Disclosure of Invention
The embodiment of the invention aims to provide a method and a device for determining a network slice, core network equipment and a terminal, which are used for solving the problem that the network slice which can be used by a remote terminal cannot be determined in the prior art.
In order to solve the above problems, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for determining a network slice, which is applied to a core network device of a remote terminal, including:
acquiring first allowable network slice selection auxiliary information NSSAI of a relay terminal;
according to the first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal, first information is sent to the remote terminal; the first information includes: a second of the remote terminals allows nsaai.
Wherein the first information further includes:
a mapping relationship between the second allowable nsai of the remote terminal and the first allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
and/or the number of the groups of groups,
a first admission nsai of the relay terminal mapped with a second admission nsai of the remote terminal.
The acquiring the first allowable network slice selection auxiliary information nsai of the relay terminal includes:
and receiving a first registration request sent by a remote terminal, wherein the first registration request carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal.
The acquiring the first allowable network slice selection auxiliary information nsai of the relay terminal includes:
receiving a second registration request sent by a remote terminal, wherein the second registration request carries the identifier of the relay terminal;
according to the identification of the relay terminal, a first request message is sent to core network equipment of the relay terminal, wherein the first request message carries the identification of the relay terminal;
and receiving a first response message sent by core network equipment of the relay terminal, wherein the first response message carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal.
Wherein sending the first information to the remote terminal includes:
and sending a registration acceptance message to the remote terminal, wherein the registration acceptance message carries the first information.
Wherein the method further comprises:
determining the first information according to a first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal;
or,
transmitting a slice request message to a network element with a network slice selection function, wherein the slice request message carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal; and receiving a slice request response message sent by the network slice selection function network element, wherein the slice request response message carries the first information.
Wherein the method further comprises:
receiving first notification information sent by core network equipment of a relay terminal, wherein the first notification information is used for indicating NSSAI allowed by the relay terminal to update; or, the first notification information includes the updated allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
determining the updated allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal according to the first notification information;
and sending configuration update information to the remote terminal, wherein the configuration update information comprises updated NSSAI allowed by the remote terminal.
The embodiment of the invention also provides a method for determining the network slice, which is applied to the remote terminal and comprises the following steps:
the core network device of the receiving far-end terminal selects first information sent by auxiliary information NSSAI according to a first allowable network slice of the relay terminal, wherein the first information comprises: a second of the remote terminals allows nsaai.
Wherein the first information further includes:
a mapping relationship between the second allowable nsai of the remote terminal and the first allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
and/or the number of the groups of groups,
a first admission nsai of the relay terminal mapped with a second admission nsai of the remote terminal.
Wherein the method further comprises:
establishing a first protocol data unit PDU session corresponding to a first S-NSSAI contained in a second allowable NSSAI according to the second allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal;
if the PC5 connection related to the second S-NSSAI is established between the remote terminal and the relay terminal, establishing a mapping relation between a first PDU session and an identifier of the PC5 connection; the second S-NSSAI is mapped with the first S-NSSAI, and belongs to a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal.
Wherein the method further comprises:
if the PC5 connection related to the second S-NSSAI is not established between the remote terminal and the relay terminal, sending a PC5 connection establishment request message to the relay terminal; the PC5 connection establishment request message carries the second S-NSSAI;
receiving a PC5 connection success message sent by the relay terminal after establishing a PDU session related to a second S-NSSAI;
A mapping relationship between the first PDU session and the identity of the PC5 connection is established.
Before the core network device of the receiving remote terminal selects the first information sent by the auxiliary information nsai according to the first allowable network slice of the relay terminal, the method further includes:
a first registration request or a second registration request is sent to core network equipment of a far-end terminal, wherein the first registration request carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal; the second registration request carries the identifier of the relay terminal;
the core network device of the receiving remote terminal selects first information sent by auxiliary information NSSAI according to a first allowable network slice of the relay terminal, including:
and receiving a registration receiving message sent by core network equipment of the remote terminal, wherein the registration receiving message carries the first information.
Wherein the method further comprises:
receiving second notification information sent by a relay terminal, wherein the second notification information is used for indicating that NSSAI allowed by the relay terminal is updated; or, the second notification information includes an updated nsai allowed for the relay terminal;
sending a first registration request or a second registration request to core network equipment of a remote terminal, wherein the first registration request or the second registration request comprises:
And sending a first registration request or a second registration request to core network equipment of the remote terminal according to the second notification information.
Wherein the method further comprises:
and receiving configuration update information sent by core network equipment of a remote terminal, wherein the configuration update information comprises updated NSSAI allowed by the remote terminal.
The embodiment of the invention also provides core network equipment of the far-end terminal, which comprises a memory, a transceiver and a processor: a memory for storing a computer program; a transceiver for transceiving data under control of the processor; a processor for reading the computer program in the memory and performing the following operations:
acquiring first allowable network slice selection auxiliary information NSSAI of a relay terminal;
according to the first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal, first information is sent to the remote terminal; the first information includes: a second of the remote terminals allows nsaai.
Wherein the first information further includes:
a mapping relationship between the second allowable nsai of the remote terminal and the first allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
and/or the number of the groups of groups,
a first admission nsai of the relay terminal mapped with a second admission nsai of the remote terminal.
Wherein the processor is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
and receiving a first registration request sent by a remote terminal, wherein the first registration request carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal.
Wherein the processor is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
receiving a second registration request sent by a remote terminal, wherein the second registration request carries the identifier of the relay terminal;
according to the identification of the relay terminal, a first request message is sent to core network equipment of the relay terminal, wherein the first request message carries the identification of the relay terminal;
and receiving a first response message sent by core network equipment of the relay terminal, wherein the first response message carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal.
Wherein the processor is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
and sending a registration acceptance message to the remote terminal, wherein the registration acceptance message carries the first information.
