CN108616958B

CN108616958B - Method, terminal, base station and communication system for activating different-system SeNB

Info

Publication number: CN108616958B
Application number: CN201611250874.8A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 许森; 刘晴; 卞宏梁; 张光辉
Original assignee: China Telecom Corp Ltd
Current assignee: China Telecom Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2016-12-30
Filing date: 2016-12-30
Publication date: 2021-01-26
Anticipated expiration: 2036-12-30
Also published as: CN108616958A

Abstract

The invention discloses a method, a terminal, a base station and a communication system for activating a different system SeNB, and relates to the technical field of wireless communication. The method comprises the following steps: a first network base station sends a SeNB addition request message to a second network base station; the second network base station requests the load and the configuration information of the user which need to be distributed to the second network from the second network core network, encapsulates the configuration information in a container and sends the configuration information to the first network base station; the first network base station transparently transmits the container including the configuration information to the terminal, so that the terminal determines the access parameters of the second network base station according to the configuration information in the container, accesses the second network base station and completes the establishment and configuration of the second network bearer. In the scheme of the invention, the QoS mapping relation of 4G/5G is transparent to the base station side, the conversion work of the wireless sides of two systems aiming at the QoS is reduced through mapping and distribution at the respective core network sides, the bearing shunting based on multiple S-GWs is supported, and the network deployment difficulty is reduced.

Description

Method, terminal, base station and communication system for activating different-system SeNB

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communication technologies, and in particular, to a method, a terminal, a base station, and a communication system for activating an alien system SeNB.

Background

5G as the next generation wireless technology has the characteristics of higher speed, higher capacity and the like. Considering that the deployment frequency of 5G is relatively high, an operator generally considers deployment in a hot spot area in the initial deployment period, so as to achieve capacity improvement of the system. In order to reduce the switching between 4G/5G and effectively utilize the resources of the two systems, the current 3GPP Rel-14 carries out technical research aiming at the 4G/5G Tight Inter-working problem, and the main research idea is to solve the Inter-working problem between 4G/5G based on a Dual Connectivity (DC) scheme.

The dual connectivity is an important function introduced by 3GPP Rel-12, and is mainly used to solve the problem of wireless resource aggregation between macro and micro base stations based on non-ideal backhaul, thereby effectively improving user throughput and maximizing system resource utilization. The network architecture diagram is shown in fig. 1. The control plane is located in MeNB (Master eNB, main base station), and may also be referred to as a macro base station. According to the protocol the macro base station may also support multiple carriers, these combinations of carriers being called MCGs (MeNB Cell Group, MeNB Cell set). The user plane exists in both MeNB and SeNB (Slave eNB), wherein the SeNB may also be referred to as a small cell. Like the macro base station, the SeNB also supports multiple carriers, and the combination of these carriers is called SCG (SeNB Cell Group, SeNB Cell set). Wherein the primary cell of the small base station is called PSCell (Primary cell).

In the current 3GPP specifications, the procedure for activating SeNB in dual connectivity operation is shown in fig. 2. The MeNB requests the SeNB to perform bearer addition and negotiates UE capabilities with the SeNB (step 201). The SeNB transparently transmits the generated access information and bearer configuration information to the MeNB through an X2 interface (step 202), and the MeNB issues the access information and bearer configuration information to the terminal through an RRC message (step 203). The terminal completes access and bearer configuration in the SeNB according to the indication message (step 204 to step 212). Since the initial design of the protocol is to reduce the impact on the core network, the terminal does not involve any bearer update to the core network side when the SeNB accesses the terminal, and only the macro base station instructs the core network to perform the relevant path switching. There are 5 basic architectures in the current 4G/5G networking architecture discussion of 3GPP, one of which is shown in fig. 3. A new interface similar to X2 (named as eX2 interface in the patent) is introduced between the 4G base station and the 5G base station in the framework. The 4G base station and the 5G base station are respectively connected into the core networks, and an interworking interface exists between the 4G/5G core networks.

Based on the above-mentioned architecture, if the 4G/5G dual-connection scheme still continues to reuse the current dual-connection scheme, there are the following problems:

(1) bearers cannot be established at 5G: the current dual connectivity scheme has only one default control plane and is maintained on the MeNB side. The operation of adding dual connectivity does not involve the establishment or re-establishment of bearers on the core network side. However, in the 4G/5G interworking scenario, the bearer of 5G cannot be established by the core network of 4G.

(2) The 4G base station and the 5G base station cannot understand the QoS mechanism of the opposite side: the current dual connectivity scheme only considers bearer changes within the 4G network and therefore does not need to consider the QoS mapping problem. However, considering that network slices are introduced into 5G and QoS schemes may also change, when a offloading operation of a bearer is performed, both the 4G base station and the 5G base station need to know the QoS scheme and parameter meaning of the other side, which may result in more complicated protocol stack design and more parameters needing configuration or interaction.

(3) The scheme does not support the updating across S-GW (Serving Gateway): in the 4G system, the anchor point of the service switching is S-GW, and even in the dual-connection operation, the S-GW is not replaced after the load is considered to be shunted to the small base station. Whereas in the

current architecture

4G and 5G may have different S-GWs (which may be user plane management entities for 5G) and therefore cannot multiplex the bearer update steps in the current dual connectivity scheme.

Based on the above analysis and introduction of the background, in a 4G/5G tight interworking scenario, the current LTE dual connectivity scheme needs to be enhanced to a certain extent to meet the needs of the 4G/5G dual connectivity scenario.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention aims to solve the technical problem that: the scheme for activating the inter-system small base stations is low in implementation difficulty and convenient for network deployment.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a method for activating an inter-system small cell base station SeNB is provided, including: a first network base station sends a SeNB addition request message to a second network base station; the second network base station requests the load and the configuration information of the user which need to be shunted to the second network from a second network core network, and the configuration information is packaged in a container and fed back to the first network base station; the first network base station transparently transmits the container including the configuration information to a terminal, so that the terminal determines the access parameters of the second network base station according to the configuration information in the container, accesses the second network base station and completes the establishment and configuration of a second network bearer; and the first network base station requests the first network core network and the second network core network to carry out bearing path replacement.

Optionally, the SeNB addition request message includes:

the first network base station distributes a unique user identifier for the terminal;

a cell information list of a second network base station to be configured, wherein each cell information comprises a cell identifier, frequency point information and/or a signal measurement result of the cell measured by a terminal;

a list of bearer information that needs to be distributed to a second network base station, wherein each bearer information comprises an identifier of an E-RAB and QoS information of a first network;

UE capability information of the terminal: including the support of the wireless capabilities of the first network and the second network.

Optionally, the method further comprises: when a terminal supporting the dual connection of a first network/a second network is accessed to the first network, indicating the wireless air interface capability information of the first network/the second network of the terminal and the capability information supporting the dual connection operation of the first network/the second network to a core network through NAS information; and the first network core network indicates the received wireless air interface capability information of the terminal and whether the first network/second network dual-connection operation information is supported to the first network base station so that the first network base station can store the context.

