WO2011100899A2

WO2011100899A2 - Paging method，mobility management network element and communication system

Info

Publication number: WO2011100899A2
Application number: PCT/CN2011/072360
Authority: WO
Inventors: 银宇; 张艳平
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2011-03-31
Filing date: 2011-03-31
Publication date: 2011-08-25
Also published as: CN102273291B; CN102273291A; WO2011100899A3

Abstract

The embodiments of the present invention provide a paging method, mobility management network element and communication system. The method includes the following steps: obtaining a residence time correlation measurement value of a User Equipment (UE) within a sub region of a first layer, wherein, the residence time correlation measurement value is a measurement value of residence time of the UE; if the residence time correlation measurement value within the sub region of the first layer is less than a preset threshold, then paging the UE within a sub region of the upper layer of the first layer, wherein, both the first layer and the upper layer of the first layer belong to a registration region of the UE, and the coverage area of the upper layer of the first layer is larger than that of the first layer.

Description

Paging method, mobility management network element and communication system

Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a paging method, a mobility management network element, and a communication system. Background technique

In a mobile communication system, in order to save radio resources and power consumption of user equipment, after a period of no signaling and data transmission, the user equipment will go to an idle state. In the idle state, the location of the user equipment known by the network is a large wireless coverage area composed of several cells, which is called a registration area. When the network needs to send signaling or data to the user equipment, the network side pages all the users in the idle area of the user equipment in the registration area of the user equipment by using the paging technology, and the user equipment receives the paging sent to itself. After the message responds to the page, establish communication with the network side, and go to the connection state. The registration area of a user equipment is often composed of dozens of hundreds of cells. Since the user equipment only resides in a certain location (cell) in the registration area at a certain moment, if all the user equipment registration area The cell paging user equipment, although capable of ensuring fast paging to the user equipment, generates a high paging load.

The existing method of hierarchical paging assumes that most user equipments are in a substantially static state most of the time. The registration area of the user equipment is layered according to the granularity of the area of the different coverage area. The smaller the granularity, the larger the number of sub-areas divided in the registration area, and the smaller the coverage area of the single sub-area. Conversely, the larger the granularity, the larger the granularity is. The smaller the number of sub-areas divided in the registration area, the larger the coverage area of a single sub-area. Taking the EPS system as an example, the hierarchical granularity may be a cell- <eNodeB coverage area- <tracking area TA-<tracking area list TA List. We refer to the sub-area with smaller granularity and coverage area as the lower layer area, and the partitioning granularity and larger sub-area are upper layer areas. For example, comparing the cell and the tracking area, the area of the cell is smaller, then the cell is the lower layer area, and the tracking area is For the upper area.

Therefore, with the existing hierarchical paging method, when paging is initiated, first select a smaller one. The lower layer performs paging. If the paging fails (that is, no paging response is received), the range is expanded, and a larger upper area is selected to continue paging until the paging is successful, or finally extended to the entire registration area of the user equipment. Internal paging.

At each hierarchical level, a sub-area can be selected for paging by a certain algorithm. Generally, the sub-area that the user equipment recorded in the network last resides in the latest connection state may be selected, for example: on the layered granularity of the cell, the last visited cell of the user equipment in the last connected state is selected; in the eNodeB coverage area In the layered granularity, the coverage area of the eNodeB that the user equipment recently accesses is selected; in the layering granularity of the tracking area, the tracking area that the user equipment last accessed in the last connected state is selected; at the uppermost layer, that is, the registration of the user equipment The area itself does not require a selection process to page directly within the entire registration area.

Since the mobile device does not need to notify the network when moving to the entire registration area after the user equipment is switched to the Idle state, in the existing hierarchical paging method, if the user is in the mobile state, the currently resident child may be left. The area moves to other sub-areas in the registration area, so that the paging user equipment cannot receive the paging response within the last camped sub-area. At this time, the enlarged paging area is paging in the upper area, which wastes searching. Call resources and increase the delay in business establishment. Summary of the invention

The embodiment of the present invention provides a paging method, a mobility management network element, and a communication system, to solve the problem that the prior art increases the delay of the user equipment in response to paging and network side establishment communication, and wastes paging resources.

The embodiment of the invention provides a paging method, including:

Obtaining a dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-area, where the residence time correlation measurement value is a measured value of the user equipment dwell time;

If the dwell time correlation measurement value in the first hierarchical sub-area is less than a set threshold, paging the user equipment in the sub-area of the first hierarchical upper layer, the first layer and The first layer upper layer belongs to a registration area of the user equipment, and the first layer upper layer covers The range is greater than the coverage of the first layer.

The embodiment of the invention further provides a mobility management network element, including:

An acquiring module, configured to acquire a dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-area, where the dwell time correlation measurement value is a measured value of the user equipment dwell time; If the dwell time correlation measurement value in the first hierarchical sub-area is less than a set threshold, paging the user equipment in the sub-area of the first hierarchical upper layer, the first layer And the upper layer of the first layer belongs to a registration area of the user equipment, and the coverage of the first layer upper layer is greater than the coverage of the first layer.

