Service processing method, device and system for proximity service

文档序号：118324 发布日期：2021-10-19 浏览：41次中文

阅读说明：本技术 一种临近服务的业务处理方法、设备及系统 (Service processing method, device and system for proximity service ) 是由邢玮俊丁辉张迪吴问付于 2020-04-09 设计创作，主要内容包括：本申请公开了一种临近服务的业务处理方法、设备及系统,涉及无线通信技术领域,能够解决在临近服务(proximity service,ProSe)通信中,网络侧对远程用户设备(user equipment,UE)通过中继UE传输的数据包不进行业务监管和业务管理,导致的计费不合理等问题。本申请中,第一网元(如接入与移动管理功能AMF网元或会话管理功能SMF网元等)可以根据从远程UE接收到的中继信息,包括中继服务码或者用于指示远程UE采用中继方式传输业务的第一指示信息,获取用于验证或监控中继UE转发的业务数据的策略配置信息。(The application discloses a service processing method, equipment and a system for proximity services, which relate to the technical field of wireless communication and can solve the problems that in proximity service (ProSe) communication, a network side does not perform service supervision and service management on a data packet transmitted by remote User Equipment (UE) through relay UE, so that charging is unreasonable and the like. In this application, a first network element (e.g., an access and mobility management function AMF network element or a session management function SMF network element, etc.) may obtain policy configuration information for verifying or monitoring service data forwarded by a relay UE according to relay information received from the remote UE, where the relay information includes a relay service code or first indication information for indicating the remote UE to transmit a service in a relay manner.)

1. A method of proximity services communication, the method comprising:

a first network element receives relay information of remote User Equipment (UE), wherein the relay information comprises first indication information or a relay service code, and the first indication information is used for indicating the remote UE to adopt a relay mode to transmit services;

and the first network element acquires the strategy configuration information according to the relay information.

2. The method of claim 1,

when the relay information comprises the first indication information, the policy configuration information comprises information of services which allow the remote UE to adopt a relay mode for transmission; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

when the relay information includes the relay service code, the policy configuration information includes information of a service corresponding to the relay service code.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first network element is an access and mobility management function, AMF, network element;

the information of the service which allows the remote UE to adopt the relay mode to transmit comprises user strategy information or access management strategy information of the service which allows the remote UE to adopt the relay mode to transmit;

the information of the service corresponding to the relay service code includes user policy information or access management policy information of the service corresponding to the relay service code.

4. The method according to any of claims 1-3, wherein the relay information includes the first indication information, and the obtaining, by the first network element, the policy configuration information according to the relay information includes:

and the first network element acquires the policy configuration information from a Policy Control Function (PCF) network element according to the first indication information.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

the AMF network element determines to allow the remote UE to transmit a first service of the remote UE in a relay mode according to the strategy configuration information;

the AMF network element sends a request message to a Session Management Function (SMF) network element, wherein the request message is used for requesting to establish or change a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session of the remote UE;

alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the AMF network element determines that the remote UE is not allowed to transmit the first service in a relay mode according to the strategy configuration information;

and the AMF network element sends indication information for rejecting the remote UE to transmit the first service in a relay mode to the remote UE.

6. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the first network element is a session management function, SMF, network element, the method further comprising:

and the first network element sends the strategy configuration information to a user plane function UPF network element.

7. The method according to any of claims 1-2 and 6, wherein the relay information includes the relay service code, and the obtaining, by the first network element, the policy configuration information according to the relay information includes:

the first network element determines a service corresponding to the relay service code;

the first network element acquires a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rule of a service corresponding to the relay service code from a Policy Control Function (PCF) network element;

and the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rule.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the determining, by the first network element, the traffic corresponding to the trunking service code comprises:

the first network element acquires a service corresponding to the relay service code from an Application Function (AF) network element; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the first network element acquires a service corresponding to the relay service code from a Unified Data Management (UDM) network element or a unified data storage (UDR) network element through the PCF network element; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

and the first network element acquires the service corresponding to the relay service code from the UDM network element or the UDR network element.

9. The method according to any of claims 1-2 and 6, wherein the relay information includes the relay service code, and the obtaining, by the first network element, the policy configuration information according to the relay information includes:

the first network element sends a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rule request message of the service to a Policy Control Function (PCF) network element; the PCC rule request message carries the relay service code;

the first network element receives a PCC rule of a service corresponding to the relay service code from the PCF network element;

and the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rule.

10. The method according to any of claims 1-2 and 6, wherein the relay information includes the relay service code, and the obtaining, by the first network element, the policy configuration information according to the relay information includes:

the first network element receiving the PCC rule from the PCF network element; the PCC rule comprises a PCC rule of a service corresponding to the relay service code signed by the remote UE;

and the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rule.

11. The method of any of claims 1-10, wherein the relay information is carried in a protocol data unit, PDU, session setup request message, PDU session change request message, or a non-access stratum, NAS, message.

12. A method of proximity services communication, the method comprising:

the remote user equipment UE determines to transmit data of a first service by using the relay UE;

the remote UE sends a first message to the relay UE, wherein the first message carries relay information of the remote UE, and the relay information comprises first indication information or a relay service code corresponding to the first service; the first indication information is used for indicating the remote user equipment UE to adopt a relay mode to transmit services.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first message is a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment request message, a PDU session change request message, or a non-access stratum (NAS) message.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, characterized in that the method further comprises:

the remote UE receives first information, wherein the first information is used for representing a service which allows the remote UE to adopt a relay mode for transmission;

the remote UE determining to transmit the data of the first service by using the relay UE comprises the following steps:

and the remote UE determines to adopt a relay mode to transmit the data of the first service according to the first information.

15. The method according to any of claims 12-14, wherein the first information comprises a correspondence between relay service codes and traffic information; the method further comprises the following steps:

the remote UE determines a relay service code corresponding to the first service according to the first information and the service information of the first service;

wherein the service information includes at least one of: a service type, a service identity or an application identity.

16. The method according to any of claims 12-14, wherein the first information comprises one or more of the following information: a data network name DNN, single network slice selection assistance information S-NSSAI, an Application identification Application ID, or an Application function identification AF ID.

17. The method of any of claims 14-16, wherein the remote UE receives the first information comprising:

the remote UE receiving the first information from a second network element; the second network element is an application function AF network element or a policy control function PCF network element; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

the remote UE receives the first information from an application server of the first service.

18. A method of proximity services communication, the method comprising:

the second network element acquires first information, wherein the first information is used for representing a service allowing the remote User Equipment (UE) to use the relay UE for transmission;

and the second network element sends the first information to the remote UE.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the first information comprises a correspondence between relay service codes and service information, and wherein the service information comprises at least one of: a service type, a service identity or an application identity.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the first information comprises one or more of the following: a data network name DNN, single network slice selection assistance information S-NSSAI, an Application identification Application ID, or an Application function identification AF ID.

21. The method according to any one of claims 18-20, further comprising:

and the second network element acquires the first information from a Unified Data Management (UDM) network element or a unified data storage (UDR) network element.

22. The method according to any of claims 18-21, wherein said second network element is an application function, AF, network element or a policy control function, PCF, network element.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the second network element is the PCF network element; the method further comprises the following steps:

the PCF network element receives a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rule request message from a first network element; the PCC rule request message carries relay information; the relay information comprises first indication information or a relay service code, and the first indication information is used for indicating the remote UE to adopt a relay mode to transmit services;

and the PCF network element sends policy configuration information to the first network element according to the relay information.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein when the PCC rule request message carries the first indication information, the policy configuration information comprises information for allowing the remote UE to employ a relay mode for transmitting the service; alternatively, the first and second electrodes may be,

when the PCC rule request message carries the relay service code, the policy configuration information includes information of a service corresponding to the relay service code.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the second network element is the PCF network element; the method further comprises the following steps:

the PCF network element receives a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rule request message from a first network element; the PCC rule request message carries first service information, where the first service information includes at least one of the following: a service type, a service identifier or an application identifier;

and the PCF network element sends the PCC rule of the service corresponding to the first service to the first network element.

26. The method of claim 23, wherein the relay information comprises the relay service code; the PCC rule request message also carries identification information of the remote UE;

the policy configuration information includes a PCC rule of a service subscribed by the remote UE and corresponding to the relay service code.

27. The method according to any of claims 18-25, wherein the first network element is a session management function, SMF, network element or an access and mobility management function, AMF, network element.

28. A first network element, wherein the first network element comprises:

a receiving and sending unit, configured to receive relay information of a remote User Equipment (UE), where the relay information includes first indication information or a relay service code, and the first indication information is used to indicate the remote UE to transmit a service in a relay manner;

and the processing unit is used for acquiring the strategy configuration information according to the relay information.

29. The first network element according to claim 28, wherein the transceiver unit and the processing unit are further configured to implement the method according to any one of claims 2-11.

30. A remote User Equipment (UE), the remote UE comprising:

a processing unit, configured to determine to transmit data of a first service using a relay UE;

a transceiver unit, configured to send a first message to the relay UE, where the first message carries relay information of the remote UE, and the relay information includes first indication information or a relay service code corresponding to the first service; the first indication information is used for indicating the remote user equipment UE to adopt a relay mode to transmit services.

31. The remote UE of claim 30, wherein the processing unit and the transceiver unit are further configured to implement the method of any of claims 13-17.

32. A second network element, wherein the second network element comprises:

the processing unit is used for acquiring first information, and the first information is used for representing services allowing the remote User Equipment (UE) to use the relay UE for transmission;

a transceiving unit configured to transmit the first information to the remote UE.

33. The second network element according to claim 32, wherein the processing unit and the transceiver unit are further configured to implement the method according to any of claims 19-27.

34. A first network element, wherein the first network element comprises:

a memory for storing a computer program;

a processor for executing the computer program to implement the method of any one of claims 1-11.

35. A remote User Equipment (UE), the remote UE comprising:

a memory for storing a computer program;

a processor for executing the computer program to implement the method of any one of claims 12-17.

36. A second network element, wherein the second network element comprises:

a memory for storing a computer program;

a processor for executing the computer program to implement the method of any one of claims 18-27.

37. A communication system, the communication system comprising:

a first network element as claimed in any one of claims 28, 29 or 34; and the combination of (a) and (b),

a remote user equipment, UE, according to any of claims 30, 31 or 35; and the combination of (a) and (b),

a second network element as claimed in any one of claims 32, 33 or 36.

38. A computer-readable storage medium, having computer program code stored thereon, which, when executed by processing circuitry, implements the method of any of claims 1-11, 12-17, or 18-27.

39. A chip system, comprising a processing circuit, a storage medium having computer program code stored therein; the computer program code realizing the method of any of claims 1-11, 12-17 or 18-27 when executed by the processing circuit.

Technical Field

The embodiment of the application relates to the technical field of wireless communication, in particular to a service processing method, equipment and system for ProSe.

Background

With the wide use of intelligent terminals, in order to improve spectrum utilization, system throughput, increase network coverage, and the like, ProSe communication is increasingly widely used. In ProSe communication, a communication link can be directly established between a terminal and a terminal, and communication is directly performed through the communication link without forwarding communication by an access network device.

As shown in fig. 1, in the ProSe architecture of the fifth Generation mobile communication technology (5th-Generation, 5G) communication system, if terminal 1 and terminal 2 establish a ProSe communication link of the PC5 interface. The terminal 1 may establish a connection with a Radio Access Network (RAN) and a core network through the PC5 interface and a Uu interface between the terminal 2 and the RAN equipment, and communicate therewith. In the above scenario, terminal 1 is also referred to as a remote UE (remote UE), and terminal 2 is also referred to as a relay UE (UE-to-network relay UE).

In conventional ProSe communication, a network side does not perform service supervision and service management on a data packet transmitted by remote UE through relay UE. This may cause problems such as unreasonable charging.

Disclosure of Invention

The application provides a service processing method, equipment and system for proximity services, which can solve the problems of unreasonable charging and the like caused by the fact that a network side does not perform service supervision and service management on a data packet transmitted by remote UE through relay UE in ProSe communication.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the embodiment of the present application adopts the following technical solutions:

in a first aspect, a method of imminent service communication is provided, the method comprising: the method comprises the steps that a first network element receives relay information of remote UE, wherein the relay information comprises first indication information or relay service codes, and the first indication information is used for indicating the remote UE to transmit services in a relay mode; and the first network element acquires the strategy configuration information according to the relay information.

In the technical solution provided in the first aspect, the first network element (e.g., an AMF network element or an SMF network element, etc.) may obtain the policy configuration information for verifying or monitoring the service data forwarded by the relay UE according to the relay information received from the remote UE, where the relay information includes a relay service code or first indication information used for indicating that the remote UE transmits a service in a relay manner. The method and the device solve the problems that in ProSe communication, a network side does not conduct service supervision and service management on a data packet transmitted by remote UE through relay UE, charging is unreasonable and the like.

In a possible implementation manner, when the relay information includes the first indication information, the policy configuration information includes information of a service that allows the remote UE to transmit in the relay manner; or, when the relay information includes a relay service code, the policy configuration information includes information of a service corresponding to the relay service code. The scheme supports that the remote UE informs the first network element that the remote UE needs to adopt a relay mode to transmit services through the relay service code or the first indication information. So that the first network element obtains the policy configuration information for verifying or monitoring the service data forwarded by the relay UE according to the relay service code or the first indication information.

In a possible implementation manner, the first network element is an AMF network element; the information of the service which allows the remote UE to adopt the relay mode to transmit comprises user strategy information or access management strategy information of the service which allows the remote UE to adopt the relay mode to transmit; the information of the service corresponding to the relay service code includes user policy information or access management policy information of the service corresponding to the relay service code. The scheme supports the first network element to respectively obtain different strategy configuration information for verifying or monitoring the service data forwarded by the relay UE according to the relay service code or the first indication information, so as to solve the problems of unreasonable charging and the like caused by the fact that a network side does not carry out service supervision and service management on a data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE in the ProSe communication.

