CN102056266B

CN102056266B - Method and system for access control of machine type communication (MTC) terminal

Info

Publication number: CN102056266B
Application number: CN200910221259.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李志军; 王志海; 施晓峰; 谢宝国
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2009-11-06
Filing date: 2009-11-06
Publication date: 2014-04-09
Anticipated expiration: 2029-11-06
Also published as: CN102056266A; WO2011054300A1

Abstract

The invention discloses a method and system for access control of a machine type communication (MTC) terminal. In the access control method, firstly, a mobility management network element (MMNE) reports MTC terminal information currently requesting to be adhered to a network or currently adhered to the network to an access control network element (NE); the access control NE judges that the MTC terminal is not allowed to access in accordance with the MTC terminal information, and then sends an instruction of refusing the MTC terminal to access to the MMNE; and the MMNE receives the instruction, and refuses the MTC terminal to access to the network in accordance with the instruction. According to the access control method, only the MTC Server which is allowed to access to the network can access to a core network, and an illegal MTC Server is refused to access to the core network, thus ensuring the safety of the core network.

Description

Access control method and system of MTC terminal

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of communication, in particular to an access control method and system of a machine type communication terminal.

Background

In conventional mobile network services, Human-To-Human (Human To Human, abbreviated as H2H) communication occupies a major position. In H2H communication, since both parties participating in the communication are persons having behavior control capability, the conversation is actually controlled by the behavior of the persons. With the development of mobile network services and automation control technologies, a new mobile communication method, that is, Machine To Machine (M2M) communication, in which two parties of communication are Machine devices, has appeared.

M2M in the narrow sense is defined as machine-to-machine communication, but M2M in its broad sense includes networked applications and services with machine terminal intelligence interaction as the core. The M2M is based on the intelligent machine terminal, takes a plurality of communication modes as access means, can provide an informatization solution for the customer, and is used for meeting the informatization requirements of the customer on the aspects of monitoring, commanding and scheduling, data acquisition, measurement and the like. M2M may be applied to industrial applications (e.g., traffic monitoring, alarm systems, rescue at sea, vending machines, pay-per-view, etc.), home applications (e.g., automatic meter reading, temperature control, etc.), and personal applications (e.g., life detection, remote diagnostics, etc.), among others.

The most fundamental difference from human-to-human communication is that the communication object of M2M is a machine, and the communication behavior is automatically controlled, that is, the initiation of communication, the termination of communication, and the control of some access and restriction in the communication process are all automated behaviors. This behavior depends on the restriction and control of the behavior of the machine (i.e., the terminal in M2M communication) in M2M communication, the behavior of the terminal in M2M communication is restricted by the service subscription data, and the network manages the terminal in M2M communication according to the service subscription data.

M2M Communication, also called Machine Type Communication (MTC) for short, is most typically Communication between a terminal called MTC terminal (MTC User Equipment for short) and an application Server called MTC Server (MTC Server).

Under 2G/3G/LTE access, M2M communication mainly uses a Packet Service (PS) network as a bottom bearer network to implement Service layer communication between an MTC terminal and an MTC server. Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an architecture of an Evolved Packet System (EPS) accessed by an M2M communication entity.

In fig. 1, the underlying bearer network includes: an Evolved Universal mobile telecommunications system Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN for short), a mobile Management unit (MME for short), a Serving Gateway (S-GW, or SGW for short), a Packet Data Network Gateway (PDN GW, or P-GW, or PGW for short), a Home Subscriber Server (HSS for short), and a Policy and Charging rules function (Policy and Charging rules function, PCRF for short). Wherein, the main network element of the E-UTRAN is eNodeB (Evolved NodeB base station).

In fig. 1, an MME is responsible for operations related to a control plane, such as mobility management, processing of non-access stratum signaling, and management of context in user mobility management; the S-GW is an access gateway device connected with the E-UTRAN, forwards data between the E-UTRAN and the P-GW, and is responsible for caching paging waiting data; the P-GW is a border gateway between the EPS and a Packet Data Network (PDN for short), and is responsible for accessing the PDN and forwarding Data between the EPS and the PDN; the PCRF is a policy and charging rule function entity, and is connected to an operator network protocol (IP) Service network through a receiving interface Rx to obtain Service information, and may also be connected to a gateway device in the network through a Gx interface to initiate establishment of an IP bearer, ensure Quality of Service (QoS) of Service data, and perform charging control. The HSS provides management of subscription data for the user and management of important context information for the user's access to the network.

In fig. 1, the MTC UE accesses to the EPS network through E-utran (enodeb), and after being assigned with an IP address, an IP channel may be established between the MTC UE and the MTC Server, thereby implementing upper layer service communication with the MTC Server. The IP channel established between the MTC UE and the MTC Server is a logical IP channel, and the physical path of the IP channel passes through: eNodeB, S-GW, P-GW.

At present, one way to implement M2M communication is to establish a service layer interface protocol on an IP channel between the MTC UE and the MTC Server, where the MTC UE and the MTC Server interact with each other for service data through the service layer interface protocol, and the MTC Server also implements control over the MTC UE through the service layer protocol.

Fig. 2 illustrates a flow of implementing M2M communication in this manner, as shown in fig. 2, in this manner, the implementation of the MTC UE accessing through the PS network and establishing a communication connection with the MTC Server mainly includes the following steps:

s201, MTC UE initiates an attachment request to MME;

s202, MME receives the attachment request and sends a location update request to HSS, in the step, HSS downloads subscription data of MTC UE to MME, wherein the subscription data comprises a subscription data part used for M2M access control;

s203, the MME sends a bearer creation request to the SGW/PGW, and requests the SGW/PGW to create a proper bearer for the MTC UE;

s204, if the PGW needs to obtain the policy data from the PCC to establish a proper bearer, the PGW interacts with the PCC to obtain the PCC policy;

s205, the PGW creates a bearer for the MTC UE and returns a bearer creation response;

s206, the MME sends an attachment response to the MTC UE;

after step S206, the MTC UE has attached to the PS network, is assigned an IP address, and establishes a suitable bearer, so that the MTC UE can initiate registration of a service layer to the MTC Server.

S207, the MTC UE initiates registration of a service layer to the MTC Server;

s208, the MTC Server receives the registration of the MTC UE and returns a registration response;

s209, data are interacted between the subsequent MTC UE and the MTC Server through a service layer protocol.

Through the process shown in fig. 2, the MTC UE accesses the PS network and establishes an IP connection with the MTCServer, thereby implementing subsequent service layer communication with the MTC Server.

In some cases, the service layer needs to restrict access of the MTC terminal devices, i.e. only allow access under specified conditions, and deny access of the MTC terminal devices if the conditions do not allow access.

For example, in some M2M services, since there are cases where MTC devices are stolen and SIM cards are stolen, since an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) exists on a SIM card, the IMSI is a public identity of the MTC UE and is allocated by an operator. And an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) exists in a terminal Equipment provider, if it is limited that the MTC terminal Equipment can only access to the network using a specific IMSI and IMEI, the determination may be made when accessing the network, and if the IMSI and IMEI are not matched, it is indicated that the MTC Equipment or the SIM card is stolen, and the access of the MTC terminal Equipment is denied.

Alternatively, in some M2M services, MTC terminals are applied within a fixed location area beyond which their use will not be allowed. Therefore, the access location of the MTC terminal device needs to be restricted, and if the MTC terminal device is in an unallowable location area during access or moves to an unallowable location area after access, the MTC terminal device needs to be restricted from accessing the system.

Alternatively, in some M2M services, the MTC terminal is restricted to access the system for a specified time beyond which access to the system will not be allowed. Therefore, the access time of the MTC terminal device is limited, and if the access time is within an unallowed time period or exceeds the allowed time after the access, the access to the system needs to be limited.

