CN-122003884-A - Apparatus and method for controlling protocol data unit session

Abstract

There is provided an apparatus comprising means for determining, at a roaming intermediary, that a data quota for a user equipment has been exhausted, and causing, by the roaming intermediary, a session management function managing at least one protocol data unit session for the user equipment to terminate the at least one protocol data unit session based on the determination, wherein the user equipment is a subscriber to a second network and roams in a first network comprising the session management function.

Inventors

• G. Pe ñ ado Gomez
• S. Kari
• P. GUPTA
• S.P. Neil

Assignees

• 诺基亚技术有限公司

Dates

Publication Date

20260508

Application Date

20240816

Priority Date

20230927

Claims (20)

1. 1. An apparatus comprising means for: determining at the roaming intermediary that the data quota for the user device has been exhausted, and Causing, by the roaming intermediary, a session management function managing at least one protocol data unit session for the user equipment to terminate the at least one protocol data unit session based on the determination, Wherein the user equipment is a subscriber to the second network and roams in the first network comprising the session management function.
2. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein determining that the data quota has been exhausted comprises: Messages sent between the session management function in the first network and a charging function included in the second network via the roaming intermediary are monitored by the roaming intermediary.
3. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the monitoring comprises determining, by the roaming intermediary and based on the messages sent between the session management function and the charging function, information regarding data usage by the user equipment for the at least one protocol data unit session or at least one service data flow.
4. 4. The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the means is further for: receiving at least one request from the session management function to establish the at least one protocol data unit session at the roaming intermediary; based on the at least one request, information associated with the session management function is stored by the roaming intermediary and the at least one request is sent by the roaming intermediary to a unified data management function included in the second network.
5. 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein causing the session management function to terminate the protocol data unit session comprises: A message to update subscription data of the user equipment is sent from the roaming intermediary to the unified data management function via a network opening function included in the second network to disallow the at least one protocol data unit session or to disallow roaming for the user equipment.
6. 6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the message comprises information indicating that at least one data network name associated with the at least one protocol data unit session is not allowed.
7. 7. The apparatus of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein causing the session management function to terminate the protocol data unit session comprises: A message to terminate the at least one protocol data unit session is sent from the roaming intermediary to the session management function via a network opening function included in the first network.
8. 8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the message to terminate the at least one protocol data unit session includes information indicating at least one of: an identification of the session management function; an identification of the at least one protocol data unit session, or The reason for the termination of the at least one protocol data unit session is due to expiration of a data quota.
9. 9. The apparatus of claim 7 or 8, wherein the message comprises an internet protocol address associated with the user equipment.
10. 10. An apparatus comprising means for providing a network opening function, the means configured for: Receiving a message from the roaming intermediary to terminate at least one protocol data unit session of the user equipment; Determining a session management function for managing said at least one protocol data unit session of said user equipment based on said message, and A message is sent to the determined session management function or to a policy control function comprising information indicating that the at least one protocol data unit session of the user equipment is to be terminated.
11. 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the message to terminate the at least one protocol data unit session includes information indicating at least one of: an identification of the session management function; an identification of the at least one protocol data unit session, or The reason for the termination of the at least one protocol data unit session is due to expiration of a data quota.
12. 12. The apparatus of claim 10 or 11, wherein the message to terminate the at least one protocol data unit session comprises an internet protocol address of the user equipment, and wherein the means is for providing a network opening function, the means further configured for: The session management function and/or the policy control function is determined based on the internet protocol address of the user equipment.
13. 13. The apparatus according to any of claims 10 to 12, wherein the message comprising information indicating that the at least one protocol data unit session of the user equipment is to be terminated further comprises information indicating that the reason for termination of the at least one protocol data unit session is due to expiration of a data quota.
14. 14. An apparatus comprising means for providing a network opening function, the means configured for: receiving a message from a roaming intermediary to update subscription data of a user equipment to disallow at least one protocol data unit session or to disallow roaming for the user equipment; determining a unified data management function for managing the subscription data of the user equipment based on the message, and A message is sent to the determined unified data management function including information indicating that the roaming is not allowed for the user equipment or that at least one data network name associated with the at least one protocol data unit session is not allowed for the user equipment.
15. 15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein the message to update subscription data of the user device comprises information indicating that a data quota for the user device or for the at least one protocol data unit session has expired.
16. 16. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: Determining that a data quota for the user device has been exhausted, and Based on the determination, causing a session management function managing at least one protocol data unit session for the user equipment to terminate the at least one protocol data unit session, Wherein the user equipment is a subscriber to the second network and roams in the first network comprising the session management function.
17. 17. An apparatus for network opening functionality, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: Receiving a message from the roaming intermediary to terminate at least one protocol data unit session of the user equipment; Determining a session management function for managing said at least one protocol data unit session of said user equipment based on said message, and A message is sent to the determined session management function or to a policy control function comprising information indicating that the at least one protocol data unit session of the user equipment is to be terminated.
18. 18. An apparatus for network opening functionality, the apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least: receiving a message from a roaming intermediary to update subscription data of a user equipment to disallow at least one protocol data unit session or to disallow roaming for the user equipment; determining a unified data management function for managing the subscription data of the user equipment based on the message, and A message is sent to the determined unified data management function including information indicating that the roaming is not allowed for the user equipment or that at least one data network name associated with the at least one protocol data unit session is not allowed for the user equipment.
19. 19. A method performed by a roaming intermediary, the method comprising: determining at the roaming intermediary that the data quota for the user device has been exhausted, and Causing, by the roaming intermediary, a session management function managing at least one protocol data unit session for the user equipment to terminate the at least one protocol data unit session based on the determination, Wherein the user equipment is a subscriber to the second network and roams in the first network comprising the session management function.
20. 20. A method performed by a network opening function, the method comprising: Receiving a message from the roaming intermediary to terminate at least one protocol data unit session of the user equipment; Determining a session management function for managing said at least one protocol data unit session of said user equipment based on said message, and A message is sent to the determined session management function or to a policy control function comprising information indicating that the at least one protocol data unit session of the user equipment is to be terminated.

