CN106686543A

CN106686543A - Serving gateway management method and serving gateway management device

Info

Publication number: CN106686543A
Application number: CN201510752880.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 朱进国
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2015-11-06
Filing date: 2015-11-06
Publication date: 2017-05-17
Also published as: WO2017076088A1

Abstract

The invention provides a serving gateway management method and a serving gateway management device. The method comprises the following steps: a mobility management unit MME acquires the network protocol IP address of a forwarding plane serving gateway SGW-U through a domain name system DNS, and sends the IP address to a control plane serving gateway SGW-C; or a control plane serving gateway SGW-C receives session creating request information carrying the location information of a user terminal from a mobility management unit MME, and the SGW-C selects a forwarding plane serving gateway SGW-U according to the location information of the user terminal. The problem that management of the control plane and the forwarding plane of a serving gateway is imperfect is solved. Thus, management of the control plane and the forwarding plane of a serving gateway is perfected.

Description

Service gateway management method and device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for managing a serving gateway.

Background

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a 4G EPS in the related art, and as shown in fig. 1, functions of network elements of an Evolved Packet System (EPS) are as follows:

ue (ue equipment): the terminal accesses a Core network through an air interface and a 4G base station, and accesses a service network through an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network. The terminal may be in an idle state and a connected state, and enter the connected state when establishing Radio Resource Connection (RRC for short) with the base station, and enter the idle state when releasing RRC Connection

eNodeB: and the 4G base station provides wireless access for the UE, and mainly has the functions of controlling and scheduling wireless resources and providing mobility management in the base station.

Mobility Management Element (MME): and the core network control plane network element is mainly used for authenticating the UE and signing and checking. The MME simultaneously selects a Serving Gateway (Serving GW) and a Packet Data Network Gateway (PDN GW) for the user. When the user is in an idle state, the MME may initiate paging for the user to the base station according to the stored user context. The MME also provides mobility management across base stations.

Serving GW: and the user plane network element is an anchor point when the user moves across the base station, and provides a roaming interface with the PDN GW under the roaming condition. When the user is in an idle state, the Serving GW caches the user data and triggers the MME to page the user.

PDN GW: and the user plane network element allocates an IP (Internet protocol) address for the UE and accesses the service network. When the user moves, the PDN GW is an IP layer anchor point and cannot be changed, so that the service continuity is ensured.

In fig. 1, S1-MME, S11, S5/S8-C are control plane interfaces, and transmit signaling plane data based on a GPRS tunneling Protocol control plane (GPRS tunneling Protocol-C, abbreviated as GTP-C); S1-U, S5/S8-U is a user plane interface, and transmits user plane data based on a GPRS tunneling Protocol user plane (GTP-U for short).

With the deployment of 4G networks and the popularization of intelligent terminals, data traffic carried by an operator network increases rapidly, and the operator faces the pressure of upgrading the network.

For the problem of incomplete management of the control plane and the forwarding plane of the service gateway in the related art, no effective solution exists at present.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a management method and a management device of a service gateway, which at least solve the problem of incomplete management of a control plane and a forwarding plane of the service gateway in the related technology.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for managing a service gateway, including:

the method comprises the steps that a mobility management unit MME acquires a network protocol IP address of a service gateway SGW-U of a forwarding plane through a domain name system DNS, and sends the IP address to a service gateway SGW-C of a control plane, wherein the SGW-U and the SGW-C are two network elements obtained by separating service gateways in an evolved packet system.

Further, the step of the mobility management unit MME knowing the network protocol IP address of the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane through the domain name system DNS includes:

and the MME acquires an IP address list of the SGW-U from the DNS according to the current position information of the user terminal, and selects the IP address of the SGW-U from the IP address list.

Further, the step of acquiring, by the mobility management unit MME, the network protocol IP address of the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the domain name system DNS includes:

the MME acquires an IP address list of the SGW-U, a service area of the SGW-U, a service user type of the SGW-U and a service type of the SGW-U from the DNS according to current position information of a user terminal;

and the MME selects the IP address of the SGW-U from the IP address list of the SGW-U according to the service area of the SGW-U, the service user type of the SGW-U and the service type of the SGW-U.

Further, the method may further comprise,

the MME acquires the IP address list of the SGW-C and the capacity weight of the SGW-U from the DNS according to the current position information of the user terminal;

and the MME selects the SGW-C from the IP address list of the SGW-C according to the capacity weight of the SGW-U.

