CN100426805C - Edge or packet gateway control system in next generation network and its method - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to next-generation network technology, and discloses an edge or packet gateway control system and method in the next-generation network, enabling the edge or packet gateway of NGN to realize network intercommunication under the effective control of network resources and local policies. In the present invention, using PDFE as an agent, the mapping between the call model of BGCFE/PGCFE and the call model of BGFE/PGFE is realized on PDFE, when receiving the IP network interworking service control information from BGCFE/PGCFE, according to TRCFE provides According to the network resource situation and the preset local policy, the IP network interworking service-related security, resources, and media decisions are generated after corresponding arbitration, and then the BGFE/PGFE is selected and controlled according to the decision to complete the IP network interworking service processing.

Description

Edge or packet gateway control system and method in next generation network

technical field

The invention relates to the next generation network technology, in particular to the edge or packet gateway control technology of the next generation network.

Background technique

With the development of traditional communication networks, the Internet and mobile communication networks, the integration of various networks is an inevitable trend. The next generation network (Next Generation Nerwork, referred to as "NGN") is based on Internet Protocol (Internet Protocol, referred to as "IP") packet exchange The network is the core network, the control and bearer are separated, and various access technologies coexist. The new generation network that integrates various existing networks can meet the needs of future broadband multimedia communications.

NGN is a step towards packet switching in the traditional Public Switched Telephone Network ("PSTN"), which is mainly based on circuit switching. It carries all the services of the original PSTN network. , while offloading a large amount of data transmission to the IP network to reduce the load on the PSTN network, and adding and enhancing many new and old services with the new features of IP technology. NGN is the product of network integration based on time-division multiplexing PSTN voice network, integrated services digital network (Integrated Services Digital Network, referred to as "ISDN"), IP-based packet network, and mobile communication network. Comprehensive services such as voice, video, and data on the network have become possible.

NGN defined by the International Telecommunication Union (International Telecommunication Union, referred to as "ITU") is a packet-based network that can provide telecommunication services, and can utilize a variety of broadband and Quality of Service (Quality of Service, referred to as "QoS") enabling The transmission technology, whose business-related functions are independent of the underlying transmission-related technology, provides users with free access to different service providers, supports universal mobility, and makes the consistent and universal provision of services possible for users.

The basic features of NGN include: packet-based transfer; separation of control functions between bearer capacity, call/session, and application/service; service provisioning is decoupled from the network and provision of open interfaces; service components support a wide range of services, applications and mechanisms (including real-time/streaming/non-real-time services and multimedia); end-to-end QoS and transparent broadband capabilities; interact with traditional networks through open interfaces; universal mobility; users can freely access different service providers; multiple identification schemes Can be resolved to an IP address for routing in an IP network; users perceive the same service as having unified service characteristics; converged services between fixed and mobile; service-related functions are independent of the underlying transmission technology; adapt to all institutional requirements, such as those related to emergency communications and security/privacy and so on.

NGN includes Network Attachment Subsystem, Resource and Admission Control Subsystem (RACS for short), PSTN/ISDN Emulation Subsystem, IP Multimedia Subsystem (IP Multimedia Subsystem, referred to as "IMS"), Streaming Services Subsystem (Streaming Services Subsystem) and Other Multimedia Subsystem (Other Multimedia Subsystem) a total of six subsystems. Figure 1 shows the logical block diagram of the NGN subsystem architecture.

The IP bearer network includes the core transport network (Core Transport Network) and the access transport network (Access Transport Network). The terminal (Terminal) accesses the transport network through the access function (AccessFunction). The core transmission network (different domains of the core transmission network) communicates through the edge function (Edge Function), and the IP core transmission network communicates with other networks (such as traditional fixed or mobile networks) through the gateway. RACS is responsible for the unified management of bearer network resources, which includes a policy decision function entity (Policy Decision Function Entity, referred to as "PDFE"), which is used to control the security, resources and media related to IP network interworking in combination with network resource status and local policies. The decision is arbitrated, and it also includes a Transport Resource Control Function Entity (Transport Resource Control Function Entity, referred to as "TRCFE"), which is used to manage the IP network resources under it.

Due to the needs of user service transmission, different IP networks, such as between the access transmission network and the core transmission network or between different domains of the core transmission network, need to communicate with each other. Therefore, the functional entity at the position of the intercommunication node, that is, BGFE/PGFE, may have functions such as security protection, resource guarantee, and media processing. There is a lack of clear and effective implementation methods and mechanisms.

