CN101541064A - Network discovery and selection method, network system and device - Google Patents

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a network discovery and selection method, a network system and a device. The method comprises that: a first access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF acquires network situation information through interaction with a second ANDSF after a user terminal access a network; and the first ANDSF sends the network situation information to the user terminal to perform target network selection or select a target network for the user terminal according to the network situation information. Correspondingly, the embodiment of the invention also provides a network system and a device. The technical proposal provided by the embodiment of the invention can achieve network discovery and selection treatment more simply.

Description

Network discovery and selection method, network system and device

technical field

The invention relates to the field of communication technology, in particular to a network discovery and selection method, a network system and a device.

Background technique

The LTE (Long Term Evolution, long-term evolution plan) formulated by 3GPP (The 3rd Generation Partnership Project) defines the architecture of a new mobile communication network, called EPS (evolved packet system, evolved packet network) . An important feature of EPS is that it considers the integration of multiple access methods, allowing non-3GPP (non-3GPP) networks to access EPS networks. The non-3GPP networks described here include WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, Global Microwave Interconnection Access ), WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access, Code Division Multiple Access), etc. For operational needs, the existing technology proposes a unified network discovery and selection idea, that is, when the user terminal UE accesses the network, it passes through an ANDSF (Access Network Discovery and Selection Function) in the network Collect network status information (such as load status, etc.) of relevant access networks, and jointly select a network for the UE based on the relevant policies of the operator (such as the current access network mode available to the UE) and the signal conditions of the surrounding network collected by the UE. The target network, when the conditions are met, the user can switch to other access networks.

Please refer to FIG. 1 , which is a schematic diagram of an architecture of network discovery and selection in the prior art.

As shown in Figure 1, the access methods include 3GPP access and non-3GPP access, and ANDSF is deployed at both the visiting site and the home site. In Figure 1, Sx is the reference point interface between UE and ANDSF, that is, UE can connect to ANDSF through 3GPP access or trusted and untrusted non-3GPP access methods; ANDSF can also connect to non-3GPP access through Sy interface Network, so as to collect information such as the load status of the network. Under this framework, when a roaming UE registers to the network, it can simultaneously select the vANDSF of the visited location and the hANDSF of the home location through DNS (DomainName Service) resolution, etc., and the UE obtains relevant policy information and network status from the hANDSF and vANDSF respectively. information to complete the network discovery and selection process.

During the research and practice of the prior art, the inventor found the following problems in the prior art:

In the framework and method of the prior art, the ANDSFs of the home location and the visiting location do not perform information interaction, and the UE always needs to select two ANDSFs for interactive processing. The process is too complicated and the applicability is not strong.

Contents of the invention

The technical problem to be solved by the embodiments of the present invention is to provide a network discovery and selection method, network system and device, which can realize network discovery and selection processing more simply.

In order to solve the above technical problems, the embodiments provided by the present invention are achieved through the following technical solutions:

An embodiment of the present invention provides a network discovery and selection method, including: after the user terminal accesses the network, the first access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF obtains network status information through interaction with the second ANDSF; the first The ANDSF sends the network status information to the user terminal to select a target network, or selects a target network for the user terminal according to the network status information.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a network system, including: a first access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF, configured to obtain network status information through interaction with a second ANDSF after a user terminal accesses the network, The status information is sent to the user terminal to select a target network, or a target network is selected for the user terminal according to the network status information; the second ANDSF is configured to perform information exchange with the first ANDSF.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a device, including: an interaction unit, configured to obtain network status information through interaction with an access network discovery and selection function entity ANDSF outside the local network after a user terminal accesses the network; a processing unit, It is used to send the network status information to the user terminal to select a target network, or select a target network for the user terminal according to the network status information.

It can be seen from the above technical solution that in the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention, after the user terminal accesses the network, the network status information is obtained through interaction between different access network discovery and selection functional entities ANDSF, so the user terminal only needs to access the An ANDSF can obtain the network status information obtained after the information interaction on the network side through the ANDSF, and then perform corresponding processing, or obtain the target network information selected according to the interaction result after the information interaction on the network side, so that it can be simpler Implements network discovery and selection processing.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of network discovery and selection in the prior art;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a flow chart of a method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a UE actively initiating a request in a method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flow chart of the ANDSF actively sending information to the UE in a method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

Fig. 6 is a flowchart of handover decision-making completed by vANDSF in a method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flow chart of hANDSF completing handover decisions in a method according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

Fig. 8 is a flow chart of switching from vANDSF to hANDSF to complete the switching decision in the first method of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture in Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

Fig. 10 is a flow chart of the method of Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a flow chart of UE actively initiating a request in the method of Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a flow chart of the ANDSF actively sending information to the UE in the second method of Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

Fig. 13 is a flowchart of the handover decision completed by vANDSF in the second method of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a flow chart of hANDSF completing the handover decision in the method of Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

Fig. 15 is a flow chart of switching from vANDSF to hANDSF to complete the switching decision in the first method of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of the network architecture of Embodiment 3 of the present invention;

Fig. 17 is a flow chart of the third method of Embodiment 3 of the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 19 is a schematic diagram of the second structure of the network system according to the embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 20 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the device according to the embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

In the implementation of the present invention, through information interaction between the visited and home ANDSFs, the UE only needs to connect to one of the ANDSFs to obtain relevant information, thereby realizing network discovery and selection processing more simply.

In the implementation of the present invention, there are mainly two forms of information interaction between the ANDSF of the visited place and the home place. One is to add an interactive interface between vANDSF and hANDSF to carry out information exchange, and the other is to use the existing technology The interface of the PCRF (Policy Charging Rule Function, policy charging rule functional entity) is the S9 interface between the hPCRF in the home location and the vPCRF in the visited location. The vANDSF can be connected to the vPCRF, and the hANDSF can be connected to the hPCRF to exchange information.

