CN102045867B

CN102045867B - Network connection establishment method and device and policy control and charging (PCC) strategy formulation method and system

Info

Publication number: CN102045867B
Application number: CN200910179883.6A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 朱春晖; 宗在峰
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2009-10-19
Filing date: 2009-10-19
Publication date: 2014-04-30
Anticipated expiration: 2029-10-19
Also published as: CN102045867A; WO2011047589A1

Abstract

The invention discloses a network connection establishment method and device and a policy control and charging (PCC) strategy formulation method and system. The network connection establishment method comprises the following steps: the network side receives an access request launched by user equipment, wherein the access request contains a group identification of the group corresponding to the user equipment; when a load-bearing is required to be established between a first network element and a second network element, whether a group load-bearing corresponding to the group identification exists between the first network element and the second network element is judged; if so, the data of the user equipment are bound with the group load-bearing; and if not, a group load-bearing is established between the first network element and the second network element for the group corresponding to the user equipment, and the group load-bearing is recorded as the group load-bearing corresponding to the group identification between the first network element and the second network element. By adopting the network connection establishment method, the occupied network resources can be reduced and the utilization rate of network resources can be increased.

Description

Network connection establishing method and device, and PCC strategy making method and system

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of mobile communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for establishing a network connection, and a method and a system for Policy and Charging Control (PCC) Policy formulation.

Background

The 3GPP wireless core network includes a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network, a System long term evolution (SAE) network, and a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). The SAE can also be referred to as an Evolved Packet System (EPS).

Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram of an emergency call of a User Equipment (User Equipment, abbreviated UE) accessing an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IP Multimedia Subsystem, abbreviated IMS) through SAE and UMTS, in which fig. 1, the solid lines represent signaling and the dotted lines represent the IP channel of the User. When accessing through UMTS, the UE may also be referred to as a Mobile Station (MS).

As shown in fig. 1, the main network elements involved by a UE through SAE or UMTS access Machine Type Communication (MTC) Server (MTC Server) include: a network element of the SAE network part, a network element of the UMTS network part, and an MTC Server, in which case the UE may also be referred to as an MTC device.

The network elements of the SAE network portion are mainly used to provide bearer management and mobility management. The network elements of the SAE network part include: an enhanced radio base station (eNodeB), a Mobility Management Entity (MME), and a user plane data routing processing element (SAE GW); the SAE GW comprises a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW) and a serving Gateway (S-GW); the MME is responsible for managing and storing the UE context (e.g., UE identity/user identity, mobility management status, user security parameters, etc.), assigning temporary identities to users, and authenticating the UE when it is camped on a tracking area or network. eNodeB access is also called Long Term Evolution (LTE) access. A Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) is an important functional entity of a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) architecture, and is used to control acquisition, assembly, issuing and the like of policies and Charging rules of an internet protocol-Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN). In a particular application, the IP-CAN may be a collection of devices and interfaces in an EPS or UMTS network.

The P-GW is a mobility anchor in the SAE system, is a border gateway between the SAE and a Packet Data Network (PDN), and is responsible for accessing the PDN and forwarding Data between the SAE and the PDN.

The UMTS Network is mainly composed of a 3GPP Radio Access Network (GSM EDGE Radio Access Network/UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network, GERAN/UTRAN, collectively referred to as RAN), a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), and a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN).

Fig. 2 is a signaling diagram illustrating that in the prior art, MTC devices (i.e., terminals) access an MTC server, during actual use, the number of MTC devices is large, and although the data volume of the terminals is low, some bursty data may be occasionally generated, the terminals still need to be online for a long time, therefore, in the prior art, a bearer needs to be separately established for each MTC Device, so that a large amount of network resources are occupied, and the data volume transmitted by each bearer is small, so that the utilization rate of the network resources is low, and thus, network resources are wasted.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, the present invention provides an improved network connection establishment scheme, so as to solve the problem in the prior art that a utilization rate of network resources is low due to the fact that one bearer is established for each MTC device separately, thereby causing a waste of network resources.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a network connection establishment method is provided.

