CN104427476A

CN104427476A - Position information reporting method, cluster service processing method and cluster service processing system

Info

Publication number: CN104427476A
Application number: CN201310411059.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 李志军; 谢宝国; 朱进国
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2013-09-10
Filing date: 2013-09-10
Publication date: 2015-03-18
Anticipated expiration: 2033-09-10
Also published as: CN104427476B; WO2015035917A1

Abstract

The invention discloses a formulation method of a tracking area list, a position information reporting method, a mobile management network element, a cluster service processing method and a cluster service processing system, wherein the formulation method of the tracking area list comprises the following step: the mobile management network element MME formulates the tracking area list sent to user equipment UE according to indicating information, wherein the indicating information is carried in user sign data of the UE or in a position request message; the tracking area list is used for indicating that the UE initiates a tracking region updating flow when the tracking area list is removed so as to at least provide a probability of solving the problem that a signaling storm easily occurs as the position information of a user terminal is obtained by cluster service through a way of providing the position information of UE by using AS in an associated technology, so that the network signaling flow caused by reporting the terminal position is reduced.

Description

Position information reporting method, cluster service processing method and system

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of communication, in particular to a method for formulating a tracking area list, a method for reporting position information, a mobility management network element, a method and a system for processing cluster services.

Background

The trunking communication system is a mobile communication system for group dispatching command communication. The trunking communication is mainly applied to the field of professional mobile communication. The cluster system transmits data through the shared channel, so that resources are saved, and efficiency is improved.

Long Term Evolution (Long Term Evolution, LTE for short) is a 4G wireless communication technology developed by the 3GPP standard organization. In the related art, 3GPP is defining an architecture for supporting a cluster service in LTE.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a cluster communication architecture in an LTE network according to the related art, and as shown in fig. 1, functions of network elements of each part involved in the architecture are as follows:

a terminal (User Equipment, UE for short) is also called User Equipment, and the User Equipment is accessed to a base station through a wireless air interface and is accessed to a core network. The terminal needs the core network to authenticate it before accessing the core network. The terminal may have two states after registration in the core network: the terminal and the base station are connected in the connection state and can receive and transmit data.

An Evolved NodeB (Evolved NodeB, abbreviated as eNodeB) mainly provides a wireless resource for a base station system in an LTE network, and meanwhile, a control plane and a mobility management network element are intercommunicated through an S1-AP interface, and a user plane and a service gateway are intercommunicated through an S1-U interface. The eNodeB tells the terminal the current cell information by broadcasting.

A Mobility Management Element (MME) is a control plane entity in the LTE network, and is responsible for user access authentication, Mobility Management, bearer Management, and the like, and temporarily stores a context after the terminal is attached to the network.

A Serving Gateway (SGW) provides an anchor point for the terminal to move in 2G \3G and LTE, and meanwhile, if the terminal is in an idle state, the SGW can also page the terminal through an MME.

And a PDN Gateway (PGW) through which the terminal accesses the service network. The PGW allocates an IP address for the terminal and manages the QoS of the bearer.

A Policy Charging Rule Function (PCRF) is used to allocate Policy and perform charging for managing the user plane bearer resource.

A Group Communication Application Server (GCAS) is used to manage the Group service, including the functions of Group service Group management, call setup, release and management. The UE and the GCAS are connected through a Gc1 interface, and the main functions of the interface are that the UE registers in the GCAS, initiates a group call and the like.

In order to support the trunking Service in the LTE network, a logical network element of a Multipoint Service Entity (referred to as a multise for short) is newly added, and the main function is to provide a group call Service for the GCAS. The MuSE receives the group call related information from the GCAS through the GC2 interface, is connected with the MME through the GC4 interface, establishes a group call path, sends the received media to the base station through the GC3 interface, and then sends the media to all the terminals in the group through the shared channel.

There are two ways for GCAS to send downstream data, unicast and multicast. Unicast, that is, GCAS sends downlink data to the terminal in a point-to-point manner, and the data is sent to the terminal through EPC bearer. And multicast, namely GCAS sends downlink data to MuSe, the MuSe sends the data to a base station, and then the base station sends the downlink data to a plurality of terminals through broadcasting.

In actual deployment, the cluster service is not necessarily supported in the whole network, and operators and servers usually define a physical area with a range, and only the cluster service is supported in the physical area. The GCSA may terminate the cluster service to the terminal when the terminal exceeds the physical area. According to this requirement, the GCAS needs to know whether the location area where the terminal is currently located exceeds the specified physical area.

According to the above requirement, the GCAS needs to know the current location area of the terminal, and perform further determination according to the current location area: whether to continue providing cluster services.

In the related technology, an application layer server AS obtains the position information of UE, and the position information can be realized through the processes of subscribing and reporting the user position.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart for acquiring location information of a UE according to an AS in the related art, AS shown in fig. 2, the flowchart includes the following steps:

step S201, UE attaches to network and is allocated with IP address;

step S202, UE initiates application layer communication to AS;

step S203, the AS sends a UE position query request to the PCRF due to the service requirement;

step S204, the PCRF sends a location query request to the PGW/SGW;

in the related art, the accuracy of the location query is at the Cell level. If the precision required by the Location query is much higher than the Cell level, after receiving the Location query, the MME needs to start a UE positioning procedure initiated by the network side, and the procedure is usually provided by a Location service (LCS).

Step S205, the SGW sends a UE position query request to the MME;

step S206, the MME obtains the current position (for example, Cell-ID) of the UE as required;

if the precision of the position query request is Cell level, the MME can obtain the current Cell-ID of the UE according to the signaling activity of the UE, otherwise, the MME starts the LCS positioning process to obtain the position of the UE.

Since the UE is currently in the connected state, the MME may obtain the current Cell-ID of the UE from the signaling sent by the eNodeB.

If the MME receives the position query of the UE and the UE is in an idle state, the MME needs to wait for the UE to enter a connected state from the idle state and then obtain the Cell-ID of the UE according to a signaling sent by the eNodeB.

Step S207, the MME returns the location information (e.g., Cell-ID) of the UE to the SGW/PGW;

step S208, the PGW returns the location information (e.g., Cell-ID) of the UE to the PCRF;

step S209, the PCRF returns the location information (for example, Cell-ID) of the UE to the AS;

in step S210, the AS performs a service determination using the location information (e.g., Cell-ID) of the UE.

Using the terminal location query and reporting process described in fig. 2, the location information (usually Cell-ID) of the UE may be provided to the AS. For the cluster service, the flow described in fig. 2 is used to obtain the terminal location, which has the following problems:

in the method for reporting the terminal location shown in fig. 2, when the UE is in a connected state, if the UE moves frequently, the UE continuously reports the location change of the UE, and there is a problem of frequent Cell-ID reporting, which is very likely to cause a signaling storm of the network.

