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US-20260129695-A1 - SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PDU SESSION ESTABLISHMENT IN AN END-TO-END SERVICE-BASED ENVIRONMENT

US20260129695A1US 20260129695 A1US20260129695 A1US 20260129695A1US-20260129695-A1

Abstract

A method performed by a central unit control plane (CU-CP) network function (NF) for protocol data unit (PDU) session establishment in an end-to-end service-based environment is provided. The method includes receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a non-access stratum (NAS) messages comprising a PDU session establishment request obtaining a decoded NAS message in response to receiving the NAS message, selecting a session management function (SMF) based on the decoded NAS message, receiving, from the selected SMF, PDU session details, and transmitting, to the UE, the PDU session details to facilitate an establishment of the PDU session.

Inventors

  • Avneesh TIWARI
  • Manasi Ekkundi
  • Neha Sharma

Assignees

  • SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS CO., LTD.

Dates

Publication Date
20260507
Application Date
20251219
Priority Date
20240814

Claims (20)

  1. 1 . A method performed by a central unit control plane (CU-CP) network function (NF) for protocol data unit (PDU) session establishment in an end-to-end service-based environment, the method comprising: receiving, from a user equipment (UE), a non-access stratum (NAS) message comprising a PDU session establishment request; obtaining a decoded NAS message in response to receiving the NAS message; selecting a session management function (SMF) based on the decoded NAS message; receiving, from the selected SMF, PDU session details; and transmitting, to the UE, the PDU session details to facilitate an establishment of the PDU session.
  2. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining of the decoded NAS message comprises: transmitting, to an access and mobility management function (AMF), the NAS message comprising the PDU session establishment request, and receiving, from the AMF, the decoded NAS message.
  3. 3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining of the decoded NAS message comprises: transmitting, to a NAS decoder function (NDF), the NAS message comprising the PDU session establishment request, and receiving, from the NDF, the decoded NAS message.
  4. 4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the CU-CP NF supports a SMF selection in a non-roaming and roaming with local breakout condition and home routed roaming condition.
  5. 5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein, in case of a SMF selection in a non-roaming and roaming with local breakout condition, selecting the SMF based on the decoded NAS message comprises: determining whether SMF information is available in the CU-CP NF via local configurations.
  6. 6 . The method of claim 5 , further comprises: selecting the SMF based on the local configurations, when the SMF information is available in the CU-CP NF via the local configurations.
  7. 7 . The method of claim 5 , wherein when the SMF information is unavailable in the CU-CP NF via the local configurations and when the CU-CP NF is aware of a network repository function (NRF), the method comprises: querying, the NRF in a serving public land mobile network (PLMN) using Nnrf_cucpDiscovery_Request, wherein the Nnrf_cucpDiscovery_Request comprises at least single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) of the serving PLMN, a PLMN ID of subscription permanent identifier (SUPI), a data network name (DNN), and a network slice instance (NSI) ID if an AMF has stored the NSI ID for the S-NSSAI of the serving PLMN for the PDU session from allowed NSSAI; and receiving, from the NRF, a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or an internet protocol (IP) address of a set of the discovered SMF instance(s) or endpoint address(es) of SMF service instance(s) via a Nnrf_cucpDiscovery_Response message and an NSI ID for a selected network slice instance corresponding to the S-NSSAI for subsequent NRF queries.
  8. 8 . The method of claim 5 , wherein when the SMF information is unavailable in the CU-CP NF via the local configurations and when the CU-CP NF is unaware of a network repository function (NRF), the method comprises: invoking an Ncucp_NssfSelection_Get service operation from a network slice selection function (NSSF) in a serving public land mobile network (PLMN) with single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) of the serving PLMN from allowed NSSAI requested by the UE, with a PLMN ID of SUPI, a tracking area identity (TAI) of the UE, and an indication of the PDU Session establishment being either from non-roaming or roaming with local breakout scenario; receiving, from the NSSF in the serving PLMN, information of an NRF to be used to select NFs/services within a selected network slice instance; querying the NRF in the serving PLMN using an Nnrf_cucpDiscovery_Request, wherein the Nnrf_cucpDiscovery_Request comprises at least S-NSSAI of the serving PLMN for the PDU session from the allowed NSSAI, the PLMN ID of SUPI, a data network name (DNN) and a network slice instance (NSI) ID if an access and mobility management function (AMF) has stored the NSI ID for the S-NSSAI of the serving PLMN for the PDU session from the allowed NSSAI; and receiving, from the NRF, a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or an IP address of a set of the discovered SMF instance(s) or endpoint address(es) of SMF service instance(s) via a Nnrf_cucpDiscovery_Response message and the NSI ID for the selected network slice instance corresponding to the S-NSSAI for subsequent NRF queries.
