CN102802123A

CN102802123A - Method and system for realizing multicast service counting of multimedia broadcast

Info

Publication number: CN102802123A
Application number: CN201110139204XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 马子江; 杜晓; 许辉; 王斌; 苟伟
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2011-05-26
Filing date: 2011-05-26
Publication date: 2012-11-28
Anticipated expiration: 2031-05-26
Also published as: WO2012159384A1; CN102802123B

Abstract

The invention discloses a method and system for realizing multicast service counting of multimedia broadcast. When MCE (media center edition) starts the MBMS (multimedia broadcast multicast service) counting process, corresponding counting result waiting units can be started; and if the MCE does not receive counting results reported by a base station when the counting result waiting units are timeout, then the current counting process is terminated. The method and system limit the counting process of the MBMS service, ensures that the MCE can finish the counting process in a specified period of time, thereby ensuring that on the basis that the MBMS counting process is successfully executed, the MCE cannot enter the waiting process for a long term, and the subsequent counting processes can not be influenced so that the time delay of the system is reduced, and the user experience is improved.

Description

Method and system for realizing multimedia broadcast multicast service counting

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of communication, in particular to a method and a system for realizing multimedia broadcast multicast service counting.

Background

In order to effectively utilize mobile network resources, the third generation partnership Project (3 GPP) proposes a Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (MBMS) which relates to a technique for transmitting data from one data source to a plurality of target mobile terminals, enables sharing of network resources (including a core network and an access network), and improves utilization of network resources (particularly air interface resources). The MBMS service defined by 3GPP can not only implement plain text low-rate message multicast and broadcast, but also implement broadcast and multicast of high-speed multimedia service, and provide various rich video, audio, and multimedia services, which undoubtedly follows the development trend of future mobile data, and provides better service prospects for the development of 3G.

Currently, MBMS technology is introduced in Long Term Evolution (LTE) of R (Release) 9, and is enhanced in R10 Release. The MBMS system architecture introduced by R9 is shown in fig. 1, and respectively includes a Broadcast Multicast service center (BM-SC), an MBMS GateWay (MBMS-GW, MBMS GateWay), a Mobility Management Entity (MME, Mobility Management Entity), a Multi-cell/Multicast Coordination Entity (MCE), and an evolved Node B (eNB). For convenience of description, hereinafter, the base station is referred to as an evolved base station or a common base station.

In R9, the Control signaling of the MBMS service is transmitted separately from the User data, and is referred to as a Control Plane (CP) and a User Plane (UP). The MBMS control signaling is sent to MBMS-GW through BM-SC, then sent to MME by Sm interface, MME sent to MCE by M3 interface, MCE sent to base station by M2 interface, and sent to User Equipment (UE) by base station through air interface Uu. The MBMS user data is directly sent to the base station through an M1 interface on the BM-SC, and then sent to the UE through an air interface Uu by the base station. The MCE is mainly responsible for access control and resource allocation for the MBMS service, and is an entity dedicated to controlling the MBMS service.

In the MBMS system of R10, a counting mechanism of MBMS is introduced. The principle of the MBMS counting mechanism is shown in fig. 2, and includes an MBMS counting request process and a counting report process on an M2 interface, and an MBMS counting process on an air interface, and the specific principle is as follows:

MBMS count request procedure on M2 interface: the MCE initiates an MBMS service counting request process at an M2 interface, and triggers a base station in a controlled multimedia broadcast multicast single Frequency Network (MBSFN) area to initiate the MBMS counting request process at an air interface. Specifically, the MCE sends an MBMS Service Counting Request (MBMS Service Counting Request) message to the base station in the control area through the M2 interface, and the base station sends an MBMS Service Counting Response (MBMS Service Counting Response) or an MBMS Service Counting Failure (MBMS Service Counting Failure) message to the MCE through the M2 interface.

MBMS counting procedure over air interface: the base station sends an MBMS Counting Request (MBMS Counting Request) message to the UE over an air interface Uu, where the message is carried on a Multicast Control Channel (MCCH) and includes a Temporary Mobile Group Identity (TMGI) of an MBMS service to be counted. The connected UE receiving or interested in receiving the MBMS service in the Counting request sends an MBMS Counting Response (MBMS Counting Response) message to the base station to report the MBMS service being received or interested in receiving.