In a possible implementation manner, the obtaining, by the first network element, policy configuration information according to the relay information includes: and the first network element acquires the policy configuration information from the PCF network element according to the first indication information. The scheme supports the first network element to acquire the strategy configuration information for verifying or monitoring the service data forwarded by the relay UE from the PCF network element according to the first indication information, so as to solve the problems of unreasonable charging and the like caused by that a network side does not carry out service supervision and service management on a data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE in the ProSe communication.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the AMF network element determines to allow the remote UE to adopt a relay mode to transmit a first service of the remote UE according to the strategy configuration information; the AMF network element sends a request message for requesting to establish or change the PDU session of the remote UE to the SMF network element; or, the AMF network element determines that the remote UE is not allowed to transmit the first service in a relay mode according to the strategy configuration information; and the AMF network element sends indication information for rejecting the first service transmitted by the remote UE in a relay mode to the remote UE. The scheme supports that the AMF network element monitors the service of the remote UE forwarded by the relay UE according to the relay information from the remote UE.

In a possible implementation manner, the first network element is an SMF network element, and the method further includes: and the first network element sends the strategy configuration information to the UPF network element. The scheme supports the SMF to determine the strategy configuration information of the remote UE service forwarded by the UPF network element monitoring relay UE, and sends the strategy configuration information to the UPF network element.

In a possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the first network element, policy configuration information according to the relay information includes: the first network element determines a service corresponding to the relay service code; the first network element acquires a PCC rule of a service corresponding to the relay service code from the PCF network element; and the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rules. The scheme supports that the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rule of the service corresponding to the relay service code acquired from the PCF network element, and the policy configuration information is used for verifying or monitoring the policy configuration information of the service data forwarded by the relay UE, so that the problems that in ProSe communication, the network side does not monitor and manage the service of a data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE, the charging is unreasonable and the like are solved.

In a possible implementation manner, the determining, by the first network element, a service corresponding to a relay service code includes: the first network element acquires a service corresponding to the relay service code from the AF network element; or the first network element acquires the service corresponding to the relay service code from the UDM network element or the UDR network element through the PCF network element; or, the first network element acquires the service corresponding to the relay service code from the UDM network element or the UDR network element. The scheme supports the first network element to determine the service corresponding to the relay service code according to the predetermined corresponding relationship between the relay service code and the service information, wherein the corresponding relationship between the relay service code and the service information can be preset in a PCF network element, a UDM network element or a UDR network element.

In a possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the first network element, policy configuration information according to the relay information includes: a first network element sends a PCC rule request message carrying a relay service code to a PCF network element; the first network element receives a PCC rule of a service corresponding to the relay service code from the PCF network element; and the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rules. The scheme supports that the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rule of the service corresponding to the relay service code acquired from the PCF network element, and the policy configuration information is used for verifying or monitoring the policy configuration information of the service data forwarded by the relay UE, so that the problems that in ProSe communication, the network side does not monitor and manage the service of a data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE, the charging is unreasonable and the like are solved.

In a possible implementation manner, the acquiring, by the first network element, policy configuration information according to the relay information includes: a first network element sends a PCC rule request message carrying a relay service code and identification information of remote UE to a PCF network element; the first network element receives a PCC rule comprising a service signed by remote UE and corresponding to a relay service code from a PCF network element; and the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rules. The scheme supports that the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rule of the service corresponding to the relay service code signed by the remote UE and acquired from the PCF network element, and the policy configuration information is used for verifying or monitoring the policy configuration information of the service data forwarded by the relay UE, so that the problems that in the ProSe communication, the network side does not supervise and manage the service of the data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE, the charging is unreasonable and the like are solved.

In a possible implementation manner, the relay information is carried in a PDU session establishment request message, a PDU session change request message, or an NAS message. The present solution does not limit the transmission mode of the relay information, and may be carried in a PDU session establishment request message, a PDU session change request message, or an NAS message, for example.

In a second aspect, there is provided a method of imminent service communication, the method comprising: the remote UE determines to transmit the data of the first service by using the relay UE; the remote UE sends a first message carrying relay information of the remote UE to the relay UE, wherein the relay information comprises first indication information used for indicating the remote UE to adopt a relay mode to transmit services or a relay service code corresponding to the first services.

In the technical solution provided in the second aspect, when determining that the data of the first service is transmitted in the relay manner, the remote UE may send relay information to the relay UE, where the relay information includes a relay service code or first indication information used for indicating that the remote UE transmits the service in the relay manner, so that the relay UE indicates to the first network element that the remote UE is about to transmit the data of the first service in the relay manner, and the policy configuration information is used by the network side to verify or monitor the service data forwarded by the relay UE, so as to solve the problems that in ProSe communication, the network side does not perform service supervision and service management on a data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE, and charging is unreasonable.

In a possible implementation manner, the first message is a PDU session setup request message, a PDU session change request message, or a NAS message. The present solution does not limit the transmission mode of the relay information, and may be carried in a PDU session establishment request message, a PDU session change request message, or an NAS message, for example.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the remote UE receives first information used for representing services which are allowed to be transmitted by the remote UE in a relay mode; the above remote UE determining to transmit the data of the first service using the relay UE includes: and the remote UE determines to adopt a relay mode to transmit the data of the first service according to the first information. The scheme supports the remote UE to determine whether to adopt the relay UE to transmit the service according to the predetermined service information which can be transmitted by adopting the relay UE so that the remote UE can directly determine whether to adopt the relay UE to transmit the service according to the service information.

In a possible implementation manner, the first information includes a correspondence between a relay service code and service information; the method further comprises the following steps: the remote UE determines a relay service code corresponding to the first service according to the first information and the service information of the first service; wherein, the service information includes at least one of the following: a service type, a service identity or an application identity. The scheme supports the remote UE to determine whether to adopt the relay UE to transmit the service and determine the relay service code corresponding to the service according to the predetermined corresponding relation between the service information which can be transmitted by adopting the relay UE and the relay service code so that the remote UE can directly determine whether to adopt the relay UE to transmit the service according to the service information.

In a possible implementation manner, the first information includes one or more of the following information: a data network name DNN, single network slice selection assistance information S-NSSAI, an Application identification Application ID, or an Application function identification AF ID. The scheme supports the remote UE to determine whether the service is transmitted by the relay UE according to the predetermined information such as DNN, S-NSSAI, Application ID or AF ID corresponding to the service transmitted by the relay UE.

In a possible implementation manner, the receiving, by the remote UE, the first information includes: the remote UE receives the first information from the second network element; the second network element is an AF network element or a PCF network element; alternatively, the remote UE receives the first information from an application server of the first service. The scheme supports that the AF network element, the PCF network element or the application server of the service manages the predetermined first information.

In a third aspect, a method of proximity service communication is provided, the method comprising: the second network element acquires first information for representing a service which allows the remote standby UE to use the relay UE for transmission; the second network element sends the first information to the remote UE.

In the technical solution provided in the third aspect, the second network element sends the predetermined first information used for representing the service that allows the remote UE to use the relay UE for transmission to the remote UE, so that the remote UE can determine whether to transmit the service in the relay manner according to the first information when there is a service transmission demand, and send the relay information used for representing that the remote UE transmits the service in the relay manner to the first network element, thereby facilitating the network side to verify or monitor the service data forwarded by the relay UE.

In a possible implementation manner, the first information includes a correspondence between a relay service code and service information, where the service information includes at least one of: a service type, a service identity or an application identity. The scheme supports the predetermined corresponding relation between the relay service code and the service information, so that when the remote UE has a service transmission requirement, whether the service is transmitted in a relay mode or not can be determined according to the corresponding relation between the relay service code and the service information, whether the relay service code corresponding to the service is sent to the first network element or not can be determined, and the network side can conveniently verify or monitor the service data forwarded by the relay UE.

In a possible implementation manner, the method further includes: the second network element obtains the first information from the UDM network element or the UDR network element. The scheme supports that the predetermined first information is stored by the UDM network element or the UDR network element.

In a possible implementation manner, the second network element is an AF network element or a PCF network element. The scheme supports that the AF network element or the PCF network element manages the predetermined first information.

In a possible implementation manner, the second network element is a PCF network element; the method further comprises the following steps: the PCF network element receives a PCC rule request message carrying relay information from a first network element; the relay information comprises first indication information or a relay service code, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the remote UE to adopt a relay mode to transmit services; and the PCF network element sends the strategy configuration information to the first network element according to the received relay information. The scheme supports that the PCF network element determines the strategy configuration information according to the received first indication information or the relay service code, and sends the strategy configuration information to the first network element for the network side to verify or monitor the strategy configuration information of the service data forwarded by the relay UE, so as to solve the problems of unreasonable charging and the like caused by that the network side does not carry out service supervision and service management on the data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE in the ProSe communication.

In a possible implementation manner, when the PCC rule request message carries the first indication information, the policy configuration information includes information of a service that allows the remote UE to transmit in a relay manner; or when the PCC rule request message carries the relay service code, the policy configuration information includes information of a service corresponding to the relay service code. The scheme supports that the PCF network element respectively acquires different strategy configuration information for verifying or monitoring the service data forwarded by the relay UE according to the relay service code or the first indication information, so that the problems of unreasonable charging and the like caused by the fact that a network side does not carry out service supervision and service management on a data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE in the ProSe communication are solved.

In a possible implementation manner, the second network element is a PCF network element; the method further comprises the following steps: the PCF network element receives a PCC rule request message carrying first service information from a first network element; the first service information includes at least one of: a service type, a service identifier or an application identifier; and the PCF network element sends the PCC rule of the service corresponding to the first service to the first network element. The scheme supports that the PCF network element determines the strategy configuration information according to the received service information of the service to be transmitted by the remote UE in a relay mode, and sends the strategy configuration information to the first network element for the network side to verify or monitor the strategy configuration information of the service data forwarded by the relay UE, so as to solve the problems of unreasonable charging and the like caused by that the network side does not monitor the service and manage the service of the data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE in the ProSe communication.

In a possible implementation manner, the relay information includes a relay service code; the PCC rule request message also carries identification information of the remote UE; the policy configuration information includes a PCC rule of a service subscribed by the remote UE and corresponding to the relay service code. The scheme supports that a PCF network element determines policy configuration information according to a received relay service code and identification information of remote UE, wherein the policy configuration information is determined by a PCC rule of a service signed by the remote UE and corresponding to the relay service code, and is used for verifying or monitoring the policy configuration information of service data forwarded by the relay UE, so that the problems that in ProSe communication, a network side does not perform service supervision and service management on a data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE, charging is unreasonable and the like are solved.

In a possible implementation manner, the first network element is an SMF network element or an AMF network element. According to the scheme, the strategy configuration information for verifying or monitoring the service data forwarded by the relay UE is obtained by a first network element such as an SMF network element or an AMF network element.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a first network element, comprising: the receiving and sending unit is used for receiving relay information of the remote UE, wherein the relay information comprises first indication information or relay service codes, and the first indication information is used for indicating the remote UE to adopt a relay mode to transmit services; and the processing unit is used for acquiring the strategy configuration information according to the relay information.

In the technical solution provided in the fourth aspect, the first network element (e.g., an AMF network element or an SMF network element, etc.) may obtain the policy configuration information for verifying or monitoring the service data forwarded by the relay UE according to the relay information received from the remote UE, where the relay information includes a relay service code or first indication information used for indicating that the remote UE transmits a service in a relay manner. The method and the device solve the problems that in ProSe communication, a network side does not conduct service supervision and service management on a data packet transmitted by remote UE through relay UE, charging is unreasonable and the like.

In a possible implementation manner, the relay information includes the first indication information, and the processing unit obtains policy configuration information according to the relay information, including: the processing unit obtains the policy configuration information from the PCF network element through the receiving and sending unit according to the first indication information. The scheme supports the first network element to acquire the strategy configuration information for verifying or monitoring the service data forwarded by the relay UE from the PCF network element according to the first indication information, so as to solve the problems of unreasonable charging and the like caused by that a network side does not carry out service supervision and service management on a data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE in the ProSe communication.

In a possible implementation manner, the processing unit is further configured to determine, according to the policy configuration information, that the remote UE is allowed to transmit the first service of the remote UE in a relay manner; the receiving and sending unit is further configured to send a request message for requesting establishment or modification of a PDU session of the remote UE to the SMF network element; or, the processing unit is configured to determine, according to the policy configuration information, that the remote UE is not allowed to transmit the first service in a relay manner; and the transceiver unit is configured to send, to the remote UE, indication information for rejecting the first service transmitted by the remote UE in a relay manner. The scheme supports that the AMF network element monitors the service of the remote UE forwarded by the relay UE according to the relay information from the remote UE.

In a possible implementation manner, the first network element is an SMF network element, and the transceiver unit is further configured to send policy configuration information to a UPF network element. The scheme supports the SMF to determine the strategy configuration information of the remote UE service forwarded by the UPF network element monitoring relay UE, and sends the strategy configuration information to the UPF network element.

In a possible implementation manner, the relay information includes a relay service code, and the acquiring, by the processing unit, policy configuration information according to the relay information includes: the processing unit determines a service corresponding to the relay service code; the processing unit acquires a PCC rule of a service corresponding to the relay service code from the PCF network element through the receiving and sending unit; and the processing unit determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rule. The scheme supports that the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rule of the service corresponding to the relay service code acquired from the PCF network element, and the policy configuration information is used for verifying or monitoring the policy configuration information of the service data forwarded by the relay UE, so that the problems that in ProSe communication, the network side does not monitor and manage the service of a data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE, the charging is unreasonable and the like are solved.

In a possible implementation manner, the determining, by the processing unit, a service corresponding to a relay service code includes: the processing unit acquires a service corresponding to the relay service code from the AF network element through the receiving and sending unit; or the processing unit acquires the service corresponding to the relay service code from the UDM network element or the UDR network element through the receiving and sending unit and the PCF network element; or, the processing unit obtains the service corresponding to the relay service code from the UDM network element or the UDR network element through the transceiving unit. The scheme supports the first network element to determine the service corresponding to the relay service code according to the predetermined corresponding relationship between the relay service code and the service information, wherein the corresponding relationship between the relay service code and the service information can be preset in a PCF network element, a UDM network element or a UDR network element.

In a possible implementation manner, the relay information includes a relay service code, and the acquiring, by the processing unit, policy configuration information according to the relay information includes: the processing unit sends a PCC rule request message carrying the relay service code to the PCF network element through the receiving and sending unit; receiving a PCC rule of a service corresponding to the relay service code from the PCF network element; and the processing unit determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rules. The scheme supports that the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rule of the service corresponding to the relay service code acquired from the PCF network element, and the policy configuration information is used for verifying or monitoring the policy configuration information of the service data forwarded by the relay UE, so that the problems that in ProSe communication, the network side does not monitor and manage the service of a data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE, the charging is unreasonable and the like are solved.

