CN101277541A - A Method for Diameter Routing Entities to Forward Messages - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for a Diameter routing entity to forward a message, comprising: after the Diameter routing entity supporting the policy and charging rule functional domain of the partial access point name application receives the gateway control session establishment message sent by the gateway, if it carries If the ID is switched, the message is forwarded to the Diameter routing entity that supports the policy and charging rule functional domains of all access point names, and the Diameter routing entity queries the policies and accounting rules allocated for IP connectivity access network sessions. The charging rule function finally sends the gateway control session establishment message to the policy and charging rule function. With the technical solution of the present invention, when the user uses S2c access to switch to 3GPP access or trusted non-3GPP S2a access, it can be realized that all the messages related to an IP connection access network session are sent to the same policy and On the billing rule function.

Description

A Method for Diameter Routing Entities to Forward Messages

technical field

The invention relates to the communication field, in particular to a method for a Diameter routing entity to forward a message.

Background technique

3GPP Evolved Packet System (EPS, Evolved Packet System Evolved Packet System) consists of Evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network Evolved Terrestrial Universal Radio Access Network), ME (Mobility Management Entity), S-GW (Serving Gateway, Serving Gateway), PDN GW (P-GW, Packet Data Network GateWay, data network gateway), HSS (Home Subscriber Server, Home Subscriber Server), 3GPP AAA server (3GPP authentication authorization accounting server), PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function, policy and charging rules function), and other supporting nodes. Among them, MME is responsible for mobility management, non-access stratum signaling processing, user mobility management context management and other control plane related work; S-GW is an access gateway device connected to E-UTRAN, between E-UTRAN and PDN The GWs forward data and are responsible for caching the paging waiting data. P-GW is the border gateway of 3GPP evolved packet system (EPS, Evolved Packet System) and PDN (Packet Data Network) network, responsible for PDN access, data forwarding between EPS and PDN and other functions. PCRF is a policy and charging rule functional entity. It interfaces with the operator's IP service network through the Rx interface to obtain service information. On the other hand, it connects to the gateway device in the network through Gx/Gxa/Gxc and is responsible for initiating the establishment of IP bearer. Guarantee the QoS of business data and perform charging control.

EPS supports interworking with non-3GPP networks. Intercommunication with non-3GPP networks is realized through the S2a/b interface, and P-GW serves as the anchor point between 3GPP and non-3GPP networks. The system architecture diagram of EPS is shown in Figure 1. The non-3GPP system is divided into trusted non-3GPP IP access and untrusted non-3GPP IP access. Trusted non-3GPP IP access can directly interface with P-GW through S2a; untrusted non-3GPP IP access needs to be connected to P-GW through ePDG (Evolved Packet Data Gateway, evolved data gateway), and the communication between ePDG and P-GW The interface is S2b. S2c is the interface between UE and P-GW, and adopts DSMIPv6 protocol to provide control and mobility management. MIPv6 (Moblie IPv6) supports the reachability and continuity of the session when the MN moves in the network by binding the IPv6 care-of address CoA of the mobile node MN (Mobile Node) and the IPv6 home address HoA.

In the traditional 3GPP network, the policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF, Policy and charging forcement function) only exists in the P-GW, and the PCRF can complete the control of all functions as long as it interfaces with the P-GW. Information is exchanged via the Gx interface (see Figure 1). However, when the user uses 3GPP to access, and the interface between P-GW and S-GW uses PMIP (Proxy Mobile IP protocol) based on the S5 interface, the policy enforcement function part of the PCEF function also exists in the S-GW; or when When a user uses a trusted non-3GPP access, the policy enforcement function part of the PCEF function also exists in the trusted non-3GPP access gateway. Entities residing in these gateways are called Bearer Binding and Event Reporting Function entities (BBERF, Bearer Binding and Event Reporting Function). When the user uses 3GPP access, the S-GW and the PCRF exchange information through the Gxc interface; when the user trusts the non-3GPP access, the trusted non-3GPP access gateway exchanges information with the PCRF through S2a (as shown in Figure 1). The Diameter routing entity DRA (Diameter Routing Agent) is responsible for managing a PCRF domain. When the UE initiates the establishment of an IP-CAN (IP Connectivity Access Network) session, the DRA provides the IP-CAN (IP-CAN) The CAN session selects a PCRF, so as to ensure that all messages related to the IP-CAN session are sent to the same PCRF (as shown in FIG. 2 ). At present, the DRA in the network can manage the PCRF domain in the manner of Redirection (redirection) and Proxy (proxy). Redirection mode (as shown in Figure 3): gateway (including P-GW, S-GW, trusted non-3GPP access gateway) or AF sends a request message to DRA, DRA according to a certain selection strategy, for the IP- The CAN session selects the PCRF, and returns the PCRF address to the gateway; after the gateway receives the redirection message from the DRA, it uses the PCRF address carried in the message body as the destination address, and sends a request message to the PCRF. Adopt the Proxy mode (as shown in Figure 4): the gateway (including P-GW, S-GW, and trusted non-3GPP access gateway) sends a request message to the DRA, and the DRA uses a certain selection strategy for the IP-CAN session Select the PCRF, and forward the message to the PCRF. The PCRF formulates a PCC (Policy and Charging Control) strategy for the IP-CAN session, and sends the PCC strategy to the DRA, which then sends it to the gateway.