The MBMS counting result reporting process on the M2 interface: the base station sends MBMS Counting Results Report (MBMS Counting Results Report) information to the MCE and reports the Counting Results to the MCE.

The main purpose of introducing a counting mechanism into the MBMS service R10 is to allow an operator to count the number of users of some MBMS services, activate/deactivate corresponding services according to the number of users, and improve the utilization rate of radio resources.

Currently, in each counting process, the receiving states of 16 MBMS services are counted at most once. If the number of the services needing to be counted exceeds 16, a plurality of counting processes are required; and when the current counting process is not completed, the next counting process cannot be started, that is, the next counting process is started only after the MCE receives the counting result of the current counting process of the base station (the current counting process refers to the counting process being performed by the MCE).

It should be noted that the one-time complete counting process includes a counting request process on the M2 interface, a counting process on the air interface Uu, and finally a process of reporting the counting result on the M2 interface, as shown in fig. 3, the flows of the MBMS counting request process 1, the MBMS counting process 1 on the air interface, and the process of reporting the MBMS counting result 1 are the counting process 1. In fig. 3, when the MCE initiates the MBMS counting request process 1 and receives the counting result reported by the MBMS counting result reporting process 1 of the base station, the MCE may continue to initiate the subsequent MBMS counting process, such as the MBMS counting process 2. However, when the counting process 1 is abnormal due to some reasons and the MBMS counting result reporting process 1 of the base station fails, the MCE will continue to wait for the MBMS counting result reporting process 1 of the base station to report the counting result according to the current mechanism. Since the base station reports the counting result to the MCE by using the type 2(class2) message without the acknowledgement message, the base station does not know whether the MCE receives the counting result, so that the counting process falls into an abnormal state, and the MCE cannot start the next counting process.

In addition, since one MBSFN area includes many base stations, some base stations may fail to report the counting result, or some base stations may take a long time to report the counting result due to the reason of being far away from the MCE, as shown in fig. 4. At this time, the MCE may not receive the counting results reported by the base stations, or may take a long time to receive the counting results reported by some base stations. This will cause the MCE to wait for a longer time, which results in a longer time consumption for the MBMS counting process, a larger time delay for the system, and an impact on the system performance and user experience.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of the above, the main objective of the present invention is to provide a method and a system for implementing MBMS service counting, so that when the MCE does not receive the counting result reported by the base station within a certain time, the MCE can timely end the current counting process, thereby ensuring the normal operation of the MBMS service counting mechanism.

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

a method for implementing multimedia broadcast multicast service counting, the method comprising:

when the multi-cell/multicast coordination entity MCE starts the counting process of the multimedia broadcast multicast service MBMS, starting a corresponding counting result waiting unit; if the MCE still does not receive the counting result reported by the base station when the counting result waiting unit is overtime, the current counting process is ended.

The counting result waiting unit is a timer or a counter;

the timing time of the counting result waiting unit is the same for all the MBMS counting processes or is different for part of the MBMS counting processes;

the timing time is set according to the system requirements, or the unit is MCCH MP.

The base stations are all base stations which send the MBMS in the multimedia broadcast multicast single frequency network MBSFN area where the MBMS is located, or part of the base stations.

The MCE starts an MBMS counting procedure, including:

MCE sends MBMS service counting request message to base station through M2 interface;

and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

and the MCE receives the MBMS counting response message sent by the base station.

After the current counting process is finished, the method further comprises: the MCE starts the next counting process.

A system for realizing multimedia broadcast multicast service counting comprises a counting result waiting unit and a counting process decision unit; wherein,

the counting result waiting unit is used for starting timing when the MCE starts the MBMS counting process and informing the counting process decision unit when the counting process is overtime;

and the counting process decision unit is used for ending the current counting process if the counting result reported by the base station is not received yet when the overtime notice of the counting result waiting unit is received.

The counting result waiting unit is a timer or a counter;

the timing time is set according to the system requirements, or MCCH MP is taken as a unit.

The base stations are all base stations which send the MBMS in the MBSFN area where the MBMS is located, or part of the base stations.