The network connection establishing method comprises the following steps: a network side receives an access request initiated by user equipment, wherein the access request carries a group identifier indicating a group to which the user equipment belongs; under the condition that the load bearing between a first network element and a second network element needs to be established for user equipment, judging whether a group load bearing corresponding to the group identifier exists between the first network element and the second network element at present, and if so, binding the data of the user equipment with the group load bearing; otherwise, a group bearer between the first network element and the second network element is established for the group to which the user equipment belongs, and the group bearer is recorded as the group bearer between the first network element and the second network element corresponding to the group identifier.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a network connection establishing apparatus.

The network connection establishing apparatus according to the present invention includes: the device comprises a receiving module, a judging module, a bearing establishing module, a recording module and a binding module. The receiving module is used for receiving an access request initiated by user equipment, wherein the access request carries a group identifier indicating a group to which the user equipment belongs; a judging module, configured to judge whether a group bearer corresponding to the group identifier exists between the first network element and the second network element currently when a bearer between the first network element and the second network element needs to be established for the user equipment; a bearer establishing module, configured to establish a group bearer between the first network element and the second network element for the group to which the user equipment belongs, if the determination result of the determining module is negative; a recording module, configured to record the group bearer established by the bearer establishing module as a group bearer between the first network element and the second network element, where the group bearer corresponds to the group identifier; and the binding module is used for binding the data of the user equipment with the group bearer under the condition that the judgment result of the judgment module is yes.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a PCC policy making method is provided for making a group bearer based PCC policy.

The PCC strategy making method comprises the following steps: after receiving a session request for establishing a group bearer for a group to which first user equipment belongs, a P-GW sends a group bearer establishment instruction to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), wherein the group bearer establishment instruction carries a group identifier of the first user equipment; the PCRF receives the group bearing establishment indication and acquires group subscription information corresponding to the group identifier through a user subscription database (SPR); and the PCRF formulates a PCC policy of the group corresponding to the group identification according to the group subscription information and the local configuration information.

According to yet another aspect of the present invention, a PCC policy making system is provided.

The PCC policy making system according to the present invention comprises: the system comprises a P-GW, an SPR and a PCRF, wherein the P-GW is used for sending a group bearing establishment instruction to the PCRF after receiving a session request for establishing a group bearing for a group to which first user equipment belongs, and the group bearing establishment instruction carries a group identifier of the first user equipment; the SPR is used for storing the corresponding relation between the group identification of each group in the network and the group subscription information thereof; and the PCRF is used for receiving the group bearing establishment instruction, acquiring the group subscription information corresponding to the group identifier carried in the group bearing establishment instruction through the SPR, and formulating the PCC strategy of the group corresponding to the group identifier according to the group subscription information and the local configuration information.

Through at least one scheme of the invention, the user equipment is grouped, a group bearer is established between two network elements needing to establish the bearer, and the user equipment in the same group shares the group bearer, so that the occupation of network resources is reduced, and the utilization rate of the network resources is improved.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the invention and not to limit the invention. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating an emergency call in which a UE accesses an IMS through SAE and UMTS in the related art;

fig. 2 is a signaling diagram illustrating an MTC device accessing an MTC server in the prior art;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a network connection establishment method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4A is a signaling diagram illustrating an MTC device accessing an MTC server according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4B is a signaling diagram illustrating an MTC device accessing an MTC server according to an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 4C is a signaling diagram illustrating an MTC device accessing an MTC server according to another embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a first embodiment;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of the second embodiment;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a third embodiment;

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a network connection establishing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a flowchart of a PCC policy making method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a flowchart according to a fourth embodiment;

FIG. 11 is a flowchart of a fifth embodiment;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a PCC policy making system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Overview of the function

In the prior art, each MTC device needs to establish a bearer separately, and thus, when the number of MTC devices is large, a large amount of network resources are occupied. In the embodiment of the invention, the MTC devices are grouped, the MTC devices belonging to the same group under the same base station share one S1-U tunnel, the MTC devices belonging to the same group under the same SGW-PGW share one S5/S8 tunnel, and the MTC devices belonging to the same group under the same PGW share one IPSec tunnel.

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and it will be understood that they are described herein for the purpose of illustration and explanation and not limitation.

