CN105813027B

CN105813027B - Method, equipment and system for transmitting signaling

Info

Publication number: CN105813027B
Application number: CN201410856310.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 谭仕勇
Original assignee: Shanghai Pengbang Industrial Co ltd
Current assignee: SHANGHAI PENGBANG INDUSTRIAL Co.,Ltd.
Priority date: 2014-12-31
Filing date: 2014-12-31
Publication date: 2020-05-15
Anticipated expiration: 2034-12-31
Also published as: CN105813027A; WO2016107342A1

Abstract

The invention provides a method and equipment for transmitting signaling by mobility management equipment. The method comprises the steps that a mobility management device obtains at least one multicast address, wherein the at least one multicast address comprises a first multicast address of a first multicast group, and the first multicast group comprises M access network devices in N access network devices; the mobility management device transmits signaling to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address; wherein M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N. According to the technical scheme provided by the invention, through a multicast mechanism, the condition that the mobility management equipment copies and sends the same signaling in a large quantity when transmitting the same signaling to a large quantity of access network equipment is avoided, so that the signaling overhead and the signaling processing amount of the mobility management equipment are reduced, the equipment capacity of the mobility management equipment is further improved, and the cost of the whole network is reduced.

Description

Method, equipment and system for transmitting signaling

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communication, and more particularly, to a method and apparatus for transmitting signaling

Background

The third generation partnership project (3 GPP) constructs an LTE/SAE system architecture in the System Architecture Evolution (SAE) project and the Long Term Evolution (LTE) project. Under the framework, Mobility Management Entity (MME), evolved Node B (eNodeB), and other devices are defined.

When the MME needs to transmit the same signaling to a large number of enodebs it manages, the signaling overhead of the MME is huge, and the device capacity of the MME is reduced, thereby causing a significant increase in the cost of the entire network.

Disclosure of Invention

In view of this, embodiments of the present invention provide a method, a device, and a system for transmitting signaling, so as to reduce signaling overhead of a mobility management device.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for a mobility management device to transmit a signaling, where the mobility management device manages N access network devices, the N access network devices are configured to be at least one multicast group, each multicast group in the at least one multicast group includes at least 2 access network devices, each multicast group has a multicast address, and at least 2 access network devices in the same multicast group are configured with multicast addresses of the same multicast group, and the method includes: the mobility management device acquires at least one multicast address, wherein the at least one multicast address comprises a first multicast address of a first multicast group in the at least one multicast group, and the first multicast group comprises M access network devices in the N access network devices;

the mobility management device transmits signaling to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address; wherein M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N.

With reference to the first aspect, in a first implementation manner of the first aspect, the M is smaller than the N, the at least one multicast address further includes a second multicast address of a second multicast group in the at least one multicast group, and the second multicast group includes K access network devices in the N access network devices, and the method further includes: the mobility management device transmits the signaling to the K access network devices in the second multicast group according to the second multicast address; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the K access network devices is not any access network device in the M access network devices.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the first aspect, in a second implementation manner of the first aspect, the signaling includes at least one of the following messages: paging messages, reset messages, configuration update messages, write-replace warning messages, overload start messages, and overload end messages.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the first aspect, in a third implementation manner of the first aspect, the M is smaller than the N, the at least one multicast address further includes a third multicast address of a third multicast group in the at least one multicast group, and the third multicast group includes L access network devices in the N access network devices; the transmitting, by the mobility management device, signaling to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address includes: the mobility management equipment transmits a paging message to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address, wherein the paging message is used for paging User Equipment (UE); the method further comprises the following steps: if the mobility management device fails to page the UE, the mobility management device sends the paging message to the L pieces of access network equipment in the third multicast group according to the third multicast address; wherein L is an integer, M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fourth implementation manner of the first aspect, the mobility management device obtains the at least one multicast address through a network management system.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the first aspect, in a fifth implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: and the mobility management device transmits the first multicast address to the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the first aspect, in a sixth implementation manner of the first aspect, the method further includes: and the mobility management device receives a response message transmitted by the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism, wherein the response message is used for confirming that the M access network devices can configure the first multicast address.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a seventh implementation manner of the first aspect, the first multicast group is a multicast group that includes an access network device that is last accessed by the UE before the UE enters an idle state and satisfies that M is minimum, or may be a multicast group that includes an access network device in a tracking area that is last accessed by the UE, and the third multicast group is a multicast group that includes an access network device in a tracking area list of the UE. The tracking area list is generated by the mobility management device according to the tracking area accessed by the UE before the UE enters the idle state.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in an eighth implementation manner of the first aspect, the first multicast group may be a multicast group that includes an access network device that is last accessed by the UE before the UE enters an idle state and satisfies a minimum value of M, and the third multicast group may be a multicast group that includes an access network device in a tracking area that is last accessed by the UE, or the third multicast group is a multicast group that includes an access network device in a tracking area list of the UE.

With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a ninth implementation manner of the first aspect, if the mobility management device needs to receive the response signaling of the signaling after sending the signaling, the mobility management device receives the response signaling transmitted by the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism. With reference to the first aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the first aspect, in a tenth implementation manner of the first aspect, the mobility management device configures the at least one multicast address.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a mobility management device, where the mobility management device manages N access network devices, the N access network devices are configured to be at least one multicast group, each multicast group in the at least one multicast group includes at least 2 access network devices, each multicast group has one multicast address, and at least 2 access network devices in the same multicast group are configured with multicast addresses of the same multicast group, and the mobility management device includes: a receiving unit, configured to obtain at least one multicast address, where the at least one multicast address includes a first multicast address of a first multicast group in the at least one multicast group, and the first multicast group includes M access network devices in the N access network devices;

a sending unit, configured to transmit signaling to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address; wherein M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N.

With reference to the second aspect, in a first implementation manner of the second aspect, the M is smaller than the N, the at least one multicast address further includes a second multicast address of a second multicast group in the at least one multicast group, the second multicast group includes K access network devices in the N access network devices, and the sending unit is further configured to transmit signaling to the K access network devices in the second multicast group according to the second multicast address; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the K access network devices is not any access network device in the M access network devices.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the second aspect, in a second implementation manner of the second aspect, the signaling includes at least one of the following messages: paging messages, reset messages, configuration update messages, write-replace warning messages, overload start messages, and overload end messages.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third implementation manner of the second aspect, the M is smaller than the N, and the at least one multicast address further includes a third multicast address of a third multicast group in the at least one multicast group, where the third multicast group includes L access network devices in the N access network devices; the sending unit, configured to transmit signaling to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address, includes: transmitting a paging message to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address, wherein the paging message is used for paging a User Equipment (UE); the sending unit is further configured to send the paging message to the L access network devices in the third multicast group according to the third multicast address if the mobility management device fails to page the UE; wherein L is an integer, M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fourth implementation manner of the second aspect, the receiving unit is configured to obtain the at least one multicast address through a gateway system.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the second aspect, in a fifth implementation manner of the second aspect, the sending unit is further configured to transmit the first multicast address to the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a sixth implementation manner of the second aspect, the receiving unit is further configured to receive an acknowledgement message transmitted by the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism, where the acknowledgement message is used to confirm that the M access network devices can configure the first multicast address.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a seventh implementation manner of the second aspect, the first multicast group is a multicast group that includes the access network device that is last accessed by the UE before the UE enters the idle state and satisfies that M is minimum, or may be a multicast group that includes the access network device in the tracking area that is last accessed by the UE, and the third multicast group is a multicast group that includes the access network device in the tracking area list of the UE. The tracking area list is generated by the mobility management device according to the tracking area accessed by the UE before the UE enters the idle state.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in an eighth implementation manner of the second aspect, the first multicast group may be a multicast group that includes an access network device last accessed by the UE before the UE enters an idle state and satisfies a minimum value of M, and the third multicast group may be a multicast group that includes an access network device in a tracking area last accessed by the UE, or the third multicast group is a multicast group that includes an access network device in a tracking area list of the UE.

With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a ninth implementation manner of the second aspect, if the mobility management device needs to receive the response signaling of the signaling after sending the signaling, the receiving unit is further configured to receive the response signaling transmitted by the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism. With reference to the second aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the second aspect, in a tenth implementation manner of the second aspect, the apparatus further includes a processing unit, configured to configure the at least one multicast address.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for an access network device to receive a signaling, where the access network device is a first access network device of N access network devices managed by a mobility management device, the N access network devices are configured to be at least one multicast group, each multicast group in the at least one multicast group includes at least 2 access network devices, each multicast group has one multicast address, and at least 2 access network devices in the same multicast group are configured with multicast addresses of the same multicast group, and the method includes: configuring, by the first access network device, at least one multicast address including a first multicast address of a first multicast group of the at least one multicast group, the first multicast group including the first access network device and the other M-1 access network devices of the N access network devices; the first access network equipment receives the signaling transmitted by the mobility management equipment according to the first multicast address; wherein M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N.

With reference to the third aspect, in a first implementation manner of the third aspect, the M is smaller than the N, a second multicast address of a second multicast group in the at least one multicast group is further included in the at least one multicast address, the second multicast group includes the first access network device and other K-1 access network devices in the N access network devices, and the method further includes: the access network equipment receives the signaling transmitted by the mobility management equipment according to the second multicast address; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the other K-1 access network devices is not any access network device in the other M-1 access network devices.

