CN101656945B - Method, apparatus and system for acquiring network information - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a method, apparatus and system for acquiring network information. The method comprises: when a mobile station needs local network information, the mobile station sending request message of local network information to an access gateway according to whether acquired access gateway supports the local network information visited by the mobile station; the mobile station receiving response returned by the access gateway, the response comprising local network information distributed to the mobile station by the access gateway. By using the invention, unnecessary information interaction between the mobile station and the access gateway is reduce, when the mobile station moves, large transmission time delay is avoided.

Description

A method, device and system for acquiring network information

technical field

The present invention relates to the field of communication technology, in particular to a method, device and system for acquiring network information.

Background technique

In order to enable the mobile station (MS) to better support real-time services while roaming, the International Organization for Standardization (3GGP2, 3nd Generation Partnership Project2) has allocated the home network information (Home Network Information) of the home network (Home Network) to the mobile station in the original Based on this, the home network information of the visited (Visited Network) network is assigned to the mobile station.

In this way, the mobile station carries an indication through the IPv6 Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCPv6, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6), and the indication is used to notify the access node that the Packet Data Serving Node (PDSN, Packet Data Serving Node) wishes to assign a home for the mobile station. The home network information of the network is also the home network information of the visited network assigned to the mobile station. For example, when the ID type in the Home network information option (Network Information Option) of DHCP is 0, it means that the home network information of the visited network is expected to be assigned to the mobile station; when the identifier (ID) type is 1, it means that the mobile station is expected to Assign the home network information of the home network. When the ID type is 2, it means that there is no preference for assigning the home network information of the home network or the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, that is, assigning the home network information of the home network or the home network of the visited network Information is available.

During the research process, the inventor found at least the following disadvantages in the prior art: the mobile station blindly sends the home network information request message to the PDSN. If the mobile station requests the PDSN to allocate the home network information of the visited network, but the PDSN does not support the allocation of the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, the mobile station has to continue to request the PDSN to allocate the home network information of the home network. It can be seen that there are many message exchanges between the mobile station and the PDSN, resulting in reduced efficiency.

Moreover, if the PDSN to which the mobile station is currently connected to the network does not support assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, the mobile station can only obtain the home network information of the home network. If the mobile station moves, if the PDSN connected to the network supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station after moving, but because the mobile station cannot know whether the PDSN connected to the network to which it moves supports assigning the visited network information to the mobile station Therefore, the mobile station will continue to use the home network information of the previously assigned home network. As a result, all data of the mobile station must pass through the home network, thereby causing a large transmission delay and poor user experience. The above disadvantages also exist when the mobile station communicates with other access nodes (for example: HRPD Serving Gateway (HSGW, HRPD Serving Gateway)).

Contents of the invention

In view of this, the embodiments of the present invention provide a method, device and system for acquiring network information to solve the problem in the prior art that a mobile station blindly sends a home network information request message to an access node.

A method for acquiring network information, wherein a mobile station learns whether an access gateway supports assigning home network information of a visited network to the mobile station, the method comprising:

When the mobile station needs home network information, the mobile station sends a home network information request to the access gateway according to whether the access gateway supports assigning home network information of a visited network to the mobile station. information;

The mobile station receives a response returned by the access gateway, where the response includes home network information allocated by the access gateway to the mobile station.

A mobile station for acquiring network information, the mobile station comprising:

A learning unit, configured to learn whether the access gateway supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station;

The first sending unit, when the mobile station needs home network information, sends the home network information to the access gateway according to whether the learned access gateway supports allocating home network information of a visited network for the mobile station request message;

The first receiving unit is configured to receive a response returned by the access gateway, where the response includes home network information allocated by the access gateway to the mobile station.

An access gateway for distributing network information, the access gateway comprising:

a notification unit, configured to send a notification message to the mobile station, where the notification message includes an indication of whether the access gateway supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station;

a third receiving unit, configured to receive a home network information request message sent by the mobile station;

A returning unit, configured to return a response to the mobile station, the response including home network information allocated to the mobile station.

A system for obtaining network information, the system comprising:

The access gateway is used to notify the mobile station whether the access gateway supports assigning home network information of the visited network to the mobile station;

The mobile station is configured to send a home network information request message to the access gateway when the mobile station needs home network information according to the notification from the access gateway; receive a response returned by the access gateway, and the The response includes home network information assigned by the access gateway to the mobile station.

