CN104641679B

CN104641679B - A kind of shunt method and equipment, system of wireless network

Info

Publication number: CN104641679B
Application number: CN201380002659.4A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 曾清海; 戴明增; 张宏平
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2013-04-03
Filing date: 2013-04-03
Publication date: 2019-03-19
Anticipated expiration: 2033-04-03
Also published as: CN104641679A

Abstract

The present invention discloses the shunt method and equipment, system of a kind of wireless network.The shunt method of wireless network includes: that access device receives the wireless network shunting request for carrying business information；If shunting the business in request to be suitble to be diverted to WLAN, select that there is the WLAN for carrying the professional ability in the request；It is sent to user terminal and shunts instruction message, so that user terminal executes corresponding WLAN access operation according to instruction message is shunted.By the above-mentioned means, WLAN can be diverted to control wireless network by the access device at the end RAN, it is linked into user terminal on suitable WLAN, promotes the experience of user.

Description

Wireless network shunting method, device and system

Technical Field

The invention belongs to the technical field of wireless communication, and particularly relates to a wireless network shunting method, device and system.

Background

With the rapid growth of mobile broadband data, more and more operators deploy a Wireless Local Access Network (WLAN) to Access a user terminal to offload service data. To enable WLAN offload of wireless networks, the current third generation partnership project (3)^rdGeneration Partnership Project, 3GPP) standard specifies that 3GPP networks interoperate with WLANs, one of which is IP Flow Mobility (IFOM).

In the IFOM technology, a user terminal obtains a offloading policy of a wireless Network from an Automatic Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF) entity or self-preconfigured information, initiates an offloading process of the wireless Network after self-judgment, instructs a Packet Data Network Gateway (PDN-GW), which is a core Network entity of 3GPP, to offload specified services to a WLAN, and shunts the PDN-GW according to the instruction.

The wireless network offloading scheme of the cooperation of IFOM and ANDSF is a scheme controlled by the user terminal. Because the ANDSF entity cannot sense the load condition and the air interface channel quality of the 3GPP Radio Access Network (RAN) and the WLAN, the use of this scheme may cause the terminal to Access the WLAN with overload or poor signal quality, which may affect the user experience.

Disclosure of Invention

The technical problem mainly solved by the application is to provide a wireless network shunting method, device and system, so that the influence on user experience caused by the fact that a user terminal is accessed to a WLAN with overload or poor signal quality when a user requests service shunting through the user terminal is avoided.

In view of this, the present application provides a method, device, and system for offloading a wireless network, which can control, through an access device at an RAN end, offloading of the wireless network to a WLAN, so that a user terminal accesses to an appropriate WLAN, thereby improving user experience.

In a first aspect of the present application, a method for offloading a wireless network is provided, including the following steps: the access equipment detects a wireless network distribution request carrying service information; if the service in the shunting request is suitable for shunting to a wireless local area network, selecting the wireless local area network with the service capacity of bearing the request, and generating a corresponding shunting indication message; and sending the shunting indication message to a user terminal so that the user terminal executes corresponding wireless local area network access operation according to the shunting indication message.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect: the distribution indication message comprises service information requesting distribution and a distribution instruction, wherein the distribution instruction comprises one of a successful distribution service identifier, a refusal distribution service identifier or a suspension service identifier.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect: if the shunting instruction comprises the successful shunting service identification, the shunting indication message also comprises wireless local area network information for bearing shunting.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect: the wireless local area network information of the bearer offload includes at least one of a basic service set identifier, a medium access control address of an access point, and a channel frequency of the wireless local area network of the bearer offload.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect: if the offloading instruction includes a suspended service identifier, after the step of sending an offloading instruction message to the user equipment, the method further includes: the access device continuously tries to find the wireless local area network with the capacity of bearing the suspended service until finding the wireless local area network with the capacity of bearing the suspended service or receiving a message of canceling the wireless network shunt of the suspended service.

With reference to the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect: after the step of sending the offloading indication message to the user equipment, the method further includes: and receiving a wireless local area network access result message returned by the user terminal or the wireless local area network access point.

With reference to the fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect: after the step of receiving the wlan access result message returned by the ue or the wlan access point, the method further includes: and if the access result message carries an evolved packet system bearer identifier, initiating an operation of deleting the corresponding evolved packet system bearer according to the evolved packet system bearer identifier.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first to sixth possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the first aspect: the step that the access equipment detects the wireless network shunting request carrying the service information comprises the following steps: the access equipment detects a wireless network shunting request carrying service information sent by a user terminal or core network equipment; or the access equipment detects a wireless network shunting request which is initiated by the access equipment and carries the service information.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first to sixth possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in an eighth possible implementation manner of the first aspect: the access device is any one of a wireless communication base station, a network controller or an access point of a wireless local area network.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first to sixth possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a ninth possible implementation manner of the first aspect: before the step of selecting the wireless local area network with the service bearing capability if the service in the request is suitable for being distributed to the wireless local area network, the method further includes: and the access equipment judges whether the service in the request is suitable for being distributed to the wireless local area network or not according to a distribution strategy which is pre-configured by the wireless access network and/or is obtained from an automatic network discovery and selection functional entity.

With reference to the first aspect or any one of the first to sixth possible implementation manners of the first aspect, in a tenth possible implementation manner of the first aspect: the service information comprises at least one of a quintuple of a transmission control protocol/user data packet protocol (IP) header, a service flow template and an application identifier.

In a second aspect, a offloading method for a wireless network is provided, including the following steps: a user terminal sends a wireless network shunting request carrying service information to access equipment; receiving a distribution indication message returned by the access equipment; and executing corresponding shunting operation according to the shunting indication message.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect: the distribution indication message comprises service information requesting distribution and a distribution instruction, wherein the distribution instruction comprises one of a successful distribution service identifier, a refusal distribution service identifier or a suspension service identifier.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect: if the shunting instruction comprises a successful shunting service identifier, the shunting indication message also comprises wireless local area network information for bearing shunting; the step of executing the corresponding shunting operation according to the shunting indication message comprises the following steps: the user terminal accesses the wireless local area network carrying the shunting through an access point according to the wireless local area network shunting indication message; and sending an access result message to the access equipment.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect: if the wireless network establishes an evolved packet system bearer for the service requesting the offloading, the step of sending an access result message to the access device includes: and sending an access result message including the instruction for deleting the bearer of the evolved packet system to the access equipment, wherein the access result message contains an identifier of the bearer of the evolved packet system.