In a possible implementation manner, the relay information includes a relay service code, and the acquiring, by the processing unit, policy configuration information according to the relay information includes: the processing unit sends a PCC rule request message carrying a relay service code and identification information of the remote UE to the PCF network element through the receiving and sending unit; receiving a PCC rule comprising a service signed by the remote UE and corresponding to the relay service code from the PCF network element; and the processing unit determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rule. The scheme supports that the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the PCC rule of the service corresponding to the relay service code signed by the remote UE and acquired from the PCF network element, and the policy configuration information is used for verifying or monitoring the policy configuration information of the service data forwarded by the relay UE, so that the problems that in the ProSe communication, the network side does not supervise and manage the service of the data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE, the charging is unreasonable and the like are solved.

In a fifth aspect, a remote UE is provided, which includes a processing unit configured to determine to transmit data of a first service using a relay UE; the relay device comprises a receiving and sending unit, a sending and receiving unit and a relay service processing unit, wherein the receiving and sending unit is used for sending a first message carrying relay information of remote UE to the relay UE, and the relay information comprises first indication information used for indicating the remote UE to adopt a relay mode to transmit services or a relay service code corresponding to the first services.

In the technical solution provided in the fifth aspect, when determining that the data of the first service is transmitted in the relay manner, the remote UE may send relay information to the relay UE, where the relay information includes a relay service code or first indication information used for indicating that the remote UE transmits the service in the relay manner, so that the relay UE indicates to the first network element that the remote UE is about to transmit the data of the first service in the relay manner, and the policy configuration information is used by the network side to verify or monitor the service data forwarded by the relay UE, so as to solve the problems that in ProSe communication, the network side does not perform service supervision and service management on a data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE, and charging is unreasonable.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is further configured to receive first information for characterizing a service that allows the remote UE to transmit in a relay manner; the determining, by the processing unit, that the relay UE is used to transmit the data of the first service includes: and the processing unit determines to transmit the data of the first service in a relay mode according to the first information. The scheme supports the remote UE to determine whether to adopt the relay UE to transmit the service according to the predetermined service information which can be transmitted by adopting the relay UE so that the remote UE can directly determine whether to adopt the relay UE to transmit the service according to the service information.

In a possible implementation manner, the first information includes a correspondence between a relay service code and service information; the processing unit is further configured to determine a relay service code corresponding to the first service according to the first information and the service information of the first service; wherein, the service information includes at least one of the following: a service type, a service identity or an application identity. The scheme supports the remote UE to determine whether to adopt the relay UE to transmit the service and determine the relay service code corresponding to the service according to the predetermined corresponding relation between the service information which can be transmitted by adopting the relay UE and the relay service code so that the remote UE can directly determine whether to adopt the relay UE to transmit the service according to the service information.

In a possible implementation manner, the receiving and sending unit receives the first information, and includes: the receiving and sending unit receives the first information from the second network element; the second network element is an AF network element or a PCF network element; alternatively, the transceiving unit receives the first information from an application server of the first service. The scheme supports that the AF network element, the PCF network element or the application server of the service manages the predetermined first information.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided a second network element, including: the processing unit is used for acquiring first information for representing services which allow the remote standby UE to use the relay UE for transmission; and the transceiving unit is used for sending the first information to the remote UE.

In the technical solution provided in the above sixth aspect, the second network element sends the predetermined first information used for representing the service that allows the remote standby UE to use the relay UE for transmission to the remote UE, so that the remote UE can determine whether to transmit the service in the relay manner according to the first information when there is a service transmission demand, and send the relay information used for representing that the remote UE transmits the service in the relay manner to the first network element, thereby facilitating the network side to verify or monitor the service data forwarded by the relay UE.

In a possible implementation manner, the transceiver unit is further configured to acquire the first information from the UDM network element or the UDR network element. The scheme supports that the predetermined first information is stored by the UDM network element or the UDR network element.

In a possible implementation manner, the second network element is a PCF network element; the receiving and sending unit is further configured to receive a PCC rule request message carrying relay information from the first network element; the relay information comprises first indication information or a relay service code, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the remote UE to adopt a relay mode to transmit services; and sending the strategy configuration information to the first network element according to the received relay information. The scheme supports that the PCF network element determines the strategy configuration information according to the received first indication information or the relay service code, and sends the strategy configuration information to the first network element for the network side to verify or monitor the strategy configuration information of the service data forwarded by the relay UE, so as to solve the problems of unreasonable charging and the like caused by that the network side does not carry out service supervision and service management on the data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE in the ProSe communication.

In a possible implementation manner, the second network element is a PCF network element; the receiving and sending unit is further configured to receive a PCC rule request message carrying first service information from the first network element; the first service information includes at least one of: a service type, a service identifier or an application identifier; and sending the PCC rule of the service corresponding to the first service to the first network element. The scheme supports that the PCF network element determines the strategy configuration information according to the received service information of the service to be transmitted by the remote UE in a relay mode, and sends the strategy configuration information to the first network element for the network side to verify or monitor the strategy configuration information of the service data forwarded by the relay UE, so as to solve the problems of unreasonable charging and the like caused by that the network side does not monitor the service and manage the service of the data packet transmitted by the remote UE through the relay UE in the ProSe communication.

In a seventh aspect, a first network element is provided, where the first network element includes: a memory for storing a computer program; a processor for executing the computer program to implement the method in any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, a remote UE is provided, comprising: a memory for storing a computer program; a processor for executing the computer program to implement the method in any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a second network element, comprising: a memory for storing a computer program; a processor for executing the computer program to implement the method in any one of the possible implementation manners of the third aspect.

A tenth aspect provides a communication system comprising the first network element as in any one of the possible implementations of the fourth aspect or the seventh aspect; and a remote UE as in any one of the possible implementations of the fifth aspect or the eighth aspect, and a second network element as in any one of the possible implementations of the sixth aspect or the ninth aspect.

In an eleventh aspect, a computer readable storage medium is provided, having computer program code stored thereon, which, when executed by a processor, implements a method as in any one of the possible implementations of the first, second or third aspect.

In a twelfth aspect, a chip system is provided, which includes a processor, a memory, and a computer program code stored in the memory; the computer program code realizes the method according to any one of the possible implementations of the first, second or third aspect when executed by the processor. The chip system may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

A thirteenth aspect provides a computer program product enabling, when running on a computer, a method as in any one of the possible implementations of the first, second or third aspect.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is an exemplary diagram of a ProSe architecture of a 5G communication system;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of a protocol stack architecture for two relays;

fig. 3 is a schematic hardware structure diagram of a UE according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 4 is a schematic hardware structure diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a data processing diagram of a data link layer;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of two relay protocol stacks;

fig. 7 is a first flowchart of a method for providing proximity service communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of a method of proximity service communication according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a flowchart of a method for proximity service communication according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is an interaction diagram of two first information generation methods provided in the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a first interaction diagram of a method for imminent service communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 is a second interaction diagram of a method for imminent service communication, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 13 is a third interaction diagram of a method for imminent service communication provided by an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 14 is a fourth interaction diagram of a method of proximity service communication according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 15 is a block diagram of a UE according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 16 is a block diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The technical solution in the present application will be described below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The embodiment of the present application may be applied to, but is not limited to, the following communication systems: a narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) system, a Wireless Local Access Network (WLAN) system, a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system, a fifth generation mobile communication (5th generation mobile networks or 5th generation wireless systems, 5G) also called a New Radio (NR) system, or a communication system after 5G, such as a 6G system, a device-to-device (D2D) communication system, an internet of vehicles, and so on.

Fig. 2 shows a communication network architecture diagram. Fig. 2 shows an interaction relationship between a network function and an entity and a corresponding interface, taking a network service architecture of a 5G system as an example, where the network architecture is a service-based architecture (SBA).

As shown in fig. 2, the 5G system includes: a UE, AN Access Network (AN) or a Radio Access Network (RAN), a User Plane Function (UPF), a Data Network (DN), AN access and mobility management function (AMF), a Session Management Function (SMF), AN authentication service function (AUSF), a Policy Control Function (PCF), AN Application Function (AF), a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF), AN authenticated data management (UDM), a network open function (NEF), and a network storage function (NRF). Wherein, UPF, AMF, SMF, PCF, AUSF and UDF all belong to core network equipment.

It should be noted that when the UE connects to the network through the relay device, the UE may be referred to as a "remote UE". The relay device is a device that can provide access to a cellular network for a remote UE, and may be a relay station or a device such as a UE, where the UE necessarily supports PC5 interface communication in the case that the UE acts as a relay device for the remote UE, and may be referred to as a "relay UE" indicating that the relay device is located in a coverage area of a mobile network, for example, the relay device may normally access an access network of a 5G system.

As shown in fig. 2, the remote UE is connected to the AN/RAN device and the core network device through the relay UE. The interface between the remote UE and the relay UE is a PC5 interface, the interface between the relay UE and the AN/RAN equipment is a Uu interface, the interface point between the remote UE/the relay UE and the AMF is AN N1 interface, the interface between the AN/RAN equipment and the AMF is AN N2 interface, the interface between the AN/RAN equipment and the UPF is AN N3 interface, the interface between the SMF and the UPF is AN N4 interface, and the UPF is AN N6 interface; namf is a service-based interface displayed by AMF, Nsmf is a service-based interface displayed by SMF, Nausf is a service-based interface displayed by AUSF, Nnssf is a service-based interface displayed by NSSF, Nnef is a service-based interface displayed by NEF, Nnrf is a service-based interface displayed by NRF, Npcf is a service-based interface displayed by PCF, Nudm is a service-based interface displayed by UDM, and Naf is a service-based interface displayed by AF.

The main functions of each network element will be described in detail below.

AN/RAN: the AN/RAN may be constituted by AN/RAN device. The AN/RAN equipment may be various forms of base stations, such as: a macro base station, a micro base station (also referred to as a "small station"), a distributed unit-control unit (DU-CU), and the like, wherein the DU-CU is a device capable of wirelessly communicating with the UE deployed in the radio access network. In addition, the base station may also be a wireless controller in a Cloud Radio Access Network (CRAN) scenario, or a network device in a relay station, an access point, a vehicle-mounted device, a wearable device, or a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) network for future evolution, or the like. The AN/RAN device may also be a broadband network service gateway (BNG), a convergence switch, a non-3 GPP access device, or the like. The AN/RAN device is mainly responsible for functions of radio resource management, uplink and downlink data classification, quality of service (QoS) management, data compression and encryption at the air interface side, signaling processing with a control plane network element, data forwarding with a user plane functional network element, and the like. The embodiment of the present application does not limit the specific form and structure of the AN/RAN device.

For example, in systems employing different radio access technologies, the names of base station-capable devices may differ. For example, the base station may be an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN) device in LTE, such as an evolved node B (eNB or E-NodeB), or a next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) device in 5G system (e.g., a gNB).

AMF: is mainly responsible for the processing of control plane messages, such as: access control, mobility management, lawful interception, access authentication/authorization, etc. Specifically, the AMF mainly has the following functions: 1) processing an access network control plane; 2) processing non-access stratum (NAS) messages, and taking charge of NAS encryption and integrity protection; 3) registration management; 4) connection management; 5) performing accessibility management; 6) mobility management; 7) intercepting legal information; 8) providing session management messages between the UE and the SMF; 9) transparent transmission is realized for the Session Management (SM) message of the route, similar to a transparent transmission agent; 10) access authentication; 11) access authorization; 12) forwarding an SMS message (short message) between the UE and a short message service function, SMSF; 13) interacting with AUSF and UE to obtain UE authentication intermediate key; 14) a specific key for the access network is calculated.

SMF: the method is mainly used for session management, Internet Protocol (IP) address allocation and management of UE, selection of a terminal node of an interface capable of managing a user plane function, a policy control and charging function, downlink data notification and the like. Specifically, the main functions of SMF are: 1) session management, session establishment, modification and release, including maintaining a channel between the UPF and the AN node; 2) UE IP address allocation and management; 3) selecting and controlling user plane functions; 4) configuring a correct service route on the UPF; 5) landing execution of a policy control function; 6) a control part of strategy execution and QoS; 7) legally intercepting; 8) processing a session management part in the NAS message; 9) downlink data indication; 10) initiating access network specific session management information (routed through AMF); 11) determining a mode of continuity with a service in a session; 12) a roaming function.

PCF: the method is mainly used for providing UE policy rules, Access Management (AM) policy rules and SM policy rule related parameters for UE, AMF or SMF, managing user subscription information, interfacing UDM to access subscription user information related to policy decision and the like. The PCF generally makes policy decisions based on subscription information and the like.

AF: for providing services, mainly for: 1) application impact on traffic routing; 2) access network capability exposure; 3) and interacting with a policy framework to perform policy control.

UPF: the method is mainly responsible for packet routing and forwarding, Quality of Service (QoS) control of user plane data, accounting information statistics, and the like. The UPF may receive downlink data from the AF and then transmit the downlink data to the UE through the (R) AN.

NEF: the method is mainly used for connecting the core network element and an external application server and providing services such as authentication, data forwarding and the like when the external application server initiates a service request to the core network.

UDM: the method is mainly used for managing subscription data and authentication data of users, and performing authentication credit processing, user identification processing, access authorization, registration/mobility management, subscription management, short message management and the like.

In some embodiments, a Unified Data Repository (UDR) may also be included in the UDM. Alternatively, in other embodiments, the 3GPP SBA of the 5G system may also contain a UDR. The UDR is used for providing storage and retrieval for PCF policies, storage and retrieval of open structured data, storage of user information requested by application functions, and the like.

In addition, for the introduction of the DN, AUSF, NSSF, NRF, and the like, reference may be made to explanations and descriptions in the conventional art, which are not repeated herein.

Remote UE/relay UE: the device can be a desktop device, a laptop device, a handheld device, a wearable device, a smart home device, a computing device, a vehicle-mounted device and the like with a wireless connection function. For example, a netbook, a tablet computer, a smart watch, an ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), a smart camera, a netbook, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), an AR (augmented reality)/VR (virtual reality) device, a wireless device on an aircraft, a wireless device on a robot, a wireless device in industrial control, a wireless device in telemedicine, a wireless device in a smart grid, a wireless device in a smart city (smart city), a wireless device in a smart home (smart home), and the like. Or the UE may also be a wireless device in Narrowband (NB) technology, etc.

