Patent Description:
An external network entity, like a <NUM>rd party (3P) Application Function (AF), may have additional capabilities, which can help a network to provide better services or improve the network operation efficiency. For instance, a Vehicle-to-anything (V2X) application (e.g., a navigation application) may provide User Equipment (UE) trajectory information to a <NUM> System (5GS). The 5GS can use this information to manage/plan network resources, in order to better satisfy V2X communication service requirements, and to make more efficient usage of network resources. The information could also be used by the 5GS to access the network capability, and to notify the V2X application in advance, if the expected service quality for a V2X communication service is in risk to be degraded. Furthermore, in industry communication use cases, a time monitoring capability from a 3P AF (e.g., a Time Sensitive Network (TSN), real time application) may provide a reference to the 5GS for a better end-to-end latency control.

However, in the current 3GPP Rel. <NUM> there is foreseen only limited capability exposure from an external AF to the 5GS. In particular, the 5GS supports external exposure of network capabilities, comprising [see TS <NUM> v. <NUM> section <NUM>.

Further, Network Exposure Function (NEF) services cover only very specific cases (e.g.. , parameter provision, UE trigger from the AF, etc.) as shown below in Table <NUM>.

For external parameter provision, there are also severe limitations (see e.g. the detailed procedure in TS <NUM> V <NUM>. <NUM> section <NUM>. <NUM> "External Parameter Provisioning"), in particular:.

In one special case of a Network Data Analytic Function (NWDAF), TR <NUM> defines that data from AFs (3P AFs) can be collected by the NWDAF. However, it is left for further study to define, how the NWDAF may actually know, which 3P AF can be used for data collection, and which data and/or services such AFs offer.

<NPL>, discloses a solution to provide analytic information to 5GS NFs and AFs. <NPL>, discloses Service and System Aspects (SA) progress, and potential Radio Access Network (RAN) impacts.

In view of the above, embodiments of the present invention aim to improve the current implementations. An objective is in particular to provide a mechanism that enables an external network entity, e.g. a 3P AF, to expose its service(s) to a network, e.g. to a 5GS. A specific goal is thereby to enable a network entity, e.g. a <NUM> NF, to discover the service(s) provided by an external network entity. Another specific goal is to enable a network entity, e.g. a <NUM> NF, to use (consume) the service(s) provided by an external network entity.

The objective is achieved by the embodiments of the invention as described in the enclosed independent claims.

In particular, embodiments of the invention propose network entities and methods, which support / enable the integration of one or more external services into a network, particularly into a 5GC Service Based Architecture (SBA). Here the external services refers to both services and information provided by the external network entities. A main embodiment is a network entity, e.g. a NEF, which interacts between another network entity and an external network entity.

A "service" also includes "information" provided by the external network entity. Thus, the external network entity may also provide "information".

The clone of the service is a service interface towards the other network entity and also towards the external network entity.

Even if, in the following description of specific embodiments, a specific functionality or step to be performed by external entities is not reflected in the description of a specific detailed element of that entity which performs that specific step or functionality, it should be clear for a skilled person that these methods and functionalities can be implemented in respective software or hardware elements, or any kind of combination thereof, without departing from the scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

<FIG> shows a network entity <NUM>, an external network entity <NUM>, and another network entity <NUM>, which are not covered by the claimed invention. The network entity <NUM> is configured to support registration of the external network entity <NUM> and/or one or more services of the external network entity <NUM> at the other network entity <NUM>. The external network entity <NUM> is configured to provide a service <NUM> to the network entity <NUM>. The other network entity <NUM> is configured to register the external entity <NUM> and/or the one or more services <NUM> of the external network entity <NUM> (via a clone service <NUM>). The network entities <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM> may be, or may be implemented by, processing circuitry or devices. In particular, the network entities <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may be implemented by network devices (e.g. one or more base stations or access nodes) and/or by wireless communication devices (e.g. UEs).

The network entity <NUM> of <FIG> may be a NF, in particular a NEF. The external network entity <NUM> may be a NF configured to communicate with the other network entity <NUM> only via the network entity <NUM>, in particular may be an AF. The other network entity <NUM> may be a NF, in particular a NRF.