In the following description, for purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the present invention. It may be evident, however, that the present invention may be practiced without these specific details, and that various combinations of the details of the following examples and embodiments are possible without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention as set forth in the appended claims.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for establishing a network connection is provided.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a network connection establishment method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 3, the network connection establishment method according to the embodiment of the present invention mainly includes the following steps (step S101-step S107):

step S101: a network side receives an access request initiated by user equipment, wherein the access request carries a group identifier indicating a group to which the user equipment belongs;

in a specific implementation process, when a user equipment needs to access a network, an access request needs to be initiated, and specifically, the access request may be an attach request initiated by the user equipment at an initial access time, or may be a handover request initiated at a handover time.

The user equipment may indicate a group to which the user equipment belongs by carrying an identity (e.g., IMSI) of the user equipment, and after receiving the identity of the user equipment, the network side may analyze the identity to obtain a group identifier of the group to which the user equipment belongs; or, the user equipment may also identify a group identifier of a group to which the user equipment belongs by carrying an Access Point Name (APN) in the Access request; in addition, the user equipment may be grouped in advance, and a unique identifier may be set for each group, or the user equipment may indicate a group identifier of its belonging group by using an identifier set for its belonging group in advance.

Step S103: under the condition that the load bearing between the first network element and the second network element needs to be established for the user equipment, judging whether a group load bearing corresponding to the group identifier of the user equipment exists between the first network element and the second network element currently, if so, executing a step S105, otherwise, executing a step S107;

in the specific implementation process, as shown in fig. 2, for the network side, when the UE accesses, a bearer (S1-U tunnel) needs to be established between a base station (eNodeB) and an S-GW, a bearer (S5/S8 tunnel) needs to be established between the S-GW and a P-GW, and for the MTC device to access the MTC server, an IPSec tunnel needs to be established between the P-GW and the MTC server.

Step S105: binding the data of the user equipment with the currently existing group bearer corresponding to the group identifier;

and when a group bearer corresponding to the group identifier to which the user equipment belongs exists between the first network element and the second network element, binding the data of the user equipment with the group bearer, and transmitting the uplink and downlink data of the user equipment through a tunnel of the group bearer.

Specifically, for the user equipment under the same base station, the bearer binding mechanism is as follows: multiple air interface bearers are mapped to one S1-U tunnel, and in the downlink direction, the eNodeB can distinguish different downlink radio bearers by the destination IP address of the packet header.

For the user equipment belonging to the same group under the same SGW-PGW, the bearer binding mechanism of the S-GW is as follows: in the uplink direction, group bearers belonging to the same group on different S1-U interfaces are converged by using the group identifiers, and bearer establishment and binding between the SGW and the PGW are carried out; and in the downlink direction, the IP address of the user equipment is bound with the tunnel on the S1-U, and the data packet is sent to the tunnel on the S1-U according to the target IP address of the downlink data packet.

Step S107: and establishing a group bearer between the first network element and the second network element for the group to which the user equipment belongs, and recording the group bearer as the group bearer between the first network element and the second network element corresponding to the group identifier.

The group bearer establishment will be described below by taking the first network element as a base station, the second network element as an S-GW, the first network element as an S-GW, and the second network element as a P-GW, respectively.

The first network element is a base station and the second network element is an S-GW

Specifically, in this case, the establishing of the group bearer may include the following steps:

step 1, when user equipment needs to access a network, initiating an access request, and forwarding the received access request to an MME (mobility management entity) by a base station; the access request carries a user equipment identity (e.g., IMSI), and the user equipment further needs to provide information of a Group to which the user equipment belongs to the MME, specifically, the MME may obtain the information of the Group to which the user equipment belongs by analyzing the IMSI of the user equipment, or the access request initiated by the user equipment carries a Group identity, which may be an APN or a preset Group identity (Group ID);

step 2, MME sends a request for establishing session to the selected S-GW, wherein the request for establishing session carries the group identification, and requests the S-GW to establish a group bearer for the group to which the user equipment belongs;

and step 3, the S-GW receives the session establishment request, establishes a group bearer for the group to which the user equipment belongs between the base station and the S-GW, and distributes a group bearer tunnel identifier.

