neither needs to obtain nor can obtain the internal situation of the second network, i.e. the sensitive information of the second network, including but not limited to: the network architecture, load, capacity, number of NFs, deployment information of NFs, location of NFs, function of NFs, etc. of the second network, which are invisible to the first NF. In other words, for any network, whether it is network element discovery or cross-network element discovery, the network element discovery process is independent of other networks, and even cross-network element discovery does not cause the sensitive information of the network to be exposed to the outside, ensuring the privacy security of cross-network NF discovery. Moreover, the technical solution provided by the present disclosure can realize safe and efficient cross-network NF discovery with the help of the network element discovery capability of the NF, breaking through the defect of the blank of the cross-network element discovery scheme in the prior art. In summary, the technical solution provided by the present disclosure can realize safe cross-network NF discovery and access while ensuring that the sensitive information of the opposite network is not exposed to the outside, which is simple and efficient.

[0056] It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description are exemplary, and are intended to provide further explanation of the subject technology. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0057] The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

[0058] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of the architecture of a network element discovery system according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0059] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a network element discovery method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0060] FIG. 3 is an interaction flow diagram of a network element discovery method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0061] FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of a cross-SCU access NF method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0062] FIG. 5 is an interaction flow diagram of a possible cross-SCU access NF method in the scenario shown in FIG. 4;

[0063] FIG. 6 is an interaction flow diagram of another possible cross-SCU access NF method in the scenario shown in FIG. 4;

[0064] FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of another cross-SCU access NF method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0065] FIG. 8 is a structural block diagram of a network element discovery apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0066] FIG. 9 is a structural block diagram of another network element discovery apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0067] FIG. 10 is an interaction flow diagram of a service request method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0068] FIG. 11 is an interaction flow diagram of another service request method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0069] FIG. 12 is an interaction flow diagram of another service request method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0070] FIG. 13 is a structural block diagram of a service request apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0071] FIG. 14 is a structural block diagram of another service request apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0072] FIG. 15 is a structural block diagram of another service request apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0073] FIG. 16 is a structural block diagram of another service request apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0074] FIG. 17 is a hardware block diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0075] FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of a computer-readable storage medium according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0076] In order to make the objectives, technical solutions and advantages of the present disclosure more obvious, the following will describe the example embodiments according to the present disclosure in detail with reference to the drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than all the embodiments of the present disclosure, and it should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the example embodiments described herein.

[0077] The present disclosure is applied to the cross-network NF discovery (may also be referred to as: cross-network NF discovery) scenario, and further, can also be applied to the cross-network NF access scenario. For example, as described in the background, in the multi-SCU scenario, there can be a case that the NF of a certain SCU accesses the NF of another SCU; for another example, in the multi-public land mobile network (PLMN) scenario, the NF in the home public land mobile network (HPLMN) can need to access the NF in the visited public land mobile network (VPLMN).

[0078] It should be noted that the application scenarios involved in the present disclosure do not have special restrictions on the network types of the multiple networks in the cross-network scenario. On the one hand, the network types of the at least two networks in the cross-network network element discovery can be the same or different. For example, the cross-network NF discovery can be performed between the same type of networks (SCU networks or PLMN networks) as in the foregoing examples. In addition, the present disclosure is also applicable to the cross-network NF discovery between different types of networks, for example, in the scenario that a certain SCU network accesses a VPLMN network, cross-network NF discovery can be implemented. On the other hand, the network types involved in the cross-network network element discovery scheme also do not have special restrictions, as long as the network has a communication-capable "first NF" (described in detail below), the present scheme can be applied to implement cross-network network element discovery. For example, the network types involved in the present disclosure can include but are not limited to at least one of the following: a PLMN network, an SCU network, an industry private network, a main network, and the like, without being exhaustive.

[0079] It should be noted that the NF discovery technology in the related art is mainly applicable to the discovery and search of intra-network NFs. For example, in the prior art, the intra-network NF discovery (i.e., Mode C) can be implemented through a network repository function (NRF). For another example, in the prior art, the intra-network NF discovery (i.e., Mode D) can also be implemented through a service communications proxy (SCP), without being exhaustive.

[0080] However, the prior art does not involve the related technology of cross-network NF discovery. Moreover, in the cross-network NF discovery scenario, the network sensitive information of the addressed network (or the opposite network, the discovered network, the visited network, etc., namely the second network in the following of the disclosure) needs to be prevented from being exposed. For example, the content of the sensitive information of any network can be customized, which can include but is not limited to at least one of the following: NF information (used to describe the specific situation of the NF, for example, can include but is not limited to at least one of the following: deployment information, location information, function information, NF instance, etc., not exhaustive), network information (used to describe the specific situation of the network, for example, network load, capacity, network architecture, etc., not exhaustive). The prior art still has certain technical gaps in this scenario.

[0081] To solve this problem, the disclosure provides a new technical concept: using the intra-network network element discovery function, through the request and feedback between the inter-network NFs, the cross-network NF discovery and access are realized without exposing the sensitive information of the opposite network. The following is a specific description.

[0082] On the one hand, the disclosure provides a network element discovery method. The network element discovery method is applied to the case where the first network needs to access the NF of other networks (for example, one or more second networks). In this case, the first network can send a request to the second network to make the second network feedback the candidate NFs that meet the needs of the first network, so that the first network determines the target NF based on its own needs, and then the first network can actively initiate access to the target NF (i.e., Target NF).

[0083] Please refer to FIG. 1, which is an architecture schematic diagram of a network element discovery system provided by an embodiment of the disclosure. The network element discovery system is composed of at least two networks, and FIG. 1 shows a first network 110 and a second network 120. In actual implementation scenarios, the number of second networks 120 can be at least one, that is, the first network 110 can perform NF discovery and access in a certain determined second network 120, or the first network 110 can perform NF discovery and access in multiple second networks 120, which will be described in detail below.

[0084] In the disclosure, in any network, for example, the first network 110 or the second network 120, there can be multiple NFs. As described above, the disclosure does not have special restrictions on the network type of these networks, and in addition, the disclosure does not have special restrictions on the specific information of these networks (for example, the NF information and the network information mentioned above), which can be designed or adjusted in actual scenarios.

[0085] For example, for ease of illustration, FIG. 1 shows 2 NFs in the first network 110: the first NF 111 and the consuming NF 112; and shows 4 NFs in the second network 120: the second NF 121 and the NFs 122-124. It should be understood that the first network 110 and the second network 120 can have more or less NFs, which are not described herein. In the scenario as shown in FIG. 1, the consuming NF 112 can be any one of the NFs in the first network 110, or even the first NF 111 in some possible implementation scenarios.

[0086] It is worth noting that in the present disclosure, there can be a "first NF" in any one of the networks, which has at least the capability of communicating with the NFs in the external network. For example, in the scenario as shown in FIG. 1, the first NF 111 in the first network 110 has the capability of communicating with the second NF 121 of the second network 120; conversely, in other implementation scenarios, for example, in the scenario where the second network accesses the NFs in the first network, the second NF 121 in the second network 120 can also serve as the "first NF" of the second network 120, and has the capability of communicating with the first NF 111 of the first network 110. It should be understood that when the access scenario is different, the positioning of the access network and the accessed network will change. Hereinafter, for ease of illustration, the first network 110 is taken as the access network and the second network 120 is taken as the accessed network, and specific descriptions are made.

[0087] Further, in some preferred embodiments, the first NF can also have the capability of performing NF discovery within the network in which the first NF is located. For example, in addition to being used to implement the cross-network NF discovery provided in the present disclosure, the first NF can also be capable of implementing intra-network NF discovery in the first network to which the first NF belongs.

[0088] Similarly, the second NF in the second network has at least the capability of communicating with the NFs in the external network. Further, in preferred embodiments, the second NF can also have the capability of intra-network NF discovery. In this way, in the scenario where the consuming NF in the first network accesses the second network, the first NF can request the second NF to perform intra-network NF discovery, so that the second NF can perform the intra-network NF discovery by itself and quickly feed back. In addition, in other possible embodiments, the second NF can also not have the capability of intra-network NF discovery. In such embodiments, upon receiving the request from the first NF, the second NF can forward the request to a NF having the addressing capability (denoted as an addressing NF), and then forward the feedback data of the addressing NF to the first NF.

[0089] In other words, in the present disclosure, there is at least one addressing NF in the visited network. Further, considering the need for cross-network access between multiple networks, at least one addressing NF can be set in any network. Furthermore, in order to improve the efficiency and accuracy of cross-network network element discovery, in the scenario of cross-network NF discovery or access, the first NF and the second NF can both be addressing NFs in the respective networks.

[0090] The network element discovery method provided by the present disclosure will be described below in combination with FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a network element discovery method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method is applied to a first NF of a first network. As shown in FIG. 2, the method comprises the following steps:

[0091] S202, sending a first request message to a second NF of a second network, the first request message being used to request to discover an NF satisfying first information in the second network.

[0092] Specifically, the first request message carries the first information, wherein the first information is specifically used to describe the characteristics required by a target NF that the consumer NF wants to access, so as to request to discover the target NF satisfying the first information in the second network. In an exemplary embodiment, the first information can include but is not limited to at least one of the following: a slice, a data network name (DNN), a service capability that the NF needs to support (for example, a service capability that the target NF needs to support), and a location. The location can be represented by but is not limited to at least one of a tracking area identity (TAI), a latitude and longitude, and a cell identifier. In addition, in different embodiments, the first information can also include more or less information, for example, it can also include a target network or network range that the consumer NF wants to access.

[0093] In actual implementation scenarios, the first information can come from the consumer NF. This will be described in detail later.

[0094] In addition, as described above, the first NF is any NF in the first network that has external communication capability, and in further possible embodiments, the first NF can be an NF in the first network that has addressing capability (i.e., an addressing NF), for example, the first NF can include but is not limited to an NRF and an SCP.

