CN112788644B

CN112788644B - Edge distribution system and method for service data in mobile network

Info

Publication number: CN112788644B
Application number: CN202011625350.9A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李敏行; 李同; 马煜
Original assignee: Xi'an Baopu Communication Technology Co ltd; Raisecom Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Xi'an Baopu Communication Technology Co ltd; Raisecom Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2020-12-31
Filing date: 2020-12-31
Publication date: 2024-02-02
Anticipated expiration: 2040-12-31
Also published as: CN112788644A

Abstract

An edge offloading system and method for traffic data in a mobile network, wherein the system comprises: after receiving an uplink service data packet sent by a user through a base station, the mobile edge computing gateway MECG connected in series between the base station and a core network is set to send the uplink service data packet to mobile edge computing MEC equipment according to a distribution strategy configured for the user when the user is judged to have local distribution authority and the uplink service data packet needs to be distributed; and the MEC equipment is arranged to determine a local network where the uplink service data packet is shunted to after receiving the uplink service data packet sent by the MECG, and send the uplink service data packet to the local network.

Description

Edge distribution system and method for service data in mobile network

Technical Field

The present invention relates to mobile edge computing technology, and more particularly, to an edge offloading system and method for traffic data in a mobile network.

Background

Mobile edge computing (MEC, mobile Edge Computing) is a fundamental part of the fifth generation (5G) mobile communication architecture, improving the user experience. Since 5G takes several years to reach today's 4G level in terms of coverage and customer base. The longevity of 4G results in the MEC deployed in 4G with long-period return on investment. Introducing MEC in 4G, creating edge Internet based on 4G access, providing new income and market differentiation opportunities for mobile operators, and tools of pricing rights, can solve the following pain points of operators:

(1) The wireless network of the operator has difficulty in providing service for enterprises, firstly, the core network can provide higher requirements for the backhaul network, and the backhaul network needs to be modified or expanded; secondly, the service quality such as throughput, time delay and the like is limited by the network and the core network; thirdly, the cost is too high through the core network, so that the client is not easy to accept;

(2) The internal privacy data access of the enterprise is not easy to meet;

(3) The completely controllable requirements of enterprises on business services cannot be met through the public network.

At present, in the specific implementation of introducing the MEC in the 4G, a shunt gateway (LeGW) device is mainly connected in series in a backhaul network between a macro base station and a core network, and the shunt gateway device introduces uplink traffic matched with a shunt policy into a local network according to the configured shunt policy, and simultaneously sends downlink traffic from the local network to the macro base station, and the implementation method is shown in fig. 1.

In the method, the LeGW cannot identify the terminal user, cannot distinguish whether the terminal user has local shunting authority, cannot configure an independent shunting strategy for local terminal users, and can only passively set global shunting strategies for all users.

Disclosure of Invention

The following is a summary of the subject matter described in detail herein. This summary is not intended to limit the scope of the claims.

The application provides an edge distribution system and an edge distribution method for service data in a mobile network, which can realize the purpose of personalized distribution for terminal users.

The edge distribution system of service data in a mobile network provided by the application comprises:

the mobile edge computing gateway MECG is connected in series between the base station and the core network, and is arranged to judge that a user has local shunting authority after receiving an uplink service data packet sent by the user through the base station, and when the uplink service data packet needs to be shunted, the uplink service data packet is sent to mobile edge computing MEC equipment according to a shunting strategy configured for the user;

and the MEC equipment is configured to determine a local network where the uplink service data packet is shunted to arrive after receiving the uplink service data packet sent by the MECG, and send the uplink service data packet to the local network.

The application also provides an edge distribution method of service data in the mobile network, which comprises the following steps:

receiving an uplink service data packet sent by a user through a base station;

and when the user is judged to have the local shunting authority and the uplink service data packet needs to be shunted, shunting the uplink service data packet to the local network according to a shunting strategy configured for the user and the local network reached by the configured uplink service data packet shunting.

The system and the method can distinguish whether the terminal user has the local distribution authority or not, can configure the distribution strategy for the terminal user, and can realize the purpose of personalized distribution for the terminal user

Additional features and advantages of the application will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the application. Other advantages of the present application may be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and drawings.

Other aspects will become apparent upon reading and understanding the accompanying drawings and detailed description.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings are included to provide an understanding of the technical aspects of the present application, and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate the technical aspects of the present application and together with the examples of the present application, and not constitute a limitation of the technical aspects of the present application.

FIG. 1 is a flow chart of a related art method for splitting after introducing MEC in 4G;

fig. 2 is a block diagram of an edge splitting system of service data in a mobile network according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a schematic signaling interaction diagram between a source base station, a target base station and a core network in a UE handover scenario provided in an embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a transparent container IE provided in the embodiment of the present application in a handover required signaling sent by a source base station to a core network and a handover request signaling sent by the core network to a target base station;

fig. 5 is a block diagram of an edge splitting system of service data in another mobile network according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a manner in which an EMS obtains MEC user offloading information according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram of traffic flow splitting when UE is switched between base stations according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of an edge distribution system of service data in a mobile network applied to a 4G network according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of an edge offloading system of service data in a mobile network applied to a 5G network according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic diagram of an S1-U interface protocol stack according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic diagram of an edge method of service data in a mobile network according to an embodiment of the present application.

