WO2009076864A1

WO2009076864A1 - Method and network device for setting point-to-multipoint gtp tunnel

Info

Publication number: WO2009076864A1
Application number: PCT/CN2008/073354
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sheng XIE
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2007-12-06
Filing date: 2008-12-05
Publication date: 2009-06-25
Also published as: CN101232429B; CN101232429A

Abstract

A method and network device for setting the Point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel. Firstly, the sending endpoint of the GTP tunnel sends the request message to multiple receiving endpoints of the GTP tunnel to request to set the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, and the request message carries the tunnel identifier TEID assigned to the tunnel; then, the sending endpoint of the GTP tunnel receives the confirmation message showing the success of setting the tunnel from the receiving endpoint.

Description

Point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment method and network device This application claims China with the application number CN 200710124934.6, the invention name is "point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment method, network equipment" submitted on December 6, 2007. Priority of the application, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of mobile communications, and in particular, to a method and a network device for establishing a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel. Background technique

With the rapid growth of data services, GSM (Global System for Mobile Communications), which is mainly based on circuit switching, is increasingly unable to meet the needs of users. Therefore, GPRS networks characterized by packet switching have emerged (General Packet Radio Service: General Packet Radio Service), the circuit domain core network and the packet domain core network are further integrated into a UMTS network (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) to realize the packetization structure of the core network. A packet-switched network can implement dynamic routing in units of data packets, which greatly improves the utilization of network resources compared to circuit switching to establish a dedicated connection.

The following takes UMTS as an example, but the implementation principle is not limited to the UMTS network, and is applicable to all packet switched networks, such as GPRS networks.

UMTS is a third generation mobile communication system using WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) air interface technology. The UMTS system uses a similar structure to the second generation mobile communication system, including UTRAN (UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network: UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) and CN (Core Network: Core Network), where UTRAN is used to process all The wireless related functions include the radio network controller RNC (Radio Network Controller) and the base station NodeB connected thereto, and the CN processes all voice calls and data connections in the UMTS system, and implements switching and routing functions with the external network. CN is logically divided into CS domain (circuit switched domain) and PS domain (Packet Switched). Domain: packet domain), wherein the PS domain includes a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) and a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) connected thereto. UTRAN, CN and UE (User Equipment: User Equipment) form the entire UMTS system.

The PS domain of the core network uses packet mode technology to achieve efficient transmission of high-speed and low-speed service data and signaling, focusing on network and radio resource optimization. The core network is designed to achieve a strict separation between the network subsystem and the wireless subsystem, enabling it to be shared by multiple access technologies. For example, as shown in FIG. 1, a packet domain core network can simultaneously provide for two different radio access networks GERAN (GSM Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution Radio Access Network: GSM Enhanced Data Rate Evolved Radio Access Network) and UTRAN. GPRS service. The functions of the SGSN and GGSN are as follows:

SGSN: Responsible for tracking the current location of the mobile terminal and performing security functions and admission control. It connects to GERAN through the Gb interface and connects to the UTRAN through the Iu interface.

GGSN: Provides interconnection with the Packet Data Network (PDN) and connects to the SGSN through the Gn interface based on the IP network.

In the PS domain, user data is transparently transmitted between the terminal and the packet data network PDN through encapsulation and tunneling technology, and the data packet is transmitted between the UE and the GGSN after the protocol information is added, and the network does not need to perceive and interpret the external Data protocols make it easy to introduce new data protocols in the future. Referring to the protocol, the application layer data is transmitted between the GGSN and the RNC of the UTRAN through the encapsulation of the GTP protocol (GPRS Tunneling Protocol: GPRS Tunneling Protocol), that is, the GTP is used between the GGSN and the SGSN and between the SGSN and the RNC of the UTRAN. Tunneling protocol for data transmission. The GTP tunneling protocol is currently only available for one-way point-to-point data transmission. A GTP tunnel corresponds to a data (or signaling) flow of a user (or service) in the direction of a data transmission. A GTP tunnel is uniquely identified by a Tunnel Endpoint Identifier (TEID), which is assigned by the receiving end node of the GTP tunnel.

The current agreement specifies that the TEID is 4 bytes and is divided into 3 categories: TEID Data I: Used for the transmission of GTP User Plane (GTP-U) data.

TEID Control Plane: Used for GTP Control Plane (GTP-C) signaling transmission.

TEID Data II: Used for data transmission between old and new SGSNs when SGSN migration occurs on mobile terminals.

The user plane GTP tunnel (GTP-U) between the GGSN and the SGSN and between the SGSN and the RNC is identified by TEID Data I.

Because GTP tunnels are point-to-point, a GTP tunnel will only have a unique one.

As shown in FIG. 2, a schematic diagram of a GTP tunnel establishment process in the prior art is as follows: Step 201: When data needs to be sent, the GTP tunnel sending end node first sends a message requesting to establish a GTP tunnel to the GTP tunnel receiving end node.

The GTP tunnel sending end node may be a GGSN, and the GTP tunnel receiving end node is

SGSN; or the GTP tunnel sending end node may be an SGSN, and the GTP tunnel receiving end node is

RNC. vice versa.