It can be seen that since the mobile station can know whether the access gateway supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, if the access gateway supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, the mobile station can send the access gateway Request the home network information of the visited network. If the access gateway does not support assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, the mobile station will not request the home network information of the visited network from the access gateway. At this time, it can request the home network information from the access gateway. Therefore, according to whether the access gateway has the ability to allocate the home network information of the visited network, the mobile station no longer blindly sends the home network information request message to the access gateway, but initiates the home network information in a targeted manner. The request message reduces unnecessary information interaction between the mobile station and the access gateway, improves efficiency, and avoids a large transmission delay when the mobile station moves, thereby enhancing user experience.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the flow chart of the method of the embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a flow chart of the notification mechanism of the embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of a mobile station requesting home network information from a PDSN on the basis of a notification mechanism according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 4 is a structural diagram of a device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order to make the above features and advantages of the present invention more comprehensible, the present invention will be described in detail below in conjunction with specific embodiments.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a flow chart of the method of the present invention, including:

Step 101: When the mobile station needs home network information, the mobile station sends a home network information request message to the access gateway according to whether the learned access gateway supports assigning home network information of the visited network to the mobile station;

Step 102: The mobile station receives a response returned by the access gateway, wherein the response includes home network information allocated by the access gateway to the mobile station.

Since the access gateway can notify the mobile station whether it supports the assignment of the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, the mobile station can request the home network information of the visited network or the home network of the home network from the access gateway according to the notification of the access gateway information.

The steps shown in FIG. 1 will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments.

It should be pointed out that the access gateway may be a PDSN of a high rate packet data (HRPD, High Rate Packet Data) network, or may be an HRPD service gateway. In the embodiment of the present invention, only the PDSN is taken as an example for illustration.

First, the PDSN notifies the mobile station of whether it supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station. For the convenience of description below, it is called the notification mechanism. In order to enable the PDSN to notify the mobile station, in the embodiment of the present invention, there are two implementation methods, the first is the version capability indication package ( Version Capability Indication) capability list, and the second is through the type of PPP protocol vendor specific packet (Vender specific Packet). Each will be described below.

Please refer to Table 1, which is the version capability indication package extended by the manufacturer of the PPP protocol:

Table 1

In Table 1, Code is set to 0, indicating vendor extension; Identifier is used to match sent and received data packets; Length is 16; Magic Number is used to detect links; for OUI, 0xCF0002 is used to indicate 3GGP2; for Kind, 2 indicates version indication Capability, 3 indicates the version recovery capability; for Version, 0 indicates that it supports the required capabilities specified in 3GGP2X.S0011-D, and other values are reserved; List of Capability indicates the capabilities it has, that is, the supported services.

The List of Capability of PDSN has 24 bits, and each bit represents the service supported by PDSN, please refer to Table 2:

Table 2

number of digits ability C0 Auxiliary connection supporting business option 60 C1 Auxiliary connection supporting service option 61 C2 Auxiliary connection supporting service option 66 C3 Support mobile IPv4 registration revocation C4 Auxiliary connection supporting service option 64 C5 Auxiliary connection supporting service option 67 C6-C23 reserve

The sending end must set C6-C23 (reserved bits) in Table 2 to 0, and the receiving end ignores C6-C23 and does not process it.

In order for the PDSN to support assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, one of the reserved bits of C6-C23 in Table 2 can be used for identification. For example, C7 can be used to indicate that the PDSN supports the assignment of the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station. , then please refer to Table 3 for the List of Capability of PDSN:

table 3

number of digits ability C0 Auxiliary connection supporting business option 60 C1 Auxiliary connection supporting service option 61 C2 Auxiliary connection supporting service option 66

C3 Support mobile IPv4 registration revocation C4 Auxiliary connection supporting service option 64 C5 Auxiliary connection supporting service option 67 C6 reserve C7 Support for assigning home network information for visited networks C8-C23 reserve

Please refer to Figure 2, which shows that using Table 2, the PDSN notifying the mobile station may include the following steps:

Step 201: the PDSN sends a message to the mobile station indicating whether it supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station;

If it supports the distribution of home network information for the mobile station, the C7 bit in the message is 1; if it does not support the distribution of home network information for the mobile station, the C7 bit in the message is not set.

Step 202: The mobile station returns a response to the PDSN, indicating that it has received the notification message from the PDSN;

Step 203: The mobile station checks the C7 bit in the received notification message.

If it is 1, it means that the PDSN supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station. If the C7 bit is not set, it means that the PDSN does not support assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station.

If the mobile station checks that the PDSN supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, the mobile station can request the PDSN to assign the home network information of the visited network to it; if the mobile station checks that the PDSN does not support assigning the visited network information to the mobile station home network information, the mobile station can request the PDSN to assign the home network information of the home network to it.