Although the above-mentioned traffic management requirements can be controlled at the access layer, e.g. by the MME under E-UTRAN access, this requires the MME to make various checks and decisions for various management requirements, which results in a significant increase in the complexity of the core network.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is proposed to solve the problem of the prior art that the complexity of the core network increases due to the need of access control of the MTC terminal by the access stratum, and therefore, a main object of the present invention is to provide an improved access control scheme for M2M terminal to solve at least one of the above problems.

In order to achieve the above object, according to an aspect of the present invention, an access control method for an MTC terminal is provided.

The access control method of the MTC terminal comprises the following steps:

the mobility management network element reports information of the MTC terminal which is currently requested to be attached to the network or is currently attached to the network to the access control network element;

the access control network element judges that the MTC terminal is not allowed to access according to the information of the MTC terminal, and sends an indication of rejecting the access of the MTC terminal to the mobility management network element;

and the mobility management network element receives the indication and refuses the MTC terminal to access the network according to the indication.

In order to achieve the above object, according to another aspect of the present invention, an access control system of an MTC terminal is provided.

The access control system of the MTC terminal comprises the following components: the mobile network comprises a user subscription data memory, a mobility management network element and an access control network element. Wherein,

the user subscription data memory is used for storing subscription data of the MTC terminal in the system;

the mobile management network element is connected with the user subscription data memory and is used for receiving subscription data of the MTC terminal which is sent by the user subscription data memory and currently requested to be attached to the network or is currently attached to the network, and providing the information of the MTC terminal for the access control network element;

and the access control network element is connected with the mobility management network element and used for judging whether the MTC terminal is allowed to access or not according to the information of the MTC terminal and sending an indication for rejecting the MTC terminal to access to the mobility management network element under the condition that the MTC terminal is not allowed to access so that the mobility management network element rejects the MTC terminal to access to the network.

According to the invention, the access control network element of the service layer acquires the information of the MTC terminal through the mobility management network element and judges whether the MTC terminal is allowed to access or not according to the information of the MTC terminal, so that the access control can be performed on the MTC terminal through the service layer, the problem that the complexity of a core network is increased due to the fact that the access control of the access layer on the MTC terminal is needed in the prior art is solved, and the cost for constructing the network is further reduced.

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 application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention without limiting the invention. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an architecture for accessing an EPS by an M2M communication entity in the related art;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an MTC UE accessing through a PS network and establishing a communication connection with an MTC server in the related art;

FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an access control system of an MTC UE according to an embodiment of the invention;

fig. 4 is an architecture diagram of an MTC UE implementing M2M communication through EPS system access according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is an architecture diagram of an MTC UE implementing M2M communication through GPRS system access according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of an access control method of an MTC terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of an MME actively reporting MTCE information to an MTC Server;

FIG. 8 is a flowchart illustrating another MME actively reporting MTCE information to an MTC Server in this embodiment;

fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating that the MTC Server sends an inquiry request to the MME through the MTC GW to obtain information of the MTC UE in this embodiment;

fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating that the MTC Server obtains information of the MTC UE by subscribing to an MME about an event related to the MTC UE in this embodiment;

fig. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a correspondence relationship between an identifier of MTC UE, an address of MTC Server serving the MTC UE, and an address of MME allocated to the MTC UE, which is obtained by the MTC GW according to the first method in this embodiment;

fig. 12 is a flowchart illustrating that the MTC GW acquires the corresponding relationship by using the second method in this embodiment;

fig. 13 is a flowchart of acquiring the corresponding relationship by the MTC GW using the third method in this embodiment;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a method embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of a second embodiment of the method of the present invention.

Detailed Description

Overview of the function

In order to meet the flexible access control requirement when the MTC terminal accesses the network and simultaneously reduce the complicated modification to the core network caused by supporting the access limiting service, the embodiment of the invention provides an improved access control scheme of the MTC terminal. In the embodiment of the present invention, considering that the MTC Server may not be a network entity managed by an operator and may be deployed outside the core network, therefore, considering the access security when the MTC Server accesses the core network, the embodiment of the present invention adds an MTC gateway (MTC GW) on the side of the core network, so that all the MTC servers access through the MTC gateway, and the MTC gateway can implement security assurance that the MTC Server accesses the core network by means of hiding an internal network topology structure, authenticating the MTC Server access, and the like. In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, a service layer (MTC Server or a newly added MTC gateway) obtains information of a bottom access layer of the MTC terminal through a mobility management network element, and then controls access of the MTC terminal according to the obtained information of the MTC terminal.

The invention will be described in detail hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings in conjunction with embodiments. It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments in the present application may be combined with each other without conflict.

System embodiment

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a control system of an MTC terminal is provided.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of an access control system of an MTC terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 3, the access control system of the MTC terminal according to the embodiment of the present invention mainly includes: a user subscription data memory 1, a mobility management network element 3 and an access control network element 5. The above network elements are described separately below.

The system comprises a user subscription data memory 1, a system management module and a data processing module, wherein the user subscription data memory 1 is used for storing subscription data of an MTC terminal in the system;

the mobile management network element 3 is connected with the user subscription data memory 1 and is used for receiving subscription data of an MTC terminal which is sent by the user subscription data memory 1 and currently requested to be attached to a network or currently attached to the network, and providing information of the MTC terminal to the access control network element 5;

in a specific application, when the MTC UE requests to attach to a network, the MTC UE sends an attach request to the mobility management network element 3, the mobility management network element 3 sends a location update request to the user subscription data storage 1 after receiving the attach request of the mtue, the user subscription data storage 1 issues subscription data of the MTC UE to the mobility management network element 3 after receiving the location update request, and the mobility management network element 3 receives and stores the subscription data. And after the MTC UE attaches to the network, if the subscription data of the MTC UE changes, the user subscription data storage 1 will issue the updated subscription data of the MTC UE to the mobility management element 3.

And the access control network element 5 is connected with the mobility management network element 3, and is configured to determine whether the MTC terminal is allowed to access according to the information of the MTC terminal provided by the mobility management network element 3, and send an instruction for rejecting the access of the MTC terminal to the mobility management network element 3 under the condition that the access of the MTC terminal is not allowed, so that the mobility management network element 3 rejects the access of the MTC terminal to the network. After receiving the indication from the MTC server 5, the mobility management network element 3 rejects the attach request of the MTC terminal and returns an attach reject response to the MTC terminal if the MTC terminal requests to attach to the network; if the current MTC terminal is attached to the network, the mobility management network element 3 initiates an detach process to detach the MTC terminal.

In a specific implementation process, the access control network element 5 may be an MTC gateway newly added at a core network side in the embodiment of the present invention, where the MTC gateway is connected between an MTC server and a mobility management network element, and besides controlling access of an MTC terminal by the MTC gateway according to a locally stored predetermined condition for MTC UE access or a predetermined condition for MTC UE access acquired from the core network, the MTC gateway performs security verification on the MTC server, and one MTC gateway may serve multiple MTC servers.

Or, the access control network element 5 may also be an MTC server, where the MTC server controls access of an MTC terminal according to a locally stored predetermined condition for access of an MTC UE or a predetermined condition for access of the MTC UE acquired from a core network, and an MTC gateway is connected between the MTC server and the mobility management network element 3, where the MTC gateway is mainly used to forward data between the MTC server and the mobility management network element 3, and may need to perform necessary protocol conversion work, and the MTC gateway performs security verification on the MTC server.

Preferably, when the MTC UE accesses the E-UTRAN network, the user subscription data storage 1 is an HSS, and the mobility management network element 3 is an MME; when the MTC UE is accessed to a GERAN/UTRAN network, the user subscription data memory 1 is an HLR, and the mobility management network element 3 is an SGSN.

