CN101568095A

CN101568095A - Method, equipment and system for linking non-3GPP access gateway and policy and charging rule function (PCRF)

Info

Publication number: CN101568095A
Application number: CNA2008100278543A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 夏旭; 李岩
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2008-04-26
Filing date: 2008-04-26
Publication date: 2009-10-28

Abstract

The invention discloses a method, equipment and a system for linking a non-3GPP access gateway and a policy and a charging rule function (PCRF), wherein the method comprises the following steps: an address register (AR) obtains PCRF addressing information, and the AR establishes a linking with the PCRF according to the PCRF addressing information. The linking of the AR with the PCRF is realized, and the AR can obtain policies and charging rules of customer services from the PCRF so as to control a program control counter (PCC) end to end and ensure that the end to end quality of service (QoS) of the customer services is guaranteed. Correspondingly, the invention discloses a method and a communication system for establishing the linking of a visit domain PCRF and a home domain PCRF so as to realize that the linking of V-PCRF and H-PERF is established under a home routed roaming framework, wherein the V-PCRF can obtain the policies and the charging rules of the customer services provided by the H-PCRF so as to realize the end to end control of the PCC and ensure that the end to end QoS of the customer services is guaranteed.

Description

Method, equipment and system for associating non-3GPP access gateway with PCRF

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of electronic communication, in particular to a method for establishing association between a non-3GPP access gateway (AR) and a policy and charging formulation server (PCRF), a method for establishing association between a home domain PCRF and a visited domain PCRF, a non-3GPP access gateway, PCRF equipment and a communication system.

Background

With the development of communication technology, in the process of evolving to an all-IP network, the Quality of Service (QoS) problem needs to be considered to provide services (especially real-time class services) satisfactory to users. Meanwhile, since the IP network can provide more kinds of services, such as: multimedia calls, file downloads, web browsing, etc., so that a network is required to be able to detect different service flows and count charging information such as flow, duration, etc. to report to a charging center. In order to solve the above-mentioned QoS and Charging based on flow, a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) architecture is defined in the current communication network, through which the network can detect different service flows and implement QoS Control, Charging statistics and other requirements for the service flows. The PCC architecture mainly includes a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) and a Policy enforcement entity.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the current enhanced third Generation partnership project (3)^rdGeneration partnership project, 3GPP) network architecture, in order to ensure consistency of end-to-end QoS experience of customer traffic in a communication network, gateways in the communication network, including a packet data network Gateway (PDN Gateway, P-GW), a Non-3GPP Access Gateway (Non-3GPP IP Access), and the like, are required to establish a policy association for serving user traffic with a PCRF. The PCRF is used for dynamically generating a QoS and charging rule of a user service flow according to an operation strategy, service application information and the like; policy enforcement entities such as P-GW and Non-3GPP Access gateway (AR) (in this document, for the sake of convenience of writing, Non-3GPP IP Access is replaced by AR) execute QoS control policy and related charging rules formulated by PCRF.

In the network architecture shown in fig. 1, the roles of the main network entities in the PCC architecture are described as follows:

AR: the gateway accessed by the non-3GPP establishes a GTP, PMIP or CMIP tunnel with the P-GW through an S2c interface, is associated with the PCRF through a Gxa interface, and User Equipment (UE) accesses the service through AR.

P-GW: and the packet data gateway is mainly responsible for communication with an external data network (such as the Internet or an IP service customized by an operator, such as an IP Multimedia System (IMS)) through an SGi interface, and establishes a GTP, PMIP or CMIP tunnel with the AR through an S2c interface. And meanwhile, associating with the PCRF through a Gx interface.

PCRF: a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), which determines a corresponding Policy according to the limitation of the user access network, the operator Policy, the user subscription data, and the service information currently performed by the user (obtained from an Rx + interface, such as IMS and PSS), and provides the Policy to a functional entity (such as P-GW, AR, etc.) that introduces the Policy control rule. The policy includes a detection rule of a service data flow (an IP flow set that completes a certain service, such as voice), whether to gate, a QoS corresponding to the service data flow, a flow-based charging rule, and the like.

As shown in fig. 3, in a third generation Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) packet network, a plurality of Diameter domains are divided according to the user identifier (UE-ID) of the user using the service, or the user IP address (UE-IP) and Packet Data Network (PDN) identifier (APN) information, a plurality of PCRFs are also deployed in each Diameter domain, and at the same time, one and only one policy and charging configuration server management entity (DRA) is located in one Diameter domain to manage the PCRFs belonging to the domain, so as to ensure that all gateways (including P-GW and AR) serving the same service are associated to the same PCRF, thereby achieving the consistency of policy and charging rules. When a user uses a service provided by a communication network, a relevant gateway serving the service first needs to select a Diameter domain according to the information (UE-NAI, UE-IP, and APN), and then the DRA in the domain manages the corresponding relation between the gateway and the PCRF in the domain.