Optionally, the sending, by the first network base station, the SeNB addition request message to the second network base station includes: when the terminal needs to trigger the dual connection operation of the first network/the second network, the first network base station determines that the terminal supports the dual connection function of the first network/the second network and the terminal supports part or all of frequency points supported by a target second network base station, and the first network base station sends a SeNB addition request message for requesting the reservation of related resources of the user to the second network base station through an eX2 interface.

Optionally, the requesting, by the second network base station, bearer and configuration information of a user, which need to be offloaded to the second network, from the second network core network, and encapsulating the configuration information in a container to feed back the configuration information to the first network base station includes:

after receiving the SeNB addition request message of the first network base station, the second network base station sends a bearer information mapping request to the second network default core network control plane entity;

the second network core network completes QoS mapping for each bearer and stores terminal capability information of UE, if at least one bearer is admitted in the second network core network, a bearer information confirmation message is sent to the second network base station, otherwise a bearer information failure message is sent;

after receiving a feedback result of the bearing information mapping of the second network core network, the second network base station sends an SeNB addition failure message to the first network base station if the bearing information failure message is received, otherwise, admission control of the second network base station is carried out, and whether relevant bearing can be admitted at the wireless side of the second network is judged; and if at least one bearer which can be admitted by the second network base station exists in the bearers supporting establishment and indicated by the core network, sending a SeNB addition response message to the first network base station, and otherwise, feeding back a SeNB addition failure response message.

Optionally, the bearer information mapping request includes:

the second network base station allocates a unique user identifier for the terminal;

UE capability information of the terminal;

bearer information to be offloaded to the second network, wherein each bearer information includes

Identification of the E-RAB and QCI information of the first network.

Optionally, the bearer information confirmation message includes:

the second network core network distributes user identification for the user;

an AS layer security key of a user;

a user's NAS layer security key;

supporting the established bearer information, wherein each piece of E-RAB information supporting the establishment further comprises: the carried identifier, the second network QoS information, the entity identifier of the core network control plane, the IP address and the port address of the core network control plane, and the uplink IP address and the port address of the core network user plane;

E-RAB information not supporting establishment, each bearer information not supporting establishment

Including the reason for the failure and the bearer identification;

optionally, the bearer confirmation failure message includes:

the E-RAB information that does not support establishment, each bearer information that does not support establishment, includes a reason for failure and a bearer identification.

Optionally, the SeNB addition failure response message includes:

a list of bearer identities that cannot be established;

each bearer that cannot be established further includes: information of the reason of the failure.

Optionally, the SeNB addition response message includes:

the second core network distributes user identification for the user;

the transparent transmission container at least comprises the following information:

an access layer security key of the user;

a user's NAS layer security key;

the related parameters of the user in the initial access of the second network comprise user identification information and random access configuration;

all or part of the broadcast message of the second network base station;

cell identification and frequency point information of the PSCell of the second network base station;

a cell identification list and a frequency point information list of an SCell of a second network base station;

the bearing information which can be successfully distributed to the second network comprises a bearing identification list and second network QoS information;

a list of E-RAB identities admitted by the second network base station;

a rejected E-RAB information list, wherein the information comprises identification of each rejected E-RAB and failure reason information;

a first network base station allocates a user identifier on an eX2 interface for the terminal;

the second network base station assigns the terminal a subscriber identity over the eX2 interface.

Optionally, the step of transparently transmitting the container to the terminal by the first network base station, so that the step of determining, by the terminal, the access parameter of the second network base station according to the configuration information in the container includes:

after receiving the response message sent by the second network base station, the first network base station does not perform subsequent operation if the response message is a SeNB addition failure response message, otherwise, sends the configuration information of the split bearer to the terminal through an RRC connection reconfiguration message;

and after receiving the RRC connection reconfiguration message sent by the first network base station, the terminal completes the deletion operation of the shunting bearer at the first network side and configures the access information of the second network.

Optionally, the RRC connection reconfiguration message includes:

the transparent transmission container carries access parameters, frequency points of the PSCell and ECGI information;

a list of bearers that need to be released, including an identification of each bearer on the wireless side.

Optionally, the determining, by the terminal, the access parameter of the second network base station according to the configuration information in the container includes:

and the terminal determines the access parameters of the 5G cell and the accessed target cell according to the access parameters carried in the transparent transmission container, the frequency point of the PSCell and the ECGI information, determines the security parameters during access according to the access layer key and the NAS layer key of the user, and determines a bearer list required to be established in the 5G base station according to the QoS information list successfully distributed to the E-RAB bearer of the 5G.

Optionally, the accessing, by the terminal, the second network base station and completing the establishment and configuration of the second network bearer includes:

after the terminal completes the release of the first network bearer designated by the base station and the configuration of the second network parameters, the terminal indicates the first network base station by the result of the completion of the reconfiguration through RRC signaling;

after receiving the reconfiguration complete signaling sent by the terminal, the first network base station sends an SeNB reconfiguration complete message to the second network base station, and forwards the message to the second network base station in allusion to the downlink data of the bearer which needs to be shunted to the second network;

the second network base station receives the service request initiated by the terminal, determines a core network control plane entity and a user plane entity which need to be sent by the bearer request according to the core network control plane entity identifier of each bearer, the IP address of the core network control plane and the port address information which are pre-configured in the core network, and sends the related service request message to the corresponding core network entity;

the second network core network sends a load building request to the second network base station;

after receiving a bearer establishment request issued by the second network core network, the second network base station configures each bearer parameter to be established for the terminal through an RRC bearer configuration message;

and after receiving the bearer configuration message sent by the second network base station, the terminal completes the establishment and configuration of the bearer, and forwards the uplink data of the user to the corresponding second network core network address according to the uplink IP address and the port address of the core network user plane configured by the core network.

Optionally, the SeNB reconfiguration complete message includes:

the first network base station is a user identifier distributed on a 4G/5G interface by the terminal;

the second network base station is a user identifier distributed on a 4G/5G interface by the terminal;

bearer list information successfully released by the first network;

optionally, the service request message includes:

the second network core network distributes user identification for the terminal;

the second network base station allocates a user identifier for the terminal;

the QoS information has been configured to indicate: for indicating the core network that its QOS information has been configured;

optionally, the bearer establishment request includes:

the second network base station allocates a user identifier for the terminal;

the QoS information has configured an indication.

Optionally, the requesting, by the first network base station, the bearer path change by the first network core network and the second network core network includes:

the first network base station sends a path switching request to a core network MME, and the MME instructs S-GW to carry out load updating after receiving the path switching request;

the MME respectively sends channel updating indication messages to the second network core network entity aiming at the bearing with different control surface IP addresses according to the IP address and the port address of each bearing core network control surface;

after receiving the channel update indication message, the second network core network determines the uplink IP address and the port address of the shunting bearer of the user according to the user identifier allocated to the user by the second network core network and the uplink IP address and the port address of the user plane of each bearer core network, and sends a channel update confirmation message to the MME;

after receiving the channel update confirmation message sent by the second network core network, the MME notifies the first network base station of the load update condition through the path switching confirmation message;

and the user plane entity of the second network core network sends the transmission of user plane data to the second network base station in a downlink manner.

