CN104969653A

CN104969653A - Establishment method and device for wireless return link

Info

Publication number: CN104969653A
Application number: CN201380002072.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 曹振臻; 万蕾; 熊新; 陈卓
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2013-04-07
Filing date: 2013-04-07
Publication date: 2015-10-07
Anticipated expiration: 2033-04-07
Also published as: CN104969653B

Abstract

The invention provides a method and apparatus for establishing a wireless return link. The method comprises a control interface connection for establishing a wireless return connection on a second access network device and a measurement report receiving the first access network device and a control surface and a user interface for the first access network device to receive the first access network device to transmit the control plane and the user's face. The embodiment of the invention realizes the separation of the user plane and the control surface of the wireless return.

Description

Method and equipment for establishing wireless backhaul link

Technical Field

The present invention relates to communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and a device for establishing a wireless backhaul link.

Background

In order to cope with the increase of mobile data traffic, operators propose a scenario of small station deployment. The high-density deployment of the small stations brings difficulty to operators to deploy wired backhaul (backhaul) networks, so that the small stations are considered to adopt wireless backhaul links, that is, the small stations are connected with a core network through wireless links. These small stations connected to the core network through a wireless link may be referred to as wireless Relay Nodes (RNs), and when the RNs communicate with a Mobile Management Entity (MME) or a Serving Gateway (S-GW) of the core network, a donor base station (DeNB) may serve as a proxy node of the MME or S-GW, and the RNs communicate with the MME or S-GW through the DeNB. When the RN communicates with the DeNB, the RN can be in single hop or multi-hop, the single hop means that the RN directly establishes a wireless link with the DeNB, and the multi-hop means that the RN establishes a wireless link with the DeNB through other RNs.

In the prior art, in a multi-hop scenario, a control plane (i.e., S1-MME plane) and a user plane (i.e., S1-U plane) of backhaul of an RN are not separated, that is, the control plane and the user plane may both be single-hop or the control plane and the user plane may both be multi-hop. However, if both of them adopt the multi-hop method, the signaling transmission delay of the control plane is large, which affects the system performance; if both adopt the single-hop mode, the data transmission efficiency of the user plane is poor.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, embodiments of the present invention provide a method and an apparatus for establishing a wireless backhaul link, so as to solve a problem in the prior art caused by non-separation of a user plane and a control plane of a wireless backhaul.

In a first aspect, a wireless backhaul link establishment method is provided, including:

the second access network equipment and the first access network equipment establish control plane connection of a wireless backhaul;

the second access network device receives a measurement report sent by the first access network device, and sends a switching request to the first access network device according to the measurement report, wherein the switching request is used for indicating the first access network device to separate a control plane and a user plane of a wireless backhaul;

and the second access network equipment receives a switching response sent by the first access network equipment, wherein the switching response is sent after the first access network equipment separates a control plane and a user plane of a wireless backhaul.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second access network device is an access network device for instructing the first access network device to perform user plane handover;

the switching request is a user plane path switching request;

the sending a handover request to the first access network device according to the measurement report includes:

determining to switch the user plane of the wireless backhaul from the second access network device to a third access network device according to the measurement report;

after determining that the user plane of the wireless backhaul is switched from the second access network device to a third access network device, sending a user plane path switching request to the first access network device, where the user plane path switching request includes information of the third access network device, so that the first access network device sends the user plane path switching request to the third access network device according to the information of the third access network device and receives a user plane path switching response sent by the third access network device.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, after the receiving a handover response sent by the first access network device, the method further includes:

and the second access network equipment sends an indication message to the third access network equipment, wherein the indication message is used for indicating the third access network equipment as a proxy node of a service gateway S-GW (serving gateway), so that the third access network equipment can forward user plane data between the first access network equipment and the second access network equipment.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the user plane path switching request sent by the first access network device to the third access network device includes an IP address of the first access network device, so that the third access network device establishes a mapping relationship between the IP address of the first access network device and a C-RNTI of the first access network device according to the IP address of the first access network device and a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI allocated by the third access network device to the first access network device, so that the third access network device forwards user plane data between the first access network device and the second access network device according to the mapping relationship.