Step 202: After receiving the message, the GTP tunnel receiving end node allocates a TEID to the GTP tunnel sending end node.

Step 203: After receiving the TEID, the GTP tunnel sending end node newly establishes a GTP tunnel for transmitting data, and the TEID uniquely identifies the GTP tunnel, and carries the data in the GTP data unit when transmitting data. TEID.

With the development of mobile data services, more and more data multicast or broadcast services have emerged, such as mobile TV, electronic newspapers, and MMS. This type of service is characterized by a large number of users receiving the same data in a similar period of time. In order to effectively utilize mobile network resources, 3GPP (Third Generation Partnership Projects) proposed Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS), which provides a data source to multiple networks in a mobile network. Users send point-to-multipoint services of data, realize network resource sharing, and improve the utilization of network resources, especially air interface resources. The existing MBMS network reference model is shown in Figure 3. The existing MBMS network can be divided into the core network side and the access network side. Among them, the broadcast multicast service center (BM-SC) on the core network side is the content provider. / The portal of the multicast broadcast content source for authorizing and initiating the MBMS bearer service in the mobile network, and transmitting the MBMS content according to a predetermined time schedule. The content provider/multicast broadcast content source can provide content to the BM-SC through a Packet Data Network (PDN) such as the internet.

As an IP multicast service node of MBMS data, the GGSN establishes or releases an MBMS bearer with the SGSN for broadcast or multicast transmission according to the request of the BM-SC, and receives IP broadcast or multicast content from the BM-SC or other data source, and Transmitted to the relevant SGSN through the GTP tunnel.

The SGSN performs network control on the user; supports the movement of the MBMS receiver between the SGSNs; establishes or releases the MBMS bearer with the GGSN according to the request of the GGSN; transmits the broadcast/multicast data to the radio access network UTRAN or GERAN through the GTP tunnel .

The radio access network establishes or releases an MBMS bearer with the SGSN according to the request of the SGSN; selects a shared channel or a dedicated channel to transmit the MBMS service in a predetermined broadcast/multicast service area; supports the core network to initiate and terminate the MBMS transmission; supports MBMS The receiver moves between RNCs, which may cause some data loss; support the transmission of MBMS service announcements, paging information, MBMS parallel services, such as receiving MBMS video content while making voice calls and messaging services.

The UE supports activation/deactivation of the MBMS service; MBMS security related functions such as encryption and consistency protection of the content; receiving MBMS service announcements, paging information or supporting synchronization services; determining whether to ignore the MBMS session according to the MBMS session identification.

In order to optimize the data transmission efficiency of the MBMS, the SGSN sends only one data on its port, and the data is copied and delivered to multiple RNCs through the multicast distribution network.

However, in the process of implementing the above prior art, the inventors found that the prior art has the following drawbacks: Because the GTP tunnel is used for data transmission between the GGSN and the SGSN and between the SGSN and the RNC. If the existing GTP tunnel establishment mechanism is used, each GTP tunnel receiving end node (RNC in the above example) needs to assign a TEID to the GTP tunnel sending end node (in the above example). For the SGSN, the TEIDs assigned by different nodes are different, so that even if the underlying layer uses the multicast protocol, the high-level GTP cannot fill in a unique TEID, and the data cannot be sent in multicast mode. Summary of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment method, which is used to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel between nodes supporting GTP, so that broadcast or multicast can be used for transmission. data. The method includes:

The GTP tunnel sending endpoint sends a request message to the one or more GTP tunnel receiving endpoints, requesting to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, where the request message carries the tunnel identifier TEID assigned to the tunnel established by the request;

The GTP tunneling endpoint receives an acknowledgment message from at least one of the GTP tunnel receiving endpoints indicating successful tunnel establishment.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment method, including: one or more GTP tunnel receiving endpoints receive a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel request message from a GTP tunnel sending endpoint, the request The message carries the tunnel identifier TEID assigned to the tunnel established by the request;

The one or more GTP tunnel receiving endpoints send an acknowledgement message indicating that the tunnel establishment is successful to the GTP tunneling endpoint.

The embodiment of the invention further provides a network device:

a TEID allocation module, configured to allocate a TEID for a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel to be established;

a requesting module, configured to send a request message, requesting to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, where the request message includes a TEID allocated by the TEID allocation module for the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel that is requested to be established;

The receiving module is configured to receive a confirmation message to determine whether the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel is successfully established. The embodiment of the invention further provides a network device:

a second receiving module, configured to receive a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel request message from a GTP tunnel sending endpoint, where the request message carries the GTP tunnel sending endpoint allocated for the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel established by the request TEID; And a message feedback module, configured to send, according to the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel request message received by the second receiving module, an acknowledgement message that the endpoint feedback tunnel establishment is successful to the GTP tunnel.