In a third aspect, an access device is provided, which includes a detecting module, a selecting module, and a sending module, where: the detection module is used for detecting a wireless network shunting request carrying service information; when the service in the shunting request is suitable for shunting to a wireless local area network, the selection module selects the wireless local area network with the service capacity of bearing the request, generates a corresponding shunting indication message and outputs the shunting indication message to the sending module; the sending module is used for sending the shunting indication message to the user terminal so that the user terminal executes corresponding wireless local area network access operation according to the shunting indication message.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect: the access device also comprises a receiving module used for receiving the wireless local area network access result message returned by the user terminal or the wireless local area network access point.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect: the access device further includes a deleting module, configured to initiate an operation of deleting a corresponding evolved packet system bearer according to the evolved packet system bearer identifier when the access result message carries the evolved packet system bearer identifier.

With reference to the third aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first to the second aspect of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the third aspect: the access device is any one of a wireless communication base station, a network controller or an access point of a wireless local area network.

With reference to the third aspect or any possible implementation manner of the first to the second aspect of the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect: the access device further comprises a judging module for judging whether the service in the request is suitable for being distributed to the wireless local area network according to a distribution strategy which is pre-configured by the wireless access network and/or obtained from an automatic network discovery and selection functional entity.

In a fourth aspect, a user terminal is provided, which includes a request module, a receiving module, and a control module, wherein: the request module is used for sending a wireless network shunting request carrying service information to the access equipment; the receiving module is used for receiving the shunting indication message returned by the access equipment and outputting the shunting indication message to the control module; the control module is used for executing corresponding shunting operation according to the shunting indication message.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect: the distribution indication message comprises service information requesting distribution and a distribution instruction, wherein the distribution instruction comprises one of a successful distribution service identifier, a refusal distribution service identifier or a suspension service identifier.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect: if the shunting instruction comprises a successful shunting service identifier, the shunting indication message also comprises wireless local area network information for bearing shunting; the control module is used for accessing the wireless local area network carrying the shunting through an access point according to the wireless local area network shunting indication message and sending an access result message to the access equipment.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect: if the wireless network establishes an evolved packet system bearer for the service requesting for offloading, the control module is configured to send an access result message including an instruction to delete the evolved packet system bearer to the access device, where the access result message includes an evolved packet system bearer identifier.

In a fifth aspect, an access device is provided, which includes a processor, and a receiver and a transmitter electrically connected to the processor, respectively, wherein: the receiver is used for receiving a wireless network shunting request carrying service information and outputting the wireless network shunting request to the processor;

the processor judges whether the service in the request is suitable for being distributed to a wireless local area network or not according to a distribution strategy which is pre-configured by the wireless access network and/or is obtained from an automatic network discovery and selection functional entity, when the service in the request is suitable for being distributed to the wireless local area network, the processor selects the wireless local area network with the service capacity of bearing the request, generates a corresponding distribution indication message and outputs the distribution indication message to the transmitter; and the transmitter is used for transmitting the shunting indication message to the user terminal.

According to the technical scheme, the wireless network is controlled to be shunted to the WLAN through the RAN terminal by sending a WLAN shunting request carrying the service information to the access equipment of the RAN terminal. Because the RAN end can more easily obtain the load conditions of the RAN and the WLAN, the quality of an air interface channel and other information, a proper WLAN can be selected according to the information and the service information in the shunting request, so that the user terminal can be accessed to the WLAN which can bear the shunting request service, and the use experience of the wireless network of the user is effectively improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a network system to which the offloading method of the wireless network of the present application is applied;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of an embodiment of a offloading method of a wireless network of the present application;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of another embodiment of a offloading method of a wireless network of the present application;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an implementation process of a offloading method of a wireless network in which a user terminal initiates an offloading request to an access device of a wireless access network according to the present application;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram illustrating an implementation process of a offloading method of a wireless network in which a core network device initiates an offloading request to an access device of a radio access network according to the present application;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of another embodiment of a offloading method of a wireless network of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of an access device of the present application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of an access device of the present application;

FIG. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a user terminal according to the present application;

FIG. 10 is a schematic diagram of the structure of yet another embodiment of the access device of the present application;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of a user terminal according to the present application.

Detailed Description

Referring to fig. 1, fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a network system applied to the offloading method of the wireless network of the present application, where the network system includes a user terminal 100, an access device 200, and a core network device 300, and the core network device 300 is a bridge between a network service provider and an access network, or between the access network and another access network, and is used to manage and control data request and processing at a core network end, and connect the network to a different network. The core network is the part of the network other than the access network and the subscriber premises network. Core network device 300 may include packet data network gateways, policy and charging functions, switches, and the like.

The access device 200 is used for accessing network resources remotely, and in this embodiment, the access device 200 may be a wireless communication base station, a network controller, or an access point of a wireless local area network. The access device 200 and the core network device 300 implement communication, and access one or more wireless or wired networks through signal conversion or policy control. An access device 200 incorporates multiple radio remote control devices including voice and data linked to a carrier or service provider docking station through a single shared access. The access device 200 may implement, by using a radio frequency technology, deploying a wireless network into multiple WLANs to offload service data according to a data offloading request of the user terminal 100. So that the user terminal 100 may perform data transmission via the 3GPP cellular network and/or between different WLANs.

The user terminal 100 may be a terminal device including a mobile phone, a palm computer, a notebook, a PC, etc., and when the user terminal 100 wishes to offload a service, the user terminal requests the access device 200 for offloading of a wireless network, so as to implement data transmission and data access via the wireless network.

The method, the device and the system for shunting the wireless network can control the wireless network to be shunted to the WLAN through the access device at the RAN end, so that the user terminal is accessed to the proper WLAN, and user experience is improved.

Referring to fig. 2, fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating an embodiment of a offloading method for a wireless network according to the present invention, where the offloading method for a wireless network according to the present embodiment is described in terms of the access device, and the offloading method for a wireless network according to the present embodiment includes:

step S101: the access equipment detects a wireless network distribution request carrying service information.

If the user terminal wants to distribute the service to the WLAN, the user terminal carries the service information and sends a wireless network distribution request to the access equipment of the wireless access network terminal. The wireless network offloading request is sent in a message form, and the request message may include service information requesting offloading, such as a quintuple of a Transmission control Protocol/User data packet Protocol (TCP/UDP) IP header, a Traffic Flow Template (TFT), an application identifier, and the like. A quintuple is a set of five quantities, source IP address, source port, destination IP address, destination port, and transport layer protocol number. For example: 192.168.1.1, 0000, TCP, 21.14.88.76, 80 form a quintuple.

The user terminal can judge whether a certain service needs to be shunted to the WLAN or not through a shunting strategy pre-configured by the user terminal or a shunting strategy obtained from an ANDSF entity, and if so, a wireless network shunting request message is sent. If the service information carried in the offloading request message is a TFT, the message needs to be sent after the user terminal obtains the TFT given by the network in the process of establishing an Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer. The service information contained in the message may comprise a plurality of pieces. The message may also reuse an existing message, such as a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection setup complete message, which indicates that WLAN offloading is requested by adding a parameter.