The embodiment of the invention further provides a communication system, including the mobility management network element described above. The paging method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the mobility management network element and the communication system, obtains, by using the mobility management network element, the resident time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in a small area to determine whether to call in the small area. If the measured value is less than the set threshold, the user skips the smaller area and enlarges the area-wide paging user. The paging user equipment in the lower paging success rate sub-area is discarded by introducing the time correlation measurement, thereby realizing the quick paging of the user equipment, reducing the delay in the user equipment accessing the network and establishing communication with the network side, and saving paging resources. . BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are used in the description of the claims Other drawings may also be obtained from these drawings without the inventive labor.

1 is a flowchart of a first embodiment of a paging method provided by the present invention;

2 is a flowchart of a second embodiment of a paging method provided by the present invention;

3 is a flowchart of a third embodiment of a paging method provided by the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a first embodiment of a mobility management network element provided by the present invention. detailed description

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention are clearly and completely described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. It is a partial embodiment of the invention, and not all of the embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts are within the scope of the present invention.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a first embodiment of a paging method according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the method includes:

S101. Obtain a dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-area, where the dwell time correlation measurement value is a measurement value of the user equipment dwell time;

S102. If the dwell time correlation measurement value in the first hierarchical sub-area is less than a set threshold, paging the user equipment in the sub-area of the upper layer of the first layer, where the first layer and the upper layer thereof are both The registration area belonging to the user equipment, the coverage of the upper layer of the first layer is greater than the coverage of the first layer.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the method may further include:

If the dwell time correlation measurement in the first hierarchical sub-area is greater than or equal to the set threshold, the user equipment is paged in the sub-area of the first layer.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the method may further include:

If the paging of the user equipment fails in the first hierarchical sub-area, paging the user equipment in a sub-area of the upper layer of the first layer.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the method may further include:

Paging the user equipment in a sub-area of the upper layer of the first layer, including:

Obtaining a dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in a sub-area of the first layer upper layer; if the dwell time correlation measurement value in the sub-area of the first layer upper layer is greater than or equal to a set threshold, Paging the user equipment in a sub-area of the upper layer of the first layer; or The user equipment is paged directly in the sub-area of the upper layer of the first layer.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-area is obtained, including:

When the paging occurs, the user equipment first establishes a signaling connection in the first hierarchical sub-area, and obtains the resident time interval between the user equipment and the last time the first layer releases the signaling connection. The time correlation measure is left; during this time interval, the user equipment does not establish a signaling connection within the other sub-areas of the first layer.

In another embodiment of the present invention, obtaining a dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in the first hierarchical upper sub-area includes:

When the paging occurs, the user equipment first establishes a signaling connection in the first hierarchical upper sub-area, and obtains the time interval between the user equipment and the last time the first hierarchical upper layer releases the signaling connection. The dwell time correlation measurement value; during this time interval, the user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in other sub-areas of the upper layer of the first layer.

In another embodiment of the present invention, obtaining a dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-region includes:

Obtaining the dwell time correlation measurement value according to the number of times the mobility management network element establishes a signaling connection with the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-area; and counting, the user equipment is in the first sub- During the number of times the signaling connection is established within the layer sub-area, the user equipment does not establish a signaling connection within the other sub-areas of the first layer.

Obtaining the dwell time correlation measurement value according to the number of times that the mobility management network element establishes a signaling connection with the user equipment in the first hierarchical upper layer sub-area, where the user equipment is in the first layer During the number of times the signaling connection is established in the upper sub-area, the user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in other sub-areas of the upper layer of the first layer.

The user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in other sub-areas of the first layer, that is, The user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in another first layered sub-area other than the first layered sub-area, and the sub-area of the first layer is a sub-area that obtains the user equipment dwell time correlation measurement value. a region, for example, the first layer is a TA layer, then the sub-region of the first layer may be TA1, TA2, ... TAn, if the acquisition dwell time correlation measurement is within the TA1 region, then The other sub-areas of the first layer include: TA2... TAn.

The execution body of the above steps in this embodiment is a mobility management network element that manages a paging process. The system (Global System for Mobile communications; GSM) / Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE) GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN) / In the UMTS Territorial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), the mobility management network element is a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) Or Mobile Switching Center (MSC); in the evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), the mobility management network element is a Mobility Management Entity (MME), in the global microwave The Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax) network is an Access Service Network Gateway (ASN-GW), which is not listed for mobility management entities in other networks.

In the GPRS/UMTS system, the registration area is a Routing Area, and in the evolved packet system EPS, the registration area is a Tracking Area List.

In various types of networks, the registration area of the user equipment has multiple division methods, for example: In the EPS network, the registration area of the user equipment may be divided into a cell, an eNodeB coverage area, a tracking area, and a tracking area from the lower layer to the upper layer. The list is four levels. The uppermost layer is the registration area of the user equipment, that is, when the paging user equipment fails in the lower layer area, it will eventually be paged in the entire registration area of the user equipment.

