| CPC H04L 41/12 (2013.01) [H04L 61/4511 (2022.05)] | 20 Claims |

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1. A telecommunications network comprising:
a core network comprising:
a first plurality of hardware-based Network Functions (NFs); and
a Network Registration Function (NRF) configured to communicate with the first plurality of NFs, wherein the first plurality of NFs are registered with the NRF, and the NRF is configured to:
receive, from an NF service consumer located outside of the core network, a request for discovery of a topology of the core network;
determine, based on an authorization procedure of the core network, whether the NF service consumer is authorized to discover the topology of the core network; and
send, in response to determining that the NF service consumer is authorized to discover the topology of the core network, a response to the NF service consumer, wherein the response comprises information regarding each of the first plurality of NFs and interconnections between the first plurality of NFs.
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