The above system provided by the embodiment of the present invention is explained by the following specific embodiment.

Embodiment of the System

The present embodiment takes the example that the MTC UE utilizes the EPS system to implement access (i.e. the MTC UE accesses to the E-UTRAN network).

Fig. 4 is an architecture diagram of the MTC UE accessing through the EPS system to implement M2M communication in this embodiment, as shown in fig. 4, in this embodiment, connections are implemented between the MTC gateway and the MME and between the MTC gateway and the MTC server, so that the MTC server obtains information of a bottom access layer/bearer of the MTC UE to determine a behavior of the MTC UE.

As shown in fig. 4, in the architecture diagram, the MTC GW is deployed in the core network, and the MTCServer may be deployed outside the core network of the operator or may be deployed in the core network. One MTC GW may serve multiple MTC servers.

In the architecture diagram, the MTC GW and the MME establish an interface, and for convenience of description, the interface is referred to as M2M-MME in this embodiment. Through the interface, the MTC GW may query the MME for information of a certain MTC UE, for example, subscription data of the MTC UE, a current location area of the MTC UE, a current state of the MTC UE, and the like; or, through the interface, the MTC GW may subscribe to an MME for an access stratum/bearer event related to a certain MTC UE, for example, an event that the MTC UE attaches to the PS network, the MTC UE detaches from the PS network, the MTC UE moves in the PS network, or the like; or, through the interface, the MME may actively notify the MTC GW of an event of the underlying access stratum related to a certain MTC UE.

And after acquiring the information of a certain MTC UE or the bottom access stratum event, the MTC GW may determine whether to allow the access of the MTC UE according to a predetermined condition for the access of the MTC UE stored in the MTC GW or a predetermined condition for the access of the MTC UE acquired from a core network, and send a rejection message to the MME to reject the access of the MTC UE when the access of the MTC UE is not allowed.

Or, in the framework, the MTC GW serves as a communication intermediary (similar agent) between the MTC Server and the MME, receives an inquiry about the MTC UE information and a subscription to an access stratum event related to the MTC UE performed by the MTC Server, and forwards the request to the MME. Before forwarding the request, the MTC GW needs to perform security detection on the MTC Server, and in case the detection passes, the MTC GW forwards the request, and in the process of forwarding the request, the MTCGW may need to perform necessary protocol conversion work. And meanwhile, the MTC GW forwards the information of the MTC UE sent by the MME to the MTC Server.

And after the MTC Server acquires the relevant information of a certain MTC UE, it may determine whether to allow the access of the MTC UE according to a locally stored predetermined condition for the access of the MTC UE or a predetermined condition for the access of the MTC UE acquired from a core network, and send a rejection message to the MME through the MTC GW to reject the access of the MTC UE when it is determined that the access of the MTC UE is not allowed.

Optionally, in this architecture, the MTC GW may also establish an interface with the HSS, and for convenience of description, this interface is referred to as M2M-HSS in this embodiment. Through the interface, the MTC GW can inquire subscription data of the MTC UE from the HSS; alternatively, through this interface, the MTC GW may query from the HSS to the address of the MME allocated for the MTC UE.

Or, optionally, if an M2M-HSS interface is not established between the MTC GW and the HSS, the MTC GW may obtain subscription data of the MTC UE through an M2M-MME interface with the MME. The MTC GW may actively query the MME for subscription data of the MTC UE, and the MME may also actively send the subscription data of the MTC UE to the MTCGW.

Second embodiment of the System

The present embodiment takes the example of the MTC UE accessing to the GERAN/UTRAN network as an example.

Fig. 5 is an architecture diagram of an MTC UE accessing through a GERAN/UTRAN network to implement M2M communication in this embodiment, as shown in fig. 5, this embodiment is basically similar to the above system embodiment, except that an SGSN in the GERAN/UTRAN network is equivalent to an MME in the E-UTRAN network and is used for access control and mobility management functions of a PS domain, a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) in the GERAN/UTRAN network is equivalent to an SGW and a PGW in the E-UTRAN network, and an HLR in the GERAN/UTRAN is equivalent to an HSS in the E-UTRAN network. The specific connections and the functions of the network elements are similar to those of the system embodiment described above, and are not described herein again.

Method embodiment

According to the embodiment of the invention, the access control method of the MTC UE is also provided, and the method can be realized by the system provided by the embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart of an access control method of an MTC UE according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 6, the access control method of the MTC UE according to the embodiment of the present invention mainly includes the following steps (step S601-step S605):

step S601: the mobility management network element reports information of the MTC terminal which is currently requested to be attached to the network or is currently attached to the network to the access control network element;

step S603: the access control network element judges that the MTC terminal is not allowed to access according to the information of the MTC terminal, and sends an indication for rejecting the access of the MTC terminal to a mobility management network element;

step S605: and the mobility management network element receives the indication and refuses the MTC terminal to access to the network according to the indication.

The processing in each of the above steps will be further described below.

Step S601

In the specific implementation process, the reporting of the information of the MTC terminal to the MTC server by the mobility management network element includes, but is not limited to, the following three methods:

mobility management network element reports to access control network element actively

Specifically, the mobility management network element may actively notify the access control network element when an access stratum event of a certain MTC UE occurs, or actively report information of the MTC UE to the access control network element when the MTC UE requests attachment.

(II) the access control network element queries the mobility management network element

The access control network element inquires the information of the MTC UE to the mobility management network element, and the mobility management network element reports the corresponding information of the MTC UE to the access control network element after receiving the inquiry request of the access control network element.

(III) the access control network element subscribes the related event notification of the MTC UE to the mobility management network element

The access control network element subscribes an access layer event related to a certain MTC UE to the mobility management network element, and when the subscribed access layer event occurs, the mobility management network element actively notifies the access control network element, wherein the notification contains information of the corresponding MTC UE.

In a specific implementation process, the access control network element may be an MTC gateway or an MTC server, and three methods for the access control network element to obtain information of MTC UEs are described below by taking an MTC server as an example.

(A) The mobility management network element actively reports to the access control network element

Specifically, the mobility management network element may actively send an event notification to the MTC gateway when an access stratum event of a certain MTC UE occurs, or the mobility management network element may actively report information of the MTC UE to the MTC gateway after receiving an attach request sent by the MTC UE; and after receiving the event notification or the reported information of the MTC UE, the MTC gateway sends the event notification or the reported information of the MTC UE to the MTC server.

Specifically, when the mobility management element actively reports the information of the MTC UE, the mobility management element actively reports the information of the MTC UE to the MTC Server through the MTC GW according to an indication carried in the MTC UE, which is obtained from the user subscription data storage. Specifically, the acquiring, by the mobility management network element, subscription data of the MTC UE from the user subscription data storage includes: and instructing the mobility management network element to report the indication information (specifically, the indication may include information such as reporting timing and reporting parameters) of the MTC UE to the MTC Server, and the information of the MTC Server serving the MTC UE.

In a specific implementation process, the mobility management network element may actively report information of the MTC UE to the MTC Server through the MTC GW when the MTC UE initiates an attach request, or may actively report an event notification to the MTC Server through the MTC GW when an access stratum event related to the MTC UE occurs after the MTC UE attaches to a network, where the event notification carries current information of the MTC UE.

The following describes a process in which a mobility management network element is taken as an MME for reporting to an MTC Server at the two reporting occasions by the MME.