It should be noted that usually the upper area contains the range of the lower area, for example: "The user recently The visited eNodeB coverage area "contains the "user recently visited cell", "the user's most recently visited tracking area" contains "the user's most recently visited cell", etc., but the coverage of a tracking area is usually larger than that of an eNodeB. Therefore, the "tracking area recently accessed by the user" in the registration area of the user equipment is the upper layer area, and the "eNodeB coverage of the user recently accessed" is the lower layer area, but the tracking area recently accessed by the user does not necessarily completely include the user's recent access. The eNodeB coverage area, which may be an intersection relationship, that is, in the hierarchical paging scheme, the terms lower layer and upper layer indicate the process of gradually expanding the paging range from small to large, and do not represent the upper layer area that the user equipment last accesses. Must contain the underlying area that the user device last accessed.

It should also be noted that, depending on the different configurations of the operator, the range of the tracking area may be smaller than the coverage of the base station, and the range of the tracking area list area may also be the range covered by the base station.

In the embodiment of the present invention, only the range of the cell is smaller than the range covered by the base station, the coverage area of the base station is smaller than the area of the tracking area, and the area of the tracking area is smaller than the range of the tracking area list area. The layer is a cell coverage area, and the upper layer of the first layer is a base station coverage area, a tracking area, or a tracking area list area;

Or, if the first layer is a coverage area of the base station, the upper layer of the first layer is a tracking area or a tracking area list area;

Or if the first layer is a tracking area, the upper layer of the first layer is a tracking area list area.

In all embodiments provided by the present invention, the dwell time correlation measurement refers to a measure of the network's dwell time for the user equipment within the selected sub-area. In the mobile network, in order to save network resources and save power, the terminal will go to the idle state after no signal and data transmission for a period of time. In the idle state, the user equipment does not need to notify the network when moving within the registration area. That is, the network side cannot know the exact location of the user equipment. Therefore, the network side cannot actually know the duration of the user equipment in a certain sub-area. Even when the user is in the idle state, the network side cannot know whether the user equipment is currently in the network. Within the sub-area, therefore, the network side can only perceive according to its own The obtained information measures the duration of the user equipment in the sub-area, determines the probability of the user equipment in the sub-area, and determines whether to page the user equipment in the sub-area.

Specifically, the mobility management network element may use different measurement methods of dwell time correlation and corresponding decision thresholds to measure the dwell duration correlation of the user equipment in a sub-area of a specific hierarchical level. When the mobility management network element senses that the user equipment enters a new sub-area of a certain hierarchical level (for example, enters a new cell), the mobility management network element may identify the sub-area as the hierarchical level. The sub-area is accessed recently, resetting the dwell time correlation measurement at the hierarchical level, and then the measurement can be accumulated according to different measurement methods. When the user equipment needs to be paged, the mobility management network element may compare the current dwell time correlation measurement with the corresponding threshold to determine whether to page the user equipment in the most visited sub-area of the hierarchical layer. . Decision thresholds at different levels of hierarchy may vary.

As a feasible implementation manner, for multiple hierarchical levels of user equipment in the registration area, the measurement of the dwell time correlation may be performed separately at each hierarchical level, and when the user equipment needs to be paged, the lower layer may be Up to the upper layer, respectively, determining whether the dwell time correlation measurement value of each hierarchical level is greater than or equal to a threshold value set by the respective hierarchical level, and if it is greater than or equal to the set threshold value, the recent access at the hierarchical level The sub-area performs paging, otherwise the hierarchical layer is skipped, and the paging user equipment is further performed in the upper area. If the paging fails at a certain hierarchical level (that is, the paging response of the user equipment is not received), paging is performed in the sub-area of the hierarchical upper layer until the paging is successful (ie, the paging of the user equipment is received) Respond), or until the entire registration area of the user equipment is expanded to page.

In the process of paging the user equipment from the lower layer to the upper layer, in addition to the manner of paging from the lower layer to the upper layer, the service establishment delay caused by the failure of paging the user equipment in the lower layer area is increased, and paging resources are wasted. The problem is that you can also perform cross-level paging from the lower layer to the upper layer. For example: You can only page two levels of the cell and the tracking area list: First, the paging is performed on the cell that the user equipment has recently visited. If the paging fails, the paging is directly performed in the range of the entire tracking area list; or only paging can be performed. The eNodeB coverage area, the tracking area, and the tracking area list are three levels. Since an eNodeB usually serves For multiple cells, these cells do not necessarily belong to the current tracking area list of the user equipment. Therefore, at the eNodeB coverage area, paging can be performed only in the intersection area of the eNodeB coverage area and the tracking area list of the user equipment.

The paging method and the mobility management network element provided by the embodiment of the present invention obtain the measurement value of the resident duration correlation of the user equipment in a small area by using the mobility management network element to determine whether to call the user in the small area, if If the measured value is less than the set threshold, the smaller area is skipped and the area-wide paging user is expanded. The paging user equipment in the lower paging success rate sub-area is discarded by introducing the time correlation measurement, thereby realizing the quick paging of the user equipment, reducing the delay in the user equipment accessing the network and establishing communication with the network side, and saving paging resources. .