In another implementation, the offloading request may be sent to the access device through the core network device. After a core Network device, such as a Packet Data Network Gateway (PDN-GW) or a Policy and Charging Function unit (PCRF), receives a request for establishing an EPS bearer for a new service or modifying the EPS bearer, the core Network device sends a wireless Network offloading request message to an access device before initiating corresponding EPS bearer establishment/modification or after corresponding EPS bearer establishment/modification. The offloading request message includes service information, and the detailed description of the service information refers to the related description in the offloading request message sent by the user terminal. The service information contained in the message may also contain a plurality of pieces. The message may also reuse existing messages, such as EPS bearer setup request messages, to indicate a request for WLAN offloading by adding a parameter.

After detecting the wireless network offloading requests, the access device determines whether the service in the request is suitable for offloading to the WLAN according to the wireless network offloading request, and executes step S102 when the service in the offloading request is suitable for offloading to the WLAN, otherwise, does not respond to the offloading request.

Step S102: and if the service in the shunting request is suitable for shunting to the wireless local area network, selecting the wireless local area network with the service capability in the bearing request.

After receiving a wireless network offloading request of a user terminal, an access device of a wireless access network end judges whether a corresponding service in the offloading request can be offloaded to the WLAN according to an offloading policy preconfigured by the access device and/or an offloading policy obtained from an ANDSF entity. If so, a suitable network, i.e. a WLAN capable of carrying the traffic in the offload request, is selected again.

In order to select a suitable WLAN, on one hand, the access device may determine, through the WLAN quality, load, etc. reported by the ue, or 3GPP network measurement information, which WLAN(s) are under coverage, which WLAN's air interface quality and load are more suitable for offloading the traffic.

On the other hand, the access device may also select a suitable WLAN by interacting with WLANs to obtain information about which WLAN(s) the user terminal is under coverage, and the air interface quality and load of these WLANs. If the WLAN is connected to the core network through a 3GPP RAN, the access device also considers the load of the 3GPP RAN, in particular the load situation between the 3GPP RAN and the backhaul of the core network, to select a suitable WLAN.

And step S103, sending a shunting indication message to the user terminal so that the user terminal executes corresponding wireless local area network access operation according to the shunting indication message.

The access device selects a proper WLAN and then sends a WLAN shunting indication message to the user terminal, wherein the shunting indication message comprises service information requesting shunting and a shunting instruction, and the shunting instruction comprises one of a successful shunting service identifier, a shunting service refusing identifier or a suspending service identifier.

If the offloading instruction contained in the offloading indication message is a successful offloading service identifier, the offloading indication message further includes information of a WLAN carrying offloading. The WLAN information is a Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID) or a Service Set Identifier (SSID) of a specific WLAN or a Media Access Control (MAC) address or a channel frequency of an Access Point (AP).

The traffic information requesting offloading in the offloading indication message may be traffic information assigned offloading to the WLAN, such as a five-tuple of a TCP/UDP IP header of the corresponding traffic, a TFT, an application identifier, or a message transaction identifier. If the wireless network offloading request received by the access device in step S101 includes information of multiple services, each service information in the offloading indication message may be a sequence number of a corresponding service information in the offloading request message.

And if the access equipment rejects the service distribution in the distribution request according to the strategy, the distribution instruction of the WLAN distribution indication message received by the user terminal is a service distribution rejection identifier. The reject traffic offload flag may also be implicitly indicated by a specific message name.

And if the access equipment agrees to distribute the service in the request to the WLAN according to the strategy, but cannot find a proper WLAN temporarily, the distribution instruction in the WLAN distribution indication message received by the user terminal is the suspended service identifier. The suspended service identity may also be implicitly indicated by a specific message name.

For each traffic in the wireless network offloading request that is desired to be offloaded to the WLAN, the offloading instruction may be one of three enumerated values { success, rejection, suspend }, or may be identified by two bits, for example, 00, 01, 10 identify success, rejection, and suspend, respectively.

Once the access device sends the WLAN offload indication message containing the suspended service identifier to the user terminal, the access device will continuously try to find the WLAN with the suspended service carrying capability until finding the WLAN with the suspended service carrying capability or receiving the message of canceling the wireless network offload of the suspended service. And sending a WLAN offload indication message to the user terminal once the WLAN with the capacity of carrying the suspended service is found.

Once the user terminal receives the WLAN offloading indication message containing the suspended service identifier, if the user terminal still does not receive the offloading command to the WLAN when the corresponding service is ended, the user terminal sends a WLAN offloading cancellation message containing service information to the access device, so as to avoid the access device from continuously attempting to offload the service to the WLAN. The other way is as follows: after the access equipment sends a WLAN distribution indication message containing a suspended service identifier to the user terminal, the access equipment does not continuously try to find a WLAN with the suspended service bearing capacity; once the user terminal receives the WLAN offloading indication message containing the suspended service identifier, the user terminal periodically sends a WLAN offloading request message to the access device before the corresponding service is finished, and the access device processes the WLAN offloading request message according to step S102 after receiving the WLAN offloading request message.

And the user terminal executes corresponding WLAN access operation according to the WLAN shunting indication message returned by the access equipment. After the WLAN access operation is executed, a message containing a WLAN access result is sent to the access equipment so as to inform the access equipment whether the WLAN access is successful or not. When the wireless network offloading request is sent by the core network device, the access device also sends a corresponding WLAN access result message to the core network device to notify the core network device whether the WLAN access is successful.

Once a service is successfully offloaded to the WLAN, if the 3GPP cellular network establishes a separate EPS bearer for the service, the access device may initiate (or user terminal initiates) a bearer deletion procedure to delete the corresponding EPS bearer or a portion thereof. The WLAN access result message with successfully offloaded service identity must contain the EPS Bearer identity (Bearer ID) if a Bearer deletion procedure is to be initiated accordingly. And if the WLAN participating in the shunting and the 3GPP network connected with the user terminal have no data plane anchor point, deleting the corresponding whole EPS bearing. If the WLAN participating in the offloading and the 3GPP network connected with the user terminal have the data plane anchor point, deleting the part below the data plane anchor point. For example, if the data participating in offloading the WLAN is accessed to the internet through the base station of the radio access network, only the air interface portion of the corresponding bearer, that is, the portion of the EPS bearer between the base station and the user terminal, is deleted. The WLAN access result message sent by the access device to the core network device contains a "WLAN offload" cause value.

It should be particularly noted that, in another implementation manner, the service-based WLAN offloading may also be initiated by the access device at the RAN end itself, for example, when the load at the RAN side is too heavy, the RAN end performs WLAN offloading judgment to find out a service suitable for WLAN offloading, and sends a wireless network offloading request carrying the service information through the access device at the RAN end itself to initiate a wireless network offloading process. After detecting a wireless network shunting request initiated by the access device, the access device generates a shunting indication message of corresponding services by selecting a proper user terminal, a proper service and a proper WLAN, and sends the shunting indication message to the corresponding user terminal so as to indicate the corresponding user terminal to shunt the corresponding services to the corresponding WLAN.