Further, the SGW-C sending the IP address to the serving gateway of the control plane includes:

and the MME sends a message to the SGW-C, wherein the message carries the IP address of the SGW-U.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a service gateway management method, including:

a service gateway SGW-C of a control plane receives session establishment request information of a mobility management unit MME, wherein the session establishment request information carries position information of a user terminal;

and the SGW-C selects a service gateway SGW-U of a forwarding plane according to the position information of the user terminal, wherein the SGW-U and the SGW-C are two network elements obtained by separating service gateways in an evolved packet system.

Further, the location information of the user terminal includes at least one of:

a base station identity, a cell identity, and a tracking area identity, TAI.

Further, the SGW-C selecting a serving gateway SGW-U of a forwarding plane according to the location information of the user equipment includes:

the SGW-C selects the SGW-U according to the position information of the user terminal, the user type and the service type; or,

and the SGW-C selects the SGW-U according to the position information of the user terminal, the user type, the service type and the weight value of the capacity information of the SGW-U.

Further, after the serving gateway SGW-C of the control plane selects the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the location information of the user terminal, the method further includes:

the SGW-C reselects the SGW-U under the triggering of a preset condition, wherein the preset condition comprises one of the following conditions: the SGW-C closes the SGW-U and migrates users of the SGW-U, or the SGW-C has the SGW-U with better preset performance than the SGW-U;

and the SGW-C queries the DNS to acquire the IP address of the reselected target SGW-U, or selects the target SGW-U according to locally stored SGW-U information, wherein the locally stored SGW-U information is information pre-configured on the SGW-C, or is information acquired by the SGW-C in an automatic registration process after the SGW-U is powered on.

Further, after the SGW-C selects the SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the location information of the ue, the method includes:

and the SGW-C sends the selected SGW-U identification of the SGW-U and/or the service area information of the SGW-U to the MME.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a management apparatus of a serving gateway, located in a mobility management unit MME, including:

the first acquisition module is used for acquiring a network protocol IP address of a service gateway SGW-U of a forwarding plane through a domain name system DNS;

and a first sending module, configured to send the IP address to a serving gateway SGW-C of a control plane, where the SGW-U and the SGW-C are two network elements obtained by separating serving gateways in an evolved packet system.

Further, the first learning module comprises:

and the first acquisition unit is used for acquiring an IP address list of the SGW-U from the DNS according to the current position information of the user terminal and selecting the IP address of the SGW-U from the IP address list.

Further, the first learning module comprises:

a second obtaining unit, configured to obtain, from the DNS according to current location information of a user terminal, an IP address list of the SGW-U, a service area of the SGW-U, a service user type of the SGW-U, and a service type of the SGW-U;

and a third obtaining unit, configured to select an IP address of the SGW-U from an IP address list of the SGW-U, the service area of the SGW-U, the service user type of the SGW-U, and the service type of the SGW-U.

Further, the device also comprises a control unit,

a second obtaining module, configured to obtain, from the DNS according to current location information of a user terminal, an IP address list of the SGW-C and a capacity weight of the SGW-U;

and the second learning module is used for selecting the SGW-C from the IP address list of the SGW-C according to the capacity weight of the SGW-U.

Further, the first transmitting module includes:

and the sending unit is used for sending a message to the SGW-C, wherein the message carries the IP address of the SGW-U.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a management apparatus for a serving gateway, a serving gateway SGW-C located at a control plane, including:

a receiving module, configured to receive session creation request information of a mobility management unit MME, where the session creation request information carries location information of a user terminal;

and the selection module is used for selecting the service gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the position information of the user terminal.

a base station identity, a cell identity, and a tracking area identity, TAI.

Further, the selection module comprises one of:

a first selecting unit, configured to select the SGW-U according to location information of the user terminal, a user type, and a service type;

and the second selection unit is used for selecting the SGW-U according to the position information of the user terminal, the user type, the service type and the weight value of the capacity information of the SGW-U.