Further, remote UE/relay UE may also refer to an access terminal, subscriber unit, subscriber station, mobile station, relay station, remote terminal, mobile device, user terminal (user terminal), terminal (terminal), wireless communication device, user agent, or user equipment. The terminal device may also be a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) phone, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) station, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication functionality, a computing device or other processing device connected to a wireless modem, a vehicle mounted device, a wearable device, a terminal device in a future 5G network or a terminal device in a future evolved Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) or a terminal device in a future vehicle networking, etc.

In addition, the remote UE/relay UE can also be a terminal device in an IoT system, IoT is an important component of future information technology development, and the main technical feature of the method is to connect an article with a network through a communication technology, so as to realize an intelligent network with man-machine interconnection and object-object interconnection. The IOT technology can achieve massive connection, deep coverage, and power saving of the terminal through a Narrowband (NB) technology, for example.

In addition, in the present application, the relay UE may also be a wireless access device. For example, the relay UE may be an operator deployed router-like access device. The present application does not limit the specific types, structures, etc. of the remote UE and the relay UE.

Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a hardware structure of a UE, which may be a remote UE or a relay UE. As shown in fig. 3, the UE may specifically include: processor 301, radio frequency circuitry 302, memory 303, touch screen 304, bluetooth device 305, one or more sensors 306, Wi-Fi device 307, pointing device 308, audio circuitry 309, peripheral interface 310, power supply 311, fingerprint acquisition device 312, speaker 313, and microphone 314. These components may communicate over one or more communication buses or signal lines (not shown in fig. 3). Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the hardware configuration shown in fig. 3 does not constitute a limitation of a relay UE or a remote UE, which may include more or fewer components than those shown, or combine certain components, or a different arrangement of components.

The following specifically describes each component of the relay UE with reference to fig. 3:

the processor 301 may be a control center of the UE, and may be connected to other parts of the UE through various interfaces and lines, and may execute various functions of the UE by running or executing a computer program, such as an application client program (hereinafter, may be abbreviated as App), stored in the memory 303.

In some embodiments, processor 301 may be a general-purpose Central Processing Unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or one or more integrated circuits configured to control the execution of programs in accordance with the present invention, and processor 301 may include one or more CPUs; for example, the processor 301 may be an kylin chip.

The radio frequency circuit 302 may be used for reception and transmission of wireless signals. Specifically, the rf circuit 302 may receive downlink data of the base station and send the downlink data to the processor 301 for processing; in addition, the rf circuit 302 may also transmit uplink data to the base station.

In general, the radio frequency circuitry 302 includes, but is not limited to, an antenna, at least one amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low noise amplifier, a duplexer, and the like. In addition, the radio frequency circuit 302 may also communicate with other devices via wireless communication. The wireless communication may use any communication standard or protocol including, but not limited to, global system for mobile communications, general packet radio service, code division multiple access, wideband code division multiple access, long term evolution, email, short message service, and the like.

The memory 303 is used for storing computer programs and may also be used for storing data. The memory 303 may be, but is not limited to, a read-only memory (ROM) or a Random Access Memory (RAM), an electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM) or other optical disk storage, optical disk storage (including compact disk, laser disk, optical disk, digital versatile disk, blu-ray disk, etc.), a magnetic disk storage medium or other magnetic storage device, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store program code and that can be accessed by a computer.

The processor 301 may perform various functions of the UE and data processing by executing the computer program stored in the memory 303.

The memory 303 may include a program storage area and a data storage area. Wherein, the storage program area can store an operating system and application programs (such as a sound playing function and an image playing function) required by at least one function; the storage data area may store data (such as audio data, a phonebook, etc.) created according to the use of the UE.

Among them, the memory 303 may store a computer program for implementing a modular function, and is controlled to be executed by the processor 301. The processor 301 is configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory 303, thereby implementing the methods provided by the embodiments described below in the present application. Further, the memory 303 may include high speed random access memory, and may also include non-volatile memory, such as a magnetic disk storage device, a flash memory device, or other volatile solid state storage device. The memory 303 may store various operating systems, such as an iOS operating system, an Android operating system, and the like.

The UE may also include at least one or more sensors 306, such as light sensors, motion sensors, and other sensors. Specifically, the light sensor may include an ambient light sensor that may adjust the brightness of the display of the touch screen 304 according to the brightness of ambient light, and a proximity sensor that may turn off the power to the display when the UE moves to the ear. As one of the motion sensors, the accelerometer sensor can detect the magnitude of acceleration in each direction (generally, three axes), can detect the magnitude and direction of gravity when stationary, and can be used for applications (such as horizontal and vertical screen switching, related games, magnetometer attitude calibration) for recognizing the attitude of the smartphone, and related functions (such as pedometer and tapping) for vibration recognition; as for other sensors such as a gyroscope, a barometer, a hygrometer, a thermometer, and an infrared sensor, which may be further configured by the UE, detailed descriptions thereof are omitted.

The audio circuitry 309, speaker 313, microphone 314 may provide an audio interface between the user and the UE. The audio circuit 309 may transmit the electrical signal converted from the received audio data to the speaker 313, and convert the electrical signal into a sound signal by the speaker 313 for output; on the other hand, the microphone 314 converts the collected sound signals into electrical signals, which are received by the audio circuit 309 and converted into audio data, which is then output to the radio frequency circuit 302 for transmission to, for example, another UE, or to the memory 303 for further processing.

Although not shown in fig. 3, the UE may further include a camera (a front camera and/or a rear camera), a flash, a micro projection device, a Near Field Communication (NFC) device, and the like, which are not described in detail herein.

It should be understood that the above-mentioned hardware modules included in the UE shown in fig. 3 are only exemplary descriptions and are not limiting to the present application. In fact, the UE (such as the remote UE or the relay UE) provided in the embodiments of the present application may further include other hardware modules having an interactive relationship with the hardware modules illustrated in the drawings, and is not limited specifically herein.

It should be noted that AN/RAN device in this application may be a base station. Specifically, the base station may be an Ng-eNB, a gNB, or a transmission/reception point (TRP). But also a base station as defined by 3 GPP. E.g., an eNB or e-NodeB, etc.

Furthermore, when the eNB accesses a core network of the NR, or a Next Generation Core (NGC) or a 5G core network (5 GC), the eNB may also be referred to as an lte eNB. Specifically, the LTE eNB is an LTE base station device that evolves on the basis of the eNB, and may be directly connected to the 5G CN, and the LTE eNB also belongs to a base station device in the NR.

Alternatively, the AN/RAN device may also be a Wireless Terminal (WT). Such as an Access Point (AP) or an Access Controller (AC), or other network device capable of communicating with the UE and the core network. For example, an in-vehicle device, a smart wearable device, and the like. The application does not limit the type of AN/RAN device.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating a hardware structure of a network device. The network device may be AN/RAN device in the radio access network shown in fig. 1, or AN/RAN device in the AN/RAN shown in fig. 2, or a core network element such as AN AMF, AN SMF, or a PCF shown in fig. 2. As shown in fig. 4, the network device may include a processor 401, a communication line 402, a memory 403, and at least one communication interface (fig. 4 is only exemplary and includes a communication interface 404).

Processor 401 may include one or more processors, which may be, without limitation, a general processing unit (CPU), a microprocessor, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or other integrated circuit.

The communication link 402 may include a path for communicating information between the aforementioned components.

A communication interface 404 for communicating with other devices or a communication network.

Memory 403 may be, but is not limited to, ROM or RAM, or EEPROM, CD-ROM, or other optical disk storage, optical disk storage (including compact disk, laser disk, optical disk, digital versatile disk, blu-ray disk, etc.), magnetic disk storage media or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer.

It should be noted that the memory may be separate and coupled to the processor via the communication line 402. The memory may also be integral to the processor.

Wherein the memory 403 is used for storing the executing computer program. The processor 401 is configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory 403, so as to implement the method of the relevant network element provided in any of the method embodiments described below in the present application.

It is noted that processor 401 may include one or more CPUs, such as CPU0 and CPU1 of fig. 4.

In addition, fig. 4 is only an example of a network device, and does not limit the specific structure of the network device. For example, the network device may also include other functional modules.

ProSe communication may be implemented over an air protocol stack. The air interface protocol stack is typically divided into three layers: a physical layer (also referred to as layer 1, abbreviated L1), a data link layer (also referred to as layer 2, abbreviated L2), and a network layer (also referred to as layer 3, abbreviated L3). As shown in fig. 5, in the New Radio (NR) communication system of 5G, L2 can be further divided into the following sub-layers: a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, and a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer. The MAC layer is configured to provide a logical channel to the RLC layer and perform mapping between the logical channel and a physical channel. The RLC layer serves to provide the PDCP layer with an RLC channel and perform mapping of the RLC channel with a logical channel. The PDCP layer is configured to provide a Radio Bearer (RB) to the SDAP layer and perform mapping of the RB and RLC channels. The RB includes a Signaling Radio Bearer (SRB) of a control plane and a data radio bearer (DBR) of a user plane. The SDAP layer is used for providing specific quality of service (QoS) flow of the data packet and mapping the QoS flow and the RB. Packets transmitted by the same QoS flow are processed using the same QoS parameters and are represented by a QoS Flow Identifier (QFI). The QoS parameter is used to indicate one or more of the parameters such as resource type, priority, time delay, packet loss rate or time window size required for data packet transmission.

In general, ProSe communication can be based on a layer 2 relayed protocol stack or a layer 3 relayed protocol stack. Among them, the protocol stack of the layer 2 relay may refer to (a) in fig. 6, and the protocol stack of the layer 3 relay may refer to (b) in fig. 6.

As shown in fig. 6 (a), when the application server has service data to be transmitted, first, the service data in a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) is encapsulated at the NR-SDAP layer of the remote UE once. Then, the NR-sdaap layer will map the service data to the bearer for physical layer transmission according to the QoS requirement of the application data, and complete the transmission of the service data through the established PDU session using the determined bearer. As shown in (a) of fig. 6, the remote UE is directly connected with the PDCP and the SDAP of the radio access network. The PC5-RLC of the remote UE and the PC5-RLC of the relay UE are correspondingly connected. The NR-RLC of the relay UE is correspondingly connected with the NR-RLC of the radio access network. However, the relay function of the relay UE can be performed only below the PDCP layer. Thus, data security between the remote UE and the radio access network can be ensured when the remote UE connects to the network using the layer 2 relay UE. However, since the remote UE does not mark the service data transmitted by the relay UE, for example, the service data is marked to be forwarded by the relay UE, the core network element (such as a UPF network element, an SMF network element, or an AMF network element) does not know that the service data is forwarded in a relay manner, and thus, the network side cannot supervise the service data forwarded to the network by the relay UE.

As shown in fig. 6 (b), the remote UE performs traffic data transmission with the layer 3 relay UE through the PC5-U interface. After receiving the application data from the remote UE, the relay UE performs layer 1 and layer 2 decoding on the application data until the application data is decoded to the IP layer (data in the IP layer is not decoded). And then, the relay UE uses a protocol stack of the Uu interface to perform layer 2 and layer 1 packing operation on the IP data of the remote UE, and sends the IP data to the UPF network element through the Uu interface and the access network equipment, and the UPF network element sends the data packet to a corresponding application server according to the routing information indicated by the data packet. In the transmission process of the service data, the UPF network element does not verify and monitor the service information, for example, the UPF network element does not verify whether the service data allows relay forwarding.

Therefore, no matter the conventional ProSe communication is based on the layer 2 relay protocol stack or the layer 3 relay protocol stack, the network side does not supervise the service data forwarded to the network by the relay UE, which is not favorable for the service management of the network side on the relay forwarding data, and even influences the charging management of the network on the remote UE.

In order to solve the above problem, the present application provides a method of proximity service communication. Specifically, the remote UE may send relay information to a core network element (e.g., an SMF network element or an AMF network element), where the relay information is used to instruct the remote UE to transmit a service in a relay manner, so that the core network element may verify or monitor service data of the remote UE forwarded by the relay UE according to the relay information.

The method for proximity service communication provided by the embodiment of the present application is specifically described below with reference to the accompanying drawings:

as shown in fig. 7, the method for proximity service communication provided by the embodiment of the present application may include the following steps S701 and S702:

s701, the remote UE sends relay information to the first network element.

Wherein the relay information includes first indication information or a Relay Service Code (RSC). The first indication information is used for indicating the remote UE to adopt a relay mode to transmit services. For example, the service transmitted by the remote UE in the relay manner is a service corresponding to an application identifier (APP ID), or a service corresponding to an application function identifier (AF ID). Alternatively, the Service transmitted by the remote UE in the relay manner may also be a Service of a certain Slice/Service type (SST).

Optionally, in an implementation, the RSC is an identifier that is preconfigured by a core network element (e.g., a PCF network element) for the remote UE and the relaying UE for relay connection discovery. For example, the RSC may be preconfigured for the remote UE and the relay UE by a proximity services Function (ProSe Function). The ProSe Function may also be integrated in the PCF network element.

Wherein, RSC and service information can be bound into corresponding relation. For example, the first traffic may be bound to RSC 1 in a corresponding relationship. If the remote UE sends RSC 1 to the first network element when the first service transmission request is received, the first network element may verify, according to a correspondence between RSC and service information, whether the remote UE can transmit the first service through the relay UE, and acquire policy configuration information to monitor service data transmitted by the relay UE when it is determined that the first service can be transmitted through the relay UE. This will be expanded in detail below.

In this application, the first network element may be an SMF network element, an AMF network element, or another core network element having a policy configuration function or a service monitoring function. The embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the first network element.

The relay information may be carried in a PDU session establishment request message, a PDU session change request message, or a non-access stratum NAS message.

S702, the first network element acquires the strategy configuration information according to the received relay information.

When the relay information comprises the first indication information, the strategy configuration information comprises information of services which allow the remote UE to adopt the relay mode for transmission.

For example, when the first network element is an AMF network element and the relay information includes the first indication information, the Policy configuration information may include user Policy information (e.g., UE Policy) or access management Policy information (e.g., Access Management (AM) Policy) of a service transmitted by the remote UE in the relay manner.

