WO2016074468A1

WO2016074468A1 - Optimal switching method supporting multiple pdn connections, network node and system

Info

Publication number: WO2016074468A1
Application number: PCT/CN2015/079837
Authority: WO
Inventors: 井惟栋; 曲海龙; 赵静波; 金仁康
Original assignee: 中兴通讯股份有限公司
Priority date: 2014-11-11
Filing date: 2015-05-26
Publication date: 2016-05-19
Also published as: CN105657765A

Abstract

An optimal switching method supporting multiple PDN connections, a network node and a system. The method comprises: in the optimal switching process of a UE in an activated state from an LTE network to an eHRPD network, acquiring, by an MME, information about each PDN connection established by the UE, the information about each PDN connection comprising unique identifier information about each PDN connection and a corresponding GRE KEY; sending the information about each PDN connection to an HSGW through an eAN/ePCF; receiving, by the HSGW, the unique identifier information about each PDN connection established by the UE and a corresponding generic routing encapsulation key (GRE KEY); and according to the unique identifier information about each PDN connection, finding a corresponding PDN connection, and saving the GRE KEY corresponding to each PDN connection.

Description

Method, network node and system for optimizing switching of multiple PDN connections

Technical field

This document relates to the field of communications, and in particular to an optimized handover processing method supporting multiple PDN connections, corresponding network nodes and systems.

Background technique

The fourth-generation mobile communication network, Long Time Evolution (LTE), has also been widely deployed. The coexistence of the LTE network and the evolved High Rate Packet Data (eHRPD) network must last for a long period of time, which requires interoperability between the two. Figure 1 shows the related technologies of LTE and eHRPD interoperability. As shown in Figure 1, the user equipment (User Equipment, UE for short) can be quickly switched between the two networks. In the LTE network and the eHRPD network, in order to ensure the quality of service (QoS) of the data service, a corresponding dedicated bearer is created for data services required by different QoS. When switching between the LTE network and the eHRPD network, the dedicated bearer already established in the source network needs to be restored in the destination network.

To speed up the handover process from LTE to eHRPD, the 3GPP and 3GPP2 related protocols define the optimized handover function of LTE to eHRPD. According to the description of 3GPP2 X.S0057-B v1.0 12, the optimized handover of LTE to eHRPD includes a pre-registration phase and an actual handover phase. The time for the mobile terminal to interrupt the service during the period from LTE to eHRPD is shortened by increasing the pre-registration. An S101 tunnel exists between the mobility management entity (Mobility Management Entity, MME for short) and the evolved access network/evolved packet control function (eAN/ePCF) 111. There is an S103 tunnel between the Serving Gateway (SGW) 104 and the HRPD Serving Gateway (HSGW) 110.

Pre-registration process. When the UE 106 is still under LTE, based on the triggering of the radio layer, the pre-registration process is initiated through the S101 tunnel. In the pre-registration process, the AGW connection is established on the HSGW 110, the PPP session is established, and the authentication process is completed; the packet data that has been established under the LTE network is completed. A Packet Data Network (PDN) connection is also created under eHRPD.

The actual switching process. The UE 106 arrives at the eHRPD coverage, and the HSGW 110 and the PDN Gateway 105 establish a PMIPv6 (Proxy Mobile IPv6, Proxy Mobile IP Version 6) session, and the uplink and downlink data paths are modified to be transmitted between the HSGW 110 and the PDN Gateway 105. The resources of the UE 106 under the LTE network are released.

2 is a flowchart of an optimized handover pre-registration of the related art. As shown in FIG. 2, the process includes the following steps:

Step 201: The UE 106 successfully accesses the LTE network, detects the wireless signal under the eHRPD, and performs pre-registration through the tunnel to the eHRPD.

Step 202, the eAN/ePCF 111 sends an A11 RRQ (Registration Request) to the HSGW 110, carries a tunnel mode field, and has a value of 1 (a value of 1 indicates that the UE 106 is transmitting an signaling to the eHRPD network through the S101 tunnel under the LTE network);

Step 203: The HSGW 110 receives the A11 RRQ. According to the value of the tunnel mode field, it can be known that the pre-registration starts, and the A11 RRP (registration response) is returned to the eAN/ePCF 111.

Step 204: The UE 106, the HSGW 110 completes the LCP (Link Control Protocol) negotiation, and the UE, the HSGW 110, and the 3GPP2 AAA Proxy (3GPP2 Authentication Authorization Charging Proxy Server) 108 complete the authentication process, and the HSGW 110 saves the LCP and the authentication. information. The 3GPP2 AAA Proxy 108 needs to complete the authentication and authorization function for the UE 106 together with the 3GPP AAA Server (3GPP Authentication and Authorization Accounting Server) 107 and the Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 101;

In step 205, the UE 106 and the HSGW 110 initiate a Vendor Specific Network Control Protocol (VSNCP) negotiation. The UE 106 carries the address of the UE in the VSNCP configuration request. If there is an IPv6 service, carry the IPv6 interface ID; if there is an IPv4 service, carry the IPv4 address;

Step 206: The HSGW 110 initiates a request for establishing a gateway control session to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) 102.

Step 207, the PCRF 102 returns a response message for establishing a request for the gateway control session;

Step 208, the HSGW 110 sends a VSNCP configuration response message to the UE 106.