Wherein the processor is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
Determining the first information according to a first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal;
or,
transmitting a slice request message to a network element with a network slice selection function, wherein the slice request message carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal; and receiving a slice request response message sent by the network slice selection function network element, wherein the slice request response message carries the first information.
Wherein the processor is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
receiving first notification information sent by core network equipment of a relay terminal, wherein the first notification information is used for indicating NSSAI allowed by the relay terminal to update; or, the first notification information includes the updated allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
determining the updated allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal according to the first notification information;
and sending configuration update information to the remote terminal, wherein the configuration update information comprises updated NSSAI allowed by the remote terminal.
The embodiment of the invention also provides a device for determining the network slice, which is applied to core network equipment of a far-end terminal and comprises the following components:
an acquiring unit, configured to acquire first allowable network slice selection auxiliary information nsai of the relay terminal;
A sending unit, configured to send first information to the remote terminal according to a first allowable nsai of the relay terminal; the first information includes: a second of the remote terminals allows nsaai.
The embodiment of the invention also provides a terminal which is a far-end terminal and comprises a memory, a transceiver and a processor:
a memory for storing a computer program; a transceiver for transceiving data under control of the processor; a processor for reading the computer program in the memory and performing the following operations:
the core network device of the receiving far-end terminal selects first information sent by auxiliary information NSSAI according to a first allowable network slice of the relay terminal, wherein the first information comprises: a second of the remote terminals allows nsaai.
Wherein the first information further includes:
a mapping relationship between the second allowable nsai of the remote terminal and the first allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
and/or the number of the groups of groups,
a first admission nsai of the relay terminal mapped with a second admission nsai of the remote terminal.
Wherein the processor is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
establishing a first protocol data unit PDU session corresponding to a first S-NSSAI contained in a second allowable NSSAI according to the second allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal;
If the PC5 connection related to the second S-NSSAI is established between the remote terminal and the relay terminal, establishing a mapping relation between a first PDU session and an identifier of the PC5 connection; the second S-NSSAI is mapped with the first S-NSSAI, and belongs to a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal.
Wherein the processor is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
if the PC5 connection related to the second S-NSSAI is not established between the remote terminal and the relay terminal, sending a PC5 connection establishment request message to the relay terminal; the PC5 connection establishment request message carries the second S-NSSAI;
receiving a PC5 connection success message sent by the relay terminal after establishing a PDU session related to a second S-NSSAI;
a mapping relationship between the first PDU session and the identity of the PC5 connection is established.
Wherein the processor is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
a first registration request or a second registration request is sent to core network equipment of a far-end terminal, wherein the first registration request carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal; the second registration request carries the identifier of the relay terminal;
And receiving a registration receiving message sent by core network equipment of the remote terminal, wherein the registration receiving message carries the first information.
Wherein the processor is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
receiving second notification information sent by a relay terminal, wherein the second notification information is used for indicating that NSSAI allowed by the relay terminal is updated; or, the second notification information includes an updated nsai allowed for the relay terminal;
sending a first registration request or a second registration request to core network equipment of a remote terminal, wherein the first registration request or the second registration request comprises:
and sending a first registration request or a second registration request to core network equipment of the remote terminal according to the second notification information.
Wherein the processor is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
and receiving configuration update information sent by core network equipment of a remote terminal, wherein the configuration update information comprises updated NSSAI allowed by the remote terminal.
The embodiment of the invention also provides a device for determining the network slice, which is applied to the remote terminal and comprises the following steps:
a receiving unit, configured to receive first information sent by a core network device of a remote terminal according to a first allowable network slice selection auxiliary information nsai of a relay terminal, where the first information includes: a second of the remote terminals allows nsaai.
Embodiments of the present invention also provide a processor-readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing the processor to perform the method as described above.
The technical scheme of the invention has at least the following beneficial effects:
in the method, the device, the core network equipment and the terminal for determining the network slice, the second allowed NSSAI of the remote terminal is determined based on the first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal, so that the network slice which is allowed to be used by the remote terminal can be determined when the remote terminal is connected with the N3IWF through the relay terminal.
Detailed Description
In order to make the technical problems, technical solutions and advantages to be solved more apparent, the following detailed description will be given with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.
Fig. 1 shows a block diagram of a wireless communication system to which an embodiment of the present invention is applicable. The wireless communication system includes a remote terminal 11, a relay terminal 12, and a network-side device 13. The remote terminal and/or the relay terminal according to the embodiments of the present invention may be a device that provides voice and/or data connectivity to a user, a handheld device with a wireless connection function, or other processing devices connected to a wireless modem, etc. The names of the terminal devices may also be different in different systems, for example in a 5G system, the terminal may be referred to as User Equipment (UE). The wireless terminal device may communicate with one or more Core Networks (CNs) via a radio access Network (Radio Access Network, RAN), which may be mobile terminal devices such as mobile phones (or "cellular" phones) and computers with mobile terminal devices, e.g., portable, pocket, hand-held, computer-built-in or vehicle-mounted mobile devices that exchange voice and/or data with the radio access Network. Such as personal communication services (Personal Communication Service, PCS) phones, cordless phones, session initiation protocol (Session Initiated Protocol, SIP) phones, wireless local loop (Wireless Local Loop, WLL) stations, personal digital assistants (Personal Digital Assistant, PDAs), and the like. The wireless terminal device may also be referred to as a system, subscriber unit (subscriber unit), subscriber station (subscriber station), mobile station (mobile), remote station (remote station), access point (access point), remote terminal device (remote terminal), access terminal device (access terminal), user terminal device (user terminal), user agent (user agent), user equipment (user device), and embodiments of the present invention are not limited in this respect. The network side device 13 may be a base station or a core network, and it should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, only the base station in the NR system is taken as an example, but the specific type of the base station is not limited.