2 is a flowchart of a second embodiment of a paging method according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, this embodiment is described by a specific example in an EPS system: It is assumed that a hierarchical paging method is used to register a user equipment. The area, that is, the Tracking Area List, is divided into three levels, and the lower layer to the upper layer are respectively an eNodeB coverage area, a tracking area, and a tracking area list. In this embodiment, the dwell time correlation is measured by the dwell time. The mobility management network element responsible for paging control is the MME.

In addition to the top-level hierarchical level (ie, the tracking area list), which does not need to measure the dwell time correlation, the MME maintains each hierarchical level (ie, two hierarchical levels of the eNodeB coverage area and the tracking area) in the user equipment context. 3 variables: 1) recent access to the sub-area identifier; 2) entry sub-area timestamp; 3) final position confirmation timestamp.

The method specifically includes:

S201. The MME receives the user equipment related signaling message from the eNodeB, where the user equipment related signaling message carries the most recently accessed sub-area identifier of the user equipment.

The user equipment related signaling messages of the eNodeB are classified into two types. One is that the user equipment sends the information to the MME through a wireless connection established with the eNodeB, for example, an attach request message (Attach Request Request), and a tracking area update request message (Tracking Area). Update

Request), the monthly service request message (Service Request), etc., the eNodeB receives these The user equipment related signaling message is sent to the MME by adding some additional information to the user equipment related signaling message, and the additional information may include the most recently accessed sub-area identifier of the user equipment, for example, the cell identifier and the tracking area. Logo, etc. The other is a signaling message generated by the eNodeB itself and sent to the MME, for example: a Path Switch Request message in the Handover flow, a Handover Notify message, a Location Report message in the location reporting process. (Location Report), etc., the eNodeB may also carry the most visited sub-area identifier of the user equipment in these messages.

Since the eNodeB establishes a fixed signaling transmission channel with the MME, the eNodeB transmits its own eNodeB identifier to the MME during the establishment of the signaling transmission channel, and the MME stores the correspondence between the signaling transmission channel and the eNodeB identifier, instead of You need to attach your own eNodeB ID to each message.

S202. The MME obtains the most visited sub-area identifier of the user equipment from the message from the eNodeB.

Taking the service request message (Service Request) as an example, the MME obtains the currently visited sub-area identifier of the user equipment from the message, and the latest visited sub-area identifier can be divided into different levels, including: the cell identifier, the eNodeB identifier, and the tracking area identifier. In this embodiment, the hierarchical paging scheme uses only two hierarchical layers of the eNodeB coverage area and the tracking area, and does not use the cell hierarchy. Therefore, the MME maintains only two layers of the eNodeB coverage area and the tracking area. Time correlation measurement.

At each hierarchical level, the MME compares the obtained recently accessed sub-area identifier of the user equipment with the most recently accessed sub-area identifier saved in the user equipment context, if the two are not the same, or the most recent visited sub-object saved in the user equipment context If the area identifier is empty (invalid), the latest visited sub-area identifier of the user equipment obtained from the message is saved in the user context, and the entering sub-area timestamp field is modified to the current time, that is, the MME obtains the message from the message. The time of the most recently accessed sub-area of the user device is saved in the context of the user. If the two are the same, then the MME does not measure the related field of the dwell time correlation in the context of the user equipment. Take action.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that the current latest eNodeB identifier of the user equipment obtained from the service request message has changed, but the tracking area identifier is the same as the latest access tracking area identifier saved in the user equipment context, and the MME will request the service from the service. The currently accessed eNodeB identifier of the user equipment obtained in the user equipment is stored in the "Recently Visited eNodeB Identity" field of the user equipment context, and the update "Enter the latest access eNodeB timestamp" is the current time; the latest access tracking area in the user equipment context is not modified. The "", "Enter the recent access tracking area timestamp" field.

If the received message is an Attach Request message, the MME considers that the user equipment accesses the network from the new location. Therefore, the MME always stores the location information carried in the attach request message as the latest location area identifier of the user equipment in the user. In the context of the device, and set the time zone into the sub-area as the current time, that is, restart the timing.

In a network environment where multiple access technologies coexist, a user terminal may switch from one access technology network to another access technology network, when switching from the current access technology network to another access technology network occurs. In the case of the network side, the network side can maintain the dwell time correlation measurement value of each layered paging area of the current access technology, and can also clear the correlation measurement value, and the next time the user equipment switches back to the current access technology network. The statistics are restarted.

5203. The user equipment does not have data or signaling transmission for a period of time, and the eNodeB initiates a signaling connection release process, and the user equipment turns to an idle state. The MME sets the last location confirmation timestamp of each hierarchical level in the user equipment context to the current time. It can be seen that at each hierarchical level, its last position confirmation timestamp is always later than entering the sub-area timestamp.

5204. In the idle state, the network sends signaling or data to the user equipment, and the MME needs to page the user equipment first. According to the paging method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the dwell time correlation measurement value of each hierarchical layer is judged from the lower layer to the upper layer.

It should be noted that S204 may be triggered when the user equipment is in an idle state, but the user equipment does not always trigger paging when in the idle state, so it is not necessarily every time after S203. Step S204 is performed.

