Method for determining MEC access point and apparatus

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12574822-B2
Application number	US-202318344598-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 29, 2023
Priority date	Dec 31, 2020
Publication date	Mar 10, 2026
Grant date	Mar 10, 2026

Abstract

A method includes obtaining a first multi-access edge computing (MEC) access point to be accessed by terminals in a terminal group of a first service. The first MEC access point is obtained based on network topology information of MEC access points that are respectively closest to the terminals and that support the first service. The network topology information indicates at least one of whether at least two MEC access points are connected or performance of a link between at least two MEC access points. The terminal group includes one or more of a terminal requesting the first service or a terminal subscribing to the first service. The method also includes sending an identifier of the first MEC access point to a session management network element that controls the terminals. The identifier of the first MEC access point is used by the terminals to access the first MEC access point.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method, comprising:
obtaining, by a first network element, a first multi-access edge computing (MEC) access point to be accessed by terminals included in a terminal group of a first service, wherein the first MEC access point is obtained based on network topology information of MEC access points that are respectively closest to all of the terminals in the terminal group and that support the first service, wherein the network topology information indicates at least one of whether at least two MEC access points are connected or performance of a link between at least two MEC access points; and the terminal group of the first service comprises one or more of a terminal requesting the first service or a terminal subscribing to the first service; receiving, by a third network element, second information from the first network element, wherein the second information comprises identifiers of the MEC access points; obtaining, by the third network element, a sixth network element corresponding to each of the MEC access points; sending, by the third network element, fifth information to the sixth network element corresponding to each of the MEC access points, wherein the fifth information comprises the identifiers of the MEC access points; receiving, by the third network element from the sixth network element corresponding to each of the MEC access points, topology information of MEC access points known to the sixth network element in the MEC access points, wherein the topology information is obtained based on the fifth information and indicates at least one of whether at least two MEC access points are connected or performance of the link between at least two MEC access points; aggregating, by the third network element, the topology information to obtain network topology information; and sending, by the third network element, the network topology information to the first network element, wherein the network topology information is used to determine the first MEC access point to be accessed by the terminal group of the first service; and sending, by the first network element, an identifier of the first MEC access point to a session management network element that controls each of the terminals of the terminal group, wherein the identifier of the first MEC access point is used by each of the terminals of the terminal group to access the first MEC access point.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the obtaining, by the first network element, the first MEC access point to be accessed by the terminal group of the first service comprises:
sending, by the first network element, first information to a second network element corresponding to each of the terminals of the terminal group, wherein the first information comprises identifiers of the MEC access points supporting the first service and an identifier of a terminal managed by the second network element in the terminal group; receiving, by the first network element from the second network element corresponding to the terminals of the terminal group, an identifier of an MEC access point closest to each of the terminals that is determined based on the first information; sending, by the first network element, third information to a fourth network element, wherein the third information comprises the identifier of the MEC access point closest to each of the terminals; and receiving, by the first network element from the fourth network element, the identifier of the first MEC access point that is determined based on the third information.

3 . The method according to claim 2 , further comprising:
receiving, by the fourth network element, the third information from the first network element, wherein the third information comprises the identifiers of the MEC access points; obtaining, by the fourth network element, the network topology information of the MEC access points; determining, by the fourth network element from the MEC access points according to a preset rule and the network topology information, the first MEC access point to be accessed by the terminal group of the first service; and sending, by the fourth network element, the identifier of the first MEC access point to the first network element.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein the obtaining, by the fourth network element, the network topology information of the MEC access points comprises:
obtaining, by the fourth network element, a sixth network element corresponding to each of the MEC access points; sending, by the fourth network element, additional information to the sixth network element corresponding to each of the MEC access points, wherein the additional information comprises the identifiers of the MEC access points; receiving, by the fourth network element from the sixth network element corresponding to each of the MEC access points, topology information of MEC access points known to the sixth network element in the MEC access points, wherein the topology information is obtained based on the additional information, and the topology information indicates at least one of whether at least two MEC access points are connected or performance of the link between at least two MEC access points; and aggregating the topology information to obtain the network topology information.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the obtaining, by the first network element, the first MEC access point to be accessed by the terminal group of the first service comprises:
sending, by the first network element, fourth information to a fifth network element, wherein the fourth information comprises an identifier of each of the terminals of the terminal group and identifiers of the MEC access points supporting the first service; and receiving, by the first network element from the fifth network element, the identifier of the first MEC access point that is determined based on the fourth information.

6 . The method according to claim 5 , further comprising:
receiving, by the fifth network element, the fourth information from the first network element, wherein the fourth information comprises identifiers of the terminals in the terminal group of the first service and the identifiers of the MEC access points supporting the first service; obtaining, by the fifth network element, a context of each of the terminals in the terminal group, wherein the context of each terminal comprises network topology information of an access network element accessed by the terminal and the MEC access points supporting the first service, and the network topology information indicates at least one of (1) whether the access network element is connected to the MEC access points, and whether at least two MEC access points are connected; or (2) performance of links between the access network element and the MEC access points, and between at least two MEC access points; determining, by the fifth network element according to a preset rule and the network topology information in the context of each of the terminals of the terminal group, the first MEC access point to be accessed by the terminal group from the MEC access points supporting the first service; and sending, by the fifth network element, the identifier of the first MEC access point to the first network element.

7 . The method according to claim 6 , wherein the obtaining, by the fifth network element, the context of each of the terminals in the terminal group comprises:
obtaining, by the fifth network element, the context of each of the terminals in the terminal group by querying a data storage function; or querying, by the fifth network element from a unified data management platform, session management network elements corresponding to terminals other than a terminal corresponding to th

Assignees

• Huawei Tech Co Ltd

Inventors

• Wang Yaxin
• Li Yan
• Xin Yang

Classifications

• H04L41/12

  Discovery or management of network topologies · CPC title

• H04W40/24 Primary

  Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update · CPC title

• H04W48/17

  Selecting a data network PoA [Point of Attachment] · CPC title

• H04W48/20

  Selecting an access point · CPC title

• H04L43/0817

  by checking functioning · CPC title