In the specific implementation process, after establishing the group bearer, the S-GW continues to send a session establishment request to the P-GW to request the P-GW to establish the bearer between the S-GW and the P-GW. The S-GW may carry the group identifier in the session establishment request to request the P-GW to establish a group bearer between the S-GW and the P-GW, where the group bearer corresponds to the group identifier, and the specific process refers to the following description; after establishing the bearer between the S-GW and the P-GW, the P-GW returns a session establishment reply to the S-GW, wherein the session establishment reply carries the IP address distributed by the P-GW for the user equipment, and if the P-GW establishes the group bearer between the S-GW and the P-GW, the session establishment reply also carries a group bearer tunnel identifier distributed by the P-GW for the group to which the user equipment belongs; and after receiving the session establishment reply, the MME sends a message to the base station, wherein the message carries the group bearing tunnel identifier distributed by the S-GW for the group to which the user equipment belongs.

The first network element is S-GW, the second network element is P-GW

In this case, the group bearer between the first network element and the second network element may be established by:

step 1, after receiving an access request initiated by user equipment, an S-GW initiates a session establishment request to a P-GW, wherein the session establishment request carries a group identifier of a group to which the user equipment belongs, and the P-GW is requested to establish a group bearer between the S-GW and the P-GW, which corresponds to the group identifier;

in a specific implementation process, the S-GW may send the session establishment request to the P-GW after the MME receives the session establishment request sent after the access request forwarded by the base station.

And step 2, the P-GW receives the session establishment request, establishes a group bearer for the group to which the user equipment belongs between the S-GW and the P-GW, and distributes a group bearer tunnel identifier.

And after establishing the group bearer for the group to which the user equipment belongs, the P-GW sends a session establishment reply to the S-GW, wherein the session establishment reply carries the group bearer tunnel identifier distributed for the group to which the user equipment belongs.

If the user equipment is the MTC equipment and the MTC equipment requests to access the MTC server, after the group bearer is established for the group to which the user equipment belongs, the P-GW can also initiate a tunnel establishment request to the MTC server to request to establish a tunnel between the P-GW and the MTC server, wherein the tunnel establishment request carries a group identifier; the MTC server receives the tunnel establishment request, establishes a tunnel between the P-GW and the MTC server, and returns a tunnel identifier of the tunnel to the P-GW; the P-GW stores the mapping relation between the tunnel identifier and the group identifier. In the subsequent process, when uplink data of the user equipment in the group corresponding to the group identifier needs to be transmitted between the P-GW and the MTC server, the P-GW or the MTC server selects a tunnel corresponding to the tunnel identifier corresponding to the group identifier to transmit the uplink data and the downlink data.

Through the steps, MTC devices belonging to the same Group under one P-GW share one Group BEARER: P-GW-M2M SERVER. A PGW initiates to establish a tunnel, which may be an IPSec tunnel, in the uplink direction, all data of MTC devices belonging to the same group are converged into the tunnel, and are sent to an MTCServer by a P-GW; and in the downlink direction, the IP address of the MTC device is bound with the tunnel in the S5, and the data packet is sent to the tunnel in the S5 according to the target IP address of the downlink data packet.

With the network connection method provided by the embodiment of the present invention, for the same group of user equipments under the same base station, as shown in fig. 4A, the group of user equipments share one S1-U tunnel, S5/S8 tunnel, and IPSec tunnel; for the same group of user equipments under different base stations but the same S-GW, as shown in fig. 4B, the group of user equipments share one S5/S8 tunnel and IPSec tunnel; for the same group of user equipments under different base stations, different S-GWs but the same P-GW, as shown in fig. 4C, the group of user equipments share one IPSec tunnel.

In order to further understand the above technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the following takes an example of an MTC device accessing an MTC server to describe the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

Example one

In this embodiment, an MTC device 1 initially accesses as an example, and a method for establishing a group bearer is described, in this embodiment, the MTC device 1 is a first user equipment requesting access in a group to which the MTC device belongs.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of this embodiment, and as shown in fig. 5, in this embodiment, the establishing of the group bearer when the MTC device 1 initially accesses mainly includes the following steps:

step 501, the MTC device initiates an attach request to the MME through a base station (eNodeB);

the attach request carries an identity (e.g., IMSI) of the ue, and the MME may obtain a Group identifier of a Group to which the ue belongs through IMSI analysis, or in the attach request, the MTC device carries a Group identifier of the Group to which the MTC device belongs, where the Group identifier may be an APN or a preset Group ID.