With reference to the third aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the third aspect, in a second implementation manner of the third aspect, the signaling includes at least one of the following messages: paging messages, reset messages, configuration update messages, write-replace warning messages, overload start messages, and overload end messages.

With reference to the third aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third implementation manner of the third aspect, the M is smaller than the N, and the at least one multicast address further includes a third multicast address of a third multicast group in the at least one multicast group, where the third multicast group includes the first access network device and other L-1 access network devices in the N access network devices; the first access network device receiving the signaling transmitted by the mobility management device according to the first multicast address, including: the first access network equipment receives a paging message transmitted by the mobility management equipment according to the first multicast address, wherein the paging message is used for paging User Equipment (UE); the method further comprises the following steps: if the paging of the UE fails, the first access network equipment receives the paging message transmitted by the mobility management equipment according to the third multicast address;

wherein L is an integer, M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N.

With reference to the third aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fourth implementation manner of the third aspect, the first access network device acquires the at least one multicast address transmitted by the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism.

With reference to the third aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fifth implementation manner of the third aspect, the method further includes: the first access network device transmits a response message to the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism, where the response message is used to confirm that the first access network device is capable of configuring the at least one multicast address.

In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an access network device, where the access network device is denoted as a first access network device, the first access network device is one of N access network devices managed by a mobility management device, the N access network devices are configured to be at least one multicast group, each multicast group in the at least one multicast group includes at least 2 access network devices, each multicast group has one multicast address, at least 2 access network devices in the same multicast group are configured with the multicast address of the same multicast group, and the first access network device includes: a processing unit, configured to configure at least one multicast address, where the at least one multicast address includes a first multicast address of a first multicast group in the at least one multicast group, and the first multicast group includes the first access network device and other M-1 access network devices in the N access network devices; a receiving unit, configured to receive, according to the first multicast address, a signaling transmitted by the mobility management device; wherein M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N.

With reference to the fourth aspect, in a first implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the M is smaller than the N, the at least one multicast address further includes a second multicast address of a second multicast group in the at least one multicast group, the second multicast group includes the first access device and other K-1 access network devices in the N access network devices, and the receiving unit is further configured to receive the signaling transmitted by the mobility management device according to the second multicast address; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the other K-1 access network devices is not any access network device in the other M-1 access network devices.

With reference to the fourth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a second implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the signaling includes at least one of the following messages: paging messages, reset messages, configuration update messages, write-replace warning messages, overload start messages, and overload end messages.

With reference to the fourth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a third implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the M is smaller than the N, and the at least one multicast address further includes a third multicast address of a third multicast group in the at least one multicast group, where the third multicast group includes the first access device and other L-1 access network devices in the N access network devices; a receiving unit, configured to receive, according to the first multicast address, a signaling transmitted by the mobility management device, where the receiving unit includes: the mobile management equipment is used for receiving a paging message transmitted by the mobility management equipment according to the first multicast address, wherein the paging message is used for paging User Equipment (UE);

the receiving unit is further configured to receive, if paging of the UE fails, the paging message transmitted by the mobility management device according to the third multicast address; wherein L is an integer, M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N.

With reference to the fourth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fourth implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the receiving unit is further configured to acquire the at least one multicast address transmitted by the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism.

With reference to the fourth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the fourth aspect, in a fifth implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the method further includes: a sending unit, configured to transmit, to the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism, a response message, where the response message is used to confirm that the first access network device is capable of configuring the at least one multicast address.

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention avoids that the same signaling is respectively sent to different access network devices after being largely copied when the mobile management device transmits the same signaling to a large number of access network devices through a multicast mechanism, thereby reducing the signaling overhead and the signaling processing amount of the mobile management device, further improving the device capacity of the mobile management device and reducing the construction cost of the whole network. When the signaling is the paging message, the signaling flow in the network is reduced by multicasting from a smaller range to a larger range and paging in a grading way, thereby further reducing the construction cost of the whole network.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides another method for a mobility management device to transmit signaling, where the mobility management device manages N access network devices, the N access network devices are configured as at least one broadcast domain, and each broadcast domain in the at least one broadcast domain includes at least 2 access network devices, the method includes: the mobility management device joins at least one broadcast domain, wherein the at least one broadcast domain comprises a first broadcast domain, and the first broadcast domain comprises M access network devices in the N access network devices; the mobility management device broadcasting signaling to the M access network devices within the first broadcast domain; wherein M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N.

With reference to the fifth aspect, in a first implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the M is less than N, the at least one broadcast domain further includes a second broadcast domain, and the second broadcast domain includes K access network devices of the N access network devices, and the method further includes: the mobility management device broadcasts the signaling to the K access network devices in the second broadcast domain; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the K access network devices is not any access network device in the M access network devices.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a second implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the signaling includes at least one of the following messages: paging messages, reset messages, configuration update messages, write-replace warning messages, overload start messages, and overload end messages.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a third implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the M is smaller than the N, and the at least one broadcast domain further includes a third broadcast domain, where the third broadcast domain includes L access network devices of the N access network devices; the mobility management device broadcasting signaling to the M access network devices within the first broadcast domain, including: the mobility management equipment broadcasts paging messages to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain, wherein the paging messages are used for paging User Equipment (UE); the method further comprises the following steps: if the mobility management device broadcasts a paging message to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain, and paging of the UE fails, the mobility management device broadcasts the paging message to the L access network devices in the third broadcast domain; wherein L is an integer, M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a fourth implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the mobility management device joins the at least one broadcast domain by receiving configuration of a network management system.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a fifth implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the broadcast domain is a virtual local area network.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a sixth implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the first broadcast domain may be a broadcast domain that includes an access network device last accessed by the UE before the UE enters the idle state and satisfies that M is minimum in value, and the third broadcast domain may be a broadcast domain that includes an access network device in a tracking area last accessed by the UE, or the third broadcast domain is a broadcast domain that includes an access network device in a tracking area list of the UE.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a seventh implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the first broadcast domain is a broadcast domain that includes the access network device that is last accessed by the UE before the UE enters the idle state and satisfies that M is minimum, or may be a broadcast domain that includes the access network device in the tracking area that is last accessed by the UE, and the third broadcast domain is a broadcast domain that includes the access network device in the tracking area list of the UE.

With reference to the fifth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in an eighth implementation manner of the fifth aspect, if the mobility management device needs to receive the response signaling of the signaling after broadcasting the signaling, the mobility management device receives the response signaling transmitted by the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism. In a sixth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides another mobility management device, where the mobility management device manages N access network devices, the N access network devices are configured as at least one broadcast domain, and each broadcast domain in the at least one broadcast domain includes at least 2 access network devices, and the mobility management device includes: a processing unit, configured to join at least one broadcast domain, where the at least one broadcast domain includes a first broadcast domain, and the first broadcast domain includes M access network devices of the N access network devices; a sending unit, configured to broadcast a signaling to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain; wherein M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N.

With reference to the sixth aspect, in a first implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the M is less than N, the at least one broadcast domain further includes a second broadcast domain, the second broadcast domain includes K access network devices of the N access network devices, and the sending unit is further configured to broadcast the signaling to the K access network devices in the second broadcast domain; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the K access network devices is not any access network device in the M access network devices.

With reference to the sixth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a second implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the signaling includes at least one of the following messages: paging messages, reset messages, configuration update messages, write-replace warning messages, overload start messages, and overload end messages.

With reference to the sixth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a third implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the M is smaller than the N, and the at least one broadcast domain further includes a third broadcast domain, where the third broadcast domain includes L access network devices of the N access network devices; the sending unit is configured to broadcast signaling to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain, and includes: broadcasting a paging message to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain, the paging message being used for paging a User Equipment (UE); the sending unit is further configured to broadcast a paging message to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain, and when paging the UE fails, broadcast the paging message to the L access network devices in the third broadcast domain; wherein L is an integer, M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N.

With reference to the sixth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a fourth implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the processing unit is configured to join the at least one broadcast domain by receiving a configuration of a network management system.

With reference to the sixth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a fifth implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the broadcast domain is a virtual local area network.

With reference to the sixth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a sixth implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the first broadcast domain may be a broadcast domain that includes an access network device last visited by the UE before the UE enters the idle state and satisfies that M is minimum in value, and the third broadcast domain may be a broadcast domain that includes an access network device in a tracking area last visited by the UE, or the third broadcast domain is a broadcast domain that includes an access network device in a tracking area list of the UE.

With reference to the sixth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in a seventh implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the first broadcast domain is a broadcast domain that includes the access network device that is last accessed by the UE before the UE enters the idle state and satisfies that M is minimum, or may be a broadcast domain that includes the access network device in the tracking area that is last accessed by the UE, and the third broadcast domain is a broadcast domain that includes the access network device in the tracking area list of the UE.