With reference to the first aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the second access network device is an access network device that is configured to instruct the first access network device to perform control plane switching;

the switching request is a control plane path switching request;

determining to switch a control plane of a wireless backhaul from the second access network device to a third access network device according to the measurement report;

after determining that a control plane of a wireless backhaul is switched from the second access network device to a third access network device, sending a control plane path switching request to the first access network device, where the control plane path switching request includes information of the third access network device, so that the first access network device sends the control plane path switching request to the third access network device according to the information of the third access network device and receives a user plane path switching response sent by the third access network device.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the third access network device is further configured to serve as a proxy node of a mobility management entity MME; and the number of the first and second groups,

the third access network device is further configured to determine that the second access network device serves as a node with a separated user plane, or determine that a non-second access network device serves as a node with a separated user plane according to the measurement report of the first access network node.

In a second aspect, a method for establishing a wireless backhaul link is provided, including:

the first access network equipment and the second access network equipment establish control plane connection of a wireless backhaul;

the first access network device sends a measurement report to the second access network device and receives a switching request sent by the second access network device, wherein the switching request is sent by the second access network device according to the measurement report;

and the first access network equipment separates the control plane and the user plane of the wireless backhaul according to the switching request, and sends a switching response to the access network equipment after separation.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the second access network device is an access network device for instructing the first access network device to perform user plane handover;

the switching request is a user plane path switching request, the user plane path switching request includes information of the third access network device, and the user plane path switching request is sent after the second access network device determines to switch the user plane of the wireless backhaul from the second access network device to the third access network device according to the measurement report;

the first access network device performs separation of a control plane and a user plane of a wireless backhaul according to the handover request, including:

and the first access network equipment sends a user plane path switching request to the third access network equipment according to the information of the third access network equipment and receives a user plane path switching response sent by the third access network equipment.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the handover response further causes the second access network device to send an indication message to the third access network device after receiving the handover response, where the indication message is used to indicate that the third access network device is a proxy node of a serving gateway S-GW, so that the third access network device forwards user plane data between the first access network device and the second access network device.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the user plane path switching request sent by the first access network device to the third access network device includes an IP address of the first access network device, so that the third access network device establishes a mapping relationship between the IP address of the first access network device and a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI allocated to the first access network device by the third access network device according to the IP address of the first access network device and the C-RNTI of the first access network device, so that the third access network device forwards user plane data between the first access network device and the second access network device according to the mapping relationship.

With reference to the second aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the second access network device is an access network device for instructing the first access network device to perform control plane switching;

the switching request is a control plane path switching request, the control plane path switching request includes information of a third access network device, and the control plane switching request is sent after the second access network device determines to switch a control plane of a wireless backhaul from the second access network device to the third access network device according to the measurement report;

and the first access network equipment sends a control plane path switching request to the third access network equipment according to the information of the third access network equipment and receives a user plane path switching response sent by the third access network equipment.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the third access network device is further configured to serve as a proxy node of a mobility management entity MME; and the number of the first and second groups,

In a third aspect, an access network device is provided, where the access network device is a second access network device, and the device includes:

a processor configured to establish a control plane connection of a wireless backhaul with a first access network device;

a transceiver, configured to receive a measurement report sent by the first access network device, and send a handover request to the first access network device according to the measurement report, where the handover request is used to instruct the first access network device to separate a control plane and a user plane of a wireless backhaul;

the transceiver is further configured to receive a handover response sent by the first access network device, where the handover response is sent by the first access network device after separation of a control plane and a user plane of a wireless backhaul.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the second access network device is an access network device for instructing the first access network device to perform user plane handover;

the switching request is a user plane path switching request;

the transceiver sends a handover request to the first access network device according to the measurement report, including:

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the transceiver is further configured to:

after receiving a handover response sent by the first access network device, sending an indication message to the third access network device, where the indication message is used to indicate that the third access network device is a proxy node of a serving gateway S-GW, so that the third access network device forwards user plane data between the first access network device and the second access network device.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the user plane path switching request sent by the first access network device to the third access network device includes an IP address of the first access network device, so that the third access network device establishes a mapping relationship between the IP address of the first access network device and a C-RNTI of the first access network device according to the IP address of the first access network device and a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI allocated by the third access network device to the first access network device, so that the third access network device forwards user plane data between the first access network device and the second access network device according to the mapping relationship.

