KR20150021261A - Method and apparatus for acquiring location information of user equipment based on radio unit - Google Patents

Abstract

A method for acquiring location information of user equipment based on a radio unit comprises the steps of: monitoring whether a radio unit changing handover for a communication terminal occurs; commanding the communication terminal to execute the radio unit changing handover when the radio unit changing handover occurs; generating a path changing message including terminal location information of the communication terminal based on the radio unit when the completion of the radio unit changing handover is received from the communication terminal; and transmitting the generated path changing message to a user plane node side.

Description

Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for acquiring terminal location information based on a radio unit unit,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a technique for acquiring location information of a communication terminal for mobile communication, and more particularly, to a technique for acquiring location information of a communication terminal in a VoLTE (Voice of LTE) network including an Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network And more particularly, to a method and apparatus for acquiring terminal location information based on radio unit units suitable for accurately acquiring location information.

As is well known, in 3GPP Release 8, EPC (Evolved Packet Core), which is a network architecture, is described as one of mobile communication systems. EPC is a network for 3GPP LTE (Long Term Evolution) It is a set of nodes.

This EPC evolves the core network of the existing 3GPP system architecture to support Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), which is an evolved RAN, It has an efficient network structure in which the network node is simplified. A wireless communication system including an EPC and an E-UTRAN may be referred to as an evolved packet system (EPS), and an LTE mobile communication system currently in service in Korea can be regarded as such.

Meanwhile, in the initial stage of establishing an LTE mobile communication system, a mixed communication environment with a legacy network such as a WCDMA mobile communication system is shown. In such a communication environment, it is possible to connect to an LTE network and also to a WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) A dual mode mobile communication terminal device (communication terminal) capable of connecting to the same legacy network can be operated. In the early stage of the LTE mobile communication service, a WCDMA mobile communication system was used to provide a voice communication service to a dual mode mobile communication terminal, and an LTE mobile communication system was used to provide a data communication service.

Unlike the above, VoLTE service enables not only data communication but also voice communication to be realized through the LTE mobile communication system. This VoLTE service is also called HD (High Definition) voice service. According to the VoLTE service, it is possible to provide a cleaner HD audio call service in case of voice call, and users can see the same screen You can share content such as maps, music, news, photos, and so on.

In such an LTE mobile communication system, location information of a communication terminal is managed in units of an eNodeB functioning as a base station device for mobility management of the communication terminal. That is, the location of the communication terminal is managed through signaling between the Mobility Management Entity (MME) functioning as the mobility management node and the eNodeB, and the location information of the communication terminal managed in this manner is transmitted to the SGW (PDN Gateway) through a Serving Gateway.

However, in the conventional method for managing the location information of the communication terminal on the basis of the base station, when the charging based on the data communication is proceeded according to the prescribed charging policy, The inconsistency in the billing area is becoming a cause of service complaints of the terminal users.

In addition, since the conventional method manages and services the location information of the communication terminal on a per-base-station basis, the communication terminal has to limit the application of highly precise location information to a location-based service that requires a low-cost terminal without a GPS chip .

Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2013-0068445, published on June 26, 2013.

The present invention generates terminal position information of a radio unit unit when radio change handover of a communication terminal occurs during data communication in a plurality of radio units managed by a base station, We propose a new location information acquisition method that can transfer location information to user plane node through mobility management node.

In addition, the present invention proposes a new terminal location information acquisition technique that can provide a relatively accurate location-based service even in a low-priced terminal without a GPS chip.

The problems to be solved by the present invention are not limited to those mentioned above, and another problem to be solved not mentioned can be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following description .