[0095] For any second network, the second NF at least has the capability of communicating with the NF of the external network. Further, in a preferred embodiment, the second NF can also have the capability of discovering the NF within the network. For example, the second NF can include but is not limited to an NRF and an SCP.

[0096] In actual implementation scenarios, the second NF can be preset in advance. In an exemplary embodiment, the second NF is of the same NF type as the first NF. In other words, a certain fixed function NF in each network can be used as the first NF (as a visitor) or the second NF (as a visited) in the present disclosure to implement the addressing scheme provided by the present disclosure. In a preferred embodiment, an addressing NF (such as an NRF or an SCP) in an existing network can be set as the first NF or the second NF to implement the present scheme. For example, when the first NF is an NRF of a first network, the second NF can be an NRF in a second network. For another example, when the first NF is an SCP of a first network, the second NF can be an SCP in a second network.

[0097] S204, receiving a first feedback message from the second NF, the first feedback message carrying second information of the first candidate NF.

[0098] The second information is used to describe the first candidate NF, and can also be referred to as NF information. Specifically, the second information of the first candidate NF at least includes an NF identifier. For example, the second NF can carry a first candidate NF list (list) in the first feedback message, or can carry a specific NF identifier. In this way, after the first NF receives the first feedback message, the target NF can be determined accordingly, and feedback to the consuming NF and subsequent access can be implemented based on the NF identifier.

[0099] Further, the second information can include but is not limited to at least one of the following: performance information, location information. The performance information is used to indicate the performance of the first candidate NF, and an exemplary embodiment can include at least one of the following: transmission delay, load, transmission rate. The location information can be specifically used to determine the distance between the first NF (or the consuming NF) and the first candidate NF. The performance and / or distance can further serve as a basis for the first NF to determine the target NF.

[0100] In summary, for the first NF, the first NF does not participate in the intra-network element discovery process of the second network, and the first NF neither needs to obtain nor can obtain the internal situation of the second network, i.e., the sensitive information of the second network is invisible to the first NF. In other words, for any network, whether it is intra-network element discovery or cross-network element discovery, the element discovery process is independent of other networks, and even cross-network element discovery does not cause the sensitive information of the network to be exposed to the outside, which is more secure and reliable.

[0101] In actual implementation scenarios, the element discovery method shown in FIG. 2 is generally implemented based on the request of the consuming NF. In other words, the element discovery method provided by the present disclosure further includes the following steps:

[0102] The first NF receives a second request message from the consumer NF, the second request message carrying the first information of the target NF. This step is performed before S202.

[0103] The first NF sends a second feedback message to the consumer NF, the second feedback message carrying third information of the target NF; wherein the target NF is determined based on the second information. This step is performed after S204.

[0104] For example, referring to FIG. 3, which is an interaction flow diagram of a network element discovery method provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. For ease of understanding, FIG. 3 uses the numbering rules of FIG. 2 and supplements the network element discovery method performed by the opposite side (i.e., the second NF) with S2032-S2036. As shown in FIG. 3, the method includes:

[0105] S201, the first NF receives a second request message from the consumer NF.

[0106] In the present disclosure, the consumer NF and the first NF both belong to the first network, and the consumer NF can be any NF in the first network. The consumer NF can be referred to as a consumer NF, an NF consumer, an NF service consumer, etc., and the present disclosure does not have special restrictions on the consumer NF. In the present disclosure, the second request message is used to request the first NF to perform NF discovery in at least an external network, i.e., to find a target NF that meets the first information in at least an external network, and then to meet the demand of the consumer NF to access the target NF. In this way, when the consumer NF needs to access the NF of the external network, the second request message can be sent to the first NF to start the execution of the present solution.

[0107] In this embodiment, the second request message is different from a message (denoted as an Nth request message) used to request network internal NF discovery, wherein the Nth request message is used to request the first NF to perform NF discovery in the internal network, i.e., to request the first NF to perform addressing in the first network. For example, the second request message and the Nth request message can both carry the first information, but their specified identifiers are different, which are used to indicate the network range of addressing; the specified identifier can be designed by the user, for example, it can be a network identifier (such as carrying a network ID in the request message to indicate the network range of addressing) or a preset identifier (for example, 0 represents internal network addressing and 1 represents external network addressing), and the implementation is various, which is not exhaustively listed.

[0108] In an example embodiment, if the consumer NF knows a specific external network that it wants to access, the second request message can further carry the network identifier of the second network. For example, when SCU a needs to access a certain NF in SCU b, the second request message received by the first NF in SCU a can include the following information: slice, DNN, service capability that the NF needs to support, location, and ID of SCU b. In addition, the second request message can carry one or more network identifiers of the second network. The present disclosure does not limit this. Conversely, if the consumer NF does not know which external network it wants to access, it can also not carry a specific network identifier and directly send the second request message (carrying the first information) to the first NF.

[0109] In addition, in another possible embodiment, the second request message can also be used to request the first NF to perform full-range NF discovery, that is, to search for a target NF that meets the first information in the entire range of the first network and the external network, and then to meet the needs of the consumer NF to access the target NF. In this embodiment, there is no need to distinguish between internal and external networks, that is, after receiving the second request message, the first NF performs NF discovery in the first network and also performs NF discovery in the second network (which can be indicated by the second request message or determined by the first NF) outside the network. The present disclosure does not particularly limit the processing timing when internal and external network addressing is performed simultaneously, which can be performed simultaneously or sequentially, and the order is self-defined.

[0110] In summary, the consumer NF can send the second request message to the first NF based on its own needs to start NF discovery in the first network and / or the second network.

[0111] S202, the first NF sends a first request message to a second NF of the second network.

[0112] Here, the first request message is used to request to discover an NF that meets the first information in the second network, which is the same as S202 in FIG. 2, and the repeated parts will not be described again.

[0113] In the present disclosure, the first request message can carry all or part of the information carried by the second request message. For example, if the second request message carries the network identifier of the second network, this information does not need to be carried in the first request message sent to the second NF (if it needs to be carried, it can also be carried), and the network identifier of the second network does not need to be carried when sending the first request message. In this way, in the specific implementation process, the first NF can directly forward the second request message (as the first request message) to the second NF; or the first NF can also construct the first request message based on the first information and send the first request message to the second NF.

[0114] Before implementing this step, the first NF needs to determine the second network based on the second request message. At this time, if the network identifier is carried in the second request message (or the network identifier is included in the first information), it corresponds to the case that the consuming NF knows which external network to access. At this time, the first NF can directly determine the network corresponding to the network identifier as the second network, and the preset NF (for example, the addressing NF) in the second network is determined as the second NF. Conversely, if the network identifier is not carried in the second request message (or the network identifier is not included in the first information), it corresponds to the case that the consuming NF does not know which external network to access. At this time, the first NF needs to determine the second network, and the preset NF (for example, the addressing NF) in the second network is determined as the second NF.

[0115] Specifically, in this case, a custom condition can be preset.

[0116] In an exemplary embodiment, the condition can be preset based on the location relationship between the first network and the second network. At this time, all external networks that satisfy the preset condition in the location relationship with the first network can be determined as the second network. In other words, the location relationship between the second network and the first network satisfies the preset condition. For example, a certain radius range (i.e. the preset condition, which can also be understood as the second network being near the first network) can be preset with the first network as the origin, and all networks within the radius range are determined as the second network. At this time, the location relationship between the second network and the first network satisfies the preset condition.

[0117] In another exemplary embodiment, the network type of the second network can also be set. At this time, each external network of the network type can be determined as the second network. For example, in the scenario that the SCU a accesses the external network NF, the first NF can determine all external networks of the SCU type as the second network, and send the first request message to the second NF of the external network of the SCU type.

[0118] In another exemplary embodiment, the network list (or set) of the second network can also be preset. In this way, when the first NF receives the second request message, it can directly send the first request message to the second NF of all networks (as the second network) in the network list.

[0119] In summary, in the actual implementation scenario of the present disclosure, the second network can or can not be specified. Without the specification of the second network, the first NF can determine the second network based on at least one of the location relationship (or distance), network type, network list, or other self-defined conditions. In the present disclosure, the second network can be one or more, and thus the first request message can be sent individually in a single time, and when multiple second networks are involved, the first request message can also be sent to the second NF group. For the second NF in the second network, as described above, it can be any NF in the second network that has external communication capability, or it can preferably be the addressing NF. The present disclosure does not have special restrictions on this.

[0120] S2032, the second NF receives the first request message from the first NF.

[0121] The first request message is used to request to find an NF satisfying the first information in the second network.

[0122] S2034, the second NF performs network element discovery in the second network based on the first information to obtain a first candidate NF.

[0123] In implementing this step, if the second NF is the addressing NF in the second network, that is, the second NF has the capability of addressing and searching in the network, at this time, the second NF can directly perform the addressing processing and directly obtain the first candidate NF. Alternatively, if the second NF does not have the addressing capability, the first information can be sent to the addressing NF of the second network based on the received first request message, so that the first candidate NF fed back by the addressing NF of the second network is received.

[0124] It should be understood that the first candidate NF is an NF satisfying the first information in the second network. For any second NF, the first candidate NF determined by the second NF can be one or more, or even in some possible scenarios, the first candidate NF can also be 0, for example, in the multi-network cross-network network element discovery scenario, there can be no NF satisfying the first information in some networks. For the first NF, the number of the first candidate NF determined by the first NF based on the received first feedback message is at least one.

[0125] In the actual implementation scenario, the first candidate NF can be an NF satisfying all the first information, or in some possible cases, for example, in the case of allowing fuzzy addressing, the first candidate NF can be an NF satisfying part of the first information, and the range and basis of such fuzzy addressing can be self-defined, and the present disclosure has no special restrictions.

[0126] S2036, the second NF sends a first feedback message to the first NF.

[0127] The first feedback message carries second information of the first candidate NF.

[0128] S204, the first NF receives the first feedback message from the second NF.

[0129] The first feedback message carries second information of the first candidate NF.