  9. 9 . The method of claim 4 , wherein, in case of the SMF selection in home routed roaming condition, selecting the SMF based on the decoded NAS message comprises: determining whether the CU-CP NF is aware of a network repository function (NRF) to be used to select NFs/services in a home public land mobile network (HPLMN).
  10. 10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein when the CU-CP NF is unaware of the NRF to be used to select the NFs/services in the HPLMN, the method comprises: invoking a Ncucp_NssfSelection_Get Request service operation from a network slice selection function (NSSF) in a visited public land mobile network (VPLMN) with VPLMN S-NSSAI, HPLMN S-NSSAI, a PLMN ID of a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI), a tracking area identity (TAI) of the UE, and an indication that PDU session establishment is in a home-routed roaming condition; receiving, from the NSSF in the VPLMN, information of a vNRF to be used to select NFs/services; querying the NRF via Nnrf_cucpDiscovery_Request; and receiving, from the NRF, FQDN or IP address of a set of the discovered SMF instance(s) or endpoint address(es) of SMF service instance(s) via a Nnrf_cucpDiscovery_Response message and an NSI ID for a selected network slice instance corresponding to the S-NSSAI for subsequent NRF queries.
  11. 11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein upon selection of the SMF by the CU-CP NF, the method further comprises: transmitting, to the selected SMF, Ncucp_PDUSession_CreateSMContext Request, wherein Ncucp_PDUSession_CreateSMContext Request creates an CU-CP-SMF association to support the PDU session, when an association of the CU-CP NF with any SMF is unavailable; receiving, from the selected SMF, at least one of SMF context ID, SMF ID, and SMF related information of the selected SMF via Ncucp_PDUSession_CreateSMContext Response; and receiving, from the selected SMF, the PDU session details via Ncucp_Communication_MessageTransfer.
  12. 12 . A central unit control plane (CU-CP) network function (NF) for PDU session establishment in an end-to-end service-based environment, the CU-CP NF comprising: communication circuitry; at least one processor including processing circuitry; and memory, including one or more storage media, storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the CU-CP NF to: receive, from a user equipment (UE), a non-access stratum (NAS) message comprising a PDU session establishment request; obtain a decoded NAS message in response to receiving the NAS message; select a session management function (SMF) based on the decoded NAS message; receive, from the selected SMF, PDU session details; and transmit, to the UE, the PDU session details to facilitate an establishment of the PDU session.
  13. 13 . The CU-CP NF of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the CU-CP NF to: transmit, to an access and mobility management function (AMF), the NAS message comprising the PDU session establishment request, and receive, from the AMF, the decoded NAS message.
  14. 14 . The CU-CP NF of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the CU-CP NF to: transmit, to a NAS decoder function (NDF), the NAS message comprising the PDU session establishment request, and receive, from the NDF, the decoded NAS message.
  15. 15 . The CU-CP NF of claim 12 , wherein the CU-CP NF supports a SMF selection in a non-roaming and roaming with local breakout condition and home routed roaming condition.
  16. 16 . The CU-CP NF of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the CU-CP NF to: determine whether SMF information is available in the CU-CP NF via local configurations.
  17. 17 . The CU-CP NF of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the CU-CP NF to: select the SMF based on the local configurations, when the SMF information is available in the CU-CP NF via the local configurations.
  18. 18 . The CU-CP NF of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the CU-CP NF to: query, a network repository function (NRF) in a serving public land mobile network (PLMN) using Nnrf_cucpDiscovery_Request, wherein the Nnrf_cucpDiscovery_Request comprises at least a single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) of the serving PLMN, a PLMN ID of a subscription permanent identifier (SUPI), data network name (DNN), and a network slice instance (NSI) ID if an access and mobility management function (AMF) has stored the NSI ID for the S-NSSAI of the serving PLMN for the PDU session from allowed NSSAI; and receive, from the NRF, fully qualified domain name (FQDN) or IP address of a set of the discovered SMF instance(s) or endpoint address(es) of SMF service instance(s) via a Nnrf_cucpDiscovery_Response message and an NSI ID for a selected network slice instance corresponding to the S-NSSAI for subsequent NRF queries.
  19. 19 . The CU-CP NF of claim 16 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the CU-CP NF to: invoke Ncucp_NssfSelection_Get service operation from a network slice selection function (NSSF) in a serving PLMN with S-NSSAI of the serving PLMN from allowed NSSAI requested by the UE, with PLMN ID of SUPI, tracking area identity (TAI) of the UE, and an indication of the PDU Session establishment being either from non-roaming or roaming with local breakout scenario; receive, form the NSSF in serving PLMN, information of an NRF to be used to select NFs/services within a selected Network Slice instance; query the NRF in serving PLMN using Nnrf_cucpDiscovery_Request, wherein the Nnrf_cucpDiscovery_Request comprises at least S-NSSAI of the serving PLMN for the PDU Session from allowed NSSAI, PLMN ID of SUPI, DNN and NSI ID if an access and mobility management function (AMF) has stored an NSI ID for the S-NSSAI of the serving PLMN for the PDU session from the allowed NSSAI; and receive, from the NRF, FQDN or IP address of a set of the discovered SMF instance(s) or endpoint address(es) of SMF service instance(s) via a Nnrf_cucpDiscovery_Response message and an NSI ID for the selected network slice instance corresponding to the S-NSSAI for subsequent NRF queries.