Through the explanation of the above embodiments, it can be understood that in the present application, by sending a WLAN offloading request carrying service information to an access device at a RAN end, a RAN end controls a wireless network to offload to a WLAN. Because the RAN end can more easily obtain the load conditions of the RAN and the WLAN, the quality of an air interface channel and other information, a proper WLAN can be selected according to the information and the service information in the shunting request, so that the user terminal can be accessed to the WLAN which can bear the shunting request service, and the use experience of the wireless network of the user is effectively improved.

Referring to fig. 3, fig. 3 is a flowchart of another embodiment of a offloading method of a wireless network according to the present invention, where the offloading method of the wireless network according to the present embodiment is described in the above-mentioned perspective of a user equipment, and the offloading method of the wireless network according to the present embodiment includes:

step S201: and the user terminal sends a wireless network shunting request carrying service information to the access equipment.

And if the user terminal wants to distribute the service to the WLAN, the user terminal carries the service information to send a wireless network distribution request to the access equipment. The wireless network offloading request is sent in the form of a message, and the request message may include service information of the request offloading, such as a quintuple of a TCP/UDP IP header, a TFT, an application identifier, and the like. A quintuple is a set of five quantities, source IP address, source port, destination IP address, destination port, and transport layer protocol number. For example: 192.168.1.1, 0000, TCP, 21.14.88.76, 80 form a quintuple.

The user terminal can judge whether a certain service needs to be shunted to the WLAN or not through a shunting strategy pre-configured by the user terminal or a shunting strategy obtained from an ANDSF entity, and if so, a wireless network shunting request message is sent. If the service information carried in the offloading request message is TFT, the message needs to be sent after the user terminal obtains the TFT given by the network in the EPS bearer establishment process. The service information contained in the message may comprise a plurality of pieces. The message may also reuse existing messages, such as RRC connection setup complete message, indicating a request for WLAN offloading by adding a parameter.

And step S202, receiving the distribution indication message returned by the access equipment.

After receiving a wireless network offloading request of a user terminal, the access device determines whether a corresponding service in the offloading request can be offloaded to the WLAN according to an offloading policy provisioned by the access device or an offloading policy obtained from an ANDSF entity. If so, a suitable network, i.e. a WLAN capable of carrying the traffic in the offload request, is selected again. And after finding a suitable network, the access equipment sends a shunting indication message to the user terminal.

The user terminal receives a shunting indication message returned by the access equipment, wherein the shunting indication message comprises service information requesting shunting and a shunting instruction, and the shunting instruction comprises one of a successful shunting service identifier, a refusing shunting service identifier or a suspending service identifier.

If the offloading instruction contained in the offloading indication message is a successful offloading service identifier, the offloading indication message further includes information of a WLAN carrying offloading. The WLAN information is BSSID or SSID of a designated WLAN or MAC address or channel frequency of an AP, etc.

Specific contents and forms of the diversion indication message may refer to the related description of the embodiment in fig. 2, and are not described herein again.

Step S203: and executing corresponding shunting operation according to the shunting indication message.

And the user terminal executes corresponding WLAN access operation according to the WLAN shunting indication message returned by the access equipment. After performing the WLAN access operation, a message containing a WLAN access result is sent to the access device. To inform the access device whether the WLAN access was successful. When the wireless network offloading request is sent by the core network device, the access device also sends a corresponding WLAN access result message to the core network device to notify the core network device whether the WLAN access is successful.

Once the user terminal receives the WLAN offloading indication message containing the suspended service identifier, if the user terminal still does not receive the offloading command to the WLAN when the corresponding service is ended, the user terminal sends a WLAN offloading cancellation message containing service information to the access device, so as to avoid the access device from continuously attempting to offload the service to the WLAN. The other way is as follows: after the access equipment sends a WLAN distribution indication message containing a suspended service identifier to the user terminal, the access equipment does not continuously try to find a WLAN with the suspended service bearing capacity; once the user terminal receives the WLAN offloading indication message containing the suspended service identifier, the user terminal periodically sends a WLAN offloading request message to the access device before the corresponding service is finished.

Once a service is successfully offloaded to the WLAN, if the 3GPP cellular network establishes a separate EPS bearer for the service, the ue may initiate (or may of course be initiated by the access device) a bearer deletion procedure to delete the corresponding EPS bearer or a part thereof. The WLAN access result message with successfully offloaded service identity must contain the EPS Bearer identity (Bearer ID) if a Bearer deletion procedure is to be initiated accordingly. And if the WLAN participating in the shunting and the 3GPP network connected with the user terminal have no data plane anchor point, deleting the corresponding whole EPS bearing. If the WLAN participating in the offloading and the 3GPP network connected with the user terminal have the data plane anchor point, deleting the part below the data plane anchor point. For example, if the data participating in offloading the WLAN is accessed to the internet through the base station of the radio access network, only the air interface portion of the corresponding bearer, that is, the portion of the EPS bearer between the base station and the user terminal, is deleted. The WLAN access result message sent by the access device to the core network device contains a "WLAN offload" cause value.

The method for offloading a wireless network according to the present application may initiate an offloading request to an access device of a radio access network through a user terminal or a core network device, and the following implementation of mutual interaction performed by the user terminal, the access device, and the core network device in an offloading method of the wireless network may refer to schematic diagrams of fig. 4 and 5, where fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of an implementation process of an offloading method of a wireless network in which the user terminal initiates an offloading request to the access device of the radio access network, and fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an implementation process of an offloading method of a wireless network in which the core network device initiates an offloading request to the access device of the radio access network.

Referring to fig. 4, when a user terminal initiates a wireless network offloading request to an access device of a wireless access network, an offloading method of the wireless network includes the following steps:

the method comprises the following steps: a user terminal sends a WLAN shunting request message containing service information to access equipment of a wireless access network;

step two: the wireless access network selects a proper WLAN network and sends a WLAN shunting indication message to the terminal;

step three: after the user terminal accesses the designated WLAN network, the user terminal sends a WLAN access result message containing WLAN access success or failure indication to the wireless access network.

The detailed implementation process of each step can be referred to the description of the embodiment shown in fig. 2 and fig. 3, and is not described herein again.

Referring to fig. 5, when a core network device initiates a radio network offloading request to an access device of a radio access network, a offloading method of a radio network includes the following steps:

the method comprises the following steps: the core network equipment sends a WLAN shunting request message containing service information to access equipment of a wireless access network;

step two: the access equipment of the wireless access network selects a proper WLAN network and sends a WLAN shunting indication message to the user terminal;

step three: after the user terminal accesses the designated WLAN network, the user terminal sends a WLAN access result message containing WLAN access success or failure indication to the access equipment of the wireless access network.

