Communication control method, controller, user equipment, and function instance

• US 10,595,233 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2018
• Issued: 03/17/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/17/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zhang, Wei, Zhang, Jinfang, Peng, Chenghui
• Primary Examiner(s): Duong, Frank
• Application Number:
  US15/923,899
• Publication Number:
  US 20180206152A1
• Time in Patent Office: 732 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1407 Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/61 based on the service used
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8016 based on quality of service [QoS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/12 Wireless traffic scheduling
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a communication control method, a controller, a user equipment, and a function instance that can meet quality of service requirements of services with different requirements. The communication control method includes: obtaining, by a controller, a first slice identifier corresponding to a first service; determining, by the controller according to the first slice identifier, a first function instance corresponding to the first slice identifier; and separately sending, by the controller, to a first user equipment (UE) and the first function instance, instruction information for setting up a bearer, where the bearer is used to transmit a data packet of the first service corresponding to the first UE, the bearer corresponds to the first slice identifier, and the instruction information carries an identity of the first UE and an identity of the first function instance.

Claims

1. A communication control method, comprising:

obtaining, by a controller, a first slice identifier corresponding to a service;

determining, by the controller, a first function instance corresponding to the first slice identifier;

separately sending, by the controller, to a first user equipment (UE) and to the first function instance, instruction information for setting up a bearer, wherein the bearer is used to transmit a data packet of the service corresponding to the first UE, the bearer corresponds to the first slice identifier, and the instruction information carries an identity of the first UE and an identity of the first function instance; and

obtaining, by the controller, a correspondence between the service and a network slice, wherein the network slice corresponds to the first slice identifier, wherein the obtaining, by the controller, the correspondence between the service and the network slice comprises;

receiving, by the controller, service information from a service provisioning server, wherein the service information comprises a service identity corresponding to the service and a quality of service requirement of the service;

deploying, by the controller, the first function instance according to the service information, and setting up a correspondence between the first function instance deployed for the service and the network slice; and

setting up, by the controller, the correspondence between the service and the network slice according to the first function instance deployed for the service.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the service information further comprises area coverage of the service.

3. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sending, by the controller, the correspondence between the service and the network slice to a home subscriber server (HSS) or a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) entity.

4. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

sending, by the controller, the correspondence between the service and the network slice to the service provisioning server.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining, by the controller, the correspondence between the service and the network slice comprises:

obtaining, by the controller, the correspondence between the service and the network slice from a network slice deployment apparatus.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining the first function instance corresponding to the first slice identifier comprises:

receiving, by the controller, an authentication request message from the first UE, wherein the authentication request message comprises a first service identity corresponding to the service of the first UE;

selecting, by the controller, a home subscriber server (HSS) according to the authentication request message;

receiving, by the controller, an authentication result that is from the HSS associated with identity authentication and slice authentication performed by the HSS for the first UE; and

in response to determining that the authentication result is that the identity authentication and slice authentication of the first UE are successful, determining, by the controller, the first function instance according to the first slice identifier.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the obtaining the first slice identifier corresponding to the service comprises:

receiving, by the controller, an instance request message that is from a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) entity after the PCEF entity receives an authentication result from a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) entity about successful identity authentication and slice authentication of the first UE, wherein the instance request message comprises the first slice identifier obtained by the PCEF entity from the authentication result;

wherein the determining the first function instance corresponding to the first slice identifier comprises;

determining, by the controller, the first function instance according to the first slice identifier after the controller receives the instance request message.

8. A communication control method, comprising:

receiving, by a first user equipment (UE), instruction information for setting up a bearer corresponding to a first slice identifier, wherein the instruction information carries an identity of the first UE and an identity of a first function instance;

setting up, by the first UE according to the instruction information, the bearer between the first UE and the first function instance, for serving a first service of the first UE, wherein the first function instance corresponds to the first slice identifier;

transmitting, by the first UE, a data packet of the first service using the bearer, wherein the data packet corresponds to the first slice identifier;

sending, by the first UE, an uplink scheduling request to a first base station, wherein the uplink scheduling request comprises one or more of the first slice identifier and a first connection identity corresponding to the data packet that the first UE needs to send; and

receiving, by the first UE, resource assignment information from the first base station, wherein the resource assignment information comprises one or more of the first slice identifier and the first connection identity, wherein the at least one of a processing resource or a transmission resource corresponds to one or more of the first slice identifier and the first connection identity, and wherein the at least one of the processing resource or the transmission resource comprises an air interface transmission resource.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the transmitting, by the first UE, the data packet of the service by using the bearer comprises:

sending, by the first UE, an uplink data packet to the first function instance using the bearer, so that the first function instance processes the uplink data packet using at least one of the processing resource or the transmission resource corresponding to the first slice identifier.

10. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

sending, by the first UE, an authentication request message to a controller, wherein the authentication request message comprises a first service identity corresponding to the first service of the first UE.

11. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

sending, by the first UE, a service request message to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) entity, wherein the service request message comprises a first service identity corresponding to the first service of the first UE.

12. A controller, comprising:

a processor configured to obtain a first slice identifier corresponding to a service, and determine, according to the first slice identifier, a first function instance corresponding to the first slice identifier;

a transmitter configured to separately send, to a first user equipment (UE) and to the first function instance, instruction information for setting up a bearer, wherein the bearer is used to transmit a data packet of the service corresponding to the first UE, the bearer corresponds to the first slice identifier, and the instruction information carries an identity of the first UE and an identity of the first function instance; and

a receiver configured to receive service information from a service provisioning server, wherein the service information comprises a service identity corresponding to the service and a quality of service requirement of the service;

wherein the processor is further configured to deploy the first function instance according to the service information, set up a correspondence between the first function instance deployed for the service and a network slice, and set up the correspondence between the service and the network slice according to the first function instance deployed for the service.

13. The controller according to claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to obtain a correspondence between the service and the network slice, wherein the network slice corresponds to the first slice identifier.

14. The controller according to claim 12, wherein the service information further comprises area coverage of the service.

15. A user equipment, comprising:

a receiver configured to receive instruction information for setting up a bearer corresponding to a first slice identifier, wherein the instruction information carries an identity of the user equipment and an identity of the first function instance;

a processor configured to set up, according to the instruction information, the bearer between the user equipment and the first function instance, for serving a first service of the user equipment, wherein the first function instance corresponds to the first slice identifier; and

a transmitter configured to transmit a data packet of the first service by using the bearer, wherein the data packet corresponds to the first slice identifier;

wherein the transmitter is further configured to send an uplink data packet to the first function instance by using the bearer, so that the first function instance processes the uplink data packet by using at least one of a processing resource or a transmission resource corresponding to the first slice identifier; and

wherein the receiver is further configured to receive, by using the bearer, a downlink data packet from the first function instance after the first function instance processes the downlink data packet by using the at least one of the processing resource or the transmission resource corresponding to the first slice identifier.

16. The user equipment according to claim 15, wherein the transmitter is further configured to:

send an authentication request message to a controller, wherein the authentication request message comprises a first service identity corresponding to the first service of the user equipment.

17. The user equipment according to claim 15, wherein the transmitter is further configured to:

send a service request message to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) entity, wherein the service request message comprises a first service identity corresponding to the first service of the user equipment.