CN100421515C

CN100421515C - Method for realizing multi-cast business data based on mobile network

Info

Publication number: CN100421515C
Application number: CNB2005100711945A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 陈建; 胡军; 缪军海
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2005-05-20
Filing date: 2005-05-20
Publication date: 2008-09-24
Anticipated expiration: 2025-05-20
Also published as: CN1852551A; WO2006122509A1

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method for realizing multicast business data based on a mobile network, which has a key point that a multicast agency module is arranged in RAN. An access request comprising purpose information from a UE is monitored by the multicast agency module. After the purpose information in the request is judged to be preassigned and be used for providing the data source of data business service, access control is executed to establish control connection with the UE. The UE obtains reception attribute information from the establishing process of the control connection. Business data corresponding to a business data content identification from the data source are issued to the UE by the multicast agency module. The business data are received in an established transmission channel according to the obtained reception attribute information by the UE. Because the present invention adopts the multicast agency module, one piece of data is needed to be transmitted between the data source and the multicast agency module. Thus, the multicast of the business data is realized, data treatment can be rapid and smooth, and the utilization rate of network resources is enhanced.

Description

Method for realizing multicast service data based on mobile network

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the technical field of mobile networks, particularly to a method for realizing multicast service data based on a mobile network.

Background

With the development of 3G communication technology, networks can already provide sufficient data wireless transmission bandwidth, and the integration level of mobile phones is higher and higher, and the information processing capability of mobile phones is also higher and higher, under such conditions, mobile phones have not only been used for traditional voice telephone services, but also can realize playing of various service data, and streaming media service data related to video and audio appears on mobile phones naturally, specifically, such as multimedia short message service data, PS domain video streaming service data, video telephony service data, multimedia broadcast multicast service data, and the like.

At present, the existing streaming media service played on a mobile phone all adopts a point-to-point transmission mode, and referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation principle of point-to-point transmission.

Each user terminal (UE) interacts with a Radio Access Network (RAN) and a Core Network (CN), respectively, and establishes a dedicated IP data transmission channel for connecting with an external network. And then, the streaming media server sends streaming media service data to the UE through the special IP data transmission channel. That is, a dedicated IP data transmission channel is established between each UE and the streaming media server for transmitting streaming media service data, and the streaming media server must also transmit a data for each UE.

Based on the above principle, when a user needs to watch television through a mobile phone, the UE of the user sends a streaming media playing request to the streaming media server through a network side including SGSN, GGSN, and IP transmission network, the playing request may be carried through RTSP protocol or other streaming media real-time interaction protocol, the request includes a program identifier selected by the user, i.e., a selected channel, the network side establishes a dedicated IP data transmission channel between the UE and the streaming media server, and after the establishment of the IP data transmission channel is completed, the streaming media server informs the UE of the received attribute information. The attribute information includes information such as an IP address, a port number, a rate, and an encoding format of the data transmission channel. Then, the streaming media server copies a copy of data corresponding to the program identification and sends the data to the UE through the established special IP data transmission channel, and the UE decodes the received data according to the received attribute information and then presents the audio and video information to the user.

The above describes the method for transmitting service data based on a mobile network by taking streaming service data as an example, of course, the service data transmitted in the mobile network includes but is not limited to streaming service data, and the transmitted service data may also be media file service data, such as MTV, MP3 music files, video files, electronic books, pictures, electronic newspapers, and the like. Therefore, the existing method for transmitting service data has the following defects:

1) for the current R99, R4, R5 networks, a dedicated IP data transmission channel needs to be established between the application server and each UE, and the application server needs to send a copy of data for each UE no matter whether the service data required to be received by each UE is the same or not, which inevitably results in that the same service data is sent multiple times, thus resulting in very low resource utilization rate, and the number of users accessed is also limited due to the limitation of resources on the network side.

2) Because the distribution range of the NodeB is wide, all NodeB base stations do not lay the optical fiber or a plurality of E1 conditionally, and even if the NodeB base stations are laid, the laying cost is very high; for operators without transmission resources, the price of renting a transmission channel is very high. Generally, an operator only provides several live channels (e.g. several sets of tv programs), if several tens of users under a NodeB in the RAN all receive the same service data, e.g. watch the same tv channel, under the current implementation scheme, a dedicated transmission channel for carrying streaming media service data needs to be established for each UE on the IUB interface between the RNC and the NodeB, which inevitably results in a large amount of occupied IUB interface resources, for which the operator has to increase transmission resources, and the receiving cost for the users is definitely very high. Thus, the promotion of the service is not utilized.

3) For an R6 network, it has a Broadcast Multicast Service Center (BM-SC), and theoretically can support Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS), but the protocol of this version has not been formulated and completed, and it takes a long time to market a mature product, and most of the existing networks do not support R6, and if the R6 mode is adopted, the overall change of the existing networks is large.

Therefore, the service data similar to streaming media in the existing network can not realize multicast, so that not only the utilization rate of network resources is low, but also the realization cost is very high.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for implementing multicast service data based on a mobile network, so that a data source on a network side for providing data only needs to issue one piece of data to a RAN, thereby improving resource utilization of an application layer on the network side.

In order to achieve the purpose, the technical scheme of the invention is realized as follows:

a method for realizing multicast service data based on mobile network sets multicast proxy module on radio access network RAN, UE to receive service data interacts with CN, activates PDP, the method also includes following steps:

a. a multicast agent module in RAN monitors an access request containing target information from UE, executes access control after judging that the target information in the request is the target information of a data source which is specified in advance and used for providing data service, acquires a service data content identifier to be received by the UE initiating the access request, and establishes control connection with the UE; the UE acquires the receiving attribute information from the establishment process of the control connection;

b. after receiving a play starting request from the UE, a multicast agent module in the RAN sends service data corresponding to the service data content identification from a data source to the UE according to the acquired service data content identification;

c. and the UE receives the service data in the established transmission channel according to the acquired receiving attribute information.

Preferably, the multicast proxy module is composed of a control agent CA and a data agent DA;

the operation executed by the multicast proxy module in the step a is executed by a CA in the multicast proxy module;

when the CA establishes a control connection with the UE, the CA informs the DA to start executing the operation of sending the service data; after receiving the notification from the CA, the DA then issues the service data corresponding to the service data content identifier from the data source to the UE.

Preferably, the established transmission channel is a dedicated data transmission channel established between the transport layer RAN and the UE for each UE;

the process that the DA issues the service data corresponding to the service data content identification from the data source to the UE is as follows: and when receiving the notice of executing the service data sending from the CA, the DA starts to send the service data to the downlink special data transmission channel where the UE initiating the playing request is located.

Preferably, the established transmission channel is a shared data transmission channel pre-established for each service data content identifier of each cell in a transport layer RAN;

the process that the DA issues the service data corresponding to the service data content identification from the data source to the UE is as follows: when receiving a notice of sending service data from a CA, a DA counts the number of users of the service data required to be played by the UE in a cell where the UE initiating a playing request is currently located, and judges whether the number of the users is changed from zero to nonzero, if so, the DA starts to send the service data required by the UE on a downlink public transmission channel, otherwise, the DA does not process the service data; or,

and counting the number of users of the service data required to be played by the UE in the cell where the UE initiating the playing request is currently located by the SACU in the RAN, judging whether the number of the users is changed from zero to non-zero, if so, sending a notification of starting to send the data to the DA, and after receiving the notification, starting to send the service data required by the UE on a downlink common transmission channel by the DA, otherwise, not processing the SACU in the RAN any more.