Step 209, the HSGW 110 sends a VSNCP configuration request message to the UE 106.

Step 210: The UE 106 sends a VSNCP configuration response message to the HSGW 110 to complete the VSNCP negotiation process between the UE 106 and the HSGW 110.

In step 211, the PCRF 102 initiates a process of establishing a dedicated bearer on the network side to restore the dedicated bearer that the UE 106 has established under the LTE. To this end, the PCRF 102 initiates a gateway control and a QoS rule delivery request message;

Step 212: The HSGW 110 returns a gateway control and a QoS rule delivery response message to the PCRF 102.

In step 213, the HSGW 110 receives the message of the PCRF 102, and sends a Resource Reservation Protocol (RSVP) Resv message to the UE 106. The TFT operation code is a flow establishment request.

Step 214, the UE 106 sends an RSVP Resv message requesting to install the TFT;

Step 215, the HSGW 110 sends an RSVP Resv conf message to the UE 106 to complete the negotiation.

Step 216, triggered by step 213, the eAN/ePCF 111 and the HSGW 110 establish a flow and a new A10 secondary connection through the A11 message as needed; thus, the context of the UE 106 that the HSGW 110 has established, the dedicated bearer has also been established;

Step 218, after the pre-registration is completed, the UE 106 does not necessarily switch to the eHRPD very quickly. When the UE 106 has an increase, a modification, or a deletion of a PDN connection under LTE, the UE 106 updates the session by performing VSNCP negotiation with the HSGW 110 through the tunnel. Similarly, PCRF 102 also initiates the addition, deletion, and update of proprietary bearers to ensure synchronization with LTE.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of optimizing switching (ie, actual switching) in an active state of the related art. As shown in FIG. 3, the process includes the following steps:

Step 301, after completing the pre-registration, the UE 106 prepares to switch to the eHRPD.

In step 302, the UE 106 sends an HRPD (High Speed Packet Data) Connection Request message to the E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Land-Based Radio Access Network) to request to establish a transport channel. This request is forwarded to the MME;

Step 303: The MME sends the PDN Gateway address and the GRE KEY corresponding to the APN to the eAN/ePCF 111 by using an HRPD connection request message.

In step 304, the eAN/ePCF 111 sends an A11 RRQ to the HSGW 110, carries a tunnel mode field, and has a value of 1, and carries a PDN Gateway 105 address, an APN (Access Point Name), and a GRE KEY (Generic Routing Encapsulation Key) information.

Step 305, the HSGW 110 receives the A11 RRQ, and responds to the A11 RRP message, carrying the address of the HSGW 110, the APN, and the GRE KEY of the S103 tunnel;

Step 306, the eAN/ePCF 111 sends an HRPD service channel allocation message to the MME, carrying the address of the HSGW 110, the GRE KEY of the APN, S103 tunnel;

In step 307, the MME forwards the traffic channel assignment message to the E-UTRAN. This message is embedded in the S101 tunnel message. This message will be forwarded to the UE 106. After the foregoing process is completed, after the downlink data arrives from the PDN Gateway 105 to the SGW, the SGW forwards the packet to the HSGW 110 through the S103 tunnel, and the HSGW 110 sends the signal to the eAN/ePCF 111 network element.

Step 308, the UE 106 switches to the wireless of the eHRPD network;

Step 309, the eAN/ePCF 111 sends an A11 RRQ to the HSGW 110, carrying a tunnel mode field, and a value of 0, indicating that the UE 106 is under the eHRPD wireless;

Step 310, the HSGW 110 returns an A11 RRP message to the eAN/ePCF 111;

Step 311, triggered by step 309, the HSGW 110 sends a PBU message to the PDN Gateway 105.

Step 312, the PDN Gateway 105 returns a response message PBA, carrying information such as GRE KEY;

Step 313: If the UE 106 has started to establish in LTE and has not established a completed PDN connection, the UE 106 initiates establishment of the PDN connection under the eHRPD. At this point, the optimization switching process is completed.

Summary of the invention

The inventor of the present application has found that, in step 304, the HSGW 110 obtains the APN and the GRE KEY. When receiving the uplink data sent by the UE, if the PDN connection of the UE is found according to the APN, the GRE KEY can be used to uplink. The data is forwarded to the PDN Gateway. Unfortunately, when the UE establishes multiple PDN connections with the same APN, the corresponding relationship between the GRE KEY and the PDN connection cannot be determined according to the APN information, and the forwarding cannot be performed. Until step 312, after receiving the PBA, the HSGW 110 can obtain the GRE KEY of each PDN connection, so that the uplink data can be forwarded normally, resulting in a long interruption of the uplink data.

In view of this, the embodiments of the present invention provide a method for supporting optimized handover of a PDN connection of a multi-packet data network, where the method includes:

The MME obtains information about each PDN connection established by the UE in the active handover process of the user equipment UE from the LTE network to the LTE network to the active high-speed packet data eHRPD network. Include unique identification information of each PDN connection and a corresponding universal routing encapsulation key GRE KEY;

The MME transmits the information of each PDN connection to the evolved high speed packet data serving gateway HSGW through the evolved access network/evolved packet control function eAN/ePCF.

