KR100664604B1 - Interactive method of subscriber terminal determining the network selective information in wlan - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an interactive method for determining network selection information of a user terminal in a wireless local area network (WLAN). According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, a user terminal covered by one or more WLANs in turn inquires each successfully detected WLAN using preset initial network selection information, and the current WLAN access network is connected to the user terminal. When directly connected with the initially selected network, the initially selected network of the user terminal is determined as the network to be accessed, and when the current WLAN access network is not directly connected with the initially selected network of the user terminal. Query the next WLAN, and in this way continue until it finds a WLAN access network that is directly connected to the initially selected network of the user terminal; Selected network If the WLAN access network, a direct connection is not present, terminating the process, or access to all the visited network to select a proper network. The method of the present invention allows a user terminal covered by one or more WLANs to select and access an appropriate wireless communication network.

 User terminal, wireless communication network, wireless LAN

Description

INTERACTIVE METHOD OF SUBSCRIBER TERMINAL DETERMINING THE NETWORK SELECTIVE INFORMATION IN WLAN

TECHNICAL FIELD The present invention relates to network access technology, and more particularly, to an interactive method for a user terminal for determining network selection information in a wireless local area network (WLAN).

As the user's demand for high speed wireless access increases, a WLAN that can provide high speed wireless data access within a relatively small area is emerging. Several technologies are used in WLANs, among which IEEE 802.11 is the technical standard with many applications. The standard uses a frequency band of 2.4 GHz and has a data rate of 11 Mbps. Other technical standards using the same frequency band include IEEE 802.11g and Bluetooth, and the data rate of IEEE 802.g reaches 54 Mbps. There are other new standards, such as IEEE 802.11a and ETSI BRAN Hiperlan2, which use the 5 GHz frequency band and data rates of 54 Mbps as well.

There are various standards for wireless access, but mostly WLANs are used to carry IP data packets. Certain WLAN access standards adopted by wireless IP networks are generally transparent to higher level IP. Such a network typically consists of an access point (AP) that realizes wireless access of a WLAN user terminal, such as a WLAN user equipment (UE), and a network that controls and connects devices that realize IP transmission.

With the rise and development of WLANs, the focus of research is shifting to inter-working of WLANs with various mobile communication networks such as GSM, CDMA, WCDMA, TD-SCDMA, and CDMA2000. According to the 3GPP standard, it is possible to connect to the home network and the visiting network of the 3GPP system via the WLAN access network as well as the Internet and intranet. In the specified case, when a local connection is made, the WLAN user terminal connects to the 3GPP home network via the WLAN access network as shown in FIG. 2, and when roaming, connects to the 3GPP visiting network via the WLAN access network. Done. Some entities of the 3GPP visiting network are connected to the corresponding entities of the 3GPP home network. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, the 3GPP authentication, authorization, accounting (AAA) proxy of the visiting network may be used. A 3GPP AAA server in the home network is connected, and a WLAN access gateway (WAG) in the visited network is connected to a packet data gateway (PDG) in the home network. 1 and 2 are schematic diagrams respectively illustrating a networking architecture of WLAN inter-working with a 3GPP system under a roaming environment and a non-roaming environment.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the 3GPP system includes a home subscriber server (HSS) / home location register (HLR), a 3GPP AAA server, a 3GPP AAA proxy, a WAG, a PDG, a billing gateway (CGw) / billing information. Collection function (CCF), and online billing system (OCS). The user terminal, the WLAN access network, and all entities of the 3GPP system together form a 3GPP-WLAN inter-working network, which may be referred to as a 3GPP service system. In such a service system, the 3GPP AAA server is responsible for authentication, authorization, and accounting of user terminals, collects billing information sent from the WLAN access network, and passes this information to the billing system, and the PDG is the user from the WLAN access network. It is responsible for transmitting data to the 3GPP network or other packet data network, where the billing system mainly receives and records the charging information of the user terminal transmitted from the network while the OCS is in accordance with the online billed user's cost. Instruct the network to send online billing information, create statistics and perform control.