Preferably, the process of establishing the pre-established shared data transmission channel includes the following steps:

01) CA in the multicast agent module indicates SACU in RAN to reconfigure, and the configuration indication contains service data content identification selected by UE;

02) after receiving the instruction in the step 01), the SACU disconnects the established downlink IP data channel, reconfigures the downlink IP data channel, acquires the service data content identifier from the reconfiguration instruction, and recalculates the wireless network identifier of the UE according to the service data content identifier in the existing calculation mode; then sending information for changing UTRAN to UE, wherein the information comprises the wireless network identification which is recalculated;

03) after receiving the change information in the step 02), the UE updates the wireless network identifier of the UE and then returns change confirmation information to the SACU;

04) the SACU sends a reconfiguration command to the UE, and after the UE receives the reconfiguration command and performs reconfiguration, the UE returns a reconfiguration command response to the SACU;

05) the SACU releases the channel resources occupied by the current UE.

Preferably, when the network is WCDMA, the SACU is RRC, and the radio network identifier is UTRAN radio network temporary identifier URNTI and cell radio network temporary identifier CRNTI; the reconfiguration indication and the reconfiguration command are a D2F reconfiguration indication and a D2F reconfiguration command respectively; and the channel resource occupied by the current UE is a dedicated channel resource.

Preferably, the UE interacts with the CN, the process of activating the PDP at least includes establishing a radio resource control connection, and if the network is pre-configured for the RAN to encrypt air interface data, the method further includes:

when UE interacts with RAN, it initiates the extended reason value of radio resource control connection request containing 'multicast service request', when RAN detects that the reason value of radio resource control connection request is 'multicast service request', it will send the air interface data of UE directly without encryption.

Preferably, the manner of receiving the service data from the data source by the DA in the multicast proxy module is as follows:

the multicast proxy module receives the service data directly from the data source, or,

the multicast proxy module receives traffic data from a data source via a network other than the CN, or,

the route function in CN is used to set up a channel special for transmitting multicast service data, and the multicast proxy module receives the service data from data source via the special transmission channel in CN.

Preferably, the DA in the multicast proxy module receives that the service data from the data source is unicast data or multicast data, converts the unicast data into multicast data if the service data is unicast data, and then performs subsequent operations.

Preferably, the method further comprises:

A. UE initiates a release request, wherein the request comprises target information; the destination information is a destination IP address or a destination IP address and a port number;

B. a multicast agent module in the RAN monitors a release request containing target information from the UE, intercepts and captures the request after judging that the target information in the request is the target information of a data source which is specified in advance and used for providing data service, and executes resource release operation; and then, returning a release response to the UE.

when there is one dedicated data transmission channel for each UE between the transport layer RAN and the UE, the resource release operation includes the steps of:

the CA informs the DA to stop sending the service data to the downlink special transmission channel of the UE, and releases the control connection and the radio resource control between the network side and the UE side; and after receiving the notification, the DA stops sending the service data to the downlink special transmission channel of the UE.

when a shared data transmission channel exists between the transport layer RAN and each cell for each service data content identifier, the release request initiated by the UE further comprises the service data content identifier;

the resource release operation comprises the following steps:

the CA controls the network side to reconfigure, informs the DA to stop sending the service data on the shared data transmission channel, and releases the control connection and the wireless resource control occupied by the UE side;

after receiving the notification, the DA subtracts one from the number of users currently receiving the content of the service data in the cell, and then judges whether the number of users receiving the service data changes from nonzero to zero, if so, the DA stops sending the service data to the cell, otherwise, the DA does not process the service data; or,

the resource release operation comprises the following steps:

and the CA controls the network side to reconfigure, meanwhile, the SACU in the RAN subtracts one from the number of the users currently receiving the service data content in the cell, then judges whether the number of the users receiving the service data is changed from nonzero to zero, if so, sends a notification of stopping sending the data to the DA, and after receiving the notification, the DA stops sending the service data required by the UE on a downlink public transmission channel, otherwise, the SACU in the RAN does not process any more.

Preferably, the operation of controlling the network side to reconfigure by the CA includes the following steps:

CA in the multicast agent module indicates SACU to reconfigure; after receiving the reconfiguration instruction, the SACU reconfigures the SACU and then sends a reconfiguration command to the UE;

and the UE reconfigures itself according to the received command.

Preferably, when the network is WCDMA, the SACU is RRC; the reconfiguration indication and the reconfiguration command are an F2D reconfiguration indication and an F2D reconfiguration command, respectively.

Preferably, the control connection is a service control connection and a TCP connection, the service control connection may be a streaming media control connection including, but not limited to, a real-time streaming media protocol rtsp (real streaming protocol), and the service control connection may also be a control connection for file transfer including, but not limited to, a point-to-multipoint unidirectional file transfer protocol flute (file Delivery over universal transport).

Preferably, when the multicast proxy module is composed of a control agent CA and a data agent DA, and the RAN and each cell have a shared data transmission channel for each service data content id, the method further includes that the UE performs a cross-cell update, and the cell update process includes the following steps:

i) after receiving a cell update request containing target cell identification information from UE, the SACU judges whether common channel data carried by a target cell and common channel data carried by a source cell are the same or not, if so, directly executes step iii), and if not, executes step ii);

ii) the SACU recalculates the radio network identifier of the UE, then sends information for changing the UTRAN to the UE, wherein the information comprises the recalculated radio network identifier, and the UE returns confirmation information for changing the UTRAN to the SACU after updating according to the received information;

iii) the SACU notifies a CA in the multicast proxy module, the UE performs cell update, and the CA notifies a DA, wherein the notifications all comprise identification information of a target cell and an identification of the UE initiating an update request;

iv) the DA adds one to the number of users corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE in the target cell; then judging whether the number of users in a transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE is changed from zero to nonzero, if so, starting to send data to a public transmission channel bearing the service data in the target cell, and then executing step v); otherwise, directly executing the step v);

v) the DA reduces the number of users corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE by one in the source cell; then judging whether the number of users in a data transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE in the source cell is nonzero, if so, directly executing the step vi), otherwise, stopping sending service data to the data transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE in the source cell by the DA, and then executing the step vi);

vi) the DA informs the CA of finishing the operation, and the CA returns operation execution finishing response information to the SACU; and after receiving the response, the SACU returns a cell update response to the UE.

iii) the SACU adds one to the number of users corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE in the target cell, then judges whether the number of users in a transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE is changed from zero to nonzero, if so, executes the step iv), otherwise, directly executes the step v);

iv) the SACU informs the DA in the multicast proxy module to start sending data, after receiving the notification, the DA starts sending data to a public transmission channel bearing the service data in the target cell, returns response information for executing operation to the SACU, and then executes the step v);

v) the SACU subtracts one from the number of users corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE in the source cell, then judges whether the number of users in a data transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE in the source cell is nonzero, if so, does not process the user, otherwise, informs a DA in the multicast proxy module to stop sending data, and after receiving the notice, stops sending service data to the data transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE in the source cell and returns operation execution response information to the SACU;

vi) the SACU returns a cell update response to the UE.

Preferably, when the network is WCDMA, the SACU is RRC, and the radio network identifier is UTRAN radio network temporary identifier URNTI and cell radio network temporary identifier CRNTI.

