Method and apparatus for selecting edge application server, and network element device, user equipment and storage medium

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12556509-B2
Application number	US-202118702497-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 18, 2021
Priority date	Oct 18, 2021
Publication date	Feb 17, 2026
Grant date	Feb 17, 2026

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to method and apparatus for selecting an edge application server, and element network device, user equipment and storage medium. The method includes: a user equipment receiving first indication information, which is sent by an SMF, wherein the first indication information is used for indicating the priority of domain name system (DNS) information; and the user equipment making a DNS policy decision according to the first indication information, and sending a DNS query request to an EASDF, wherein the DNS query request is used by the EASDF to execute the discovery or selection of an edge application server (EAS).

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method for selecting an edge application server, performed by a terminal, comprising:
receiving first indication information sent by a session management function (SMF), wherein the first indication information is configured to indicate a priority of domain name system (DNS) information; and making a DNS policy decision based on the first indication information, and sending a DNS query request to an edge application server discovery function (EASDF), wherein the DNS query request is used for the EASDF to perform discovery or selection of the edge application server (EAS), wherein the DNS policy decision is obtained by the SMF, and the SMF performs report or redirection based on an operator policy, wherein the operator policy comprises: in a case where the SMF determines that a DNS target object of the terminal is not an EASDF determined by the SMF based on a DNS query request of the DNS policy decision, performing DNS change report or DNS query request redirection according to at least one of the following: a network status, a DNS priority, and a service characteristic.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first indication information comprises:
priority indication information; or a service identification; or an application identification; or a priority indication and an application wildcard indication; or a priority indication and a specific application identification.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the DNS policy decision comprises:
prioritizing execution of a DNS request provided by the SMF; or prioritizing execution of a DNS request configured locally by the terminal; or the terminal determining an execution strategy of a DNS request by itself.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein receiving the first indication information sent by SMF comprises:
during a protocol data unit (PDU) session establishment procedure, receiving a first message sent by the SMF, wherein the first message contains information about EASDF selected by the SMF for the PDU session.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the information about the EASDF is obtained by the SMF based on EAS deployment information; and the EAS deployment information is obtained from policy information of the PDU session or subscription information of the terminal.

6 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the terminal has a DNS client function and supports at least one of the following functions:
receiving the information about the EASDF sent by the SMF; sending the DNS query request to the EASDF or DNS server determined by the SMF; sending the EASDF or DNS server determined by the SMF to an upper layer application or service in the terminal; and receiving the DNS query request from the upper layer application or service in the terminal, and sending the received DNS query request to the EASDF or DNS server determined by the SMF.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the DNS client function of the terminal is located in an operating system of the terminal or a hardware of the terminal.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein in a case where the DNS client function of the terminal is located in the hardware, the DNS client function of the terminal is supported and implemented by both the hardware and the operating system.

9 . A non-transitory storage medium on which an executable program is stored, when the executable program is executed by a processor, the steps of the method for selecting the edge application server according to claim 1 are implemented.

10 . A method for selecting edge application servers, performed by a session management function (SMF), comprising:
sending first indication information to a terminal, wherein the first indication information is configured to indicate a priority of domain name system (DNS) information; obtaining a DNS policy decision of the terminal; and performing report or redirection based on an operator policy, wherein the operator policy comprises: in a case where the SMF determines that a DNS target object of the terminal is not an EASDF determined by the SMF based on a DNS query request of the DNS policy decision, performing DNS change report or DNS query request redirection according to at least one of the following: a network status, a DNS priority, and a service characteristic.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the first indication information comprises:
priority indication information; or, a service identification; or, an application identification; or, a priority indication and an application wildcard indication; or, a priority indication and a specific application identification.

12 . The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:
obtaining EAS deployment information, and selecting EASDF for the terminal based on the EAS deployment information; and during a protocol data unit (PDU) session establishment procedure, sending a first message to the terminal, wherein the first message contains information about the EASDF.

13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein obtaining the EAS deployment information comprises:
obtaining the EAS deployment information from policy information of the PDU session or subscription information of the terminal.

14 . The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:
in a case where the SMF detects that the DNS target object of the terminal is not the EASDF determined by the SMF, in response to a subscribed DNS change notification, performing a subscription report.

15 . The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:
in a case where the SMF detects that the DNS target object of the terminal is not the EASDF determined by the SMF, in response to performing the DNS query redirection of the operator policy, performing the DNS query request redirection and sending the DNS query request to the EASDF determined by the SMF for the terminal.

16 . A network element device, comprising a processor, a transceiver, a memory, and an executable program stored in the memory and capable of being run by the processor, when the processor runs the executable program, it executes steps of the method for selecting the edge application server according to claim 10 .

17 . A non-transitory storage medium on which an executable program is stored, when the executable program is executed by a processor, the steps of the method for selecting the edge application server according to claim 10 are implemented.

18 . A terminal, comprising a processor, a transceiver, a memory, and an executable program stored in the memory and capable of being run by the processor, when the processor runs the executable program, the process is configured to:
receiving first indication information sent by a session management function (SMF), wherein the first indication information is configured to indicate a priority of domain name system (DNS) information; and making a DNS policy decision based on the first indication information, and sending a DNS query request to an edge application server discovery function (EASDF), wherein the DNS query request is used for the EASDF to perform discovery or selection of the edge application server (EAS), wherein the DNS policy decision is obtained by the SMF, and the SMF performs report or redirection based on an operator policy, wherein the operator policy comprises: in a case where the SMF determines that a DNS target object of the terminal is not an EASDF determined by the SMF based on a DNS query request of the DNS policy de

Assignees

• Beijing Xiaomi Mobile Software Co Ltd

Inventors

• Shen Yang
• Qi Jianfeng

Classifications

• H04L65/1101 Primary

  Session protocols · CPC title

• H04L65/40

  Support for services or applications · CPC title

• H04L61/4511 Primary

  using domain name system [DNS] · CPC title

• H04W76/11

  Allocation or use of connection identifiers · CPC title