In the embodiment of the invention, the term "and/or" describes the association relation of the association objects, which means that three relations can exist, for example, a and/or B can be expressed as follows: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the context-dependent object is an "or" relationship.
The term "plurality" in embodiments of the present invention means two or more, and other adjectives are similar.
The following description of the embodiments of the present invention will be made clearly and completely with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which it is apparent that the embodiments described are only some embodiments, but not all embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be made by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the invention without making any inventive effort, are intended to be within the scope of the invention.
The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention can be suitable for various systems, in particular to a 5G system. For example, suitable systems may be global system for mobile communications (Global System of Mobile communication, GSM), code division multiple access (Code Division Multiple Access, CDMA), wideband code division multiple access (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access, WCDMA) universal packet Radio service (General Packet Radio Service, GPRS), long term evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE), LTE frequency division duplex (Frequency Division Duplex, FDD), LTE time division duplex (Time Division Duplex, TDD), long term evolution-advanced (Long Term Evolution Advanced, LTE-a), universal mobile system (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, UMTS), worldwide interoperability for microwave access (Worldwide interoperability for Microwave Access, wiMAX), 5G New air interface (New Radio, NR), and the like. Terminal devices and network devices are included in these various systems. Core network parts such as evolved packet system (Evloved Packet System, EPS), 5G system (5 GS) etc. may also be included in the system.
As shown in fig. 2, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for determining a network slice, which is applied to a core network device of a remote terminal (for example, an AMF network element of an authentication management function of the remote terminal), and includes:
step 21, acquiring first allowable network slice selection auxiliary information nsai (i.e. allowed nsai) of the relay terminal;
step 22, according to the first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal, first information is sent to the remote terminal; the first information includes: a second of the remote terminals allows nsaai.
Note that, the nsai is a set of a plurality of S-nsais (Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information ), and the S-nsais is used to identify one network slice.
The relay terminal is a relay terminal in a terminal-to-network relay (UE-to-NW relay) scene.
As an alternative embodiment, the first information further includes:
a mapping relationship between the second allowable nsai of the remote terminal and the first allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
and/or the number of the groups of groups,
a first admission nsai of the relay terminal mapped with a second admission nsai of the remote terminal.
In this case, the core network device of the remote terminal also needs to know the PLMN of the relay terminal and the PLMN of the remote terminal. Optionally, if the relay terminal and the remote terminal are located in the same PLMN, the first allowed nsai of the relay terminal and the second allowed nsai of the remote terminal are numbered the same; if the relay terminal and the remote terminal are located in different PLMNs, the labels of the first allowed nsai of the relay terminal and the second allowed nsai of the remote terminal may be different, so that the core network device of the remote terminal needs to send a mapping relationship between the second allowed nsai of the remote terminal and the first allowed nsai of the relay terminal when sending the second allowed nsai to the remote terminal; and/or, a first allowed nsai of the relay terminal mapped with a second allowed nsai of the remote terminal.
As another alternative embodiment, step 21 includes:
and receiving a first registration request sent by a remote terminal, wherein the first registration request carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal. I.e. the core network device of the remote terminal obtains the first allowed nsai of the relay terminal from the remote terminal, and the remote terminal may obtain the first allowed nsai in the relay discovery process.
Alternatively, step 21 includes:
receiving a second registration request sent by a remote terminal, wherein the second registration request carries the identifier of the relay terminal;
according to the identification of the relay terminal, a first request message is sent to core network equipment of the relay terminal, wherein the first request message carries the identification of the relay terminal;
and receiving a first response message sent by core network equipment of the relay terminal, wherein the first response message carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal.
I.e. the core network device of the remote terminal obtains the first allowed nsai of the relay terminal from the core network device of the relay terminal.
The above example is accepted, step 22 includes:
and sending a registration acceptance message to the remote terminal, wherein the registration acceptance message carries the first information.
As an alternative embodiment, the method further comprises:
determining the first information according to a first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal;
or,
transmitting a slice request message to a network slice selection function NSSF network element, wherein the slice request message carries a first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal; and receiving a slice request response message sent by the network slice selection function network element, wherein the slice request response message carries the first information.
Optionally, in the foregoing embodiment of the present invention, the method further includes:
receiving first notification information sent by core network equipment of a relay terminal, wherein the first notification information is used for indicating NSSAI allowed by the relay terminal to update; or, the first notification information includes the updated allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
determining the updated allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal according to the first notification information;
and sending configuration update information to the remote terminal, wherein the configuration update information comprises updated NSSAI allowed by the remote terminal.
In the embodiment of the present invention, the update of the second allowable nsai of the remote terminal may be triggered by the update of the first allowable nsai of the relay terminal, or may be caused by factors of the remote terminal itself (such as subscription change or movement).
And under the condition that the updating of the first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal is triggered, the core network equipment of the relay terminal sends first notification information to the core network equipment of the remote terminal, and the core network equipment of the remote terminal determines the updated allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal according to the first notification information and sends the updated allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal to the remote terminal through configuration updating information.
It should be noted that, in the case where the remote terminal allows the nsai to be updated, since the remote terminal stores the allowed nsai and the mapped S-nsai of the relay terminal before the update, after the update, the remote terminal may further determine whether the updated allowed nsai affects the established PC5 connection, and if the S-nsai of the established PC5 connection does not belong to the updated allowed nsai any more, the remote terminal needs to release the corresponding PC5 connection.
In summary, in the embodiment of the present invention, the second allowed nsai of the remote terminal is determined based on the first allowed nsai of the relay terminal, so that the network slice allowed to be used by the remote terminal can be determined when the remote terminal connects to the N3IWF through the relay terminal.
As shown in fig. 3, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for determining a network slice, which is applied to a remote terminal, including:
Step 31, the core network device of the receiving remote terminal selects first information sent by the auxiliary information nsai according to the first allowable network slice of the relay terminal, where the first information includes: a second of the remote terminals allows nsaai.