Optionally, the channel update indication message includes:

a list of the carried identification information;

the second network core network distributes user identification for the user;

a first network core network distributes user identification for a user;

the uplink IP address and the port address of each loaded core network user plane;

optionally, the channel update confirm message includes:

a first core network distributes user identification for a user;

carrying a bearing list which is successfully updated;

and the bearer list with unsuccessful bearer update comprises the bearer identification and the failure reason.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a terminal comprising: a terminal capability reporting module, configured to send, to a core network, first network/second network wireless air interface capability information of the terminal and capability information supporting a first network/second network dual connectivity operation when the terminal is accessed to a first network, so that the first network core network sends the received wireless air interface capability information of the terminal and information whether the first network/second network dual connectivity operation is supported to a first network base station; a configuration information receiving module, configured to receive, through an RRC connection reconfiguration message, a container that includes a bearer that needs to be offloaded to a second network and configuration information of a user, the container being transparently transmitted by the first network base station; the second network access module is used for determining the access parameters of the second network base station according to the configuration information in the container; and accessing the second network base station according to the access parameters and completing the establishment and configuration of a second network bearer.

Optionally, the RRC connection reconfiguration message includes:

a list of bearers that need to be released, including an identifier of each bearer on the wireless side;

the second network access module determines access parameters of the second network cell and an accessed target cell according to the access parameters carried in the transparent transmission container, frequency points of the PSCell and ECGI information, determines security parameters during access according to an access layer key and an NAS layer key of a user, and determines a bearer list required to be established in the second network base station according to a QoS information list successfully distributed to E-RAB bearer of the second network; after the release of the first network bearer designated by the base station and the configuration of the second network parameters are completed, the result of the reconfiguration completion is sent to the first network base station through an RRC signaling, so that the first network base station sends an SeNB reconfiguration completion message to the second network base station after receiving the reconfiguration completion signaling sent by the terminal, and forwards downlink data of the bearer which needs to be shunted to the second network base station.

Optionally, the terminal further includes: and the uplink bearer establishing module is used for initiating a service request to the second network base station, receiving a bearer configuration message returned by the second network base station, completing establishment and configuration of a bearer, and forwarding uplink data of a user to a corresponding second network core network address according to an uplink IP address and a port address of a core network user plane configured by the core network.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a base station located in a first network, including: the small base station adding request module is used for sending an SeNB adding request message to a second network base station; a configuration information receiving module, configured to receive, through an SeNB addition response message, a container, in which configuration information is encapsulated, from the second network base station, where the configuration information is a bearer and configuration information of a user, where the bearer and the configuration information are required to be offloaded to a second network from a second network core network, and the second network base station requests the bearer and the configuration information of the user to be offloaded to the second network; the container transparent transmission module is used for transmitting the container including the configuration information to a terminal so that the terminal determines the access parameters of the second network base station according to the configuration information in the container, accesses the second network base station and completes the establishment and configuration of a second network bearer; and the bearing path changing module is used for requesting the first network core network and the second network core network to change the bearing path.

Optionally, the SeNB addition request message includes:

Optionally, the base station further includes: and the terminal capability storage module is used for receiving and storing the wireless air interface capability information of the terminal from the first network core network and whether the first network/second network dual-connection operation information is supported.

Optionally, the container pass-through module comprises: a reconfiguration message sending unit, configured to send, after receiving the SeNB addition response message sent by the second network base station, configuration information of the offload bearer to the terminal through an RRC connection reconfiguration message; the RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises: the transparent transmission container carries access parameters, frequency points of the PSCell and ECGI information; a list of bearers that need to be released, including an identifier of each bearer on the wireless side; and the reconfiguration completion processing unit is configured to send an SeNB reconfiguration completion message to the second network base station after receiving the reconfiguration completion signaling sent by the terminal, and forward to the second network base station the downlink data of the bearer that needs to be shunted to the second network.

Optionally, the load path replacing module comprises: a path switching request unit, configured to send a path switching request to a core network MME so that the MME instructs the S-GW to perform bearer update after receiving the path switching request; and the path switching confirmation unit is used for receiving a path switching confirmation message sent by a core network MME, and the path switching confirmation message is sent after the MME receives a channel updating confirmation message sent by the second network core network.

According to still another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a base station located in a second network, including: an adding request receiving module, configured to receive a small cell enb adding request message from a first network base station; a configuration information acquisition module, configured to request, from a second network core network, bearer and user configuration information that needs to be offloaded to a second network, encapsulate the configuration information in a container, and feed back a response message added by an SeNB to the first network base station; and the terminal access module is used for receiving the terminal access and finishing the establishment and the configuration of the second network bearer based on the access parameters determined by the terminal according to the configuration information in the container.

Optionally, the configuration information obtaining module includes: a bearer mapping request unit, configured to send a bearer information mapping request to the second network default core network control plane entity after receiving the SeNB addition request message of the first network base station, so that the second network core network completes QoS mapping for each bearer and stores terminal capability information of the UE; a bearer mapping receiving unit, configured to receive a bearer information acknowledgement message sent by the second network core network when at least one bearer is admitted in the second network core network; an admission judgment feedback unit, configured to perform admission control of the second network base station after receiving the bearer information confirmation message of the second network core network, and judge whether a relevant bearer can be admitted at the second network wireless side; and if at least one bearer which can be admitted exists in the bearers supporting the establishment and indicated by the core network, sending an SeNB addition response message to the first network base station.

Optionally, the bearer information mapping request includes:

UE capability information of the terminal;

Identification of the E-RAB and QCI information of the first network;

and/or

The bearer information confirmation message includes:

the second network core network distributes user identification for the user;

an AS layer security key of a user;

a user's NAS layer security key;

Including the reason for the failure and the bearer identification;

and/or

The SeNB add response message includes:

the second core network distributes user identification for the user;

an access layer security key of the user;

a user's NAS layer security key;

all or part of the broadcast message of the second network base station;

a list of E-RAB identities admitted by the second network base station;

Optionally, the terminal access module includes: a reconfiguration complete processing unit, configured to receive an SeNB reconfiguration complete message from the first network base station, and forward downlink data of a relevant bearer that needs to be shunted to the base station; a service request processing unit, configured to receive a service request initiated by a terminal, determine, according to an entity identifier of each core network control plane loaded in advance in a core network, an IP address of the core network control plane, and port address information, a core network control plane entity and a user plane entity to which the service request needs to be sent, and send a service request message to a corresponding core network entity; and a bearer establishment processing unit, configured to receive a bearer establishment request from the second network core network, configure each bearer parameter to be established for the terminal through an RRC bearer configuration message, so that after receiving the bearer configuration message sent by the second network base station, the terminal completes establishment and configuration of a bearer and forwards uplink data of a user to the second network core network.

According to a further aspect of the present invention, there is provided a communication system comprising a terminal as described above, a base station located in a first network as described above, and a base station located in a second network as described above.

The method, the terminal, the base station and the system thereof provided by the invention have the advantages that the core network side carries out mapping and distribution of load bearing, the configuration information is transparent to the base station side, the realization difficulty is low, and the network deployment is convenient.

Other features of the present invention and advantages thereof will become apparent from the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, which proceeds with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Drawings

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

Fig. 1 shows a network architecture diagram for dual connectivity.