With the continuous evolution of NGN and the promulgation of various related standards, it has become one of the key technologies for the development of NGN to solve the problem of effective control of edge or packet gateways. At present, there is no technical solution that can effectively solve this technical problem, that is, it is impossible to control the edge or packet gateway in various aspects according to the network resource situation and the operator's policy tendency to achieve IP network intercommunication, which seriously hinders the continued development of NGN. development and evolution

Contents of the invention

In view of this, the main purpose of the present invention is to provide an edge or packet gateway control system and method in the next generation network, so that the edge or packet gateway of NGN can realize network intercommunication under the effective control of network resources and local policies.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a control system for edge or packet gateway in the next generation network, comprising:

Edge or packet gateway functional entity, used to perform IP network interworking service processing;

The edge or packet gateway control functional entity is used to control the provision of IP network interworking services, and send resource allocation requests and service control information related to IP network interworking to the policy decision-making functional entity;

The policy decision-making functional entity is used to establish a mapping relationship between the call model of the edge or packet gateway control functional entity and the call model of the edge or packet gateway functional entity, and accept and feed back resource allocation requests and services from the edge or packet gateway control functional entity Control information, according to the network resource situation provided by the transmission resource control functional entity and the preset local policy, a decision is made after corresponding arbitration, and according to the decision, the edge or packet gateway functional entity is selected and controlled to allocate corresponding resources or start the corresponding mechanism to complete the IP Network interworking service processing;

The transmission resource control functional entity is used for managing IP network resources, and accepting and feeding back resource requests from the policy decision functional entity.

Wherein, the mapping relationship between the call model of the edge or packet gateway control functional entity and the call model of the edge or packet gateway functional entity includes one of the following contents or any combination thereof:

Mapping of call IDs, mapping of resource IDs, mapping of topology structures, and mapping of control messages.

In addition, in the system, the decision-making includes one or any combination of the following aspects:

Security, Resources, and Media.

In addition, in the system, the IP network interworking service control information includes one of the following or any combination thereof:

Network address translation allocation and traversal, IPv4 and IPv6 interworking, anti-address spoofing, topology hiding, packet marking, packet filtering, resource allocation and bandwidth reservation, traffic management, usage measurement, media codec algorithm, and packet duration conversion.

The present invention also provides a method for controlling an edge or packet gateway in a next-generation network, comprising the following steps:

After receiving the resource allocation request and service control information related to IP network interworking sent by the edge or packet gateway control functional entity, the policy decision-making functional entity requests the transmission resource control functional entity to allocate corresponding network resources, and generates an IP network after corresponding arbitration. Make decisions related to interworking, and select and control the edge or packet gateway functional entity to allocate corresponding resources or start the corresponding mechanism to provide the service according to the decision, and send IP network interworking service control information to the selected edge or packet gateway functional entity;

B. The edge or packet gateway functional entity completes the IP network interworking service processing according to the IP network interworking service control information from the policy decision functional entity.

Wherein, the decision-making includes one or any combination of the following aspects:

Security, Resources, and Media.

In addition, in the method, the IP network interworking service control information includes one of the following or any combination thereof:

Network address translation allocation and traversal, IPv4 and IPv6 interworking, anti-address spoofing, topology hiding, packet marking, packet filtering, resource allocation and bandwidth reservation, traffic management, usage measurement, media codec algorithm, and packet duration conversion.

In addition, in the method, in the step A, the resource allocation request and service control information sent by the edge or packet gateway control function entity to the policy decision function entity include source address, destination address and quality of service Require.

In addition, in the method, in the step A, the policy decision-making functional entity combines the resource allocation request from the edge or packet gateway control functional entity with the local policy, and requests the transmission resource control functional entity to allocate corresponding network resources.

In addition, in the method, in the step A, the policy decision-making functional entity makes a decision according to the network resource conditions provided by the transmission resource control functional entity and the preset local policy.

By comparison, it can be found that the main difference between the technical solution of the present invention and the prior art is that PDFE is used as an agent to realize the mapping between the call model of BGCFE/PGCFE and the call model of BGFE/PGFE on PDFE, and when receiving the call model from When the IP network interworking service of BGCFE/PGCFE controls information, according to the network resource conditions provided by TRCFE and the preset local policy, corresponding arbitration is made to generate IP network interworking service-related security, resource, and media decisions, and then select according to the decision and control BGFE/PGFE to complete IP network interworking service processing.

This difference in technical solutions has brought obvious beneficial effects, that is, because PDFE acts as a proxy, in the process of IP network interworking, the security protection, resource protection and media protection in the bearer layer are shielded from the BGCFE/PGCFE upward. For specific details such as processing, the BGFE/PGFE is specifically controlled under the service request of the BGCFE/PGCFE and referring to the network resource status provided by the TRCFE and the preset local policy. For BGCFE/PGCFE, PDFE can be regarded as a BGFE/PGFE with a large number of resources (the sum of BGFE/PGFE resources represented by PDFE), the network elements that BGCFE/PGCFE need to manage are greatly reduced, BGCFE/PGCFE The design can also be simplified accordingly.