With reference to the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the second access network device is an access network device that is configured to instruct the first access network device to perform control plane switching;

the switching request is a control plane path switching request;

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the third access network device is further configured to serve as a proxy node of a mobility management entity MME; and the number of the first and second groups,

In a fourth aspect, an access network device is provided, where the access network device is a first access network device, and the device includes:

a processor configured to establish a control plane connection of a wireless backhaul with a second access network device;

a transceiver, configured to send a measurement report to the second access network device, and receive a handover request sent by the second access network device, where the handover request is sent by the second access network device according to the measurement report;

the transceiver is further configured to separate a control plane and a user plane of a wireless backhaul according to the handover request, and send a handover response to the access network device after the separation.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the second access network device is an access network device for instructing the first access network device to perform a user plane handover;

the transceiver performs separation of a control plane and a user plane of a wireless backhaul according to the handover request, including:

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the handover response further causes the second access network device to send an indication message to the third access network device after receiving the handover response, where the indication message is used to indicate that the third access network device is a proxy node of a serving gateway S-GW, so that the third access network device forwards user plane data between the first access network device and the second access network device.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the user plane path switching request sent by the first access network device to the third access network device includes an IP address of the first access network device, so that the third access network device establishes a mapping relationship between the IP address of the first access network device and a cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI allocated to the first access network device by the third access network device according to the IP address of the first access network device and the C-RNTI of the first access network device, so that the third access network device forwards user plane data between the first access network device and the second access network device according to the mapping relationship.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the second access network device is an access network device configured to instruct the first access network device to perform control plane switching;

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the third access network device is further configured to serve as a proxy node of a mobility management entity MME; and the number of the first and second groups,

Through the technical scheme, the second access network equipment can indicate the first access network equipment to separate the control plane and the user plane of the wireless backhaul according to the measurement report sent by the first access network equipment, so that the control plane and the user plane of the wireless backhaul can be separated, the problem caused by the fact that the control plane and the user plane of the wireless backhaul are not separated in the prior art is solved, the transmission delay of the control plane of the wireless backhaul can be reduced, and the transmission efficiency of the user plane of the wireless backhaul is improved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments are briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are 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 flowchart illustrating a method for establishing a wireless backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating another method for establishing a wireless backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating another method for establishing a wireless backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating another method for establishing a wireless backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating another method for establishing a wireless backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of another access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious that the described embodiments are some, but not all, embodiments of the present invention. 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.

Fig. 1 is a flowchart illustrating a method for establishing a wireless backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present invention, including:

11: the second access network equipment and the first access network equipment establish control plane connection of a wireless backhaul;

the access network device in the embodiment of the present invention may specifically be an evolved node b (eNB), an RN, a DeNB, a Micro base station (Micro), a Pico base station (Pico), a Femto base station (Femto), or the like.

The first access network device refers to an endpoint connected with the core network through a wireless backhaul link, and the second access network device refers to a non-endpoint site of the wireless backhaul link in the access network. For example, when the RN communicates with the core network through the DeNB and single-hop transmission is performed between the RN and the DeNB, the first access network device refers to the RN, and the second access network device refers to the DeNB; or, when the RN communicates with the core network through the DeNB and a path between the RN and the DeNB is multi-hop, for example, when the first RN communicates with the DeNB through the second RN, the second access network device may refer to the DeNB or may also be the second RN.

12: the second access network device receives a measurement report sent by the first access network device, and sends a switching request to the first access network device according to the measurement report, wherein the switching request is used for indicating the first access network device to separate a control plane and a user plane of a wireless backhaul;

optionally, the separation of the control plane and the user plane of the wireless backhaul may include: switching the user plane to another access network device; or, the control plane is switched to another access network device. That is to say that the first and second electrodes,

corresponding to the user plane switching, the second access network equipment is the access network equipment used for indicating the first access network equipment to carry out the user plane switching; for example, in the above multi-hop scenario, the first access network device refers to a first RN, and the second access network configuration refers to a DeNB; the first RN establishes a control plane connection with the DeNB, and then the DeNB may instruct the first RN to switch the user plane to the second RN.

In this case, the handover request is a user plane path handover request. It is to be understood that the name of the user plane path switch request may be other names as well, for indicating that the first access network device is used for the user plane switch. In addition, in a specific embodiment, the user plane path switching request may be a new message, or may also be a new cell added in an existing message, so as to complete the indication of the first access network device.