Optionally,

The unique identification information of each PDN connection includes an access point name APN and a PDN address used by each PDN connection, or a PDN type, an used APN, and a PDN address of each PDN connection.

Optionally,

Sending, by the MME, the information of each PDN connection to the HSGW by using an eAN/ePCF, where the MME sends the information of each PDN connection to a respective proxy mobile IP tunnel information structure and sends the information to the HSGW. The proxy mobile IP tunnel information structure newly adds an "IPv4 address" field and an "IPv6 address" field to write a PDN address, or newly adds a "PDN type", an "IPv4 address" field, and an "IPv6 address" field to be written. PDN type and PDN address; or

The MME sends the information of each PDN connection to the HSGW through the eAN/ePCF, where the MME sends the information of each PDN connection to the respective evolved packet core network information structure for transmission. A new "PDN address" parameter is added to the evolved packet core network information structure to write a PDN address, or a "PDN type and PDN address" parameter is newly added to write a PDN type and a PDN address.

In view of this, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for supporting optimized handover of a PDN connection of a multi-packet data network, the method comprising:

The HSGW receives each PDN established by the UE in an optimized handover procedure in an active state of the user equipment UE from the long term evolution system LTE network to the evolved high speed packet data eHRPD network. The unique identification information of the connection and the corresponding universal routing encapsulation key GRE KEY;

The HSGW finds a corresponding PDN connection according to the unique identification information of each PDN connection, and saves the GRE KEY corresponding to each PDN connection.

Optionally,

The unique identification information of each PDN connection includes an access point name APN and a PDN address used by each PDN connection; or a PDN type, an used APN, and a PDN address of each PDN connection.

Optionally,

The method further includes: in a pre-registration process of the UE from an LTE network to an optimized handover of an eHRPD network, the HSGW is sent from a message sent by the UE or from a message sent by a policy and charging rule function entity PCRF Obtaining an IPv6 address prefix of the PDN connection of the type established by the UE to be IPv6 or IPv4 IPv6.

Optionally,

The HSGW finds a corresponding PDN connection according to the unique identification information of each PDN connection, and after saving the GRE KEY corresponding to each PDN connection, the method further includes:

The HSGW receives the uplink data of the PDN connection sent by the UE, and encapsulates the uplink data in the GRE tunnel by using the GRE KEY corresponding to the PDN connection, and sends the uplink data to the PDN gateway.

In this regard, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a mobility management entity MME, which includes an optimized handover processing module in an active state of an LTE network to an evolved high-speed packet data eHRPD network, and the optimized handover processing module includes:

The information acquiring unit is configured to: acquire information about each PDN connection established by the UE, where the information of each PDN connection includes unique identification information of each PDN connection and a corresponding universal routing encapsulation key GRE KEY;

The information sending unit is configured to: send the information of each PDN connection to the evolved high-speed packet data serving gateway HSGW through the evolved access network/evolved packet control function eAN/ePCF;

Optionally,

The information sending unit sends the information of each PDN connection to the HSGW through the eAN/ePCF, where the information of each PDN connection is separately sent in a corresponding proxy mobile IP tunnel information structure, where The proxy mobile IP tunnel information structure newly adds an "IPv4 address" field and an "IPv6 address" field to write a PDN address, or newly adds a "PDN type", an "IPv4 address" field, and an "IPv6 address" field to write a PDN type and PDN address; or

The information sending unit sends the information of each PDN connection to the HSGW through the eAN/ePCF, where the information of each PDN connection is separately written into the respective evolved packet core network information structure and sent to the HSGW. A new "PDN address" parameter is added to the evolved packet core network information structure to write a PDN address, or a "PDN type and PDN address" parameter is newly added to write a PDN type and a PDN address.

In view of this, the embodiment of the present invention further provides an evolved high-speed packet data serving gateway HSGW, including an optimized switching processing module in an active state of a long-term evolution system LTE network to an evolved high-speed packet data eHRPD network, where the optimized switching is performed. Processing modules include:

The information receiving unit is configured to: receive unique identification information of each PDN connection established by the UE, and a corresponding universal routing encapsulation key GRE KEY;

The information storage unit is configured to: find a corresponding PDN connection according to the unique identification information of each PDN connection, and save the GRE KEY corresponding to each PDN connection;

Optionally,

The information receiving unit is further configured to: in a pre-registration process of the UE from an LTE network to an optimized handover of an eHRPD network, from a message sent by the UE or from a policy and a charging rule function The IPv6 address prefix of the PDN connection of the IPv6 or IPv4 IPv6 type established by the UE is obtained in the message sent by the entity PCRF.

Optionally,

The optimized switching processing module further includes: a data forwarding unit, configured to: after receiving the uplink data of the PDN connection sent by the UE, using the GRE KEY corresponding to the PDN connection to encapsulate the uplink data in a GRE tunnel Sent to the PDN gateway.

