CN104581612B

CN104581612B - Control method, subscribed database and the mobile management device of M2M equipment

Info

Publication number: CN104581612B
Application number: CN201310518432.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 王涛; 代绵宏
Original assignee: Huawei Device Co Ltd
Current assignee: Honor Device Co Ltd
Priority date: 2013-10-28
Filing date: 2013-10-28
Publication date: 2019-04-12
Anticipated expiration: 2033-10-28
Also published as: CN104581612A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a kind of control methods of Machine To Machine M2M equipment, comprising: subscribed database receives the request message that mobile management device is sent, and includes the mark of M2M equipment in the request message；Mark of the subscribed database according to the M2M equipment, obtains the device characteristics of the M2M equipment；The subscribed database sends the device characteristics of the M2M equipment to the mobile management device, so that device characteristics of the mobile management entity according to the M2M equipment, execute mobile management operation relevant to the M2M equipment；The embodiment of the present invention also provides a kind of subscribed database and mobile management device.Technical solution provided in an embodiment of the present invention, to realize that improving network side manages and controls ability to M2M equipment.

Description

Control method of M2M device, subscription database and mobile management device

[ technical field ] A method for producing a semiconductor device

The present invention relates to the field of Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication, and in particular, to a method for controlling an M2M device, a subscription database, and a mobility management device.

[ background of the invention ]

In the future, various industries will introduce M2M communication technology, and trillion-level M2M devices will be introduced according to different application scenarios. The M2M device has its own device characteristics such as time controlled characteristics and low mobility characteristics, and the M2M device communicates with the network side according to these device characteristics, for example, the time controlled characteristics of the M2M device are that data can be transmitted to the network side at 2 o 'clock to 4 o' clock, and the M2M device transmits data to the network side only during the period of 2 o 'clock to 4 o' clock according to the time controlled characteristics.

However, the network side does not have the device characteristics of the M2M device, which results in lower control and management capabilities of the network side for the M2M device, for example, the M2M device only sends data to the network side within the period of 2 to 4 points according to the time controlled characteristics, but the network side does not know the time controlled characteristics of the M2M device, so the network side always keeps the connected state of the communication link; or, the M2M device has a low mobility characteristic, which indicates that the M2M device (e.g., a detection device whose geographical location is fixed throughout the year) has low mobility and is located at the same geographical location for a long time, but the network side always updates the location information of the M2M device, so that access of a large amount of M2M devices puts a high demand on management and control capability of the network side, and also increases transmission load between the network side and the M2M device, which puts a great strain on the network side, and therefore, it is a problem to be solved to improve management and control capability of the network side on the M2M device.

[ summary of the invention ]

In view of this, embodiments of the present invention provide a method for controlling an M2M device, a subscription database, and a mobile management device, so as to improve management and control capabilities of a network side for an M2M device.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for controlling a machine-to-machine M2M, including:

a subscription database receives a request message sent by a mobile management device, wherein the request message contains an identifier of an M2M device;

the subscription database obtains the device characteristics of the M2M device according to the identifier of the M2M device;

the subscription database sends the device characteristics of the M2M device to the mobility management device to cause the mobility management entity to perform mobility management operations related to the M2M device in accordance with the device characteristics of the M2M device.

In a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the device characteristics of the M2M device include proprietary characteristics of the M2M device and/or shared characteristics of a group of M2M devices to which the M2M device belongs.

In a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the obtaining, by the subscription database, the device characteristic of the M2M device according to the identifier of the M2M device includes:

the subscription database obtains a characteristic identifier corresponding to the identifier of the M2M device according to the identifier of the M2M device;

and the subscription database acquires the device characteristics of the M2M device corresponding to the characteristic identification according to the characteristic identification.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for controlling an M2M device, including:

the method comprises the steps that a mobile management device sends a request message to a subscription database, wherein the request message contains an identifier of an M2M device, so that the subscription database obtains the device characteristics of the M2M device according to the identifier of the M2M device, and sends the device characteristics of the M2M device to the mobile management device;

the mobility management entity performs mobility management operations associated with the M2M device in accordance with device characteristics of the M2M device.

In a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the device characteristics of the M2M device include proprietary characteristics of the M2M device and/or shared characteristics of a group of M2M devices to which the M2M device belongs.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the device characteristic of the M2M device is a sharing characteristic of an M2M device group to which the M2M device belongs; the method further comprises the following steps:

the mobility management device obtains a feature identifier corresponding to the identifier of the other M2M device according to the identifiers of the other M2M devices in the M2M device group except the M2M device;

if the characteristic identifier indicates that the device characteristics of the other M2M devices are shared characteristics, the mobility management device obtains the shared characteristics of the M2M device group;

the mobility management device performs mobility management operations related to the other M2M devices in accordance with the sharing characteristics of the group of M2M devices.

With reference to the second aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the exclusive characteristic of the M2M device or the shared characteristic of the M2M device group includes at least one of the following information: low mobility, time controlled characteristics, time tolerant characteristics, small data transmission characteristics, low frequency transmission characteristics, and machine type communication, MTC, monitoring characteristics.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the performing, by the mobility management entity, a mobility management operation related to the M2M device according to the device characteristic of the M2M device includes:

the mobility management device maintains a connected state of a communication link with the M2M device according to the time-controlled characteristic; or,

the mobility management device determines a transmission period for transmitting data of the M2M device to the subscription database according to a low mobility characteristic of the M2M device.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a subscription database, including:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a request message sent by a mobility management device, where the request message includes an identifier of an M2M device;

a processing unit, configured to obtain a device characteristic of the M2M device according to the identifier of the M2M device;

a sending unit, configured to send the device characteristics of the M2M device to the mobility management device, so that the mobility management entity performs mobility management operations related to the M2M device according to the device characteristics of the M2M device.

In a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the device characteristics of the M2M device include proprietary characteristics of the M2M device and/or shared characteristics of a group of M2M devices to which the M2M device belongs.

