Address information obtaining method and apparatus

An address information obtaining method, comprising:

• receiving, by a network repository network element from a first terminal utilizing address information obtained from a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, a type of a first network function (NF) and information about a first network slice;
• determining, by the network repository network element, that the first terminal is allowed to access a first network element that supports the type of the first NF and is in the first network slice;
• obtaining, by the network repository network element, address information of the first network element, wherein the first network element supports the type of the first NF and is in the first network slice;
• and
• sending, by the network repository network element to the first terminal, the address information of the first network element.

An apparatus, comprising:

• a processor;
• and
• a memory coupled to the processor and having program instructions stored thereon which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to:
• determine that a first network element that supports a type of a first network function (NF) and is in a first network slice needs to be accessed;
• send a type of a network repository function (NRF) corresponding to the first NF to a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server;
• receive address information of a network repository network element from the DHCP server;
• send, based on the address information of the network repository network element, the type of the first NF and information about the first network slice to the network repository network element to obtain address information of the first network element that supports the type of the first NF and is in the first network slice;
• and
• receive address information of the first network element from the network repository network element, wherein the first network element supports the type of the first NF and is in the first network slice.

A communications system comprising:

• a network repository network element;
• and
• a terminal comprising a first processor configured to:
• determine that a first network element that supports a type of a first network function (NF) and is in a first network slice needs to be accessed,
• send a type of a network repository function (NRF) corresponding to the first NF to a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server,
• receive address information of the network repository network element from the DHCP server,
• send to the network repository network element, the type of the first NF and information about the first network slice to obtain address information of the first network element that supports the type of the first NF and is in the first network slice, and
• receive from the network repository network element, the address information of the first network element, wherein the first network element supports the type of the first NF and that is in the first network slice,
• wherein the network repository network element comprises a second processor configured to:
• receive, from the terminal, the type of the first NF and information about the first network slice,
• determine that the terminal is allowed to access the first network element that supports the type of the first NF and is in the first network slice,
• obtain the address information of the first network element that supports the type of the first NF and is in the first network slice, and
• send the address information of the first network element to the terminal.