In a non-roaming environment, when a WLAN user terminal wants to directly access the Internet / Intranet, the user terminal completes authentication with the AAA server (AS) through the WLAN access network and then accesses the Internet / Intranet through the WLAN access network. can do. Similarly, if the WLAN user terminal wants to access a service of a 3GPP packet switching (PS) domain, the WLAN user terminal may additionally request a service of scenario 3 from the 3GPP home network. That is, the WLAN user terminal initiates a service authentication request for scenario 3 to an AS of the 3GPP home network, the 3GPP home network performs service authentication and authorization for the request, and if the authentication and authorization is successful, the AS Sends an access acknowledgment message to the user terminal and assigns the corresponding PDG to the user terminal. Once the tunnel between the user terminal and the assigned PDG is established, the user terminal can access the services of the 3GPP PS domain. On the other hand, the offline charging system and the OCS record the charging information according to the occupancy of the user terminal of the network, and when the WLAN user terminal wants to directly access the Internet-Intranet, the 3GPP visiting network is accessed for access to the Internet / Intranet. To make a request to the 3GPP home network. When the user terminal also wants the service of scenario 3 to access the service of the 3GPP PS domain, the user terminal needs to initiate a service authentication process in the 3GPP home network via the 3GPP visited network. Authentication is performed similar to that performed between the user terminal and the AS of the 3GPP home network. After authentication is successful, the AS assigns the corresponding home PDG to the user terminal, and the user terminal establishes a tunnel with the assigned PDG through the WAG of the 3GPP visited network and then accesses the service of the 3GPP PS domain of the home network. You can do it.

As shown in FIG. 3, in a 3GPP-WLAN inter-working network, when a WLAN connects to a plurality of 3GPP visited networks simultaneously, that is, a plurality of wireless communication networks (3GPP visited network here referred to as a public land mobile) When connecting to a network (called a VPLMN), a WLAN user terminal needs to select a VPLMN to access after accessing the WLAN. For example, in China, a WLAN access network can be simultaneously connected to two operating VPLMNs, China Mobile and China Unicom, and the user of the user Unicom accesses via WLAN, The WLAN access network must instruct the WLAN access network to access the operating VPLMN of China Unicom. In another example, a French user can roam to a WLAN in China. If the French user's home network has a roaming protocol with China Mobile and China Unicom, the WLAN access network is connected to China Mobile and China Unicom. Under the circumstances, this French user needs to select a VPLMN to access after accessing the WLAN.

As shown in steps 401-408 of FIG. 4, a solution to network selection is disclosed in another patent application, which is when a WLAN user terminal accesses a 3GPP-WLAN inter-working network via a WLAN. When the WLAN user terminal requests the first access after establishing a wireless connection with the WLAN access network, authentication is performed between the user terminal and the network, the network requests the user terminal for user confirmation, and the user terminal requests network selection information. Sends a response message to the WLAN access network, the WLAN access network determines, according to the included network selection information, whether the selected network is one of wireless communication networks connected to the WLAN and, if one of the networks, a current user The terminal selects the selected net for authentication and subsequent processing. And if the selected network is not directly connected to a WLAN access network, the network sends an advertisement message to the current user terminal, and the user terminal The subsequent process is performed according to the notification message. The network selection information includes information of a wireless communication network to which the user terminal currently wishes to access, and the information is located in a field configured independently or in a user identification field defined in the manner of a network access identifier (NAI). Where the network access identifier comprises two portions: a username portion and a field name portion.

However, if the current user terminal is simultaneously covered by multiple WLAN networks, the above solution does not guarantee selecting the most appropriate PLMN to provide to the user terminal. For example, it does not guarantee that the home network of the user terminal is selected. Taking the network architecture as shown in Fig. 5 as an example, a WLAN user terminal is simultaneously covered by WLAN1 and WLAN2, WLAN1 is connected to the three visited networks of the current user terminal, VPLMN1, VPLMN2, VPLMN3, WLAN2, on the other hand, is connected to the home network HPLMN and the visited network VPLMN3 of the current user terminal. In this case, the optimal choice for the current user terminal is HPLMN, which is the home network of this user terminal, but this is based on the network selection solution of the prior art, in which all networks directly connected to WLAN1 selected by the user terminal are roaming networks. While the user terminal is completely similar to access via WLAN1. As a result, the user terminal does not have the opportunity to select its home network connected directly to WLAN2. There is no specific solution to the process of selecting the most appropriate wireless communication network each time a user terminal accesses.