(1) When MTC UE initiates an attachment request, MME actively reports information of the MTC UE to MTC Server through MTC GW

Fig. 7 is a flowchart of the MME actively reporting the information of the MTC UE to the MTC GW through the MTC GW under the condition, as shown in fig. 7, when the MTC UE initiates an attach request, the MME actively reporting the information of the MTC UE to the MTC Server through the MTC GW mainly includes the following steps:

s701, the MTC UE initiates an attachment request to the MME;

s702, MME sends a position updating request to HSS;

s703, the HSS returns a location update response to the MME, the location update response carries subscription data of the MTC UE, and the subscription data comprises: indicating the MME to report, to the MTCServer, indication information of the MTC UE and information of an MTC Server serving the MTC UE (specifically, the information may be an IP address of the MTC Server, or information such as a service identifier of the MTC Server);

s704, the MME analyzes the address of the MTC Server according to the information of the MTC Server serving the MTC UE;

s705, the MME reports the information of the MTC UE to the MTC GW, and the information reported by the MME to the MTC GW further comprises the MTCServer address analyzed in the step S704;

s706, the MTC GW sends the information of the MTC UE to the MTC Server corresponding to the address.

(2) After the MTC UE is attached to the network, the MME actively reports the information of the MTC UE to the MTC Server through the MTC GW

Fig. 8 is a flowchart of the MME actively reporting the information of the MTC UE to the MTC Server through the MTC GW under the condition, as shown in fig. 8, after the MTC UE is attached to the network, the MME actively reporting the information of the MTC UE to the MTC Server through the MTC GW mainly includes the following steps:

s801, attaching the MTC UE to a PS network;

during the attaching process of the MTC UE to the PS network, the MME obtains subscription data of the MTC UE from the HSS, wherein the subscription data comprises subscription data used for an M2M service part. The M2M service subscription data includes an address of an MTC Server serving the MTC UE (or identification information of the MTC Server), and an indication requesting the MME to actively report a predetermined event related to the MTC UE to the MTC Server, that is, the MME is requested to send an event notification to the MTC Server when the MTC UE has the predetermined event;

the predetermined event is an access stratum event related to the MTC UE, and specifically, the predetermined event includes but is not limited to one of the following events or any combination thereof:

(1) subscription data of the MTC UE changes; after HSS changes the subscription data of MTC UE, HSS needs to issue new subscription data to MME again, after MME receives new subscription data, it can inform MTC Server that the subscription data changes, or directly send the new subscription data to MTC Server;

(2) a status change of the MTC UE; for example, MTC UEs attach to the network, mtues detach from the network, MTC UEs change from a connected state to an idle state, MTC UEs change from an idle state to a connected state;

(3) a change in location area of the MTC UE; for example, when the MTC UE moves, the MTC UE sends a location update message to the MME, so that the MME can capture that the MTC UE moves;

(4) network change of MTC UE; for example, the MTC UE performs handover between a base station and a network, and in this case, the MTC UE sends a handover message to the MME, so that the MME can capture a network change event occurring in MTC.

S802, the predetermined event, namely the access stratum event related to the MTC UE occurs;

s803, the MME actively notifies the MTC GW of the occurrence of the predetermined event, specifically, the event notification sent by the MME to the MTC GW includes current information of the MTC UE;

s804, the MTC GW acquires the address of the MTC Server serving the MTC UE according to the corresponding relation among the pre-acquired identification of the MTC UE, the address of the mobility management network element distributed for the MTCE and the address of the MTSC serving the MTC UE;

s805, the MTC GW sends the event notification to the MTC Server.

It should be noted that in the flow shown in fig. 8, an access stratum event of S802 may occur in step S801, for example, the event is an attach event, and the MME should send an event notification to the MTC Server when the MTC UE attaches to the network.

Specifically, in the flows of fig. 7 and fig. 8, the information of the MTC UE reported by the MME to the MTC Server includes, but is not limited to, one of the following or any combination thereof:

A) the MME obtains MTC UE current service subscription data from the HSS;

B) IMSI, IMEI used by MTC UE; the IMSI used by the MTC is carried in an attach message sent by the MTC UE when the MTC UE attaches to the network, and the IMEI may be provided to the network by the MTC UE when the MTC UE attaches to the network, or may be obtained by the network by querying the MTC UE as needed;

C) context information of the MTC UE on the MME, for example, a current location area of the MTC UE and/or a current state of the MTC UE;

wherein, the current location area of the MTC UE may be: a Tracking Area (TA) of the MTC UE, a current Cell of the MTC UE, and a current state of the mtue may be one of an attach state, a detach state, a connection state, an idle state, and the like.

D) The mobility event currently occurring in the MTC UE, for example, the MTC UE attaches to a network, the MTC UE detaches from the network, the location of the MTC UE is updated, the MTC UE performs base station switching, the MTC UE performs network switching, and the like.

(B) Access control network element queries mobility management network elements

Specifically, after the MTC UE attaches to the network, the MTC Server sends an inquiry request to the mobility management network element through the MTC GW to request to inquire information of the MTC UE, after receiving the inquiry request, the mobility management network element reports the information of the MTC UE to the MTC GW, and the MTC GW sends the information of the MTC UE to the MTC Server.

In a specific implementation process, after receiving an inquiry request sent by an MTC Server, an MTC GW needs to perform security verification on the MTC Server, specifically, the MTC GW may determine whether the MTC Server is within the range of the MTC Server allowed to be accessed according to information (e.g., a service identifier, an IP address, etc.) of the MTC Server allowed to be accessed by an acquired core network, if so, continue to process the inquiry request, acquire an address of a mobility management network element allocated to the MTC UE according to a correspondence between a pre-acquired identifier of the MTC UE, an address of the mobility management network element allocated to the MTC UE, and an address of the MTC Server serving the MTC UE, and forward the inquiry request to the mobility management network element; otherwise, the MTC GW rejects the query request.

Specifically, taking an E-UTARN network as an example, fig. 9 is a flowchart illustrating that an MTC Server sends an inquiry request to an MME through an MTCGW to acquire information of an access stratum of MTC UE, as shown in fig. 9, the MTC Server sends the inquiry request to the MME through the MTC GW, and acquiring the information of the MTC UE mainly includes the following steps:

s901, attaching MTC UE to a PS network;

s902, the MTC UE initiates service layer registration to the MTC Server;

s903, after the MTC UE is registered to the MTC Server, if the MTC Server is used for service control, the MTC UE determines that the current information (mainly referred to as access stratum information) of the MTC UE needs to be inquired;

in this step, the MTC Server may need to obtain information of the mtue for various possible purposes, such as:

the MTC Server hopes to know the IMSI and IMEI conditions used by the MTC UE so as to check whether an SIM card equipped for the MTC UE is stolen or not, namely whether the binding relationship between the IMSI and the IMEI is normal or not; or,

the MTC Server wants to know current location information (such as TA area, Cell, etc.) of the MTC UE to determine whether the MTC UE accesses in an unallowed location area or moves to an unallowed location area;

s904, the MTC Server sends an inquiry request to the MTC GW to inquire the information of the MTC UE, wherein the inquiry request can carry information such as the identification of the MTC UE and the address of the MTC Server;

s905, the MTC GW receives the query request, carries out legal authentication on the MTC Server and determines that the MTC Server is legal;

s906, the MTC GW acquires the address of the MME allocated for the MTC UE according to the corresponding relation among the pre-acquired identification of the MTC UE, the address of the MME allocated for the MTCC UE and the address of the MTC Server serving the MTC UE;

s907, the MTC GW forwards the query request to the MME;

s908, the MME returns the current information of the MTC UE to the MTC GW according to the current context of the MTC UE, and the MTC GW sends the current information of the MTC UE to the MTC Server.

Through the steps of S903-S908, the MTC Server obtains the current information of the MTC UE from the MME through the MTC GW, so that the current behavior of the MTC UE can be determined according to the current information of the MTC UE, and further the behavior of the MTC UE can be controlled.