The interactive interface set between vANDSF and hANDSF in the embodiment of the present invention is called Sz interface, through which handover strategy, handover decision, access network status information, etc. can be transmitted between vANDSF and hANDSF. When the UE accesses the system, it can select the ANDSF of the local network, that is, when the UE is at home, select the hANDSF, and when the UE roams, select the vANDSF, and the selected ANDSF decides whether it is necessary to select a network that can pass Sz for the UE. Interface connected ANDSF. For example, when the UE is roaming, the vANDSF can select an hANDSF for it according to the UE's identity. The vANDSF and the hANDSF communicate through the Sz interface, and the UE only interacts with the directly connected vANDSF. At this time, the vANDSF can be regarded as an agent of the hANDSF.

The following method is illustrated by taking the processing in a roaming scenario as an example, but is not limited thereto, and is also applicable in a non-roaming scenario.

Please refer to FIG. 2 , which is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 2, vANDSF and hANDSF communicate through the newly added Sz interface; a roaming UE selects vANDSF (selects the visited network when roaming, and selects the home network when not roaming). The vANDSF communicates with the UE through the Sx interface; the hANDSF and the vANDSF obtain information such as network conditions of other access systems in the network through the Sy interface. The hANDSF is connected to the vANDSF through the Sz interface, and obtains information such as the network status of the visited network through the vANDSF.

Please refer to FIG. 3 , which is a flow chart of a method in Embodiment 1 of the present invention. In Embodiment 1, UE is in the visited network and accesses vANDSF. FIG. 3 includes:

301. The UE executes a registration process to complete registration to a specific access network;

For example, an attach procedure may be performed to register to a 3GPP network, a WiMax network, and the like.

302. The UE executes DNS (Domain Name Service, Domain Name Service) resolution or DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) process to obtain the address of ANDSF, and the DNS server or DHCP server returns the configured address of the ANDSF of the local network to the UE ;

When the UE roams, the ANDSF of the local network where it is located is the vANDSF of the roaming location. If the address of the ANDSF of the local network where the UE is located has been recorded in the UE, the DNS resolution or DHCP step does not need to be performed.

303. The UE initiates a registration process to the vANDSF, and requests a service from the vANDSF;

The registration process can be an explicit registration initiated by the UE, such as sending a registration request message to the vANDSF; it can also be an implicit registration, such as the UE sending a policy request message to the vANDSF or sending a measurement report of the surrounding network. If the UE has recorded the address of the home hANDSF (which may be pre-configured by the UE or dynamically provided by the network), the message will carry the address of the hANDSF to the vANDSF.

The vANDSF can establish and maintain a context for the UE, and record related information.

304. The vANDSF registers the UE with the hANDSF;

When the vANDSF finds that the UE is a roaming user, it selects an hANDSF for the UE according to the attribution information provided by the UE. For example, the hANDSF can be obtained by performing DNS resolution based on the UE's hPLMN ID (home Public Land Mobile Network, home public land mobile network identifier). address, or determine an hANDSF for the UE according to the hANDSF address provided by the UE, and then initiate a registration process to the hANDSF to register the UE with the hANDSF.

The registration process can be an explicit registration, such as vANDSF sends a registration request message to hANDSF; it can also be an implicit registration, such as vANDSF sends a policy request message to hANDSF or sends a surrounding network measurement report.

The hANDSF can establish and maintain a context for the UE, and record relevant information.

305. The UE, the hANDSF and the vANDSF perform related processing of network discovery and selection.

In this step, depending on the decision-making subject of network discovery and selection, it can be divided into several situations.

1) The processing when the decision is completely made by the UE

In this handover decision method, the ANDSF provides policy information and/or related network status information to the UE, and the UE judges whether handover needs to occur and which destination network to handover to according to the information provided by the ANDSF.

Therefore, under the framework of the embodiment of the present invention, the hANDSF sends the policy information related to the UE to the vANDSF, and the vANDSF collects the status information of the relevant network according to the policy information provided by the hANDSF, and sends the related policy information and network status information to the UE. The UE can make a handover decision based on the information provided by the vANDSF, that is, decide whether to handover and which destination network to handover to.

At this time, it can be further divided into the case where the UE actively initiates a policy request and the case where the network side actively sends policy information.

The process of UE actively initiating a policy request after registering with ANDSF (including registering with vANDSF and hANDSF) is shown in Figure 4, including:

401. The UE sends a policy request message to the vANDSF to acquire policy information;

402. After receiving the policy request message, vANDSF sends a policy request message to hANDSF;

During this period, the vANDSF may obtain the network status from the relevant network, or obtain the network status from a specific network according to the policy information provided by the hANDSF after step 403 .

403. The hANDSF can send the policy information (such as the available network and selection priority of the visited place) to the vANDSF according to the current location information of the UE;

404. The vANDSF provides handover policy information to the UE according to the policy information provided by the hANDSF and the acquired status of the relevant network;

405. The UE makes a decision according to the policy information sent by the vANDSF.

The UE can make a handover decision based on the information provided by the vANDSF, that is, decide whether to handover and which destination network to handover to.

It should be noted that the subsequent UE may send a policy request message to the vANDSF to obtain updated policy information, and the vANDSF and hANDSF respectively obtain the updated information for processing.

After the UE registers with ANDSF (including registering with vANDSF and hANDSF), the process of actively sending policy information to UE by one of the ANDSFs, vANDSF or hANDSF, is shown in Figure 5, including:

501. The hANDSF can send the policy information (such as the available network and selection priority of the visited place) to the vANDSF according to the current location information of the UE;

502. The vANDSF provides handover policy information to the UE according to the policy information provided by the hANDSF and the acquired status of the relevant network;

503. The UE makes a decision according to the policy information sent by the vANDSF.

The UE can make a handover decision based on the information provided by the vANDSF, that is, decide whether to handover and which destination network to handover to.

It should be noted that when the roaming agreement between the home location and the roaming location changes or the relevant policy information of the UE changes, the hANDSF can send the updated policy information (such as the available network and selection priority of the visited location) to the vANDSF. After the vANDSF receives the policy update information provided by the hANDSF or checks that the relevant network conditions have changed, it can include the relevant information in the policy update message and send it to the UE, and the UE completes the subsequent handover process according to the updated policy information.