It can be seen that, in the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, when both nodes that use the GTP protocol for communication need to perform multicast/broadcast transmission, the GTP tunnel is not used as in the prior art. The endpoint is received to assign the TEID, but the GTP tunneling endpoint sends the TEID and initiates a request to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel. In this way, a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel is established between nodes supporting the GTP protocol, so that data can be transmitted by means of broadcast or multicast, thereby further saving transmission resources and improving transmission efficiency. DRAWINGS

1 is a schematic diagram of a network structure of a UMTS in the prior art;

2 is a flow chart of establishing a GTP tunnel in the prior art;

3 is a structural diagram of a network structure of an MBMS service in the prior art;

4 is a flowchart of establishing a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel according to an embodiment of the present invention;

5 is a schematic diagram of a HSPA network architecture in the prior art;

6 is a schematic diagram of a first application of a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment method in an HSPA network architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic diagram of a second application of a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment method in an HSPA network architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention;

8 is a schematic structural diagram of an LTE network in the prior art;

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of application of a method according to an embodiment of the present invention in an LTE framework;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a network device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another network device according to an embodiment of the present invention. detailed description

The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. As shown in FIG. 4, it is a schematic diagram of a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment process according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is specifically as follows:

S401. The GTP tunneling end sends a message to the one or more GTP tunnel receiving endpoints to request to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, where the request message carries the tunnel identifier TEID assigned by the tunnel established by the request.

When there is data to be required for point-to-multipoint multicast or broadcast transmission, before the service data transmission, the GTP tunneling endpoint first needs to establish a point with the one or more GTP tunnel receiving endpoints that receive the service data. To a multi-point GTP tunnel, the GTP tunnel sending endpoint allocates a TEID for the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel to be established, and sends a message to the one or more GTP tunnel receiving endpoints to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel. The message carries the assigned TEID.

Here, the GTP tunneling end point allocation TEID may use the method in the prior art to allocate the TEID, or may use the new method provided by the embodiment of the present invention to allocate the TEID.

The TEID assigned by the GTP tunneling endpoint may have been allocated to other tunnels by the GTP tunnel receiving endpoint through the traditional GTP establishment procedure. In order to avoid possible conflicts in the TEID allocation, the embodiment of the present invention further proposes two new methods for allocating. The TEID is as follows: Method 1. The existing TEID value space is divided into at least two parts, and the value space of at least one part is taken as the value space of the new point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel TEID. The remaining value space is used as the TEID value space of the existing point-to-point GTP tunnel.

Assuming that the existing TEID value space is [0, 100], after the method provided by the embodiment of the present invention is implemented, the value space can be divided into two parts, such as [0, 60] and [61, 100], wherein the first part of the value space [0, 60] is used as the value range of the TEID of the point-to-point GTP tunnel in the prior art, and the receiving end point of the GTP tunnel is taken from the first part of the value space. The value is assigned to a different GTP tunnel, and [61, 100] is used as a GTP tunnel sending endpoint in the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment method provided by the embodiment of the present invention to take values and allocate.

When implementing this method, GTP-U (GTP user plane) has no change in the protocol, just TEID When the value range is different, it means different meanings (point-to-point GTP tunnel or point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel).

GTP-C (GTP control plane) has no change in cell and field format, except that the relevant cell of TEID allocation is originally included in the signaling of the GTP tunnel receiving endpoint to the GTP tunnel sending endpoint, such as GTP-C. Or WCDMA radio network layer control plane signaling, and the associated cell of the TEID allocation in the embodiment of the present invention needs to be included in the signaling of the GTP tunnel sending endpoint to the GTP tunnel receiving endpoint, such as GTP-C signaling or WCDMA radio. Network layer control plane signaling.

Method 2: Pre-set a new TEID type: TEID Data III, TEID specifically used in the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel proposed by the embodiment of the present invention, and the original TEID type (TEID Data I, TEID Control Plane, TEID Data II) A point-to-point GTP tunnel in the prior art.

After a new TEID type is defined, the TEID of the new type has its own independent value space, and does not overlap with the value space of the existing TEID type. In the implementation of the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the GTP tunnel sending endpoint directly selects a TEID from the new TEID type value space to allocate a newly established point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel. The newly assigned TEID will not conflict with the TEID assigned by the GTP tunnel receiving endpoint to the other tunnels through the existing point-to-point GTP establishment process.

When implementing this method, there is no change in the message format for GTP-U, but the GTP tunnel receiving endpoint will understand the Tunnel Endpoint Identifier field as the newly defined TEID Data III type when receiving the GTP-U message. To a multi-point GTP tunnel.

For GTP-C, the new information element (Tunnel Endpoint Identifier Data III) is used to assign a TEID to the GTP tunnel sending endpoint when sending a GTP-C message to the GTP tunnel receiving endpoint. Of course, in some scenarios (such as the Iu port), the WCDMA wireless network layer control plane protocol is used to assign the TEID instead of the GTP-C message. A specific Tunnel Endpoint Identifier Data III format provided by the embodiment of the present invention is as follows: Bits

Octets 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1 Type = 185 (Decimal)

2 - 5 Tunnel Endpoint Identifier Data III In the embodiment of the present invention, the value of Type is 185, and a value of the Type is taken from the Type reserved value in the current standard as the value of the new cell. Of course, it may be One of the Type reserved values in the standard is taken as the Type value.