Step 502, MME sends a location update request to HSS, where the location update request carries a user identity identifier IMSI, and if the group identifier of the user belonging to the group in the attach request is needed, the HSS obtains the group to which the user belongs;

step 503, the HSS sends a location update reply to the MME, where the location update reply carries subscription information of the MTC device 1 and group subscription information of a group to which the MTC device 1 belongs;

step 504, the MME initiates a request for establishing a session to the selected S-GW, where the request indicates the S-GW to establish a group bearer for the MTC device;

after receiving the session establishment request, the S-GW allocates a group bearer tunnel identifier 1 to the group to which the MTC device 1 belongs.

Step 505, the S-GW initiates a session establishment request to the P-GW, where the request indicates the P-GW to establish a group bearer for the MTC device 1, and also requests the P-GW to allocate an IP address to the MTC device 1, and the request also carries a group bearer tunnel identifier 1 allocated by the S-GW to the group to which the MTC device 1 belongs;

in step 506, the P-GW initiates a group bearer establishment procedure to the PCRF as a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF), specifically refer to the following description.

When the network does not deploy PCRF, the P-GW determines a PCC strategy carried by the group according to the self-configured information;

step 507, the P-GW sends a session establishment reply to the S-GW, where the session establishment reply carries an IP address allocated by the P-GW for the MTC device 1 and a group bearer tunnel identifier 2 allocated for a group to which the MTC device 1 belongs;

step 508, the S-GW sends a session establishment reply to the MME, where the session establishment reply carries an IP address allocated by the P-GW for the MTC device 1;

step 509, the MME sends an initial context setup request to the eNodeB, where the initial context setup request carries an attach accept message sent to the MTC device 1;

in the initial context establishment request, the IP address allocated by the P-GW for the MTC device 1 and the group bearer tunnel identifier 1 allocated by the S-GW for the S1-U interface are carried;

step 510, the eNodeB and the MTC device 1 reconfigure radio resources;

step 511, the enode b sends an initial context establishment reply to the MME, where the initial context establishment reply may include a group bearer tunnel identifier 1 allocated to the group to which the MTC device 1 belongs at the S1-U interface;

step 512, the MTC Device sends a direct transmission message to the eNodeB;

step 513, the eNodeB sends an attach complete message to the MME, and when the group bearer tunnel identifier allocated by the eNodeB to the group to which the MTC device 1 belongs at the S1-U interface is not included in step 511, the identifier is sent in this step;

step 514, the MME sends a modify bearer request to the S-GW, where the modify bearer request includes a group bearer tunnel identifier 1 allocated by the eNodeB at the S1-U interface for the group to which the MTC device 1 belongs;

step 515, the S-GW sends a modify bearer reply to the MME, completing establishment of the user plane group bearer.

Example two

In this embodiment, after the first embodiment is completed, the MTC device 2 belonging to the same group and located under the same eNodeB as the MTC device 1 initially accesses the group bearer.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart of the initial access initiated by the MTC device 2 in this embodiment, as shown in fig. 6, the initial access initiated by the MTC device 2 in this embodiment mainly includes the following steps:

step 601-603 is the same as step 501-503;

step 604, the MME determines that the MTC device and the MTC device 1 belong to the same group according to the MTC device 2 belonging group information, and therefore determines to aggregate the user plane of the MTC device 2 into the group bearer of the established MTC device 1 belonging group, and the MME initiates a session modification request to the S-GW, where the session modification request carries a group identifier and requests to modify the group bearer corresponding to the group identifier;

and after receiving the session modifying request, the S-GW binds the data of the MTC device 2 with the group bearer corresponding to the group identifier between the base station and the S-GW.

Step 605, after receiving the modify group bearer request, the S-GW initiates a modify session request to the P-GW, where the modify group bearer request carries a group identifier and requests to modify a group bearer;

after receiving the group bearer modification request, the P-GW adds the MTC device 2 to the group bearer between the S-GW and the P-GW corresponding to the group identifier, and binds the data of the MTC device 2 to the group bearer.