As shown in fig. 2, a gateway serving a service used by a user acquires an address of a corresponding PCRF through a DRA, and then, the gateway and the corresponding PCRF are interworked, and a unified policy and charging rule is executed. The specific implementation steps are as follows:

s1, gateways (P-GW, S-GW, AR, etc.) serving the same user service can acquire UE-ID, or UE-IP and APN information of the user service through GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) or Proxy mobile IP (Proxy MIP, PMIP) tunnel, and send PCRF addressing request, and associate the acquired UE-ID, or UE-IP and APN information to DRA under a certain Diameter domain in PLMN domain.

And S2, the DRA sends the PCRF address to the gateway serving the user service through the redirection instruction according to the UE-ID provided by the gateway, or the UE-IP and the APN information and the address of the PCRF corresponding to the user service acquired from the Diameter routing table of the DRA.

And S3, the gateway takes the PCRF provided by the DRA as the destination PCRF, and simultaneously sends a request for establishing association to the destination PCRF.

S4, after receiving the association request from the gateway, the PCRF sends an association request response message to approve association.

S5, the gateway and the target PCRF are associated and established, and the policy and charging rules about the user service issued by the PCRF are executed in a unified way.

The inventor discovers that in the process of implementing the invention: when the UE sends a message to the P-GW through a non-3GPP access gateway (AR), wherein the non-3GPP access gateway (AR) of the S2c interface only performs a function of forwarding a routing message by a router, and only plays a role of passing through the message, and does not have a function of analyzing the message, so that the AR cannot obtain source group information required for finding a Diameter domain from a message between the UE and the P-GW. Due to the defect of the source group information, the AR cannot recognize the existence of the Diameter domain in the PLMN, and as a result, the DRA cannot be correctly addressed, and cannot establish association with the PCRF, and cannot acquire the policy and charging rule of the user service from the PCRF, which eventually results in that the service of the user cannot be implemented, or the communication network cannot implement end-to-end control over the PCC, so that the end-to-end QoS of the user service cannot be guaranteed.

Meanwhile, under the Home Routed roaming architecture, the roaming user associates the P-GW of the Home domain in the visited domain. In this case, the visited domain PCRF (V-PCRF) cannot address the home domain PCRF (H-PCRF) due to the loss of the APN information of the user in the home domain, that is, the V-PCRF cannot obtain the policy and charging rules of the user service provided by the H-PCRF, which may also result in that the user service cannot be implemented, or the communication network cannot implement the end-to-end control over the PCC, so that the end-to-end QoS of the user service cannot be guaranteed.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a method and a communication system for establishing association between a non-3GPP access gateway and a PCRF, which are used for realizing the establishment of association between an AR and the PCRF.

The embodiment of the invention provides a method and a communication system for establishing association between a visited domain PCRF and a Home domain PCRF, which realize the establishment of association between a V-PCRF and an H-PCRF under a Home Routed roaming architecture, and the V-PCRF can acquire the policy and charging rules of user services provided by the H-PCRF, realize the end-to-end control of PCC, and ensure the end-to-end QoS of the user services.

Therefore, in one aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF, where the method includes: the AR acquires PCRF addressing information sent by the network equipment; and the AR establishes association with the PCRF according to the PCRF addressing information.

Correspondingly, an embodiment of the present invention provides a non-3GPP access gateway, which includes:

the acquiring unit is used for acquiring PCRF addressing information sent by the network equipment;

and the processing unit is used for establishing association with the PCRF according to the PCRF addressing information acquired by the acquisition unit.

Correspondingly, an embodiment of the present invention provides a communication system including a non-3GPP access gateway and a PCRF, where the non-3GPP access gateway includes:

On the other hand, a method for establishing association between a visited domain PCRF and a home domain PCRF in an embodiment of the present invention includes:

the AR of the visit domain acquires the address information of the PCRF of the home domain;

the AR of the visited domain informs the address information of the PCRF of the home domain to the PCRF of the visited domain;

and the visit domain PCRF establishes association with the home domain PCRF according to the address information of the home domain PCRF.

the acquiring unit is used for acquiring the address information of the PCRF in the home domain;

and the notification unit is used for notifying the address information of the PCRF of the home domain acquired by the acquisition unit to the PCRF of the visited domain, and the PCRF of the visited domain establishes association with the PCRF of the home domain according to the address information.

Correspondingly, the embodiment of the invention provides a communication system, which comprises a visiting domain AR, a visiting domain PCRF and a home domain PCRF, wherein the visiting domain AR comprises: the acquiring unit is used for acquiring the address information of the PCRF in the home domain; a notification unit, configured to notify the visited domain PCRF of the address information of the home domain PCRF;

and the visit domain PCRF receives the address information of the home domain PCRF sent by the visit domain AR and establishes association with the home domain PCRF according to the address information.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a method for establishing the association between the visited domain PCRF and the home domain PCRF, which comprises the following steps:

the home domain PCRF inquires DRA of the management visit domain PCRF in the visit domain according to the UE-ID and the UE-IP;

and establishing the association between the PCRF of the home domain and the PCRF of the visited domain through the DRA in the visited domain.

Accordingly, an embodiment of the present invention provides a PCRF device, which includes:

the query unit is used for querying the DRA of the PCRF in the visited domain according to the UE-ID or the UE-IP;

and the processing unit is used for establishing association with the PCRF through the DRA of the visited domain.