In view of this, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a method for supporting optimized handover of a PDN connection of a multi-packet data network, including: a user equipment UE in an active state from a long-term evolution system LTE network to an evolved high-speed packet data eHRPD network. Optimize the switching process,

The mobility management entity MME sends the information of each PDN connection established by the UE to the evolved high-speed packet data serving gateway HSGW through the evolved access network/evolved packet control function eAN/ePCF, and the information of each PDN connection Include unique identification information of each PDN connection and a corresponding universal routing encapsulation key GRE KEY;

Optionally,

Transmitting, by the MME, the information of each PDN connection to the HSGW by using an eAN/ePCF, where the MME is separately writing information of each PDN connection to a respective evolved packet core. The heartbeat information structure is sent to the HSGW, and the "PDN address" parameter is newly added in the information structure of the evolved packet core network to write the PDN address, or the "PDN type and PDN address" parameter is newly added to write the PDN type and the PDN address. .

Optionally,

In view of this, the embodiment of the present invention further provides a system for supporting optimized handover of a PDN connection of a multi-packet data network, including a long-term evolution system LTE network and an evolved high-speed packet data eHRPD network, where:

The mobility management entity MME in the LTE network adopts an MME as described above;

The evolved high speed packet data serving gateway HSGW in the eHRPD network employs the HSGW as described above.

The embodiment of the invention further provides a computer readable storage medium storing program instructions, which can be implemented when the program instructions are executed.

The above solution can overcome the shortcomings of the uplink data interruption time in the related art, and realize the rapid recovery of the data service when the UE switches from LTE optimization to eHRPD.

BRIEF abstract

The drawings described herein are intended to provide a further understanding of the invention, and are intended to be a part of the invention. In the drawing:

1 is a related art LTE and eHRPD interoperation network architecture diagram;

2 is a signaling flow chart of an optimized handover pre-registration of the related art;

3 is a signaling flowchart of optimizing handover in an active state of the related art;

4 is a flowchart of an optimized handover processing method performed by an MME according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of an optimized handover processing method performed by an HSGW according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

6 is a flowchart of an optimized handover processing method supporting multiple PDN connections according to an embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a signaling flowchart of an optimized handover processing method supporting multiple PDN connections according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of an MME according to an embodiment of the present invention; and

Figure 9 is a block diagram of an HSGW in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Embodiments of the invention

The embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that, in the case of no conflict, the features in the embodiments and the embodiments in the present application may be arbitrarily combined with each other.

This embodiment is implemented by improving the optimized handover procedure of the UE from the LTE network to the eHRPD network based on the optimized handover function defined by the 3GPP2 and 3GPP protocols.

The method for supporting the optimal handover of the multi-PDN connection performed by the MME in this embodiment is as shown in FIG. 4, and includes:

In step 110, the MME acquires information about each PDN connection established by the UE in an optimized handover process in the active state of the UE from the LTE network to the eHRPD network, where the information of each PDN connection includes the uniqueness of each PDN connection. Identification information and corresponding GRE KEY;

During the optimized handover process of the UE from the LTE network to the active state of the eHRPD network, the MME The information of each PDN connection established by the UE is stored therein.

In this document, the unique identification information of each PDN connection means that the unique identification information identifies a unique PDN connection. The unique identification information of each PDN connection includes an access point name APN and a PDN address used by each PDN connection, or a PDN type, an used APN, and a PDN address of each PDN connection. When the PDN type is IPv4, the PDN address is an IPv4 address; when the PDN type is IPv6, the PDN address is an IPv6 address; when the PDN type is IPv4 IPv6 (meaning that the PDN type requires an IPv4 address and an IPv6 address) The PDN address is an IPv4 address and an IPv6 address.

In this embodiment, the MME sends the information of each PDN connection to the respective proxy mobile IP tunnel information structure and sends the information to the HSGW, and the proxy mobile IP tunnel information structure newly adds an "IPv4 address" field and The "IPv6 Address" field is written to the PDN address, or the "PDN Type", "IPv4 Address" field, and "IPv6 Address" field are newly added to write the PDN type and the PDN address. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, in another embodiment, the MME sends the information of each PDN connection to the respective evolved packet core network information structure, and the evolved packet core network information structure is sent. The new "PDN address" parameter is added to write the PDN address, or the "PDN type and PDN address" parameter is newly added to write the PDN type and the PDN address.

As an example, the step may be: after receiving the HRPD connection request sent by the UE, the MME sends the information of each PDN connection in an HRPD connection request message or a direct transmission request message to the eAN/ePCF; After receiving the HRPD connection request message or the direct transmission request message, the eAN/ePCF carries the unique identification information of each PDN connection established by the UE and the corresponding GRE KEY in the A11 registration request message, and sends the HSGW.

Step 120: The MME sends the information of each PDN connection to the HSGW through the eAN/ePCF.

In different standards, the name of the message used by the MME to send the above information, and the name of the message used by the eAN/ePCF to send the above information may be different. For example, the message sent by the MME to the eAN/ePCF 111 may be referred to as an HRPD connection request message, which may also be referred to as a Direct Transfer Request message. The present invention does not impose any limitation on the message for transmitting information.

The method for supporting the optimized handover of the multiple PDN connections performed by the HSGW in this embodiment is as shown in FIG. 5, and includes:

Step 210: In the optimized handover process of the UE from the LTE network to the eHRPD network, the HSGW receives the unique identification information of each PDN connection established by the UE and the corresponding universal routing encapsulation key GRE KEY;

Step 220: The HSGW finds a corresponding PDN connection according to the unique identification information of each PDN connection, and saves the GRE KEY corresponding to each PDN connection.