Step 606, the P-GW sends a group identifier to the PCRF, informs the PCRF that a new MTC Device is accessed in the group, and requests a new PCC policy;

step 607, the P-GW sends a modify session reply to the S-GW;

step 608, the S-GW sends a modify session reply to the P-GW;

step 609-.

EXAMPLE III

This embodiment describes a procedure for establishing a tunnel between a P-GW and an MTC server.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart of a method for establishing a tunnel between a P-GW and an MTC Server in this embodiment, where the method is an optional step, and does not affect the execution of other embodiments, and specifically includes the following steps:

step 701, after step 507 of fig. 5, the P-GW initiates establishment of an IPSec tunnel with the MTC Server, and includes group identification information of a group to which the MTC device 1 belongs in the tunnel establishment request;

step 702, the MTC Server replies to the P-GW to successfully establish the tunnel;

after receiving the message, the P-GW stores the mapping relation between the tunnel and the group bearer on the P-GW, and all the uplink and downlink data of the users belonging to the group are transmitted between the P-GW and the MTC Server through the tunnel.

According to the embodiment of the invention, a network connection establishing device is also provided, and the device can be used for implementing the network connection establishing method.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of a network connection establishing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 8, the network connection establishing apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention mainly includes: the device comprises a receiving module 1, a judging module 3, a bearing establishing module 5, a recording module 7 and a binding module 9. The receiving module 1 is configured to receive an access request initiated by a user equipment, where the access request carries a group identifier indicating a group to which the user equipment belongs; the judging module 3 is connected with the receiving module 1 and is used for judging whether a group bearing corresponding to the group identifier exists between the first network element and the second network element currently under the condition that the bearing between the first network element and the second network element needs to be established for the user equipment; the bearer establishing module 5 is connected to the judging module 3, and is configured to, in a case that the judgment result of the judging module 3 is negative, perform a group bearer between the first network element and the second network element of the group to which the user equipment belongs; the recording module 7 is connected to the bearer establishing module 5, and is configured to record the group bearer established by the bearer establishing module 5 as a group bearer between the first network element and the second network element, where the group bearer corresponds to the group identifier; the binding module 9 is connected to the determining module 3, and configured to bind the data of the user equipment with the group bearer if the determination result of the determining module 3 is yes.

Corresponding to the network connection establishing method, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a PCC policy making method, configured to make a group bearer-based PCC policy.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart of a PCC policy making method according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 9, the PCC policy making method according to the embodiment of the present invention mainly includes the following steps:

step S901: after receiving a session request for establishing a group bearer for a group to which first user equipment belongs, a P-GW sends a group bearer establishment instruction to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), wherein the group bearer establishment instruction carries a group identifier of the first user equipment;

step S903: the PCRF receives the group bearing establishment instruction and acquires group subscription information corresponding to the group identifier through a subscriber subscription database (SPR);

step S905: and the PCRF formulates a PCC strategy of the group corresponding to the group identification according to the group subscription information, the local configuration information and other information.

Further, when another user equipment (second user equipment) in the group to which the first user equipment belongs requests to access the network, and the P-GW will request the PCRF to modify the PCC policy in case of modifying the group bearer of the group, therefore, the method may further include the following steps:

step 1, a second user device accesses a network, and a P-GW receives a session modification request from an S-GW, wherein the second user device and the first user device belong to the same group;

step 2, PCRF receives a modification group bearer indication sent by P-GW, wherein the modification group bearer indication carries the group identifier and an identifier indicating to add user equipment;

and 3, the PCRF formulates a new PCC strategy of the group corresponding to the group identification according to the group subscription information, the local configuration information, the identification indicating the addition of the user equipment and other information acquired from the SPR.

The PCC policy making method described above is described below by specific embodiments.

Example four

In this embodiment, the PCRF is taken to participate in the establishment of the group bearer as an example, as shown in fig. 10, when the group bearer is established, the step of formulating the PCC policy mainly includes the following steps (the following description is a specific description of step 506 in fig. 5):

step 1001, the UE initiates the establishment of the group bearer, and the flow is shown in step 501-505 of fig. 5;

step 1002, a PCEF (i.e. the P-GW in fig. 5) sends a group bearer establishment indication to the PCRF, where the group bearer establishment indication carries group identification information;

step 1003, the PCRF requests SPR1 to acquire group subscription information corresponding to the group identification information, where the request carries the group identification information;

step 1004, the PCRF formulates a PCC policy for the group according to the acquired group subscription information, local configuration information, and the like;

step 1005, the PCRF sends a confirmation group bearer establishment to the PCEF, where the confirmation group bearer establishment includes the PCC policy formulated for the group;

step 1006, the PCEF and the UE complete the establishment of the group bearer, which includes the specific steps from step 507 to step 515 of fig. 5.

