Patent Application
20210306842
A method for supporting a service of subscription and reporting of monitoring of events in a telecommunication network as well as related network functions.
The present disclosure is related to supporting a service of subscription and reporting of monitoring of events in a telecommunication network by a Policy Control Function, PCF, and, more specifically, for services provided by the PCF for bulk subscriptions.
The Fifth Generation, 5G, telecommunications system is under standardization by the Third Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP. A disruptive change is already agreed wherein traditional peer-to-peer interfaces and protocols are modified by a so-called Service Based Architecture, SBA, comprising a plurality of Network Functions, NFs, where each NF provides one or multiple services as a producer to one or multiple consumers, by means of a protocol that is being specified in 3GPP stage 3.
For each NF, services have been defined. For example, for the User Data Management, UDM, NF the following services are defined:
The Network Repository Function, NRF, is a NF within the Fifth Generation Core, 5GC, SBA Framework that provides support to service producers to register their services, so that service consumers can dynamically discover them. The service discovery function enabled by NRF provides the address of the NF instances that exist in a network for providing a service and all necessary information to issue and route requests towards the selected target NF producer, i.e. scheme, port, Fully Qualified Domain Name, FQDN, and/or Internet Protocol, IP, address of target NF instance amongst other parameters required to create a Uniform Resource Identifier, URI, used in the Hyper-Text Transfer Protocol, HTTP, request.
3GPP TS 23.502, clause 4.15.3.2.4 ‘Exposure with bulk subscription’ describes how the NEF may perform bulk subscription with the NFs that provide the necessary services.
Network exposure with bulk subscription is defined in 23.502, as a generic procedure for any NF. However, there is no specific service defined for the PCF to support subscription and reporting of monitoring events for event exposure using Network Exposure Function, NEF, in clause 4.15.3.2.4 of 3GPP TS 23.502.
3GPP TS 23.502, clause 5.2.5.3.6 ‘Npcf_PolicyAuthorization_Subscribe service operation’ requires that the target of PCF event reporting may be “an Internal Group Identifier or an indication that any UE is targeted for a specific Data Network Name, DNN, Single Network Slice Selection Information, S-NSSAI”, which seems to indicate the Npcf_PolicyAuthorization_Subscribe supports bulk subscription to events.
3GPP TS 23.502 clause 4.15.1 defines the general framework for subscription to events.
As described in TS 23.502, 4.15.1, The network capability exposure comprises:
When subscribing to event reporting the NF consumer(s) provide:
The Event Filter Information is provided per Event ID(s) being subscribed to: within a subscription different Event ID(s) may be associated with different Event Filter Information.
When the subscription is accepted by the Event provider NF, the consumer NF receives from the event provider NF an identifier (Subscription Correlation ID) allowing to further manage (modify, delete) this subscription.
The requirements to support Bulk subscription to events diverge from the requirements to be fulfilled by the Npcf_PolicyAuthorization service:
The NFs must define separated N<nf>_EventExposure services to cover different purposes in an efficient manner.
It is an object of the present disclosure to provide for a method for supporting a service of subscription and reporting of monitoring of events.
It is another object of the present disclosure to provide for network functions, NF's, for supporting the service of subscription and reporting of monitoring of events.
In a first aspect, there is provided a method for supporting a service of subscription and reporting of monitoring of events, by a Policy Control Function, PCF, in a telecommunication network, said method comprising the steps of:
Following the above, the inventors have found a mechanism for the PCF to support subscription and reporting of monitoring events for event exposure using the NEF.
Based on operator configuration, the NEF may perform bulk subscription with the Network Functions that provide necessary services, i.e. by the PCF. This feature may be controlled by local policies of the NEF that control which events, for example set of Event identifications, and UE's are target of a bulk subscription.
When the NEF performs bulk subscription, i.e. subscribes for any UE, group of UE's, or alike, it may subscribe to the NFs that provide the necessary services. Upon receiving bulk subscription from the NEF, the NFs may store this information. Whenever the corresponding event(s) occur for the requested UEs as in bulk subscription request, the NFs may notify the NEF with the requested information. The method in accordance with the present disclosure shows how the PCF event exposure can be established for one UE, groups of UE's or any UE.
In accordance with the present disclosure, the PCF may register itself along with the supported PCF services with the NRF. When the particular PCF supports the service of subscription and reporting of monitoring of events, the PCF may include in the profile sent to the NRF a list of events that it supports. The registration may be acknowledged by the NRF back to the PCF.