[0130] S206, the first NF sends a second feedback message to the consuming NF.

[0131] The second feedback message carries third information of the target NF; the target NF is determined based on the second information.

[0132] In the present disclosure, the third information at least includes an NF identifier. However, in actual implementation scenarios, the dimension of the third information can be different from the second information. For example, the first NF can determine the target NF based on the performance information such as transmission delay, load, transmission rate, and the like carried in the second information, but when the first NF sends the second feedback message to the consuming NF, the first NF can only carry the NF identifier of the target NF in the second feedback message, without carrying other irrelevant information such as performance information or location information carried in the second information (of course, the carrying is also possible, without special limitation).

[0133] As described above, for the first NF, the number of the first candidate NFs determined by the first NF based on the received first feedback messages is at least one. In the present disclosure, the number of the target NFs is generally one, and can also be a preset number.

[0134] Thus, for the first NF, if the first NF obtains only one (or exactly a preset number) of the first candidate NFs based on the received first feedback message(s), the first NF can directly determine the target NFs from the first candidate NFs, and send the third information of the target NF to the consuming NF.

[0135] Alternatively, for the first NF, if the first NF obtains a plurality of (or more than a preset number) of the first candidate NFs based on the received first feedback message(s), the first NF needs to further determine the target NF from the first candidate NFs, and at this time, the determination of the target NF can be implemented based on the second information.

[0136] At this time, in an exemplary embodiment, when the first NF obtains at least two of the first candidate NFs, before performing S206, the present scheme can further include the following steps:

[0137] S205, determining the target NF from the first candidate NFs based on the second information. (This step is not shown in FIG. 3)

[0138] For example, if the second information only contains the NF identifier of each first candidate NF, the first NF can blindly select (e.g., randomly select, select according to an order or other rules, etc.) among the first candidate NFs to determine the target NF, or the first NF can also determine the target NF in combination with the network-level information such as the network type of each second network.

[0139] Alternatively, in a more preferred implementation scenario, the first NF can determine the target NF based on the second information of each first candidate NF, with the principle of selecting a first candidate NF with better performance and / or closer distance. For example, if the second information contains the transmission delay (performance) of each first candidate NF, the first candidate NF with the smallest transmission delay can be determined as the target NF.

[0140] In summary, based on the multi-end interaction process as shown in FIG. 3, cross-network secure addressing between two different networks can be implemented.

[0141] Specifically, the disclosure is achieved through the communication interaction between the first NF and the second NF, the second NF on the requested side performs addressing within the network in which the second NF is located, the first feedback message carries the second information of the first candidate NF, and then the first NF determines the target NF and feeds back to the consuming NF. In this process, the first NF does not participate in the network element discovery process within the second network, and the first NF neither needs to obtain nor can obtain the internal situation of the second network, i.e., the sensitive information of the second network, including but not limited to: the network architecture, load, capacity, number of NFs, deployment information of NFs, location of NFs, function of NFs, etc. of the second network, which are invisible to the first NF. In other words, for any network, whether it is network element discovery within the network or cross-network element discovery, the network element discovery process is independent of other networks, and even cross-network element discovery does not cause the sensitive information of the network to be exposed to the outside, ensuring the privacy security of cross-network NF discovery. Moreover, the technical solution provided by the disclosure can achieve secure and efficient cross-network NF discovery with the help of the network element discovery capability of the NF, breaking through the defect of the blank of the cross-network element discovery scheme in the prior art. In summary, the technical solution provided by the disclosure can achieve secure cross-network NF discovery and access while ensuring that the sensitive information of the opposite network is not exposed to the outside, which is simple and efficient.

[0142] Based on the above scheme provided by the disclosure, cross-network NF discovery can be achieved. In actual implementation scenarios, NF discovery is generally further used for NF access. Therefore, in some embodiments of the disclosure, if the first NF has a service communication proxy capability, after the NF discovery is implemented, the first NF can further act as an access proxy for the consuming NF to the target NF.

[0143] Specifically, as described above, the first NF has the external communication capability, further has the addressing capability, and further has the service communication proxy capability. For example, the SCP as the service communication proxy network function can realize the external communication, has the NF lookup capability, and has the proxy capability of the external communication.

[0144] Based on this, in a possible embodiment of the present disclosure, when the first NF is the SCP, the method further includes forwarding the communication message between the consumer NF and the target NF. In other words, the discovery and access of the target NF can be realized by the SCP.

[0145] In addition, for the first NF without the external communication proxy capability, for example, the first NF is the NRF, after the network element discovery process shown in FIG. 2 or FIG. 3 is completed, the access of the target NF by the consumer NF can be realized by the NF with the external communication proxy capability, for example, the SCP.

[0146] For ease of understanding, the first network is SCU a, and the second network is SCU b. Taking an example that the consumer NF in the first network accesses the target NF in the second network, the possible embodiments of the cross-network NF discovery and access process provided by the present disclosure are described in combination with FIG. 4-FIG. 7.

[0147] Embodiment one, the first NF is the NRF a in the first network (SCU a), and the second NF is the NRF b in the second network (SCU b). Please refer to FIG. 4-FIG. 6.

[0148] FIG. 4 is a flowchart of the cross-SCU access NF provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, the cross-SCU access NF is the cross-network access process in mode C (mode C), which specifically includes: Consumer NF→NRF a→NRF b→NRF a→Consumer NF→SCP a→SCP b→Target NF.

[0149] When implemented, there can be at least two implementation manners shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6. The following will be described respectively.

[0150] Please refer to FIG. 5, which is a possible cross-SCU access NF interaction flowchart in the scenario shown in FIG. 4. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 5, the Consumer NF (or SCU a) already knows the NF in SCU b to be accessed.

[0151] As shown in FIG. 5, the NF network element discovery method can include the following steps:

[0152] ①: The Consumer NF sends a second request message to the NRF a (i.e. the first NF) to request the NRF a to provide the third information of the Target NF. Wherein, the first information and the network identifier (e.g. network ID) of the SCU b are carried in the second request message.

[0153] ②: The NRF a sends a first request message to the NRF b to request the NRF b to address in the SCU b and feedback the first candidate NF satisfying the first information.

[0154] ③: The NRF b determines the first candidate NF according to the first information and the related information of each NF in the SCU b, and sends a first feedback message to the NRF a, wherein the second information of the first candidate NF is carried. Wherein, the NF identifier of a certain first candidate NF can be carried in the first feedback message, or the first candidate NF list (which can include one or more first candidate NFs) can also be carried, and further, at least one of the performance information, the location information, etc. of each first candidate NF can be further carried.

[0155] ④: The NRF a receives the first feedback message, and determines the Target NF based on the second information of the first candidate NF carried therein, and sends a second feedback message to the Consumer NF to feedback the third information of the Target NF, for example, the NF identifier of the Target NF (which can be recorded as Target NF ID).

[0156] Based on the above steps ①-④, the NRF a as the first NF has completed the cross-network network element discovery process. Further, when the Consumer NF needs to access the Target NF, the NRF a does not have the external communication proxy function, at this time, the SCP can be used to realize the cross-network communication proxy, i.e. the subsequent steps ⑤-⑦.

[0157] ⑤-⑦: The Consumer NF establishes communication with the Target NF through the SCP a and the SCP b, and accesses the Target NF, so as to realize the cross-network NF access.

[0158] Please refer to FIG. 6, which is another possible cross-SCU access NF interaction flow diagram in the scenario shown in FIG. 4. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 6, the Consumer NF (or SCU a) does not know which SCU to access the NF.

[0159] As shown in FIG. 5, the NF network element discovery method can include the following steps:

[0160] ①: The Consumer NF sends a second request message to the NRF a (i.e. the first NF) to request the NRF a to provide the third information of the Target NF. The first information is carried in the second request message. At this time, the Consumer NF does not determine which SCU to access the NF, and there is no indication information about the target network in the second request message.

[0161] ②: The NRF a sends a first request message to the NRF (1-n) respectively to request the NRF (1-n) to address and feedback the first candidate NF satisfying the first information in the respective network.

[0162] In the implementation of this step, the NRF a can determine the SCU (1-n) according to the capability of the nearby SCU or the distance from itself, and send the first request message to the NRF of the SCU. For ease of understanding, FIG. 5 represents n NRFs in the form of overlapping boxes, where n is an integer greater than 0.

[0163] ③: Each NRF determines the first candidate NF according to the first information and the related information of each NF in the SCU to which the NRF belongs, and sends a first feedback message to the NRF a, which carries the second information of the first candidate NF. The first feedback message can carry the NF identifier of a certain first candidate NF, or can carry the first candidate NF list (which can include one or more first candidate NFs), and further can further carry at least one of the performance information, the location information, etc. of each first candidate NF.

[0164] ④: The NRF a receives the first feedback message and determines the Target NF based on the second information of the first candidate NF carried in the first feedback message, and sends a second feedback message to the Consumer NF to feedback the third information of the Target NF, for example, the NF identifier of the Target NF (which can be recorded as Target NF ID).

[0165] Based on the above steps ①-④, the NRF a as the first NF has completed the cross-network network element discovery process. Further, when the Consumer NF needs to access the Target NF, the NRF a does not have the external communication proxy function, at which time the cross-network communication proxy can be realized by means of the SCP, i.e. the subsequent steps ⑤-⑦.

[0166] ⑤-⑦: The Consumer NF establishes communication with the Target NF through the SCP a and the SCP x, and accesses the Target NF, so as to realize the cross-network NF access. The SCP x and the Target NF belong to the SCU x, i.e. they belong to the same network, and x is any value between 1 and n.

[0167] In summary, in the first embodiment, the NRF in each network is taken as the first NF, and the NRF interacts with the NRF of the other network, so that the internal addressing result of the opposite network can be obtained under the premise of ensuring the security of the opposite network, and then the communication and access between the consumer NF and the target NF can be realized with the communication proxy capability of the SCP.

