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

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.

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.