In a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the processing unit further includes:

a first processing module, configured to obtain, according to the identifier of the M2M device, a characteristic identifier corresponding to the identifier of the M2M device;

and the second processing module is used for obtaining the device characteristics of the M2M device corresponding to the characteristic identifier according to the characteristic identifier.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a mobility management device, including:

a sending unit, configured to send a request message to a subscription database, where the request message includes an identifier of an M2M device, so that the subscription database obtains a device characteristic of the M2M device according to the identifier of the M2M device, and sends the device characteristic of the M2M device to the mobility management device;

a mobility management unit for performing mobility management operations related to the M2M device according to the device characteristics of the M2M device.

In a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the device characteristics of the M2M device include proprietary characteristics of the M2M device and/or shared characteristics of a group of M2M devices to which the M2M device belongs.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the apparatus further includes: the first processing unit and the second processing unit:

the first processing unit is configured to obtain, according to the identities of M2M devices other than the M2M device in the M2M device group, a characteristic identity corresponding to the identities of the other M2M devices;

the second processing unit is configured to, if the characteristic identifier indicates that the device characteristic of the other M2M device is a shared characteristic, obtain a shared characteristic of the M2M device group;

the mobility management unit is further configured to perform mobility management operations related to the other M2M devices according to a sharing characteristic of the M2M device group.

With reference to the fourth aspect or the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect or the second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the exclusive characteristic of the M2M device or the shared characteristic of the M2M device group includes at least one of the following information: low mobility, time controlled characteristics, time tolerant characteristics, small data transmission characteristics, low frequency transmission characteristics, and MTC monitoring characteristics.

With reference to the third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the mobility management unit is specifically configured to:

Through the technical scheme, the mobile management equipment obtains the equipment characteristics of the M2M equipment from the subscription database, so that the M2M equipment can be controlled and managed in a targeted manner according to the equipment characteristics, the transmission load between the mobile management equipment and the M2M equipment is reduced, and the pressure of a network side is reduced, so that the management and control capacity of the network side on the M2M equipment can be improved; in addition, in the case that the shared characteristic of the M2M device group and the proprietary characteristic of the M2M device coexist, the subscription database may determine whether to adopt the shared characteristic of the M2M device group or the proprietary characteristic of the M2M device, and therefore, the technical solution of the present invention may also solve the problem of the conflict between the shared characteristic of the M2M device group and the proprietary characteristic of the M2M device.

[ description of the drawings ]

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without inventive labor.

Fig. 1 is a schematic flowchart of a first method for controlling an M2M device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic storage diagram of a subscription database in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a second method for controlling M2M equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a first embodiment of a control method of an M2M device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic flowchart of a second embodiment of a method for controlling an M2M device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a third embodiment of a control method of an M2M device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic flowchart of a fourth embodiment of a control method of an M2M device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a functional block diagram of a subscription database provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of a subscription database provided in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a functional block diagram of a mobility management device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[ detailed description ] embodiments

For better understanding of the technical solutions of the present invention, the following detailed descriptions of the embodiments of the present invention are provided with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It should be understood that the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the invention, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for controlling an M2M device, please refer to fig. 1, where fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a first method for controlling an M2M device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in the figure, the method includes the following steps:

step 101, a subscription database receives a request message sent by a mobile management device, where the request message includes an identifier of an M2M device.

The subscription database receives a request message sent by a mobile management device, wherein the request message contains an identifier of an M2M device; wherein, the request message may be a location update request message; the identification of the M2M device may include: an IMSI; and may also contain the Device identification (M2M Device Indication) of the M2M Device.

Step 102, the subscription database obtains the device characteristics of the M2M device according to the identifier of the M2M device.

Specifically, referring to fig. 2, the subscription database may store the following content in advance in the form shown in fig. 2: a correspondence between each M2M device group in the at least one M2M device group and at least two M2M devices (e.g., M2M device group id and IMSIs 1-IMSI n in fig. 2); at least one sharing characteristic (e.g., sharing characteristic 1-sharing characteristic M in fig. 2) of each M2M device group in the at least one M2M device group; at least one proprietary feature of each of the M2M devices (e.g., proprietary feature 1-proprietary feature k under IMSI1 in fig. 2); a characteristic identifier (not shown in fig. 2) corresponding to each M2M device; only the storage corresponding to IMSI1 and the storage of one M2M group of devices are illustrated in fig. 2, but do not represent only one M2M device and one M2M group of devices.

The subscription database obtains a characteristic identifier corresponding to the identifier of the M2M device according to the identifier of the M2M device; the subscription database acquires the device characteristics of the M2M device corresponding to the characteristic identification according to the characteristic identification; the device characteristics of the M2M device include proprietary characteristics of the M2M device and/or shared characteristics of a group of M2M devices to which the M2M device belongs; the proprietary features of the M2M device are network functions for implementing network optimization for M2M applications, that is, the proprietary features of the M2M device are used for optimizing the network functions in the M2M applications, and the independence between M2M devices is embodied; the proprietary characteristics of the M2M devices or the shared characteristics of the M2M group of devices may include at least one of the following information: low mobility, time controlled characteristics, time tolerant characteristics, small data transmission characteristics, low frequency transmission characteristics, and Machine Type Communication (MTC) monitoring characteristics, among others.

For example, the subscription database may store the feature identifier corresponding to the M2M device in the form of a policy value list; the strategy value list comprises N bytes of variables, N is larger than or equal to xM/4, wherein x is the number of the equipment characteristics of M2M equipment, M is the number of M2M equipment in an M2M equipment group, and N, x and M are integers; every two bits of the N-byte variable store a device characteristic identifier of a device characteristic of one M2M device, the characteristic identifier indicating that the device characteristic is a characteristic specific to the M2M device or the characteristic identifier indicating that the device characteristic is a shared characteristic of a group of M2M devices to which the M2M device belongs.