[0168] In the second embodiment, the first NF is SCP a in the first network (i.e., SCU a), and the second NF is SCP b in the second network (i.e., SCU b). Please refer to FIG. 7, which is another flowchart of cross-SCU access to NF provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 7, the cross-SCU access to NF is the cross-network access flow of mode D (i.e., mode D), which specifically includes: Consumer NF→SCP a→SCP b→SCP a→Consumer NF→SCP a→SCP b→Target NF.

[0169] It should be understood that, similar to the first embodiment, the second embodiment also involves at least two implementation manners. To avoid repeated description, the scenario in which SCU a knows the access to NF in SCU b is taken as an example for comparison and description. Specifically, the second embodiment shown in FIG. 7 can include the following steps:

[0170] ①: The Consumer NF sends a second request message to SCP a (i.e., the first NF) to request SCP a to provide the third information of the Target NF. The first information is carried in the second request message.

[0171] ②: SCP a sends a first request message to SCP b to request SCP b to address and feed back the first candidate NF satisfying the first information in SCU b.

[0172] ③: SCP b determines the first candidate NF according to the first information and the related information of each NF in SCU b, and sends a first feedback message to SCP a, which carries the second information of the first candidate NF. The first feedback message can carry the NF identifier of a certain first candidate NF, or can carry the first candidate NF list (which can include one or more first candidate NFs), and further can further carry at least one of the performance information, the location information, etc. of each first candidate NF.

[0173] ④: SCP a receives the first feedback message, determines the Target NF based on the second information of the first candidate NF carried in the first feedback message, and sends a second feedback message to the Consumer NF to feed back the third information of the Target NF, for example, the NF identifier of the Target NF.

[0174] Based on steps ①-④ above, the SCP a as the first NF has completed the cross-network network element discovery process. Further, when the Consumer NF needs to access the Target NF, since the SCP has the external communication proxying capability, the SCP a as the first NF can also proxy the communication access process between the Consumer NF and the Target NF. At this time, steps ⑤-⑦ below can be referred to.

[0175] ⑤-⑦: The Consumer NF establishes communication with the Target NF through the SCP a and the SCP b and accesses the Target NF, so as to realize the cross-network NF access.

[0176] In summary, in Embodiment Two, the SCP in each network is taken as the first NF, and the SCPs in different networks interact with each other, so that the internal addressing result of the opposite network can be obtained under the premise of ensuring the security of the opposite network, and then the communication and access between the Consumer NF and the Target NF are realized with the help of the communication proxying capability of the SCP.

[0177] In addition, it also needs to be explained that, in the technical solutions provided by the disclosure, for any one network, the first network can be taken as a visitor to access the NF in the second network, and in addition, the first network can also be taken as a visitor to be accessed by the NF in the third network. Based on this, for the first network and the first NF in the present solution, in addition to the above-mentioned any one embodiment in which the first NF initiates an addressing request to other networks as a visitor, the first NF can also be taken as a visitor to perform network addressing in the first network and feed back to the NF in the third network.

[0178] That is, the network element discovery method provided by the disclosure can further include the following steps on the basis of any one of the above-mentioned embodiments:

[0179] S2, the first NF receives a third request message from the third NF, and the third request message is used to request to discover the NF meeting the fourth information in the first network.

[0180] S4, the first NF performs network element discovery in the first network based on the fourth information, and obtains a second candidate NF.

[0181] S6, the first NF sends a third feedback message to the third NF, and the third feedback message carries the fifth information of the second candidate NF.

[0182] In this embodiment, the third NF belongs to a third network, which can be the second network, or can be another network other than the second network, and the present disclosure does not have special restrictions thereon. The third NF is similar to the first NF and the second NF described above, at least an NF with external communication capability, and in this embodiment, the third NF also has internal addressing capability. In this way, the third NF can include, but is not limited to, NRF, SCP, etc.

[0183] In this embodiment, the third network is the visitor of the cross-network network element discovery, and the first network is the visited of the cross-network network element discovery. The possible implementation manners of the two in this embodiment can be referred to the foregoing description, for example, in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, the third NF corresponds to the first NF in FIG. 3, and the first NF here corresponds to the second NF in the embodiment shown in FIG. 3; the fourth information corresponds to the first information in the foregoing description, and the fifth information corresponds to the second information in the foregoing description. The parts not described in detail can be referred to the related description in the foregoing description, and will not be repeated here.

[0184] In summary, any one of the networks in the present disclosure can act as a visitor to access other networks in the cross-network NF access process, or can act as a visited to provide the addressing result of the network element discovery in its own network to other networks.

[0185] The present disclosure also provides another network element discovery method, applied to a second NF of a second network. Please refer to FIG. 3, the method includes:

[0186] S2032, the second NF receives a first request message from the first NF, and the first request message is used to request to discover an NF satisfying the first information in the second network.

[0187] S2034, the second NF performs network element discovery in the second network based on the first information, and obtains a first candidate NF.

[0188] S2036, the second NF sends a first feedback message to the first NF, and the first feedback message carries second information of the first candidate NF.

[0189] The repeated parts are referred to the foregoing description, and will not be repeated here.

[0190] The present disclosure also provides a network element discovery device. FIG. 8 is a structural block diagram of a network element discovery device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 8, the network element discovery device 800 includes:

[0191] The sending unit 820 is configured to send a first request message to a second NF of a second network, and the first request message is used to request to discover an NF satisfying the first information in the second network; for example, the first request message is used to request to discover a target NF satisfying the first information in the second network.

[0192] The receiving unit 810 is configured to receive a first feedback message from the second NF, the first feedback message carrying second information of a first candidate NF.

[0193] For example, according to the second information, a target NF can be determined.

[0194] In an exemplary embodiment, the receiving unit 810 is further configured to receive a second request message from a consumer NF, the second request message carrying first information of a target NF.

[0195] The sending unit 820 is further configured to send a second feedback message to the consumer NF, the second feedback message carrying third information of the target NF, wherein the target NF is determined based on the second information.

[0196] In an exemplary embodiment, the first NF includes a network repository function (NRF) or a service communication proxy (SCP).

[0197] In an exemplary embodiment, when the first NF is the SCP, the sending unit 820 is further configured to forward a communication message between the consumer NF and the target NF.

[0198] In an exemplary embodiment, the first information includes at least one of the following: a slice, a data network name (DNN), a service capability that the NF needs to support, and a location.

[0199] In an exemplary embodiment, the number of the second networks is at least one, and the number of the first candidate NFs is at least one.

[0200] In an exemplary embodiment, when the first NF obtains the number of the first candidate NFs is at least two, before the sending unit 820 sends the second feedback message to the consumer NF, the apparatus further includes:

[0201] A determining unit (not shown in FIG. 8) configured to determine a target NF from the first candidate NFs based on the second information.

[0202] The second information includes at least one of the following: performance information and location information.

[0203] The performance information includes at least one of the following: transmission delay, load, and transmission rate.

[0204] In an exemplary embodiment, the second request message further carries a network identifier of the second network.

[0205] In an exemplary embodiment, a location relationship between the second network and the first network satisfies a preset condition.

[0206] In an example embodiment, the method further includes a discovery unit (not shown in FIG. 8).

[0207] The receiving unit is further configured to receive a third request message from a third NF, the third request message being used to request discovery of an NF satisfying fourth information in the first network.

[0208] The discovery unit is configured to discover network elements in the first network based on the fourth information, to obtain a second candidate NF.

[0209] The sending unit is further configured to send a third feedback message to the third NF, the third feedback message carrying fifth information of the second candidate NF.

[0210] The present disclosure also provides another network element discovery apparatus. FIG. 9 is a structural block diagram of another network element discovery apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 9, the network element discovery apparatus 900 includes:

[0211] The receiving unit 910 is configured to receive a first request message from a first NF, the first request message being used to request discovery of an NF satisfying first information in the second network. For example, the first request message is used to request discovery of a target NF satisfying the first information in the second network.

[0212] The discovery unit 920 is configured to discover network elements in the second network based on the first information, to obtain a first candidate NF.

[0213] The sending unit 930 is configured to send a first feedback message to the first NF, the first feedback message carrying second information of the first candidate NF.

[0214] For example, according to the second information, the target NF can be determined.

[0215] On the other hand, the present disclosure also provides a service request method (which can also be referred to as an NF access method). The service request method is applied to a case where a first network knows that a cross-network to be accessed is a second network. The service request method can be initiated by a network element in the first network to directly initiate an access request to the second network, so that the discovery of a target NF in the network is realized by a network element of the cross-network second network, and the first network requests services from the target NF through the proxy. In this way, for the first network, the discovery and access of the NF of the other network can be realized directly through one request, which is more convenient and saves communication resources.

[0216] For example, please refer to FIG. 10, which is an interaction flow diagram of a service request method provided by the present disclosure.

[0217] As shown in FIG. 10, the service request method mainly involves: a first NF of a first network and a second NF of a second network. The first network, the second network, the first NF, the second NF, the consuming NF, the target NF, the first information, the second information, the third information and the like involved in the service request method are described above, and will not be described here. It should be understood that in different embodiments of the service request method, the first NF and the second NF can be different NFs, which will be described below in combination with specific embodiments.

[0218] As shown in FIG. 10, the service request method includes the following steps:

[0219] S1002, the first NF sends a fourth request message to the second NF of the second network.

[0220] The fourth request message carries at least one of the sixth information, the first information of the target NF and the seventh information; the sixth information is used to indicate the load of the consuming NF; the seventh information is used to indicate the determination manner of the target NF. The fourth request message is used to request to access the service of the target NF in the second network that meets the first information, and the target NF is determined based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information.

[0221] In the present disclosure, the first NF only needs to send an access request (i.e., the fourth request message) to the second NF, and carries the demand related information (i.e., the first information, which is described above and will not be described here) of the target NF and the selection related information (i.e., the sixth information and / or the seventh information) of the target NF in the access request.