The UE Policy may include subscription information of the remote UE, for example, slice information subscribed by the remote UE, service information subscribed by the remote UE and transmitted in a relay manner, and the like. UE Policy may also include capability information of the remote UE, such as communication interface information supported by the remote UE (e.g., the remote UE supports PC5 interface communications). The AM Policy may include service area information that the remote UE may access the network, slice information that the remote UE may use, service information that the remote UE may transmit in a relay manner, a selection rule of an SMF network element, and the like.

When the Policy configuration information includes UE Policy of a service that is transmitted by the remote UE in the relay manner, the AMF network element may obtain subscription information of the remote UE in the network according to the UE Policy, for example, slice information subscribed by the remote UE and service information that is subscribed by the remote UE and may be transmitted in the relay manner, and verify whether the remote UE is allowed to transmit the first service of the remote UE in the relay manner by combining with communication interface information supported by the remote UE.

When the Policy configuration information includes AM Policy of a service transmitted by the remote UE in a relay manner, the AMF network element may limit access to the network for the remote UE according to the AM Policy (for example, from the location of the remote UE, a PLMN used in the location of the remote UE, or the like), and perform SMF network element selection for the remote UE, or the like. And the AMF network element can acquire the slice information which can be used by the remote UE and the service information which can be transmitted by the remote UE in a relay mode according to the AM Policy, and verify whether the remote UE is allowed to transmit the first service of the remote UE in the relay mode.

In this case, if the AMF network element may determine, according to the policy configuration information, that the remote UE is allowed to transmit the first service of the remote UE in the relay manner, the AMF network element sends, to the SMF network element, a request message for requesting establishment or modification of a PDU session of the remote UE. Or, if the AMF network element determines that the remote UE is not allowed to transmit the first service in the relay mode according to the policy configuration information, the AMF network element sends, to the remote UE, indication information for rejecting the remote UE to transmit the first service in the relay mode, and the AMF network element terminates establishing or changing the PDU session.

When the first network element is an SMF network element and the relay information includes the first indication information, the policy configuration information may include one or more of the following information that allows the remote UE to transmit the service in the relay manner: packet Detection Rules (PDRs), forwarding rules (farrs), or multiple-access rules (MARs).

The PDR may include rules for distinguishing packets, such as core network tunnel information (CN tunnel info), QFI, packet filter set (IP packet filter set), APP ID, and the like. The packet filter set (IP packet filter set) may include an IP source address or an IP destination address, and the like. Optionally, the PDR may further include processing rules of the distinguished packets, such as FAR and MAR. The FAR may include transmission rules of the UPF network element for the data packet, for example, transfer operation information (such as forwarding, copying, discarding or buffering, etc.) and transfer destination information (such as access side (i.e. downlink), core network side (i.e. uplink), SMF network element, DN, etc.). The MAR may include packet distribution rules, e.g., packet distribution and aggregation rules, etc., when the remote UE accesses the network over multiple interfaces, such as 3GPP interfaces and non-3 GPP interfaces. In this embodiment of the present application, the PDR may be understood as a rule for monitoring a data packet, and specifically, the SMF network element may configure a PDR corresponding to the first service for the UPF network element. The UPF network element may identify the data packet of the first service according to the PDR and transmit the data of the first service according to the corresponding FAR. And for the data packet without the PDR, the UPF network element can directly discard the data packet.

In this case, the SMF network element may send the policy configuration information to the UPF network element, so that the UPF network element monitors the service data transmitted by the relay UE according to the policy configuration information. For example, the policy configuration information may include PDRs and FARs of services that can be transmitted in a relay manner, and the UPF network element may determine, according to the PDRs and the FARs, that some services that the relay UE forwards to the remote UE are not accepted, and filter out service data that cannot be transmitted in the relay manner.

When the relay information includes a relay service code, the policy configuration information may include information of a service corresponding to the relay service code.

For example, when the first network element is an AMF network element and the relay information includes a relay service code, the policy configuration information may include user policy information or access management policy information of a service corresponding to the relay service code. In this case, the AMF network element may determine, according to the policy configuration information, that is, the policy configuration information includes an RSC (e.g., RSC 1) corresponding to the first service, to allow the remote UE to transmit service data of the service (i.e., the first service) of the remote UE corresponding to RSC 1 in a relay manner. And the AMF network element sends a request message for requesting to establish or change the PDU session of the remote UE to the SMF network element. Or, the AMF network element determines that the remote UE is not allowed to transmit the first service in the relay manner according to the policy configuration information, where the policy configuration information includes the RSC corresponding to the other services except the first service, and then the AMF network element sends, to the remote UE, indication information for rejecting the remote UE to transmit the first service in the relay manner.

When the first network element is an SMF network element and the relay information includes a relay service code, the policy configuration information may include one or more of the following information of a service corresponding to the relay service code: PDR, FAR or MAR. In this case, the SMF network element may send the policy configuration information to the UPF network element, so that the UPF network element monitors the service data transmitted by the relay UE according to the policy configuration information. For example, the policy configuration information includes PDR and FAR of the first service corresponding to RSC 1, and the UPF network element may determine not to provide the relay service to the remote UE according to the PDR and the FAR, and filter out the service data that cannot be transmitted in the relay manner.

In an example, if the relay information includes the first indication information, the step S702 may include: and the first network element acquires the policy configuration information from the PCF network element according to the received first indication information. Specifically, first, the first network element may determine, according to the received first indication information, a service that can be transmitted in a relay manner. Then, the first network element may obtain policy configuration information of a service that can be transmitted in a relay manner from the PCF network element.

In another example, if the relay information includes a relay service code, for example, the relay information includes RSC 1, the step S702 may include: first, a first network element determines a service (such as a first service) corresponding to RSC 1. For example, a first network element obtains a service corresponding to RSC 1 from an AF network element; or, the first network element directly obtains the service corresponding to RSC 1 from the UDM network element or the UDR network element; or, the first network element obtains the service corresponding to the RSC 1 from the UDM network element or the UDR network element through the PCF network element. Then, the first network element obtains the PCC rule of the service (such as the first service) corresponding to RSC 1 from the PCF network element. For example, the first network element sends a PCC rule request message to the PCF network element, where the PCC rule request message carries identification information of the first service. The PCC rule request message is used to request a PCC rule for the first service. And finally, the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the acquired PCC rule. The PCC rule of the first service may generally include 3 types of information: service data flow check information, policy control information and charging related information. For specific content of the PCC rule, reference may be made to explanations and descriptions in the conventional technology, which are not described herein.

Or, in another example, the step S702 may include: first, a first network element sends a PCC rule request message to a PCF network element, wherein the PCC rule request message carries RSC 1. The PCC rule request message is used for requesting the PCC rule of the service corresponding to the RSC 1. Then, the first network element receives the PCC rule of the service corresponding to RSC 1 from the PCF network element. And finally, the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the received PCC rule.

Or, in another example, the step S702 may include: first, a first network element sends a PCC rule request message to a PCF network element, where the PCC rule request message carries RSC 1 and identification information of a remote UE (e.g., an ID of the remote UE). And then, the first network element receives the PCC rule of the service which is signed by the remote UE and corresponds to the RSC 1 from the PCF network element. And finally, the first network element determines the policy configuration information according to the received PCC rule.

Further, as shown in fig. 8, before the step S701 is executed, the method for proximity service communication provided in the embodiment of the present application may further include steps S801 and S802:

s801, the remote UE receives the first information.

The first information is used for representing the service which allows the remote UE to adopt the relay mode for transmission.

In some embodiments, the first information may include one or more of the following traffic information: a Data Network Name (DNN), single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI), an APP ID, or an AF ID (or AF-Service-Identifier).

Wherein the DNN is used to identify a data network provided by a mobile operator. The DNN typically consists of a DNN network identity and a DNN operator identity. For example, DNN may be used to characterize the data network of the contracted operator used for services that allow the remote UE to relay transmissions, or the virtual local area network or Emergency Service (Emergency Service) used, etc.

The S-NSSAI is used to uniquely identify a network slice. The network slicing is to solve the problem that it is difficult to simultaneously satisfy the requirements of high bandwidth, low delay, high reliability, etc. when a single network is used to carry services due to the great difference in the requirements of the services on network functions, connection performance, security, etc. The network slice can provide customized network service for users, and provides service for users in a targeted manner by flexibly allocating network resources, networking on demand and virtually simulating a plurality of mutually isolated logic subnets (i.e. slices) with different characteristics on the same set of physical facilities. Specifically, based on the user plane network element and the control plane network element shown in fig. 2, such as a PCF network element, an NRF network element, an SMF network element, and a UPF network element, a plurality of mutually isolated network slices can be virtualized. Each slice may include a user device, an access network device (e.g., a base station), and a plurality of network slices virtualized by core network elements. Different slices can be used as mutually independent channels to provide services for services with different requirements on the aspects of mobility, charging, safety, policy control, time delay, reliability and the like. For a detailed description of the network slice, reference may be made to the explanations and illustrations in the conventional art. In this embodiment, when the first information includes S-NSSAI, the remote UE may determine, according to the first information, a slice-type service that allows the remote UE to transmit in a relay manner. The APP ID is used to uniquely identify an application. In this embodiment of the application, when the first information includes the APP ID, the remote UE may determine, according to the first information, an application to which a service that allows the remote UE to transmit in a relay manner belongs. Such as a WeChat application, a Tencent meeting application, or a microblog application. The AF ID is used to identify an application server that provides a service.

It should be noted that the first information may include a plurality of DNNs, S-NSSAIs, APP IDs, or AF IDs (or AF-Service-identifiers) described above. For example, the first information may include a combination of DNN and S-NSSAI. The combination of DNN and S-NSSAI represents operator slice service information used by the remote UE. The AF ID or AF-Service-Identifier may represent a specific Service or may be mapped to an operator slicing Service corresponding to a combination of DNN and S-NSSAI through a core network element.

In the embodiment of the present application, the first information may be in the form of a list (list), where a header of the list is the first indication information, as shown in table 1 below.

TABLE 1

In other embodiments, the first information may include a correspondence between the relay service code and the traffic information.

Wherein, the service information comprises at least one of the following: service type, Service identification (such as AF ID or AF-Service-Identifier) or APP ID. The service type may be represented by DNN and/or S-NSSAI.

In this embodiment, the first information may be in the form of a list (list), for example, the list includes a correspondence relationship between one or more relay service codes and the first information. As shown in table 2 below.

TABLE 2

In one example, the step S801 may include: the remote UE receives the first information from a second network element (e.g., a PCF network element or an AF network element). Wherein, the first information can be stored in a second network element (such as PCF network element or AF network element); alternatively, the first information may be stored in a UDM network element or a UDR network element, and the remote UE may obtain the first information from the UDM network element or the UDR network element through a second network element (e.g., a PCF network element or an AF network element).

In another example, the step S801 may include: the remote UE receives the first information from the application server for the first service. Wherein the first information is stored in an application server of the first service.

S802, the remote UE determines to adopt a relay mode to transmit the data of the first service according to the received first information.

When the first information includes one or more of the DNN, S-NSSAI, APP ID, or AF ID, if the remote UE has a first service transmission requirement, the remote UE may determine whether to transmit data of the first service in a relay manner by querying whether the DNN, S-NSSAI, APP ID, or AF ID corresponds to the first service in the first information. For example, if the first service corresponds to one DNN, S-NSSAI, APP ID, or AF ID in the first information, the remote UE determines to transmit the data of the first service in a relay manner. And if the first service does not correspond to each DNN, S-NSSAI, APP ID and AF ID in the first information, the remote UE determines that the data of the first service is not transmitted in a relay mode.

When the first information includes a corresponding relationship between the relay service code and the service information, if the remote UE has a first service transmission requirement, the remote UE may determine whether to transmit the data of the first service in a relay manner by querying whether the first service is in the service information in the corresponding relationship. For example, if the first service is in the service information in the correspondence, the remote UE determines to transmit the data of the first service in a relay manner. And if the first service is not in the service information in the corresponding relation, the remote UE determines not to adopt a relay mode to transmit the data of the first service.

In the case that the first information includes a correspondence between a relay service code and service information, as shown in fig. 9, the method for proximity service communication provided in the embodiment of the present application may further include step S901:

s901, the remote UE determines a relay service code corresponding to the first service according to the first information and the service information of the first service.

Specifically, the remote UE may find the relay service code corresponding to the service information of the first service from the correspondence between the relay service code and the service information. The service information of the first service may include a service type, a service identifier, or an APP ID of the first service.

In the case that the first information includes a corresponding relationship between the relay service code and the service information, and the remote UE performs the step S901, in the step S701, the relay information sent by the remote UE to the first network element may include the relay service code corresponding to the first service, as shown in fig. 9.

A detailed description will be given below of a specific implementation process of a method for proximity service communication according to an embodiment of the present application with reference to the embodiments shown in fig. 11, fig. 12, fig. 13, and fig. 14.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 11, the first network element is an SMF network element. The relay information sent by the remote UE to the first network element (i.e., SMF network element) includes a relay service code. Specifically, the remote UE may send a relay service code, such as RSC 1, to the SMF network element when there is a first service data transmission requirement. Wherein, RSC 1 is a relay service code corresponding to the first service. The remote UE sends the relay service code corresponding to the first service to the SMF network element, so that the SMF network element can conveniently acquire the policy configuration information to monitor the transmission of the first service by the relay UE, perform related charging and the like.

The method for proximity service communication provided by the embodiment of the application can comprise the following four stages: stage (I): a first information generation phase; stage (b): a relay information determining stage; stage (c): a strategy configuration information acquisition stage; stage (iv): data transmission and network monitoring.

As shown in fig. 10 (a), stage (one) may include the following steps S1001-a, S1001-b, S1001-c, and S1002. Alternatively, stage (one) may include the following steps S1001-a, S1001-b, S1001-c, S1002, S1003-a, and S1004-a. Alternatively, stage (one) may include the following steps S1001-a, S1001-b, S1001-c, S1002, S1003-b, and S1004-b. Alternatively, stage (one) may include the following steps S1001-d and S1002. Alternatively, stage (one) may include the following steps S1001-d, S1002, S1003-a, and S1004-a. Alternatively, stage (one) may include the following steps S1001-d, S1002, S1003-b, and S1004-b. Alternatively, as shown in (b) of fig. 10, stage (one) may include the following steps S1001-e. Alternatively, stage (one) may include the following steps S1001-e, S1003-c, and S1004-c. The details are as follows.

