Rule generation method, related device, and communication system

Abstract

The present application relates to the field of XR. The present application particularly relates to a rule generation method, a related device, and a communication system. The method comprises: a PCF network element receives capability information of a UE from an SMF network element; the PCF network element receives a first QoS request from an AF network element, wherein the first QoS request comprises a QoS requirement parameter corresponding to a first service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two second service flows, and the first service flow comprises the at least two second service flows; the PCF network element generates a target PCC rule on the basis of the capability information of the UE and the first QoS request, wherein the target PCC rule comprises a PCC rule for the first service flow or one or more PCC rules for the second service flows; and the PCF network element sends the target PCC rule to the SMF network element. Use of the embodiments of the present application is conducive to implementing corresponding QoS processing on service flows or sub-service flows sent to UEs.

Description

Rule generation method, related device and communication system

[0001] The present application claims priority to the Chinese patent application No. 202411403024.1, filed on September 30, 2024, and entitled “Rule generation method, related device and communication system”, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present application relates to the field of extended reality (XR), and in particular, to a rule generation method, related device and communication system. BACKGROUND

[0003] The existing quality of service (QoS) mechanism is only identified at the granularity of IP five-tuple or IP three-tuple, such as source / destination IP address, source / destination port number, IPv4 service type or IPv6 traffic type, flow label, security parameter index, and the like.

[0004] For multimedia services, real-time transmission protocol (RTP) is often used to carry video, audio and other media content transmission. Generally, an RTP session can be represented by an IP five-tuple, and different types of services are transmitted in different RTP sessions, and then the service data is mapped to the corresponding QoS flow for transmission according to the IP five-tuple, so as to provide differentiated QoS guarantee for different types of services, such as providing different QoS guarantees for audio services and video services.

[0005] In real-time media transmission services, in order to improve bandwidth utilization, reduce transmission delay, and simplify data processing and analysis process, RTP multi-stream multiplexing is widely used in actual transmission in the network, that is, multiple RTP streams are carried in an RTP session for transmission. An RTP session is generally identified by IP five-tuple or IP three-tuple, each RTP stream has a different media source, and different RTP streams can be identified by the synchronization source identifier (SSRC) in the RTP header.

[0006] In addition, in the process of real-time media transmission service, in addition to the RTP protocol being used to transmit media content, the RTCP is often needed to realize the interaction of control and statistical information between the receiving end and the sending end. Generally, the RTP stream and the real-time transmission control protocol (RTCP) stream are transmitted on different ports, and this mechanism is simple, effective and convenient for third-party monitoring. However, considering that network address port translation exists in the current network transmission, which increases additional complexity and firewall management, the independent port will cause cost increase and management complexity. Therefore, the industry discusses a scheme of transmitting the RTP stream and the RTCP stream on the same port, that is, the RTP media content service stream and the RTCP feedback stream share one IP five-tuple.

[0007] For the above multi-flow multiplexing scenario, on the basis of the existing packet filter group, an enhanced packet filter is introduced to realize the corresponding QoS processing of the sub-service flow. That is, the application function (AF) network element provides the description information of the sub-service flow and the corresponding QoS demand information to the policy control function (PCF) network element, and the PCF network element generates corresponding policy and charging control (PCC) rules based on the AF request for the sub-service flow with the same QoS demand, so as to perform corresponding QoS processing on the sub-service flow.

[0008] In order to support flow identification and QoS flow mapping in the mixed flow multiplexing scenario, for the uplink direction, the user equipment (UE) side needs to support the capability of the enhanced packet filter group. For example, the UE carries the indication information of its support for the enhanced packet filter group in the process of establishing a data connection session (such as a protocol data unit (PDU) session or other forms of session), and informs the session management function (SMF) network element that the UE supports the enhanced packet filter group or the UE supports the processing of mixed flows. Then, the SMF network element notifies the PCF network element, so as to ensure that the PCF network element can determine to generate the PCC rule for the sub-service flow according to the capability of the UE supporting the enhanced packet filter group when generating the PCC rule (including the service flow description information and the QoS policy corresponding to the service flow).

[0009] However, there are many types of UEs on the market now, some of which support the ability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping (i.e., the ability of an enhanced packet filter group), and some of which do not support the ability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping. For such a complex situation, how to configure reasonable QoS parameters for the traffic flow sent to the UE is an urgent problem to be solved. SUMMARY

[0010] The embodiments of the present application provide a rule generation method, related equipment and a communication system, and the embodiments of the present application are beneficial to realizing corresponding QoS processing of the traffic flow or sub-traffic flow sent to the UE.

[0011] In a first aspect, the embodiments of the present application provide a rule generation method. The method can be applied to a policy function network element, a policy decision network element or a policy control network element. The embodiments of the present application take the PCF network element as an example for description.

[0012] The PCF network element receives the capability information of the UE from the SMF network element, the capability information of the UE being used to determine whether the UE supports the ability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; the PCF network element receives the first QoS request from the AF network element; the first QoS request includes the QoS requirement parameter corresponding to the first traffic flow, and the description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter of the at least two second traffic flows; the first traffic flow includes the at least two second traffic flows or the second traffic flow is a sub-flow of the first traffic flow; the PCF network element generates the target PCC rule based on the capability information of the UE and the first QoS request; the target PCC rule includes the PCC rule for the first traffic flow, or one or more PCC rules for the second traffic flow; the PCC rule for the first traffic flow includes the description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter of the first traffic flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the second traffic flow includes the description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter of one or more second traffic flows; and the PCF network element sends the target PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0013] It can be seen that the PCF network element receives the first QoS request from the AF network element, the first QoS request including the QoS requirement parameter corresponding to the first traffic flow and the description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter of the second traffic flow, and then generates the PCC rule for the first traffic flow or one or more PCC rules for the second traffic flow based on whether the UE supports the ability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the QoS requirement parameter corresponding to the first traffic flow and the description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter of the second traffic flow, and sends the generated PCC rule to the SMF network element, so that the UE has suitable rules for corresponding QoS processing of the first traffic flow or the second traffic flow sent to the UE regardless of whether the UE supports the ability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0014] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the PCF network element generates the target PCC rule based on the capability information of the UE and the first QoS request, including:

[0015] The PCF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE; when the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for the second service flow; when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or the UE cannot identify the second service flow, the target PCC rule includes a PCC rule for the first service flow.

[0016] It can be seen that one or more PCC rules for the second service flow or a PCC rule for the first service flow is generated based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the generated PCC rule is sent to the SMF network element, so that the UE has appropriate rules to perform corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow sent to the UE regardless of whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0017] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first QoS request further includes description information of the first service flow, or the description information of the first service flow is determined based on description information of one or more second service flows.

[0018] It can be seen that when the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of one or more second service flows, the first QoS request does not need to carry the description information of the first service flow, thereby avoiding providing repeated / redundant information.

[0019] In a possible implementation of the first aspect, the first QoS request further includes QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a third service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two fourth service flows; the third service flow includes the at least two fourth service flows or the fourth service flow is a sub-flow of the third service flow; the method further includes: the PCF network element receives capability information of the UPF network element sent by the SMF network element; the PCF network element generates the target PCC rule based on the capability information of the UE and the first QoS request, including:

[0020] The PCF network element generates a target PCC rule based on the capability information of the UE, the capability information of the UPF network element, and the first QoS request. When it is determined based on the capability information of the UPF network element that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule further includes one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow. When it is determined that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UPF network element does not support the capability of identifying and mapping the fourth service flow in the downlink direction, the target PCC rule further includes a PCC rule for the third service flow, and the PCC rule for the third service flow includes description information of the third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters. Each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow includes description information of one or more fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0021] In addition, in the process of generating the target PCC rule by the PCF network element based on the capability information of the UE, the capability information of the UPF network element, and the first QoS request, when it is determined based on the capability information of the UPF network element that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and based on the capability information of the UE that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow and one or more PCC rules for the second service flow. In one possible implementation, the second service flow and the fourth service flow correspond to the uplink and downlink directions of one service flow, that is, each of the one or more PCC rules includes description information of one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters and description information of one or more fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0022] When it is determined based on the capability information of the UPF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and based on the capability information of the UE that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule includes one PCC rule for the third service flow and one PCC rule for the first service flow. In one possible implementation, the third service flow and the first service flow correspond to the uplink and downlink directions of one service flow, that is, the one PCC rule for the third service flow and the one PCC rule for the first service flow can be one PCC rule, which is a PCC rule for the first service flow and the third service flow, and the PCC rule includes description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters and description information of the third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0023] It can be seen that the PCF network element receives the QoS requirement parameters corresponding to the third service flow and the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the fourth service flow from the AF network element, and then generates the PCC rule for the third service flow or one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow based on whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the QoS requirement parameters corresponding to the third service flow and the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the fourth service flow, and sends the generated PCC rule to the SMF network element, so that the UPF network element has appropriate rules to perform corresponding QoS processing on the third service flow or the fourth service flow sent to the application server regardless of whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0024] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes the description information of the third service flow, or the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more fourth service flows.

[0025] It can be seen that when the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more fourth service flows, the first QoS request does not need to carry the description information of the third service flow, avoiding the transmission of repeated / redundant information.

[0026] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation, the description information of the second service flow includes at least one of IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, and data packet filter information such as an identifier of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and enhanced data packet filter information for identifying the second service flow, the enhanced data packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a user datagram protocol (UDP) payload; the description information of the fourth service flow includes at least one of IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, and data packet filter information such as an identifier of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, and enhanced data packet filter information for identifying the fourth service flow, the enhanced data packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload, the first byte being used to indicate a service protocol type of the corresponding UDP; when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is real-time transport protocol (RTP) or secure real-time transport protocol (SRTP), the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field; or when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or real-time transport control protocol (RTCP), the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field. The data packet filter includes IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, transmission direction, IPv4 header service type (Type of Service, ToS), IPv6 header flow label (Flowlabel), and application identifier, etc.

[0027] In combination with the first aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the capability information of the UE includes a protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE, and the determination includes:

[0028] If the protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, the PCF network element determines that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, the PCF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0029] Alternatively,

[0030] The capability information of the UPF network element includes a protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element determines whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element, and the determination includes:

[0031] If the protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, the PCF network element determines that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, the PCF network element determines that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0032] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a rule generation method, which is applied to a PCF network element.

[0033] The PCF network element receives a first QoS request from the AF network element, the first QoS request comprising description information of at least two second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UE cannot identify the second service flow, first notification information is sent to the AF network element, the first notification information being used to notify the AF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping in the uplink direction; the PCF network element receives a second QoS request sent by the AF network element based on the first notification information, the second QoS request comprising description information of a first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the first service flow comprises at least two second service flows or the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow; the PCF network element generates target PCC rules, the target PCC rules comprising a PCC rule for the first service flow, the PCC rule for the first service flow comprising the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters; and the PCF network element sends the target PCC rules to the SMF network element.

[0034] It can be seen that the AF network element defaults that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and therefore the AF network element first sends the description information of the second service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters to the PCF network element, so that the PCF network element generates the PCC rule for the second service flow; when the AF network element knows that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UE cannot identify the second service flow, the AF network element sends the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters to the PCF network element. In this way, the PCF network element can obtain the description information of the second service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters or the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters from the AF network element based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and then the PCF network element can subsequently generate one or more PCC rules for the second service flow or the PCC rule for the first service flow, and send the generated PCC rules to the SMF network element, so that the UE has appropriate rules for performing corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow sent to the UE regardless of whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0035] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first QoS request further comprises description information of at least two fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; and the method of the embodiment further comprises:

[0036] When the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rules further comprise one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow, each PCC rule in the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow comprising description information of one or more fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; or,

[0037] When the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element sends second notification information to the AF network element, the second notification information is used to notify the AF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping in the downlink direction; the PCF network element receives third QoS request sent by the AF network element based on the second notification information, the third QoS request includes description information of a third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the third service flow includes at least two fourth service flows or the fourth service flow is a sub-flow of the third service flow; the target PCC rule further includes a PCC rule for the third service flow, and the PCC rule for the third service flow includes the description information of the third service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0038] It can be seen that the AF network element defaults that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, so the AF network element first sends the description information of the fourth service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters to the PCF network element, so that the PCF network element generates the PCC rule for the fourth service flow; when the AF knows that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping in the downlink direction for the fourth service flow, the AF sends the description information of the third service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters to the PCF network element. In this way, the PCF network element can obtain the description information of the fourth service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters or the description information of the third service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters from the AF network element based on whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and then the PCF network element can subsequently generate one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow or the PCC rule for the third service flow, and send the generated PCC rule to the SMF network element, so that the UPF network element has appropriate rules to perform corresponding QoS processing on the third service flow or the fourth service flow sent to the application server regardless of whether it supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0039] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0040] The PCF network element obtains third notification information from the SMF network element, and the third notification information is used to notify the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0041] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0042] The PCF network element obtains fourth notification information from the SMF network element, and the fourth notification information is used to notify the PCF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or

[0043] The PCF network element acquires third notification information and fourth notification information from the SMF network element, the third notification information being used to notify the PCF network element of the capability of the UE not supporting multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0044] Optionally, the third notification information and the fourth notification information are the same notification information or different notification information.

[0045] It can be seen that, by sending, by the SMF network element, the notification information used to notify the PCF network element of the capability of the UE or the UPF network element not supporting multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping to the PCF network element, the PCF network element knows the notification information of the capability of the UE or the UPF network element not supporting multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and then the PCF network element can subsequently generate corresponding PCC rules, so as to facilitate subsequent corresponding QoS processing of the first service flow sent to the UE and the third service flow sent to the application server. Moreover, the PCF network element does not need to perform the operation of determining whether the UE or the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, which is conducive to reducing the workload of the PCF network element.

[0046] With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0047] The PCF network element sends first prompt information to the SMF network element, the first prompt information being used to prompt the SMF network element to notify the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0048] It can be seen that, by sending the first indication information to the SMF network element, the PCF network element can know the notification information of the capability of the UE or the UPF network element not supporting multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping in time.

[0049] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the description information of the second service flow comprises at least one of packet filter information such as an IP three tuple, an IP five tuple, and an identifier of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and an enhanced packet filter used for identifying the second service flow, wherein the enhanced packet filter comprises a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload; the description information of the fourth service flow comprises at least one of packet filter information such as an IP three tuple, an IP five tuple, and an identifier of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, and an enhanced packet filter used for identifying the fourth service flow, wherein the enhanced packet filter comprises a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload, and the first byte is used for indicating a service protocol type of a corresponding UDP; when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or SRTP, the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field; or when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or RTCP, the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field. The packet filter comprises an IP three tuple, an IP five tuple, a transmission direction, an IPv4 header Type of Service (ToS), an IPv6 header Flowlabel, and an application identifier.

[0050] In a possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the capability information of the UE comprises a protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the PCF network element determines, based on the capability information of the UE, whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, comprising:

[0051] If the protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping comprises the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, the PCF network element determines that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not comprise the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, the PCF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0052] Or,

[0053] The capability information of the UPF network element comprises a protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the PCF network element determines, based on the capability information of the UPF network element, whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, comprising:

[0054] If the protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, the PCF network element determines that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, the PCF network element determines that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0055] With reference to the second aspect, in a possible implementation, the UE does not support the identification of the second service flow and the QoS flow mapping, and the UPF network element does not support the identification of the fourth service flow and the QoS flow mapping, and the PCF network element sends first notification information and second notification information to the AF network element, respectively indicating that the UE does not support the identification of the second service flow and the QoS flow mapping, and the UPF network element does not support the identification of the fourth service flow and the QoS flow mapping. At this time, the first notification information and the second notification information can be the same notification information, or can be different notification information.

[0056] At this time, the AF network element sends the flow description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter and the flow description information of the third service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter to the PCF network element, wherein the first service flow and the third service flow can be the uplink and downlink directions of the same service flow, and at this time, the AF network element can send the flow description information of the same service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter to the PCF network element. The PCF network element correspondingly generates the PCC rule containing the flow description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter and the flow description information of the third service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter.

[0057] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a rule generation method. The method is applied to an SMF network element.

[0058] The SMF network element receives a first PCC rule and a second PCC rule from a PCF network element, wherein the first PCC rule includes a PCC rule for a first service flow, and the second PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for a second service flow; the first service flow includes at least two second service flows or the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow; the SMF network element acquires capability information of a UE, and the capability information of the UE is used to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; and the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the capability information of the UE, the first PCC rule, and the second PCC rule.

[0059] It can be seen that, by generating the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule, whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping is considered, so that the UE, the RAN device and the UPF network element can perform corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow sent to the UE, thereby realizing that no matter whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, there are appropriate rules to perform corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow sent to the UE.

[0060] In combination with the third aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0061] The SMF network element determines, based on the capability information of the UE, whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element generates the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the second PCC rule; if the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UE cannot identify the second service flow, the SMF network element generates the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the first PCC rule.

[0062] It can be seen that, by generating the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule, whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping is considered, so that the UE, the RAN device and the UPF network element can perform corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow sent to the UE, thereby realizing that no matter whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, there are appropriate rules to perform corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow sent to the UE.

[0063] In combination with the third aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0064] The SMF network element receives the third PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule from the PCF network element, wherein the third PCC rule includes a PCC rule for a third service flow, and the fourth PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for a fourth service flow; the fourth service flow is a sub-flow of the third service flow; the SMF network element acquires capability information of the UPF network element; and determines, based on the capability information of the UPF network element, whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping;

[0065] In the premise that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, if the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the second PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule; if the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the capability of identifying and mapping the fourth service flow in the downlink direction is not supported, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the second PCC rule and the third PCC rule.