The external network entity <NUM> is configured to provide a first registration information <NUM> to the network entity <NUM>, wherein the first registration information <NUM> includes a service profile of the service <NUM> provided by the external network entity <NUM>. Accordingly, the network entity <NUM> may obtain the first registration information <NUM> of the external network entity <NUM> including the service profile of the service <NUM>. The network entity <NUM> is then configured to create a clone <NUM> of the service <NUM>, i.e. a clone service <NUM>, based on the first registration information <NUM>. Further, it is configured to provide a second registration information <NUM> to the other network entity <NUM>, wherein the second registration information <NUM> includes a clone service profile of the clone service <NUM>.

Accordingly, the other network entity <NUM> is configured to receive the second registration information <NUM> including the clone service profile. The other network entity <NUM> is configured to register the clone service <NUM> based on the second registration information <NUM>, and to provide a first registration response <NUM> to the network entity <NUM>.

The network entity <NUM> is configured to obtain the first registration response <NUM> from the other network entity <NUM>, and to provide a second registration response <NUM> to the external network entity <NUM>. Accordingly, the external network entity <NUM> is configured to obtain the second registration response <NUM> from the network entity <NUM>. The second registration response <NUM> may include correlation information between the network entity <NUM> and the at least one service <NUM> of the external network entity <NUM> and/or the external network entity <NUM>.

In the procedure described with respect to <FIG>, the network entity <NUM> may thus serve as an agent for the external network entity <NUM>.

<FIG> shows a network entity <NUM> according to an embodiment of the invention, an external network entity <NUM> according to an embodiment of the invention, and another network entity <NUM> according to an embodiment of the invention. The network entity <NUM> may be the network entity <NUM> shown in <FIG>. The external network entity <NUM> may be the external network entity <NUM> shown in <FIG>. The network entity <NUM> is configured to support transfer of service traffic from the external network entity <NUM> to the other network entity <NUM>. The external network entity <NUM> is configured to provide a service <NUM> to the network entity <NUM>. The service <NUM> may be the service <NUM>. The other network entity <NUM> is configured to consume the service <NUM> (via clone service <NUM>, which may be the same as clone service <NUM>) provided by the external network entity <NUM>. The network entities <NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM> may be, or may be implemented by, processing circuitry or devices. In particular, the network entities <NUM>, <NUM>, and <NUM> may be implemented by network devices (e.g. one or more base stations or access nodes) and/or by wireless communication devices (e.g. UEs).

The network entity <NUM> of <FIG> may be a NF, in particular a NEF. The external network entity <NUM> may be a NF, particularly an AF. The other network entity <NUM> may be an NF.

The other network entity <NUM> is configured to provide a clone service invocation request <NUM> to the network entity <NUM>, wherein the clone service invocation request <NUM> includes clone service invocation information of the clone service <NUM> of the service <NUM> provided by the external network entity <NUM>. Accordingly, the network entity <NUM> obtains the clone service invocation request <NUM> from the other network entity <NUM>.

The network entity <NUM> is configured to provide a service invocation request <NUM> to the external network entity <NUM>, wherein the service invocation request <NUM> includes service invocation information for the service <NUM>. The service invocation request <NUM> may further include correlation information between the network entity <NUM> and the service <NUM> provided by the external network entity <NUM> and/or the external network entity <NUM>. The external network entity <NUM> is configured to obtain the service invocation request <NUM> from the network entity <NUM>.

The external network entity <NUM> may then be configured to process the service invocation information, and to send service invocation response <NUM> to the network entity <NUM>. The network entity <NUM> may accordingly be configured to receive the service invocation response <NUM> from the external network entity <NUM>, to translate the service invocation response <NUM> to a clone service invocation response <NUM>, and to provide the clone service invocation response <NUM> to the other network entity <NUM>. The other network entity <NUM> is configured to obtain the clone service invocation response <NUM> from the other network entity <NUM>, and to consume the clone service <NUM> based on the clone service invocation response <NUM>.

By means of the above-described network entities <NUM>/<NUM>, <NUM>/<NUM>, <NUM> and <NUM>, respectively, the integration of at least one external service <NUM>/<NUM> into a network, e.g. a 5GC SBA, is enabled. In particular, this may be realized by providing a "registration service" (<FIG>) and a "transfer service" (<FIG>) at the network entity <NUM>/<NUM>, which is connected directly to the other network entities <NUM> and/or <NUM> in the network, e.g. located in the 5GC SBA, and is also connected to the external network entity <NUM>/<NUM>, which hosts the external service(s).