For example, a 4-byte variable is included in the policy value list, wherein, starting from the lowest two bits, the lowest 1 st bit and 2 nd bit store the device characteristic 1 of M2M device 1, the 3 rd bit and 4 th bit store the device characteristic 2 of M2M device 1, and so on: the 1 st bit and the 2 nd bit store the characteristic identifier 00 of the device characteristic 1 of the M2M device 1, which indicates that the device characteristic 1 is the corresponding shared characteristic in the M2M device group to which the M2M device belongs, and the 3 rd bit and the 4 th bit store the characteristic identifier 01 of the device characteristic 2 of the M2M device 1, which indicates that the device characteristic 2 is the exclusive characteristic of the M2M device.

Step 103, the subscription database sends the device characteristics of the M2M device to the mobility management device, so that the mobility management entity performs mobility management operations related to the M2M device according to the device characteristics of the M2M device.

An embodiment of the present invention provides a method for controlling an M2M device, please refer to fig. 3, where fig. 3 is a schematic flow chart of a second method for controlling an M2M device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in the figure, the method includes the following steps:

step 301, the mobile management device sends a request message to a subscription database, where the request message includes an identifier of an M2M device, so that the subscription database obtains the device characteristics of the M2M device according to the identifier of the M2M device, and sends the device characteristics of the M2M device to the mobile management device.

Wherein the request message may be a location update request message.

The device characteristics of the M2M device include proprietary characteristics of the M2M device and/or shared characteristics of a group of M2M devices to which the M2M device belongs.

Step 302, the mobility management entity performs mobility management operations associated with the M2M device according to the device characteristics of the M2M device.

Specifically, the exclusive characteristic of the M2M device or the shared characteristic of the M2M device group includes at least one of the following information: low mobility, time controlled characteristics, time tolerant characteristics, small data transmission characteristics, low frequency transmission characteristics, and MTC monitoring characteristics.

The mobility management entity performing mobility management operations associated with the M2M device in accordance with device characteristics of the M2M device, such as maintaining a connected state of a communication link with an M2M device in accordance with time-controlled characteristics of an M2M device; alternatively, a transmission period for transmitting data of the M2M device to the subscription database is determined according to the low mobility characteristic of the M2M device.

Preferably, the device characteristic of the M2M device is a sharing characteristic of a M2M device group to which the M2M device belongs; after the step 302, the method may further include:

the mobility management device obtains a feature identifier corresponding to the identifier of the other M2M device according to the identifiers of the other M2M devices in the M2M device group except the M2M device; if the characteristic identifier indicates that the device characteristics of the other M2M devices are shared characteristics, the mobility management device obtains the shared characteristics of the M2M device group; the mobility management device performs mobility management operations related to the other M2M devices in accordance with the sharing characteristics of the group of M2M devices.

In the above method, the mobile Management device may be a Mobility Management Entity (MME) in an evolved universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), or may also be a Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) support Node (SGSN) in an Enhanced GSM Data Rate for GSM Evolution (Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution) Radio Access Network (GERAN) in a Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN)/Global System for mobile Communications (GSM) System.

The subscription database may be a Home Location Register (HLR), a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), or the like.

The M2M device may be an MTC device.

The M2M device group comprises at least two M2M devices; for example, an M2M device belonging to the same M2M device group is an M2M device located in the same geographical area, or an M2M device belonging to the same M2M device group is an M2M device under the same subscriber (as an intelligent water meter terminal of the same water meter company).

It should be noted that there is at least one M2M device group in the subscription database, each M2M device group includes at least two M2M devices, and also stores the shared characteristics of the M2M device group and the proprietary characteristics of the M2M devices, meanwhile, the M2M device has its own proprietary characteristics, and the M2M device group also has its own characteristics, so if there is no device characteristics of the M2M device on the network side, resulting in a relatively low control and management capability of the M2M device on the network side, or if there is a conflict between the proprietary characteristics of the M2M device and the shared characteristics of the M2M device group, the subscription database needs to indicate the device characteristics of the M2M device to the mobile management device. When the subscription database needs to provide the device characteristics of the M2M device to the mobile management device, it needs to be determined whether the device characteristics of the M2M device are subject to the shared characteristics of the M2M device group or the proprietary characteristics of the M2M device.

Wherein, for M2M devices in the same M2M device group, the device characteristics of all M2M devices are the shared characteristics of the M2M device group; or, for M2M devices in the same M2M device group, the device characteristic of at least one M2M device is a shared characteristic of the M2M device group, and the device characteristic of at least one M2M device is an exclusive characteristic of the M2M device; alternatively, for M2M devices in the same M2M device group, all devices with characteristics of M2M devices are proprietary to M2M devices.

For one M2M device, all device characteristics of the M2M device are shared characteristics of the M2M device group to which the M2M device belongs; or, of the at least two characteristics of the M2M device, at least one of the characteristics is a shared characteristic of the M2M device group, and at least one of the characteristics is an exclusive characteristic of the M2M device; alternatively, all device characteristics of the M2M device are proprietary characteristics of the M2M device.

Example one

Please refer to fig. 4, which is a flowchart illustrating a first embodiment of a method for controlling M2M devices according to an embodiment of the present invention, wherein in the present embodiment, device characteristics of all M2M devices in an M2M device group are shared characteristics of an M2M device group; as shown, the method comprises the following steps:

step 401, storing the sharing characteristics of at least one M2M device group in a subscription database; the subscription database stores proprietary characteristics of each M2M device in at least one group of M2M devices; the subscription database stores the corresponding relation between each M2M device group and at least two M2M devices in at least one M2M device group; the subscription database stores the characteristic identification of each M2M device; the method for storing the feature identifier of each M2M device in the subscription database may be: the subscription database stores a policy value list corresponding to each M2M device group, and the policy value list contains the characteristic identifier of the M2M device.

Step 402, M2M device 1 sends an Attach (Attach) request message to the mobility management device for the first time, where the Attach request message includes: the IMSI of M2M device 1; it may also contain the device identification (M2M DeviceIndication) of M2M device 1.

Step 403, after receiving the attach request message, the mobility management device sends an authentication request message to the subscription database, so as to complete authentication of the M2M device 1.