[0066] In the premise that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UE cannot identify the second service flow, if the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the first PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule; if the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the capability of identifying and mapping the fourth service flow in the downlink direction is not supported, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the first PCC rule and the third PCC rule.

[0067] It can be seen that, in the generation of corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules, the SMF network element considers the third PCC rule or the fourth PCC rule based on whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, so that the UE, the RAN device and the UPF network element can perform corresponding QoS processing on the third service flow or the fourth service flow to the application server, thereby realizing that no matter whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, there is appropriate rule to perform corresponding QoS processing on the third service flow or the fourth service flow to the application server.

[0068] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0069] The SMF network element receives second indication information of the PCF network element, and the second indication information is used to instruct the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule.

[0070] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0071] The SMF network element receives third indication information from the PCF network element, and the third indication information is used to instruct the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the first PCC rule, the second PCC rule, the third PCC rule, and the fourth PCC rule.

[0072] Optionally, the second indication information and the third indication information are the same indication information or different indication information.

[0073] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner, each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow includes description information of the one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow includes description information of the one or more fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters. The PCC rule for the first service flow includes description information of the one or more first service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and the PCC rule for the third service flow includes description information of the one or more third service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0074] The description information of the second service flow includes at least one of IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, identification of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and other packet filter information, and enhanced packet filter information used to identify the second service flow, the enhanced packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload of a packet. The description information of the fourth service flow includes at least one of IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, identification of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, and other packet filter information, and enhanced packet filter information used to identify the fourth service flow, the enhanced packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload of a packet. The first byte is used to indicate a service protocol type of a corresponding UDP. When the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or SRTP, the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field. When the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or RTCP, the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field. The packet filter includes IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, transmission direction, IPv4 header Type of Service (ToS), IPv6 header Flowlabel, and application identification, and the like.

[0075] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the capability information of the UE includes a protocol type that the UE supports for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the SMF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE, including:

[0076] If the protocol type that the UE supports for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, the SMF network element determines that the UE supports the capability for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type that the UE supports for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, the SMF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UE cannot identify the second service flow.

[0077] In combination with the third aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the capability information of the UPF network element includes a protocol type that the UPF network element supports for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the SMF network element determines whether the UPF network element supports the capability for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element, including:

[0078] If the protocol type that the UPF network element supports for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, the SMF network element determines that the UPF network element supports the capability for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type that the UPF network element supports for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, the SMF network element determines that the UPF network element does not support the capability for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the capability for identification of the fourth service flow and QoS flow mapping in the downlink direction is not supported.

[0079] In the fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a rule generation method. The method is applied to a PCF network element.

[0080] The PCF network element receives a first QoS request from an AF network element, the first QoS request including QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a first service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two second service flows; the first service flow includes the at least two second service flows or the second service flows are sub-flows of the first service flow; the PCF network element generates a first PCC rule and a second PCC rule based on the first QoS request, the first PCC rule including a PCC rule for the first service flow, and the second PCC rule including one or more PCC rules for the second service flows, the PCC rule for the first service flow including the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flows including the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows; and the PCF network element sends the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule to an SMF network element, so that the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on capability information of a UE, the first PCC rule, and the second PCC rule, the capability information of the UE being used by the SMF network element to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0081] It can be seen that the PCF network element generates the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule, and sends the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule to the SMF network element, so that the SMF network element selects appropriate PCC rules from the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the capability of whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping is considered, so that the UE, the RAN device, and the UPF network element can perform corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow, and it is realized that no matter whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, appropriate rules are used to perform corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow sent to the UE.

[0082] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first QoS request further includes QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow, or the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more second service flows.

[0083] It can be seen that when the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more second service flows, the first QoS request does not need to carry the description information of the first service flow, which is beneficial to reduce the data amount of the first QoS request.

[0084] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes QoS requirement parameters corresponding to the third service flow, and description information of the one or more fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the method further includes:

[0085] The PCF network element generates third PCC rules and fourth PCC rules based on the first QoS request, the third PCC rules including PCC rules for the third service flow, and the fourth PCC rules including one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow; the PCC rules for the third service flow include description information of the third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow includes description information of the one or more fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the third service flow includes at least two first service flows or the fourth service flow is a sub-flow of the third service flow; and the PCF network element sends the third PCC rules and the fourth PCC rules to the SMF network element, so that the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on capability information of the UE, capability information of the UPF network element, the first PCC rules, the second PCC rules, the third PCC rules, and the fourth PCC rules, the capability information of the UPF being used by the SMF network element to determine whether the UPF supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0086] It can be seen that the PCF network element generates the third PCC rules and the fourth PCC rules, and sends the third PCC rules and the fourth PCC rules to the SMF network element, so that the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules, and the SMF network element considers the third PCC rules or the fourth PCC rules based on whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, so that the UE, the RAN device, and the UPF network element can perform corresponding QoS processing on the third service flow or the fourth service flow, and regardless of whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, there are appropriate rules for performing corresponding QoS processing on the third service flow or the fourth service flow to the application server.

[0087] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes description information of the third service flow, or the description information of the third service flow is determined based on description information of the one or more fourth service flows.

[0088] It can be seen that when the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more fourth service flows, the first QoS request does not need to carry the description information of the third service flow, thereby avoiding providing repeated / redundant information.

[0089] With reference to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

[0090] The PCF network element sends second indication information to the SMF network element, where the second indication information is used to instruct the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule.

[0091] With reference to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method further includes:

[0092] The PCF network element sends third indication information to the SMF network element, where the third indication information is used to instruct the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the first PCC rule, the second PCC rule, the third PCC rule, and the fourth PCC rule.

[0093] Optionally, the second indication information and the third indication information can be different indication information or the same indication information.

[0094] With reference to the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the description information of the second service flow includes at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuples, an identifier of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and the like data packet filter information, and enhanced data packet filter information used to identify the second service flow, the enhanced data packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload, and the description information of the fourth service flow includes at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuples, an identifier of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, and the like data packet filter information, and enhanced data packet filter information used to identify the second service flow, the enhanced data packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload; the first byte is used to indicate a service protocol type of a corresponding UDP; when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or SRTP, the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field; or when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or RTCP, the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field. The data packet filter includes IP triplets, IP quintuples, a transmission direction, a Type of Service (ToS) of an IPv4 header, a Flowlabel of an IPv6 header, and an application identifier, and the like.

[0095] In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a rule generation method.

[0096] The PCF network element receives a first QoS request from an AF network element, the first QoS request including QoS request parameters corresponding to a first service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows; the first service flow includes at least two second service flows or the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow; the PCF network element generates a target PCC rule, the target PCC rule including one or more PCC rules for the second service flow, each of the one or more PCC rules including description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows; the PCF network element sends the target PCC rule to an SMF network element; when the PCF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UE cannot identify the second service flow, the PCF network element modifies the target PCC rule, the modified target PCC rule including a PCC rule for the first service flow, the PCC rule including description information and corresponding QoS request parameters of the first service flow; and the PCF network element sends the modified PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0097] It can be seen that the PCF network element defaults that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and first sends, to the SMF network element, the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow; when the PCF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element re-sends, to the SMF network element, the PCC rule for the first service flow, so that no matter whether the UE network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, there is a suitable rule to perform corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow sent to the UE.

[0098] In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first QoS request further includes description information of the first service flow, or the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more second service flows.

[0099] It can be seen that when the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more second service flows, the first QoS request does not need to carry the description information of the first service flow, thereby avoiding sending of repeated / redundant information.

[0100] In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first QoS request further includes QoS requirement parameters of a third service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more fourth service flows, the third service flow including at least two fourth service flows or the fourth service flow being a sub-flow of the third service flow, the target PCC rule before modification further including one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow, each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow including description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more fourth service flows, and the method further includes:

[0101] The PCF network element determines whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if it is determined that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the capability of identifying and mapping the QoS flow of the fourth service flow in the downlink direction, the modified target PCC rule further includes a PCC rule for the third service flow, and the PCC rule for the third service flow includes description information of the third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0102] It can be seen that the PCF network element defaults that the UPF supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and first sends one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow to the SMF network element; when the PCF network element determines that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element re-sends the PCC rule for the third service flow to the SMF network element, so that the PCF network element generates corresponding PCC rules based on whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and realizes that no matter whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, there is a suitable rule to perform corresponding QoS processing on the third service flow or the fourth service flow sent to the application server.

[0103] In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the first QoS request further includes the description information of the third service flow, or the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more fourth services.

[0104] It can be seen that when the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more fourth services, the first QoS request does not need to carry the description information of the third service flow, thereby avoiding providing repeated / redundant information.

[0105] In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0106] The PCF network element receives third notification information from the SMF network element, and the third notification information is used to notify the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0107] In combination with the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0108] The PCF network element receives fourth notification information from the SMF network element, and the fourth notification information is used to notify the PCF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0109] Optionally, the third notification information and the fourth notification information are the same notification information, or are different notification information.

[0110] With reference to the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0111] The PCF network element sends first prompt information to the SMF network element, where the first prompt information is used to prompt the SMF network element to need to inform the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0112] It can be seen that by prompting the SMF network element to need to inform the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element generates corresponding PCC rules when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and further makes the service flow between the UE and the application server have appropriate rules for corresponding QoS processing.

[0113] With reference to the fifth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the description information of the second service flow includes at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuples, an identifier of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and the like, data packet filter information, and enhanced data packet filter information used to identify the second service flow, the enhanced data packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload, the description information of the fourth service flow includes at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuples, an identifier of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, and the like, data packet filter information, and enhanced data packet filter information used to identify the second service flow, the enhanced data packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload; the first byte is used to indicate a service protocol type of the corresponding UDP; when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or SRTP, the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field; or when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or RTCP, the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field. The data packet filter includes IP triplets, IP quintuples, a transmission direction, a Type of Service (ToS) of an IPv4 header, a Flowlabel of an IPv6 header, and an application identifier, and the like.

[0114] The sixth aspect, the embodiment of the application provides a rule generation method. The method applies the SMF network element.

[0115] The SMF network element receives target PCC rules from the PCF network element, the target PCC rules including one or more PCC rules for the second service flow; each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow includes description information of one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the SMF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element sends first notification information to the PCF network element, the first notification information being used to notify the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; the SMF network element receives modified target PCC rules obtained by the PCF network element based on the first notification information, the target PCC rules including a PCC rule for the first service flow, the PCC rule for the first service flow including description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the first service flow includes at least two second service flows.

[0116] It can be seen that the PCF network element defaults that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, first sends one or more PCC rules for the second service flow to the SMF network element, and when the PCF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, re-sends a PCC rule for the first service flow to the SMF network element, so as to realize that no matter whether the UE network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, there is a suitable rule to perform corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow sent to the UE.

[0117] In combination with the sixth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the target PCC rules from the PCF network element further include one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow; each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow includes description information of one or more fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0118] The SMF network element determines whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; when the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or does not support the capability of identification and QoS flow mapping of the fourth service flow in the downlink direction, the SMF network element sends fourth notification information to the PCF network element, the fourth notification information being used to notify the PCF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or does not support the capability of identification and QoS flow mapping of the fourth service flow in the downlink direction; the modified target PCC rules obtained by the PCF network element based on the fourth notification information further include a PCC rule for the third service flow, the PCC rule for the third service flow including description information of the third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and the third service flow includes at least two fourth service flows.

[0119] It can be seen that the PCF network element defaults the UPF network element to support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, first sends the SMF network element to include one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow, and when the PCF network element determines that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, it is re-sent to the SMF network element to include PCC rules for the third service flow, so that whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, there are appropriate rules for the third service flow or the fourth service flow to the application server Corresponding QoS processing is implemented.

[0120] In combination with the sixth aspect, in one possible implementation manner, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0121] The SMF network element receives the first prompt information from the PCF network element, and the first prompt information is used to prompt the SMF network element to need to notify the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0122] It can be seen that by prompting the SMF network element to need to notify the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element generates corresponding PCC rules when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and further makes the service flow between the UE and the application server Corresponding QoS processing is implemented.

[0123] In a possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the description information of the second service flow comprises at least one of packet filter information such as an IP three tuple, an IP five tuple, and an identifier of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and enhanced packet filter information used for identifying the second service flow, the enhanced packet filter information comprising a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload; the description information of the fourth service flow comprises at least one of packet filter information such as an IP three tuple, an IP five tuple, and an identifier of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, and enhanced packet filter information used for identifying the second service flow, the enhanced packet filter information comprising a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload; the first byte is used for indicating a service protocol type of a corresponding UDP; when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or SRTP, the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field; or when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or RTCP, the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field. The packet filter comprises an IP three tuple, an IP five tuple, a transmission direction, an IPv4 header Type of Service (ToS), an IPv6 header Flowlabel, and an application identifier.

[0124] In a possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the capability information of the UE comprises a protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the SMF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE, comprising:

[0125] If the protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping comprises the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, the SMF network element determines that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not comprise the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, the SMF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or the UE cannot identify the second service flow.

[0126] In a possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the capability information of the UPF network element comprises a protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the SMF network element determines whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element, comprising:

[0127] If the protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, the SMF network element determines that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, the SMF network element determines that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or does not support the capability of identifying and mapping the fourth service flow in the downlink direction.

[0128] In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a rule generation method. The method is applied to an AF network element.

[0129] The AF network element receives capability information of a UE from an application layer of the UE; and the AF network element sends a fourth QoS request to a PCF network element based on the capability information of the UE, the fourth QoS request being used for the PCF network element to generate a target rule; wherein if it is determined based on the capability information of the UE that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the fourth QoS request includes description information of one or more second service flows in the uplink direction and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; if it is determined that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UE cannot identify the second service flow, the fourth QoS request includes description information of a first service flow in the uplink direction and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; and the first service flow includes at least two second service flows.

[0130] It can be seen that the AF network element sends, to the PCF network element, description information of the second service flow and corresponding QoS requirements or description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, so that the PCF network element generates corresponding QoS rules based on the description information of different service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, thereby realizing that appropriate rules are used to perform corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow sent to the UE regardless of whether the UE network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0131] In combination with the seventh aspect, in a possible implementation manner, if the fourth QoS request includes the description information of the one or more second service flows in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters, the target PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for the second service flows in the uplink direction, and each PCC rule in the one or more PCC rules includes the description information of the one or more second service flows in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0132] If the fourth QoS request includes the description information of the first service flow in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter, the target PCC rule includes the PCC rule for the first service flow in the uplink direction, and the PCC rule for the first service flow in the uplink direction includes one or more description information of the first service flow in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter.

[0133] With reference to the seventh aspect, in a possible implementation, the description information of the second service flow includes at least one of packet filter information such as an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, an identifier of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and enhanced packet filter information used for identifying the second service flow, the enhanced packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload of a packet; the first byte is used for indicating a service protocol type corresponding to the UDP; when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or SRTP, the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field; or when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or RTCP, the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field. The packet filter includes an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, a transmission direction, an IPv4 header Type of Service (ToS), an IPv6 header Flowlabel, and an application identifier.

[0134] In the eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a PCF network element, including units or modules for implementing the method provided in the first aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect, or units or modules for implementing the method provided in the second aspect or any possible implementation manner of the second aspect, or units or modules for implementing the method provided in the fourth aspect or any possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, or units or modules for implementing the method provided in the fifth aspect or any possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect.

[0135] In the ninth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an SMF network element, including units or modules for implementing the method provided in the third aspect or any possible implementation manner of the third aspect, or units or modules for implementing the method provided in the sixth aspect or any possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect.

[0136] In the tenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an AF network element, including units or modules for implementing the method provided in the seventh aspect or any possible implementation manner of the seventh aspect.

[0137] In an eleventh aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a communication device, comprising a processor and a memory. The memory is configured to store program code. The processor is configured to invoke the program code stored in the memory to execute the method provided in any one of the first aspect to the seventh aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect to the seventh aspect.

[0138] In a twelfth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer storage medium, comprising computer instructions, when the computer instructions are executed on an electronic device, the electronic device is caused to execute the method provided in any one of the first aspect to the seventh aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect to the seventh aspect.

[0139] In a thirteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a computer program product, when the computer program product is executed on a computer, the computer is caused to execute the method provided in any one of the first aspect to the seventh aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first aspect to the seventh aspect.

[0140] In a fourteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a rule generation method, the method is applied to a communication system, the communication system comprises a PCF network element, an SMF network element and an AF network element, and the method comprises the following steps:

[0141] The SMF network element sends capability information of a UE to the PCF network element, and the capability information of the UE is used to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and quality of service (QoS) flow mapping;

[0142] The AF network element sends a first QoS request to the PCF network element, wherein the first QoS request comprises QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a first service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two second service flows; the first service flow comprises the at least two second service flows;

[0143] The PCF network element generates a target PCC rule based on the capability information of the UE and the first QoS request; the target PCC rule comprises a PCC rule for the first service flow, or one or more PCC rules for the second service flow; the PCC rule for the first service flow comprises the description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow comprises the description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows;

[0144] The PCF network element sends the target PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0145] In a fifteenth aspect, an embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, the communication system comprises a PCF network element, an SMF network element and an AF network element,

[0146] A SMF network element, configured to send capability information of a UE to a PCF network element, wherein the capability information of the UE is used to determine whether the UE supports a capability of multi-flow identification and quality of service (QoS) flow mapping;

[0147] An AF network element, configured to send a first QoS request to a PCF network element, wherein the first QoS request comprises QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a first service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two second service flows; the first service flow comprises the at least two second service flows;

[0148] A PCF network element, configured to generate a target PCC rule based on the capability information of the UE and the first QoS request, wherein the target PCC rule comprises a PCC rule for the first service flow, or one or more PCC rules for the second service flows; the PCC rule for the first service flow comprises the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flows comprises the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows;

[0149] The PCF network element is configured to send the target PCC rule to a SMF network element.