5402. The one or more GTP tunnel receiving endpoints send an endpoint return acknowledgement message to the GTP tunnel.

5403. The GTP tunnel sending end sends data to the one or more GTP tunnel receiving endpoints through the newly established point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, where the transmitted data carries the allocated TEID.

In S402, after the multiple GTP tunnel receiving endpoints receive the request message sent by the GTP tunneling endpoint, the endpoint sends an acknowledgment message to the GTP tunnel to indicate whether the GTP tunnel is successfully established. Because the transmission delay, the time that the acknowledgment message returned by the multiple GTP tunnel receiving endpoints reaches the GTP tunnel sending endpoint may not be consistent. Preferably, in the embodiment of the present invention, the GTP tunnel sending endpoint may be as long as the The GTP tunnel receiving endpoint returns an acknowledgment message indicating that the GTP tunnel is successfully established, and confirms that the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment is successful, and the GTP tunnel sending endpoint passes the established point. A multi-point GTP tunnel transmits data to the plurality of GTP tunnel receiving endpoints. Further, in the process of transmitting data, if the GTP tunnel sending endpoint receives an acknowledgment message sent by the receiving end of the GTP tunnel indicating that the tunnel establishment is unsuccessful, the GTP tunnel sending endpoint may receive the same with the GTP tunnel. A point-to-point GTP tunnel is separately established between the endpoints to transmit data. The point-to-point GTP tunnel may be established by using the method in the prior art, or may be used to establish the tunnel in the embodiment of the present invention. Method to build. Of course, in the embodiment of the present invention, the GTP tunnel sending endend may receive the acknowledgement message fed back by all the multiple GTP tunnel receiving endpoints, and then pass the newly established point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel. To transfer data, and further, for that The feedback indicates that the GTP tunnel receiving endpoints of the tunnel establishment unsuccessful acknowledgment message, the GTP tunneling endpoints can separately establish a point-to-point GTP tunnel with them, where the separate point-to-point GTP tunnel can be used. The method established in the prior art may also be established by using the tunnel establishment method mentioned in the embodiment of the present invention.

It can be seen from the foregoing embodiment that in the prior art, when there is a point-to-multipoint data transmission by using a broadcast or multicast method, the GTP tunnel receiving endpoint allocates the TEID of the GTP tunnel, which is actually a GTP tunnel. A peer-to-peer GTP tunnel is set up between the receiving endpoint and the GTP tunneling endpoint. In this way, data is not sent in multicast mode. In the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment manner provided by the embodiment of the present invention, when there is a point-to-multipoint data transmission by using a broadcast or multicast mode, the GTP tunnel is sent by the endpoint to uniformly allocate a TEID and The TEID is sent to one or more GTP tunnel receiving endpoints and carries the assigned TEID in the data sent to the one or more GTP tunnel receiving endpoints. In this way, a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel is established between nodes supporting the GTP protocol, so that data can be transmitted by means of broadcast or multicast, thereby further saving transmission resources and improving transmission efficiency. Moreover, the GTP tunneling endpoint considers that the GTP tunnel is successfully acknowledged by the GTP tunnel receiving end, and the GTP tunnel is successfully established and starts to pass the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel. Transfer data, which reduces transmission delays.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment method, which is specifically as follows:

Step S1: The GTP tunnel sending endend sends a request message to the intermediate node, requesting to establish a GTP tunnel sending end point to the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel of each GTP tunnel receiving end point, where the request message carries the tunnel assignment established for the request. The tunnel identifies the TEID.

Step S2: The intermediate node sends an acknowledgement message to the GTP tunnel sending endpoint.

Step S3: The intermediate node sends the request message to each GTP tunnel receiving endpoint, and requests to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel from the GTP tunnel sending endpoint to each GTP tunnel receiving endpoint, where the request message is carried as the request. The tunnel ID TEID assigned by the established tunnel. Step S4: Each GTP tunnel receiving endpoint returns an acknowledgement message to the intermediate node. The message is used to confirm to the intermediate node whether the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment is successful. Step S5: The GTP tunnel sending endend transmits the data to the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel of the GTP tunnel receiving endpoint through the newly established GTP tunnel, and carries the allocated TEID in the sent data.