Correspondingly, the embodiment of the invention provides a communication system, which comprises a home domain PCRF, a visited domain PCRF and a visited domain DRA, wherein the home domain PCRF comprises: the query unit is used for querying the DRA of the PCRF in the visited domain according to the UE-ID or the UE-IP; and the processing unit is used for establishing association with the PCRF through the DRA of the visit domain.

By implementing the method and the communication system for establishing the association between the non-3GPP access gateway and the PCRF, the addressing information of the PCRF is sent to the AR by other network equipment, the AR addresses the PCRF according to the addressing information, the association between the AR and the PCRF is effectively realized, the AR can acquire the strategy and the charging rule of the user service from the PCRF, the end-to-end control of the PCC is realized, and the end-to-end QoS of the user service is ensured.

By implementing the method and the communication system for establishing the association between the visited domain PCRF and the Home domain PCRF, the association between the V-PCRF and the H-PCRF is established under the Home Routed roaming architecture, the V-PCRF can acquire the policy and the charging rule of the user service provided by the H-PCRF, the end-to-end control of PCC is realized, and the end-to-end QoS of the user service is ensured.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a current 3GPP enhanced network architecture;

fig. 2 is a message interaction flowchart of a method for establishing a gateway and PCRF association in the prior art;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a PCC architecture in a current PLMN packet network;

fig. 4 is a main flow chart of a method for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation of a method for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a first embodiment of a method for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF according to the present invention;

fig. 7 is a second embodiment of the method for establishing association between AR and PCRF in the present invention;

fig. 8 is a third embodiment of a method for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF in the present invention;

fig. 9 is a fourth embodiment of the method for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF in the present invention;

fig. 10 is a fifth embodiment of the method for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF according to the present invention;

fig. 11 is a sixth embodiment of a method for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF in the present invention;

fig. 12 is a block diagram of a communication system for establishing an association between an AR and a PCRF according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a first embodiment of a communication system for establishing an association between an AR and a PCRF in accordance with the present invention;

fig. 14 is a second embodiment of a communication system for establishing an association between an AR and a PCRF in accordance with the present invention;

fig. 15 is a third embodiment of a communication system for establishing an association between an AR and a PCRF in accordance with the present invention;

fig. 16 is a fourth embodiment of a communication system for establishing an association between an AR and a PCRF in accordance with the present invention;

fig. 17 is a fifth embodiment of a communication system for establishing an association between an AR and a PCRF of the present invention;

fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of a non-3GPP access gateway for establishing an association between an AR and a PCRF in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 19 is a first embodiment of a method for establishing association between a visited domain PCRF and a home domain PCRF in the present invention;

fig. 20 is a first embodiment of the present invention for establishing a communication system in which a visited domain PCRF is associated with a home domain PCRF;

fig. 21 is a second embodiment of the present invention for establishing a communication system in which a visited domain PCRF is associated with a home domain PCRF;

fig. 22 is a schematic structural diagram of a non-3GPP access gateway for establishing association between a visited domain PCRF and a home domain PCRF in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 23 is a second embodiment of a method for establishing association between a visited domain PCRF and a home domain PCRF in the present invention;

fig. 24 is a third embodiment of the present invention of a communication system for establishing association between a visited domain PCRF and a home domain PCRF.

Detailed Description

The following describes in detail a method for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF, a method for establishing association between a visited domain PCRF and a home domain PCRF, a non-3GPP access gateway, a PCRF device, and a technical scheme of a communication system, which are proposed by the present invention, in a specific embodiment mode with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 4, a main flow chart of a method for establishing an association between an AR and a PCRF according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated, where the method for establishing an association between an AR and a PCRF includes:

s100, AR acquires PCRF addressing information sent by network equipment;

s200, the AR establishes association with the PCRF according to the PCRF addressing information.

Wherein, in step S100, the network device includes: the AR acquires PCRF addressing information sent by the network equipment, wherein the PCRF addressing information includes but is not limited to the following three modes:

in the first mode, AR acquires PCRF addressing information provided by P-GW.

And secondly, the AR acquires PCRF addressing information provided by the DRA.

And thirdly, the AR acquires PCRF addressing information provided by the PCRF.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment and the following embodiments, the PCRF addressing information includes:

PCRF address information or domain information corresponding to a policy and charging configuration server management entity DRA;

wherein the domain information corresponding to the DRA includes:

a user identification UE-ID and a packet data network identification APN; or the addresses UE-IP and APN of the user; or UE-ID, UE-IP and APN.

As shown in fig. 5, in the first mode, the method for the AR to acquire PCRF addressing information provided by the packet data network gateway P-GW includes: the P-GW directly informs the AR of the PCRF addressing information or indirectly informs the AR of the P-GW through other network elements (including an AAA server or a DRA). When the PCRF addressing information received by the AR is PCRF address information, the AR directly finds the corresponding PCRF through an arrow 1 in fig. 5 and establishes association with the PCRF; when the PCRF addressing information received by the AR is domain information corresponding to the DRA, the AR finds the corresponding DRA first through an arrow 2 in fig. 5 according to the domain information, and then allocates the corresponding PCRF for the DRA.