Further, the apparatus further comprises:

a reselection module, configured to reselect an SGW-U of a forwarding plane according to a trigger of a preset condition after the SGW-U selects a serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the location information of the user terminal, where the preset condition includes one of: the SGW-C closes the SGW-U and migrates users of the SGW-U, or the SGW-C has the SGW-U with better preset performance than the SGW-U;

and a reselection learning module, configured to query the DNS to learn an IP address of the reselected target SGW-U, or select the target SGW-U according to locally stored SGW-U information, where the locally stored SGW-U information is information preconfigured on the SGW-C, or information learned by the SGW-C in an automatic registration process after the SGW-U is powered on.

Further, the apparatus further comprises:

a second sending module, configured to select a serving gateway SGW-U of a forwarding plane according to the location information of the user terminal, and then send, by a second SGW-C, the selected SGW-U identifier of the SGW-U and/or the service area information of the SGW-U to the MME.

According to the invention, the mobility management unit MME acquires the IP address of the network protocol of the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane through the domain name system DNS and sends the IP address to the serving gateway SGW-C of the control plane, or the serving gateway SGW-C of the control plane receives the session creation request information of the mobility management unit MME, the session creation request information carries the position information of the user terminal, and the SGW-C selects the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the position information of the user terminal, so that the problem of incomplete management of the control plane and the forwarding plane of the serving gateway is solved, and the management of the control plane and the forwarding plane of the serving gateway is perfected.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention without limiting the invention. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a 4G EPS in the related art;

fig. 2 is a first flowchart of a management method of a service gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart ii of a management method of a service gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a first block diagram of a management apparatus of a service gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a block diagram of a management apparatus of a service gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is an architecture diagram of the separation of the control plane and the forwarding plane of the Serving GW in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an interaction flow diagram of an MME selecting SGW-C and SGW-U for a user according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is an interaction flow diagram of the SGW-C selecting an SGW-U for a user according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is an interaction flow diagram of SGW-C triggering reselection of SGW-U according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

The invention will be described in detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in conjunction with embodiments. It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments in the present application may be combined with each other without conflict.

It should be noted that the terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and claims of the present invention and in the drawings described above are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order.

In this embodiment, a management method of a service gateway is provided, and fig. 2 is a first flowchart of a management method of a service gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2, the flowchart includes the following steps:

step S202, a mobility management unit MME acquires a network protocol IP address of a service gateway SGW-U of a forwarding plane through a domain name system DNS;

step S204, the IP address is sent to a service gateway SGW-C of the control plane, wherein the SGW-U and the SGW-C are two network elements obtained by separating the service gateway in the evolved packet system;

through the steps, the mobility management unit MME acquires the IP address of the network protocol of the service gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane through the domain name system DNS and sends the IP address to the service gateway SGW-C of the control plane, so that the problem of incomplete management of the control plane and the forwarding plane of the service gateway is solved, and the management of the control plane and the forwarding plane of the service gateway is perfected.

In this embodiment, the acquiring, by the mobility management unit MME, the network protocol IP address of the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane through the domain name system DNS includes:

In this embodiment, the acquiring, by the mobility management unit MME, the network protocol IP address of the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the domain name system DNS includes:

the MME acquires an IP address list of the SGW-U from the DNS according to the current position information of the user terminal, wherein the service area of the SGW-U, the service user type of the SGW-U and the service type of the SGW-U can be represented by an access point name APN;

In this embodiment, the MME acquires the IP address list of the SGW-C and the capacity weight of the SGW-U from the DNS according to the current location information of the user equipment;

the MME selects the SGW-C from the IP address list of the SGW-C according to the capacity weight of the SGW-U.

In this embodiment, the SGW-C sending the IP address to the serving gateway of the control plane includes:

and the MME sends a session creating request or a session updating request to the SGW-C, wherein the session creating request or the session updating request carries the IP address of the SGW-U.

In this embodiment, a management method of a service gateway is further provided, and fig. 3 is a second flowchart of the management method of the service gateway according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, the flowchart includes the following steps:

step S302, a service gateway SGW-C of a control plane receives session establishment request information of a mobility management unit MME, wherein the session establishment request information carries position information of a user terminal;

step S304, the SGW-C selects a service gateway SGW-U of a forwarding plane according to the position information of the user terminal, wherein the SGW-U and the SGW-C are two network elements obtained by separating service gateways in an evolved packet system.

Through the steps, the service gateway SGW-C of the control plane receives the session establishment request information of the mobility management unit MME, the session establishment request information carries the position information of the user terminal, and the SGW-C selects the service gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the position information of the user terminal, so that the problem that the management of the control plane and the forwarding plane of the service gateway is incomplete is solved, and the management of the control plane and the forwarding plane of the service gateway is perfected.