[0222] For the first NF of the first network, the first information carried in the fourth request message is used to indicate what kind of NF it wants to access. As described above, in an exemplary embodiment, the first information can include but is not limited to at least one of the following: a slice, a DNN, a service capability that the NF needs to support, a location (TAI), and the like, which will not be described here.

[0223] The sixth information carried in the fourth request message is used to indicate the load of the consumer NF, and is further used to indicate the NF load requirement. In an actual implementation scenario, the cross-network NF access scenario is initiated by the consumer NF, that is, the specific cross-network accesser is the consumer NF. However, the load of the consumer NF can dynamically change in an actual implementation scenario, and the load of the consumer NF is different, which also affects the cross-network access capability of the consumer NF. Therefore, in a scenario in which the target NF needs to be determined by the second network on the opposite side, the load of the consumer NF is provided to the opposite side, which is more conducive to obtaining the target NF that is more suitable for the cross-network access capability of the consumer NF. The sixth information is used by the network element of the second network on the opposite side to discover the NF, so as to determine the target NF accordingly. Therefore, in a possible embodiment, the sixth information can specifically be a real-time NF load requirement, that is, real-time NF load requirement.

[0224] The seventh information carried in the fourth request message is used to indicate the determination manner of the target NF. In an actual implementation scenario, the seventh information can be understood as an NF selection mechanism, that is, an NF selection manner, and is specifically used to guide the second NF (or other discovery network element) of the second network on the opposite side to determine the target NF. For example, the seventh information can include but is not limited to a reference factor, an implementation strategy and the like. Specifically, the seventh information can be specifically used in a discovery scenario of the target NF. If there are multiple candidate NFs that meet the first information, the target NF can be further determined based on the seventh information. For example, the seventh information can include a reference factor for selecting the target NF. For example, the seventh information can indicate that the second network on the opposite side determines the target NF by using at least one of performance information and location information (for details, refer to the foregoing description). For another example, the seventh information can also indicate that the second network on the opposite side selects the target NF with the minimum transmission delay. Details are not described herein. For example, the seventh information can include an implementation strategy for selecting the target NF. For example, the seventh information can indicate that the second network on the opposite side scores each candidate NF from at least one dimension of transmission delay, load, transmission rate and the like, and performs weighted processing (for example, weighted sum, weighted average and the like) on each score to obtain a final score, and determines the target NF with the highest final score. It should be understood that the determination manner of the target NF can be designed in an actual implementation scenario, and the details not described herein can refer to the related description of S205, and these determination manners can all be transmitted to the second network on the opposite side as the seventh information. It should be understood that the seventh information is transmitted to the second network on the opposite side, because the discovery of the target NF is implemented by the second network on the opposite side in this scenario, and this processing is more conducive to obtaining the target NF that is more suitable for the actual requirement of the consumer NF.

[0225] In an example embodiment, the fourth request message can carry the following information: the first information (slice, DNN, service capability that the NF needs to support, location (TAI)), dynamic NF load (i.e., the sixth information), and the seventh information related to the target NF selection mechanism.

[0226] For the NF access method, the first network where the consumer NF is located does not need to concern the sensitive information of the second network on the opposite side, but only needs to send the relevant information of cross-network access on the local side to the second network on the opposite side, and the discovery and proxy access of the target NF are fully implemented by the opposite side. That is, for the second NF, the second NF is also used to proxy the service request of the consumer NF to the target NF. When implemented, reference can be made to S1004-S1008 shown in FIG. 10, which will be specifically described below.

[0227] S1004, the second NF receives the fourth request message from the first NF.

[0228] The first NF belongs to the first network; the fourth request message carries at least one of the sixth information, the first information of the target NF, and the seventh information; the sixth information is used to indicate the load of the consumer NF; and the seventh information is used to indicate the determination manner of the target NF.

[0229] S1006, the second NF determines the target NF in the second network; the target NF meets the first information and is determined based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information.

[0230] Since the fourth request message received in S1004 carries all the information related to the target NF, the second NF can determine the target NF accordingly. In actual implementation scenarios, the execution subject of the target NF discovery process is determined based on different capabilities of the second NF, the proxy access mode (for example, mode C and mode D) supported by the second network, the proxy access mode (for example, mode C and mode D) configured by the second network, and the like. In actual implementation scenarios, under certain conditions, the second NF can directly implement the discovery and determination of the target NF by itself; or the second NF can send a request to a discovery NF, and the discovery NF performs the discovery of the target NF and determines the target NF, and feeds back to the second NF, so that the second NF can also determine the target NF; or the second NF can send a request to a discovery NF, and the discovery NF performs the discovery of the target NF to obtain a candidate NF, and feeds back the candidate NF to the second NF, so that the second NF can further determine the target NF from the candidate NF. This will be specifically described below.

[0231] S1008, the second NF sends a fifth request message to the target NF, and the fifth request message is used for the second NF to proxy the service request of the consumer NF to the target NF.

[0232] In this embodiment, the second NF has determined the target NF, and in this scenario, the first network does not need to repeatedly send an access request, but the second NF directly proxies the first network to initiate access to the target NF.

[0233] To sum up, the service request method provided by the disclosure only needs to send a request to the opposite second network, and the discovery and determination of the target NF can be realized by the opposite second network, and the proxy access can be realized by the opposite second NF. In this process, the sensitive information of the second network is not exposed to the first network at all, and the sensitive information of the first network is also irrelevant to the second network, that is, the disclosure can realize safe cross-network NF discovery and access on the premise of ensuring that the sensitive information of the opposite network is not exposed to the outside, which is simple and efficient.

[0234] As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 10, the second NF is required to have proxy access capability. Therefore, in the NF access method provided by the disclosure, the second NF can be specifically an SCP.

[0235] Based on this, the implementation of S1006 can adopt Mode C or Mode D.

[0236] In an exemplary embodiment, when Mode C is adopted to determine the target NF, the method further includes the following steps (not shown in the figure):

[0237] S1006-2, the second NF sends a seventh request message to a fifth NF, the seventh request message carrying at least one of the sixth information, the first information and the seventh information; wherein the fifth NF is an NRF in the second network.

[0238] In this process, the discovery of the target NF is realized by the NRF b (a and b are only used to distinguish the same name NFs in different networks) in the second network, and after the target NF is determined, it is fed back to the second NF through a seventh feedback message, so that the second NF can determine the target NF.

[0239] For the fifth NF (i.e., the NRF b), the target NF is determined based on at least one of the seventh information and the sixth information, and the target NF satisfies the first information. This is realized based on the intra-network NF discovery capability of the NRF, and will not be described in detail.

[0240] S1006-4, the second NF receives a seventh feedback message from the fifth NF, the seventh feedback message carrying the second information of the candidate NF.

[0241] S1006-6, determining the target NF based on the second information.

[0242] In this embodiment, the second NF (i.e., SCP b) interacts with the fifth NF (i.e., NRF b) to determine the target NF.

[0243] In another exemplary embodiment, when Mode D is used to determine the target NF, the step S1006 can be implemented by the following steps: first, the second NF performs network element discovery in the second network based on the first information to obtain candidate NFs; and then, the second NF determines the target NF from the candidate NFs based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information. This is based on the SCP-based intra-network NF discovery capability, and will not be described in detail.

[0244] In the present disclosure, the first NF can be different subjects based on different actual scenarios. For example, the first NF can be a consumer NF or an SCP. The following cases are described.

[0245] Case 1: The first NF is an SCP. At this time, refer to FIG. 11, which is an interaction flow diagram of another service request method provided by the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 11, in addition to the flow shown in FIG. 10, the method further includes the following steps:

[0246] S1001A, receiving a ninth request message from the consumer NF.

[0247] The ninth request message carries the network element identifier of the second NF, and carries at least one of the sixth information, the first information and the seventh information.

[0248] As shown in FIG. 11, the first NF can be SCP a in the first network, and the second NF can be SCP b in the second network, where a and b are only used to distinguish SCPs in different networks and have no special meaning.

[0249] As described above, the consumer NF can be any one of the NFs in the first network. When the consumer NF needs to access the NF of the external network, the sixth request message can be sent to SCP a, and the sixth request message can carry, in addition to the first information, the sixth information, and the seventh information described above, the related information of the second NF. Taking the scenario shown in FIG. 11 as an example, the sixth request message further carries the information of SCP b of the second network, for example, the network element identifier of SCP b. In an exemplary embodiment, the sixth request message can carry the following information: slice, DNN, service capability that the NF needs to support, location (TAI), information of SCP b of SCU b, and dynamic NF load (i.e., the sixth information), and mechanism information for selecting the target NF (i.e., the seventh information). In this way, after receiving the sixth request message, SCP a can determine the receiving end of the fourth request message, and thus can send the fourth request message to SCP b, thereby implementing the present solution.

[0250] The embodiment shown in FIG. 11 is applicable to the scenario of unified cross-network mode configuration for multiple networks. For example, the NRF / SCP of the first network and the second network are both configured to use the access mode of mode A / B / C / D, that is, the first network and the second network both support the network element discovery and access of the four modes. In this scenario, the cross-network NF discovery and access of mode C or mode D can be implemented by the present solution. For example, if the second network is by default configured to use the cross-network NF discovery and access mechanism of mode C, when performing S1006 in FIG. 11, the target NF is determined in the manner of interacting with the fifth NF as described above. For another example, if the second network is by default configured to use the cross-network NF discovery and access mechanism of mode D, when performing S1006 in FIG. 11, the second NF itself can directly perform NF discovery and determine the target NF.

[0251] Case two: the first NF is a consumer NF. At this time, reference can be made to FIG. 12, which is an interaction flow diagram of another service request method provided by the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 12, in addition to the flow shown in FIG. 10, the method further includes the following steps:

[0252] S1001B1, the consumer NF sends a sixth request message to the fourth NF; the sixth request message carries the network element identifier of the fifth NF and the first information. The first information can be used for NF discovery.