The above generally explains a method for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF in the embodiments of the present invention, and the following will describe in detail a specific implementation of the method for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF in the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It should be noted that the initial attach procedure in the following embodiments of the present invention is the same as the prior art, and includes functions of implementing authentication and authorization of the access stratum and a mobile IP registration procedure according to the 23.402 protocol.

In the authentication and authorization process of the access layer, etc., the management of the user's attachment to the access network is completed, and the AR may acquire the user identification (UE-ID) of the user and establish an association with the AAA of the home domain (in the case of roaming, it may establish an association with the AAA by means of an AAA proxy).

In the mobile IP registration process, a Registration Request (RRQ) message of the UE is sent to the AR and forwarded by the AR to the P-GW, where the registration request message includes the main parameters of the UE-ID, APN, and other information, that is: through the registration request message, the P-GW obtains the UE-ID and the APN of the service of the P-GW;

the P-GW allocates an IP address (UE-IP) under the APN to the UE, and carries the UE-IP under the APN allocated by the UE in a user request registration message response (RRP), that is: the P-GW may all obtain the UE-IP of the traffic it serves.

In the first mode, the AR acquires PCRF addressing information provided by the P-GW:

referring to fig. 6, a first embodiment of a method for establishing an association between an AR and a PCRF of the present invention is illustrated. In the first embodiment, in a case of a CMIP tunnel, a P-GW indirectly notifies an AR of PCRF address information through an AAA server, and the method specifically includes:

s101, after the initial attachment is completed, the P-GW obtains a PCRF address (obtaining PCRF address information is the same as that in the prior art, and is not described here again), so that the address information of the corresponding destination PCRF can be obtained.

S102, the P-GW sends the PCRF address information and the UE-ID (the P-GW obtains the UE-ID in the attach process according to the prior art, which is not described herein again) to an AAA server (AAAServer) through an S6b interface.

S103, AAA Server can inquire corresponding AR according to UE-ID provided by P-GW, and informs the AR of PCRF address information of destination PCRF through Ta interface.

And S104, the AR establishes association with the corresponding target PCRF according to the PCRF address information, and the corresponding relation between the AR and the PCRF is established, namely the end-to-end PCC process is established.

The corresponding relations between the P-GW and the PCRF, between the AR and the PCRF are established, the PCC process can be carried out, the policy control and the charging are carried out on the user service, and the end-to-end QoS of the user service is ensured.

It should be noted that, in step S103, when this example is used in the case of user roaming, the aaaserr notifies the AR of the visited domain of the PCRF address information through the AAA proxy.

Referring to fig. 7, a second embodiment of the method for establishing association between AR and PCRF of the present invention is illustrated. In the second embodiment, in the case of a CMIP tunnel, the P-GW indirectly notifies the AR of domain information corresponding to the DRA through the AAA server, and the method specifically includes:

s201, after the initial attachment is completed, the P-GW may acquire domain information corresponding to the DRA (the acquired domain information corresponding to the DRA is the same as that in the prior art and is not described herein again),

s202, the P-GW sends the domain information and UE-ID corresponding to the DRA (the P-GW acquires the UE-ID in the attachment process according to the prior art, which is not described herein again) to the AAA Server through an S6b interface.

S203, the AAA Server queries the corresponding AR according to the UE-ID, and informs the AR of the domain information corresponding to the DRA through a Ta interface.

And S204, the AR queries the corresponding DRA according to the domain information corresponding to the DRA provided by the AAA Server, and initiates a PCRF addressing request to the DRA.

S205, the DRA replies a corresponding PCRF address to the AR according to the addressing request;

and S206, the AR establishes connection with the corresponding target PCRF according to the PCRF address information, and the corresponding relation between the AR and the PCRF is established, namely the end-to-end PCC process is established.

It should be noted that, in step S203, when this example is used in the case of user roaming, the AAAServer notifies the AR in the visited domain of the domain information corresponding to the DRA through the AAA proxy.

In step S204-206, when the AR queries the corresponding DRA according to the domain information corresponding to the DRA, the DRA may forward the connection request of the AR to the corresponding PCRF, and establish association between the AR and the PCRF.

Referring to fig. 8, a third embodiment of the method for establishing association between AR and PCRF of the present invention is illustrated. In the third embodiment, in the case of a CMIP tunnel, the P-GW notifies the AR by using an addressing message carrying a PCRF address, and the method specifically includes:

s301, after the initial attach is completed, the P-GW acquires a PCRF address (acquiring PCRF address information is the same as in the prior art and is not described here again). Meanwhile, according to the prior art, the P-GW may obtain an AR address of a non-3GPP access gateway serving the same service.

S302, the P-GW loads the PCRF address information into a PCRF addressing message, and sends the PCRF addressing message to a corresponding AR according to the AR address.

S303, the AR analyzes the PCRF addressing message sent by the P-GW to obtain PCRF address information, association is established with the corresponding target PCRF according to the PCRF address information, and the corresponding relation between the AR and the PCRF is established, namely the end-to-end PCC process is established.

