Application Function In A Network And Control Thereof

A method for providing an application function in a communication network, wherein the network comprises a plurality of network nodes and is configured to provide:

• a control plane to enable transmission of control data in the network;
• a user plane to enable transmission of user data to and/or from user equipment which is connected to the network;
• and
• a set of network functions which comprise user plane functions operating in the user plane and control plane functions operating in the control plane,
• wherein the control plane functions include a session management function configured to select one or a linked series of user plane functions to be used in a data communication session involving the user equipment;
• the method comprising providing, as one of the network functions, an application function which supports an application executed by the user equipment, the application function being provided as a combination of an application function control plane part operating in the control plane and an application function user plane part operating in the user plane and configured for application-specific processing of user data associated with the application, wherein the application function user plane part is a selected one of a plurality of application function user plane parts being accessible via one or more user plane functions;
• wherein said providing the application function comprises:
• configuring the application function control plane part with identification information identifying the plurality of application function user plane parts;
• selecting the application function user plane part from the plurality of application function user plane parts;
• and
• establishing communication between the application function control plane part and the session management function to enable said function to select the one or the linked series of user plane functions so as to establish a network path from the user equipment to said selected application function user plane part.