Because PDFE does not simply forward the IP network interworking service request from BGCFE/PGCFE to BGFE/PGFE, but arbitrates the request according to the real-time situation of network resources and the local strategy of the operator, and then selects and controls based on the decision The corresponding BGFE/PGFE provides services, so the IP network interworking service control information received by BGFE/PGFE actually combines the constraints of BGCFE/PGCFE's request, real-time network resource conditions, and operator's local policies. Greatly improve.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the logical structure of the NGN subsystem architecture;

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an edge or packet gateway control system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a schematic flowchart of an edge or packet gateway control method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order to make the object, technical solution and advantages of the present invention clearer, the present invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

The principle of the present invention is explained firstly. The present invention is essentially a proxy solution, and realizes the control and management of BGFE/PGFE by adding PDFE as a proxy between BGCFE/PGCFE and BGFE/PGFE. Because PDFE "aggregates" multiple BGFE/PGFE into a logical BGFE/PGFE with a large number of resources, which greatly reduces the number of network elements that BGCFE/PGCFE needs to manage, which can greatly reduce the burden on BGCFE/PGCFE . PDFE conducts corresponding arbitration based on the network resources provided by TRCFE and the preset local policies to make decisions on security, resources, and media related to IP network interworking services, and then selects and controls BGFE/PGFE to allocate corresponding resources or start corresponding services based on the decisions. In order to provide this service, the instructions obtained by the BGFE/PGFE responsible for providing this service essentially combine the requirements of the BGCFE/PGCFE's request, the real-time situation of network resources and the operator's local policy, so that both users and operators can Get satisfactory results.

Figure 2 shows a block diagram of an edge or packet gateway control system.

In the system shown in Figure 2, several network elements most related to IP network interworking are BGFE/PGFE, PDFE, TRCFE, and BGCFE/PGCFE. The functions are described below:

BGFE/PGFE is located at the interface node between a certain transmission network (TN1 in the figure) and another transmission network (TN2 in the figure), and realizes gateway functions such as security protection, resource guarantee and media processing, and completes the intercommunication between IP networks.

The BGCFE/PGCFE is used to control the provision of the IP network interworking service from the application level, and it sends the IP network interworking service request to the PDFE.

TRCFE and PDFE belong to RACS, and TRCFE is responsible for managing IP network resources, accepting and feeding back resource requests from PDFE. PDFE has two main functions. One is to act as an Agent (agent) between BGCFE/PGCFE and BGFE/PGFE; the other is to make decisions related to security, resources, and media related to IP network interworking. PDFE refers to The network resource status provided by TRCFE and the local policy make corresponding arbitration.

For BGFE/PGFE controlled by BGCFE/PGCFE, PDFE represents the set of BGFE/PGFE managed under it, and its resource capacity is equivalent to the sum of the resource capacity of BGFE/PGFE managed under it, so BGCFE/PGCFE can combine PDFE It is regarded as a BGFE/PGFE for control, and when requesting services from PDEF is the same as requesting services from BGFE/PGFE.

As far as BGFE/PGFE is controlled by BGCFE/PGCFE, PDFE is the representative of BGCFE/PGCFE, so BGFE/PGFE is uniformly registered with PDFE, and PDFE is registered with BGCFE/PGCFE on behalf of BGFE/PGFE. As long as one BGFE/PGFE successfully registers with PDFE, PDFE is capable of providing services to BGCFE/PGCFE.

The PDFE establishes a mapping relationship between the call model of the BGCFE/PGCFE and the call model of the BGFE/PGFE, such as the mapping of call identifiers, resource identifiers, topology structures, and control messages. During the mapping process, PDFE will combine resource conditions (such as network bandwidth, delay, jitter, etc.) and local policies (Local Policy) to make decisions on security, resources, and media.

For the request from BGCFE/PGCFE, PDFE will select the appropriate BGFE/PGFE to provide services such as security protection, resource guarantee and media conversion related to IP network interworking, and send corresponding control information to BGFE/PGFE, such as Network Address Translation (Network Address Translation (Network Address Translation) Address Translation, referred to as "NAT") allocation and traversal, IPv4 and v6 interworking, anti-address spoofing, topology hiding, packet marking, gating (packet filtering), resource allocation and bandwidth reservation, traffic management, usage measurement, media codec Algorithm and packaging duration conversion, etc.

In the system shown in FIG. 2 , the process of implementing IP network interworking services through interaction between network elements is shown in FIG. 3 .

In step 301, BGCFE/PGCFE sends resource allocation request and service control information related to IP network intercommunication to PDFE, the request includes source address, destination address, quality of service (QoS) requirements and other information.