When there are multiple PCRF domains in the network, the gateway (including P-GW, S-GW, and trusted non-3GPP access gateway) selects the PCRF domain according to the APN (Access Point Name). When the user uses S2c to access, the trusted non-3GPP gateway initiates a gateway control session establishment request to the PCRF. Since there may be multiple PCRF domains in the network, the trusted non-3GPP gateway needs to select the PCRF domain according to the APN. But at this time, since the S2c access is used, the trusted non-3GPP gateway does not have any APN information, so the PCRF domain cannot be selected according to the APN. Configure a PCRF domain at this time, the PCRF in this domain should be able to support all APNs, when the gateway (including P-GW, S-GW, trusted non-3GPP access APN selects the PCRF domain, but directly sends the message to the configured PCRF domain, and the DRA in the configuration domain allocates PCRF for the IP-CAN session, ensuring that all relevant messages of the IP-CAN session are sent to the same PCRF. When the user is moving and switching to 3GPP access, the trusted non-3GPP access gateway is switched to the S-GW in the 3GPP network. The S-GW will have APN information at this time, and the S-GW will still select the PCRF domain according to the APN information, but it does not know that the user used S2c access before the handover, but at this time, the PCRF domain selected according to the APN and the PCRF domain used before the handover occurred The statically configured PCRF domains of different IP-CAN sessions cannot be guaranteed to be sent to the same PCRF.

Contents of the invention

The technical problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a method for Diameter routing entities to forward messages. When users use S2c access to switch to 3GPP access or trusted non-3GPP S2a access, an IP-CAN session can be implemented Related messages are sent to the same PCRF.

In order to solve the above problems, the present invention provides a method for a Diameter routing entity to forward a message, including: the Diameter routing entity that supports the policy and charging rule functional domain of the partial access point name application receives the gateway control session establishment sent by the gateway After the message, if it carries the switching identifier, the message will be forwarded to the Diameter routing entity that supports the policy and charging rule functional domains of all access point names, and the Diameter routing entity will find out that it is an IP connectivity access The policy and charging rule function of network session allocation finally sends the gateway control session establishment message to the policy and charging rule function.

Further, after the user uses S2c access to switch to 3GPP access or trusted non-3GPPS2a access, the switched gateway sends a gateway control session establishment message to the Diameter routing entity with the switching identifier.

Further, the switched gateway refers to a serving gateway or a trusted non-3GPP access gateway.

Further, after the Diameter routing entity receives the gateway control session establishment message sent by the gateway, it inquires whether there is relevant information about the IP connection access network session locally, and if not, then judges whether the information in the gateway control session establishment message is Whether to carry the handover identifier, if so, forward the gateway control session establishment message to the configured Diameter routing entity that supports the policy and charging rule functional domains of all access point names, otherwise return the session establishment failure message to the gateway information.

Further, the Diameter routing entity that supports the policy and charging rule functional domains of all access point names applies to query locally after receiving the gateway control session establishment message, if it finds the relevant information of the IP connectivity access network session , then return a redirection response to the Diameter routing entity of the policy and charging rule functional domain that supports part of the access point name application, which carries the address of the policy and charging rule function allocated for the IP connectivity access network session , the Diameter routing entity of the policy and charging rule functional domain that supports part of the access point name application forwards the redirection response to the gateway, and the gateway interacts with the policy and charging rule function through the address to establish a policy and Accounting control strategy, and finally complete the session establishment.

Further, the Diameter routing entity that supports the policy and charging rule functional domains of all access point names applies a local query after receiving the gateway control session establishment message, and if it finds relevant information about the IP connectivity access network session, Then the gateway control session establishment message is forwarded to the policy and charging rule function allocated for the IP connectivity access network session, the policy and charging rule function formulates policy and charging control policy, and supports all The Diameter routing entity in the policy and charging rule functional domain of the access point name application, and the Diameter routing entity in the policy and charging rule functional domain supporting part of the access point name application forward it to the gateway, and finally complete the session establishment.