With reference to the sixth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner, in an eighth implementation manner of the sixth aspect, if the mobility management device needs to receive the response signaling of the signaling after sending the signaling, the apparatus further includes a receiving unit, configured to receive, through a unicast mechanism, the response signaling transmitted by the M access network devices. In a seventh aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides another method for an access network device to receive signaling, where the access network device is a first access network device in N access network devices managed by a mobility management device, the N access network devices are configured as at least one broadcast domain, and each broadcast domain in the at least one broadcast domain includes at least 2 access network devices, where the method includes: the access network equipment joins at least one broadcast domain, wherein the at least one broadcast domain comprises a first broadcast domain, and the first broadcast domain comprises the first access network equipment, the mobility management equipment and other M-1 access network equipment in the N access network equipment; the first access network equipment receives the signaling broadcasted by the mobility management equipment through the first broadcast domain; wherein M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N.

With reference to the seventh aspect, in a first implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the M is smaller than the N, the at least one broadcast domain further includes a second broadcast domain, the first access network device, the mobility management device, and K-1 other access network devices of the N access network devices, and the method further includes: the first access network device receives the signaling broadcasted by the mobility management device through the second broadcast domain; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the other K-1 access network devices is not any access network device in the other M-1 access network devices.

With reference to the seventh aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a second implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the signaling includes at least one of the following messages: paging messages, reset messages, configuration update messages, write-replace warning messages, overload start messages, and overload end messages.

With reference to the seventh aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the seventh aspect, in a third implementation manner of the seventh aspect, the M is smaller than the N, the at least one broadcast domain further includes a third broadcast domain, and the first access network device, the mobility management device, and other L-1 access network devices in the N access network devices; the first access network device receives the signaling broadcasted by the mobility management device through the first broadcast domain, and the signaling includes: the first access network equipment receives a paging message broadcasted by the mobility management equipment through the first broadcast domain, wherein the paging message is used for paging User Equipment (UE); the method further comprises the following steps:

if the paging of the UE fails, the first access network equipment receives the paging message broadcasted by the mobility management equipment through the third broadcast domain; wherein L is an integer, M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N.

In an eighth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides another access network device, where the access network device is denoted as a first access network device, the first access network device is one of N access network devices managed by a mobility management device, the N access network devices are configured as at least one broadcast domain, and each broadcast domain in the at least one broadcast domain includes at least 2 access network devices, and the first access network device includes: a processing unit, configured to join at least one broadcast domain, where the at least one broadcast domain includes a first broadcast domain, and the first broadcast domain includes the first access network device, the mobility management device, and other M-1 access network devices in the N access network devices; a receiving unit, configured to receive, through the first broadcast domain, a signaling broadcast by the mobility management device; wherein M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N.

With reference to the eighth aspect, in a first implementation manner of the eighth aspect, the M is smaller than the N, the at least one broadcast domain further includes a second broadcast domain, the first access network device, the mobility management device, and K-1 other access network devices of the N access network devices, and the receiving unit is further configured to receive the signaling broadcast by the mobility management device through the second broadcast domain; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the other K-1 access network devices is not any access network device in the other M-1 access network devices.

With reference to the eighth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in a second implementation manner of the eighth aspect, the signaling includes at least one of the following messages: paging messages, reset messages, configuration update messages, write-replace warning messages, overload start messages, and overload end messages.

With reference to the eighth aspect and the foregoing implementation manner of the eighth aspect, in a third implementation manner of the eighth aspect, the M is smaller than the N, the at least one broadcast domain further includes a third broadcast domain, and the first access network device, the mobility management device, and other L-1 access network devices in the N access network devices; the receiving unit is configured to receive signaling broadcast by the mobility management device through the first broadcast domain, and includes: receiving a paging message broadcasted by the mobility management device through the first broadcast domain, wherein the paging message is used for paging User Equipment (UE); the receiving unit is further configured to receive, through the third broadcast domain, the paging message broadcasted by the mobility management device if the paging of the UE fails; wherein L is an integer, M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N

The technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention avoids that the same signaling is respectively sent to different access network devices after being largely copied when the mobile management device transmits the same signaling to a large number of access network devices through a broadcasting mechanism, thereby reducing the signaling overhead and the signaling processing amount of the mobile management device, further improving the device capacity of the mobile management device and reducing the construction cost of the whole network. When the signaling is a paging message, the signaling flow in the network is reduced by broadcasting from a smaller range to a larger range and paging in a grading way, so that the construction cost of the whole network is further reduced.

Drawings

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

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a group according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method for transmitting signaling by a mobility management device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method for receiving signaling by an access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of another method for transmitting signaling by a mobility management device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of another method for receiving signaling by an access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

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

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

fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another mobility management device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of another mobility management device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of another mobility management device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of another access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

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, not all, embodiments of the present invention. All other embodiments, which can be obtained by a person skilled in the art without any inventive step based on the embodiments of the present invention, shall fall within the scope of protection of the present invention.

The technical scheme of the invention can be applied to various communication systems, such as: global system for mobile communications (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) system, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) system, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system, and LTE system, etc.

The communication system to which the embodiment of the present invention is applied includes, but is not limited to, a mobility management device and an access network device, which may have different names and structures in different communication systems, but implement the same functions. For example, in an LTE communication system, the mobility management device may be an MME and the access network device may be an eNodeB. In a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), the mobility management device may be a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN), and the access Network device may include a node b and a Radio Network Controller (RNC).

When the mobility management device needs to transmit the same signaling to a large number of managed access network devices, the mobility management device needs to copy a large number of the signaling, and then transmit the copied signaling to each managed access network device one by one, which causes huge signaling overhead of the mobility management device, and the problem can be solved by the technical scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention.

In the embodiment of the present invention, one mobility management device may manage a plurality of access network devices. The plurality of access network devices managed by the mobility management device may be divided into at least one group. Each group may contain an access network device within range. For example, the access network devices within the range may be all access network devices managed by the mobility management device. As another example, the access network device in the range may be an access network device in a Tracking Area (TA), and so on. An access network device may belong to one or more groups. The group may be a multicast group or a broadcast domain in embodiments of the invention.

Fig. 1 is a schematic diagram of a group according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 1, the mobility management device manages 5 access network devices, which are access network devices 1 to 5 respectively. The group 1 may include access network devices 1 to 5, the group 2 may include the access network device 1 and the access network device 2, the group 3 may include the access network devices 1 to 4, and the group 4 may include the access network device 1, the access network device 3, and the access network device 5. The mobility management device needs to transmit the same signaling to some or all of the access network devices 1 to 5.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method for transmitting signaling by a mobility management device according to an embodiment of the present invention. In the method provided in this embodiment, the mobility management device manages N access network devices. The N access network devices may be configured as at least one multicast group, each of the at least one multicast group including at least 2 access network devices. Where each multicast group has a multicast address. At least 2 access network devices in the same multicast group are configured with multicast addresses of the same multicast group. As shown in fig. 2, the method may include:

s201, the mobility management device obtains at least one multicast address, wherein the at least one multicast address comprises a first multicast address of a first multicast group in the at least one multicast group, the first multicast group comprises M access network devices in the N access network devices, M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N.

S202, the mobility management device transmits signaling to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the network management system may configure the N access network devices managed by the mobility management device to at least one multicast group. And the network management system determines the multicast group to which the N access network devices belong, namely determines the multicast addresses required to be configured by the N access network devices. Each access network device may belong to at least one multicast group, i.e. each access network device may be configured with at least one multicast address. Optionally, the network management system configures a multicast group for a signaling interface, for example, a control plane (S1-MME) interface, between the mobility management device and the access network device. The network management system may notify the determined multicast address to the mobility management device in a manner of sending a message or the like. Optionally, the mobility management device sends the configured multicast address of the at least one multicast group to an access network device included in the at least one multicast group through a unicast mechanism.

In this embodiment of the present invention, the multicast address may be a class D Internet Protocol (IP) address, and the last 28 bits of the class D IP address may be regarded as an Identifier (ID) of the multicast group.

In this embodiment of the present invention, when the mobility management device needs to transmit the same signaling to the M access network devices, the signaling may be sent by using the first multicast address as a destination address, and the M access network devices can all receive the signaling. Optionally, when M is equal to N, the first multicast group includes all access network devices managed by the mobility management device, and when the mobility management device transmits the signaling by using the first multicast address as the destination address, the access network devices managed by the mobility management device can receive the signaling, and at this time, the signaling overhead of the mobility management device is minimum.

In the embodiment of the invention, the access network equipment can join the multicast group corresponding to the multicast address by configuring the multicast address. After acquiring the at least one multicast address, the mobility management device acquires the access network device to be configured in the multicast group corresponding to each multicast address. Optionally, the access network device may receive and configure a multicast address transmitted by the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism. After the configuration is successful, the access network device may transmit a response message to the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism to notify the mobility management device that the multicast address has been successfully set, that is, confirm that the access network device has joined the multicast group according to the indication of the mobility management device. This effectively avoids the access network device from misconfiguring the multicast address, resulting in the mobility management device failing to transmit signaling to the access network device. Or, when the access network device receives the multicast address sent by the mobility management device, if the access network device does not support setting the multicast address, the access network device may also send an error indication message to the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism, where the error indication message is used to indicate that the received multicast address cannot be set, that is, the access network device cannot join the multicast group corresponding to the multicast address, and then the subsequent mobility management device may send a signaling to the access network device through the unicast mechanism.