The above describes in detail how the PDSN notifies the mobile station using the C7 bit of the List of Capability. The following describes how the mobile station notifies the mobile station using the Kind of the PPP protocol vendor-specific package.

In Table 1, for the original Kind, 2 represents the version indication capability, and 3 represents the version recovery capability. In the embodiment of the present invention, the following modifications can be made: for Kind, 4 indicates an indication that supports allocation of home network information of a visited network, and 5 indicates a reply that supports allocation of home network information of a visited network.

In this way, if the PDSN supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, it will send a vendor-specific packet with a Kind of 4 to the mobile station to indicate that it supports the assignment of the home network information of the visited network. After the mobile station receives the notification message sent by the PDSN , sending a vendor-specific packet with a Kind of 5 to the PDSN to indicate receipt of the notification. The mobile station may request the home network information of the visited network from the PDSN. If the mobile station does not receive the vendor-specific packet with Kind 4, it means that the PDSN does not support the distribution of home network information in the visited location. The mobile station can request the home network information of the home network from the PDSN, but cannot request the home network information of the visited network from the PDSN. information.

Next, on the basis of the notification mechanism, the request of the mobile station to the PDSN for home network information will be described in detail.

First of all, it should be pointed out that the authorization of the home network of the mobile station to the PDSN will affect whether the PDSN supports the assignment of the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station. Specifically: if the home network of the mobile station does not authorize the PDSN, the PDSN Whether or not it supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, the PDSN cannot assign the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station. If the home network of the mobile station authorizes the PDSN to assign the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, the PDSN can only assign the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station when the PDSN itself supports the assignment of the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station. .

If the PDSN supports the distribution of the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, but the home network of the mobile station does not authorize the PDSN to distribute the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, when the PDSN notifies the mobile station, it does not need to specify the version capability of the List Set the C7 bit of Capability or the Kind extended by the manufacturer, so that after the mobile station checks the received notification message, it will not request the home network information of the visited network from the PDSN, but the home network information of the home network. Please refer to Figure 3, specifically the following steps may be included:

Step 301: The mobile station and the PDSN exchange messages to start the access authentication process;

Step 302: the PDSN sends a RADIUS access request RADIUS Access-Request message to the hometown remote user dial-in authentication service (RADIUS, Remote Authentication Dial-in User Service) server of the home network;

PDSN supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, and includes the mobile IPv6-home agent-local-assignment-capability (MIP6-HA-Local-Assignment-Capability) vendor-specific attribute (VSA, Vendor SpecificAttribute) in the RADIUSAccess-Request message ) indicates that the PDSN supports assigning home network information of the visited network to the mobile station.

It should be pointed out that the RADIUS access request sent by the PDSN to the home RADIUS server may be relayed through the visited RADIUS server of the visited network.

Step 303: The home RADIUS server authenticates the mobile station successfully, and assigns the home network information of the home network to the mobile station, but does not authorize the PDSN to assign the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station.

Step 304: the home RADIUS server returns a RADIUS access acceptance RADIUSAccess-Accept message to the PDSN;

The mobile IPv6 home agent (MIP6 Home Agent) VSA in the RADIUS access acceptance message contains the home network information of the assigned home network, and the HA-Authorized VSA is not included in the RADIUS access acceptance message, indicating that it is not authorized The PDSN assigns the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station.

Step 305: the PDSN stores the home network information of the home network assigned by the home RADIUS server.

When the mobile station requests the home network information of the home network from the PDSN, the PDSN sends the home network information of the home network allocated by the home RADIUS server to the mobile station.

So far, the authentication process is completed. The PDSN and the mobile station can execute the notification mechanism at this time, but the execution timing of the notification mechanism is not limited to this. It should be pointed out that because the mobile station moves, the mobile station communicates with another PDSN (such as PDSN1), and through the signaling interaction between the mobile station and PDSN1, PDSN1 will re-execute the notification mechanism with the mobile station.

Step 306: PDSN sends to the mobile station a message indicating whether it supports assigning home network information of the visited network to the mobile station;

Since in the embodiment of the present invention, the home RADIUS server does not authorize the PDSN to distribute the home network information of the visited network, the notification message of the PDSN does not set the C7 bit of the List of Capability indicated by the version capability or the Kind extended by the manufacturer.

It should be pointed out that if the PDSN itself does not support the assignment of the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, no matter whether the home RADIUS server authorizes or not, the PDSN will not change the C7 bit of the List of Capability indicated by the version capability or the Kind of the vendor-specific package. to set. If the PDSN itself supports the assignment of the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, and the home RADIUS server authorizes the PDSN, then the PDSN needs to set the C7 bit of the List of Capability indicated by the version capability or the Kind of the vendor-specific package for Notifying the mobile station that the mobile station may be assigned home network information of the visited network.

