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EP-4277360-B1 - IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, NETWORK SLICE SELECTION BASED ON APPLICATION CATEGORY

EP4277360B1EP 4277360 B1EP4277360 B1EP 4277360B1EP-4277360-B1

Inventors

  • SALKINTZIS, APOSTOLIS

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20170223

Claims (13)

  1. A user equipment, UE (200), comprising: a transceiver (210) arranged to communicate with a mobile communication network supporting a plurality of network slices; and a processor (202) arranged to: receive, from an access network discovery and selection function, ANDSF, of the mobile communication network, a category selection policy comprising one or more rules; receive (802) a request to send a data packet, wherein the data packet is generated by an application of the UE (200); identify (804) an application category associated with the data packet 's characteristics using the one or more rules of the category selection policy; request (806) a network connection, wherein the network connection is associated with the identified application category; and transmit the data packet via the network connection in the mobile communication network.
  2. The UE (200) of claim 1, wherein receiving the request to send the data packet comprises receiving a network connection request that contains an application category parameter, wherein identifying the application category associated with the data packet comprises verifying the application category parameter using a selection policy.
  3. The UE (200) of claim 2, wherein the application category parameter indicates a category selected from the group consisting of: a mission-critical application, an infrequent messaging application, and a general-purpose application.
  4. The UE (200) of claim 2, wherein verifying the application category parameter comprises determining whether the application is permitted to use a network slice associated with the application category parameter.
  5. The UE (200) of claim 1, wherein the network connection to the network slice in the mobile communication network comprises a connection to a network slice that supports a traffic type associated with the application.
  6. The UE (200) of claim 1, wherein receiving the request to send the data packet comprises receiving a network connection request that contains a network capability parameter indicating a requested network service type.
  7. The UE (200) of claim 1, wherein receiving the request to send the data packet comprises receiving a network connection request that contains a transport type parameter indicating a requested transport type.
  8. The UE (200) of claim 7, wherein the transport type parameter indicates one or more of: an access network type, a virtual private network, a transport protocol, and a modem type.
  9. A method performed by a user equipment, UE (200), for communicating with a mobile communication network supporting a plurality of network slices, the method comprising: receiving, from an access network discovery and selection function ANDSF of the mobile communication network, a category selection policy comprising one or more rules; receiving (802) a request to send a data packet, wherein the data packet is generated by an application of the UE (200); identifying (804) an application category associated with the data packet 's characteristics using the one or more rules of the category selection policy; requesting (806) a network connection, wherein the network connection is associated with the identified application category; and transmitting the data packet via the network connection in the mobile communication network.
  10. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving the request to send the data packet comprises receiving a network connection request that contains an application category parameter, wherein identifying the application category associated with the data packet comprises verifying the application category parameter using a selection policy.
  11. The method of claim 10, wherein the application category parameter indicates a category selected from the group consisting of: a mission-critical application, an infrequent messaging application, and a general-purpose application.
  12. The method of claim 10, wherein verifying the application category parameter using a selection policy comprises determining whether the application is permitted to use a network slice associated with the application category parameter.
  13. A processor (202) for a UE for communicating with a mobile communication network supporting a plurality of network slices, comprising: at least one controller coupled with at least one memory and configured to cause the processor (202) to: communicate with a mobile communication network supporting a plurality of network slices; receive, from an access network discovery and selection function, ANDSF, the mobile communication network, a category selection policy comprising one or more rules; receive (802) a request to send a data packet, wherein the data packet 's characteristics is generated by an application of the UE (200); identify (804) an application category associated with the application of the UE (200) data packet using the one or more rules of the category selection policy; request (806) a network connection, wherein the network connection is associated with the identified application category; and transmit the data packet via the network connection in the mobile communication network.