Step 404, the mobile management device determines, according to the IMSI included in the attach request message, that there is no device characteristic of M2M device 1 locally, and the mobile management device sends a location Update request (Update LocationRequest) message to a subscription database, where the location Update request message includes: the IMSI of the M2M device 1, and shared M2M Subscription Indication information (Share M2M Subscription Indication), where the shared M2M Subscription Indication information is TRUE, and is used to indicate that the mobile management device does not have the shared characteristic of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs; preferably, the location update request message may further include: device identification of M2M device 1.

Step 405, in this embodiment, the conflict resolution policy of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs is an affinity policy, that is, in the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs, the device characteristics of all M2M devices are the sharing characteristics of the M2M device group, the subscription database obtains the characteristic identifier of the M2M device 1 from the policy value list according to the IMSI of the M2M device 1, and determines that the device characteristic of the M2M device 1 is the sharing characteristic of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs according to the characteristic identifier.

Step 406, the subscription database obtains an ID of an M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs according to the IMSI of the M2M device 1 and the correspondence between the M2M device group and at least two M2M devices, the subscription database obtains a sharing characteristic of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs according to the ID, and then sends a download subscription data (Insert subscription data) request message to the mobile management device, where the download subscription data request message includes a device characteristic of the device 1 that sends the M2M, and the device characteristic of the M2M device 1 is the sharing characteristic of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs.

The download subscription data request message may further include a Policy Value List (Policy Value List) corresponding to the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs, or the Policy Value List may be configured in advance in the mobility management device.

In step 407, the mobility management device obtains the device characteristics of the M2M device 1 according to the sharing characteristics of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs included in the download subscription data request message, and performs mobility management operations related to the M2M device 1 according to the obtained device characteristics, for example, according to the time-controlled characteristics of the M2M device 1, maintains the connected state of the communication link with the M2M device 1, or according to whether the M2M device 1 has low mobility characteristics, determines a transmission period for transmitting data of the M2M device 1 to the subscription database, and the like.

In step 408, the mobility management device returns a download subscription data acknowledgement (insertsubdescription ACK) message to the subscription database.

In step 409, the subscription database returns a Location Update acknowledgement (Update Location ACK) message to the mobility management device.

At step 410, M2M device 1 and the mobility management device complete mutual confirmation of the attachment.

Step 411, the M2M device 2 sends an attach request message to the mobility management device for the first time, where the attach request message includes: the IMSI of M2M device 2; the method may further include: device identification of M2M device 2. In this embodiment, both M2M device 2 and M2M device 1 belong to the same M2M device group.

In step 412, after receiving the attach request message, the mobility management device sends an authentication request message to the subscription database, so as to complete authentication of the M2M device 2.

Step 413, the mobility management device determines that the conflict resolution policies of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 2 belongs are all convergence policies according to the preset policy value list, that is, the characteristic identifier of the M2M device 2 indicates that the device characteristic of the M2M device 2 is the sharing characteristic of the M2M device group; since the mobile management device already has the sharing characteristics of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 2 belongs, the mobile management device needs to indicate to the subscription database that the mobile management device already has the sharing characteristics of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 2 belongs; the mobile management device sends a location Update request (Update location request) message to a subscription database, wherein the location Update request message includes: the IMSI of the MTC device 2 and the shared M2M subscription indication information, where the shared M2M subscription indication information is FALSE, and is used to indicate a sharing characteristic of an M2M device group to which the M2M device 2 belongs; preferably, the location update request message may further include: device identification of the M2M device 2.

Here, if the conflict resolution policies of the M2M device group are all convergence policies, that is, the sharing characteristics of the M2M device group are taken as the standard, the subscription database does not need to issue the sharing characteristics of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 2 belongs to the mobile management device.

Step 414, further, in order to ensure that the subscription database is consistent with the policy value list stored in the SGSN/MME, preferably, the method may further include: the subscription database may send a subscription data download request message to the mobile management device, where the subscription data download request message includes a policy value list stored in the subscription database, and the policy value list may be consistent with the policy value list stored in the mobile management device, or may be an updated policy value list.

In step 415, the mobility management device obtains the device characteristics of the M2M device 2 according to the sharing characteristics of the M2M device group, and performs mobility management operations related to the M2M device 2 according to the device characteristics of the M2M device 2.

In step 416, the mobile management device returns a confirmation message of downloading subscription data.

In step 417, the subscription database returns a location update confirmation message to the mobile management device.

At step 418, M2M device 2 and the mobility management device complete mutual confirmation of the attachment.

Example two

Please refer to fig. 5, which is a flowchart illustrating a second embodiment of a method for controlling an M2M device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in the present embodiment, a device characteristic of each M2M device in an M2M device group is a proprietary characteristic of an M2M device, for example, a device characteristic of an M2M device 1 is a proprietary characteristic of an M2M device 1, and a device characteristic of an M2M device 2 is a proprietary characteristic of an M2M device 2; as shown, the method comprises the following steps:

step 501, storing the sharing characteristics of at least one M2M device group in a subscription database; the subscription database stores proprietary characteristics of each M2M device in at least one group of M2M devices; the subscription database stores the corresponding relation between each M2M device group and at least two M2M devices in at least one M2M device group; the subscription database stores the characteristic identification of each M2M device; the method for storing the feature identifier of each M2M device in the subscription database may be: the subscription database stores a policy value list corresponding to each M2M device group, and the policy value list contains the characteristic identifier of the M2M device.

Step 502, M2M device 1 sends an Attach (Attach) request message to the mobility management device for the first time, where the Attach request message includes: the IMSI of M2M device 1; and may also contain the device identification of M2M device 1.

Step 503, after receiving the attach request message, the mobility management device sends an authentication request message to the subscription database, so as to complete authentication of the M2M device 1.