Preferably, the data agent DA in the multicast agent module is composed of a single-stage processing unit, or is composed of two or more stages of processing units;

when DA in the multicast agent module is composed of two-stage processing units, if the low-level multicast data agent unit LDAU receives the playing notice from CA, the LDAU adds one to the number of users corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE initiating the request in the current cell, then judges whether the number of users corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE initiating the request in the current cell is changed from zero to nonzero, if yes, an access request is sent to the high-level multicast data agent unit HDAU, the HDAU starts to send data to a public transmission channel bearing the service data, otherwise, the LDAU does not process;

if the low-layer LDAU receives the notice of stopping playing from the CA, the LDAU subtracts one from the number of users corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE initiating the request in the current cell, then judges whether the number of users corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE initiating the request in the current cell is changed from nonzero to zero, if so, the LDAU informs the HDAU to stop sending service data to the data transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE in the cell, otherwise, the LDAU does not process the service data.

Preferably, if the network is a WCDMA network, and the multicast proxy module is disposed in the RNC in the RAN, the multicast proxy module sends service data from the higher-level multicast data proxy unit to the lower-level multicast data proxy unit by using a hardware-based multicast function in the RNC; the hardware is a hardware platform with an IP switching function, or an ATM switching platform or a multi-service platform.

Preferably, if it is a WCDMA network, and the multicast proxy module is disposed in the RNC in the RAN, further comprising: and a multicast data distribution agent MDDA module with a service data distribution function is arranged in the NodeB, receives service data from the RNC, copies the data according to the requirement and distributes the data to each cell.

Preferably, in case of WCDMA network, the multicast proxy module is disposed in RNC in RAN or NodeB in RAN; if the network is a CDMA network, the multicast proxy module is arranged on a CBSC in the RAN or a CBTS in the RAN; if the network is a GSM network, the multicast proxy module is arranged on a GBSC in the RAN or arranged on a GBTS in the RAN.

Preferably, the destination information is a destination IP address, or a destination IP address and a port number; the receiving attribute information at least comprises the content identification of the service data to be received, and the IP address, the port number, the rate and the coding format of the multicast data bearing the service content.

Preferably, the data source includes, but is not limited to, a streaming server, and the service data includes, but is not limited to, streaming service data.

The key point of the invention is that a multicast agent module in RAN monitors an access request containing target information from UE, and executes access control after judging that the target information in the request is the target information of a data source which is specified in advance and used for providing data service, acquires a UF (user data) to-be-received service data content identifier initiating the access request, and establishes control connection with the UE; the UE acquires the receiving attribute information from the establishment process of the control connection; after receiving a play starting request from the UE, a multicast agent module in the RAN sends service data corresponding to the service data content identification from a data source to the UE according to the acquired service data content identification; and the UE receives the service data in the established transmission channel according to the acquired receiving attribute information.

The application of the invention has the following advantages:

1. due to the adoption of the multicast proxy module, only one part of data is transmitted between the data source and the multicast proxy module, so that the multicast of service data is realized, the data processing can be faster and smoother, the Qos of the streaming media service is promoted, and the utilization rate of network resources is improved.

2. Due to the existence of the multicast agent module, the RAN can obtain the rate of the current service data, so that a related entity in the RAN assigns or reallocates a bearer channel with a corresponding rate according to the current rate of the service data, for example, when the rate of a program source is 50 Kbits/s, it is sufficient to allocate a 64K transmission channel to the user, thereby more effectively and scientifically applying limited air interface resources.

3. Because the RAN agency technology is adopted, a plurality of processes do not need to be processed at the CN and the streaming media server side, the flow processing speed is greatly increased, a user obviously feels that the connection speed is increased, and the service quality is improved.

4. If the data source is a streaming media server, the number of users of a current streaming media server with higher performance for processing simultaneous on-line on-demand or live broadcast is about 1000, and after the method of the invention is adopted, the number of the users of the current on-line live broadcast can be up to tens of thousands while the streaming media server can support, and the resources of the core network side and the application layer can be greatly saved.

5. The method of the invention can be well combined with the mobile network, such as the RAN in the current R99, R4 and R5, has little change to the current network, and provides an operation mode which can greatly reduce the operation cost for operators, particularly reduce the transmission cost on air interfaces and IUB interfaces. Meanwhile, operators can utilize the technology to reduce the cost of watching the live streaming media by the mobile phone, so that the operators can deal with very favorable positions in competition.

6. The multicast proxy module for receiving the data source service data can receive the service data by adopting the bypass technology of the multicast data, so that the multicast service data is borne by a special channel, and the QOS of the multicast data is greatly improved.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation of point-to-point transmission;

fig. 2a is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation principle of multicast according to the present invention;

FIG. 2b is a schematic diagram illustrating another implementation principle of implementing multicast according to the present invention;

FIG. 3a is a diagram showing a protocol hierarchy when a CA acts as a proxy for a streaming server;

FIG. 3b shows a protocol level diagram of the DA when the CA acts as a proxy for the streaming server;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an overall implementation of establishing service data multicast according to an embodiment;

fig. 5 shows a flow diagram of an implementation of configuring a shared data transmission channel at the transport layer. The flow of this implementation will be described by taking FACH channel as an example;

fig. 6a is a schematic diagram of relationships between entities of an air interface on a conventional network side;

fig. 6b is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between each entity of a network air interface when a UE initiating an access request of the present invention adopts a dedicated channel;

fig. 6c is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between each entity of the network air interface when the UE initiating the access request of the present invention adopts the shared channel;

fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation manner in which a DA in a multicast proxy module in a RAN receives service data of a data source;

fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an overall implementation of releasing service data multicast according to an embodiment;

fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating an implementation of reconfiguration of a transport layer when releasing a shared multicast transport channel;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a cell update process;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a handover procedure when performing a cross-RNC handover;

fig. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation principle of the presence of two levels of DA in the multicast proxy module;

fig. 13 is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation principle of setting an MDDA in a NodeB.

Detailed Description

The present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The basic idea of the present invention is to change the original point-to-point transmission mode into a point-to-multipoint transmission mode when transmitting service data between an application server and a UE, i.e. to realize multicast of service data.

Fig. 2a is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation principle of multicast according to the present invention. And a multicast proxy module is arranged in the RAN, and each UE interacts with the RAN and the CN respectively to activate the PDP. Then, the data source for providing the service data only needs to send one copy of all the service data to the multicast proxy module in the RAN through the router, and the existing transmission mode is still applied between the UE and the RAN to realize transmission, that is, a dedicated data transmission channel is established between each UE and the RAN, and the multicast proxy module in the RAN sends the received service data from the data source to each UE respectively. Therefore, for the core network part at the network side, only one channel exists between the data source and the RAN, so that the resources of the core network part are greatly saved, the resource utilization rate is improved, and the cost is reduced.

Fig. 2b is a schematic diagram illustrating another implementation principle of implementing multicast to which the present invention is applied. In the implementation process, the implementation mode from the data source to the RAN is the same as that shown in fig. 2a, and on this basis, the multicast proxy module only establishes one data transmission channel for each service data content identifier in each cell, so that all UEs receiving the same service data content in the same cell only need one channel, thereby further saving network resources of the network side access network part, improving the resource utilization rate, and reducing the cost.