Of course, the network management system may also notify the multicast address of each access network device to each access network device in a manner of sending a message or the like.

Optionally, in a practical situation, the mobility management device may also configure the first multicast address to join the first multicast group so as to better utilize characteristics of a multicast mechanism, for example, a Source Specific Multicast (SSM) mechanism is adopted for the first multicast group, that is, only a device configured in the first multicast group is allowed to multicast in the multicast group, so that the sending authority of the mobility management device is defined, so that an access network device in the first multicast group can avoid receiving unnecessary multicast signaling.

Optionally, when M is smaller than N, the at least one multicast address obtained by the mobility management device further includes a second multicast address, where the second multicast address may be a multicast address of a second multicast group in the at least one multicast group, and the second multicast group includes K access network devices in the N access network devices, and then the K access network devices all configure the second multicast address. The method further comprises the following steps: the mobility management device transmits the signaling to the K access network devices according to the second multicast address; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the K access network devices is not any access network device in the M access network devices.

It should be noted that at least one of the K access network devices is not any of the M access network devices. When the K access network devices and the M access network devices are different, transmitting a signaling according to the first multicast address and the second multicast address, wherein any one of the M access network devices cannot repeatedly receive the signaling.

When the K access network devices and the M access network devices are different and M + K is equal to N, the mobility management device transmits the signaling using the first multicast address and the second multicast address as destination addresses, and the access network devices managed by the mobility management device can receive the signaling.

Alternatively, the signaling referred to in this embodiment may be a paging (paging) message, a reset (reset) message, a configuration update (configuration update) message, a write-replace warning (write-replace warning) message, an overload start (overload start) message, or an overload stop (overload stop) message, or the like.

Optionally, if the mobility management device needs to receive a response signaling of the signaling after sending the signaling, for example, after the mobility management device transmits a reset message to the M access network devices by using the first multicast address, it needs to receive a reset acknowledgement (reset acknowledge) message sent by the M access network devices, and at this time, the mobility management device receives the response message transmitted by the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism.

In the embodiment of the present invention, when the signaling transmitted by the mobility management device is a paging message, that is, when a network side wants to find User Equipment (UE) through a paging procedure, the mobility management device may not only directly send the paging message in a multicast form to a multicast group including the N access network devices, but also achieve the purpose of paging in a hierarchical paging manner.

In order to implement the purpose of hierarchical paging, the at least one multicast address acquired by the mobility management device further includes, in addition to the first multicast address, a third multicast address of a third multicast group in the at least one multicast group, where the third multicast group address includes L access network devices in the N access network devices, where L is an integer, and M is greater than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to M and less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N. When the mobility management device performs paging, the mobility management device transmits a paging message to the M access network devices according to the first multicast address, and if the paging of the UE fails, the mobility management device sends the paging message to the L access network devices according to the third multicast address. By means of hierarchical paging, paging messages can be sent in a small range, and when paging fails in the small range, the mobility management device sends the paging messages in a relatively large range, so that the flow of signaling in the network can be reduced.

When the mobility management device performs hierarchical paging, it may determine multicast groups of different ranges to perform paging according to the range of the access network device that the UE last accesses before entering the idle state. For example, the mobility management device may determine multicast groups in different ranges according to an access network device last accessed by the UE before entering the idle state, a tracking area last accessed before entering the idle state, and a tracking area list in which the tracking area is located before entering the idle state, so that the first multicast group may be a multicast group that includes the access network device last accessed by the UE before entering the idle state and satisfies a minimum value of M, the third multicast group may be a multicast group that includes the access network device in the tracking area last accessed by the UE, or the third multicast group may be a multicast group that includes the access network device in the tracking area list of the UE. Optionally, the first multicast group is a multicast group that includes the access network device last accessed by the UE before the UE enters the idle state and satisfies that M is minimum in value, or may be a multicast group that includes the access network device in the tracking area last accessed by the UE, and the third multicast group is a multicast group that includes the access network device in the tracking area list of the UE. The tracking area list is generated by the mobility management device according to the tracking area accessed by the UE before the UE enters the idle state. Each tracking area in the list of tracking areas comprises one or more access network devices, which are managed by the mobility management device.

In the paging method provided in the embodiment of the present invention, further, paging of the UE may be implemented through more layers. The above embodiment provides two-layer hierarchical paging, and the mobility management entity may perform hierarchical paging of more layers according to specific actual requirements, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing paging signaling and implementing quick paging.

When the UE receives the forwarded paging message through the access network device where the UE is located, a service request procedure (service request procedure) is initiated to reestablish the bearer, and the network side may transmit data to be transmitted to the UE through the bearer.

The paging failure in the embodiment of the present invention may be that the UE does not initiate a service request procedure to reestablish a bearer after a predetermined time elapses during paging in each stage.

Fig. 3 is a flowchart of a method for receiving signaling by an access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 3, the access network device is a first access network device of N access network devices managed by a mobility management device, the N access network devices are configured to be at least one multicast group, each multicast group in the at least one multicast group includes at least 2 access network devices, each multicast group has one multicast address, at least 2 access network devices in the same multicast group are configured with the multicast address of the same multicast group, and the mobility management device may be the mobility management device in the embodiment of fig. 2. The method can comprise the following steps:

s301, a first access network device configures at least one multicast address, where the at least one multicast address includes a first multicast address of a first multicast group in the at least one multicast group, and the first multicast group includes the first access network device and other M-1 access network devices in the N access network devices; wherein M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N.

S302, the first access network device receives the signaling transmitted by the mobility management device according to the first multicast address.

The access network device may be the access network device included in the first multicast group in the embodiment of fig. 2. The first multicast group may be the first multicast group in the embodiment of fig. 2, and this embodiment may be understood in conjunction with the embodiment of fig. 2.

After the access network device configures the first multicast address, the mobility management device may transmit signaling to the access network device using the first multicast address. Optionally, the configuring the first multicast address is configuring a first multicast address for a signaling interface between the access network device and the mobility management device. The signaling interface may be a control plane (S1-MME) interface.

The access network device may receive and configure the multicast address transmitted by the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism. After the configuration is successful, the access network device may transmit a response message to the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism to notify the mobility management device that the multicast address has been successfully set, that is, confirm that the access network device has joined the first multicast group according to the indication of the mobility management device. This effectively avoids the access network device from misconfiguring the multicast address, resulting in the mobility management device failing to transmit signaling to the access network device. Or, when the access network device receives the multicast address sent by the mobility management device, if the access network device does not support setting the multicast address, the access network device may also send an error indication message to the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism, where the error indication message is used to indicate that the received multicast address cannot be set, that is, the access network device cannot join the multicast group corresponding to the multicast address, and then the subsequent mobility management device may send a signaling to the access network device through the unicast mechanism.

Optionally, when M is smaller than N, the at least one multicast address may further include a second multicast address of a second multicast group in the at least one multicast group, the second multicast group including the first access device and other K-1 access network devices in the N access network devices, the method further including: the access network equipment receives the signaling transmitted by the mobility management equipment according to the second multicast address; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the other K-1 access network devices is not any access network device in the other M-1 access network devices.

At this time, the access network device will receive the signaling twice through the first multicast address and the second multicast address.

Optionally, when the first access network device needs to send a response message of the signaling to the mobility management device, the first access network device may transmit a response signaling of the signaling to the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism.

Alternatively, the signaling referred to in this embodiment may be a paging message, a reset message, a configuration update message, a write-replace warning message, an overload start message or overload start message, and so on.

Optionally, when the signaling is a paging message, when the mobility management device pages the UE in a smaller range in a hierarchical paging manner in the embodiment of fig. 2, and when the paging fails in the smaller range, the mobility management device sends a page to the UE in a relatively larger range, because the first access network device may belong to both the multicast group in the smaller range and the multicast group in the relatively larger range, the first access network device may receive the same paging message twice in sequence.

Fig. 4 is a flowchart of another method for transmitting signaling by a mobility management device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 4, the mobility management device manages N access network devices, where the N access network devices are configured as at least one broadcast domain, and each broadcast domain in the at least one broadcast domain contains at least 2 access network devices, and the method may include:

s401, the mobility management device joins at least one broadcast domain, wherein the at least one broadcast domain includes a first broadcast domain, and the first broadcast domain includes M access network devices of the N access network devices. Wherein M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N.

S402, the mobility management device broadcasts a signaling to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain.

Alternatively, the broadcast domain may be a Virtual Local Area Network (VLAN). Each VLAN can be regarded as a broadcast domain, the broadcast range can be isolated by dividing the VLANs, devices belonging to one VLAN broadcast signaling within the VLAN, and other devices belonging to the VLAN can receive the signaling.

In this embodiment, the network management system configures the mobility management device and the N access network devices to be configured as at least one broadcast domain. And the network management system determines the broadcast domains of the mobility management equipment and the N access network equipment. Each access network device may belong to at least one broadcast domain. The mobility management device is configured in each broadcast domain. Optionally, the network management system configures a broadcast domain for a signaling interface between the mobility management device and the access network device, for example, the signaling interface may be an S1-MME interface.