Note that, the nsai is a set of a plurality of S-nsais (Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information ), and the S-nsais is used to identify one network slice.
The relay terminal is a relay terminal in a terminal-to-network relay (UE-to-NW relay) scene.
As an alternative embodiment, the first information further includes:
a mapping relationship between the second allowable nsai of the remote terminal and the first allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
and/or the number of the groups of groups,
a first admission nsai of the relay terminal mapped with a second admission nsai of the remote terminal.
In this case, the core network device of the remote terminal also needs to know the PLMN of the relay terminal and the PLMN of the remote terminal. Optionally, if the relay terminal and the remote terminal are located in the same PLMN, the first allowed nsai of the relay terminal and the second allowed nsai of the remote terminal are numbered the same; if the relay terminal and the remote terminal are located in different PLMNs, the labels of the first allowed nsai of the relay terminal and the second allowed nsai of the remote terminal may be different, so that the core network device of the remote terminal needs to send a mapping relationship between the second allowed nsai of the remote terminal and the first allowed nsai of the relay terminal when sending the second allowed nsai to the remote terminal; and/or, a first allowed nsai of the relay terminal mapped with a second allowed nsai of the remote terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, the method further comprises:
establishing a first protocol data unit PDU session corresponding to a first S-NSSAI contained in a second allowable NSSAI according to the second allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal;
if the PC5 connection related to the second S-NSSAI is established between the remote terminal and the relay terminal, establishing a mapping relation between a first PDU session and an identifier of the PC5 connection; the second S-NSSAI is mapped with the first S-NSSAI, and belongs to a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal.
Correspondingly, the method further comprises the steps of:
if the PC5 connection related to the second S-NSSAI is not established between the remote terminal and the relay terminal, sending a PC5 connection establishment request message to the relay terminal; the PC5 connection establishment request message carries the second S-NSSAI;
and receiving a PC5 connection success message sent by the relay terminal after establishing the PDU session related to the second S-NSSAI.
A mapping relationship between the first PDU session and the identity of the PC5 connection is established.
For example, the second allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal includes S-NSSAI1 and S-NSSAI2. The S-NSSAI of the relay terminal mapped with S-NSSAI1 is S-NSSAI3, and the S-NSSAI of the relay terminal mapped with S-NSSAI2 is S-NSSAI4.
When the remote terminal requests to establish a PDU session related to S-NSSAI1 (assuming that the PDU session is PDU session 1), the remote terminal discovers that S-NSSAI of the relay terminal mapped with S-NSSAI1 is S-NSSAI3 according to the information, and the remote terminal judges whether to establish a PC5 connection related to S-NSSAI 3; if so, storing the mapping relation between the PDU session 1 and the PC5 connection identifier; if not, the remote terminal initiates the establishment of the PC5 connection, the remote terminal carries S-NSSAI3 in a connection establishment request, and after receiving the request, the relay terminal judges whether to establish the PDU session to the S-NSSAI3, and if not, the relay terminal establishes the PDU session related to the S-NSSAI 3. After the connection establishment of the PC5 is successful, the remote terminal stores the mapping relation between the PDU session 1 and the connection identifier of the PC 5.
As another alternative embodiment, prior to step 31, the method further comprises:
a first registration request or a second registration request is sent to core network equipment of a far-end terminal, wherein the first registration request carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal; the second registration request carries the identifier of the relay terminal;
accordingly, step 31 includes:
and receiving a registration receiving message sent by core network equipment of the remote terminal, wherein the registration receiving message carries the first information.
As yet another alternative embodiment, the method further comprises:
receiving second notification information sent by a relay terminal, wherein the second notification information is used for indicating that NSSAI allowed by the relay terminal is updated; or, the second notification information includes an updated nsai allowed for the relay terminal;
sending a first registration request or a second registration request to core network equipment of a remote terminal, wherein the first registration request or the second registration request comprises:
and sending a first registration request or a second registration request to core network equipment of the remote terminal according to the second notification information.
Alternatively, the method further comprises:
and receiving configuration update information sent by core network equipment of a remote terminal, wherein the configuration update information comprises updated NSSAI allowed by the remote terminal.
In the embodiment of the present invention, the update of the second allowable nsai of the remote terminal may be triggered by the update of the first allowable nsai of the relay terminal, or may be caused by factors of the remote terminal itself (such as subscription change or movement).
And under the condition that the updating of the first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal is triggered, the core network equipment of the relay terminal sends first notification information to the core network equipment of the remote terminal, and the core network equipment of the remote terminal determines the updated allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal according to the first notification information and sends the updated allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal to the remote terminal through configuration updating information.
In the case triggered by the update of the first allowable nsai of the relay terminal, the relay terminal transmits second notification information to the remote terminal, and the remote terminal updates its own allowable nsai according to the first registration request or the second registration request.
In summary, in the embodiment of the present invention, the second allowed nsai of the remote terminal is determined based on the first allowed nsai of the relay terminal, so that the network slice allowed to be used by the remote terminal can be determined when the remote terminal connects to the N3IWF through the relay terminal.
In order to more clearly describe the network slice determination method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the following description is made with reference to several examples.
For example, the core network device of the remote terminal obtains, from the remote terminal, a first allowed nsai of the relay terminal, as shown in fig. 4:
1. the remote terminal sends a first registration request to a core network device of the remote terminal, wherein the first registration request comprises a PLMN of the relay terminal and a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal. Information of these relay terminals, the remote terminal can be obtained in the relay discovery process.
2. If the NSSF network element decides the second allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal, the core network device of the remote terminal sends a slice selection request message to the NSSF network element, the slice selection request message comprising the PLMN of the relay terminal and the first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal. Otherwise, the core network device of the remote terminal decides the second allowable nsai of the remote terminal, and skips step 2-3.
