US-20260129457-A1 - COMMUNICATION SYSTEM, COMMUNICATION METHOD, AND COMMUNICATION APPARATUS

Abstract

This disclosure provides a communication system and a communication method. The communication system may include a network service node (NSN) and a user service node (USN). The NSN communicates with the USN through an external interface. The NSN includes an authentication function entity and/or an access management function entity. The USN is associated with one more more terminal devices. The USN includes the following function entities: a data forwarding function entity, a session management function entity, and a user data storage function entity. The function entities included in the USN communicate with each other through an internal interface. Based on the function entities included in the USN, the USN may provide a basic network service for the associated one or more terminal devices.

Inventors

• Xueqiang Yan
• Mingyu ZHAO
• Jianjun Wu
• Xueli An

Assignees

• HUAWEI TECHNOLOGIES CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date

20260507

Application Date

20251231

Priority Date

20201124

Claims (20)

1. 1 . A communication system, comprising a network service node (NSN) and a user service node (USN), wherein: the USN is associated with one or more terminal devices and comprises: a data forwarding function entity, a session management function entity, and a user data storage function entity, wherein the data forwarding function entity, the session management function entity, and the user data storage function entity communicate with each other through an internal interface, wherein the USN is a node in a distributed hash table (DHT) including a plurality of nodes; and the NSN is configured to communicate with the USN through an external interface and comprises at least one of an authentication function entity or an access management function entity.
2. 2 . The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the USN further comprises at least one of the following function entities that perform communication through the internal interface: a policy management function entity, an authentication and authorization function entity, or a mobility management function entity.
3. 3 . The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the NSN further comprises a life cycle management (LCM) function entity configured to perform life cycle management on the USN.
4. 4 . The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the USN is further configured to receive, from a terminal device via an access network device, a first request message used for requesting access and comprising identification information of the terminal device, obtain an identifier of the USN that is associated with the identification information of the terminal device and associate the USN with the terminal device.
5. 5 . The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the user data storage function entity is configured to store first information including one or more of the following: information that needs privacy protection, identification information of the one or more terminal devices served by the USN, and identity information of a user.
6. 6 . The communication system of claim 5 , wherein the communication system further comprises a consortium blockchain; wherein the consortium blockchain is used to store second information including at least one of the following: a transaction record between a user and an operator or a public key of an operator network, and a storage address of the second information in the consortium blockchain is indicated by the first information.
7. 7 . The communication system of claim 5 , wherein the USN is further configured to: receive indication information from a terminal device, the indication information indicating the USN to provide at least part of the first information for a third party; and provide the at least part of the first information for the third party.
8. 8 . The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the user data storage function entity is further configured to store a mapping relationship including at least one of the following: a mapping relationship between identity information of a user and an identity of the user in an application, or a mapping relationship between the identity information of the user and an address.
9. 9 . The communication system of claim 1 , wherein the USN is configured to: receive data from the first terminal device, the data including identification information of a second terminal device; obtain an identifier of a second USN, wherein the identifier of the second USN is associated with identification information of the second terminal device; and send the data to the second USN.
10. 10 . A communication apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication apparatus to perform operations including: sending a first request message to a network service node (NSN) via an access network device, wherein the first request message is for requesting access and comprises identification information of a terminal device; and establishing a connection to a user service node (USN), wherein the USN is associated by the NSN with the identification information of the terminal device, wherein the USN is a node in a distributed hash table (DHT) including a plurality of nodes.
11. 11 . The communication apparatus of claim 10 , the operations further comprising: sending, to the USN, digital credential information of a digital credential.
12. 12 . The communication apparatus of claim 11 , the operations further comprising: receiving, from a third party, a second request message for requesting at least part of the digital credential; and sending, to the USN, indication information indicating the USN to provide the at least part of the digital credential for the third party.
13. 13 . The communication apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the USNcomprises: a data forwarding function entity, a session management function entity, a user data storage function entity and at least one of the following function entities that perform communication through the internal interface: a policy management function entity, an authentication and authorization function entity, or a mobility management function entity, wherein the data forwarding function entity, the session management function entity, and the user data storage function entity communicates with each other through an internal interface, wherein the NSN comprises at least one of an authentication function entity, an access management function entity or a life cycle management (LCM) function entity configured to perform life cycle management on the USN.
14. 14 . A communication apparatus, comprising: a processor; and a non-transitory computer-readable medium including computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the communication apparatus to perform operations including: receiving a first request message from a terminal device via an access network device, wherein the first request message is for requesting access and comprises identification information of the terminal device; obtaining an identifier of a user service node (USN), wherein the identifier of the USN is associated with the identification information of the terminal device, wherein the USN is a node in a distributed hash table (DHT) including a plurality of nodes; and associating the USN with the terminal device.