In this embodiment of the present invention, when the mobility management device transmits the same signaling to the M access network devices, the signaling may be broadcast in the first broadcast domain, and the M access network devices may all receive the signaling. Optionally, when M is equal to N, the first broadcast domain includes all access network devices managed by the mobility management device, and when the mobility management device broadcasts the signaling in the first broadcast domain, the access network devices managed by the mobility management device can receive the signaling, and at this time, the signaling overhead of the mobility management device is minimum.

In the process that the mobility management device joins the first broadcast domain, the mobility management device learns that the M access network devices belong to the first broadcast domain.

Optionally, when M is smaller than N, the at least one broadcast domain further includes a second broadcast domain, where the second broadcast domain includes K access network devices of the N access network devices, and the method further includes: the mobility management device broadcasts signaling to the K access network devices in the second broadcast domain; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the K access network devices is not any access network device in the M access network devices.

It should be noted that at least one of the K access network devices is not any of the M access network devices. When the K access network devices and the M access network devices are different, broadcasting signaling in the first broadcast domain and the second broadcast domain, and any one of the M access network devices will not repeatedly receive the signaling.

When the K access network devices and the M access network devices are different and M + K is equal to N, the mobility management device broadcasts a signaling in the first broadcast domain and the second broadcast domain, and the access network devices managed by the mobility management device can receive the signaling.

Optionally, if the mobility management device needs to receive the response message of the signaling after broadcasting the signaling, for example, after the mobility management device transmits the reset message to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain, the mobility management device needs to receive the reset confirmation message sent by the M access network devices, and at this time, the mobility management device receives the response message transmitted by the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism.

In the embodiment of the present invention, when the signaling transmitted by the mobility management device is a paging message, that is, when the network side wants to find the UE through a paging procedure, the mobility management device may not only directly send the paging message in a broadcast manner to a broadcast domain including the N access network devices, but also implement the purpose of paging in a hierarchical paging manner.

For the purpose of implementing hierarchical paging, the at least one broadcast domain that the mobility management device joins further includes a third broadcast domain, and the third broadcast domain contains L access network devices of the N access network devices. Wherein L is an integer, M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N. When the mobility management device performs paging, the mobility management device broadcasts a paging message to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain, and if the paging of the UE fails, the mobility management device sends the paging message to the L access network devices in the third broadcast domain. By means of hierarchical paging, paging messages can be sent in a small range, and when paging fails in the small range, the mobility management device sends the paging messages in a relatively large range, so that the flow of signaling in the network can be reduced.

When the mobility management device performs hierarchical paging, broadcast domains with different ranges can be determined to perform paging according to the range of the access network device which is accessed last before the UE enters the idle state. For example, the mobility management device may determine broadcast domains of different ranges according to an access network device last accessed before the UE enters the idle state, a tracking area last accessed before the UE enters the idle state, and a tracking area list where the tracking area before the UE enters the idle state is located, so that the first broadcast domain may be a broadcast domain that includes the access network device last accessed before the UE enters the idle state and satisfies a minimum value of M, the third broadcast domain may be a broadcast domain that includes the access network device in the tracking area last accessed by the UE, or the third broadcast domain may be a broadcast domain that includes the access network device in the tracking area list of the UE. Optionally, the first broadcast domain is a broadcast domain that includes the access network device last accessed by the UE before the UE enters the idle state and satisfies that the value of M is minimum, or may be a broadcast domain that includes the access network device in the tracking area last accessed by the UE, and the third broadcast domain is a broadcast domain that includes the access network device in the tracking area list of the UE.

In the paging method provided in the embodiment of the present invention, further, paging of the UE may be achieved through more hierarchies, the above-mentioned embodiment provides two-layer hierarchical paging, and the mobility management entity may also perform hierarchical paging of more hierarchies according to specific actual requirements, so as to achieve the purposes of reducing paging signaling and achieving quick paging.

When the UE receives the forwarded paging message through the access network equipment where the UE is located, a service request process is initiated to reestablish the bearer, and the network side can transmit the data which needs to be transmitted to the UE through the bearer.

The paging failure in the embodiment of the present invention may be that the UE does not initiate a service request procedure to reestablish a bearer after a time period T when paging is performed in each stage.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of another method for receiving signaling by an access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 5, the access network device is a first access network device of N access network devices managed by a mobility management device, the N access network devices are configured as at least one broadcast domain, each broadcast domain in the at least one broadcast domain includes at least 2 access network devices, and the mobility management device may be the mobility management device in the embodiment of fig. 4. The method comprises the following steps:

s501, a first access network device joins in at least one broadcast domain, wherein the at least one broadcast domain comprises a first broadcast domain, and the first broadcast domain comprises the first access network device, the mobility management device and other M-1 access network devices in the N access network devices. Wherein M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N.

S502, the first access network device receives the signaling broadcasted by the mobility management device through the first broadcast domain.

The access network device may be an access network device belonging to the first broadcast domain in the method embodiment shown in fig. 4. The first broadcast domain may be the first broadcast domain in the method embodiment shown in fig. 4, and the embodiment of the present invention may be understood with reference to fig. 4.

After the network management system configures and joins the first broadcast domain, the access network device can receive the signaling broadcasted by the mobility management device in the first broadcast domain. Optionally, the network management system configures a broadcast domain for a signaling receiving and sending interface between the access network device and the mobility management device. The signaling interface may be an S1-MME interface.

Optionally, when M is smaller than N, the at least one broadcast domain further includes a second broadcast domain, and the first access network device, the mobility management device, and the other K-1 access network devices in the N access network devices, and the method further includes: the first access network device receives the signaling broadcasted by the mobility management device through the second broadcast domain; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the other K-1 access network devices is not any access network device in the other M-1 access network devices.

At this time, the access network device will receive the signaling twice through the first broadcast domain and the second broadcast domain.

Alternatively, when the signaling is a paging message, when the mobility management device pages the UE in a smaller range in a hierarchical paging manner in the embodiment of fig. 4, and when the paging fails in the smaller range, the mobility management device sends a page to the UE in a relatively larger range, because the first access network device may belong to both the smaller-range broadcast domain and the relatively larger-range broadcast domain, the first access network device may receive the same paging message twice in sequence.

In order to implement the embodiments of the methods provided in fig. 2 and fig. 3 in the embodiments of the present invention, further providing a mobility management device, fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a mobility management device in the embodiments of the present invention, where the mobility management device 600 manages N access network devices, the N access network devices are configured to be at least one multicast group, each multicast group in the at least one multicast group includes at least 2 access network devices, each multicast group has one multicast address, and at least 2 access network devices in the same multicast group are configured with multicast addresses of the same multicast group, as shown in fig. 6, the mobility management device 600 includes a receiving unit 610 and a transmitting unit 620.

A receiving unit 610, configured to obtain at least one multicast address, where the at least one multicast address includes a first multicast address of a first multicast group in the at least one multicast group, and the first multicast group includes M access network devices in the N access network devices.

A sending unit 620, configured to transmit signaling to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address.

Wherein M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N.

In the embodiment of the present invention, as shown in the above method embodiment, optionally, a network management system may configure a multicast group for a signaling receiving and sending interface between the mobility management device 600 and an access network device. The receiving unit 610 receives at least one multicast address sent by the network management system. Optionally, the sending unit 620 is further configured to send the configured multicast address of the at least one multicast group to an access network device included in the at least one multicast group through a unicast mechanism.

In this embodiment of the present invention, when the mobility management device 600 needs to transmit the same signaling to the M access network devices, the sending unit 620 may send the signaling by using the first multicast address as a destination address, and the M access network devices can all receive the signaling. Optionally, when M is equal to N, the first multicast group includes all the access network devices managed by the mobility management device 600, and when the sending unit 620 transmits the signaling by using the first multicast address as the destination address, the access network devices managed by the mobility management device 600 can all receive the signaling, and at this time, the signaling overhead of the mobility management device is minimum.

In the embodiment of the invention, the access network equipment can join the multicast group corresponding to the multicast address by configuring the multicast address. Optionally, the access network device may receive and configure a multicast address transmitted by the mobility management device 600 through a unicast mechanism. After the configuration is successful, the access network device may transmit a response message to the mobility management device 600 through a unicast mechanism, and the receiving unit 610 may receive the response message sent by the access network device through the unicast mechanism. When the access network device receives the multicast address sent by the sending unit 620, if the access network device does not support setting the multicast address, the receiving unit 610 may receive an error indication message sent by the access network device through a unicast mechanism, where the error indication message is used to indicate that the received multicast address cannot be set, that is, the received multicast address cannot join the multicast group corresponding to the multicast address, and then the subsequent mobility management device 600 may send a signaling to the access network device through the unicast mechanism.

Optionally, in an actual situation, the mobility management device 600 may also configure the first multicast to join the first multicast group, so as to better utilize the characteristics of the multicast mechanism to implement the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention.

Optionally, when M is smaller than N, the at least one multicast address obtained by the receiving unit 610 further includes a second multicast address, where the second multicast address may be a multicast address of a second multicast group in the at least one multicast group, and the second multicast group includes K access network devices in the N access network devices, and then the K access network devices all configure the second multicast address. The sending unit 620 is further configured to transmit the signaling to the K access network devices according to the second multicast address; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the K access network devices is not any access network device in the M access network devices.