Detailed Description

The present application describes a number of embodiments, but the description is illustrative and not limiting and it will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art that many more embodiments and implementations are possible within the scope of the embodiments described herein. Although many possible combinations of features are shown in the drawings and discussed in the detailed description, many other combinations of the disclosed features are possible. Any feature or element of any embodiment may be used in combination with or in place of any other feature or element of any other embodiment unless specifically limited.

The present application includes and contemplates combinations of features and elements known to those of ordinary skill in the art. The embodiments, features and elements of the present disclosure may also be combined with any conventional features or elements to form a unique inventive arrangement as defined in the claims. Any feature or element of any embodiment may also be combined with features or elements from other inventive arrangements to form another unique inventive arrangement as defined in the claims. Thus, it should be understood that any of the features shown and/or discussed in this application may be implemented alone or in any suitable combination. Accordingly, the embodiments are not to be restricted except in light of the attached claims and their equivalents. Further, various modifications and changes may be made within the scope of the appended claims.

Furthermore, in describing representative embodiments, the specification may have presented the method and/or process as a particular sequence of steps. However, to the extent that the method or process does not rely on the particular order of steps set forth herein, the method or process should not be limited to the particular sequence of steps described. Other sequences of steps are possible as will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art. Accordingly, the particular order of the steps set forth in the specification should not be construed as limitations on the claims. Furthermore, the claims directed to the method and/or process should not be limited to the performance of their steps in the order written, and one skilled in the art can readily appreciate that the sequences may be varied and still remain within the spirit and scope of the embodiments of the present application.

The embodiment of the application provides an edge distribution system of service data in a mobile network, as shown in fig. 2, the system includes:

a mobile edge computing gateway MECG201 connected in series between a base station and a core network, configured to determine that a user has local splitting authority after receiving an uplink service data packet sent by the user through the base station, and send the uplink service data packet to a mobile edge computing MEC device 202 according to a splitting policy configured for the user when the uplink service data packet needs to be split;

the MEC device 202 is configured to determine, after receiving the uplink service data packet sent by the MECG201, a local network where the uplink service data packet arrives in a split manner, and send the uplink service data packet to the local network.

The offloading policy may include 1 or more offloading rules, such as offloading according to one or more of user ID, offloading according to traffic type, offloading according to traffic characteristics of traffic packets. Different operating requirements can be covered by multi-dimensional splitting.

The system provided by the embodiment of the application can distinguish whether the terminal user has the local distribution authority or not, can configure the distribution strategy for the terminal user, and can realize the purpose of personalized distribution for the terminal user.

In an exemplary embodiment of the present invention,

after the MECG is configured to receive an uplink service data packet sent by the user through the base station, determine whether the user has a local splitting authority, and a mode of whether the uplink service data packet needs to be split, and a mode of a splitting policy configured for the user, where the method includes:

acquiring a user Identity (ID) for transmitting the uplink service data packet and a service type corresponding to the uplink service data packet; judging according to the stored at least partial MEC user distribution information: whether the user ID is a user ID with local distribution authority, whether the service type needs to be distributed, and a distribution strategy configured for the user;

the MEC device is configured to determine a manner in which the upstream traffic packet is diverted to a local network, including: determining a local network mode of the uplink service data packet according to the stored at least partial MEC user shunting information;

the MEC subscriber profile information includes:

the method comprises the steps of MEC user identity ID, whether a service associated with the MEC user ID starts distribution, distribution strategy associated with the MEC user ID and local network information to which distribution is carried out.

The at least part of MEC user distribution information according to the MECG may include: a MEC user identity ID, whether a service associated with the MEC user ID starts distribution, and a distribution policy associated with the MEC user ID;

the at least part of MEC user split information according to the MEC device may include: MEC user identity ID, local network information to which the split flow is sent;

the subscriber ID may be an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI, international Mobile Subscriber Identity, IMSI).

In an exemplary embodiment, the MECG is configured to obtain a user ID for sending the uplink service data packet and a service type corresponding to the uplink service data packet, and includes:

acquiring GTP-U tunnel information for transmitting user plane data in a general packet radio service GPRS tunnel transmission protocol distributed by a core network from the uplink service data packet; the GTP-U tunnel information comprises GTP-U tunnel IDs distributed by a core network service network element SGW for the bearer used by each access service type;

searching the corresponding relation among the service type, GTP-U tunnel information and the user ID connected with the base station, and obtaining the user ID and the service type of the base station connection corresponding to the GTP-U tunnel information obtained at this time, wherein the user ID and the service type are used for sending the uplink service data packet and the service type corresponding to the uplink service data packet.

The MECG can analyze the received partial S1AP signaling between the base station and the core network control surface network element MME, and the transmission is carried out after the analysis is finished. These signaling include S1AP signaling involved in one of the following procedures: an attachment process, a service request process, and a handover process. By analyzing these signaling, the MECG may obtain the IMSI of the current access user (i.e., UE connected by the base station), the service type (QCI), and the bearer used by each service type to access the core network service plane network element SGW, and the information that the S1-U interface (interface between the base station and the core network service plane network element SGW) creates a GTP tunnel for each bearer (including the GTP-U tunnel ID and the IP address used respectively allocated by the base station and the SGW). The MECG can record the corresponding relation among the IMSI, the number of bearers, the service type corresponding to each bearer and GTP-U tunnel information of the UE connected with the base station, and store the corresponding relation in the memory. How to obtain the number of bearers used by the UE connected to the base station to access the core network service plane network element SGW and the service type and GTP-U tunnel information corresponding to each bearer by analyzing the relevant S1AP signaling belongs to the prior art, and is not described herein.