Referring to fig. 9, a fourth embodiment of the method for establishing association between AR and PCRF of the present invention is illustrated. In the fourth embodiment, under a CMIP tunnel in a Local Breakout roaming architecture, a visited domain P-GW notifies an AR of PCRF address information through an AAA server, and the method specifically includes:

s401, after completing the initial attachment, according to the prior art, establishing a corresponding relationship between the P-GW and the V-PCRF in the visited domain, that is: the visit domain P-GW can obtain the visit domain V-PCRF address information.

S402, the V-PCRF and the H-PCRF carry out PCC negotiation on user service according to the roaming UE-ID and the APN information according to the prior art.

S403, the visit domain P-GW informs the AAA server Proxy (AAA Proxy) of the V-PCRF address information and the roaming UE-ID through the S6b interface.

S404, the visit area AAA Proxy inquires the AR corresponding to the roaming user according to the roaming UE-DI, and informs the AR of the V-PCRF address information.

S405, the AR establishes association with the corresponding V-PCRF according to the V-PCRF address information, and the corresponding relation between the AR and the V-PCRF is established, namely the end-to-end PCC process is established.

Through the process processing, the corresponding relations between the P-GW and the V-PCRF, between the AR and the V-PCRF and between the V-PCRF and the H-PCRF are established, the PCC process can be carried out, the policy control and the charging are carried out on the user service, and the end-to-end QoS of the user service is ensured.

And secondly, the AR acquires PCRF addressing information provided by the DRA.

Referring to fig. 10, a fifth embodiment of the method for establishing an association between an AR and a PCRF of the present invention is illustrated. In the fifth embodiment, under the condition of the CMIP tunnel, the DRA notifies the AR of the PCRF addressing information, and the method specifically includes:

s501, after the initial attachment is completed, the P-GW establishes association with the PCRF managed by the DRA, and the DRA can acquire the AR address of the non-3GPP access gateway which has the same service with the P-GW through interaction with the P-GW.

And the DRA loads the domain information corresponding to the DRA into the PCRF addressing message and sends the domain information to the corresponding AR according to the AR address.

And S502, after receiving the PCRF addressing message sent by the DRA, the AR analyzes the message to obtain domain information corresponding to the DRA, queries the DRA according to the domain information, establishes association with the PCRF through the DRA, establishes a corresponding relation between the AR and the PCRF, and can perform a PCC process. Specifically, the AR acquires address information of the PCRF to the DRA, and establishes association according to the address information, or the DRA allocates a corresponding PCRF to the AR.

Therefore, the corresponding relations between the P-GW and the PCRF, and between the AR and the PCRF are established, the PCC process can be carried out, the policy control and the charging are carried out on the user service, and the end-to-end QoS of the user service is ensured.

And thirdly, the AR acquires PCRF addressing information provided by the PCRF.

Referring to fig. 11, an embodiment six of a method for establishing an association between an AR and a PCRF of the present invention is illustrated. In the sixth embodiment, in the case of a CMIP tunnel, the destination PCRF directly addresses and finds the AR, and the method specifically includes:

s601, after the initial attachment is completed, the corresponding relation between the P-GW and the PCRF is established, and the PCRF can acquire the UE-IP (or AR address) through the P-GW.

S602, the PCRF loads the address information of itself into the PCRF addressing message and sends the PCRF addressing message to the corresponding AR through the UE-IP (or AR address).

S603, after receiving a PCRF addressing message sent by the PCRF, the AR analyzes the address information of the PCRF, establishes association with the PCRF according to the address information, and establishes a corresponding relationship.

Based on the method for establishing association between the AR and the PCRF, the present invention provides a corresponding communication system, which will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Referring to fig. 12, a block diagram of a communication system for establishing an association between an AR and a PCRF according to an embodiment of the present invention is illustrated. The communication system includes a non-3GPP access gateway 100 and a PCRF200, where the non-3GPP access gateway 100 includes:

an obtaining unit 101, configured to obtain PCRF addressing information;

the processing unit 102 is configured to establish association with the PCRF according to the PCRF addressing information acquired by the acquiring unit 101.

In specific implementation, as shown in fig. 13, in a first embodiment of the communication system for establishing an association between an AR and a PCRF, the communication system further includes a P-GW 300, in addition to the non-3GPP access gateway 100 and the PCRF200, for acquiring PCRF addressing information of the PCRF200 that is associated therewith, and sending the PCRF addressing information to the non-3GPP access gateway 100.

In specific implementation, as shown in fig. 14, in a second embodiment of the communication system for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF of the present invention, the communication system further includes an AAA server 400 in addition to the non-3GPP access gateway 100, the PCRF200, and the P-GW 300 sends the PCRF addressing information to the non-3GPP access gateway 100 through the AAA server 400.

In specific implementation, as shown in fig. 15, in a third embodiment of a communication system for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF of the present invention, the communication system includes a non-3GPP access gateway 100, a PCRF200, a P-GW 300, and an AAA server 400, and further includes a DRA 500, configured to manage all PCRFs including the PCRF200 in a corresponding domain of the DRA, and send PCRF addressing information to the non-3GPP access gateway 100 under an addressing request of the non-3GPP access gateway 100.