Step four: and the access equipment of the wireless access network sends a WLAN shunting result message containing WLAN shunting success or failure indication to the core network equipment.

For details of the implementation of the above steps, please refer to the related description of the embodiments shown in fig. 2 and fig. 3, which is not repeated herein.

It should be noted that, the offloading method of the wireless network of the present application also has an implementation manner, and the RAN-side access device determines whether to need WLAN offloading according to an offloading policy of the whole user level, load conditions of the 3GPP RAN and the WLAN, quality of an air interface channel, and the like. And if so, issuing a WLAN offload indication message to the user terminal. The indication message contains one or more WLAN network identifications and a traffic offload policy of the user terminal. The user terminal judges whether the service being transmitted or the service to be initiated is suitable for being distributed to the WLAN according to the service distribution strategy issued by the access equipment. If so, the corresponding traffic is offloaded to the selected WLAN in the assignment or list. By the mode, the access equipment initiates a service distribution process according to the load conditions of the 3GPP RAN and the WLAN, the quality of an air interface channel and the like, simultaneously issues a WLAN distribution indication containing a service distribution strategy to the user terminal, controls the WLAN distribution through the user terminal, and can avoid the technical problem that the user terminal is accessed to the WLAN with overload or non-ideal signal quality. Meanwhile, when the service needs to be distributed, the user terminal does not need to send service information to the access equipment, and the user terminal directly determines which service needs to be distributed and which WLAN is distributed, so that the service WLAN distribution process is more rapid and convenient.

Referring to fig. 6, a flow chart of an embodiment of a offloading method of a wireless network according to the present application is shown, where the offloading method of the wireless network includes:

step S301: starting;

step S302: the user terminal judges whether the service to be distributed is suitable for distributing to the WLAN according to the service distribution strategy issued by the access equipment;

and the RAN end access equipment determines whether WLAN shunting is needed or not according to the shunting strategy of the whole user level, the load conditions of the 3GPP RAN and the WLAN, the quality of an air interface channel and the like. And if so, issuing a WLAN offload indication message to the user terminal. The indication message contains one or more WLAN network identifications and a traffic offload policy of the user terminal.

If the user terminal wants to distribute the service to the WLAN, it determines whether the service to be distributed is suitable for distributing to the WLAN according to the service distribution policy issued by the access device, if so, step S303 is performed, otherwise, step S305 is performed.

Step S303: according to the service distribution strategy and the service information needing distribution, finding a WLAN capable of bearing the service needing distribution;

when the service to be distributed is suitable for being distributed to the WLAN, the WLAN capable of bearing the service to be distributed is selected according to the service information to be distributed and the service distribution strategy issued by the access equipment.

Step S304: accessing the service to be distributed to the corresponding WLAN;

after finding the WLAN capable of bearing the service to be shunted, the access point accesses the service to be shunted to the corresponding WLAN, and the WLAN shunting process of the service is completed. And sending a WLAN access result message containing WLAN access success or failure indication to the access equipment of the wireless access network.

If the access equipment of the wireless access network does not need the user terminal to perform WLAN offload any more (including before the WLAN access result message is received), a WLAN offload cancellation message is sent to the user terminal.

Step S305: traffic is not shunted.

Referring to fig. 7, fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of an access device of the present application, where the access device 200 includes a detection module 11, a selection module 12, and a sending module 13, where:

the detection module 11 is configured to detect a wireless network offloading request carrying service information;

if the user terminal wants to distribute the service to the WLAN, the user terminal carries the service information and sends a wireless network distribution request to the access equipment of the wireless access network terminal. The wireless network offloading request is sent in the form of a message, and the request message may include service information of the offloading request, such as a quintuple of a TCP/UDPIP header, a TFT, an application identifier, and the like. A quintuple is a set of five quantities, source IP address, source port, destination IP address, destination port, and transport layer protocol number. For example: 192.168.1.1, 0000, TCP, 21.14.88.76, 80 form a quintuple.

The user terminal can judge whether a certain service needs to be shunted to the WLAN or not through a shunting strategy pre-configured by the user terminal or a shunting strategy obtained from an ANDSF entity, and if so, a wireless network shunting request message is sent. If the service information carried in the offloading request message is TFT, the message needs to be sent after the user terminal obtains the TFT given by the network in the EPS bearer establishment process. The service information contained in the message may comprise a plurality of pieces. The message may also reuse existing messages, such as the RRC connection setup complete message, indicating a request for WLAN offloading by adding a parameter.

In addition, a offloading request may be sent to the access device through the core network device. After receiving a request for establishing an EPS bearer for a new service or modifying the EPS bearer, a core network device, such as a PDN-GW or a PCRF, sends a wireless network offloading request message to an access device before initiating corresponding EPS bearer establishment/modification or after corresponding EPS bearer establishment/modification. The offloading request message includes service information, and the detailed description of the service information refers to the related description in the offloading request message sent by the user terminal. The service information contained in the message may also contain a plurality of pieces. The message may also reuse existing messages, such as EPS bearer setup request messages, to indicate a request for WLAN offloading by adding a parameter.

Another way is that the access device itself initiates a WLAN offloading process, for example, when the load on the RAN side is too heavy, the RAN side performs WLAN offloading judgment to find out a service suitable for WLAN offloading, and sends a wireless network offloading request carrying information of the service through the access device of the RAN side itself to initiate the wireless network offloading process.

Based on the above implementation manner, the detection module 11 may detect a wireless network offloading request carrying service information sent by a user terminal or a core network device; or detecting a wireless network shunting request carrying service information initiated by the wireless network shunting request.

When the service in the offloading request is suitable for offloading to the WLAN, the selection module 12 selects the WLAN with the service capability in the bearer request, generates a corresponding offloading indication message, and outputs the offloading indication message to the sending module 13;

after detecting the wireless network offloading request, the detection module 11 determines whether the corresponding service in the offloading request can be offloaded to the WLAN according to an offloading policy provisioned by itself and/or an offloading policy obtained from an ANDSF entity. If so, a suitable network, i.e. a WLAN capable of carrying the traffic in the offload request, is selected again.

In order to select a suitable WLAN, on one hand, the selection module 12 may determine, through the WLAN quality, load, etc. reported by the ue, or 3GPP network measurement information, which WLAN(s) are under coverage, which WLAN's air interface quality and load are more suitable for offloading the traffic.

On the other hand, the selection module 12 may also select a suitable WLAN by interacting with WLANs to obtain information about which WLAN(s) the user terminal is under coverage, and the air interface quality and load of these WLANs. If the WLAN is connected to the core network via a 3GPP RAN, the selection module 12 also considers the load of the 3GPP RAN, in particular the load situation between the 3GPP RAN and the backhaul of the core network, to select a suitable WLAN.