In the embodiment of the present invention, preferably, the GTP tunnel sending end point of the step S5 transmits the data to the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel of the GTP tunnel receiving end point through the newly established GTP tunnel, and the GTP tunnel sending end point is in the step. After receiving the acknowledgement message fed back by the intermediate node, the S2 can be considered that the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel is successfully established, and the GTP tunneling endpoint can pass the establishment after receiving the service data that needs to be sent from the upper node. The point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel starts to send data to each GTP tunnel receiving endpoint, and carries the allocated TEID in the transmitted data. There is no chronological order between step S5 and steps S3 and S4. Further, in the process of transmitting data, if the intermediate node receives an acknowledgment message indicating that the tunnel establishment is unsuccessful, the intermediate node may receive the acknowledgment message if the intermediate node receives an acknowledgment message indicating that the tunnel establishment is unsuccessful. Feedback to the GTP tunnel sending endpoint, then, at this time, the GTP tunnel sending endpoint may separately establish a point-to-point GTP tunnel to transmit data with the GTP tunnel receiving endpoint, where the separately establishing the point-to-point GTP tunnel may be It may be established by using the method in the prior art, or may be established by using the tunnel establishment method mentioned in the embodiment of the present invention. Of course, in the embodiment of the present invention, after the intermediate node receives the acknowledgement message fed back by all the multiple GTP tunnel receiving endpoints, the GTP tunnel sending endpoint passes the newly established point to the end. Point GTP tunnel to transmit data, and further, for those GTP tunnel receiving endpoints that feed back an acknowledgment message indicating that the tunnel establishment is unsuccessful, the GTP tunnel sending endpoints may separately establish a point-to-point GTP tunnel with them to transmit data. The establishment of the point-to-point GTP tunnel separately may be established by using the method in the prior art, or may be established by using the tunnel establishment method mentioned in the embodiment of the present invention.

In this way, through the embodiment of the present invention, a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel between the GTP tunnel sending endpoint and each GTP tunnel receiving endpoint is established, so that the bottom layer can use the multicast protocol and improve the transmission. Transmit efficiency, save transmission resources, and achieve true multicast transmission.

The following is a detailed description of an embodiment of the present invention in a WCDMA system. In a WCDMA system, when an MBMS service needs to be transmitted, the GGSN sends the service data from the BM-SC to the SGSN, and the SGSN only has its port. Sending a data, the data is copied and sent to the multiple RNCs through the multicast distribution network. In this case, the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel provided by the embodiment of the present invention can be used to implement multicast delivery of the MBMS service data. The details are as follows:

Step a. The SGSN sends a message to multiple RNCs, requesting to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel between the SGSN and each RNC, and assigning a TEID requesting to establish a tunnel.

When there is data to be point-to-multicast, for example, in the MBMS service, after the GGSN sends the service data to the SGSN, the SGSN needs to transmit the service data to the RNC or multiple RNCs. Before the data transmission, the SGSN first needs to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel with the multiple RNCs that receive the MBMS service data, and the SGSN allocates a TEID to the GTP tunnel to be established, to the multiple The RNC sends a message requesting to establish a GTP tunnel, and the message carries the allocated TEID.

In this embodiment, the message may be an MBMS Session Start message.

Step b: The multiple RNCs return an acknowledgement message to the SGSN.

In this embodiment, the acknowledgement message may be an MBMS Session Start Response message. Step s: The SGSN sends data to the multiple RNCs through the newly established point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, and carries the allocated TEID in the sent data.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the SGSN may be configured to receive any acknowledgement message indicating that the tunnel establishment is successful, and the SGSN is determined to be successful. The established point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel starts to send data, and carries the allocated TEID in the transmitted data. Further, in the process of transmitting data, if the SGSN receives an acknowledgment message sent by an RNC indicating that the tunnel establishment is unsuccessful, the SGSN may separately establish a point-to-point GTP tunnel with the RNC to transmit data. The point-to-point GTP tunnel established separately herein may be established by using a method in the prior art, or may be implemented by using the present invention. In the example, a tunnel establishment method is mentioned to establish. Optionally, in the embodiment of the present invention, the SGSN may receive the acknowledgement message of all the one or more RNC feedbacks, and then transmit the data by using the newly established point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel. Further, for those RNCs that feed back an acknowledgment message indicating that the tunnel establishment is unsuccessful, the SGSN may separately establish a point-to-point GTP tunnel with them to transmit data, where the point-to-point GTP tunnel may be established separately. It may be established by using the method in the prior art, or may be established by using the tunnel establishment method mentioned in the embodiment of the present invention.

In this way, through the embodiment of the present invention, a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel between the SGSN and each RNC is established, so that the bottom layer can use the multicast protocol, improve transmission efficiency, save transmission resources, and realize true multicast. transmission.

Hereinafter, the embodiment of the present invention is specifically applied to an HSPA (High Speed Packet Access) flat network architecture as an example for detailed description. See Figure 5 for a schematic diagram of the HSPA flat network architecture. In the embodiment of the present invention, under the network architecture, the control plane is similar to the traditional architecture, and still reaches the evolved base station eHSPANodeB (equivalent to the RNC in the traditional architecture) through the GGSN and the SGSN, and the user plane can use the IP multicast mode. The GGSN is sent to the eHSPANodeB through the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel. The user plane data is still sent to the SGSN through the GGSN. The SGSN then sends the user data to the eHSPA NodeB through the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel. Hereinafter, the two embodiments will be described in detail.

Embodiment 1 As shown in FIG. 6, a GTP point-to-multipoint tunnel transmission method is applied in an HSPA flat network architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention. In this embodiment, signaling of a control plane is in a conventional manner. The GGSN is transmitted to the SGSN, and then the SGSN is sent to each eHSPANodeB. The data of the user plane is directly sent from the GGSN to each eHSPANodeB. The specific solution is as follows: Step 601: The GGSN sends a request message to the SGSN to request to establish a GGSN to each eHSPA NodeB. A point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, the request message includes a TEID allocated by the GGSN for the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel established by the request.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the request message may be an MBMS Session Start message.