After the step, the HSGW receives the uplink data of the PDN connection sent by the UE, and the uplink data is encapsulated in the GRE tunnel and sent to the PDN gateway according to the GRE KEY corresponding to the PDN connection.

In this paper, GRE KEY refers to the use of GRE KEY when the HSGW sends data to the PDN gateway. In different standards, it is also called PDN gateway GRE KEY or uplink GRE KEY.

Correspondingly, the method for supporting the optimized handover of the PDN connection of the multi-packet data network is applied to the optimized handover process of the UE in the active state from the LTE network to the eHRPD network. As shown in FIG. 6, the method includes:

Step 310: The MME sends the information about each PDN connection established by the UE to the evolved high-speed packet data serving gateway HSGW through the evolved access network/evolved packet control function eAN/ePCF, where the information of each PDN connection Include unique identification information of each PDN connection and a corresponding universal routing encapsulation key GRE KEY;

Optionally, the unique identifier information of each PDN connection includes an access point name APN and a PDN address used by each PDN connection, or a PDN type, an used APN, and a PDN address of each PDN connection. .

Optionally, the MME sends the information of each PDN connection to the HSGW by using an eAN/ePCF, where the MME writes the information of each PDN connection to its own generation. Transmitting in the mobile IP tunnel information structure, the proxy mobile IP tunnel information structure newly adds an "IPv4 address" field and an "IPv6 address" field to write a PDN address, or newly add a "PDN type", an "IPv4 address" field, and An "IPv6 address" field to write a PDN type and a PDN address; or, the MME sends the information of each PDN connection to the HSGW through an eAN/ePCF, where the MME is connected to each PDN The information is respectively sent in the respective evolved packet core network information structure, and the "PDN address" parameter is newly added in the information structure of the evolved packet core network to write the PDN address, or the "PDN type and PDN address" parameter is newly added to write Enter the PDN type and PDN address.

Step 320: The HSGW finds a corresponding PDN connection according to the unique identification information of each PDN connection, and saves the GRE KEY corresponding to each PDN connection.

After receiving the uplink data of the PDN connection sent by the UE, the HSGW may encapsulate the uplink data in the GRE tunnel and send it to the PDN gateway by using the GRE KEY corresponding to the PDN connection. The HSGW may acquire the UE from a message sent by the UE or a message sent by a policy and charging rule function entity PCRF in a pre-registration process of the UE from an LTE network to an optimized handover of an eHRPD network. The IPv6 address prefix of the PDN connection of the type established as IPv6 or IPv4 IPv6.

The signaling flowchart of the optimized handover in the active state in this embodiment is as shown in FIG. 7, and includes the following steps:

Step 401: After completing the pre-registration, the UE 106 prepares to switch to the eHRPD.

In step 402, the UE 106 sends an HRPD (High Speed Packet Data) Connection Request message to the E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Land-Based Radio Access Network) to request the establishment of a transport channel. This request is forwarded to the MME;

Step 403: The MME sends the PMIP tunnel information corresponding to each PDN connection established by the UE to the eAN/ePCF 111 through the HRPD connection request message, and writes the unique identifier information of the PDN connection in the PMIP tunnel information corresponding to each PDN connection. Corresponding GRE KEY;

In an example, the PMIP tunnel information in this step may be implemented by adding a PDN address based on the PDN Gateway Proxy Mobile IP Generic Routing Encapsulation Tunnel Information (PDN GW PMIP GRE Tunnel Info) defined by 3GPP TS 29.276. PDN GW PMIP as defined by 3GPP TS 29.276 The GRE Tunnel Info structure includes a "PDN Identity" field (ie, APN), a "PDN Gateway IP Address" field, and a "PDN Gateway GRE KEY" field. After the expansion of this embodiment, the structure of the PDN GW PMIP GRE Tunnel Info is new. Two fields have been added, the "IPv4 Address" field and the "IPv6 Address" field. The GRE KEY and "IPv4 Address" fields in the "PDN Gateway GRE KEY" field, the IPv4 address in the "IPv6 Address" field, and/or An IPv6 address can uniquely identify a PDN connection. Optionally, in the structure of the extended PDN GW PMIP GRE Tunnel Info, a new "PDN Type" field is added to write the PDN type.

When the PDN type is IPv4 or IPv4 IPv6, the IPv4 address of the PDN connection is written in the IPv4 address field. When the PDN type is IPv6 or IPv4 IPv6, the IPv6 address of the PDN connection is written in the IPv6 address field. When there is no IPv4 address and/or IPv6 address or there is no valid value, the specific value of the appointment such as all 0s may be written in the corresponding field to indicate "there is no such address or no valid value".

In another embodiment, the PMIP tunnel information of this step can be implemented by adding corresponding parameters on the basis of EPS Information (Evolved Packet Core Network Information) defined by 3GPP2 A.S0022-A v1.0. 3GPP2 A.S0022- The structure of the PDN GW EPS Information defined by A v1.0 includes: "APN" parameter, "PDN gateway IP address" parameter and "uplink GRE KEY" parameter. After the expansion of this embodiment, the structure of EPS Information is new. Added a parameter, the "PDN address" parameter to write the PDN address of the PDN connection. The value of the "uplink GRE KEY" parameter and the "PDN address" parameter can uniquely identify a PDN connection. Optionally, after expansion The structure of EPS Information newly adds a "PDN type and PDN address" parameter to write the PDN type and PDN address of the PDN connection.