The "registration service" (Nnef_Registration) and the "transfer service" (Nnef_Transfer) can be provided by the network entity <NUM>/<NUM> as shown in the below Table <NUM>. The external network entity <NUM>/<NUM> may, for instance, function to connect a V2X application or a TSN to the 5GC control plane through the network entity <NUM>/<NUM>.

The "registration service" may be considered a service of the network entity <NUM>/<NUM>, in order to register the external entity <NUM>/<NUM> and/or its service(s) on behalf of the external entity <NUM>/<NUM>, and to provide the external service(s) to other network entities <NUM>. External service(s) thereby means that the service(s) is not connected directly to the other network entities <NUM> consuming the service(s), e.g. network entities in the 5GC SBA framework, and/or that it may have a different service management system/format.

The registration service (service operation "Nnef_Registration") that may be provided by the network entity <NUM>/<NUM> to the external entity <NUM> is similar to the one provided by NRF described in TS23. <NUM> section <NUM>. <NUM> and TS <NUM> Section <NUM>. The service operation may allow the external network entity <NUM>/<NUM> to register (e.g. via request/response), or to ask for an update (e.g. via request/response), or to deregister (e.g. via request/response). The service operation may be implemented according to the following Table <NUM>:.

There are envisaged two specific implementation modes for the registration service shown in Table <NUM> at the network entity <NUM>/<NUM> for registering the external network entity <NUM>/<NUM> and/or its service(s) at the (registration) network entity <NUM>: proxy mode and agent mode. The agent mode is described in this document in detail.

In the agent mode, the network entity <NUM>/<NUM> receives the first registration information <NUM> from the external entity <NUM>/<NUM>, applies the necessary mapping steps (e.g., cloning service(s) <NUM>/<NUM> and mapping information from the first registration information <NUM> into its own registration information), and creates the second registration information <NUM> that masks the external service(s) <NUM>/<NUM> as the own (clone) services <NUM>/<NUM> of the network entity <NUM>/<NUM>. The effect is that any allowed further network entity <NUM> (e.g.NF) in the 5GS can discover and invoke service(s) <NUM>/<NUM> from the external entity <NUM>/<NUM> by invoking the clone service <NUM>/<NUM>. It will, however, only be able to reach to the network entity <NUM>/<NUM> and will not be able to explicitly distinguish which service(s) (<NUM>/<NUM> or <NUM>/<NUM>) it is offered by the network entity <NUM>/<NUM>, and which ones are exposed by the network entity <NUM>/<NUM> but belong to the external entity <NUM>/<NUM>.

The "transfer service" is a service provided by the network entity <NUM>/<NUM> to bridge the communication (e.g. service request/response) between the external network entity <NUM>/<NUM> and a further network entity <NUM>, which is a service consumer (e.g. connected to 5GC SBA framework). There are again two implementation modes for the transfer service at the network entity <NUM>/<NUM>: proxy mode and agent mode. The agent mode is described in this document in detail.

In case of the clone of service is implemented as a clone service at the network entity <NUM>/<NUM>/<NUM>, the network entity <NUM>/<NUM>/<NUM> receives a transfer request, i.e. the clone service invocation request <NUM> (e.g., subscribe/request/notification, etc.) from the further network entity <NUM> for a cloned service <NUM>/<NUM>, which is a clone of a service <NUM>/<NUM> provided by the external network entity <NUM>/<NUM> and is generated during the registration procedure as described above. And the network entity <NUM>/<NUM> further sends the correspondent transfer request, i.e. the service invocation request <NUM> to the external network entity101/<NUM>.

In case of the clone of service is implemented as an update of existing service at the network entity <NUM>/<NUM>, the network entity <NUM>/<NUM>/<NUM> receives a transfer request, i.e. the correspondent network service invocation request <NUM> (e.g., subscribe/request/notification, etc.) from the further network entity <NUM> for a service <NUM>, which includes a clone of a service <NUM>/<NUM>/<NUM> provided by the external network entity <NUM>/<NUM>/<NUM> and is updated during the registration procedure as described above. And the network entity <NUM>/<NUM>/<NUM> further sends the correspondent transfer request, i.e. the service invocation request <NUM> to the external network entity <NUM>/<NUM>/<NUM>.