The MCE is used for:

when an MBMS service counting request message is sent to a base station through an M2 interface, confirming to start an MBMS counting process;

and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

and confirming to start the MBMS counting process when receiving the MBMS counting response message sent by the base station.

After the current counting process is finished, the counting process decision unit is further configured to: the next counting process is started.

The method and the system can limit the counting process of the MBMS and ensure that the MCE can finish the counting process within a certain time, thereby ensuring that the MCE does not enter a long-time waiting process and cannot influence the subsequent counting process on the basis of ensuring the smooth execution of the MBMS counting process, thereby reducing the time delay of the system and improving the user experience.

Drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a conventional MBMS system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of the MBMS counting mechanism;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating an MBMS counting process in an abnormal situation;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a counting process in which part of base stations fail to report counting results;

FIG. 5 is a diagram illustrating a counting process with a counter or timer according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of an embodiment of counting mbms;

fig. 7 is a simplified flowchart of implementing mbms counting according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a system diagram for implementing mbms counting according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In practical applications, when the MCE initiates an MBMS counting procedure, a timer or counter corresponding to the counting procedure may be set.

Specifically, the MCE initiating the MBMS Counting process means that the MCE sends an MBMS Service Counting Request message to the base station through the M2 interface, or the MCE receives an MBMS Service Counting Response message sent by the base station.

The base stations refer to all base stations which send the MBMS in the MBSFN area where the MBMS is located. The timer or counter refers to a timing device corresponding to the counting process and set when the MCE initiates the counting process, and is used for calculating the time of the counting process, and the timing time of the timing device may be set according to actual application scenarios, system requirements, and the like, or refer to other communication parameters, such as: the unit is a multicast control channel Modification Period (MCCH MP).

In addition, when the timing time of the timer or the counter reaches a set value, if the MCE has not received the counting result reported by the base station, the MCE may end the current counting process and start the next counting process. And, for the MBMS counting procedure in different MBSFN areas, different timers or counters may be set.

It can be seen that when the MCE starts the counting process, a timer or counter can be set to count the time of the counting process. When the timing time of the timer or the counter reaches a set value, if the MCE does not receive the counting result reported by the base station, the MCE may start the next counting process without waiting for the base station to report the counting result all the time. Wherein, the time from the MCE initiating the counting process to the base station reporting the counting result to the MCE may be calculated by taking the MCCH MP as a unit, for example: may be set to 1, 2, 3 or more MCCH MPs. Thus, when the MBMS counting process initiated by the MCE falls into an abnormity, the abnormity can be solved by setting a timer or a counter. In addition, different values are set for the timing time of the timer or the counter, the MBMS counting process can be limited to be completed within a certain time, and the delay of the system is reduced.

Specifically, as shown in fig. 5, while initiating the MBMS counting request process 1, the MCE sets a corresponding timer or counter (taking the MCCH MP as a unit), and starts to calculate the time of the current counting process. The specific time setting may be 1, 2, 3 or more MCCH MPs. When an abnormal condition occurs, a problem occurs in the reporting process of the counting result sent to the MCE by the base station, and the MCE cannot receive the counting result reported by the base station. At this time, the MCE will continue to wait for the base station to report the result. When the counting time of the timer or the counter reaches the set value, the MCE may not continue to wait for the base station to report the counting result, but resume the counting process or start the MBMS counting process 2. The above operations may be directed to some or all of the base stations.

When the system configures multiple carriers or counts the MBMS services in multiple MBSFN areas at the same time, different timers or counters may be set for the counting processes in different areas to limit the times of different counting processes, respectively, thereby ensuring the normal operation of the counting process.

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention is further described in detail below by specific embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Example one

