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EP-3780679-B1 - ROAMING SUPPORT FOR NEXT GENERATION SLICE ARCHITECTURE

EP3780679B1EP 3780679 B1EP3780679 B1EP 3780679B1EP-3780679-B1

Inventors

  • BHARATIA, JAYSHREE A.

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20170516

Claims (4)

  1. A method performed by a control plane function, CPF, entity of a visited network (612) providing a roaming service for a home network, the method comprising: receiving (636), from an access and mobility management function, AMF, entity, a protocol data unit, PDU, session request, wherein the PDU session request is received after a network slice is selected by the AMF entity; selecting (648) a user plane function, UPF, entity of the visited network, based on a location of a user equipment, UE (602), after receiving the PDU session request from the AMF entity; transmitting (650), to a CPF entity of a home network (614), a request based on tunnel resources associated with the UPF entity of the visited network; receiving (654), from the CPF entity of the home network (614), a response including tunnel resources associated with a UPF entity of the home network according to the request from the CPF entity of the visited network (612); and transmitting (656), to the UPF entity of the visited network, a request for session modification including the tunnel resources associated with the UPF entity of the home network.
  2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: transmitting (642) a response to the AMF entity, after receiving (654) the tunnel resources associated with the UPF entity of the home network.
  3. The method of claim 1, wherein the PDU session request includes an identifier of a network slice in the visited network.
  4. An apparatus configured to perform the method steps of one of claims 1 to 3.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure is directed to a roaming architecture for wireless networks. Specifically, the present disclosure is directed to a roaming architecture where a slice selector resides in all networks. BACKGROUND To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of 4G communication systems, efforts have been made to develop an improved 5G or pre-5G communication system. Therefore, the 5G or pre-5G communication system is also called a 'Beyond 4G Network' or a 'Post LTE System'. The 5G communication system is considered to be implemented in higher frequency (mmWave) bands, e.g., 28GHz or 60GHz bands, so as to accomplish higher data rates. To decrease propagation loss of the radio waves and increase the transmission distance, the beamforming, massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO), Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antenna, an analog beam forming, large scale antenna techniques are discussed in 5G communication systems. In addition, in 5G communication systems, development for system network improvement is under way based on advanced small cells, cloud Radio Access Networks (RANs), ultra-dense networks, device-to-device (D2D) communication, wireless backhaul, moving network, cooperative communication, Coordinated Multi-Points (CoMP), reception-end interference cancellation and the like. In the 5G system, Hybrid FSK and QAM Modulation (FQAM) and sliding window superposition coding (SWSC) as an advanced coding modulation (ACM), and filter bank multi carrier(FBMC), non-orthogonal multiple access(NOMA), and sparse code multiple access (SCMA) as an advanced access technology have been developed. Currently, through service level agreements (SLA), a visiting network will able to identify resources to be assigned in a home network. Using network function interaction capabilities, the visiting network functions will be able to communicate with network functions in the home network. Because network operators are not going to open up their network resources to be assigned and/or visualized by other networks, roaming scenarios requiring assignment of resources in the home network needs to be looked at carefully. Once resources are assigned, an active protocol data unit (PDU) session is established. Existing standards provide procedures for defining single and multiple PDU sessions establishment using 5G architecture. Procedures do not exist for the modification and release of PDU sessions. ERICSSON: "Update to session establishment procedure", 3GPP DRAFT; S2-161475 SESSION MANAGEMENT PROCEDURES_2, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), MOBILE COMPETENCE CENTRE; 650, ROUTE DES LUCIOLES ; F-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS CEDEX; FRANCE, vol. SA WG2, no. Sophia Antipolis, FRANCE; 20160411 - 20160415 5 April 2016 (2016-04-05) discusses session management establishment procedures an discloses a procedure of session setup in a home-routed roaming case. SAMSUNG: "Roaming Support of Network Slice", 3GPP DRAFT; S2-164604 ROAMING SUPPORT OF NW SLICE, 3RD GENERATION PARTNERSHIP PROJECT (3GPP), MOBILE COMPETENCE CENTRE; 650, ROUTE DES LUCIOLES; F-06921 SOPHIA-ANTIPOLIS CEDEX; FRANCE, vol. SA WG2, no. Sanya, China; 20160829 - 20160902 27 August 2016 (2016-08-27) discloses roaming architectures for NW slicing and NW slice instances at a visited network and at a home network that are assigned to serve a home routed traffic of a requested NW slice. DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION SOLUTION TO PROBLEM The present invention is defined by the appended set of claims. A method performed by an apparatus for operating a control plane function (CPF) of a visited network providing a roaming service for a home network is described and claimed herein. Further, a method performed by an apparatus for operating a CPF of a home network providing a roaming service for a home network is described and claimed herein. Furthermore, corresponding apparatus for performing the method for operating a CPF of a visited network providing a roaming service for a home network and for performing the method for operating a CPF of a home network providing a roaming service for a home network are described and claimed herein. Other technical features may be readily apparent to one skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, and claims. Before undertaking the DETAILED DESCRIPTION below, it may be advantageous to set forth definitions of certain words and phrases used throughout this patent document. The term "couple" and its derivatives refer to any direct or indirect communication between two or more elements, whether or not those elements are in physical contact with one another. The terms "transmit," "receive," and "communicate," as well as derivatives thereof, encompass both direct and indirect communication. The terms "include" and "comprise," as well as derivatives thereof, mean inclusion without limitation. The term "or" is inclusive, meaning and/or. The phrase "associated with," as well as derivati