[0150] In a sixteenth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a rule generation method, which is applied to a communication system, the communication system comprising a PCF network element, a SMF network element and an AF network element, and the method comprises the following steps:

[0151] The AF network element sends a first QoS request to the PCF network element, wherein the first QoS request comprises the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the at least two second service flows;

[0152] When the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element sends first notification information to the AF network element, wherein the first notification information is used to notify the AF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping in an uplink direction;

[0153] The AF network element sends a second QoS request to the PCF network element based on the first notification information, wherein the second QoS request comprises the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow; the first service flow comprises the at least two second service flows;

[0154] The PCF network element generates a target PCC rule, wherein the target PCC rule comprises a PCC rule for the first service flow, and the PCC rule for the first service flow comprises the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow;

[0155] The PCF network element sends the target PCC rule to a SMF network element.

[0156] In a seventeenth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system, comprising a PCF network element, an SMF network element and an AF network element,

[0157] the AF network element is configured to send a first QoS request to the PCF network element, the first QoS request comprising description information of at least two second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters;

[0158] the PCF network element is configured to send first notification information to the AF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the first notification information being used to notify the AF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping in the uplink direction;

[0159] the AF network element is configured to send a second QoS request to the PCF network element based on the first notification information, the second QoS request comprising description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, the first service flow comprising the at least two second service flows;

[0160] the PCF network element is configured to generate a target PCC rule, the target PCC rule comprising a PCC rule for the first service flow, the PCC rule for the first service flow comprising the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters;

[0161] the PCF network element is configured to send the target PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0162] In an eighteenth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a rule generation method, the method being applied to a communication system, the communication system comprising a PCF network element, an SMF network element and an AF network element, and the method comprising:

[0163] the AF network element sends a first QoS request to the PCF network element, the first QoS request comprising QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a first service flow, and description information of at least two second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, the first service flow comprising the at least two second service flows;

[0164] the PCF network element generates a first PCC rule and a second PCC rule based on the first QoS request, the first PCC rule comprising a PCC rule for the first service flow, the second PCC rule comprising one or more PCC rules for the second service flows, the PCC rule for the first service flow comprising the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flows comprising description information of one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters;

[0165] the PCF network element sends the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0166] The SMF network element acquires the capability information of the UE, and the capability information of the UE is used to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping;

[0167] The SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the capability information of the UE, the first PCC rule, and the second PCC rule.

[0168] In a nineteenth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system, which comprises a PCF network element, an SMF network element, and an AF network element,

[0169] The AF network element is configured to send a first QoS request to the PCF network element, the first QoS request comprising QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a first service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two second service flows; the first service flow comprising the at least two second service flows.

[0170] The PCF network element is configured to generate a first PCC rule and a second PCC rule based on the first QoS request, the first PCC rule comprising a PCC rule for the first service flow, and the second PCC rule comprising one or more PCC rules for the second service flow, the PCC rule for the first service flow comprising the description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow comprising the description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows.

[0171] The PCF network element is configured to send the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0172] The SMF network element is configured to acquire capability information of the UE, and the capability information of the UE is used to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0173] The SMF network element is configured to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the capability information of the UE, the first PCC rule, and the second PCC rule.

[0174] In a twentieth aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a rule generation method, which is applied to a communication system comprising a PCF network element, an SMF network element, and an AF network element, and the method comprises:

[0175] The AF network element sends a first QoS request to the PCF network element, the first QoS request comprising QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a first service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows; the first service flow comprising the at least two second service flows.

[0176] The PCF network element generates target PCC rules, the target PCC rules including one or more PCC rules for the second service flow, each of the one or more PCC rules including description information of one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters;

[0177] The PCF network element sends the target PCC rules to the SMF network element;

[0178] The SMF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping;

[0179] The SMF network element sends first notification information to the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the first notification information being used to notify the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping;

[0180] The PCF network element modifies the target PCC rules, the modified target PCC rules including a PCC rule for the first service flow, the PCC rule including description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS request parameters;

[0181] The PCF network element sends the modified PCC rules to the SMF network element.

[0182] In a twenty-first aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system, the communication system including a PCF network element, an SMF network element and an AF network element,

[0183] The AF network element is configured to send a first QoS request to the PCF network element, the first QoS request including QoS request parameters corresponding to a first service flow, and description information of one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the first service flow including at least two second service flows;

[0184] The PCF network element is configured to generate target PCC rules, the target PCC rules including one or more PCC rules for the second service flow, each of the one or more PCC rules including description information of one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters;

[0185] The PCF network element is configured to send the target PCC rules to the SMF network element;

[0186] The SMF network element is configured to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping;

[0187] The SMF network element is configured to send first notification information to the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the first notification information being used to notify the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping;

[0188] a PCF network element, configured to modify a target PCC rule, the modified target PCC rule comprising a PCC rule for the first traffic flow, the PCC rule comprising the description information of the first traffic flow and the corresponding QoS request parameter;

[0189] a PCF network element, configured to send the modified PCC rule to an SMF network element.

[0190] In a twenty-second aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a rule generation method, the method being applied to a communication system, the communication system comprising a UE, an AF network element, a PCF network element and an SMF network element. The method comprises:

[0191] an application layer of the UE, configured to send capability information of the UE to the AF network element,

[0192] the AF network element, configured to send a fourth QoS request to the PCF network element based on the capability information of the UE, wherein if it is determined that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE, the fourth QoS request comprises the description information of one or more second traffic flows in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter; if it is determined that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the fourth QoS request comprises the description information of the first traffic flow in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter; the first traffic flow comprises at least two second traffic flows;

[0193] the PCF network element, configured to generate a target PCC rule based on the fourth QoS request, wherein if the fourth QoS request comprises the description information of one or more second traffic flows in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter, the target PCC rule comprises one or more PCC rules for the second traffic flows in the uplink direction, each of the one or more PCC rules comprising the description information of one or more second traffic flows in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter; if the fourth QoS request comprises the description information of the first traffic flow in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter, the target PCC rule comprises a PCC rule for the first traffic flow in the uplink direction, the PCC rule for the first traffic flow in the uplink direction comprising the description information of one or more first traffic flows in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter;

[0194] the PCF network element, configured to send the target PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0195] In a twenty-third aspect, the embodiments of the present application further provide a communication system, the communication system comprising a UE, an AF network element, a PCF network element and an SMF network element,

[0196] an application layer of the UE, configured to send capability information of the UE to the AF network element,

[0197] AF network element, configured to send a fourth QoS request to a PCF network element based on the capability information of the UE, wherein the fourth QoS request comprises description information of one or more second traffic flows in the uplink direction and corresponding QoS requirement parameters if it is determined based on the capability information of the UE that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; the fourth QoS request comprises description information of the first traffic flow in the uplink direction and corresponding QoS requirement parameters if it is determined that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; the first traffic flow comprises at least two second traffic flows;

[0198] a PCF network element, configured to generate a target PCC rule based on the fourth QoS request; if the fourth QoS request comprises description information of one or more second traffic flows in the uplink direction and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, the target PCC rule comprises one or more PCC rules for the second traffic flows in the uplink direction, each of the one or more PCC rules comprising description information of one or more second traffic flows in the uplink direction and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; if the fourth QoS request comprises description information of the first traffic flow in the uplink direction and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, the target PCC rule comprises a PCC rule for the first traffic flow in the uplink direction, the PCC rule for the first traffic flow in the uplink direction comprising description information of one or more first traffic flows in the uplink direction and corresponding QoS requirement parameters;

[0199] a PCF network element, configured to send the target PCC rule to an SMF network element.

[0200] It can be understood that the beneficial effects of the embodiments of the eighth aspect to the twenty-third aspect can refer to the beneficial effects of the methods of the first aspect to the seventh aspect, which will not be described here again. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0201] FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0202] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a rule generation method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0203] FIG. 2a is a schematic diagram of a PCC rule of a second traffic flow;

[0204] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of another rule generation method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0205] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of another rule generation method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0206] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of another rule generation method provided by an embodiment of the present application;

[0207] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of another rule generation method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0208] FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of another rule generation method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0209] FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of another rule generation method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0210] FIG. 9 is an interactive flow diagram of a rule generation method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0211] FIG. 10 is an interactive flow diagram of a rule generation method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0212] FIG. 11 is an interactive flow diagram of a rule generation method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0213] FIG. 12 is an interactive flow diagram of a rule generation method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0214] FIG. 13 is an interactive flow diagram of a rule generation method according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0215] FIG. 14 is a structural diagram of a PCF network element according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0216] FIG. 15 is a structural diagram of a SMF network element according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0217] FIG. 16 is a structural diagram of an AF network element according to an embodiment of the present application;

[0218] FIG. 17 is a structural diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present application. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0219] The terms "first", "second", "third", and "fourth" and the like in the description and claims of the present application and the accompanying drawings are used to distinguish between similar objects, not to describe a particular sequential order.

[0220] "Multiple" means two or more. "And / or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, indicating that there are three relationships, for example, A and / or B means that there are three cases of A alone, A and B together, and B alone. The character " / " generally represents that the associated objects before and after are in an "or" relationship.

[0221] Embodiments of the present application are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0222] Referring to FIG. 1, FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a communication system architecture provided by an embodiment of the present application. The communication system is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a fifth generation mobile communication technology (5th Generation Mobile Networks, 5G). It includes a (radio) access network ((radio) access network, (R)AN, expressed as RAN equipment and a core network (core network, CN) two parts. The RAN equipment is used to provide network access functions for authorized user equipment (User Equipment, UE) in a specific area, and can use different quality transmission tunnels according to the level of the UE, the demand of the service, etc. For example, the RAN equipment can manage radio resources to provide access services for the UE, and then complete the forwarding of control information and / or data information between the UE and the CN.

[0223] In order to facilitate understanding of the embodiments of the present application, first, an application scenario of the embodiments of the present application is described in detail in combination with FIG. 1.

[0224] 1. User equipment (user equipment, UE): can be referred to as a terminal device, a terminal, an access terminal, a user unit, a user station, a mobile station, a mobile station, a remote station, a remote terminal, a mobile device, a user terminal, a wireless communication device, a user agent or a user device. The terminal device can also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (session initiation protocol, SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (wireless local loop, WLL) station, a personal digital processor (personal digital assistant, PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication function, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle-mounted device, a drone, a wearable device, a terminal device in a 5G network or a terminal device in an evolved public land mobile network (public land mobile network, PLMN), etc. The embodiments of the present application are not limited thereto.

[0225] 2、Access network (AN): provides network access functions for authorized users in a specific area, and can use different quality transmission tunnels according to the level of users, service requirements, etc. The access network can be an access network using different access technologies. Current access network technologies include: wireless access network technologies used in the 3rd generation (3G) system, wireless access network technologies used in the 4th generation (4G) system, or next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) technologies (such as wireless access technologies used in the 5G system, etc.).

[0226] The access network that implements the access network function based on wireless communication technology can be referred to as a radio access network (RAN). The radio access network can manage radio resources and provide access services for terminals, thereby completing the forwarding of control signals and user data between terminals and core networks.

[0227] The radio access network device can be, for example, a base station (NodeB), an evolved NodeB (eNB or eNodeB), a next generation Node base station (gNB) in a 5G mobile communication system, a base station in a future mobile communication system, or an access point (AP) in a wifi wireless hotspot system, etc. It can also be a wireless controller in a cloud radio access network (CRAN) scenario, or it can be a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a drone, a wearable device, a network device in a 5G network, or a network device in an evolved PLMN, etc. The embodiments of the present application do not limit the specific technology and specific device form of the radio access network device.

[0228] 3、Access management network element: mainly used for mobility management and access management, responsible for transferring user policies between user equipment and PCF network elements, etc., and can be used to implement other functions in the mobility management entity (MME) function except session management. For example, the function of access authorization (authentication).

[0229] In 5G communication systems, the access management network element can be an access and mobility management function (AMF) network element. In future communication systems, the access management network element can still be an AMF network element, or it can have other names; this application does not limit this.

[0230] 4. Session Management Network Element: Primarily used for session management, allocation and management of Internet Protocol (IP) addresses for user equipment, selection of manageable user plane functions, policy control and charging function interface endpoints, and downlink data communication.

[0231] In 5G communication systems, the session management network element can be an SMF network element. In future communication systems, the session management network element can still be an SMF network element, or it can have other names; this application does not limit this.

[0232] 5. User plane network elements: used for packet routing and forwarding, QoS processing of user plane data, completion of user plane data forwarding, session / flow-level billing statistics, bandwidth limiting functions, etc.

[0233] In 5G communication systems, user plane network elements can be UPF network elements. In future communication systems, user plane network elements can still be UPF network elements, or they can have other names; this application does not limit this.

[0234] 6. Data network element: A network used to provide data transmission.

[0235] In 5G communication systems, data network elements can be data network (DN) elements. In future communication systems, data network elements can still be DN elements, or they can have other names; this application does not limit this.

[0236] 7. Policy control network element: A unified policy framework used to guide network behavior, providing policy rule information to control plane functional network elements (such as AMF, SMF, etc.).

[0237] In 4G communication systems, this policy control network element can be a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) network element. In 5G communication systems, this policy control network element can be a PCF network element. In future communication systems, this policy control network element can still be a PCF network element, or it can have other names; this application does not limit its scope.

[0238] 8. Data management network element: used to handle user equipment identification, access authentication, registration, and mobility management, etc.

[0239] In the 5G communication system, the data management network element can be a unified data management (UDM) network element; in the 4G communication system, the data management network element can be a home subscriber server (HSS) network element. In future communication systems, the data management network element can still be a UDM network element, or can also have other names, which are not limited in the present application.

[0240] 9. Network exposure function (NEF) network element: used to safely open services and capabilities provided by 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) network functions to the outside.

[0241] 10. Application function (AF) network element: provides certain application layer services to the UE, and the AF has requirements for QoS policies and charging policies when providing services to the UE, and needs to inform the network. At the same time, the AF also needs to obtain information related to the application from the core network. The AF can have all the functions of the AF defined in the technological specification (TS) 23.901 R-15 version, and also have related functions for application services. That is, in the user plane architecture, the application server (AS) and the UE communicate through the UE-RAN-UPF-AF path. The AF can also communicate with other network function (NF) network elements in the 5G core network (5GC) through the NEF in the control plane architecture. For example, through the NEF network element to communicate with the PCF network element. If the AF is arranged by the operator of the 5GC, the AF network element can also directly communicate with other NF network elements in the 5GC without going through the NEF network element in the control plane architecture, such as directly communicating with the PCF network element.

[0242] 11. Network data analysis function (NWDAF) network element: can be used to collect data from network elements, AFs, and operation administration and maintenance (OAM) sides, and analyze the data through machine learning, artificial intelligence, and the like, and feed back to network elements, AFs, and the like for network or service configuration optimization, thereby providing better network quality and service experience.

[0243] 12. Network repository function (NRF) network element: can be used to provide network element discovery functions, and provide network element information corresponding to network element types based on requests of other network elements. The NRF network element also provides network element management services, such as network element registration, update, deregistration, and network element state subscription and push.

[0244] 13. Authentication server function (AUSF) network element: mainly responsible for authenticating users to determine whether to allow users or devices to access the network.

[0245] 14. Service communication proxy (SCP) network element: can be used for direct or indirect communication of NFs, and service requests of NFs can be proxied by SCP.

[0246] In FIG. 1, N1, N2, N3, N4, N6, N9, Nnwdaf, Nnef, Nnrf, Npcf, Nudm, Naf, Nausf, Namf, and Nsmf are interface serial numbers. The meanings of these interface serial numbers can be referred to the meanings defined in 3GPP TS 23.901.

[0247] It should be understood that the network architecture described above applied to the embodiments of the present application is only illustrative, and the network architecture applicable to the embodiments of the present application is not limited thereto, and any network architecture capable of realizing the functions of the above network elements is applicable to the embodiments of the present application.

[0248] It should also be understood that the AMF network element, SMF network element, UPF network element, NEF network element, PCF network element, UDM network element, NWDAF network element, NRF network element, AUSF network element, SCP network element, and the like shown in FIG. 1 can be understood as network elements in the core network for realizing different functions, for example, can be combined into network slices as needed. These core network network elements can be independent devices or can be integrated into the same device to realize different functions, and the present application does not limit the specific form of the above network elements.

[0249] It should also be understood that the above naming is only defined for the convenience of distinguishing different functions, and should not constitute any limitation on the present application. The present application does not exclude the possibility of using other names in 5G networks and future other networks. For example, in a 6G network, part or all of the above-mentioned networks can use the terms in 5G, or other names, etc. The interface names between the network elements in FIG. 1 are only an example, and the names of the interfaces in the specific implementation can be other names, which are not limited in the present application. In addition, the names of the messages (or signaling) transmitted between the above-mentioned network elements are also only an example, and do not constitute any limitation on the functions of the messages themselves.

[0250] Referring to FIG. 2, FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of a rule generation method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method is applied to the PCF network element in the 5G system shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 2, the method comprises:

[0251] S201, the PCF network element receives the capability information of the UE from the SMF network element, wherein the capability information of the UE is used to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0252] Optionally, the capability information of the UE includes indication information indicating whether the UE supports the capability of identifying sub-service flows, indication information indicating whether the UE supports the capability of enhanced packet filter group, or a protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, such as multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping supporting RTP or SRTP.

[0253] S202, the PCF network element receives a first QoS request from the AF network element.

[0254] The first QoS request includes QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a first service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two second service flows; the first service flow includes the at least two second service flows, in other words, the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow.