At this time, the sending a handover request to the first access network device according to the measurement report includes:

The above-mentioned user plane handover may be to make the user plane of the wireless backhaul after handover be multi-hop transmission in the access network, for example, in the above-mentioned multi-hop scenario, it may be that the DeNB instructs the first RN to handover the user plane from the DeNB to the second RN. Or,

corresponding to the control plane switching, the second access network device is an access network device for indicating the first access network device to perform the control plane switching; for example, in the above multi-hop scenario, the first access network device refers to a first RN, and the second access network configuration refers to a second RN; the first RN establishes a control plane connection with the second RN, and then the second RN may instruct the first RN to switch the control plane to the DeNB.

At this time, the switching request is a control plane path switching request. It is to be understood that the name of the control plane path switch request may be other names as well, indicating that the first access network device is used for control plane switching. In an embodiment, the control plane path switching request may be a new message, or may be a new cell added in an existing message to complete the indication of the first access network device.

The above control plane switching may cause transmission delay of the control plane of the wireless backhaul after the switching in the access network to be smaller than transmission delay of the control plane of the wireless backhaul before the switching in the access network, for example, in the above multi-hop scenario, the second RN may instruct the first RN to switch the control plane from the second RN to the DeNB, so that the control plane after the switching is single-hop, and transmission delay is reduced. It can be understood that the above-mentioned reduction of the transmission delay is not limited to making the control plane path after the handover be a single hop, as long as it is ensured that the transmission delay of the control plane path after the handover is smaller than the transmission delay before the handover, for example, the transmission hop count of the control plane path after the handover may also be smaller than the transmission hop count before the handover, for example, the first RN before the handover reaches the DeNB through three hops, so that the first RN after the handover can reach the DeNB through two hops; alternatively, the number of transmission hops of the control plane path after the handover may be the same as the number of transmission hops before the handover, but the transmission delay of the control plane path after the handover is smaller than the transmission delay of the control plane path before the handover, for example, if the first RN performs control plane transmission with the DeNB through the second RN before the handover, and the transmission delay when the first RN performs control plane transmission with the DeNB through the third RN is smaller than the transmission delay when the first RN performs control plane transmission with the DeNB through the second RN, the control plane path may be switched to the first RN for communication with the DeNB through the third RN.

13: and the second access network equipment receives a switching response sent by the first access network equipment, wherein the switching response is sent after the first access network equipment separates a control plane and a user plane of a wireless backhaul.

For the user plane handover, after the user plane handover, the second access network device may instruct the third access network device to serve as a proxy node of the S-GW, or the second access network device may determine itself to serve as a proxy node of the S-GW. That is to say that the first and second electrodes,

optionally, after receiving the handover response sent by the first access network device, the method further includes:

and the second access network equipment sends an indication message to the third access network equipment, wherein the indication message is used for indicating that the third access network equipment is a proxy node of the S-GW, so that the third access network equipment can forward the user plane data between the first access network equipment and the second access network equipment.

Or,

optionally, the user plane path switching request sent by the first access network device to the third access network device includes an IP address of the first access network device, so that the third access network device establishes a mapping relationship between the IP address of the first access network device and a Cell Radio network temporary Identity (C-RNTI) allocated to the first access network device by the third access network device according to the IP address of the first access network device and the C-RNTI of the first access network device, so that the third access network device forwards user plane data between the first access network device and the second access network device according to the mapping relationship.

For the control plane switching, after the control plane switching, the third access network device serves as a proxy node of the MME, and at this time, the third access network device may determine the second access network device as a node where the user planes are separated, or the third access network device may also determine, according to the measurement report reported by the first access network device, other access network devices as nodes where the user planes are separated. That is to say that the first and second electrodes,

the third access network equipment is also used as a proxy node of MME; and the number of the first and second groups,

Accordingly, the process executed by the first access network device may refer to fig. 2, which includes:

21: the first access network equipment and the second access network equipment establish control plane connection of a wireless backhaul;

22: the first access network device sends a measurement report to the second access network device and receives a switching request sent by the second access network device, wherein the switching request is sent by the second access network device according to the measurement report;

23: and the first access network equipment separates the control plane and the user plane of the wireless backhaul according to the switching request, and sends a switching response to the access network equipment after separation.