According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for performing a radio unit change handover to a communication terminal, the method comprising: monitoring whether or not a radio unit change handover occurs to a communication terminal according to one aspect; Generating a route change message including terminal location information for each radio unit for the communication terminal when the completion of the radio unit change handover is received from the communication terminal; And transmitting the route change message to the user plane node side.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a handover monitoring apparatus comprising: a handover monitoring unit for monitoring whether or not a radio unit change handover occurs for a communication terminal; A handover execution unit for instructing execution of a change handover and a handover execution unit for generating a path change message including terminal position information of a radio unit unit for the communication terminal when the completion of the radio unit change handover is received, And a terminal position management unit for transmitting the terminal position information to the node side.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for controlling a radio base station, comprising the steps of: checking whether a radio unit change handover occurs in a plurality of radio units managed by a base station; Generating a route change message including terminal location information for each radio unit when the radio unit change handover is completed, and transmitting the generated route change message to the mobility management node; Transmitting a bearer modification message for bearer modification request to the user plane node after the mobility management node generates a bearer modification request based on the path change message; Information is extracted and updated in the terminal location information DB It provides a terminal position information acquisition unit of the radio unit comprises a process.

The present invention generates terminal position information of a radio unit unit when a radio unit change handover occurs in a communication terminal during data communication in a plurality of radio units managed by a base station, The correspondence between the real data use area and the billing area can be enhanced by transmitting the terminal location information to the user plane node through the mobility management node and updating the terminal location information DB.

In addition, since the location information of the communication terminal is managed and serviced on a radio unit basis, the present invention can provide a relatively accurate location-based service even in the case of a low-cost terminal without a GPS chip.

FIG. 1 is a network configuration diagram of a mobile communication service system suitable for applying a method of acquiring terminal location information in units of radio units according to the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an apparatus for acquiring terminal location information in units of radio units according to the present invention;
3 is a flowchart illustrating a process of acquiring terminal location information in units of radio units when a radio unit change handover occurs according to the present invention.

First, the advantages and features of the present invention, and how to accomplish them, will be clarified with reference to the embodiments to be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. While the present invention has been described with reference to exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

In the following description of the present invention, detailed description of known functions and configurations incorporated herein will be omitted when it may make the subject matter of the present invention rather unclear. It is to be understood that the following terms are defined in consideration of the functions of the present invention, and may be changed according to intentions or customs of a user, an operator, and the like. Therefore, the definition should be based on the technical idea described throughout this specification.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a network configuration diagram of a mobile communication service system suitable for applying a method of acquiring terminal location information of a radio unit according to the present invention.

1, a mobile communication service system includes a radio unit group 102, a base station (eNodeB) 104, a mobility management node (e.g., MME: MME (SGS) 108, a packet processing node (e.g., PGW: PDN Gateway) 110 and a policy management node (e.g., PCRF: Policy & Charging Rule Function) (112), and the like. Here, the eNodeB 104, the MME 106, the SGW 108, the PGW 110 and the PCRF 112 may be defined as an LTE mobile communication network, and the SGW 108 and the PGW 110 may be defined as separate User plane node or an integrated user plane node.

Referring to FIG. 1, each radio unit (RU) 102/1102 / n in a radio group 102 receiving mobile communication related services by a base station (eNodeB) Packet-based voice service, packet-based video service, packet-based data communication service, and the like, which are included in the area of the mobile communication terminal (UE) An antenna, a mobile communication repeater, and the like. Here, the communication terminal may be, for example, an LTE subscriber terminal, a VoLTE subscriber terminal supporting HD voice, or the like.

Next, the base station (eNodeB) 104 exemplarily shows only one eNodeB for the sake of convenience of explanation and improvement of understanding, but it is also possible to provide a communication service (e. G., Voice service, A plurality of eNodeBs may be managed (controlled) by the mobility management node 106, and a plurality of eNodeBs may be arranged in a form of a TA (Tracking Area) region (or group) Lt; / RTI >

The base station 104 may be defined as a base station, a base station device, or a base station device as a device supporting next generation technologies and services such as LTE (or VoLTE), and may be defined as a radio bearer control, a radio resource management function such as radio admission control, connection mobility control, and dynamic resource allocation to a communication terminal can be provided. Here, the base station 104 may be defined, for example, as a digital unit (DU).

The base station 104 may also be configured to perform operations such as IP header compression and encryption of user data streams, routing of user plane data to the SGW 108, scheduling and transmission of paging messages, Scheduling and transmission of broadcast information, and measurement and measurement reporting for mobility and scheduling.

