CN105792292B

CN105792292B - Base station switching method, system and related device

Info

Publication number: CN105792292B
Application number: CN201410833453.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 高音; 和峰
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: ZTE Corp
Priority date: 2014-12-26
Filing date: 2014-12-26
Publication date: 2021-03-30
Anticipated expiration: 2034-12-26
Also published as: WO2016101586A1; CN105792292A

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention discloses a base station switching method, a system and a related device, wherein the method comprises the following steps: receiving a path switching request message; when the switching is determined to be the switching under the same access gateway according to the path switching request message, local processing is carried out; and when the switching is determined not to be the switching under the same access gateway, the path switching request message is sent to a core network. The embodiment of the invention introduces the access gateway between the base stations and the core network, and the access gateway processes the switching between the base stations in the control range of the access gateway, thereby avoiding the influence on the core network caused by frequent switching of the user equipment between cells, reducing the number of interfaces of the core network and lightening the processing load of the core network.

Description

Base station switching method, system and related device

Technical Field

The present invention relates to mobile access network technologies, and in particular, to a method, a system, and a related device for switching a base station.

Background

With the continuous evolution of wireless communication technology and standards, mobile packet services have been developed greatly, and the data throughput of a single terminal is continuously improved. Taking a Long Term Evolution (LTE) system as an example, the data transmission with the downlink maximum rate of 100Mbps can be supported within a 20M bandwidth, and in a subsequent LTE (LTE advanced) network, the data transmission rate will be further improved, even reaching 1 Gbps.

Based on the User Plane Data Protocol stack of the existing LTE, downlink Data received by an Evolved Node B (eNB) from a core network via a User Plane GPRS tunnel Protocol (GTP-U), is unpacked and then processed and transmitted to a User Equipment (UE) via a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) sublayer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) Protocol sublayer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) Protocol sublayer and a physical layer (PHY); the processing procedure of the uplink data is the same as that of the downlink data, but the sending direction is opposite.

In order to meet the growing demand of data traffic and the feature that the traffic is not even in a geographical area, in the process of deploying a new generation communication network, such as LTE, an operator also adds a Low Power Node (LPN), or a Small Cell (Small Cell) or a micro base station (Pico eNB) to perform hot spot enhancement. With the increase of LPN cells, the network deployment environment becomes more complex, and also brings about some problems:

first, as the number of LPN cells is large, when a User Equipment (UE) or a terminal moves in a network, frequent inter-cell Handover (Handover) may be caused, which may easily cause problems such as call drop of a data service terminal, and may also cause degradation of data throughput and User experience of a User. Meanwhile, the frequent switching can also cause the terminal and the network, especially the core network, to receive a large amount of signaling impact, which may cause system resource congestion and even paralysis;

in addition, the LPN base stations are connected to the core network (i.e., S1 interface), and the core network needs to handle more and more interfaces. In some scenarios, such as Paging (Paging) or other broadcast service scenarios, the core network needs to transmit data on all relevant interfaces, which also brings great challenges to the processing capability of the core network.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, in order to solve the existing technical problems, embodiments of the present invention provide:

a base station switching method is applied to an access gateway and comprises the following steps:

receiving a path switching request message;

when the switching is determined to be the switching under the same access gateway according to the path switching request message, local processing is carried out; and when the switching is determined not to be the switching under the same access gateway, the path switching request message is sent to a core network.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises:

the access gateway sends service bearing information corresponding to a service gateway S-GW and/or service bearing information corresponding to the access gateway to an accessed base station through an S1 interface message, wherein the service bearing information comprises bearing UL address and GTP TEID information.

In a specific embodiment, the S1 interface message is any one of the following: an initial context setup request, a radio access bearer modification request, an S1handover request.