[0253] S1001B2, the consumer NF receives a sixth feedback message from the fourth NF; the sixth feedback message carries the eighth information and the ninth information of the second NF; the eighth information is used to indicate the proxy access support condition of the second network, and the ninth information is used to indicate the second NF.

[0254] In the present disclosure, the fourth NF is an NRF in the first network. As shown in FIG. 12, the fourth NF can be denoted as NRF a. The fifth NF is an NRF in the second network. As shown in FIG. 12, the fifth NF can be denoted as NRF b.

[0255] The sixth request message is a request initiated by a consuming NF in the first network to the NRF a, for requesting the NRF a to access the service of the target NF satisfying the first information. In this way, the NRF a and the NRF b can further interact, and the sixth feedback message is fed back to the consuming NF by the NRF a. That is, the sixth feedback message is based on the interaction between the fourth NF and the fifth NF.

[0256] Specifically, as shown in FIG. 12, the method further includes the following steps S1001C1 and S1001C2 between S1001B1 and S1001B2, which are the interaction between the fourth NF and the fifth NF through the eighth request message and the eighth feedback message.

[0257] Specifically, for the fourth NF, S1001C1 includes the following implementation manners:

[0258] Firstly, the fourth NF receives the sixth request message from the consuming NF, and the sixth request message carries the network element identifier of the fifth NF and the first information.

[0259] Secondly, the fourth NF sends the eighth request message to the fifth NF, and the eighth request message carries the first information; the fifth NF is an NRF in the second network.

[0260] Then, the fourth NF receives the eighth feedback message from the fifth NF, and the eighth feedback message carries the eighth information and the ninth information of the second NF, the eighth information is used to indicate the proxy access support condition of the second network, and the ninth information is used to indicate the second NF.

[0261] Then, the fourth NF sends the sixth feedback message to the consuming NF; the sixth feedback message carries the eighth information and the ninth information.

[0262] Specifically, for the fifth NF, S1001C2 includes the following implementation manners:

[0263] Firstly, the fifth NF receives the eighth request message from the fourth NF, and the eighth request message carries the first information; the fourth NF is an NRF in the first network.

[0264] Afterwards, the fifth NF sends an eighth feedback message to the fourth NF, the eighth feedback message carrying eighth information and ninth information of the second NF, the eighth information being used to indicate the proxy access support situation of the second network, and the ninth information being used to indicate the second NF.

[0265] Based on the foregoing process, the information carried by the sixth request message and the information carried by the eighth request message can be the same except for the element management identifier of the fifth NF. In actual application scenarios, the content carried in the sixth request message can be sent by NRF a to the opposite side NRF b except for the element management identifier of the fifth NF. Thus, in this case, the information carried by the sixth request message (or the eighth request message) can also have different implementation manners.

[0266] Specifically, if the consumer NF does not know whether the opposite side second network supports mode C or mode D, that is, does not know whether the opposite side second network supports proxy NF discovery (that is, proxy addressing), the sixth request message (for example, the eighth request information is similar and is not repeated) can not carry the related information (for example, the sixth information, the seventh information, etc.) of proxy addressing. However, in the case where the NRF a receives the eighth feedback message and the eighth feedback message indicates that the NRF b supports mode C or mode D, the consumer NF requests again, that is, the consumer NF sends the fourth request message to SCP b (that is, the second NF) as the first NF, and at least one of the sixth information and the seventh information can be carried in the fourth request message.

[0267] Based on this, in an embodiment of the disclosure, the sixth request message can carry the first information except for the element management identifier of the NRF b. For example, the sixth request message can carry the following information: slice, DNN, service capability that the NF needs to support, and location (TAI). Of course, at least one of the sixth information and the seventh information can also be carried.

[0268] In addition, the sixth request message can further carry the tenth information. The tenth information is used to indicate the proxy access support situation of the first network. That is, the consumer NF can also inform the opposite side whether it supports mode C or mode D through the interaction between the NRFS of the two networks.

[0269] Thus, in a possible embodiment, for the NRF b of the second network on the opposite side, when the tenth information is carried in the received eighth request message, the NRF b sends the eighth feedback message to the NRF a, and carries the proxy access support condition (i.e., the eighth information) of itself in the eighth feedback message. Conversely, if the tenth information is not carried in the received eighth request message, the NRF b can also not need to feedback the eighth request message, and can even use other preset manners (i.e., manners other than those provided in the present disclosure) for intra-network NF discovery and access, which is not limited.

[0270] Alternatively, in another possible embodiment, for the NRF b of the second network on the opposite side, whether or not the tenth information is carried in the received eighth request message, the NRF b can carry the proxy access support condition (i.e., the eighth information) of itself in the eighth feedback message.

[0271] In the present disclosure, the eighth information and the tenth information are both used to represent the proxy access support condition of the network, where the eighth information is used to indicate the proxy access support condition of the second network, and the tenth information is used to indicate the proxy access support condition of the first network. Specifically, the proxy access support condition can specifically be whether the SCP proxy addressing and access are supported. Further, it can specifically be whether Mode C and Mode D are supported. In actual scenarios, the forms of the eighth information and the tenth information are not particularly limited. For example, 2 specific characters can be used to respectively represent support and non-support; for another example, specific mode names can also be used to identify the supported mode. This is not an exhaustive list.

[0272] The following gives several possible embodiments for specific description.

[0273] Embodiment 1

[0274] 1. The consumer NF requests the SCP a (i.e., the first NF) to access the service of the target NF.

[0275] That is, the consumer NF sends the sixth request message to the first NF. The sixth request message carries the following information: slice, DNN, service capability that the NF needs to support, location (TAI), information of the SCP b of the SCU b (network element identifier of the second NF), and dynamic NF load (i.e., the sixth information) and mechanism for selecting the target NF (i.e., the seventh information).

[0276] 2. The SCP a (i.e., the first NF) requests the SCP b (i.e., the second NF) to discover and select the target NF.

[0277] SCP b sends a fourth request message to the second NF. At this time, the fourth request message carries: the first information (slice, DNN, service capability that the NF needs to support, location), the sixth information and the seventh information.

[0278] 3. SCP b (i.e., the second NF) determines the target NF according to the information carried in the fourth request message.

[0279] In a specific implementation, the target NF can be determined based on the information carried in the fourth request message and information of each NF in the second network, wherein the target NF meets the first information and is determined based on the sixth information and the seventh information.

[0280] 4. SCP b (i.e., the second NF) requests to access the service of the target NF.

[0281] That is, the second NF sends a fifth request message to the target NF to proxy the consumer NF to request the service of the target NF.

[0282] Embodiment 2

[0283] 1. The consumer NF (i.e., the first NF) requests the NRF a (i.e., the fourth NF) to access the service of the target NF.

[0284] That is, the first NF sends a sixth request message to the fourth NF. The sixth request message carries the following information: slice, DNN, service capability that the NF needs to support, location (TAI), information of the NRF b of the SCU b (network element identifier of the fifth NF), and dynamic NF load (i.e., the sixth information) and mechanism for selecting the target NF (i.e., the seventh information).

[0285] 2. The NRF a requests the NRF b (i.e., the fifth NF) to discover and select the target NF.

[0286] That is, the fourth NF sends an eighth request message to the fifth NF. The eighth request message can carry the following information: the first information, the sixth information, and the seventh information.

[0287] 3. The NRF b feeds back to the NRF a, and indicates, in the feedback, information about proxy discovery and selection of the NF in the target domain (i.e., the eighth information) and information of the SCP b (i.e., the ninth information).

[0288] That is, the fifth NF sends an eighth feedback message to the fourth NF, and the eighth feedback message carries the eighth information and the ninth information.

[0289] 4. The NRF b feeds back the information in step 3 to the consumer NF.

[0290] That is, the fourth NF sends a sixth feedback message to the first NF. The sixth feedback message carries the eighth information and the ninth information.

[0291] Based on this, the consumer NF can learn the proxy access support situation of the second network on the opposite side; if the second network on the opposite side supports proxy access of the SCP, cross-network proxy access can be realized by using the present solution. The specific flow is as follows:

[0292] 5. The consumer NF goes to the SCP b (i.e., the second NF) to request access to the service of the target NF.

[0293] That is, the first NF sends a fourth request message to the second NF. The fourth request message carries the following information: first information (for example, slice, DNN, service capability that the NF needs to support, location (TAI), etc.), eighth information (for example, dynamic consumer NF load), and ninth information (for example, a mechanism for selecting the target NF).

[0294] 6. The SCP b selects the target NF according to the information carried in the request in step 5, and local NF load, capacity, latency, and the like.

[0295] That is, the second NF determines the target NF. In a specific implementation, if Mode C is used, the SCP b interacts with the NRF b and receives the target NF determined by the NRF b; or if Mode D is used, the SCP b directly determines the target NF.

[0296] 7. The SCP b requests access to the service of the target NF selected in step 6.

[0297] That is, the second NF sends a fifth request message to the target NF, so that the consumer NF requests the service of the target NF.

[0298] Embodiment 3

[0299] 1. The consumer NF (i.e., the first NF) requests the NRF a (i.e., the fourth NF) to access the service of the target NF.

[0300] That is, the first NF sends a sixth request message to the fourth NF. The sixth request message carries the following information: first information.

[0301] 2. The NRF a requests the NRF b (i.e., the fifth NF) to discover and select the target NF.

[0302] That is, the fourth NF sends an eighth request message to the fifth NF. The eighth request message can carry the following information: first information.

[0303] 3. The NRF b feeds back to the NRF a, and indicates, in the feedback, information of the second network for proxy discovery and selection of the NF in the target domain (i.e., eighth information), and information of the SCP b (i.e., ninth information).

[0304] That is, the fifth NF sends an eighth feedback message to the fourth NF, and the eighth feedback message carries the eighth information and the ninth information.

[0305] 4. NRF b feeds back the information in step 3 to the consumer NF.

[0306] That is, the fourth NF sends a sixth feedback message to the first NF. The sixth feedback message carries the eighth information and the ninth information.