Further, the base station 104 may perform radio unit (RU) change handover (e.g., intra-handover) while a communication terminal in the service area of any radio unit in the radio unit group 102 is using data communication (E-UTRAN Cell Global Id) information of the changed radio unit unit when the radio unit change handover to an arbitrary communication terminal is executed And generate a Path Switch Request (PSR) message to the mobility management node 106. For this, a configuration as shown in FIG. 2 may be included. Here, the radio unit change handover (intra handover) refers to a handover occurring between a plurality of radio units belonging to the radio unit group 102 that is managed by the base station 104.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an apparatus for acquiring terminal location information in units of radio units according to the present invention, and may include a handover monitoring unit 202, a handover execution unit 204, and a terminal location management unit 206 .

Referring to FIG. 2, the handover monitoring unit 202 monitors whether a radio unit handover (intra handover) for a communication terminal that is executing (using) data communication in the service area of the corresponding radio unit occurs, , Measures the signal strength between the communication terminal and neighboring radio units adjacent to the communication terminal, monitors (judges) whether or not to perform a radio unit change handover to the communication terminal, monitors the radio unit change handover And generates a control signal (execution command) for executing the radio unit change handover when it is determined that an over is generated, and delivers the control signal to the handover execution unit 204.

Next, when the handover execution unit 204 receives a handover execution control signal from the handover monitoring unit 202, that is, it is determined that it is necessary to execute a radio unit change handover to the communication terminal, And informing the terminal position management unit 206 of the completion of the radio unit change handover from the corresponding communication terminal.

When the completion of the radio unit change handover (handover completion) is notified from the handover execution unit 204, the terminal position management unit 206 updates the terminal position information of the radio unit unit such as ECGI (E-UTRAN Cell Global Id), and transmits the generated path change message to the mobility management node 106, for example.

1, the mobility management node (MME) 106 manages the mobility of the communication terminal (terminal device) through the signal control charge between the base station 104 and the signal processing node (SGW) And may be responsible for session management, idle subscriber management, paging, subscriber authentication, and the like. That is, the MME 106 transmits a control signal when there is a request for association from the terminal or another network node, for example, a signal processing node (SGW) 108 or a packet processing node (PGW) 110, And receives subscriber profile information, authentication and location related data from an HSS (Home Subscriber Server) (not shown), and receives an EPS bearer or an IP tunnel tunnel configuration and mobility management can be provided.

Herein, the HSS includes a database including subscriber information of a wireless communication system for a legacy network (e.g., a WCDMA mobile communication system) and / or an LTE (or VoLTE) mobile communication system Means a subscriber information node (or subscriber server node), which can store subscriber profile information, authentication and location related data, and the like. Here, the HSS may be defined (collectively) as an HLR (Home Location Register).

In addition, the mobility management node 106 may perform a bearer modification to request a bearer modification when receiving a path change message including ECGI information (terminal position information in units of radio units) from the base station 104 according to the present invention (MBR) message containing, for example, ECGI information, to the signal processing node 108, and transmits a bearer modification message (MBR) message from the signal processing node 108 to the signal processing node 108 A corresponding Path Change (PSR) Ack message (i.e., a Path Change Ack including ECGI information) is received when a Bearer Correction (MBR) Response message (i.e., a bearer modification response message containing ECGI information) Message to the base station 104 and transmit the message to the base station 104. [

Next, the signal processing node (SGW) 108 performs packet processing

A session control for processing payload traffic according to a preset session based on a communication policy in a network provided from a policy management node (PCRF) 112 via a node (PGW) 110, and the like And supports interworking with the eNodeB 104 in the S1-U interface, supports handoff in the LTE mobile communication system and 3GPP, etc., and supports the packet processing node The mobile node 110 may set up an Evolved Packet System bearer 110 and transmit an PDU (Packet Data Unit) using tunneling. In accordance with the present invention, And transmits the bearer modification response message (i.e., the ECGI information) to the packet processing node 110 in response to the bearer modification message from the packet processing node 110 When the bearer modification response message) is received it may provide features such as to pass it to the mobility management node 106.