Step 602: The SGSN sends an acknowledgement message to the GGSN. In this embodiment of the present invention, the acknowledgement message may be an MBMS Session Start Response message.

Step 603: The SGSN sends the request message to multiple eHSPA NodeBs to request to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel of the GGSN to each eHSPANodeB, where the message includes the TEID allocated by the GGSN for the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel established by the request.

Step 604: The multiple eHSPA NodeBs return an acknowledgement message to the SGSN.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the acknowledgement message may be an MBMS Session Start Response message, and the message is used to confirm to the SGSN whether the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment is successful.

Step 605: The GGSN transmits data to the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel of each eHSPANodeB through the newly established GGSN, and carries the allocated TEID in the sent data.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the GGSN of the step 605 may transmit the data to the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel of each eHSPANodeB through the newly established GGSN, and the GGSN may receive the acknowledgement message fed back by the SGSN in step 602. It is considered that the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel is successfully established, and after receiving the service data that needs to be sent from the upper node, the GGSN can start sending data to each eHSPANodeB through the established point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, and The transmitted data carries the allocated TEID, and there is no chronological limitation between step 605 and steps 603 and 604. Further, in the process of transmitting data, if the SGSN receives an acknowledgment message sent by an eHSPANodeB indicating that the tunnel establishment is unsuccessful, the SGSN may feed back the acknowledgment information to the GGSN. Then, at this time, the GGSN may separately establish a point-to-point GTP tunnel with the eHSPA NodeB to transmit data. Here, the point-to-point GTP tunnel may be established separately by using a method in the prior art, or may be It is established by referring to the tunnel establishment method in the embodiment of the present invention. Of course, in the embodiment of the present invention, after the SGSN receives the acknowledgement message of all the one or more eHSPANodeB feedbacks, the GGSN transmits the newly established point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel. Data, and further, for those eHSPANodeBs that feed back an acknowledgment message indicating that the tunnel establishment was unsuccessful, then the GGSN A point-to-point GTP tunnel may be separately established with them to transmit data. The point-to-point GTP tunnel may be established by using the method in the prior art, or may refer to the tunnel mentioned in the embodiment of the present invention. Establish methods to build.

In this way, through the embodiment of the present invention, a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel between the GGSN and each eHSPANodeB is established, so that the bottom layer can use the multicast protocol, improve transmission efficiency, save transmission resources, and realize true multicast. transmission.

Embodiment 2, as shown in FIG. 7, another method for applying a GTP point-to-multipoint tunnel in a HSPA flat network architecture according to an embodiment of the present invention, in this embodiment, a signaling plane and a user plane of a control plane The data is sent by the GGSN to the SGSN first, and then the data of the user plane is transmitted by the SGSN and the eHSPANodeB to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel. The specific implementation is as follows:

Step 701: The SGSN sends a request message to multiple eHSPANodeBs respectively, requesting to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel between the SGSN and each eHSPANodeB, and assigning a request to establish a tunnel.

TEID.

When there is data to be point-to-multicast, for example, in the MBMS service, after the GGSN sends the service data to the SGSN, the SGSN needs to transmit the service data to one or more eHSPANodeBs. Before performing the service data transmission, the SGSN first needs to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel between the one or more eHSPANodeBs that receive the MBMS service data, where the SGSN allocates a TEID to the GTP tunnel to be established, to the The one or more eHSPANodeB sends a request message requesting to establish a GTP tunnel, where the message carries the allocated TEID.

In this embodiment, the request message may be an MBMS Session Start message.

Step 702: The one or more eHSPANodeBs return an acknowledgement message to the SGSN. In this embodiment, the acknowledgement message may be an MBMS Session Start Response message, and the message is used to feed back to the SGSN whether the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel is successfully established.

Step 703: The SGSN passes the newly established point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel to the one or more The eHSPANodeB transmits data, and the allocated TEID is carried in the transmitted data.

In the embodiment of the present invention, preferably, the SGSN may be configured to receive any of the eHSPA NodeB feedback confirmation messages, indicating that the tunnel establishment is successful, and the SGSN is determined to be successful by the SGSN. The established point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel starts to send data, and carries the allocated TEID in the transmitted data. Further, in the process of transmitting data, if the SGSN receives an acknowledgment message sent by an eHSPANodeB indicating that the tunnel establishment is unsuccessful, the SGSN may separately establish a point-to-point GTP tunnel with the eHSPANodeB to transmit data. The establishment of the point-to-point GTP tunnel separately may be established by using the method in the prior art, or may be established by using the tunnel establishment method mentioned in the embodiment of the present invention. Optionally, in the embodiment of the present invention, the SGSN may receive the acknowledgement message fed back by the one or more eHSPANodeBs, and then transmit the data by using the newly established point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel. Further, for those eHSPANodeBs that feed back an acknowledgment message indicating that the tunnel establishment is unsuccessful, the SGSN may separately establish a point-to-point GTP tunnel to transmit data, respectively, where the point-to-point GTP tunnel may be established separately. It may be established by using the method in the prior art, or may be established by using the tunnel establishment method mentioned in the embodiment of the present invention.