Optionally, the second access network device is an access network device for instructing the first access network device to perform user plane handover;

Optionally, the handover response further causes the second access network device to send an indication message to the third access network device after receiving the handover response, where the indication message is used to indicate that the third access network device is a proxy node of an S-GW, so that the third access network device forwards user plane data between the first access network device and the second access network device.

Optionally, the user plane path switching request sent by the first access network device to the third access network device includes an IP address of the first access network device, so that the third access network device establishes a mapping relationship between the IP address of the first access network device and a C-RNTI allocated to the first access network device by the third access network device according to the IP address of the first access network device and the C-RNTI, so that the third access network device forwards user plane data between the first access network device and the second access network device according to the mapping relationship.

Or,

optionally, the second access network device is an access network device for instructing the first access network device to perform control plane switching;

the first access network device performs separation of a control plane and a user plane of a wireless backhaul according to the handover request, including: and the first access network equipment sends a control plane path switching request to the third access network equipment according to the information of the third access network equipment and receives a user plane path switching response sent by the third access network equipment.

Optionally, the third access network device is further configured to serve as a proxy node of an MME; and the number of the first and second groups,

In this embodiment, the second access network device may instruct, according to the measurement report sent by the first access network device, the first access network device to separate the control plane and the user plane of the wireless backhaul, so as to separate the control plane and the user plane of the wireless backhaul, avoid a problem in the prior art that the control plane and the user plane of the wireless backhaul are not separated, and further reduce transmission delay of the control plane of the wireless backhaul, and improve transmission efficiency of the user plane of the wireless backhaul.

The embodiment of the invention can be applied to a multi-hop access network equipment scene, namely the access network comprises at least three access network equipment. Specifically, in the embodiment of the present invention, the access network device may include a first RN, a second RN, and a DeNB, where the DeNB is connected to the core network.

In the prior art, a control plane and a user plane of a wireless backhaul may both be single-hop in an access network, that is, a first RN directly establishes a connection between the control plane and the user plane with a DeNB, but this may cause a problem of poor data transmission efficiency of the user plane due to a link quality problem between the first RN and the DeNB; or, the control plane and the user plane of the wireless backhaul may both be multi-hop in the access network, that is, the first RN establishes a connection with the second RN, the second RN establishes a connection with the DeNB, and both the transmission of the control plane and the transmission of the user plane between the first RN and the DeNB need to be forwarded through the second RN.

Therefore, the embodiment of the invention provides the separation of the user plane and the control plane of the wireless backhaul, the user plane adopts multi-hop transmission, the data transmission efficiency can be improved, and the control plane adopts a path with lower time delay for transmission, so that the transmission time delay is reduced.

In a specific embodiment, the first RN may first establish a single-hop connection with the DeNB, and then switch the user plane to the second RN, so that the user plane transmission is switched from the single-hop to the multi-hop. Alternatively, the first RN may first establish a connection with the second RN, and then switch the control plane to the DeNB, so that the control plane transmission is switched from multi-hop to single-hop. For details, reference may be made to the following examples.

It can be understood that, in the following embodiments, two hops between access network devices are taken as an example, and an access network includes a first RN, a second RN, and a DeNB as an example, but the present invention is not limited to the multi-hop scenario described above, for example, at least three hops may be between access network devices, and at this time, the time delay of the control plane path after the handover is ensured to be smaller than the control plane transmission time delay before the handover, and is not limited to a single hop, which may specifically refer to the above related description; in addition, the access network device is not limited to the RN and DeNB, and may also be referred to other devices, such as eNB, pico, and the like.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart illustrating another method for establishing a wireless backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present invention, where in this embodiment, a single-hop connection is established first, and then a user plane is switched to a multi-hop, and a second RN is designated as a proxy node of an S-GW. The embodiment comprises the following steps:

301: and the first RN selects one DeNB according to the received DeNB list and establishes RRC connection with the selected DeNB.

302: the DeNB configures RRC connection of the first RN, including measurement configuration. The first RN completes an attach (attach) procedure of the relay and completes configuration of the first RN.

303: the first RN establishes a control plane connection with the DeNB, i.e., S1-MME connection.

304: the first RN sends a measurement report to the DeNB.

