Method and apparatus for multiple user equipment identifier translation in a wireless communication system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2026075027-A1
Application number	US-202519285478-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 30, 2025
Priority date	Aug 2, 2024
Publication date	Mar 12, 2026
Grant date	—

Abstract

In the present application, the 5G Core Network (5G-CN) comprises various network functions (NFs) interacting with each other over a Service-Based Architecture (SBA) interface. Each NF has specific functionality and offers a set of services to other NFs. Among them, the Unified Data Repository (UDR) is responsible for storing all information related to User Equipment (UE) in a database. This storage information contains subscription data, exposure data, application data, and policy data. Another NF called the Unified Data Management (UDM) serves as the front-end interface to UDR for accessing the subscription data of the UE(s) from the database. UDM manages data for access authentication, access authorization, user registration, user identification handling and so on. Yet another NF is Network Exposure Function (NEF) that acts as a gateway for an external untrusted application function (uAF) to avail services from 5G-CN after prior authorization and authentication based on operator policies. Apart from this, it is also responsible for translation of external information from uAF to internal information that other NFs can understand and vice versa.

First claim

We claim:

1 . A method ( 500 ) for multiple user equipment (UE) identifier translation in a wireless communication system, the method comprises:
receiving ( 501 ), by a unified data management (UDM) function from a Network Function, a service request to support translation of at least one subscription permanent identifier (SUPI) of at least one UE to its corresponding at least one generic public subscription identifier (GPSI); translating ( 502 ) by the UDM, the at least one SUPI to the at least one GPSI; and sending ( 503 ), by the UDM, a response comprising a message body, wherein, the message body includes one of: the at least one GPSI on a successful translation; and the error code and an application error when at least one GPSI corresponding to any of the SUPIs are not found in the database.

2 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the service is “Nudm_SDM_get multiple identifiers translation”.

3 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the Network Function is one of network exposure function (NEF), access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), short message service function (SMSF), gateway mobile location centre (GMLC), network data analytics function (NWDAF), data collection coordination function (DCCF), trusted AF, location management function (LMF).

4 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the SUPI is an internal identifier and GPSI is an external identifier of the UE.

5 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the request to support translation of SUPI(s) comprises of at least one query parameter.

6 . The method as claimed in claim 5 , wherein the at least one query parameter comprising plurality of at least one of application function (AF) specific parameter and SUPI.

7 . The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the query parameter is in plurality of attributes; wherein the plurality of attributes comprise “supi-list”.

8 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the at least one GPSI is provided using the attribute “ueIdGpsilist”.

9 . The method as claimed in claim 8 , wherein the attribute “ueIdGpsilist” is of a map data type, wherein the map data type comprises the mapping association between two UE identifiers.

10 . The method as claimed in claim 9 , wherein the map data type comprises a map's key and plurality of map's value.

11 . The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the map's key is defined as string data type representing the SUPI.

12 . The method as claimed in claim 10 , wherein the map's value comprises all possible GPSIs corresponding to every SUPI.

13 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, on the successful translation, the UDM shall respond with “ 200 OK”.

14 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , wherein, on the error code will be “ 404 Not Found”.

15 . The method as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
determining ( 601 ) by the UDM, selecting one of: the at least one GPSI based on the at least one AF specific parameter when the at least one GPSI is allowed; and the error response when the at least one GPSI is not allowed; sending ( 602 ), by the UDM, one of: the selected at least one GPSI or the error response.

16 . The method as claimed in claim 6 , wherein the AF specific parameter is at least one of AF Identifier, Application Port Identifier, Application Service Identifier, MTC Provider Information and Type of GPSI.

17 . The method as claimed in claim 15 and claim 16 , wherein the error response comprises an error code “ 403 Forbidden” and an application error “AF_NOT_ALLOWED” when the at least one AF specific parameter is the AF Identifier.

18 . The method as claimed in claim 15 and claim 16 , wherein the error response comprises an error code “ 403 Forbidden” and an application error “MTC_PROVIDER_NOT_ALLOWED” when the at least one AF specific parameter is the MTC Provider Information.

19 . The method ( 600 - a ) as claimed in claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving ( 601 - a ) by the NEF, a request for a service from an application function (AF), to get an information about the plurality of UEs in an area; requesting ( 602 - a ) by the NEF, the information from an AMF about the number of UEs in an area; receiving ( 603 - a ) by the NEF from the AMF, the information about the plurality of UEs, wherein the information includes UE identifiers as SUPI(S); requesting ( 604 - a ) by NEF, the UE Identifier Translation from a UDM, wherein the information includes the plurality of UE identifiers as SUPI(S) and AF specific parameter; receiving ( 605 - a ), by the NEF, one of: the single attribute containing the GPSI list from the UDM; and the error code; sending ( 606 - a ), by the NEF, one of; the single attribute containing the GPSI list and total number of UEs to the AF; and the error code.

20 . An apparatus for multiple User Equipment (UE) identifier translation in a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising:
one or more memories; and one or more processors coupled to the memories and adapted to:
receive, by a unified data management (UDM) function from a Network Function, a service request to support translation of at least one subscription permanent identifier (SUPI) of at least one UE to its corresponding at least one Generic Public Subscription Identifier (GPSI),
translate by the UDM, the at least one SUPI to the at least one GPSI send, by the UDM, a response comprising a message body, wherein, the message body includes one of the at least one GPSI on successful translation, and the error code and an application error when at least one GPSI corresponding to any of the SUPIs are not found in the database.

21 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 20 , wherein the service is “Nudm_SDM get multiple identifiers translation”.

22 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 20 , wherein the Network Function is one of network exposure function (NEF), access and mobility management function (AMF), session management function (SMF), short message service function (SMSF), gateway mobile location centre (GMLC), network data analytics function (NWDAF), data collection coordination function (DCCF), trusted AF, location management function (LMF).

23 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 20 , wherein the SUPI is an internal identifier and GPSI is an external identifier of the UE.

24 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 20 , wherein the request to support translation of SUPI(s) comprises of at least one query parameter.

25 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 24 , wherein the at least one query parameter comprising plurality of at least one of application function (AF) specific parameter and SUPI.

26 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 25 , wherein the query parameter is in plurality of attributes; wherein the plurality of attributes comprise “supi-list”.

27 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 20 , wherein at least one the GPSI is provided using the attribute “ueIdGpsilist”.

28 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 27 , wherein the attribute “ueIdGpsilist” is of a map data type, wherein the map data type comprises the mapping association between two UE identifiers.

29 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 28 , wherein the map data type comprises a map's key and plurality of map's value.

30 . The apparatus as claimed in claim 29 , wherein

Assignees

• Centre Of Excellence In Wireless Tech
• Indian Inst Tech Madras

Inventors

• Krishnakumar Vikram
• Velmurugan Harini Shree
• Subramaniam Aswathy
• Balasubramanian Anusuya
• Milleth Jeniston Deviraj Klutto
• Ramamurthi Bhaskar

Classifications

• H04W8/26

  Network addressing or numbering for mobility support · CPC title

• H04L61/4588

  containing mobile subscriber information, e.g. home subscriber server [HSS] · CPC title

• H04W48/16

  Discovering, processing access restriction or access information · CPC title

• H04W64/00

  Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management · CPC title

• H04L61/10 Primary

  of different types · CPC title