When the K access network devices and the M access network devices are different and M + K is equal to N, the sending unit 620 transmits the signaling by using the first multicast address and the second multicast address as destination addresses, and the access network devices managed by the mobility management device 600 can both receive the signaling.

Optionally, if the sending unit 620 needs to receive the response signaling of the signaling after sending the signaling, for example, after the sending unit 620 transmits the reset message to the M access network devices by using the first multicast address, the mobility management device 600 needs to receive the reset confirmation message sent by the M access network devices, and at this time, the receiving unit 610 is further configured to receive the response signaling transmitted by the M access network devices by using a unicast mechanism.

In this embodiment of the present invention, when the signaling transmitted by the sending unit 620 is a paging message, that is, when the network side wants to find the UE through the paging procedure, the sending unit 620 may not only directly send the paging message in a multicast form to the multicast group including the N access network devices, but also implement the purpose of paging in a hierarchical paging manner.

For the purpose of hierarchical paging, the at least one multicast address obtained by the receiving unit 610 further includes, in addition to the first multicast address, a third multicast address of a third multicast group in the at least one multicast group, where the third multicast group address includes L access network devices in the N access network devices, where L is an integer, and 2 ≦ M < L ≦ N. When the mobility management device 600 performs paging, the sending unit 610 transmits a paging message to the M access network devices according to the first multicast address, and if paging of the UE fails, the sending unit 610 sends the paging message to the L access network devices according to the third multicast address. By means of hierarchical paging, paging messages can be sent in a small range, and when paging fails in the small range, the mobility management device sends the paging messages in a relatively large range, so that the flow of signaling in the network can be reduced.

When the mobility management device 600 performs hierarchical paging, it may determine multicast groups of different ranges to perform paging according to a range of an access network device that the UE last accesses before entering an idle state. For example, the mobility management device 600 may determine multicast groups in different ranges according to an access network device last accessed by the UE before entering the idle state, a tracking area last accessed before entering the idle state, and a tracking area list in which the tracking area is located before entering the idle state, so that the first multicast group may be a multicast group that includes the access network device last accessed by the UE before entering the idle state and satisfies a minimum value of M, the third multicast group may be a multicast group that includes the access network device in the tracking area last accessed by the UE, or the third multicast group may be a multicast group that includes the access network device in the tracking area list of the UE. Optionally, the first multicast group is a multicast group that includes the access network device last accessed by the UE before the UE enters the idle state and satisfies that M is minimum in value, or may be a multicast group that includes the access network device in the tracking area last accessed by the UE, and the third multicast group is a multicast group that includes the access network device in the tracking area list of the UE.

Further, the paging of the UE may also be implemented through more hierarchies, the above embodiment provides two-layer hierarchical paging, and the mobile management device 600 may also perform hierarchical paging of more hierarchies according to specific actual requirements, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing the sending of paging signaling and implementing quick paging.

Alternatively, the functions of the mobility management device 600 provided in the embodiment of the present invention may be implemented by a processor and a transceiver in cooperation.

In order to implement the method embodiments provided in fig. 2 and fig. 3 in the embodiments of the present invention, an access network device 700 is further provided, and fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an access network device in the embodiments of the present invention, where the access network device is denoted as a first access network device, the first access network device is one of N access network devices managed by a mobility management device, the N access network devices are configured to be at least one multicast group, each multicast group in the at least one multicast group includes at least 2 access network devices, each multicast group has one multicast address, and at least 2 access network devices in the same multicast group are configured with the multicast address of the same multicast group. The mobility management device may be the mobility management device 600 in the embodiment of fig. 6. As shown in fig. 7, the first access network device 700 includes:

a processing unit 710, configured to configure at least one multicast address, where the at least one multicast address includes a first multicast address of a first multicast group in the at least one multicast group, and the first multicast group includes the first access network device and other M-1 access network devices in the N access network devices;

a receiving unit 720, configured to receive, according to the first multicast address, a signaling transmitted by the mobility management device;

The access network device may be the access network device included in the first multicast group in the device embodiment shown in fig. 6. The first multicast group may be the first multicast group in the device embodiment shown in fig. 6, and this embodiment may be understood in conjunction with the embodiment of fig. 6.

After the processing unit 710 configures the first multicast address, the mobility management device 600 can transmit signaling to the access network device with the first multicast address. Optionally, the configuring the first multicast address is configuring a first multicast address for a signaling interface between the first access network device 700 and the mobility management device 600. The signaling interface may be a control plane (S1-MME) interface.

The receiving unit 720 may also receive a multicast address transmitted by the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism, and be configured by the processing unit 710. After the configuration is successful, the access network device 700 may further transmit a response message to the mobility management device 600 through a unicast mechanism by using the optional sending unit 730, so as to notify the mobility management device that the multicast address has been successfully set, that is, confirm that the access network device has joined the first multicast group according to the indication of the mobility management device 600. This effectively avoids the first access network device 700 from misconfiguring the multicast address, which results in the mobility management device 600 being unable to transmit signaling to the first access network device 700. Or, when the first access network device 700 receives the multicast address sent by the mobility management device 600, if the first access network device 700 does not support setting the multicast address, the sending unit 730 of the first access network device 700 may also send an error indication message to the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism, where the error indication message is used to indicate that the received multicast address cannot be set, that is, the multicast group corresponding to the multicast address cannot be joined, and then the subsequent mobility management device 600 may send a signaling to the receiving unit 720 of the first access network device 700 through the unicast mechanism.

Optionally, when M is smaller than N, the at least one multicast address may further include a second multicast address of a second multicast group in the at least one multicast group, where the second multicast group includes the first access device and other K-1 access network devices in the N access network devices, and the receiving unit 720 is further configured to: receiving the signaling transmitted by the mobility management device according to the second multicast address; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the other K-1 access network devices is not any access network device in the other M-1 access network devices.

At this time, the receiving unit 720 of the access network apparatus 700 will receive the signaling twice through the first multicast address and the second multicast address.

Optionally, the sending unit 730 is further configured to transmit an acknowledgement signaling of the signaling to the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism.

Optionally, the functions of the access network device 700 provided by the embodiment of the present invention may be implemented by a processor and a transceiver in cooperation.

The mobility management device and the access network device provided by the embodiment of the invention transmit the signaling to the managed access network device through the multicast mechanism, so that the situation that the same signaling is respectively transmitted to different access network devices after being largely copied when the mobility management device transmits the same signaling to a large number of access network devices is avoided, the signaling overhead and the signaling processing amount of the mobility management device are reduced, the device capacity of the mobility management device is further improved, and the construction cost of the whole network is reduced. When the signaling is the paging message, the signaling flow in the network is reduced by multicasting from a smaller range to a larger range and paging in a grading way, thereby further reducing the construction cost of the whole network.

In order to implement the method embodiments provided in fig. 4 and fig. 5 in the embodiments of the present invention, further providing a mobility management device, fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of another mobility management device in an embodiment of the present invention, where the mobility management device manages N access network devices, the N access network devices are configured as at least one broadcast domain, each broadcast domain in the at least one broadcast domain includes at least 2 access network devices, and the mobility management device 800 includes:

a processing unit 810, configured to join at least one broadcast domain, where the at least one broadcast domain includes a first broadcast domain, and the first broadcast domain includes M access network devices of the N access network devices;

a sending unit 820, configured to broadcast signaling to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain;

The network management system may configure the mobility management device 800 and the N access network devices to be divided into at least one broadcast domain. The network management system determines the broadcast domains to which the mobility management device 800 and the N access network devices belong. Each access network device may belong to at least one broadcast domain. The mobility management device 800 is configured in each broadcast domain. Optionally, the network management system configures a broadcast domain for the signaling and receiving interface between the mobility management device 800 and the access network device. For example, the signaling interface may be an S1-MME interface.

In this embodiment of the present invention, when the mobility management device 800 transmits the same signaling to the M access network devices, the signaling may be broadcasted in the first broadcast domain by the sending unit 820, and the M access network devices can all receive the signaling. Optionally, when M is equal to N, the first broadcast domain includes all the access network devices managed by the mobility management device 800, and when the sending unit 820 broadcasts the signaling in the first broadcast domain, the access network devices managed by the mobility management device 800 can all receive the signaling, and at this time, the signaling overhead of the mobility management device 800 is minimum.

In the process that the mobility management device 800 joins the first broadcast domain, the mobility management device 800 learns that the M access network devices belong to the first broadcast domain.

Optionally, when M is smaller than N, the at least one broadcast domain further includes a second broadcast domain, where the second broadcast domain includes K access network devices in the N access network devices, and the sending unit 820 is further configured to broadcast signaling to the K access network devices in the second broadcast domain; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the K access network devices is not any access network device in the M access network devices.

When the K access network devices and the M access network devices are different and M + K is equal to N, the sending unit 820 broadcasts a signaling in the first broadcast domain and the second broadcast domain, and the access network device of the mobility management device management 800 can receive the signaling.

Optionally, if the sending unit 820 needs to receive the response message of the signaling after broadcasting the signaling, for example, after the sending unit 820 transmits the reset message to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain, the mobility management device 800 needs to receive the reset confirmation message sent by the M access network devices, and at this time, the mobility management device 800 further includes a receiving unit 830 configured to receive the response message transmitted by the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism.

In this embodiment of the present invention, when the signaling transmitted by the sending unit 820 is a paging message, that is, when the network side wants to find a UE through a paging procedure, the sending unit 820 may not only directly send the paging message in a broadcast manner to a broadcast domain including the N access network devices, but also may implement the purpose of paging in a hierarchical paging manner.

For the purpose of implementing hierarchical paging, the at least one broadcast domain that the mobility management device 800 joins further includes a third broadcast domain, and the third broadcast domain contains L access network devices of the N access network devices. Wherein L is an integer, M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N. When the mobility management device 800 performs paging, the sending unit 820 broadcasts a paging message to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain, and if paging of the UE fails, the sending unit 820 sends the paging message to the L access network devices in the third broadcast domain. By means of hierarchical paging, a paging message may be sent in a smaller range first, and when paging fails in a smaller range, the mobility management device may send a paging message in a relatively larger range, which may further reduce the number of signaling sent by the mobility management device 800.

When the mobility management device 800 performs hierarchical paging, broadcast domains with different ranges may be determined to perform paging according to a range of an access network device that is last accessed by the UE before the UE enters an idle state. For example, the mobility management device may determine broadcast domains of different ranges according to an access network device last accessed before the UE enters the idle state, a tracking area last accessed before the UE enters the idle state, and a tracking area list where the tracking area before the UE enters the idle state is located, so that the first broadcast domain may be a broadcast domain that includes the access network device last accessed before the UE enters the idle state and satisfies a minimum value of M, the third broadcast domain may be a broadcast domain that includes the access network device in the tracking area last accessed by the UE, or the third broadcast domain may be a broadcast domain that includes the access network device in the tracking area list of the UE. Optionally, the first broadcast domain is a broadcast domain that includes the access network device last accessed by the UE before the UE enters the idle state and satisfies that the value of M is minimum, or may be a broadcast domain that includes the access network device in the tracking area last accessed by the UE, and the third broadcast domain is a broadcast domain that includes the access network device in the tracking area list of the UE. Wherein the tracking area list is generated by the mobility management device 800 according to the tracking area accessed by the UE before entering the idle state. Each tracking area in the list of tracking areas contains one or more access network devices, which are managed by the mobility management device 800.

Further, the paging of the UE may also be implemented through more hierarchies, the above embodiment provides two-layer hierarchical paging, and the mobile management device 800 may also perform hierarchical paging of more hierarchies according to specific actual requirements, so as to achieve the purpose of reducing the sending of paging signaling and implementing quick paging.

Alternatively, the functions of the mobility management device 800 provided in the embodiment of the present invention may be implemented by a processor and a transceiver in cooperation.

In order to implement the method embodiments provided in fig. 4 and fig. 5 in the embodiments of the present invention, an access network device is further provided, fig. 9 is a schematic structural diagram of another access network device in the embodiments of the present invention, where the access network device is denoted as a first access network device, the first access network device is one of N access network devices managed by a mobility management device, the N access network devices are configured to be at least one broadcast domain, and each broadcast domain includes at least 2 access network devices, where the mobility management device may be the mobility management device 800 in the embodiment of fig. 8. As shown in fig. 9, the first access network device 900 includes:

a processing unit 910, configured to join at least one broadcast domain, where the at least one broadcast domain includes a first broadcast domain, and the first broadcast domain includes the first access network device, the mobility management device, and other M-1 access network devices in the N access network devices;

a receiving unit 920, configured to receive signaling broadcast by the mobility management device through the first broadcast domain;

The first access network device 900 may be an access network device belonging to the first broadcast domain in the device embodiment shown in fig. 8. The first broadcast domain may be the first broadcast domain in the device embodiment shown in fig. 8, and the embodiment of the present invention may be understood with reference to fig. 8.

After the network management system configures and joins the first broadcast domain, the signaling broadcasted by the mobility management device 800 in the first broadcast domain can be received by the M access network devices. Optionally, the network management system configures a broadcast domain for the signaling and receiving interface between the first access network device 900 and the mobility management device 800. The signaling interface may be an S1-MME interface.

Optionally, when M is smaller than N, the at least one broadcast domain further includes a second broadcast domain, the first access network device, the mobility management device, and K-1 other access network devices in the N access network devices, and the receiving unit 920 is further configured to receive the signaling broadcast by the mobility management device through the second broadcast domain; and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the other K-1 access network devices is not any access network device in the other M-1 access network devices.

At this time, the first access network device 900 will receive the signaling twice through the first broadcast domain and the second broadcast domain.

Optionally, the first access device 900 further includes a sending unit 930, configured to transmit an acknowledgement signaling of the signaling to the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism.

Optionally, the functions of the access network device 900 provided in the embodiment of the present invention may be implemented by a processor and a transceiver in cooperation.

The mobility management device or the access network device provided by the embodiment of the invention transmits the signaling to the managed access network device through the broadcasting mechanism, so that the situation that the same signaling is respectively transmitted to different access network devices after being largely copied when the mobility management device transmits the same signaling to a large number of access network devices is avoided, the signaling overhead and the signaling processing amount of the mobility management device are reduced, the device capacity of the mobility management device is further improved, and the construction cost of the whole network is reduced. When the signaling is a paging message, the signaling flow in the network is reduced by broadcasting from a smaller range to a larger range and paging in a grading way, so that the construction cost of the whole network is further reduced.

Fig. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of another mobility management device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 10, the mobility management device 1000 includes a processor 1010, a memory 1020, a communication interface 1030 and a bus 1040, wherein the memory 1020 stores execution instructions, the processor 1010 and the memory 1020 communicate with each other through the bus 1040 when the device is running, and the processor 1010 receives information through the communication interface 1030 and executes the steps of the method disclosed in the method embodiment provided in fig. 2 according to the computer instructions stored in the memory 1020.

Fig. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of another access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 11, the access network device 1100 includes a processor 1110, a memory 1120, a communication interface 1130 and a bus 1140, wherein the memory 1120 stores execution instructions, when the device is running, the processor 1110 communicates with the memory 1120 through the bus 1140, the processor 1110 receives information through the communication interface 1130, and executes the steps of the method disclosed in the method embodiment provided in fig. 3 according to the computer instructions stored in the memory 1120.

Fig. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of another mobility management device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 12, the mobility management device 1200 includes a processor 1210, a memory 1220, a communication interface 1230 and a bus 1240, wherein the memory 1220 stores execution instructions, when the device is running, the processor 1210 communicates with the memory 1220 through the bus 1240, and the processor 1210 receives information through the communication interface 1230 and executes the steps of the method disclosed in the method embodiment provided in fig. 4 according to the computer instructions stored in the memory 1220.

Fig. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of another access network device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 13, the access network device 1300 includes a processor 1310, a memory 1320, a communication interface 1330 and a bus 1340, wherein the memory 1320 stores execution instructions, the processor 1310 and the memory 1320 communicate via the bus 1340 when the device is operating, and the processor 1310 receives information via the communication interface 1330 and executes the steps of the method disclosed in the method embodiment provided in fig. 5 according to the computer instructions stored in the memory 1320.

The processor described in fig. 10-13 may be a general purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an off-the-shelf programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, among others. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor or the processor may be any conventional processor or the like. The steps of the method disclosed in connection with the embodiments of the present invention may be directly implemented by a hardware decoding processor, or implemented by a combination of hardware and software modules in the decoding processor. The computer instructions may be located in a random access memory, flash memory, read only memory, programmable read only memory or electrically erasable programmable memory, registers, or other storage medium known in the art. The storage medium is located in a memory, and a processor reads information in the memory and performs the steps of the method of the embodiments in combination with hardware thereof.

All the flows in the above embodiments can be understood and implemented by those skilled in the art. Which may be implemented by computer program instructions in conjunction with associated hardware.

The technical scheme of the embodiment of the invention can be suitable for not only a Packet Switched (PS) network but also a Circuit Switched (CS) network.

In the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the "first", "second", "third", "fourth", and so on, merely indicate to distinguish different objects, such as different access network devices, different multicast addresses, different broadcast domains, and so on, and do not have a substantial limitation by themselves.

The application scenarios and the like in the above embodiments are only limited to illustrate the specific technical solutions of the present invention, and are not limited thereto. That is, the technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may be modified, or technical features may be equivalently replaced, and the modifications and the replacements do not affect the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for a mobility management device to transmit signaling, where the mobility management device manages N access network devices, the N access network devices are configured to be at least one multicast group, each multicast group in the at least one multicast group includes at least 2 access network devices, each multicast group has one multicast address, and at least 2 access network devices in the same multicast group are configured with multicast addresses of the same multicast group, the method includes:

the mobility management device acquires at least one multicast address, wherein the at least one multicast address comprises a first multicast address of a first multicast group in the at least one multicast group, and the first multicast group comprises M access network devices in the N access network devices;

the mobility management device transmits signaling to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address;

wherein M and N are integers, N is more than or equal to 2, and M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N;

wherein M is less than N, the at least one multicast address further includes a third multicast address of a third multicast group of the at least one multicast group, the third multicast group including L access network devices of the N access network devices;

the transmitting, by the mobility management device, signaling to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address includes: the mobility management equipment transmits a paging message to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address, wherein the paging message is used for paging User Equipment (UE);

the method further comprises the following steps: if the mobility management device fails to page the UE, the mobility management device sends the paging message to the L pieces of access network equipment in the third multicast group according to the third multicast address; wherein L is an integer, M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N;

the method further comprises the following steps:

the mobility management device transmits the first multicast address to the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism;

the first multicast group is a multicast group which contains access network equipment accessed by the UE last before the UE enters an idle state and satisfies the condition that M is minimum in value, the third multicast group is a multicast group which contains the access network equipment in a tracking area list of the UE, and the tracking area list is generated by the mobility management equipment according to the tracking area accessed by the UE before the UE enters the idle state;

wherein, the multicast address is a class D Internet protocol IP address, and the last 28 bits of the class D IP address are the identification of the multicast group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein M is less than N, the at least one multicast address further comprises a second multicast address for a second multicast group of the at least one multicast group, the second multicast group including K access network devices of the N access network devices, the method further comprising:

the mobility management device transmits the signaling to the K access network devices in the second multicast group according to the second multicast address;

and K is an integer and is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to N, and at least one access network device in the K access network devices is not any access network device in the M access network devices.

