6.2.3.1 General Command Procedure

Editor's note: The title of this clause will be revisited to consider the name of the device.

Figure 6.2.3.1-1 depicts the command procedure.

The procedure focuses on the messages and parameters used for the communication between AIOTF and NG-RAN regardless of the path to access NG-RAN, see clause 4.2.2.1. The handling of the different communication paths is described in clause 6.2.4 for RAN Reader and clause 6.2.10 for UE Reader.

1. The AF sends the Nnef_AIoT_Command Request message (AF ID, Command Type, [information about the target AIoT Device(s)], [External Target Area information], [External Identifier (i.e. GPSI)], [Approximate number of AIoT Devices], [Command type specific parameters], [location information requested]) to NEF.

Information about the target AIoT Device(s) may include Filtering Information, as described in clause 5.8, or include complete AIoT Device Identifier(s).

The Approximate number of AIoT Devices (see clause 5.4), if provided, is used to indicate the number of AIoT Devices expected to respond to this AIoT service operation request, which is sent by AIOTF to the NG-RAN in the assistance information as specified in clause 5.4.

Command Type provides the operation to be performed and the Command type specific parameters provides the required parameters for the operation. The Command service operations are described in clause 5.2.2.

The location information requested parameter indicates whether the AF expects the network to provide AIoT Device location information.

2. Step 2 of the inventory procedure specified in clause 6.2.2 is performed for External Target Area information processing and AIOTF selection with the following clarifications:

• If AIOTF selection fails, the NEF rejects the Nnef_AIoT_Command request with an appropriate cause code and step 6 of this procedure is performed before ending the procedure.

3. The NEF sends Naiotf_AIoT_Command Request message (AF ID, Command Type, [information about the target AIoT Device(s)], [Target area information], [SUPI], [serving AMF information], [Approximate number of AIoT Devices], [Command type specific parameters], [location information requested]) message to the selected AIOTF(s).

4. The AIOTF receives the Naiotf_AIoT_Command Request and checks the parameters included in the request.

The AIOTF performs RAN Reader Selection (see clause 5.3.3), or UE Reader Selection (see clause 5.3.3a), or both, based on the local configuration and deployment. If no NG-RAN, RAN Reader(s) or UE Reader(s) can be selected, the AIOTF or NG-RAN rejects the AIoT service operation request with an appropriate cause code and step 7 onward is skipped.

Editor's note: The procedure to cover the rejection by NG-RAN regarding the UE Reader selection is FFS.

The AIOTF generates a Correlation ID corresponding to this AIoT service operation request and the Correlation ID is used for the AIOTF to correlate the service operation responses received from NG-RAN to the request. The AIOTF creates the AIoT Session for the AF service operation request, which is identified by the Correlation ID.

The AIOTF retrieves security parameters from the ADM, as described in TS 33.369 [9], and provides them to the NG-RAN in step 7.

The AIOTF determines assistance information as described in clause 5.4, taking into account the parameters provided in the AIoT service operation request.

The AIOTF performs AF authorization for AIoT service operation request as described in clause 5.6.

If the information about the target AIoT Device(s) received in step 1 is AIoT Device Permanent Identifier(s), and privacy protection is used, the AIOTF retrieves the AIoT Device Temporary Identifier and temporary identifier related information for each target AIoT device from the ADM as described in TS 33.369 [9]. The AIoT Device Temporary Identifier(s) and related information is then to be used as the AIoT Identification Information in step 7.

The AIOTF may perform AMF selection as described in clause 5.3.4.

5. AIOTF sends the Naiotf_AIoT_Command Response message (accept or reject, [cause code]) to the NEF.

6. NEF sends the Nnef_AIoT_Command Response message (accept or reject, [cause code]) to the AF. If the response was a reject the procedure stops here.