Fig. 2 shows a signaling diagram of the activation procedure of the SeNB in 3GPP current dual connectivity.

FIG. 3 shows a 4G/5G interoperation architecture diagram.

Fig. 4 shows a flowchart of an embodiment of a method for activating a heterogeneous system small cell base station SeNB according to the present invention.

Fig. 5 shows a flowchart of another embodiment of a method for activating a heterogeneous system small cell base station SeNB according to the present invention.

FIG. 6 shows a 4G/5G networking diagram.

Fig. 7 illustrates a block diagram of one embodiment of a system for activating a inter-system small cell in accordance with the present invention.

Fig. 8 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of a terminal according to the present invention.

Fig. 9A shows a block diagram of one embodiment of a base station according to the present invention.

Fig. 9B illustrates a block diagram of one embodiment of a container pass-through module in a base station according to the present invention.

Fig. 9C shows a block diagram of one embodiment of a bearer path change module in a base station according to the present invention.

Fig. 10A is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a configuration information acquisition module in a base station according to the present invention.

Fig. 10B shows a block diagram of one embodiment of a terminal access module in a base station according to 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 only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of the embodiments. The following description of at least one exemplary embodiment is merely illustrative in nature and is in no way intended to limit the invention, its application, or uses. All other embodiments, which can be derived by a person skilled in the art from the embodiments given herein without making any creative effort, shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

As shown in fig. 4, the first network base station transmits a SeNB addition request message to the second network base station, step 402. The first network base station is for example a 4G base station and the second network base station is for example a 5G base station.

In step 404, after receiving the SeNB addition request message, the second network base station requests, from the second network core network, bearer and configuration information of the user that need to be offloaded to the second network, and encapsulates the configuration information in a container and feeds back the configuration information to the first network base station.

Step 406, after receiving the configuration information encapsulated in the container, the first network base station transparently transmits the container including the configuration information to the terminal, so that the terminal determines the access parameter of the second network base station according to the configuration information in the container, accesses the second network base station and completes the establishment and configuration of the second network bearer.

Step 408, the first network base station requests the first network core network and the second network core network to perform bearer path change.

In an embodiment, after receiving an SeNB addition request message sent by a 4G base station, a 5G base station requests a bearer to be shunted to the 5G and a relevant configuration of a user from a 5G core network, and encapsulates the configuration information in a container to feed back to the 4G base station. The 4G base station does not decode the container and directly transmits the container to the terminal, and the terminal determines the access parameters of the 5G base station according to the configuration information in the container and completes the establishment and configuration of the 5G bearer after accessing the 5G base station. And the 4G base station requests the 4G core network and the 5G core network to carry out bearer path change.

The specific steps of the method for activating the heterogeneous system SeNB are described below with reference to fig. 5. When the terminal supporting the 4G/5G dual-connection accesses to the 4G network, indicating the 4G/5G wireless air interface capability information and the capability information supporting the 4G/5G dual-connection operation to the core network through the NAS message. After receiving the UE wireless capability information of the terminal and whether the 4G/5G dual-connection operation information is supported or not, the core network indicates the information to the 4G base station, and the 4G base station stores the information in the context.

As shown in fig. 5, step 501: when a terminal needs to trigger a 4G/5G dual-connection operation because of service needs or load balancing needs, a 4G base station checks whether the terminal supports a 4G/5G dual-connection function and whether the terminal supports part or all of frequency points supported by a target 5G base station, if so, the 4G base station is triggered to request a SeNB addition request message for reserving relevant resources of the user from the 5G base station through an eX2 interface, otherwise, no operation is performed on the 5G base station. Wherein the SeNB addition request information includes but is not limited to the following information:

1) the 4G base station allocates a unique user identifier on an eX2 interface for the terminal;

2) cell information list of 5G base station to be configured: each cell comprises a cell identifier, frequency point information and/or a measurement result (signal strength or signal quality) of the cell measured by the terminal;

3) list of bearer information that needs to be shunted to the 5G base station: each Bearer includes an identifier of an Evolved Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) and Quality of Service (QoS) information of 4G;

4) UE capability information of the terminal: including the support of 4G and 5G wireless capabilities.

Step 502 a: and after receiving the SeNB addition request message of the 4G base station for reserving the related resources, the 5G base station requests a 5G default core network control plane entity to carry out bearing information mapping. The bearer information mapping request includes, but is not limited to, the following information:

1) the 5G base station distributes the unique user identification for the terminal

2) UE capability information of terminal

3) Bearer information that needs to be split to 5G, where each bearer information includes:

a) identification of E-RAB;

b) QCI information of 4G.

Step 502 b: the 5G core network completes QoS mapping for each bearer and stores terminal capability information of the UE, if at least one bearer can be admitted in the 5G core network, a bearer information confirmation message is sent to the 5G base station, otherwise, a bearer information failure message is sent. The bearer information confirmation message includes, but is not limited to, the following information:

1) user identification distributed by 5G core network for user

2) AS layer security key of user

3) NAS (Non-Access stratum) layer security key of user

4) Supporting the established bearer information, wherein each piece of E-RAB information supporting the establishment further comprises: the method comprises the steps of bearing identification, 5G QoS information, core network control plane entity identification, IP addresses and port addresses of a core network control plane and uplink IP addresses and port addresses of a core network user plane.

5) The E-RAB information that does not support establishment, each bearer information that does not support establishment, includes a reason for failure and a bearer identification.

Wherein the bearer confirmation failure message further includes but is not limited to the following information:

the E-RAB information that is not supported for establishment, each bearer information that is not supported for establishment, includes a reason for failure and a bearer identification.

Step 503, after receiving the feedback result of the bearer information mapping of the 5G core network, the 5G base station sends an SeNB addition failure message to the 4G base station if the feedback result is a bearer confirmation failure message, otherwise, performs admission control of the 5G base station, and determines whether the relevant bearer can be admitted at the 5G wireless side. And if at least one bearer which supports establishment and is indicated by the core network exists and can be admitted by the 5G base station, sending a SeNB addition response message to the 4G base station, and otherwise, feeding back a SeNB addition failure message.

The contents of the SeNB addition failure response message include, but are not limited to, the following contents:

1) a list of bearer identities that cannot be established;

2) each bearer that cannot be established further includes: information of the reason of the failure.

The SeNB add response message includes, but is not limited to, the following:

1) user identification distributed by 5G core network for user

2) A transparent transmission container, which at least contains the following information

a) An access layer security key of the user;

b) a user's NAS layer security key;

c) the related parameters of the initial access of the user in 5G comprise user identification information, random access configuration and the like;

d) all or part of the broadcast messages of the 5G base stations;

e) cell identification and frequency point information of the PSCell of the 5G base station;

f) a cell identification list and a frequency point information list of SCells of the 5G base station;

g) the bearer information that can be successfully shunted to 5G specifically includes a bearer identification list and 5G QoS information.

3) A list of E-RAB identities admitted by the 5G base station;

4) a rejected E-RAB information list, wherein the information comprises identification of each rejected E-RAB and failure reason information;

5) the 4G base station allocates user identification on an eX2 interface for the terminal;

6) and the 5G base station allocates the user identification on the eX2 interface for the terminal.

