Enabling functionality at a user plane function, UPF, by a session management function, SMF, in a telecommunication network

Abstract

A method of enabling functionality at a User Plane Function, UPF, by a Session Management Function, SMF, in a telecommunication network. The method includes receiving, by the UPF, a session creation/modification message for creating/modifying a session between the UPF and the SMF, wherein the session creation/modification message includes a session functionality indication for indicating functionality to be enabled for said session, and enabling, by the UPF, the functionality during the session between said UPF and the SMF.

Claims

1. A method of enabling functionality at a User Plane Function, UPF, by a Session Management Function, SMF, in a telecommunication network, the UPF comprising a list of profiles, each profile comprising one or more possible functionalities that can be enabled for a session, the method comprising: receiving, by the UPF, a session creation/modification message for creating/modifying a session between the UPF and the SMF, the session creation/modification message comprising a session functionality indication for indicating functionality to be enabled for the session, and the session functionality indication comprises a particular profile among the list of profiles that is to be enabled for the session; enabling, by the UPF the one or more functionalities associated with the particular profile during the session between the UPF and the SMF; transmitting, by the UPF, an acknowledgement message to the SMF for acknowledging that the UPF has enabled the functionality during the session between said UPF and the SMF; and the session is a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol, PFCP, session.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the receiving comprises: receiving, by the UPF, the session functionality indication, wherein the session functionality indication comprises a particular profile among the list of profiles that is to be enabled for the session, and wherein the enabling comprises: enabling, by the UPF, the one or more functionalities associated with said particular profile.

3. The method in accordance with claim 2, wherein the list of profiles comprises any of: a first profile comprising Distributed Denial of Service, DDoS, functionality; and a second profile comprising handling Traffic Optimization functionality.

4. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the enabling comprises: performing, by the UPF, the enabled functionality for any packet that matches the session between the UPF and the SMF.

5. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: transmitting, by the UPF, to the SMF, a functionality indicator message for indicating a list of functionalities that the UPF can enable for a session between the UPF and the SMF.

6. The method in accordance with claim 5, wherein the functionality indicator message is a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol, PFCP, Association Setup Request message.

7. A User Plane Function, UPF, arranged for enabling functionality requested by a Session Management Function, SMF, in a telecommunication network, the UPF comprising a list of profiles, each profile comprising one or more possible functionalities that can be enabled for a session, the UPF comprising: receive equipment configured to receive a session creation/modification message for creating/modifying a session between the UPF and the SMF, the session creation/modification message comprising a session functionality indication for indicating functionality to be enabled for the session and the session functionality indication comprising a particular profile among the list of profiles that is to be enabled for the session; process equipment configured to enable the one or more functionalities associated with the particular profile during the session between the UPF and the SMF; transmit equipment configured to transmit an acknowledgement message to said SMF for acknowledging that the UPF has enabled the functionality during the session between the UPF and the SMF; and the session is a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol, PFCP, session.

8. The UPF in accordance with claim 7, wherein the list of profiles comprises any of: a first profile comprising Distributed Denial of Service, DDoS, functionality; and a second profile comprising handling Traffic Optimization functionality.

9. The UPF in accordance with claim 7, wherein the process equipment is further configured to perform the enabled functionality for any packet that matches the session between said UPF and said SMF.

10. The UPF in accordance with claim 7, wherein the UPF comprises: transmit equipment configured to transmit, to the SMF, a functionality indicator message for indicating a list of functionalities that the UPF can enable for a session between the UPF and the SMF.

11. The UPF in accordance with claim 10, wherein the functionality indicator message is a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol, PFCP, Association Setup Request message.

12. A non-transitory computer storage medium storing a computer program having instructions which, when executed by a User Plane Function, UPF, cause the UPF to implement a method of enabling functionality at the UPF by a Session Management Function, SMF, in a telecommunication network, the UPF comprising a list of profiles, each profile comprising one or more possible functionalities that can be enabled for a session, the method comprising: receiving, by the UPF, a session creation/modification message for creating/modifying a session between the UPF and the SMF, the session creation/modification message comprising a session functionality indication for indicating functionality to be enabled for the session, and the session functionality indication comprising a particular profile among the list of profiles that is to be enabled for the session; enabling, by the UPF, the one or more functionalities associated with the particular profile during the session between the UPF and the SMF; transmitting, by the UPF, an acknowledgement message to the SMF for acknowledging that the UPF has enabled the functionality during the session between said UPF and the SMF; and the session being a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol, PFCP, session.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a part of the architecture of a Fifth Generation, 5G, telecommunication network.