In specific implementation, as shown in fig. 16, in a fourth embodiment of a communication system for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF according to the present invention, the communication system further includes a DRA 500, in addition to the non-3GPP access gateway 100, the PCRF200, and the P-GW 300, for managing all PCRFs in a domain corresponding to the DRA, including the PCRF200, and sending PCRF addressing information to the non-3GPP access gateway 100 according to an AR address provided by the P-GW 300.

In specific implementation, as shown in fig. 17, in a fifth embodiment of the present invention, which is a communication system for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF, the communication system includes a non-3GPP access gateway 100 and a PCRF200, where the PCRF200 includes:

an address acquisition unit 201, configured to acquire an AR address or a UE-IP address from a P-GW;

a sending unit 202, configured to send PCRF addressing information to the non-3GPP access gateway 100 corresponding to the AR address or the UE-IP address according to the AR address or the UE-IP address.

It should be noted that, in the foregoing embodiment, as shown in fig. 18, the non-3GPP access gateway 100 may further include:

and the analyzing unit 103 is connected to the acquiring unit 101 and the processing unit 102, and is configured to analyze the PCRF addressing message carrying the PCRF addressing information acquired by the acquiring unit to obtain the PCRF addressing information.

In a specific implementation, the processing unit 102 may include:

and the query unit 104 is configured to query a corresponding DRA according to the domain information corresponding to the DRA, and establish association with the PCRF through the DRA.

The above specifically describes a method for establishing association between an AR and a PCRF and a technical scheme of a communication system thereof, and the following specifically describes a method for establishing association between a visited domain PCRF and a home domain PCRF and a technical scheme of a communication system thereof.

Referring to fig. 19, a first embodiment of a method for establishing association between a visited domain PCRF and a home domain PCRF is illustrated. Under the condition of a CMIP tunnel in a Home Routed roaming architecture, an AAA server informs a V-PCRF of address information of an H-PCRF of a user, and the method specifically comprises the following steps:

s701, after the initial attachment process is completed, the home domain P-GW establishes a corresponding relation with the H-PCRF according to the prior art, and therefore the address information of the H-PCRF can be obtained.

S702, when the visit area AR detects that the roaming user uses the home area P-GW during routing, a V-PCRF in the visit area is automatically distributed to the user, and the AR can acquire the address information of the V-PCRF.

S703, the home domain P-GW notifies the AAA Server through the S6b interface with the address information of the H-PCRF and the roaming UE-ID (according to the prior art, the home domain P-GW can obtain the UE-ID during the attach procedure, which is not described herein again).

S704, AAA Server sends the address information of H-PCRF and roaming UE-ID to AAA Proxy through Wd interface.

And S705, the AAA Proxy sends the address information of the H-PCRF to the visit domain AR corresponding to the roaming UE-ID through a Ta interface according to the UE-ID.

S706, the visit domain AR sends the H-PCRF to the V-PCRF according to the address information of the V-PCRF obtained in the step S702.

S707, the V-PCRF establishes association with the H-PCRF according to the address information of the H-PCRF, and carries out PCC policy negotiation.

Therefore, the corresponding relations between the home domain P-GW and the H-PCRF, between the visited domain AR and the V-PCRF, and between the V-PCRF and the H-PCRF are established, PCC negotiation can be carried out, and the end-to-end QoS of the user service under the roaming condition is ensured.

Based on the first embodiment of the method for establishing the association between the visited domain PCRF and the home domain PCRF, the embodiment of the invention provides a communication system for establishing the association between the visited domain PCRF and the home domain PCRF.

Referring to fig. 20, a first embodiment of the present invention for establishing a communication system for associating a visited domain PCRF with a home domain PCRF is illustrated. The communication system includes:

the visited domain AR 1901 is configured to acquire address information of the home domain PCRF1902, and send the address information of the home domain PCRF1902 to the visited domain PCRF 1903;

and the visited domain PCRF 1903 receives the address information of the home domain PCRF1902, which is sent by the visited domain AR 1901, and establishes association with the home domain PCRF1902 according to the address information.

In specific implementation, as shown in fig. 21, in the second embodiment of the present invention, which is used to establish a communication system in which a visited domain PCRF is associated with a home domain PCRF, the communication system further includes a home domain P-GW 1904, an AAA server 1905, and an AAA proxy 1906, in addition to having the structure shown in fig. 19. Wherein,

a home domain P-GW 1904, configured to obtain address information of the home domain P-GW 1902, and send the address information of the home domain PCRF1902 and a roaming UE-ID to an AAA server 1905;

an AAA server 1905, configured to send the address information of the home domain PCRF1902 and the roaming UE-ID sent by the home domain P-GW 1904 to an AAA proxy 1906 of a visited domain;

the AAA proxy 1906 sends the address information of the home domain PCRF1902 sent by the AAA server 1905 to the visited domain AR 1901 corresponding to the roaming UE-ID, and the visited domain AR 1901 notifies the address information of the home domain PCRF1902 to the visited domain PCRF 1903.

In the above embodiment, as shown in fig. 22, the visited domain AR includes:

an obtaining unit 19011, configured to obtain address information of a home domain PCRF 1902;

a notifying unit 19012, configured to notify the visited domain PCRF 1903 of the address information of the home domain PCRF 1904 acquired by the acquiring unit 19011, where the visited domain PCRF 1903 establishes association with the home domain PCRF1902 according to the address information.