In step 504, after receiving the response message sent by the 5G base station, the 4G base station does not perform subsequent operations if the response message is an SeNB addition failure message, otherwise notifies the terminal of the configuration information of the split bearer through an RRC connection reconfiguration message. The RRC connection reconfiguration message includes, but is not limited to, the following information:

1) a transparent transmission container: the container is derived from the SeNB addition response message, and the 4G base station directly sends the container to the terminal without any processing;

2) a list of bearers that need to be released, including the identity (DRB ID) of each bearer on the radio side.

In step 505, after receiving the RRC connection reconfiguration message sent by the 4G base station, the terminal completes the deletion operation of the offload bearer on the 4G side and configures the access information of the 5G. The terminal determines the access parameters of the 5G cell and the accessed target cell according to the access parameters carried in the transparent transmission container, the frequency point of the PSCell and the ECGI information, determines the security parameters during access according to the access layer key and the NAS layer key of the user, and determines a bearer list required to be established in the 5G base station according to the QoS information list of the E-RAB bearer which can be successfully distributed to the 5G. And releasing the established DRB service according to the information in the bearer list required to be released.

After completing the release of the 4G bearer and the configuration of the 5G parameters specified by the base station, the terminal sends the result of the completion of the reconfiguration to the 4G base station through an RRC connection reconfiguration complete message.

In steps 506-507, after receiving the reconfiguration complete message sent by the terminal, the 4G base station indicates the SeNB reconfiguration complete message to the 5G base station, and forwards the information to the 5G base station according to the downlink data of the relevant bearer that needs to be shunted to the 5G. Specific contents of the SeNB reconfiguration complete message include:

1) the 4G base station is a user identifier distributed on a 4G/5G interface by the terminal;

2) the 5G base station is a user identifier distributed on a 4G/5G interface by the terminal;

3) and 4G successfully released bearer list information.

Step 508, after receiving the service request initiated by the terminal, the 5G base station determines, according to the core network control plane entity identifier of each bearer, the IP address of the core network control plane, and the port address information preconfigured in the core network, the core network control plane entity and the user plane entity that the bearer request needs to be sent. And sends the relevant service request message to the corresponding core network entity. The service request message includes, but is not limited to, the following information:

1) the 5G core network distributes user identification for the terminal;

2) the 5G base station distributes user identification for the terminal;

3) QoS information already configured information: 1 bit for indicating to the core network that its QoS information has been configured.

Step 509, the 5G core network sends bearer establishment indication information to the 5G base station, where the content of the bearer establishment indication information includes but is not limited to the following information:

1) the 5G core network distributes user identification for the terminal;

2) the 5G base station distributes user identification for the terminal;

3) maximum rate limit for UE: for controlling the maximum uplink/downlink transmission rate of non-guaranteed class traffic.

Step 510, after receiving the bearer establishment indication information issued by the 5G core network, the 5G base station configures each bearer parameter to be established for the terminal through an RRC message.

Step 511, after receiving the bearer configuration message sent by the 5G base station, the terminal completes establishment and configuration of the bearer, and forwards the uplink data of the user to the corresponding 5G core network address according to the uplink IP address and the port address of the core network user plane configured by the core network.

In steps 512-514, the 4G base station sends path switching information (E-RAB Modification Indication, E-RAB update Indication) to a core network MME (Mobility Management Entity). And the MME instructs the S-GW to carry out bearing updating after receiving the path switching request. The path switching information includes, but is not limited to, the following:

1) the uplink IP address and the port address of the core network user plane which needs to be shunted to each of the 5G bearers;

2) the IP address and port address of the core network control plane of each bearer needs to be shunted to 5G.

In step 515, the MME sends a channel update indication message (Tunnel Modification) to the 5G core network entity for bearers with different control plane IP addresses according to the IP address and the port address of the core network control plane of each bearer. Wherein the channel update indication message includes but is not limited to the following:

1) a list of the carried identification information;

2) the 5G core network distributes user identification for the user;

3) the 4G core network distributes user identification for the user;

4) the uplink IP address and port address of the user plane of each bearer core network.

Step 516, after receiving the channel update indication message, the 5G core network determines the uplink IP address and the port address of the offload bearer of the user according to the user identifier allocated by the 5G core network to the user and the uplink IP address and the port address of the user plane of each bearer core network. And indicates a channel update Confirm message (Tunnel Modification Confirm) to the MME. Wherein the channel update confirm message includes but is not limited to the following information:

1) the 4G core network distributes user identification for the user;

2) carrying a bearing list which is successfully updated;

3) and the bearer list with unsuccessful bearer update comprises the bearer identification and the failure reason.

Step 517, after receiving the channel confirmation message sent by the 5G core network, the MME notifies the 4G base station of the bearer update condition through a path switching confirmation message (E-RAB Modification Confirm).

Step 518, the user plane entity of the 5G core network sends the transmission of the user plane data to the 5G base station in a downlink.

Several embodiments of the present invention are described below in conjunction with fig. 6.

[ EXAMPLES one ]

In this embodiment, both 4G and 5G have an independent core network, and the 4G/5G core networks are directly connected to each other through an interface. The terminal has a 4K video service to be distributed to the 5G network. Wherein the QCI of the FTP service in the 4G service is 2 and the QCI in the 5G network is 101. The network topology is shown in fig. 6. The present embodiment mainly describes a procedure in which SeNB addition fails.

Step 1: when the terminal is accessed to the 4G network, reporting the 4G and 5G wireless air interface capabilities through NAS information and the capability of supporting 4G/5G dual connection.

Step 2: and after receiving the NAS message reported by the terminal, the 4G core network indicates the wireless air interface capability of the 4G/5G and the dual-connection supporting capability to a 4G base station through an S1 message.

And step 3: the 4G base station saves the 4G/5G wireless air interface capability and the dual-connection supporting capability of the user.

And 4, step 4: the terminal initiates a 4K video service, and the 4G judges that the terminal can support 4G/5G dual-connection operation by checking the 5G air interface capability and the dual-connection capability of the terminal, so the service is shunted to the 5G base station. And the 4G base station configures measurement to the terminal and instructs the terminal to measure the relevant frequency band of the 5G base station.

And 5: and the terminal reports the measurement result of the frequency point related to the 5G base station to the 4G base station, wherein the measurement result comprises the signal intensity, the cell identification and the frequency point. The 4G base station sends a SeNB addition request message to the 5G base station through an eX2 interface, wherein the content of the message is as follows:

1) the 4G base station allocates a unique user identifier for the terminal on an eX2 interface: 10456;

2) cell information list of 5G base station to be configured: cell identification 1, frequency point 3520MHz, signal strength-95 dBm;

3) list of bearer information that needs to be shunted to the 5G base station: E-RAB ID 1, QCI 2;

Step 6: after receiving the request of the 4G base station, the 5G base station sends a bearing information mapping request to a 5G default core network, wherein the content of the bearing information mapping request information is as follows:

1) the 5G base station allocates a unique user identifier for the terminal: 30567;

2) UE capability information of the terminal;

a) identification of E-RAB: ID is 1;

b) QCI information of 4G is 2.