According to an example, the method further comprises the step of:
The identification of any of said one or more events may thus be an identification of one or more of the list of events that the PCF supports, as indicated by the PCF during registration process of the PCF in with the NRF.
The identification of any of said one or more UE's may be the Generic Public Subscription Identifier(s), an External group Identifier or indication that any UE is intended.
The above is related to the concept that a particular event trigger has happened according to the subscription criteria that are transmitted by the NEF to the PCF. The PCF may then thus notify the NEF with the events that have actually occurred and with the corresponding identifications of the UE's of interest. Further, a time stamp may be provided in the notify message for indicating the time at which the trigger has occurred.
In an example, the method further comprises the step of:
In a further example, the subscription information further comprises:
In yet another example, the service notify message further comprises:
In yet another example, the one or more events comprise any of:
In a second aspect, there is provided a method of providing a service of subscription and reporting of monitoring of events, by a Policy Control Function, PCF, in a telecommunication network, said method comprising the steps of:
It is noted that the advantages as explained with respect to the first aspect are also applicable to the advantages with respect to the second aspect of the present disclosure.
In an example, the method further comprises the step of:
In a third aspect, there is provided a Network Exposure Function; NEF, arranged for supporting a service of subscription and reporting of monitoring of events in a telecommunication network; wherein said NEF comprises:
wherein said receive equipment is further arranged for receiving, from said PCF, a service subscribe acknowledgement for indicating that said NEF is subscribed to said service with said subscription information.
In an example, the receive equipment is further arranged for:
In a further example, the NEF further comprises:
In another example, the subscription information further comprises: a Notification Target Address and Event Reporting Information.
In an example, the service notify message further comprises:
In an example, the one or more events comprise any of:
In a fourth aspect, there is provided a Policy Control Function, PCF, arranged for providing a service of subscription and reporting of monitoring of events in a telecommunication network, wherein said PCF comprises:
In an example, the transmit equipment is further arranged for:
In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is presented a telecommunication network comprising a Network Exposure Function, NEF, according to any of the embodiments of the NEF presented herein; a Policy Control Function, PCF, according to any of the embodiments of the PCF presented herein. The telecommunication network is arranged to perform a method according to any of the embodiments detailed in the present disclosure. Since the telecommunication network comprises the NEF and PCF nodes as presented herein, the network also has the corresponding benefits and advantages as highlighted in the present disclosure.
In a sixth aspect, there is provided a computer program product comprising a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon, which instructions cause Network Function in a telecommunication network to implement a method in accordance with any of the examples as provided above.
The following table illustrate PCF services that may be provided.
Here below, an example of the details of some of the above identified services are provided.
Description: provided by the PCF for NF consumers to explicitly subscribe the notification of events, such as change of Access Type or Radio Access Technology, RAT, type, changes of the Public Land Mobile Network, PLMN, identifier.
Inputs: (Set of) Event ID(s) as specified in Npcf_PolicyAuthorization_Notify service operation; target of PCF event reporting (defined below); NF ID, Event Reporting Information defined in Table 4.15.1-1, Notification Target Address (+ Notification Correlation ID).
The target of PCF event reporting the subscription for an individual AF session: A UE IP address (IPv4 address or IPv6 prefix) optionally together with a (DNN, S-NSSAI) or with a UE ID (SUPI or GPSI).
Inputs, Optional: Event Filter, Subscription Correlation ID (in case of modification of the event subscription).
Outputs: When the subscription is accepted: Subscription Correlation ID.
Service description: This service enables an NF to subscribe and get notified about PCF monitoring events for event exposure using NEF (according to clause 4.15.3.2.4). The following events may be subscribed by a NF consumer:
Event Filters may be used to specify the conditions to match for notifying the event (i.e. “List of Parameter values to match”). If there are no conditions to match for a specific Event ID, then the Event Filter is not provided. The following table provides as an example how the conditions to match for event reporting can be specified for various Event IDs for PCF exposure.
The following service operations are defined for the Npcf_EventExposure service:
Description: The consumer NF uses this service operation to subscribe to or modify event reporting for one UE, a group of UE(s) or all UEs.