In this way, through the embodiment of the present invention, a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel between the SGSN and each eHSPANodeB is established, so that the bottom layer can use the multicast protocol, improve transmission efficiency, save transmission resources, and realize true multicast. transmission.

The following is a detailed description of the LTE (Long Time Evolution) architecture, which is described in detail in FIG. 8 and is a schematic diagram of an LTE network architecture. As shown in the figure, MCE (MBMS Control Entity: The MBMS control entity is responsible for the connection of the MBMS control plane. For one MBMS service, the physical resource block (PRB) of each evolved base station eNodeB is uniformly allocated by the MCE to implement synchronous transmission of each eNodeB. The MBMS GW is responsible for forwarding MBMS data and transmitting it to each eNodeB in multicast mode.

In the embodiment of the present invention, a GTP point-to-multipoint tunnel transmission method is applied in an LTE network architecture. In this embodiment, signaling of a control plane is transmitted from an MBMS GW to an MCE, and then from an MCE. For each eNodeB, the data of the user plane is directly sent from the MBMS GW to each eNodeB. Specifically, as shown in FIG. 9, the method for performing MBMS data transmission in the LTE network architecture is provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

Step 901: The MBMS GW sends a request message to the MCE, requesting to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel of the GGSN to each eNodeB, where the request message includes a TEID allocated by the MBMS GW for the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel established by the request.

In the embodiment of the present invention, when there is an MBMS service to be transmitted, the control plane signaling is transmitted from the MBMS GW to the MCE, and then the MCE transmits the signaling to each eNodeB, and the user plane data is directly transmitted by the MBMS GW to the eNodeBs. The point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel to each eNodeB is directly requested by the MBMS GW, and the TEID is allocated for the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel established by the request.

In this embodiment, the message may be an MBMS Session Start message, where the message includes a TEID allocated by the MBMS GW to establish a GTP point-to-multipoint tunnel between the MBMS GW and each eNodeB.

Step 902: The MCE sends an acknowledgement message to the MBMS GW.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the confirmation message may be an MBMS Session Start Response message.

Step 903: The MCE sends the request message to multiple eNodeBs, requesting to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel of the MBMS GW to each eNodeB, where the message includes the TEID allocated by the MBMS GW for the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel established by the request. .

Step 904: The multiple eNodeBs return an acknowledgement message to the MCE.

Step 905: The MBMS GW transmits data to the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel of each eNodeB through the newly established MBMS GW, and carries the allocated TEID in the sent data.

In the embodiment of the present invention, preferably, the MBMS GW of the step 905 sends data, MBMS. After receiving the acknowledgement message fed back by the MCE in step 902, the GW may consider that the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel is successfully established, and the MBMS GW passes the established service data after receiving the service data that needs to be sent from the upper node. The point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel starts to send data to each eNodeB, and carries the allocated TEID in the transmitted data. Step 905 has no strict time order limitation with steps 903 and 904. Further, in the process of transmitting data, if the MCE receives an acknowledgment message sent by an eNodeB indicating that the tunnel establishment is unsuccessful, the MCE may feed back the acknowledgment information to the MBMS. GW, then, at this time, the MBMS GW can establish a point-to-point GTP tunnel separately from the eNodeB to transmit data. Here, the point-to-point GTP tunnel can be established separately by using a method in the prior art, or It is established by referring to the tunnel establishment method mentioned in the embodiment of the present invention. Of course, in the embodiment of the present invention, after the MCE receives the acknowledgement message fed back by all the one or more eNodeBs,

The MBMS GW then transmits data through the newly established point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, and further, for those eNodeBs that feed back an acknowledgment message indicating that the tunnel establishment is unsuccessful, the MBMS GW can separately establish points with them respectively. The GTP tunnel is used to transmit data. The point-to-point GTP tunnel may be established by using the method in the prior art, or may be established by using the tunnel establishment method in the embodiment of the present invention.

In this way, through the embodiment of the present invention, a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel between the MBMS GW and each eNodeB is established, so that the bottom layer can use the multicast protocol, improve transmission efficiency, save transmission resources, and realize a true group. Broadcast transmission.

The point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment method provided by the embodiment of the present invention is not limited to the

Under the WCDMA, HSPA, and LTE network architecture, the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention can be used in any scenario where the communication parties use the GTP protocol and need to perform multicast/broadcast transmission.