In this embodiment, the location information of the ue includes at least one of:

a base station identity, a cell identity, and a tracking area identity, TAI.

In this embodiment, the SGW-C selecting the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the location information of the ue includes:

In this embodiment, after the serving gateway SGW-C of the control plane selects the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the location information of the user equipment, the method further includes:

the SGW-C reselects the SGW-U under a trigger of a preset condition, where the preset condition includes one of: the SGW-C closes the SGW-U and migrates the users of the SGW-U, or the SGW-C has the SGW-U with better preset performance than the SGW-U;

and the SGW-C queries the DNS to acquire the IP address of the reselected target SGW-U, or selects the target SGW-U according to locally stored SGW-U information, wherein the locally stored SGW-U information is information pre-configured on the SGW-C, or information acquired by the SGW-C in an automatic registration process after the SGW-U is powered on.

In this embodiment, after the SGW-C selects the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the location information of the ue, the SGW-C sends the selected SGW-U identifier of the SGW-U and/or the service area information of the SGW-U to the MME.

In this embodiment, a management apparatus of a service gateway is further provided, where the apparatus is used to implement the foregoing embodiment and preferred embodiments, and details of the foregoing description are omitted. As used below, the term "module" may be a combination of software and/or hardware that implements a predetermined function. Although the means described in the embodiments below are preferably implemented in software, an implementation in hardware, or a combination of software and hardware is also possible and contemplated.

Fig. 4 is a first structural block diagram of a management apparatus of a serving gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 4, the apparatus is located in a mobility management unit MME, and includes:

a first learning module 42, configured to learn, through a domain name system DNS, a network protocol IP address of a serving gateway SGW-U of a forwarding plane;

the first sending module 44 is connected to the first obtaining module 42, and is configured to send the IP address to a serving gateway SGW-C of the control plane, where the SGW-U and the SGW-C are two network elements obtained by separating serving gateways in an evolved packet system.

Through the above apparatus, the first obtaining module 42 is configured to obtain, by the MME through the domain name system DNS, a network protocol IP address of the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane, and the first sending module 44 is configured to send the IP address to the serving gateway SGW-C of the control plane, where the SGW-U and the SGW-C are two network elements obtained by separating serving gateways in an evolved packet system, a problem of incomplete management of the control plane and the forwarding plane of the serving gateway is solved, and management of the control plane and the forwarding plane of the serving gateway is completed.

In this embodiment, the first learning module 42 includes:

a second obtaining unit, configured to obtain, from the DNS according to current location information of the user terminal, an IP address list of the SGW-U, a service area of the SGW-U, a service user type of the SGW-U, and a service type of the SGW-U;

In this embodiment, the apparatus further comprises,

a second obtaining module, configured to obtain, from the DNS according to current location information of the user terminal, an IP address list of the SGW-C and a capacity weight of the SGW-U;

the second learning module is configured to select the SGW-C from the IP address list of the SGW-C according to the capacity weight of the SGW-U.

In the present embodiment, the first sending module 44 includes:

and the sending unit is used for sending a session creating request or a session updating request to the SGW-C, wherein the session creating request or the session updating request carries the IP address of the SGW-U.

Fig. 5 is a block diagram of a second configuration of a management apparatus of a serving gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 5, the apparatus is located in a serving gateway SGW-C of a control plane, and includes:

a receiving module 52, configured to receive session creation request information of a mobility management unit MME, where the session creation request information carries location information of a user terminal;

a selecting module 54, configured to select a serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the location information of the ue.

Through the above-mentioned apparatus, the receiving module 52 receives the session creation request information of the mobility management unit MME, where the session creation request information carries the location information of the user terminal, and the selecting module 54 selects the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the location information of the user terminal, thereby solving the problem of incomplete management of the control plane and the forwarding plane of the serving gateway, and perfecting the management of the control plane and the forwarding plane of the serving gateway.

a base station identity, a cell identity, and a tracking area identity, TAI.