And 7: and the 5G core network completes QoS mapping for the 4K video and stores the terminal capability information of the UE. The bearer information confirmation message comprises the following contents:

1) the 5G core network distributes user identification for the user: 600567, respectively;

2) an AS layer security key of a user;

3) a user's NAS layer security key;

And 8: and after receiving the bearing information confirmation message sent by the core network, the 5G base station performs admission control judgment on the 4K video at the 5G base station side, and the 5G base station side finds that the service cannot be admitted due to high load. Therefore, the SeNB is fed back to add a failure message, where the content of the message is:

1)E-RAB ID＝1

2) cause information of failure: radio resource shortage

And step 9: and after receiving the SeNB addition failure message, the 4G base station judges that the 4K video service cannot be shunted to the 5G base station temporarily, and does not execute subsequent operation.

[ example two ]

In this embodiment, both 4G and 5G have an independent core network, and the 4G/5G core networks are directly connected to each other through an interface. The terminal has a 4K video service to be distributed to the 5G network. Wherein the QCI of the FTP service in the 4G service is 2 and the QCI in the 5G network is 101. The network topology is shown in fig. 6. The present embodiment mainly describes the successful procedure of SeNB addition.

And 5: and the terminal reports the measurement result of the frequency point related to the 5G base station to the 4G base station, wherein the measurement result comprises the signal intensity, the cell identification and the frequency point. The 4G base station sends a SeNB addition request message to the 5G base station over the eX2 interface. Wherein the content of the message is:

Step 6: after receiving the request of the 4G base station, the 5G base station sends a bearing information mapping request to a 5G default core network, wherein the content of the request information is as follows:

2) UE capability information of the terminal;

a) identification of E-RAB: ID is 1

b) QCI information of 4G 2

2) an AS layer security key of a user;

3) a user's NAS layer security key;

And 8: and after receiving the bearing information confirmation message sent by the core network, the 5G base station performs admission control judgment on the 4K video at the 5G base station side, and judges that the service can be admitted. Therefore, the SeNB is fed back to add a success message, where the content of the message is:

1) the 5G core network distributes user identification for the user: 600567

2) The transparent transmission container at least comprises the following information:

a) user's access stratum security key

b) NAS layer security keys for users

c) The related parameters of the user in the 5G initial access comprise user identification information, random access configuration and the like

d) Full or partial broadcast messages for 5G base stations

e) Cell identification and frequency point information of the PSCell of the 5G base station: cell identification 1, frequency point 3520MHz

f) The bearer information that can be successfully distributed to 5G specifically includes a bearer identifier list and 5G QoS information

3) The 4G base station allocates the user identifier on the eX2 interface for the terminal: 10456;

4) the 5G base station allocates the user identifier on the eX2 interface for the terminal: 30567.

and step 9: and after receiving the response message sent by the 5G base station, the 4G base station informs the configuration information of the shunting bearer to the terminal through an RRC message. The RRC reconfiguration message is as follows:

1) a transparent transmission container: the container is derived from the SeNB add response message and the 4G base station sends it directly without any processing for the container.

2) List of bearers that need to be released, including the identity of each bearer on the radio side: DRB ID is 1.

Step 10: and after receiving the RRC connection reconfiguration message sent by the 4G base station, the terminal completes the deletion operation of the shunting bearer at the 4G side and configures the access information of the 5G. It is determined that a random access procedure is initiated on cell identity 1.

Step 11: after finishing the release of the 4G bearer specified by the base station and the configuration of the 5G parameters, the terminal indicates the result of the completion of the reconfiguration to the 4G base station through RRC signaling.

Step 12: and after receiving the reconfiguration finishing signaling sent by the terminal, the 4G base station indicates the SeNB reconfiguration finishing information to the 5G base station, and forwards downlink data of the related bearer which needs to be shunted to the 5G base station. Specific contents of the SeNB reconfiguration complete message include:

1) 10456, the 4G base station distributes user identification for the terminal on the 4G/5G interface;

2) 30567, the 5G base station distributes user identification for the terminal on the 4G/5G interface;

3) bearer list information successfully released by 4G: E-RAB ═ 1.

Step 13: the 5G base station determines a core network control plane entity and a user plane entity which need to be sent by the bearer request according to the core network control plane entity identification, the IP address and the port address information of each bearer, which are pre-configured by the core network, when receiving the service request initiated by the terminal, and sends the related service request message to the corresponding core network entity. The request message includes:

1) the 5G core network allocates the user identifier for the terminal: 600567, respectively;

2) the 5G base station allocates user identification for the terminal: 34678;

3) QoS information already configured information: 1.

step 14: the 5G core network sends information of bearing establishment indication to the 5G base station, wherein the content of the bearing establishment indication information comprises but is not limited to the following information:

2) the 5G base station allocates user identification for the terminal: 34678;

3) maximum rate limit for UE: uplink 500Mbps and downlink 1 Gbps.

Step 15: and after receiving the bearer establishment request issued by the 5G core network, the 5G base station configures each bearer parameter to be established for the terminal through the RRC message.

Step 16: and after receiving the bearer configuration message sent by the 5G base station, the terminal completes the establishment and configuration of the bearer and forwards the uplink data of the user to the corresponding 5G core network address according to the uplink IP address and the port address of the core network user plane configured by the core network.

And step 17: and the 4G base station sends path switching information to the core network MME. And the MME instructs the S-GW to carry out bearing updating after receiving the path switching request. The path switching information includes:

Step 18: and the MME sends channel updating indication messages to the bearers with different control plane IP addresses to the 5G core network entity respectively according to the IP address and the port address of the core network control plane of each bearer. Wherein the bearer update indication message comprises:

1) a list of the carried identification information;

2) the 5G core network distributes user identification for the user: 600567, respectively;

3) the 4G core network distributes user identification for the user: 403137, respectively;

Step 19: after receiving the channel update indication message, the 5G core network determines the uplink IP address and the port address of the offload bearer of the user according to the user identifier allocated to the user by the 5G core network and the uplink IP address and the port address of the user plane of each bearer core network. And indicates a channel update confirm message to the MME. Wherein the channel update confirm message comprises:

1) 403137, the 4G core network distributes user ID for user;

2) carrying a bearing list which is successfully updated;

Step 20: after receiving the channel confirmation message sent by the 5G core network, the MME notifies the 4G base station of the bearer update through the path switch confirmation message.

Step 21: and the user plane entity of the 5G core network sends the transmission of user plane data to the 5G base station in a downlink manner.

[ EXAMPLE III ]

In this embodiment, both 4G and 5G have an independent core network, and the 4G/5G core networks have directly connected interfaces. The terminal has a 4K video service to be distributed to the 5G network, but the terminal does not support the 4G/5G dual-connection function. Wherein the QCI of the FTP service in the 4G service is 2 and the QCI in the 5G network is 101. The network topology is shown in fig. 6. The present embodiment mainly describes a procedure that does not support dual connectivity.

And 4, step 4: the terminal initiates a 4K video service, and the 4G judges that the terminal cannot support 4G/5G dual-connection operation by checking the 5G air interface capability and the dual-connection capability of the terminal, so that the service is distributed to a 5G base station without considering the dual-connection mode, and the 4/5G switching mode is adopted for separation.