2) The process of decision-making is completely carried out by ANDSF.

Under this handover decision method, the UE reports the measurement report of the surrounding network to the ANDSF, and the ANDSF makes a handover decision for the UE according to the handover strategy of the UE and the measurement report reported by the UE, and sends the decision result to the UE, and the UE completes the Subsequent switching processing. In this case, the UE does not need to obtain the policy information sent by the ANDSF, but directly receives the decision result sent by the ANDSF for processing.

Under this handover decision method, since there are actually two ANDSFs serving the UE, namely, vANDSF and hANDSF, it can be divided into the following three situations according to different handover decision points:

A: The switching decision is completely done by vANDSF

In this scenario, vANDSF is the final decision point for handover. hANDSF provides vANDSF with the policy information required for the UE handover (such as the network available in the visited location and selection priority, etc.), and vANDSF collects state information of relevant networks (such as the current network load), the UE reports the measurement report of the surrounding network to the vANDSF. The vANDSF executes a handover decision for the UE according to the information obtained above, and sends the handover decision (such as which target network to handover to) to the UE.

Please refer to Figure 6 for the specific process of handover decision-making completed by vANDSF, including:

601. The UE sends a measurement report to the vANDSF;

602. vANDSF sends a policy request message to hANDSF;

If the policy information provided by the hANDSF is not recorded in the vANDSF, a policy request message is sent to the hANDSF.

After vANDSF receives the UE's measurement report, it can immediately obtain network status information from the relevant network.

603. The hANDSF can send the policy information (such as the available network and selection priority of the visited place) to the vANDSF according to the current location information of the UE;

604. The vANDSF collects the status of relevant networks according to the policy information provided by the hANDSF, makes a handover decision, and sends the decision result to the UE, and the UE performs subsequent handover processing according to the decision result.

The related network status mentioned therein may use the information already stored in the vANDSF, or the vANDSF may initiate a status acquisition process to the related network to acquire updated network status.

It should be noted that the vANDSF may obtain the policy information provided by the hANDSF through a separate process as in steps 602 and 603, or may already obtain the policy information provided by the hANDSF during the UE registration process.

In addition, when the roaming agreement between the home location and the roaming location changes or the relevant policy information of the UE changes, the hANDSF can send the updated policy information (such as the network available at the visited location and selection priority, etc.) to the vANDSF. The vANDSF makes a handover decision for the UE according to the information obtained above and the operator's relevant policies, and sends the handover decision (such as which target network to handover to) to the UE.

If in some cases, vANDSF cannot complete the handover decision, for example, when the UE is at the border of the visited network and is about to handover to another network, the access network controlled by vANDSF cannot meet the handover needs of the UE. The access network information of another network selected for the UE is sent to the UE to guide the UE to switch to the new network. At this time, vANDSF cannot obtain the information of the destination network, so vANDSF needs the help of hANDSF, and can perform the following process:

When vANDSF cannot complete the handover decision, it sends a policy request message to hANDSF, requesting hANDSF to provide access network resources of other networks (different from the current visited network) where the current UE is located; hANDSF according to the current location of the UE, according to the operator's policy , select the available access network resource information of other networks (new visited network or home network) at the current location, and provide the status of the relevant access network through the vANDSF of the network where these access networks are located, such as load status, and use these policies Information and status of the access network are sent to the requesting vANDSF. After vANDSF receives these information, it executes handover decision, and selects a handover target network for UE. In addition, if the UE needs to migrate back to the home network, the hANDSF can directly obtain the status of the access network of the local network without obtaining relevant information through the new vANDSF.

B: Handover decision is completely done by hANDSF

In this scenario, the hANDSF is the final handover decision point, and the vANDSF forwards the measurement report reported by the UE to the hANDSF, and reports the network status related to the visited network to the hANDSF.

Please refer to Figure 7 for the specific process of handover decision-making completed by hANDSF, including:

701. The UE sends a measurement report to the vANDSF;

702. The vANDSF forwards the measurement report to the hANDSF, and the message may also carry related network status information, such as load status, etc.;

703. The hANDSF may execute a handover decision based on the measurement report reported by the UE, the status information of the relevant network provided by the vANDSF or stored in the hANDSF, and operator policies, etc., select a handover target network for the UE, and send the decision result to the vANDSF;

In this step, the hANDSF may also decide to switch to another visited network or home network according to the measurement report reported by the UE. At this time, the hANDSF can obtain the available access network information from the vANDSF of the other visited network or the hANDSF itself, and select a suitable access network of the other visited network or the home network for the UE, and send the decision result to the vANDSF.

704. The vANDSF sends the decision result provided by the hANDSF to the UE, and the UE performs subsequent handover processing according to the decision result.

Under this method, when the UE initially registers, the hANDSF can still send the policy information to the vANDSF, and the vANDSF can report the network status according to the policy information (such as the subscribed access network and priority, etc.).

C: Complete the switching decision from vANDSF to hANDSF

When the handover decision is made by the vANDSF, the handover decision may be made by the hANDSF in some specific cases. When the vANDSF cannot make a handover decision for the UE, the hANDSF is required to make a handover decision, and the handover decision point is changed to the hANDSF. After the hANDSF makes a handover decision, the decision result is sent to the UE through the vANDSF.

Please refer to Figure 8 for the specific process of switching decision from vANDSF to hANDSF, including:

801. The UE sends a measurement report to the vANDSF;

802. The vANDSF cannot make a handover decision for the UE, so it sends a handover request message to the hANDSF, requesting the hANDSF to make a handover decision, and the handover request message may carry the measurement report provided by the UE;

803. hANDSF returns the decision result to vANDSF;

hANDSF selects the available access network resource information of other networks (other visited networks or home networks) at the current location according to the current location information of the UE and according to the operator's policy, and can provide relevant access through the vANDSF of the network where these access networks are located The status of the network, such as the load status, according to the measurement report provided by the UE, executes the handover decision for the UE, and sends the result of the handover decision to the vANDSF.