Further, the Diameter routing entity that supports the policy and charging rule functional domains of all access point names applies to the local query, and if the relevant information of the IP connectivity access network session is not found, it will use the support part of the access point name The Diameter routing entity of the applied policy and charging rule functional domain returns a message that the session establishment fails to the gateway.

Further, the Diameter routing entity that supports the policy and charging rule functional domain of all access point names inquires locally, and if it does not find the relevant information of the IP connection access network session, it will sequentially pass through the supported all access point The Diameter routing entity of the policy and charging rule functional domain of the name application, and the Diameter routing entity of the policy and charging rule functional domain of the partial access point name application return a message that the session establishment fails to the gateway.

In summary, the present invention provides a method for message forwarding by a Diameter routing entity. When a user uses S2c access to switch to 3GPP access or a trusted non-3GPP S2a access, if the gateway sends a gateway control session establishment message to After arriving at the DRA selected by the APN, the DRA can forward the gateway control session establishment message to the DRA in the PCRF domain supporting all APN applications according to the handover identifier in the message, and then forward the message through the DRA in the PCRF domain supporting all APN applications to the PCRF allocated for the IP-CAN session, so that all messages related to an IP-CAN session can be sent to the same PCRF.

Description of drawings

Figure 1 is a non-roaming architecture diagram of UE adopting 3GPP access and non-3GPP access;

Fig. 2 is a DRA management PCRF domain architecture diagram;

Fig. 3 is a flow chart of DRA managing the PCRF domain as a redirection server;

Fig. 4 is a flow chart of DRA managing the PCRF domain as a proxy server;

FIG. 5 is an architecture diagram of multiple PCRF domains in the network;

Fig. 6 is the flowchart of DRA forwarding message in embodiment one;

Fig. 7 is a flow chart of the DRA forwarding message in the second embodiment.

Detailed ways

The present invention provides a method for message forwarding by a Diameter routing entity. When a user uses S2c access to switch to 3GPP access or a trusted non-3GPP S2a access, the gateway sends a gateway control session establishment message to DRA with a switch identifier. According to the handover identifier, the DRA forwards the gateway control session establishment message to the configured DRA in the PCRF domain that can support all APN applications, and then the DRA finds out the PCRF allocated for the IP-CAN session, so that all the IP-CAN sessions The messages are sent to the same PCRF.

The method of the invention will be further described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

Embodiment one

This embodiment describes when the UE is in the S2c access non-roaming scenario, and the 3GPP core network adopts the EPC architecture. In the network, DRA adopts Redirection (redirection) mode to manage PCRF. The UE is handed over during the mobile process, and is handed over to 3GPP access or trusted non-3GPP S2a access. The flow chart of this embodiment is shown in Figure 6, and each step is described as follows:

Step 601, the S-GW or the trusted non-3GPP access gateway selects a PCRF domain according to the APN, and sends a gateway control session establishment message to the DRA in this domain, with a handover identifier in the message, and the selected PCRF domain may be a PCRF domain 1, or PCRF domain 3. In this example, it is assumed that PCRF domain 1 is selected.

Step 602, DRA1 inquires locally, does not find the relevant information of the IP-CAN session, and the gateway control session establishment message received has a handover identifier, and forwards the message to the configured DRA in the PCRF domain supporting all APN applications, namely DRA2 in PCRF domain 2 in Figure 5.

Step 603, DRA2 inquires locally after receiving the message, and finds whether there is relevant information of the IP-CAN session, if yes, execute step 604, otherwise execute step 607;

Step 604, DRA2 returns a redirection response to DRA1, which carries the PCRF address allocated for the IP-CAN session;

Step 605, DRA1 forwards the redirection response to the gateway.

Step 606: After receiving the redirection response, the gateway interacts with the PCRF to establish a PCC policy through the PCRF address, and finally completes session establishment.

Step 607, DRA2 returns a message that session establishment fails to DRA1.

Step 608, DRA1 forwards the session establishment failure message to the gateway.

The same applies to roaming scenarios.

Embodiment two

This embodiment describes when the UE is in the S2c access non-roaming scenario, and the 3GPP core network adopts the EPC architecture. In the network, the DRA adopts the proxy (relay) mode to manage the PCRF. The UE is handed over during the mobile process, and is handed over to 3GPP access or trusted non-3GPP S2a access. The flow chart of this embodiment is shown in Figure 7, and each step is described as follows:

Step 701, the S-GW or a trusted non-3GPP access gateway selects a PCRF domain according to the APN, and sends a gateway control session establishment message to the DRA in the domain, with a handover identifier in the message, and the selected PCRF domain can be PCRF domain 1 may also be PCRF domain 3. In this example, it is assumed that PCRF domain 1 is selected.