After selecting a suitable WLAN, a offloading indication message corresponding to the service offloading is generated, and the offloading indication message is output to the sending module 13.

The sending module 13 is configured to send a offloading indication message to the user terminal, so that the user terminal executes a corresponding WLAN access operation according to the offloading indication message;

the sending module 13 sends a WLAN offloading instruction message to the user terminal, where the offloading instruction message includes service information and an offloading instruction requesting offloading, and the offloading instruction includes one of a successful offloading service identifier, a denial offloading service identifier, or a suspension service identifier.

The traffic information requesting offloading in the offloading indication message may be traffic information assigned offloading to the WLAN, such as a five-tuple of a TCP/UDP IP header of the corresponding traffic, a TFT, an application identifier, or a message transaction identifier. If the wireless network offloading request detected by the detection module 11 includes information of multiple services, each service information in the offloading indication message may be a sequence number of a corresponding service information in the offloading request message.

If the access device agrees to offload the service in the request to the WLAN according to the policy, but the selection module 12 cannot find a suitable WLAN temporarily, the offload instruction in the WLAN offload indication message received by the user terminal is the suspended service identifier. The suspended service identity may also be implicitly indicated by a specific message name.

Once the sending module 13 sends the WLAN offload indication message containing the suspended service identifier to the user terminal, the selecting module 12 will continuously try to find the WLAN with the capability of carrying the suspended service until finding the WLAN with the capability of carrying the suspended service or receiving the message of canceling the wireless network offload of the suspended service. Once the selection module 12 finds a WLAN with the capability of carrying the suspended traffic, a WLAN offloading indication message is sent to the user terminal through the sending module 13.

Once the user terminal receives the WLAN offloading indication message containing the suspended service identifier, if the user terminal still does not receive the offloading command to the WLAN when the corresponding service is ended, the user terminal sends a WLAN offloading cancellation message containing service information to the access device, so as to avoid the access device from continuously attempting to offload the service to the WLAN. The other way is as follows: after the sending module 13 sends the WLAN offload indication message containing the suspended service identifier to the user terminal, the selecting module 12 does not continuously try to find the WLAN with the capability of bearing the suspended service; once the user terminal receives the WLAN offloading indication message containing the suspended service identifier, the user terminal periodically sends a WLAN offloading request message to the access device before the corresponding service is ended, and the detection module 11 processes the WLAN offloading request message in the above manner as long as it detects the WLAN offloading request message.

Referring to fig. 8, fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of an access device in the present application, where the access device includes a detection module 11, a selection module 12, a sending module 13, a judgment module 14, a receiving module 15, and a deletion module 16, where:

after detecting a wireless network offloading request carrying service information, the detection module 11 sends the wireless network offloading request to the determination module 14, and the determination module 14 is configured to determine whether a service in the request is suitable for offloading to the WLAN according to an offloading policy preconfigured in the wireless access network and/or obtained from an automatic network discovery and selection functional entity. After determining that the requested traffic is suitable for offloading to the WLAN, the selection module 12 is notified to perform WLAN selection.

and after executing the WLAN access operation according to the shunting indication message, the user terminal sends a message containing a WLAN access result to the access equipment so as to inform the access equipment whether the WLAN is successfully accessed.

The receiving module 15 is configured to receive a WLAN access result message returned by the user terminal or the WLAN access point.

When the wireless network offloading request is sent by the core network device, the receiving module 15 receives the access result message, and then sends the corresponding WLAN access result message to the core network device through the sending module 13, so as to notify the core network device whether the WLAN access is successful.

Once a service is successfully offloaded to the WLAN, if the 3GPP cellular network establishes a separate EPS bearer for the service, the access device may initiate (or user terminal initiates) a bearer deletion procedure to delete the corresponding EPS bearer or a portion thereof. If a Bearer deletion procedure is to be initiated accordingly, the receiving module 15 must include an EPS Bearer identity (Bearer ID) in the WLAN access result message containing the successfully split service identity.

The deleting module 16 is configured to initiate an operation of deleting a corresponding evolved packet system bearer according to the evolved packet system bearer identifier when the access result message carries the evolved packet system bearer identifier.

If the access result message received by the receiving module 15 carries the evolved packet system bearer identifier, the deleting module 16 initiates an operation of deleting the corresponding evolved packet system bearer according to the evolved packet system bearer identifier.

If the WLAN participating in offloading and the 3GPP network to which the ue is connected do not have a data plane anchor, the deleting module 16 deletes the corresponding whole EPS bearer. If the WLAN participating in offloading and the 3GPP network to which the ue is connected have a data plane anchor, the deletion module 16 deletes the portion below the data plane anchor. For example, if the data participating in offloading the WLAN is accessed to the internet through the base station of the radio access network, only the air interface portion of the corresponding bearer, that is, the portion of the EPS bearer between the base station and the user terminal, is deleted.

Referring to fig. 9, fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a user terminal according to the present application, where the user terminal 100 includes a request module 21, a receiving module 22, and a control module 23, where:

the request module 21 is configured to send a wireless network offloading request carrying service information to the access device;

if the user terminal wants to distribute the service to the WLAN, the user terminal sends a wireless network distribution request to the access device through the request module 21 carrying the service information. The wireless network offloading request is sent in the form of a message, and the request message may include service information of the offloading request, such as a quintuple of a TCP/UDPIP header, a TFT, an application identifier, and the like. A quintuple is a set of five quantities, source IP address, source port, destination IP address, destination port, and transport layer protocol number. For example: 192.168.1.1, 0000, TCP, 21.14.88.76, 80 form a quintuple.

The user terminal may determine whether a service needs to be offloaded to the WLAN through an offloading policy preconfigured by the user terminal or an offloading policy obtained from the ANDSF entity, and if so, send a wireless network offloading request message through the request module 21. If the service information carried in the offloading request message is TFT, the message needs to be sent after the user terminal obtains the TFT given by the network in the EPS bearer establishment process. The service information contained in the message may comprise a plurality of pieces. The message may also reuse existing messages, such as RRC connection setup complete message, indicating a request for WLAN offloading by adding a parameter.

The receiving module 22 is configured to receive a shunting indication message returned by the access device, and output the shunting indication message to the control module 23;

the receiving module 22 receives a distribution indication message returned by the access device, where the distribution indication message includes service information and a distribution instruction requesting distribution, and the distribution instruction includes one of a successful distribution service identifier, a rejection distribution service identifier, or a suspend service identifier.

The control module 23 is configured to execute a corresponding offloading operation according to the offloading indication message.