Fig. 7 illustrates a block diagram of one embodiment of a system for activating a inter-system small cell in accordance with the present invention. As shown in fig. 7, the system includes a terminal 71, a base station 72 located in a first network, and a base station 73 located in a second network.

Wherein, the terminal 71 includes: a terminal capability reporting module 711, configured to send, when the terminal is accessed to a first network, first network/second network wireless air interface capability information of the terminal and capability information supporting a first network/second network dual connectivity operation to a core network, so that the first network core network sends the received wireless air interface capability information of the terminal and information whether the first network/second network dual connectivity operation is supported to a first network base station; a configuration information receiving module 712, configured to receive, through an RRC connection reconfiguration message, a container that includes bearer and configuration information of a user that need to be offloaded to a second network and is transparently transmitted by the first network base station; a second network access module 713, configured to determine an access parameter of the second network base station according to the configuration information in the container; and accessing the second network base station according to the access parameters and completing the establishment and configuration of a second network bearer.

In one embodiment, the RRC connection reconfiguration message includes: the transparent transmission container carries access parameters, frequency points of the PSCell and ECGI information; a list of bearers that need to be released, including an identifier of each bearer on the wireless side; the second network access module 713 determines the access parameters of the second network cell and the target cell to be accessed according to the access parameters, the frequency points of the PSCell and the ECGI information carried in the transparent transmission container, determines the security parameters during access according to an access layer key and an NAS layer key of a user, and determines a bearer list to be established in the second network base station according to a QoS information list of E-RAB bearers successfully distributed to the second network; after the release of the first network bearer designated by the base station and the configuration of the second network parameters are completed, the result of the reconfiguration completion is sent to the first network base station through an RRC signaling, so that the first network base station sends an SeNB reconfiguration completion message to the second network base station after receiving the reconfiguration completion signaling sent by the terminal, and forwards downlink data of the bearer which needs to be shunted to the second network base station.

The base station 72 located in the first network includes: a small cell add request module 721 configured to send an SeNB add request message to the second network base station; a configuration information receiving module 722, configured to receive, through an SeNB addition response message, a container, in which configuration information is encapsulated, from the second network base station, where the configuration information is a bearer and configuration information of a user, where the bearer and the configuration information are required to be offloaded to a second network from a second network core network, and the second network base station requests the bearer and the configuration information of the user; a container transparent transmission module 723, configured to transmit the container including the configuration information to a terminal, so that the terminal determines an access parameter of the second network base station according to the configuration information in the container, accesses the second network base station, and completes establishment and configuration of a second network bearer; a bearer path replacing module 724, configured to request the first network core network and the second network core network to perform bearer path replacement.

The base station 73 located in the second network includes: an addition request receiving module 731, configured to receive an SeNB addition request message from a first network base station; a configuration information obtaining module 732, configured to request, from a second network core network, bearer and configuration information of a user that need to be offloaded to a second network, and package the configuration information in a container and feed back the configuration information to the first network base station; the terminal access module 733 is configured to receive, based on an access parameter determined by the terminal according to the configuration information in the container, the terminal access and complete establishment and configuration of a second network bearer.

Fig. 8 shows a block diagram of an embodiment of a terminal according to the present invention. As shown in fig. 8, the terminal includes a terminal capability reporting module 711, a configuration information receiving module 712, a second network access module 713, and an uplink bearer establishing module 814. The terminal capability reporting module 711, the configuration information receiving module 712, and the second network access module 713 may refer to corresponding descriptions in the foregoing embodiments, and for the sake of brevity, detailed descriptions are omitted here. An uplink bearer establishing module 814, configured to initiate a service request to the second network base station, receive a bearer configuration message returned by the second network base station, complete establishment and configuration of a bearer, and forward uplink data of a user to a corresponding second network core network address according to an uplink IP address and a port address of a core network user plane configured by the core network.

Fig. 9A shows a block diagram of one embodiment of a base station according to the present invention. As shown in fig. 9A, the base station located in the first network in this embodiment includes a terminal capability saving module 920 in addition to a small cell addition request module 721, a configuration information receiving module 722, a container transparent transmission module 723, and a bearer path changing module 724. A terminal capability saving module 920, configured to receive and save the wireless air interface capability information of the terminal from the first network core network and whether the terminal supports dual connectivity operation information of the first network/the second network.

Fig. 9B illustrates a block diagram of one embodiment of a container pass-through module in a base station according to the present invention. As shown in fig. 9B, the container transparent transmission module 923 includes: a reconfiguration message sending unit 9231, configured to send, after receiving the SeNB addition response message sent by the second network base station, configuration information of the offload bearer to the terminal through an RRC connection reconfiguration message; the RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises: the transparent transmission container carries access parameters, frequency points of the PSCell and ECGI information; a list of bearers that need to be released, including an identification of each bearer on the wireless side. A reconfiguration complete processing unit 9232, configured to send an SeNB reconfiguration complete message to the second network base station after receiving the reconfiguration complete signaling sent by the terminal, and forward to the second network base station, the SeNB reconfiguration complete message according to downlink data that needs to be shunted to the bearer of the second network.

Fig. 9C shows a block diagram of one embodiment of a bearer path change module in a base station according to the present invention. The carrier path changing module 924 includes: a path switching request unit 9241, configured to send a path switching request to the core network MME so that the MME instructs the S-GW to perform bearer update after receiving the path switching request; a path switching confirmation unit 9242, configured to receive a path switching confirmation message sent by a core network MME, where the path switching confirmation message is sent by the MME after the MME receives a channel update confirmation message sent by the second network core network.

Fig. 10A is a block diagram illustrating an embodiment of a configuration information acquisition module in a base station according to the present invention. As shown in fig. 10A, the configuration information acquisition module 1032 includes: a bearer mapping request unit 10321, configured to send a bearer information mapping request to the second network default core network control plane entity after receiving the SeNB addition request message of the first network base station, so that the second network core network completes QoS mapping for each bearer and stores terminal capability information of the UE; a bearer mapping receiving unit 10322, configured to receive a bearer information confirmation message sent by the second network core network when at least one bearer can be admitted in the second network core network; an admission judgment feedback unit 10323, configured to perform admission control of the second network base station after receiving the bearer information confirmation message of the second network core network, and judge whether a relevant bearer can be admitted at the second network wireless side; sending an SeNB addition response message to the first network base station if at least one bearer capable of being admitted exists in the bearers supporting establishment indicated by the core network

Fig. 10B shows a block diagram of one embodiment of a terminal access module in a base station according to the present invention. As shown in fig. 10B, the terminal access module 1033 includes: a reconfiguration complete processing unit 10331, configured to receive an SeNB reconfiguration complete message from the first network base station, and forward downlink data of a relevant bearer that needs to be shunted to the base station; a service request processing unit 10332, configured to receive a service request initiated by a terminal, determine, according to an entity identifier of each core network control plane loaded in advance in a core network, an IP address of the core network control plane, and port address information, a core network control plane entity and a user plane entity to which the bearer request needs to be sent, and send a service request message to a corresponding core network entity; a bearer setup processing unit 10333, configured to receive a bearer setup request from the second network core network, configure each bearer parameter that needs to be established for the terminal through an RRC bearer configuration message, so that after the terminal receives the bearer configuration message sent by the second network base station, the terminal completes establishment and configuration of a bearer and forwards uplink data of a user to the second network core network.