The network needs to count some MBMS services transmitted in a certain MBSFN area to count the number of users receiving or interested in receiving these services. When the MCE initiates the MBMS counting procedure, a timer or counter is set to time the counting procedure. When the timing time set by the timer or the counter reaches, or the MCE receives the counting results reported by all the base stations sending the MBMS service in the MBSFN area, the MCE considers that the counting process is finished, and starts to perform the subsequent counting process. Specifically, the steps included in this embodiment are described with reference to fig. 6:

step 101, MCE sends MBMS counting request to base station, and sets timer T or counter C;

specifically, the base stations refer to all base stations transmitting the MBMS service in the MBSFN area that needs counting. The timing time of the timer T or the counter C may be 1, 2, 3. Specifically, when the MCCH MP is 5.12s, the timing time of the timer T may be 5.12s, 10.24s, 15.36s, and the like; when the MCCH MP is 10.24s, the timing time of the corresponding timer T may be a corresponding multiple of 10.24 s. The timer can adopt sequential timing, namely, the timing time starts from 0 and continuously increases until reaching a set time value, such as 10.24s and the like; it is also possible to use a countdown, starting from an initially set time value, for example 10.24s, and continuing to decrement until the time is 0. Similarly, the counter C may count from 0 to a set MCCH MP value, such as 2 MCCH MPs, in a similar sequential counting manner, i.e. an incrementing manner; it is also possible to start with the set MCCH MP up to 0MCCHMP in a count-down manner, i.e. in a count-down manner. The counting unit of the counter C is MCCH MP, which may be 1, 2, 3.

Step 102, the MCE determines whether the timer T or the counter C reaches the set time or not, or whether the MCE has received the counting result reported by the base station, if one of the determination results is yes, the step 104 is entered; if the two judgment results are negative, the step 103 is entered;

specifically, whether the timer T reaches the set time or not means that the time counted by the timer in the sequential counting method reaches the set time value or the time counted by the countdown method is 0. Similarly, whether the counter C reaches the set time means that the timing time when the counter adopts the sequential counting manner reaches the set MCCH MP value, or the timing time when the counter adopts the countdown manner reaches 0MCCH MP. The base station refers to all base stations which send the MBMS service in the MBSFN area where the MCE sends the MBMS counting request; the counting result refers to the statistics of the receiving state (including the service being received and the interest in receiving the service) of the UE to a service, which is obtained by the base station through the MBMS counting process on the air interface Uu. The counting result reported by the base station refers to that all base stations report the counting result on an air interface to the MCE through signaling on an M2 interface.

Step 103, the MCE continues the current counting process and receives the counting result reported by the base station;

after step 103, it is necessary to continue to monitor whether the timer T or the counter C reaches the set time value, or whether the MCE has received the counting result reported by the base station, that is, step 102 needs to be continued.

The MCE does not receive the counting result reported by the base station, and there are two possible situations: one situation is that the base station has sent the counting result to the MCE, but an abnormality occurs in the sending, and the MCE does not receive the counting result; the other situation is that the base station reports the counting result in a delayed manner due to the long distance between the base station or the heavy load on the M2 interface.

Step 104, the MCE finishes the current counting process; if there is a subsequent counting process, the subsequent counting process is started.

By the embodiment, the counting process of the MBMS can be limited, and the MCE can complete the counting process within a certain time. In fact, the time of the counting process depends on the smaller value of the timer T and the time of collecting the counting result reported by the base station (when the counter C is adopted, the smaller value of the counter C and the time of collecting the counting result reported by the base station is depended on), so that on the basis of ensuring that the MBMS counting process is successfully executed, it is ensured that the MCE does not enter a long waiting process and does not affect the proceeding of the subsequent counting process. The longer the time of the timer T is, the more time the MCE has to collect the counting result reported by the base station, and the more accurate the counting result is; but correspondingly the delay of the counting process will also be increased. Therefore, the time length of the timer T needs to be comprehensively considered.

Example two

When the network simultaneously performs the counting process on the MBMS services in a plurality of MBSFN areas, since the MPs of the MCCH have different lengths, such as 5.12s or 10.24s, different timers or counters need to be set to limit the lengths of the different counting processes. In addition, the larger the MBSFN area is (i.e. the larger the number of base stations constituting the MBSFN area is), the longer counting process is correspondingly required to ensure that the counting results of all the base stations receiving the MBMS service in the area are collected and reported, so that the longer timer time setting is correspondingly required.

Specifically, different timers or counters may be set for the counting process of each MBSFN area, and the counting process is defined separately, thereby ensuring that the counting process is performed smoothly. The timer or the counter can correspond to the MBSFN areas one by one, and can also be flexibly set according to the requirement.