[0255] The description information of the second service flow includes at least one of packet filter information such as an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, and an identifier of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and enhanced packet filter information used to identify the second service flow. The enhanced packet filter information includes a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload of a packet; the first byte is used to indicate a service protocol type corresponding to the UDP; when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or SRTP, the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field; or when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or RTCP, the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field. The packet filter includes an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, a transmission direction, an IPv4 header Type of Service (ToS), an IPv6 header Flowlabel, and an application identifier.

[0256] In S203, the PCF network element generates a target PCC rule based on the capability information of the UE and the first QoS request.

[0257] The target PCC rule includes a PCC rule for the first service flow, or one or more PCC rules for the second service flow. The PCC rule for the first service flow includes description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters. Each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow includes description information of one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0258] As shown in FIG. 2a, one of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow includes description information of the second service flow A and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, description information of the second service flow B and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and description information of the second service flow C and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0259] It should be noted that the description information of the second service flow with the same QoS requirement and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters included in the one PCC rule are the description information of the second service flow A, the description information of the second service flow B, and the description information of the second service flow C, and the QoS requirement parameters of any one of the second service flow A, the second service flow B, and the second service flow C.

[0260] Specifically, the PCF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE; when the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for the second service flow; when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or the UE cannot identify the second service flow, the target PCC rule includes the PCC rule for the first service flow.

[0261] Optionally, the description information of the first service flow is carried in the first QoS request, or the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more second service flows.

[0262] It is pointed out here that the description information of the first service flow includes at least one of packet filter information such as IP triplets, IP quintuples, and an identifier of an application corresponding to the first service flow. The packet filter includes IP triplets, IP quintuples, transmission direction, IPv4 header Type of Service (ToS), IPv6 header Flowlabel, and application identifier, etc.

[0263] Since the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow, the description information of the second service flow is the same as that of the first service flow except for the enhanced packet filter information. In other words, the description information of the second service flow contains the description information of the first service flow and the enhanced packet filter information. In one example, the first QoS request includes the QoS requirement parameter of the first service flow, and the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameter of the one or more second service flows. The PCF network element generates the PCC rule for the first service flow based on part of the description information of the one or more second service flows (i.e., information in the description information of the second service flow except for the first byte and the second byte) and the QoS requirement parameter of the first service flow. Or generates one or more PCC rules for the second service flow based on the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameter of the one or more second service flows. In this case, since the first QoS request does not need to carry the description information of the first service flow, it is beneficial to avoid the transmission of repeated / redundant information.

[0264] In one specific example, the capability information of the UE includes indication information for indicating whether the UE supports the capability of identifying sub-service flows, if the indication information indicates that the UE supports the capability of identifying sub-service flows, the PCF network element determines that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the indication information indicates that the UE does not support the capability of identifying sub-service flows, the PCF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0265] In another specific example, the capability information of the UE includes indication information indicating whether the UE supports the capability of the enhanced packet filter group, and if the indication information indicates that the UE supports the capability of the enhanced packet filter group, the PCF network element determines that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the indication information indicates that the UE does not support the capability of the enhanced packet filter group, the PCF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0266] In another specific example, the capability information of the UE includes a protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated in the description information of the second service flow (such as the protocol type information in the enhanced data packet filter information in the second service flow description information), the PCF network element determines that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping. If the protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated in the first byte of the description information of the second service flow, the PCF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0267] In a feasible implementation, the first QoS request further includes QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a third service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two fourth service flows. The third service flow includes the at least two fourth service flows or the fourth service flow is a sub-flow of the third service flow; the method of the embodiment further includes: the PCF network element receives capability information of the UPF network element sent by the SMF network element; and the PCF network element generates target PCC rules based on the capability information of the UE and the first QoS request, including:

[0268] The PCF network element generates target PCC rules based on the UE capability information, the UPF network element capability information, and the first QoS request. When it is determined based on the UE capability information that the UE network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and based on the UPF network element capability information that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rules include one or more PCC rules for the second service flow and one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow; when it is determined that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rules include one or more PCC rules for the second service flow and a PCC rule for the third service flow; when it is determined that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rules include one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow and a PCC rule for the first service flow; and when it is determined that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rules include a PCC rule for the first service flow and a PCC rule for the third service flow. The PCC rule for the third service flow includes description information of the third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow includes description information of one or more fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0269] In another possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a third service flow, and description information of at least two fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters. The third service flow includes the at least two fourth service flows or the fourth service flows are sub-flows of the third service flow. The method further includes: receiving, by the PCF network element, the capability information of the UPF network element sent by the SMF network element; and generating, by the PCF network element, target PCC rules based on the capability information of the UPF network element and the first QoS request.

[0270] When the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rules include one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow; and when the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rules include a PCC rule for the third service flow.

[0271] The specific description of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow can be referred to the related description of FIG. 2a, which is not described herein again.

[0272] The description information of the fourth service flow can be referred to the related description of the description information of the second service flow, which is not described herein again.

[0273] Optionally, the description information of the third service flow is carried in the first QoS request, or the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of one or more fourth service flows.

[0274] Since the fourth service flow is a sub-flow of the third service flow, the description information of the fourth service flow is the same as the description information of the third service flow except for the enhanced packet filter information, in other words, the description information of the fourth service flow contains the description information of the third service flow. In one example, the first QoS request includes the QoS requirement parameters of the third service flow, and the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more fourth service flows. The PCF network element generates the PCC rule for the third service flow based on part of the information in the description information of one or more fourth service flows (i.e., the information in the description information of the fourth service flow except for the first byte and the second byte) and the QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow, and generates one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow based on the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more fourth service flows. In this case, since the first QoS request does not need to carry the description information of the third service flow, it is beneficial to further avoid the transmission of redundant / repeated information.

[0275] The capability information of the UPF includes indication information for indicating whether the UPF network element supports the capability of identifying sub-service flows, indication information for indicating whether the UPF network element supports the capability of supporting the enhanced packet filter group, or the protocol type supported by the UPF network element for supporting the multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping. The specific implementation process of the PCF network element determining whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element can refer to the foregoing description of the PCF network element determining whether the UE network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE network element, which will not be described here.

[0276] It should be noted that the first service flow and the third service flow are uplink service flow and downlink service flow of the same service, for example, the service is a video service, the first service flow is an uplink video service flow, and the third service flow is a downlink video service flow; for another example, the service is an audio service, the first service flow is an uplink audio service flow, and the third service flow is a downlink audio service flow. The relationship between the second service flow and the fourth service flow is the same as the relationship between the first service flow and the third service flow, which will not be described here.

[0277] Optionally, the PCF network element additionally considers local configuration for the above decision.

[0278] Optionally, the PCF network element generates target PCC rules based on the capability information of the UE, the capability information of the UPF network element and the first QoS request, when it is determined based on the capability information of the UPF network element that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and it is determined based on the capability information of the UE that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rules include one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow and one or more PCC rules for the second service flow. In one possible implementation, the second service flow and the fourth service flow correspond to the uplink and downlink directions of one service flow, i.e., each of the one or more PCC rules contains the description information of one or more second service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters and the description information of one or more fourth service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0279] When it is determined based on the capability information of the UPF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and it is determined based on the capability information of the UE that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rules include one PCC rule for the third service flow and one PCC rule for the first service flow. In one possible implementation, the third service flow and the first service flow correspond to the uplink and downlink directions of one service flow, i.e., the one PCC rule for the third service flow and the one PCC rule for the first service flow are one PCC rule for the first service flow and the third service flow, which contains the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters and the description information of the third service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0280] S204, the PCF network element sends the target PCC rules to the SMF network element.

[0281] It is pointed out here that the purpose of the PCF network element sending the target PCC rules to the SMF network element is to enable the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the target PCC rules. The packet detection and processing rules include data packet detection rules, data packet forwarding rules and QoS processing rules. It is pointed out that the packet detection and processing rules can be referred to as N4 rules, and of course can also be other names, which are not limited here.

[0282] The QoS rule is sent to the UE, the QoS rule includes QoS parameter information and identification information of a corresponding QoS flow, the QoS configuration is sent to the RAN device, the QoS configuration includes QoS parameters corresponding to the QoS flow, and the packet detection and processing rule is sent to the UPF network element, the packet detection and processing rule includes QoS parameter information and identification information of a corresponding QoS flow. When the target PCC rule includes a PCC rule for the first service flow or one or more PCC rules for the second service flow, the QoS rule further includes a first packet filter group, and optionally, the QoS rule can further include a packet filter group. When the target PCC rule includes a PCC rule for the third service flow or one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow, the packet detection and processing rule further includes a second packet filter group, and optionally, the packet detection and processing rule can further include a packet filter group.

[0283] When the target PCC rule includes a PCC rule for the first service flow, the first packet filter group includes description information of the first service flow, and the description information includes at least one of IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, and identification of an application corresponding to the first service flow. When the target PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for the second service flow, the first packet filter group includes description information of the second service flow, and the description information includes at least one of IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, and identification of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and enhanced packet filter information for identifying the second service flow. When the target PCC rule includes a PCC rule for the third service flow, the second packet filter group includes description information of the third service flow, and the description information includes at least one of IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, and identification of an application corresponding to the third service flow. When the target PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow, the second packet filter group includes description information of the fourth service flow, and the description information includes at least one of IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, and identification of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, and enhanced packet filter information for identifying the fourth service flow.

[0284] It can be seen that in the scheme of the embodiment, the PCF network element receives the QoS requirement parameters corresponding to the first service flow and the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the second service flow from the AF network element, and then generates the PCC rule for the first service flow or one or more PCC rules for the second service flow based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the QoS requirement parameters corresponding to the first service flow, and the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the second service flow, and sends the generated PCC rule to the SMF network element, so that the UE has appropriate rules for corresponding QoS processing of the first service flow or the second service flow sent to the UE regardless of whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping. When the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of one or more second service flows, the first QoS request does not need to carry the description information of the first service flow, which is beneficial to avoid providing repeated / redundant information. When the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of one or more fourth service flows, the first QoS request does not need to carry the description information of the third service flow, which is beneficial to further avoid providing repeated / redundant information.

[0285] Referring to FIG. 3, FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of another rule generation method provided by the embodiments of the present application. The method is applied to the SMF network element in the 5G system shown in FIG. 1. The method comprises:

[0286] S301, the PCF network element receives a first QoS request from the AF network element.

[0287] The first QoS request comprises description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two second service flows.

[0288] It should be pointed out here that the description information of the second service flow can be referred to the related description of S202, which will not be described here. The AF network element defaults that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, so the AF network element will preferentially send the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the second service flow to the PCF network element.

[0289] S302, when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element sends first notification information to the AF network element.

[0290] The first notification information is used to notify the AF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or the uplink direction does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or the UE cannot support the identification and QoS flow mapping of the second service flow, or the network cannot support the identification and QoS flow mapping of the second service flow.

[0291] It is to be noted that, since whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping only has an impact on the uplink service flow of the sending UE, the capability of not supporting multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping in the uplink direction is the same as the capability of not supporting multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping of the UE.

[0292] S303, the PCF network element receives the second QoS request sent by the AF network element based on the first notification information.

[0293] Optionally, the second QoS request includes the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter, or the second QoS request only includes the QoS requirement parameter of the first service flow and does not include the description information of the first service flow. The description information of the first service flow can be determined by the PCF network element based on the description information of one or more second service flows. It is to be noted that the relationship between the description information of the first service flow and the description information of the second service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described herein.

[0294] The first service flow includes at least two second service flows, in other words, the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow.

[0295] S304, the PCF network element generates a target PCC rule.

[0296] The target PCC rule includes the PCC rule for the first service flow, and the PCC rule for the first service flow includes the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter.

[0297] In one possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes the description information of at least two fourth service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter; the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0298] When the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule further includes one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow, and each PCC rule in the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow includes the description information of one or more fourth service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter; or,

[0299] When the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the downlink direction does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element sends second notification information to the AF network element, the second notification information is used to notify the AF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the downlink direction does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; the PCF network element receives third QoS request sent by the AF network element based on the second notification information, the third QoS request includes description information of the third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the third service flow includes at least two fourth service flows; the target PCC rule further includes a PCC rule for the third service flow, and the PCC rule for the third service flow includes the description information of the third service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0300] It should be pointed out here that the description information of the fourth service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be described here. The AF network element defaults that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, so the AF network element will preferentially send the description information of the fourth service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters to the PCF network element.

[0301] Optionally, the description information of the third service flow is carried in the third QoS request, or the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of one or more fourth service flows. It should be pointed out here that the relationship between the description information of the third service flow and the description information of the fourth service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be described here.

[0302] Among them, the third service flow includes at least two fourth service flows, in other words, the fourth service flow is a sub-flow of the third service flow.

[0303] It should be pointed out here that since whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping only has an impact on the downlink service flow of the sending application server, the capability of the downlink direction not supporting multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping is the same as the capability of the UPF network element not supporting multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping. The relationship between the first service flow and the third service flow, and the relationship between the second service flow and the fourth service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be described here.

[0304] In one possible implementation, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0305] The PCF network element obtains third notification information from the SMF network element, and the third notification information is used to notify the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0306] In one possible implementation, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0307] The PCF network element obtains fourth notification information from the SMF network element, the fourth notification information being used to notify the PCF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or

[0308] The PCF network element obtains third notification information and fourth notification information from the SMF network element, the third notification information being used to notify the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0309] Optionally, the third notification information and the fourth notification information are the same notification information or different notification information.

[0310] The SMF network element sends, to the PCF network element, notification information used to notify the PCF network element that the UE or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, so that the PCF network element knows the notification information that the UE or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and then the PCF network element can subsequently generate corresponding PCC rules, facilitating subsequent corresponding QoS processing of the first service flow sent to the UE and the third service flow sent to the application server. Moreover, the PCF network element does not need to perform the operation of determining whether the UE or the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, which is conducive to reducing the workload of the PCF network element.

[0311] In combination with the second aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the UE does not support identification and QoS flow mapping of the second service flow, and the UPF network element does not support identification and QoS flow mapping of the fourth service flow, and the PCF sends first notification information and second notification information to the AF network element, respectively used to indicate that the UE does not support identification and QoS flow mapping of the second service flow, and the UPF network element does not support identification and QoS flow mapping of the fourth service flow. At this time, the first notification information and the second notification information can be the same notification information or different notification information.

[0312] At this time, the AF network element sends, to the PCF network element, flow description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow and flow description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the third service flow, wherein the first service flow and the third service flow can be uplink and downlink directions of the same service flow, and at this time, the AF network element can send, to the PCF network element, flow description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the same service flow. The PCF network element correspondingly generates a PCC rule containing the flow description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow and the flow description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the third service flow.

[0313] In a possible implementation manner, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0314] The PCF network element sends first prompt information to the SMF network element, and the first prompt information is used to prompt the SMF network element to need to inform the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0315] It can be seen that by sending the first indication information to the SMF network element, the PCF network element is facilitated to know the notification information that the UE or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping in time.

[0316] In S305, the PCF network element sends target PCC rules to the SMF network element.

[0317] It is pointed out here that the purpose of the PCF network element sending the target PCC rules to the SMF network element is to make the SMF network element generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the target PCC rules. The packet detection and processing rules include data packet detection rules, data packet forwarding rules and QoS processing rules. It is pointed out that the packet detection and processing rules can be referred to as N4 rules, and of course can also be other names, which are not limited here.

[0318] It is pointed out here that the description of the target PCC rules, the first packet filter group and the second packet filter group can refer to the related description of the corresponding embodiments of FIG. 2, which will not be described here.

[0319] It can be seen that the AF network element defaults the capability of the UE or the UPF network element to support multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and therefore the AF network element first sends the description information of the second service flow or the fourth service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter to the PCF network element, so that the PCF network element generates the PCC rule for the second service flow or the fourth service flow; when the AF knows that the UE or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the AF sends the description information of the first service flow or the third service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter to the PCF network element. In this way, the PCF network element can obtain the description information of the second service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter or the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter from the AF network element based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and obtain the description information of the fourth service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter or the description information of the third service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter from the AF network element based on whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and then enable the PCF network element to subsequently generate one or more PCC rules for the second service flow, or a PCC rule for the first service flow, or one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow, or a PCC rule for the third service flow, and send the generated PCC rule to the SMF network element, so that the UE or the UPF network element has appropriate rules to perform corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow sent to the UE or on the third service flow or the fourth service flow sent to the application server, regardless of whether the UE or the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0320] Referring to FIG. 4, FIG. 4 is a flow diagram of another rule generation method provided by the embodiments of the present application. The method is applied to the SMF network element in the 5G system shown in FIG. 1. The method comprises:

[0321] S401, the SMF network element receives the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule from the PCF network element.

[0322] The first PCC rule comprises a PCC rule for the first service flow, and the second PCC rule comprises one or more PCC rules for the second service flow. The first service flow comprises at least two second service flows, in other words, the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow.

[0323] The PCC rule for the first service flow comprises the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter, and the description information of the first service flow comprises at least one of an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, and an identifier of an application corresponding to the first service flow. Each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow comprises the description information of the one or more second service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter.

[0324] It is pointed out here that the specific description of the description information of the second service flow and the description information of the first service flow can refer to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described here.

[0325] S402, the SMF network element acquires the capability information of the UE.

[0326] The capability information of the UE is used to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0327] In one example, the SMF network element receives the capability information of the UE sent by the UE through the AMF network element.

[0328] In one example, the capability information of the UE includes indication information indicating whether the UE supports the capability of identifying sub-service flows, indication information indicating whether the UE supports the capability of enhanced packet filter groups, or a protocol type in which the UE supports multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0329] S403, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the capability information of the UE and the first PCC rule, or based on the capability information of the UE and the second PCC rule.