[0307] Based on this, the consumer NF can know the proxy access support situation of the opposite side second network; if the opposite side second network supports the proxy access of the SCP, the cross-network proxy access can be realized by using the present solution. The specific process is as follows:

[0308] 5. The consumer NF requests to access the service of the target NF from the SCP b (that is, the second NF).

[0309] That is, the first NF sends a fourth request message to the second NF. The fourth request message carries the following information: the first information (for example, slice, DNN, service capability that the NF needs to support, location (TAI), etc.), the eighth information (for example, dynamic consumer NF load), and the ninth information (for example, the mechanism of selecting the target NF).

[0310] 6. The SCP b selects the target NF according to the information carried in the request in step 5, and the local NF load, capacity, delay, and the like.

[0311] That is, the second NF determines the target NF. In specific implementation, if Mode C is used, the SCP b interacts with the NRF b and receives the target NF determined by the NRF b; or if Mode D is used, the SCP b directly determines the target NF.

[0312] 7. The SCP b requests to access the service of the target NF selected in step 6.

[0313] That is, the second NF sends a fifth request message to the target NF, so that the consumer NF requests the service of the target NF in proxy.

[0314] The present disclosure also provides a service request device. FIG. 13 is a structural block diagram of a service request device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 13, the service request device 1300 includes:

[0315] The sending unit 1310 is configured to send a fourth request message to a second NF of a second network;

[0316] The fourth request message carries at least one of sixth information, first information of the target NF, and seventh information; the sixth information is used to indicate the load of the consumption NF; and the seventh information is used to indicate the determination manner of the target NF.

[0317] The fourth request message is used to request access to the service of the target NF in the second network that meets the first information, and the target NF is determined based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information.

[0318] The second NF is further configured to request the service of the target NF by the consumption NF.

[0319] In an exemplary embodiment, the second NF is an SCP; and the first NF includes the SCP or the consumption NF.

[0320] In an exemplary embodiment, when the first NF is the consumption NF, the sixth information is used to indicate the load of the consumption NF.

[0321] The sending unit 1310 is further configured to send a sixth request message to a fourth NF, the sixth request message carrying a network element identifier of a fifth NF and the first information.

[0322] The receiving unit 1320 (not shown in FIG. 13) is configured to receive a sixth feedback message from the fourth NF, the sixth feedback message carrying eighth information and ninth information of the second NF, the eighth information being used to indicate the proxy access support condition of the second network, and the ninth information being used to indicate the second NF.

[0323] The fourth NF is an NRF in the first network; the fifth NF is an NRF in the second network; and the sixth feedback message is obtained based on the interaction between the fourth NF and the fifth NF.

[0324] In an exemplary embodiment, the sixth request message further carries tenth information, the tenth information being used to indicate the proxy access support condition of the first network.

[0325] In an exemplary embodiment, when the first NF is the SCP, the receiving unit 1320 (not shown in FIG. 13) is configured to receive a ninth request message from the consumption NF, the ninth request message carrying the network element identifier of the second NF, and carrying at least one of the sixth information, the first information, and the seventh information.

[0326] The present disclosure further provides another service request apparatus. FIG. 14 is a structural block diagram of another service request apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 14, the service request apparatus 1400 includes:

[0327] The receiving unit 1410 is configured to receive a fourth request message from a first NF, the first NF belonging to a first network; the fourth request message carries at least one of sixth information, first information of a target NF, and seventh information; the sixth information is used to indicate a load of a consumer NF; and the seventh information is used to indicate a determination manner of the target NF.

[0328] The determining unit 1420 is configured to determine the target NF in the second network; the target NF meets the first information and is determined based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information.

[0329] The sending unit 1430 is configured to send a fifth request message to the target NF, the fifth request message being used for the second NF to proxy the consumer NF to request a service from the target NF.

[0330] In an exemplary embodiment, the second NF is an SCP; and the first NF includes the SCP or the consumer NF.

[0331] In an exemplary embodiment, the determining unit 1420 is specifically configured to send a seventh request message to a fifth NF, the seventh request message carrying at least one of the sixth information, the first information, and the seventh information; and the fifth NF is an NRF in the second network.

[0332] Receive a seventh feedback message from the fifth NF, the seventh feedback message carrying second information of a candidate NF.

[0333] Determine the target NF based on the second information.

[0334] In an exemplary embodiment, the determining unit 1420 is specifically configured to perform network element discovery in the second network based on the first information to obtain a candidate NF.

[0335] Determine the target NF in the candidate NF based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information.

[0336] The present disclosure also provides another service request device. FIG. 15 is a structural block diagram of another service request device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in FIG. 15, the service request device 1500 includes:

[0337] The receiving unit 1510 is configured to receive a sixth request message from a consumer NF, the sixth request message carrying a network element identifier of a fifth NF and first information; and the first information is used for NF discovery.

[0338] The sending unit 1520 is configured to send an eighth request message to a fifth NF, where the eighth request message carries the first information; and the fifth NF is an NRF in the second network.

[0339] The receiving unit 1510 is further configured to receive an eighth feedback message from the fifth NF, where the eighth feedback message carries eighth information and ninth information of a second NF in the second network, the eighth information is used to indicate a proxy access support condition of the second network, and the ninth information is used to indicate the second NF.

[0340] The sending unit 1520 is further configured to send a sixth feedback message to the consumer NF, where the sixth feedback message carries the eighth information and the ninth information.

[0341] In an exemplary embodiment, the sixth request message further carries tenth information, and the tenth information is used to indicate a proxy access support condition of the first network.

[0342] The present disclosure further provides another service request apparatus. FIG. 16 is a structural block diagram of another service request apparatus provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 16, the service request apparatus 1600 includes:

[0343] The receiving unit 1610 is configured to receive an eighth request message from a fourth NF, where the eighth request message carries first information; and the fourth NF is an NRF in the first network; and the first information can be used for NF discovery.

[0344] The sending unit 1620 is configured to send an eighth feedback message to the fourth NF, where the eighth feedback message carries eighth information and ninth information of a second NF in the second network, the eighth information is used to indicate a proxy access support condition of the second network, and the ninth information is used to indicate the second NF.

[0345] In an exemplary embodiment, the sending unit 1620 is specifically configured to: when the eighth request message carries tenth information, send the eighth feedback message to the fourth NF; and the tenth information is used to indicate a proxy access support condition of the first network.

[0346] FIG. 17 is a hardware block diagram of an electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present disclosure. The electronic device 1700 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure at least includes a processor; and a memory configured to store computer readable instructions. When the computer readable instructions are loaded and run by the processor, the processor performs the network element discovery method and the service request method according to any one of the foregoing embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0347] The electronic device 1700 shown in FIG. 17 specifically includes a central processing unit (CPU) 1701, a graphics processing unit (GPU) 1702, and a memory 1703. These units are connected to each other through a bus 1704. The central processing unit (CPU) 1701 and / or the graphics processing unit (GPU) 1702 can be used as the above-mentioned processor, and the memory 1703 can be used as the above-mentioned memory storing computer readable instructions. In addition, the electronic device 1700 can further include a communication unit 1705, a storage unit 1706, an output unit 1707, an input unit 1708, and an external device 1709, which are also connected to the bus 1704.

[0348] FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of a computer readable storage medium according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 18, the computer readable storage medium 1800 according to an embodiment of the present disclosure has computer readable instructions 1801 stored thereon. When the computer readable instructions 1801 are run by a processor, the network element discovery method and the service request method according to any of the preceding embodiments of the present disclosure described with reference to the above drawings are performed. The computer readable storage medium includes, but is not limited to, for example, volatile memory and / or non-volatile memory. The volatile memory may, for example, include random access memory (RAM) and / or cache memory, etc. The non-volatile memory may, for example, include read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, a flash memory, an optical disc, a magnetic disc, etc.

[0349] The present disclosure further provides a computer program product, including a computer program, which, when executed by a processor, implements the network element discovery method and the service request method according to any of the preceding embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0350] Those skilled in the art can realize that the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in combination with the embodiments disclosed herein can be realized in electronic hardware or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether the functions are realized in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be considered beyond the scope of the present disclosure.

[0351] The basic principles of the present disclosure are described above in combination with specific embodiments, but it should be noted that the advantages, advantages, effects, etc. mentioned in the present disclosure are only examples and are not limiting, and these advantages, advantages, effects, etc. cannot be considered as the must-have of each embodiment of the present disclosure. In addition, the above specific details are only for the purpose of example and for the purpose of understanding, and the above details do not limit the present disclosure to the must-use specific details.

[0352] The block diagrams of devices, apparatuses, equipment, systems referred to in the present disclosure are merely illustrative examples and are not intended to require or imply that the connection, arrangement, configuration must be as shown in the block diagrams. These devices, apparatuses, equipment, systems can be connected, arranged, configured in any manner as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. Words such as "include," "contain," "have," etc. are open-ended words that are to be interpreted to mean "including but not limited to," and are to be interpreted not to exclude other items. The words "or" and "and" as used herein are to be interpreted as the word "and / or," and are to be interpreted not to exclude other items. The word "such as" as used herein is to be interpreted as the phrase "such as but not limited to," and is to be interpreted not to exclude other items.

[0353] In addition, as used herein, the "or" as used in the context "at least one of A, B, or C" : means A or B or C or any combination thereof. Further, the phrase "example of" is not meant to be limiting in terms of the examples described. For example, the phrase "example of A, B, or C" means A or B or C, or any combination thereof.

[0354] It is also important to note that the systems and methods of the present disclosure can be embodied in a variety of forms including, but not limited to, a data processor, a computer program product, a computer, one or more tangible computer readable storage devices, one or more computer-implemented methods, information, or a bit of information. Additionally the systems and methods of the present disclosure can be embodied as one or more computers or computer implementations that include one or more processors or one or more memory modules.

