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EP-4315913-B1 - PROXIMITY SERVICES DISCOVERY USER EQUIPMENT IDENTIFIER PROVISIONING

EP4315913B1EP 4315913 B1EP4315913 B1EP 4315913B1EP-4315913-B1

Inventors

  • FU, Zhang
  • MARCOS, Maria Belen Pancorbo
  • GAN, Juying
  • AZORERO, FUENCISLA GARCIA

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20220331

Claims (20)

  1. A method of operating a Direct Discovery Name Management Function, DDNMF, in a communication network, the method comprising: - initiating (102) transmission of an Npcf_AMPolicyAuthorization_Subscribe or an Npcf_EventExposure_Subscribe request towards a Policy Control Function, PCF, wherein the request is indicative that the DDNMF is to be subscribed to receive a notification of a change in a Proximity services Discovery User equipment IDentifier, PDUID, for a User Equipment, UE, from the PCF; and - receiving (104) the PDUID for the UE from the PCF.
  2. A method as claimed in claim 1, the method comprising: - receiving at least one updated PDUID for the UE from the PCF in response to the at least one updated PDUID being generated for the UE.
  3. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, the method comprising: - initiating transmission of an Npcf_AMPolicyAuthorization_Unsubscribe or an Npcf_EventExposure_Unsubscribe request towards the PCF, wherein the request is indicative that the DDNMF is to be unsubscribed from receiving the notification.
  4. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein transmission of the Npcf_AMPolicyAuthorization_Subscribe or the Npcf_EventExposure_Subscribe request is initiated in response to: - receiving a discovery request from the UE, wherein the discovery request is a request for a restricted discovery code; and/or - the DDNMF not having a UE context for the UE.
  5. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein the Npcf_AMPolicyAuthorization_Subscribe or an Npcf_EventExposure_Subscribe request comprises a SUbscription Permanent Identifier, SUPI, for the UE.
  6. A method as claimed in any of the preceding claims, the request comprises receiving the PDUID for the UE with an associated expiration timer.
  7. A method of operating a Policy Control Function, PCF, in a communication network, the method comprising: - subscribing (202) a Direct Discovery Name Management Function, DDNMF, to receive a notification of a change in a Proximity services Discovery User equipment IDentifier, PDUID, for a User Equipment, UE, from the PCF in response to receiving an Npcf_AMPolicyAuthorization_Subscribe or an Npcf_EventExposure_Subscribe request from the DDNMF, wherein the request is indicative that the DDNMF is to be subscribed to receive the notification; and - initiating (204) transmission of the PDUID for the UE towards the DDNMF.
  8. A method as claimed in claims 7, the method comprising initiating transmission of at least one updated PDUID for the UE towards the DDNMF in response to the at least one updated PDUID being generated for the UE.
  9. A method as claimed in any of claims 7 to 8, the method comprising: - unsubscribing the DDNMF from receiving the notification in response to receiving an Npcf_AMPolicyAuthorization _Unsubscribe or an Npcf_EventExposure _Unsubscribe request from the DDNMF, wherein the request is indicative that the DDNMF is to be unsubscribed from receiving the notification.
  10. A method as claimed in any of claims 7 to 9, wherein the first information is received in response to: - a discovery request from the UE, wherein the discovery request is a request for a restricted discovery code; and/or - the DDNMF not having a UE context for the UE.
  11. A method as claimed in any of claims 7 to 10, where in the request comprises a SUbscription Permanent Identifier, SUPI, for the UE.
  12. A method as claimed in any of claims 7 to 11, the method comprising initiating transmission of the PDUID for the UE with an associated expiration timer.
  13. A method performed by a system comprising a Direct Discovery Name Management Function, DDNMF and a Policy Control Function, PCF, the method comprising the method as claimed in any of claims 1 to 6, performed by the DDNMF, and the method as claimed in any of claims 7 to 12, performed by the PCF.
  14. A Direct Discovery Name Management Function, DDNMF, (400) comprising processing circuitry (403) configured to perform the method according to any of claims 1 to 6.
  15. A DDNMF (400) as claimed in claim 14, wherein the DDNMF (400) comprises at least one memory (405) for storing instructions which, when executed by the processing circuitry (403), cause the DDNMF to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 6.
  16. A Policy Control Function, PCF, (500) comprising processing circuitry (503) configured to perform the method according to any of claims 7 to 12.
  17. A PCF (500) as claimed in claim 16, wherein the PCF (500) comprises at least one memory (505) for storing instructions which, when executed by the processing circuitry (503), cause the PCF (500) to perform the method according to any of claims 7 to 12.