In the following exemplary embodiments, a process of acquiring, by the MECG, a subscriber IMSI connected to a base station by analyzing a relevant S1AP signaling is described in detail.

When the user ID is an international mobile subscriber identity IMSI, the MECG is configured to obtain the user ID connected to the base station, where the method includes any one of the following:

acquiring the user ID by analyzing signaling between a base station and a core network in the user service request process;

acquiring the user ID by analyzing signaling between a base station and a core network in the user attachment process;

and acquiring the user ID by analyzing signaling between the base station and the core network in the user switching process.

The IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity ) is an identity for distinguishing between different subscribers in a cellular network, which is not repeated in all cellular networks worldwide, and is stored in the SIM card of the handset and in the home location register (HLR, home Location Register) database of the operator. The IMSI is formed by concatenating a mobile country code (MCC, mobile Country Code), a mobile network code (MNC, mobile Network Code) and a mobile subscriber identity code (MSIN, mobile subscription identification number) in order.

To avoid the listener identifying and tracking a particular subscriber, in most cases the communication between the handset and the network will use a randomly generated TMSI (Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity ) instead of the IMSI, which is only valid for a certain period of time in one location area.

The following describes the process of the MECG obtaining the IMSI of the subscriber connected to the base station according to three scenarios of the attach procedure, the service request procedure and the handover procedure, respectively.

For the attached scenario:

when the user ID is an international mobile subscriber identity IMSI, the MECG is configured to obtain the user ID by analyzing signaling between a base station and a core network during a user attachment process, including:

judging whether an attach request message initiated by a user to a core network through a base station carries a user IMSI, and if so, directly acquiring the user IMSI; if not, the user IMSI is obtained from the authentication information sent by the user to the core network through the base station by modifying the attachment request information to enable the core network to request the user to carry out authentication again.

Attach scene one

Under the scenario that the UE does not acquire the TMSI yet or the TMSI has failed, the type of the carried user identifier is the IMSI in an initiated Attach Request (Attach Request) NAS message. Since this message is in plain text before the authentication process, the MECG can directly obtain the IMSI by parsing the Attach Request message;

the Attach Response (Attach Response) message replied by the core network carries the TMSI allocated to the UE.

Attaching scene two

The UE obtains TMSI and in the scene that the TMSI is in the valid period time limit range, the carried user identification type is TMSI in an initiated attachment Request (Attach Request) NAS message;

because the message is in a plaintext before the authentication process, MECG modifies the content of the Attach Request message, and the TMSI field value is modified into an invalid value of 0xFFFFFF, so that the core network fails to check TMSI after receiving the Attach Request message, initiates an Identity process, and requires UE to report IMSI;

the MECG obtains the IMSI by parsing Identity Response messages reported by the UE for the Identity request.

Therefore, based on the above two attachment scenarios, the process of acquiring the IMSI of the UE by the MECG analyzing the S1AP signaling interacted between the base station and the core network control plane network element MME may include:

the MECG receives an attachment Request (Attach Request) NAS message sent to a core network control plane network element (MME) through a base station in the process of accessing the UE into a core network, and analyzes the NAS message;

if the IMSI is analyzed, the MECG stores the IMSI of the UE;

if the TMSI is analyzed, the MECG modifies the TMSI field value in the Attach Request NAS message into an invalid value of 0xFFFFFFFF, and sends the TMSI field value to a core network control plane network element MME through a backhaul network;

The MECG transparent core network control surface network element MME initiates an Identity request to the UE when checking TMSI failure after receiving Attach Request NAS information;

the MECG receives Identity Response information reported by the UE to the core network control plane network element MME aiming at the Identity request, analyzes Identity Response information to obtain the IMSI of the UE, and then sends Identity Response information to the core network control plane network element MME through a backhaul network.

For the service request scenario:

when the user ID is an international mobile subscriber identity IMSI, the MECG is configured to obtain the user ID by analyzing signaling between a base station and a core network in a user service request process, including:

the method comprises the steps that a service request message sent to a core network by a user through a base station is modified so that the core network refuses the service request because the identity of the user cannot be identified;

and acquiring the IMSI of the user by analyzing signaling between the base station and the core network in the attaching process initiated by the user after the service request is refused.

When the UE initiates a Service Request (Service Request) message, the encryption and integrity protection keys are obtained through an authentication process initiated by a core network in the previous attachment process, so that the Service Request message enables the encryption and integrity protection;

MECG modifies the content of Service Request message, modifies Mac (Message authentication code ) field value to invalid value 0xFFFFFFFF, core network checks Mac field failure after receiving Service Request message, replies Service Reject message to UE, the failure in message is "UE identity cannot be derived by the network (UE identity can not be obtained through network)";

after receiving the Service Reject message, the UE considers that the TMSI is invalid according to the failure reason, initiates an attachment request according to an attachment scene, and obtains the IMSI by the MECG;

therefore, based on the service request scene, the process of acquiring the IMSI of the UE by the MECG analyzing the S1AP signaling interacted between the base station and the core network control plane network element MME may include:

the MECG receives a Service Request (Service Request) message sent to a core network control plane network element (MME) through a base station in the process of accessing the UE into the core network;

the MECG modifies the Mac field value in the Service Request message into an invalid value of 0xFFFFFFFF, and sends the invalid value to a core network control plane network element MME through a backhaul network;

the MECG transparent core network control surface network element MME replies a Service Reject message to the UE when checking the Mac field value failure after receiving the Service Request message, wherein the Service Request failure reason carried by the message is that the identity of the UE cannot be obtained through the network;

The MECG receives an attachment Request (Attach Request) NAS message initiated by the UE to the core network control plane network element MME aiming at the Service Reject message, analyzes the Attach Request NAS message to obtain the IMSI of the UE, and then sends Attach Request NAS messages to the core network control plane network element MME through a backhaul network.