Specifically, in the above step, the information of the MTC UE requested by the MTC Server to the MME includes, but is not limited to, one of the following or any combination thereof:

A) and the MME obtains the MTC UE current service subscription data from the HSS.

B) IMSI, IMEI used by MTC UE; specifically, the IMSI used by the MTC UE is carried in an attach message when the MTC UE attaches to the network, the MME may obtain the IMSI used by the MTC UE from the attach message, and the IMEI may be provided to the network by the MTC UE when the MTC UE attaches to the network, or may be obtained by the network by querying the MTC UE as needed.

C) Context information of MTC UEs on the MME, e.g., the MTC UE's current location area (these location areas may be: TA area, Cell) and/or mtue current state (e.g.: MTC UE is currently attached state, connected state, idle state, etc.).

(C) Access control network element subscribes MTC UE related event notification to mobility management network element

Because of the need of service management, the MTC Server needs to know events (such as MTC UE attaching to, detaching from, changing location, etc.) sent by the bottom access layer in time, and make corresponding decisions according to the events to control the behavior of the MTC UE, so the MTCServer can subscribe the access layer events to the mobility management network element through the MTC GW, and the mobility management network element can report an event notification to the MTC Server through the MTC GW in time when the corresponding access layer event occurs, where the event notification carries current information of the MTC UE.

In this case, the processing of the MTC Server is basically the same as the processing in (C), after the MTC Server sends an inquiry request for subscribing to a relevant event of the MTC UE to the MTC GW, the MTC GW also needs to perform security verification on the MTC Server, and forwards the inquiry request to the mobility management network element allocated to the MTC UE after the MTC Server verifies that the MTC Server is legal. And before forwarding, the MTCGW also needs to acquire the address of the mobility management network element allocated for the MTC UE.

The difference from the above (C) is that the query request sent by the MTC Server to the mobility management element through the MTC GW is used to subscribe to the relevant event of the MTC UE, that is, the query request is to request the mobility management element to report the event notification to the MTC Server through the MTC GW when the access stratum event related to the MTC UE occurs.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart illustrating an example of an E-UTRAN network, in which an MTC Server subscribes an mtcc UE related event to an MME to obtain information of the MTC UE, as shown in fig. 10, the subscription of the MTC Server to the MME for the MTC UE related event to obtain information of the MTC UE mainly includes the following steps:

s101, attaching MTC UE to a PS network;

s102, the MTC UE initiates service layer registration to the MTC Server;

s103, after the MTC UE is registered in the MTC Server, the MTC Server needs to timely acquire events related to the MTC UE, which occur in a bottom access layer, according to the service management requirement, so that the events are determined to be subscribed to an MME;

s104, the MTC Server sends a query request for subscribing an access stratum event related to the MTC UE to the MTC GW;

it should be clear that the MTC Server may subscribe to only one or one type of access stratum event at a time, or may subscribe to multiple or multiple types of access stratum events at a time.

S105, the MTC GW receives the query request, performs security verification on the MTC Server, and verifies that the MTC Server is legal;

s106, the MTC GW acquires the address of the MME allocated for the MTC UE according to the corresponding relation among the pre-acquired identification of the MTC UE, the address of the MME allocated for the MTC UE and the address of the MTC Server serving for the MTC UE;

s107, the MTC GW forwards the query request to the MME and subscribes an access stratum event related to the MTC UE to the MME;

s108, the access stratum event corresponding to the MTC Server subscription occurs;

s109, after the access layer event occurs, the MME actively reports the event notification of the access layer event to the MTC GW, wherein the event notification carries the current relevant information of the MTC UE;

s110, the MTC GW sends the received event notification to the MTC Server.

In the flow shown in fig. 10, the access stratum event subscribed by the MTC Server and related to the MTC UE may occur as one or several of the following events:

A) a change in subscription data for the MTC UE; after HSS changes the subscription data of MTC UE, HSS needs to issue new subscription data to MME again, after MME receives new subscription data, it can inform MTC Server that the subscription data changes, or directly send the new subscription data to MTC Server;

B) a status change of the MTC UE; for example, an MTC UE attaches to a network, detaches from a network, changes from a connected state to an idle state, changes from an idle state to a connected state, etc.;

C) a change in location area of the MTC UE; for example, when the MTC UE moves to a location, a location update message is sent to the MME;

D) network change of MTC UE; for example, the MTC UE performs handover of a base station and a network, and transmits a handover message to the MME.

In a specific implementation process, the methods for acquiring MTC UEs described in (B) and (C) above may be used alone or in combination. Specifically, in the flow illustrated in fig. 9, in step S903, the information of the MTC UE that the MTC Server requests to query may further include:

D) mobility events occurring in the MTC UE, for example, the MTC UE attaches to a network, the MTC UE detaches from the network, the MTC UE location is updated, the MTC UE performs base station switching, the MTC UE performs network switching, and the like.

When the event occurs, the MME sends an event notification to the MTC Server through the MTC GW, so that the MTC Server knows the event currently occurring at the MTC UE and the current information of the MTC UE.

The MTC Server may also perform step S103 and subsequent steps in fig. 10 after acquiring the current information of the MTC UE after step S908 in fig. 9, or perform step S903 and step S103 at the same time after step S902 to subscribe to relevant events of the MTC UE, so that when the events occur, the MTC Server learns the occurrence of the events through event notifications reported by the MME, and further acquires the current information of the MTC UE.

Through the above-described procedures shown in fig. 7 to 10, the MTC Server may obtain information of the MTC UE from the MME through the MTCGW, specifically, subscription data of the MTC UE, a current state of the MTC UE, location area information of the MTC UE, and the like. The mode of obtaining the MTC UE information may be that the MTC Server actively queries the MME through the MTC GW, or after the MTC Server subscribes a related event to the MME through the MTC GW, the MME notifies the MTC Server when the event occurs, or the MME actively notifies the MTC Server of an access stratum event through the MTC GW according to an indication in subscription data of the MTC UE.

When the MTC Server obtains the information of the MTC UE from the bottom access stratum, the MTCServer can further judge the behavior of the MTC UE according to the information, and make a decision to control the behavior of the MTC UE according to the service (for example, when the MTC UE is in an unallowable time, the MTC Server can request to attach the MTC UE; when the MTCServer moves to an unallowable area, the MTC Server can request to attach the MTC UE, and the like).

In the above method, in order to implement data interaction between the MTC Server and the mobility management network element, the MTC GW needs to acquire and store a correspondence between an identifier of the MTC UE, an address of the mobility management network element allocated to the mtue, and an address of the mtserver serving the MTC UE, and in a specific implementation process, the MTC Server acquires the correspondence includes, but is not limited to, the following three methods:

the MTC Server sends a registration notification message carrying identification information of a mobility management network element distributed for the MTC UE to an MTC GW;

specifically, after the MTC UE attaches to the network, when the MTC UE sends a registration request to the MTC Server, the registration request carries identification information of a mobility management network element allocated to the MTC UE, and after receiving the registration request, the MTC Server sends a registration notification message to the MTCGW, where the registration notification message carries identification information of a mobility management network element allocated to the MTC UE, and the MTC GW may obtain the correspondence relationship.

For example, in an EPS network, an MTC UE may carry a Globally Unique Temporary Identity (GUTI) for the MTC UE in a registration message sent to an MTC Server, where the GUTI includes ID information of an MME allocated to the MTC UE, the MTC Server carries the GUTI in a registration notification message and sends the GUTI to an MTC GW, and the MTC GW may obtain an address of the MME allocated to the MTC UE by analyzing the GUTI, so as to obtain the corresponding relationship;

the method II comprises the steps that a mobility management network element distributed for the MTC UE and an MTC Server serving for the MTC UE actively inform an MTC GW of respective addresses of the mobility management network element and the MTC Server, and the MTC GW establishes the corresponding relation after receiving information reported by the mobility management network element and the MTC Server;

and the MTC GW acquires the address of the mobility management network element distributed for the MTC UE from the user signed data memory through an interface between the MTC GW and the user signed data memory, and acquires the relevant information of the MTCServer actively notified by the MTC Server serving the MTC UE, thereby establishing the corresponding relation.