804. The vANDSF sends the decision result provided by the hANDSF to the UE, and the UE performs a subsequent handover operation according to the result.

3) Decision-making is jointly made by UE and ANDSF

This processing method is basically similar to the decision-making process completely made by the ANDSF, the difference is that before the UE reports the measurement report, the ANDSF needs to send policy information to the UE, and then the UE reports the measurement report according to the policy information. The ANDSF mentioned here may be vANDSF or hANDSF. Generally, the ANDSF can provide policy information to the UE during the UE's first registration process, or actively provide it to the UE when the policy information changes.

The policy information provided by the ANDSF to the UE may generally include: a designated access network, a threshold or frequency for reporting, and the like. The UE monitors the designated network according to the information, and reports the measurement report of the designated network to the ANDSF when the relevant data reaches the reporting threshold. As for the decision-making process of ANDSF, it is consistent with the process under the decision-making of ANDSF, and will not be repeated here.

In Embodiment 1 of the present invention, the UE only needs to access vANDSF, and can obtain the network status information obtained after the information interaction between vANDSF and hANDSF using the newly added interface through the vANDSF, so as to perform corresponding processing, or obtain the network status information obtained by vANDSF and hANDSF The target network information is selected according to the interaction result after using the new interface for information interaction, so that the network discovery and selection process can be realized more simply.

Please refer to FIG. 9 , which is a schematic diagram of a network architecture in Embodiment 2 of the present invention. The main difference between the network structure of the second embodiment and the first embodiment is that the UE accesses the hANDSF in the second embodiment.

After the UE registers to the access network (such as 3GPP or Wimax), it can always select the ANDSF of the home network, and the selected hANDSF decides whether to select an ANDSF for the UE that can be connected through the Sz interface. Especially when the hANDSF is selected when the UE is roaming, the hANDSF can select a vANDSF of the visited network for it according to the UE's current location and other information. The vANDSF and the hANDSF communicate through the Sz interface. Provide access network information, and even make handover decisions.

Embodiment 2 of the present invention describes the network architecture in which the UE registers with the hANDSF while roaming. When the UE roams, it always finds the ANDSF at the home location.

As shown in Figure 9, the communication between vANDSF and hANDSF is performed through the newly added Sz interface. The roaming UE selects the ANDSF at home, that is, the hANDSF; the hANDSF communicates with the UE through the Sx interface; the vANDSF obtains information such as the network status of other access systems in the network through the Sy interface. In addition, the hANDSF is connected to the vANDSF through the Sz interface, and obtains information such as the network status of the visited network through the vANDSF.

Please refer to FIG. 10 , which is a flow chart of the method in Embodiment 2 of the present invention. In Embodiment 2, the UE is in a roaming network and accesses hANDSF. Therefore, the process of the flowchart of Embodiment 2 is basically the same as that of Embodiment 1, except that vANDSF and hANDSF If the position in the flowchart changes, some changes will occur accordingly. Figure 10 includes:

1001. The UE executes a registration process to complete registration to a specific access network;

For example, an attach procedure may be performed to register to a 3GPP network, a WiMax network, and the like.

1002. The UE executes the DNS resolution or DHCP process to obtain the address of the ANDSF from the DNS server (DNS Server) or the DHCP server. If the address of the hANDSF has been recorded in the UE, the DNS resolution or DHCP step does not need to be performed.

1003. The UE initiates a registration process to the hANDSF, and requests a service from the hANDSF;

The registration process can be an explicit registration initiated by the UE, such as sending a registration request message to the hANDSF; it can also be an implicit registration, such as the UE sending a policy request message to the hANDSF or sending a measurement report of the surrounding network. The hANDSF can establish and maintain a context for the UE, and record related information.

1004. The hANDSF registers the UE with the vANDSF;

hANDSF finds that the UE is a roaming user, and then selects a vANDSF for the UE according to the current visited network information (such as the PLMN ID of the visited network) provided by the UE, and then initiates a registration process to the vANDSF to register the UE with The vANDSF.

The registration process can be an explicit registration, such as hANDSF sending a registration request message to vANDSF; it can also be an implicit registration, such as hANDSF sending a policy request message to vANDSF or sending a surrounding network measurement report.

The vANDSF can establish and maintain a context for the UE, and record related information.

1005. The UE, the hANDSF and the vANDSF perform related processing of network discovery and selection.

In this step, depending on the decision-making subject of network discovery and selection, it can be divided into several situations.

1) The processing when the decision is completely made by the UE

In this handover decision method, the ANDSF provides policy information and/or related network status information to the UE, and the UE judges whether handover needs to occur and which destination network to handover to according to the information provided by the ANDSF.

Therefore, under the framework of the embodiment of the present invention, hANDSF provides policy information and/or related network status information to UE (this information can be provided by vANDSF to hANDSF), and UE can make a handover decision based on the information provided by hANDSF, that is, decide whether to Handover and which destination network to handover to.

At this time, it can be further divided into the case where the UE actively initiates a policy request and the case where the network side actively sends policy information.

The process of UE actively initiating a policy request after registering with ANDSF (including registering with vANDSF and hANDSF) is shown in Figure 11, including:

1101. The UE sends a policy request message to the hANDSF to obtain policy information;

The message may include current location information of the UE and the like.

1102. After receiving the policy request message, hANDSF sends a policy request message to vANDSF to obtain the status of the relevant network;

The message sent to the vANDSF may include the current location information of the UE, and may also include policy information provided by the hANDSF to the vANDSF.

1103. The vANDSF can obtain the state of the relevant network according to the current location information of the UE and/or the policy information provided by the hANDSF, and send it to the hANDSF;

1104. The hANDSF provides handover policy information to the UE according to the policy information and the status of the relevant network provided by the vANDSF;

1105. The UE makes a decision according to the policy information sent by the hANDSF.

The UE can make a handover decision based on the information provided by the hANDSF, that is, decide whether to handover and which destination network to handover to.