In an embodiment, before receiving the path switching request message, the method further includes:

a target base station receives an X2 handover request message from a source base station, wherein the X2 handover request message carries service bearing information which needs to be established at the target base station, and the service bearing information is service bearing information corresponding to a service gateway S-GW and/or service bearing information corresponding to an access gateway;

the target base station interacts with the source base station to realize the switching of data forwarding from the source base station to the target base station;

and the target base station sends a path switching request message to the access gateway.

In a specific embodiment, the X2 handover request message further carries: the MME allocates S1 interface connection flag information to the UE, and/or the access gateway allocates S1 interface connection flag information to the UE.

In a specific embodiment, the path switch request message carries at least one of the following: the method comprises the following steps that S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the MME, S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the access gateway, service bearing information corresponding to the S-GW of the serving gateway needing to be switched, and service bearing information corresponding to the access gateway needing to be switched.

In a specific embodiment, determining whether the handover is a handover under the same access gateway according to the path handover request message includes:

matching at least one item of content carried by the path switching request message with locally stored information, and if the matching is successful, determining that the switching is the switching under the same access gateway; otherwise, determining that the switching is not the switching under the same access gateway.

In a specific embodiment, after the local processing, the method further includes:

if the local processing is successful, a path request confirmation message is issued; if the local processing fails, a path request failure message is issued, wherein the path request confirmation message carries at least one of the following items: the method comprises the following steps that S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the MME, S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the access gateway, service bearing information corresponding to a serving gateway S-GW needing to be switched, and service bearing information corresponding to the access gateway needing to be switched; the path request failure message includes a failure reason, and S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the MME, and/or S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the access gateway.

An embodiment of the present invention further provides an access gateway, including: the device comprises a first receiving module, a judging module, a local processing module and a first sending module; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the first receiving module is used for receiving a path switching request message;

the judging module is used for judging whether the switching is under the same access gateway according to the path switching request message;

the local processing module is used for performing local processing when the judging module determines that the switching is the switching under the same access gateway;

and the first sending module is used for sending the path switching request message to a core network when the judging module determines that the switching is not the switching under the same access gateway.

In a specific embodiment, the access gateway further comprises a second sending module,

the second sending module is configured to send service bearer information corresponding to a serving gateway S-GW and/or service bearer information corresponding to an access gateway to an accessed base station through an S1 interface message, where the service bearer information includes a bearer UL address and GTP TEID information.

In a specific embodiment, the second sending module is specifically configured to send any one of the following S1 interface messages: an initial context setup request, a radio access bearer modification request, an S1handover request.

In a specific embodiment, the path switching request message received by the first receiving module carries at least one of the following: the method comprises the following steps that S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the MME, S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the access gateway, service bearing information corresponding to the S-GW of the serving gateway needing to be switched, and service bearing information corresponding to the access gateway needing to be switched.

In a specific embodiment, the determining module is specifically configured to match at least one item of content carried by the path switching request message with locally stored information, and if the matching is successful, determine that the switching is switching under the same access gateway; otherwise, determining that the switching is not the switching under the same access gateway.

In a specific embodiment, the access gateway further comprises a third sending module,

the third sending module is used for sending a path request confirmation message when the local processing is successful; when the local processing fails, a path request failure message is sent, wherein the path request confirmation message carries at least one of the following items: the method comprises the following steps that S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the MME, S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the access gateway, service bearing information corresponding to a serving gateway S-GW needing to be switched, and service bearing information corresponding to the access gateway needing to be switched; the path request failure message includes a failure reason, and S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the MME, and/or S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the access gateway.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a base station switching system, which comprises an access gateway and core network equipment; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the access gateway is the access gateway.

In one embodiment, the system further comprises a source base station and a target base station, wherein,

the source base station is configured to send an X2 handover request message to a target base station when a handover condition is satisfied, where the X2 handover request message carries service bearer information that needs to be established at the target base station, and the service bearer information is service bearer information corresponding to a serving gateway S-GW and/or service bearer information corresponding to an access gateway;

and the target base station is used for interacting with the source base station after receiving the X2 handover request message from the source base station, realizing the handover of data forwarding from the source base station to the target base station, and then sending a path handover request message to the access gateway.