[0330] In one possible implementation, the SMF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the UE capability information; if the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the second PCC rule; if the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UE cannot identify the second service flow, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the first PCC rule. The packet detection and processing rules include data packet detection rules, data packet forwarding rules, and QoS processing rules. It is pointed out that the packet detection and processing rules can be referred to as N4 rules, and of course can also be other names, which are not limited here.

[0331] The QoS rule is sent to the UE, the QoS rule includes a first packet filter group, QoS parameter information, and identification information of a corresponding QoS flow, the QoS configuration is sent to the RAN device, the QoS configuration includes QoS parameters corresponding to the QoS flow, and the packet detection and processing rule is sent to the UPF network element, the packet detection and processing rule includes QoS parameter information and identification information of a corresponding QoS flow. Optionally, the packet detection and processing rule can include a packet filter group. When the QoS rule is generated based on the first PCC rule, the first packet filter group includes description information of the first service flow, and the description information of the first service flow includes at least one of IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, and identification of an application corresponding to the first service flow. When the QoS rule is generated based on the second PCC rule, the first packet filter group includes description information of the second service flow, and the description information of the second service flow includes at least one of IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, and identification of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and enhanced packet filter information used for identifying the second service flow.

[0332] It should be noted that the specific process of determining whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, and will not be described here.

[0333] In a feasible implementation, the SMF network element receives second indication information from the PCF network element, the second indication information being used to instruct the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the first PCC rule or the second PCC rule.

[0334] In a feasible implementation, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0335] The SMF network element receives third PCC rules and fourth PCC rules from the PCF network element, the third PCC rules including PCC rules for a third service flow, and the fourth PCC rules including one or more PCC rules for a fourth service flow; the third service flow includes at least two fourth service flows, in other words, the fourth service flow is a sub-flow of the third service flow; the SMF network element acquires capability information of the UPF network element; and based on the capability information of the UPF network element, it is determined whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0336] When the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, if the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the second PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule; if the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the capability of identifying and mapping the fourth service flow in the downlink direction is not supported, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the second PCC rule and the third PCC rule.

[0337] When the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, if the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the first PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule; if the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the first PCC rule and the third PCC rule.

[0338] The PCC rule for the third service flow includes one or more description information of the third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and the description information of the third service flow includes at least one of an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple and an identifier of an application corresponding to the third service flow. Each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow includes one or more description information of the fourth service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0339] It should be noted that the specific description of the description information of the third service flow and the description information of the fourth service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described herein. The specific description of the capability information of the UPF network element can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described herein.

[0340] When the PCC rule based on which the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules are generated includes the first PCC rule or the second PCC rule, the QoS rules further include a first packet filter group; when the PCC rule based on which the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules are generated includes the third PCC rule or the fourth PCC rule, the packet detection and processing rules further include a second packet filter group.

[0341] When the PCC rule based on which the corresponding QoS rule, QoS configuration and packet detection and processing rule are generated comprises the first PCC rule, the description information of the first service flow included in the first packet filter group comprises at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuples and identification of an application corresponding to the first service flow, etc. data packet filter information; when the PCC rule based on which the corresponding QoS rule, QoS configuration and packet detection and processing rule are generated comprises the second PCC rule, the description information of the second service flow included in the first packet filter group comprises at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuples and identification of an application corresponding to the second service flow, etc. data packet filter information and enhanced data packet filter information for identifying the second service flow; when the PCC rule based on which the corresponding QoS rule, QoS configuration and packet detection and processing rule are generated comprises the third PCC rule, the description information of the third service flow included in the second packet filter group comprises at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuples and identification of an application corresponding to the third service flow, etc. data packet filter information; when the PCC rule based on which the corresponding QoS rule, QoS configuration and packet detection and processing rule are generated comprises the fourth PCC rule, the description information of the fourth service flow included in the second packet filter group comprises at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuples and identification of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, etc. data packet filter information and enhanced data packet filter information for identifying the fourth service flow.

[0342] In a feasible implementation, the SMF network element receives third indication information from the PCF network element, the third indication information being used to instruct the SMF network element to generate the corresponding QoS rule, QoS configuration and packet detection and processing rule based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the first PCC rule, the second PCC rule, the third PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule.

[0343] Optionally, the second indication information and the third indication information are the same indication information or different indication information.

[0344] It is to be noted that the specific process of determining whether the UPF supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described herein. The relationship between the first service flow and the third service flow and the relationship between the second service flow and the fourth service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described herein.

[0345] It can be seen that in the scheme of the embodiment, when the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules are generated based on the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule, whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping is considered, so that the UE, the RAN device and the UPF network element can perform corresponding QoS processing for the first service flow or the second service flow. Further, when the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules are generated, the SMF network element considers the third PCC rule or the fourth PCC rule based on whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, so that the UE, the RAN device and the UPF network element can perform corresponding QoS processing for the third service flow or the fourth service flow. In other words, the SMF network element generates the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE and / or the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, so that the UE, the RAN device and the UPF network element can perform corresponding QoS processing for the first service flow and the second service flow in the uplink direction and the third service flow or the fourth service flow in the downlink direction, thereby realizing that whether the UE or the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, there are appropriate rules for corresponding QoS processing for the first service flow and the second service flow in the uplink direction and the third service flow or the fourth service flow in the downlink direction.

[0346] Referring to FIG. 5, FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of another rule generation method provided by the embodiment. The method is applied to the PCF network element in the 5G system shown in FIG. 1. The method comprises:

[0347] S501, the PCF network element receives a first QoS request from the AF network element.

[0348] In one example, the first QoS request includes QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows.

[0349] The first service flow includes at least two second service flows, in other words, the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow.

[0350] Optionally, the first QoS request further includes description information of the first service flow.

[0351] S502, the PCF network element generates a first PCC rule and a second PCC rule based on the first QoS request.

[0352] The first PCC rule includes a PCC rule for the first service flow, and the second PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for the second service flow. The PCC rule for the first service flow includes description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters. Each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow includes description information of one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0353] It is pointed out here that the specific description of the description information of the second service flow and the description information of the first service flow can refer to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described here.

[0354] In one example, the first QoS request includes the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and the description information of the one or more second service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters. The PCF network element generates the PCC rule for the first service flow based on the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and generates the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow based on the description information of the one or more second service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0355] Since the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow, the information in the description information of the second service flow except the first byte and the second byte is the same as the description information of the first service flow, in other words, the description information of the second service flow contains the description information of the first service flow. In one example, the first QoS request includes the QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow, and the description information of the one or more second service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters. The PCF network element generates the PCC rule for the first service flow based on part of the information in the description information of the one or more second service flows (i.e., the information in the description information of the second service flow except the first byte and the second byte) and the QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow, and generates the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow based on the description information of the one or more second service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters. In this case, since the first QoS request does not need to carry the description information of the first service flow, it is beneficial to avoid providing repeated / redundant information.

[0356] S503, the PCF network element sends the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule to the SMF network element, so that the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the capability information of the UE and the first PCC rule, or based on the capability information of the UE and the second PCC rule.

[0357] The capability information of the UE is used for the SMF network element to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping. It is to be noted that the capability information of the UE and the specific description of determining whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described herein.

[0358] In a possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes QoS requirement parameters corresponding to the third service flow, and the description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the one or more fourth service flows. The method of the embodiment further includes:

[0359] The PCF network element generates third PCC rules and fourth PCC rules based on the first QoS request, the third PCC rules including PCC rules for the third service flow, and the fourth PCC rules including one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow. The PCC rules for the third service flow include the description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the third service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow includes the description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the one or more fourth service flows. The third service flow includes at least two first service flows. The PCF network element sends the third PCC rules and the fourth PCC rules to the SMF network element, so that the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the capability information of the UE, the capability information of the UPF network element, the first PCC rules, the second PCC rules, the third PCC rules, and the fourth PCC rules. The capability information of the UPF is used for the SMF network element to determine whether the UPF supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0360] Optionally, the first QoS request further includes the description information of the third service flow, or the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more fourth service flows. When the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more fourth service flows, the first QoS request does not need to carry the description information of the third service flow, which is beneficial to avoid providing repeated / redundant information.

[0361] It is to be noted that the specific description of the description information of the third service flow and the description information of the fourth service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described herein.

[0362] In a possible implementation, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0363] The PCF network element sends second indication information to the SMF network element, the second indication information being used to instruct the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule.

[0364] In combination with the fourth aspect, in a possible implementation manner, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0365] The PCF network element sends third indication information to the SMF network element, the third indication information being used to instruct the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the first PCC rule, the second PCC rule, the third PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule.

[0366] Optionally, the second indication information and the third indication information can be different indication information or the same indication information.

[0367] It is pointed out here that the relationship between the first service flow and the third service flow and the relationship between the second service flow and the fourth service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, and the specific description of the QoS rules, the QoS configurations and the packet detection and processing rules of the embodiment can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 4, which will not be described here.

[0368] It can be seen that the PCF network element generates the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule, and sends the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule to the SMF network element, so that the SMF network element selects appropriate PCC rules from the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, considers whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, so that the UE, the RAN device and the UPF network element can perform corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow. Further, the PCF network element generates the third PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule, and sends the third PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule to the SMF network element, so that the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules, and the SMF network element considers the third PCC rule or the fourth PCC rule based on whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, so that the UE, the RAN device and the UPF network element can perform corresponding QoS processing on the third service flow or the fourth service flow. In the above manner, it is realized that no matter whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, there are appropriate rules to perform corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow sent to the UE, and to perform corresponding QoS processing on the third service flow or the fourth service flow sent to the application server.

[0369] Referring to FIG. 6, FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of another rule generation method provided by the embodiments of the present application. The method is applied to the PCF network element in the 5G system shown in FIG. 1. The method comprises:

[0370] S601, the PCF network element receives a first QoS request from the AF network element.

[0371] The first QoS request comprises QoS request parameters corresponding to the first service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS demand parameters of one or more second service flows; the first service flow comprises at least two second service flows, in other words, the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow.

[0372] It should be pointed out here that the specific description of the description information of the second service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be described here.

[0373] S602, the PCF network element generates a target PCC rule, and sends the target PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0374] The target PCC rule comprises one or more PCC rules for the second service flow, and each PCC rule in the one or more PCC rules comprises description information and corresponding QoS demand parameters of one or more second service flows.

[0375] It is pointed out here that the PCF network element defaults the capability of the UE supporting multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and thus the PCF network element preferentially generates one or more PCC rules for the second service flow.

[0376] S603, the PCF network element modifies the target PCC rule when determining that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the modified target PCC rule includes a PCC rule for the first service flow, and the PCC rule for the first service flow includes description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS request parameters.

[0377] In a possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes the description information of the first service flow, or the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more second services. When the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more second services, the first QoS request does not need to carry the description information of the first service flow, which is beneficial to avoid providing repeated / redundant information.

[0378] It is pointed out here that the specific description of the description information of the first service flow and the description information of the second service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described herein.

[0379] In a possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes QoS requirement parameters of a third service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more fourth service flows, the third service flow includes at least two fourth service flows, the target PCC rule before modification further includes one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow, and each PCC rule of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow includes description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more fourth service flows, and the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0380] The PCF network element determines whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and if it is determined that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the downlink direction does not support the capability of identification and QoS flow mapping of the fourth service flow, the modified target PCC rule further includes a PCC rule for the third service flow, and the PCC rule for the third service flow includes description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the third service flow.

[0381] It is pointed out here that the PCF network element defaults that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and therefore the PCF network element generates a target PCC rule containing one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow in priority, and modifies the target PCC rule after determining that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the modified target PCC rule includes the PCC rule for the third service flow.

[0382] In a possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes description information of the third service flow, or the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more fourth services. When the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more fourth services, the first QoS request does not need to carry the description information of the third service flow, which is beneficial to avoid providing repeated / redundant information.

[0383] It is pointed out here that specific descriptions of the description information of the third service flow and the description information of the fourth service flow can be referred to the related descriptions of the corresponding embodiments in FIG. 2, which are not described herein again. The relationship between the first service flow and the third service flow, and the relationship between the second service flow and the fourth service flow can be referred to the related descriptions of the corresponding embodiments in FIG. 2, which are not described herein again.

[0384] In a possible implementation, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0385] The PCF network element receives third notification information from the SMF network element, and the third notification information is used to notify the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping. Specifically, the SMF notifies the PCF network element that the PCC rule corresponding to the second service flow cannot be supported.

[0386] In a possible implementation, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0387] The PCF network element receives fourth notification information from the SMF network element, and the fourth notification information is used to notify the PCF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping. Specifically, the SMF notifies the PCF network element that the PCC rule corresponding to the fourth service flow cannot be supported.

[0388] Optionally, the third notification information and the fourth notification information are the same notification information, or are different notification information.

[0389] In a possible implementation, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0390] The PCF network element sends first prompt information to the SMF network element, and the first prompt information is used to prompt the SMF network element to notify the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0391] By prompting the SMF network element to notify the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and / or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element generates corresponding PCC rules when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and / or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, so that there are appropriate rules for the service flow between the UE and the application server to perform corresponding QoS processing.

[0392] In S604, the PCF network element sends the modified PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0393] It should be noted that the purpose of the PCF network element sending the target PCC rule to the SMF network element is to enable the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the target PCC rule.

[0394] It should be noted that the QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules can refer to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, and at this time, the target PCC rule in the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2 can be replaced with the modified PCC rule.

[0395] It can be seen that the PCF network element defaults that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and first sends one or more PCC rules including the second service flow to the SMF network element, and when the PCF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element re-sends the PCC rule including the first service flow to the SMF network element. The PCF network element defaults that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and first sends one or more PCC rules including the fourth service flow to the SMF network element, and when the PCF network element determines that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element re-sends the PCC rule including the fourth service flow to the SMF network element, so that there are appropriate rules for the service flow (including the uplink first service flow and the second service flow, and the downlink third service flow and the fourth service flow) between the UE and the application server to perform corresponding QoS processing.

[0396] Referring to FIG. 7, FIG. 7 is a flowchart of another rule generation method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method is applied to the SMF network element in the 5G system shown in FIG. 1. The method comprises:

[0397] S701, the SMF network element receives a target PCC rule from the PCF network element.

[0398] The target PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for the second service flow; each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow includes description information of one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0399] It should be noted that the specific description of the description information of the second service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described here.

[0400] S702, the SMF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and sends first notification information to the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0401] The first notification information is used to notify the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or to notify the PCF network element that the current PCC rule does not support or does not support the flow identification and QoS flow mapping of the second service flow in the current PCC rule.

[0402] In a possible implementation, the SMF network element obtains the capability information of the UE, and determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE. The specific implementation process can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described here.

[0403] S703, the SMF network element receives a modified target PCC rule modified based on the first notification information from the PCF network element.

[0404] The modified target PCC rule includes a PCC rule for the first service flow, and the PCC rule for the first service flow includes description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the first service flow includes at least two second service flows, in other words, the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow.

[0405] It should be noted that the specific description of the description information of the first service flow and the description information of the second service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described here.

[0406] In a possible implementation, the target PCC rule from the PCF network element further includes one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow; each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow includes description information of one or more fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0407] The SMF network element determines whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; when the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element sends fourth notification information to the PCF network element, the fourth notification information is used to notify the PCF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; the modified target PCC rule obtained by the PCF network element based on the fourth notification information further includes a PCC rule for a third service flow, the PCC rule for the third service flow includes description information of the third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and the third service flow includes at least two fourth service flows.

[0408] It should be noted that the third notification information and the fourth notification information can be one notification information or different notification information.

[0409] In a possible implementation, the SMF network element obtains the capability information of the UE, and determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE. For details, refer to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be repeated here.

[0410] It should be noted that the description information of the third service flow and the description information of the fourth service flow can be found in the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be repeated here.

[0411] In a possible implementation, the method of the embodiment further includes:

[0412] The SMF network element receives first prompt information from the PCF network element, the first prompt information is used to prompt the SMF network element to notify the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and / or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0413] It should be noted that the relationship between the first service flow and the third service flow, and the relationship between the second service flow and the fourth service flow can be found in the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be repeated here.

[0414] It can be seen that in the scheme of the embodiment, the PCF network element defaults the capability of the UE to support multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, first sends the SMF network element to include one or more PCC rules for the second service flow, and when the PCF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, re-sends the SMF network element to include the PCC rule for the first service flow. The PCF network element defaults the capability of the UPF network element to support multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, first sends the SMF network element to include one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow, and when the PCF network element determines that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, re-sends the SMF network element to include the PCC rule for the fourth service flow, so that for the service flow between the UE and the application server (including the uplink first service flow and the second service flow, and the downlink third service flow and the fourth service flow), there are appropriate rules for corresponding QoS processing.

[0415] Referring to FIG. 8, FIG. 8 is a flow diagram of another rule generation method provided by the embodiment of the application. The method is applied to the AF network element in the 5G system shown in FIG. 1. The method comprises:

[0416] S801, the AF network element receives the capability information of the UE from the application layer of the UE.

[0417] The capability information of the UE is used to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0418] S802, the AF network element sends a fourth QoS request to the PCF network element based on the capability information of the UE, and the fourth QoS request is used for the PCF network element to generate target rules.

[0419] If it is determined based on the capability information of the UE that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the fourth QoS request includes the description information of one or more second service flows in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters; if it is determined that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the fourth QoS request includes the description information of the first service flow in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the first service flow includes at least two second service flows, in other words, the fourth service flow is a sub-flow of the third service flow.

[0420] It should be pointed out here that the capability information of the UE, and the specific description of determining whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE can refer to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be described here.