Description

Apparatus and method for controlling protocol data unit session Technical Field Various example embodiments of the present disclosure relate to methods, apparatus, systems, and computer programs, and in particular, but not exclusively, to implementing (or otherwise facilitating) a roaming intermediary to control a PDU session of a user equipment. Background A communication network may be considered to be a facility that enables communication between two or more communication devices or that provides communication devices with access to a data network. A mobile or wireless communication network is one example of a communication network. The communication device may be provided with a service by an application server. Such communication networks operate according to standards such as those provided by 3GPP (third generation partnership project) or ETSI (european telecommunications standards institute). An example of a standard is the so-called 5G (fifth generation) standard provided by 3 GPP. Disclosure of Invention Some example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with respect to certain aspects. These aspects are not intended to be indicative of the critical or essential features of the various embodiments of the disclosure nor is they intended to be limiting of the scope thereof. Other features, aspects, and elements will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of this disclosure. According to one aspect, an apparatus is provided that includes means for determining, at a roaming intermediary, that a data quota for a user equipment has been exhausted, and causing, by the roaming intermediary, a session management function that manages at least one protocol data unit session for the user equipment to terminate the at least one protocol data unit session based on the determination, wherein the user equipment is a subscriber to a second network and roams in a first network that includes the session management function. Determining that the data quota has been exhausted may include monitoring, by the roaming intermediary, messages sent between a session management function in the first network and a billing function included in the second network via the roaming intermediary. The monitoring may comprise determining, by the roaming intermediary and based on messages sent between the session management function and the charging function, information about data usage by the user equipment for the at least one protocol data unit session or the at least one service data flow. The component may also be configured to receive at least one request to establish at least one protocol data unit session from a session management function at the roaming intermediary, store, by the roaming intermediary, information associated with the session management function based on the at least one request, and send, by the roaming intermediary, the at least one request to a unified data management function included in the second network. Such that the session management function terminating the protocol data unit session may include transmitting a message to update subscription data of the user equipment from the roaming intermediary to the unified data management function via a network opening function included in the second network to disallow at least one protocol data unit session or disallow roaming for the user equipment. The message may include information indicating that at least one data network name associated with the at least one protocol data unit session is not allowed. Such that the session management function terminating the protocol data unit session may include transmitting a message to terminate the at least one protocol data unit session from the roaming intermediary to the session management function via a network opening function included in the first network. The message to terminate the at least one protocol data unit session may include information indicating at least one of an identity of a session management function, an identity of the at least one protocol data unit session, or a reason for the termination of the at least one protocol data unit session being due to expiration of a data quota. The message may include an internet protocol address associated with the user device. According to one aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for providing a network opening function, the means being configured to receive a message from a roaming intermediary to update subscription data of a user equipment to disallow at least one protocol data unit session or to disallow roaming for the user equipment, determine a unified data management function to manage subscription data of the user equipment based on the message, and send a message to the determined unified data management function comprising information indicating that roaming is not allowed for the user equipment or at least one data network name associated with the at least one protocol data unit session is not allowe