  18. A system comprising at least one Direct Discovery Name Management Function, DDNMF, (400) as claimed in 14 or 15; and at least one Policy Control Function, PCF, (500) as claimed in claim 16 or 17.
  19. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by processing circuitry of a Direct Discovery Name Management Function, DDNMF, cause the DDNMF to perform the method according to any of claims 1 to 6, and when executed by processing circuitry of a Policy Control Function, PCF, cause the PCF to perform the method according to any of claims 7 to 12.
  20. A computer program product, embodied on a non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising instructions which when executed by processing circuitry of a Direct Discovery Name Management Function, DDNMF, cause the DDNMF to perform the method according to any of claims 1 to 6, and when executed by processing circuitry of a Policy Control Function, PCF, cause the PCF to perform the method according to any of claims 7 to 12.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates generally to communications and, more particularly, to communication methods and related devices and functions/nodes supporting wireless communications. BACKGROUND Proximity Services (ProSe) in fourth generation (4G) systems have been described in clause 4.4.1 of the third generation partnership project (3GPP) technical specification (TS) 23.303 V15.1.0. A ProSe Function is a logical function that is used for network related actions required for ProSe. The ProSe Function plays different roles for each of the features of ProSe. In 3GPP TS 23.303 V15.1.0, there may only be one logical ProSe Function in each public land mobile network (PLMN) that supports ProSe. It is noted that, if multiple ProSe Functions are deployed within the same PLMN (e.g., for load reasons), then methods to locate the ProSe Function that has allocated a specific ProSe Application Code or ProSe Restricted Code (e.g. through a database lookup, etc.) are not defined in 3GPP TS 23.303 V15.1.0. ProSe Direct Discovery may refer to a procedure employed by a ProSe-enabled user equipment (UE) to discover other ProSe-enabled UEs in its vicinity based on direct radio transmissions between the two UEs with new radio (NR) technology. ProSe Direct Communication may refer to a communication between two or more UEs in proximity that are ProSe-enabled, by means of user plane transmission using NR technology via a path not traversing any network node. ERICSSON: "KI#8: Update Conclusion for ProSe Discovery UE ID Provisioning", 3GPP DRAFT S2-2101631 proposes an update to ProSe Discovery UE ID provisioning. SUMMARY The invention is defined by the appended claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate certain non-limiting embodiments of inventive concepts. In the drawings: Figure 1 is a block diagram that illustrates UE to ProSe function interfaces for a plurality of sub-functions according to some embodiments;Figure 2 is a block diagram that illustrates ProSe function interfaces to other network elements and Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMNs) according to some embodiments;Figure 3 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a first network function according to an embodiment;Figure 4 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a second network function according to an embodiment;Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating a wireless device (e.g. UE) according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating a radio access network (RAN) node (e.g., a base station, such as an eNodeB (eNB) or a gNodeB (gNB)) according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating a core network (CN) node (e.g., an access and mobility management function (AMF) node, a session management function (SMF) node, etc.) according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating operations according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;Figure 9 is a flow chart illustrating operations according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;Figure 10 is a flow chart illustrating operations according to some embodiments of inventive concepts;Figure 11 is a block diagram of a wireless network in accordance with some embodiments;Figure 12 is a block diagram of a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments;Figure 13 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment in accordance with some embodiments;Figure 14 is a block diagram of a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments;Figure 15 is a block diagram of a host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments;Figure 16 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments;Figure 17 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments;Figure 18 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments; andFigure 19 is a block diagram of methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment in accordance with some embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION Inventive concepts will now be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which examples of embodiments of inventive concepts are shown. Inventive concepts may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herei