It should be noted that, subsequently, the UE may send a policy request message to the hANDSF to obtain updated policy information, and the vANDSF and hANDSF respectively obtain the updated information for processing.

After the UE registers with ANDSF (including registering with vANDSF and hANDSF), one of the ANDSFs, vANDSF or hANDSF, actively sends policy information to the UE, as shown in Figure 12, including:

1201. When the vANDSF judges that the relevant network status of the current UE has changed, it can actively send the collected network status to the hANDSF;

1202. The hANDSF provides handover policy information to the UE according to the policy information and the status of the relevant network provided by the vANDSF;

1203. The UE makes a decision according to the policy information sent by the hANDSF.

The UE can make a handover decision based on the information provided by the hANDSF, that is, decide whether to handover and which destination network to handover to.

It should be noted that when the roaming agreement between the home location and the roaming location changes or the relevant policy information of the UE changes, or the vANDSF indicates that the current relevant network conditions of the UE change, the hANDSF can update the policy information (such as the visited location The available network and selection priority, etc.) and network status are sent to the UE, and the UE completes subsequent handover processing according to the updated policy information.

2) The process of decision-making is completely carried out by ANDSF.

Under this handover decision method, the UE reports the measurement report of the surrounding network to the ANDSF, and the ANDSF makes a handover decision for the UE according to the handover strategy of the UE and the measurement report reported by the UE, and sends the decision result to the UE, and the UE completes the Subsequent switching processing. In this case, the UE does not need to obtain the policy information sent by the ANDSF, but directly receives the decision result sent by the ANDSF for processing.

Under this handover decision method, since there are actually two ANDSFs serving the UE, namely, vANDSF and hANDSF, it can be divided into the following three situations according to different handover decision points:

A: The switching decision is completely done by vANDSF

In this scenario, vANDSF is the final decision point for handover. UE reports the measurement report of the surrounding network to hANDSF, hANDSF forwards the measurement report of UE to vANDSF and provides the policy information required for the handover of the UE (such as the network available in the visited place and selection priority, etc.), and vANDSF collects the status information of the relevant network (such as the current network load). The vANDSF executes a handover decision for the UE according to the information obtained above, and sends the handover decision (such as which target network to handover to) to the UE.

Please refer to Figure 13 for the specific process of handover decision-making completed by vANDSF, including:

1301. The UE sends a measurement report to the hANDSF;

1302. The hANDSF forwards the measurement report to the vANDSF. The message may also carry the location information of the current UE and the policy information of the operator;

1303. The vANDSF collects the status of the relevant network according to the location information and policy information of the UE, and may also use the saved status information of the related network and the measurement report reported by the UE to make a handover decision, select a handover target network for the UE, and send The decision result is sent to hANDSF;

1304. The hANDSF sends the decision result provided by the vANDSF to the UE, and the UE performs subsequent handover processing according to the decision result.

In addition, when the roaming agreement between the home location and the roaming location changes or the relevant policy information of the UE changes, the hANDSF can send the updated policy information (such as the network available at the visited location and selection priority, etc.) to the vANDSF. The vANDSF makes a handover decision for the UE according to the information obtained above and the operator's relevant policies, and sends the handover decision (such as which target network to handover to) to the UE.

If in some cases, the vANDSF cannot complete the handover decision, for example, when the UE is at the border of the visited network and is about to handover to another network (other visited network or home network), the access network controlled by the vANDSF cannot satisfy The handover of the UE is required. At this time, it is necessary to select an access network information of another network for the UE and send it to the UE to guide the UE to switch to the new network. At this time, vANDSF cannot obtain the information of the destination network, so vANDSF needs the help of hANDSF, which can be handled in the following two ways:

One way to deal with it is that when hANDSF receives the UE's measurement report, it can judge that the current UE cannot work normally in the existing visited network according to the UE's location information, etc., and then select the current location according to the operator's policy. The available access network resource information of the network (other visited network or home network), and the status of the relevant access network, such as load status, can be provided through the vANDSF of the network where these access networks are located, and then these policy information and the access network's The status is sent to vANDSF. After vANDSF receives these information, it executes handover decision, and selects a handover target network for UE.

Another processing method is, when vANDSF receives the measurement report sent by hANDSF and judges that the handover decision cannot be completed, it sends a policy request message to hANDSF, requesting hANDSF to provide other networks (different from the current visited network) where the current UE is located. According to the current location of the UE and the operator's policy, hANDSF selects the available access network resource information of other networks at the current location, and can use the vANDSF of the network where these access networks are located Provide relevant access network conditions, such as load conditions, and send the policy information and access network conditions to the requesting vANDSF. After vANDSF receives these information, it executes handover decision, and selects a handover target network for UE. In addition, if the UE needs to migrate back to the home network, the hANDSF can directly obtain the status of the access network of the local network without obtaining relevant information through the new vANDSF.

B: Handover decision is completely done by hANDSF

In this scenario, the hANDSF is the final handover decision point. The hANDSF receives the measurement report reported by the UE and requires the vANDSF to report the network status related to the visited network to the hANDSF.

Please refer to Figure 14 for the specific process of handover decision-making completed by hANDSF, including:

1401. The UE sends a measurement report to the hANDSF;

1402. The hANDSF makes a policy request to the vANDSF, requiring the vANDSF to provide policy information of the UE-related network;

1403. The vANDSF collects the status of the relevant network according to the UE's location information and policy information, and may also use the saved status information of the related network, and provide the network status to hANDSF through a policy response message;

1404. The hANDSF can execute handover decisions according to the measurement report reported by the UE, the status information of the relevant network provided by the vANDSF or stored in the hANDSF, and operator policies, etc., select a handover target network for the UE, and send the decision result to the UE , the UE performs subsequent handover processing according to the decision result.

