Roaming Service Policy Control via Subscription-Location Network Element
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Solution Overview
Problem
In a roaming scenario, managing campus services for a terminal device becomes challenging due to the subscription information being located at a home location, leading to increased load on the home network element and delays in accessing the service.
Innovation Solution
A network element at the subscription location obtains and determines policy decision results based on subscription and policy information from a home data storage network element, reducing the home network's load and ensuring secure service management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the home network element manages the campus service for a roaming terminal device, then the service management is centralized and secure, but the load on the home network element increases and access delay increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a visited network element as an intermediary to handle campus service management for roaming terminal devices. This visited network element acts as a local proxy that can make policy decisions without requiring direct communication with the home network element, thereby reducing access delay while maintaining centralized security through authorized delegation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the service management function by separating the home network element's role (subscription management and authorization) from the visited network element's role (local policy decision and service delivery). This segmentation allows the home network element to focus on security-critical functions while the visited network element handles time-sensitive local operations.
2Reliability
If the home network element manages the campus service, then service authorization is centralized, but the load on the home network element increases
Solution Approach 1:
The visited network element serves as an intermediary that receives authorization from the home network element and then independently handles local service management decisions. This reduces the processing load on the home network element while maintaining centralized authorization security through the initial authorization exchange.
Solution Approach 2:
The home network element performs preliminary authorization actions by providing the visited network element with necessary service management information and authorization tokens before the terminal device accesses the campus service. This preliminary action allows the visited network element to handle subsequent requests independently, reducing ongoing load on the home network element.
Data Source
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AI summary
Embodiments of this application provide a communication method and a communication apparatus. The method includes: A first network element obtains first information and second information, where the first information includes subscription information of a first service and/or policy information of the first service, the second information indicates that the first service supports being managed by the first network element, the first information is from a second network element, the second information is from a third network element, the second network element is a network element at a subscription location in which a terminal device subscribes to the first service, and the third network element is a home data storage network element of the terminal device. The first network element determines a policy decision result based on the first information and the second information, where the policy decision result is used by the terminal device to access the first service in a first region, a mapping relationship exists between the first region and the first network element, and the first network element is a network element at the subscription location in which the terminal device subscribes to the first service. Because the policy decision result is determined by the first network element of a subscription location in which the terminal device subscribes to the first service, the first service can be managed more effectively.