CN101299882B - Method for recognizing and indicating load bearing types - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a bearer type identification method and a bearer type indication method. In the above bearer type identification method, an evolved node acquires a request message from a flow initiating network element, wherein the request message carries one or more bearer type identifiers, Each bearer type identifier corresponds to a bearer that needs to be established; for each bearer, the evolved node reads its bearer type identifier, and judges the corresponding bearer type according to the bearer type identifier. The types of bearers mentioned here include dedicated bearers and default bearer. Through the present invention, resource waste is avoided.

Description

Bearer type identification and indication method

technical field

The present invention relates to the communication field, in particular, to a bearer type identification method and a bearer type indication method.

Background technique

Generally, the next generation mobile wireless network project of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is called System Architecture Evolution (SAE for short), and Figure 1 shows the architecture of the SAE Schematic diagram, as shown in Figure 1, SAE includes the following network elements:

The evolved radio access network (Evolved RAN, referred to as E-RAN) is used to provide higher uplink/downlink rates, lower transmission delay and more reliable wireless transmission, and the network elements included in it are Evolved Nodes (Evolved Nodes). B, referred to as e Node B), is used to provide wireless resources for terminal access;

Home Subscriber Server (HSS for short): used to permanently store user subscription data;

Packet Data Network (PDN for short): used to provide services to users;

Evolved packet network (E-Packet Core): used to reduce delay and access more wireless access systems. The E-Packet Core includes the following network elements:

Mobility Management Entity (MME for short): is a control plane functional entity, used to temporarily store user data, manage and store user equipment (User Equipment, UE for short) context (such as UE identity, mobility management status, User security parameters, etc.), assign temporary identities to users, process all non-access stratum messages between MME and UE, and trigger paging in SAE. When the UE is camped in the tracking area or the network, the MME is used to authenticate the UE.

Serving Gateway (Serving GW for short): It is the user plane entity and the anchor point of the user plane inside the 3GPP system. A user can only have one Serving GW at a time. Serving GW is used to process user plane data routing, terminate downlink data of UE in idle state, manage and store SAE bearer context of UE (such as IP bearer service parameters and internal network routing information, etc.).

Packet Data Network Gateway (PDNGW for short): It is the mobility anchor point of 3GPP and non-3GPP access systems, and users can access multiple PDN GWs at the same time. It is used for the gateway responsible for UE accessing the PDN and assigning user IP addresses.

Policy and Charging Rule Functionality (Policy and Charging Rule Functionality, referred to as PCRF): used to generate quality of service (Quality of Service, referred to as QoS) rules for controlling user data transmission based on business information, user subscription information, and operator configuration information And charging rules to control the establishment and release of bearers in the access network.

On the physical layer, the Serving GW and the PDN GW can be set as one.

SAE bearer is a channel from terminal to PGW, UE and PDN can use this channel to transmit specific QoS uplink and downlink data. Bearers in the SAE are divided into default bearers and dedicated bearers. The default bearer is the first bearer from the terminal to the PDN, and the dedicated bearer is other bearers from the terminal to the PDN. A user can establish multiple default bearers. Generally speaking, when the user starts up, that is, when registering, a default bearer corresponding to the default PDN is established, and the user can subsequently establish default bearers to other PDNs as needed. . However, when users go to the same PDN, they also have different service requirements, and different services have different QoS requirements, so different bearers need to be used for transmission. A dedicated bearer is a bearer established because users have different QoS requirements for the same PDN after the corresponding default bearer is established.

For the bearer type (that is, whether a certain bearer is a default bearer or a dedicated bearer, and which default bearer is associated with a certain dedicated bearer), the nodes in the network: UE, MME, SGW, and PGW can recognize it, but eNB cannot.

The fact that the eNB cannot identify the bearer type has no effect on the operation of a certain bearer by the eNB alone, because the eNB can report the operation status to the process initiating network element, and then the process initiating network element determines the subsequent operation according to different bearer types. There are problems of unnecessary operation and waste of resources. However, there is a problem when eNBs establish bearers in batches: because the dedicated bearer depends on the existence of the default bearer, if the establishment of the default bearer fails, the dedicated bearer associated with it cannot be established.