15. 15 . The communication apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the USN is allocated by an operator to the terminal device and not activated before the NSN receives the first request message and the method further comprises: activating the USN for the terminal device; and performing a life cycle management (LCM) on the USN for the terminal device after the NSN receives the first request message and associates the USN with the terminal device.
16. 16 . The communication apparatus of claim 14 , the obtaining the identifier of the USN comprises: performing hash calculation on the identification information of the terminal device, to obtaion the identifier of the USN.
17. 17 . The communication apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the obtaining the identifier of the USN comprises: obtaining the identifier of the USN in accordance with a mapping relationship between the identification information of the terminal device and the identifier of the USN.
18. 18 . The communication apparatus of claim 15 , the operations further comprising: obtaining, from a consortium blockchain (CBC), at least one of a public key of the NSN or a public key associated with the terminal device; and performing an authentication on the terminal device in accordance with the at least one of the public key of the NSN or the public key associated with the terminal device.
19. 19 . The communication apparatus of claim 18 , the performing the authentication comprising: sending the public key of the NSN to the terminal device; receiving, from the terminal device, an encrypten random number that is encrypted by using the public key of the NSN.
20. 20 . The communication apparatus of claim 18 , the performing the authentication comprising: generating a random number; and sending, to the terminal device, an encrypted random number that is encrypted by the public key of the UE.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 18/322,541, filed on May 23, 2023, which is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN 2021/107784, filed on Jul. 22, 2021, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202011331946.8, filed on Nov. 24, 2020. All of the aforementioned patent applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties. TECHNICAL FIELD This disclosure relates to the communication field, and more specifically, to a communication system, a communication method, and a communication apparatus. BACKGROUND In a 5th generation (5th Generation, 5G) network in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP), core network elements have excessively large entities and various types, resulting in excessive signaling interaction. This brings high costs and increases a risk point of being vulnerable to an attack. SUMMARY This disclosure provides a communication system, a communication method, and a communication apparatus, to reduce network complexity. According to a first aspect, a communication system is provided. The communication system includes a network service node (network service node, NSN) and a user service node (user service node, USN). The NSN communicates with the USN through an external interface. The NSN includes an authentication function entity and/or an access management function entity. The USN is associated with one terminal device or a group of terminal devices. The USN includes the following function entities: a data forwarding function entity, a session management function entity, and a user data storage function entity. The function entities included in the USN communicate with each other through an internal interface. That the NSN communicates with the USN through an external interface indicates that a standard interface and a standard communication protocol need to be defined for an interface between the NSN and USN. The standard interface may be an existing standard interface, or may be a newly defined standard interface. The standard communication protocol may be an existing standard communication protocol, or may be a newly defined standard communication protocol. That the function entities included in the USN communicate with each other through the internal interface indicates that the standard interface or the standard communication protocol does not need to be defined for an interface between the function entities included in the USN. For example, if two function entities included in the USN are implemented by software, the two function entities may communicate with each other invoking a simple internal function. Based on the foregoing technical solutions, the communication system including two types of network elements (the NSN and the USN) is proposed. The NSN communicates with the USN through the external interface, and the function entities included in the USN communicate with each other through the internal interface. In this way, when the communication system can provide a network service for the terminal device, external interfaces, protocols, and signaling interaction in the communication system are reduced, and complexity of the communication system is reduced. In addition, the USN is associated with one terminal device or a group of terminal devices, so that the USN can provide a personalized service for the associated terminal device or the group of associated terminal devices. This can meet ultra-high personalized service requirements, quality of service (quality of service, QoS), and the like of different terminal devices, to implement user-centricity. A user-centric communication system is more suitable for multi-terminal device type requirements for connectivity of everything. In a possible implementation, the NSN and the USN are core network elements. In a possible implementation, when the NSN includes the authentication function entity and the access management function entity, the authentication function entity and the access management function entity may communicate with each other through the internal interface. The authentication function entity and the access management function entity included in the NSN may be disposed separately, or may be disposed in an integrated manner. In a possible implementation, the data forwarding function entity, the session management function entity, and the user data storage function entity included in the USN may be disposed separately, or may be disposed in the integrated manner. With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the USN further includes at least one of the following function entities that perform communication through the internal interface: a policy management function entity, an authentication and authorization function entity, or a mobility management function entity. Based on the foregoing technical solutions, when the USN inc