The control module 23 performs a offloading operation according to the offloading indication message, and when an offloading instruction included in the offloading indication message is a successful offloading service identifier, the control module 23 accesses the WLAN carrying the offloading through the access point according to the WLAN offloading indication message, and sends an access result message to the access device.

After successfully shunting the service to the WLAN, if the wireless network establishes an EPS bearer for the service requesting the shunting, the control module 23 sends an access result message including an EPS bearer deletion instruction to the access device, where the access result message includes an evolved packet system bearer identifier.

Referring to fig. 10, fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of the access device of the present application, where the access device 200 of the present embodiment includes: processor 31, receiver 32, transmitter 33; wherein,

a receiver 32, configured to receive a wireless network offloading request carrying service information, and output the wireless network offloading request to the processor 31;

a processor 31, configured to select a wireless local area network with a capability of carrying the service in the request when the service in the offloading request is suitable for offloading to the wireless local area network, generate a corresponding offloading indication message, and output the offloading indication message to the transmitter 33;

a transmitter 33, configured to send the offloading indication message to the user terminal, so that the user terminal performs a corresponding wlan access operation according to the offloading indication message.

Further, the access device 200 may further include a random access memory 34, a read only memory 35, a bus 36, and a network interface unit 37. The processor 31 is coupled to the receiver 32, the transmitter 33, the random access memory 34, the read only memory 35 and the network interface unit 37 through a bus 36.

In this embodiment, when the access device 200 needs to be operated, the access device 200 is booted to enter a normal operation state by starting a bootloader boot system in a basic input/output system or an embedded system that is solidified in the rom 35. After the network traffic processing device enters a normal operation state, an application and an operating system are run in the random access memory 34, receiving data from the network or transmitting data to the network, so that:

the receiver 32 receives a wireless network offloading request carrying service information, and outputs the wireless network offloading request to the processor 31;

when the service in the offloading request is suitable for offloading to a wireless local area network, the processor 31 selects the wireless local area network with the capability of carrying the service in the request, generates a corresponding offloading indication message, and outputs the offloading indication message to the transmitter 33;

The processor 31 may determine whether the service in the request is suitable for offloading to the WLAN according to an offloading policy preconfigured in the radio access network and/or obtained from the automatic network discovery and selection functional entity, and when the service in the request is suitable for offloading to the WLAN, select the WLAN with the service capability of bearing the request, generate a corresponding offloading indication message, and output the offloading indication message to the transmitter 33.

In this embodiment, the processor 31 may be a central processing unit CPU, or an application Specific Integrated circuit asic (application Specific Integrated circuit), or one or more Integrated circuits configured to implement the embodiments of the present application.

When the user terminal successfully shunts the service to the WLAN according to the shunting indication message, the receiver 32 further receives an access result message returned by the user terminal or the WLAN access point, and when the access result message carries the EPS bearer identifier, the processor 31 further initiates an operation of deleting the corresponding evolved packet system bearer according to the EPS bearer identifier.

Referring to fig. 11, fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another embodiment of a user terminal in the present application, where the user terminal 100 in the present embodiment includes: processor 41, receiver 42, transmitter 43; wherein,

a transmitter 43, configured to send a wireless network offloading request carrying service information to an access device;

a receiver 42, configured to receive the offloading indication message returned from the access device, and output the offloading indication message to the processor 41;

and the processor 41 is configured to execute a corresponding offloading operation according to the offloading indication message.

Further, the user terminal 100 may further include a random access memory 44, a read only memory 45, and a bus 46. The processor 41 is coupled to the receiver 42, the transmitter 43, the random access memory 44 and the read only memory 45 through a bus 46. When the user terminal 100 needs to be operated, the user terminal 100 is booted to enter a normal operation state by starting a bootloader boot system in a basic input/output system or an embedded system that is solidified in the rom 45. After the user terminal 100 enters the normal operation state, the application program and the operating system are executed in the random access memory 44, and the following are caused to:

the transmitter 43 transmits a wireless network offloading request carrying service information to the access device;

the receiver 42 receives the offloading indication message returned from the access device and outputs the offloading indication message to the processor 41;

the processor 41 executes a corresponding shunting operation according to the shunting indication message.

The wireless network offloading request is sent in a message form, and the request message may include service information of the request offloading, such as a quintuple of a TCP/UDP IP header, a TFT, an application identifier, and the like. A quintuple is a set of five quantities, source IP address, source port, destination IP address, destination port, and transport layer protocol number. For example: 192.168.1.1, 0000, TCP, 21.14.88.76, 80 form a quintuple.

The shunting indication message comprises service information requesting shunting and a shunting instruction, wherein the shunting instruction comprises one of a successful shunting service identifier, a refusing shunting service identifier or a suspending service identifier.

The processor 41 performs a offloading operation according to the offloading indication message, for example, when an offloading instruction included in the offloading indication message is a successful offloading service identifier, the processor 41 accesses the WLAN carrying offloading through the access point according to the WLAN offloading indication message, and sends an access result message to the access device.

After successfully shunting the service to the WLAN, if the wireless network establishes an EPS bearer for the service requesting for shunting, the processor 41 sends an access result message including an EPS bearer deletion instruction to the access device, where the access result message includes an evolved packet system bearer identifier.

According to the above access device and the user terminal, the present application further provides a network system, where the network system includes the access device 200 and the user terminal 100, where communication is implemented between the access device 200 and the user terminal 100, and for a specific implementation process, please refer to fig. 1 and related description, and for a specific function implementation of the access device 200 and the user terminal 100, please refer to description of embodiments related to fig. 2 to fig. 11, which is not described herein again.

According to the technical scheme, the wireless network is controlled to be shunted to the WLAN through the RAN end by sending the WLAN shunting request carrying the service information to the access equipment of the RAN end. Because the RAN end can more easily obtain the load conditions of the RAN and the WLAN, the quality of an air interface channel and other information, a proper WLAN can be selected according to the information and the service information in the shunting request, so that the user terminal can be accessed to the WLAN which can bear the shunting request service, and the use experience of the wireless network of the user is effectively improved.

In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the above-described apparatus embodiments are merely illustrative, and for example, the division of the modules or units is only one logical division, and other divisions may be realized in practice, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interfaces, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one place, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the embodiment.

In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the present application may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit. The integrated unit can be realized in a form of hardware, and can also be realized in a form of a software functional unit.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present application may be substantially implemented or contributed by the prior art, or all or part of the technical solution may be embodied in a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, or the like) or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the method according to the embodiments of the present application. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: a U-disk, a removable hard disk, a Read-Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and other various media capable of storing program codes.