Since the eNB cannot identify the bearer type, even if the establishment of the default bearer fails, the eNB will continue to complete the establishment of all bearers, that is, it will allocate resources for the dedicated bearer associated with the default bearer. After the establishment of all bearers is completed, the eNB will notify the process initiating network element of the establishment status, including the successfully established bearer and the failed bearer. If the process initiating network element finds that there is a default bearer establishment failure, it will send a message to notify the eNB of the release and establishment success. Dedicated bearer resources related to the default bearer. In the above interaction process, there are cases where the eNB performs unnecessary operations and resources are wasted, especially when the resources of the eNB are in short supply, it may cause resources to be reserved for dedicated bearers that are not necessary to be established, resulting in subsequent The subsequent bearers fail to be established due to insufficient resources.

Contents of the invention

In consideration of the problem in the related art that the eNB cannot identify the bearer type, which leads to subsequent redundant operations and waste of resources, the present invention is proposed. Therefore, the present invention aims to provide a bearer type identification method and a bearer type indication method to solve the above problems.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a method for identifying a bearer type is provided, which is used for an evolved node to identify the bearer type.

The method for identifying a bearer type according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: the evolved node obtains a request message from a process initiating network element, wherein the request message carries one or more bearer type identifiers, and each bearer type identifier corresponds to a Bearer: For each bearer, the evolved node reads the bearer type identifier, and judges the corresponding bearer type according to the bearer type identifier. The bearer types mentioned here include dedicated bearer and default bearer.

Preferably, the bearer type identifier identifies the bearer type by identifying the relationship between the corresponding bearer and the default bearer.

Preferably, for each bearer, the evolved node reads the bearer type identifier, and judges the corresponding bearer type according to the bearer type identifier, as follows: for a certain bearer, if the bearer type identifier can be read, and If the default bearer corresponding to the read bearer type identifier can be found, the evolved node judges that the bearer is a dedicated bearer; if the default bearer corresponding to the read bearer type identifier cannot be found, the evolved node judges that the bearer is a default bearer. Provincial bearer; for a certain bearer, if the bearer type identifier cannot be read, the evolved node judges that the bearer is the default bearer.

Preferably, the above method further includes: the evolved node first allocates resources for the default bearer; in the case of successful allocation of resources for the default bearer, searching for a dedicated bearer corresponding to the bearer type identifier corresponding to the default bearer, and providing Allocate resources for the dedicated bearer; in the case of failure to allocate resources for the default bearer, search for a dedicated bearer corresponding to the bearer type identifier corresponding to the default bearer, and no longer allocate resources for the found dedicated bearer.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a method for indicating a bearer type is provided, which is used for a process initiating network element to indicate the bearer type to an evolved node.

The bearer type indication method according to the embodiment of the present invention includes the following processing: the process initiating network element sends a request message to the evolved node, and carries one or more bearer type identifiers for identifying the bearer type in the request message, and each bearer type identifier Each corresponds to a bearer that needs to be established, where the bearer type includes a dedicated bearer and a default bearer.

Preferably, for the default bearer, the process initiating network element does not carry the corresponding bearer type identifier in the request message.

Or, preferably, for a default bearer, the process initiating network element sets its corresponding bearer type identifier to an invalid value; for a dedicated bearer, the process initiating network element sets its corresponding bearer type identifier to a valid value, and according to the The bearer type identifier can find the corresponding default bearer.

Through at least one technical solution of the present invention, it is possible to indicate or identify the bearer type, thereby solving the problem of redundant operations and waste of resources caused by the inability of the eNB to identify the bearer type when performing bearer batch establishment operations.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be apparent from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

Description of drawings

The accompanying drawings are used to provide a further understanding of the present invention, and constitute a part of the description, and are used together with the embodiments of the present invention to explain the present invention, and do not constitute a limitation to the present invention. In the attached picture:

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an SAE architecture according to related technologies;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a bearer type identification method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a signaling interaction flow chart of Embodiment 1 of the bearer type identification method according to the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a system during inter-eNB handover of a bearer type identification method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of signaling interaction in Embodiment 2 of the system environment shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of signaling interaction in Embodiment 3 of the system environment shown in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a system when switching between LTE access and 2G and 3G access according to the bearer type identification method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of signaling interaction in Embodiment 4 of the system environment shown in FIG. 7 .