Fifth embodiment

In this embodiment, the modification of the PCRF participating in the group bearer and the modification of the PCC policy of the formulated group are described.

Fig. 11 is a flowchart illustrating that the PCRF participates in group bearer modification and modifies the PCC policy of the formulated group in this embodiment, and as shown in fig. 11, modifying the PCC policy of the formulated group mainly includes the following steps (i.e., the specific description of step 606 in fig. 6):

step 1101, a new UE accesses to a network, the UE belongs to one group with the UE in the fourth embodiment, and since the network already establishes a group bearer of the group to which the UE belongs, the network modifies the corresponding group bearer to aggregate uplink and downlink data of the newly added UE. The specific steps are shown as 601-605 in FIG. 6;

step 1102, the PCEF (i.e., the P-GW in fig. 6) sends a modify group bearer indication to the PCRF, where the modify group bearer indication carries group identification information and a new UE addition indication;

step 1103, the PCRF formulates a new PCC policy according to the group subscription information, the local configuration information, and information such as a newly added UE indication, which are obtained and stored from the SPR in the fourth embodiment;

step 1104, the PCRF sends a confirmation group bearer modification indication to the PCEF, where the confirmation group bearer modification indication carries a new PCC policy formulated for the group;

in step 1105, the PCEF completes the modification of the group bearer, specifically, as in 607 and 615 of fig. 6.

Corresponding to the PCC policy making method, the embodiment of the invention also provides a PCC policy making system.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a PCC policy making system according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 12, the PCC policy making system according to the embodiment of the present invention mainly includes: P-GW 2, SPR 4 and PCRF 6. The P-GW 2 is configured to send a group bearer establishment instruction to the PCRF 6 after receiving a session request for establishing a group bearer for a group to which the first user equipment belongs, where the group bearer establishment instruction carries a group identifier of the first user equipment; SPR 4 for storing the correspondence between the group identifier of each group in the network and the group subscription information thereof; and the PCRF 6 is configured to receive the group bearer establishment instruction, acquire, through the SPR 4, group subscription information corresponding to the group identifier carried in the group bearer establishment instruction, and formulate, according to the group subscription information and the local configuration information, a PCC policy for the group corresponding to the group identifier.

Further, when a second user equipment belonging to the same group as the first user equipment accesses the network, the P-GW 2 is further configured to receive a session modification request from the S-GW, and send a modified group bearer indication to the PCRF 6, where the S-GW sends the session modification request when the second user equipment accesses the network, and the modified group bearer indication carries the group identifier (i.e., the group identifier of the group to which the first user equipment and the second user equipment belong) and an identifier indicating to add the user equipment; the PCRF 6 is further configured to formulate a new PCC policy for the group corresponding to the group identifier according to the group subscription information, the local configuration information, and the identifier indicating to add the user equipment, which are acquired from the SPR 4.

As described above, with the technical solution provided in the embodiments of the present invention, user equipments are grouped, each group includes a plurality of user equipments, and user equipments belonging to one group can share one network-side user plane eNodeB-, "S-GW-," PGW-, "MTC SERVER, so that occupied network resources can be reduced, and utilization of network resources can be improved, and waste of network resources is reduced.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for establishing a network connection, comprising:

a network side receives an access request initiated by user equipment, wherein the access request carries a group identifier indicating a group to which the user equipment belongs;

under the condition that a bearer between a first network element and a second network element needs to be established for the user equipment, judging whether a group bearer corresponding to the group identifier exists between the first network element and the second network element at present, if so, binding the data of the user equipment with the group bearer; if not, then,

establishing a group bearer between the first network element and the second network element for a group to which the user equipment belongs, and recording the group bearer as a group bearer between the first network element and the second network element corresponding to the group identifier;