The present invention provides an interactive method for determining network selection information of a user terminal in a WLAN such that the user terminal covered by one or more WLANs can select an appropriate wireless communication network to access as needed.

The solution provided by the present invention for achieving the above object is carried out as follows.

Interactive method for determining network selection information of a user terminal in a wireless local area network (WLAN),

a. Selecting one of all remaining WLANs detected by the user terminal but not selected by the user terminal, and transmitting initial network selection information to the selected WLAN access network;

b. Determine whether the selected WLAN access network can route an authentication request to the wireless communication network indicated in the initial network selection information, and if it is able to route an authentication request, the wireless communication indicated in the initial network selection information. If the authentication request is sent to the network and the current network selection process is terminated, and the authentication request cannot be routed, the user terminal is informed of the information of the wireless communication networks connected to the selected WLAN, and the user terminal receives the received information. Determining whether there is an unselected WLAN among the remaining WLANs, and if there is an unselected WLAN, return to step a; if there is no unselected WLAN, terminating the current network selection process

It includes.

If there is no WLAN selected from among the remaining WLANs, the interactive method includes:

c. The user selects a wireless communication network to access based on the stored information of wireless communication networks, and transmits the information of the selected wireless communication network to the WLAN access network corresponding to the selected wireless communication network as the network selection information. It includes more.

The interactive method further includes presetting an initial network selection at the user terminal.

Step a,

a1. After WLAN selection, the user terminal establishes a wireless connection with the selected WLAN access network, the selected WLAN access network or user terminal initiates an authentication process, and the WLAN access network sends a username request message to the user terminal. Making;

a2. Upon receiving the username request message, the user terminal sending a response message including the initial network selection information to the selected WLAN access network

It further includes.

The initial network selection is the home network of the user terminal.

The interactive method is after step c,

d. The WLAN access network receiving the network selection information of the user terminal further includes transmitting an authentication request of the user terminal to the wireless communication network indicated in the network selection information.

In step c, the user terminal selects an optimal wireless communication network to access according to preset criteria to determine the optimal visiting network.

The criteria for determining the optimal visited network is determined by factors such as service charges, network bandwidth, network speed, network capacity, and services that may be provided to the user terminal.

In step b, the selected WLAN access network sends information of all wireless communication networks directly connected to the WLAN access network to the user terminal.

Or in step b, the selected WLAN access network transmits information of all wireless communication networks directly connected to the WLAN access network to the user terminal and has a roaming relationship with the home network indicated in the network selection information.

The step of notifying the user terminal of the information of the wireless communication networks in step b is performed by a first hop authentication authorization account (AAA) function associated with the user terminal.
The first hop AAA function is one of an access controller (AC), an access point (AP) and a local authentication authorization account (AAA) server.
The first hop AAA function is located in one of a WLAN access network and a public land mobile network (PLMN).

According to an interactive method for a user terminal for determining network selection information in a WLAN, a user terminal covered by one or more WLANs inquires to each of the successfully detected WLANs one after another using preset initial network selection information, and the user terminal. Determines whether the initially selected network can be accessed via the WLAN, and if not, the user terminal can select any wireless communication network to access. In this way, the user terminal can select a relatively optimal wireless communication network when covered by a plurality of WLANs, thereby providing better service to the user.

1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the network architecture of an inter-working WLAN system and a 3GPP system under a roaming environment.

2 is a schematic diagram illustrating the network architecture of an inter-working WLAN system and a 3GPP system under a non-roaming environment.

3 is a schematic diagram illustrating a network architecture of a WLAN connecting with a plurality of visited networks.

4 is a flowchart of interactive processing of network selection information of a user terminal according to the present invention.

5 is a schematic diagram illustrating a network architecture with current user terminals covered by a plurality of WLANs.

7 is a flow diagram for interactive processing to determine network selection information in accordance with a first embodiment of the present invention.