Step 504, the mobility management device determines, according to the IMSI included in the attach request message, the device characteristic of the M2M device that does not have M2M device 1 locally; the method comprises the following steps that the mobile management equipment sends a location update Request (UpdateLocation Request) message to a subscription database, wherein the location update Request message comprises: the IMSI of the M2M device 1, and shared M2M Subscription Indication information (Share M2M Subscription Indication), where the shared M2M Subscription Indication information is TRUE, and is used to indicate that the mobile management device does not have the shared characteristic of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs; preferably, the location update request message may further include: device identification of M2M device 1.

Step 505, in this embodiment, the conflict resolution policy of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs is a diversity policy, that is, in the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs, the device characteristic of each M2M device is the exclusive characteristic of the M2M device, the subscription database obtains the characteristic identifier of the M2M device 1 from the policy value list according to the IMSI of the M2M device 1, and determines that the device characteristic of the M2M device 1 is the exclusive characteristic of the M2M device 1 according to the characteristic identifier.

Step 506, the Subscription database obtains the proprietary feature of the M2M device 1 according to the IMSI of the M2M device 1, and then sends a download Subscription Data (Insert Subscription Data) request message to the mobile management device, where the download Subscription Data request message includes the device feature of the device 1 that sends M2M, and the device feature of the M2M device 1 is the proprietary feature of the M2M device 1.

The Subscription database may further obtain, according to the IMSI of the M2M device 1 and the correspondence between the M2M device group and at least two M2M devices, an ID of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs, obtain, according to the ID, a policy value list corresponding to the M2M device group, and send the download Subscription Data (Insert Subscription Data) request message to the mobile management device; alternatively, the policy value list may be configured in advance at the mobility management device.

In step 507, the mobility management device obtains the device characteristics of the M2M device 1 according to the proprietary characteristics of the M2M device 1 included in the download subscription data request message, and performs mobility management operations related to the M2M device 1 according to the obtained device characteristics, for example, according to the time-controlled characteristics of the M2M device 1, maintaining the connected state of the communication link with the M2M device 1, or according to whether the M2M device 1 has low mobility characteristics, determining a transmission period for transmitting data of the M2M device 1 to the subscription database, and the like.

In step 508, the mobility management device returns a download subscription data acknowledgement (insertsubdescription ACK) message to the subscription database.

In step 509, the subscription database returns a Location Update acknowledgement (Update Location ACK) message to the mobility management device.

At step 510, M2M device 1 and the mobility management device complete mutual confirmation of the attachment.

In step 511, the M2M device 2 sends an attach request message to the mobility management device for the first time, where the attach request message includes: the IMSI of M2M device 2; the method may further include: device identification of M2M device 2. In this embodiment, both M2M device 2 and M2M device 1 belong to the same M2M device group.

Step 512, after receiving the attach request message, the mobility management device sends an authentication request message to the subscription database, so as to complete authentication of the M2M device 2.

Step 513, the mobility management device determines, according to the received policy value list, that the conflict resolution policies of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 2 belongs are all heterogeneous policies, that is, the device characteristics of the M2M device 2 are the proprietary characteristics of the M2M device 2; since the mobility management device does not have the proprietary feature of the M2M device 2, the mobility management device sends a Location Update Request (Update Location Request) message to the subscription database, where the Location Update Request message includes: IMSI of MTC device 2; preferably, the location update request message may further include: device identification of M2M device 2.

Here, if the conflict resolution policy of the M2M device group is a heterogeneous policy, that is, the device characteristics of the M2M devices in the M2M device group are all the proprietary characteristics of the M2M device, the subscription database needs to issue the proprietary characteristics of the M2M device 2 to the mobility management device.

Step 514, in this embodiment, the conflict resolution policy of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 2 belongs is a diversity policy, that is, in the M2M device group to which the M2M device 2 belongs, the device characteristics of all M2M devices are the proprietary characteristics of the M2M device, the subscription database obtains the characteristic identifier of the M2M device 2 from the policy value list according to the IMSI of the M2M device 2, and determines that the device characteristic of the M2M device 2 is the proprietary characteristic of the M2M device 2 according to the characteristic identifier.

Step 515, the subscription database sends a download subscription data (Insert subscription data) request message to the mobile management device, where the download subscription data request message includes the device characteristics of the M2M device 2, and the device characteristics of the M2M device 2 are the proprietary characteristics of the M2M device 2.

In step 516, the mobility management device obtains the device characteristics of the M2M device 2 according to the received proprietary characteristics of the M2M device 2, and performs mobility management operations related to the M2M device 2 according to the device characteristics of the M2M device 2.

Step 517, the mobile management device returns a confirmation message of downloading subscription data.

Step 518, the subscription database returns a location update confirm message to the mobility management device.

In step 519, the M2M device 2 and the mobility management device complete mutual confirmation of the attachment.

EXAMPLE III

Please refer to fig. 6, which is a flowchart illustrating a third embodiment of a method for controlling an M2M device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in the present embodiment, a device characteristic of each M2M device is determined according to an intermediacy policy of an M2M device group, that is, a device characteristic of at least one M2M device in the M2M device group is a sharing characteristic of the M2M device group, and a device characteristic of at least one M2M device is an exclusive characteristic of the M2M device, in the present embodiment, a device characteristic of an M2M device 1 in the M2M device group is a sharing characteristic of the M2M device group, and a device characteristic of an M2M device 2 is an exclusive characteristic of the M2M device 2; as shown, the method comprises the following steps:

601, storing the sharing characteristics of at least one M2M device group in a subscription database; the subscription database stores proprietary characteristics of each M2M device in at least one group of M2M devices; the subscription database stores the corresponding relation between each M2M device group and at least two M2M devices in at least one M2M device group; the subscription database stores the characteristic identification of each M2M device; the method for storing the feature identifier of each M2M device in the subscription database may be: the subscription database stores a policy value list corresponding to each M2M device group, and the policy value list contains the characteristic identifier of the M2M device.

Step 602, M2M device 1 sends an Attach (Attach) request message to the mobility management device for the first time, where the Attach request message includes: the IMSI of M2M device 1; and may also contain the device identification of M2M device 1.

Step 603, after receiving the attach request message, the mobility management device sends an authentication request message to the subscription database, so as to complete authentication of the M2M device 1.