The problem that signaling storm is easily caused when cluster service obtains the location information of the user terminal by using a mode of providing the location information of the UE by an AS in the related art is not proposed so far.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a method for making a tracking area list, a method for reporting positioning information, a mobility management network element, a method and a system for processing cluster service, which at least provide possibility for solving the problem that signaling storm is easily caused when cluster service obtains the position information of a user terminal by using an AS in the related technology to provide the position information of UE.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for creating a tracking area list, including: and the mobile management network element MME formulates a tracking area list which is issued to user equipment UE according to indication information, wherein the indication information is carried in user subscription data of the UE or in a position request message, and the tracking area list is used for indicating the UE to initiate a tracking area updating process when the UE is moved out of the tracking area list.

Preferably, the user subscription data includes, as the indication information, one of the following information: reporting an indication of location information according to a tracking area level, wherein a tracking area list only comprises an indication of a single tracking area and a preconfigured tracking area list, and the tracking area list which is formulated by the MME according to the indication information and sent to the UE comprises one of the following items: under the condition that the user subscription data carries the indication of reporting the position information according to the tracking area level, the MME configures a tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area; under the condition that the user subscription data carries an indication that the tracking area only contains a single tracking area, the MME configures a tracking area list issued to the UE to contain only a single tracking area; and under the condition that the user subscription data carries the preconfigured tracking area list, the MME does not span the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list configuration issued to the UE.

Preferably, the location request message includes at least one of the following information as the indication information: reporting an indication of position information and a preconfigured tracking area list according to the tracking area level; the MME formulates the tracking area list issued to the UE according to the indication information, and the tracking area list comprises one of the following items: under the condition that the position information request carries an indication for reporting position information according to a tracking area, the MME configures a tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area; and under the condition that the location information request carries the preconfigured tracking area list, the MME does not span the preconfigured tracking area list when configuration is issued to the tracking area list configuration.

Preferably, the location request message includes: a location query request message, or a location subscription request message.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a method for reporting location information, including: a mobility management network element MME reports tracking area information of user equipment UE according to indication information, wherein the indication information is carried in user subscription data of the UE or carried in a position request message; the indication information is used for indicating reporting position information according to the tracking area.

Preferably, the reporting, by the mobility management network element according to the indication information, the tracking area information of the UE includes: and the MME reports the tracking area information of the UE under the condition that the UE initiates the updating of the tracking area.

Preferably, before the MME reporting the tracking area information of the UE according to the indication information, the method further includes: and after receiving the user subscription data or the position request message, the MME formulates a tracking area list which is issued to the UE according to the indication in the user subscription data or the position request message, wherein the tracking area list only comprises a single tracking area.

Preferably, the location request message includes: a location query request, or a location subscription request.

Preferably, before the MME reporting the tracking area information of the UE according to the indication information, the method further includes: an application server AS sends a position request message to a policy charging rule function PCRF, wherein the message carries an indication for reporting position information according to a tracking area; wherein the location request message is sent to the MME via a serving gateway SGW and/or a public data gateway PGW.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a cluster service processing method, including: after User Equipment (UE) initiates tracking area update, a mobility management network element (MME) reports tracking area information of the UE; and the cluster application server judges whether the user equipment is located in a cluster service area according to the acquired tracking area information of the user equipment, wherein the cluster service area is divided according to the tracking area.

Preferably, the reporting, by the MME, of the tracking area information of the UE, the obtaining, by the cluster application server, the tracking area information reported by the UE includes: the MME reports the tracking area information of the UE to a Serving Gateway (SGW) and/or a public data gateway (PGW); the SGW and/or the PGW report the tracking area information of the UE to a Policy Charging Rule Function (PCRF); and the PCRF reports the tracking area information of the UE to the cluster server.

Preferably, before the MME reporting the tracking area information of the UE, the method further includes: the MME acquires user subscription data of the UE, wherein the subscription data carries one of the following information: reporting an indication of position information according to a tracking area level, wherein a tracking area list only comprises an indication of a single tracking area and a preconfigured tracking area list; the MME formulates the tracking area list issued to the UE according to one of the following conditions: under the condition that the user subscription data carries the indication of reporting the position information according to the tracking area level, the MME configures a tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area; under the condition that the user subscription data carries an indication that the tracking area list only contains a single tracking area, the MME configures the tracking area list issued to the UE to contain only a single tracking area; and under the condition that the user subscription data carries the preconfigured tracking area list, the MME does not span the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list configuration issued to the UE.

Preferably, before the MME reports the tracking area information of the UE, the method further includes: the trunking application server sends a location request message to the PCRF, wherein the location request message carries an indication for reporting location information according to a tracking area level or a trunking tracking area list; the PCRF sends the location request message to a Serving Gateway (SGW) and/or a public data gateway (PGW); the SGW and/or the PGW sends the location request message to the MME.

Preferably, after the SGW and/or the PGW sends the location request message to the MME, the method further includes: and the MME formulates a tracking area list which is issued to the UE according to the position request message.

Preferably, the step of the mobility management network element formulating the tracking area list to be sent to the UE includes one of the following steps: under the condition that the position request message carries an indication for reporting position information according to the tracking area level, the MME configures a tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area; and under the condition that the position request message carries a cluster tracking area list, the MME formulates a tracking area list which is issued to the UE according to the cluster tracking area list.

Preferably, the UE initiating the tracking area update includes: the UE receives a tracking area list, wherein the tracking area list only comprises one tracking area, or the tracking area list comprises tracking areas belonging to the cluster service area; when the user equipment UE moves out of or into a tracking area list which only comprises one tracking area, or moves out of or into the tracking area of the cluster service area, the user equipment UE initiates tracking area updating.

Preferably, the UE initiating the tracking area update includes: and when the UE moves out of the range indicated by the tracking area list or moves into a multicast support area, initiating tracking area updating.

Preferably, the method further comprises: and the MME judges whether the area where the user equipment is located supports multicast or not, and reports the multicast supporting capability of the area where the user equipment is located when the tracking area of the UE is sent.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a mobility management network element, comprising: the system comprises a formulating module and a tracking area updating module, wherein the formulating module is used for formulating a tracking area list issued to User Equipment (UE) according to indication information, the indication information is carried in user subscription data of the UE or carried in a position request message, and the tracking area list is used for indicating the UE to initiate a tracking area updating process when the tracking area list is moved out.