S1001-a, the AF network element sends a first information creating request message to the NEF network element.

The first information creating request message carries service information. The service information includes at least one of: a service type, a service identification or an APP ID. The first information creation request message is used for requesting creation of a correspondence between the RSC and the service information.

In an example, if the service information is for a user, the first information creation request message may also carry identification information of the remote UE. For example, a General Public Subscription Identifier (GPSI), an IP address of the UE, and a MAC address of the UE. Or, if the service information is for a user group, the first information creation request message may also carry an external user group identifier (external group identifier).

S1001-b, the NEF network element verifies whether to provide the first information creating service for the AF network element.

For example, the NEF network element may verify whether the AF network element is authenticated by the operator. And if the AF network element passes the operator authentication, the NEF network element determines to provide the AF network element with the first information creation service. And if the AF network element does not pass the operator authentication, the NEF network element refuses the first information creation request of the AF network element.

And if the NEF network element determines to provide the first information creating service for the AF network element after verification, executing the step S1001-c. And if the NEF network element determines that the AF network element is not provided with the first information creating service after verification, the NEF network element rejects the first information creating request of the AF network element.

S1001-c, the NEF network element sends a first information creating request message to the PCF network element.

The first information creating request message carries one or more of DNN, S-NSSAI, user permanent identifier (SUPI), internal group identifier (internal group identifier), and the like. The DNN and/or the S-NSSAI are/is mapped by the NEF according to the AF ID (or AF-Service-Identifier), the SUPI is mapped by the NEF according to the GPSI, and the internal group Identifier (internal group Identifier) is mapped by the NEF according to the external group Identifier (external group Identifier).

In another example, if the AF network element passes the authentication of the operator, as shown in step S1001-d in (a) of fig. 10, the AF network element may directly request the PCF network element to create the first information:

s1001-d, AF net element sends first information creating request message to PCF net element.

The first information creating request message carries internal identifiers that can be identified by core network elements such as PCF network elements, and the like, including one or more of DNN, S-NSSAI, SUPI, or internal group identifier (internal group identifier), and the like.

S1002, the PCF network element generates first information.

The first information is used for representing the service which allows the remote UE to adopt the relay mode for transmission. The first information may include one or more of the following traffic information: DNN, S-NSSAI, APP ID, or AF ID (or AF-Service-Identifier). Alternatively, the first information may include a correspondence between the relay service code and the traffic information. For example, the first information may be in the form of a list as shown in table 2.

In one implementation, after the PCF network element generates the first information, the PCF network element may store the first information locally to the PCF network element.

In another implementation, after the PCF network element generates the first information, the PCF may also send the first information to the UDM network element to store the first information in the UDM network element. Alternatively, the PCF may also send the first information to the UDR network element to store the first information in the UDR network element. Or, the PCF may also send the first information to the AF network element, for example, directly to the AF network element or through the NEF network element, so as to store the first information in the AF network element. As shown in (a) of fig. 10, stage (one) may further include the following steps S1003-a and S1004-a:

s1003-a, PCF network element sends first information to UDM/UDR network element.

S1004-a, the UDM/UDR network element stores the first information.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 10 (a), stage (one) may further include the following steps S1003-b and S1004-b:

s1003-b, the PCF network element sends the first information to the AF network element.

S1004-b, the AF network element stores the first information.

In another implementation, as shown in step S1001-e in fig. 10 (b), the AF network element may also directly create the first information:

s1001-e, the AF network element generates first information.

After the AF network element performs S1001-e, the AF network element may store the first information locally at the AF network element. Or, the AF network element may further send the first information to the UDM network element, so as to store the first information in the UDM network element; alternatively, the first information is sent to the UDR network element to store the first information in the UDR network element. As shown in fig. 10 (b), after the AF network element performs S1001-e, the stage (one) of the method for approaching service communication provided in this embodiment may further include the following steps S1003-c and S1004-c:

s1003-c, the AF network element sends the first information to the UDM/UDR network element.

S1004-c, the UDM/UDR network element stores the first information.

In another implementation, the first information may also be directly created by the ProSe Function of the user plane logical network element. For example, the ProSe Function may be deployed in a PCF network element. After the ProSe Function generates the first information, the ProSe Function may store the first information in a PCF network element, an AF network element, or a UDM/UDR network element.

In another implementation, the first information may also be created directly by an application server of the application.

In another implementation manner, if the core network element (e.g., PCF network element) creates the first information for the AF network element before, the AF network element may also request to update the first information when there is a service information update. Specifically, the AF network element may send a first information update request message to the NEF network element, where the first information update request message is used to request to update the correspondence between the RSC and the service information. The first information update request message may carry the RSC previously allocated to the AF network element by the core network element (e.g., PCF network element). Then, the NEF network element verifies whether to provide the AF network element with the first information updating service, and when the AF network element is determined to be provided with the first information updating service, a first information updating request message is sent to the UDM/UDR network element to indicate the UDM/UDR network element to update the first information. The UDM/UDR network element updating first information may include at least that the UDM/UDR network element adds service information of a service corresponding to the RSC, and/or deletes service information of one or more services corresponding to the RSC. After the UDM/UDR network element updates the first information, the UDM/UDR network element may store the updated first information locally to the UDM/UDR network element. Or, the UDM/UDR network element may also send the updated first information to the PCF network element, so as to store the updated first information in the PCF network element. Or, the UDM/UDR network element may also send the updated first information to the AF network element, so as to store the updated first information in the AF network element.

Or, when the NEF network element determines to provide the first information updating service for the AF network element, the NEF network element may also send a first information updating request message to the PCF network element, indicating the PCF network element to update the first information. After the PCF network element updates the first information, the PCF network element may store the updated first information locally to the PCF network element. Or, the PCF network element may also send the updated first information to the UDM/UDR network element to store the updated first information in the UDM/UDR network element. Or, the PCF network element may also send the updated first information to the AF network element, for example, directly to the AF network element or through the NEF network element, so as to store the updated first information in the AF network element.

As shown in fig. 11, stage (two) can be completed by the following steps S1101-S1107:

s1101, the remote UE or the relay UE requests the latest user policy information from the PCF network element.

Wherein the user policy information comprises ProSe communication policy information.

In one implementation, the remote UE or relay UE may request the latest user Policy information from the PCF network element when registering with the core network, or when updating the user Policy information (e.g., UE Policy).

In another implementation, when the subscription data of the remote UE or the relay UE is updated, for example, when the first information is created/updated by the PCF network element, the AF network element, the UDM/UDR network element, or the NEF network element, the PCF network element may also actively send the latest user policy information to the remote UE or the relay UE.

Optionally, in an example, a message requesting for the latest user policy information, which is sent by the remote UE or the relay UE to the PCF network element, may carry a user identifier (e.g., SUPI), so that the PCF network element may determine, according to the user identifier, a ProSe communication policy corresponding to the subscription information of the remote UE or the relay UE, where the ProSe communication policy includes first information corresponding to a service subscribed by the remote UE or the relay UE.

S1102, the PCF network element acquires the first information.

If the PCF network element stores the created/updated first information locally in the PCF network element after performing step S1002 or after updating the first information, the PCF network element may obtain the first information from its local storage unit.

If the PCF network element stores the created/updated first information in the UDM/UDR network element after performing the step S1002 or after updating the first information, the PCF network element may obtain the first information from the UDM/UDR network element; as shown at S1102 in fig. 11. For example, the PCF network element may request the UDM/UDR network element to obtain the first information; or may subscribe to the first information update service to the UDM/UDR network element, and when the first information is updated, the UDM/UDR network element notifies the PCF of the updated first information.

S1103, the PCF network element sends the first information to the remote UE or the relay UE.

Specifically, if the latest user policy information is requested to be acquired by the remote UE, the PCF network element performs S1103-a shown in fig. 11: the PCF network element sends the first information to the remote UE. If the latest user policy information is requested to be acquired by the relay UE, the PCF network element performs S1103-b shown in fig. 11: and the PCF network element sends the first information to the relay UE.

For example, the PCF network element may store the first information (i.e., the correspondence between the RSC and the service information) in a user Policy Container (e.g., UE Policy Container), and send the first information to the remote UE or the relay UE through the AMF network element along with the user configuration information of the remote UE and the relay UE. The user configuration information may include a user access selection policy (ANDSP) and a User Routing Selection Policy (URSP). The andsdsp is used to provide the user with a basis for selecting an access network, such as a PLMN ID. The URSP is used for providing a routing mode of service processing for a user, such as a method for creating a PDU session when a service needs to be initiated. For detailed description of the user configuration information, reference may be made to explanations and descriptions in the conventional art, which are not repeated herein.

In one example, if the correspondence between the RSC and the traffic information in the first information is applicable to only a portion of users, there are also one or more user identities (e.g., SUPI) sent by the PCF network element to the remote UE or relay UE along with the first information.

In another example, if a message requesting the latest user policy information sent by the remote UE or the relay UE to the PCF network element carries a user identifier (e.g., SUPI), the PCF network element may determine, according to the user identifier, first information corresponding to a service subscribed by the remote UE or the relay UE. And transmitting the first information to the remote UE or the relay UE.

Optionally, in this embodiment of the application, if the first information is stored in the AF network element or the UDM/UDR network element, the AF network element may further actively send the first information to the remote UE or the relay UE, as shown in S1104 shown in fig. 11:

s1104, the AF network element sends the first information to the remote UE or the relay UE.

Accordingly, the remote UE or the relay UE receives the first information from the AF network element.

In one implementation, the AF network element may send the first information to the remote UE or the relay UE through an established user plane connection between the AF network element and the remote UE or the relay UE.

In an example, if the first information is stored in the UDM/UDR network element or the ProSe Function network element, the ProSe Function network element may also actively send the first information to the remote UE or the relay UE. For example, the ProSe Function network element obtains the first information from the UDM/UDR network element and sends the first information to the remote UE or the relay UE.

S1105, the remote UE and the relay UE perform a relay discovery process.

For example, the relay UE may broadcast the relay service information, and when a remote UE that needs to transmit a service in a relay manner receives the broadcast message of the relay UE, may send a unicast establishment request message to the relay UE. The unicast establishment request message may carry an identifier of the remote UE and service information (e.g., service information of the first service) that needs to be transmitted in a relay manner. Optionally, the unicast establishment request message may also carry the RSC corresponding to the first service, and the like. After receiving the unicast establishment request message of the remote UE, the relay UE may determine whether to provide a relay service for the remote UE according to service information and the like carried in the unicast establishment request message. And if the relay UE determines to provide the relay service for the remote UE, the relay UE replies a service acceptance feedback message to the remote UE. Then, the remote UE and the relay UE perform signaling interaction for establishing a PC5 connection through a PC5 interface, including operations such as configuring a sidelink radio bearer (SLRB), QoS negotiation, and the like. If the relay UE determines not to provide relay service for the remote UE, the relay UE replies a connection rejection message. For specific introduction of the relay discovery procedure, reference may be made to explanation and description in the conventional technology, which are not repeated herein.

When there is a service data transmission requirement for the first service and the remote UE or the relay UE determines that the data of the first service can be transmitted in the relay manner by querying the first information, the remote UE or the relay UE performs the following step S1106, and then continues to perform step S1107:

s1106, the remote UE or the relay UE sends the RSC (e.g., RSC 1) corresponding to the first service to the AMF network element through the PDU session setup request message.

Correspondingly, the AMF network element receives a PDU session establishment request message carrying the RSC (e.g., RSC 1) corresponding to the first service from the remote UE or the relay UE.

And the RSC corresponding to the first service is determined by the remote UE by inquiring the first information.

Alternatively, step S1106 may also be: and the remote UE or the relay UE sends the RSC (such as RSC 1) corresponding to the first service to the AMF network element through the PDU session change request message.

Alternatively, step S1106 may also be: and the remote UE or the relay UE sends the RSC (such as RSC 1) corresponding to the first service to the AMF network element through the NAS message.

Or, the remote UE may also send the RSC (e.g., RSC 1) corresponding to the first service to the AMF network element through another message when the relay UE establishes the service request or registers to the network. The embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the specific sending method of the RSC corresponding to the first service.

If the method for proximity service communication provided in the embodiment of the present application is based on a layer 2 relay scenario, as shown in S1106-a in fig. 11, the PDU session establishment request is initiated by the remote UE. If the method for proximity service communication provided in the embodiment of the present application is based on a layer 3 relay scenario, as shown in S1106-b in fig. 11, the PDU session establishment request is initiated by the relay UE.

S1107, the AMF network element sends a PDU session setup request message to the SMF network element. The PDU session establishment request message carries an RSC (e.g., RSC 1) corresponding to the first service.

Correspondingly, the SMF network element receives a PDU session establishment request message carrying the RSC (e.g., RSC 1) corresponding to the first service from the AMF network element.

In an implementation manner, if the SMF network element does not store the correspondence between the RSC and the service information (i.e., the first information), the SMF network element performs the following step S1108.

In another implementation, if the SMF network element stores a correspondence between the RSC and the service information (i.e., the first information), the SMF network element may determine the service information (e.g., the service information of the first service) corresponding to the RSC according to the RSC (e.g., RSC 1) carried in the PDU session establishment request message. Then, the SMF network element sends a PCC rule request message to the PCF network element, where the PCC rule request message carries the first service information (i.e., the service information of the first service), and is used to request to acquire the PCC rule of the first service. Wherein the first service information includes at least one of: the service type of the first service, the service identification or the APP ID.

The corresponding relation between the RSC and the service information stored in the SMF network element can be that the PCF network element sends the first information to the SMF network element after creating/updating the first information; or, when the remote UE or the relay UE requests the PCF network element for the latest user policy information, the PCF network element sends the updated user policy information to the SMF network element. The embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the timing when the SMF network element acquires the first information.

As shown in fig. 11, stage (three) may be completed by the following steps S1108-S1116:

s1108, the SMF network element sends a PCC rule request message to the PCF network element. The PCC rule request message carries an RSC (e.g., RSC 1) corresponding to the first service.

Correspondingly, the PCF network element receives, from the SMF network element, a PCC rule request message carrying an RSC (e.g., RSC 1) corresponding to the first service.

Or, in an example, the SMF network element may further obtain, from the PCF network element, an SM Policy of a service (i.e., the first service) corresponding to the RSC 1 through a session management Policy information (SM Policy) request message. The SM Policy includes a PCC rule of a service (i.e., a first service) corresponding to RSC 1.

