Methods and apparatus supporting dynamic ethernet VLAN configuration in a fifth generation system

Abstract

Methods and apparatuses for a 5G System (5GS) (20) support Dynamic VLAN configuration for a logical Ethernet bridge (24) provided by the 5GS. In at least one embodiment, a User Plane Function (UPF) (22) runs, on a conditional basis, for example, Multiple VLAN Registration Protocol (MVRP) for a User Equipment (UE) (12) establishing or modifying an Ethernet Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session. Running MVRP allows the UPF to learn the VLAN's associated with the UE and correspondingly dynamically configure bridging services. In one or more embodiments. UEs that act as trunk ports are assigned a predefined VLAN ID, e.g., via an Application Function (AF) (32), and, for a UE establishing or modifying a session, a Session Management Function (SMF) (26) indicates the predefined VLAN ID to the UPF, triggering the UPF to run MVRP for the UE.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.