The embodiment of the invention further provides a network device, which can be used to request to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel. As shown in FIG. 10, the network device includes a TEID allocation module 1001, a requesting module 1002, a receiving module 1003, and a data sending module 1004. When the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel needs to be established, the TEID allocation module 1001 needs to be established. Point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel Allocating a TEID; the requesting module 1002 is configured to send a request message requesting to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, where the request message includes a TEID allocated by the TEID allocation module 1001 for a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel that is requested to be established; 1003 is configured to receive a confirmation message to determine whether the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel is successfully established. The data sending module 1004 is configured to send data after the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel is successfully established, and carry the data in the sent GTP data unit. TEID. The TEID allocation module 1001 may separately allocate a segment from the existing TEID value range as a value for establishing a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, or may define a new TEID type. Specifically, it is used to identify point-to-multipoint GTP tunnels. The network device may be a GGSN, an SGSN, an MBMS GW, or the like.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a network device. Referring to FIG. 11, the network device includes: a second receiving module 1101, configured to receive a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel request message from a GTP tunneling endpoint, the request The message carries the TEID allocated by the GTP tunnel sending endpoint to the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel that is requested to be established;

The message feedback module 1102 is configured to receive the point-to-multipoint according to the second receiving module 1101.

The GTP tunnel request message sends an acknowledgement message to the GTP tunnel that the endpoint feedback tunnel establishment is successful.

The network device further includes:

The data receiving module 1103 is configured to receive data through the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel if the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel is successfully established.

The network device may be an evolved base station eHSPANodeB. The spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, it is intended that the present invention cover the modifications and variations of the inventions

Claims

Claim

A method for establishing a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, the method comprising: the GTP tunnel sending endpoint sending a request message to one or more GTP tunnel receiving endpoints, requesting to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, Transmitting, by the request message, a tunnel identifier TEID assigned by the tunnel established for the request;

The method of claim 1, wherein the GTP tunneling endpoint further receives the acknowledgement message indicating that the tunnel establishment is successful from the at least one of the GTP tunnel receiving endpoints, and further includes:

Data is transmitted through the established point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

And if the GTP tunnel sending endpoint receives an acknowledgment message indicating that the tunnel establishment is unsuccessful from one or more of the GTP tunnel receiving endpoints, the GTP tunnel sending endpoint joins one or more of the GTP tunnel receiving endpoint establishing points Go to the point GTP tunnel.

The method according to claim 1, further comprising: pre-dividing the TEID value space into at least two parts, and taking at least one part as a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel TEID. Value space

The tunnel identifier TEID assigned to the tunnel established by the request includes:

A TEID value is selected from the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel TEID as the TEID of the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel established by the request.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising: presetting a new TEID type;

Selecting a TEID value from the value space of the new TEID type as the request is established. The TEID of a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel.

The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the GTP tunnel receiving end point is an SGSN, and the GTP tunnel receiving end point is a radio network controller RNC; or

The GTP tunnel sending endpoint is an SGSN, and the GTP tunnel receiving endpoint is an evolved base station eHSPANodeB.

A point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment method, the method comprising: the GTP tunnel sending endpoint sends a request message to the multiple GTP tunnel receiving endpoints through the intermediate node, requesting to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, The request message carries a tunnel identifier TEID assigned to the tunnel established by the request;

The GTP tunneling endpoint receives an acknowledgment message from the intermediate node.

The method of claim 7, wherein the sending, by the intermediate node, the request message to the plurality of GTP tunnel receiving endpoints further comprises:

If the GTP tunneling endpoint receives an acknowledgment message from the intermediate node indicating that the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel establishment with one or more of the GTP tunnel receiving endpoints is unsuccessful, the GTP tunneling endpoint is the same Or a plurality of the GTP tunnel receiving endpoints establish a point-to-point GTP tunnel.

The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein the GTP tunnel sending end point is a GGSN, the GTP tunnel receiving end point is an evolved base station eHSPANodeB, and the intermediate node is an SGSN; or

The GTP tunnel sending end point is an MBMS gateway MBMS GW, the GTP tunnel receiving end point is an evolved base station eNodeB, and the intermediate node is an MBMS control entity MCE.

10 . A method for establishing a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, the method comprising: receiving, by one or more GTP tunnel receiving endpoints, a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel request message from a GTP tunnel sending endpoint, The request message carries a tunnel identifier TEID assigned to the tunnel established by the request;

The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more GTP tunnel receiving endpoints send an acknowledgement message indicating that the tunnel establishment is successful to the GTP tunneling endpoint, and further includes:

Data is received over the established point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel.

12. A network device, the network device comprising:

a requesting module, configured to send a request message, requesting to establish a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel, where the request message includes a TEID allocated by the TEID allocation module for the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel established by the request;

The receiving module is configured to receive a confirmation message to determine whether the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel is successfully established.

The network device according to claim 12, wherein the network device further comprises: a data sending module, configured to pass the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel if the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel is successfully established send data.

14. A network device, the network device comprising:

a second receiving module, configured to receive a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel request message from a GTP tunneling endpoint, where the request message carries the GTP tunneling endpoint allocated for requesting establishment of a point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel TEID;

And a message feedback module, configured to send, according to the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel request message received by the second receiving module, an acknowledgement message that the endpoint feedback tunnel establishment is successful to the GTP tunnel.

The network device according to claim 14, wherein the network device further comprises: a data receiving module, configured to pass the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel if the point-to-multipoint GTP tunnel is successfully established Receive data.