Switching a scene:

when the user ID is an international mobile subscriber identity IMSI, the MECG is configured to obtain the user ID by analyzing signaling between a base station and a core network during a user handover process, including:

receiving a base station switching request message sent to a target base station by a core network for UE (user equipment);

and obtaining the IMSI of the UE by analyzing the base station switching request message.

The MECG is further configured to receive a base station switching request message sent by a source base station to the UE, and after the IMSI of the UE is found locally, the IMSI information is filled in the base station switching request message and sent to a core network.

Under the switching scene, no interface exists between MECG1 connected with the source base station and MECG2 connected with the target base station, and the MECG1 informs the MECG2 of the IMSI of the UE by using the transparent container IE in the switching message;

as shown in fig. 3, both the Handover Required signaling sent by the Source base station to the core network and the Handover Request signaling sent by the core network to the target base station include an IE, namely a transparent container (Source-to target-transparent container), as shown in fig. 4;

The core network does not analyze and modify the IE, extracts the IE from Handover Required signaling, and then directly puts the IE into a Handover Request signaling, and MECG1 and MECG2 transmit the IMSI by utilizing the characteristic;

after the MECG1 receives the base station handover request to the UE initiated by the source base station through the Handover Required signaling, modifies the history cell information in the transparent container contained in the signaling, and if a plurality of history cell information is contained, modifies the first history cell information (the history cell information is an essential option in the transparent container, so there is a certain presence). Because the IMSI string format is 15 bytes, 8 bytes are required even if BCD format is adopted, and the available field in one historical cell information is only 6 bytes, only the MSIN part (the remaining MNC and MCC strings are not included, and the BCD format occupies 5 bytes) in the IMSI is written into the historical cell information;

after receiving the Handover Request signaling, the MECG2 analyzes the transparent container IE, extracts MSIN from the history cell information, and spells the complete IMSI according to the MNC and MCC of the configuration or learning record.

Therefore, when the base station is used as a base station (source base station) before UE handover and the MECG is a gateway device connected to the source base station, the process of sending the base station handover request to the core network includes:

The MECG receives a base station switching request sent by a base station serving as a source base station through a switching application Handover Required signaling to UE;

after the MECG finds the IMSI of the UE locally, the MSIN part of the IMSI is filled in a history cell information field in a transparent container contained in the Handover Required signaling and is sent to a core network control plane network element MME through a backhaul network, so that the core network control plane network element MME generates a corresponding Handover Request signaling based on the Handover Required signaling and then sends the Handover Request message to other base stations (namely target base stations) after Handover corresponding to the current base station Handover Request for response.

When the base station is used as a base station (namely a target base station) after UE switching and the MECG is gateway equipment connected with the target base station, the process of receiving the base station switching request sent by the core network for processing comprises the following steps:

MECG receives a base station switching Request to UE sent to a base station as a target base station by a core network control plane network element MME through a Handover Request signaling;

MECG analyzes the Handover Request signaling, extracts the SN part of the IMSI from the history cell information field in the transparent container, and spells the MSIN part with the MNC and MCC parts of the IMSI stored locally to obtain the IMSI of the UE;

When MECG determines that the IMSI of the UE does not exist locally, storing the IMSI of the UE;

the MECG sends the Handover Request signaling to the base station.

In an exemplary embodiment, as shown in fig. 5, the above system further includes:

the element management system EMS203 is configured to obtain MEC user split information, and send at least part of the MEC user split information to the MECG201 and the MEC device 202 respectively.

In an exemplary embodiment, the EMS203 is configured to obtain MEC subscriber profile information, including:

deploying a Web Server for MEC registration;

receiving an access request which is distributed by the MECG201, comes from a user, carries a user ID and is used for the Web Server, and storing the user ID as MEC user ID;

sending a registration page to the user;

and acquiring whether the service associated with the MEC user ID starts distribution, a distribution strategy associated with the MEC user ID and local network information to which the distribution is carried out according to the registration information returned by the user.

Deploying a Web Server of a website Server for MEC registration on the EMS, providing Portal pages and domain name access addresses (the domain name access addresses are private and support different enterprise clients to set the respective domain name access addresses) externally, as shown in FIG. 6;