In this embodiment, the selection module 54 includes one of:

a first selecting unit, configured to select the SGW-U according to the location information of the user terminal, a user type, and a service type;

In this embodiment, the apparatus further comprises:

a reselection module, configured to reselect an SGW-U of a forwarding plane according to a trigger of a preset condition after the SGW-U selects a serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the location information of the user terminal, where the preset condition includes one of: the SGW-C closes the SGW-U and migrates the users of the SGW-U, or the SGW-C has the SGW-U with better preset performance than the SGW-U;

and a reselection learning module, configured to query the DNS to learn an IP address of the reselected destination SGW-U, or select the destination SGW-U according to locally stored SGW-U information, where the locally stored SGW-U information is information preconfigured on the SGW-C, or information learned by the SGW-C in an automatic registration process after the SGW-U is powered on.

The device also includes: a second sending module, configured to select a serving gateway SGW-U of a forwarding plane according to the location information of the user equipment, and then send, by a second SGW-C, the selected SGW-U identifier of the SGW-U and/or the service area information of the SGW-U to the MME.

The present invention will be described in detail with reference to preferred embodiments.

In a preferred implementation of the invention, the control plane and the forwarding plane of the Serving GW are separate. Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a configuration in which a control plane and a forwarding plane of a Serving GW are separated according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 6, an SGW is divided into a control plane SGW-C and a forwarding plane SGW-U, which interact with each other through a new interface.

The main function of the SGW-C is to provide a control plane interface with the MME and the PDN GW and control the SGW-U at the same time, one SGW-C is generally deployed in a centralized mode, and the position of the SGW-U can be flexible. One SGW-C may control 1 or more SGW-us.

The primary function of the SGW-U is to provide a user plane interface with the base station and PDN GW, and to accept control of the SGW-C. The control of the SGW-U by the SGW-C mainly comprises requesting the SGW-U to allocate or release GTP-U tunnel resources of S1-U, S5/S8-U. Each SGW-U has a service area where base stations can access the SGW-U, and SGW-U reselection typically occurs across service areas.

After the SGW-U and SGW-C are separated, one problem to be solved is the selection of SGW-U, and the preferred embodiment of the present invention proposes a method for selecting SGW-U by MME or SGW-C.

Fig. 7 is an interaction flowchart of MME selecting SGW-C and SGW-U for a user according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 7, an Attach procedure, in which MME selects SGW-C and SGW-U for a user, and the procedure includes:

step S701, RRC connection is established between the UE and the eNodeB.

Step S702, the UE initiates a registration request to the MME through the base station through the established RRC connection, where the registration request includes a user identifier.

Step S703, MME initiates an authentication process to UE, through which UE and MME authenticate each other.

In step S704, the MME obtains subscription data from the HSS (Home Subscriber Server), where the subscription data includes an Access Point name (Access Point name). The MME queries a DNS (Domain Name System) by using a default APN (Domain Name System) to select a corresponding PDN GW IP address for a user, then queries the DNS by using the current position information of the user again to obtain an IP address list of the SGW-C, an IP address list of the SGW-U, a service area of the SGW-U, a service user type of the SGW-U and a capacity weight of the SGW-U, and selects a proper SGW-C and SGW-U from the MME. When the MME selects the SGW-U, information such as a user type, location information, APN, and the like needs to be considered. The SGW-C also needs to consider the corresponding capacity weight of the SGW-U so as to realize load balance among the SGW-U. The MME may also select an SGW-U co-located with the PDN GW. The service area of the SGW-U is used for subsequent TAI list allocation.

Step S705, MME initiates a request for creating session to SGW-C, the request message contains user identification, APN information, and also contains selected IP address of SGW-U and IP address of PDN GW.

Step S706, SGW-C sends a request for allocating user plane tunnel resources to the SGW-U selected by MME, requests to allocate GTP-U tunnel information (IP address and tunnel identifier) of S5/S8-U and S1-U, and the message carries user identifier.

In step S707, the SGW-U allocates GTP-U tunnel information of the S5/S8-U interface and the S1-U interface to the user, and then returns the allocated tunnel information to the SGW-C.

Step S708, the SGW-C sends a request for creating the session to the PDN GW, and the message carries the GTP-U tunnel information of the S5/S8-U interface distributed by the SGW-U.

And step S709, the PDN GW saves the S5/S8-U interface GTP-U tunnel information of the SGW-U, allocates the S5/S8-U interface GTP-U tunnel information of the PDNGW, allocates an IP address for the user and then returns an update bearing response to the SGW-C.