Step 307: The mobile station returns a response to the PDSN, indicating that it has received the notification message from the PDSN;

Step 308: The mobile station checks the C7 bit of the List of Capability indicated by the version capability or the Kind of the vendor-specific package, and learns that the PDSN does not support assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station.

The mobile station can save the check result, and can request the home network information of the visited location or the home location according to the capability of the PDSN when subsequently requesting the home network information. Moreover, since the PDSN can execute the notification mechanism that supports the visited network to distribute the home network information multiple times, for example: before the access authentication process. Therefore, the mobile station needs to refresh the saved result, and determine whether to send a message requesting the home network information for the visited location based on the indication of the home network information assigned by the visited network in the latest received notification.

So far, the notification mechanism is completed, and the mobile station learns that the PDSN cannot assign the home network information of the visited network to it.

The following enters the process of the mobile station requesting home network information.

Step 309: When the mobile station needs home network information, the mobile station sends a DHCPv6 information request (DHCPv6Information-request) message to the PDSN;

The message contains the Home Network Identifier Option option, and the ID type is 1, which is used to request the home network information of the home network. Moreover, the message includes a Network Access Identifier (NAI, Network Access Identifier), which is used to identify the mobile station.

When the mobile station needs home network information, it can request the home network information of the visited network or the home network information of the home network from the PDSN, because in the embodiment of the present invention, the mobile station has learned that the PDSN does not support assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station. Network information, so the mobile station requests the home network information of the home network from the PDSN.

Step 310: the PDSN returns a DHCPv6 reply (DHCPv6Reply) message to the mobile station.

The Home Network Information Option option of the DHCPv6Reply message contains the home network information of the home network saved by the PDSN.

So far, the mobile station can request the home network information of the visited network from the PDSN if the PDSN supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station according to the information obtained in the notification mechanism. Home network information, the mobile station requests the home network information of the home network from the PDSN, thereby reducing the information interaction between the mobile station and the PDSN and improving efficiency, and if the mobile station moves, the mobile station can obtain it through the notification mechanism Know whether the current PDSN supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station. Thus, the transmission delay is reduced.

Please refer to FIG. 4, which shows a structural diagram of the device of the present invention. For the mobile station, it includes:

A learning unit 401, configured to learn whether the access gateway supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station;

The first sending unit 402, when the mobile station needs home network information, sends a home network information request message to the access gateway according to whether the learned access gateway supports allocation of home network information of the visited network for the mobile station;

The first receiving unit 403 is configured to receive a response returned by the access gateway, wherein the response includes home network information allocated by the access gateway to the mobile station.

For access gateways, include:

A notification unit 404, configured to send a notification message to the mobile station, where the notification message includes an indication of whether the access gateway supports assigning home network information of the visited network to the mobile station;

The third receiving unit 405 is configured to receive the home network information request message sent by the mobile station;

The returning unit 406 is configured to return a response to the mobile station, where the response includes home network information allocated for the mobile station.

As a device embodiment, the obtaining unit 401 in FIG. 4 may include:

The second receiving unit is configured to receive a notification message from the access gateway, where the notification message includes an indication of whether the access gateway supports allocating home network information of a visited network to the mobile station.

The steps performed by each unit of the device embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below in conjunction with the method embodiment.

For the notification mechanism performed by the PDSN and the mobile station, specifically: the notification unit sends a notification message to the mobile station, and the notification message includes an indication of whether the access gateway supports assigning home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, wherein, The indication is implemented by extending the vendor extension of the point-to-point protocol. For details, please refer to the description of the method embodiment. In conjunction with step 306 of the method embodiment, the notification unit notifies the mobile station that it does not support assigning home network information of the visited network to the mobile station.

The second receiving unit of the mobile station receives the notification message sent by the notifying unit of the PDSN, and in combination with step 308 of the method embodiment, the obtaining unit learns that the PDSN does not support assigning home network information of the visited network to the mobile station.

Combining steps 309 and 310 of the method embodiment, the first sending unit 402 of the mobile station sends a DHCPv6Information-request message to the PDSN to request home network information of the home network according to the result learned by the learning unit. The third receiving unit of the PDSN receives the DHCPv6Information-request message, and the returning unit 406 of the PDSN returns a DHCPv6Reply message to the mobile station according to the message received by the third receiving unit, and the first receiving unit of the mobile station receives the DHCPv6Reply message returned by the PDSN, and obtains Home network information of the home network.