The following describes three methods for acquiring the addresses of the mobility management network elements by taking an E-UTRAN network as an example.

Method 1

Fig. 11 is a flowchart illustrating a correspondence relationship between an identifier of an MTC UE, an address of an MTC Server serving the MTC UE, and an address of an MME allocated to the MTC UE by an MTC GW using the method, where as shown in fig. 11, the MTC GW mainly includes the following steps:

s111, the MTC UE attaches to the PS network, a GUTI is distributed to the MTC UE in the attaching process, and the GUTI is contained in the attaching response and sent to the MTC UE;

according to the structure of the GUTI in the prior art, the GUTI includes ID information of an MME allocated to the MTC UE, and the MME allocated to the MTC UE can be addressed according to the MME ID.

S112, after the MTC UE is accessed to the PS network, the MTC UE initiates application layer registration to the MTC Server, and GUTI information is carried in a registration message;

s113, after receiving a registration request of MTC UE, the MTC Server sends a registration notification message to the MTCGW;

the registration notification message carries: information of MTC UE, information of MTC Server, GUTI information (i.e., GUTI information). The information of the MTC UE comprises: the IMSI of the MTC UE and/or the IP address of the MTC UE; the information of the MTC Server includes: the service identification of the MTC Server and/or the IP address of the MTC Server.

S114, the MTC GW analyzes the address of the MME allocated for the MTC UE according to the GUTI information carried in the registration notification message;

meanwhile, the MTC GW locally stores the corresponding relation among the identification of the MTC UE, the address of the MTC Server serving for the MTC UE and the address of the MME allocated for the MTC UE, so that the association of the identification of the MTC UE, the address of the MTC Server serving for the MTC UE and the address of the MME allocated for the MTC UE can be realized.

S115, if the MTC Server judges that the MTC UE is allowed to register according to the service data, the MTC Server returns a registration response. In the registration response, several service layer parameters may be carried to the MTC UE.

Method two

Fig. 12 illustrates a flow of the MTC GW using the method for correspondence between the MTC UE, the address of the MTC Server serving the MTC UE, and the address of the MME allocated to the MTC UE, where as shown in fig. 12, the MTC GW mainly includes the following steps:

s211, the MTC UE sends an attachment request to a network, and specifically the MTC UE sends the attachment request to an MME;

s212, the MME sends a location update request to the HSS;

s213, HSS sends location update response to MME;

in the process, the HSS issues subscription data of the MTC UE to the MME, where the subscription data includes M2M subscription data, and the M2M subscription data includes information (possibly a domain name or an IP address) of an MTC Server serving the MTC UE, and the address of the corresponding MTC Server may be resolved according to the information.

S214, the MME indicates the SGW/PGW to create a proper bearer for the MTC UE;

s215, the MME sends an attachment response to the MTC UE;

s216, the MME sends a notification message to the MTC GW to inform the address of the MME allocated to the MTC UE;

optionally, the MME may also include an address of the MTC Server serving the MTC UE in the notification message, so that the MTC GW may obtain, through the notification message, a correspondence between the MTC UE, the address of the MTC Server serving the MTC UE, and the address of the MME allocated to the MTC UE.

Specifically, the notification message may be an independent notification message, or may exist in other messages sent by the MME to the MTC GW (for example, when the MTC UE is attached, the MME sends an attach event report to the MTC GW). The notification message includes the following information: the identification information of the MTC UE (specifically, the identification (such as IMSI) of the MTC UE and/or the IP address of the MTC UE) and the identification information of the MME (specifically, the identification of the MME and/or the IP address of the MME) are included). According to the corresponding relationship between the MTC UE and the MME identification information carried in the notification message, the MTCGW may obtain the MME address information allocated to the MTC UE.

S217, the MTC UE initiates registration of a service layer to the MTC Server;

s218, the MTC Server sends a registration notification message to the MTC GW;

specifically, the parameters carried by the MTC Server in the notification message include: the identification information of the MTC UE and the MTC Server may specifically include: an identity (e.g., IMSI) of the MTC UE and/or an IP address of the MTC UE, and the identification information of the MTCServer may include: the service identification and/or the IP address of the MTC Server.

After receiving the registration notification message, the MTC GW may obtain an address of the MTC Server served by the MTC UE and an address of the MME allocated to the MTC UE, thereby establishing a correspondence between the identifier of the MTC UE, the address of the MTC Server served by the MTC UE, and the MME allocated to the MTC UE.

In the flow shown in fig. 12, it should be noted that the step S216 may be issued after the step S215, may be issued after the step S213, and specifically, may be issued after any step, which has the same effect, but is not limited in the present invention.

Method III

Fig. 13 illustrates a flow of the MTC GW using the method for correspondence between the MTC UE, the address of the MTC Server serving the MTC UE, and the address of the MME allocated to the MTC UE, where as shown in fig. 13, the MTC GW mainly includes the following steps:

s311, attaching the MTC UE to the PS network;

in the process of attaching the MTC UE to the network, the HSS stores the address of the MME allocated to the MTC UE.

S312, the MTC UE initiates service layer registration to the MTC Server;

s313, the MTC Server sends a registration notification message to the MTC GW;

the registration notification message carries identification information of the MTC UE and identification information of the MTCServer, wherein the identification information of the MTC UE includes: the identity (e.g., IMSI) and/or IP address of the MTC UE, and the identity information of the MTC Server includes: service identification and/or IP address of MTC Server.

S314, the MTC GW inquires the address of the MME allocated for the MTC UE from the HSS, and the HSS returns the address of the MME allocated for the MTC UE;

thus, the MTC GW obtains the correspondence between the identity of the MTC UE, the address of the MTC Server serving the MTC UE, and the address of the MME allocated to the MTC UE, by steps S313 and S314.

S315, the MTC Server sends a registration response to the MTC UE;

in the flow shown in fig. 13, it should be noted that the query of the address of the MME allocated for the MTC UE from the HSS by the MTC GW may be: the MTC GW inquires subscription data of the MTC UE from the HSS, and the HSS returns the subscription data of the MTC UE and the address of the MME allocated to the MTC UE; it can also be: the MTC GW inquires the HSS about the address of the MME allocated to the MTC UE, and the HSS only returns the address of the MME allocated to the MTC UE.

The above description is given by taking the access control network element as the MTC server as an example, if the access control network element is the MTC gateway, in the method (a), the MTC gateway only needs to interact with the mobility management network element, and does not need to interact with the MTC server, but in the method (B) and the method (C), the MTC server may send a registration notification message to the MTC gateway when receiving a registration request sent by the MTC UE, and the MTC gateway queries or subscribes the information of the MTC UE or an access stratum event to the mobility management network element after receiving the registration notification message, which may be obtained from the above procedures in a specific implementation process, and is not described in detail.

(II) step S603

In a specific application, the access control network element may determine whether the MTC UE satisfies a predetermined condition by acquiring information of the MTC UE in the bottom access layer from the mobility management network element, thereby determining whether to allow the MTC UE to access, and send an indication to reject the access of the MTC UE to the mobility management network element when determining that the access of the MTC UE is not allowed, so as to control the access of the MTC UE.

Specifically, the predetermined condition includes, but is not limited to, one or any combination of the following: the time for allowing the MTC UE to access, the location area for allowing the MTC UE to access, the binding relationship between the IMSI used by the MTC UE and the IMEI, the network for allowing the MTC UE to attach, the number of times for allowing the MTC UE to access, and the like.