The data source of the present invention includes but is not limited to a streaming media server, and the service data includes but is not limited to streaming media service data, and may also be media file service data such as MTV, MP3 music files, electronic books, pictures, electronic newspapers, etc.

In order to implement the present invention, a multicast agent Module (MA) is required to be disposed in the RAN, and the multicast agent module is formed by a Control Agent (CA) entity and a Data Agent (DA) entity together, and the Control Agent (CA) entity and the Data Agent (DA) entity may be the same physical entity or different physical entities.

A Control Agent (CA) that mainly handles traffic control connections and TCP connections with the UE, where the traffic control connections may be Streaming media control connections including but not limited to real time Streaming media Protocol (RTSP), and the traffic control connections may also be control connections for File transfer including but not limited to point-to-multipoint unidirectional File transfer Protocol (FLUTE).

And a Data Agent (DA) which mainly processes a specific multicast service data distribution process, receives service data from a data source, And sends the data to the UE through a service channel established by the RAN under the control of a CA or a signaling And control processing unit (SACU).

All embodiments described herein below are exemplified with a WCDMA network. In a WCDMA network, the SACU is an RRC entity.

In the following, the description will be given by taking the intra-RAN multicast proxy module as an example, where the CA in the MA proxies the TCP/IP protocol layer and the RTSP protocol layer of the streaming server, and the DA proxies the real-time media data distribution function of the streaming server. Fig. 3a and 3b are diagrams showing protocol layers when the CA and DA act as proxies for the streaming media server, respectively.

Referring to fig. 3a, from bottom to top, the protocol layer of the CA is sequentially a physical layer (PHY), which may be a DPCH or SCCPCH, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, which has a Dedicated Channel (DCH) or a Forward Access Channel (FACH), a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, which may be an Acknowledgement (AM) mode or a non-acknowledgement (UM) mode, a PDCP layer, an IP layer, a TCP layer, and a streaming media control layer, such as RTSP or MMS protocol. Therefore, the CA completely proxies a TCP/IP protocol layer and streaming media protocol layers such as RTSP, MMS and the like, and the PDCP and the following protocol layers are inherent protocol layers of the RAN.

Referring to fig. 3b, from bottom to top, the protocol layer of the DA is PHY, which may be DPCH or SCCPCH, MAC layer, which may be DCH or FACH, RLC layer, which may be AM mode or UM mode, PDCP layer, IP layer, UDP layer, RTP layer, a/V Stream, such as AMR, h.263, h.264, MPEG4, etc. Therefore, the DA realizes the distribution function of the streaming media data, and performs corresponding processing on the data, where the processing includes, if the IP address is a unicast address, converting the IP address into a multicast address, changing a UDP port number, recalculating a checksum of the UDP packet, and then handing the checksum to the PDCP on a dedicated or common channel to send the checksum to the UE, where the PDCP and the following protocol layers are intrinsic protocol layers of the RAN.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating an overall implementation of establishing service data multicast according to an embodiment. In this embodiment, an MA composed of CA and DA is already provided in the RAN. In the figure, the "RAN/multicast proxy module" is applied to indicate the MA that has been set up in the RAN.

Step 401, the UE interacts with the RAN in idle mode and establishes a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with an RRC entity in the RAN.

Step 402, the UE interacts with the CN to activate the PDP.

Step 403, establishing a control connection of service data between the UE and the CA in the MA; since the embodiment is exemplified by streaming media service data, the control connection includes a TCP/IP connection and an RTSP control connection, wherein the TCP/IP connection is used for carrying an RTSP protocol or other streaming media real-time interaction protocols. The process of establishing the control connection specifically comprises the following steps:

the method comprises the steps that UE initiates an access request, the request comprises destination information, after a CA in a multicast proxy module in RAN monitors the access request from the UE, whether a destination IP address in the request is an IP address of a data source which is specified in advance and used for providing data service is judged, if yes, access control is executed to establish control connection with the UE, and otherwise, the CA in the multicast proxy module does not process the request.

The destination information is a destination IP address, or a destination IP address and a port number.

Because the control connection is established by TC/IP connection and RTSP, after the TCP/IP connection is established, the UE interacts with CA in the multicast proxy module in RAN by RTSP protocol to obtain the receiving attribute information of the received service data, the receiving attribute information at least comprises the content identification of the service data to be received, and the IP address, port number, video and audio coding format of the multicast data bearing the service content. This is not described in detail here, as it is what is required by the standard RTSP protocol.

Step 404-405, UE initiates RTSP playing request (PLAY), the request is mainly used for triggering service data to start playing; after detecting the play request, the CA in the RAN returns a play request confirmation message to the UE, and then sends a notification message to the DA to notify the DA to start executing an operation of sending streaming media service data. The DA is configured to send down received service data directly from a data source, such as streaming media service data.

In step 406, after receiving the message, the UE receives the service data in the established data transmission channel.

It can be seen from the above implementation flow that, for the core network part on the network side, the data source only needs to send one copy of data to the DA in the RAN, thereby greatly saving the resources of the core network part on the network side. Moreover, because many processes do not need to go to the CN and the streaming media server side for processing, the flow processing speed is greatly increased, so that a user obviously feels that the connection speed is increased, and the service quality is improved.

In step 406, the established data transmission channel may be a dedicated data transmission channel established for each UE, that is, a dedicated data transmission channel, such as a DCH channel, is established between the RAN and each UE; or only one data transmission channel can be established for each service data content identifier in each cell, that is, only one common data transmission channel, such as a FACH channel, is established for each service data in the same cell, so that users receiving a certain service in the same cell can receive service data in the same channel.

If the established data transmission channel is a dedicated channel respectively established for each UE, after the DA receives a notification from the CA to start executing an operation of sending streaming media service data, the DA starts sending the service data to a downlink dedicated transmission channel where the UE initiating the play request is located, for example, a DCH. The establishment procedure of the downlink dedicated transport channel DCH is exactly the same as the prior art, and the description is not repeated here.

If the established data transmission channel is a common channel shared by a plurality of UEs in the same cell, the shared multicast transmission channel is configured in advance when the cell is established, and only after configuration, service data is not sent on the channel, but the channel does not occupy the resources of an air interface when the service data is not sent, only code resources are occupied, and the service data is sent when a user requires receiving. Furthermore, under the condition that a plurality of UEs in the same cell use the shared transmission channel, after the DA receives the notice of starting to execute the operation of sending the streaming media service data from the CA, the DA counts the number of users receiving the service data required to be played by the UE in the cell where the UE initiating the playing request is currently located, and if the number of the users is changed from zero to nonzero, the DA starts to send the service data required by the UE on a downlink common transmission channel, such as an FACH; if the number of users is not changed from zero to non-zero, the operation of sending the service data is not executed any more, because the DA has sent the service data for the cell at this time, that is, the DA only performs the statistical operation at this time.

Of course, the number of users accessing a certain service data in each cell may also be counted by the RRC in the RAN, and the RRC directly notifies the DA to start sending the service to the common channel of the cell carrying the service according to the number of users accessing a certain service data in the cell, that is, when the number of users changes from zero to non-zero, the RRC notifies the DA to start sending the service to the common channel of the cell carrying the service.

