Exposure of UE ID and related service continuity with UE and service mobility

1 . A computing system, comprising:

processing circuitry; and

a memory device including instructions embodied thereon, wherein the instructions, which when executed by the processing circuitry, configure the processing circuitry for maintaining service continuity in a Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR) network in communication with a multi-access edge computing (MEC) system and an edge application (EDGEAPP) system, with operations to:

decode at a network exposure function (NEF) of a core network (CN) associated with the EDGEAPP system, a notification message originating from a service management function (SMF) of the CN, the notification message including a user equipment (UE) Internet protocol (IP) address change of a UE connected to the CN;

determine a private IP address of the UE based on the UE IP address change;

encode a query for transmission to a network address translation (NAT) server, the query including the private IP address of the UE;

decode a response from the NAT server, the response including a public IP address of the UE and a user equipment identification (UE ID) of the UE, the public IP address corresponding to the private IP address;

generate at the NEF of the CN, a tuple including the UE ID, the public IP address, and the private IP address; and

perform a mapping between the UE ID, the public IP address, and the private IP address based on the tuple, the NAT query to obtain the public IP address and the UE ID being initiated by the NEF, and, when a domain name system application function (DNS AF) of the CN is present, the DNS AF generates the tuple and forwards the tuple to the NEF.

2 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the operations are further to:

decode a UE ID request received from an edge enabler server (EES), the UE ID request originating from an application function (AF) of the CN, the AF associated with a MEC application of the MEC system and an edge application of the EDGEAPP system; and

encode the UE ID for transmission to the MEC application of the MEC system or the edge application of the EDGEAPP system via the EES based on the UE ID request.

3 . The computing system of claim 2 , wherein the UE ID request is a Nnef_UEId_Getrequest application programming interface (API) originating from the AF, and wherein the operations are further to:

decode the UE ID request to obtain the public IP address of the UE;

obtain the UE ID based on the public IP address using the tuple; and

encode the UE ID for transmission to the MEC application in response to the UE ID request.

4 . The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the operations are further to:

decode a UE ID request received from an edge enabler server (EES), the UE ID request originating from an edge enabler client (EEC) of the UE; and

encode the UE ID for transmission to the EEC via the EES based on the UE ID request.

5 . The computing system of claim 4 , wherein the UE ID request originates from an application client (AC) of the UE, the AC being in communication with the EEC, and wherein the operations are further to:

decode the UE ID request to obtain the private IP address of the UE;

obtain the UE ID based on the private IP address using the tuple; and

encode the UE ID for transmission to the AC via the EES and the EEC in response to the UE ID request.

6 . The computing system of claim 4 , wherein the UE ID request originates from an application client (AC) of the UE, the AC being in communication with an edge enabler client (EEC) of the UE, and wherein the operations are further to:

encode the UE ID request for transmission to the DNS AF of the CN.

7 . The computing system of claim 6 , wherein the operations are further to:

resolve domain information in the UE ID request using the DNS AF to obtain the private IP address of the UE, the domain information associated with a MEC application of the MEC system or an edge application of the EDGEAPP system accessed by the AC.

8 . The computing system of claim 7 , wherein the operations are further to:

retrieve at the DNS AF, the UE ID from the SMF of the CN.

9 . The computing system of claim 8 , wherein the operations are further to:

cause a NAT translation of the UE ID and the private IP address using the NAT server, to obtain the public IP address.

10 . The computing system of claim 9 , wherein the operations are further to:

generate the tuple at the DNS AF based on the NAT translation by the NAT server; and

forward the tuple to the NEF of the CN.