For example, there are two MBSFN areas, where MBSFN area 1 is larger, assuming a MCCHMP of 10.24 s; whereas MBSFN area 2 is relatively small, taking 5.12s MCCH MP. When the MCE needs to perform a counting process on the MBMS services in the two MBSFN areas, for the MBSFN area 1, setting a timer T1 or a counter C1, and the timing length is twice as long as the MCCH MP of the MBSFN area 1, that is, 20.48s or two MCCH MPs; for a relatively small MBSFN area 2, a timer T2 or a counter C2 is set and the timing length is twice that of the MCCH MP of the area, i.e. 10.24s or two MCCH MPs. When the timer T1 or the counter C1 reaches the set time value, or the MCE has received the counting results reported by all the base stations sending the MBMS service in the MBSFN area 1, ending the current counting process and starting the subsequent counting process; and when the timer T1 or the counter C1 does not reach the set time value, and the MCE does not receive the counting results reported by all the base stations which send the MBMS service in the MBSFN area 1 at the moment, continuing the current counting process. Similarly, for the counting process in the MBSFN area 2, the processing method is similar, and is not described herein again.

As can be seen, the second embodiment sets different timers or counters for different MBSFN areas, so as to better solve the problem that due to an abnormal occurrence, the MCE does not receive the counting result reported by the base station, and the MCE falls into the process of waiting for the base station to report the counting result, so that the subsequent counting process cannot be started; in addition, for the problem of delay of the counting process caused by the fact that some base stations cannot report the counting result in time, a timer or a counter is adopted to limit the counting process, when the time set by the timer or the counter is up, part of the base stations do not report the counting result, the MCE can end the current counting process and start the subsequent counting process, so that the counting process of the MBMS is limited within a certain time, the processing delay of the system is reduced, and the performance and the user experience of the system are improved.

Note that, since the purpose of the timer and the counter is to wait for a count result for a certain period of time, a device similar to the timer and the counter may be referred to as a count result waiting unit. The time when the count result waiting means reaches the set time value or the timer time may be referred to as a time-out of the count result waiting means.

As can be seen from the above description, the operation idea of the present invention for implementing mbms counting can be represented by a flow shown in fig. 7, where the flow includes the following steps:

step 710: when the MCE starts the MBMS counting procedure, a corresponding counting result waiting unit is started.

Step 720: if the MCE still does not receive the counting result reported by the base station when the counting result waiting unit is overtime, the current counting process is ended.

In order to ensure that the technical description and the operation idea can be smoothly realized, the arrangement shown in fig. 8 can be performed. Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a system diagram for implementing mbms counting according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the system includes a counting result waiting unit and a counting process decision unit connected to each other.

In practical application, the counting result waiting unit may be a timer, a counter, or the like, and is configured to start timing according to a trigger of its own logic or the MCE, or the like, when the MCE starts the MBMS counting process, and notify the counting process decision unit when the MCE times out. When receiving the overtime notice of the counting result waiting unit, if the counting process decision unit still does not receive the counting result reported by the base station, the current counting process is ended.

In summary, the technology for realizing multimedia broadcast multicast service counting of the present invention, regardless of the method or the system, can limit the counting process of the MBMS service, and ensure that the MCE can complete the counting process within a certain time, thereby ensuring that the MCE does not enter a long waiting process and does not influence the subsequent counting process on the basis of ensuring the smooth execution of the MBMS counting process, thereby reducing the time delay of the system and improving the user experience.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for implementing mbms counting, the method comprising:

2. The method of claim 1,

the counting result waiting unit is a timer or a counter;

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the base stations are all base stations transmitting the MBMS service in an MBSFN area of a MBMS service, or some of the base stations.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the MCE starts an MBMS counting procedure comprising:

and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

5. The method according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein after ending the current counting process, the method further comprises: the MCE starts the next counting process.

6. A system for realizing multimedia broadcast multicast service counting is characterized in that the system comprises a counting result waiting unit and a counting process decision unit; wherein,

7. The system of claim 6,

the counting result waiting unit is a timer or a counter;

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the base stations are all base stations transmitting the MBMS service in the MBSFN area where the MBMS service is located, or some of the base stations.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the MCE is to:

and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,

10. The system according to any of claims 6 to 9, wherein after ending the current counting process, the counting process decision unit is further configured to: the next counting process is started.