The foregoing structure is exemplary, and the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, a plurality of PDN connections established by the UE with the same APN may share an information structure, in which the multiple PDNs are connected to the corresponding APNs. The PDN gateway addresses are the same and can be shared.

In step 404, the eAN/ePCF 111 sends an A11 RRQ to the HSGW 110, carries a tunnel mode field, and has a value of 1, and carries PMIP tunnel information corresponding to each PDN connection.

In this step, the format of the PMIP tunnel information (or EPS Information) in the HRPD connection request message and the A11 RRQ message is different, but the content is consistent.

Step 405, the HSGW 110 receives the A11 RRQ, and responds to the A11 RRP message, carrying the HSGW. Address of 110, APN, GRE KEY of S103 tunnel;

In this step, the HSGW 110 finds a corresponding PDN connection according to the unique identification information of each PDN connection in the PMIP tunnel information, and saves the GRE KEY corresponding to each PDN connection.

Step 406, the eAN/ePCF 111 sends an HRPD service channel allocation message to the MME, carrying the address of the HSGW 110, the APN, and the GRE KEY of the S103 tunnel;

In step 407, the MME forwards the traffic channel assignment message to the E-UTRAN. This message is embedded in the S101 tunnel message. This message will be forwarded to the UE 106. After the foregoing process is completed, after the downlink data arrives from the PDN Gateway 105 to the SGW, the SGW forwards the packet to the HSGW 110 through the S103 tunnel, and the HSGW 110 transmits the network element to the eAN/ePCF 111;

Step 408, the UE 106 switches to the wireless of the eHRPD network;

At this time, if the UE 106 sends the uplink data, the HSGW receives the uplink data of the PDN connection sent by the UE (the corresponding PDN connection can be determined according to the source address in the APN and the IP packet in the uplink data), and the The GRE KEY corresponding to the PDN connection encapsulates the uplink data in a GRE tunnel and sends the uplink data to the PDN gateway (the PDN gateway information includes the PDN gateway IP address).

The HSGW may send a message from a message (such as a VSNCP configuration request message) sent by the UE or from a policy and charging rule function entity PCRF in a pre-registration process of the UE from an LTE network to an optimized handover of an eHRPD network ( For example, in the gateway control and the QoS policy sending response message, the IPv6 address prefix of the PDN connection of the type established by the UE is IPv6 or IPv4 IPv6. The IPv6 address prefix of the PDN connection together with the IPv6 interface ID constitutes the complete IPv6 address of the PDN connection. However, the manner in which the HSGW obtains the PDN address of the PDN connection is not limited to the above two types, and the IPv6 address of the PDN connection may be acquired in the process of optimizing the handover before the uplink data may be received.

In step 409, the eAN/ePCF 111 sends an A11 RRQ to the HSGW 110, carrying a tunnel mode field, and a value of 0, indicating that the UE 106 is under the eHRPD wireless network;

Step 410, the HSGW 110 returns an A11 RRP message to the eAN/ePCF 111;

Step 411, triggered by step 409, the HSGW 110 sends a PBU message to the PDN Gateway 105.

Step 412, the PDN Gateway 105 returns a response message PBA;

Step 413: If the UE 106 has started to establish in LTE and has not established a completed PDN connection, the UE 106 initiates establishment of the PDN connection under the eHRPD. At this point, the optimization switching process is completed.

In the foregoing process, the MME sends the PDN connection corresponding to the PDN connection to the HSGW, so that the UE establishes multiple PDN connections by using one APN, and the HSGW can also identify the PDN connection corresponding to each GRE KEY. It can be forwarded when the UE sends uplink data, which shortens the uplink data interruption time.

Correspondingly, the embodiment provides a mobility management entity MME, which includes an optimized handover processing module in an active state of a long term evolution system LTE network to an evolved high speed packet data eHRPD network, as shown in FIG. Modules include:

The information acquiring unit 10 is configured to acquire information about each PDN connection established by the UE, where the information of each PDN connection includes unique identification information of each PDN connection and a corresponding universal routing encapsulation key GRE KEY;

The information sending unit 20 is configured to send the information of each PDN connection to the HSGW through the eAN/ePCF;

Optionally,

The information sending unit sends the information of each PDN connection to the HSGW through the eAN/ePCF, where the information of each PDN connection is respectively sent and sent in a respective evolved packet core network information structure, where Newly added "PDN address" parameter in the information structure of the evolved packet core network The number is written to the PDN address, or the "PDN type and PDN address" parameter is newly added to write the PDN type and the PDN address.

