Local edge offloading method and system, and offloading service apparatus and base station

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12495330-B2
Application number	US-202218274735-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 7, 2022
Priority date	Mar 1, 2021
Publication date	Dec 9, 2025
Grant date	Dec 9, 2025

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a local edge offloading method and system, and an offloading service apparatus and a base station. The local edge offloading method includes: an offloading service receiving user plane bearer information sent from a base station, and establishing an offloading user plane instance according to the user plane bearer information; upon reception of an uplink data service package sent from the base station, the offloading service determining whether there is a corresponding offloading user plane instance for the uplink data service package; and in a case where there is a corresponding offloading user plane instance in the uplink data service package, matching the uplink data service package with an offloading matching rule, and determining to forward the uplink data service package to a core network or a local server.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1 . A local edge offloading method, comprising:
receiving, by an offloading service, user plane bearer information sent from a base station, and establishing an offloading user plane instance according to the user plane bearer information; determining, by the offloading service, upon reception of an uplink data service package sent from the base station, whether there is an offloading user plane instance corresponding to the uplink data service package; and in a case where there is an offloading user plane instance corresponding to the uplink data service package, matching the uplink data service package with an offloading matching rule, and determining to forward the uplink data service package to a core network or a local server.

2 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 1 , wherein a GTP-U tunnel is used for data transmission between the offloading service and the base station as well as between the offloading service and the core network; and
in a case where the offloading service receives the user plane bearer information, the local edge offloading method further comprises: recording a correspondence relationship between a user terminal in the user plane bearer information and the GTP-U tunnel.

3 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 2 , wherein in a case where the offloading service has received a downlink data service package sent from the local server, the offloading service matches the downlink data service package with the offloading matching rule and determines whether to forward the downlink data service package to a corresponding base station.

4 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 2 , wherein establishing the offloading user plane instance according to the user plane bearer information comprises:
performing tunnel de-encapsulation on the user plane bearer information, and establishing the offloading user plane instance, wherein the offloading user plane instance has two primary keys comprising tunnel information on a base station side and tunnel information on a core network side.

5 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 2 , wherein matching the uplink data service package with the offloading matching rule and determining to forward the uplink data service package to the core network or the local server comprise:
forwarding the uplink data service package to the local server in a case where the uplink data service package is matched with the offloading matching rule, and forwarding the uplink data service package to the core network in a case where the uplink data service package is not matched with the offloading matching rule.

6 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 2 , wherein in a case where the offloading service has received new user plane bearer information, the offloading service queries whether there is a corresponding offloading user plane instance;
in a case where there is a corresponding offloading user plane instance, the offloading user plane instance is updated; and in a case where there is no corresponding offloading user plane instance, a new offloading user plane instance is established.

7 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 2 , wherein in a case where the offloading service has received releasing bearer information, the offloading service looks up a corresponding offloading user plane instance and deletes the corresponding offloading user plane instance.

8 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 2 , wherein in a case where the offloading service finds out no corresponding offloading user plane instance according to the uplink data service package, the offloading service sends a bearer information request to a corresponding base station; and the offloading service receives user plane bearer information sent from the corresponding base station, and establishes a new offloading user plane instance.

9 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 2 , wherein in a case where the number of base stations to which the offloading service is connected is greater than or equal to two, an outer layer tunnel is encapsulated on a GTP-U package between the base station and the offloading service, and the outer layer tunnel is a two-layer tunnel or a three-layer tunnel.

10 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 9 , wherein in a case where the offloading service has received a switching instruction sent from the base station, the offloading service marks a corresponding offloading user plane instance according to the switching instruction, and the switching instruction is generated in a case where the user terminal switches between base stations; and
in a case where there is a switching mark on the offloading user plane instance corresponding to the user plane bearer information, the offloading user plane instance is updated.

11 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 1 , wherein the offloading matching rule comprises at least one matching rule from: quintuplet offloading, slice offloading, PLMN offloading, and domain name offloading; and
wherein the user plane bearer information comprises at least one from: tunnel information on a base station side, tunnel information of a user plane of the core network, PLMN information, slice information, and Qos information.

12 . A local edge offloading method, comprising:
establishing, by a base station, a user plane instance for a user terminal which accesses the base station, and sending user plane bearer information of the user plane instance to an offloading service, the user plane bearer information being used for establishing an offloading user plane instance by the offloading service; and generating, by the base station, upon reception of an uplink data service sent from the user terminal, an uplink data service package and sending the uplink data service package to the offloading service, and determining, by the offloading service, to forward the uplink data service package to a core network or a local server according to an offloading matching rule.

13 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 12 , wherein a GTP-U tunnel is used for data transmission between the base station and the offloading service.

14 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 13 , wherein in a case where the base station has received a downlink data service package sent from the offloading service, the base station sends the downlink data service package to a corresponding user terminal.

15 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 13 , wherein in a case where user plane bearer information changes, changed user plane bear information is sent to the offloading service.

16 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 13 , wherein in a case where the user plane instance is deleted, releasing bearer information is sent to the offloading service.

17 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 13 , wherein in a case where a bearer information request sent from the offloading service is received, corresponding user plane bearer information is looked up and sent to the offloading service.

18 . The local edge offloading method according to claim 13 , wherein in a case where the number of base stations is greater than or equal to two, an outer layer tunnel is encapsulated on a GTP-U package between the base station and the offloading service, and the outer layer tunnel is a two-layer tunnel or a three-layer tunnel.

19 . The local edge offloading meth

Assignees

• Zte Corp

Inventors

• Liu Ling
• Peng Jialin
• Wang Wenyi

Classifications

• H04W76/18

  Management of setup rejection or failure · CPC title

• H04W28/0268

  using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] (negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24) · CPC title

• H04W88/08

  Access point devices · CPC title

• H04W28/088 Primary

  among core entities · CPC title

• H04W28/08 Primary

  Load balancing or load distribution (transferring a connection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12) · CPC title