8 is a flowchart for interactive processing to determine network selection information in accordance with a second embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a flow chart for interactive processing to determine network selection information in accordance with a third embodiment of the present invention.

The main idea of the present invention is as follows. The user terminals covered by one or more WLANs successfully inquire each detected WLAN in turn using initial network selection information, and if the WLAN access network is directly connected to the initially selected network of the user terminal, Determining the initially selected network of the user terminal as the network to access, and if the WLAN access network is not directly connected to the initially selected network of the user terminal, successively inquiring a network directly connected to the next WLAN In this way, it continues until it finds a WLAN access network that is directly connected to the initially selected network of the user terminal, and contacts all WLAN access networks to directly connect to the initially selected network of the user terminal. If a WLAN access network does not exist, the optimal visited network to access is selected based on the information of the wireless communication network generated by the access networks and priority conditions set by the user, or the information is provided to the user. Allows the user to select a network to access.

Here, the network selection information is referred to as information of the wireless communication network to which the user terminal is currently connected to and access to the WLAN. The network selection information may be located in a field individually configured in the authentication request, or may be located in a user confirmation field of the authentication request, and the user confirmation is defined in the form of NAI. The initially selected network of each user terminal is preset and may be the home network of each user terminal.

Based on the network architecture shown in FIG. 5, when a WLAN user terminal accesses a 3GPP-WLAN inter-working network via a WLAN, the user terminal performs WLAN detection to detect one or more WLANs, and the network according to the present invention. Initiate interactive processing to determine the selection information. As shown in FIG. 6, interactive processing includes the following steps.

Step 601: The user terminal selects one of all WLANs detected but not selected for access. The selection here may comprise a choice as will or may include a selection based on a particular criterion, for example signal strength.

At this time, the authentication process is initiated by the WLAN user terminal or the WLAN. An example of the authentication process initiated by the WLAN user terminal is given. The WLAN user terminal first sends an authentication request to the currently selected WLAN access network, and after receiving the request, the WLAN access network starts an authentication process with the user terminal, and the user terminal recalls the initial network selection information. Used as network selection information. Specifically, the WLAN access network sends a user confirmation request message to the user terminal, requests the user name of the user terminal, and after receiving the request, the user terminal informs the WLAN access network of the initially selected network of the user terminal. Send a response message containing.

Steps 602 to 605: After receiving the response message, the WLAN access network analyzes the user confirmation field of the response message and determines whether the network selection information included in the user confirmation field indicates a wireless communication network connected to the WLAN. If the display indicates that WLAN1 is directly connected to the initially selected network of the user terminal, WLAN1 routes an authentication request to the selected network, and the wireless communication network that the user terminal wishes to access is initially selected. Determines whether it is a network, sends an authentication request of the user terminal to the home network for authentication, terminates the current process, and if not, that is, WLAN1 is not directly connected to the initially selected network of the user terminal. If not, the network is the currently selected WLAN Here compatibility information of the connected radio communication network occur on the device and the user terminal storing the network all the information generated and proceeds to next step 606.

Steps 606-608: Determine if there is a WLAN not selected for access, and if present, return to step 601, and likewise the selection can be a choice at will, or a choice based on a particular criterion, if not The user terminal selects one of all stored wireless communications to be accessed and sends the information of the selected wireless communications network to the WLAN access network corresponding to the selected wireless communications network as the network selection information to perform subsequent operations. Here, the user terminal selects an optimal wireless communication network to access based on preset criteria to determine the optimal visited network. The criteria for determining the optimal visited network is determined by factors such as service charges, bandwidth, speed and capacity of each wireless communication network as well as services that can be provided to the user terminal by the network. Obviously, the user terminal can show a useful network for the user to make a choice.

In the above solution, steps 607 and 608 may be omitted, i.e. after all detected WLANs have continually inquired, terminate the current process if the initially selected network was not successfully accessed, No further choice of communication network.