After receiving the domain name access address through the browser, the UE sends a DNS request message for the domain name access address to the MECG; the MECG analyzes the DNS request message, discovers that the domain name access address requested to be analyzed in the message is a private domain name access address, and directly constructs a DNS response message and sends the DNS response message to the UE, wherein the IP address in the DNS response message is the IP address of the Web Server, and meanwhile, the MECG sets the shunting authority of the UE as the temporary authority, and the MECG shunts the Http data packet of the Web Server accessed by the UE under the temporary authority;

the UE initiates an access request to the Web Server through a browser, and the target IP address of the request message is an Http protocol data packet of the Web Server IP address; after the MECG receives the access request, the access request and the IMSI of the UE are sent to the MEC device via a private tunnel between the MECG and the MEC device, and the MEC device sends the access request and the IMSI to the EMS, and the specific sending process may include: after receiving the Http protocol data packet of the UE, the MECG packages the Http protocol data packet with a private tunnel packet header and forwards the packet to MEC equipment based on the private tunnel, wherein the private tunnel header carries the IMSI of the UE; the MEC equipment unpacks the packet header of the private tunnel from the MECG to obtain an Http protocol packet, inserts the IMSI in the header field of the Http protocol packet, and then routes and forwards the packet to the EMS; the Web Server on EMS obtains the IMSI of UE by analyzing the Http header field, and stores the IMSI of the UE as MEC user ID;

The UE receives a self-service Portal registration page returned by the Web Server for the access request through a browser; receiving a user name (any form such as a mobile phone number/a work number/a name) and a password which are input based on the Portal registration page, sending the user name and the password to a Web Server for registration, and binding the user name of the UE with the IMSI by the Web Server;

the UE receives a Portal setting page returned by the Web Server after the successful registration authentication is determined through a browser; and feeding back the service type which is selected by the UE in the Portal setting page and needs to open the distribution authority, the distribution rule information and the local network information to the Web Server, so that the Web Server associates the service type with the user name of the UE.

The above-mentioned manner of obtaining the MEC user offloading information by the EMS203 is a manner of obtaining the MEC user offloading information by the UE self-service activation. In the mode, the login of an illegal user can be prevented by filling in the user name and the password during the registration, the user name also accords with the memory habit, and the EMS records the binding relation between the IMSI and the user name.

Besides the method of acquiring MEC user distribution information through the self-service opening mode of the UE, the EMS can also acquire MEC user distribution information through the method of directly receiving the input MEC user distribution information through the information input interface. And receiving IMSI of the user on the information input interface, and after MEC user shunting information such as a shunting gate switch, a shunting strategy, local network information and the like of the service type, the EMS respectively sends all or part of the MEC user shunting information to MECG and MEC equipment. This approach requires inputting the IMSI of the subscriber directly at the information input interface. For non-new account opening users, the user is required to open the mobile phone to take out the SIM card, the IMSI mark printed on the SIM card is read, and the mobile phone is not practically operable in certain scenes. The method for acquiring MEC user distribution information through the self-service opening mode of the UE can avoid the defect of the method for directly receiving the input MEC user distribution information through the information input interface.

Thus far, the operation of offloading uplink traffic packets to a local network through the above system will be described, and in the exemplary embodiments provided below in this application, the operation of transmitting downlink traffic packets to a UE through the above system will be described.

In an exemplary embodiment, the MEC device 202 is further configured to record an association relationship between a flow characteristic of the uplink service data packet and MECG information after receiving the uplink service data packet sent by the MECG201; after receiving a downlink service data packet from a local network, determining a MECG201 according to the flow characteristics of the downlink service data packet and the association relation, and sending the downlink service data packet to the determined MECG201;

the MECG information may include tunnel information on a MECG side in tunnel information between the MEC device and the MECG;

the flow characteristics may include: quintuple information or triplet information;

the MECG201 is further configured to obtain the GTP-U tunnel information after receiving the downlink service data packet sent by the MEC device 202, and send the downlink service data to the user through the base station through the corresponding tunnel.

In the specific implementation, after receiving a downlink service data packet from an enterprise local network, MEC equipment searches tunnel information on an MECG side in the IMSI, the service type and private tunnel information of UE (user equipment) associated with the flow characteristics of the downlink service data packet, and sends the downlink service data packet to a corresponding MECG through a private tunnel based on a search result, wherein the private tunnel packet header carries the searched IMSI and the service type;

After the MECG receives the uplink service data packet from the private tunnel, the MECG searches the associated GTP-U tunnel information according to the IMSI and the service type carried in the private tunnel packet header, and the uplink service data packet is stripped from the private tunnel packet header and is sent to the base station after GTP-U encapsulation.

In an exemplary embodiment, the MEC device 202 is further configured to determine, after receiving an uplink service data packet sent by the MECG201, whether the service data packet is a first uplink service data packet with the flow characteristic sent by the MECG according to the flow characteristic of the service data packet, and if so, record an association relationship between the flow characteristic of the uplink service data packet and the MECG information;

when the MEC device in this embodiment records the association between the flow characteristics of the uplink service data packet and the MECG information, the operation of recording the association is only performed when the received uplink service data packet is the first uplink service data packet with the flow characteristics sent by the MECG, so that frequent execution of the operation of recording the association in the process of receiving multiple uplink service data packets can be avoided, and the writing calculation resources are saved.

In an actual mobile network architecture, a plurality of base stations are often deployed, and 1 MECG is connected in series between each base station and a core network, where the MECG is connected to an enterprise local network through the same MEC device, as shown in fig. 7. Because the MEC devices are deployed independently on the operator network, the process of switching base stations for the UE is not perceived. When receiving the first uplink service packet with the same flow characteristics sent from the MECG1 connected with the source base station before switching, the MEC equipment records the association relationship between the flow characteristics and the MECG1, so that the corresponding MECG1 can be found according to the flow characteristics when receiving the corresponding downlink service flow. After the UE switches the base station, after receiving the first uplink service packet with the same flow characteristic from the MECG2 connected to the target base station after the switching, the MECG device will cover the record saved between the two, and change the MECG associated with the flow characteristic from MECG1 to MECG2, which ensures that the downlink service flow can be correctly sent to MECG2.

