US 12,457,524 B2
Apparatus and method for providing N6-LAN using service function chaining in wireless communication system
Yoo Hwa Kang, Daejeon (KR); Changki Kim, Daejeon (KR); and Jaewook Lee, Daejeon (KR)
Assigned to ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Daejeon (KR)
Filed by ELECTRONICS AND TELECOMMUNICATIONS RESEARCH INSTITUTE, Daejeon (KR)
Filed on Mar. 29, 2023, as Appl. No. 18/127,781.
Claims priority of application No. 10-2022-0039231 (KR), filed on Mar. 29, 2022; application No. 10-2022-0056279 (KR), filed on May 6, 2022; application No. 10-2022-0098792 (KR), filed on Aug. 8, 2022; and application No. 10-2023-0033365 (KR), filed on Mar. 14, 2023.
Prior Publication US 2023/0319635 A1, Oct. 5, 2023
Int. Cl. H04W 28/08 (2023.01); H04L 12/14 (2006.01); H04L 12/46 (2006.01)
CPC H04W 28/0925 (2020.05) [H04L 12/1407 (2013.01); H04L 12/4633 (2013.01); H04L 12/4641 (2013.01)] 15 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A method of supporting an N6-LAN traffic steering function using a service function chaining (SFC) technology in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:
configuring, by a policy control function (PCF), additional information for N6-LAN traffic steering on the basis of a policy and charging control (PCC) rule, wherein the additional information includes at least one of a service function chaining (SFC) ID or a service function path (SFP) ID, and metadata for SFC encapsulation;
transmitting the configured additional information to a session management function (SMF);
configuring, by the SMF, a forwarding action rule (FAR) including the additional information for N6-LAN traffic steering;
transmitting, by the SMF, the FAR including the additional information to a user plane function (UPF); and
performing, by the UPF, SFC encapsulation on the basis of a predefined SFC policy and the FAR, wherein the SFC encapsulation comprises adding an SFC header to a packet, the SFC header including a service path identifier (SPI) and a service index (SI), wherein the SPI is set to the SFP ID uniquely identifying a specific service function path within an SFC-enabled domain and the SI is set to a value representing a total length of the SFP, the total length indicating a number of service functions or hops in the SFP.