Inputs (required): NE ID, target of the subscription (GPSI, External Group Identifier or indication that any UE is targeted), (set of) Event ID(s) defined in clause 5.2.5.x.1, Notification Target Address (+ Notification Correlation ID) and Event Reporting Information defined in Table 4.15.1-1.
Inputs (optional): Event Filter (s) associated with each Event ID: Event Filter (s) as defined in clause 5.2.5.x.1.
Outputs (required): Operation execution result indication. When the subscription is accepted: Subscription Correlation ID.
Outputs (optional): First corresponding event report is included, if corresponding information is available (see clause 4.15.1).
The NF consumer subscribes to the event notification by invoking Namf_EventExposure to the PCF, The PCF allocates a Subscription Correlation ID for the subscription and responds to the consumer NE with the Subscription Correlation ID. Event receiving NF ID identifies the NE that shall receive the event reporting.
Description: The NE consumer uses this service operation to unsubscribe for a specific event for one UE, a group of UE(s) or all UEs, Inputs (required): Subscription Correlation ID.
Outputs (required): Operation execution result indication.
Description: This service operation reports the event to the consumer that has previously subscribed.
Inputs (required): Event ID, corresponding UE ID (GPSI), Notification Correlation Information, time stamp
Inputs (optional): None.
Outputs (required): None.
These and other aspects of the present disclosure will be apparent from and elucidated with reference to the embodiment(s) described hereinafter.
Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein: rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.
The 5G system architecture may further comprise a User Equipment, UE, 2, a Radio Access network, RAN, 3, a User Plane Function, UPF, 4 and a Data Network, DN, 5. A functional description of these network functions is specified in clause 6 of the Third Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP, standard 23.501, “System Architecture for the 5G system”, the contents of which are included herein, by reference.
In step 51, NEF 10 registers with the NRF 11 for any newly registered NF along with its NF services. At a later instance, when an NF 7 instantiates, it registers 52 itself along with the supported NF services with the NRF 11. Subsequently, the NRF 11 acknowledges 53 the registration.
The NRF 11 notifies 54 the NEF 10 with the newly registered NF along with the supported NF services. Subsequently, the NEF 10 evaluates the NF 7 and NF services supported against the pre-configured events within NEF 10. Based on the evaluation, the NEF 10 subscribes 55 with the corresponding NF 7 either for a single UE, group of UEs, for example identifying a certain type of UEs such as Internet of Things, IoT, UEs, or for any UE in the telecommunication network. The NF 7 acknowledges the subscription with the NEF 10.
When an event trigger happens, the NF 7 notifies 56 the requested information towards the subscribing NEF 10 along with a time stamp indicating the time at which the event trigger occurred. The NEF 10 may additionally store 56a the information in the UDR 16 along with the time stamp using either Nudr_DM_Create or Nudr_DM_Update service operation as appropriate. Steps 57, 57a are respectively similar to 56, 56a indicating that these steps may be repeated for any further event triggers that happen.
An application, through the AF 14, registers 58 with the NEF 10 for a certain event identified by event filters. If the registration for the event is authorized by the NEF 10, the NEF 10 records the association of the event and the requester identity. When the event trigger happens, the NF 7 notifies 59 the requested information towards the subscribing NEF 10. The NEF 10 may store 59a the information in the UDR 16 using either Nudr_DM_Create or Nudr_DM_Update service operation as appropriate. Steps 60, 60a are respectively similar to 59, 59a indicating that these steps may be repeated for any further event triggers that happen.
Eventually, the NEF 10 reads 61a from UDR 16 with Nudr_DM_Query, and notifies 61b the application along with the time stamp for the corresponding subscribed events.
Subsequently, the NRF 11 notifies 104 the NEF 10 with the newly registered NF along with the supported NF services. The NEF 10 evaluates the PCF 12 and the PCF events supported against the pre-configured events within NEF 10. Based on the evaluation, the NEF 10 subscribes 105 with the corresponding PCF 12 either for a single UE, group of UE(s), for example, identifying a certain type of UEs such as IoT UEs, and/or all UEs.
The NEF shall include in the request:
When an event trigger happens, for example a flow status changes, according to the filtering criteria, the PCF 12 notifies 106 the requested information towards the NEF 10 along with the time stamp.
The PCF shall include in the request 106:
The Application 18 registers 108 with the NEF 10 for a certain event identified by event filters. If the registration for the event is authorized by the NEF 10, the NEF 10 records the association of the event and the requester identity.