[0355] Various changes, modifications and alterations in the teachings and techniques described herein can be made without departing from the teachings that are defined by the appended claims. Further, the scope of the claims of the present disclosure is not limited to the specific aspects described herein. Processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps, presently existing or later to be developed that perform substantially the same function or achieve substantially the same result as the corresponding aspects described herein can be utilized. Accordingly, the appended claims include within their scope such processes, machines, manufacture, compositions of matter, means, methods, or steps.

[0356] The above description of the disclosed aspects is meant to be illustrative of the application and not limiting. Various modifications of the aspects will be apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein can be applied to other aspects without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Accordingly, the present disclosure is not intended to be limited to the aspects shown herein, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

[0357] The foregoing description has been presented for the purposes of illustration and description. Furthermore, the description is not intended to limit the embodiments of the disclosure to the forms disclosed herein. Although the various example aspects and embodiments have been described herein with regard to particular aspects and embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that certain modifications, changes, substitutions, additions and sub-combinations can be made without departing from the spirit of the disclosure.

Claims

1. A network element discovery method applied to a first network function (NF) of a first network, the method comprising: sending a first request message to a second NF of a second network, the first request message being used to request discovery of a NF satisfying first information in the second network; receiving a first feedback message from the second NF of the second network, the first feedback message carrying second information of a first candidate NF. 2.The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving a second request message from a consumer NF, the second request message carrying the first information of a target NF; sending a second feedback message to the consumer NF, the second feedback message carrying third information of the target NF; wherein the target NF is determined based on the second information.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, the first NF comprising: a network repository function (NRF) or a service communication proxy (SCP) ; the second NF comprises the NRF or the SCP. 4.The method of claim 3, when the first NF is the SCP, the method further comprising: forwarding a communication message between the consumer NF and the target NF. 5.The method of any one of claims 1-4, the first information comprises at least one of: a slice, a data network name (DNN), a service capability that the NF needs to support, and a location. 6.The method of any one of claims 1-5, a number of the second networks is at least one; a number of the first candidate NFs is at least one. 7.The method of claim 6, when the first NF obtains the number of the first candidate NFs is at least two, the method further comprising: determining the target NF from the first candidate NFs based on the second information; wherein the second information comprises at least one of: performance information, and location information; wherein the performance information comprises at least one of: transmission latency, load, and transmission rate. 8.The method of claim 2 or any one of claims 3-7 depending on claim 2, the second request message further carries a network identity of the second network. 9.The method of any one of claims 1-8, a location relationship between the second network and the first network satisfies a preset condition. 10.The method of any one of claims 1-9, the method further comprising: receiving a third request message from a third NF, the third request message being used to request discovery of a NF satisfying fourth information in the first network; wherein the third NF comprises the NRF or the SCP; performing network element discovery in the first network based on the fourth information to obtain a second candidate NF; sending a third feedback message to the third NF, the third feedback message carrying fifth information of the second candidate NF. 11.A network element discovery method applied to a second NF of a second network, the method comprising: receiving a first request message from a first NF, the first request message being used to request discovery of a NF satisfying first information in the second network; performing network element discovery in the second network based on the first information to obtain a first candidate NF; sending a first feedback message to the first NF, the first feedback message carrying second information of the first candidate NF.

12. A service request method applied to a first NF of a first network, the method comprising: sending a fourth request message to a second NF of a second network; wherein the fourth request message carries at least one of sixth information, first information of a target NF, and seventh information; wherein the sixth information is used to indicate a load of a consumer NF; and the seventh information is used to indicate a determination manner of the target NF; the fourth request message is used to request access to a service of the target NF in the second network that meets the first information, wherein the target NF is determined based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information; and the second NF is further used to proxy the consumer NF to request a service from the target NF.

13. The method of claim 12, the second NF is an SCP; The first NF comprises: SCP or consumer NF.

14. The method of claim 13, when the first NF is a consumer NF; the method further comprising: sending a sixth request message to a fourth NF, the sixth request message carrying a network element identifier of a fifth NF and the first information; receiving a sixth feedback message from the fourth NF, the sixth feedback message carrying eighth information and ninth information of the second NF, the eighth information being used to indicate a proxy access support condition of the second network, and the ninth information being used to indicate the second NF; wherein the fourth NF is an NRF in the first network; the fifth NF is an NRF in the second network; and the sixth feedback message is obtained based on an interaction between the fourth NF and the fifth NF.

15. The method of claim 14, the sixth request message further carrying tenth information, the tenth information being used to indicate a proxy access support condition of the first network.

16. The method of claim 13, when the first NF is an SCP; the method further comprising: receiving a ninth request message from a consumer NF; the ninth request message carrying a network element identifier of the second NF, and carrying at least one of the sixth information, the first information, and the seventh information.

17. A service request method applied to a second NF of a second network, the method comprising: receiving a fourth request message from a first NF, the first NF belonging to a first network; the fourth request message carrying at least one of sixth information, first information of a target NF, and seventh information; wherein the sixth information is used to indicate a load of a consumer NF; and the seventh information is used to indicate a determination manner of the target NF; determining the target NF in the second network; the target NF meeting the first information and being determined based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information; sending a fifth request message to the target NF, the fifth request message being used for the second NF to proxy the consumer NF to request a service from the target NF.

18. The method of claim 17, the second NF is an SCP; The first NF comprises: SCP or a consumer NF.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the determining the target NF in the second network comprises: sending a seventh request message to a fifth NF, the seventh request message carrying at least one of the sixth information, the first information, and a seventh information, wherein the fifth NF is an NRF in the second network; receiving a seventh feedback message from the fifth NF, the seventh feedback message carrying second information of candidate NFs; determining the target NF based on the second information.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the determining the target NF in the second network comprises: performing network element discovery in the second network based on the first information to obtain candidate NFs; determining the target NF in the candidate NFs based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information.

21. A service request method applied to a fourth NF of a first network, the fourth NF being an NRF; the method comprising: receiving a sixth request message from a consumer NF, the sixth request message carrying a network element identifier of a fifth NF and first information; sending an eighth request message to the fifth NF, the eighth request message carrying the first information, wherein the fifth NF is an NRF in the second network; receiving an eighth feedback message from the fifth NF, the eighth feedback message carrying eighth information and ninth information of a second NF of a second network, the eighth information indicating proxy access support of the second network, and the ninth information indicating the second NF; sending a sixth feedback message to the consumer NF; the sixth feedback message carrying the eighth information and the ninth information.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the sixth request message further carries tenth information indicating proxy access support of the first network.

23. A service request method applied to a fifth NF of a second network, the fifth NF being an NRF; the method comprising: receiving an eighth request message from a fourth NF, the eighth request message carrying first information; the fourth NF being an NRF in the first network; sending an eighth feedback message to the fourth NF, the eighth feedback message carrying eighth information and ninth information of a second NF of a second network, the eighth information indicating proxy access support of the second network, and the ninth information indicating the second NF.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the sending the eighth feedback message to the fourth NF comprises: when the eighth request message carries tenth information, sending the eighth feedback message to the fourth NF, wherein the tenth information indicates proxy access support of the first network.

25. A network element discovery apparatus, comprising: a sending unit configured to send a first request message to a second NF of a second network, the first request message being used to request to discover NFs satisfying the first information in the second network. a receiving unit, configured to receive a first feedback message from the second NF, the first feedback message carrying second information of the first candidate NF.

26. A network element discovery apparatus, comprising: a receiving unit, configured to receive a first request message from a first NF, the first request message being used to request to discover a NF satisfying first information in a second network; a discovering unit, configured to discover a network element in the second network based on the first information, to obtain a first candidate NF; a sending unit, configured to send a first feedback message to the first NF, the first feedback message carrying second information of the first candidate NF.

27. A service request apparatus, comprising: a sending unit, configured to send a fourth request message to a second NF of a second network; wherein the fourth request message carries at least one of sixth information, first information of a target NF, and seventh information; wherein the sixth information is used to indicate a load of a consumer NF; and the seventh information is used to indicate a determination manner of the target NF; the fourth request message is used to request to access a service of the target NF satisfying the first information in the second network, wherein the target NF is determined based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information; the second NF is further used to proxy the consumer NF to request a service from the target NF.

28. A service request apparatus, comprising: a receiving unit, configured to receive a fourth request message from a first NF, the first NF belonging to a first network; the fourth request message carries at least one of sixth information, first information of a target NF, and seventh information; wherein the sixth information is used to indicate a load of a consumer NF; and the seventh information is used to indicate a determination manner of the target NF; a determining unit, configured to determine the target NF in the second network; the target NF satisfies the first information and is determined based on the sixth information and / or the seventh information; a sending unit, configured to send a fifth request message to the target NF, the fifth request message being used to proxy the consumer NF to request a service from the target NF.

29. A service request apparatus, comprising: a receiving unit, configured to receive a sixth request message from a consumer NF, the sixth request message carrying a network element identifier of a fifth NF and first information; a sending unit, configured to send an eighth request message to the fifth NF, the eighth request message carrying the first information; the fifth NF being a NRF in the second network; the receiving unit is further configured to receive an eighth feedback message from the fifth NF, the eighth feedback message carrying eighth information of a second NF of the second network and ninth information, the eighth information being used to indicate a proxy access support situation of the second network, and the ninth information being used to indicate the second NF; the sending unit is further configured to send a sixth feedback message to the consumer NF, the sixth feedback message carrying the eighth information and the ninth information.

30. A service request apparatus, comprising: receive, from a fourth NF, an eighth request message carrying first information; the fourth NF is an NRF in the first network; send, to the fourth NF, an eighth feedback message carrying eighth information and ninth information of a second NF of a second network, the eighth information being used to indicate a proxy access support case of the second network, and the ninth information being used to indicate the second NF. 31.An electronic device, comprising: a memory configured to store computer-readable instructions; and a processor configured to execute the computer-readable instructions to cause the electronic device to perform the method of any one of claims 1-24. 32.A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing computer-readable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform the method of any one of claims 1-24. 33.A computer program product comprising a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements the method of any one of claims 1-24.

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