Referring to fig. 23, an embodiment two of the method for establishing association between the visited domain PCRF and the home domain PCRF is illustrated. Under the condition of CMIP tunnel in Home Routed roaming architecture, the H-PCRF establishes the association between the H-PCRF and the V-PCRF through DRA in the visited domain,

the method specifically comprises the following steps:

s801, after the initial attachment is completed, the corresponding relation between the home domain P-GW and the H-PCRF is established, and then the H-PCRF can acquire roaming UE-ID and UE-IP through interaction with the P-GW.

S802, the visit domain AR detects that the roaming user uses the home domain P-GW, and then a V-PCRF is automatically allocated to the user.

And S803, the H-PCRF inquires the DRA for managing the V-PCRF in the visited domain according to the roaming UE-ID or the UE-IP.

S804, the DRA of the visit domain acquires the corresponding V-PCRF address information according to the UE-ID and the UE-IP, and sends the V-PCRF address information to the H-PCRF.

And S805, the H-PCRF establishes association with the V-PCRF according to the address information of the V-PCRF, and carries out PCC policy negotiation.

It should be noted that, in this example, the establishing of the association between the H-PCRF and the V-PCRF by the DRA in the visited domain further includes that the DRA in the visited domain directly allocates a corresponding V-PCRF to the H-PCRF.

Based on the second embodiment of the method for establishing the association between the visited domain PCRF and the home domain PCRF, the embodiment of the invention provides a communication system for establishing the association between the visited domain PCRF and the home domain PCRF. As shown in fig. 24, in a third embodiment of the present invention, which is used for establishing a communication system in which a visited domain PCRF is associated with a home domain PCRF, the communication system includes the home domain PCRF2100, the visited domain PCRF2300, and a visited domain DRA2200, where the home domain PCRF2100 queries the visited domain DRA2200 of the visited domain PCRF2300 according to the UE-ID and the UE-IP, and establishes association between the home domain PCRF2100 and the visited domain PCRF2300 through the DRA2200 in the visited domain.

In particular implementation, the visited domain DRA2200 includes:

an obtaining unit 2201, obtaining the address information of the corresponding visited domain PCRF2300 according to the UE-ID and the UE-IP

A sending unit 2202, configured to send the address information of the visited PCRF2300 to the home domain PCRF 2100.

Wherein, the home domain PCRF2100 includes:

the query unit 2101 is configured to query the DRA of the PCRF in the visited domain according to the UE-ID and the UE-IP;

a processing unit 2102, configured to establish association with a visited PCRF2300 through a DRA2200 of a visited domain, specifically, receive address information of the visited PCRF2300 sent by the DRA2200 of the visited domain, and establish association with the visited PCRF2300 according to the address information.

It should be noted that all the above embodiments only take the case of the CMIP tunnel as an example, and the present invention is not limited to this, and in other network architectures, for example, the PMIP tunnel, the association between the non-3GPP access gateway and the PCRF can also be implemented according to the principles of the present invention.

In summary, by implementing the method and the communication system for establishing association between the AR and the PCRF provided by the present invention, association between the AR and the PCRF is effectively achieved, the AR can obtain the policy and charging rule of the user service from the PCRF, achieve end-to-end control of the PCC, and ensure end-to-end QoS of the user service.

While the foregoing is directed to the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

Claims

1. A method for establishing association between a non-3GPP access gateway AR and a policy and charging formulation server PCRF, comprising:

the AR acquires PCRF addressing information sent by the network equipment;

and the AR establishes association with the PCRF according to the PCRF addressing information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the PCRF addressing information comprises: PCRF address information, or domain information corresponding to a policy and charging formulation server PCRF management entity DRA.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the domain information corresponding to the DRA comprises:

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the AR obtaining PCRF addressing information sent by the network device comprises:

the AR acquires PCRF addressing information provided by a packet data network gateway P-GW, a PCRF or a DRA.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the AR obtaining PCRF addressing information provided by the P-GW comprises:

P-GW reports PCRF address information to authentication, authorization and accounting AAA server;

and the AAA server informs the AR of the PCRF address information.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the AR obtaining PCRF addressing information provided by the P-GW comprises:

the P-GW of the visit domain reports the visit domain PCRF address information to the AAA server;

and the AAA server sends the PCRF address information to the AR through an AAA proxy.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the AR obtaining PCRF addressing information provided by the P-GW comprises:

the P-GW reports the domain information corresponding to the DRA to an AAA server;

and the AAA server informs the AR of the domain information corresponding to the DRA.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the AR establishing the association with the PCRF according to the PCRF addressing information specifically comprises:

and the AR queries the DRA according to the domain information corresponding to the DRA, and establishes association with the PCRF through the DRA.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the AR obtaining PCRF addressing information provided by the P-GW comprises:

the P-GW acquires PCRF address information and an AR address, and loads the PCRF address information into PCRF addressing information;

the P-GW sends the PCRF addressing message to an AR corresponding to the AR address;

and the AR analyzes the PCRF addressing message to obtain the PCRF address information.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein the AR obtaining PCRF addressing information provided by the PCRF comprises:

the AR receives a PCRF addressing message sent by the PCRF;

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the AR receiving a PCRF addressing message sent by a PCRF comprises:

the PCRF establishes association with the P-GW and acquires a UE-IP address or an AR address provided by the P-GW;

and the PCRF carries the PCRF address information as a PCRF addressing message and sends the PCRF addressing message to the AR corresponding to the UE-IP address or the AR address.