  20. 20 . The CU-CP NF of claim 15 , wherein the instructions, when executed by the at least one processor individually or collectively, cause the CU-CP NF to: determine whether the CU-CP NF is aware of a NRF to be used to select NFs/services in HPLMN.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S) This application is a continuation application, claiming priority under 35 U.S.C. § 365(c), of an International application No. PCT/KR2024/012466, filed on Aug. 21, 2024, which is based on and claims the benefit of a Indian Provisional patent application number 202341056117, filed on Aug. 22, 2023, in the India Intellectual Property Office, of a Indian patent application number 202341059952, filed on Sep. 6, 2023, in the Indian Intellectual Property Office, and of an Indian Complete patent application number 202341056117, filed on Aug. 14, 2024, in the Indian Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of each of which is incorporated by reference herein in its entirety. BACKGROUND 1. Field The disclosure relates to communication protocol networks. More particularly, the disclosure relates to a framework design(s) of a service-based radio access network (RAN) and protocol data unit (PDU) session establishment after selecting a session management function in sixth generation (6G). 2. Description of Related Art Wireless technology has been continuously evolving to provide for the growing demand for services and requirements of end users. The earliest generation referred to as second generation (2G) of wireless communication provided mobility and voice services while the third generation (3G) provided voice and data services. However, with the growing demand for high-speed data, there was a need to further evolve and a fourth generation (4G) of wireless communication was developed. In the 4G communication systems, multiple architecture options were designed to provide high-speed data. These systems included aggregating multiple carriers either through carrier aggregation (CA) or through dual connectivity (DC) which allowed operators to provide high data rates per user through the aggregation of the respective radio resources. Furthermore, with growing demands for even higher data rates, ultra-reliability, low latency communication requirements, and machine-type communications, the next generation of wireless technology, i.e., fifth generation (5G) communication systems developed. The 5G architecture consists of two parts—a radio network (NG-RAN) and a 5G core network (5GC) which have had major changes compared to earlier technologies. In other industries, cloud-native architectures and web-scale technologies such as hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) have found massive usage and advantages, which are incorporated in 5G network architecture design to meet the growing telecommunication requirements, and further, design a new approach for developing network architecture and delivering services. One such architectural aspect is the support of a service-based architecture to provide modular network services in the 5GC. TS 23.501 describes the service-based architecture of 5GC and the interaction between network functions is represented in the following two ways, as explained in FIGS. 1A and 1B below: FIG. 1A shows an architecture of the 5G communication system in a non-roaming case, using the reference point representation to show how various network functions interact with each other, according to the related art. The reference point representation shows that an interaction exists between network functions (NF) services in the network functions described by a point-to-point reference point (for example, N11 as shown in FIG. 1A) between any two network functions (for example, AMF and Session Management Function (SMF)). FIG. 1B shows a non-roaming reference architecture of the 5G communication system with service-based interfaces, according to the related art. The service-based interfaces are used within the control plane (CP) network functions. In the service-based representation, network functions (e.g., access and mobility management function (AMF)) within a control plane (CP) enable other authorized network functions to access their services. This representation also includes point-to-point reference points wherever necessary. A 5G service-based core network architecture brings more scalability and flexibility as any network function (NF) node can interact with any other node in the 5G system architecture. The 5G system architecture may leverage service-based interactions between CP (control plane) network functions. In this case, a set of NFs provides services to other authorized NFs to access their services through a service based interface (SBI). An NF service is one type of capability exposed by an NF (NF service producer) to other authorized NF (NF service consumer) through the service-based interface. The NF service may support one or more NF service operation(s). The network functions may offer different functionalities and thus different NF services. Each of the NF services offered by the network functions may be self-contained, acted upon, and managed independently from the other NF services offered by the same network function (e.g., for scaling). The SBI repr