Detailed ways

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the preferred embodiments described here are only used to illustrate and explain the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for indicating a bearer type is firstly provided, which is used for a process initiating network element to indicate the bearer type to an evolved node.

The method for indicating the bearer type according to the embodiment of the present invention includes the following processing: the process initiating network element (which may be the MME or the source eNB) sends a request message to the eNB, and carries one or more bearer types used to identify the bearer type in the request message ID, where each bearer type ID corresponds to a bearer that needs to be established, and the bearer type mentioned here includes a dedicated bearer and a default bearer.

Wherein, for the default bearer, the process initiating network element may not carry the corresponding bearer type identifier in the request message.

Or, for the default bearer, the process initiating network element can carry the corresponding bearer type identifier in the request message, but set the corresponding bearer type identifier to an invalid value; for the dedicated bearer, the process initiating network element Setting the type identifier to a valid value specifically means that the eNB can find the corresponding default bearer according to the bearer type identifier with a valid value.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for identifying a bearer type is also provided, and the method preferably uses the above-mentioned bearer type indication method. FIG. 2 is a flowchart showing the processing of the method. As shown in Figure 2, it includes the following processing:

In step S202, the eNB obtains a request message from the process initiating network element, wherein the request message carries one or more bearer type identifiers, and each bearer type identifier corresponds to a bearer that needs to be established; preferably, the bearer type identifier is passed through the identifier The relationship between the corresponding bearer and the default bearer to identify the type of bearer;

Step S204, for each bearer, the eNB reads the bearer type identifier, and judges the corresponding bearer type according to the bearer type identifier. The bearer type mentioned here includes a dedicated bearer and a default bearer.

Through the above processing, the eNodeB can identify the bearer type.

In step S204, for a certain bearer, if the bearer type identifier can be read, and if the default bearer corresponding to the read bearer type identifier can be found, the eNB determines that the bearer corresponding to the bearer type identifier is the default bearer ; If the default bearer corresponding to the read bearer type identifier cannot be found, the eNB determines that the bearer corresponding to the bearer type identifier is a dedicated bearer; for a certain bearer, if the bearer type identifier cannot be read, the eNB will use the Determined as the default bearer.

Based on the judgment of the bearer type, the eNB can carry out the subsequent resource allocation process. Specifically, the eNB first allocates resources for the default bearer; in the case of successfully allocating resources for the default bearer, it searches for the bearer type corresponding to the default bearer Identify the corresponding dedicated bearer, and allocate resources for the found dedicated bearer; in the case of failure to allocate resources for the default bearer, search for the dedicated bearer corresponding to the bearer type identifier corresponding to the default bearer, and no longer search for the dedicated bearer If resources are assigned to the received dedicated bearer, it is directly considered that the dedicated bearer has also failed to be established.

In this way, by identifying the bearer type, if the establishment of the default bearer fails, there is no need to establish a dedicated bearer associated with it, thereby avoiding waste of resources.

The present invention will be further described below in conjunction with examples. As mentioned above, since the bearer type identifier identifies the bearer type by identifying the relationship between the corresponding bearer and the default bearer, for ease of understanding, the bearer type identifier is referred to as the associated default bearer identifier hereinafter.

Embodiment one:

This embodiment provides the specific implementation process in the business request process, as shown in Figure 3, including the following processing:

Step 302, when the UE has uplink signaling or data to send, or when the UE receives paging, the UE sends a service request to the eNB;

Step 304, the eNB sends the service request message to the MME;

Step 306, MME (that is, the process initiating network element above) sends an initial context establishment request to the eNB, which contains all bearer information to be established, and each bearer may contain an associated default bearer identifier (that is, the above mentioned bearer type identifier);

Step 308, after the eNB receives the message, for each bearer that needs to be established, judge whether it carries the associated default bearer identifier, if not carried, or even if the identifier is carried, but the default bearer corresponding to the identifier cannot be found , the eNB considers the bearer to be the default bearer; if the identifier is carried and the default bearer corresponding to the identifier can be found correctly, the eNB considers the bearer to be a dedicated bearer;

In the subsequent bearer establishment process, the eNB first allocates resources for the default bearer. After the default bearer is successfully established, it searches for the dedicated bearer associated with the default bearer according to the associated default bearer ID, and performs resource allocation; if the default bearer If the bearer fails to be established, the eNB will no longer attempt to allocate resources for the dedicated bearer associated with the default bearer, and will directly consider that the dedicated bearer also fails to be established.

