Shared CU UP address management

Inventors: Philippe Godin (Massy, FR); Bruno Landais (Lannion, FR); Horst Thomas Belling (Munich, DE)

Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy

H04W40/023 H04W40/248 H04W72/30

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Quick Facts

Patent No.: US 12701490
App. No.: 18/189,852
Granted: Aug 4, 2026
Kind: B2

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Abstract

There is provided an apparatus, said apparatus comprising, at a multicast/broadcast session management function of a core network, means for receiving information related to a shared centralised unit user plane, CU UP for a multicast/broadcast session, from a radio access network, RAN, node or an access management function of the core network, means for determining, based on the information, whether to configure a user plane function of the core network to deliver data or to terminate delivery of data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP and means for, if so, configuring the user plane function to deliver data or to terminate delivery of data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP.

Claims (34)

1 . An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor and at least one memory including a computer program code, the at least one memory storing computer program code of a multicast/broadcast session management function for a core network, the computer program code, when executed by the at least one processor, causing the apparatus at least to perform operations, the operations comprising:

receiving information related to a shared centralised unit user plane, shared CU UP, for a multicast/broadcast session, from a radio access network, RAN, node or an access management function of the core network, wherein the information comprises an identity associated with the RAN node and an indication that indicates whether delivery of data or termination of the delivery of data is requested;

determining, based on the information, whether to configure a user plane function of the core network to deliver data or to terminate the delivery of data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP, wherein the determining comprises determining to configure, in an instance that no other RAN node previously requested the delivery of data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP and the indication indicates that the delivery of data is requested, the user plane function to deliver the data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP; and

configuring, based on the determining, the user plane function to deliver the data or to terminate the delivery of data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP.

2 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the determining further comprises determining to configure the user plane function to terminate the delivery of data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP in an instance an indication that the termination of the delivery of data is requested is received and no other RAN node still requires the delivery of data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP.

3 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the information further comprises at least one of an indication that the shared CU UP is shared and a global identity associated with the shared CU UP.

4 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise storing the identity associated with the RAN node in association with an identity associated with the shared CU UP.

5 . The apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein the identity associated with the shared CU UP is a transport layer address.

6 . The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the RAN node comprises a centralised unit control plane, CU CP, and wherein the receiving the information comprises receiving the information from the RAN node and wherein the receiving the information from the RAN node comprises receiving the information-from the CU CP.

7 . A method of a network node of a core network, the network node implementing a multicast/broadcast session management function, the method comprising:

configuring, based on the determining, the user plane function to deliver the data or to terminate the delivery of data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP.

8 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising:

receiving another information related to the shared CU UP, for the multicast/broadcast session, from the RAN node or an access management function of the core network, wherein the information comprises the identity associated with the RAN node and another indication that indicates whether the delivery of data or the termination of the delivery of data is requested; and

determining, based on the another information, whether to configure the user plane function of the core network to deliver the data or to terminate the delivery of data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP, wherein the determining comprises determining to configure, in an instance that no other RAN node previously requested the delivery of data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP and the indication indicates that the delivery of data is requested, the user plane function to deliver the data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP;

wherein the determining comprises determining to configure, in an instance an another indication that no other RAN node still requires the delivery of data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP and the another indication indicates that the termination of the delivery of data is requested, the user plane function to terminate the delivery of the data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP.

9 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the information further comprises at least one of an indication that the shared CU UP is shared and a global identity associated with the shared CU UP.

10 . The method according to claim 7 , further comprising storing the identity associated with the RAN node in association with an identity associated with the shared CU UP.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , wherein the identity associated with the shared CU UP is a transport layer address.

12 . The method according to claim 7 , wherein the RAN node comprises a centralised unit control plane, CU CP, and wherein the receiving the information comprises receiving the information from the RAN node and wherein the receiving the information from the RAN node comprises receiving the information-from the CU CP.

13 . A non-transitory computer readable storage medium storing program instructions of a multicast/broadcast session management function for a core network, which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the following operations, the operations comprising:

configuring, based on the determining, the user plane function to deliver the data or to terminate the delivery of data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP.

14 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise:

session, from the RAN node or an access management function of the core network, wherein the information comprises the identity associated with the RAN node and another indication that indicates whether the delivery of data or the termination of the delivery of data is requested; and

wherein the determining further comprises determining to configure, in an instance an another indication that no other RAN node still requires the delivery of data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP and the another indication indicates that the termination of the delivery of data is requested, the user plane function to terminate the delivery of the data for the multicast/broadcast session towards the shared CU UP.

15 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 13 , wherein the information further comprises at least one of an indication that the shared CU UP is shared and a global identity associated with the shared CU UP.

16 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise storing the identity associated with the RAN node in association with an identity associated with the shared CU UP.

17 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 16 , wherein the identity associated with the shared CU UP is a transport layer address.

18 . The non-transitory computer readable storage medium according to claim 13 , wherein the RAN node comprises a centralised unit control plane, CU CP, and wherein the receiving the information comprises receiving the information from the RAN node and wherein the receiving the information from the RAN node comprises receiving the information-from the CU CP.