11 . A method for maintaining service continuity in a Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR) network in communication with a multi-access edge computing (MEC) system and an edge application (EDGEAPP) system, the method comprising:

decoding at a network exposure function (NEF) of a core network (CN) associated with the EDGEAPP system, a notification message originating from a service management function (SMF) of the CN, the notification message including a user equipment (UE) Internet protocol (IP) address change of a UE connected to the CN;

determining a private IP address of the UE based on the UE IP address change;

encoding a query for transmission to a network address translation (NAT) server, the query including the private IP address of the UE;

decoding a response from the NAT server, the response including a public IP address of the UE and a user equipment identification (UE ID) of the UE, the public IP address corresponding to the private IP address;

generating at the NEF of the CN, a tuple including the UE ID, the public IP address, and the private IP address; and

performing a mapping between the UE ID, the public IP address, and the private IP address based on the tuple, the NAT query to obtain the public IP address and the UE ID being initiated by the NEF, and, when a domain name system application function (DNS AF) of the CN is present, the DNS AF generates the tuple and forwards the tuple to the NEF.

12 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

decoding a UE ID request received from an edge enabler server (EES), the UE ID request originating from an application function (AF) of the CN, the AF associated with a MEC application of the MEC system and an edge application of the EDGEAPP system; and

encoding the UE ID for transmission to the MEC application of the MEC system or the edge application of the EDGEAPP system via the EES based on the UE ID request.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the UE ID request is a Nnef_UEId_Getrequest application programming interface (API) originating from the AF, and wherein the method further comprising:

decoding the UE ID request to obtain the public IP address of the UE;

obtaining the UE ID based on the public IP address using the tuple; and

encoding the UE ID for transmission to the MEC application in response to the UE ID request.

14 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

decoding a UE ID request received from an edge enabler server (EES), the UE ID request originating from an edge enabler client (EEC) of the UE; and

encoding the UE ID for transmission to the EEC via the EES based on the UE ID request.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the UE ID request originates from an application client (AC) of the UE, the AC being in communication with the EEC, and wherein the method further comprising:

decoding the UE ID request to obtain the private IP address of the UE;

obtaining the UE ID based on the private IP address using the tuple; and

encoding the UE ID for transmission to the AC via the EES and the EEC in response to the UE ID request.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the UE ID request originates from an application client (AC) of the UE, the AC being in communication with an edge enabler client (EEC) of the UE, and wherein the method further comprising:

encoding the UE ID request for transmission to the DNS AF of the CN.

17 . The method of claim 16 , further comprising:

resolving domain information in the UE ID request using the DNS AF to obtain the private IP address of the UE, the domain information associated with a MEC application of the MEC system or an edge application of the EDGEAPP system accessed by the AC.

18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:

retrieving at the DNS AF, the UE ID from the SMF of the CN.

19 . The method of claim 18 , further comprising:

causing a NAT translation of the UE ID and the private IP address using the NAT server, to obtain the public IP address;

generating the tuple at the DNS AF based on the NAT translation by the NAT server; and

forwarding the tuple to the NEF of the CN.

20 . A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions for execution by one or more processors of a computing node in a Fifth Generation New Radio (5G NR) network in communication with a multi-access edge computing (MEC) system and an edge application (EDGEAPP) system, the instructions to configure the computing node for service continuity and to cause the computing node to perform operations comprising:

decoding at a network exposure function (NEF) of a core network (CN) of the 5G NR network, a notification message originating from a service management function (SMF) of the CN, the notification message including a user equipment (UE) Internet protocol (IP) address change of a UE connected to the CN;

determining a private IP address of the UE based on the UE IP address change;

encoding a query for transmission to a network address translation (NAT) server, the query including the private IP address of the UE;

decoding a response from the NAT server, the response including a public IP address of the UE and a user equipment identification (UE ID) of the UE, the public IP address corresponding to the private IP address;

generating at the NEF of the CN, a tuple including the UE ID, the public IP address, and the private IP address; and

performing a mapping between the UE ID, the public IP address, and the private IP address based on the tuple, the NAT query to obtain the public IP address and the UE ID being initiated by the NEF, and, when a domain name system application function (DNS AF) of the CN is present, the DNS AF generates the tuple and forwards the tuple to the NEF.