In step 310, the eNB returns an initial context establishment complete message, which carries information about successfully established bearers and failedly established bearers.

It can be seen from the above description that during the service request process, by carrying the associated default bearer identifier in the service request message, the eNB can judge the bearer type in the subsequent processing, and perform effective resource allocation according to the judgment result, avoiding the Redundant operations are performed, thereby avoiding waste of resources and improving system processing efficiency.

Embodiment two

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of the system during inter-eNB handover. There are two ways to handover between eNBs, one is through the S1 connection between the eNB and the MME; the other is through the X2 connection between the eNBs. The examples given below describe the above cases respectively.

Firstly, this embodiment provides the implementation process of the present invention in the S1 interface-based inter-eNB handover procedure. In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 5, the following processing is included:

Step 502, the source eNB decides to initiate handover according to the measurement report reported by the UE;

Step 504, the source eNB sends a handover requirement message to the MME;

Step 506, the MME (that is, the network element initiating the process above) sends a handover request to the target eNB, which contains information about all bearers to be established, and each bearer contains an associated default bearer identifier;

Step 508, after the target eNB receives the handover request, for each bearer that needs to be established, judge whether it carries the associated default bearer identifier, if it does not carry it, or even if it carries the identifier, but cannot find the default bearer identifier corresponding to the identifier If the bearer is saved, the eNB considers the bearer to be the default bearer; if the identifier is carried and the default bearer corresponding to the identifier can be found correctly, the eNB considers the bearer to be a dedicated bearer;

In the subsequent bearer establishment process, the eNB first allocates resources for the default bearer. After the default bearer is successfully established, it searches for the dedicated bearer associated with the default bearer according to the associated default bearer ID, and performs resource allocation; if the default bearer If the bearer establishment fails, the eNB will no longer attempt to allocate resources for the dedicated bearer associated with the default bearer, and will directly consider that the dedicated bearer also fails to be established.

In step 510, the target eNB returns a handover request response message, which carries information about successfully established bearers and information about failedly established bearers.

This embodiment also provides the implementation process of the present invention in the inter-eNB handover process based on the X2 interface. In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 6, the following processing is included:

Step 602, the source eNB decides to initiate handover according to the measurement report reported by the UE;

Step 604, the source eNB (that is, the network element initiating the process mentioned above) initiates a handover request message to the target eNB, the message needs to carry all bearer information that needs to be established, and each bearer may include an associated default bearer identifier;

Step 606, the target eNB receives the handover request, and judges for each bearer that needs to be established whether it carries the associated default bearer identifier, if not carried, or even if the identifier is carried, but the default bearer corresponding to the identifier cannot be found , the eNB considers the bearer to be the default bearer; if the identifier is carried and the default bearer corresponding to the identifier can be found correctly, the eNB considers the bearer to be a dedicated bearer;

In the subsequent bearer establishment process, the eNB first allocates resources for the default bearer. After the default bearer is successfully established, it searches for the dedicated bearer associated with the default bearer according to the associated default bearer ID, and performs resource allocation; if the default bearer If the bearer establishment fails, the eNB will no longer try to allocate resources for the dedicated bearer associated with the default bearer, and directly considers that the dedicated bearer also fails to be established.

Step 608, the target eNB returns a handover request response message to the source eNB, and returns the bearer establishment result;

Step 610, the source eNB initiates a handover command to the UE;

Step 612, the UE starts to perform handover, and returns a handover confirmation to the target eNB after the handover is completed;

Step 614, the target eNB sends a path switching request message to the mobility management entity, notifying the mobility management entity to update the path information;

Step 616, after the MME path switching is successful, return a path switching response message to the target eNB to confirm the success;

Step 618: After receiving the response message from the mobility management entity, the target eNB initiates resource release to the source eNB, and the source eNB releases UE-related resources, and the handover is completed.

It can be seen from the above description that during inter-eNB handover, by carrying the associated default bearer identifier in the handover request message, in subsequent processing, eNB can judge the bearer type, and perform effective resource allocation according to the judgment result, avoiding In order to perform redundant operations, resource waste is avoided and system processing efficiency is improved.