In addition, if the network has been configured in advance that the RAN encrypts the air interface data, in step 401, when the RAN interacts with the UE, the UE initiates an RRC connection Request that includes an extended cause value "Multicast Service Request", and when the RAN detects that the cause value of the RRC connection Request is "Multicast Service Request", the RRC performs special processing on the encryption flow of the UE, that is, the "encryption algorithm" in the encryption command sent to the UE by the RRC is set to algorithm zero, that is, the air interface (UU interface) encryption function is not started.

The cause value in the RRC connection request initiated by the user is explicitly defined in 3GPP 25331, and the cause values of spare1 to spare12 for system reservation are also defined in the definition, where any one of spare1 to spare12 may be optionally used for carrying the "multicast service request", and spare10 is defined as the "multicast service request" in this application.

In the case that a plurality of UEs use a shared transmission channel in the same cell, the shared data transmission channel is configured in advance in the transport layer, and the process of configuring in the transport layer is specifically described below by taking FACH as an example.

Fig. 5 is a flow chart showing an implementation of configuring a shared data transmission channel at a transmission layer. The flow of this implementation will be described by taking FACH channel as an example.

According to the WCDMA protocol, the rules for the UE to select FACH are: when the UE is in an idle mode, selecting according to the number of SCCPCH broadcasted in the system message 5 and the IMSI of the UE, wherein the selection mode is that the IMSI takes the modulus of the SCCPCH number, and the FACH configured in the SCCPCH is selected when the modulus is equal to the number; when the UE is in the connected mode, according to the number of SCCPCH broadcasted in the system message 6, the URNTI allocated to the UE by the network side is selected, and the selection mode is that the URNTI takes the modulo of the number of SCCPCH, and the modulo is equal to the number, the FACH configured in that SCCPCH is selected, because the SCCPCH is a standard selection mode protocol of FACH channel, which is not described herein too much.

Before the RAN is reconfigured, the UTRAN needs to reallocate the URNTI of the mobile phone according to the service data content identification number selected by the UE reported by the multicast proxy module in the RAN, and notifies the UE to change URNTI through the UTRAN information change message of the WCDMA standard protocol, which is shown in fig. 5.

In step 501, a CA in a multicast proxy module in a RAN indicates that an RRC is configured in a FACH channel mode, and since an existing network usually employs a DCH channel mode for service data transmission, the RRC is indicated to be configured in the FACH channel mode, that is, the RRC is indicated to reconfigure the DCH channel mode to the FACH channel mode, the configuration indication is usually abbreviated as D2F (DCH to FACH) reconfiguration, and the configuration indication includes a service data content identifier selected by a UE.

Step 502, after receiving the above instruction, the RRC disconnects the established downlink IP data channel, performs reconfiguration, then obtains the service data content identifier from the D2F reconfiguration instruction, and recalculates the wireless network identifier of the UE according to the service data content identifier. The specific calculation method is the same as that in the prior art.

Since the WCDMA network is taken as an example, the radio network identifier includes a UTRAN Radio Network Temporary Identifier (URNTI) and a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (CRNTI).

In step 503, the RRC sends information for changing UTRAN to the UE, where the information includes the recalculated URNTI and CRNTI.

Step 504, after receiving the change information in step 504, the UE changes its own URNTI and CRNTI into the received URNTI and CRNTI, and after the change is completed, returns a confirmation information for changing UTRAN to the RRC.

505-506, the RRC sends a D2F reconfiguration command to the UE, the UE reconfigures itself after receiving the command, and then the UE returns a D2F reconfiguration command response to the RRC.

In step 507, the RRC releases the dedicated channel resource currently occupied by the UE, and returns a response indicating the D2F reconfiguration to the CA in the multicast proxy module.

The implementation method for simultaneously receiving service data by multiple UEs on the same shared channel is disclosed in the chinese patent application with the invention name of "200510006948.9" filed by the present applicant, which is a method for enabling multiple users to receive data service on the same channel, and this application is not described in detail.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram showing the relationship between entities at the air interface of the network side. Fig. 6a is a schematic diagram of relationships among entities of an air interface on a network side in the prior art, fig. 6b is a schematic diagram of relationships among entities of an air interface on a network side when a UE initiating an access request of the present invention receives service data through a dedicated data transmission channel, and fig. 6c is a schematic diagram of relationships among entities of an air interface on a network side when a UE initiating an access request of the present invention receives service data through a shared data transmission channel. In each graph shown in fig. 6, a dotted line (- - - -) represents upstream data, a solid line (- -) represents downstream data, and a dot-dash line (dot-dash line) ((c))) Representing a control message.

Referring to fig. 6a, each UE has a mac Dedicated to Medium access control (mac) entity and five radio link control entities (RLC), wherein RLC1 to RLC4 are signaling RLC and RLC5 is service RLC. RLC1 and RLC5 are in non-acknowledgement (UM) mode, RLC2, RLC3 and RLC4 are in Acknowledgement (AM) mode, and RLC 1-4 are all used for carrying RRC messages. RLC5 is used to carry application layer control messages. The service data to be received of each UE is mapped on a dedicated DCH respectively after passing through the RLC5, and the uplink data transmitted by the UE is also transmitted to the network side through the DCH.

Referring to fig. 6b, there is one MACD entity, five RLC, in each UE, where RLC1 through RLC4 are signaling RLC and RLC5 is service RLC. RLC1 and RLC5 are UM mode, RLC2, RLC3 and RLC4 are AM mode, and RLC 1-4 are all used for bearing RRC message. RLC5 is used to carry application layer control messages. In this embodiment, the existing dedicated data transmission channel is used to transmit the service data for each UE, so that after receiving the notification from the CA to start sending data, the DA in the multicast proxy module transmits the received service data from the data source to the specified UE, the service data passes through the RLC5 of each UE and is then mapped on the dedicated DCH channel of each UE for transmission, and the uplink data transmitted by the UE is also transmitted to the network side through the DCH.

The DA is composed of entities with a distribution function, and each service data, that is, each streaming media tv program provided by the streaming media server, corresponds to one entity with a distribution function. That is, the DA needs to copy one piece of traffic data for each UE. Because each UE corresponds to one data transmission channel in the transmission layer, the number of the receiving users of each service data does not need to be counted.

Referring to fig. 6c, there is one MACD entity, five RLC, in each UE, where RLC1 through RLC4 are signaling RLC and RLC5 is service RLC. RLC1 and RLC5 are UM mode, RLC2, RLC3 and RLC4 are AM mode, and RLC 1-4 are all used for bearing RRC message. RLC5 is used to carry application layer control messages. The CA in the multicast agent module controls the RLC5 in each UE to disconnect the downlink IP data channel through the RRC module, controls the RRC module to perform D2F reconfiguration, and then informs the DA to enable the DA to start executing operations. The DA in the multicast proxy module in this embodiment is used to carry downlink service data streams and count the number of receiving users, and it sends down the received service data from the data source through the shared FACH channel. The issued service data is mapped on a FACH channel shared by a plurality of UEs for transmission after passing through a Media Access Control Common (MACC). Uplink data transmitted by the UE is transmitted to the network side through a Random Access Channel (RACH).

The DA is composed of a radio link control entity (RLC5 ') common to a plurality of UEs in UM mode and a plurality of mac dm (mac d Multicast) functional entities, and each service data id, i.e. each streaming tv program, corresponds to one RLC 5' and one mac dm, respectively. Thus, only one transmission channel can be established for each service data, namely each program, in each cell. That is, the DA needs to copy one piece of service data for each cell for each type of service data.