<FIG> shows a procedure between various network entities according to embodiments of the invention. In particular, the procedure involves the network entity <NUM>/<NUM> (here a NEF), the external entity <NUM>/<NUM> (here an AF/3P AF), the other network entity <NUM> (here a NRF), and the other network entity <NUM> (here a NF). In particular, <FIG> shows the procedure in agent mode as described in this document:.

A detailed description of the NEF agent mode embodiment follows. The NEF "registration service" corresponds to steps <NUM> - <NUM> in <FIG>. The NEF "transfer service" corresponds to the steps <NUM> - <NUM> or messages in <FIG>.

In case of notification from the 3P AF <NUM>/<NUM>, similar steps 11a-13a may be triggered from the AF as follows:.

If the NEF <NUM>/<NUM> is implemented as an agent (agent mode), the NFs <NUM> consider 3P services <NUM>/<NUM> as a service <NUM>/<NUM> provided by the NEF <NUM>/<NUM>. The NEF <NUM>/<NUM> generates a clone service <NUM>/<NUM> of the 3P service <NUM>/<NUM> locally. The cloned service <NUM>/<NUM> is invoked instead of the transfer service at the NEF <NUM>/<NUM> to bridge the communication between the 3P AF <NUM>/<NUM> and 5GC NFs <NUM>. The rolls of the NEF <NUM>/<NUM> in the agent option are:.

The registration operations for the agent mode are similar to the current one for 5GN NF. The difference is just the service profile used in the registration information <NUM>. All the fields indicating NF-related information should be replaced with corresponding NEF-related information. The NEF <NUM>/<NUM> needs to keep the service profile (and e.g. NF profile) of the 3P AF <NUM>/<NUM> locally and map it to the clone service <NUM>/<NUM> by the NEF <NUM>/<NUM> to the NRF <NUM>.

The NEF <NUM>/<NUM> needs to provide the same operation of the service(s) as provided by the 3P party AF <NUM>/<NUM>, and forward the service message between the 3P party AF <NUM>/<NUM> and 5GC NFs <NUM>. In case of SBA frameworks being different between the one used by 5GC and the one used by <NUM>rd party AF <NUM>/<NUM>, the exchanged service message needs to be converted.

The agent mode provides the following advantages:.

In the following, different data structures that are used by embodiments of the invention, e.g. as shown in <FIG>, are explained.

The Nnef_Registration service operation described above can be further extended to include Proxy Status Un/Subscribe/Notify service operations. These service operations enable the external network entity <NUM>/<NUM> to discover services provided by the network entities <NUM> via the network entity <NUM>/<NUM>. This is shown below in Table <NUM>.

For each Nnef_Registration_Register_Req, the NEF <NUM>/<NUM> may perform authorization based on the external entity <NUM>/<NUM>, which may result in the restriction of using the service(s) according to preconfigured policy, which is called Registration Mapping. The restriction is reflected in the AFinfo registered in the network entity <NUM>.

For each Nnef_ProxyTransfer_req/subscription, the NEF <NUM>/<NUM> may perform authorization based on the NF/AF pair, which may result in the restriction of using the transfer service (e.g., period of time, maximum transfer amount of data, maximum transfer amount of data per time period, etc.) according to preconfigured policy. The restriction is reflected in the service admission control of the NEFcloneService in the proxy mode.

In summary, an example not covered by the claimed invention provides a network entity <NUM>/<NUM> for a 5GS that is configured to:.

Support the exchange of communication(s) between the network entities <NUM> and the external network entity <NUM>/<NUM>, wherein the exchange of communication can be performed in:.

Claim 1:
Network entity (<NUM>) for supporting invocation by another network entity (<NUM>) of a service (<NUM>) provided by an external network entity (<NUM>), wherein the network entity (<NUM>) is configured to:
obtain a clone service invocation request (<NUM>) from the other network entity (<NUM>), wherein the clone service invocation request (<NUM>) includes clone service invocation information of a clone of the service (<NUM>) provided by the external network entity (<NUM>), and wherein the clone of the service (<NUM>) is a service interface towards the other network entity (<NUM>) and also towards the external network entity (<NUM>),
translate the clone service invocation information (<NUM>) into service invocation information, and
provide a service invocation request (<NUM>) to the external network entity (<NUM>), wherein the service invocation request (<NUM>) includes the service invocation information, wherein the network entity (<NUM>) and the other network entity (<NUM>) are comprised in a network, and the external network (<NUM>) entity is external to the network.