Embodiment Three

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of the system when switching between LTE access and 2G and 3G access. As shown in Figure 7, RNC/BSS communicates with SGSN through IU/GB, eNB communicates with MME/S-GW through S1 interface, and communicates between SGSN and MME/S-GW through S3/GN.

Fig. 8 shows the realization process of an embodiment of the present invention in the switching process between LTE access and 2G and 3G access. As shown in Figure 8, the following processing is included:

Step 802, RNC or BSS decides to initiate handover according to the measurement report reported by UE;

Step 804, the RNC or the BSS sends the handover request message to the SGSN;

Step 806, the SGSN forwards the handover requirement message to the MME;

Step 808, the MME sends a handover request to the target eNB, which contains information about all bearers to be established, and each bearer may include an associated default bearer identifier;

Step 810, after the target eNB receives the message, for each bearer that needs to be established, judge whether the associated default bearer identifier is carried, if not, or even if the identifier is carried, but the default bearer corresponding to the identifier cannot be found bearer, the eNB considers the bearer to be the default bearer; if the identifier is carried and the default bearer corresponding to the identifier can be found correctly, the eNB considers the bearer to be a dedicated bearer;

In the subsequent bearer establishment process, the eNB first allocates resources for the default bearer. After the default bearer is successfully established, it searches for the dedicated bearer associated with the default bearer according to the associated default bearer ID, and performs resource allocation; if the default bearer If the bearer establishment fails, the eNB will no longer attempt to allocate resources for the dedicated bearer associated with the default bearer, and directly considers that the dedicated bearer also fails to be established.

In step 812, the target eNB returns a handover request response message, which carries information about successfully established bearers and information about failedly established bearers.

It can be seen from the above description that during the handover process between LTE access and 2G and 3G access, by carrying the associated default bearer identifier in the handover request message, in the subsequent processing, the eNB can judge the bearer type, and according to the judgment result Effective resource allocation avoids redundant operations, thereby avoiding resource waste and improving system processing efficiency.

The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention. For those skilled in the art, the present invention may have various modifications and changes. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present invention shall be included within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (7)

1. A bearer type identification method for an evolved node to identify the bearer type, characterized in that it comprises: The evolved node acquires a request message from the process initiating network element, wherein the request message carries one or more bearer type identifiers, and each bearer type identifier corresponds to a bearer that needs to be established; For each bearer, the evolved node reads the bearer type identifier, and judges the type of the corresponding bearer according to the bearer type identifier, and the type includes a dedicated bearer and a default bearer. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the bearer type identifier identifies the bearer type by identifying a relationship between a corresponding bearer and a default bearer. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, for each bearer, the evolved node reads its bearer type identifier, and the operation of judging the corresponding bearer type according to the bearer type identifier is specifically: For a certain bearer, if its bearer type identifier can be read, and if the default bearer corresponding to the read bearer type identifier can be found, then the eNode judges that the bearer is a dedicated bearer, if it cannot find a default bearer corresponding to the read bearer type identifier, the eNode determines that the bearer is a default bearer; For a certain bearer, if the bearer type identifier cannot be read, the eNode determines that the bearer is a default bearer. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising: The eNode first allocates resources for the default bearer; If resource allocation for the default bearer is successful, search for a dedicated bearer corresponding to the bearer type identifier corresponding to the default bearer, and allocate resources for the found dedicated bearer; In the case of failing to allocate resources for the default bearer, search for a dedicated bearer corresponding to the bearer type identifier corresponding to the default bearer, and no longer allocate resources for the found dedicated bearer. 5. A method for indicating a bearer type, used for initiating a network element to indicate the bearer type to an evolved node, characterized in that: The process initiating network element sends a request message to the evolved node, and carries one or more bearer type identifiers used to identify the bearer type in the request message, and each bearer type identifier corresponds to a bearer that needs to be established, wherein the The above bearer types include dedicated bearer and default bearer. 6. The method according to claim 5, wherein, for the default bearer, the procedure initiating network element does not carry the corresponding bearer type identifier in the request message. 7. The method according to claim 5, wherein, for a default bearer, the process initiating network element sets its corresponding bearer type identifier to an invalid value, and for a dedicated bearer, the process initiating network element sets its The corresponding bearer type identifier is set to a valid value, and the corresponding default bearer can be found according to the bearer type identifier with a valid value.

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