Step 604, the mobility management device determines that there is no device characteristic of the M2M device 1 locally according to the IMSI included in the attach request message; the method comprises the following steps that the mobile management equipment sends a location Update request (Update location request) message to a subscription database, wherein the location Update request message comprises: the IMSI of the M2M device 1, and shared M2M Subscription Indication information (Share M2M Subscription Indication), where the shared M2M Subscription Indication information is TRUE, and is used to indicate that the mobile management device does not have the shared characteristic of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs; preferably, the location update request message may further include: device identification of M2M device 1.

Step 605, in this embodiment, the conflict resolution policy of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs is an intermediate policy, that is, in the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs, the device characteristic of at least one M2M device is the shared characteristic of the M2M device group, the device characteristic of at least one M2M device is the exclusive characteristic of the M2M device, the subscription database obtains the characteristic identifier of the M2M device 1 from the policy value list according to the IMSI of the M2M device 1, and determines that the device characteristic of the M2M device 1 is the shared characteristic of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs according to the characteristic identifier.

Step 606, the subscription database obtains an ID of an M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs according to the IMSI of the M2M device 1 and the correspondence between the M2M device group and at least two M2M devices, the subscription database obtains a sharing characteristic of an M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs according to the ID, and then sends a download subscription data (Insert subscription data) request message to the mobile management device, where the download subscription data request message includes a device characteristic of the device 1 that sends the M2M, and the device characteristic of the M2M device 1 is the sharing characteristic of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs.

In step 607, the mobility management device obtains the device characteristics of the M2M device 1 according to the sharing characteristics of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs included in the download subscription data request message, and performs mobility management operations related to the M2M device 1 according to the obtained device characteristics, for example, according to the time-controlled characteristics of the M2M device 1, maintains the connected state of the communication link with the M2M device 1, or according to whether the M2M device 1 has low mobility characteristics, determines a transmission period for transmitting data of the M2M device 1 to the subscription database, and the like.

The mobile management device returns a download subscription data acknowledgement (insertsubdescription ACK) message to the subscription database, step 608.

In step 609, the subscription database returns a Location Update acknowledgement (Update Location ACK) message to the mobility management device.

At step 610, M2M device 1 and the mobility management device complete mutual confirmation of the attachment.

Step 611, the M2M device 2 sends an attach request message to the mobility management device for the first time, where the attach request message includes: the IMSI of M2M device 2; the method may further include: device identification of M2M device 2. In this embodiment, both M2M device 2 and M2M device 1 belong to the same M2M device group.

Step 612, after receiving the attach request message, the mobility management device sends an authentication request message to the subscription database, so as to complete authentication of the M2M device 2.

Step 613, the mobile management device determines, according to the received policy value list, that the conflict resolution policies of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 2 belongs are all neutral policies, and since the mobile management device already shares the sharing characteristics of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 2 belongs, the mobile management device needs to indicate to the subscription database that the mobile management device already shares the sharing characteristics of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 2 belongs; the mobile management equipment sends a location update Request (UpdateLocation Request) message to a subscription database, wherein the location update Request message comprises: the IMSI of the MTC device 2 and the shared M2M subscription indication information, where the shared M2M subscription indication information is FALSE, and is used to indicate a sharing characteristic of an M2M device group to which the M2M device 2 belongs; preferably, the location update request message may further include: device identification of M2M device 2.

Step 614, in this embodiment, the conflict resolution policy of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 2 belongs is an intermediate policy, that is, in the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs, the device characteristic of at least one M2M device is the shared characteristic of the M2M device group, and the device characteristic of at least one M2M device is the exclusive characteristic of the M2M device, in this embodiment, the subscription database obtains the characteristic identifier of the M2M device 2 from the policy value list according to the IMSI of the M2M device 2, and determines that the device characteristic of the M2M device 2 is the exclusive characteristic of the M2M device 2 according to the characteristic identifier.

Step 615, the subscription database sends a download subscription data (Insert subscription data) request message to the mobile management device, where the download subscription data request message includes the device characteristics of the M2M device 2, and the device characteristics of the M2M device 2 are the proprietary characteristics of the M2M device 2.

In step 616, the mobility management device obtains the device characteristics of the M2M device 2 according to the received proprietary characteristics of the M2M device 2, and performs mobility management operations related to the M2M device 2 according to the device characteristics of the M2M device 2.

The mobile management device returns a download subscription data confirmation message, step 617.

At step 618, the subscription database returns a location update confirm message to the mobility management device.

At step 619, M2M device 2 and the mobility management device complete mutual confirmation of the attachment.

Example four

Please refer to fig. 7, which is a flowchart illustrating a fourth embodiment of a method for controlling an M2M device according to an embodiment of the present invention, in the present embodiment, each device characteristic of the M2M device is determined according to a convergence policy of the M2M device, that is, at least one device characteristic is a corresponding shared characteristic in an M2M device group to which the M2M device belongs, and at least one device characteristic is a corresponding proprietary characteristic in the M2M device, among at least two device characteristics of the M2M device; as shown, the method comprises the following steps:

step 701, storing the sharing characteristics of at least one M2M device group in a subscription database; the subscription database stores proprietary characteristics of each M2M device in at least one group of M2M devices; the subscription database stores the corresponding relation between each M2M device group and at least two M2M devices in at least one M2M device group; the subscription database stores the characteristic identification of each M2M device; the method for storing the feature identifier of each M2M device in the subscription database may be: the subscription database stores a policy value list corresponding to each M2M device group, and the policy value list includes a characteristic identifier of each M2M device and a characteristic identifier of each device characteristic of each M2M device.

In step 702, M2M device 1 sends an Attach (Attach) request message to the mobility management device for the first time, where the Attach request message includes: the IMSI of M2M device 1; it may also contain the device identification (M2M DeviceIndication) of M2M device 1.

In step 703, after receiving the attach request message, the mobility management device sends an authentication request message to the subscription database, so as to complete authentication of the M2M device 1.