However, this way of learning by means of upstream only has problems when switching between the following scenarios:

when the UE downloads the service, under the scenario that the transmission protocol uses the user datagram protocol (UDP, user Datagram Protocol), since UDP is an unreliable transmission protocol and does not need to be confirmed by the receiving end, there is no uplink traffic in the downloading process, so that the MEC device cannot refresh the record when the base station of the UE switches. Or when the UE performs the download service, in the scenario that the transmission protocol uses the transmission control protocol (TCP, transmission Control Protocol), if the download rate is very low, there is a probability that the MEC device cannot refresh the record when the base station of the UE switches due to the absence of the uplink acknowledgement packet, and thus the traffic interruption occurs.

In view of the foregoing, in an exemplary embodiment, the MECG, which is connected to the target base station, is further configured to send, after receiving a user base station handover complete notification message (such as a handover notify message) sent by the target base station to the core network, a user ID of the user to the MEC device; after receiving the downlink service data packet sent by the MEC equipment, acquiring the GTP-U tunnel information, and sending the downlink service data to a user through a base station by a corresponding tunnel;

The MEC equipment is further arranged to refresh the association relation between the user ID and MECG information according to the received user ID; after receiving the downlink service data packet from the local network, determining MECG according to the association relation between the user ID and MECG information, and sending the downlink service data packet to the determined MECG.

The system described above is applied to a schematic diagram of a 4G network, as shown in fig. 8.

In fig. 8, the MECG is connected in series in the backhaul network between the base station and the core network, and the network card supports optical bypass protection, so that it is ensured that the link between the macro base station and the core network is not affected when the MECG is powered off and fails; because the tandem adopts a transparent transmission mode, the network port of the MECG for connecting the macro base station and the core network does not need to be configured with an IP address and an MAC address, thus the existing 4G network architecture of an operator is not changed, and the network management system of the operator is not required to be additionally configured;

MEC equipment completes the functions of MECG state management, flow forwarding, flow control and multi-enterprise policy isolation, and one MEC equipment can be connected with a plurality of MECG at the same time; the MEC equipment provides a virtualized environment, supports deployment of a plurality of third party edge computing software and provides edge computing platform services;

The EMS completes equipment management and service management of MEC equipment and MECG.

The above system is also applicable to 5G networks as shown in fig. 9. In comparison to 4G mobile networks, an important change of the core network in 5G mobile networks is: the service surface network element UPF realizes the function of MECG, the deployment position supports sinking to the access side, a plurality of UPFs can be deployed in the 5G mobile network at the same time, and the connection relationship among the plurality of UPFs is similar to a router.

UPF replaces the data distribution function of MECG, and the functions of MEC equipment and EMS (including Web Server) are unchanged. The interface between the UPF and the MEC equipment uses the interface between the MECG and the MEC equipment, so that the change caused by the evolution to 5G is greatly reduced.

An application example is given below to explain a method for performing edge splitting on service data by applying the system in a 4G mobile network.

Step one: MECG analyzes the interactive part S1AP signaling between the macro base station and the core network control surface network element MME, and the following association relation is obtained and stored: IMSI of UE connected with macro base station, number of bearers used by the UE to access core network service surface network element SGW, service type corresponding to each bearer, GTP tunnel information;

step two: MECG stores MEC user distribution information;

Step one and step two are not executed in sequence;

step three: the MECG receives an uplink service data packet sent to a core network service surface network element SGW by a macro base station, and extracts GTP-U tunnel ID distributed on the SGW side from a GTP-U packet header in the data packet, and an S1-U interface protocol stack is shown in figure 10:

the MECG searches the association relation stored in the first step to obtain the IMSI of the UE and the currently used service type (such as internet service or voice service);

step four: MECG searches whether MEC user distribution information contains IMSI of UE obtained at this time; if not, the UE is not provided with the shunting authority, and step ten is executed; if so, executing a fifth step;

step five: MECG searches whether a service gating switch of the currently used service type associated with the IMSI in MEC user shunting information is opened (i.e. whether the service of the service type allows shunting); if not, executing the step ten; if the opening is performed, executing a step six;

step six: according to the flow characteristics (such as quintuple information or triplet information) in the uplink service data packet, the MECG searches all the shunting rules associated with the IMSI in the MEC user shunting information and matches the flow characteristics in the uplink service data packet with the flow characteristics; if all the shunting rules are not successfully matched, executing a step ten, and if the shunting rules successfully matched exist, executing a step seven;

Step seven: the MECG strips off the GTP-U packet header of the uplink service data packet and sends the uplink service data packet to MEC equipment through a private tunnel;

step eight: after receiving the uplink service data packet, the MEC equipment extracts the IMSI and the service type of the UE, which are carried by the private tunnel header, and searches the MEC user distribution information configured by the EMS according to the IMSI and the service type of the UE, so as to obtain the local network information of an enterprise to which the UE belongs;

step nine: the MEC equipment strips off the private tunnel header of the uplink service data packet and forwards the uplink service data packet to the local network of the enterprise;

the MEC device may forward the upstream service data packets to an egress gateway device of the enterprise local network. Illustratively, tunnels such as GRE, L2TP, IPSec, etc. may be established between the MEC device and the egress gateway device of the local network of the enterprise according to different scenarios;

in the step, when MEC equipment receives a first uplink service data packet of the same flow characteristic sent by MECG, recording the association relationship between the flow characteristic and tunnel information of the IMSI, the service type and the MECG side in private tunnel information;

so far, the shunting operation of the uplink service data is finished.