305: and the DeNB judges whether to switch the connection of the user plane or not according to the measurement report, namely whether the user plane needs to be switched to the second RN or not, if so, the step 306 is executed, otherwise, the user plane is kept on the DeNB and then single-hop transmission of user plane data is adopted.

For example, the measurement report may carry channel quality of other RNs that can be detected by the first RN, and if the channel quality of a certain RN is better than that of the DeNB or the channel quality of a certain RN is better than a certain threshold, it may be determined that the user plane is handed over to the RN, and the other RNs whose channel quality is better than that of the DeNB may be referred to as second RNs. It is understood that the node detected by the first RN is not limited to the RN, and may also be eNB, micro, pico, etc.

306: the DeNB sends a user plane Path switch request to the first RN (S1-U Path switch request), wherein the user plane Path switch request comprises the information of the second RN.

The information of the second RN may specifically be a cell identity (cell ID) of the second RN and/or an IP address of the second RN.

It can be understood that the user plane path switching request may be other names, specifically, a newly added message, or a corresponding indication information may be added through an existing message.

307: and the first RN establishes RRC connection with the second RN according to the information of the second RN.

308: and the first RN sends a user plane path switching request to the second RN and receives a user plane path switching response sent by the second RN.

The user plane path switching request sent by the first RN to the second RN may carry information such as a cell ID and/or an IP address of the DeNB.

And the first RN can identify the switching of the S1-U transmission path to the second RN after receiving the user plane path switching response sent by the second RN.

309: and the first RN sends a user plane path switching response to the DeNB to indicate that the first RN and the second RN successfully establish the S1-U transmission channel.

310: and the DeNB indicates the second RN as a proxy node of the core network.

Wherein, it may be that in the process of the UE connecting to the first RN and performing Attach (Attach), the DeNB may indicate the second RN as a proxy node of the MME or S-GW by establishing a GTP-C Create session with the second RN.

The transmission path of the user plane may then be:

UE ← → first RN ← → second RN ← → DeNB ← → core network.

In this embodiment, after the single-hop connection is established between the first RN and the DeNB, the first RN switches the user plane to the second RN, so that the control plane and the user plane can be separated, the control plane is connected in a single-hop manner, and the user plane is connected in a multi-hop manner, so that the delay of control plane transmission can be reduced, and the data transmission efficiency of the user plane can be improved.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart illustrating another method for establishing a wireless backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present invention, where in this embodiment, a single-hop connection is established first, and then a user plane is switched to a multi-hop, and a DeNB is a proxy node of an S-GW. The embodiment comprises the following steps:

401: and the first RN selects one DeNB according to the received DeNB list and establishes RRC connection with the selected DeNB.

402: the DeNB configures RRC connection of the first RN, including measurement configuration. The first RN completes an attach (attach) procedure of the relay and completes configuration of the first RN.

403: the first RN establishes a control plane connection with the DeNB, i.e., S1-MME connection.

404: the first RN sends a measurement report to the DeNB.

405: and the DeNB judges whether to switch the connection of the user plane or not according to the measurement report, namely whether the user plane needs to be switched to the second RN or not, if so, 406 is executed, otherwise, the user plane is kept on the DeNB and then single-hop transmission of user plane data is adopted.

406: the DeNB sends a user plane Path switch request to the first RN (S1-U Path switch request), wherein the user plane Path switch request comprises the information of the second RN.

407: and the first RN establishes RRC connection with the second RN according to the information of the second RN.

408: and the first RN sends a user plane path switching request to the second RN and receives a user plane path switching response sent by the second RN.

The user plane path switching request sent by the first RN to the second RN may carry information such as a cell ID and/or an IP address of the DeNB. In addition, different from the previous embodiment, the user plane handover request also carries the IP address of the first RN.

409: and the first RN sends a user plane path switching response to the DeNB to indicate that the first RN and the second RN successfully establish the S1-U transmission channel.

410: and the second RN establishes a mapping relation between the IP address of the first RN and the C-RNTI of the first RN according to the IP address of the first RN and the C-RNTI allocated to the first RN by the second RN, and then forwards the user plane data between the first RN and the DeNB according to the mapping relation when the user plane is transmitted.