The packet processing node 110 allocates the IP of the terminal device according to the communication and charging policy provided from the policy management node 112 and allocates the IP address of the user plane node < RTI ID = 0.0 > May be used to maintain the signaling node 108 and the external network and routing information for packet service, to provide tunneling and IP routing functions, and to transmit PDUs to the signal processing node 108 and the external network. And to provide policy priority information provided from the policy management node 112 to the signal processing node 108.

Here, the policy management node (PCRF) 112 may be configured to provide a communication policy and a charging policy in the communication network, for example, by providing dynamic QoS and a charging rule according to a service data flow Management and execution of the network management function.

Also, the packet processing node 110 extracts the terminal location information of the changed radio unit from the bearer modification message transmitted from the signal processing node 108, and transmits the extracted terminal location information of the radio unit to the terminal location information DB (Not shown), and generates a bearer modification response message corresponding to the update to the terminal location information DB, that is, a bearer modification response message including the ECGI information, and transmits the bearer modification response message to the signal processing node 108 have.

Further, the packet processing node 110 may apply the terminal location information of the radio unit unit updated in the terminal location information DB to the billing policy, apply it to the area-specific location-based service, And can be applied to services.

Here, the area-specific location-based service refers to one or more digital units (DU) managing communication services for a specific area (for example, Seoul, Incheon, Gyeongbuk, South Gyeonggi, It may mean a service selectively providing location-based services only to communication terminals in the service area in charge.

Also, a service access point-specific location-based service may be a service access point-specific service, for example,

A discount coupon, a free or paid service coupon that can be used by the corresponding service access point when the user is in the vicinity of a shopping mall, a shopping mall, a movie theater, etc.).

Next, a series of processes for acquiring terminal location information on a radio unit basis when a radio unit change handover occurs according to the present invention using a mobile communication service system having the above-described configuration will be described in detail.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a procedure for acquiring terminal location information in units of radio units when a radio unit change handover occurs according to the present invention.

3, in the handover monitoring unit 202 of the base station 104 shown in FIG. 2, a handover monitoring unit 202 of the radio unit change handover for a communication terminal that is executing (using) And generates a radio unit change handover execution control signal (execution command) when it is determined that a radio unit changeover handover is occurring. When it is determined that a handover has occurred, the handover execution unit 204 .

In response to this, the handover execution unit 204 instructs the corresponding communication terminal to perform a radio unit change handover so that the corresponding communication terminal can execute the radio unit handover, and thereafter performs radio unit change handover from the corresponding communication terminal And notifies the terminal position management unit 206 of completion when it is received. That is, the communication terminal executes a radio unit change handover according to an instruction from the handover execution unit 204, and notifies the handover execution unit 204 of the completion of the handover execution (step 302 ).

When the completion of the radio unit change handover is delivered from the handover execution unit 204, the UE position management unit 206 includes the UE position information of the radio unit unit, for example, ECRI (E-UTRAN Cell Global Id) information (PSR) message to the mobility management node 106 (step 304).

Next, at the mobility management node 106, when a route change message including ECGI information (terminal location information in units of radio units) is received from the terminal location management unit 206 of the base station 104, bearer modification (Step 306), and in response, the signal processing node 108 generates a message (e. G., A bearer modification message containing ECGI information) to the signal processing node 108 And transmits a bearer modification message including the ECGI information to the packet processing node 110 (step 308).

As a result, the packet processing node 110 extracts the terminal location information of the changed radio unit from the bearer modification message transmitted from the signal processing node 108, and updates the terminal location information in the terminal location information DB (not shown) (step 310) At the same time, a bearer modification response message (e.g., a bearer modification response message including ECGI information) corresponding to the update to the terminal location information DB is generated and transmitted to the signal processing node 108 (step 312).