Step ten: the MECG transmits the uplink service data packet to a core network service plane network element SGW.

When the UE does not generate base station switching and downlink service data packets exist, the following steps are executed:

step eleven: after receiving a downlink service data packet from an enterprise local network, MEC equipment searches the IMSI, the service type and the tunnel information of the MECG side of UE associated with the flow characteristics of the data packet, and sends the downlink service data packet to a corresponding MECG through a private tunnel based on a search result, wherein the private tunnel packet header carries the searched IMSI and the searched service type;

step twelve: after the MECG receives the uplink service data packet from the private tunnel, the MECG searches related GTP-U tunnel information (the IP address of the service surface used by the macro base station and the allocated GTP-U tunnel ID) according to the IMSI and the service type carried in the packet head of the private tunnel, and the uplink service data packet is stripped from the packet head of the private tunnel and is sent to the macro base station after GTP-U encapsulation is carried out.

The embodiment of the application also provides an edge distribution method of service data in a mobile network, as shown in fig. 11, the method includes:

step 1101 receives an uplink service data packet sent by a user through a base station;

step 1102, when it is determined that the user has a local splitting authority and the uplink service data packet needs to be split, splitting the uplink service data packet to the local network according to a splitting policy configured for the user and a local network where the configured uplink service data packet is split;

The above-mentioned distribution policy may include 1 or more distribution rules, such as distribution according to user ID; shunting according to the service type; splitting according to one or more rules in splitting according to the flow characteristics of the service data packet; different operating requirements can be covered by multi-dimensional splitting.

The method provided by the embodiment of the invention can distinguish whether the terminal user has the local distribution authority, can configure the distribution strategy for the terminal user, and can realize the purpose of personalized distribution for the terminal user.

In an exemplary embodiment, the determining whether the user has a local splitting authority, the mode of whether the uplink service data packet needs to be split, the splitting policy configured for the user, and the configured mode of the local network where the uplink service data packet arrives by splitting include:

acquiring a user Identity (ID) for transmitting the uplink service data packet and a service type corresponding to the uplink service data packet;

judging whether the user ID is a user ID with local shunting authority according to at least part of stored MEC user shunting information, whether the service type needs to be shunted, a shunting strategy configured for the user, and a local network reached by shunting the configured uplink service data packet;

The MEC subscriber profile information includes:

In an exemplary embodiment, the method for obtaining the user ID for sending the uplink service data packet and the service type corresponding to the uplink service data packet includes:

acquiring GTP-U tunnel information distributed by a core network for the uplink service data packet according to the uplink service data packet; the GTP-U tunnel information comprises GTP-U tunnel IDs distributed by a core network service network element SGW for the bearer used by each access service type;

In an exemplary embodiment, when the user ID is an international mobile subscriber identity IMSI, the manner of obtaining the user ID connected to the base station includes any one of the following:

When the user ID is an international mobile subscriber identity IMSI, obtaining the user ID by analyzing signaling between a base station and a core network in a user service request process includes:

When the user ID is an international mobile subscriber identity IMSI, obtaining the user ID by analyzing signaling between a base station and a core network in a user attachment process, including:

judging whether an attach request message initiated by a user to a core network through a base station carries a user IMSI, and if so, directly acquiring the user IMSI; and if the user is not carried, the user IMSI is acquired from an authentication message sent to the core network by the user through the base station by modifying the attachment request message so that the core network requires the user to carry out authentication again.

When the user ID is an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), acquiring the user ID by analyzing signaling between a base station and a core network in a user switching process, including:

In an exemplary embodiment, the method further comprises:

and receiving a base station switching request message sent by a source base station to the UE, and filling the information of the IMSI into the base station switching request message and sending the base station switching request message to a core network after the IMSI of the UE is found out locally.

In an exemplary embodiment, the method further comprises:

acquiring MEC user distribution information before judging according to at least part of stored MEC user distribution information;

the method for acquiring MEC user distribution information comprises the following steps:

deploying a Web Server for MEC registration;

after receiving a request message carrying a local network domain name access address sent by the user, providing a network protocol (IP) address of the Web Server for the user, and setting to shunt a data packet carrying the IP address sent by the user to the Web Server;

After receiving an access request of a user to the Web Server, acquiring a user ID, and storing the user ID as an MEC user ID;

sending a registration page to the user;

The method for acquiring the MEC user distribution information is a method for acquiring the MEC user distribution information through self-service opening of the UE. The method does not need the user to manually input the IMSI, so that the implementation complexity can be greatly reduced under the MEC authority scene of the existing network user.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that all or some of the steps, systems, functional modules/units in the apparatus, and methods disclosed above may be implemented as software, firmware, hardware, and suitable combinations thereof. In a hardware implementation, the division between the functional modules/units mentioned in the above description does not necessarily correspond to the division of physical components; for example, one physical component may have multiple functions, or one function or step may be performed cooperatively by several physical components. Some or all of the components may be implemented as software executed by a processor, such as a digital signal processor or microprocessor, or as hardware, or as an integrated circuit, such as an application specific integrated circuit. Such software may be distributed on computer readable media, which may include computer storage media (or non-transitory media) and communication media (or transitory media). The term computer storage media includes both volatile and nonvolatile, removable and non-removable media implemented in any method or technology for storage of information such as computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data, as known to those skilled in the art. Computer storage media includes, but is not limited to, RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM, digital Versatile Disks (DVD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium which can be used to store the desired information and which can be accessed by a computer. Furthermore, as is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, communication media typically embodies computer readable instructions, data structures, program modules or other data in a modulated data signal such as a carrier wave or other transport mechanism and includes any information delivery media.