In this embodiment, the eNodeB coverage area hierarchy is first determined to be resident time correlation, and the threshold value of the dwell time correlation measurement value (ie, the resident duration) at the eNodeB coverage layer level is assumed to be 3 Minutes, that is, 180 seconds, if the eNodeB coverage layer layer "last position confirmation time stamp" saved in the user equipment context on the MME minus the "entry sub-area timestamp" is 500 seconds, greater than or equal to the set gate The MME first performs paging in the eNodeB coverage area saved in the "Recently Accessed eNodeB Identity" field saved in the user equipment context. As described above, the coverage area of the eNodeB and the tracking area of the user equipment can be further optimized. The list intersection part is paged. If the paging is successful, the paging process ends; if the user equipment does not respond, the user equipment may have moved out of the coverage area of the eNodeB corresponding to the "recently accessed eNodeB identifier" saved in the user equipment context in the idle state. Then, the MME can expand the paging area and continue paging at the upper hierarchical layer of the eNodeB coverage area level, that is, execute S205.

If the time interval obtained by subtracting the two timestamps is 1 10 seconds, which is less than the set threshold, it is considered that the probability of successful paging in the eNodeB coverage area corresponding to the "recently accessed eNodeB identifier" saved in the user context is small. , not paging in the eNodeB coverage area. The MME expands the paging area and continues paging at the upper hierarchical level of the eNodeB coverage area level, that is, executes S205.

S205. The layered paging enters the tracking layer level. Assume that the set threshold of the "resident duration" measurement at the tracking layer level is 8 minutes, ie 480 seconds, if the tracking discrimination layer level "last position confirmation time stamp" is saved in the context of the user equipment on the MME. Subtracting the "Enter Sub-Region Timestamp" to obtain a time interval of 500 seconds. If the threshold is greater than or equal to the set threshold, the tracking area corresponding to the "Recent Access Tracking Area Identification" field saved in the user equipment context is first paged. If the paging succeeds, the paging process ends; if the user equipment does not respond, the user equipment may have moved out of the tracking area range corresponding to the "recent access tracking area identifier" saved in the user equipment context in the idle state. The MME continues to expand the paging area, at the tracking area level The upper hierarchical layer continues to page, that is, S206 is executed.

If the time interval obtained by subtracting the two time stamps is 400 seconds, which is less than the set threshold, it is considered that the tracking range corresponding to the "recent access tracking area identifier" saved in the user context has a small probability of success, and is absent. The tracking area is paged. The MME continues to expand the paging area and continues paging at the upper hierarchical level of the tracking area level, that is, S206 is executed.

It should be noted that if the paging area is extended to the upper paging area and the paging is continued due to paging failure (ie, no response) in the lower layer area, the resident correlation of the terminal in the upper paging area may not be determined. Whether the measured value is greater than the set threshold.

S206. The layered paging enters the uppermost area, and is paged in a registration area of the user equipment, that is, the entire tracking area list allocated by the MME for the user equipment. In the uppermost area, there is no need to perform measurement and judgment of dwell time correlation, and the MME directly searches for the user equipment in the entire tracking area list. If the user equipment responds to the page, the paging user equipment succeeds, and if the user equipment does not respond, the entire paging procedure fails.

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a third embodiment of a paging method according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 3, this embodiment provides another method for performing dwell time correlation of a user equipment in a hierarchical layer sub-area. The method of measurement, the number of times the user equipment establishes a signaling connection with the mobility management entity as a measurement value, and the user equipment may pass an Attach, a Service Request, a Tracking Area Update, and a Handover. After the process establishes a signaling connection with the MME, after establishing a signaling connection, if there is no signaling and data transmission for a period of time, the eNodeB triggers the mobility management entity to turn the user equipment into an idle state. This is called "one time" signaling. connection.

Similar to the previous embodiment, in this embodiment, the mobility management entity obtains the latest location sub-area identifier of the user equipment from the message from the eNodeB every time the connection is established, and records it in the context of the user equipment. The difference from the previous embodiment is that: each time the user equipment establishes a connection with the mobility management entity, if the mobility management entity obtains the latest visited sub-area identifier of the user equipment obtained from the message sent by the eNodeB and is saved in the context of the user equipment Value comparison If there is no change, the number of signaling connection establishments corresponding to the sub-area identifier of the hierarchical layer is incremented by one; if there is a change, the most recently accessed sub-area identifier is saved and the counting is restarted. When paging occurs, if the accumulated value of the number of signaling connection establishment initiated by the corresponding hierarchical layer sub-area recorded in the user context is greater than or equal to the set threshold, paging is performed in the sub-area; if less than the set threshold If the probability of paging the user equipment in the sub-area is small, the paging is not performed in the sub-area, and the extended range is performed in the upper-level area of the sub-area until the paging succeeds, or until the user equipment is expanded. The entire registration area is paged.