Step 702, DRA1 inquires locally, does not find the relevant information of the IP-CAN session, and the gateway control session establishment message received has a handover identifier, and forwards the message to the configured DRA in the PCRF domain supporting all APN applications, namely DRA2 in PCRF domain 2 in Figure 5.

Step 703, DRA2 inquires locally after receiving the message, and finds whether there is relevant information of the IP-CAN session, if yes, execute step 704, otherwise execute step 706;

Step 704, DRA2 forwards the gateway control session establishment message to the PCRF allocated for the IP-CAN session.

Step 705 , the PCRF formulates a PCC policy, and sends the PCC policy to DRA2, and DRA2 forwards the PCC policy to DRA1, and DRA1 forwards the PCC policy to the gateway, and finally completes session establishment.

Step 706, DRA2 returns a message of session establishment failure to DRA1.

Step 707, DRA1 forwards the message of session establishment failure to the gateway.

The same applies to roaming scenarios.

Claims (8)

1, a kind of Diameter route entity is transmitted the method for message, it is characterized in that: after the Diameter route entity that support sector is tapped into the "Policy and Charging Rules Function territory that a some title uses receives that gateway control session that gateway is sent is set up message, switch sign if wherein carry, then described forwards is given the Diameter route entity in the "Policy and Charging Rules Function territory of supporting that all APNs are used, and inquire to IP is communicated with the "Policy and Charging Rules Function that access to network conversation distributes by described Diameter route entity, the most described gateway control session is set up message and is sent to described "Policy and Charging Rules Function.

2, the method for claim 1 is characterized in that:

After the user used the S2c access to switch to 3GPP access or non-3GPP S2a access trusty, the gateway after the switching sent to carry to switch when gateway control session is set up message to the Diameter route entity and identifies.

3, method as claimed in claim 1 or 2 is characterized in that:

Gateway after the described switching refers to that gateway or non-3 GPP access network trusty close.

4, the method for claim 1 is characterized in that:

After the Diameter route entity receives that gateway control session that described gateway is sent is set up message, the local relevant information that whether has described IP to be communicated with access to network conversation of inquiry, if do not have, judge then described gateway control session sets up whether carry the switching sign in the message, if, then described gateway control session is set up forwards and given the Diameter route entity in the "Policy and Charging Rules Function territory of all APNs application of support of disposing, set up failure otherwise return session to described gateway.

5, as claim 1 or 4 described methods, it is characterized in that:

The Diameter route entity in the "Policy and Charging Rules Function territory that all APNs of described support are used is received after described gateway control session is set up message and is inquired about this locality, if find described IP to be communicated with the relevant information of access to network conversation, then be tapped into a Diameter route entity in the "Policy and Charging Rules Function territory of title application and return redirect response to described support sector, wherein carry the address that is communicated with the "Policy and Charging Rules Function of access to network conversation distribution into described IP, described support sector is tapped into a Diameter route entity in the "Policy and Charging Rules Function territory of title application described redirect response is transmitted to described gateway, gateway is set up strategy and charging control strategy alternately by described address and "Policy and Charging Rules Function, finally finishes session and sets up.

6, as claim 1 or 4 described methods, it is characterized in that:

The Dimeter route entity in the "Policy and Charging Rules Function territory that all APNs of described support are used is received after described gateway control session is set up message and is inquired about this locality, if find this IP to be communicated with the relevant information of access to network conversation, then described gateway control session is set up forwards and given the "Policy and Charging Rules Function that is communicated with the access to network conversation distribution for described IP, described "Policy and Charging Rules Function is generated strategy and is chargeed control strategy, and successively by supporting the Diameter route entity in the "Policy and Charging Rules Function territory that all APNs are used, support sector is tapped into a Diameter route entity in the "Policy and Charging Rules Function territory of title application it is transmitted to described gateway, finally finishes session and sets up.

7, method as claimed in claim 5 is characterized in that:

The Diameter route entity inquiry in the "Policy and Charging Rules Function territory that all APNs of described support are used is local, if do not find described IP to be communicated with the relevant information of access to network conversation, then a Diameter route entity that is tapped into the "Policy and Charging Rules Function territory that a title uses by support sector returns session to described gateway and sets up failure.

8, method as claimed in claim 6 is characterized in that:

The Diameter route entity inquiry in the "Policy and Charging Rules Function territory that all APNs of described support are used is local, if do not find described IP to be communicated with the relevant information of access to network conversation, then a Diameter route entity that is tapped into the "Policy and Charging Rules Function territory that a title uses by Diameter route entity, the support sector that supports the "Policy and Charging Rules Function territory that all APNs are used successively returns session to described gateway and sets up failure.

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