Claims

1. An edge distribution system for traffic data in a mobile network, comprising:

the MEC equipment is configured to determine a local network where the uplink service data packet is shunted to arrive after receiving the uplink service data packet sent by the MECG, and send the uplink service data packet to the local network;

Judging according to the stored at least partial MEC user distribution information: whether the user ID is a user ID with local distribution authority, whether the service type needs to be distributed, and a distribution strategy configured for the user;

the MEC device is configured to determine a manner in which the upstream traffic packet is diverted to a local network, including:

determining a local network mode of the uplink service data packet according to the stored at least partial MEC user shunting information;

the MEC subscriber profile information includes:

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the system further comprises a controller configured to control the controller,

the MECG is configured to acquire a user ID for sending the uplink service data packet and a service type corresponding to the uplink service data packet, and includes:

acquiring GTP-U tunnel information for transmitting user plane data in a general packet radio service GPRS tunnel transmission protocol distributed by a core network from the uplink service data packet;

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the system further comprises a controller configured to control the controller,

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the system further comprises a controller configured to control the controller,

5. The system of claim 3 or 4, wherein the system comprises a plurality of sensors,

6. The system of claim 3, wherein the system further comprises a controller configured to control the controller,

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the system further comprises a controller configured to control the controller,

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the system further comprises:

the network element management system EMS is configured to acquire MEC user distribution information and send at least part of the MEC user distribution information to the MECG and the MEC equipment respectively.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the system further comprises a controller configured to control the controller,

the EMS is configured to obtain MEC user distribution information, and includes:

deploying a Web Server for MEC registration;

receiving an access request which is distributed through the MECG, comes from a user and carries a user ID (identity) to the Web Server, and storing the user ID as an MEC user ID;

sending a registration page to the user;

10. The system of claim 2, wherein the system further comprises a controller configured to control the controller,

the MEC equipment is further configured to record the association relationship between the flow characteristics of the uplink service data packet and MECG information after receiving the uplink service data packet sent by the MECG; after receiving a downlink service data packet from a local network, determining MECG according to the flow characteristics of the downlink service data packet and the association relation, and sending the downlink service data packet to the determined MECG;

And the MECG is further configured to acquire the GTP-U tunnel information after receiving the downlink service data packet sent by the MEC equipment, and send the downlink service data to the user through the base station by the corresponding tunnel.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the system further comprises a controller configured to control the controller,

and the MEC equipment is further configured to judge whether the uplink service data packet is a first uplink service data packet with the flow characteristic sent by the MECG according to the flow characteristic of the service data packet after receiving the uplink service data packet sent by the MECG, and if so, record the association relation between the flow characteristic of the uplink service data packet and the MECG information.

12. The system of claim 6, wherein the system further comprises a controller configured to control the controller,

the MECG connected with the target base station is further configured to send a user ID of the user to the MEC device after receiving a user base station switching completion notification message sent by the target base station to the core network; after receiving the downlink service data packet sent by the MEC equipment, acquiring the GTP-U tunnel information, and sending the downlink service data to a user through a base station by a corresponding tunnel;

13. An edge distribution method for service data in a mobile network, comprising:

receiving an uplink service data packet sent by a user through a base station;

when the user is judged to have local shunting authority and the uplink service data packet needs to be shunted, shunting the uplink service data packet to a local network according to a shunting strategy configured for the user and the local network reached by shunting the configured uplink service data packet;

judging whether the user has local shunting authority, whether the uplink service data packet needs to be shunted or not, a shunting strategy configured for the user, and a mode of the configured local network where the uplink service data packet reaches in a shunting way, wherein the method comprises the following steps:

judging according to the stored at least partial MEC user distribution information: whether the user ID is a user ID with local distribution authority, whether the service type needs to be distributed, a distribution strategy configured for the user, and a local network to which the configured uplink service data packet is distributed;

The MEC subscriber profile information includes:

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of determining the position of the probe is performed,

the method for obtaining the user ID for sending the uplink service data packet and the service type corresponding to the uplink service data packet comprises the following steps:

acquiring GTP-U tunnel information for transmitting user plane data in a general packet radio service GPRS tunnel transmission protocol distributed by a core network for the uplink service data packet according to the uplink service data packet;

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of providing the first information comprises,

when the user ID is an international mobile subscriber identity IMSI, the manner of obtaining the user ID connected to the base station includes any one of the following:

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of determining the position of the probe is performed,

when the user ID is an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), acquiring the user ID by analyzing signaling between a base station and a core network in a user service request process, wherein the method comprises the following steps:

17. The method according to claim 15 or 16, wherein,

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of determining the position of the probe is performed,

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the method further comprises:

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises:

deploying a Web Server for MEC registration;

sending a registration page to the user;

21. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of determining the position of the probe is performed,

the user-configured offloading policy includes one or more of:

shunting according to the user ID;

shunting according to the service type;

and splitting according to the flow characteristics of the service data packet.