The NSSF network element returns a slice selection response message to core network equipment of the far-end terminal, wherein the slice selection response message comprises the following components: the second allowed nsai of the remote terminal and the S-nsai of the relay terminal it maps.
4. The core network device of the remote terminal sends a registration acceptance message to the remote terminal, wherein the registration acceptance message comprises: the second allowed nsai of the remote terminal and the S-nsai of the relay terminal it maps.
It should be noted that the S-nsai of the relay terminal mapped in the above procedure is an optional parameter, and the network does not return the parameter when the remote terminal and the relay terminal are located in the same PLMN.
The remote terminal stores its second allowed nsai, the mapped relay terminal S-nsai.
In example two, the core network device of the remote terminal acquires, from the core network device of the relay terminal, a first allowable nsai of the relay terminal, as shown in fig. 5:
1. the remote terminal sends a second registration request to the core network device of the remote terminal, where the second registration request includes an identifier of the relay terminal. The remote terminal may obtain the identity of the relay terminal during the relay discovery process.
2. The core network device of the remote terminal sends a first request message to the core network device of the relay terminal. Before step 2, the core network device of the remote terminal may obtain the information of the core network device of the relay terminal from the UDM by providing the identity of the relay terminal to the unified data management system UDM.
3. The core network device of the relay terminal returns a first response message to the core network device of the remote terminal, where the first response message includes the first allowed nsai of the terminal.
4. If the NSSF network element decides to allow NSSAI of the remote terminal, the core network device of the remote terminal sends a slice selection message to the NSSF network element, where the slice selection message includes: the identity of the relay terminal and the first allowed NSSAI allowed by the relay terminal. Otherwise, the core network equipment of the far-end terminal decides the NSSAI permission of the far-end terminal.
The 5NSSF network element returns a slice selection response message to the core network equipment of the far-end terminal, wherein the slice selection response message comprises the following components: the second allowed NSSAI allowed by the far-end terminal and the S-NSSAI of the mapped relay terminal.
6. The core network device of the remote terminal sends a registration acceptance message to the remote terminal, wherein the registration acceptance message comprises: the second allowed nsai of the remote terminal and the S-nsai of the relay terminal it maps.
It should be noted that the S-nsai of the relay terminal mapped in the above procedure is an optional parameter, and the network does not return the parameter when the remote terminal and the relay terminal are located in the same PLMN.
The remote terminal stores its second allowed nsai, the mapped relay terminal S-nsai.
Example three, the remote terminal's allowed nsai update may be triggered by the relay terminal's allowed nsai change, or may be caused by factors of the remote terminal itself, such as subscription changes or movement.
If the trigger is a change of the allowed nsai of the relay terminal and the relay terminal can notify the remote terminal of the related event, the procedure of updating the allowed nsai of the remote terminal is as shown in fig. 6:
1. the relay terminal sends a notification message to the remote terminal, the notification message including a new nsai allowed or an indication of an update of the nsai allowed for the relay terminal.
2. The remote terminal triggers the procedure in example one or example two, updating its own allowed nsais.
If the trigger is a change of the allowable nsai of the relay terminal, and the core network device of the relay terminal may notify the core network device of the remote terminal of the event, the procedure of updating the allowable nsai of the remote terminal is as shown in fig. 7:
1. the core network device of the relay terminal sends first notification information to the core network device of the remote terminal, wherein the notification information comprises: and (3) the identification of the relay terminal, and the NSSAI permission of the relay terminal.
2. The core network device of the remote terminal decides the NSSAI of the remote terminal that allows the NSSAI and the mapped relay terminal.
3. If the allowed NSSAI of the remote terminal is changed, the core network device of the remote terminal transmits configuration update information to the remote terminal, the configuration update information including the allowed NSSAI and the mapped S-NSSAI of the relay terminal.
As shown in fig. 8, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for determining a network slice, which is applied to a remote terminal, including:
in step 81, the request nsai (i.e. requested nsai) of the remote terminal is determined according to the first allowed network slice selection assistance information nsai (i.e. allowed nsai) of the relay terminal.
That is, the embodiment of the present invention is a terminal-based solution, that is, the remote terminal determines itself to request nsai of the remote terminal, considering the allowable nsai of the relay terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, if the relay terminal and the remote terminal are located in the same public land mobile network PLMN, step 81 includes:
determining the request NSSAI of the remote terminal includes: part or all of the first admission nsai of the relay terminal.
As another alternative embodiment, if the relay terminal and the remote terminal are located in different public land mobile networks PLMNs, step 81 includes:
determining that the first allowable NSSAI is mapped to NSSAI in PLMN selected by a far-end terminal according to the first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal and preset configuration parameters;
Determining the request NSSAI of the remote terminal includes: the first allowed NSSAI maps to some or all of NSSAIs within the PLMN selected by the remote terminal.
Specifically, the remote terminal determines the HPLMN S-nsai mapped by the allowable nsai of the relay terminal according to the configuration nsai and the mapped HPLMN S-nsai of the PLMN where the relay terminal is located (i.e. the S-nsai of the subscribed PLMN). And then determining that NSSAI of the relay terminal is allowed to be mapped to S-NSSAI in the PLMN selected by the remote terminal according to the configuration NSSAI of the PLMN selected by the remote terminal and the mapped HPLMN S-NSSAI. The request nsai determined by the remote terminal contains only the S-nsai described above.
And the remote terminal obtains the HPLMN S-NSSAI mapped with the S-NSSAI in the PLMN1 according to the obtained information and the HPLMN S-NSSAI mapped with the configuration NSSAI of the VPLMN1 in the local configuration information. The remote terminal takes an intersection of the HPLMN S-NSSAI mapped by the HPLMN S-NSSAI and the configuration NSSAI of the VPLMN2 configured in the remote terminal, and the remote terminal obtains the HPLMN S-NSSAI available for the configuration request NSSAI.