Different from the previous embodiment, in the present embodiment, the DeNB is used as a proxy node, the transmission between the first RN and the second RN needs to be according to the C-RNTI of the first RN, and the transmission between the second RN and the DeNB needs to be according to the IP address of the first RN, so the mapping relationship needs to be saved in the second RN to complete data forwarding.

In this embodiment, in the process of UE connecting to the first RN and performing Attach (Attach), the DeNB does not need to establish GTP-C Create session to the second RN.

The transmission path of the user plane may then be:

UE ← → first RN ← → second RN ← → DeNB ← → core network.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart illustrating another method for establishing a wireless backhaul link according to an embodiment of the present invention, where in this embodiment, a control plane is switched to a single hop after a multi-hop connection is established. The embodiment comprises the following steps:

501: and the first RN selects the second RN and establishes RRC connection with the second RN according to the received DeNB list, wherein the DeNB list contains the second RN.

It is understood that the node detected by the first RN is not limited to the RN, and may also be eNB, micro, pico, etc.

502: the second RN configures the RRC connection of the first RN and comprises measurement configuration. The first RN completes an attach (attach) procedure of the relay and completes configuration of the first RN.

503: the first RN establishes a control plane connection with the second RN, namely S1-MME connection.

504: and the first RN sends a measurement report to the second RN.

505: and the second RN judges whether to switch the connection of the control plane or not according to the measurement report, namely whether the control plane needs to be switched to the DeNB or not, if so, 506 is executed, and otherwise, the control plane is kept on the second RN and then multi-hop transmission of control plane data is adopted.

For example, the measurement report may carry channel quality of a DeNB that may be detected by the first RN, and if the DeNB is found to access the core network through a wired connection, it may be determined to switch the control plane to the DeNB.

It is understood that the node detected by the first RN is not limited to the DeNB, and may also be an RN, an eNB, micro, pico, or the like.

506: the second RN sends a control plane path switching request (S1-MME Path switch request) to the first RN, and the control plane path switching request contains the information of the DeNB.

The information of the DeNB may be specifically a cell identification (cell ID) of the DeNB and/or an IP address of the DeNB.

It is understood that the control plane path switching request may be named by other names, specifically, a new message may be added, or corresponding indication information may be added through an existing message.

507: and the first RN establishes RRC connection with the DeNB according to the information of the DeNB.

508: and the first RN sends a control plane path switching request to the DeNB and receives a control plane path switching response sent by the DeNB.

The control plane path switching request sent by the first RN to the DeNB may carry information such as a cell ID and/or an IP address of the second RN.

509: and the first RN sends a control plane path switching response to the second RN.

The first RN may disconnect a control plane (S1-MME) connection with the second RN after sending the control plane path switching response to the second RN.

510: the first RN establishes a control plane connection with the DeNB, i.e., S1-MME connection.

511: according to the process that the DeNB is used as the MME proxy to implement S1 separation of the control plane and the user plane, the DeNB may directly use the second RN as a station for user plane separation, or may select a station for user plane separation according to the measurement result of the RN.

After the DeNB is used as a proxy node of the MME, control plane data is directly transmitted between the first RN and the DeNB, and single-hop transmission of the control plane is realized.

In addition, when the user plane is switched, the control plane path switching request reported by the first RN to the DeNB includes information of the second RN, and the first RN may also report a measurement report to the DeNB, where the measurement report includes information of an RN with better channel quality detected by the first RN, such as information of a third RN, and then the DeNB may select the second RN or the third RN as a station where the user plane is separated according to a rule set by the DeNB itself.

After selecting a second RN as a user plane separation site, the second RN forwards user plane data between the first RN and the DeNB; or, after the third RN is selected as the user plane splitting station, the third RN forwards the user plane data between the first RN and the DeNB.

In the embodiment, after the first RN and the second RN are connected, the first RN switches the control plane to the DeNB, so that the control plane and the user plane can be separated, the control plane is connected in a single hop, the user plane is connected in a multi-hop manner, the delay of control plane transmission can be reduced, and the data transmission efficiency of the user plane can be improved.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the access network device may be a second access network device, and the device 60 includes a processor 61 and a transceiver 62; the processor 61 is configured to establish a control plane connection of a wireless backhaul with the first access network device; the transceiver 62 is configured to receive a measurement report sent by the first access network device, and send a handover request to the first access network device according to the measurement report, where the handover request is used to instruct the first access network device to separate a control plane and a user plane of a wireless backhaul; the transceiver 62 is further configured to receive a handover response sent by the first access network device, where the handover response is sent after a control plane and a user plane of a wireless backhaul of the first access network device are separated.