RLC 5' in DA is used for realizing the access control, MACDm is used for counting the number of users receiving the service data and starting to send the service data corresponding to each service data content identification in each cell, if the cell where the UE initiating the play request is located has already existed the data transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identification required by the UE, MACDm does not start sending the service data for the cell any more, only counts the number of users; and if the cell where the UE initiating the playing request is located does not have the service data corresponding to the service data content identification required by the UE, the MACDm sends the service data to the cell and counts the number of users. That is, if the number of users receiving a certain service data content in a cell changes from zero to nonzero, the start of transmission of the service data is started. In addition, when the UE requests to release, a release request is sent through RACH, the DA in the multicast proxy module subtracts one from the number of users currently receiving the service data content in the cell, whether the number of users receiving the service data is changed from nonzero to zero is judged, if yes, the fact that no user currently receives the service data in the cell is indicated, at the moment, the DA in the multicast proxy module stops sending the service data to the cell, and the CA is informed of releasing the resources occupied by the UE; otherwise, the DA in the multicast agent module only informs the CA to release the resources occupied by the UE.

Similarly, the number of users accessing a certain service data in each cell may also be counted by the RRC in the RAN, and the RRC directly notifies the DA to start or stop sending the service to the common channel of the cell carrying the service according to the number of users accessing a certain service data in the cell, that is, when the number of users changes from zero to nonzero, the RRC notifies the DA to start sending the service to the common channel of the cell carrying the service, and when the number of users changes from nonzero to zero, the RRC notifies the DA to stop sending the service to the common channel of the cell carrying the service.

Two implementation manners for establishing a data transmission channel of a transport layer are mainly introduced above, that is, two implementation manners for multicasting, one implementation manner is: establishing a data transmission channel for each UE in a transmission layer; the other one is realized by the following steps: and establishing a data transmission channel for each service data content identifier, namely each program, in each cell in a transmission layer.

In any implementation manner, the main function of the DA in the multicast proxy module is to receive the service data from the data source and send the service data down. There are various ways for the DA in the multicast proxy module within the RAN to receive the traffic data of the data source. Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation manner in which a DA in a multicast proxy module in a RAN receives service data of a data source. The DA in the multicast proxy module may receive the traffic data directly from the data source, as shown by the thin solid line in fig. 7; the service data from the data source may also be received via a network other than the CN, that is, the service data from the data source is received by using the bypass technique, as shown by the thick solid line in fig. 7; it is also possible to pre-establish a channel dedicated to transmitting multicast service data by using the routing function in the CN, and the DA in the multicast proxy module receives service data from the data source via the dedicated data transmission channel in the CN, for example, via the GGSN and SGSN in the CN, as shown by the dotted line in fig. 7. Furthermore, since the DA in the multicast proxy module in the RAN has the protocol layer as shown in fig. 3b, the DA may receive unicast data or multicast data, and if unicast data is received, the DA converts the unicast data address into a multicast data address and then performs subsequent distribution processing.

The procedure of multicast release is described below.

Fig. 8 is a flowchart illustrating an overall implementation of a multicast transmission channel for releasing service data according to an embodiment. The present embodiment is still described by taking an MA proxy streaming server as an example.

In step 801, the UE initiates a release request, where the request includes destination information. The destination information is a destination IP address or a destination IP address and a port number.

Step 802, after monitoring the release request from the UE, the CA in the multicast proxy module in the RAN determines whether the destination information in the request is the destination information of a data source that is pre-specified for providing data service, if so, step 803 is executed, otherwise, the CA in the multicast proxy module does not process.

In step 803, the CA in the multicast proxy module performs a release operation, and then returns a release response to the UE.

The specific operation of releasing the service data multicast transmission channel is different because the implementation of the data transmission channel of the transmission layer is different.

If there is one service data transmission channel for each UE in the transport layer, the releasing operation performed by the CA in step 803 is: the CA informs the DA to stop sending the service data to the downlink dedicated transmission channel of the UE, and releases the control connection and the radio resource control between the network side and the UE side, namely releases the downlink data transmission channel dedicated to the UE. The control connection is a streaming media control connection and a TCP connection, and in this embodiment, the streaming media control connection is an RTSP protocol. The process of specifically releasing the channels is the same as the prior art and will not be described in detail here. And after receiving the notification, the DA in the MA stops sending the service data to the downlink special transmission channel of the UE. Since one data transmission channel is established for each UE, the number of received users does not need to be counted at this time.

If there is a data transmission channel in the transmission layer for each service data content identifier, i.e. program identifier, in each cell, the release request in step 801 further includes a service data content identifier; the releasing operation performed by the CA in step 803 is: the CA controls the network side to perform reconfiguration, the specific reconfiguration process refers to fig. 9, and releases the control connection and the radio resource control occupied by the UE side, where the control connection is a streaming media control connection and a TCP connection, and in this embodiment, the streaming media control connection is an RTSP protocol. This is because the common data transmission channel is configured in advance, and when the UE requires to receive data, the data is sent on the transmission channel, and when no UE receives the data, the data is not sent on the transmission channel any more, so that when a release request from the UE is received, only the resources occupied by the UE need to be released.

When the DA executes the counting operation of the number of users, the CA controls the network side to reconfigure and simultaneously informs the DA to stop sending the service data on the shared data transmission channel, after receiving the notice from the CA, the DA subtracts one from the number of users currently receiving the content of the service data in the cell to judge whether the number of users receiving the service data changes from nonzero to zero, if so, the DA indicates that no user currently receives the service data in the cell, at the moment, the DA in the multicast proxy module stops sending the service data to the cell, otherwise, the DA in the multicast proxy module does not stop sending the service data, namely, only counting the number of users.

When the RRC executes the counting operation of the number of users, the RRC in the RAN subtracts one from the number of users currently receiving the service data content in the cell while the CA controls the network side to reconfigure, then judges whether the number of users receiving the service data changes from nonzero to zero, if yes, the DA sends a notification of stopping sending data, and stops sending the service data required by the UE on a downlink common transmission channel after receiving the notification, otherwise, the RRC in the RAN does not process any more, and the DA does not stop sending the service data.

Fig. 9 is a flow chart showing the implementation of reconfiguration of the transport layer when releasing the shared multicast transport channel.

In step 901, the CA in the multicast proxy module indicates that the RRC is configured in DCH channel mode, and since it is currently in FACH channel mode, the CA indicates that the RRC is configured in DCH channel mode, that is, indicates that the RRC is reconfigured from current FACH channel mode to DCH channel mode, which is generally abbreviated as F2D (FACH to DCH) reconfiguration.

Step 902, after receiving the F2D reconfiguration instruction, the RRC reconfigures itself, that is, configures itself to the DCH mode, and then sends an F2D reconfiguration command to the UE,

in step 903, after receiving the command, the UE also reconfigures itself, that is, configures itself to the DCH mode, and then returns a F2D reconfiguration command response to the RRC.

Step 904, the RRC establishes the DCH channel to release the FACH channel, instructs the RLC5 entity in the RAN for carrying the IP data channel to reply to receive the downlink data from the CN, and replies an F2D reconfiguration indication response to the CA in the multicast proxy module even if the disconnected downlink IP data channel is recovered to normal.

By this point, the reconfiguration operation is complete.

Since the UE has mobility, a procedure of cell update is explained below.