When the event trigger happen, for example a change of Quality of Service, QoS, the PCF 12 notifies 109 the requested information towards NEF 10, The NEF 10 may store 109a the information in the UDR 16. Steps 110, 110a are respectively similar to 109, 109a indicating that these steps may be repeated for any further event triggers that happen.
The NEF 10 reads 111a from UDR 16 and notifies 111b the application 18 along with the time stamp for the corresponding subscribed events. For example, the following events can be subscribed by the NEF:
In a subsequent step of transmitting 152, the NEF transmits a service subscribe request, to the PCF, for subscribing to said service of reporting of monitoring of events, wherein said request comprises subscription information comprises:
In a further step of receiving 153, the NEF receives from the PCF a service subscribe acknowledgement for indicating that said NEF is subscribed to said service with said subscription information. The method 150 may further comprise a step of receiving 154; by said NEF, a service notify message for notifying said NEF, wherein said service notify message comprises:
Additionally the method 150 may also comprise a step of storing 155, by said NEF, said identifications in said service notify message in a Unified Data Register, UDR.
The NEF further comprises transmit equipment 203, 204 arranged for transmitting, to said PCF, a service subscribe request for subscribing to said service of reporting of monitoring of events, wherein said request comprises subscription information comprising:
The receive equipment 201, 202 is further arranged for receiving, from said PCF, a service subscribe acknowledgement for indicating that said NEF is subscribed to said service with said subscription information.
The receive equipment 201, 202 may further be arranged for receiving a service notify message for notifying said NEF, wherein said service notify message comprises:
The NEF 10 may further comprise store equipment 206 arranged for storing said identifications in said service notify message in a Unified Data Register, UDR. The figure illustrates the store equipment as part of an internal memory 206. The skilled person understands that the store equipment may be a separate entity that instruct the UDR to store the relevant information. The memory 206 may further be arranged for storing computer readable instructions which when executed by the processor 205 cause the NEF 10 to perform a method according to the present disclosure. The internal components communicate with one another via an internal bus 207.
In a subsequent step of receiving 253 the PCF receives a service subscribe request for subscribing a Network Exposure Function, NEF, to said service of reporting of monitoring of events, wherein said request comprises subscription information comprising:
In the step of transmitting 254 the PCF transmits to the NRF, a service subscribe acknowledgement for indicating that said NEF is subscribed to said service with said subscription information.
The method 250 may also comprise a step of transmitting 255, by said PCF, to said NEF, a service notify message for notifying said NEE, wherein said service notify message comprises:
The PCF 12 also comprises receive equipment 301, 302 arranged for receiving, from said NRF, a registration acknowledgement message, and for receiving, a service subscribe request for subscribing a Network Exposure Function, NEE, to said service of reporting of monitoring of events, wherein said request comprises subscription information comprising:
The transmit equipment 303, 304 is further arranged for transmitting, to said NRF, a service subscribe acknowledgement for indicating that said NEE is subscribed to said service with said subscription information.
Additionally, the transmit equipment 303, 304 may further be arranged for transmitting to said NEE, a service notify message for notifying said NEE, wherein said service notify message comprises:
The PCF 12 may further comprise memory 306 that is arranged for storing computer readable instructions which when executed by the processor 305 cause the PCF 12 to perform a method according to the present disclosure. The internal components communicate with one another via an internal bus 307.
It shall be understood that a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure can also be any combination of the dependent claims or above embodiments with the respective independent claim.
Other variations to the discloses examples can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art of practicing the claimed disclosure, from a study of the drawings, the disclosure and the appended claims. In the claims, the word “comprising” does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article “a” or “an” does not exclude a plurality. A single processor or other unit may fulfil the functions of several items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependant claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage. A computer program may be stored/distributed on a suitable medium, such as an optical storage medium or a solid-state medium supplied together with or as part of other hardware, but may also be distributed in other forms, such as via the Internet or other wired or wireless telecommunication systems. Any reference signs in the claims should not be construed as limiting the scope thereof.
The present disclosure is not limited to the examples as disclosed above. They can be modified and enhanced by those skilled in the art beyond the scope of the present disclosure as disclosed in the appended claims without having to apply inventive skills.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 18382711.2 | Oct 2018 | EP | regional |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2019/052540 | 2/1/2019 | WO | 00 |