Step S710, the SGW-C initiates a session creating response to the MME, and the message carries S1-U interface GTP-U tunnel information distributed by the SGW-U, the identification of the SGW-U and the user IP address.

Step S711, the MME sends a request for creating an initial user context to the base station, where the message carries S1-U interface GTP-U tunnel information allocated by the SGW-U and QoS of a corresponding bearer.

Step S712, an air interface dedicated bearer is established between the base station and the UE according to the requested QoS.

In step S713, the base station assigns the GTP-U tunnel identity of the S1-U interface and then returns the create initial user context response to the MME.

Step S714, MME initiates a session update request to SGW-C, carrying GTP-U tunnel identification of a base station distribution S1-U interface.

Step S715, the SGW-C returns an update session response to the MME.

In step S716, the SGW-C sends a request for updating the user plane tunnel to the SGW-U, where the request carries the S5/S8-U interface GTP-U tunnel information (i.e. the S5/S8 interface IP address and tunnel identifier of the PDN GW) allocated by the PDN GW received in step S709 and the S1-U interface GTP-U tunnel information allocated by the eNodeB received in step S714.

Step S717, the SGW-U saves the information and returns the SGW-C update user plane tunnel response. After this step, a user plane GTP-U tunnel is established from the base station to the SGW-U and then to the PDN GW.

In step S718, the MME allocates a Tracking Area Identity (TAI) list to the user, where the TAI list needs to be in the service Area of the SGW-U, so that the SGW-U does not change when the user moves in the TAI list. And the MME allocates a temporary identifier for the user for subsequent access. And the MME initiates a registration response to the UE, and carries the allocated tracking area identification list, the temporary user identification and the user IP address.

In step S719, the UE returns a registration complete message to the MME.

In this embodiment, step S718 may be transmitted to the user together with step S711 and step S712. For step S716, the SGW-C may also update the S5/S8-U interface GTP-U tunnel information allocated by the PDN GW and the S1-U interface GTP-U tunnel information allocated by the eNodeB, respectively, through two update user plane tunnel requests, and the update of the information of the PDN GW may be performed after step S709 without waiting to step S716.

Fig. 8 is an interaction flow diagram of SGW-C selecting SGW-U for a user according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 8, in the Attach process, the SGW-C selects one SGW-U for the user.

Step S801, RRC connection is established between the UE and the eNodeB.

Step S802, the UE initiates a registration request to the MME through the base station through the established RRC connection, where the registration request includes a user identifier.

Step S803, MME initiates an authentication process to UE, through which UE and MME authenticate each other.

Step S804, MME obtains signing data from HSS, wherein default APN is included, then PDN GW IP address corresponding to default APN and SGW-C IP address are selected for user through DNS

Step S805, the MME initiates a create session request to the SGW-C, where the request message carries a user identifier, a user type, APN information, and location information of the user (such as a base station identifier, or a cell identifier, or a TAI), and the message also carries an IP address of the selected PDN GW.

And step S806, the SGW-C selects a proper SGW-U for the user. The SGW-C may learn the list of SGW-us from the DNS, may configure the list of SGW-us locally, or may learn the list of SGW-us according to the SGW-U registration procedure. When the SGW-C selects the SGW-U, it needs to comprehensively consider information such as user location information, user type, requested APN, etc. to select a proper SGW-U, and an operator may use different SGW-us for different user types, different APNs, and different location configurations. The SGW-C also needs to weigh the value according to the capacity information of the SGW-U so as to realize load balance among the SGW-U. The SGW-C may also select an S-GW-U co-located with the PDN GW based on the IP address of the PDN GW.

In step S807, SGW-C sends a request for allocating user plane tunnel resources to SGW-U, requesting to allocate GTP-U tunnel information (IP address and tunnel identifier) of S5/S8-U and S1-U, and the information carries user identifier.

And step S808, the SGW-U allocates GTP-U tunnel information of the S5/S8-U interface and the S1-U interface to the user, and then returns the allocated tunnel information to the SGW-C.

And step S809, the SGW-C sends a session creating request to the PDN GW, and the message carries the GTP-U tunnel information of the S5/S8-U interface distributed by the SGW-U.

And step S810, the PDN GW saves the S5/S8-U interface GTP-U tunnel information of the SGW-U, allocates the S5/S8-U interface GTP-U tunnel information of the PDN GW, allocates an IP address for the user and then returns an update bearing response to the SGW-C.

