IP Library › Granted Patent US 12,574,946
Granted Patent B2
US 12,574,946 · App. 17/954,088 · Granted Mar 10, 2026

Method, apparatus, medium and electronic device for multicast broadcast service

Inventor: Chunshan Xiong (Shenzhen, CN)
Assignee: Tencent Technology (Shenzhen) Company Limited
H04W72/30H04W76/12
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12,574,946
App. No.
17/954,088
Granted
Mar 10, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Embodiments of this disclosure provide methods, apparatuses, non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, and electronic devices for a multicast broadcast service. A method includes: receiving a first multicast broadcast service (MBS) session start request, selecting an intermediate user plane node, transmitting a first user plane MBS session establishment request to the intermediate user plane node, receiving a first user plane MBS session establishment response fed back by the intermediate user plane node and transmitting a second MBS session start request to a son control plane node to instruct the son control plane node to allocate son user plane nodes to the intermediate user plane node.

Claims (48)

1 . A method for a multicast broadcast service, comprising:

receiving a first multicast broadcast service (MBS) session start request, by an intermediate-session management function (I-SMF) of a core network, transmitted by an i th level control plane node in a MBS session transmission tree, the i th level control plane node being an intermediate level control plane node in the MBS session transmission tree, the first MBS session start request comprising information of a son control plane node, the son control plane node being a sub-control plane node of the i th level control plane node in the core network such that the information of the son control plane node is provided by the i th level control plane node, identification information of an i th level user plane node in the core network, and first MBS Internet Protocol (IP) multicast distribution information that includes at least a first MBS IP multicast transmission address that is allocated by the i th level user plane node for a first multicast transmission group, i being a positive integer;

selecting, by the I-SMF of the core network, an intermediate user plane node according to a service area of the i th level control plane node and a service area of the son control plane node, the intermediate user plane node being capable of establishing a connection with a user plane function entity managed by the i th level user plane node and with a user plane function entity managed by the son control plane node;

transmitting a first user plane MBS session establishment request, by the I-SMF of the core network, to the intermediate user plane node, the first user plane MBS session establishment request comprising the first MBS IP multicast distribution information for the intermediate user plane node to join the first multicast transmission group to receive MBS data transmitted by the i th level user plane node;

receiving a first user plane MBS session establishment response fed back by the intermediate user plane node; and

transmitting a second MBS session start request, by the I-SMF of the core network, to the son control plane node to instruct the son control plane node to allocate son user plane nodes to the intermediate user plane node, the second MBS session start request comprising identification information of the intermediate user plane node, and second MBS IP multicast distribution information including at least a second MBS IP multicast transmission address for the son user plane nodes to join a second multicast transmission group associated with the second MBS IP multicast transmission address to receive MBS data transmitted by the intermediate user plane node through multicast.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first user plane MBS session establishment request comprises indication information for instructing the intermediate user plane node to allocate new MBS IP multicast distribution information; and

the first user plane MBS session establishment response comprises the second MBS IP multicast distribution information including at least the second MBS IP multicast transmission address that is allocated by the intermediate user plane node.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein:

in response to the intermediate user plane node receiving the MBS data of the i th level user plane node through peer to peer, the first user plane MBS session establishment request comprises indication information for requesting an allocation of a full qualified tunnel endpoint identifier (F-TEID) to the intermediate user plane node, the first user plane MBS session establishment response comprises the F-TEID allocated to the intermediate user plane node, and the F-TEID is used for causing the intermediate user plane node to receive, through peer to peer, the MBS data transmitted by the i th level user plane node; or

the first user plane MBS session establishment response indicates that the intermediate user plane node supports receiving the MBS data of the i th level user plane node through peer to peer and comprises an F-TEID allocated to the intermediate user plane node.