Preferably, the user subscription data includes, as the indication information, one of the following information: the indication of reporting the position information according to the tracking area level, the tracking area list only comprises an indication of a single tracking area and a preconfigured tracking area list, and the formulating module is used for configuring the tracking area list issued to the UE to only comprise a single tracking area under the condition that the user subscription data carries the indication of reporting the position information according to the tracking area level; or, in the case that the user subscription data carries an indication that the tracking area only includes a single tracking area, the formulating module is configured to configure the tracking area list issued to the UE to include only a single tracking area; or, in a case that the user subscription data carries the preconfigured tracking area list, the formulating module is configured not to cross the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list configuration issued to the UE.

Preferably, the location request message includes at least one of the following information as the indication information: the indication of reporting the position information according to the tracking area level and a preconfigured tracking area list are configured, and under the condition that the position information request carries the indication of reporting the position information according to the tracking area, the formulating module configures the tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area; under the condition that the location information request carries the preconfigured tracking area list, the formulating module does not span the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list configuration issued to the UE.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a mobility management network element, including: a reporting module, configured to report tracking area information of a UE according to indication information, where the indication information is carried in user subscription data of the UE or in a location request message; the indication information is used for indicating reporting position information according to the tracking area.

Preferably, the reporting module is configured to report the tracking area information of the UE when the UE initiates the tracking area update.

Preferably, the method further comprises the following steps: and the formulating module is used for formulating a tracking area list issued to the UE according to the indication in the user subscription data or the position request message after receiving the user subscription data or the position request message, wherein the tracking area list only comprises a single tracking area.

Preferably, the method further comprises the following steps: a receiving module, configured to receive a location request message, where the location request message is sent to a PCRF by an application server AS, and the location request message carries an indication that location information is reported according to a tracking area; wherein the location request message is sent to the MME via a serving gateway SGW and/or a public data gateway PGW.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a cluster service processing system, including: the system comprises a mobility management network element MME and a cluster application server, wherein the MME is used for reporting tracking area information of user equipment UE after the UE initiates tracking area update; the cluster application server is configured to determine whether the user equipment is located in a cluster service area according to the obtained tracking area information of the user equipment, where the cluster service area is divided according to a tracking area.

Preferably, the method further comprises the following steps: the MME is used for reporting tracking area information of the UE to the SGW and/or the PGW; the SGW and/or the PGW are configured to report tracking area information of the UE to a policy charging rule function PCRF; and the PCRF is used for reporting the tracking area information of the UE to the cluster server.

Preferably, the mobility management element MME is further configured to acquire user subscription data of the user equipment UE, where the subscription data carries one of the following information: reporting an indication of position information according to a tracking area level, wherein a tracking area list only comprises an indication of a single tracking area and a preconfigured tracking area list; the MME is further configured to formulate the tracking area list to be issued to the UE according to one of: under the condition that the user subscription data carries the indication of reporting the position information according to the tracking area level, the MME configures a tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area; under the condition that the user subscription data carries an indication that the tracking area list only contains a single tracking area, the MME configures the tracking area list issued to the UE to contain only a single tracking area; and under the condition that the user subscription data carries the preconfigured tracking area list, the MME does not span the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list configuration issued to the UE.

Preferably, the system further comprises: the system comprises a service gateway SGW and/or a public data gateway PGW and a policy and charging rule function PCRF, wherein the cluster application server is used for sending a location request message to the policy and charging rule function PCRF, wherein the location request message carries an indication for reporting location information according to a tracking area level or carries a cluster tracking area list; the PCRF is used for sending the location request message to a Serving Gateway (SGW) and/or a public data gateway (PGW); the SGW and/or the PGW are configured to send the location request message to the MME.

Preferably: after the SGW and/or the PGW sends the location request message to the MME, the MME is further configured to formulate a tracking area list to be delivered to the UE according to the location request message.

Preferably, the method further comprises the following steps: the UE is configured to receive a tracking area list, where the tracking area list only includes one tracking area, or the tracking area list includes tracking areas belonging to the cluster service area; when the user equipment UE moves out or moves into a tracking area list including only one tracking area, or moves out or moves into a tracking area of the cluster service area, the user equipment UE is configured to initiate a tracking area update.

Preferably, the UE is configured to initiate a tracking area update when moving out of the range indicated by the tracking area list or moving into a multicast support area.

Preferably, the MME is further configured to determine whether the area where the UE is located supports multicast, and report a capability that the area where the UE is located supports multicast when the tracking area of the UE is sent.

According to the invention, a mobile management network element MME is adopted to formulate a tracking area list which is issued to user equipment UE according to indication information, wherein the indication information is carried in user subscription data of the UE or in a position request message, the tracking area list is used for indicating the UE to initiate a tracking area updating process when the UE is moved out of the tracking area list, so that the possibility is provided for solving the problem that signaling storm is easily caused when cluster service obtains the position information of a user terminal by using an AS in the related technology to provide the position information of the UE, and the network signaling flow caused by the position report of the terminal is 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 a cluster communication architecture in an LTE network according to the related art;

fig. 2 is a flowchart for acquiring location information of a UE according to an AS in the related art;

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of a cluster service processing method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating allocation of a cluster service area and a tracking area list according to a first preferred embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of UE location subscription and reporting according to a second preferred embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of UE location subscription and reporting in a third preferred embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a flowchart of UE location subscription and reporting in a fourth preferred embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a flowchart of cluster tracking area list issuing according to a fifth preferred embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

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

In this embodiment, a method for creating a tracking area list is provided, where the method includes: a mobility management network element (MME for short) formulates a tracking area list to be sent to user equipment (UE for short) according to the indication information, where the indication information may be carried in user subscription data of the UE or may also be carried in a location request message, and the tracking area list is used to indicate the UE to initiate a tracking area update procedure when the UE moves out of the tracking area list.

By the method, the mobility management unit formulates the tracking area list, and the UE initiates the updating process when removing the tracking area, so that the reporting of the position information is performed.

The indication information may be included in the subscriber subscription data or may be carried in the location request message. These two preferred embodiments will be described below.

In the first preferred mode, the indication information is carried in the user subscription data

The subscriber subscription data may include one of the following information as the indication information: reporting the indication of the position information according to the tracking area level, wherein the tracking area list only comprises the indication of a single tracking area and a preconfigured tracking area list.

For example, when the user subscription data carries an indication for reporting the location information according to the tracking area level, the MME configures the tracking area list delivered to the UE to include only a single tracking area.

For another example, when the user subscription data carries an indication that the tracking area only includes a single tracking area, the MME configures the tracking area list issued to the UE to include only a single tracking area.

For another example, when the user subscription data carries a preconfigured tracking area list, the MME does not span the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list configuration delivered to the UE.