[0421] In a possible implementation, if the fourth QoS request includes the description information of the one or more second service flows in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters, the target PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for the second service flows in the uplink direction, and each of the one or more PCC rules includes the description information of the one or more second service flows in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0422] If the fourth QoS request includes the description information of the first service flow in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters, the target PCC rule includes a PCC rule for the first service flow in the uplink direction, and the PCC rule for the first service flow in the uplink direction includes the description information of the one or more first service flows in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0423] It should be noted that the specific description of the description information of the first service flow and the description information of the second service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment in FIG. 2, which is not described herein.

[0424] It can be seen that the AF network element sends the PCF network element the description information of the second service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement or the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, so that the PCF network element generates corresponding QoS rules based on the description information of different service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and implements that no matter whether the UE network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, there is a suitable rule to perform corresponding QoS processing on the first service flow or the second service flow sent to the UE.

[0425] Referring to FIG. 9, FIG. 9 is an interactive flow diagram of a data processing rule generation method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method is applied to the 5G system shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 9, the method includes:

[0426] S901, the UE sends the capability information of the UE to the SMF network element through the AMF network element.

[0427] Specifically, the UE sends a PDU session establishment request message or a PDU session modification request message to the SMF network element through the AMF network element, wherein the PDU session creation request or the PDU session modification request includes the capability information of the UE, and the capability information of the UE is used to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0428] It should be noted that the specific description of the capability information of the UE can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment in FIG. 2, which is not described herein.

[0429] S902, the SMF network element sends the capability information of the UE to the PCF network element.

[0430] S903, the UPF network element sends the capability information of the UPF network element to the SMF network element.

[0431] It should be pointed out here that the specific description of the capability information of the UE and the specific description of the capability information of the UPF network element can refer to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be described here.

[0432] In one example, the capability information of the UPF network element can be carried in the N4 connection establishment message between the UPF network element and the SMF network element, or in the response message for the N4 session establishment message, or in the response message for the N4 session modification message.

[0433] S904, the SMF network element sends the capability information of the UPF network element to the PCF network element.

[0434] It should be pointed out here that S903 and S904 are optional.

[0435] After S901-S904 is executed, the UE, the AMF network element, the UPF network element, the SMF network element and the PCF network element complete the subsequent PDU session establishment process or the subsequent PDU session modification process.

[0436] S905, the UE sends a PDU session modification request to the SMF network element through the AMF network element.

[0437] Through S905, the UE initiates the PDU session modification process.

[0438] It should be pointed out here that S905 is optional.

[0439] S906, the AF network element sends a first QoS request to the PCF network element.

[0440] The first QoS request includes the QoS requirement parameters corresponding to the first service flow, and the description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows. The first service flow includes at least two second service flows, that is, the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow.

[0441] Optionally, the first QoS request further includes the description information of the first service flow.

[0442] Optionally, the first QoS request further includes the QoS requirement parameters corresponding to the third service flow, and the description information and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more fourth service flows. The third service flow includes at least two fourth service flows, that is, the fourth service flow is a sub-flow of the third service flow.

[0443] Optionally, the first QoS request further includes the description information of the third service flow.

[0444] It should be noted that the description information of the first service flow, the description information of the second service flow, the description information of the third service flow, the description information of the fourth service flow, the relationship between the first service flow and the third service flow, and the relationship between the second service flow and the fourth service flow can refer to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be described here.

[0445] Optionally, the QoS requirement parameters corresponding to the plurality of second service flows can be the same, different from each other, partially the same, or partially different.

[0446] S907, the PCF network element generates a target PCC rule based on the first QoS request and / or local configuration.

[0447] Specifically, the PCF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE. It should be noted that the specific process of determining whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE can refer to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be described here. When the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for the second service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules includes the description information of one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters. When the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule includes a PCC rule for the first service flow, and the PCC rule includes the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0448] Optionally, the description information of the first service flow is carried in the first QoS request, or the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more second service flows.

[0449] It should be noted that the relationship between the description information of the first service flow and the description information of the second service flow can refer to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be described here.

[0450] Optionally, the PCF network element determines whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element, and the specific process can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described here. When the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule further includes one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules includes the description information of the one or more fourth service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter; when the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule includes a PCC rule for the third service flow, and the PCC rule includes the description information of the third service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter.

[0451] Optionally, the description information of the third service flow is carried in the first QoS request, or the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more fourth service flows.

[0452] It should be pointed out here that the relationship between the description information of the third service flow and the description information of the fourth service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which is not described here.

[0453] S908, the PCF network element sends the target PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0454] S909, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the target PCC rule.

[0455] S910, the UE, the AMF network element, the UPF network element, the SMF network element and the PCF network element complete the remaining PDU session modification process.

[0456] Referring to FIG. 10, FIG. 10 is an interactive flow diagram of another data processing rule generation method provided by the embodiment of the application. The method is applied to the system shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 10, the method includes:

[0457] S1001, the UE sends the capability information of the UE to the SMF network element through the AMF network element.

[0458] It should be pointed out here that the specific process of S1001 can be referred to the related description of S901, which is not described here.

[0459] S1002, the SMF network element obtains the PCC rule from the PCF network element.

[0460] In one example, the SMF network element obtains the PCC rule from the PCF network element through the session management policy association process between the SMF network element and the PCF network element.

[0461] S1003. The UPF network element sends capability information of the UPF network element to the SMF network element.

[0462] It should be noted that the capability information of the UPF network element can refer to the related description of S901, which will not be described here.

[0463] Optionally, S1003.

[0464] S1004. The SMF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE.

[0465] Optionally, the SMF network element determines whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element.

[0466] It should be noted that the specific implementation process of determining whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE can refer to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, and the specific implementation process of determining whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element can refer to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be described here.

[0467] Optionally, the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow and the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow are determined based on the description information of the service flow in the PCC rule (S1002) from the PCF network element.

[0468] After S1001-S1004 is executed, the UE, the AMF network element, the UPF network element, the SMF network element, and the PCF network element complete the subsequent PDU session establishment process or the subsequent PDU session modification process.

[0469] S1005. The UE sends a PDU session modification request to the SMF network element through the AMF network element.

[0470] Through S1005, the UE initiates the PDU session modification process.

[0471] It should be noted that S1005 is optional.

[0472] S1006. The AF network element sends a first QoS request to the PCF network element.

[0473] It should be noted that the specific process of S1006 can refer to the related description of S907, which will not be described here.

[0474] S1007. The PCF network element generates a first PCC rule and a second PCC rule based on the first QoS request and / or local configuration.

[0475] The first rule comprises PCC rules for the first traffic flow, and the PCC rules for the first traffic flow comprise one or more pieces of description information of the first traffic flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters. The description information of the first traffic flow comprises at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuplets, an identifier of an application corresponding to the first traffic flow, and the like.

[0476] The second PCC rule comprises one or more PCC rules for the second traffic flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the second traffic flow comprises one or more pieces of description information of the second traffic flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters. The description information of the second traffic flow comprises at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuplets, an identifier of an application corresponding to the second traffic flow, and the like, and enhanced packet filter information used for identifying the second traffic flow, which can comprise a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload of a packet.

[0477] Optionally, the PCF network element further generates third PCC rules and fourth PCC rules based on the first QoS request.

[0478] The third rule comprises PCC rules for the third traffic flow, and the PCC rules for the third traffic flow comprise one or more pieces of description information of the third traffic flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters. The description information of the third traffic flow comprises at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuplets, an identifier of an application corresponding to the first traffic flow, and the like.

[0479] The fourth PCC rule comprises one or more PCC rules for the downlink second traffic flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the second traffic flow comprises one or more pieces of description information of the second traffic flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters. The description information herein comprises at least one of IP triplets, quintuplets, an identifier of an application corresponding to the second traffic flow, and the like, and enhanced packet filter information used for identifying the second traffic flow, which can comprise a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload of a packet.

[0480] It is pointed out here that the specific description of the first byte and the second byte can be referred to the related description of S906, which is not described here again. The specific implementation process of S1007 can be referred to the related description of S907, which is not described here again.

[0481] S1008, the PCF network element sends the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0482] Optionally, the PCF network element further sends the third PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0483] In one example, the PCF network element sends second indication information to the SMF network element, the second indication information being used to instruct the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule. In another example, the PCF network element also sends third indication information to the SMF network element, the third indication information being used to instruct the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the first PCC rule, the second PCC rule, the third PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule.

[0484] Optionally, the second indication information and the third indication information are the same indication information, or are different indication information.

[0485] S1009. The SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules.

[0486] In one possible implementation, when the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the second PCC rule; when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the second rule.

[0487] In another possible implementation, when the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the second PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule; when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the first PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule; when the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the second PCC rule and the third PCC rule; when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the first PCC rule and the third PCC rule.

[0488] S1010, the UE, the AMF network element, the UPF network element, the SMF network element, and the PCF network element complete the remaining PDU session modification process.

[0489] Referring to FIG. 11, FIG. 11 is an interactive flow diagram of another data processing rule generation method provided by the embodiments of the present application. The method is applied to the system shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 11, the method comprises the following steps:

[0490] S1101, the UE sends the capability information of the UE to the SMF network element through the AMF network element.

[0491] S1102, the SMF network element obtains the PCC rule from the PCF network element.

[0492] S1103, the UPF network element sends the capability information of the UPF network element to the SMF network element.

[0493] S1104, the SMF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE.

[0494] Optionally, the SMF network element obtains the capability information of the UPF network element, and determines whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element.

[0495] S1105, the UE sends a PDU session modification request to the SMF network element through the AMF network element.

[0496] S1106, the AF network element sends a first QoS request to the PCF network element.

[0497] It should be pointed out here that the specific processes of S1101-S1106 can be referred to the related descriptions of S1001-S1006, which will not be described here.

[0498] S1107, the PCF network element generates a target PCC rule based on the first QoS request and / or local configuration.

[0499] The target PCC rule comprises one or more PCC rules for the second service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules comprises the description information of one or more second service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter.

[0500] Optionally, the target PCC rule further comprises one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules comprises the description information of one or more fourth service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter.

[0501] It should be noted that the specific description of the description information of the second service flow and the description information of the fourth service flow can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be described here.

[0502] S1108, the PCF network element sends target PCC rules to the SMF network element.

[0503] Optionally, the PCF network element sends first indication information to the SMF network element, and the first indication information is used to prompt the SMF network element to need to inform the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0504] S1109, the SMF network element sends first notification information to the PCF network element.

[0505] Specifically, the SMF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE; if it is determined that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element sends third notification information to the PCF network element, and at this time the third notification information is used to inform the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping. Optionally, the third notification information includes the identifier of the PCC rule that needs to be modified, a first reason value and direction information used to indicate the uplink direction, and the first reason value is used to indicate that the uplink direction does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0506] Optionally, the SMF network element determines whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element; if it is determined that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element sends fourth notification information to the PCF network element, and at this time the fourth notification information is used to inform the PCF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping. Optionally, the fourth notification information includes the identifier of the PCC rule that needs to be modified, a second reason value and direction information used to indicate the downlink direction, and the second reason value is used to indicate that the downlink direction does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0507] Optionally, the first notification information and the second notification information are the same notification information, or are different notification information.

[0508] It should be noted that the specific process of determining whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE and determining whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element can be referred to the related description of S1004, which will not be described here.

[0509] S1110, the PCF network element modifies the target PCC rules based on the first notification information.

[0510] In one example, the PCF network element defaults that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and thus the target PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for the second service flow. After receiving the third notification information, the PCF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the PCF network element modifies the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow in the target PCC rule based on the third notification information to obtain a modified target PCC rule, the modified target PCC rule including a PCC rule for the first uplink service flow. It is pointed out herein that if the target PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for a fourth service flow, the modified target PCC rule includes the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow.

[0511] In another possible implementation, the PCF network element defaults that both the UE and the PCF network element support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and thus the target PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for the second service flow and one or more PCC rules for a fourth service flow. After receiving the third notification information, the PCF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the PCF network element modifies the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow in the target PCC rule based on the third notification information to obtain a modified target PCC rule, the modified target PCC rule including a PCC rule for the first service flow and the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow. After receiving the fourth notification information, the PCF network element determines that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the PCF network element modifies the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow in the target PCC rule based on the fourth notification information to obtain a modified target PCC rule, the modified target PCC rule including one or more PCC rules for the second service flow and a PCC rule for a third service flow. After receiving the third notification information and the fourth notification information, the PCF network element determines that neither the UE nor the UPF supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the PCF network element modifies the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow and the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow in the target PCC rule based on the third notification information and the fourth notification information to obtain a modified target PCC rule, the modified target PCC rule including a PCC rule for the first service flow and a PCC rule for the third service flow.

[0512] S1111、The PCF network element sends the modified target PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0513] S1112, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the received target PCC rules.

[0514] S1113, the UE, the AMF network element, the UPF network element, the SMF network element and the PCF network element complete the remaining PDU session modification process.

[0515] Referring to FIG. 12, FIG. 12 is an interactive flow diagram of another data processing rule generation method provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method is applied to the system shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 12, the method comprises:

[0516] S1201, the UE sends the capability information of the UE to the SMF network element through the AMF network element.

[0517] S1202, the SMF network element acquires the PCC rules from the PCF network element.

[0518] S1203, the UPF network element sends the UPF network element capability information to the SMF network element.

[0519] Optionally, S1203 is performed.

[0520] It should be noted that the specific processes of S1201-S1203 can be referred to the related description of S1001-S1003, which will not be described here.

[0521] After S1201-S1203 are performed, the UE, the AMF network element, the UPF network element, the SMF network element and the PCF network element complete the subsequent PDU session establishment process or the subsequent PDU session modification process.

[0522] S1204, the UE sends a PDU session modification request to the SMF network element through the AMF network element.

[0523] Through S1204, the UE initiates the PDU session modification process.

[0524] It should be noted that S1204 is optional.

[0525] S1205, the AF network element sends a first QoS request to the PCF network element.

[0526] The first QoS request includes the description information of one or more second service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters. Optionally, the first QoS request includes the description information of one or more fourth service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0527] It should be noted that the AF network element defaults that the UE and the UPF network element both support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0528] S1206, the PCF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0529] It should be noted that the capability of not supporting multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping can be understood as the capability of not supporting sub-service flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or being unable to perform QoS processing based on the granularity of sub-service flow.

[0530] Optionally, the PCF network element determines whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0531] In an example, the SMF network element sends the capability information of the UE to the PCF network element. Optionally, the SMF network element also sends the capability information of the UPF to the PCF network element.

[0532] It should be noted that the specific implementation process of S1206 can refer to the related description of S1004, which will not be described here. The execution order of S1206, S1204 and S1205 has no obvious sequence; optionally, S1204 and S1205 are executed first, and S1206 is executed later, or S1206 is executed first, and S1204 and S1205 are executed later, or S1204 and S1205 are executed simultaneously with S1206, or S1206 is executed between S1204 and S1205.

[0533] S1207, the PCF network element sends first notification information to the AF network element.

[0534] In an example, if the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element sends the first notification information to the AF network element, at this time the first notification information is used to notify the AF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping. Optionally, the first notification information also includes first direction information, which is used to indicate that the uplink direction does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or is used to indicate that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0535] Optionally, if the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element sends second notification information to the AF network element, at this time the second notification information is used to notify the AF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping. Optionally, the second notification information also includes second direction information, which is used to indicate that the downlink direction does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0536] Optionally, the first notification information and the second notification information are the same notification information, or different notification information.

[0537] S1208, the AF network element sends a second QoS request to the PCF network element.

[0538] If the AF network element receives the first notification information, the AF network element determines that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the second QoS request includes the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter. Optionally, the second QoS request further includes the description information of the first service flow. If the AF network element receives the second notification information, the AF network element determines that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the AF network element sends a third QoS request to the PCF network element, the third QoS request including the QoS requirement parameter corresponding to the third service flow; optionally, the third QoS request further includes the description information of the third service flow.

[0539] The second QoS request and the third QoS request can be the same QoS request or different QoS requests.

[0540] It is pointed out here that if the AF network element does not receive the first notification information and the second notification information, it indicates that the AF network element knows that the capabilities of the UE and the UPF network element have not changed.

[0541] S1209, the PCF network element generates target PCC rules based on the QoS request of the AF and / or local configuration.

[0542] The QoS request of the AF includes the first QoS request, the second QoS request and / or the third QoS request.

[0543] In one example, if the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element generates target PCC rules based on the first QoS request and / or local configuration, the target PCC rules including one or more PCC rules for the second service flow; if the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element generates target PCC rules based on the second QoS request and / or local configuration, the target PCC rules including PCC rules for the first service flow.

[0544] Optionally, if both the UE and the UPF network element support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element generates target PCC rules based on the first QoS request and / or local configuration, the target PCC rules including one or more PCC rules for the second service flow and one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow. If the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element generates target PCC rules based on the QoS requests (including the first QoS request and the third QoS request) from the AF network element and / or local configuration, the target PCC rules including one or more PCC rules for the second service flow and a PCC rule for the third service flow. If the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element generates target PCC rules based on the QoS requests (including the first QoS request and the second QoS request) from the AF network element and / or local configuration, the target PCC rules including a PCC rule for the first service flow and one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow. If neither the UE nor the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element generates target PCC rules based on the QoS requests (including the second QoS request and the third QoS request) from the AF network element and / or local configuration, the target PCC rules including a PCC rule for the first service flow and a PCC rule for the third service flow.

[0545] It is pointed out here that the PCC rule for the first service flow includes description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, wherein the description information of the first service flow is carried in the second QoS request or is determined based on the description information of one or more second service flows; each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow includes description information of the one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the PCC rule for the third service flow includes description information of the third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, wherein the description information of the third service flow is carried in the second QoS request or is determined based on the description information of one or more fourth service flows; and each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow includes description information of the one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0546] S1210, the PCF network element sends the target PCC rules to the SMF network element.

