US-12627720-B2 - Session management method, entity, network device, and storage medium

US12627720B2US 12627720 B2US12627720 B2US 12627720B2US-12627720-B2

Abstract

The present application provides a session management method, an entity, a network device, and a storage medium. The method includes: sending, on the basis of a service requirement, a group-level session management request to a control plane entity, where the group-level session management request carries group information for representing a virtual network group that requires group-level session management; receiving a response message returned by the control plane entity in response to the group-level session management request; and performing, according to content carried in the response message, corresponding session service management on the virtual network group.

Inventors

Lin Chen
Xiaoying FENG

Assignees

ZTE CORPORATION

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20220705
Priority Date: 20210705

Claims (9)

1 . A session management method performed by a session management function (SMF) entity, comprising: sending, on the basis of a service requirement, a group-level session management request to a control plane entity, wherein the group-level session management request carries group information for representing a virtual network group that requires group-level session management; receiving a response message returned by the control plane entity in response to the group-level session management request; and performing, according to content carried in the response message, corresponding session service management on the virtual network group, wherein before sending, on the basis of the service requirement, the group-level session management request to the control plane entity, the method further comprises: initiating a registration request to a group management function (GMF) entity, wherein the registration request carries a supported data network name and supported virtual network group information; and receiving a registration response returned by the GMF entity in response to the registration request.
2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the control plane entity is a policy control function (PCF) entity; sending, on the basis of the service requirement, the group-level session management request to the control plane entity comprises: sending a group-level session establishment request to the PCF entity, wherein the group-level session establishment request carries group information for the PCF entity to perform session authorization on the virtual network group; receiving the response message returned by the control plane entity in response to the group-level session management request comprises: receiving a group-level session establishment success response returned by the PCF entity in response to the group-level session establishment request, wherein the group-level session establishment success response carries group session policy information; and performing, according to the content carried in the response message, corresponding session service management on the virtual network group comprises: executing the group session policy information to establish a group-level session for the virtual network group; and returning a policy execution response for executing the group session policy information to the PCF entity.
3 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein after receiving the response message returned by the control plane entity in response to the group-level session management request, the method further comprises: receiving a group-level session establishment failure response which is returned by the PCF entity in response to the group-level session establishment request, wherein the group-level session establishment failure response carries a cause value; and determining a cause for the group-level session establishment failure according to the cause value.
4 . The method according to claim 2 , wherein after establishing the group-level session for the virtual network group, the method further comprises: receiving a policy change notification sent from the PCF entity, wherein the policy change notification carries changed session policy information, and the policy change notification is a notification message sent from the PCF entity according to an instruction of an application entity; executing the changed session policy information to modify the group-level session for the virtual network group; and returning a policy execution response for executing the changed session policy information to the PCF entity.
5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the control plane entity is a unified data management function (UDM) entity; sending, on the basis of the service requirement, the group-level session management request to the control plane entity comprises: sending a group session registration request to the UDM entity, wherein the group session registration request carries the group information and group session information, so that when a new user equipment accesses the virtual network group, an access and mobility management function (AMF) entity obtains, via the UDM entity, the group session information of the virtual network group and discovers a serving SMF entity; and receiving the response message returned by the control plane entity in response to the group-level session management request comprises: receiving a group session registration success response sent from the UDM entity in response to the group session registration request.
6 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the control plane entity is a charging function (CHF) entity; sending, on the basis of the service requirement, the group-level session management request to the control plane entity comprises: sending a group-level charging session establishment request to the CHF entity, wherein the group-level charging session establishment request carries the group information, and the group-level charging session is used for requesting the CHF entity to perform charging control on the group-level session of the virtual network group; and receiving the response message returned by the control plane entity in response to the group-level session management request comprises: receiving a group-level charging session establishment response returned by the CHF entity in response to the group-level charging session establishment request.
7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein after receiving the group-level charging session establishment response returned by the CHF entity in response to the group-level charging session establishment request, the method further comprises: receiving a policy modify notification request sent from the CHF entity, wherein the policy modify notification request carries the group information and group-level quota modify policy information; executing the group-level quota modify policy information on the group-level session of the virtual network group; and returning a policy modify notification response to the CHF entity, wherein the policy modify notification response carries an execution result of the group-level quota modify policy information.
8 . A network device, comprising: one or more processors; and a memory having one or more programs stored thereon which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement the method according to claim 1 .
9 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon which, when executed by a processor, causes the method according to claim 1 to be implemented.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present disclosure is a National Phase Application filed under 35 U.S.C. 371 as a national stage of PCT/CN2022/103773, filed on Jul. 5, 2022, an application claiming priority to Chinese patent application No. 202110754414.3 filed on Jul. 5, 2021, the entirety contents of which are incorporated hereby by reference. TECHNICAL FIELD The present application relates to the field of mobile communications, and in particular relates to a session management method, an entity, a network device and a storage medium. BACKGROUND The mobile communication has now progressed to the 5th generation (5G) phase. Compared with the previous generations, the network architecture of 5G is mainly characterized by the service-based architecture. How to utilize virtual network (VN) group functions by a 5G Network has become one of the most promising technologies in the related stage. In the existing art under the current 5G communication scenarios, policy control and charging are typically performed based on the session granularity of the protocol data unit (PDU). For group users, local area network (LAN) services should be offered to the whole group for terminal-by-terminal control and management, which is difficult in terms of group control and results in poor group processing performance. SUMMARY An embodiment of the present application provides a session management method applicable to a session management function (SMF) entity, including: sending, on the basis of a service requirement, a group-level session management request to a control plane entity, wherein the group-level session management request carries group information for representing a virtual network group that requires group-level session management; receiving a response message returned by the control plane entity in response to the group-level session management request; and performing, according to content carried in the response message, corresponding session service management on the virtual network group. An embodiment of the present application further provides a session management method applicable to a group management function (GMF) entity, including: receiving a registration request from a session management function (SMF) entity, wherein the registration request carries a supported data network name and supported virtual network group information; storing the data network name and the virtual network group information; and returning a registration response to the SMF entity. An embodiment of the present application further provides a session management method applicable to a policy control function (PCF) entity, including: receiving a group-level session establishment request from a session management function (SMF) entity, wherein the group-level session establishment request carries group information of a virtual network group; perform session authorization for the virtual network group according to the group information; returning, in a case where the authorization is successful, a group-level session establishment success response, and returning, in a case where the authorization fails, a group-level session establishment failure response and carrying a cause value in the session establishment failure response. An embodiment of the present application further provides a session management method applicable to a unified data management function (UDM) entity, including: receiving a group session registration request from a session management function (SMF) entity, wherein the group session registration request carries group information and group session information of a virtual network group; storing the group information and the group session information of the virtual network group; and returning a group session registration success response to the SMF entity. An embodiment of the present application further provides a session management method applicable to a charging function (CHF) entity, including: receiving a group-level charging session establishment request from a session management function (SMF) entity, wherein the group-level charging session establishment request carries group information of a virtual network group; performing group-level session charging control for the virtual network group; and returning a group-level charging session establishment response, wherein the group-level charging session establishment response carries a charging control result. An embodiment of the present application further provides a session management function (SMF) entity, including: a sending module configured to send, on the basis of a service requirement, a group-level session management request to a control plane entity, wherein the group-level session management request carries group information for representing a virtual network group that requires group-level session management; a receiving module configured to receive a response message returned by the control plane entity in response to the group-level