The remote terminal decides to construct an S-NSSAI of VPLMN2 for which NSSAI is available according to the configuration information of VPLMN 2.
In summary, in the embodiment of the present invention, when the remote terminal determines the request nsai of the remote terminal, the allowable nsai of the relay terminal is considered, so that when the remote terminal connects to the N3IWF through the relay terminal, the network slice that the remote terminal is allowed to use can be determined.
As shown in fig. 9, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a core network device of a remote terminal, including a memory 920, a transceiver 910, and a processor 900: a memory 920 for storing a computer program; a transceiver 910 for transceiving data under the control of the processor 900; a processor 900 for reading the computer program in the memory 920 and performing the following operations:
acquiring first allowable network slice selection auxiliary information NSSAI of a relay terminal;
according to the first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal, first information is sent to the remote terminal; the first information includes: a second of the remote terminals allows nsaai.
As an alternative embodiment, the first information further includes:
a mapping relationship between the second allowable nsai of the remote terminal and the first allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
and/or the number of the groups of groups,
a first admission nsai of the relay terminal mapped with a second admission nsai of the remote terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, the processor 900 is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
and receiving a first registration request sent by a remote terminal, wherein the first registration request carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, the processor 900 is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
receiving a second registration request sent by a remote terminal, wherein the second registration request carries the identifier of the relay terminal;
according to the identification of the relay terminal, a first request message is sent to core network equipment of the relay terminal, wherein the first request message carries the identification of the relay terminal;
and receiving a first response message sent by core network equipment of the relay terminal, wherein the first response message carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, the processor 900 is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
and sending a registration acceptance message to the remote terminal, wherein the registration acceptance message carries the first information.
As an alternative embodiment, the processor 900 is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
determining the first information according to a first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal;
or,
transmitting a slice request message to a network element with a network slice selection function, wherein the slice request message carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal; and receiving a slice request response message sent by the network slice selection function network element, wherein the slice request response message carries the first information.
As an alternative embodiment, the processor 900 is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
receiving first notification information sent by core network equipment of a relay terminal, wherein the first notification information is used for indicating NSSAI allowed by the relay terminal to update; or, the first notification information includes the updated allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
determining the updated allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal according to the first notification information;
and sending configuration update information to the remote terminal, wherein the configuration update information comprises updated NSSAI allowed by the remote terminal.
Wherein in fig. 9, a bus architecture may comprise any number of interconnected buses and bridges, and in particular one or more processors represented by processor 900 and various circuits of memory represented by memory 920, linked together. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripheral devices, voltage regulators, power management circuits, etc., which are well known in the art and, therefore, will not be described further herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 910 may be a number of elements, i.e., include a transmitter and a receiver, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over a transmission medium, including wireless channels, wired channels, optical cables, etc. The processor 900 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 920 may store data used by the processor 900 in performing operations.
The processor 900 may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit, ASIC), a Field programmable gate array (Field-Programmable Gate Array, FPGA) or a complex programmable logic device (Complex Programmable Logic Device, CPLD), and may also employ a multi-core architecture.
In the embodiment of the invention, the second allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal is determined based on the first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal, so that the network slice which is allowed to be used by the remote terminal can be determined when the remote terminal is connected with the N3IWF through the relay terminal.
Since the principle of solving the problem by the core network device is similar to that of determining the network slice in the embodiment of the present invention, the implementation of the core network device may refer to the implementation of the method, and the repetition is not described again.
As shown in fig. 10, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a network slice determining apparatus, which is applied to a core network device of a remote terminal, including:
an acquiring unit 101, configured to acquire first allowable network slice selection auxiliary information nsai of the relay terminal;
a transmitting unit 102, configured to transmit first information to the remote terminal according to a first allowable nsai of the relay terminal; the first information includes: a second of the remote terminals allows nsaai.
As an alternative embodiment, the first information further includes:
a mapping relationship between the second allowable nsai of the remote terminal and the first allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
and/or the number of the groups of groups,
a first admission nsai of the relay terminal mapped with a second admission nsai of the remote terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, the acquisition unit comprises:
and the first acquisition subunit is used for receiving a first registration request sent by the remote terminal, wherein the first registration request carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, the acquisition unit comprises:
a second obtaining subunit, configured to receive a second registration request sent by a remote terminal, where the second registration request carries an identifier of the relay terminal;
a third obtaining subunit, configured to send a first request message to a core network device of a relay terminal according to an identifier of the relay terminal, where the first request message carries the identifier of the relay terminal;
and the fourth acquisition subunit is used for receiving a first response message sent by the core network equipment of the relay terminal, wherein the first response message carries the first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, the transmitting unit includes:
And the sending subunit is used for sending a registration acceptance message to the remote terminal, wherein the registration acceptance message carries the first information.
As an alternative embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:
an information determining unit, configured to determine the first information according to a first allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
or, the method is used for sending a slice request message to a network slice selection function network element, wherein the slice request message carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal; and receiving a slice request response message sent by the network slice selection function network element, wherein the slice request response message carries the first information.
As an alternative embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:
a notification receiving unit, configured to receive first notification information sent by a core network device of a relay terminal, where the first notification information is used to instruct nsai allowed by the relay terminal to update; or, the first notification information includes the updated allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
an update determining unit, configured to determine, according to the first notification information, an allowed nsai of the updated remote terminal;
and the update sending unit is used for sending configuration update information to the remote terminal, wherein the configuration update information comprises the updated NSSAI allowed by the remote terminal.
In the embodiment of the invention, the second allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal is determined based on the first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal, so that the network slice which is allowed to be used by the remote terminal can be determined when the remote terminal is connected with the N3IWF through the relay terminal.