S1109, the PCF network element determines the PCC rule of the service (namely the first service) corresponding to the RSC 1.

For example, the PCF network element may determine, by querying the first information, that the service corresponding to RSC 1 is the first service, and then the PCF network element queries the PCC rule for obtaining the first service. PCC rules may generally contain 3 large categories of information: service data flow check information, policy control information and charging related information. For specific content of the PCC rule, reference may be made to explanations and descriptions in the conventional technology, which are not described herein.

In an example, if the PCC rule request message carries the first service information, the PCF network element may directly query the PCC rule for obtaining the first service.

S1110, the PCF network element sends the PCC rule of the service corresponding to the RSC 1 to the SMF network element.

Correspondingly, the SMF network element receives the PCC rule of the service corresponding to the RSC 1 from the PCF network element.

S1111, the SMF network element generates the strategy configuration information according to the PCC rule of the service corresponding to the RSC 1.

When the relay information includes the relay service code, the policy configuration information includes information of a service corresponding to the relay service code. For example, when the first network element is an AMF network element and the relay information includes a relay service code, the policy configuration information includes user policy information or access management policy information of a service corresponding to the relay service code. For another example, when the first network element is an SMF network element and the relay information includes a relay service code, the policy configuration information includes one or more of the following information: PDR, FAR or MAR.

S1112, the SMF network element sends policy configuration information to the UPF network element.

Accordingly, the UPF network element receives policy configuration information from the SMF network element.

S1113, the SMF network element sends a PDU session establishment response message to the AMF network element. The PDU session setup response message may carry an identifier of the PDU session (e.g., a PDU session ID), N2SM information, an N1SM container, and the like. The N2SM information may include QoS configuration information, core network tunneling information, and the like. The N1SM container may include PDU session setup accept information, QoS rules, etc. The identification of the PDU session is used to uniquely identify the PDU session. The N2SM information is used to configure radio bearers for the relay UE and the remote UE, and to establish a link between the access network device and the UPF network element. The N1SM container is used to process upstream packets according to QoS rules.

Accordingly, the AMF network element receives the PDU session establishment response message from the SMF network element.

In one example, the SMF network element may send a PDU session setup response message to the AMF network element through the Namf _ Communication _ N1N2MessageTransfer service.

S1114, the AMF network element sends a PDU session setup response message to the radio access network.

The PDU session setup response message may carry the identification of the PDU session, the N2SM information, the N1SM container, and the like. And the N2SM information is used for the wireless access network to configure wireless bearers for the relay UE and the remote UE according to the QoS configuration information, and establish a link between the access network equipment and the UPF network element according to the core network tunnel information. The N1SM container is used for the access network equipment to process the upstream data packet according to the QoS rule.

Accordingly, the radio access network receives a PDU session setup response message from the AMF network element.

S1115, the wireless access network sends wireless resource configuration information to the relay UE.

The radio resource configuration information may include configuration information of radio bearers configured by the radio access network for the relay UE and the remote UE, for example, configuration information of an SLRB used for data transmission between the relay UE and the remote UE, and configuration information of a Data Radio Bearer (DRB) used for data transmission between the relay UE and the access network device. The radio resource configuration information may be used for the relay UE to establish a radio link (e.g., DRB) with the radio access network, including a mapping relationship between QoS flows and DRBs, a physical layer transmission resource configuration, and the like. And, the radio resource configuration information may be used for the relay UE to establish a radio link (e.g. SLRB) with the remote UE, including a mapping relationship of QoS flows and SLRBs, a physical layer transmission resource configuration, and the like.

Accordingly, the relay UE receives radio resource configuration information from the radio access network.

S1116, the relay UE sends PC5 link configuration information to the remote UE.

The PC5 link configuration information includes, among other things, PC5QoS parameters, IP address of the remote UE, etc.

Accordingly, the remote UE receives the PC5 link configuration information from the relay UE.

In one example, for a layer 2 relay scenario, for example, the IP address of the remote UE may be sent by the SMF network element to the relay UE via the AMF network element via a PDU session setup response message. The relay UE then sends the remote UE's IP address to the remote UE via the PC5 link configuration information.

In another example, for a layer 3 relay scenario, for example, the IP address of the remote UE may be assigned by the relay UE for the remote UE and sent to the remote UE via the PC5 link configuration information. Here, the IP address used by the remote UE may be the same as the IP address of the relay UE (e.g., using an IPv4 address), and at this time, the relay UE may allocate a Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)/User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port number to the remote UE.

After step S1116 is performed, the steps shown in stage (four) are performed.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 11, after step S1116 is performed, the method for proximity service communication according to the embodiment of the present application may further include the following steps S1118 to S1119, that is, stage (three) may include the following steps S1108 to S1116, and S1118 to S1119.

S1118, the relay UE sends the identification information and the IP address of the remote UE to the SMF network element.

For example, the identification information of the remote UE may be an ID of the remote UE.

Accordingly, the SMF network element receives the identification information and IP address of the remote UE from the relay UE.

And S1119, the SMF network element updates the policy configuration information. Wherein, the updated policy configuration information includes an IP address of the remote UE.

As shown in fig. 11, stage (four) includes the following step S1117:

s1117, the remote UE transmits the service data of the first service with the application server through the relay UE.

In the application, in the process that the remote UE transmits the service data of the first service with the application server through the relay UE, the UPF network element monitors the data forwarded by the relay UE according to the policy configuration information.

In the case that the relay UE executes the step S1118 and the SMF network element executes the step S1119, in step S1117, in the process that the remote UE transmits the service data of the first service with the application server through the relay UE, the UPF network element monitors the data forwarded by the relay UE according to the updated policy configuration information.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 11, when there is a service transmission requirement (e.g., a first service transmission requirement), the remote UE sends a relay service code (e.g., RSC 1) to the SMF network element, so that the SMF network element verifies whether the remote UE is allowed to transmit the first service in the relay manner according to the relay service code, and when it is determined that the remote UE is allowed to transmit the first service in the relay manner, configures policy configuration information for the UPF network element according to the relay service code, so that the UPF network element monitors service data forwarded by the relay UE, performs charging, and the like.

Optionally, in another example, the first network element is an AMF network element. The relay information sent by the remote UE to the first network element (i.e., the AMF network element) includes a relay service code. Specifically, the remote UE may send a relay service code, such as RSC 1, to the SMF network element when there is a first service data transmission requirement. Wherein, RSC 1 is a relay service code corresponding to the first service. The remote UE sends the relay service code corresponding to the first service to the AMF network element, so that the AMF network element can conveniently acquire the strategy configuration information for verifying the service data transmitted by the relay UE and the like.

As shown in fig. 12, the method provided by this embodiment may be based on the embodiment shown in fig. 11, and further replace S1107-S1112 with S1201 and S1202, which is described in detail below.

S1201, the AMF network element verifies whether the remote UE is allowed to adopt a relay mode to transmit the service corresponding to the RSC 1.

For example, the AMF network element may verify whether the service corresponding to the RSC 1 is in the first information by searching the first information, so as to verify whether the remote UE is allowed to transmit the service corresponding to the RSC 1 (i.e., the first service) in the relay manner. The first information is obtained from the PCF network element and stored in the AMF network element during the above step S1103.

If the AMF network element determines that the remote UE is allowed to transmit the service corresponding to the RSC 1 in the relay manner, the AMF network element performs the following step S1202. And if the AMF network element determines that the remote UE is not allowed to adopt the relay mode to transmit the service corresponding to the RSC 1, the AMF network element sends indication information for rejecting the remote UE to adopt the relay mode to transmit the service corresponding to the RSC 1 to the remote UE. Meanwhile, the AMF network element terminates the PDU session establishment procedure.

S1202, the AMF network element sends a PDU session establishment request message to the SMF network element.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 12, when there is a service transmission requirement (e.g., a first service transmission requirement), the remote UE sends a relay service code (e.g., RSC 1) to the AMF network element, so that the AMF network element verifies whether the remote UE is allowed to transmit the first service in the relay manner according to the relay service code, and when it is determined that the remote UE is allowed to transmit the first service in the relay manner, a subsequent PDU session establishment procedure is completed, so that the remote UE transmits service data of the first service through the relay UE and the application server. By the mode, the relay UE can be prevented from illegally forwarding the application data of the application which is not signed.

Optionally, in another example, the first network element is an SMF network element. The relay information sent by the remote UE to the first network element (i.e., SMF network element) includes the first indication information. The first indication information is used for indicating the remote UE to adopt a relay mode to transmit services. Specifically, the remote UE may send the first indication information to the SMF network element when there is a first service data transmission requirement. The remote UE sends the first indication information to the SMF network element, so that the SMF network element can conveniently acquire the policy configuration information for monitoring the first service transmitted by the relay UE, carrying out related charging and the like.

It should be noted that, in this example, the first information creation request message is used to request to create service information that can be transmitted in a relay manner. The first information may include one or more of: DNN, S-NSSAI, APP ID, or AF ID (or AF-Service-Identifier). For example, the first information may be in the form of a list as shown in table 1.

As shown in fig. 13, the method provided by this embodiment may be based on the embodiment shown in fig. 11, and further replace S1101-S1112 with S1301 and S1310, which is described in detail below.

S1301, the remote UE or the relay UE requests the latest user strategy information from the PCF network element.

In some embodiments, the remote UE or relay UE may request the latest user Policy information from the PCF network element upon registration with the core network, or upon updating the user Policy information (e.g., UE Policy).

In other embodiments, when the subscription data of the remote UE or the relay UE is updated, for example, when the first information is created/updated by the PCF network element, the AF network element, the UDM/UDR network element, or the NEF network element, the PCF network element may also actively send the latest user policy information to the remote UE or the relay UE.

Optionally, in some embodiments, a message requesting for the latest user policy information, which is sent by the remote UE or the relay UE to the PCF network element, may carry a user identifier (e.g., SUPI), so that the PCF network element may determine, according to the user identifier, a ProSe communication policy corresponding to the remote UE or the relay UE subscription information, where the ProSe communication policy includes first information corresponding to a service subscribed by the remote UE or the relay UE.

S1302, the PCF network element obtains the first information.

For example, if the PCF network element stores the first information after creation/update in the UDM/UDR network element after performing the above step S1002 or after updating the first information, the PCF network element may obtain the above first information from the UDM/UDR network element, as shown in S1302 in fig. 13.

Or, in another implementation manner, if the AF network element stores the created/updated first information in the UDM/UDR network element after performing the above step S1001-e, the PCF network element may obtain the first information from the UDM/UDR network element.

In another implementation manner, if the PCF network element stores the created/updated first information locally in the PCF network element after performing step S1002 or after updating the first information, the PCF network element may obtain the first information from its local storage unit.

In another implementation manner, if the AF network element stores the created/updated first information locally in the AF network element after performing the above steps S1001-e, the PCF network element may obtain the first information from the AF network element.

S1303, the remote UE and the relay UE perform a relay discovery procedure.

When there is a service data transmission requirement of the first service and the remote UE or the relay UE determines to transmit the data of the first service in the relay manner, the remote UE or the relay UE performs the following step S1304, and then continues to perform step S1305:

s1304, the remote UE or the relay UE sends first indication information to the AMF network element through a PDU session establishment request message.

The first indication information is used for indicating the remote UE to adopt a relay mode to transmit services. The first indication information is carried in a PDU session establishment request message when the remote UE determines to transmit the data of the first service in a relay mode.

Alternatively, step S1304 may also be: and the remote UE or the relay UE sends the first indication information to the AMF network element through the PDU session change request message.

Alternatively, step S1304 may also be: and the remote UE or the relay UE sends the first indication information to the AMF network element through the NAS message.

If the method for proximity service communication provided in the embodiment of the present application is based on a layer 2 relay scenario, as shown in S1304-a in fig. 13, the PDU session establishment request is initiated by the remote UE. If the method for proximity service communication provided in the embodiment of the present application is based on a layer 3 relay scenario, as shown in S1304-b in fig. 13, the PDU session establishment request is initiated by the relay UE.

S1305, the AMF network element sends a PDU session setup request message to the SMF network element. The PDU session establishment request message carries first indication information.

Correspondingly, the SMF network element receives the PDU session establishment request message carrying the first indication information from the AMF network element.

S1306, the SMF network element sends a PCC rule request message to the PCF network element. The PCC rule request message carries first indication information.

Or, in an implementation manner, the SMF network element may further obtain, from the PCF network element, an SM Policy that allows the service transmitted in the relay manner through a session management Policy (SM Policy) request message. Wherein, the SM Policy includes a PCC rule for allowing the service transmitted by the relay method.

Correspondingly, the PCF network element receives the PCC rule request message carrying the first indication information from the SMF network element.

In an example, the PCC rule request message sent by the SMF network element to the PCF network element may also carry identification information of the remote UE (e.g., an ID of the remote UE).

S1307, the PCF network element determines the PCC rule of the service allowed to be transmitted by using the relay method.

For example, the PCF network element may determine, by querying the first information, that the service is allowed to be transmitted in the relay manner, and then, the PCF network element queries a PCC rule for acquiring the service that is allowed to be transmitted in the relay manner. PCC rules may generally contain 3 large categories of information: service data flow check information, policy control information and charging related information.

In some embodiments, if the PCC rule request message sent by the SMF network element to the PCF network element further carries identification information of the remote UE (e.g., an ID of the remote UE), step S1307 may include: and the PCF network element determines the PCC rules of the services which are signed by the remote UE and allowed to be transmitted by adopting the relay mode.

S1308, the PCF network element sends a PCC rule of the service which is allowed to be transmitted by adopting the relay mode to the SMF network element.

Correspondingly, the SMF network element receives the PCC rule of the service allowed to be transmitted by adopting the relay mode from the PCF network element.

In some embodiments, if the PCC rule request message sent by the SMF network element to the PCF network element further carries identification information of the remote UE (e.g., an ID of the remote UE), step S1308 may include: and the PCF network element sends the PCC rule of the service which is signed by the remote UE and is allowed to adopt the relay mode for transmission to the SMF network element.

S1309, the SMF network element generates the policy configuration information according to the PCC rule of the service allowed to be transmitted by using the relay method.