The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating embodiments of the present application and is not intended to limit the scope of the present application, and all modifications of equivalent structures and equivalent processes, which are made by the contents of the specification and the drawings of the present application or are directly or indirectly applied to other related technical fields, are also included in the scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for offloading a wireless network, comprising:

the access equipment detects a wireless network shunting request carrying service information sent by a user terminal or core network equipment, or the access equipment detects a wireless network shunting request carrying service information initiated by the access equipment;

if the service in the shunting request is suitable for shunting to a wireless local area network, selecting the wireless local area network with the service capacity of bearing the request, and generating a corresponding shunting indication message;

sending the shunting indication message to a user terminal so that the user terminal executes corresponding wireless local area network access operation according to the shunting indication message;

the shunting indication message comprises service information requesting shunting and a shunting instruction, wherein the shunting instruction comprises one of a successful shunting service identifier, a refusing shunting service identifier or a suspending service identifier;

if the wireless network offloading request is sent by the user terminal, before the wireless network offloading request is sent by the user terminal, the user terminal judges whether the service in the wireless network offloading request needs to be offloaded to a wireless local area network or not through an offloading policy pre-configured by the user terminal or an offloading policy obtained from an automatic network discovery and selection functional entity, and if so, the wireless network offloading request is sent.

2. The method of claim 1,

if the shunting instruction comprises the successful shunting service identification, the shunting indication message also comprises wireless local area network information for bearing shunting.

3. The method of claim 2,

the wireless local area network information of the bearer offload includes at least one of a basic service set identifier, a medium access control address of an access point, and a channel frequency of the wireless local area network of the bearer offload.

4. The method of claim 1,

if the offloading instruction includes a suspended service identifier, after the step of sending an offloading instruction message to the user equipment, the method further includes:

the access device continuously tries to find the wireless local area network with the capacity of bearing the suspended service until finding the wireless local area network with the capacity of bearing the suspended service or receiving a message of canceling the wireless network shunt of the suspended service.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4,

after the step of sending the offloading indication message to the user equipment, the method further includes:

and receiving a wireless local area network access result message returned by the user terminal or the wireless local area network access point.

6. The method of claim 5,

after the step of receiving the wlan access result message returned by the ue or the wlan access point, the method further includes:

and if the access result message carries an evolved packet system bearer identifier, initiating an operation of deleting the corresponding evolved packet system bearer according to the evolved packet system bearer identifier.

7. The method of claim 1,

the access device is any one of a wireless communication base station, a network controller or an access point of a wireless local area network.

8. The method of claim 1,

before the step of selecting the wireless local area network with the service bearing capability if the service in the request is suitable for being distributed to the wireless local area network, the method further includes:

and the access equipment judges whether the service in the request is suitable for being distributed to the wireless local area network or not according to a distribution strategy which is pre-configured by the wireless access network and/or is obtained from an automatic network discovery and selection functional entity.

9. The method of claim 1,

the service information comprises at least one of a quintuple of a transmission control protocol/user data packet protocol (IP) header, a service flow template and an application identifier.

10. A offloading method for a wireless network, comprising,

a user terminal sends a wireless network shunting request carrying service information to access equipment;

receiving a distribution indication message returned by the access equipment;

executing corresponding shunting operation according to the shunting indication message;

before the user terminal sends the wireless network offloading request, the user terminal judges whether the service in the wireless network offloading request needs to be offloaded to a wireless local area network or not through an offloading policy pre-configured by the user terminal or an offloading policy obtained from an automatic network discovery and selection functional entity, and sends the wireless network offloading request if the service needs to be offloaded.

11. The method of claim 10,

if the shunting instruction comprises a successful shunting service identifier, the shunting indication message also comprises wireless local area network information for bearing shunting;

the step of executing the corresponding shunting operation according to the shunting indication message comprises the following steps:

the user terminal accesses the wireless local area network carrying the shunting through an access point according to the wireless local area network shunting indication message;

and sending an access result message to the access equipment.

12. The method of claim 11,

if the wireless network establishes an evolved packet system bearer for the service requesting the offloading, the step of sending an access result message to the access device includes:

and sending an access result message including the instruction for deleting the bearer of the evolved packet system to the access equipment, wherein the access result message contains an identifier of the bearer of the evolved packet system.

13. An access device, comprising a detection module, a selection module, and a transmission module, wherein:

the detection module is used for detecting a wireless network shunting request carrying service information;

when the service in the shunting request is suitable for shunting to a wireless local area network, the selection module selects the wireless local area network with the service capacity of bearing the request, generates a corresponding shunting indication message and outputs the shunting indication message to the sending module;

the sending module is used for sending the shunting indication message to a user terminal so that the user terminal executes corresponding wireless local area network access operation according to the shunting indication message;

the shunting indication message comprises service information requesting shunting and a shunting instruction, wherein the shunting instruction comprises one of a successful shunting service identifier, a refusing shunting service identifier or a suspending service identifier

The wireless network shunting request is sent by a user terminal, core network equipment or access equipment, before the wireless network shunting request is sent by the user terminal, the user terminal judges whether the service in the wireless network shunting request needs to be shunted to a wireless local area network or not through a self-prepared shunting strategy or a shunting strategy obtained from an automatic network discovery and selection functional entity, and if the service needs to be shunted to the wireless local area network, the wireless network shunting request is sent.

14. The access device of claim 13,

the access device also comprises a receiving module used for receiving the wireless local area network access result message returned by the user terminal or the wireless local area network access point.

15. The access device of claim 14,

the access device further includes a deleting module, configured to initiate an operation of deleting a corresponding evolved packet system bearer according to the evolved packet system bearer identifier when the access result message carries the evolved packet system bearer identifier.

16. The access device according to any one of claims 13-15,

17. The access device according to any one of claims 13-15,

the access device further comprises a judging module for judging whether the service in the request is suitable for being distributed to the wireless local area network according to a distribution strategy which is pre-configured by the wireless access network and/or obtained from an automatic network discovery and selection functional entity.

18. A user terminal, comprising a request module, a receiving module and a control module, wherein:

the request module is used for sending a wireless network shunting request carrying service information to the access equipment;

the receiving module is used for receiving the shunting indication message returned by the access equipment and outputting the shunting indication message to the control module;

the control module is used for executing corresponding shunting operation according to the shunting indication message;

before the request module sends the wireless network offloading request, the user terminal determines whether the service in the wireless network offloading request needs to be offloaded to a wireless local area network or not through an offloading policy pre-configured by the user terminal or an offloading policy obtained from an automatic network discovery and selection functional entity, and sends the wireless network offloading request if necessary.

19. The user terminal of claim 18,

the control module is used for accessing the wireless local area network carrying the shunting through an access point according to the wireless local area network shunting indication message and sending an access result message to the access equipment.

20. The user terminal of claim 19,

if the wireless network establishes an evolved packet system bearer for the service requesting for offloading, the control module is configured to send an access result message including an instruction to delete the evolved packet system bearer to the access device, where the access result message includes an evolved packet system bearer identifier.