In the above solution, the information of the wireless communication network provided by the WLAN selected by the user terminal is stored in a special network information storage unit. Typically, this information includes parameters such as network name, QoS of network bearer capacity, bandwidth, service capacity, WLAN inter-working scenarios that can be provided, billing, and type of service provider. When generating information of a wireless communication network connected to the WLAN, the WLAN may generate information of all wireless communication networks connected to the WLAN, or may generate information on the user terminal so as not to generate information when such a visited network does not exist. Information about the visited network that has a roaming relationship with the home network indicated by the user can be selected, or the user is notified that there is no roaming relationship. The process of generating information of all wireless communication networks may be performed by a first AAA function associated with a user terminal, such as an access controller (AC), an access point (AP) or a local authentication authorization account (AAA). Typically, the first hop AAA function is located in a WLAN access network or PLMN.

Example 1:

In the 3GPP-WLAN inter-working network of this embodiment, WLAN1 is directly connected to the home network of the user terminal, which in turn uses the information of the home network as initial network selection information to the networks connected to WLAN1 in turn. Inquiries are made in succession to successfully access the home network via WLAN1. As shown in Fig. 7, the interactive process for determining network selection information in this embodiment is as follows.

Steps 701 to 703: When accessing the 3GPP-WLAN interworking network through WLAN1, the user terminal first establishes a connection with the WLAN1 access network, and then the WLAN1 access network sends a user confirmation request to the user terminal, which request After receiving, the WLAN user terminal sends a response message including the information of the home network of the user terminal to the WLAN1 access network.

Steps 704 to 706: After receiving the response message, the WLAN1 access network determines whether the home network of the user terminal identified in the message is a wireless communication network connected to WLAN1, and then AAA of the home network to which the user terminal is to access. The server is then determined, and then the user confirmation and authentication request of the user terminal is sent to the 3GPP AAA server of the home network of the user terminal for authentication.

Example 2:

In the 3GPP-WLAN inter-working network of this embodiment, WLAN1 is not directly connected to the home network of the user terminal, but WLAN2 is directly connected to the home network of the user terminal. The user terminal first uses the information of the home network as the initial network selection information in succession to inquire sequentially to the network connected to the WLAN1, but does not have access, and the user terminal likewise obtains the information of the home network from the initial network selection information. It is used as a continuous query to networks connected to WLAN2. As shown in Fig. 8, the interactive process for determining network selection information in this embodiment includes the following steps.

Steps 801 to 803: are completely the same as the steps 701 to 703 of the first embodiment.

Steps 804 to 806: After receiving the response message, WLAN1 determines whether the home network of the user terminal identified in the message is a wireless communication network connected to WLAN1, and if it is determined that the wireless communication network is not a wireless communication network, WLAN1 determines WLAN1. After generating the information of the wireless communication network connected to the user terminal and receiving the information, the user terminal stores the information and then disconnects the wireless connection with WLAN1.

Steps 807 to 809: The user terminal establishes a wireless connection with the WLAN2 access network, the WLAN2 access network sends a user confirmation request to the user terminal, and after receiving the request, the WLAN user terminal receives information of the home network of the user terminal. Send a response message that contains.

Steps 810 to 812: After receiving the response message, the WLAN2 access network determines whether the home network of the user terminal identified in the message is a wireless communication network connected to WLAN2, and then AAA of the home network to which the user terminal is to access. The server is then determined, and then the user confirmation and authentication request of the user terminal is sent to the 3GPP AAA server of the home network of the user terminal for authentication.

Example 3:

In the 3GPP-WLAN inter-working network of this embodiment, neither WLAN1 nor WLAN2 is directly connected to the home network of the user terminal. The user terminal first uses the information of the home network as the initial network selection information, and then sequentially inquires the networks connected to WLAN1, and then the user terminal similarly uses the information of the home network as the initial network selection information. The networks connected to WLAN2 are sequentially inquired, but not accessed, and finally, the user terminal selects an optimal wireless communication network among all networks connected to WLAN1 and WLAN2 to access. As shown in Fig. 9, the interactive process for determining network selection information in this embodiment includes the following steps.

Step 901: establish a wireless connection with the WLAN1 access network, send a response message including information of the home network of the user terminal to the WLAN1 access network, and after receiving the response message, the WLAN1 determines that the home network of the user terminal is WLAN1; If it is found that it is not connected to the access network, it sends information of the wireless communication network connected to the WLAN1 to the user terminal, the user terminal memorizes the received information and then the WLAN1 disconnects the wireless connection with the user terminal.