In response, the signal processing node 108 forwards (step 314) a bearer modification response message containing the ECGI information received from the packet processing node 110 to the mobility management node 106, (PSR) Ack message including the path change (PSR) Ack message, i.e., the ECGI information, corresponding to the bearer modification response message, and transmits it to the base station 104 (step 316) By performing the same series of processes, when the radio unit change handover occurs, the terminal location information of the changed radio unit unit is transmitted to the user plane node side so that the terminal location information of the radio unit unit can be utilized in the charging policy or the location based service policy do. Here, the terminal location information of the radio unit unit updated in the terminal location information DB can be selectively used for charging policy, area-specific location-based service, service connection point-specific location-based service, and the like.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. It is easy to see that this is possible. That is, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not intended to limit the scope of the present invention but to limit the scope of the present invention.

Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be construed in accordance with the following claims, and all technical ideas within the scope of equivalents should be interpreted as being included in the scope of the present invention.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, when radio unit change handover between radio units occurs during data communication, the base station generates terminal location information of the changed radio unit unit and transmits it to the user plane node through the mobility management node , The user plane node updates the terminal location information DB with the terminal location information of the changed radio unit unit. Accordingly, the present invention not only improves the correspondence between the real data use area and the billing area, but also provides a relatively accurate location based service to low-cost terminals without GPS chips.

The present invention including this technical configuration can be applied to VoLTE (or LTE) mobile communication network, thereby realizing the enhancement of reliability of VoLTE or LTE service and expansion of application of location-based service.

102: radio unit group 102/1 102 / n: radio unit (RU)
104: base station 106: mobility management node
108: signal processing node 110: packet processing node
112: Policy Management Node 202: Handover Monitoring Unit
204: handover execution unit 206: terminal position management unit

Claims (9)

Monitoring whether a radio unit change handover has occurred to the communication terminal;
Instructing the communication terminal to perform the radio unit change handover when the radio unit change handover occurs;
Generating a route change message including terminal location information for each radio unit for the communication terminal when completion of the radio unit change handover is received from the communication terminal;
The process of transmitting the generated path change message to the user plane node
And transmitting the terminal position information to the radio unit unit. The method according to claim 1,
The monitoring process includes:
And monitors whether the radio unit change handover occurs when the communication terminal is performing data communication
A method of acquiring terminal location information in units of radio units. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the terminal location information of the radio unit unit comprises:
(E-UTRAN Cell Global Id)
A method of acquiring terminal location information in units of radio units. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the terminal location information of the radio unit unit comprises:
Applied to billing policy
A method of acquiring terminal location information in units of radio units. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the terminal location information of the radio unit unit comprises:
Applies to localized location-based services
A method of acquiring terminal location information in units of radio units. A handover monitoring unit that monitors whether or not a radio unit change handover occurs to the communication terminal;
A handover execution unit for instructing the communication terminal to execute the radio unit change handover when the radio unit change handover occurs;
When receiving the completion of the radio unit change handover, generating a route change message including terminal location information for each radio unit for the communication terminal and transmitting the route change message to the user plane node side,
And transmits the terminal position information to the terminal unit. The method according to claim 6,
Wherein the handover monitoring unit comprises:
And monitors whether the radio unit change handover occurs when the communication terminal is performing data communication
A device for acquiring terminal location information in units of radio units. The method according to claim 6,
The occurrence of the radio unit change hand-
And is monitored through signal strength measurement between the communication terminal and the peripheral radio unit
A device for acquiring terminal location information in units of radio units. Checking whether a radio unit change handover occurs in a plurality of radio units managed by the base station;
Executing a radio unit change handover to the communication terminal when the radio unit change handover occurs;
When the radio unit change handover is completed, generating, by the base station, a route change message including terminal location information in units of radio units and transmitting the route change message to the mobility management node;
Generating a bearer modification message for a bearer modification request based on the route change message, and transmitting the bearer modification message to a user plane node;
The user plane node extracts the terminal location information of the radio unit unit from the bearer modification message and updates the terminal location information DB
And transmitting the terminal position information to the radio unit unit.

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