Correspondingly, the embodiment further provides an evolved high-speed packet data serving gateway HSGW, including an optimized switching processing module in an active state of the long-term evolution system LTE network to the evolved high-speed packet data eHRPD network, as shown in FIG. The optimized switching processing module includes:

The information receiving unit 50 is configured to receive the unique identification information of each PDN connection established by the UE and the corresponding universal routing encapsulation key GRE KEY;

The information storage unit 60 is configured to find a corresponding PDN connection according to the unique identification information of each PDN connection, and save the GRE KEY corresponding to each PDN connection;

Optionally,

The information receiving unit is further configured to be in a message sent by the UE or sent by a policy and charging rule function entity PCRF in a pre-registration process of the UE from an LTE network to an optimized handover of an eHRPD network. Obtain an IPv6 address prefix of a PDN connection of the type established by the UE as IPv6 or IPv4 IPv6.

Optionally,

The optimized switching processing module further includes: a data forwarding unit configured to: after receiving the uplink data sent by the UE, find a corresponding PDN connection according to the source data in the uplink data PDN identifier, that is, the APN and the IP packet, and use the save The corresponding GRE KEY of the PDN connection encloses the IP packet in the GRE tunnel and sends it to the PDN gateway.

Correspondingly, the embodiment further provides a system for supporting optimized handover of a PDN connection of a multi-packet data network, including a long-term evolution system LTE network and an evolved high-speed packet data eHRPD network, where:

The mobility management entity MME in the LTE network adopts the MME of this embodiment;

The evolved high speed packet data serving gateway HSGW in the eHRPD network adopts the HSGW of this embodiment.

Those skilled in the art should appreciate that the above-described modules or steps of the embodiments of the present invention may be implemented by a general-purpose computing device, which may be centralized on a single computing device or distributed over a network of multiple computing devices. Alternatively, they may be implemented by program code executable by a computing device such that they may be stored in a storage device by a computing device and, in some cases, may be executed in a different order than herein. The steps shown or described are either fabricated as integrated circuit modules, or a plurality of modules or steps are fabricated as a single integrated circuit module.

Industrial applicability

The embodiments of the present invention can overcome the shortcomings of the uplink data interruption time existing in the related art, and implement fast recovery of the data service when the UE switches from LTE optimization to eHRPD.

Claims

A method for supporting optimized handover of a PDN connection of a multi-packet data network, the method comprising:

The mobile management entity MME acquires information about each PDN connection established by the UE, in the optimized handover process in the active state of the user equipment UE from the LTE network to the LTE network to the evolved high-speed packet data eHRPD network. The connected information includes unique identification information of each PDN connection and a corresponding universal routing encapsulation key GRE KEY;

The MME transmits the information of each PDN connection to the evolved high speed packet data serving gateway HSGW through the evolved access network/evolved packet control function eAN/ePCF.
The method of claim 1 wherein:

The unique identification information of each PDN connection includes an access point name APN and a PDN address used by each PDN connection, or a PDN type, an used APN, and a PDN address of each PDN connection.
The method of claim 2 wherein:

The MME sends the information of each PDN connection to the HSGW through an eAN/ePCF, where the MME sends the information of each PDN connection to a respective proxy mobile IP tunnel information structure and sends the information to the The HSGW, the proxy mobile IP tunnel information structure newly adds an "IPv4 address" field and an "IPv6 address" field to write a PDN address, or newly add a "PDN type", an "IPv4 address" field, and an "IPv6 address" field. To write the PDN type and PDN address; or

The MME sends the information of each PDN connection to the HSGW through the eAN/ePCF, where the MME sends the information of each PDN connection to the respective evolved packet core network information structure for sending. A new "PDN address" parameter is added to the evolved packet core network information structure to write a PDN address, or a "PDN type and PDN address" parameter is newly added to write a PDN type and a PDN address.
A method for supporting optimized handover of a PDN connection of a multi-packet data network, the method comprising:

The evolved high-speed packet data serving gateway HSGW receives the unique identification information of each PDN connection established by the UE in an optimized handover process in which the user equipment UE is in an active state from the long-term evolution system LTE network to the evolved high-speed packet data eHRPD network. And the corresponding universal routing encapsulation key GRE KEY;

The HSGW finds a corresponding PDN connection according to the unique identification information of each PDN connection, and saves the GRE KEY corresponding to each PDN connection.
The method of claim 4 wherein:

The unique identification information of each PDN connection includes an access point name APN and a PDN address used by each PDN connection; or a PDN type, an used APN, and a PDN address of each PDN connection.
The method of claim 4, further comprising:

In the pre-registration process of the UE from the LTE network to the optimized handover of the eHRPD network, the HSGW acquires the UE establishment from a message sent by the UE or a message sent by the policy and charging rule function entity PCRF. The IPv6 address prefix of the PDN connection of type IPv6 or IPv4 IPv6.
The method of claim 4 or 5 or 6, wherein:

And the HSGW finds a corresponding PDN connection according to the unique identifier information of each PDN connection, and after the GRE KEY corresponding to each PDN connection is saved, the method further includes:

The HSGW receives the uplink data of the PDN connection sent by the UE, and encapsulates the uplink data in the GRE tunnel by using the GRE KEY corresponding to the PDN connection, and sends the uplink data to the PDN gateway.
A mobility management entity MME includes an optimized handover processing module in an active state of an LTE network to an evolved high-speed packet data eHRPD network, where the optimized handover processing module includes:

The information acquiring unit is configured to: obtain information about each PDN connection established by the UE, where the information of each PDN connection includes unique identification information of each PDN connection and a corresponding universal routing encapsulation key GRE KEY;