Step 704, the mobility management device determines, according to the IMSI included in the attach request message, the device characteristic of the M2M device that does not have M2M device 1 locally; the method comprises the following steps that the mobile management equipment sends a location update Request (UpdateLocation Request) message to a subscription database, wherein the location update Request message comprises: the IMSI of the M2M device 1, and shared M2M Subscription Indication information (Share M2M Subscription Indication), where the shared M2M Subscription Indication information is TRUE, and is used to indicate that the mobile management device does not have the shared characteristic of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs; preferably, the location update request message may further include: device identification of M2M device 1.

Step 705, in this embodiment, the conflict resolution policy of the M2M device 1 is a diversity policy, that is, at least one device characteristic of the at least two device characteristics of the M2M device 1 is a corresponding shared characteristic in the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs, and at least one device characteristic is a corresponding proprietary characteristic in the M2M device 1, and then the subscription database determines, according to the characteristic identifier of each device characteristic of the M2M device 1, that the device characteristics of the M2M device 1 include the proprietary characteristic of the M2M device 1 and the shared characteristic of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs.

Step 706, the Subscription database obtains the ID of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs according to the IMSI of the M2M device 1 and the correspondence between the M2M device group and at least two M2M devices, obtains the sharing characteristic of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs, the policy value list of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs, and the proprietary characteristic of the M2M device 1 according to the ID, and then sends a download Data (Insert Subscription Data) request message to the mobile management device, where the download Subscription Data request message includes the device characteristic of the M2M device 1 and the characteristic identifier of each device characteristic of the M2M device 1, and the device characteristics include the proprietary characteristic of the M2M device 1 and the sharing characteristic of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs.

In step 707, the mobility management device obtains the device characteristics of the M2M device 1 according to the download subscription data request message including the shared characteristics of the M2M device group to which the M2M device 1 belongs, the characteristic identifier of each device characteristic of the M2M device 1, and the proprietary characteristics of the M2M device 1, and performs mobility management operations related to the M2M device 1 according to the obtained device characteristics, for example, according to the time-controlled characteristics of the M2M device 1, the connectivity state of the communication link with the M2M device 1 is maintained, or according to whether the M2M device 1 has low mobility characteristics, determines a transmission period for transmitting data of the M2M device 1 to the subscription database, and the like.

At step 708, the mobile management device returns a download subscription data acknowledgement (insertsubdescription ACK) message to the subscription database.

In step 709, the subscription database returns a Location Update acknowledgement (Update Location ACK) message to the mobility management device.

At step 710, M2M device 1 and the mobility management device complete mutual confirmation of the attachment.

The embodiment of the invention further provides an embodiment of a device for realizing the steps and the method in the embodiment of the method.

Referring to fig. 8, which is a functional block diagram of a subscription database provided in an embodiment of the present invention, corresponding to the method shown in fig. 1, the subscription database includes:

a receiving unit 80, configured to receive a request message sent by a mobility management device, where the request message includes an identifier of an M2M device;

a processing unit 81, configured to obtain a device characteristic of the M2M device according to the identifier of the M2M device;

a sending unit 82, configured to send the device characteristics of the M2M device to the mobility management device, so that the mobility management entity performs mobility management operations related to the M2M device according to the device characteristics of the M2M device.

Wherein the device characteristics of the M2M device include proprietary characteristics of the M2M device and/or shared characteristics of a group of M2M devices to which the M2M device belongs.

Wherein the processing unit 81 further comprises:

a first processing module 811, configured to obtain, according to the identifier of the M2M device, a characteristic identifier corresponding to the identifier of the M2M device;

a second processing module 812, configured to obtain, according to the characteristic identifier, a device characteristic of the M2M device corresponding to the characteristic identifier.

Please refer to fig. 9, which is a schematic structural diagram of a subscription database according to an embodiment of the present invention, corresponding to the method shown in fig. 1 and the functional diagram of the subscription database shown in fig. 8, as shown in the figure, the subscription database includes:

a receiver 90, configured to receive a request message sent by a mobility management device, where the request message includes an identifier of an M2M device;

a memory 91 for storing information including program routines;

the processor 92, connected to the transmitter 93, the receiver 90 and the memory 91 respectively, is configured to control execution of the program routine, and specifically includes: obtaining device characteristics of the M2M device according to the identification of the M2M device;

a transmitter 93, configured to transmit the device characteristics of the M2M device to the mobility management device, so that the mobility management entity performs mobility management operations related to the M2M device according to the device characteristics of the M2M device.

Referring to fig. 10, which is a functional block diagram of a mobility management device according to an embodiment of the present invention, corresponding to the method shown in fig. 3, the mobility management device includes:

a sending unit 100, configured to send a request message to a subscription database, where the request message includes an identifier of an M2M device, so that the subscription database obtains a device characteristic of the M2M device according to the identifier of the M2M device, and sends the device characteristic of the M2M device to the mobility management device;

a mobility management unit 200, configured to perform mobility management operations related to the M2M device according to the device characteristics of the M2M device.

Further, the apparatus further comprises: first processing unit 300, second processing unit 400:

the first processing unit 300 is configured to obtain, according to the identities of M2M devices other than the M2M device in the M2M device group, a characteristic identity corresponding to the identities of the other M2M devices;

the second processing unit 400 is configured to, if the characteristic identifier indicates that the device characteristic of the other M2M device is a shared characteristic, obtain a shared characteristic of the M2M device group;

the mobility management unit 200 is further configured to perform mobility management operations related to the other M2M devices according to the sharing characteristics of the M2M device group.

Wherein the proprietary characteristics of the M2M devices or the shared characteristics of the group of M2M devices comprise at least one of: low mobility, time controlled characteristics, time tolerant characteristics, small data transmission characteristics, low frequency transmission characteristics, and MTC monitoring characteristics.