4 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a second MBS session start response fed back by the son control plane node in response to the second MBS session start request, the second MBS session start response comprising first indication information, wherein the first indication information comprises identification information of the intermediate user plane node, first full qualified tunnel endpoint identifier (F-TEID) list information, and first field information for a start of multicast transmission, the first field information indicates that at least a first son user plane node that supports receiving, through multicast, the MBS data transmitted by the intermediate user plane node exists in the son user plane nodes, and the first F-TEID list information comprises F-TEIDs of a subset of the son user plane nodes that support receiving, through peer to peer rather than through multicast, the MBS data transmitted by the intermediate user plane node.

5 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a second MBS session start response fed back by the son control plane node in response to the second MBS session start request, the second MBS session start response comprising first indication information, wherein the first indication information comprises the identification information of the intermediate user plane node and first field information for a start of multicast transmission, a lack of first full qualified tunnel endpoint identifier (F-TEID) list information in the first indication information indicates that all the son user plane nodes allocated by the son control plane node to the intermediate user plane node support receiving, through multicast, the MBS data transmitted by the intermediate user plane node.

6 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a second MBS session start response fed back by the son control plane node in response to the second MBS session start request, the second MBS session start response comprising first indication information, wherein:

the first indication information comprises the identification information of the intermediate user plane node and first full qualified tunnel endpoint identifier (F-TEID) list information, a lack of first field information for indicating a start of multicast transmission in the first indication information indicates that all the son user plane nodes allocated by the son control plane node to the intermediate user plane node support receiving, through peer to peer rather than through multicast, the MBS data transmitted by the intermediate user plane node.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:

receiving a second MBS session start response fed back by the son control plane node in response to the second MBS session start request, the second MBS session start response comprising first indication information, wherein the first indication information comprises the identification information of the intermediate user plane node and field information indicating a stop of multicast transmission and lacks first full qualified tunnel endpoint identifier (F-TEID) list information, the first indication information indicates that the son control plane node does not allocate the son user plane nodes to the intermediate user plane node.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein a list of intermediate user plane nodes including the intermediate user plane node and at least another intermediate user plane node are selected, and the method comprises:

receiving a second MBS session start response fed back by the son control plane node in response to the second MBS session start request, the second MBS session start response comprising a list of first indication information respectively for the list of intermediate user plane nodes.

9 . The method according to claim 8 , wherein the second MBS session start response further comprises a failed identification information list, and the failed identification information list indicates a specific intermediate user plane node in the list of intermediate user plane nodes to which son user plane nodes are not allocated.

10 . The method according to claim 9 , further comprising:

transmitting a user plane MBS session deletion request to the specific intermediate user plane node.

11 . The method according to claim 10 , further comprising:

receiving a user plane MBS session deletion response in response to the user plane MBS session deletion request, the user plane MBS session deletion response indicating that the specific intermediate user plane node exits the first multicast transmission group corresponding to the first MBS IP multicast transmission address after receiving the user plane MBS session deletion request.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first MBS session start request indicates at least two son control plane nodes, the method further comprises:

selecting a list of intermediate user plane nodes including the intermediate user plane node and at least another intermediate user plane node respectively for the at least two son control plane nodes;

receiving second MBS session start responses in response to second MBS session start requests respectively to the at least two son control plane nodes; and

determining whether a specific intermediate user plane node to which no son user plane node is allocated exists based on the second MBS session start responses.

13 . The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:

transmitting, in response to the first F-TEID list information in the first indication information, a user plane MBS session modification request to the intermediate user plane node according to the identification information of the intermediate user plane node in the first indication information, to instruct the intermediate user plane node to respectively transmit, through peer to peer, the MBS data to the subset of son user plane nodes corresponding to the F-TEIDs in the first F-TEID list information.

14 . The method according to claim 4 , further comprising:

feeding back a first MBS session start response to the i th level control plane node according to the second MBS session start response fed back by the son control plane node, the first MBS session start response being a response for the first MBS session start request.

15 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first MBS session start request indicates at least two son control plane nodes, and the method further comprises:

receiving second MBS session start responses respectively from the at least two son control plane nodes in response to second MBS session start requests respectively to the at least two son control plane nodes; and

feeding back a first MBS session start response to the i th level control plane node in response to the second MBS session start responses.

16 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the first MBS session start response comprises second indication information, the second indication information comprises the identification information of the i th level user plane node, second F-TEID list information, and second field information for indicating a start of multicast transmission, the second field information indicating that at least one intermediate user plane node that supports receiving, through multicast, the MBS data transmitted by the i th level user plane node exists, and the second F-TEID list information comprising F-TEIDs of a subset of intermediate user plane nodes that support receiving, through peer to peer rather than through multicast, the MBS data transmitted by the i th level user plane node.

17 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the first MBS session start response comprises second indication information, and the second indication information comprises the identification information of the i th level user plane node and the second field information for indicating a start of multicast transmission, and lacks F-TEID list information, the second indication information indicates that all the intermediate user plane nodes support receiving, through multicast, the MBS data transmitted by the i th level user plane node.

18 . The method according to claim 14 , wherein the first MBS session start response comprises second indication information, and the second indication information comprises the identification information of the i th level user plane node and second F-TEID list information and lacks second field information for indicating a start of multicast transmission, the second indication information indicates that all the intermediate user plane nodes support receiving, through peer to peer rather than through multicast, the MBS data transmitted by the i th level user plane node.

19 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the first MBS session start request comprises respective identification information of at least two i th level user plane nodes, and first MBS IP multicast transmission addresses that are respectively allocated by the at least two i th level user plane nodes, the first MBS IP multicast transmission addresses are different.

20 . An apparatus, comprising processing circuitry configured to:

receive a first multicast broadcast service (MBS) session start request, by an intermediate-session management function (I-SMF) of a core network in the apparatus, transmitted by an i th level control plane node in a MBS session transmission tree, the i th level control plane node being an intermediate level control plane node in the MBS session transmission tree, the first MBS session start request comprising information of a son control plane node, the son control plane node being a sub-control plane node of the i th level control plane node in the core network such that the information of the son control plane node is provided by the i th level control plane node, identification information of an i th level user plane node in the core network, and first MBS Internet Protocol (IP) multicast distribution information that includes at least a first MBS IP multicast transmission address that is allocated by the i th level user plane node for a first multicast transmission group, i being a positive integer;

select, by the I-SMF of the core network, an intermediate user plane node according to a service area of the i th level control plane node and a service area of the son control plane node, the intermediate user plane node being capable of establishing a connection with a user plane function entity managed by the i th level user plane node and with a user plane function entity managed by the son control plane node;

transmit a first user plane MBS session establishment request, by the I-SMF of the core network in the apparatus, to the intermediate user plane node, the first user plane MBS session establishment request comprising the first MBS IP multicast distribution information for the intermediate user plane node to join the first multicast transmission group to receive MBS data transmitted by the i th level user plane node;

receive a first user plane MBS session establishment response fed back by the intermediate user plane node; and

transmit a second MBS session start request, by the I-SMF of the core network in the apparatus, to the son control plane node to instruct the son control plane node to allocate son user plane nodes to the intermediate user plane node, the second MBS session start request comprising identification information of the intermediate user plane node, and second MBS IP multicast distribution information including at least a second MBS IP multicast transmission address for the son user plane nodes to join a second multicast transmission group associated with the second MBS IP multicast transmission address to receive MBS data transmitted by the intermediate user plane node through multicast.

Assignments (1)
ASSIGNMENT OF ASSIGNOR'S INTEREST Recorded Sep 27, 2022
From: XIONG, CHUNSHAN
To: TENCENT TECHNOLOGY (SHENZHEN) COMPANY LIMITED
Reel/Frame 061230/0213 →
Priority Claims (1)
CN 202010694105.7 · Jul 17, 2020 · national
Continuity (2)
Continuation PCTCN2021100085 · Jun 15, 2021
Related Publication 20230025793A1 · Jan 26, 2023
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