In the second preferred mode, the indication information is carried in the location request message

The location request message may include at least one of the following information as the indication information: and reporting the indication of the position information and a preconfigured tracking area list according to the tracking area level.

For example, when the location information request carries an indication indicating that location information is reported according to a tracking area, the MME configures a tracking area list delivered to the UE to include only a single tracking area.

For another example, when the location information request carries a preconfigured tracking area list, the MME does not span the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list configuration issued by the MME.

The location request message may include: a location query request message, or a location subscription request message.

The above embodiments describe the MME making a tracking area list. In this embodiment, a method for reporting location information is further provided, where the method includes: the method comprises the steps that a mobility management network element MME reports tracking area information of user equipment UE according to indication information, wherein the indication information can be carried in user subscription data of the UE or can also be carried in a position request message; the indication information is used for indicating reporting of the position information according to the tracking area.

By the method, the position information is reported according to the tracking area level, and compared with the reporting according to the Cell-ID in the related technology, the method reduces the signaling quantity in the network.

Preferably, the MME may report the tracking area information of the UE when the UE initiates the tracking area update.

The location information reporting method may be combined with the formulation of the tracking area list, and preferably, before the MME reports the tracking area information of the UE according to the indication information, the method may further include: after receiving the user subscription data or the position request message, the MME formulates a tracking area list which is issued to the UE according to the indication in the user subscription data or the position request message, wherein the tracking area list only comprises a single tracking area. Preferably, the location request message may include: a location query request, or a location subscription request.

In the above preferred embodiment, after receiving the location request message, the MME formulates the tracking area list according to the indication in the message. In this embodiment, a preferred method for sending a location request message is provided: an application server AS sends a position request message to a policy charging rule function PCRF, wherein the message carries an indication for reporting position information according to a tracking area; wherein the location request message is sent to the MME via the serving gateway SGW and/or the public data gateway PGW.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is also provided a cluster service processing method, and fig. 3 is a flowchart of the cluster service processing method according to the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 3, the flowchart includes the following steps:

step S302, after UE initiates tracking area update, MME reports tracking area information of UE;

step S304, the cluster application server judges whether the user equipment is located in the cluster service area according to the acquired tracking area information of the user equipment, wherein the cluster service area is divided according to the tracking area.

Preferably, in this embodiment, a method for acquiring tracking area information by a preferred cluster application server is provided, in which an MME reports tracking area information of a UE to a serving gateway SGW and/or a public data gateway PGW; the SGW and/or the PGW report the tracking area information of the UE to a policy charging rule function PCRF; and the PCRF reports the tracking area information of the UE to the cluster server.

Preferably, before the MME reports tracking area information of the user equipment UE, the mobility management element MME may obtain user subscription data of the user equipment UE, where the subscription data carries one of the following information: reporting the indication of the position information according to the tracking area level, wherein the tracking area list only comprises the indication of a single tracking area and a preconfigured tracking area list. At this time, the MME may formulate a tracking area list to be issued to the UE according to one of the following: under the condition that the user subscription data carries an indication of reporting position information according to the tracking area level, the MME configures a tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area; under the condition that the user subscription data carries an indication that the tracking area list only contains a single tracking area, the MME configures the tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area; under the condition that the user subscription data carries the preconfigured tracking area list, the MME does not cross the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list configuration issued to the UE.

In another preferred embodiment, before the MME reports the tracking area information of the UE, the trunking application server sends a location request message to the PCRF, where the location request message carries an indication to report the location information according to the tracking area level or carries a trunking tracking area list; the PCRF sends the location request message to a Serving Gateway (SGW) and/or a public data gateway (PGW); the SGW and/or PGW sends a location request message to the MME.

Preferably, after the SGW and/or the PGW sends the location request message to the MME, the MME formulates a tracking area list to be delivered to the UE according to the location request message.

Preferably, the step of the mobility management network element formulating the tracking area list to be sent to the UE includes one of the following steps: under the condition that the position request message carries an indication for reporting position information according to the tracking area level, the MME configures a tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area; and under the condition that the position request message carries the cluster tracking area list, the MME formulates a tracking area list which is issued to the UE according to the cluster tracking area list.

After the user equipment UE receives the tracking area list, the tracking area list may include only one tracking area, or the tracking area list may also include tracking areas belonging to a cluster service area. When the user equipment UE moves out or moves into a tracking area list comprising only one tracking area, or out or moves into a tracking area of a cluster service area, the user equipment UE initiates a tracking area update.

In addition, in the cluster service, a multicast mode is also provided, and since the multicast needs to be supported by the eNodeB, there is a possibility that: not all enodebs within the network support multicast. When the terminal removes the multicast support area, the GCAS cannot send downlink data to the terminal in a multicast mode, but can only send downlink data to the UE in a unicast mode. According to this requirement, the GCSA needs to know the location area where the terminal is currently located or whether the terminal is located in a location area supporting multicast.

In order to solve this problem, a preferred manner is provided in this embodiment, in which the UE may initiate the tracking area update when moving out of the range indicated by the tracking area list or moving into the multicast support area. Preferably, the MME determines whether the area where the user equipment is located supports multicast, and reports the multicast support capability of the area where the user equipment is located when the tracking area of the UE is sent.

In this embodiment, a cluster service processing system and a mobility management network element are also provided, where the system and the mobility management network element are used to implement the above method, which have already been described in the above description, and are not described again here. It should be noted that each function in the network elements in the system can be implemented by using one module. Each step may be implemented using a module corresponding to the method described above. These modules may be implemented by a processor.

In this embodiment, there is further provided a mobility management network element, where the mobility management network element includes: and the making module is used for making a tracking area list issued to the user equipment UE according to the indication information, wherein the indication information is carried in user subscription data of the UE or in the position request message, and the tracking area list is used for indicating the UE to initiate a tracking area updating process when the UE is moved out of the tracking area list.

Preferably, the user subscription data includes one of the following information as the indication information: the subscription data of the user carries the indication of reporting the position information according to the tracking area level, the tracking area list only comprises an indication of a single tracking area and a preconfigured tracking area list, and the formulating module is used for configuring the tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area under the condition that the indication of reporting the position information according to the tracking area level is carried in the subscription data of the user; or, under the condition that the user subscription data carries an indication that the tracking area only includes a single tracking area, the formulating module is configured to configure the tracking area list issued to the UE to include only a single tracking area; or, in the case that the user subscription data carries a preconfigured tracking area list, the formulating module is configured not to cross the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list configuration issued to the UE.