7. Step 7 to step 11 of the inventory procedure specified in clause 6.2.2 are performed with the following clarifications:

• In step 7, the AIOTF also includes follow on command indication in the Inventory Request message to inform the NG-RAN command delivery occurs after the inventory.
• In step 10, for RAN Reader the NG-RAN also includes the RAN AIoT Device NGAP ID for each AIoT Device in the Inventory Report as specified in TS 38.413 [10].
• In step 11, the AIOTF authenticates the AIoT Devices as specified in TS 33.369 [9], and determines whether the command should be sent to an AIoT Device, e.g., by checking the information about the target AIoT Device(s). For RAN Reader, the AIOTF updates the corresponding AIoT Device contexts in the AIOTF to include the RAN AIoT Device NGAP ID.

If no successful AIoT NAS Inventory Report is received, step 8 to step 11 are not performed and the AIOTF sends a failure report to the NEF in step 12.

8. For each successful AIoT NAS Inventory Report received, the AIOTF sends Command Request message (Correlation ID, [Reader ID], AIoT NAS Command Request, Size of the Command Response message from the AIoT Device, [RAN AIoT Device NGAP ID]) included in NGAP AIoT information to NG-RAN for each AIoT Device. The AIoT NAS Command Request message includes the AIoT data. The Correlation ID is the same Correlation ID as generated in step 4. For RAN Reader, the RAN AIoT Device NGAP ID is used by the NG-RAN to determine the AIoT Device context in NG-RAN as specified in TS 38.413 [10].

The AIOTF uses the Command Type and Command type specific parameters received in step 3 to determine the AIoT NAS Command Request to send to the AIoT Device, as described in clause 5.2.2.

The protection of the AIoT NAS Command Request message is specified in clause 5.3 of TS 33.369 [9].

NOTE 1: Command Request messages can be sent to NG-RAN when inventory procedure is ongoing.

9. The NG-RAN sends an AS message (including the AIoT NAS Command Request) to the AIoT Device as defined in TS 38.391 [11].

10. The AIoT Device performs security checks on the received AIoT NAS Command Request and sends an AS message (including the AIoT NAS Command Response) to the NG-RAN as defined in TS 38.391 [11]. The NAS Command Response message may include the AIoT data.

The protection of the AIoT NAS Command Response message is specified in clause 5.3 of TS 33.369 [9].

11. The NG-RAN responds with a Command Response message (Correlation ID, Reader ID, AIoT NAS Command Response, RAN AIoT Device NGAP ID) included in NGAP AIoT information to the AIOTF. The AIOTF determines the AIoT Device context by the RAN AIoT Device NGAP ID received.

If the AIoT NAS Command Response indicates the Command Type is not supported by the AIoT Device, the AIOTF reports the error result in step 13 and step 14.

NOTE 2: The AIOTF can take this into account to avoid initiating further command procedures of the same Command Type towards the AIoT Device by implementation.

If the Command Type is "Permanent Disable" and the AIoT NAS Command is successful, the AIOTF should remove the Last known RAN Reader information from the AIoT Device Context in AIOTF.

12. After receiving the inventory complete indication in the last inventory report from the NG-RAN, when the AIOTF has completed sending Command Requests and the Command Responses have been received, the AIOTF initiates the AIoT Session Release Procedure in clause 6.2.5 to release the AIoT Session created during the inventory procedure.

13. The AIOTF reports the results of the Naiotf_AIoT_Command request to the NEF by sending Naiotf_AIoT_Notify message(s) (a list of AIoT Device(s) response information (AIoT Device ID(s), AIoT data and optionally location of each AIoT Device), AF ID, [Last Report Indication]). The AIOTF includes the Last Report Indication in the final Naiotf_AIoT_Notify message when all the involved NG-RAN nodes have completed the command procedure. If multiple AIOTFs are involved in the procedure, the NEF may receive Naiotf_AIoT_Notify messages from multiple AIOTFs.

Based on operator policy, if the location information is requested by the AF and if the location of the RAN Reader is configured, the AIOTF uses the Reader ID reported from NG-RAN during the inventory procedure in step 7 to determine the AIoT Device location.

When the last report is sent, the AIOTF ends the AIoT Session.

14. The NEF informs the AF of the result of the Nnef_AIoT_Command request by sending Nnef_AIoT_Notify message(s) (a list of AIoT Device(s) response information (AIoT Device ID(s), AIoT data and optionally location of each AIoT Device), AF ID, [Last Report Indication]).