The policy configuration information includes information of a service that allows the remote UE to transmit in a relay manner. For example, the policy configuration information may include one or more of the following: PDR, FAR or MAR.

In some embodiments, if the SMF network element receives, from the PCF network element, the PCC rule that the remote UE has subscribed to and the service that is allowed to be transmitted in the relay manner is received, step S1309 includes: and the SMF network element generates policy configuration information according to the PCC rule of the service which is signed by the UE and allowed to be transmitted in a relay mode.

S1310, the SMF network element sends the policy configuration information to the UPF network element.

Accordingly, the UPF network element receives policy configuration information from the SMF network element.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 13, in the process that the remote UE transmits the service data of the first service with the application server through the relay UE, the UPF network element monitors the data forwarded by the relay UE according to the policy configuration information.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 13, when there is a service transmission requirement (e.g., a first service transmission requirement), the remote UE sends first indication information to the SMF network element, so that the SMF network element verifies whether the remote UE is allowed to transmit the first service in the relay manner according to the first indication information, and when it is determined that the remote UE is allowed to transmit the first service in the relay manner, configures policy configuration information for the UPF network element according to the first indication information, so that the UPF network element monitors service data forwarded by the relay UE, performs charging, and the like.

Optionally, in another example, the first network element is an AMF network element. The relay information sent by the remote UE to the first network element (i.e., the AMF network element) includes the first indication information. Specifically, the remote UE may send, when there is a first service data transmission requirement, first indication information to the SMF network element, where the first indication information is used for the AMF network element to obtain policy configuration information to verify service data and the like transmitted by the relay UE.

As shown in fig. 14, the method provided by this embodiment may be based on the embodiment shown in fig. 11, and further replace S1101-S1112 with S1401-S1407, which is described in detail below.

S1401, remote UE or relay UE obtain latest user strategy information from PCF network element.

S1402, the PCF network element obtains the first information.

For example, after the PCF network element performs step S1002 or updates the first information, the first information after creation/update is stored in the UDM/UDR network element, and the PCF network element may obtain the first information from the UDM/UDR network element, as shown in S1402 in fig. 14.

S1403, the remote UE and the relay UE perform a relay discovery procedure.

and S1404, the remote UE or the relay UE sends the first indication information to the AMF network element through the PDU session establishment request message.

Alternatively, step S1404 may further include: and the remote UE or the relay UE sends the first indication information to the AMF network element through the PDU session change request message.

Alternatively, step S1404 may further include: and the remote UE or the relay UE sends the first indication information to the AMF network element through the NAS message.

Alternatively, the remote UE may also send the first indication information to the AMF network element through another message when the UE establishes a service request or registers to the network through the relay UE. The embodiment of the present application does not specifically limit the specific sending manner of the first indication information. In this case, if the method for proximity service communication provided in this embodiment is based on a layer 2 relay scenario, as shown in S1404-a in fig. 14, the PDU session establishment request is initiated by the remote UE. If the method for proximity service communication provided in the embodiment of the present application is based on a layer 3 relay scenario, as shown in S1404-b in fig. 14, the PDU session establishment request is initiated by the relay UE.

S1405, the AMF network element acquires the first information from the PCF network element.

For example, the AMF network element may obtain the first information stored in the PCF network element from the PCF network element. Or, the AMF network element may obtain the first information stored in the UDM/UDR network element through the PCF network element.

Alternatively, in some embodiments, the AMF network element may obtain the first information from the AF network element. For example, the AMF network element may obtain the first information stored in the AF network element from the AF network element. Or, the AMF network element may obtain the first information stored in the UDM/UDR network element through the AF network element.

And S1406, the AMF network element verifies whether the remote UE is allowed to adopt the relay mode to transmit the first service.

For example, the AMF network element may verify whether the first service is in the first information by searching the first information, so as to verify whether the remote UE is allowed to transmit the first service in a relay manner. Wherein, the first information is obtained from the PCF network element and stored in the AMF network element by the AMF network element in the process of step S1505.

If the AMF network element determines that the remote UE is allowed to transmit the first service in the relay manner, the AMF network element performs the following step S1407. And if the AMF network element determines that the remote UE is not allowed to adopt the relay mode to transmit the first service, the AMF network element sends indication information for rejecting the remote UE to adopt the relay mode to transmit the first service to the remote UE. Meanwhile, the AMF network element terminates the PDU session establishment procedure.

S1407, the AMF network element sends a PDU session establishment request message to the SMF network element.

In the embodiment shown in fig. 14, when there is a relay service transmission requirement (e.g., a first service transmission requirement), the remote UE sends first indication information to the AMF network element, so that the AMF network element verifies, according to the first indication information, whether the remote UE is allowed to transmit the first service in the relay manner, and when it is determined that the remote UE is allowed to transmit the first service in the relay manner, completes a subsequent PDU session establishment procedure, so that the remote UE transmits service data of the first service with the application server through the relay UE. By the mode, the relay UE can be prevented from illegally forwarding the application data of the application which is not signed.

It should be understood that the various aspects of the embodiments of the present application can be reasonably combined and explained, and the explanation or explanation of the various terms appearing in the embodiments can be mutually referred to or explained in the various embodiments, which is not limited.

It should also be understood that, in the various embodiments of the present application, the sequence numbers of the above-mentioned processes do not mean the execution sequence, and the execution sequence of each process should be determined by its function and inherent logic, and should not constitute any limitation to the implementation process of the embodiments of the present application.

It is to be understood that the relay UE, the remote UE, the first network element (such as an SMF network element or an AMF network element, etc.), the access network device, the second network element (such as a PCF network element or an AF network element, etc.) or other network devices (such as a NEF network element, a UPF network element, a UDM network element or a UDR network element, etc.) include hardware structures and/or software modules corresponding to the respective functions for implementing the functions of any of the above embodiments. Those of skill in the art would readily appreciate that the various illustrative elements and algorithm steps described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented as hardware or combinations of hardware and computer software. Whether a function is performed as hardware or computer software drives hardware depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the solution. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present application.

In the embodiment of the present application, functional modules of relay UE, remote UE, a first network element (e.g., an SMF network element or an AMF network element, etc.), access network equipment, a second network element (e.g., a PCF network element or an AF network element, etc.), or other network equipment (e.g., a NEF network element, an UPF network element, a UDM network element or an UDR network element, etc.) may be divided, for example, each functional module may be divided corresponding to each function, or two or more functions may be integrated into one processing module. The integrated module can be realized in a hardware mode, and can also be realized in a software functional module mode. It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present application, the division of the module is schematic, and is only one logic function division, and there may be another division manner in actual implementation.

For example, in a case that each functional module is divided in an integrated manner, as shown in fig. 15, the present invention is a structural block diagram of a UE provided in this embodiment. The UE may be a relay UE or a remote UE. The UE may include a transceiving unit 1510 and a processing unit 1520.

Wherein, when the UE is a relay UE, the transceiver 1510 is configured to support the relay UE to perform the above steps S1101, 1103-b, S1104, S1105, S1106-a, S1106-b, S1115, S1116, S1117, S1301, S1303, S1304-a, S1304-b, S1401, S1403, S1404-a, or S1404-b, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The processing unit 1520 is configured to support, in cooperation with the transceiving unit 1510, the relay UE to perform the above-described steps S1101, S1105, S1117, S1301, S1303, S1401, or S1403, and/or other procedures for the techniques described herein. When the UE is a remote UE, the transceiving unit 1510 is configured to support the remote UE to perform the above steps S701, S801, S1101, S1103-a, S1104, S1105, S1106-a, S1116, S1117, S1301, S1303, S1304-a, S1401, S1403, or S1404-a, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The processing unit 1520 is configured to support the remote UE to perform the above-described steps S801 or S901, or to support the remote UE to perform the above-described steps S1105, S1117, S1301, S1303, S1401 or S1403, and/or other procedures for the techniques described herein, in cooperation with the transceiving unit 1510.

Fig. 16 is a block diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present application. The network device may be the above-mentioned access network device, SMF network element, AMF network element, PCF network element, AF network element, NEF network element, UPF network element, UDM network element, UDR network element, or the like. The network device may include a transceiving unit 1610 and a processing unit 1620.

When the network device is an access network device, the transceiver unit 1610 may support the access network device to assist in performing the above steps S1101, S1103-a, S1103-b, S1104, S1106-a, S1106-b, S1114, S1115, S1118, S1117, S1301, S1304-a, S1304-b, S1401, S1404-a, or S1404-b, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The processing unit 1620 is configured to support the access network device to perform the above steps S1101, S1117, S1301 or S1401, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein, in cooperation with the transceiver unit 1610.

When the network device is an SMF network element, the transceiver 1610 may support the SMF network element to perform the above steps S701, S1101, S1107, S1108, S1110, S1112, S1113, S1118, S1119, S1202, S1305, S1306, S1308, S1310, or S1407, or support the SMF network element to assist in performing the above steps S1103-a, S1103-b, S1104, S1117, S1306, or S1405, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The processing unit 1620 is configured to support the SMF network element to perform the above steps S702, S1111, or S1309, or to support the SMF network element to assist in performing the above steps S1101 or S1117, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

When the network device is an AMF network element, the transceiver unit 1610 may support the AMF network element to perform the above steps S701, S1106-a, S1106-b, S1107, S1113, S1114, S1202, S1304-a, S1304-b, S1305, S1404-a, S1404-b, S1405 or S1407, or support the AMF network element to assist in performing the above steps S1101, S1103-a, S1103-b, S1104, S1118, S1117, S1301 or S1401, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The processing unit 1620 is configured to support the AMF network element to perform the above steps S702, S1201, or S1406, or to support the AMF network element to assist in performing the above steps S1101, S1117, S1301, or S1401, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

When the network device is a PCF network element, the transceiver 1610 may support the PCF network element to perform the above steps S1001-c, S1001-d, S1003-a, S1003-b, S1102, S1103-a, S1103-b, S1108, S1110, S1302, S1306, S1308, S1402, or S1405, or support the PCF network element to assist in performing the above steps S1101, S1104, S1117, S1301, or S1405, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. Processing unit 1620 is configured to support the PCF network element to perform above-mentioned steps S1002, S1109, or S1307, or to support the PCF network element to assist in performing above-mentioned steps S1101, S1117, S1301, or S1401, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

When the network device is an AF network element, the transceiver 1610 may support the AF network element to perform the above steps S1001-a, S1001-d, S1003-b, S1003-c, or S1104, or support the AF network element to assist in performing the above step S1117, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The processing unit 1620 is configured to support the AF network element to perform the above steps S1004-b or S1001-e, or to support the AF network element to assist in performing the above step S1117, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

When the network device is a NEF network element, the transceiver 1610 may enable the NEF network element to perform the above steps S1001-a or S1001-c, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. Processing unit 1620 is configured to enable the NEF network element to perform steps S1001-b described above, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

When the network device is a UPF network element, the transceiver 1610 may support the UPF network element to perform the above steps S1112, S1119, or S1301, or support the UPF network element to assist in performing the above step S1117, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The processing unit 1620 is configured to support the UPF network element to assist in performing the above step S1117, and monitor the traffic data forwarded by the relay UE in the process of performing S1117, and/or other processes for the technology described herein.

When the network device is a UDM/UDR network element, the transceiving unit 1610 may enable the UDM/UDR network element to perform the above steps S1001-a, S1003-c, S1102, S1302, or S1402, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein. The processing unit 1620 is configured to support the UDM/UDR network element to assist in performing the above-described steps S1004-a or S1004-c, and/or other processes for the techniques described herein.

It should be noted that the transceiver 1510 and the transceiver 1610 may include a radio frequency circuit. The UE or the network device may receive and transmit wireless signals through the radio frequency circuit. Typically, the radio frequency circuitry includes, but is not limited to, an antenna, at least one amplifier, a transceiver, a coupler, a low noise amplifier, a duplexer, and the like. In addition, the radio frequency circuitry may also communicate with other devices via wireless communication. The wireless communication may use any communication standard or protocol including, but not limited to, global system for mobile communications, general packet radio service, code division multiple access, wideband code division multiple access, long term evolution, email, short message service, and the like.

In an alternative, when the data transfer is implemented using software, it may be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the processes or functions described in the embodiments of the present application are implemented in whole or in part. The computer may be a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a network of computers, or other programmable device. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium or transmitted from one computer readable storage medium to another, for example, from one website site, computer, server, or data center to another website site, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, Digital Subscriber Line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that can be accessed by a computer or a data storage device, such as a server, a data center, etc., that incorporates one or more of the available media. The usable medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., floppy Disk, hard Disk, magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., Solid State Disk (SSD)), among others.

The steps of a method or algorithm described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein may be embodied in hardware or may be embodied in software instructions executed by a processor. The software instructions may consist of corresponding software modules that may be stored in RAM memory, flash memory, ROM memory, EPROM memory, EEPROM memory, registers, a hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. Of course, the storage medium may also be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. In addition, the ASIC may reside in a probing apparatus. Of course, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in the probe device.

Through the above description of the embodiments, it is clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and simplicity of description, the foregoing division of the functional modules is merely used as an example, and in practical applications, the above function distribution may be completed by different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device may be divided into different functional modules to complete all or part of the above described functions.

In a selectable manner, the present application provides a communication system, where the communication system includes a remote UE, a relay UE, an access network device, an AMF unit, an SMF network element, a UPF network element, and a PCF unit. The communication system may further comprise a NEF network element, a UDM/UDR network element or an AF network element. The communication system is used for implementing the method in any one of the possible implementation manners provided by the application.

In an alternative aspect, the present application provides a chip system, which includes a processor, a memory, and a computer program code stored in the memory; when executed by a processor, the computer program code implements the methods of any of the possible implementations provided herein. The chip system may be formed by a chip, and may also include a chip and other discrete devices.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described device embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the modules or units is only one logical functional division, and there may be other divisions when actually implemented, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another device, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may be one physical unit or a plurality of physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed in a plurality of different places. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units are integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application may be essentially or partially contributed to by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solutions may be embodied in the form of a software product, where the software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to enable a device (which may be a single chip, a chip, or the like) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media capable of storing program codes, such as a usb disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

The above description is only an embodiment of the present application, but the scope of the present application is not limited thereto, and any changes or substitutions within the technical scope of the present disclosure should be covered by the scope of the present application. Therefore, the protection scope of the present application shall be subject to the protection scope of the claims.

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