[0547] S1211, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the target PCC rules.

[0548] The QoS rule is sent to the UE, the QoS rule includes a packet filter group, QoS parameter information, and identification information of a corresponding QoS flow, the QoS configuration is sent to the RAN device, the QoS configuration includes QoS parameters corresponding to the QoS flow, and the packet detection and processing rule is sent to the UPF network element, the packet detection and processing rule includes a packet filter group, QoS parameter information, and identification information of a corresponding QoS flow.

[0549] S1212, the UE, the AMF network element, the UPF network element, the SMF network element, and the PCF network element complete a remaining PDU session modification process.

[0550] It should be noted that, in one example, S1213 and subsequent operations are performed if the SMF network element does not send the capability information of the UE to the PCF network element. In another example, S1213 and subsequent operations are performed if the SMF network element does not send the capability information of the UE and the capability information of the UPF network element to the PCF network element.

[0551] S1213, the PCF network element generates target PCC rules based on the first QoS request and / or local configuration.

[0552] The target PCC rules include one or more PCC rules for the second service flow. Optionally, the target PCC rules further include one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow.

[0553] It should be noted that the PCF network element defaults that the UE and the UPF network element both support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and therefore the target PCC rules can include one or more PCC rules for the second service flow and one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow.

[0554] S1214, the PCF network element sends the target PCC rules to the SMF network element.

[0555] Optionally, the PCF network element sends first indication information to the SMF network element, the first indication information is used to prompt the SMF network element to notify the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0556] S1215, the SMF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0557] Optionally, the SMF network element determines whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0558] The specific implementation process of determining whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, and the specific implementation process of determining whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element can be referred to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be described here.

[0559] The protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow and the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow are determined based on the description information of the second service flow and the description information of the fourth service flow in the target PCC rule (S1214) from the PCF network element.

[0560] S1216, the SMF network element sends third notification information to the PCF network element.

[0561] Specifically, if it is determined that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element sends a third notification message to the PCF network element, and at this time the third notification message is used to notify the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0562] Optionally, if it is determined that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the SMF network element sends fourth notification information to the PCF network element, and at this time the fourth notification information is used to notify the PCF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0563] Optionally, the third notification information and the fourth notification information can be different notification information or the same notification information.

[0564] S1217, the PCF network element sends second notification information to the AF network element.

[0565] S1218, the AF network element sends a second QoS request to the PCF network element.

[0566] S1219, the PCF network element regenerates a target PCC rule based on the QoS request of the AF and / or local configuration.

[0567] S1220, the PCF network element sends the regenerated target PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0568] S1221, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the regenerated target PCC rule.

[0569] S1222, the UE, the AMF network element, the UPF network element, the SMF network element and the PCF network element complete the remaining PDU session modification process.

[0570] ​It should be noted that the specific implementation process of S1217-S1222 can refer to the related description of S1207-S1212, which will not be described here.

[0571] Referring to FIG. 13, FIG. 13 is an interactive flow diagram of another method for generating a data processing rule provided by an embodiment of the present application. The method is applied to the system shown in FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 13, the method comprises the following steps:

[0572] S1301, the application layer of the UE obtains the capability information of the UE from the bottom layer of the UE.

[0573] In one example, the application layer of the UE obtains the capability information of the UE from the bottom layer of the UE through the cross-layer interaction interface.

[0574] It should be noted that the specific description of the capability information of the UE can refer to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be described here.

[0575] S1302, the application layer of the UE sends the capability information of the UE to the AF network element.

[0576] In one example, the application layer of the UE notifies the AF network element of the capability information of the UE through the application layer interaction.

[0577] S1303, the AF network element determines whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE.

[0578] It should be noted that the specific implementation process of S1303 can refer to the related description of the corresponding embodiment of FIG. 2, which will not be described here.

[0579] S1304, the AF network element sends a fourth QoS request to the PCF network element.

[0580] Wherein, if the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the fourth QoS request includes the description information of one or more second service flows in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters; if the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the fourth QoS request includes the description information of the first service flow in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the first service flow includes at least two second service flows, in other words, the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow.

[0581] S1305, the PCF network element generates target PCC rules based on the fourth QoS request and / or local configuration.

[0582] If the fourth QoS request includes the description information of the one or more second service flows in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters, the target PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for the second service flows in the uplink direction, each of the one or more PCC rules includes the description information of the one or more second service flows in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters;

[0583] If the fourth QoS request includes the description information of the first service flow in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters, the target PCC rule includes a PCC rule for the first service flow in the uplink direction, the PCC rule for the first service flow in the uplink direction includes the description information of the one or more first service flows in the uplink direction and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0584] S1306, the PCF network element sends the target PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0585] S1307, the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations and packet detection and processing rules based on the target PCC rule.

[0586] The QoS rules are sent to the UE, the QoS rules include the first packet filter group, the QoS parameter information and the identification information of the corresponding QoS flow, the QoS configurations are sent to the RAN device, the QoS configurations include the QoS parameters corresponding to the QoS flow, and the packet detection and processing rules are sent to the UPF network element, the packet detection and processing rules include the QoS parameter information and the identification information of the corresponding QoS flow. Optionally, at this time, the packet detection and processing rules include the packet filter group.

[0587] When the target PCC rule includes the PCC rule for the first service flow in the uplink direction, the first packet filter group includes the description information of the first service flow, which includes at least one of the IP three tuple, the IP five tuple and the identification of the application corresponding to the first service flow, and the data packet filter information; when the target PCC rule includes the one or more PCC rules for the second service flows in the uplink direction, the first packet filter group includes the description information of the second service flow, which includes at least one of the IP three tuple, the IP five tuple and the identification of the application corresponding to the second service flow, and the data packet filter information, and the enhanced packet filter information for identifying the second service flow.

[0588] It should be pointed out that the specific implementation process and beneficial effects of the corresponding embodiments of FIGS. 9-13 can refer to the implementation process and beneficial effects of the corresponding embodiments of FIGS. 2-8, which will not be described here.

[0589] Referring to FIG. 14, FIG. 14 is a structural schematic diagram of a PCF network element provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 14, the PCF network element 1400 includes a transceiver unit 1401 and a generating unit 1402.

[0590] In one specific embodiment: the transceiver unit 1401 is configured to receive UE capability information from an SMF network element, the UE capability information being used to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; receive a first QoS request from an AF network element; the first QoS request includes QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a first service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two second service flows; the first service flow includes the at least two second service flows or the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow;

[0591] The generating unit 1402 is configured to generate a target PCC rule based on the UE capability information and the first QoS request; the target PCC rule includes a PCC rule for the first service flow, or one or more PCC rules for the second service flow; the PCC rule for the first service flow includes the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow includes the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows.

[0592] The transceiver unit 1401 is further configured to send the target PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0593] In combination with the first aspect, in one possible implementation, the generating unit 1402 is specifically configured to:

[0594] determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the UE capability information; when the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule includes the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow; when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or the UE cannot identify the second service flow, the target PCC rule includes the PCC rule for the first service flow.

[0595] In combination with the first aspect, in one possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes the description information of the first service flow, or the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more second service flows.

[0596] In a possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes QoS requirement parameters corresponding to the third service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the at least two fourth service flows; the third service flow includes the at least two fourth service flows or the fourth service flow is a sub-flow of the third service flow; the method further includes: receiving, by the PCF network element, the capability information of the UPF network element sent by the SMF network element; and generating, by the generating unit 1402, the target PCC rule based on the capability information of the UE, the capability information of the UPF network element, and the first QoS request, wherein when it is determined, based on the capability information of the UPF network element, that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule further includes one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow; and when it is determined that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the downlink direction does not support the capability of identification and QoS flow mapping of the fourth service flow, the target PCC rule further includes a PCC rule for the third service flow, the PCC rule for the third service flow includes the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the third service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow includes the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more fourth service flows.

[0597] generating the target PCC rule based on the capability information of the UE, the capability information of the UPF network element, and the first QoS request, wherein when it is determined, based on the capability information of the UPF network element, that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule further includes one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow; and when it is determined that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the downlink direction does not support the capability of identification and QoS flow mapping of the fourth service flow, the target PCC rule further includes a PCC rule for the third service flow, the PCC rule for the third service flow includes the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the third service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow includes the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more fourth service flows.

[0598] In a possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes the description information of the third service flow, or the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more fourth service flows.

[0599] In a possible implementation, the description information of the second service flow includes at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuples, and data packet filter information of an identifier of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and enhanced data packet filter information used for identifying the second service flow, the enhanced data packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload; and the description information of the fourth service flow includes at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuples, and an identifier of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, and the first byte and the second byte of the UDP payload used for identifying the fourth service flow, the first byte being used for indicating a service protocol type of a corresponding UDP; the second byte being an SSRC field or a PT field when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is real-time transport protocol (RTP) or secure real-time transport protocol (SRTP); or the second byte being an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or real-time transport control protocol (RTCP). The data packet filter includes IP triplets, IP quintuples, a transmission direction, a Type of Service (ToS) of an IPv4 header, a Flowlabel of an IPv6 header, and an application identifier.

[0600] In a possible implementation, the capability information of the UE includes a protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the generation unit 1402 is specifically configured to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE, in particular:

[0601] If the protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, it is determined that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, it is determined that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0602] Or,

[0603] The capability information of the UPF network element includes a protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the generation unit 1402 is specifically configured to determine whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element, in particular:

[0604] If the protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, it is determined that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, it is determined that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0605] In another specific embodiment, the transceiver 1401 is configured to receive a first QoS request from an AF network element, the first QoS request including description information of at least two second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UE cannot identify the second service flow, send first notification information to the AF network element, the first notification information being used to notify the AF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the uplink direction does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; receive a second QoS request sent by the AF network element based on the first notification information, the second QoS request including description information of a first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the first service flow includes at least two second service flows or the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow.

[0606] The generation unit is configured to generate a target PCC rule, the target PCC rule including a PCC rule for the first service flow, the PCC rule for the first service flow including description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0607] The transceiver is further configured to send, by the PCF network element, the target PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0608] In a possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes description information of at least two fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; when the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule further includes one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flows, and each PCC rule in the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flows includes the description information of one or more fourth service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters; or,

[0609] The transceiver 1401 is further configured to send, to the AF network element, second notification information when the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the capability of identification and QoS flow mapping of the fourth service flow is not supported in the downlink direction, the second notification information being used to notify the AF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping is not supported in the downlink direction; receive a third QoS request sent by the AF network element based on the second notification information, the third QoS request including description information of a third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, the third service flow including at least two fourth service flows or the fourth service flow being a sub-flow of the third service flow; and the target PCC rule further includes a PCC rule for the third service flow, the PCC rule for the third service flow including the description information of the third service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0610] In a possible implementation, the transceiver 1401 is further configured to obtain third notification information from the SMF network element, the third notification information being used to notify the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0611] In a possible implementation, the transceiver 1401 is further configured to:

[0612] obtain fourth notification information from the SMF network element, the fourth notification information being used to notify the PCF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or

[0613] obtain third notification information and fourth notification information from the SMF network element, the third notification information being used to notify the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0614] Optionally, the third notification information and the fourth notification information are the same notification information or different notification information.

[0615] In a possible implementation, the transceiver 1401 is further configured to send first prompt information to an SMF network element, where the first prompt information is used to prompt the SMF network element to notify a PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0616] In a possible implementation, the description information of the second service flow includes at least one of an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, and an identifier of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and an enhanced packet filter used to identify the second service flow, where the enhanced packet filter includes a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload; the description information of the fourth service flow includes at least one of an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, and an identifier of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, and a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload used to identify the fourth service flow, where the first byte is used to indicate a service protocol type of the corresponding UDP; when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or SRTP, the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field; or when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or RTCP, the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field. The packet filter includes an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, a transmission direction, an IPv4 header Type of Service (ToS), an IPv6 header Flowlabel, and an application identifier.

[0617] In a possible implementation, the capability information of the UE includes protocol types supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the generating unit 1402 is specifically configured to:

[0618] determine that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, if the protocol types supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow; or determine that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, if the protocol types supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping do not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow.

[0619] Alternatively,

[0620] The capability information of the UPF network element includes protocol types supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the generating unit 1402 is specifically configured to:

[0621] If the protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, it is determined that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, it is determined that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0622] In another specific embodiment: the receiving unit 1401 is configured to receive a first QoS request from an AF network element, the first QoS request including QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a first service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two second service flows; the first service flow including the at least two second service flows;

[0623] The generating unit 1402 is configured to generate a first PCC rule and a second PCC rule based on the first QoS request, the first PCC rule including a PCC rule for the first service flow, and the second PCC rule including one or more PCC rules for the second service flow, the PCC rule for the first service flow including description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow including description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows;

[0624] The transceiver unit 1401 is further configured to send the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule to an SMF network element, so that the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on capability information of a UE, the first PCC rule, and the second PCC rule, the capability information of the UE being used by the SMF network element to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0625] In one possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow, or the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more second service flows.

[0626] In one possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a third service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more fourth service flows.

[0627] The generating unit 1402 is further configured to generate a third PCC rule and a fourth PCC rule based on the first QoS request, the third PCC rule including a PCC rule for the third service flow, and the fourth PCC rule including one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow; the PCC rule for the third service flow including description information of the third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow including description information of one or more fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the third service flow including at least two first service flows.

[0628] The transceiver 1401 is further configured to send the third PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule to the SMF network element, so that the SMF network element generates corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the capability information of the UE, the capability information of the UPF network element, the first PCC rule, the second PCC rule, the third PCC rule, and the fourth PCC rule, and the capability information of the UPF is used by the SMF network element to determine whether the UPF supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0629] In a possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes description information of the third service flow, or the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more fourth services.

[0630] In a possible implementation, the transceiver 1401 is further configured to send second indication information to the SMF network element, the second indication information being used to instruct the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule.

[0631] In a possible implementation, the transceiver 1401 is further configured to send third indication information to the SMF network element, the third indication information being used to instruct the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the first PCC rule, the second PCC rule, the third PCC rule, and the fourth PCC rule.

[0632] Optionally, the second indication information and the third indication information can be different indication information, or the same indication information.

[0633] In a possible implementation, the description information of the second service flow includes at least one of packet filter information such as an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, and an identifier of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and enhanced packet filter information used to identify the second service flow, the enhanced packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload of a packet; the description information of the fourth service flow includes at least one of packet filter information such as an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, and an identifier of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, and enhanced packet filter information used to identify the fourth service flow, the enhanced packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload of a packet; the first byte is used to indicate a service protocol type of a corresponding UDP; when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or SRTP, the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field; or when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or RTCP, the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field. The packet filter includes an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, a transmission direction, an IPv4 header Type of Service (ToS), an IPv6 header Flowlabel, and an application identifier.

[0634] In another specific embodiment,

[0635] The transceiver 1401 is configured to receive a first QoS request from an AF network element, the first QoS request including QoS request parameters corresponding to a first service flow and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows; the first service flow including at least two second service flows.

[0636] The generation unit 1402 is configured to generate a target PCC rule, the target PCC rule including one or more PCC rules for the second service flow, each PCC rule in the one or more PCC rules including description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows.

[0637] The transceiver 1401 is further configured to send the target PCC rule to an SMF network element; the PCF network element modifies the target PCC rule when it is determined that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the modified target PCC rule including a PCC rule for the first service flow, the PCC rule including description information and corresponding QoS request parameters of the first service flow; and the PCF network element sends the modified PCC rule to the SMF network element.

[0638] In a possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes description information of the first service flow, or the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more second service flows. In a possible implementation, the first QoS request further includes description information of the first service flow, or the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more second service flows.

[0639] In a possible implementation, the first QoS request further comprises QoS requirement parameters of the third service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more fourth service flows, the third service flow comprises at least two fourth service flows or the fourth service flow is a sub-flow of the third service flow, the target PCC rule before modification further comprises one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow, each PCC rule of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow comprises description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more fourth service flows, and the generation unit 1402 is further configured to:

[0640] determine whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if it is determined that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the modified target PCC rule further comprises a PCC rule for the third service flow, and the PCC rule for the third service flow comprises description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the third service flow.

[0641] In a possible implementation, the first QoS request further comprises description information of the third service flow, or the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of one or more fourth services.

[0642] In a possible implementation, the transceiver 1401 is further configured to:

[0643] receive third notification information from the SMF network element, the third notification information being used to notify the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0644] In a possible implementation, the transceiver 1401 is further configured to:

[0645] receive fourth notification information from the SMF network element, the fourth notification information being used to notify the PCF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0646] Optionally, the third notification information and the fourth notification information are the same notification information, or are different notification information.

[0647] In a possible implementation, the transceiver 1401 is further configured to:

[0648] send first prompt information to the SMF network element, the first prompt information being used to prompt the SMF network element to notify the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0649] In a possible implementation, the description information of the second service flow includes at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuples, an identifier of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and the like packet filter information, and enhanced packet filter information used to identify the second service flow, the enhanced packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload of a packet; the description information of the fourth service flow includes at least one of IP triplets, IP quintuples, an identifier of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, and the like packet filter information, and enhanced packet filter information used to identify the second service flow, the enhanced packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload of a packet; the first byte is used to indicate a service protocol type of a corresponding UDP; when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or SRTP, the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field; or when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or RTCP, the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field. The packet filter includes IP triplets, IP quintuples, a transmission direction, an IPv4 header Type of Service (ToS), an IPv6 header Flowlabel, and an application identifier, and the like.