Step S811, the SGW-C initiates a session creating response to the MME, and the message carries the S1-U interface GTP-U tunnel information distributed by the SGW-U and the user IP address distributed by the PDN GW for the user. Optionally, the message may carry an identification of the SGW-U and/or service area information of the SGW-U, such as a TAI list.

Step S812, the MME sends a request for creating an initial user context to the base station, where the message carries S1-U interface GTP-U tunnel information allocated by the SGW-U and QoS of a corresponding bearer.

Step S813, an air interface dedicated bearer is established between the base station and the UE according to the requested QoS.

In step S814, the base station allocates GTP-U tunnel id of S1-U interface, and then returns create initial user context response to the MME.

Step S815, MME sends session update request to SGW-C, carrying GTP-U tunnel ID of S1-U interface allocated by base station.

In step S816, the SGW-C returns an update session response to the MME.

In step S817, the SGW-C sends a request for updating the user plane tunnel to the SGW-U, which carries the S5/S8-U interface GTP-U tunnel information (i.e. the S5/S8 interface IP address and tunnel identifier of the PDN GW) allocated by the PDN GW received in step S810 and the S1-U interface GTP-U tunnel information allocated by the eNodeB received in step S815.

Step S818, the SGW-U saves the information and returns the SGW-C to update the user plane tunnel response. After this step, a user plane GTP-U tunnel is established from the base station to the SGW-U and then to the PDN GW.

Step S819, where the MME allocates a tracking area identifier list to the user according to the service area information of the SGW-U received in step S811 or according to the received SGW-U identifier, and the user does not need to change the SGW-U when moving in the list. The MME can acquire the service area information of the SGW-U corresponding to the SGW-U identification according to local configuration or the updating of the SGW-C. And the MME allocates a temporary identifier for the user for subsequent access. And the MME initiates a registration response to the UE, and carries the allocated tracking area identification list, the temporary user identification and the user IP address.

In step S820, the UE returns a registration complete message to the MME.

In this embodiment, step S819 may be sent to the user along with step S812, step S813. For step S817, the SGW-C may also update the S5/S8-U interface GTP-U tunnel information allocated by the PDN GW and the S1-U interface GTP-U tunnel information allocated by the eNodeB, respectively, through two update user plane tunnel requests, and the update of the information of the PDN GW may be performed after step S810 without waiting to step S817.

Fig. 9 is an interaction flow diagram of SGW-C triggering reselection of SGW-U according to an embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 9, in the Attach procedure, the SGW-C selects an SGW-U for the user.

In step S901, the SGW-C triggers SGW-U reselection. The triggering condition for reselection may be that the SGW-C decides to turn off the SGW-U1 and thus needs to migrate the user above, or that after handover, the SGW-C determines that there is a more appropriate SGW-U serving user currently. The SGW-C can inquire the DNS to acquire the IP address of a target SGW-U2, and can also select the SGW-U2 according to locally stored information, wherein the locally stored information of the SGW-U can be pre-configured on the SGW-C, or can be acquired in the process of automatically registering the SGW-C after the SGW-U is powered on.

In step S902, SGW-C sends a request for allocating user plane tunnel resources to SGW-U2, requesting allocation of GTP-U tunnel information of S5/S8-U and S1-U. The message carries the user identity, the information of the GTP-U tunnel of the S5/S8-U interface allocated by the PDN GW (i.e. the IP address of the S5/S8 interface of the PDN GW and the tunnel identity), and the information of the GTP-U tunnel of the S1-U interface allocated by the eNodeB.

In step S903, the SGW-U2 saves the received tunnel information, allocates GTP-U tunnel information of the S5/S8-U and S1-U, and then returns the allocated tunnel information to the SGW-C.

Step S904, the SGW-C sends a bearer updating request to the PDN GW, and the message carries the information of the GTP-U tunnel of the S5/S8-U interface distributed by the SGW-U2.

In step S905, the PDN GW updates the information of the S5/S8-U interface GTP-U tunnel of the SGW-U2, so that an S5/S8-U interface bidirectional GTP-U tunnel to the SGW-U2 is established. And the PDN GW returns an updating bearing response to the SGW-C, and the SGW-C sets a timer after receiving the updating bearing response.