the switching request is a user plane path switching request;

the transceiver 62 sends a handover request to the first access network device according to the measurement report, including:

Optionally, the transceiver 62 is further configured to:

after receiving a handover response sent by the first access network device, sending an indication message to the third access network device, where the indication message is used to indicate that the third access network device is a proxy node of an S-GW, so that the third access network device forwards user plane data between the first access network device and the second access network device.

the switching request is a control plane path switching request;

It is to be understood that the access network device of this embodiment may further include general components such as a memory, an antenna, a baseband processing component, a medium radio frequency processing component, an input/output device, and the like, and the embodiment of the present invention is not limited in any way here.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of another access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention, where the device may be a first access network device, and the device 70 includes a processor 71 and a transceiver 72; the processor 71 is configured to establish a control plane connection of the wireless backhaul with the second access network device; the transceiver 72 is configured to send a measurement report to the second access network device, and receive a handover request sent by the second access network device, where the handover request is sent by the second access network device according to the measurement report; the transceiver 72 is further configured to separate a control plane and a user plane of the wireless backhaul according to the handover request, and send a handover response to the access network device after the separation.

the transceiver 72 performs separation of a control plane and a user plane of a wireless backhaul according to the handover request, including:

It will be clear to those skilled in the art that, for convenience and simplicity of description, the foregoing division of the functional modules is merely used as an example, and in practical applications, the above function distribution may be performed by different functional modules according to needs, that is, the internal structure of the device is divided into different functional modules to perform all or part of the above described functions. For the specific working processes of the system, the apparatus and the unit described above, reference may be made to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described here again.

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 there may be other divisions when actually implemented, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or may be 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 solution 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 are 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 embodiments are only used for illustrating the technical solutions of the present application, and not for limiting the same; although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it should be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some technical features may be equivalently replaced; and such modifications or substitutions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the corresponding technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application.

Claims

1. A method for establishing a wireless backhaul link, comprising:

2. The method of claim 1,

the second access network device is an access network device for instructing the first access network device to perform user plane switching;

the switching request is a user plane path switching request;

3. The method of claim 2, wherein after receiving the handover response sent by the first access network device, the method further comprises:

4. The method of claim 2,

the user plane path switching request sent by the first access network device to the third access network device includes the IP address of the first access network device, so that the third access network device establishes a mapping relationship between the IP address of the first access network device and the C-RNTI of the first access network device according to the IP address of the first access network device and the cell radio network temporary identifier C-RNTI allocated to the first access network device by the third access network device, so that the third access network device forwards user plane data between the first access network device and the second access network device according to the mapping relationship.

5. The method of claim 1,

the second access network device is an access network device for instructing the first access network device to perform control plane switching;

the switching request is a control plane path switching request;

6. The method of claim 5,

the third access network equipment is also used as a proxy node of a Mobile Management Entity (MME); and the number of the first and second groups,

7. A method for establishing a wireless backhaul link, comprising:

8. The method of claim 7,

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the handover response further causes the second access network device to send an indication message to the third access network device after receiving the handover response, wherein the indication message is used to indicate that the third access network device is a proxy node of a serving gateway (S-GW) so that the third access network device forwards user plane data between the first access network device and the second access network device.

10. The method of claim 8,

11. The method of claim 7,

12. The method of claim 11,

13. An access network device, the access network device being a second access network device, the device comprising:

14. The apparatus of claim 13,

the switching request is a user plane path switching request;

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the transceiver is further configured to:

16. The apparatus of claim 14,

17. The apparatus of claim 13,

the switching request is a control plane path switching request;

18. The apparatus of claim 17,

19. An access network device, the access network device being a first access network device, the device comprising:

20. The apparatus of claim 19,

21. The device of claim 20, wherein the handover response further causes the second access network device to send an indication message to the third access network device after receiving the handover response, wherein the indication message is used to indicate that the third access network device is a proxy node of a serving gateway S-GW, so that the third access network device forwards user plane data between the first access network device and the second access network device.

22. The apparatus of claim 20,

23. The apparatus of claim 19,

24. The apparatus of claim 23,