In a specific embodiment, the X2 handover request message sent by the source base station further carries: the MME allocates S1 interface connection flag information to the UE, and/or the access gateway allocates S1 interface connection flag information to the UE.

The base station switching method, the system and the related device of the embodiment of the invention receive the path switching request message; when the switching is determined to be the switching under the same access gateway according to the path switching request message, local processing is carried out; and when the switching is determined not to be the switching under the same access gateway, the path switching request message is sent to a core network. The embodiment of the invention introduces the access gateway between the base stations and the core network, and the access gateway processes the switching between the base stations in the control range of the access gateway, thereby avoiding the influence on the core network caused by frequent switching of the user equipment between cells, reducing the number of interfaces of the core network and lightening the processing load of the core network.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic flow chart of a base station handover method according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an access gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of another access gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of another access gateway according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture for configuring an access gateway in an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of an interface protocol stack between an access gateway and a base station according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic flowchart of an X2 handover performed by the same access gateway according to embodiment 1 of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic flowchart of an X2 handover performed by the same access gateway according to embodiment 2 of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic flowchart of X2 handover under different access gateways according to embodiment 3 of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic flowchart of an X2 handover under different access gateways according to embodiment 4 of the present invention.

Detailed Description

With the increase of the number of LPN cells deployed by operators and individuals in the future, the problem of core network load aggravation is more and more serious, and in order to alleviate the core network load, in the embodiment of the present invention, an access gateway is used as an interface agent between a base station and a core network, and is respectively connected to the base station and the core network, so as to shield the influence of an access network on the core network, specifically, the embodiment of the present invention provides a base station handover method, which is applied to an access gateway (also referred to as Mobility anchor, MA)), as shown in fig. 1, the method includes:

step 101: a path switch request message is received.

In a specific embodiment, the path switch request message carries at least one of the following: s1 interface connection mark information (Source MME UE S1AP ID) allocated by MME to UE, S1 interface connection mark information (Source MA UE S1AP ID) allocated by access gateway to UE, service bearing information corresponding to serving gateway S-GW needing switching, service bearing information corresponding to the access gateway needing switching,

in the embodiment of the invention, a target base station receives an X2 handover request message from a source base station, wherein the X2 handover request message carries service bearing information which needs to be established in the target base station, and the service bearing information is service bearing information corresponding to a service gateway S-GW and/or service bearing information corresponding to an access gateway; the target base station interacts with the source base station to realize the switching of data forwarding from the source base station to the target base station, specifically, the target base station completes switching preparation, if successful, the switching preparation completion message is fed back, if failed, the switching preparation failure message is fed back, and the source base station completes an RRC reconfiguration flow with the UE through an air interface. The ground side realizes data forwarding from the source base station to the target base station, namely, the source base station is switched to the target base station; the target base station then sends a path switch request message to the access gateway.

It should be noted that the X2 handover request message may also carry: the MME allocates S1 interface connection flag information to the UE, and/or the access gateway allocates S1 interface connection flag information to the UE.

It should be noted that the X2 handover-related message may be implemented by modifying an existing message, or may be implemented by adding a new independent message.

Step 102: judging whether the switching is under the same access gateway according to the path switching request message, and turning to step 103 when determining that the switching is under the same access gateway; and when the handover is determined not to be the handover under the same access gateway, turning to step 104.

In a specific embodiment, determining whether the handover is a handover under the same access gateway according to the path handover request message includes: matching at least one item of content carried by the path switching request message with locally stored information, and if the matching is successful, determining that the switching is the switching under the same access gateway; otherwise, determining that the switching is not the switching under the same access gateway.

Step 103: and carrying out local processing.

In a specific embodiment, if the local processing is successful, a path request confirmation message is issued; if the local processing fails, a path request failure message is issued, wherein the path request confirmation message carries at least one of the following items: the method comprises the following steps that S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the MME, S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the access gateway, service bearing information corresponding to a serving gateway S-GW needing to be switched, and service bearing information corresponding to the access gateway needing to be switched; the path request failure message includes a failure reason, and S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the MME, and/or S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the access gateway.

Step 104: and sending the path switching request message to a core network.

In order to implement the embodiment of the present invention, after the base station accesses the access gateway, the access gateway may need to issue service bearer information corresponding to the serving gateway S-GW and/or service bearer information corresponding to the access gateway to the accessed base station through an S1 interface message, where the service bearer information includes a bearer UL address and GTPTEID information. Here, the S1 interface message may be, but is not limited to, any one of the following: INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST (INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST), radio access bearer SETUP REQUEST (E-RAB SETUP REQUEST), radio access bearer modification REQUEST (E-RAB MODIFY REQUEST), S1HANDOVER REQUEST (S1HANDOVER REQUEST).

At a control plane, an access gateway serves as an interface agent of a base station and a core network, and shields the existence of a subordinate base station for the core network, namely from the perspective of the base station, the access gateway is equal to a Mobile Management Entity (MME); from the MME perspective, the access gateway is equivalent to a normal base station. In the user plane, an access gateway bears data transfer between a service gateway (S-GW) and a base station, and from the perspective of the base station, MA is equal to S-GW; from the S-GW perspective, MA is equivalent to a normal base station.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides an access gateway accordingly, as shown in fig. 2, the access gateway includes: a first receiving module 201, a judging module 202, a local processing module 203 and a first sending module 204; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the first receiving module 201 is configured to receive a path switching request message;

the judging module 202 is configured to judge whether the handover is under the same access gateway according to the path handover request message;

the local processing module 203 is configured to perform local processing when the determining module 202 determines that the handover is a handover under the same access gateway;

the first sending module 204 is configured to send the path switching request message to a core network when the determining module 202 determines that the switching is not the switching under the same access gateway.

In a specific embodiment, as shown in fig. 3, the access gateway further includes a second sending module 301,

the second sending module 301 is configured to send service bearer information corresponding to a serving gateway S-GW and/or service bearer information corresponding to an access gateway to an accessed base station through an S1 interface message, where the service bearer information includes a bearer UL address and GTP TEID information.

In a specific embodiment, the second sending module 301 is specifically configured to send any one of the following S1 interface messages: an initial context setup request, a radio access bearer modification request, an S1handover request.

In an embodiment, the path switching request message received by the first receiving module 201 carries at least one of the following: the method comprises the following steps that S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the MME, S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the access gateway, service bearing information corresponding to the S-GW of the serving gateway needing to be switched, and service bearing information corresponding to the access gateway needing to be switched.

In a specific embodiment, the determining module 202 is specifically configured to match at least one item of content carried by the path switching request message with locally stored information, and if the matching is successful, determine that the switching is switching under the same access gateway; otherwise, determining that the switching is not the switching under the same access gateway.

In a specific embodiment, as shown in fig. 4, the access gateway further comprises a third sending module 401,

the local processing module 203 is specifically configured to perform local processing according to the path switching request message and a preset control policy;

the third sending module 401 is configured to issue a path request acknowledgement message when the local processing is successful; when the local processing fails, a path request failure message is sent, wherein the path request confirmation message carries at least one of the following items: the method comprises the following steps that S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the MME, S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the access gateway, service bearing information corresponding to a serving gateway S-GW needing to be switched, and service bearing information corresponding to the access gateway needing to be switched; the path request failure message includes a failure reason, and S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the MME, and/or S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the access gateway.

The embodiment of the invention also correspondingly provides a base station switching system, which comprises an access gateway and core network equipment; wherein the access gateway is the access gateway shown in any one of fig. 2 to 4.

The access gateway architecture provided by the invention can avoid the influence on the core network caused by frequent switching of the user equipment between the cells. The number of interfaces with the core network is reduced, and the processing load of the core network is reduced. Efficient management of a large number of low power nodes is achieved. Meanwhile, the architecture modification involved in the invention is transparent to the user equipment, thereby avoiding the influence on the terminal. Meanwhile, the modification of the access network is reduced, so that the network compatibility is improved.

In the following embodiments, the access gateway is used as an interface proxy between the base station and the core network, and is respectively connected to the base station and the core network to shield the influence of the access network on the core network; and screening the control plane interface signaling to ensure that the UE serves as an access gateway of the user equipment in an access network at the access gateway, wherein the access gateway serving as the access gateway of the user equipment in the access network means that the access gateway is kept unchanged when the user equipment moves between cells served by the access gateway.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of a system architecture for setting an access gateway in the following specific embodiment of the present invention, and referring to fig. 5, a possible handover scenario of a UE in a scenario where the access gateway exists mainly includes:

scene 1: SeNB1- > SeNB 2(intra-MA), i.e. the UE under the same access gateway is X2 switched;

scene 2: SeNB 3< - - > MA 2(intra-MA), namely UE is switched from a base station to an access gateway under the same access gateway;

scene 3: SeNB 2- > SeNB 3(inter-MA), i.e. the UE under the access gateway is subject to X2 handover;

scene 4: SeNB 3< - - > Macro eNB (inter MA), the UE is switched from the base station under the access gateway to the Macro base station.

Fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of an interface protocol stack between an access gateway and a base station in the following specific embodiment.

Example 1

The present embodiment describes a scenario where the UE is handed over by X2 under the same access gateway.

The base station acquires the relevant information of the service bearer established by the UE, and acquires the information through the following modes:

after the UE accesses the base station under the access gateway, the access gateway sends service bearer information to the base station through the S1 interface, including UL address and GTP TEID information of the service bearer, including information corresponding to the S-GW (bearer UL address and TEID 1) and information corresponding to the access gateway (bearer UL address and TEID 2).

The S1 interface message may be any one of the following: INITIAL CONTEXT SETUP REQUEST, E-RAB MODIFY REQUEST, S1HANDOVER REQUEST messages.

Fig. 7 is a schematic diagram illustrating a flow of X2 handover under the same access gateway in embodiment 1 of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 7, the flow includes:

step 1: the UE is switched between base stations under an access gateway by X2, a source base station initiates an X2 switching request to a target base station, and the X2 interface message contains service bearing information required to be established at the target base station, the UL address and GTP TEID information of the service bearing, including information corresponding to S-GW (bearing UL address and TEID 1) and information corresponding to the access gateway (bearing UL address and TEID 2). The message may also include S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the MME, Source MME UE S1AP ID, and/or S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the access gateway, Source MA UE S1AP ID.

Step 2: and the target base station finishes the switching preparation, feeds back a switching preparation finishing message if the switching preparation finishing message is successful, and feeds back a switching preparation failure message if the switching preparation finishing message is failed. And the source base station completes the RRC reconfiguration flow between the source base station and the UE through an air interface. The ground side realizes data forwarding from the source base station to the target base station.

And step 3: the target base station initiates a path switching request message to the access gateway through an S1 interface, wherein the message comprises S1 interface connection mark information, Source MME UE S1AP ID, and/or S1 interface connection mark information and Source MA UE S1AP ID, which are allocated to the UE by the MME. And traffic bearer information that requires handover, including bearer DL address, and TEID1 and/or TEID 2.

And 4, step 4: after receiving the path switching request message, the access gateway determines that the switching under the same access gateway occurs through local information, for example, S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the carried MME, Source MME UE S1AP ID, and/or S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the access gateway, Source MA UE S1AP ID, determines whether the switching under the same access gateway occurs to the UE, if the locally stored information can match the above information, it is determined that the switching under the same access gateway occurs, the path switching request message is terminated without being forwarded to the MME, and local processing is performed, and if the path switching request message is successful, a path request acknowledgement message is issued (step 5). If the path fails, a path request failure message is issued (step 6).

And 5: the path request acknowledgement message includes the service bearer information that the path switching is successful, the UL address and GTP TEID information of the service bearer, including information corresponding to the S-GW (bearer UL address and TEID 1), and/or information corresponding to the access gateway (bearer UL address and TEID 2). And S1 interface connection mark information allocated to the UE by the MME and/or S1 interface connection mark information allocated to the UE by the access gateway.

Step 6: the path request failure message contains the failure reason and S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the MME and/or S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the access gateway.

The above switching related message may be implemented by modifying an existing message, or may be implemented by adding an independent message.

Example 2

Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram illustrating a flow of X2 handover under the same access gateway according to embodiment 2 of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 8, the flow includes:

step 1: the UE is switched between base stations under an access gateway by X2, a source base station initiates an X2 switching request to a target base station, and an X2 interface message contains service bearing information required to be established at the target base station, and contains UL address and GTP TEID information of the service bearing, including information (bearing UL address and TEID 1) corresponding to S-GW. The message may also include S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the MME, Source MME UE S1AP ID, and/or S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the access gateway, Source MA UE S1AP ID.

And step 3: the target base station initiates a path switching request message to the access gateway through an S1 interface, wherein the message comprises S1 interface connection mark information, Source MME UE S1AP ID, and/or S1 interface connection mark information and Source MA UE S1AP ID, which are allocated to the UE by the MME. And traffic bearer information that requires handover, including the bearer DL address, and TEID 1.

And 4, step 4: after receiving the path switching request message, the access gateway determines, through local information, that a handover has occurred under the same access gateway, for example, S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE through a carried MME, Source MME UE S1AP ID, determines whether a handover has occurred under the same access gateway for the UE, if the locally stored information can match the above information, determines that a handover has occurred under the same access gateway, terminates the path switching request message, does not forward to the MME, performs local processing, and if successful, issues a path request acknowledgement message (step 5). If the path fails, a path request failure message is issued (step 6).

Example 3

The present embodiment describes a scenario where the UE is handed over by X2 under different access gateways.

Fig. 9 is a schematic flowchart of a procedure of X2 handover under different access gateways according to embodiment 3 of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 9, the procedure includes:

step 1: the UE is switched between base stations under different access gateways by X2, the source base station initiates an X2 switching request to the target base station, the information of the service bearer required to be established at the target base station is contained in the X2 interface message, the information of the UL address and GTP TEID of the service bearer is contained, and the information comprises the information (bearing UL address and TEID 1) corresponding to the S-GW and the information (bearing UL address and TEID 2) corresponding to the access gateway. The message may also include S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the MME, Source MME UE S1AP ID, and/or S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the access gateway, Source MA UE S1AP ID.

And 4, step 4: after receiving the path switching request message, the access gateway determines that switching under the same access gateway occurs through local information, for example, S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE through a carried MME, Source MME UE S1AP ID, and/or S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the access gateway, and Source MA UE S1AP ID, determines whether switching under the same access gateway occurs for the UE, and if the locally stored information cannot match the information, determines that switching under different access gateways occurs, and sends the path request message to the MME.

Step 6: MME processes the path request message, if successful, then sends path request confirmation message to the access gateway (step 7); otherwise, sending a path request failure message to the access gateway (step 8);

and 7: the access gateway sends the path request acknowledgement message to the base station, wherein the path request acknowledgement message includes service bearer information that the path switching is successful, and includes UL address and GTP TEID information of the service bearer, and includes information (bearer UL address and TEID 1) corresponding to the S-GW issued by the MME and/or information (bearer UL address and TEID 2) corresponding to the access gateway. And S1 interface connection mark information allocated to the UE by the MME and/or S1 interface connection mark information allocated to the UE by the access gateway.

And 8: the path request failure message sent by the access gateway to the base station includes the failure reason, and includes S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the MME, and/or S1 interface connection flag information allocated to the UE by the access gateway.

Example 4

Fig. 10 is a schematic flowchart of a procedure of X2 handover under different access gateways according to embodiment 4 of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 10, the procedure includes:

Each Unit may be implemented by a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), or a Programmable logic Array (FPGA) in the electronic device.

As will be appreciated by one skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be provided as a method, system, or computer program product. Accordingly, the present invention may take the form of a hardware embodiment, a software embodiment, or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of a computer program product embodied on one or more computer-usable storage media (including, but not limited to, disk storage, optical storage, and the like) having computer-usable program code embodied therein.

The present invention is described with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, apparatus (systems), and computer program products according to embodiments of the invention. It will be understood that each flow and/or block of the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, and combinations of flows and/or blocks in the flow diagrams and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, embedded processor, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer-readable memory that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

These computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions specified in the flowchart flow or flows and/or block diagram block or blocks.

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

Claims

1. A base station switching method is applied to an access gateway, and is characterized in that the method comprises the following steps:

receiving a path switching request message;

when the switching is determined to be the switching under the same access gateway according to the path switching request message, local processing is carried out; when the switching is determined not to be the switching under the same access gateway, the path switching request message is sent to a core network;

before receiving the path switching request message, the method further includes:

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the S1 interface message is any one of the following: an initial context setup request, a radio access bearer modification request, an S1handover request.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the X2 handover request message further carries: the MME allocates S1 interface connection flag information to the UE, and/or the access gateway allocates S1 interface connection flag information to the UE.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the path switch request message carries at least one of: the method comprises the following steps that S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the MME, S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the access gateway, service bearing information corresponding to the S-GW of the serving gateway needing to be switched, and service bearing information corresponding to the access gateway needing to be switched.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining whether the handover is under the same access gateway according to the path switch request message comprises:

7. The method of any of claims 1 to 6, wherein after said locally processing, the method further comprises:

8. An access gateway, comprising: the device comprises a first receiving module, a judging module, a local processing module and a first sending module; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the first sending module is configured to send the path switching request message to a core network when the determining module determines that the switching is not the switching under the same access gateway;

before the first receiving module receives the path switching request message, the target base station is configured to receive an X2 switching request message from the source base station, where the X2 switching request message carries service bearer information that needs to be established at the target base station, and the service bearer information is service bearer information corresponding to a serving gateway S-GW and/or service bearer information corresponding to the access gateway;

and the target base station is also used for interacting with the source base station, realizing the switching of data forwarding from the source base station to the target base station and then sending a path switching request message to the access gateway.

9. The access gateway of claim 8, further comprising a second sending module,

10. The access gateway of claim 9, wherein the second sending module is specifically configured to send any one of the following S1 interface messages: an initial context setup request, a radio access bearer modification request, an S1handover request.

11. The access gateway of claim 8,

the path switching request message received by the first receiving module carries at least one of the following: the method comprises the following steps that S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the MME, S1 interface connection mark information distributed to the UE by the access gateway, service bearing information corresponding to the S-GW of the serving gateway needing to be switched, and service bearing information corresponding to the access gateway needing to be switched.

12. The access gateway of claim 11,

the judging module is specifically configured to match at least one item of content carried by the path switching request message with locally stored information, and if the matching is successful, determine that the switching is switching under the same access gateway; otherwise, determining that the switching is not the switching under the same access gateway.

13. The access gateway according to any of claims 8 to 12, characterized in that the access gateway further comprises a third sending module,

14. A base station switching system is characterized in that the system comprises an access gateway and a core network device; wherein the content of the first and second substances,

the access gateway is the access gateway of any one of claims 8 to 13;

the system further includes a source base station and a target base station, wherein,

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the X2 handover request message sent by the source base station further carries: the MME allocates S1 interface connection flag information to the UE, and/or the access gateway allocates S1 interface connection flag information to the UE.