In a specific implementation process, the predetermined condition may be stored in a user subscription data memory as subscription data of the MTC UE, or may be stored in an access control network element.

For example, if one of the predetermined conditions is: if the access duration of the MTC UE in a month does not exceed 24 hours, the rule may be stored as subscription data of the MTC UE by a user subscription data storage, and the access control network element records the total access duration of the mtue in a month, specifically, the access control network element may obtain the subscription data of the MTC UE from a mobility management network element, calculate the access duration of the MTC UE each time according to the time difference between the received attach event notification and the detach event notification, record the total access duration of the MTC UE in the month according to the time duration, and accordingly determine whether the total access duration of the MTC UE in the month exceeds 24 hours, thereby determining whether the MTC UE is not allowed to access when the attach event notification is received in the next access.

Similarly, for other predetermined conditions, the access control network element may also perform the determination according to the current information of the mtue, and the specific determination process may be performed according to specific conditions. Specifically, the access control network element determines that the MTC UE is not allowed to access under the condition including but not limited to one of the following or any combination thereof:

(1) judging whether the MTC UE requests to attach to a network at a non-allowed time;

(2) judging that the MTC UE requests to attach to a network in a non-allowed position area;

(3) judging the number of times that the MTC UE exceeds the allowed access;

(4) judging that the MTC UE requests to attach to a network by using an unallowed binding relationship between the IMSI and the IMEI;

(5) judging that the MTC UE moves to an unallowed location area;

(6) judging that the time for attaching the MTC UE to the network exceeds the allowed access time;

(7) and judging that the MTC UE is switched to a non-allowed network.

Further, if the access control network element judges that the MTC UE is not allowed to access when the MTC UE requests to attach, the access control network element sends an indication of rejecting the attachment of the MTC UE to a mobility management network element; and if the access control network element judges that the MTC UE is not allowed to be accessed after the MTC UE is attached to the network, the access control network element sends an instruction for detaching the MTC UE to the mobility management network element.

In a specific implementation process, if the access control network element is an MTC gateway, the MTC gateway may directly send an indication to the mobility management network element after determining that the MTC UE is not allowed to access the network; and if the access control network element is an MTC server, the MTC server sends an indication to the mobility management network element through the MTC gateway after judging that the MTC UE is not allowed to access the network.

(III) step S605

In the specific implementation process, after receiving the instruction sent by the access control network element in step S603, the mobility management network element performs a corresponding operation according to the instruction. Specifically, if the mobility management network element receives the indication (at this time, the access control network element indicates to reject the MTC UE attachment) in the process of initiating the attach request by the MTC UE, the mobility management network element rejects the MTC UE attachment and returns an attach reject response to the MTC UE; if the mobility management network element receives the indication after the MTC UE attaches to the network (at this time, the access control network element indicates to detach the MTC UE), the mobility management network element executes a detach procedure to detach the MTC UE.

In order to further understand the above technical solutions provided in the embodiments of the present invention, the EPS network is taken as an example, and the above solutions are described through specific embodiments.

Method embodiment one

This embodiment describes a procedure in which the MTC Server controls access to the MTC UE using information of the MTC UE obtained from the MME after the MTC UE is attached.

Fig. 14 is a flowchart illustrating the MTC Server detaching the MTC UE according to the queried MTC UE information after the MTC UE is attached, as shown in fig. 14, the MTC Server detaching the MTC UE according to the queried MTC UE information mainly includes the following steps:

s401, the MTC UE is accessed to a network;

s402, the MTC UE initiates service layer registration to the MTC Server;

s403, the MTC Server queries the MTC GW for the information of the MTC UE, or subscribes the MTC GW for the access stratum event related to the MTC UE, and the MTC GW sends the query and subscription request to the MME;

if the MTC UE is controlled to access by the MTC GW, in step S403, the MTC Server may send a registration notification message to the MTC GW, and the MTC GW sends an inquiry or subscription request to the MME after receiving the registration notification message.

S404, an access stratum event related to the MTC UE occurs;

this step occurs after the MTC Server subscribes to an access stratum event.

S405, the MME returns the inquired MTC UE information to the MTC GW, or when the MTC Server subscribes an access stratum event to the MME through the MTC GW and the access stratum event occurs (S404), the MME notifies the MTC GW of the access stratum event. The MTC GW sends the inquired information or the event notification to the MTC Server;

s406, when the MTC Server obtains the information of the MTC UE or obtains the event notification of the access stratum, the MTC Server judges that the MTC UE needs to be detached according to the service management requirement;

s407, the MTC Server sends a detach request to the MTC GW, and the MTC GW sends a detach request to the MME;

s408, after receiving the detach request, the MME executes a detach process to detach the MTC UE;

s409, the MME sends a detach response to the MTC GW, and the MTC GW sends the detach response to the MTC Server.

In the above flow, if the MTC GW performs the detach/detach operation on the MTC UE, in step S405, after the MTC GW acquires the information of the MTC UE returned by the MME or the reported event notification, it may determine whether the MTC UE needs to detach according to the service management requirement, and if so, send a detach request to the MEE, and then perform steps S408 and S409, and in S409, the MTC GW may send a detach response to the MTC Server, or may not send a detach response to the MTC Server.

Method embodiment two

This embodiment describes a procedure in which the MTC Server controls access to the MTC UE using information of the MTC UE obtained from the MME when the MTC UE is involved.

In most cases, there is an important part of the control of MTC UEs in M2M communication: access control, comprising: and controlling the access time, the access times, the access position and the like of the MTC UE. If the current access of the MTC UE is not in the allowable range, the network should reject the attachment of the MTC UE or detach the MTC UE, and can further issue an indication to the network, and when similar situations occur, the network can reject the attachment request of the MTC UE by itself.

In this application, when the MTC UE attaches, the MME may actively send an attach event notification to the MTC GW, and the MTC GW sends the event notification to the MTC Server, and the MTC Server determines whether the attachment is allowed. Similarly, the MTC GW may determine whether the mtue is allowed to attach or not directly from the event notification without transmitting the event notification to the MTC Server.

Fig. 15 is a schematic flow chart of a process in which, when MTC UE is attached, an MME sends an attach event notification to an MTC GW, and the MTC GW/MTC Server determines whether to allow MTC UE to attach, as shown in fig. 15, the process mainly includes the following steps:

s501, the MTC UE sends an attachment request to a network, and specifically sends the attachment request to an MME;

s502, after receiving the attachment request, the MME sends a location update to the HSS, and in the process, the HSS sends subscription data of the MTC UE to the MME;

s503, the MME sends an attachment event notification to the MTC GW;

s504, optionally, if the MTC GW determines whether the attach is allowed, the MTCGW determines whether the MTC UE is allowed to attach according to a service management requirement after receiving the attach event notification, and in this embodiment, the MTC GW determines not to allow the MTC UE to attach according to the service management requirement;

in an attach event, the MME may contain several pieces of information for the attach, for example: the network accessed, the location accessed, the time accessed, the binding relationship between the IMSI used by the MTC UE and the IMEI, and the like. The MTC GW determines that the MTC UE is not allowed to attach according to the access-allowed information of the MTC UE, for example, the time allowed to access, the location area allowed to access, the number of times allowed to access, the network allowed to access, the binding relationship between the IMSI allowed to be used and the IMEI, and the like of the MTC UE, and determines that the MTC UE is attached in the non-allowed time or the non-allowed location area this time, or the number of times of the MTC UE currently accessed exceeds the number of times allowed to access, or the MTC UE uses the non-allowed IMSI and the IMEI, or the MTC UE requests to attach to the non-allowed network.

After determining that the MTC UE is not allowed to attach, the MTC GW performs step S508.