Since the principle of the network slice determination device for solving the problem is similar to that of the network slice determination method in the embodiment of the present invention, the implementation of the network slice determination device may refer to the implementation of the method, and the repetition is not described.
As shown in fig. 11, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a terminal, which is a remote terminal, including a memory 1120, a transceiver 1110, a processor 1100, and a user interface 1130;
a memory 1120 for storing a computer program; a transceiver 1110 for transceiving data under the control of the processor; a processor 1100 for reading the computer program in the memory 1120 and performing the following operations:
the core network device of the receiving far-end terminal selects first information sent by auxiliary information NSSAI according to a first allowable network slice of the relay terminal, wherein the first information comprises: a second of the remote terminals allows nsaai.
As an alternative embodiment, the first information further includes:
A mapping relationship between the second allowable nsai of the remote terminal and the first allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
and/or the number of the groups of groups,
a first admission nsai of the relay terminal mapped with a second admission nsai of the remote terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, the processor 1100 is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
establishing a first protocol data unit PDU session corresponding to a first S-NSSAI contained in a second allowable NSSAI according to the second allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal;
if the PC5 connection related to the second S-NSSAI is established between the remote terminal and the relay terminal, establishing a mapping relation between a first PDU session and an identifier of the PC5 connection; the second S-NSSAI is mapped with the first S-NSSAI, and belongs to a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, the processor 1100 is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
if the PC5 connection related to the second S-NSSAI is not established between the remote terminal and the relay terminal, sending a PC5 connection establishment request message to the relay terminal; the PC5 connection establishment request message carries the second S-NSSAI;
And receiving a PC5 connection success message sent by the relay terminal after establishing the PDU session related to the second S-NSSAI.
A mapping relationship between the first PDU session and the identity of the PC5 connection is established.
As an alternative embodiment, the processor 1100 is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
a first registration request or a second registration request is sent to core network equipment of a far-end terminal, wherein the first registration request carries a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal; the second registration request carries the identifier of the relay terminal;
and receiving a registration receiving message sent by core network equipment of the remote terminal, wherein the registration receiving message carries the first information.
As an alternative embodiment, the processor 1100 is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
receiving second notification information sent by a relay terminal, wherein the second notification information is used for indicating that NSSAI allowed by the relay terminal is updated; or, the second notification information includes an updated nsai allowed for the relay terminal;
sending a first registration request or a second registration request to core network equipment of a remote terminal, wherein the first registration request or the second registration request comprises:
And sending a first registration request or a second registration request to core network equipment of the remote terminal according to the second notification information.
As an alternative embodiment, the processor 1100 is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
and receiving configuration update information sent by core network equipment of a remote terminal, wherein the configuration update information comprises updated NSSAI allowed by the remote terminal.
Wherein in fig. 11, a bus architecture may comprise any number of interconnected buses and bridges, and in particular one or more processors represented by processor 1100 and various circuits of memory represented by memory 1120, linked together. The bus architecture may also link together various other circuits such as peripheral devices, voltage regulators, power management circuits, etc., which are well known in the art and, therefore, will not be described further herein. The bus interface provides an interface. The transceiver 1110 may be a plurality of elements, i.e., include a transmitter and a receiver, providing a means for communicating with various other apparatus over transmission media, including wireless channels, wired channels, optical cables, and the like. The user interface 1130 may also be an interface capable of interfacing with an inscribed desired device for a different user device, including but not limited to a keypad, display, speaker, microphone, joystick, etc.
The processor 1100 is responsible for managing the bus architecture and general processing, and the memory 1120 may store data used by the processor 600 in performing operations.
Alternatively, the processor 1100 may be a CPU (Central processing Unit), ASIC (Application Specific Integrated Circuit ), FPGA (Field-Programmable Gate Array, field programmable Gate array) or CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device ), and the processor may also employ a multi-core architecture.
The processor is operable to perform any of the methods provided by embodiments of the present invention in accordance with the obtained executable instructions by invoking a computer program stored in a memory. The processor and the memory may also be physically separate.
In the embodiment of the invention, the second allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal is determined based on the first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal, so that the network slice which is allowed to be used by the remote terminal can be determined when the remote terminal is connected with the N3IWF through the relay terminal.
Since the principle of the terminal for solving the problem is similar to that of the network slice determination method in the embodiment of the present invention, the implementation of the terminal can be referred to the implementation of the method, and the repetition is not described again.
As shown in fig. 12, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a network slice determining apparatus, which is applied to a remote terminal, including:
a receiving unit 121, configured to receive first information sent by a core network device of a remote terminal according to first allowable network slice selection auxiliary information nsai of a relay terminal, where the first information includes: a second of the remote terminals allows nsaai.
As an alternative embodiment, the first information further includes:
a mapping relationship between the second allowable nsai of the remote terminal and the first allowable nsai of the relay terminal;
and/or the number of the groups of groups,
a first admission nsai of the relay terminal mapped with a second admission nsai of the remote terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:
a first establishing unit, configured to establish a first protocol data unit PDU session corresponding to a first S-nsai included in a second allowed nsai according to the second allowed nsai of the remote terminal;
a second establishing unit, configured to establish a mapping relationship between the first PDU session and an identifier of the PC5 connection if a PC5 connection related to a second S-nsai has been established between the remote terminal and the relay terminal; the second S-NSSAI is mapped with the first S-NSSAI, and belongs to a first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:
a request unit, configured to send a PC5 connection establishment request message to the relay terminal if no PC5 connection related to the second S-nsai is established between the remote terminal and the relay terminal; the PC5 connection establishment request message carries the second S-NSSAI;
a successful receiving unit, configured to receive a PC5 connection success message sent by the relay terminal after establishing a PDU session related to the second S-nsai;
and a third establishing unit, configured to establish a mapping relationship between the first PDU session and the identifier of the PC5 connection.