If there is a dedicated transmission channel for each UE in the transmission layer, the dedicated data transmission channel serves the UE, so the cell update process is consistent with the prior art process, and will not be described in detail herein; the following description focuses on the process of cell update when the transmission layer has one transmission channel for each service content identifier, i.e. program identifier, in each cell.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a cell update process. In this embodiment, a cell in which the UE is currently located is referred to as a source cell, a cell to be switched into is referred to as a target cell, and in this embodiment, the DA performs a statistical operation on the number of users.

Step 1001, the UE initiates a cell update request to the RRC, where the request includes identification information of a target cell.

Step 1002, after receiving a request for cell update from the UE, the RRC determines whether the common channel data carried by the target cell and the common channel data carried by the source cell are the same, and if so, directly executes step 1005, and if not, executes step 1003;

in steps 1003-1004, the RRC recalculates the URNTI and the CRNTI of the UE, then sends information for changing the UTRAN to the UE, the information comprises the recalculated URNTI and the CRNTI, the UE changes the URNTI and the CRNTI of the UE into the received URNTI and the CRNTI according to the received information, and after the change is finished, confirmation information for changing the UTRAN is returned to the RRC.

Step 1005, the RRC notifies the CA in the multicast proxy module, the UE performs cell update, and the CA notifies the DA, where the notification includes the identification information of the target cell and the identification of the UE initiating the update request.

Step 1006-1007, the DA in the multicast proxy module adds one to the number of users in the target cell corresponding to the service data content identifier received by the UE; then, it is judged whether the number of users in the transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE changes from zero to non-zero, if yes, then data is started to be sent to the public transmission channel carrying the service data in the target cell, and then step 1008 is executed, otherwise, step 1008 is executed directly.

Step 1008-1009, the DA in the multicast proxy module subtracts one from the number of users corresponding to the service data content identifier received by the UE in the source cell; and then judging whether the number of users in a data transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE in the source cell is nonzero, if so, directly executing step 1010, otherwise, stopping sending service data to the data transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE in the source cell by the DA, and then executing step 1010.

Step 1010, the DA in the multicast proxy module notifies the CA that the operation is completed, and the CA returns an operation completion response message to the RRC.

In step 1011, after receiving the response, the RRC returns a cell update response to the UE.

Thus, cell update is achieved when receiving traffic data on the UE common channel.

If the RRC performs the counting operation of the number of users, after the step 1004 is completed, the RRC adds one to the number of users in the target cell corresponding to the service data content identifier received by the UE, then determines whether the number of users in the transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identifier received by the UE changes from zero to non-zero, if yes, notifies the DA in the multicast proxy module to start sending data, and after receiving the notification, the DA starts sending data to the common transmission channel carrying the service data in the target cell, and returns a response message for performing the operation to the SACU; then step 1008 is executed, otherwise, step 1008 is directly executed; in step 1008, the RRC reduces the number of users in the source cell corresponding to the service data content identifier received by the UE by one, and then determines whether the number of users in the data transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identifier received by the UE in the source cell is nonzero, if yes, no processing is performed, otherwise, the DA in the multicast proxy module is notified to stop sending data, and after receiving the notification, the DA stops sending service data to the data transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identifier received by the UE in the source cell, and returns an operation execution completion response message to the RRC; finally, a cell update response is still returned by the RRC to the UE.

Since WCDMA is taken as an example, the multicast proxy module may be disposed in an RNC in the RAN or a NodeB in the RAN, if the multicast proxy module is disposed in the RNC, the interactions between all the multicast proxy modules and RRC are all internal processes of the RNC, and if the multicast proxy module is disposed in the NodeB, the interactions between all the multicast proxy modules and RRC are all interactions between the NodeB and the RNC. If the multicast proxy module is set in the RNC, there is a handover problem across RNCs, and the implementation process across RNCs is specifically described below.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart of a handover procedure when performing a cross-RNC handover. Herein, a cell where the UE currently locates is referred to as a source cell, a cell to be switched into is referred to as a target cell, an RNC where the UE currently belongs is referred to as a source RNC, a multicast proxy module in the source RNC is referred to as a source multicast proxy module, an RNC to be switched is referred to as a target RNC, and a multicast proxy module in the target RNC is referred to as a target multicast proxy module.

In step 1101, the RRC in the source RNC sends a join request to the RRC in the target RNC.

1102-1103, the RRC in the target RNC initiates a join request to the CA in the target multicast proxy module, the CA notifies the DA, the DA in the target multicast proxy module adds one to the number of users in the target cell corresponding to the service data content identifier to be received by the UE, and then determines whether the number of users in the transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identifier received by the UE changes from zero to nonzero, if so, the RRC in the target cell starts sending service data on the transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identifier received by the UE, and then returns a response message to the RRC in the target RNC, otherwise, the RRC in the target RNC directly returns a response message.

In step 1104, the RRC in the target RNC sends a join request response to the RRC in the source RNC.

In step 1105-1106, the RRC in the source RNC sends a release request to the CA in the source multicast proxy module, the CA notifies the DA, the DA in the source multicast proxy module subtracts one from the number of users in the source cell corresponding to the service data content identifier to be received by the UE, and then determines whether the number of users in the transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identifier received by the UE in the source cell is non-zero, if so, directly returns a response message to the RRC in the source RNC, otherwise, stops sending service data in the data transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identifier received by the UE in the source cell, and then returns a response message to the RRC in the source RNC.

Up to this point, handover across RNCs is achieved when receiving traffic data on UE common channels. Similarly, in the above-mentioned handover procedure across RNCs, the RRC may perform the counting operation of the number of users, which is the same as the execution manner in the cell update procedure, and thus, the description thereof is not repeated.

All the DA in the multicast proxy module may exist in a single-stage form or a multi-stage form, and when the DA exists in a multi-stage form, see fig. 12.

Fig. 12 is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation principle of the presence of two levels of DA in the multicast proxy module. In this embodiment, it is assumed that the multicast proxy module is divided into two levels: a low level multicast Data Agent Unit (LDAU) and a High level multicast Data Agent Unit (HDAU), and it is assumed that the multicast Agent module is provided in the RNC.

If the LDAU receives the playing notice from the CA, the LDAU adds one to the number of users corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE initiating the request in the current cell, then judges whether the number of users corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE initiating the request in the current cell is changed from zero to nonzero, if so, an access request is sent to a high-level multicast data proxy unit HDAU, the HDAU starts to send data to a public transmission channel bearing the service data, otherwise, the LDAU does not process the data.

Fig. 12 is only described by taking two levels as an example, and of course, there may be more than two levels of multicast data proxy units, in which case, the HDAU interacts with a higher HDAU as needed, and the specific interaction mode is consistent with the characteristics of the LDAU, and the description will not be repeated here. Similarly, the above description has been made by taking the case where the LDAU or HDAU counts the number of users as an example, but it is needless to say that the RRC may perform the counting operation of the number of users.

Therefore, no matter which entity carries out user number statistical operation, the lowest LDAU is mainly used for managing the following multicast user group as a multicast router, so that the processing load of the HDAU is reduced, distributed processing is realized, the HDAU is only responsible for managing the LDAU, and the management method of the LDAU is consistent with the management method of the LDAU for managing the cell. In the embodiment shown in fig. 12, a multi-stage multicast proxy module is provided in the RNC, and in actual application, the multi-stage multicast proxy module may be provided in the NodeB, and the specific implementation is the same as that provided in the RNC.