It can be seen that since the notification unit 404 of the PDSN and the acquisition unit 401 of the mobile station have established a notification mechanism, the mobile station can know whether the PDSN has the ability to allocate the home network information of the visited network, and then it does not need to blindly request the home network information from the PDSN , reduces the information exchange between the mobile station and the PDSN, improves the efficiency, and if the mobile station moves, the learning unit of the mobile station can know whether the current PDSN supports assigning the home of the visited network to the mobile station through the notification mechanism Internet Information. Thus, the transmission delay is reduced.

The present invention also provides a system for obtaining network information, including:

The access gateway is used to notify the mobile station whether the access gateway supports allocating the visited network for the mobile station

home network information;

The mobile station is configured to send a home network information request message to the access gateway when the mobile station needs home network information according to the notification of the access gateway; receive a response returned by the access gateway, wherein the response includes the access gateway as Home network information assigned by the mobile station.

In combination with the method embodiment of the present invention, the access gateway may be a PDSN, and the operations performed by the PDSN and the mobile station are the same as those of the method embodiment, and please refer to the description of the method embodiment for details.

Finally, it should also be noted that in this text, relational terms such as first and second etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another, and do not necessarily require or imply that these entities or operations, any such actual relationship or order exists. Furthermore, the term "comprises", "comprises" or any other variation thereof is intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion such that a process, method, article or apparatus comprising a set of elements includes not only those elements, but also includes elements not expressly listed. other elements of or also include elements inherent in such a process, method, article, or device. Without further limitations, an element defined by the phrase "comprising a ..." does not exclude the presence of additional identical elements in the process, method, article or apparatus comprising said element.

Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that all or part of the steps to realize the above method embodiments can be completed by hardware related to program instructions, and the aforementioned program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed, the execution includes: The steps of the above-mentioned method embodiments; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: ROM, RAM, magnetic disk or optical disk and other various media that can store program codes.

A method, device and system for obtaining network information provided by the present invention has been introduced in detail above. In this paper, specific examples are used to illustrate the principle and implementation of the present invention. The description of the above embodiments is only for helping understanding The method of the present invention and its core idea; at the same time, for those of ordinary skill in the art, according to the idea of the present invention, there will be changes in the specific implementation and scope of application. In summary, the content of this specification should not be construed as a limitation of the invention.

Claims (10)

1. A method for obtaining network information, wherein the mobile station learns whether the access gateway supports the assignment of home network information of the visited network for the mobile station, the method comprising: When the mobile station needs home network information, the mobile station sends a home network information request to the access gateway according to whether the access gateway supports assigning home network information of a visited network to the mobile station. information; The mobile station receives a response returned by the access gateway, where the response includes home network information allocated by the access gateway to the mobile station. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the implementation of sending the home network request message to the access gateway is as follows: If the access gateway supports allocation of home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, the mobile station sends a home network information request message of the visited network or a home network information request message of the home network to the access gateway; If the access gateway does not support allocation of the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station, the mobile station sends a home network information request message of the home network to the access gateway. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the specific realization of the mobile station knowing whether the access gateway supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station is as follows: The mobile station receives a notification message from the access gateway, where the notification message includes an indication of whether the access gateway supports allocating home network information of a visited network to the mobile station. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the indication is implemented by extending the vendor extension of the point-to-point protocol. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the indication is implemented by extending the version capability indication of the P2P protocol, or modifying the type of the vendor-specific package of the P2P protocol. 6. A mobile station for acquiring network information, characterized in that the mobile station comprises: A learning unit, configured to learn whether the access gateway supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station; The first sending unit, when the mobile station needs home network information, sends the home network information to the access gateway according to whether the learned access gateway supports allocating home network information of a visited network for the mobile station request message; The first receiving unit is configured to receive a response returned by the access gateway, where the response includes home network information allocated by the access gateway to the mobile station. 7. The mobile station according to claim 6, wherein the acquiring unit comprises: The second receiving unit is configured to receive a notification message from the access gateway, where the notification message includes an indication of whether the access gateway supports allocating home network information of a visited network to the mobile station. 8. An access gateway for distributing network information, characterized in that the access gateway comprises: a notification unit, configured to send a notification message to the mobile station, where the notification message includes an indication of whether the access gateway supports assigning the home network information of the visited network to the mobile station; a third receiving unit, configured to receive a home network information request message sent by the mobile station; A returning unit, configured to return a response to the mobile station, the response including home network information allocated to the mobile station. 9. The access gateway according to claim 8, characterized in that, the indication of the notification unit is implemented by extending the vendor extension of the point-to-point protocol. 10. A system for acquiring network information, characterized in that the system comprises the mobile station according to claim 6 or 7 and the access gateway according to claim 8 or 9.

Images