Step S906, the SGW-C initiates a request for updating the bearer notification to the MME, and the message carries the GTP-U tunnel information of the S1-U interface distributed by the SGW-U2. Optionally, the message may carry an identification of the SGW-U2 and/or service area information of the SGW-U2, such as a TAI list.

In step S907, if the user is currently in the idle state, step S909 is directly executed, and it may trigger paging the user subsequently, and the user enters the connected state after responding. And if the user is in a connected state, the MME sends an update bearer notification request to the base station, wherein the update bearer notification request carries the GTP-U tunnel information of the S1-U interface distributed by the SGW-U2.

In step S908, the eNodeB updates the S1-U interface GTP-U tunnel information of the SGW-U2, and then establishes a GTP-U bidirectional tunnel from the eNodeB to the SGW-2. The eNodeB returns an update bearer notification response to the MME.

In step S909, the MME returns an update bearer notification response to the SGW-C.

Through the steps, GTP-U bidirectional tunnels from eNodeBs to SGW-U2 and SGW-U2 to PDN GW are established.

Step S910, after the timer set in step S905 times out, the SGW-C initiates a request for deleting the user plane tunnel resources to the SGW-U1, requesting to delete the S1-U and S5/S8-U tunnel resources allocated to the user by the original SGW-U1.

And step S911, after the SGW-U1 receives the request, the S1-U and S5/S8-U tunnel resources allocated to the user are deleted, and then the SGW-C response is returned.

Through the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the method according to the above embodiments can be implemented by software plus a necessary general hardware platform, and certainly can also be implemented by hardware, but the former is a better implementation mode in many cases. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium (e.g., ROM/RAM, magnetic disk, optical disk) and includes instructions for enabling a terminal device (e.g., a mobile phone, a computer, a server, or a network device) to execute the method according to the embodiments of the present invention.

It should be noted that, the above modules may be implemented by software or hardware, and for the latter, the following may be implemented, but not limited to: the modules are all positioned in the same processor; alternatively, the modules are respectively located in a plurality of processors.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a storage medium. Optionally, in this embodiment, the storage medium may be configured to store program codes for executing the method steps of the above embodiment:

optionally, the storage medium is further arranged to store program code for performing the method steps of the above embodiments:

optionally, in this embodiment, the storage medium may include, but is not limited to: a U-disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a removable hard disk, a magnetic or optical disk, and other various media capable of storing program codes.

Optionally, in this embodiment, the processor executes the method steps of the above embodiments according to the program code stored in the storage medium.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the modules or steps of the present invention described above may be implemented by a general purpose computing device, they may be centralized on a single computing device or distributed across a network of multiple computing devices, and alternatively, they may be implemented by program code executable by a computing device, such that they may be stored in a storage device and executed by a computing device, and in some cases, the steps shown or described may be performed in an order different than that described herein, or they may be separately fabricated into individual integrated circuit modules, or multiple ones of them may be fabricated into a single integrated circuit module. Thus, the present invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for managing a service gateway, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of the mobility management unit MME learning the network protocol IP address of the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane through a domain name system DNS comprises:

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of the mobility management unit MME learning the network protocol IP address of the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the domain name system DNS comprises:

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising,

5. Method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein said sending said IP address to a serving gateway (SGW-C) of a control plane comprises:

6. A method for managing a service gateway, comprising:

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the location information of the user terminal comprises at least one of:

a base station identity, a cell identity, and a tracking area identity, TAI.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the SGW-C selecting a serving gateway SGW-U of a forwarding plane according to the location information of the user terminal comprises:

9. The method according to claim 6, wherein after the serving gateway SGW-C of the control plane selects the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane based on the location information of the user terminal, the method further comprises:

10. The method according to any of claims 6 to 9, wherein after the SGW-C selects the serving gateway SGW-U of the forwarding plane according to the location information of the user terminal, the method comprises:

11. A management apparatus of a serving gateway, located in a mobility management unit MME, comprising:

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first learning module comprises:

13. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first learning module comprises:

14. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising,

15. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first sending module comprises:

16. An apparatus for managing a serving gateway, located in a serving gateway SGW-C of a control plane, comprising:

17. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the location information of the user terminal comprises at least one of:

a base station identity, a cell identity, and a tracking area identity, TAI.

18. The apparatus of claim 16, wherein the selection module comprises one of:

19. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising:

20. The apparatus of claim 16, further comprising: