CN105794286A

CN105794286A - Method and device for paging user equipment

Info

Publication number: CN105794286A
Application number: CN201480017022.7A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 舒林; 邹烨
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2014-11-12
Filing date: 2014-11-12
Publication date: 2016-07-20
Anticipated expiration: 2034-11-12
Also published as: WO2016074163A1; CN105794286B

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and device for paging a user equipment. When a fault occurs in an MSC, if the MSC receives a downlink CS service and initiates paging to a mobility management entity and the mobility management entity does not have location information of a UE, the mobility management entity actively acquires the location information of the UE, and initiates air-interface paging to the UE in the coverage corresponding to the location information of the UE according to the acquired location information of the UE. Therefore, the problem in the prior art that the mobility management entity initiates network-wide paging or rejects MSC paging is effectively solved.

Description

Method and device for paging user equipment

Technical Field

The present invention relates to communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and an apparatus for paging a user equipment.

Background

Currently, The Third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) standards organization introduced a new Generation of Evolved Packet System (EPS) based on The Second Generation/Third Generation (2G/3G) mobile communication network. EPS networks can only provide Packet Switched (PS) services, while 2G/3G networks provide Circuit Switched (CS) services. When a User Equipment (UE) resides in an EPS network, if the UE wants to initiate a CS service, the UE shall fall back from the EPS network to a 2G/3G network, so that 3GPP proposes a Circuit Switched Fallback (CSFB) technique, and the CSFB technique causes the UE covered by the EPS network to fall back to the 2G/3G network to complete the CS service when the CS service needs to be processed. The CSFB technique is implemented based on an SGs interface function between a Mobile Switching Center/visitor Location Register (MSC/VLR for short) and a Mobility Management Entity (MME for short) in the existing 2G/3G network.

In the CSFB technique, a UE that resides in an EPS network and supports CSFB needs to initiate a joint registration procedure to enable simultaneous registration to the PS domain of the EPC network and the CS domain of the 2G/3G network. After the successful implementation of the joint registration, the uplink and downlink CS services of the UE can be initiated normally. After the UE is successfully registered in the MSC/VLR, the MSC/VLR stores context information of the UE, where the context information of the UE includes a Location Area Identifier (LAI) of the current Location information of the UE. When MSC/VLR receives down CS service request, if MSC/VLR works normally, MSC/VLR will carry LAI of UE in SGs interface paging request sent to MME; if the MSC/VLR fails (Failure), including Restart after Failure (Restart), or a local Failure without reset (Partial Failure without reset) but the MSC/VLR is still able to operate, the MSC/VLR must not carry the LAI of the UE in the SGs interface paging request sent to the MME. After the MME receives an SGs interface paging request sent by the MSC/VLR, if the UE is in an idle state, the MME needs to initiate an air interface paging of the UE according to stored location information of the UE, where the stored location information includes an LAI carried by the MSC/VLR in the SGs paging request, or Tracking Area Identity (TAI) list information allocated by the UE when the UE is registered in an EPC network. Under the following two scenarios, the MME has no location information of the UE, and needs to perform full-network paging or reject SGs paging: (1) a scenario that the MME currently registered by the UE is also restarted; (2) and the MME currently registered by the UE fails and is not restarted, and the network supports a scene that the downlink CS service is issued through a substitute MME in an MME resource pool.

The whole network paging can greatly consume air interface resources, reduce paging efficiency, and greatly reduce network performance when a large number of downlink CS services are initiated in parallel, which is unacceptable and easily causes network congestion paralysis. The problem caused by rejecting SGs paging is that downlink CS service fails, which affects user experience.

Disclosure of Invention

The method and the device for paging the user equipment provided by the embodiment of the invention can solve the problem that the management network element initiates the whole network paging or rejects the paging request when the MSC fails in the prior art.

A first aspect of the present invention provides a mobility management network element, including:

a receiving module, configured to receive a paging request message sent by a mobile services switching center MSC, where the paging request message includes an identity of a user equipment UE, but the paging request message does not include location information of the UE;

a sending module, configured to send a location request message to the MSC if the mobility management element does not have the location information of the UE, where the location request message carries an identity of the UE;

the receiving module is further configured to receive a location request response returned by the MSC according to the location request message, where the location request response includes location information of the UE;

and the paging module is used for initiating paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the position information of the UE.

With reference to the first aspect of the present invention, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect of the present invention, the location information of the UE includes a location area identity, LAI, or a tracking area identity, TAI, list of the UE, and the paging module is specifically configured to:

initiating paging to the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE;

or initiating paging to the UE within a tracking area contained in a TAI list of the UE.

With reference to the first aspect of the present invention and the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect of the present invention, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect of the present invention, the mobility management network element is a mobility management entity MME or a serving general packet radio service support node SGSN.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect of the present invention, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect of the present invention, the mobility management network element further includes:

a timing module, configured to start a timer after the sending module sends the location request message to the MSC, and stop the timer after the receiving module receives the location request response returned by the MSC.

A second aspect of the present invention provides a mobile services switching center MSC, comprising:

a sending module, configured to send a paging request message to a mobility management network element, where the paging request message includes an identity of a User Equipment (UE), but the paging request message does not include location information of the UE;

a receiving module, configured to receive a location request message sent by the mobility management element, where the location request message is sent by the mobility management element after determining that there is no location information of the UE, and the location request message carries an identity of the UE;

an obtaining module, configured to obtain location information of the UE according to the identity of the UE, and send a location request response to the mobility management network element, where the location request response includes the location information of the UE.

A third aspect of the present invention provides a mobility management network element, comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive a paging request message sent by a mobile services switching center MSC, where the paging request message includes an identity of a user equipment UE, location information of the UE, and restart indication information, and the restart indication information is used to notify the mobility management element that the MSC has failed to restart;

and the paging module is used for initiating paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the position information of the UE and requesting the UE to initiate a registration process to a Circuit Switching (CS) domain according to the restart indication information.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the location information of the UE includes a location area identity, LAI, or a tracking area identity, TAI, list of the UE, and the paging module is specifically configured to:

initiating paging to the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE;

With reference to the third aspect and the first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the mobility management network element is a mobility management entity MME or a serving general packet radio service support node SGSN.

A fourth aspect of the present invention provides a mobile services switching center MSC, including:

a generating module, configured to generate restart indication information, where the restart indication information is used to notify a mobility management element that a failure restart occurs in the MSC;

a sending module, configured to send a paging request message to the mobility management element, where the paging request message includes an identity of a user equipment UE, location information of the UE, and the restart instruction information.

A fifth aspect of the present invention provides a mobility management element, including:

a sending module, configured to send a location request message to a home subscriber server HSS or a home location register HLR if the mobility management element does not have the location information of the UE, where the location request message carries an identity of the UE;

the receiving module is further configured to receive a location request response returned by the HSS or the HLR according to the location request message, where the location request response includes location information of the UE;

With reference to the fifth aspect of the present invention, in a first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect of the present invention, the location information of the UE includes a location area identity, LAI, or a tracking area identity, TAI, list of the UE, and the paging module is specifically configured to:

initiating paging to the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE;

With reference to the fifth aspect of the present invention and the first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect of the present invention, in a second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect of the present invention, the mobility management network element is a mobility management entity MME or a serving general packet radio service support node SGSN.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect of the present invention, in a third possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect of the present invention, the mobility management network element further includes:

a timing module, configured to start a timer after the sending module sends the location request message to the HSS or the HLR, and stop the timer after the receiving module receives the location request response returned by the HSS or the HLR.

A sixth aspect of the present invention provides a method for paging a UE, including:

a mobile management network element receives a paging request message sent by a mobile service switching center (MSC), wherein the paging request message comprises an identity of the UE, but the paging request message does not contain the position information of the UE;

if the mobile management network element does not have the location information of the UE, the mobile management network element sends a location request message to the MSC, wherein the location request message carries the identity of the UE;

the mobile management network element receives a location request response returned by the MSC according to the location request message, wherein the location request response comprises the location information of the UE;

and the mobile management network element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the position information of the UE.

With reference to the sixth aspect of the present invention, in a first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect of the present invention, the location information of the UE includes a location area identity, LAI, or a tracking area identity, TAI, list of the UE;

the initiating, by the mobility management network element, paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE includes:

the mobile management network element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE;

or, the mobility management network element initiates paging to the UE in a tracking area included in a TAI list of the UE.

With reference to the sixth aspect of the present invention and the first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect of the present invention, in a second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect of the present invention, the mobility management network element is a mobility management entity MME or a serving general packet radio service support node SGSN.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect of the present invention, in a third possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect of the present invention, after the mobility management element sends a location request message to the MSC, the method further includes:

and the mobile management network element starts a timer and stops the timer after receiving a position request response returned by the MSC.

The seventh aspect of the present invention provides a method for paging a UE, including:

a mobile service switching center (MSC) sends a paging request message to a mobile management network element, wherein the paging request message comprises an identity of the UE, but the paging request message does not contain the location information of the UE;

the MSC receives a location request message sent by the mobile management network element, wherein the location request message is sent by the mobile management network element after determining that the location information of the UE does not exist, and the location request message carries the identity of the UE;

and the MSC acquires the position information of the UE according to the identity of the UE and sends a position request response to the mobile management network element, wherein the position request response comprises the position information of the UE.

An eighth aspect of the present invention provides a method for paging a UE, including:

a mobility management network element receives a paging request message sent by a mobile service switching center (MSC), wherein the paging request message comprises an identity of the UE, location information of the UE and restart indication information, and the restart indication information is used for notifying the mobility management network element that the MSC has failed to restart;

and the mobile management network element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the position information of the UE and requests the UE to initiate a registration process to a Circuit Switching (CS) domain according to the restart indication information.

With reference to the eighth aspect of the present invention, in a first possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect of the present invention, the location information of the UE includes a location area identity, LAI, or a tracking area identity, TAI, list of the UE;

With reference to the eighth aspect of the present invention and the first possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect of the present invention, in a second possible implementation manner of the eighth aspect of the present invention, the mobility management network element is a mobility management entity MME or a serving general packet radio service support node SGSN.

The ninth aspect of the present invention provides a method for paging a UE, comprising:

a mobile service switching center (MSC) generates restart indication information, wherein the restart indication information is used for informing a mobile management network element that the MSC has a fault restart;

and the MSC sends a paging request message to the mobile management network element, wherein the paging request message comprises the identity of the UE, the location information of the UE and the restart instruction information.

A tenth aspect of the present invention provides a method for paging a UE, including:

if the mobile management network element does not have the location information of the UE, the mobile management network element sends a location request message to a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) or a Home Location Register (HLR), wherein the location request message carries an identity of the UE;

the mobile management network element receives a location request response returned by the HSS or the HLR according to the location request message, wherein the location request response comprises the location information of the UE;

With reference to the tenth aspect of the present invention, in a first possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect of the present invention, the location information of the UE includes a location area identity, LAI, or a tracking area identity, TAI, list of the UE;

With reference to the tenth aspect of the present invention and the first possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect of the present invention, in a second possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect of the present invention, the mobility management network element is a mobility management entity MME or a serving general packet radio service support node SGSN.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect of the present invention, in a third possible implementation manner of the tenth aspect of the present invention, after the mobile management network element sends the location request message to the HSS or the HLR, the method further includes:

and the mobile management network element starts a timer and stops the timer after receiving a location request response returned by the HSS or the HLR.

An eleventh aspect of the present invention provides a mobility management network element, including:

the system comprises a processor, a memory, a communication interface and a system bus, wherein the memory and the communication interface are connected with the processor through the system bus and finish mutual communication;

the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions;

the communication interface is used for communicating with other equipment;

the processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the mobility management element to perform the method described below:

receiving a paging request message sent by a mobile service switching center (MSC), wherein the paging request message comprises an identity of the UE, but the paging request message does not comprise the location information of the UE;

if the mobile management network element does not have the location information of the UE, sending a location request message to the MSC, wherein the location request message carries the identity of the UE;

receiving a location request response returned by the MSC according to the location request message, wherein the location request response comprises the location information of the UE;

and initiating paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the position information of the UE.

With reference to the eleventh aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect, the location information of the UE includes a location area identity, LAI, or a tracking area identity, TAI, list of the UE;

the processor is specifically configured to:

initiating paging to the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE;

With reference to the eleventh aspect of the present invention and the first possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect of the present invention, in a second possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect of the present invention, the mobility management network element is a mobility management entity MME or a serving general packet radio service support node SGSN.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect of the present invention, in a third possible implementation manner of the eleventh aspect of the present invention, the processor is further configured to:

and starting a timer after sending the position request message to the MSC, and stopping the timer after receiving a position request response returned by the MSC.

A twelfth aspect of the present invention provides a mobile services switching center MSC, including: the system comprises a processor, a memory, a communication interface and a system bus, wherein the memory and the communication interface are connected with the processor through the system bus and finish mutual communication;

the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions;

the communication interface is used for communicating with other equipment;

the processor is configured to execute the computer executable instructions to cause the MSC to perform the method described below:

sending a paging request message to a mobility management network element, wherein the paging request message includes an identity of the UE, but the paging request message does not include location information of the UE;

receiving a location request message sent by the mobility management network element, where the location request message is sent by the mobility management network element after determining that there is no location information of the UE, and the location request message carries an identity of the UE;

and acquiring the position information of the UE according to the identity of the UE, and sending a position request response to the mobile management network element, wherein the position request response comprises the position information of the UE.

A thirteenth aspect of the present invention provides a mobility management element, comprising:

the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions;

the communication interface is used for communicating with other equipment;

receiving a paging request message sent by a mobile services switching center (MSC), wherein the paging request message comprises an identity of the UE, location information of the UE and restart indication information, and the restart indication information is used for notifying the mobile management network element that the MSC has failed to restart;

and initiating paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the position information of the UE, and requesting the UE to initiate a registration process to a Circuit Switching (CS) domain according to the restart indication information.

With reference to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in a first possible implementation manner of the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, the location information of the UE includes a location area identity, LAI, or a tracking area identity, TAI, list of the UE;

the processor is specifically configured to:

initiating paging to the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE;

With reference to the thirteenth aspect of the present invention and the first possible implementation manner of the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, in a second possible implementation manner of the thirteenth aspect of the present invention, the mobility management network element is a mobility management entity MME or a serving general packet radio service support node SGSN.

A fourteenth aspect of the present invention provides a mobile services switching center MSC, comprising:

the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions;

the communication interface is used for communicating with other equipment;

generating restart indication information, wherein the restart indication information is used for notifying a mobile management network element that the MSC has a fault restart;

and sending a paging request message to the mobility management network element, wherein the paging request message comprises an identity of User Equipment (UE), location information of the UE and restart instruction information.

A fifteenth aspect of the present invention provides a mobility management network element, comprising:

the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions;

the communication interface is used for communicating with other equipment;

if the mobile management network element does not have the location information of the UE, sending a location request message to a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) or a Home Location Register (HLR), wherein the location request message carries an identity of the UE;

receiving a location request response returned by the HSS or the HLR according to the location request message, wherein the location request response comprises the location information of the UE;

With reference to the fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in a first possible implementation manner of the fifteenth aspect of the present invention, the location information of the UE includes a location area identity, LAI, or a tracking area identity, TAI, list of the UE;

the processor is specifically configured to:

initiating paging to the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE;

With reference to the fifteenth aspect of the present invention and the first possible implementation manner of the fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in a second possible implementation manner of the fifteenth aspect of the present invention, the mobility management network element is a mobility management entity MME or a serving general packet radio service support node SGSN.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the fifteenth aspect of the present invention, in a third possible implementation manner of the fifteenth aspect of the present invention, the processor is further configured to:

the method comprises the steps of starting a timer after sending a location request message to HSS or HLR, and stopping the timer after receiving a location request response returned by the HSS or HLR.

According to the method and the device for paging the user equipment provided by the embodiment of the invention, when the MSC fails, if the MSC receives the downlink CS service and the mobile management network element does not have the position information of the UE, the mobile management network element actively acquires the position information of the UE, and initiates an air interface paging of the UE in a range corresponding to the position information of the UE according to the acquired position information of the UE, so that the problem that the mobile management network element initiates a whole network paging or refuses an SGs paging in the prior art is effectively solved.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings needed to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art will be briefly introduced below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the present invention, and for those skilled in the art, other drawings can be obtained according to these drawings without creative efforts.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management network element according to an embodiment of the present invention;

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

fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management network element according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an MSC according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management network element according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a flowchart of a method for paging a UE according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a flowchart of a method for paging a UE according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a signaling diagram of a method for paging a UE according to an eighth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a flowchart of a method for paging a UE according to a ninth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a flowchart of a method for paging a UE according to a tenth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a signaling diagram of a method for paging a UE according to an eleventh embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a flowchart of a method for paging a UE according to a twelfth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a signaling diagram of a method for paging a UE according to a thirteenth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 14 is a signaling diagram of a method for paging a UE according to a fourteenth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management network element according to a fifteenth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of an MSC according to a sixteenth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management element according to a seventeenth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of an MSC according to an eighteenth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management network element according to nineteenth 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.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the user equipment UE (user equipment) may be any one of the following, and the UE may be static or mobile. The UE may include, but is not limited to: a Station (Station), a Mobile Station (Mobile Station), a Subscriber Unit (Subscriber Unit), a Personal Computer (Personal Computer), a Laptop (Laptop Computer), a Tablet Computer (Tablet Computer), a Netbook (Netbook), a ue (terminal), a Cellular Phone (Cellular Phone), a Handheld device (handle), a Cordless Phone (Cordless Phone), a Personal Digital Assistant (Personal Digital Assistant, PDA for short), a Data Card (Card), a USB plug-in device, a Mobile WiFi hotspot device (fi Devices), a smart watch, smart glasses, a Wireless Modem (mode), a Wireless router, a Wireless Local Loop (WLL) Station, and the like. The UEs may be distributed throughout the wireless network.

In order to implement the CSFB technique, the UE needs to initiate a joint attach procedure or a joint location update procedure, and the MME in the PS domain of the EPC network successfully registers in conjunction with the MSC/VLR in the CS domain of the 2G/3G network. And the successful joint registration indicates that SGs association is established between the MSC/VLR and the MME for the UE. The joint registration process is prior art and will not be described herein.

After the successful combined registration, when the MSC/VLR receives the downlink CS service request, if the MSC/VLR fails, the MSC/VLR must not carry the LAI of the UE in the SGs interface paging request sent to the MME. After the MME receives an SGs interface paging request sent by the MSC/VLR, if the UE is in an idle state, the MME needs to initiate an idle paging of the UE according to the stored location information of the UE, where the stored location information includes an LAI carried by the MSC/VLR in the SGs paging request or tracking domain identifier TAI list information allocated by the UE when the UE is registered in an EPC network. Under the following two scenarios, the MME has no location information of the UE, and needs to perform full-network paging or reject SGs paging: (1) a scenario that the MME currently registered by the UE is also restarted; (2) and the MME currently registered by the UE fails and is not restarted, and the network supports a scene that the downlink CS service is issued through a substitute MME in an MME resource pool. The whole network paging can greatly consume air interface resources and reduce paging efficiency, and the problem caused by refusing SGs paging is that downlink CS service fails and user experience is influenced.

It should be noted that, the failure of the MSC/VLR mentioned in the embodiments of the present invention mainly includes restart after failure, or the local failure of the MSC/VLR is not reset but still can work. Wherein, the local failure is not reset, which indicates that the MSC/VLR has only slight failure and only loses part of the context information of the UE, but from the view of the device granularity, the MSC/VLR is not reset and can still continue to operate. In the embodiments of the present invention, the MME having no location information of the UE mainly results from the following two situations: (1) and the MME currently registered by the UE is restarted. Due to the fact that the MME is restarted, the UE context information stored on the MME is lost, and the UE context information comprises the position information of the UE. (2) And the MME currently registered by the UE in the MME resource pool fails and is not restarted, and the network supports a scene that the downlink CS service is issued through the alternative MME in the MME resource pool. The replacement MME has no UE context information, including location information of the UE.

Similarly, in the existing 2G/3G network, if a Gs interface is deployed between a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) and a MSC/VLR, for a downlink CS service request, the MSC/VLR also preferentially sends a Gs page to the SGSN, and then the SGSN sends an air interface page to the UE. Because the function of the SGs interface is the expansion interface of the Gs interface in the EPS network, the SGs interface and the Gs interface adopt similar processing modes. In the same scenario, that is, when the MSC/VLR fails, the MSC/VLR must not carry the LAI information of the UE in the Gs paging request sent to the SGSN, and when the SGSN associated with the Gs is also restarted, the SGSN either initiates the full-network paging of the UE or directly rejects the Gs paging, which also causes the above-mentioned problems. The MME and the SGSN are collectively referred to as a mobility management element.

In addition, in the prior art, the MSC and the VLR are usually both disposed on the same physical device, and therefore, the MSC/VLR, the MSC and the VLR are usually all referred to as the MSC/VLR, and the MSC mentioned in each embodiment of the present invention is referred to as the MSC/VLR unless specified.

For convenience of description, the embodiment of the present invention takes the interaction between the MSC and the MME as an example, and the interaction between the MSC and the SGSN follows a similar processing method.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management network element according to an embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 1, the mobility management network element according to the embodiment includes: a receiving module 11, a sending module 12 and a paging module 13.

The receiving module 11 is configured to receive a paging request message sent by the MSC, where the paging request message includes an identity of the UE, but the paging request message does not include location information of the UE.

When an MSC registered by the UE fails, if the MSC receives a downlink CS service of the UE, the MSC sends a paging request to an SGs interface of a mobility management element registered by the UE according to context information of the mobility management element registered when the UE is jointly registered, where the paging request does not carry location information of the UE, but still carries Identity information (such as a VLR name) of the MSC itself and an Identity identifier of the UE, the location information of the UE is specifically an LAI or TAI list of the UE, and the Identity identifier of the UE may be an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of the UE. If the context information of the registered mobility management element associated with the SGs association of the UE is lost due to the MSC failure, the MSC sends the paging request to all mobility management elements with SGs interfaces, and the MSC starts a timer after sending the paging request.

A sending module 12, configured to send a location request message to the MSC if the mobility management element does not have the location information of the UE, where the location request message carries an identity of the UE.

In the prior art, after the mobility management element receives a paging request sent by an MSC, if the mobility management element does not have location information of the UE, the mobility management element may initiate a full-network paging to all Tracking Areas (TAs) served by the mobility management element; or, initiating a whole network paging to all TAs served by the mobility management element and the MSC; or the mobility management element rejects the paging request. The whole network paging can greatly consume air interface resources and reduce paging efficiency, and the problem caused by refusing SGs paging is that downlink CS service fails and user experience is influenced.

In order to solve the problem in the prior art, in this embodiment, when the mobility management element receives a paging request sent by an MSC, if the mobility management element does not have the location information of the UE, the mobility management element sends a location request message to the MSC, where the location request message is used to request the MSC for the location information of the UE. Specifically, the location request message includes an identity of the UE, so that the MSC returns the location information of the UE to the mobility management element according to the identity of the UE. The UE location Request message may be a new cell indicator (Service Request) message added by reusing an existing SGs interface message, or may be a defined new SGs interface message, and the specific implementation manner is not limited in the present invention. Optionally, the mobility management element starts a timer after sending the location request message.

After receiving the location request message, if the MSC already knows the location information of the UE, the MSC carries the location information of the UE in a location request response and sends the location request response to the mobility management element. The location request response may be to reuse an existing SGs interface message (such as an SGs paging request message) or may be to define a new SGs interface message, which is not limited in the present invention. When reusing the existing SGs interface message, the MSC may reinitiate the paging request, and carry the location information of the UE in the paging request, and after resending the paging request, the MSC restarts the paging timer.

After the MSC fails, although the MSC may lose the location information of the UE stored by the MSC, there are other ways to enable the failed MSC to obtain the location information of the UE, and typically, there are two ways:

(1) the Home Location Register (HLR) sends the stored Location information of the UE to the MSC.

When the UE registers in the MSC, the MSC initiates a location update request to the HLR while storing the location information of the UE, so as to implement registration from the MSC to the HLR, the MSC may report the location information (for example, LAI) of the UE to the HLR, and the HLR stores the location information of the UE reported by the MSC as a Paging Area (Paging Area) of the UE. In the subsequent process of initiating the downlink CS service, after receiving a Send Routing Information (SRI) request sent by a called network element MSC (gateway MSC), the HLR needs to Send a request for providing a Roaming Number (PRN) to the called MSC, so as to request a Roaming Number (Roaming Number) of the called UE. If the HLR stores the paging area of the UE, the HLR carries the paging area of the UE in the roaming number providing request to the MSC, and the MSC acquires the LAI from the paging area. Note that the HLR stores the paging area of the UE, so that the paging area is provided to the MSC in the PRN for paging optimization after the MSC fails because the LAI of the UE is unknown.

(2) The MSC acquires the position information of the UE from the backup data.

In order to improve disaster tolerance and robustness of the device, the context information of the UE in the MSC is usually backed up in real time, so after the MSC fails, if the stored UE location information is lost, the MSC can still obtain the UE location information from the backup data.

The receiving module 11 is further configured to receive a location request response returned by the MSC according to the location request message, where the location request response includes the location information of the UE.

After acquiring the location information of the UE, the MSC carries the location information of the UE in a location request response and sends the location request response to the mobile management network element, and the mobile management network element receives the location request response and stops a timer started after sending the location request message.

A paging module 13, configured to initiate paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE.

After receiving the location request response sent by the MSC, the mobility management network element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE according to the location information of the UE included in the location request response. Specifically, when the location information of the UE is the LAI, the paging module 13 initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI. When the location information of the UE is the TAI list, the paging module 13 initiates paging of the UE in the tracking area included in the TAI list.

Considering that neither the mobility management element or the alternative mobility management element registered by the UE has the context information of the UE, which indicates that the UE is also in a Deregistered (Deregistered) state or a detached (Detach) state in the PS domain, the mobility management element initiates paging using the IMSI of the UE, and sets a Core Network (CN) domain to "PS". After receiving the paging, the UE initiates a joint attachment process to realize joint registration to an EPC network PS domain and a 2G/3G network CS domain. It should be noted that, if the location request response returned by the MSC does not carry the location information of the UE, the mobility management element uses the existing method to process the location request response.

Optionally, the mobility management network element may further include: a timing module, configured to start a timer after the sending module 12 sends the location request message to the MSC, and stop the timer after the receiving module 11 receives a location request response returned by the MSC.

In the mobility management element of this embodiment, after the MSC fails, if the mobility management element receives a paging request sent by the MSC, the paging request does not include the location information of the UE, and the mobility management element does not include the location information of the UE, the mobility management element actively acquires the location information of the UE by sending a location request message to the MSC, and after acquiring the location information of the UE, initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE, thereby avoiding a problem that the mobility management element initiates a full-network paging or rejects the paging request in the prior art.

Fig. 2 is a schematic structural diagram of an MSC according to a second embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 2, the MSC according to the present embodiment includes: a sending module 21, a receiving module 22 and an obtaining module 23.

A sending module 21, configured to send a paging request message to a mobility management element, where the paging request message includes an identity of a UE, but the paging request message does not include location information of the UE.

Because the MSC fails, when the MSC sends a paging request message to the mobility management element registered in the UE, the paging request message does not carry the location information of the UE.

A receiving module 22, configured to receive a location request message sent by a mobility management element, where the location request message is sent by the mobility management element after determining that there is no location information of the UE, and the location request message carries an identity of the UE.

An obtaining module 23, configured to obtain location information of the UE according to the identity of the UE, and send a location request response to a mobility management network element, where the location request response includes the location information of the UE.

Wherein, the location information of the UE includes an LAI or TAI list of the UE.

In this embodiment, the obtaining module 23 obtains the location information of the UE according to the location request sent by the MME, which may refer to the related description in the first embodiment and is not described herein again.

In the MSC of this embodiment, when the mobility management element does not have the location information of the UE, the MSC returns the location information of the UE to the mobility management element according to the location request message sent by the mobility management element, so that the mobility management element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE according to the location information of the UE, thereby avoiding a problem that the mobility management element initiates a full-network paging or rejects the paging request in the prior art.

Fig. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management element according to a third embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 3, the mobility management element according to this embodiment includes: a receiving module 31 and a paging module 32.

A receiving module 31, configured to receive a paging request message sent by an MSC, where the paging request message includes an identity of a UE, location information of the UE, and restart indication information, and the restart indication information is used to notify the mobility management element that a failure restart occurs in the MSC.

When an MSC registered by the UE fails, if the MSC receives a downlink CS service of the UE, in the prior art, no matter whether the MSC can obtain the location information of the UE, the MSC is forced to not carry the location information of the UE in a paging request sent to a mobility management element, which mainly ensures that the mobility management element requests the UE to initiate re-registration of the CS service. When the MSC fails, the context information of the UE stored on the MSC is lost, and the UE is in a Deregistered (Deregistered) state or a detached (Detach) state in the CS domain. In order to recover the lost UE context after the MSC failure, the UE needs to re-initiate registration to the CS domain, thereby ensuring smooth proceeding of the subsequent CS service. In the prior art, if a paging request sent by an MSC received by a mobility management element does not carry location information of a UE, the mobility management element determines that the MSC is faulty, and the mobility management element requests the UE to initiate a registration procedure to a CS domain. After the MSC fails, if the paging request carries the location information of the UE, the mobility management element considers that the MSC is normal, performs a normal paging procedure, and does not request the UE to initiate a registration procedure to the CS domain.

In this embodiment, in order to avoid the mobility management network element from performing the whole network paging, it can be ensured that the subsequent CS service of the UE is performed smoothly. The MSC still carries the location information of the UE in the paging request sent to the mobile management network element, and carries restart indication information in the paging request, wherein the restart indication information is used for informing the mobile management network element that the MSC has failed to restart. The paging request further carries an identity of the UE and an identity of the MSC, the location information of the UE may specifically be an LAI or TAI list of the UE, and the identity of the UE may be an IMSI of the UE. It should be noted that, if the context information of the registered mobility management element associated with the SGs association of the UE is lost due to the MSC failure, the MSC sends the paging request to all mobility management elements with SGs interfaces, and after sending the paging request, the MSC starts a timer.

A paging module 32, configured to initiate paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE, and request the UE to initiate a registration procedure to the CS domain according to the restart indication information.

After receiving the paging request sent by the MSC, the mobility management network element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE according to the location information of the UE contained in the paging request, thereby avoiding paging over the entire network. Specifically, when the location information of the UE is the LAI, the paging module 32 initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI. When the location information of the UE is the TAI list, the paging module 32 initiates paging of the UE in the tracking area included in the TAI list.

In this embodiment, the mobility management element further requests the UE to initiate a re-registration to the CS service according to the restart indication information, thereby ensuring that the CS service of the UE is successfully performed. Requesting the UE to initiate re-registration to the CS service is prior art and will not be described herein.

In the mobility management element of this embodiment, after the MSC fails, if the mobility management element receives a paging request sent by the MSC, and the paging request carries location information of the UE and restart instruction information, the mobility management element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE according to the location information of the UE, thereby avoiding a problem that the mobility management element initiates a full-network paging or rejects the paging request in the prior art. And requesting the UE to initiate a registration process to the CS domain according to the restart indication information, thereby ensuring the sequential proceeding of the subsequent CS services of the UE.

Fig. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of an MSC according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 4, the MSC according to the present embodiment includes: a generating module 41 and a sending module 42.

A generating module 41, configured to generate restart instruction information, where the restart instruction information is used to notify the mobility management element that a failed restart occurs in the MSC.

A sending module 42, configured to send a paging request message to the mobility management element, where the paging request message includes an identity of a user equipment UE, location information of the UE, and the restart instruction information.

Different from the prior art, in this embodiment, after the MSC fails, the generating module 41 generates restart instruction information, where the restart instruction information is used to notify the mobility management element that the MSC fails to restart, so that the mobility management element requests the UE to initiate registration to the CS domain according to the restart instruction information.

The MSC of this embodiment generates restart instruction information after a failure, and carries location information of the UE and the restart instruction information in a paging request sent to a mobility management element, so that the mobility management element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE according to the location information of the UE, thereby avoiding a problem that the mobility management element initiates a full-network paging or rejects the paging request in the prior art. The mobile management network element is further indicated to request the UE to initiate a registration process to the CS domain through the restart indication information, so that the sequential proceeding of the subsequent CS services of the UE is ensured.

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management element according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 5, the mobility management element according to this embodiment includes: a receiving module 51, a transmitting module 52 and a paging module 53.

A receiving module 51, configured to receive a paging request message sent by an MSC, where the paging request message includes an identity of a UE, but the paging request message does not include location information of the UE.

When an MSC registered by the UE fails, if the MSC receives a downlink CS service of the UE, the MSC sends a paging request to an SGs interface of a mobility management element registered by the UE according to context information of the mobility management element registered when the UE is jointly registered, where the paging request does not carry location information of the UE but still carries identity information (such as a VLR name) of the MSC itself and an identity of the UE, the location information of the UE is specifically an LAI or TAI list of the UE, and the identity of the UE may be an IMSI of the UE. If the context information of the registered mobility management element associated with the SGs association of the UE is lost due to the MSC failure, the MSC sends the paging request to all mobility management elements with SGs interfaces, and the MSC starts a timer after sending the paging request.

A sending module 52, configured to send a Location request message to a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) or a Home Location Register (HLR) if the mobility management element does not have the Location information of the UE, where the Location request message carries an identity of the UE.

After receiving the paging request sent by the MSC, if the mobility management element does not have the location information of the UE, the mobility management element temporarily suspends the paging procedure of the UE and sends a location request message to the HSS or the HLR.

After HSS or HLR receives the location request message, if HSS or HLR stores the location information of UE, HSS or HLR sends the location information of UE to the mobile management network element in response message. When the UE registers in the MSC, the MSC initiates a location update request to the HLR to register the MSC with the HLR while storing the location information of the UE, the MSC may report the location information (typically, LAI) of the UE to the HLR, and the HLR stores the location information of the UE reported by the MSC as a Paging Area (Paging Area) of the UE. It should be noted that, the HSS and the HLR are usually a combined network element, which is referred to as HSS/HLR for short, and if the HSS and the HLR are separately configured network elements, an internal interface exists between the HSS and the HLR to implement data communication between the HSS and the HLR, so that the HSS can always obtain location information of the UE from the HLR.

The receiving module 51 is further configured to receive a location request response returned by the HSS or HLR according to the location request message, where the location request response includes the location information of the UE.

A paging module 53, configured to initiate paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE.

After receiving the location request response sent by the HSS or HLR, the mobile management network element acquires the location information of the UE from the location request response, recovers the suspended paging process, and initiates paging of the UE in the area corresponding to the location information of the UE. Specifically, when the location information of the UE is the LAI, the paging module 53 initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI. When the location information of the UE is the TAI list, the paging module 53 initiates paging of the UE in the tracking area included in the TAI list.

Optionally, the mobility management network element may further include: a timing module, configured to start a timer after the sending module 52 sends the location request message to the HSS or HLR, and stop the timer after the receiving module 51 receives a location request response returned by the HSS or HLR.

In the mobility management element of this embodiment, after the MSC fails, if the mobility management element receives a paging request sent by the MSC, the paging request does not include the location information of the UE, and the mobility management element does not include the location information of the UE, the mobility management element actively acquires the location information of the UE by sending a location request message to the HSS or the HLR, and after acquiring the location information of the UE, initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE, thereby avoiding a problem that the mobility management element initiates a full-network paging or rejects the paging request in the prior art.

Fig. 6 is a flowchart of a method for paging a UE according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 6, the method provided in this embodiment may include the following steps:

step 101, a mobile management network element receives a paging request message sent by an MSC, where the paging request message includes an identity of a UE, but the paging request message does not include location information of the UE.

Step 102, if the mobility management element does not have the location information of the UE, the mobility management element sends a location request message to the MSC, where the location request message carries an identity of the UE.

Step 103, the mobility management element receives a location request response returned by the MSC according to the location request message, where the location request response includes the location information of the UE.

Step 104, the mobility management element initiates paging of the UE in the area corresponding to the location information of the UE.

Wherein the location information of the UE includes an LAI or TAI list of the UE, and the mobility management element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE, specifically: the mobile management network element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI; alternatively, the mobility management element initiates paging to the UE within the tracking area contained in the TAI list.

Optionally, after the mobility management element sends the location request message to the MSC, the mobility management element starts a timer, and stops the timer after receiving a location request response returned by the MSC.

The method of this embodiment is used to complete the processing of the mobility management element shown in the first embodiment, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Fig. 7 is a flowchart of a method for paging a UE according to a seventh embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 7, the method according to this embodiment may include the following steps:

step 201, the MSC sends a paging request message to the mobility management element, where the paging request message includes an identity of the UE, but the paging request message does not include location information of the UE.

Step 202, the MSC receives a location request message sent by the mobility management element, where the location request message is sent by the mobility management element after determining that there is no location information of the UE, and the location request message carries the identity of the UE.

Step 203, the MSC obtains the location information of the UE according to the identity of the UE, and sends a location request response to the mobile management network element, where the location request response includes the location information of the UE.

Wherein the location information of the UE includes an LAI or TAI list of the UE.

The method of this embodiment is used to complete the processing of the MSC shown in the second embodiment, and the implementation principle and technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Fig. 8 is a signaling diagram of a method for paging a UE according to an eighth embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 8, the method for paging a UE according to this embodiment may include the following steps:

step 301, the UE performs a joint registration with the CS of the 2G/3G network in the PS domain of the EPS network.

The joint registration of the UE in the PS domain of the EPS network and the CS of the 2G/3G network is prior art and is not described herein again.

Step 302, the MSC/VLR fails.

Step 303, the MSC/VLR receives the downlink CS service request.

Step 304, the MSC/VLR sends a paging request to the MME, where the paging request message includes the identity of the UE, but does not include the location information of the UE.

Step 305, the MME determines that there is no location information of the UE.

Step 306, MME sends location request message to MSC/VLR.

The location request message includes an identity of the UE.

Step 307, the MSC/VLR obtains the location information of the UE.

The MSC/VLR obtains the location information of the UE according to the identity of the UE included in the location request message, and the specific method for obtaining the location information of the UE may refer to the related description in the first embodiment, which is not described herein again.

Step 308, the MSC/VLR sends a location request response to the MME, where the location request response includes the location information of the UE.

Step 309, the MME initiates an air interface paging in the area corresponding to the location information of the UE.

Step 310, the MME sends a paging message to the UE.

The paging message includes the IMSI of the UE and a CN domain, which is set as a PS domain.

Step 311, the UE performs a joint remark flow.

The method of this embodiment may be used to complete the processing of the mobility management element shown in the first embodiment and the processing of the MSC shown in the second embodiment, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, and are not described herein again.

Fig. 9 is a flowchart of a method for paging a UE according to a ninth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 9, the method of this embodiment may include the following steps:

step 401, the mobility management element receives a paging request message sent by the MSC, where the paging request message includes an identity of the UE, location information of the UE, and restart instruction information, and the restart instruction information is used to notify the mobility management element that the MSC has failed to restart.

Step 402, the mobility management network element initiates paging of the UE in the area corresponding to the location information of the UE, and requests the UE to initiate a registration procedure to the CS domain according to the restart instruction information.

The location information of the UE may be an LAI or TAI list of the UE, and the mobility management element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE, specifically: the mobile management network element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI; alternatively, paging to the UE is initiated within the tracking area contained in the TAI list.

The method of this embodiment may be used to complete the processing of the mobility management element shown in the third embodiment, and the implementation principle and technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Fig. 10 is a flowchart of a method for paging a UE according to a tenth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 10, the method of this embodiment may include the following steps:

step 501, the MSC generates restart instruction information, where the restart instruction information is used to notify the mobility management element that the MSC has failed to restart.

Step 502, the MSC sends a paging request message to the mobility management element, where the paging request message includes the identity of the UE, the location information of the UE, and the restart instruction information.

The method of this embodiment is used to complete the processing of the MSC shown in the fourth embodiment, and the implementation principle and technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Fig. 11 is a signaling diagram of a method for paging a UE according to an eleventh embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 11, the method of this embodiment may include the following steps:

step 601, UE performs joint registration with CS of 2G/3G network in PS domain of EPS network.

Step 602, the MSC/VLR fails.

Step 603, the MSC/VLR receives the downlink CS service request.

Step 604, the MSC/VLR sends a paging request to the MME, where the paging request message includes the location information of the UE, the identity of the UE, and the restart instruction information.

Step 605, the MME initiates paging of the UE in the area corresponding to the location information of the UE, and requests the UE to initiate a registration procedure to the CS domain according to the restart instruction information.

Specifically, if the UE is in the registration state on the MME, steps 606a to 606c are performed, and if the UE is unknown or in a Deregistered (Deregistered) state or a Detach (Detach) state on the MME, steps 607a and 607b are performed.

Step 606a, the MME requests the UE to enter the connected state.

Step 606b, the MME sends an IMSI detach request to the UE.

Step 606c, the UE initiates a joint location update procedure.

Step 607a, the MME sends a paging message to the UE.

Step 607b, the UE performs the joint attach procedure.

The method of this embodiment may be used to complete the processing of the mobility management element shown in the third embodiment and the processing of the MSC shown in the fourth embodiment, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, and are not described herein again.

Fig. 12 is a flowchart of a method for paging a UE according to a twelfth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 12, the method of this embodiment may include the following steps:

step 701, a mobile management network element receives a paging request message sent by an MSC, where the paging request message includes an identity of a UE, but the paging request message does not include location information of the UE.

Step 702, if the mobility management element does not have the location information of the UE, the mobility management element sends a location request message to the HSS or the HLR, where the location request message carries the identity of the UE.

Step 703, the mobile management network element receives a location request response returned by the HSS or HLR according to the location request message, where the location request response includes the location information of the UE.

Step 704, the mobility management element initiates paging of the UE in the area corresponding to the location information of the UE.

The location information of the UE may be an LAI or TAI list of the UE, and the mobility management element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE, specifically: the mobile management network element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI; alternatively, the mobility management element initiates paging to the UE within the tracking area contained in the TAI list.

The method of this embodiment may be used to complete the processing of the mobility management element shown in the fifth embodiment, and the implementation principle and technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Fig. 13 is a signaling diagram of a method for paging a UE according to a thirteenth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 13, the method according to this embodiment may include the following steps:

step 801, UE performs joint registration with CS of 2G/3G network in PS domain of EPS network.

Step 802, MSC/VLR failure.

Step 803, the MSC/VLR receives the downlink CS service request.

Step 804, the MSC/VLR sends a paging request to the MME, where the paging request message includes the identity of the UE, but does not include the location information of the UE.

Step 805, the MME determines that there is no location information of the UE.

Step 806, the MME sends a location request message to the HSS/HLR.

The location request message includes an identity of the UE.

In step 807, the HSS/HLR acquires the location information of the UE.

The HSS/HLR acquires the location information of the UE according to the UE identity in the location request message, and the specific method for acquiring the location information of the UE may refer to the description related to the fifth embodiment, which is not described herein again.

Step 808, the HSS/HLR sends a location request response to the MME, where the location request response includes the location information of the UE.

And the HSS/HLR returns a position request response to the MME according to the identity of the UE, wherein the position request response comprises the position information of the UE.

Step 809, the MME initiates an air interface paging in the area corresponding to the location information of the UE.

Step 810, the MME sends a paging message to the UE.

Step 811, the UE performs a joint note attaching procedure.

Fig. 14 is a signaling diagram of a method for paging a UE according to a fourteenth embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 14, the method of this embodiment may include the following steps:

and step 901, the UE performs joint registration with the CS of the 2G/3G network in the PS domain of the EPS network.

Step 902, registering the failure of the MME.

Registered MME refers to MME registered when UE is co-registered.

Step 903, MSC/VLR fails.

Step 904, the MSC/VLR receives the downlink CS service request.

Step 905, the MSC/VLR selects a replacement MME for registering the MME in the same MME resource pool, and the replacement MME can normally provide services for the UE.

Step 906, the MSC/VLR sends a paging request message to the alternative MME, where the paging request message carries the location information of the UE and the identity of the UE.

When a registered MME of the UE fails, if a network supports selection of a substitute MME from the same MME Pool (MME Pool) for downlink CS service, the MSC/VLR selects a substitute MME capable of providing service for the UE from the resource Pool where the registered MME is located, and sends a paging request message to the substitute MME. If the MSC/VLR can acquire the location information of the UE, the paging request message carries the location information of the UE. After the MSC/VLR sends the SGs paging request, the MSC/VLR starts a paging timer. It should be noted that, after the failure of the MSC/VLR, the paging request sent to the alternative MME still carries the identity of the MSC/VLR itself and the identity of the UE.

When the UE registers in the MSC, the MSC initiates a location update request to the HLR while storing the location information of the UE, so as to implement registration from the MSC to the HLR, the MSC may report the location information (for example, LAI) of the UE to the HLR, and the HLR stores the location information of the UE reported by the MSC as a Paging Area (Paging Area) of the UE. In the subsequent process of initiating the downlink CS service, after receiving a request for sending routing information SRI sent from the called network element MSC, the HLR needs to send a request for providing a roaming number PRN to the called MSC to request the roaming number of the called UE. If the HLR stores the paging area of the UE, the HLR carries the paging area of the UE in the roaming number providing request to the MSC, and the MSC acquires the LAI from the paging area. Note that the HLR stores the paging area of the UE, so that the paging area is provided to the MSC in the PRN for paging optimization after the MSC fails because the LAI of the UE is unknown.

(2) The MSC acquires the position information of the UE from the backup data.

Step 907, replace the MME to initiate air interface paging in the area corresponding to the location information of the UE.

After the substitute MME receives the paging request sent by the MSC/VLR, the air interface paging of the UE is initiated in the area corresponding to the carried location information of the UE, so that the whole network paging is avoided.

Step 908, the alternative MME sends a paging message to the UE.

Considering that the alternative MME in the MME resource pool does not have the context information of the UE, indicating that the UE is also in a Deregistered (Deregistered) state or a Detach (Detach) state in the PS domain, the MME initiates paging using the IMSI of the UE and sets a Core Network (CN) domain to "PS". After receiving the paging, the UE initiates a joint attachment process to realize joint registration to an EPC network PS domain and a 2G/3G network CS domain.

Step 909, the UE performs the joint remark flow.

In the method of this embodiment, after the failure of the MSC and the MME registered by the UE, when the MSC receives a downlink CS service, the MSC selects, for the UE, a substitute MME that can provide a service for the UE in the same resource pool as the registered MME of the UE, and in a case where the location information of the UE can be obtained, the paging request sent to the substitute MME carries the location information of the UE, and the substitute MME initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE according to the location information of the UE, thereby avoiding a problem in the prior art that the MME initiates a full-network paging or rejects the paging request.

Fig. 15 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management element according to a fifteenth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 15, a mobility management element 600 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a processor 61, a memory 62, a communication interface 63 and a system bus 64, wherein the memory 62 and the communication interface 63 are connected with the processor 61 through the system bus 64 and complete mutual communication; the memory 62 for storing computer-executable instructions; the communication interface 63 is used for communicating with other devices; the processor 61 is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the mobility management element 600 to perform the method as follows:

The location information of the UE comprises a Location Area Identifier (LAI) or a Tracking Area Identifier (TAI) list of the UE; the processor 61 is specifically configured to: initiating paging to the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE; or initiating paging to the UE within a tracking area contained in a TAI list of the UE. The mobile management network element is a mobile management entity MME or a serving general packet radio service support node SGSN.

Optionally, the processor 61 is further configured to: and starting a timer after sending the position request message to the MSC, and stopping the timer after receiving a position request response returned by the MSC.

The mobility management element of this embodiment is the same as the mobility management element of the first embodiment in terms of functions, and a specific implementation manner and technical effects thereof are similar to each other, and are not described herein again.

Fig. 16 is a schematic structural diagram of an MSC according to a sixteenth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 16, an MSC700 provided in this embodiment includes: the system comprises a processor 71, a memory 72, a communication interface 73 and a system bus 74, wherein the memory 72 and the communication interface 73 are connected with the processor 71 through the system bus 74 and complete mutual communication; the memory 72 for storing computer-executable instructions; the communication interface 73 is used for communicating with other devices; the processor 71 is configured to execute the computer executable instructions to cause the MSC700 to perform the following method:

The MSC of this embodiment and the MSC of the second embodiment implement the same functions, and the specific implementation manner and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Fig. 17 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management element according to a seventeenth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 17, a mobility management element 800 according to the present invention includes: the system comprises a processor 81, a memory 82, a communication interface 83 and a system bus 84, wherein the memory 82 and the communication interface 83 are connected with the processor 81 through the system bus 84 and complete mutual communication; the memory 82 for storing computer-executable instructions; the communication interface 83 is configured to communicate with other devices, and the processor 81 is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the mobility management element 800 to perform the following method:

The location information of the UE comprises a Location Area Identifier (LAI) or a Tracking Area Identifier (TAI) list of the UE; the processor 81 is specifically configured to: initiating paging to the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE; or initiating paging to the UE within a tracking area contained in a TAI list of the UE. The mobile management network element is a mobile management entity MME or a serving general packet radio service support node SGSN.

The mobility management element of this embodiment is the same as the mobility management element of the third embodiment in terms of functions, and the specific implementation manner and technical effect thereof are similar to each other, and are not described herein again.

Fig. 18 is a schematic structural diagram of an MSC according to an eighteenth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 18, an MSC900 provided in this embodiment includes: the system comprises a processor 91, a memory 92, a communication interface 93 and a system bus 94, wherein the memory 92 and the communication interface 93 are connected with the processor 91 through the system bus 94 and complete mutual communication; the memory 92 for storing computer-executable instructions; the communication interface 93 is used for communicating with other equipment; the processor 91 is configured to execute the computer executable instructions to cause the MSC900 to perform the method as follows:

The MSC of this embodiment and the MSC of the fourth embodiment implement the same functions, and the specific implementation manner and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Fig. 19 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management element according to nineteenth embodiment of the present invention, and as shown in fig. 19, a mobility management element 1000 according to the embodiment of the present invention includes: the system comprises a processor 111, a memory 112, a communication interface 113 and a system bus 114, wherein the memory 112 and the communication interface 113 are connected with the processor 111 through the system bus 114 and complete mutual communication; the memory 112 for storing computer-executable instructions; the communication interface 113 is used for communicating with other devices; the processor 111 is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the mobility management element 1000 to perform the method as follows:

The location information of the UE comprises a Location Area Identifier (LAI) or a Tracking Area Identifier (TAI) list of the UE; the processor 111 is specifically configured to: initiating paging to the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE; or initiating paging to the UE within a tracking area contained in a TAI list of the UE. The mobile management network element is a mobile management entity MME or a serving general packet radio service support node SGSN.

Optionally, the processor 111 is further configured to: the method comprises the steps of starting a timer after sending a location request message to HSS or HLR, and stopping the timer after receiving a location request response returned by the HSS or HLR.

The mobility management element of this embodiment is the same as the mobility management element of the fifth embodiment in terms of functions, and a specific implementation manner and technical effects thereof are similar to each other, and are not described herein again.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will understand that: all or part of the steps for implementing the method embodiments may be implemented by hardware related to program instructions, and the program may be stored in a computer readable storage medium, and when executed, the program performs the steps including the method embodiments; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as ROM, RAM, magnetic or optical disks.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solution of the present invention, and not to limit the same; while the invention has been described in detail and with reference to the foregoing embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that: the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may still be modified, or some or all of the technical features may be equivalently replaced; and the modifications or the substitutions do not make the essence of the corresponding technical solutions depart from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention.

Claims

A mobility management network element, comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive a paging request message sent by a mobile services switching center MSC, where the paging request message includes an identity of a user equipment UE, but the paging request message does not include location information of the UE;

a sending module, configured to send a location request message to the MSC if the mobility management element does not have the location information of the UE, where the location request message carries an identity of the UE;

the receiving module is further configured to receive a location request response returned by the MSC according to the location request message, where the location request response includes location information of the UE;

and the paging module is used for initiating paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the position information of the UE.
The mobility management element according to claim 1, wherein the location information of the UE includes a location area identity, LAI, or a tracking area identity, TAI, list of the UE, and the paging module is specifically configured to:

initiating paging to the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE;

or initiating paging to the UE within a tracking area contained in a TAI list of the UE.
The mobility management element according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that it further comprises:

a timing module, configured to start a timer after the sending module sends the location request message to the MSC, and stop the timer after the receiving module receives the location request response returned by the MSC.
A mobile services switching center, MSC, comprising:

a sending module, configured to send a paging request message to a mobility management network element, where the paging request message includes an identity of a User Equipment (UE), but the paging request message does not include location information of the UE;

a receiving module, configured to receive a location request message sent by the mobility management element, where the location request message is sent by the mobility management element after determining that there is no location information of the UE, and the location request message carries an identity of the UE;

an obtaining module, configured to obtain location information of the UE according to the identity of the UE, and send a location request response to the mobility management network element, where the location request response includes the location information of the UE.
A mobility management network element, comprising:

a receiving module, configured to receive a paging request message sent by a mobile services switching center MSC, where the paging request message includes an identity of a user equipment UE, location information of the UE, and restart indication information, and the restart indication information is used to notify the mobility management element that the MSC has failed to restart;

and the paging module is used for initiating paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the position information of the UE and requesting the UE to initiate a registration process to a Circuit Switching (CS) domain according to the restart indication information.
The mobility management element according to claim 5, wherein the location information of the UE includes a location area identity, LAI, or a tracking area identity, TAI, list of the UE, and the paging module is specifically configured to:

initiating paging to the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE;

or initiating paging to the UE within a tracking area contained in a TAI list of the UE.
A method for paging a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a mobile management network element receives a paging request message sent by a mobile service switching center (MSC), wherein the paging request message comprises an identity of the UE, but the paging request message does not contain the position information of the UE;

if the mobile management network element does not have the location information of the UE, the mobile management network element sends a location request message to the MSC, wherein the location request message carries the identity of the UE;

the mobile management network element receives a location request response returned by the MSC according to the location request message, wherein the location request response comprises the location information of the UE;

and the mobile management network element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the position information of the UE.
The method of claim 7, wherein the location information of the UE comprises a Location Area Identity (LAI) or a Tracking Area Identity (TAI) list of the UE;

the initiating, by the mobility management network element, paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE includes:

the mobile management network element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE;

or, the mobility management network element initiates paging to the UE in a tracking area included in a TAI list of the UE.
The method according to claim 7 or 8, wherein after the mobility management element sends the location request message to the MSC, the method further comprises:

and the mobile management network element starts a timer and stops the timer after receiving a position request response returned by the MSC.
A method for paging a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a mobile service switching center (MSC) sends a paging request message to a mobile management network element, wherein the paging request message comprises an identity of the UE, but the paging request message does not contain the location information of the UE;

the MSC receives a location request message sent by the mobile management network element, wherein the location request message is sent by the mobile management network element after determining that the location information of the UE does not exist, and the location request message carries the identity of the UE;

and the MSC acquires the position information of the UE according to the identity of the UE and sends a position request response to the mobile management network element, wherein the position request response comprises the position information of the UE.
A method for paging a User Equipment (UE), comprising:

a mobility management network element receives a paging request message sent by a mobile service switching center (MSC), wherein the paging request message comprises an identity of the UE, location information of the UE and restart indication information, and the restart indication information is used for notifying the mobility management network element that the MSC has failed to restart;

and the mobile management network element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the position information of the UE and requests the UE to initiate a registration process to a Circuit Switching (CS) domain according to the restart indication information.
The method of claim 11, wherein the location information of the UE comprises a location area identity, LAI, or a tracking area identity, TAI, list of the UE;

the initiating, by the mobility management network element, paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the location information of the UE includes:

the mobile management network element initiates paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE;

or, the mobility management network element initiates paging to the UE in a tracking area included in a TAI list of the UE.
A mobility management network element, comprising:

the system comprises a processor, a memory, a communication interface and a system bus, wherein the memory and the communication interface are connected with the processor through the system bus and finish mutual communication;

the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions;

the communication interface is used for communicating with other equipment;

the processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the mobility management element to perform the method described below:

receiving a paging request message sent by a mobile service switching center (MSC), wherein the paging request message comprises an identity of the UE, but the paging request message does not comprise the location information of the UE;

if the mobile management network element does not have the location information of the UE, sending a location request message to the MSC, wherein the location request message carries the identity of the UE;

receiving a location request response returned by the MSC according to the location request message, wherein the location request response comprises the location information of the UE;

and initiating paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the position information of the UE.
The mobility management element according to claim 13, wherein the location information of the UE comprises a list of location area identities, LAIs, or tracking area identities, TAIs, of the UE;

the processor is specifically configured to:

initiating paging to the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE;

or initiating paging to the UE within a tracking area contained in a TAI list of the UE.
The mobility management element according to claim 13 or 14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

and starting a timer after sending the position request message to the MSC, and stopping the timer after receiving a position request response returned by the MSC.
A mobile services switching center, MSC, comprising: the system comprises a processor, a memory, a communication interface and a system bus, wherein the memory and the communication interface are connected with the processor through the system bus and finish mutual communication;

the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions;

the communication interface is used for communicating with other equipment;

the processor is configured to execute the computer executable instructions to cause the MSC to perform the method described below:

sending a paging request message to a mobility management network element, wherein the paging request message includes an identity of the UE, but the paging request message does not include location information of the UE;

receiving a location request message sent by the mobility management network element, where the location request message is sent by the mobility management network element after determining that there is no location information of the UE, and the location request message carries an identity of the UE;

and acquiring the position information of the UE according to the identity of the UE, and sending a position request response to the mobile management network element, wherein the position request response comprises the position information of the UE.
A mobility management network element, comprising:

the system comprises a processor, a memory, a communication interface and a system bus, wherein the memory and the communication interface are connected with the processor through the system bus and finish mutual communication;

the memory is used for storing computer execution instructions;

the communication interface is used for communicating with other equipment;

the processor is configured to execute the computer-executable instructions to cause the mobility management element to perform the method described below:

receiving a paging request message sent by a mobile services switching center (MSC), wherein the paging request message comprises an identity of the UE, location information of the UE and restart indication information, and the restart indication information is used for notifying the mobile management network element that the MSC has failed to restart;

and initiating paging of the UE in an area corresponding to the position information of the UE, and requesting the UE to initiate a registration process to a Circuit Switching (CS) domain according to the restart indication information.
The mobility management element according to claim 17, wherein the location information of the UE comprises a list of location area identities, LAIs, or tracking area identities, TAIs, of the UE;

the processor is specifically configured to:

initiating paging to the UE in an area corresponding to the LAI of the UE;

or initiating paging to the UE within a tracking area contained in a TAI list of the UE.