Preferably, the location request message includes at least one of the following information as the indication information: reporting the indication of the position information according to the tracking area level and a preconfigured tracking area list, and configuring the tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area by a formulation module under the condition that the indication of reporting the position information according to the tracking area is carried in the position information request; under the condition that the location information request carries the preconfigured tracking area list, the formulating module does not span the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list configuration issued to the UE.

In this embodiment, a mobility management network element is provided, where the mobility management network element includes: a reporting module, configured to report tracking area information of a UE according to indication information, where the indication information is carried in user subscription data of the UE or in a location request message; the indication information is used for indicating reporting of the position information according to the tracking area.

Preferably, the mobility management network element may further include: and the formulating module is used for formulating a tracking area list issued to the UE according to the indication in the user subscription data or the position request message after receiving the user subscription data or the position request message, wherein the tracking area list only comprises a single tracking area.

Preferably, the mobility management network element may further include: the system comprises a receiving module, a position determining module and a tracking area determining module, wherein the receiving module is used for receiving a position request message, the position request message is sent to a policy charging rule function PCRF by an application server AS, and the message carries an indication for reporting position information according to a tracking area; wherein the location request message is sent to the MME via the serving gateway SGW and/or the public data gateway PGW.

Corresponding to the above cluster service processing method, in this embodiment, a cluster service processing system is further provided, where the system includes: the system comprises a mobility management network element MME and a cluster application server, wherein the MME is used for reporting tracking area information of user equipment UE after the UE initiates tracking area update; and the cluster application server is used for judging whether the user equipment is located in a cluster service area according to the acquired tracking area information of the user equipment, wherein the cluster service area is divided according to the tracking area.

Preferably, the system may further comprise: the system comprises a service gateway SGW and/or a public data gateway PGW and a policy charging rule function PCRF, wherein the MME is used for reporting tracking area information of the UE to the service gateway SGW and/or the public data gateway PGW; the SGW and/or the PGW are used for reporting the tracking area information of the UE to a policy charging rule function PCRF; and the PCRF is used for reporting the tracking area information of the UE to the cluster server.

Preferably, the mobility management element MME is further configured to acquire user subscription data of the user equipment UE, where the subscription data carries one of the following information: reporting an indication of position information according to a tracking area level, wherein a tracking area list only comprises an indication of a single tracking area and a preconfigured tracking area list; the MME is also used for formulating a tracking area list issued to the UE according to one of the following conditions: under the condition that the user subscription data carries an indication of reporting position information according to the tracking area level, the MME configures a tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area; under the condition that the user subscription data carries an indication that the tracking area list only contains a single tracking area, the MME configures the tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area; under the condition that the user subscription data carries the preconfigured tracking area list, the MME does not cross the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list configuration issued to the UE.

Preferably, the system may further comprise: the system comprises a service gateway SGW and/or a public data gateway PGW and a policy and charging rule function PCRF, wherein a cluster application server is used for sending a position request message to the policy and charging rule function PCRF, wherein the position request message carries an indication for reporting position information according to a tracking area level or carries a cluster tracking area list; the PCRF is used for sending the location request message to a Serving Gateway (SGW) and/or a public data gateway (PGW); the SGW and/or PGW is configured to send a location request message to the MME.

Preferably, the system may further comprise: the tracking area list comprises only one tracking area, or the tracking area list comprises tracking areas belonging to a cluster service area; the user equipment UE is configured to initiate a tracking area update when the user equipment UE moves out of or into a tracking area list comprising only one tracking area, or out of or into a tracking area of a cluster service area.

Preferably, the UE is configured to initiate the tracking area update when moving out of the range indicated by the tracking area list or moving into the multicast support area.

Preferably, the MME is further configured to determine whether the area where the UE is located supports multicast, and report the capability of the area where the UE is located to support multicast when the tracking area of the UE is sent.

The following description is given with reference to preferred embodiments.

In the method shown in fig. 2, if applied to group communication, there may be the following problems: the method for reporting the terminal location shown in fig. 2 is only effective when the UE is in a connected state. In the trunking service, even if the UE is in an idle state, the UE can receive downlink data through a broadcast channel; the method for reporting the terminal location shown in fig. 2 is generally used in an initiating process and a terminating process of communication between the UE and the AS, where the AS actively queries the location of the UE in the initiating process and the terminating process. During the communication, the AS does not necessarily want to continuously obtain the location of the UE. However, in the trunking service, the GCAS needs to obtain the latest location information of the UE in time, and perform service judgment according to the location information of the UE: whether to continue to provide cluster service for the UE and whether to adopt unicast/multicast to send downlink data.

In order to solve the above problem, some preferred embodiments below provide a terminal location reporting method and a cluster service area planning method, which enable the GCAS to obtain the location information of the UE and reduce the network signaling traffic caused by the terminal location reporting as much as possible.

Preferred embodiment 1

Fig. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating allocation of a trunking service Area and Tracking Area List (TA List), as shown in fig. 4, the principles of a trunking service provider allocating a trunking service Area and an MME issuing a Tracking Area List for a UE are as follows:

(1) the cluster service Area should be divided according to a Tracking Area (TA). That is, a TA is either within the cluster service area or absent, and may not be partially within the cluster service area and partially absent;

according to the principle (1), when the trunking service provider configures the trunking service area, the configuration of the trunking service area needs to be performed under the guidance of the operator, so that the trunking service area does not cross the tracking area TA.

(2) When the MME issues a tracking area List (TA List) to the UE, the MME cannot span a trunking service area, that is, all TAs in the TA List are within the trunking tracking area, or all TAs are not within the trunking tracking area;

according to principle (2), the MME is required to know which tracking area TAs are within the cluster service area, so that the UE can be allocated TA List accordingly.

(3) Based on (2), further, the MME only contains a single Tracking Area (TA) when issuing a tracking area List (TA List) to the UE. Thus, based on principle (1), the MME allocates a TA List to the UE, and only contains a single TA, and the problem of crossing cluster service areas certainly does not occur.

Preferred embodiment two

Figure 5 depicts a flow diagram of GCAS subscribing to location changes of UEs per tracking area. The flow is described below with reference to fig. 5.

First, the UE attaches and performs IP allocation (step S501). After the UE performs cluster registration with the GCAS (step S502), the GCAS sends a UE location subscription request to the PCRF, which is passed on to the MME (steps S503 to S505). The accuracy requested by the location subscription request is a Tracking Area (TA) level, that is, when the GCAS subscribes to the location of the UE, the GCAS carries an indication (TA indication) for basically reporting location information according to the area, and indicates that the location accuracy of the subscribed UE is the TA level.