3. The method of any of claims 1 to 2,

the method further comprises the following steps:

and the mobility management device receives a response message transmitted by the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism, wherein the response message is used for confirming that the M access network devices can configure the first multicast address.

4. A mobility management device, wherein the mobility management device manages N access network devices, the N access network devices are configured to be at least one multicast group, each multicast group in the at least one multicast group includes at least 2 access network devices, each multicast group has one multicast address, at least 2 access network devices in the same multicast group are configured with the multicast address of the same multicast group, and the mobility management device includes:

a receiving unit, configured to obtain at least one multicast address, where the at least one multicast address includes a first multicast address of a first multicast group in the at least one multicast group, and the first multicast group includes M access network devices in the N access network devices;

a sending unit, configured to transmit signaling to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address;

the sending unit, configured to transmit signaling to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address, includes: transmitting a paging message to the M access network devices in the first multicast group according to the first multicast address, wherein the paging message is used for paging a User Equipment (UE);

the sending unit is further configured to send the paging message to the L access network devices in the third multicast group according to the third multicast address if the mobility management device fails to page the UE; wherein L is an integer, M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N;

wherein the sending unit is further configured to transmit the first multicast address to the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism;

5. The mobility management device of claim 4, wherein M is less than N, wherein the at least one multicast address further includes a second multicast address for a second multicast group of the at least one multicast group, wherein the second multicast group includes K access network devices of the N access network devices, and wherein the sending unit is further configured to transmit signaling to the K access network devices of the second multicast group according to the second multicast address;

6. The mobility management device according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the receiving unit is further configured to receive an acknowledgement message transmitted by the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism, where the acknowledgement message is used to confirm that the M access network devices can configure the first multicast address.

7. A method for a mobility management device to transmit signaling, wherein the mobility management device manages N access network devices, the N access network devices are configured as at least one broadcast domain, and each broadcast domain in the at least one broadcast domain contains at least 2 access network devices, the method comprising:

the mobility management device joins at least one broadcast domain, wherein the at least one broadcast domain comprises a first broadcast domain, and the first broadcast domain comprises M access network devices of the N access network devices;

the mobility management device broadcasting signaling to the M access network devices within the first broadcast domain;

wherein M is smaller than N, the at least one broadcast domain further includes a third broadcast domain, and the third broadcast domain includes L access network devices of the N access network devices;

the mobility management device broadcasting signaling to the M access network devices within the first broadcast domain, including: the mobility management equipment broadcasts paging messages to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain, wherein the paging messages are used for paging User Equipment (UE);

the method further comprises the following steps: if the mobility management device broadcasts a paging message to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain, and paging of the UE fails, the mobility management device broadcasts the paging message to the L access network devices in the third broadcast domain;

wherein L is an integer, M is more than or equal to 2 and less than or equal to L and less than or equal to N;

the method further comprises the following steps:

the mobility management device transmits a first broadcast address to the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism, wherein the first broadcast address is an address of a first broadcast domain;

the first broadcast domain is a broadcast domain which contains access network equipment accessed last before the UE enters an idle state and satisfies the condition that M is minimum in value, the third broadcast domain is a broadcast domain which contains access network equipment in a tracking area list of the UE, and the tracking area list is generated by the mobility management equipment according to the tracking area accessed before the UE enters the idle state;

wherein the first broadcast address is a class D internet protocol IP address, and the last 28 bits of the class D IP address are an identifier of a broadcast domain.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein M is less than N, the at least one broadcast domain further comprising a second broadcast domain containing K access network devices of the N access network devices, the method further comprising:

the mobility management device broadcasts the signaling to the K access network devices in the second broadcast domain;

9. A mobility management device, wherein the mobility management device manages N access network devices, wherein the N access network devices are configured as at least one broadcast domain, and wherein each broadcast domain of the at least one broadcast domain contains at least 2 access network devices, and wherein the mobility management device comprises:

a processing unit, configured to join at least one broadcast domain, where the at least one broadcast domain includes a first broadcast domain, and the first broadcast domain includes M access network devices of the N access network devices;

a sending unit, configured to broadcast a signaling to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain;

the sending unit is configured to broadcast signaling to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain, and includes: broadcasting a paging message to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain, the paging message being used for paging a User Equipment (UE);

the sending unit is further configured to broadcast a paging message to the M access network devices in the first broadcast domain, and when paging the UE fails, broadcast the paging message to the L access network devices in the third broadcast domain;

wherein the sending unit is further configured to transmit the first broadcast address to the M access network devices through a unicast mechanism;

10. The mobility management device of claim 9, wherein M is less than N, wherein the at least one broadcast domain further includes a second broadcast domain, wherein the second broadcast domain contains K access network devices of the N access network devices, and wherein the sending unit is further configured to broadcast the signaling to the K access network devices within the second broadcast domain;

11. A method for an access network device to receive signaling, where the access network device is a first access network device of N access network devices managed by a mobility management device, the N access network devices are configured to be at least one multicast group, each multicast group in the at least one multicast group includes at least 2 access network devices, each multicast group has one multicast address, and at least 2 access network devices in the same multicast group are configured with the multicast address of the same multicast group, the method comprising:

configuring, by the first access network device, at least one multicast address including a first multicast address of a first multicast group of the at least one multicast group, the first multicast group including the first access network device and the other M-1 access network devices of the N access network devices;

the first access network equipment receives the signaling transmitted by the mobility management equipment according to the first multicast address;

wherein the method further comprises:

the first access network equipment acquires the at least one multicast address transmitted by the mobility management equipment through a unicast mechanism;

the first multicast group is a multicast group which comprises access network equipment accessed last before User Equipment (UE) which can be paged by a paging message enters an idle state and meets the condition that the value of M is minimum;

12. An access network device, where the access network device is denoted as a first access network device, where the first access network device is one of N access network devices managed by a mobility management device, the N access network devices are configured to be at least one multicast group, each multicast group in the at least one multicast group includes at least 2 access network devices, each multicast group has one multicast address, and at least 2 access network devices in the same multicast group are configured with multicast addresses of the same multicast group, where the first access network device includes:

a processing unit, configured to configure at least one multicast address, where the at least one multicast address includes a first multicast address of a first multicast group in the at least one multicast group, and the first multicast group includes the first access network device and other M-1 access network devices in the N access network devices;

a receiving unit, configured to receive, according to the first multicast address, a signaling transmitted by the mobility management device;

the receiving unit is further configured to acquire the at least one multicast address transmitted by the mobility management device through a unicast mechanism;

13. A method for an access network device to receive signaling, wherein the access network device is a first access network device of N access network devices managed by a mobility management device, the N access network devices are configured as at least one broadcast domain, and each broadcast domain of the at least one broadcast domain contains at least 2 access network devices, the method comprising:

the access network equipment joins at least one broadcast domain, wherein the at least one broadcast domain comprises a first broadcast domain, and the first broadcast domain comprises the first access network equipment, the mobility management equipment and other M-1 access network equipment in the N access network equipment;

the first access network equipment receives the signaling broadcasted by the mobility management equipment through the first broadcast domain;

wherein the method further comprises: receiving a first broadcast address sent by a mobility management network element through a unicast mechanism;

the first broadcast domain is a broadcast domain which comprises access network equipment accessed last before User Equipment (UE) which can be paged by a paging message enters an idle state and meets the condition that M value is minimum, wherein the first broadcast address is the address of the first broadcast domain;

14. An access network device, wherein the access network device is denoted as a first access network device, the first access network device is one of N access network devices managed by a mobility management device, the N access network devices are configured as at least one broadcast domain, each broadcast domain of the at least one broadcast domain contains at least 2 access network devices, and the first access network device comprises:

a processing unit, configured to join at least one broadcast domain, where the at least one broadcast domain includes a first broadcast domain, and the first broadcast domain includes the first access network device, the mobility management device, and other M-1 access network devices in the N access network devices;

a receiving unit, configured to receive, through the first broadcast domain, a signaling broadcast by the mobility management device;

wherein, the receiving unit is further configured to receive a first broadcast address sent by the mobility management network element through a unicast mechanism;