The information sending unit is configured to: send the information of each PDN connection to the evolved high-speed packet data serving gateway HSGW through the evolved access network/evolved packet control function eAN/ePCF;

The unique identification information of each PDN connection includes an access point name APN and a PDN address used by each PDN connection, or a PDN type, an used APN, and a PDN address of each PDN connection.
The MME of claim 6 wherein:

The information sending unit is configured to send the information of each PDN connection into a respective proxy mobile IP tunnel information structure and send the information to the HSGW, and the proxy mobile IP tunnel information structure newly adds an “IPv4 address” field. And the "IPv6 address" field to write the PDN address, or newly add the "PDN type", "IPv4 address" field and "IPv6 address" field to write the PDN type and PDN address; or

The information sending unit is configured to write the information of each PDN connection into a respective evolved packet core network information structure and send the information to the HSGW, where a new “PDN address” is added to the information structure of the evolved packet core network. The parameter is written to the PDN address, or the "PDN Type and PDN Address" parameter is newly added to write the PDN type and the PDN address.
An optimized high-speed packet data service gateway HSGW includes an optimized handover processing module in an active state of a long-term evolution system LTE network to an evolved high-speed packet data eHRPD network, where the optimized handover processing module includes:

The information receiving unit is configured to: receive unique identification information of each PDN connection established by the UE, and a corresponding universal routing encapsulation key GRE KEY;

The information storage unit is configured to: find a corresponding PDN connection according to the unique identification information of each PDN connection, and save the GRE KEY corresponding to each PDN connection;

The unique identification information of each PDN connection includes an access point name APN and a PDN address used by each PDN connection, or a PDN type, an used APN, and a PDN address of each PDN connection.
The HSGW of claim 10 wherein:

The information receiving unit is further configured to: in a pre-registration process of the UE from an LTE network to an optimized handover of an eHRPD network, in a message sent by the UE or in a message sent by a policy and charging rule function entity PCRF Obtaining an IPv6 address prefix of the PDN connection of the type established by the UE to be IPv6 or IPv4 IPv6.
The HSGW of claim 10 or 11, wherein:

The optimized switching processing module further includes: a data forwarding unit, configured to: after receiving the uplink data of the PDN connection sent by the UE, using the GRE KEY corresponding to the PDN connection to encapsulate the uplink data in a GRE tunnel Sent to the PDN gateway.
A method for supporting optimized handover of a PDN connection of a multi-packet data network, the method comprising: during an optimized handover process of an active state of a user equipment UE from a long term evolution system LTE network to an evolved high speed packet data eHRPD network,

The mobility management entity MME sends the information of each PDN connection established by the UE to the evolved high-speed packet data serving gateway HSGW through the evolved access network/evolved packet control function eAN/ePCF, and the information of each PDN connection Include unique identification information of each PDN connection and a corresponding universal routing encapsulation key GRE KEY;

The HSGW finds a corresponding PDN connection according to the unique identification information of each PDN connection, and saves the GRE KEY corresponding to each PDN connection.
The method of claim 13 wherein:

The unique identification information of each PDN connection includes an access point name APN and a PDN address used by each PDN connection, or a PDN type, an used APN, and a PDN address of each PDN connection.
The method of claim 14 wherein:

The MME sends the information of each PDN connection to the HSGW through an eAN/ePCF, where the MME sends the information of each PDN connection to a respective proxy mobile IP tunnel information structure and sends the information to the The HSGW, the proxy mobile IP tunnel information structure newly adds an "IPv4 address" field and an "IPv6 address" field to write a PDN address, or newly add a "PDN type", an "IPv4 address" field, and an "IPv6 address" field. To write the PDN type and PDN address; or

The MME sends the information of each PDN connection to the HSGW through the eAN/ePCF, where the MME sends the information of each PDN connection to the respective evolved packet core network information structure and sends the information to the The HSGW adds a "PDN address" parameter to the Evolved Packet Core Network information structure to write a PDN address, or newly adds a "PDN Type and PDN Address" parameter to write a PDN type and a PDN address.
The method of claim 13 further comprising:

In the pre-registration process of the UE from the LTE network to the optimized handover of the eHRPD network, the HSGW acquires the UE establishment from a message sent by the UE or a message sent by the policy and charging rule function entity PCRF. The IPv6 address prefix of the PDN connection of type IPv6 or IPv4 IPv6.
A method according to any of claims 13 to 15, wherein:

And the HSGW finds a corresponding PDN connection according to the unique identifier information of each PDN connection, and after the GRE KEY corresponding to each PDN connection is saved, the method further includes:

The HSGW receives the uplink data of the PDN connection sent by the UE, and encapsulates the uplink data in the GRE tunnel by using the GRE KEY corresponding to the PDN connection, and sends the uplink data to the PDN gateway.
A system for supporting optimized handover of a PDN connection of a multi-packet data network, including a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network and an Elevated High Speed Packet Data eHRPD network, wherein:

The LTE network includes the MME as claimed in claim 8 or 9;

The eHRPD network includes the HSGW as described in claim 10 or 11 or 12.
A computer readable storage medium storing program instructions that, when executed, implement the method of any one of claims 1-7, 13-17.