When the MME receives a subscription request for the UE position, the level of the position request is judged to be TA level according to the carried indication, and then: (1) the UE location subscription request is stored on the MME (step S506). (2) Re-formulating the TAI List to be issued to the UE, wherein the TAI List only contains one TA (step S507). Here, the MME may issue the new TAI List to the terminal using the GUTI reallocation procedure. (3) After receiving the response message of the UE (step S509), the latest Cell-ID of the UE is obtained, and the corresponding TAI is obtained (in the operator network, the Cell-ID and the TA have a corresponding relationship). After obtaining the current TA of the UE, the MME sends the UE location report upwards, carrying the current TA information of the UE (steps S509 to S511), so that the GCAS can obtain the current TA of the UE.

After the GCAS obtains the current TA of the UE, it may determine whether the UE is currently in the trunking service area according to the TA, and further perform service determination, for example, step S512.

Thereafter, if the UE changes the TA area, the UE initiates a TAU procedure according to the prior art procedure, so that the MME obtains the latest Cell-ID of the UE and deduces the latest TA, for example, in step S513.

Since the MME stores the location subscription information of the UE (subscription at TA level), after the UE initiates the TAU, the MME reports the TA change of the UE according to the subscription of the GCAS to the location of the UE in the foregoing process, as shown in steps S514 to S516, where the TA change carries the current TA location information of the UE.

If the GCAS sends a location query request instead of a location subscription request (only the current location information of the UE is queried, and the MME is not required to actively report a change of the subsequent location information of the UE), but the location query request also carries the above indication (TA indication) for reporting the location information according to the tracking area, the MME may also adopt the processing method of the flow illustrated in fig. 5.

Preferred embodiment three

Fig. 6 is a third embodiment of the present invention, which illustrates a flowchart of GCAS providing cluster service areas (mapped to TA List) to the network and subscribing to the location change of the UE according to the tracking area.

The process shown in fig. 6 is basically similar to the process shown in fig. 5, and similar details are not repeated, and the improvement in fig. 6 is as follows:

when the GCAS sends the UE location subscription request to the PCRF (step S603), the GCAS carries cluster service area information in a message, which is mapped to a cluster tracking area list (GC alist), compared to step S503, and the UE location subscription request is delivered to the MME (steps S603 to S605).

After receiving the UE location subscription request, the MME formulates a TAI List for the UE again according to a cluster tracking area List (GC TA List) carried in the UE location subscription request, and issues the TAI List to the UE. The MME reformulates the principle of TAI List issued to the UE, following the basic principle and method described in fig. 4.

Preferred embodiment four

In the procedures shown in fig. 5 and 6, the MME formulates the TAI List issued to the UE according to the UE location subscription request initiated by the GCAS, for example, the TAI List is formulated by only including a single TA or by tracking areas included in the cluster service area. This approach requires the GCAS to initiate a TA level location subscription. Another possible approach is to carry similar indication information in the subscription data (e.g. cluster subscription data) of the UE, so that the MME can formulate a TAI List accordingly, e.g. only containing a single TA, or from a preconfigured tracking area List.

Preferably, in the subscription data of the UE, one of the following information may be carried:

-reporting an indication of location information at a tracking area level; or,

-the tracking area list contains only an indication of a single tracking area; or,

-a preconfigured list of tracking areas;

correspondingly, the MME formulates a tracking area List (TAI List) to be issued to the UE according to the subscription data of the UE by using one of the following methods:

-if the subscription data contains an indication to report location information according to tracking area level, the mobility management network element MME configuring a tracking area List (TAI List) issued to the user equipment UE to contain only a single tracking area; or,

-if the subscription data contains an indication that the tracking area List only contains a single tracking area, the mobility management element MME configures a tracking area List (TAI List) issued to the user equipment UE to contain only a single tracking area; or,

if the subscription data includes a preconfigured tracking area list, the mobility management network element MME does not cross the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list delivered to the user equipment UE, which may specifically refer to the configuration principle shown in fig. 4.

Fig. 7 shows a flow of the MME formulating TAIList delivered to the UE according to the subscription data of the UE, and reporting the location information of the UE according to the TA level, where the subscription data of the UE carries a relevant indication. As shown in fig. 7, the process includes the following steps:

step S701, UE sends an attachment request to MME;

step S702, MME sends a location update request to HSS;

step S703, HSS returns location update response to MME;

in this step, the HSS returns the subscription data of the UE at the same time, where the subscription data carries one of the following information: reporting the indication of the position information according to the tracking area level, wherein the tracking area list only comprises the indication of a single tracking area and a preconfigured tracking area list. The above-mentioned information may be included in the general service subscription data of the UE or the cluster service subscription data of the UE. Step S704, MME stores UE subscription data, and formulates TAI List for UE according to the indication of UE subscription data, if only including single TA;

step S705, MME sends a session creation request to SGW/PGW to request to create PDN connection and load;

in this step, the current TA location information of the UE is carried according to the indication in the UE subscription data (e.g., the indication of reporting location information according to the tracking area level).

Step S706, the PGW sends a session binding request to the PCRF, carrying the current TA position information of the UE in the previous step;

after receiving the location information of the UE, the PCRF shall store the current TA location information of the UE.

Step S707, PCRF returns session binding response;

step S708, the SGW/PGW returns a session creation response;

step S709, the MME returns an attachment response to the UE;

in the attach response, as described in the foregoing steps, if the TAI List issued by the MME to the UE only includes a single TA. If the UE changes the TA area, the UE must initiate a TAU procedure, so that the MME can know the latest TA location information of the UE.

Step S710, then UE initiates cluster service registration to GCAS;

step 711, as in the foregoing procedure, the GCAS initiates a UE location subscription request to the PCRF;

the GCAS may still carry the TA indication, or may not carry it. If not, PCRF can report the location information of UE according to TA level according to local strategy default.

Step 712, the PCRF obtains the current TA location information of the UE;

as needed, the PCRF may continue sending UE location subscription requests, which are passed to the MME; alternatively, the PCRF may suppress the UE location subscription request of the GCAS, since the MME may dynamically report the change of the TA area of the UE.

Step S713, PCRF returns UE position subscription response to GCAS, carrying UE current TA position information.

Step S714, the GCAS determines the service according to the acquired TA location information of the UE.

Thereafter, when the UE changes the TA, the UE transmits the TAU, and the MME reports the latest TA location information of the UE to the upper layer (SGW/PGW → PCRF → GCAS) according to the instruction in the subscription data of the UE.

Preferred embodiment five

In the flow shown in fig. 6, the GCAS issues a cluster tracking area List (GC TAI List) to the MME, and the MME reformulates a tracking area List issued to the UE according to the cluster tracking area List, and triggers a subsequent UE location reporting process.