Wherein, the mobility management unit 200 is specifically configured to:

Please refer to fig. 11, which is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management device according to an embodiment of the present invention, corresponding to the method shown in fig. 3 and the functional block diagram of the mobility management device shown in fig. 10, as shown in the figure, the mobility management device includes:

a transmitter 110, configured to send a request message to a subscription database, where the request message includes an identifier of an M2M device, so that the subscription database obtains a device characteristic of the M2M device according to the identifier of the M2M device, and sends the device characteristic of the M2M device to the mobility management device;

a memory 111 for storing information including program routines;

the processor 112, respectively connected to the transmitter 110 and the memory 110, is configured to control execution of the program routine, and specifically includes: performing mobility management operations associated with the M2M device in accordance with device characteristics of the M2M device.

The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a machine-to-machine M2M device, the method comprising:

a subscription database receives a request message sent by a mobile management device, wherein the request message contains an identifier of at least one M2M device in an M2M device group;

the subscription database obtains a characteristic identifier corresponding to the identifier of the M2M device according to the identifier of at least one M2M device; wherein the characteristic identifier is stored in the subscription database by a list of policy values; the policy value list comprises N bytes of variables, wherein every two bits of the N bytes of variables store a characteristic identifier of at least one device characteristic of the M2M device; the characteristic identification is used for indicating that the device characteristic is a proprietary characteristic of the M2M device; or the characteristic identification is used to indicate that the device characteristic is a shared characteristic of a group of M2M devices to which the M2M device belongs;

the subscription database acquires the device characteristics of the M2M device corresponding to the characteristic identification according to the characteristic identification; the device characteristics of the M2M device include proprietary characteristics of the M2M device;

the subscription database sends the device characteristics of the at least one M2M device to the mobility management device to cause the mobility management entity to perform mobility management operations associated with the M2M device as a function of the device characteristics of the M2M device.

2. A method of controlling an M2M device, the method comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a mobile management device sends a request message to a subscription database, wherein the request message comprises an identifier of at least one M2M device in an M2M device group, so that the subscription database obtains device characteristics of each M2M device in the at least one M2M device according to the identifier of the at least one M2M device, and sends the device characteristics of the at least one M2M device to the mobile management device, wherein the device characteristics of the M2M device comprise proprietary characteristics of the M2M device;

the mobile management device obtains a characteristic identifier corresponding to identifiers of other M2M devices according to identifiers of other M2M devices in the M2M device group except for the M2M device with the exclusive device characteristic; wherein the characteristic identifier is stored in the subscription database by a list of policy values; the policy value list comprises N bytes of variables, wherein every two bits of the N bytes of variables store a characteristic identifier of at least one device characteristic of the M2M device; the characteristic identification is used for indicating that the device characteristic is a proprietary characteristic of the M2M device; or the characteristic identification is used to indicate that the device characteristic is a shared characteristic of a group of M2M devices to which the M2M device belongs;

if the characteristic identifier indicates that the device characteristics of the other M2M devices are shared characteristics, obtaining the shared characteristics of the M2M device group;

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the proprietary characteristics of the M2M devices or the shared characteristics of the group of M2M devices comprises at least one of: low mobility, time controlled characteristics, time tolerant characteristics, small data transmission characteristics, low frequency transmission characteristics, and machine type communication, MTC, monitoring characteristics.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the mobility management entity performs mobility management operations related to the M2M device according to the device characteristics of the M2M device, and comprises:

5. A subscription database, wherein the subscription database comprises:

a receiving unit, configured to receive a request message sent by a mobility management device, where the request message includes an identifier of at least one M2M device in an M2M device group;

the device comprises a first processing module, a second processing module and a control module, wherein the first processing module is used for obtaining a characteristic identifier corresponding to the identifier of the M2M device according to the identifier of at least one M2M device; wherein the characteristic identifier is stored in the subscription database by a list of policy values; the policy value list comprises N bytes of variables, wherein every two bits of the N bytes of variables store a characteristic identifier of at least one device characteristic of the M2M device; the characteristic identification is used for indicating that the device characteristic is a proprietary characteristic of the M2M device; or the characteristic identification is used to indicate that the device characteristic is a shared characteristic of a group of M2M devices to which the M2M device belongs;

the second processing module is used for obtaining the device characteristics of the M2M device corresponding to the characteristic identifier according to the characteristic identifier; the device characteristics of the M2M device include proprietary characteristics of the M2M device;

a sending unit, configured to send the device characteristics of at least one of the M2M devices to the mobility management device, so that the mobility management entity performs mobility management operations related to the M2M device according to the device characteristics of the M2M device.

6. A mobility management device, characterized in that the mobility management device comprises:

a sending unit, configured to send a request message to a subscription database, where the request message includes an identifier of at least one M2M device in an M2M device group, so that the subscription database obtains device characteristics of each M2M device in the at least one M2M device according to the identifier of the at least one M2M device, and sends the device characteristics of at least one M2M device to the mobility management device, where the device characteristics of the M2M device include proprietary characteristics of the M2M device;

a first processing unit, configured to obtain, according to identifiers of M2M devices in the M2M device group except for an M2M device whose device characteristic is a proprietary characteristic, a characteristic identifier corresponding to an identifier of the other M2M device; wherein the characteristic identifier is stored in the subscription database by a list of policy values; the policy value list comprises N bytes of variables, wherein every two bits of the N bytes of variables store a characteristic identifier of at least one device characteristic of the M2M device; the characteristic identification is used for indicating that the device characteristic is a proprietary characteristic of the M2M device; or the characteristic identification is used to indicate that the device characteristic is a shared characteristic of a group of M2M devices to which the M2M device belongs;

a second processing unit, configured to obtain a sharing characteristic of the M2M device group if the characteristic identifier indicates that the device characteristic of the other M2M device is a sharing characteristic;

7. The mobility management device of claim 6, wherein the M2M device-specific characteristics or M2M device group-shared characteristics include at least one of: low mobility, time controlled characteristics, time tolerant characteristics, small data transmission characteristics, low frequency transmission characteristics, and MTC monitoring characteristics.

8. The mobility management device according to claim 7, wherein the mobility management unit is specifically configured to: