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EP-4497233-B1 - METHODS AND DEVICES FOR ENABLING UE TO ACCESS EDGE SERVICE

EP4497233B1EP 4497233 B1EP4497233 B1EP 4497233B1EP-4497233-B1

Inventors

  • ALNÅS, Svante

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20230111

Claims (15)

  1. A method for use in a core network, CN, of a wireless network to enable User Equipment, UE, to obtain a data network interface for using an Edge service, the method comprising: receiving (401), by a network function of the CN, a registration message from at least one Edge application server, EAS, accessible from a data network comprised in the wireless network and having said data network interface; providing (402), by the network function responsive to receiving the registration message, a network node with information identifying association of the EAS with the data network interface, wherein said information is usable by the UE for identifying the network interface for accessing the Edge service.
  2. The method of claim 1, wherein said registration message (602, 702, 802) identifies said Edge service, wherein said information identifies association of the Edge service on said EAS with the data network interface.
  3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein said network node is a domain name system, DNS, server which is accessible by the UE, wherein the DNS server comprises either: a local DNS server (60, 62, 64) of said data network; or a global DNS server (70) which is external to the wireless network and supporting a plurality of wireless networks and wherein said information comprises an identifier (MNC, MCC) of the wireless network
  4. The method of claim 1, wherein the network node is the EAS (81) which transmitted the registration message, wherein said information comprises configuration for establishing the data network interface.
  5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of providing the information to the EAS (81) controls the EAS (81) to transmit said configuration and an identifier of the wireless network to a global EAS (80) configured to support a plurality of wireless networks, which global EAS is accessible by the UE.
  6. A core network, CN, (110A, 110B) of a wireless network (100A, 100B), comprising: logic circuitry (310) configured to realize a CN function (UDM); and a communication interface (313) allowing the CN function to communicate with a network node; wherein the logic circuitry controls the CN to operate in accordance with any of claims 1-5 to enable User Equipment, UE (1), to obtain a data network interface for accessing an Edge service.
  7. Method for use in User Equipment, UE, for identifying a data network interface of a current wireless network for accessing an Edge service, the method comprising: transmitting (501), to at least one network node, a request message comprising an indication of the Edge service to obtain identification of the data network interface associated with the Edge service; receiving (502), from one of said nodes, a response message comprising information enabling the UE to identify the data network interface for accessing the Edge service.
  8. The method of claim 7, wherein said response message configures the UE to transmit data packets associated with the Edge service to said data network interface.
  9. The method of claim 7 or 8, wherein said at least one network node comprises a local domain name system, DNS, server (62, 64) of the current wireless network, the request message being transmitted using an existing data network interface for a data network of the current wireless network, and wherein said information indicates whether or not the Edge service is available using said existing data network interface.
  10. The method of claim 7 or 8, wherein said at least one network node comprises a local domain name system, DNS, server (60) of the current wireless network, and the request message is transmitted using existing data network interface, and wherein the information indicates the data network interface to a local edge network, EHE2, on which said Edge service is available.
  11. The method of claim 7 or 8, wherein said at least one network node comprises a global domain name system, DNS, server (70) supporting a plurality of wireless networks, wherein the request message comprises an identifier (MNC, MCC) of the current wireless network that the UE is connected to.
  12. The method of claim 7, wherein said at least one node comprises an Edge application server, EAS, (81) of the current wireless network, wherein the request message comprises an identifier (MNC, MCC) of the current wireless network.
  13. The method of any of claims 7-11, wherein said information comprises data network interface configuration for establishing the data network interface.
  14. User Equipment, UE (1), comprising: a wireless transceiver (213); logic circuitry (210) configured to control the transceiver to operate in accordance with any of claims 7-13 for identifying a data network interface of a current wireless network for accessing an Edge service.
  15. Method for use in User Equipment, UE, for identifying a data network interface of a current wireless network for accessing an Edge service, the method comprising: transmitting (501), to a cloud Edge application server, EAS (80), a request message to obtain identification of the data network interface associated with the Edge service; receiving (502), the cloud EAS, a response message comprising information enabling the UE to determine the data network interface for accessing the Edge service.

Description

Technical field This disclosure relates to the field of accessing Edge services provided for wireless devices connected in a wireless network. Specifically, solutions are proposed for enabling wireless devices to detect available Edge services and to identify a corresponding mapping to logical connections that support such Edge service from a current wireless network node. Background Wireless devices may be configured according to various protocols for communication with different networks by radio communication. A wide variety of systems for radio communication are set up under the provisions of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including cellular systems and wireless local area networks often referred to as Wi-fi. The wireless devices are often referred to as User Equipment (UE), and are configured to wirelessly communicate with a network backbone, or core network (CN) via one or more access nodes. Such access nodes may be identified by different terms based on the protocol used, and in cellular communications they are often referred to as base stations. For the example of 5G networks, the access node is referred to as a gNB. As technology advances, and the wireless system protocols are developed, the processing and communication capability of UEs increases. A UE may be devised to carry out different tasks based on which application is run on the UE, and requirements may be different between different applications. For certain types of applications, where communication through the wireless network may be inadequate, so-called Edge computing can be used to assist proper operation of the application. Edge computing is a distributed computing paradigm that brings computation and data storage closer to the location where it is needed, i.e. closed to the UE on which an application client runs, e.g. to improve response times and save bandwidth. Edge computing may e.g. be used for latency-sensitive applications such as multi-player video games. When using an Edge system, the application client connects to an Edge host, operated on an Edge server, also referred to as an Edge application server (EAS). Various computing tasks may then be off-loaded to the EAS. Typically, an EAS can be accessed using any available network connection, and UEs may in this respect use a "best effort" approach to select the data network to use. In this respect, the UE may e.g. automatically switch between different connections through the wireless network and different available Wi-Fi connections. This may result in undue network traffic, in particular when the Edge service is available locally in the wireless network to which the UE is connected. A related problem is when a UE is roaming, i.e. when it visits another wireless network than its home wireless network. To access an EAS for using an Edge service locally, i.e. in the current, visited, wireless network to which the UE is attached, the UE needs to set up a new logical connection to a local data network providing access to that EAS. An approach to tackle these problems has been to allow the wireless network to configure the UE with UE Route Selection Policy (URSP) rules for different traffic routing. All of these rules are delivered from the home network HPLMN (Home Public Land Mobile Network) to the UE. The HPLMN is not expected to be aware of all Edge configuration in all visiting networks (VPLMN) the UE may visit. Moreover, many UEs usually don't support the URSP rules. Document US 2020/329109 Al discloses a method of discovering edge-servers and services through domain name server (DNS) resolution in a mobile edge computing (MEC) platform based network. Summary In view of the foregoing, there exists a need for improvement in the art of controlling a UE with regard to Edge server access, to improve access to an Edge service. A solution to this problem is set out in the independent claims. A method is provided for use in a CN of a wireless network to enable a UE to obtain a data network interface for using an Edge service, the method comprising: receiving, by a network function of the CN, a registration message from at least one Edge application server, EAS, accessible from a data network comprised in the wireless network and having said data network interface;providing, by the network function responsive to receiving the registration message, a network node with information identifying association of the EAS with the data network interface, wherein said information is usable by the UE for identifying the network interface for accessing the Edge service. Moreover, a method is provided for use in a UE for identifying a data network interface of a current wireless network for accessing an Edge service, the method comprising: transmitting, to at least one network node, a request message comprising an indication of the Edge service to obtain identification of the data network interface associated with the Edge service;receiving, from one of said nodes, a response mess