On the other hand, the GCAS may issue a cluster tracking area List (GC TAI List) to the UE on the application layer interface (GC 1), and when the UE autonomously determines to move out of or into the network tracking area List (MME TAI List issued by the MME) and the cluster tracking area List (GC TAI List issued by the GCAS), both the TAU procedures are triggered, so as to trigger the MME to report the location information of the UE according to the foregoing procedures, where a specific procedure is shown in fig. 8, and the procedure shown in fig. 8 includes the following steps "

Step S801-step S808, according to the related technology, the UE attaches to the network, and after the attachment is successful, a tracking area List (MME TAI List) is obtained from the MME;

step S809, UE initiates cluster registration to GCAS;

step S810, GCAS returns cluster registration response to UE, and carries cluster tracking area List (GC TAI List);

step S811, UE locally saves the cluster tracking area list;

thereafter, if the UE moves out of/into the network tracking area List (MME TAI List) or the cluster tracking area List (GC TAIList), a TAU procedure should be initiated.

Step S812 to step S814, as in the foregoing procedure, after the UE performs cluster registration, the GCAS initiates a location subscription process of the UE, and subscribes location change of the UE according to TA level;

step S815, after that, the UE moves out of or into the network tracking area List (MME TAI List) or the cluster tracking area List (GC TAI List), initiates a TAU procedure, and triggers the MME to report the latest location information (TA) of the UE to the GCAS.

Preferred embodiment six

In the foregoing procedures, the UE initiates the TAU procedure according to the tracking area list delivered by the network or the tracking area list delivered by the GCSA. In this embodiment, the UE initiates a TAU when the multicast capability of the current location area changes.

It is considered that in some special cases (initial stages of network planning), the network capacity for multicast is not exactly the same in the same tracking area list, even in a single tracking area. Therefore, in order to let the GCAS know whether the TA where the UE is currently located supports multicast, the UE should initiate a TAU procedure when moving out/into the multicast support area. Further, the MME may determine whether the current area where the UE is located supports multicast, and may report the capability of the area supporting multicast to the GCAS when reporting location information (TA) of the UE.

It should be noted that the application scenario described in the present invention is a cluster service, however, any other application, such as UE location information at TA level, may use the method described in the above embodiments.

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. A method for making a tracking area list, comprising:

and the mobile management network element MME formulates a tracking area list which is issued to user equipment UE according to indication information, wherein the indication information is carried in user subscription data of the UE or in a position request message, and the tracking area list is used for indicating the UE to initiate a tracking area updating process when the UE is moved out of the tracking area list.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the user subscription data includes one of the following information as the indication information: reporting an indication of location information according to a tracking area level, wherein a tracking area list only comprises an indication of a single tracking area and a preconfigured tracking area list, and the tracking area list which is formulated by the MME according to the indication information and sent to the UE comprises one of the following items:

under the condition that the user subscription data carries the indication of reporting the position information according to the tracking area level, the MME configures a tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area;

under the condition that the user subscription data carries an indication that the tracking area only contains a single tracking area, the MME configures a tracking area list issued to the UE to contain only a single tracking area;

and under the condition that the user subscription data carries the preconfigured tracking area list, the MME does not span the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list configuration issued to the UE.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the location request message includes at least one of the following information as the indication information: reporting an indication of position information and a preconfigured tracking area list according to the tracking area level; the MME formulates the tracking area list issued to the UE according to the indication information, and the tracking area list comprises one of the following items:

under the condition that the position information request carries an indication for reporting position information according to a tracking area, the MME configures a tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area;

and under the condition that the location information request carries the preconfigured tracking area list, the MME does not span the preconfigured tracking area list when configuration is issued to the tracking area list configuration.

4. A method according to claim 1 or 3, wherein the location request message comprises: a location query request message, or a location subscription request message.

5. A method for reporting position information is characterized by comprising the following steps:

a mobility management network element MME reports tracking area information of user equipment UE according to indication information, wherein the indication information is carried in user subscription data of the UE or carried in a position request message; the indication information is used for indicating reporting position information according to the tracking area.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the reporting, by the mobility management network element according to the indication information, the tracking area information of the UE comprises:

and the MME reports the tracking area information of the UE under the condition that the UE initiates the updating of the tracking area.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein before the MME reports tracking area information of the UE according to the indication information, the method further comprises:

and after receiving the user subscription data or the position request message, the MME formulates a tracking area list which is issued to the UE according to the indication in the user subscription data or the position request message, wherein the tracking area list only comprises a single tracking area.

8. The method according to any of claims 5 to 7, wherein the location request message comprises: a location query request, or a location subscription request.

9. The method according to any of claims 5 to 7, wherein before the MME reporting the tracking area information of the UE according to the indication information, the method further comprises:

an application server AS sends a position request message to a policy charging rule function PCRF, wherein the message carries an indication for reporting position information according to a tracking area; wherein the location request message is sent to the MME via a serving gateway SGW and/or a public data gateway PGW.

10. A method for cluster service processing, comprising:

after User Equipment (UE) initiates tracking area update, a mobility management network element (MME) reports tracking area information of the UE;

and the cluster application server judges whether the user equipment is located in a cluster service area according to the acquired tracking area information of the user equipment, wherein the cluster service area is divided according to the tracking area.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the MME reporting tracking area information of the UE, and wherein the obtaining, by the cluster application server, the tracking area information reported by the UE comprises:

the MME reports the tracking area information of the UE to a Serving Gateway (SGW) and/or a public data gateway (PGW);

the SGW and/or the PGW report the tracking area information of the UE to a Policy Charging Rule Function (PCRF);

and the PCRF reports the tracking area information of the UE to the cluster server.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein before the MME reporting tracking area information of the UE, the method further comprises:

the MME acquires user subscription data of the UE, wherein the subscription data carries one of the following information: reporting an indication of position information according to a tracking area level, wherein a tracking area list only comprises an indication of a single tracking area and a preconfigured tracking area list;

the MME formulates the tracking area list issued to the UE according to one of the following conditions:

under the condition that the user subscription data carries an indication that the tracking area list only contains a single tracking area, the MME configures the tracking area list issued to the UE to contain only a single tracking area;

13. The method of claim 10, wherein before the MME reports the tracking area information of the UE, the method further comprises:

the trunking application server sends a location request message to the PCRF, wherein the location request message carries an indication for reporting location information according to a tracking area level or a trunking tracking area list;

the PCRF sends the location request message to a Serving Gateway (SGW) and/or a public data gateway (PGW);

the SGW and/or the PGW sends the location request message to the MME.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein: after the SGW and/or the PGW sends the location request message to the MME, the method further includes: and the MME formulates a tracking area list which is issued to the UE according to the position request message.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the step of the mobility management network element formulating the tracking area list to be sent to the UE comprises one of:

under the condition that the position request message carries an indication for reporting position information according to the tracking area level, the MME configures a tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area;

and under the condition that the position request message carries a cluster tracking area list, the MME formulates a tracking area list which is issued to the UE according to the cluster tracking area list.