After the user equipment establishes the signaling connection, the user equipment may continue to move and remove the location area where the connection is established. In this embodiment, the user equipment location sub-area obtained by establishing multiple consecutive connection establishments has no change as the user equipment when the paging occurs. The measured value of the probability in the sub-area, the measured value of the number of times is compared with the set threshold value to determine whether to perform paging in the sub-area, and the set threshold value is larger, and the opposite is considered The probability of successful paging in this sub-area is greater.

In this embodiment, it is assumed that the hierarchical paging scheme divides the registration area of the user equipment, that is, the tracking area list, into only two levels, that is, the lower layer cell level and the uppermost tracking area list level. The dwell time correlation uses a measurement method of the number of times the signaling connection is established. Similarly, the mobility management network element responsible for paging control is the MME.

In this embodiment, since the registration area of the user equipment is only divided into two levels, the top-level tracking area list does not need to measure the dwell time correlation, so the MME pairs the unique lower-layer hierarchical sub-area, that is, the cell in the user equipment context. Maintain 2 variables: 1) The most recent access sub-area ID; 2) The number of times the sub-area signaling connection was established in the most recent access.

The method specifically includes:

S301. The user equipment establishes a signaling connection with the MME.

The establishment of the signaling connection between the user equipment and the MME may occur in the attachment, the periodic tracking area update, the tracking area update across the tracking area list in the idle state, the service request, and the handover across the MME.

(Handover) and other processes, the user equipment establishes a wireless resource connection with the eNodeB, and communicates with The eNodeB establishes and maintains a signaling connection with the MME.

Similarly, after receiving the signaling message from the user equipment, the eNodeB sends some additional information to the MME and sends the information to the MME. The additional information may include the most recently accessed sub-area identifier of the user equipment, for example: Tracking area identification, etc.

S302. The MME obtains the most visited sub-area identifier of the user equipment from the message from the eNodeB.

In this embodiment, only two layers are divided in the hierarchical paging method, so the MME only counts the number of signaling connection establishments of the lower layer of the cell layer, and the MME obtains the cell identity when establishing the signaling connection from the message, and the user. The "Recently Visited Cell Identity" field saved in the device context is compared. If not, or the "Recently Visited Cell Identity" saved in the user equipment context is empty (invalid), the MME will obtain the latest user equipment from the message. The cell identity is stored in the "Recently Visited Cell Identity" field of the user equipment context, and the value of "Recently Visited Cell Signaling Connection Establishment Times" is set to 1; if the two are the same, the MME will be in the user equipment context "in the most recent The value of the access cell signaling connection establishment number field is incremented by one.

S303: The user equipment does not have data or signaling transmission for a period of time, and the eNodeB initiates a signaling connection release procedure, and the user equipment turns to an idle state.

S304. In the idle state, the network has signaling or data to be sent to the user equipment, and the MME needs to page the user equipment first. According to the layered paging method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, from the lower layer to the upper layer, the MME determines the dwell time correlation measurement value of each layer.

Similar to the previous embodiment, S304 is not necessarily executed every time S303 is executed. In this embodiment, the number of times the cell signaling connection establishment is recently accessed is determined, and the threshold value of the "signaling connection establishment times" measurement value at the cell layering level is assumed to be three times, if the user equipment context on the MME If the number of "recently visited cell signaling connection establishment times" saved in the user is greater than or equal to the set threshold, the cell range saved in the "recently visited cell identity" field saved in the user equipment context is first paged. If the paging is successful, Then the paging process ends; if the user equipment does not respond, the user equipment may have moved out of the cell in an idle state. The MME expands the paging area, and continues paging in the upper hierarchical area of the cell hierarchical level, that is, executes S305.

S305. In this embodiment, the user equipment registration area is only divided into two layers, and the upper layer layer area of the cell layering layer has only the top layer, that is, the registration area of the user equipment, that is, the tracking area allocated by the MME for the user equipment. List. The MME pages the user equipment directly within the entire tracking area list. If the user equipment responds to the page, the paging user equipment succeeds, and if the user equipment does not respond, the entire paging procedure fails.

The first embodiment and the second embodiment of the paging method provided by the present invention respectively provide two methods for measuring the time-dependent correlation measurement of hierarchical sub-areas. However, this is not a limitation of the present invention. Other measurement methods may be used to measure the time-dependent correlation of the hierarchical sub-area. For example, the measurement methods provided in the second embodiment and the third embodiment may be combined, and the MME measures To the resident time of the user equipment in a certain hierarchical sub-area, the number of establishments of the signaling connection respectively reaches the respective set threshold values, and paging is performed in the hierarchical sub-area. The various measurement methods are no longer used here.

A person skilled in the art can understand that all or part of the process of implementing the above embodiment method can be completed by a computer program to instruct related hardware, and the program can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. In execution, the flow of an embodiment of the methods as described above may be included. The storage medium may be a magnetic disk, an optical disk, or a read-only storage memory.

(Read-Only Memory, ROM) or random access memory (RAM).