Then enter step 302. After PDFE receives the resource request and control information, it requests the transmission resource control function entity to allocate corresponding network resources, and refers to the resource conditions provided by TRCFE (such as network bandwidth, delay, jitter, etc.) Arbitrate accordingly based on the local policy of the IP network, resulting in decisions on security, resources, and media related to IP network interworking. Among them, the local policy is pre-set in the PDFE by the operator according to its own operation needs, such as specifying the bandwidth quota provided for a certain type of service, and setting the address translation rules when performing NAT, etc.

According to the decision, PDFE selects and controls the edge or packet gateway functional entity to allocate corresponding resources or initiate corresponding mechanisms to provide the service, and maps between the call model of BGCFE/PGCFE and the call model of BGFE/PGFE, including but not limited to call Mapping of identifiers, resource identifiers, topologies, and control messages.

Then enter step 303, PDFE sends IP network interworking service control information to the selected BGFE/PGFE according to the decision made in step 302.

Then enter step 304, the BGFE/PGFE implements IP network intercommunication for the BGCFE/PGCFE according to the requirements of the control information.

Although the present invention has been illustrated and described with reference to certain preferred embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the present invention. The spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims (10)

1. An edge or packet gateway control system in a next-generation network, characterized in that it comprises: Edge or packet gateway functional entity, used to perform IP network interworking service processing; The edge or packet gateway control functional entity is used to control the provision of IP network interworking services, and send resource allocation requests and service control information related to IP network interworking to the policy decision-making functional entity; The policy decision-making functional entity is used to establish a mapping relationship between the call model of the edge or packet gateway control functional entity and the call model of the edge or packet gateway functional entity, and accept and feed back resource allocation requests and services from the edge or packet gateway control functional entity Control information, according to the network resource situation provided by the transmission resource control functional entity and the preset local policy, a decision is made after corresponding arbitration, and according to the decision, the edge or packet gateway functional entity is selected and controlled to allocate corresponding resources or start the corresponding mechanism to complete the IP Network interworking service processing; The transmission resource control functional entity is used for managing IP network resources, and accepting and feeding back resource requests from the policy decision functional entity. 2. edge or packet gateway control system in next generation network according to claim 1, is characterized in that, the mapping between the call model of described edge or packet gateway control functional entity and the call model of edge or packet gateway functional entity A relationship consists of one or any combination of the following: Mapping of call IDs, mapping of resource IDs, mapping of topology structures, and mapping of control messages. 3. The edge or packet gateway control system in the next generation network according to claim 1, wherein the decision-making includes one of the following aspects or any combination thereof: Security, Resources, and Media. 4. The edge or packet gateway control system in the next generation network according to claim 1, wherein the IP network interworking service control information includes one of the following or any combination thereof: Network address translation allocation and traversal, IPv4 and IPv6 interworking, anti-address spoofing, topology hiding, packet marking, packet filtering, resource allocation and bandwidth reservation, traffic management, usage measurement, media codec algorithm, and packet duration conversion. 5. an edge or grouping gateway control method in a next-generation network, is characterized in that, comprises the following steps: After receiving the resource allocation request and service control information related to IP network interworking sent by the edge or packet gateway control functional entity, the policy decision-making functional entity requests the transmission resource control functional entity to allocate corresponding network resources, and generates an IP network after corresponding arbitration. Make decisions related to interworking, and select and control the edge or packet gateway functional entity to allocate corresponding resources or start the corresponding mechanism to provide the service according to the decision, and send IP network interworking service control information to the selected edge or packet gateway functional entity; B. The edge or packet gateway functional entity completes the IP network interworking service processing according to the IP network interworking service control information from the policy decision functional entity. 6. The edge or packet gateway control method in the next generation network according to claim 5, wherein the decision-making includes one of the following aspects or any combination thereof: Security, Resources, and Media. 7. The edge or packet gateway control method in the next generation network according to claim 5, wherein the IP network interworking service control information includes one of the following or any combination thereof: Network address translation allocation and traversal, IPv4 and IPv6 interworking, anti-address spoofing, topology hiding, packet marking, packet filtering, resource allocation and bandwidth reservation, traffic management, usage measurement, media codec algorithm, and packet duration conversion. 8. The edge or packet gateway control method in the next generation network according to claim 5, characterized in that, in the step A, the edge or packet gateway control function entity sends the policy decision function entity The resource allocation request and service control information include source address, destination address and service quality requirements. 9. The edge or packet gateway control method in the next generation network according to claim 5, wherein in the step A, the policy decision functional entity combines resource allocation requests from the edge or packet gateway control functional entity The local policy requests the allocation of corresponding network resources to the transmission resource control functional entity. 10. The edge or packet gateway control method in the next generation network according to claim 5, characterized in that, in the step A, the policy decision-making functional entity provides network resource conditions and preset settings according to the transmission resource control functional entity local policy decisions.

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