It should be noted that, if hANDSF adopts the stored network information, step 1402 and step 1403 are unnecessary.

In addition, when the hANDSF receives the message sent by the UE in step 1401 and judges that the network where the vANDSF registered with the UE cannot provide destination network information for the UE, it can select another network for the UE according to the current location information of the UE ( vANDSF of other visited network or home network), and send a policy request to the vANDSF (such as step 1402), requesting to obtain the information of the relevant access network. At this time, the newly selected vANDSF collects relevant The status of the network, and send it to hANDSF (such as step 1403). When the UE needs to return to the home network, the hANDSF can also directly obtain the information status of other access networks of the home network, and complete the decision.

C: Complete the switching decision from vANDSF to hANDSF

When the handover decision is made by the vANDSF, the handover decision may be made by the hANDSF in some specific cases. When the vANDSF cannot make a handover decision for the UE, the hANDSF is required to make a handover decision, and the handover decision point is changed to the hANDSF. After the hANDSF makes a handover decision, the decision result is sent to the UE through the vANDSF.

Refer to Figure 15 for the specific process of switching from vANDSF to hANDSF to complete the handover decision, including:

1501. The UE sends a measurement report to the vANDSF;

1502. The hANDSF forwards the measurement report to the vANDSF, and the message may also carry the location information of the current UE and the policy information of the operator;

1503. The vANDSF cannot make a handover decision for the UE, so it sends a handover request message to the hANDSF, requiring the hANDSF to make a handover decision. The handover request message may carry the measurement report provided by the UE;

1504. The hANDSF sends a decision result to the UE;

hANDSF selects the available access network resource information of other networks (other access networks or home networks) at the current location according to the current location information of the UE and according to the operator's policy, and can provide related access through the vANDSF of the network where these access networks are located The status of the network, such as the load status, according to the measurement report provided by the UE, executes the handover decision for the UE, and sends the result of the handover decision to the UE, and the UE performs subsequent handover operations according to the result.

3) Decision-making is jointly made by UE and ANDSF

This processing method is basically similar to the decision-making process completely made by the ANDSF, the difference is that before the UE reports the measurement report, the ANDSF needs to send policy information to the UE, and then the UE reports the measurement report according to the policy information. The ANDSF mentioned here may be vANDSF or hANDSF. Generally, the ANDSF can provide policy information to the UE during the UE's first registration process, or actively provide it to the UE when the policy information changes.

The policy information provided by the ANDSF to the UE may generally include: a designated access network, a threshold or frequency for reporting, and the like. The UE monitors the designated network according to the information, and reports the measurement report of the designated network to the ANDSF when the relevant data reaches the reporting threshold. As for the decision-making process of ANDSF, it is consistent with the process under the decision-making of ANDSF, and will not be repeated here.

In the second embodiment of the present invention, the UE only needs to access the hANDSF, and can obtain the network status information obtained after the information interaction between the hANDSF and the vANDSF using the newly added interface through the hANDSF, so as to perform corresponding processing, or obtain the network status information obtained by the hANDSF and the vANDSF The target network information is selected according to the interaction result after using the new interface for information interaction, so that the network discovery and selection process can be realized more simply.

Please refer to FIG. 16 , which is a schematic diagram of a network architecture according to Embodiment 3 of the present invention. The main difference between Embodiment 3 and Embodiment 1 and the network structure of Embodiment 2 is that no new interface is set between vANDSF and hANDSF in Embodiment 3, but the interface between PCRFs is used.

It is proposed in the prior art that ANDSF can have an interface with the PCRF functional entity in the PCC (Policy Control and Charging, policy control and charging) architecture, and the vPCRF in the roaming area and the hPCRF in the home area in the PCC architecture can be connected through the S9 interface , so this interface can also be used to realize information exchange between vANDSF and hANDSF. UE can select the ANDSF of the current network, and the ANDSF obtains network policy information and network status information through vPCRF and hPCRF, so as to complete the handover decision. The ANDSF can obtain current UE policy information (such as operator policy, UE service policy, etc.) from the PCRF, and can also use the PCRF interface to obtain relevant information from another ANDSF.

As shown in Figure 16, there is no direct interaction between the vANDSF and the hANDSF, and the UE always selects the visited vANDSF, and obtains UE policy information from the hPCRF through the vPCRF. If the policies in the hPCRF are not sufficient to support the handover decision, the hPCRF may also acquire relevant policy information from the hANDSF at the home location. It should be noted that, Fig. 16 is only an example of UE selecting vANDSF, UE may also select hANDSF, and connect to vANDSF through the interface between hPCRF and vPCRF.

Please refer to Figure 17, which is a flow chart of the third method of Embodiment 3 of the present invention, including:

1701. The UE executes a registration process to complete registration to a specific access network;

For example, an attach procedure may be performed to register to a 3GPP network, a WiMax network, and the like.

1702. The UE performs a DNS resolution or DHCP process to obtain the address of the ANDSF from the DNS server (DNS Server) or the DHCP server, and the DNS server or the DHCP server returns the configured address of the ANDSF to the UE;

If the required ANDSF address has been recorded in the UE, this DNS resolution or DHCP step does not need to be performed.

1703. The UE initiates a registration process to the vANDSF, and requests a service from the vANDSF;

The registration process can be an explicit registration initiated by the UE, such as sending a registration request message to the ANDSF; it can also be an implicit registration, such as the UE sending a policy request message to the vANDSF or sending a measurement report of the surrounding network.

The vANDSF can establish and maintain a context for the UE.

1704. The vANDSF registers the UE with the hANDSF through the vPCRF and the hPCRF;

1705. The UE, hANDSF, vANDSF, vPCRF and hPCRF perform related processing of network discovery and selection.

In this embodiment, this step may also include three situations according to different network discovery and selection decision-making subjects: that is, the decision-making is completely made by the UE, the decision-making is completely made by the ANDSF, and the processing mode of joint decision-making by the UE and the ANDSF.