4 is a schematic structural diagram of a first embodiment of a mobility management network element according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 4, the mobility management network element includes: an obtaining module 11 and a paging module 13; wherein: an acquiring module 1 1 And a dwell time correlation measurement value obtained by the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-area, where the dwell time correlation measurement value is a measured value of the user equipment dwell time;

a paging module 13 configured to perform dwell time correlation measurement in the first hierarchical sub-area If the value is less than the set threshold, the user equipment is paged in the sub-area of the first layer, and the first layer and the upper layer of the first layer belong to the registration area of the user equipment. The coverage of the first layer upper layer is greater than the coverage of the first layer.

In another embodiment of the invention,

The paging module 13 is further configured to: if the dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-area is greater than or equal to a set threshold, paging in the first hierarchical sub-area The user equipment.

In another embodiment of the invention,

The paging module 13 is further configured to page the user equipment in a sub-area of the upper layer of the first layer if the user equipment fails to be paged in the first hierarchical sub-area.

In another embodiment of the invention,

The obtaining module 1 1 is further configured to obtain a dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in a sub-area of the upper layer of the first layer;

The paging module 13 is configured to: if the dwell time correlation measurement value in the sub-area of the first hierarchical upper layer is greater than or equal to a set threshold, paging the sub-area in the first hierarchical upper layer User equipment.

In another embodiment of the invention,

The paging module 13 is configured to page the user equipment directly in a sub-area of the upper layer of the first layer.

In another embodiment of the invention,

The acquiring module 1 is configured to: when the paging occurs, the user equipment first establishes a signaling connection in the first hierarchical sub-area, and the user equipment releases signaling in the first layer. The time interval between the connections acquires the dwell time correlation measurement value, during which the user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in the other sub-areas of the first layer; or

The acquiring module 1 1 is specifically configured to: when the paging occurs, the user equipment is in the Acquiring, by the hierarchically upper layer sub-area, a signaling connection for the first time, and obtaining, by the user equipment, a time interval between the first layer of the upper layer and the last time the signaling connection is released, the dwell time correlation measurement value, During the time interval, the user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in other sub-areas of the first layer upper layer.

In another embodiment of the invention,

The obtaining module 1 is configured to obtain the dwell time correlation measurement value according to the number of times that the mobility management network element establishes a signaling connection with the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-area, in statistics. During the number of times the user equipment establishes a signaling connection in the first hierarchical sub-area, the user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in the other sub-areas of the first layer;

Or

The obtaining module 1 is configured to obtain the dwell time correlation measurement value according to the number of times that the mobility management network element establishes a signaling connection with the user equipment in the first hierarchical upper sub-area, During the counting of the number of times the user equipment establishes a signaling connection in the first hierarchical upper sub-area, the user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in other sub-areas of the first hierarchical upper layer.

In another embodiment of the invention,

The first layer is a cell coverage area, and the first layer upper layer is a base station coverage area, a tracking area, or a tracking area list area;

Or the first layer is a base station coverage area, and the first layer upper layer is a tracking area or a tracking area list area;

Or the first layer is a tracking area, and the upper layer of the first layer is a tracking area list area.

In another embodiment of the present invention, the mobility management network element further includes: a determining module, configured to determine a sub-area of the upper layer of the first layer from the first layer by stepwise expansion coverage; or A sub-region of the upper layer of the first layer is determined by expanding the coverage from the first layer. The mobility management network element provided in this embodiment corresponds to the paging method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, and is a functional device for performing the paging method. For the specific operation process, refer to the foregoing paging method embodiment, where Narration.

The mobility management network element provided in this embodiment obtains, by using the mobility management network element, the measurement value of the resident duration correlation of the user equipment in a small area, and determines whether the user is called in the small area, if the measured value is less than the setting. Threshold, skip this smaller area and expand the area to page users. The paging user equipment in the lower paging success rate sub-area is discarded by introducing the time correlation measurement, thereby realizing the quick paging of the user equipment, reducing the delay in the user equipment accessing the network and establishing communication with the network side, and saving paging resources. .

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a communication system, including the mobility management network element according to any of the foregoing embodiments.

It should be noted that the above embodiments are only for explaining the technical solutions of the present invention, and are not intended to be limiting; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that: The technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments are modified, or some of the technical features are equivalently replaced. The modifications and substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

Rights request

A paging method, comprising:

If the dwell time correlation measurement value in the first hierarchical sub-area is less than a set threshold, paging the user equipment in the sub-area of the first hierarchical upper layer, the first layer and The first layer upper layer belongs to the registration area of the user equipment, and the coverage of the first layer upper layer is larger than the coverage area of the first layer.

The method according to claim 1, wherein the method further comprises: if the dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-area is greater than or equal to a set threshold, And then paging the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-area.

The method according to claim 2, wherein the method further comprises: if the paging of the user equipment fails in the first hierarchical sub-area, The user equipment is paged within the sub-area.

The method according to claim 1, wherein the paging the user equipment in the sub-area of the upper layer of the first layer comprises:

Obtaining a dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in a sub-area of the first layer upper layer; if the dwell time correlation measurement value in the sub-area of the first layer upper layer is greater than or equal to a setting Threshold, paging the user equipment in a sub-area of the first layer upper layer; or

The user equipment is paged directly in a sub-area of the upper layer of the first layer.