[0650] It is worth pointing out that the specific function implementation of the PCF network element 1400 is described in the specific description of the embodiments shown in FIG. 2, FIG. 3, FIG. 5 or FIG. 6. Each unit or module in the PCF network element 1400 can be combined into one or several other units or modules respectively or all, or some of the units or modules can be further split into a plurality of units or modules with smaller functions to constitute, which can realize the same operation without affecting the implementation of the technical effects of the embodiments of the present application. The above-mentioned units or modules are divided based on logical functions, and in actual application, the function of one unit (or module) is realized by a plurality of units (or modules), or the functions of a plurality of units (or modules) are realized by one unit (or module).

[0651] Referring to FIG. 15, FIG. 15 is a structural schematic diagram of an SMF network element provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 15, the SMF network element 1500 includes a transceiver unit 1501, an acquisition unit 1502, and a generation unit 1503.

[0652] In a specific embodiment,

[0653] The transceiver unit 1501 is configured to receive a first PCC rule and a second PCC rule from a PCF network element, wherein the first PCC rule includes a PCC rule for a first service flow, and the second PCC rule includes one or more PCC rules for a second service flow; the first service flow includes at least two second service flows; or the second service flow is a sub-flow of the first service flow.

[0654] The obtaining unit 1502 is configured to obtain capability information of the UE, wherein the capability information of the UE is used to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0655] The generating unit 1503 is configured to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the capability information of the UE, the first PCC rule, and the second PCC rule.

[0656] In one possible implementation, the generating unit 1503 is specifically configured to:

[0657] determine, based on the capability information of the UE, whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, generate the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the second PCC rule; and if the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, generate the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the first PCC rule.

[0658] In one possible implementation, the transceiver unit 1501 is further configured to receive third PCC rules and fourth PCC rules from a PCF network element, wherein the third PCC rules include PCC rules for a third service flow, and the fourth PCC rules include one or more PCC rules for a fourth service flow; and the fourth service flow is a sub-flow of the third service flow.

[0659] The obtaining unit 1502 is further configured to obtain capability information of a UPF network element.

[0660] The generating unit 1503 is further configured to determine, based on the capability information of the UPF network element, whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping on the premise that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, generate the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the second PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule; if the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping on the premise that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, generate the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the first PCC rule and the fourth PCC rule; if the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, generate the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the second PCC rule and the third PCC rule; and if the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, generate the corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on the first PCC rule and the third PCC rule.

[0661] In a possible implementation, the transceiver 1501 is further configured to:

[0662] receive second indication information of the PCF network element, where the second indication information is used to instruct the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multiple flow identification and QoS flow mapping and the first PCC rule and the second PCC rule.

[0663] In a possible implementation, the transceiver 1501 is further configured to:

[0664] receive third indication information of the PCF network element, where the third indication information is used to instruct the SMF network element to generate corresponding QoS rules, QoS configurations, and packet detection and processing rules based on whether the UE supports the capability of multiple flow identification and QoS flow mapping, whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multiple flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the first PCC rule, the second PCC rule, the third PCC rule, and the fourth PCC rule.

[0665] Optionally, the first indication information and the second indication information are the same indication information, or are different indication information.

[0666] In a possible implementation, each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow includes description information of the one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow includes description information of the one or more fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters. The PCC rule for the first service flow includes description information of the one or more first service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and the PCC rule for the third service flow includes description information of the one or more third service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0667] The description information of the second service flow includes at least one of packet filter information such as an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, and an identifier of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and enhanced packet filter information used to identify the second service flow, the enhanced packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload of a packet, and the description information of the fourth service flow includes at least one of packet filter information such as an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, and an identifier of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, and enhanced packet filter information used to identify the second service flow, the enhanced packet filter information including a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload of a packet; the first byte is used to indicate a service protocol type of a corresponding UDP; when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or SRTP, the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field; or when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or RTCP, the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field. The packet filter includes an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, a transmission direction, a Type of Service (ToS) of an IPv4 header, a Flowlabel of an IPv6 header, and an application identifier.

[0668] In a possible implementation, the capability information of the UE includes a protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the generating unit 1503 is specifically configured to determine, in terms of determining whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE:

[0669] If the protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, it is determined that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, it is determined that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0670] In a possible implementation, the capability information of the UPF network element includes a protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the generating unit 1503 is specifically configured to determine, in terms of determining whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element:

[0671] If the protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, it is determined that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, it is determined that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0672] In another specific embodiment,

[0673] The transceiver 1501 is configured to receive target PCC rules from the PCF network element, the target PCC rules including one or more PCC rules for the second service flow; each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow including description information of one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0674] The determination unit 1504 is configured to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0675] The transceiver 1501 is further configured to, when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, send first notification information to the PCF network element, the first notification information being used to notify the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; and receive modified target PCC rules obtained by the PCF network element based on the first notification information, the target PCC rules including a PCC rule for the first service flow, the PCC rule for the first service flow including description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the first service flow including at least two second service flows, or the second service flow being a sub-flow of the first service flow.

[0676] In one possible implementation, the target PCC rules from the PCF network element further include one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow; each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow including description information of one or more fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

[0677] The determination unit 1504 is further configured to determine whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0678] The transceiver 1501 is further configured to send fourth notification information to the PCF network element when the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the fourth notification information is used to notify the PCF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; the modified target PCC rule obtained by the PCF network element based on the fourth notification information further includes a PCC rule for a third service flow, and the PCC rule for the third service flow includes description information of the third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and the third service flow includes at least two fourth service flows or the fourth service flow is a sub-flow of the third service flow.

[0679] In a possible implementation, the transceiver 1501 is further configured to receive, by the SMF network element, first prompt information from the PCF network element, and the first prompt information is used to prompt the SMF network element to notify the PCF network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0680] In a possible implementation, the description information of the second service flow includes at least one of IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, identification of an application corresponding to the second service flow and other packet filter information, and enhanced packet filter information used to identify the second service flow, the enhanced packet filter information includes a first byte and a second byte of a UDP load of a packet, and the description information of the fourth service flow includes at least one of IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, identification of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow and other packet filter information, and enhanced packet filter information used to identify the second service flow, the enhanced packet filter information includes a first byte and a second byte of a UDP load of a packet; the first byte is used to indicate a service protocol type of a corresponding UDP; when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or SRTP, the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field; or when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or RTCP, the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field. The packet filter includes IP three-tuple, IP five-tuple, transmission direction, IPv4 header service type (Type of Service, ToS), IPv6 header flow label (Flowlabel) and application identification and the like.

[0681] In a possible implementation, the capability information of the UE includes a protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the determination unit 1504 is specifically configured to:

[0682] If the protocol type that the UE supports for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, it is determined that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type that the UE supports for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, it is determined that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0683] In a possible implementation, the capability information of the UPF network element includes protocol types that the UPF network element supports for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and in determining whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element, the determining unit 1504 is specifically configured to:

[0684] If the protocol type that the UPF network element supports for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, it is determined that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type that the UPF network element supports for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, it is determined that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

[0685] It is worth noting that the specific function implementation of the SMF network element 1500 is described in the specific description of the embodiments shown in FIG. 3 or FIG. 7. Each unit or module in the SMF network element 1500 can be combined into one or several other units or modules respectively or all, or some of the units or modules can be further split into a plurality of units or modules with smaller functions to constitute, which can realize the same operation without affecting the implementation of the technical effects of the embodiments of the present application. The above-mentioned units or modules are divided based on logical functions, and in actual application, the function of one unit (or module) is realized by a plurality of units (or modules), or the functions of a plurality of units (or modules) are realized by one unit (or module).

[0686] Referring to FIG. 16, FIG. 16 is a structural schematic diagram of an AF network element provided by an embodiment of the present application. As shown in FIG. 16, the AF network element 1600 includes a transceiver unit 1601 and a determining unit 1602.

[0687] The transceiver unit 1601 is configured to receive the capability information of the UE from the application layer of the UE.

[0688] The determining unit 1602 is configured to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE.

[0689] The transceiver unit 1601 is further configured to send a fourth QoS request to the PCF network element, the fourth QoS request being used for the PCF network element to generate a target rule, based on whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; wherein, if the UE supports the capability of multi-flow ...

Claims

1. A rule generation method characterized by, The method comprises: receiving capability information of a user equipment (UE) from a session management function (SMF) network element, wherein the capability information of the UE is used to determine whether the UE supports a capability of multi-flow identification and quality of service (QoS) flow mapping; receiving a first QoS request from an application function (AF) network element, wherein the first QoS request comprises QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a first service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two second service flows, and the first service flow comprises the at least two second service flows; generating a target PCC rule based on the capability information of the UE and the first QoS request, wherein the target PCC rule comprises a PCC rule for the first service flow, or one or more PCC rules for the second service flows, the PCC rule for the first service flow comprises the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flows comprises the description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows; sending the target PCC rule to the SMF network element.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The generating of the target PCC rule based on the capability information of the UE and the first QoS request comprises: determining, based on the capability information of the UE, whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; when the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule comprises the one or more PCC rules for the second service flows; when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule comprises the PCC rule for the first service flow.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The first QoS request further comprises the description information of the first service flow, or the description information of the first service flow is determined based on the description information of the one or more second service flows.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized in that, The first QoS request further comprises QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a third service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two fourth service flows, and the third service flow comprises the at least two fourth service flows. The method further comprises: receiving capability information of a user plane function (UPF) network element sent by the SMF network element; the generating of the target PCC rule based on the capability information of the UE and the first QoS request comprises: generate the target PCC rule based on the capability information of the UE, the capability information of the UPF network element and the first QoS request, when it is determined based on the capability information of the UPF network element that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule further comprises one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow; when it is determined that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule further comprises a PCC rule for the third service flow, the PCC rule for the third service flow comprises the description information of the third service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flow comprises the description information of one or more fourth service flows and the corresponding QoS requirement parameter.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein, The first QoS request further comprises the description information of the third service flow, or the description information of the third service flow is determined based on the description information of one or more fourth service flows.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, characterized in that, The description information of the second service flow comprises at least one of an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple and an identifier of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and a first byte and a second byte of a user datagram protocol (UDP) payload used for identifying the second service flow; the description information of the fourth service flow comprises at least one of an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, an identifier of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, and a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload used for identifying the fourth service flow, the first byte being used for indicating a service protocol type of the corresponding UDP; when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is real-time transport protocol (RTP) or secure real-time transport protocol (SRTP), the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field; or when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or real-time transport control protocol (RTCP), the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field.

7. The method according to any one of claims 2 to 6, characterized in that, The capability information of the UE comprises a protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the determination of whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE comprises: If the protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping comprises the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, it is determined that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not comprise the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, it is determined that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

8. The method according to any one of claims 2-6, characterized in that, The capability information of the UPF network element comprises a protocol type supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, and the determination of whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element comprises: If the protocol type that the UPF network element supports for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, it is determined that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type that the UPF network element supports for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, it is determined that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

9. A rule generation method characterized by, Comprise: Receiving a first QoS request from an application function (AF) network element, the first QoS request comprising description information of at least two second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; When a user equipment (UE) does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, sending first notification information to the AF network element, the first notification information being used to inform the AF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping in the uplink direction; Receiving a second QoS request sent by the AF network element based on the first notification information, the second QoS request comprising description information of a first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the first service flow comprising the at least two second service flows; Generating a target PCC rule, the target PCC rule comprising a PCC rule for the first service flow, the PCC rule for the first service flow comprising the description information of the first service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters; Sending the target PCC rule to a session management function (SMF) network element.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein, The first QoS request further comprises description information of at least two fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the method further comprises: When a user plane function (UPF) network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the target PCC rule further comprises one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flows, each of the one or more PCC rules for the fourth service flows comprising description information of one or more fourth service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; or, When the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, sending second notification information to the AF network element, the second notification information being used to inform the AF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping in the downlink direction; Receiving a third QoS request sent by the AF network element based on the second notification information, the third QoS request comprising description information of a third service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the third service flow comprising the at least two fourth service flows; The target PCC rule further comprises a PCC rule for the third service flow, the PCC rule for the third service flow comprising the description information of the third service flow and the corresponding QoS requirement parameters.

11. The method of claim 9, wherein, The method further comprises: obtaining third notification information from a SMF network element, the third notification information being used for notifying the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein, The method further comprises: obtaining fourth notification information from a SMF network element, the fourth notification information being used for notifying the PCF network element that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; or, obtaining third notification information and the fourth notification information from a SMF network element, the third notification information being used for notifying the PCF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein, The third notification information and the fourth notification information are the same notification information.

14. The method according to any one of claims 11-13, characterized in that, The method further comprises: sending first prompt information to the SMF network element, the first prompt information being used for prompting the SMF network element to need to notify a policy control function (PCF) network element when the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

15. The method according to any one of claims 9 to 14, characterized in that, The description information of the second service flow comprises at least one of an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, an identifier of an application corresponding to the second service flow, and a first byte and a second byte of a user datagram protocol (UDP) payload used for identifying the second service flow; the description information of the fourth service flow comprises at least one of an IP three-tuple, an IP five-tuple, an identifier of an application corresponding to the fourth service flow, and a first byte and a second byte of a UDP payload used for identifying the fourth service flow; the first byte is used for indicating a service protocol type of a corresponding UDP; when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is real-time transport protocol (RTP) or secure real-time transport protocol (SRTP), the second byte is an SSRC field or a PT field; or when the service protocol type indicated by the first byte is RTP or real-time transport control protocol (RTCP), the second byte is an RTP-PT&RTP-M field or an RTCP-PT field.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein, The method further comprises: obtaining capability information of the UE, the capability information of the UE comprising protocol types supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; determining whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UE; if the protocol types supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping comprise a protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, it is determined that the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol types supported by the UE for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping do not comprise the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the second service flow, it is determined that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein, The method further comprises: obtaining capability information of the UPF network element, the capability information of the UPF network element comprising protocol types supported by the UPF network element for multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; determining whether the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping based on the capability information of the UPF network element; if the protocol type that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping includes the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, determining that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; if the protocol type that the UPF network element supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping does not include the protocol type indicated by the first byte in the description information of the fourth service flow, determining that the UPF network element does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping.

18. A policy control function (PCF) network element, comprising: The PCF network element comprises units or modules as claimed in any one of claims 1-17.

19. A policy control function (PCF) network element, comprising: A processor and a memory are included, wherein the memory is used to store program code, and the processor is used to execute the program code to implement the method of any one of claims 1-17.

20. A rule generation method characterized by, The method is applied to a communication system comprising a policy control function (PCF) network element, a session management function (SMF) network element and an application function (AF) network element, and the method comprises: The SMF network element sends capability information of a user equipment (UE) to the PCF network element, wherein the capability information of the UE is used to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; The AF network element sends a first QoS request to the PCF network element, wherein the first QoS request comprises QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a first service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two second service flows; the first service flow comprises the at least two second service flows; The PCF network element generates a target PCC rule based on the capability information of the UE and the first QoS request; the target PCC rule comprises a PCC rule for the first service flow, or one or more PCC rules for the second service flows; the PCC rule for the first service flow comprises description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of the first service flow, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flows comprises description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of one or more second service flows; The PCF network element sends the target PCC rule to the SMF network element.

21. A communication system, characterized by The communication system comprises a policy control function (PCF) network element, a session management function (SMF) network element and an application function (AF) network element, The SMF network element is configured to send capability information of a user equipment (UE) to the PCF network element, wherein the capability information of the UE is used to determine whether the UE supports the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping; The AF network element is configured to send a first QoS request to the PCF network element, wherein the first QoS request comprises QoS requirement parameters corresponding to a first service flow, and description information and corresponding QoS requirement parameters of at least two second service flows; the first service flow comprises the at least two second service flows; The PCF network element is configured to generate target PCC rules based on the capability information of the UE and the first QoS request; the target PCC rules include a PCC rule for the first service flow or one or more PCC rules for the second service flow; the PCC rule for the first service flow includes description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters, and each of the one or more PCC rules for the second service flow includes description information of one or more second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; The PCF network element is configured to send the target PCC rules to the SMF network element.

22. A rule generation method characterized by, The method is applied to a communication system including a policy control function (PCF) network element, a session management function (SMF) network element, and an application function (AF) network element, and includes the following steps: The AF network element sends a first QoS request to the PCF network element, the first QoS request including description information of at least two second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; When the user equipment (UE) does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the PCF network element sends first notification information to the AF network element, the first notification information being used to notify the AF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping in the uplink direction; The AF network element sends a second QoS request to the PCF network element based on the first notification information, the second QoS request including description information of a first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the first service flow includes the at least two second service flows; The PCF network element generates target PCC rules, the target PCC rules including a PCC rule for the first service flow, the PCC rule for the first service flow including description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; The PCF network element sends the target PCC rules to the SMF network element.

23. A communication system, characterized by The communication system includes a policy control function (PCF) network element, a session management function (SMF) network element, and an application function (AF) network element; The AF network element is configured to send a first QoS request to the PCF network element, the first QoS request including description information of at least two second service flows and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; The PCF network element is configured to send first notification information to the AF network element when the user equipment (UE) does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping, the first notification information being used to notify the AF network element that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping or that the UE does not support the capability of multi-flow identification and QoS flow mapping in the uplink direction; The AF network element is configured to send a second QoS request to the PCF network element based on the first notification information, the second QoS request including description information of a first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters; the first service flow includes the at least two second service flows; The PCF network element is configured to generate target PCC rules, the target PCC rules including PCC rules for the first service flow, the PCC rules for the first service flow including description information of the first service flow and corresponding QoS requirement parameters. The PCF network element is configured to send the target PCC rules to the SMF network element.

24. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that, The computer readable storage medium stores a computer program, and the computer program is executed by the processor to implement the method in any one of claims 1-17.

25. A computer program product, characterised in that, When the computer program product runs on the computer, the computer is caused to execute the method in any one of claims 1-17.

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