(2) FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a method of enabling functionality at a User Plane Function, UPF.

(3) FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a method of enabling functionality at a User Plane Function, UPF

(4) FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a User Plane Function, UPF, according to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(5) FIG. 1 schematically illustrates part of the reference architecture 1 of a fifth generation, 5G, Service Based Architecture, SBA, telecommunication network, according to the prior art. The 5G system architecture comprise the following Network Functions, NFs: Access and Mobility Management Function, AMF, 8 Network Exposure Function, NEF, 3 Policy Control Function, PCF, 6 Session Management Function, SMF, 9 Unified Data Management, UDM, 2 User Plane Function, UPF, 10 Application Function, AF, 5 Network Data Analytics Function, NWDAF, 4 Online Charging System, OCS, 7.

(6) 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.

(7) FIG. 2 schematically illustrates a method 20 of enabling functionality at a User Plane Function, UPF 10.

(8) The method is directed to the concept of enabling functionality at a User Plane Function, UPF, 10 by a Session Management Function, SMF, 9 in a telecommunication network.

(9) The method 20 comprises the steps of: receiving 21, by said UPF 10, a session creation/modification message for creating/modifying a session between said UPF 10 and said SMF 9, wherein said session creation/modification message comprises a session functionality indication for indicating functionality to be enabled for said session; enabling, by said UPF 10, said functionality during said session between said UPF 10 and said SMF 9. transmitting 22, by said UPF 10, to said SMF an acknowledgement that said functionality is enabled.

(10) Here below, a more specific description is provided of the present disclosure.

(11) Upon Protocol Data Unit, PDU, session establishment, the SMF may send a PFCP Session Establishment Request message to the UPF. In case the SMF intends to enable certain functionality, e.g. TTL identification and DDoS features, at the UPF on a per PFCP session basis, it is proposed to include a new “Activate UPF Profile” information element, see the last element in the table here below.

(12) TABLE-US-00001 Information Appl. elements P Condition/Comment Sxa Sxb Sxc N4 IE Type Node ID M This IE shall contain the unique identifier of the sending X X X X Node ID Node. CP F-SEID M This IE shall contain the unique identifier allocated by the X X X X F-SEID CP function identifying the session. Create PDR M This IE shall be present for at least one PDR to be X X X X Create associated to the PFCP session. PDR Several IEs with the same IE type may be present to represent multiple PDRs. See Table 7.5.2.2-1. Create FAR M This IE shall be present for at least one FAR to be X X X X Create associated to the PFCP session. FAR Several IEs with the same IE type may be present to represent multiple FARs. See Table 7.5.2.3-1. Create URR C This IE shall be present if a measurement action shall be X X X X Create applied to packets matching one or more PDR(s) of this URR PFCP session. Several IEs within the same IE type may be present to represent multiple URRs. See Table 7.5.2.4-1. Create QER C This IE shall be present if a QoS enforcement action shall — X X X Create be applied to packets matching one or more PDR(s) of QER this PFCP session. Several IEs within the same IE type may be present to represent multiple QERs. See Table 7.5.2.5-1. Create BAR O When present, this IE shall contain the buffering X — — X Create instructions to be applied by the UP function to any FAR BAR of this PFCP session set with the Apply Action requesting the packets to be buffered and with a BAR ID IE referring to this BAR. See table 7.5.2.6-1. Create Traffic C This IE may be present if the UP function has indicated X X X X Create Endpoint support of PDI optimization. Traffic Several IEs within the same IE type may be present to Endpoint represent multiple Traffic Endpoints. See Table 7.5.2.7-1. PDN Type C This IE shall be present if the PFCP session is setup for X X — X PDN Type an individual PDN connection or PDU session (see subclause 5.2.1). When present, this IE shall indicate whether this is an IP or non-IP PDN connection/PDU session or, for SGC, an Ethernet PDU session. SGW-C FQ-CSID C This IE shall be included according to the requirements in X X — FQ-CSID clause 23 of 3GPP TS 23.007 [24]. MME FQ-CSID C This IE shall be included when received on the S11 X X — — FQ-CSID interface or on S5/S8 interface according to the requirements in clause 23 of 3GPP TS 23.007 [24]. PGW-C FQ-CSID C This IE shall be included according to the requirements in X X — — FQ-CSID clause 23 of 3GPP TS 23.007 [24]. ePDG FQ-CSID C This IE shall be included according to the requirements in — X — — FQ-CSID clause 23 of 3GPP TS 23.007 [24]. TWAN FQ-CSID C This IE shall be included according to the requirements in — X — — FQ-CSID clause 23 of 3GPP TS 23.007 [24]. User Plane O This IE may be present to request the UP function to — X X X User Inactivity Timer send a User Plane Inactivity Report when no user plane Plane packets are received for this PFCP session for a duration Inactivity exceeding the User Plane Inactivity Timer. Timer When present, it shall contain the duration of the inactivity period after which a User Plane Inactivity Report shall be generated. Activate UPF C This IE shall be present if UPF Profile shall be activated X X X X Activate Profile for this session. When present this IE shall contain the UPF name of the UPF profile. Profile Several IEs with the same IE type may be present to represent multiple UPF Profile names.
As a precondition for the above, the UPF may be locally configured with: a first profile comprising Distributed Denial of Service, DDoS, functionality; a second profile comprising handling Traffic Optimization functionality.