12. The method of claim 4, wherein the AR obtaining PCRF addressing information provided by the DRA comprises:

the DRA obtains an AR address through interaction with the P-GW and loads domain information corresponding to the DRA into PCRF addressing information;

the DRA sends the PCRF addressing message to an AR corresponding to the AR address;

and the AR analyzes the PCRF addressing message to obtain the domain information corresponding to the DRA.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the AR establishing the association with the PCRF based on the PCRF addressing information specifically is:

14. A non-3GPP access gateway, comprising:

an obtaining unit, configured to obtain PCRF addressing information sent by a network device, where the network device includes: P-GW, PCRF or DRA.

15. The non-3GPP access gateway of claim 14, wherein the non-3GPP access gateway further comprises:

and the analysis unit is connected with the acquisition unit and the processing unit and is used for analyzing the PCRF addressing information carrying the PCRF addressing information acquired by the acquisition unit to obtain the PCRF addressing information.

16. The non-3GPP access gateway of claim 14 or 15, wherein the PCRF addressing information includes: PCRF address information, or domain information corresponding to DRA.

17. The non-3GPP access gateway of claim 16, wherein the processing unit comprises:

and the query unit is used for querying the corresponding DRA according to the domain information corresponding to the DRA and establishing association with the PCRF through the DRA.

18. A communication system, comprising a non-3GPP access gateway and a PCRF, wherein the non-3GPP access gateway comprises:

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the communication system further comprises a P-GW to obtain PCRF addressing information and send PCRF addressing information to the non-3GPP access gateway.

20. The communication system of claim 19, wherein the communication system further comprises an AAA server, the P-GW sending the PCRF addressing information to the non-3GPP access gateway through the AAA server.

21. The communication system of claim 20, wherein the communication system further comprises a DRA for managing a PCRF in a corresponding domain of the DRA, and sending PCRF addressing information to the non-3GPP access gateway under an addressing request of the non-3GPP access gateway.

22. The communication system of claim 19, further comprising a DRA for managing the PCRF in the corresponding domain of the DRA and sending PCRF addressing information to the non-3GPP access gateway according to the AR address provided by the P-GW.

23. The system of claim 18 wherein the PCRF comprises:

an address acquisition unit for acquiring an AR address or a UE-IP address to a P-GW;

and the sending unit is used for sending PCRF addressing information to the non-3GPP access gateway corresponding to the AR address or the UE-IP address according to the AR address or the UE-IP address.

24. A method for establishing association between a visited domain PCRF and a home domain PCRF is characterized by comprising the following steps:

the method comprises the steps that a visit domain PCRF receives address information of a home domain PCRF acquired by an AR of a visit domain and sent by the AR of the visit domain;

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the obtaining, by the AR of the visited domain, the address information of the PCRF of the home domain specifically comprises:

the method comprises the steps that a home domain P-GW obtains address information of a home domain PCRF;

the home domain P-GW sends the PCRF address information of the home domain to an AAA server;

the AAA server informs the AAA server agent of the visit domain of the address information of the PCRF of the home domain;

and the AAA server agent of the visit domain informs the AR of the visit domain of the address information of the PCRF of the home domain.

26. A non-3GPP access gateway, comprising:

27. A communication system, comprising a visited domain AR, a visited domain PCRF, and a home domain PCRF, wherein,

the visited domain AR includes:

a notification unit, configured to notify the visited domain PCRF of the address information of the home domain PCRF;

28. The communication system of claim 27, wherein the communication system further comprises a home domain P-GW, an AAA server, and an AAA proxy, wherein,

the home domain P-GW is used for acquiring the address information of the home domain P-GW and sending the address information of the home domain PCRF and the roaming UE-ID to the AAA server;

AAA server, which is used to send the address information of the PCRF of the home domain and roaming UE-ID sent by the P-GW of the home domain to AAA proxy of the visit domain;

and the AAA proxy sends the address information of the PCRF of the home domain sent by the AAA server to a non-3GPP access gateway corresponding to the roaming UE-ID.

29. A method for establishing association between a visited domain PCRF and a home domain PCRF is characterized by comprising the following steps:

the home domain PCRF inquires DRA of the management visit domain PCRF in the visit domain according to the UE-ID or the UE-IP;

and establishing association with the PCRF through the DRA in the visited domain.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein establishing, by the DRA in the visited domain, an association of a home domain PCRF and a visited domain PCRF comprises:

and the home domain PCRF establishes association with the visited domain PCRF through address information of the visited domain PCRF acquired by the DRA.

31. A PCRF device, comprising:

32. A communication system is characterized by comprising a home domain PCRF, a visited domain PCRF and a visited domain DRA, wherein the home domain PCRF comprises:

and the processing unit is used for establishing association with the PCRF through the DRA of the visit domain.