16. The method according to any of claims 13 to 15, wherein the location request message comprises: a location query request, or a location subscription request.

17. The method according to any of claims 10-15, wherein the user equipment, UE, initiating a tracking area update comprises:

the UE receives a tracking area list, wherein the tracking area list only comprises one tracking area, or the tracking area list comprises tracking areas belonging to the cluster service area;

when the user equipment UE moves out of or into a tracking area list which only comprises one tracking area, or moves out of or into the tracking area of the cluster service area, the user equipment UE initiates tracking area updating.

18. The method according to any of claims 10-15, wherein the UE initiating a tracking area update comprises:

and when the UE moves out of the range indicated by the tracking area list or moves into a multicast support area, initiating tracking area updating.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

and the MME judges whether the area where the user equipment is located supports multicast or not, and reports the multicast supporting capability of the area where the user equipment is located when the tracking area of the UE is sent.

20. A mobility management network element, comprising:

the system comprises a formulating module and a tracking area updating module, wherein the formulating module is used for formulating a tracking area list issued to User Equipment (UE) according to indication information, the indication information is carried in user subscription data of the UE or carried in a position request message, and the tracking area list is used for indicating the UE to initiate a tracking area updating process when the tracking area list is moved out.

21. The mobility management element according to claim 20, wherein the subscriber subscription data includes one of the following information as the indication information: reporting the indication of the position information according to the tracking area level, wherein the tracking area list only comprises the indication of a single tracking area and a pre-configured tracking area list,

the formulating module is used for configuring a tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area under the condition that the user subscription data carries the indication of reporting the position information according to the tracking area level; or,

the formulating module is configured to configure a tracking area list issued to the UE to include only a single tracking area, under the condition that the user subscription data carries an indication that the tracking area includes only a single tracking area; or,

and under the condition that the user subscription data carries the preconfigured tracking area list, the formulating module is used for not crossing the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list configuration issued to the UE.

22. The mobility management element according to claim 20, characterized in that said location request message comprises as said indication information at least one of the following information: reporting the indication of the position information and a pre-configured tracking area list according to the tracking area level,

under the condition that the position information request carries an indication for reporting position information according to a tracking area, the formulating module configures a tracking area list issued to the UE to only contain a single tracking area;

under the condition that the location information request carries the preconfigured tracking area list, the formulating module does not span the preconfigured tracking area list when configuring the tracking area list configuration issued to the UE.

23. The mobility management element according to claim 20 or 22, characterized in that said location request message comprises: a location query request message, or a location subscription request message.

24. A mobility management network element, comprising:

a reporting module, configured to report tracking area information of a UE according to indication information, where the indication information is carried in user subscription data of the UE or in a location request message; the indication information is used for indicating reporting position information according to the tracking area.

25. The element of claim 24, wherein the reporting module is configured to report the tracking area information of the UE when the UE initiates the tracking area update.

26. The mobility management network element according to claim 25, further comprising:

and the formulating module is used for formulating a tracking area list issued to the UE according to the indication in the user subscription data or the position request message after receiving the user subscription data or the position request message, wherein the tracking area list only comprises a single tracking area.

27. The mobility management network element according to any of claims 24 to 26, wherein the location request message comprises: a location query request, or a location subscription request.

28. The mobility management network element according to any of claims 24 to 26, further comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive a location request message, where the location request message is sent to a PCRF by an application server AS, and the location request message carries an indication that location information is reported according to a tracking area; wherein the location request message is sent to the MME via a serving gateway SGW and/or a public data gateway PGW.

29. A cluster service processing system, comprising: mobility management network element MME and cluster application server, wherein

The MME is used for reporting the tracking area information of the UE after the UE initiates the updating of the tracking area;

the cluster application server is configured to determine whether the user equipment is located in a cluster service area according to the obtained tracking area information of the user equipment, where the cluster service area is divided according to a tracking area.

30. The system of claim 29, further comprising: a serving gateway SGW and/or a public data gateway PGW, and a policy charging rules function PCRF, wherein,

the MME is used for reporting the tracking area information of the UE to a Serving Gateway (SGW) and/or a public data gateway (PGW);

the SGW and/or the PGW are configured to report tracking area information of the UE to a policy charging rule function PCRF;

and the PCRF is used for reporting the tracking area information of the UE to the cluster server.

31. The system of claim 29,

the mobility management element MME is further configured to acquire user subscription data of the user equipment UE, where the subscription data carries one of the following information: reporting an indication of position information according to a tracking area level, wherein a tracking area list only comprises an indication of a single tracking area and a preconfigured tracking area list;

the MME is further configured to formulate the tracking area list to be issued to the UE according to one of:

32. The system of claim 29, further comprising: a serving gateway SGW and/or a public data gateway PGW, and a policy charging rules function PCRF, wherein,

the cluster application server is used for sending a position request message to a Policy Charging Rule Function (PCRF), wherein the position request message carries an indication for reporting position information according to a tracking area level or a cluster tracking area list;

the PCRF is used for sending the location request message to a Serving Gateway (SGW) and/or a public data gateway (PGW);

the SGW and/or the PGW are configured to send the location request message to the MME.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein: after the SGW and/or the PGW sends the location request message to the MME, the MME is further configured to formulate a tracking area list to be delivered to the UE according to the location request message.

34. The system of claim 33, wherein the mobility management element formulating the tracking area list to be sent to the UE comprises one of:

35. The system according to any of claims 32 to 34, wherein said location request message comprises: a location query request, or a location subscription request.

36. The system of any one of claims 29 to 34, further comprising: the user equipment UE is configured to, wherein,

the UE is configured to receive a tracking area list, where the tracking area list only includes one tracking area, or the tracking area list includes tracking areas belonging to the cluster service area;

when the user equipment UE moves out or moves into a tracking area list including only one tracking area, or moves out or moves into a tracking area of the cluster service area, the user equipment UE is configured to initiate a tracking area update.

37. The system of any one of claims 29 to 34,

and the UE is used for initiating the updating of the tracking area when the UE moves out of the range indicated by the tracking area list or moves into the multicast support area.

38. The method of claim 37,

and the MME is also used for judging whether the area where the user equipment is located supports multicast or not and reporting the multicast supporting capability of the area where the user equipment is located when the tracking area of the UE is sent.