(13) When the UPF receives the “Activate UPF Profile” Information Element, IE, set to “Profile1”, the UPF may DDoS features for any packet that matches the PCFP session.

(14) The “Activate UPF Profile” IE can be a string which indicates the name of the profile, or alternatively it may include a list of features, or it may indicate a particular number which can be correlated, by the UPF, with a particular profile. The UPF may send a PFCP Session Establishment Response message to the SMF.

(15) In case the SMF intends to add/modify/remove certain functionality at UPF during the PFCP session, the same IE is proposed to be added in the PFCP Session Modification Request message.

(16) In this particular case, when the UPF receives the “ActivateUPFProfile” IE set to “Profile2”, UPF will enable Traffic Optimization functionality for any packet that matches the PCFP session. Note in this example, DDoS was previously enabled and UPF may need to disable TTL identification.

(17) Finally, not shown in the sequence diagrams, as the UPF Profile refers to functionality supported by the UPF, optionally it is proposed to extend the existing mechanism to report UPF capabilities, i.e. at PFCP Association Setup Request message, with new capabilities related to the corresponding functionality. This would allow SMF to know which UPFs support this capability and thus can influence on UPF selection. As current 3GPP “UP Function Features” IE takes the form of a bitmask where each bit set indicates that the corresponding feature is supported, and this will not scale properly, we propose to extend it with a list of feature-IDs instead of a bitmask. This would allow the PFCP Association procedure to support extended functionality (e.g. proprietary features) more easily.

(18) FIG. 3 schematically illustrates a method 50 of enabling functionality at a User Plane Function, UPF, wherein the method 50 comprises the receiving step 60, the enabling step 70 and the transmitting step 80.

(19) FIG. 4 schematically illustrates a User Plane Function, UPF, according to the present disclosure.

(20) A User Plane Function, UPF, 10 arranged for enabling functionality requested by a Session Management Function, SMF, in a telecommunication network.

(21) The UPF comprises: receive equipment 150, or receiving module, is arranged for receiving a session creation/modification message for creating/modifying a session between said UPF and said SMF, wherein said session creation/modification message comprises a session functionality indication for indicating functionality to be enabled for said session; process equipment 154, or the processor, is arranged for enabling said functionality during said session between said UPF and said SMF.

(22) The UPF 10 further comprises a list of profiles 155, which list of profiled comprises profiles which the UPF 10 is able to activate. That is, each profile may contain functionalities which the UPF 10 is able to enable.

(23) The processor 154 is further connected to a memory 157, and is connected to the receiver 151, the profiles 155, the transmitter 152 via a bus 156.

(24) Finally, the receiver 150 is able to receive packets via the receiving terminal 151 and the transmitter 152 is able to transmit packets via the transmitting terminal 153.

(25) Other variations to the disclosed examples can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in 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 dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

(26) A computer program may be stored/distributed on a suitable medium, such as 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 scope thereof.

(27) The present disclosure is not limited to the examples as disclosed above, and 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.