Description

FIELD The subject matter disclosed herein relates generally to wireless communications and more particularly relates to supporting network slicing in a wireless communication system. In particular, there is disclosed herein a user equipment, a method performed by a user equipment, and a processor. BACKGROUND The following abbreviations are herewith defined, at least some of which are referred to within the following description. 3GPP Third Generation Partnership ProjectANDSF Access Network Discovery and Selection FunctionAP Access PointAPN Access Point NameAS Access StratumCIoT Cellular Internet of ThingsDCN Dedicated Core NetworkDL DownlinkeNB Evolved Node BEPC Evolved Packet CoreETSI European Telecommunications Standards InstituteH-PLMN Home Public Land Mobile NetworkHSS Home Subscriber ServerIMS IP Multimedia SubsystemIP Internet ProtocolIoT Internet of ThingsISP Internet Service ProviderLAN Local Area NetworkLTE Long Term EvolutionMBB Mobile BroadbandMME Mobility Management EntityMMS Multimedia Messaging ServiceMTC Machine-Type CommunicationsNAS Non-Access StratumNFV Network Function VirtualizationOFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division MultiplexingPDCP Packet Data Convergence ProtocolPDU Protocol Data UnitPGW Packet Data Network GatewayPLMN Public Land Mobile NetworkRAN Radio Access NetworkRCS Rich Communication ServicesRRC Radio Resource ControlSC-FDMA Single Carrier Frequency Division Multiple AccessSGW Serving GatewaySUPL Secure User Plane LocationTCP Transmission Control ProtocolUE User Entity/Equipment (Mobile Terminal)UL UplinkWAN Wide Area NetworkWiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave AccessWLAN Wireless Local Area Network In wireless communications networks, next generation of wireless networks (e.g., fifth-generation or "5G" networks) are expected to support different network slices. Each network slice can be seen as an independent network partition optimized to support the performance requirements of a certain application category. For example, a wireless communication network may contain a network slice optimized for mobile broadband services (characterized by high data rate and medium latency), a network slice optimized for autonomous driving (characterized by low latency and high reliability), a network slice optimized for massive Internet of Things ("IoT") or Machine Type Communications ("MTC") (characterized by low mobility and low data rate), and the like. Note that all network slices are deployed inside the same public land mobile network ("PLMN"). Different application categories can be supported with different network slices, each network slice being optimized to support its corresponding application category. One slice may be designed to support an "Enhanced Mobile Broadband" application category, a second slice may be designed to support an "Ultra-reliable and Low Latency Communications" application category, and a third slice may be designed to support a "Massive Machine Type Communications" application category. A particular type of network slice may be deployed multiple times (i.e. have multiple instances) within the same PLMN. For example, a network operator may deploy multiple IoT/MTC slice instances to support multiple IoT customers such as utility companies, automotive companies, etc. It is expected that network slices will be created and managed via network function virtualization ("NFV") procedures. In a typical scenario, a network operator defines different virtual network templates, each one specifying a collection of compute, storage, and/or network resources and their configurations. Such template is essentially a representation of a network slice. When the operator wants to create a new slice, the operator instructs the NFV platform to construct a new virtual network based on a given template. The template may also contain rules for auto-scaling the resources of a slice in order to efficiently handle workload variations in the time domain. In order to support several 5G application categories, it will be necessary for the same mobile device (e.g., User Equipment ("UE")) to connect to multiple network slices. No existing solution enables a UE to both select a desired network slice (based on some criteria) and to attach to the selected network slice. RPa-160048 is a 3GPP discussion paper titled "End-to-End Network Slicing 15 Requirements for Next Generation Access Technologies" submitted by SK Telecom at RAN ad-hoc meeting on 28 January 2016 in Barcelona, Spain, and describes a UE utilizing multiple network slices but fails to disclose how those slices are established. https://www.5g-ks.org/pdf/Network_Slicing_in_5GS-E2E_ViewNokia.pdf is a pdf version of a slideshow titled "End to End Network Slicing in 5G System 3GPP Standards Perspective" by Sankaran Balasubramaniam; slide 18 of which is titled 'Slice Aware PDU Session Handling' and states at step (5) that a UE initiates PDU Session Establishment, including the allowed NSSAI assigned during the registration. BRIEF