The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the obtaining the dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-area comprises: When the user equipment first establishes a signaling connection in the first hierarchical sub-area, and obtains the resident time interval between the user equipment and the last time the first layer releases the signaling connection. Time correlation measurement During the time interval, the user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in other sub-areas of the first layer; or

And obtaining the dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in the first hierarchical upper sub-area, including:

The time interval between the first establishment of the signaling connection by the user equipment in the first hierarchical upper sub-area, and the last time the user equipment releases the signaling connection in the first hierarchical upper layer, according to the occurrence of the paging Obtaining the dwell time correlation measurement value;

During the time interval, the user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in other sub-areas of the first hierarchical upper layer.

The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the acquiring the dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-area includes:

Obtaining the dwell time correlation measurement value according to the number of times the mobility management network element establishes a signaling connection with the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-area;

During the counting of the number of times the user equipment establishes a signaling connection in the first hierarchical sub-area, the user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in the other sub-areas of the first layer;

Or

Obtaining the dwell time correlation measurement value according to the number of times that the mobility management network element establishes a signaling connection with the user equipment in the first hierarchical upper sub-area;

During the counting of the number of times the user equipment establishes a signaling connection in the first hierarchical upper sub-area, the user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in other sub-areas of the first hierarchical upper layer.

7. A method according to any one of claims 1 - 4, characterized in that

Or the first layer is a coverage area of the base station, and the upper layer of the first layer is a tracking area. Domain or tracking area list area;

The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein before the paging the user equipment in the sub-area of the first layer upper layer, the method further includes:

Determining a sub-region of the first layer upper layer from the first layer by stepwise expanding coverage; or determining a sub-region of the first layer upper layer from the first layer cross-level expansion coverage.

9. A mobility management network element, comprising:

An obtaining module, configured to acquire a dwell time correlation measurement value of the user equipment in the first hierarchical sub-area, where the dwell time correlation measurement value is a measured value of the user equipment dwell time; a paging module, If the dwell time correlation measurement value in the first hierarchical sub-area is less than a set threshold, paging the user equipment in a sub-area of the first hierarchical upper layer, the first sub- The layer and the upper layer of the first layer belong to a registration area of the user equipment, and the coverage of the first layer upper layer is greater than the coverage of the first layer.

The mobility management network element according to claim 9, wherein the paging module is further configured to: if the user equipment is in the first hierarchical sub-area, the dwell time correlation measurement value When the threshold is greater than or equal to the threshold, the user equipment is paged in the first hierarchical sub-area.

The mobility management network element according to claim 10, wherein the paging module is further configured to: if the user equipment fails to be paged in the first hierarchical sub-area, Paging the user equipment in a sub-area of the first hierarchical upper layer.

The mobility management network element according to claim 9, wherein the acquiring module is further configured to acquire a dwell time correlation measurement of the user equipment in a sub-area of the first hierarchical upper layer. value; The paging module is configured to: if the dwell time correlation measurement value in the sub-area of the first layer upper layer is greater than or equal to a set threshold, paging the sub-area in the first layer upper layer User equipment.

13. The mobility management network element of claim 9 wherein:

The paging module is configured to page the user equipment directly in a sub-area of the first layer upper layer.

The mobility management network element according to any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein the acquiring module is specifically configured to: when the paging occurs, the user equipment is in the first layer And establishing, by the user equipment, the dwell time correlation measurement value at a time interval between the first time that the user equipment releases the signaling connection in the first layer, where the time interval is The user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in other sub-areas of the first layer; or

The acquiring module is specifically configured to: when the paging occurs, the user equipment first establishes a signaling connection in the first hierarchical upper sub-area, and the user equipment releases the last layer in the first layer upper layer The time interval between the signaling connections acquires the dwell time correlation measurement, during which the user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in other sub-areas of the first hierarchical upper layer.

The mobility management network element according to any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein the acquiring module is specifically configured to: in the first layer according to the mobility management network element and the user equipment The number of times the signaling connection is established in the sub-area acquires the dwell time correlation measurement value. During the counting of the number of times the user equipment establishes a signaling connection in the first hierarchical sub-area, the user equipment is not in the Establishing a signaling connection in the other sub-areas of the first layer;

Or

The acquiring module is specifically configured to acquire the dwell time correlation measurement value according to the number of times that the mobility management network element establishes a signaling connection with the user equipment in the first hierarchical upper sub-area, in the statistics office. The user equipment establishes a signaling connection in the first hierarchical upper sub-area During the number of times, the user equipment does not establish a signaling connection in other sub-areas of the first hierarchical upper layer.

The mobility management network element according to any one of claims 9 to 13, wherein the first layer is a cell coverage area, and the first layer upper layer is a base station coverage area and a tracking area. Or tracking the area list area;

The mobility management network element according to any one of claims 9 to 13, further comprising:

a determining module, configured to determine a sub-region of the upper layer of the first layer from the first layer by stepwise expansion coverage; or determine the first layer from the first layer cross-level expansion coverage The sub-area of the upper layer.

18. A communication system comprising the mobility management network element of any of claims 9-17.