Step 902: establish a connection with the WLAN2 access network, send a response message including information of the home network of the user terminal to the WLAN2 access network, and after receiving the response message, WLAN2 accesses the WLAN2 access by the home network of the user terminal. If it is found that it is not connected to the network, it sends information of the wireless communication network connected to WLAN2 to the user terminal, the user terminal memorizes the received information and then WLAN2 disconnects from the user terminal.

Steps 903 to 904: The user terminal selects one wireless communication network connected to the WLAN2 access network among all the wireless communication networks whose information is stored in the user terminal, and then uses the initial authentication message EAPOL-Start for the WLAN2. Actively initiate the authentication process again.

Steps 905 to 906: After receiving the EAPOL-Start message, the WLAN2 access network re-generates an EAP-Request [Identity] message to the user terminal to request user confirmation, and the WLAN user terminal sends the EAP-Response [Identity] message. Return the user confirmation containing the new network selection information to the WLAN2 access network.

Steps 907 to 908: After receiving the new user confirmation, the WLAN2 access network determines, according to the new network selection information, the wireless communication network selected by the user terminal and confirmed by the network selection information for authentication. The authentication request of the user terminal is sent to the AS and AAA proxies on the network.

Claims (13)

An interactive method for determining network selection information of a user terminal in a wireless local area network (WLAN), a. Selecting one of all remaining WLANs detected by the user terminal but not selected by the user terminal, and transmitting initial network selection information to the selected WLAN access network; b. Determine whether the selected WLAN access network can route an authentication request to the wireless communication network indicated in the initial network selection information, and if it is able to route an authentication request, the wireless communication indicated in the initial network selection information. If the authentication request is sent to the network and the current network selection process is terminated, and the authentication request cannot be routed, the user terminal is informed of the information of the wireless communication networks connected to the selected WLAN, and the user terminal receives the received information. Determining whether there is an unselected WLAN among the remaining WLANs, and if there is an unselected WLAN, return to step a; if there is no unselected WLAN, terminating the current network selection process Interactive method comprising a. The method of claim 1, If no WLAN is selected among the remaining WLANs, c. The user selects a wireless communication network to access based on the stored information of wireless communication networks, and transmits the information of the selected wireless communication network to the WLAN access network corresponding to the selected wireless communication network as the network selection information. More interactive methods. The method of claim 1, Presetting an initial network selection at the user terminal. The method of claim 1, a1. After WLAN selection, the user terminal establishes a wireless connection with the selected WLAN access network, the selected WLAN access network or user terminal initiates an authentication process, and the WLAN access network sends a username request message to the user terminal. Making; a2. Upon receiving the username request message, the user terminal sending a response message including the initial network selection information to the selected WLAN access network Interactive method comprising more. The method according to any one of claims 1, 3 or 4, The initial network selection is a home network of the user terminal. The method of claim 2, After the above step c, d. The WLAN access network receiving the network selection information of the user terminal further comprises transmitting an authentication request of the user terminal to a wireless communication network indicated in the network selection information. The method of claim 2, And in step c, the user terminal selects an optimal wireless communication network to access according to preset criteria to determine the optimal visited network. The method of claim 7, wherein The criterion for determining the optimal visited network is determined by factors such as service charges, network bandwidth, network speed, network capacity, and services that may be provided to a user terminal. The method of claim 1, In step b, the selected WLAN access network transmits information of all wireless communication networks directly connected to the WLAN access network to the user terminal. The method of claim 1, In step b, the selected WLAN access network transmits information of all wireless communication networks directly connected to the WLAN access network to the user terminal and has a roaming relationship with the home network indicated in the network selection information. Interactive way. The method of claim 1, And the step of notifying the user terminal of the information of the wireless communication networks in step b is performed by a first hop authentication authorization account (AAA) function associated with the user terminal. The method of claim 11, And wherein said first hop AAA function is one of an access controller (AC), an access point (AP), and a local authentication authorization account (AAA) server. The method of claim 11, And wherein said first hop AAA function is located in one of a WLAN access network and a public land mobile network (PLMN).

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