Taking the decision-making situation of the UE as an example, after step 1704 is completed, the vANDSF requests policy information from the vPCRF. The PCRF can find the hPCRF according to the home network information of the UE, and forward the policy request sent by the vANDSF. If the hPCRF does not have the policy information of the UE, it sends a policy request to the hANDSF, requesting the hANDSF to provide relevant information. hANDSF can send the policy information set at home (such as the network available in the visited place and selection priority, etc.) to hPCRF according to the current location information of the UE, and then hPCRF will send the information obtained from hANDSF to vPCRF through a policy response message, And forward it to vANDSF, and then vANDSF sends the policy information to UE, and UE decides whether to switch.

For more detailed examples and other methods, the principle of the scheme is similar to that in the above-mentioned embodiments, the main difference is that ANDSF does not directly participate in the processing of network selection and discovery, and requires the participation of vPCRF and hPCRF in the middle. However, the final decision function is generally handled by ANDSF. Of course, it can also be processed by PCRF, and its principle is similar. Therefore, it will not be described in detail here.

In the third embodiment of the present invention, the UE only needs to visit the vANDSF, and the vANDSF can obtain the network status information obtained after the information exchange between the vANDSF and the hANDSF using the existing PCRF interface, so as to perform corresponding processing, or obtain the network status information obtained by the vANDSF. The vANDSF and the hANDSF use the existing PCRF inter-interface for information interaction and then select the target network information according to the interaction result, so that the network discovery and selection process can be realized more simply. The above content introduces the method for network discovery and selection in the embodiment of the present invention in detail. Correspondingly, the embodiment of the present invention provides a network system and device.

Please refer to FIG. 18 , which is a schematic structural diagram of a network system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 18, the network system includes: a first access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF1801, and a second access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF1802.

The first access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF 1801 is used to obtain network status information through interaction with the second ANDSF 1802 after the user terminal accesses the network, and send the network status information to the user terminal for target network selection, or select a target network for the user terminal according to the network condition information.

The second ANDSF 1802 is configured to perform information exchange with the first ANDSF 1801.

The first ANDSF 1801 specifically interacts with the second ANDSF 1802 through a newly added signaling interface to obtain network status information.

The first ANDSF 1801 is the vANDSF of the visiting place, and the second ANDSF 1802 is the hANDSF of the home place; or, the first ANDSF 1801 is the hANDSF of the home place, and the second ANDSF 1802 is the vANDSF of the visiting place.

Please refer to FIG. 19 , which is a schematic diagram of the structure of the second network system according to the embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in Figure 19, the network system includes: the first access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF1901, the second access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF 1902, the home site policy charging rule functional entity hPCRF 1903, the visited site policy counter Fee rules functional entity vPCRF 1904.

The first access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF 1901 is used to obtain network status information through interaction with the second ANDSF 1902 after the user terminal accesses the network, and send the network status information to the user terminal for target network selection, or select a target network for the user terminal according to the network status information.

The second ANDSF 1902 is configured to perform information exchange with the first ANDSF 1901.

The first ANDSF 1901 specifically interacts with the second ANDSF 1902 to obtain network status information through the interface between the home policy and charging rule functional entity hPCRF1903 and the visited policy and charging rule functional entity vPCRF 1904.

The first ANDSF 1901 is the vANDSF of the visiting place, and the second ANDSF 1902 is the hANDSF of the home place; or, the first ANDSF 1901 is the hANDSF of the home place, and the second ANDSF 1902 is the vANDSF of the visiting place. The specific connection between ANDSF and PCRF is as follows: vANDSF is connected with vPCRF 1904, hANDSF is connected with hPCRF 1903, and the connection between the first ANDSF 1901 and hPCRF 1903 in Figure 19 is just an example.

Please refer to FIG. 20 , which is a schematic structural diagram of a device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 20 , the device includes: an interaction unit 2002 and a processing unit 2003 . The device mentioned here refers to the access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF.

The interaction unit 2002 is configured to obtain network status information through interaction with an access network discovery and selection function entity ANDSF outside the local network after the user terminal accesses the network.

The processing unit 2003 is configured to send the network status information to the user terminal to select a target network, or select a target network for the user terminal according to the network status information.

The interaction unit 2002 interacts with the access network discovery and selection function entity ANDSF outside the local network through a newly added interface to obtain network status information; or, the interaction unit 2002 uses the home policy charging rule The interface between the functional entity hPCRF and the VPCRF functional entity vPCRF interacts with the access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF outside the local network to obtain network status information.

The device further includes: a judgment processing unit 2004 .

The judging processing unit 2004 is configured to send a message to the access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF outside the local network when it is judged that a target network cannot be selected for the user terminal after receiving the measurement report sent by the user terminal, The ANDSF is requested to select a target network for the user terminal.

The device further includes: an indication unit 2005 .

The instructing unit 2005 is configured to send policy information to the user terminal, instructing the user terminal to report a measurement report according to the policy information.

In summary, it can be seen from the above technical solutions that in the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, after the user terminal accesses the network, the network status information is acquired through interaction between different access network discovery and selection functional entities ANDSF, so the user The terminal only needs to access one of the ANDSFs, and can obtain the network status information obtained after the information interaction on the network side through the ANDSF, so as to perform corresponding processing, or obtain the target network information selected according to the interaction result after the information interaction on the network side, Therefore, network discovery and selection processing can be realized more simply.

Further, in the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention, the first ANDSF can interact with the second ANDSF through a newly added interface to obtain network status information; or, the first ANDSF can use the home policy charging rule The interface between the functional entity hPCRF and the foreign site policy and charging rule functional entity vPCRF interacts with the second ANDSF to obtain network status information.

Further, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention may be that the user terminal visits the vANDSF of the visiting place, or visits the hANDSF of the home place.

A network discovery and selection method, network system, and device provided by the embodiments of the present invention have been described above in detail. For those of ordinary skill in the art, based on the ideas of the embodiments of the present invention, both in terms of specific implementation methods and application ranges There will be changes, and in summary, the contents of this specification should not be construed as limiting the present invention.