Next, steps S505 to S506 are executed by the MTC Server to determine whether to allow the MTC UE to attach, and in the case of executing steps S505 to S507, step S504 is not executed.

S505, the MTC GW sends the event notification to the MTC Server;

s506, after the MTC Server receives the attachment event reported by the MME, the MTC Server judges that the access of the MTC UE should be rejected according to the service management requirement;

s507, the MTC Server sends an access rejection indication to the MTC GW;

s508, the MTC GW sends an access rejection indication to the MME;

s509, after receiving the attach rejection indication, the MME rejects the access of the MTC UE and returns an attach rejection response to the MTC UE.

Since the MTC GW is operator controlled, in this embodiment, if the MTC GW makes a decision, the operator may have more flexible access control right.

Although the example of E-UTRAN (EPS) network is described in the above embodiment, in fact, for GPRS access of GERAN/UTRAN network, SGSN in GERAN/UTRAN network is equivalent to MME in E-UTRAN network and acts as access control and mobility management function of PS domain, GGSN in GERAN/UTRAN network is equivalent to SGW + PGW in E-UTRAN network, and HLR in GERAN/UTRAN network is equivalent to HSS in E-UTRAN network. Therefore, according to the above description of the embodiment of the present invention, those skilled in the art can directly apply the above technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention to the PS domain in the GERAN/UTRAN network.

It should be noted that the steps illustrated in the flowcharts of the figures may be performed in a computer system such as a set of computer-executable instructions and that, although a logical order is illustrated in the flowcharts, in some cases, the steps illustrated or described may be performed in an order different than presented herein.

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the access control network element (MTCGW/MTC Server) in the service layer acquires information of MTC UEs in the access layer from the mobility management network element, and thus, access of the MTC UEs can be effectively controlled according to the acquired information of the MTC UEs. Meanwhile, in the embodiment of the invention, the MTC GW can also carry out security verification on the MTC Server, only the MTC Server allowed to be accessed can be accessed to the core network, and the access is refused to the illegal MTC Server, so that the security of the core network can be ensured. In addition, in the embodiment of the invention, the MTC GW can control the access of the MTC UE, so that an operator can flexibly control the access of the MTC UE when the MTC Server is a network element of a non-operator.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the modules or steps of the present invention described above may be implemented by a general purpose computing device, they may be centralized on a single computing device or distributed across a network of multiple computing devices, and they may alternatively be implemented by program code executable by a computing device, such that they may be stored in a storage device and executed by a computing device, or fabricated separately as individual integrated circuit modules, or fabricated as a single integrated circuit module from multiple modules or steps. Thus, the present invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

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. An access control method for a Machine Type Communication (MTC) terminal is characterized by comprising the following steps:

the access control network element judges that the MTC terminal is not allowed to access according to the information of the MTC terminal, and sends an indication for rejecting the access of the MTC terminal to the mobility management network element;

the mobility management network element receives the indication and refuses the MTC terminal to access to a network according to the indication;

wherein, the access control network element is an MTC gateway.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the reporting, by the mobility management network element, the information of the MTC terminal to the access control network element comprises:

and the mobility management network element reports the information of the MTC terminal to the access control network element according to the indication of the subscription data of the MTC terminal, which is acquired from a user subscription data memory.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the subscription data comprises: the mobility management network element is instructed to report the information of the MTC terminal to first instruction information of the access control network element;

the reporting, by the mobility management network element, the information of the MTC terminal to the access control network element includes:

and after receiving a location update response, the mobility management network element reports the information of the MTC terminal to the access control network element according to the indication of the first indication information contained in the subscription data.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the subscription data further comprises: second indication information for indicating the mobility management network element to send an event notification to the access control network element when an access layer event related to the MTC terminal occurs;

and when an access layer event related to the MTC terminal occurs, the mobility management network element sends an event notification to the access control network element according to the indication of the second indication information, wherein the event notification carries the information of the current MTC terminal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the reporting, by the mobility management network element, the information of the MTC terminal to the access control network element comprises:

after the MTC UE is attached to a network, the access control network element sends a query request to the mobility management network element to request for querying the information of the MTC terminal;

and after receiving the query request, the mobility management network element reports the information of the MTC terminal to the access control network element.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the reporting, by the mobility management network element, the information of the MTC terminal to the access control network element comprises:

after the MTC UE is attached to a network, the access control network element sends a query request to the mobility management network element to request for subscribing an access layer event related to the MTC terminal;

and the mobility management network element sends an access stratum event notification to the access control network element when the access stratum event occurs, wherein the access stratum event notification carries information of the MTC terminal.

7. The method according to claim 4 or 6, wherein the access stratum event related to the MTC terminal comprises one of the following or any combination thereof:

the subscription data of the MTC terminal changes;

the state of the MTC terminal changes;

the network of the MTC terminal changes.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the information of the MTC terminal comprises one of the following or any combination thereof:

the MTC terminal receives the current service subscription data;

an international subscriber identity (IMSI) and an International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) used by the MTC terminal;

context information of the MTC terminal on the mobility management network element.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the context information of the MTC terminal on the mobility management network element comprises: the current position area information of the MTC terminal and/or the current state information of the MTC terminal.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the determining, by the access control network element, that the MTC terminal is not allowed to access comprises:

the access control network element judges whether the acquired information of the MTC terminal meets a preset condition or not, and determines that the MTC terminal is not allowed to be accessed under the condition that the information of the MTC terminal does not meet the preset condition;

wherein the predetermined condition comprises one or any combination of the following: the time for allowing the MTC terminal to access, the location area for allowing the MTC terminal to access, the binding relationship between the IMSI and the IMEI used by the MTC terminal, the network for allowing the MTC terminal to attach, and the number of times for allowing the MTC terminal to access.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the access control network element determines that the MTC terminal is not allowed to access in case of one of the following or any combination thereof:

judging that the MTC terminal requests to attach to a network at a non-allowed time;

judging that the MTC terminal requests to attach to a network in a non-allowed position area;

judging the number of times that the MTC terminal exceeds the allowed access;

judging that the MTC terminal is attached to a network by an unallowed binding request of IMSI and IMEI;

judging that the MTC terminal moves to an unallowed location area;

judging that the time for the MTC terminal to attach to the network exceeds the allowed access time;

and judging that the MTC terminal is switched to a non-allowed network.

12. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the indication to deny access by the MTC terminal if the MTC terminal currently requests to attach to a network comprises: an indication to reject the MTC terminal attachment;

the step that the mobility management network element refuses the MTC terminal to access to the network according to the indication comprises the following steps:

and the mobility management network element rejects the attachment of the MTC terminal and returns an attachment rejection response to the MTC terminal.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the indication to deny access to the MTC terminal if the MTC terminal is currently attached to a network comprises: an indication to detach the MTC terminal;

and the mobility management network element executes a detachment process to detach the MTC terminal.

14. The method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the mobility management network element comprises: serving general packet radio service support node SGSN or mobility management unit MME.

15. A method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the user subscription data store comprises: a home location register HLR or a home subscriber server HSS.

16. An access control system of an MTC terminal, comprising: a subscriber subscription data storage, a mobility management network element, and an access control network element, wherein,

the mobility management network element is connected with the user subscription data storage, and is used for receiving subscription data of an MTC terminal which is sent by the user subscription data storage and currently requests to be attached to a network or is currently attached to the network, and providing information of the MTC terminal for the access control network element;

the access control network element is connected with the mobility management network element and used for judging whether the MTC terminal is allowed to access or not according to the information of the MTC terminal and sending an indication for rejecting the MTC terminal to access to the mobility management network element under the condition that the MTC terminal is not allowed to access so that the mobility management network element rejects the MTC terminal to access to a network;

wherein, the access control network element is an MTC gateway.