wherein the user equipment is a machine type communication, MTC, equipment;

wherein,

the first network element is a base station, and the second network element is a serving gateway S-GW; the establishing a group bearer between the first network element and the second network element for the group to which the user equipment belongs includes: the base station forwards the received access request initiated by the user equipment to a Mobility Management Entity (MME); the MME initiates a session establishment request to the selected S-GW, wherein the session establishment request carries the group identifier and requests the S-GW to establish the group bearer for the group to which the user equipment belongs; the S-GW receiving the session establishment request, establishing the group bearer for the group to which the user equipment belongs between the base station and the S-GW, and distributing a group bearer tunnel identifier; binding the user equipment with the group bearer comprises: the base station forwards the received access request initiated by the user equipment to a mobility management entity; the mobility management entity determines that a group bearer corresponding to the group identifier currently exists between the base station and the S-GW according to the group identifier carried in the access request, and initiates a session modification request to the S-GW, wherein the session modification request carries the group identifier and requests the S-GW to modify the group bearer corresponding to the group identifier; the S-GW receives the session modification request and binds the data of the user equipment with the group bearer corresponding to the group identifier;

or,

the first network element is an S-GW, and the second network element is a packet data network gateway P-GW; the establishing a group bearer between the first network element and the second network element for the group to which the user equipment belongs includes: after receiving an access request initiated by the user equipment, the S-GW initiates a session establishment request to the P-GW, wherein the session establishment request carries the group identifier and requests the P-GW to establish the group bearer; the P-GW receiving the session establishment request, establishing the group bearer for the group to which the user equipment belongs between the S-GW and the P-GW, and distributing a group bearer tunnel identifier; binding the user equipment with the group bearer comprises: after receiving an access request initiated by the user equipment, the S-GW determines that a group bearer corresponding to the group identifier exists between the S-GW and the P-GW at present according to the group identifier carried in the access request, and initiates a session modification request to the P-GW, wherein the session modification request carries the group identifier and requests the P-GW to modify the group bearer corresponding to the group identifier; and the P-GW receives the session modification request and binds the data of the user equipment with the group bearer corresponding to the group identifier.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein after the S-GW establishes the group bearer, the method further comprises:

and the S-GW sends a reply message to the base station through the MME, wherein the reply message carries the group bearing tunnel identifier.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein after the P-GW establishes the group bearer for the group to which the user equipment belongs, the method further comprises:

and the P-GW sends a session establishment reply to the S-GW, wherein the session establishment reply carries the group bearing tunnel identifier.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein after the P-GW sends the establish session reply to the S-GW, the method further comprises:

the P-GW initiates a tunnel establishment request to a Machine Type Communication (MTC) server to request for establishing a tunnel between the P-GW and the MTC server, wherein the tunnel establishment request carries the group identifier;

the MTC server receives the tunnel establishment request, establishes a tunnel between the P-GW and the MTC server, and returns a tunnel identifier of the tunnel to the P-GW;

and the P-GW stores the mapping relation between the tunnel identifier and the group identifier.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein after the P-GW saves the mapping relationship between the tunnel identifier and the group identifier, the method further comprises:

and transmitting uplink and downlink data of the users belonging to the group corresponding to the group identifier between the P-GW and the MTC server through the tunnel.

6. The method according to any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the group identity indicates the group to which the user equipment belongs by one of:

an identity of the user equipment;

an access point name;

and presetting the identification of the group to which the user equipment belongs.

7. A network connection establishment apparatus, comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive an access request initiated by a user equipment, where the access request carries a group identifier indicating a group to which the user equipment belongs;

a determining module, configured to determine whether a group bearer corresponding to the group identifier exists between a first network element and a second network element currently when a bearer between the first network element and the second network element needs to be established for the user equipment;

a bearer establishing module, configured to establish a group bearer between the first network element and the second network element for the group to which the user equipment belongs, if a determination result of the determining module is negative;

a recording module, configured to record the group bearer established by the bearer establishing module as a group bearer between the first network element and the second network element, where the group bearer corresponds to the group identifier;

a binding module, configured to bind the data of the ue with the group bearer if the determination result of the determining module is yes;

wherein the user equipment is a machine type communication, MTC, equipment;

wherein,

or,