If the multicast agent module is arranged in the RNC, the multicast agent module can realize the data distribution function by using the hardware-based multicast function in the RNC, for example, by using the IP-based multicast switching function, the ATM multicast switching function or the multicast switching function of a multi-service platform, the multicast service data is distributed to a low-level LDAU from the HDAU, so that the multicast data distribution processing in the RNC can be simplified, and the reliable QOS guarantee is provided at the same time.

If the multicast proxy module is disposed in the RNC, whether it is single-stage or multi-stage, there may be several following implementations for the NodeB.

The first method is as follows: the NodeB side does not perform any processing, i.e. the multicast proxy module in the RNC directly establishes a transmission channel for each service data content identifier in each cell. The advantage of this implementation is that the NodeB does not need any changes, but it needs to occupy a lot of IUB interface resources between the RNC and NodeB. See fig. 12.

In the second mode, a Multicast Data Distribution Agent (MDDA) module is provided in the NodeB, and the MDDA in the NodeB implements a function of distributing data to each cell. The MDDA module receives the service data from the RNC, copies the received service data according to the requirement and distributes the copied service data to each cell to send one copy. By adopting the method, only one data transmission channel needs to be established between the RNC and the NodeB aiming at the same service data content identification, and one service data is sent, thereby saving IUB interface resources between the RNC and the NodeB. Referring to fig. 13, in this embodiment a two-level proxy is provided in the RNC and an MDDA is provided in the NodeB.

All the above embodiments are described by taking WCDMA network as an example, and of course, the method described in the present application is also applicable to CDMA and GSM networks. In case of a CDMA network, the multicast proxy module may be disposed on a BSC in the RAN, which is generally denoted as CBSC, or disposed on a BTS in the RAN, which is generally denoted as CBTS, or disposed on a GBSC in the RAN, which is generally denoted as GBSC, or disposed on a BTS in the RAN, which is generally denoted as GBTS, in case of a GSM network. In any network, the processing flow for realizing multicast is not changed, but the entity for specifically executing the operation is different according to different networks.

Since the above specific flows are all WCDMA as an example, the entity performing Control connection with the UE is RRC, And of course, if the UE is another mobile network, the RRC is a corresponding entity in the other mobile network, And all the Control entities similar to RRC are not collectively referred to as a signaling And Control processing Unit (SACU, Signal And Control Unit).

The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like that fall within the spirit and principle of the present invention are intended to be included therein.

Claims

1. A method for realizing multicast service data based on mobile network is characterized in that a multicast proxy module is arranged on a radio access network RAN, UE to receive service data interacts with a CN, and a PDP is activated, the method also comprises the following steps:

2. The method of claim 1,

the multicast agent module consists of a control agent CA and a data agent DA;

3. The method of claim 2,

the established transmission channel is a dedicated data transmission channel established between the transport layer RAN and the UE aiming at each UE;

4. The method of claim 2,

the established transmission channel is a shared data transmission channel which is established in advance for each cell aiming at each service data content identification in a transmission layer RAN;

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the establishing procedure of the pre-established shared data transmission channel comprises the following steps:

05) the SACU releases the channel resources occupied by the current UE.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein when the network is WCDMA, the SACU is RRC, and the radio network identities are UTRAN radio network temporary identity, URNTI, and cell radio network temporary identity, CRNTI; the reconfiguration indication and the reconfiguration command are a D2F reconfiguration indication and a D2F reconfiguration command respectively; and the channel resource occupied by the current UE is a dedicated channel resource.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE interacts with the CN, and wherein the activating the PDP at least comprises establishing a radio resource control connection, and wherein the method further comprises, if the network has been preconfigured by the RAN to encrypt air interface data:

8. The method of claim 2, wherein the DA in the multicast proxy module receives the traffic data from the data source by:

9. The method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the DA in the multicast proxy module receives the service data from the data source as unicast data or multicast data, and if the service data is received as unicast data, the unicast data is converted into multicast data, and then the subsequent operation is executed.

10. The method according to claim 1 or 7,

the method further comprises the following steps:

11. The method of claim 10,

the multicast agent module consists of a control agent CA and a data agent DA;

12. The method of claim 10,

the multicast agent module consists of a control agent CA and a data agent DA;

the resource release operation comprises the following steps:

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the operation of the CA controlling the network side to perform reconfiguration comprises the steps of:

and the UE reconfigures itself according to the received command.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein when the network is WCDMA, the SACU is RRC; the reconfiguration indication and the reconfiguration command are an F2D reconfiguration indication and an F2D reconfiguration command, respectively.

15. Method according to claim 1, 11 or 12, characterized in that said control connections are a traffic control connection and a TCP connection, said traffic control connection can be a streaming media control connection including but not limited to real time streaming media protocol RTSP, and said traffic control connection can also be a control connection for file delivery including but not limited to point-to-multipoint unidirectional file delivery protocol FLUTE.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein when the multicast proxy module is composed of a Control Agent (CA) and a Data Agent (DA), and the RAN and each cell have a shared data transmission channel for each service data content identifier, the method further comprises the UE performing a cross-cell update, wherein the cell update process comprises the following steps:

iv) the DA adds one to the number of users corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE in the target cell; then judging whether the number of users in a transmission channel corresponding to the service data content identification received by the UE is changed from zero to nonzero, if so, starting to send data to a public transmission channel bearing the service data in a target cell, and then executing the step v), otherwise, directly executing the step v);

17. The method of claim 1, wherein when the multicast proxy module is composed of a Control Agent (CA) and a Data Agent (DA), and the RAN and each cell have a shared data transmission channel for each service data content identifier, the method further comprises the UE performing a cross-cell update, wherein the cell update process comprises the following steps:

vi) the SACU returns a cell update response to the UE.

18. The method according to claim 16 or 17, wherein when the network is WCDMA, the SACU is RRC, and the radio network identities are UTRAN radio network temporary identity, URNTI, and cell radio network temporary identity, CRNTI.

19. The method according to claim 2, wherein the data agent DA in the multicast agent module is composed of a single-stage processing unit, or is composed of two or more stages of processing units;

20. The method of claim 19, wherein if the network is a WCDMA network, and the multicast proxy module is located in the RNC of the RAN, the multicast proxy module sends the service data from the higher-level multicast data proxy unit to the lower-level multicast data proxy unit by using a hardware-based multicast function in the RNC; the hardware is a hardware platform with an IP switching function, or an ATM switching platform or a multi-service platform.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein if the network is a WCDMA network and the multicast proxy module is located in an RNC in the RAN, the method further comprises: and a multicast data distribution agent MDDA module with a service data distribution function is arranged in the NodeB, receives service data from the RNC, copies the data according to the requirement and distributes the data to each cell.

22. The method of claim 1,

if the network is a WCDMA network, the multicast proxy module is arranged in an RNC in the RAN or a NodeB in the RAN; if the network is a CDMA network, the multicast proxy module is arranged on a CBSC in the RAN or a CBTS in the RAN; if the network is a GSM network, the multicast proxy module is arranged on a GBSC in the RAN or arranged on a GBTS in the RAN.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the destination information is a destination IP address, or a destination IP address and a port number; the receiving attribute information at least comprises the content identification of the service data to be received, and the IP address, the port number, the rate and the coding format of the multicast data bearing the service content.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the data source includes but is not limited to a streaming media server, and the service data includes but is not limited to streaming media service data.