As an alternative embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:
a request sending unit, configured to send a first registration request or a second registration request to a core network device of a remote terminal, where the first registration request carries a first allowed nsai of the relay terminal; the second registration request carries the identifier of the relay terminal;
the receiving unit includes:
and the receiving subunit is used for receiving a registration receiving message sent by the core network equipment of the remote terminal, wherein the registration receiving message carries the first information.
As an alternative embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:
A notification receiving unit, configured to receive second notification information sent by the relay terminal, where the second notification information is used to instruct the relay terminal to allow nsai to update; or, the second notification information includes an updated nsai allowed for the relay terminal;
the request transmitting unit includes:
and the request sending subunit is used for sending a first registration request or a second registration request to core network equipment of the remote terminal according to the second notification information.
As an alternative embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:
and the updating receiving unit is used for receiving configuration updating information sent by core network equipment of the remote terminal, wherein the configuration updating information comprises updated NSSAI allowed by the remote terminal.
In the embodiment of the invention, the second allowable NSSAI of the remote terminal is determined based on the first allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal, so that the network slice which is allowed to be used by the remote terminal can be determined when the remote terminal is connected with the N3IWF through the relay terminal.
Since the principle of the network slice determining device for solving the problem is similar to that of the network slice determining method in the embodiment of the present invention, the implementation of the network slice determining device may refer to the implementation of the method, and the repetition is not described.
As shown in fig. 13, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a terminal, where the terminal is a remote terminal, and includes a memory 1320, a transceiver 1310, a processor 1300, and a user interface 1330;
a memory 1320 for storing a computer program; a transceiver 1310 for receiving and transmitting data under the control of the processor 1300; a processor 1300 for reading the computer program in the memory 1320 and performing the following operations:
and determining the request NSSAI of the remote terminal according to the first allowable network slice selection auxiliary information NSSAI of the relay terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, the processor 1300 is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
if the relay terminal and the remote terminal are located in the same public land mobile network PLMN, determining the request nsai of the remote terminal includes: part or all of the first admission nsai of the relay terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, the processor 1300 is further configured to read the computer program in the memory and perform the following operations:
if the relay terminal and the remote terminal are located in different public land mobile networks PLMNs, determining that the first allowed NSSAI is mapped to NSSAI in a PLMN selected by the remote terminal according to the first allowed NSSAI of the relay terminal and preset configuration parameters;
Determining the request NSSAI of the remote terminal includes: the first allowed NSSAI maps to some or all of NSSAIs within the PLMN selected by the remote terminal.
In the embodiment of the invention, the remote terminal considers the allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal when determining the request NSSAI of the remote terminal, so that the network slice which is allowed to be used by the remote terminal can be determined when the remote terminal is connected with the N3IWF through the relay terminal.
Since the principle of the terminal for solving the problem is similar to that of the network slice determination method in the embodiment of the present invention, the implementation of the terminal can be referred to the implementation of the method, and the repetition is not described again.
As shown in fig. 14, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a network slice determining apparatus, which is applied to a remote terminal, and is characterized by including:
a determining unit 141, configured to determine a request nsai of the remote terminal according to the first allowable network slice selection assistance information nsai of the relay terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, if the relay terminal and the remote terminal are located in the same public land mobile network PLMN, the determining unit comprises:
a first determining subunit, configured to determine a request nsai of the remote terminal includes: part or all of the first admission nsai of the relay terminal.
As an alternative embodiment, if the relay terminal and the remote terminal are located in different public land mobile networks PLMN, the determining unit comprises:
a second determining subunit, configured to determine, according to a first allowed nsai of the relay terminal and a preset configuration parameter, that the first allowed nsai is mapped to an nsai in a PLMN selected by a remote terminal;
a third determining subunit, configured to determine a request nsai of the remote terminal includes: the first allowed NSSAI maps to some or all of NSSAIs within the PLMN selected by the remote terminal.
In the embodiment of the invention, the remote terminal considers the allowable NSSAI of the relay terminal when determining the request NSSAI of the remote terminal, so that the network slice which is allowed to be used by the remote terminal can be determined when the remote terminal is connected with the N3IWF through the relay terminal.
Since the principle of the network slice determining device for solving the problem is similar to that of the network slice determining method in the embodiment of the present invention, the implementation of the network slice determining device may refer to the implementation of the method, and the repetition is not described.
It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, the division of the units is schematic, which is merely a logic function division, and other division manners may be implemented in actual practice. In addition, each functional unit in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated in one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated in one unit. The integrated units may be implemented in hardware or in software functional units.
The integrated units, if implemented in the form of software functional units and sold or used as stand-alone products, may be stored in a processor-readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention may be embodied in essence or a part contributing to the prior art or all or part of the technical solution in the form of a software product stored in a storage medium, including several instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a random access Memory (Random Access Memory, RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk, or other various media capable of storing program codes.
Embodiments of the present invention also provide a processor-readable storage medium storing a computer program for causing the processor to perform the method described above. The processor-readable storage medium may be any available medium or data storage device that can be accessed by a processor, including, but not limited to, magnetic storage (e.g., floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tape, magneto-optical disks (MOs), etc.), optical storage (e.g., CD, DVD, BD, HVD, etc.), semiconductor storage (e.g., ROM, EPROM, EEPROM, nonvolatile storage (NAND FLASH), solid State Disk (SSD)), and the like.
It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, magnetic disk storage, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.
The present invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems) and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer-executable instructions. These computer-executable instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These processor-executable instructions may also be stored in a processor-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the processor-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These processor-executable instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.
It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention without departing from the spirit or scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention also include such modifications and alterations insofar as they come within the scope of the appended claims or the equivalents thereof.