Claims (17)

1. A method for network discovery and selection, comprising:

after the user terminal has accessed the network,

a first access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF acquires network condition information through interaction with a second ANDSF;

and the first ANDSF sends the network condition information to the user terminal for target network selection, or selects a target network for the user terminal according to the network condition information.

2. The network discovery and selection method of claim 1, wherein:

the obtaining, by the first ANDSF, network condition information through interaction with the second ANDSF specifically includes:

the first ANDSF interacts with the second ANDSF through a newly added interface to acquire network condition information; or,

and the first ANDSF interacts with the second ANDSF through an interface between a home location policy charging rule function entity (hPCRF) and a visited location policy charging rule function entity (vPCRF) to acquire network condition information.

3. The network discovery and selection method of claim 2, wherein:

before the first ANDSF obtains the network condition information through interaction with the second ANDSF, the method further includes:

and the first ANDSF receives a registration message of the user terminal for registration, and directly sends the registration message or sends the registration message to the second ANDSF for registration through the vPCRF and the hPCRF.

4. A network discovery and selection method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:

the first ANDSF is vlan sf of a visited place, the second ANDSF is hadndsf of a home place, and the acquiring, by the first ANDSF and the interaction with the second ANDSF, network condition information specifically includes:

the VANDSF sends a request to the hANSF after receiving a measurement report sent by the user terminal, wherein the measurement report is sent by the user terminal actively or is sent according to the strategy information after receiving the strategy information sent by the VANDSF;

receiving strategy information returned by the hANDSF according to the request;

and collecting network condition information according to the received strategy information.

5. A network discovery and selection method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:

the first ANDSF is a vlan sf, the second ANDSF is an hANDSF, and the acquiring of the network condition information by the first ANDSF through interaction with the second ANDSF specifically includes:

the VANDSF receives strategy information sent by the hANDSF, wherein the strategy information is obtained after the hANDSF receives a measurement report sent by the user terminal, and the measurement report is sent by the user terminal actively or is sent according to the strategy information after receiving the strategy information sent by the VANDSF;

and collecting network condition information according to the received strategy information.

6. A network discovery and selection method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:

the first ANDSF is hANDSF, the second ANDSF is vndsf, and the acquiring of the network condition information by the first ANDSF through the interaction with the second ANDSF specifically includes:

the hANDSF receives network condition information sent by a vANDSF, wherein the network condition information is collected after the vANDSF receives a measurement report sent by the user terminal,

the measurement report is sent by the user terminal actively or sent according to the strategy information after receiving the strategy information sent by the hANDSF.

7. A network discovery and selection method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:

the first ANDSF is hANDSF, the second ANDSF is vndsf, and the acquiring of the network condition information by the first ANDSF through the interaction with the second ANDSF specifically includes:

the hANDSF sends a request to the vANDSF after receiving a measurement report sent by the user terminal, wherein the measurement report is sent by the user terminal actively or is sent according to the strategy information after receiving the strategy information sent by the hANDSF;

and receiving the network condition information returned by the VANDSF according to the request.

8. A network discovery and selection method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:

said first ANDSF is hANDSF, said second ANDSF is vANDSF,

the obtaining, by the first ANDSF, network condition information through interaction with the second ANDSF specifically includes:

the hANDSF receives a handover request of the vANDSF, wherein the handover request is sent after the vANDSF receives a measurement report sent by the user terminal and judges that a target network cannot be selected for the user terminal;

and after receiving the switching request, the hANDSF collects network condition information.

9. A network discovery and selection method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein:

before the first ANDSF obtains network condition information through interaction with the second ANDSF, further comprising:

receiving a strategy request message sent by the user terminal;

correspondingly, the first ANDSF sends the network condition information to the user terminal for target network selection.

10. A network system, comprising:

the first access network discovery and selection function entity ANDSF is used for acquiring network condition information through interaction with the second ANDSF after a user terminal accesses a network, sending the network condition information to the user terminal for target network selection, or selecting a target network for the user terminal according to the network condition information;

and the second ANDSF is used for carrying out information interaction with the first ANDSF.

11. The network system according to claim 10, wherein:

and the first ANDSF interacts with the second ANDSF through a newly added signaling interface to acquire network condition information.

12. The network system according to claim 10, wherein:

the network system further comprises a home policy charging and rules function (hPCRF) entity and a visited policy charging and rules function entity (vPCRF);

and the first ANDSF interacts with the second ANDSF through an interface between a home location policy charging rule function entity (hPCRF) and a visited location policy charging rule function entity (vPCRF) to acquire network condition information.

13. The network system according to any one of claims 10 to 12, characterized in that:

the first ANDSF is vANDSF of a visited place, and the second ANDSF is hANDSF of a home place; or,

the first ANDSF is hANDSF of a home location, and the second ANDSF is vANDSF of a visited location.

14. An apparatus, comprising:

the interaction unit is used for discovering and selecting the interaction of the functional entity ANDSF through an access network outside a home terminal network to acquire network condition information after a user terminal accesses the network;

and the processing unit is used for sending the network condition information to the user terminal for target network selection, or selecting a target network for the user terminal according to the network condition information.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, wherein:

the interaction unit interacts with an access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF outside the home network through a newly added interface to acquire network condition information; or,

the interaction unit interacts with an access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF outside the home terminal network through an interface between a home location policy charging rule functional entity hPCRF and a visited location policy charging rule functional entity vPCRF to acquire network condition information.

16. The apparatus of claim 14 or 15, further comprising:

and the judgment processing unit is used for sending a message to an access network discovery and selection functional entity ANDSF outside the home terminal network when judging that the target network cannot be selected for the user terminal after receiving the measurement report sent by the user terminal, and requesting the ANDSF to select the target network for the user terminal.

17. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

and the indicating unit is used for sending the strategy information to the user terminal and indicating the user terminal to report the measurement report according to the strategy information.

Images