The messages, signaling or specific implementation in the embodiments of fig. 7 to 10B may refer to the corresponding descriptions in the method embodiments and application examples described above, and are not described in detail herein for brevity.

Various embodiments in the present disclosure have one or more of the following advantages:

1) the QOS mapping relation of 4G/5G is transparent to the base station side, and the condition that the QoS mapping relation of the two systems needs to be identified at the base station side is avoided. The mapping between different QOS systems is realized by the mapping and distribution mode at the respective core network side, and the conversion work of the wireless sides of the two systems aiming at the QoS is reduced.

2) Supporting bearing shunting based on multiple S-GWs: and the same bearer is supported on different user plane supporting entities of 4G and 5G, so that the 5G base station does not need to be connected to the S-GW of 4G, and the difficulty of network deployment is reduced.

3) The scheme has no influence on the terminal, and has good backward compatibility and deployment feasibility. The scheme is enhanced on the existing protocol, a new protocol process is not introduced, and the realization difficulty is low.

The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting the invention, and any modifications, equivalents, improvements and the like that fall within the spirit and principle of the present invention are intended to be included therein.

Claims

1. A method for activating a small cell base station (SeNB) of a heterogeneous system is provided, which includes:

a first network base station sends a SeNB addition request message to a second network base station;

the second network base station requests the load and the configuration information of the user which need to be shunted to the second network from a second network core network, and the configuration information is packaged in a container and fed back to the first network base station;

the first network base station transparently transmits the container including the configuration information to a terminal, so that the terminal determines the access parameters of the second network base station according to the configuration information in the container, accesses the second network base station and completes the establishment and configuration of a second network bearer;

the first network base station requests a first network core network and the second network core network to carry out bearing path replacement;

wherein the second network base station requesting, from the second network core network, bearer and user configuration information that needs to be offloaded to the second network includes:

and the second network core network completes QoS mapping for each bearer and stores the terminal capability information of the UE.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the SeNB addition request message comprises:

a list of bearer information that needs to be distributed to a second network base station, wherein each bearer information comprises an identifier of an evolved radio access bearer (E-RAB) and quality of service (QoS) information of a first network;

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when a terminal supporting first network/second network dual connection is accessed to the first network, indicating first network/second network wireless air interface capability information of the terminal and capability information supporting first network/second network dual connection operation to a core network through a non-access stratum (NAS) message;

and the first network core network indicates the received wireless air interface capability information of the terminal and whether the first network/second network dual-connection operation information is supported to the first network base station so that the first network base station can store the context.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network base station sending the SeNB addition request message to the second network base station comprises:

when the terminal needs to trigger the dual connection operation of the first network/the second network, the first network base station determines that the terminal supports the dual connection function of the first network/the second network and the terminal supports part or all of frequency points supported by a target second network base station, and the first network base station sends a SeNB addition request message for requesting the reservation of related resources of the user to the second network base station through an eX2 interface.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the second network base station requests the bearer and the configuration information of the user, which need to be offloaded to the second network, from the second network core network, and the encapsulating of the configuration information in a container and the feeding back of the configuration information to the first network base station comprises:

if at least one bearer is admitted in the second network core network, sending a bearer information confirmation message to the second network base station, otherwise sending a bearer information failure message;

6. The method of claim 5,

the bearer information mapping request includes:

UE capability information of the terminal;

bearer information which needs to be distributed to a second network, wherein each bearer information comprises an identifier of an E-RAB and QoS (quality of service) grade identifier QCI (quality of service) information of a first network;

and/or

The bearer information confirmation message includes:

the second network core network distributes user identification for the user;

an AS layer security key of a user;

a user's NAS layer security key;

E-RAB information which does not support establishment, wherein each piece of bearer information which does not support establishment comprises a reason for failure and a bearer identifier;

and/or

The bearer confirmation failure message includes:

and/or

The SeNB add failure response message includes:

a list of bearer identities that cannot be established;

each bearer that cannot be established further includes: cause information of failure;

and/or

The SeNB add response message includes:

the second core network distributes user identification for the user;

an access layer security key of the user;

a user's NAS layer security key;

all or part of the broadcast message of the second network base station;

a list of E-RAB identities admitted by the second network base station;

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the first network base station transparently transmits the container to the terminal so that the terminal determines the access parameter of the second network base station according to the configuration information in the container comprises:

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises:

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the terminal determining the access parameter of the second network base station according to the configuration information in the container comprises:

10. The method of claim 7, wherein the accessing the second network base station and completing the establishment and configuration of the second network bearer by the terminal comprises:

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the SeNB reconfiguration complete message comprises:

bearer list information successfully released by the first network;

and/or

The service request message includes:

the second network base station allocates a user identifier for the terminal;

and/or

The bearer establishment request comprises:

the second network base station allocates a user identifier for the terminal;

the QoS information has configured an indication.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein the first network base station requesting the first network core network and the second network core network for bearer path change comprises:

after receiving the channel update indication message, the second network core network determines the uplink IP address and the port address of the shunting bearer of the user according to the user identifier allocated to the user by the second network core network and the uplink IP address and the port address of the user plane of each bearer core network, and sends a channel update confirmation message to a Mobile Management Entity (MME);

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the channel update indication message comprises:

a list of the carried identification information;

the second network core network distributes user identification for the user;

a first network core network distributes user identification for a user;

and/or

The channel update confirm message includes:

a first core network distributes user identification for a user;

carrying a bearing list which is successfully updated;

14. A terminal, comprising:

a terminal capability reporting module, configured to send, to a core network, first network/second network wireless air interface capability information of the terminal and capability information supporting a first network/second network dual connectivity operation when the terminal is accessed to a first network, so that the first network core network sends the received wireless air interface capability information of the terminal and information whether the first network/second network dual connectivity operation is supported to a first network base station;

a configuration information receiving module, configured to receive, through a radio resource control RRC connection reconfiguration message, a container that includes bearer and configuration information of a user that need to be shunted to a second network, and is transparently transmitted by the first network base station;

the second network access module is used for determining the access parameters of the second network base station according to the configuration information in the container; accessing the second network base station according to the access parameters and completing the establishment and configuration of a second network bearer;

after receiving the SeNB addition request message of the first network base station, the second network base station sends a bearer information mapping request to the second network default core network control plane entity, and the second network core network completes QoS mapping for each bearer and stores terminal capability information of the UE.

15. The terminal of claim 14, wherein the RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises:

16. The terminal of claim 14, further comprising:

and the uplink bearer establishing module is used for initiating a service request to the second network base station, receiving a bearer configuration message returned by the second network base station, completing establishment and configuration of a bearer, and forwarding uplink data of a user to a corresponding second network core network address according to an uplink IP address and a port address of a core network user plane configured by the core network.

17. A base station located in a first network, comprising:

the small base station adding request module is used for sending a small base station SeNB adding request message to the second network base station;

a configuration information receiving module, configured to receive, through an SeNB addition response message, a container, in which configuration information is encapsulated, from the second network base station, where the configuration information is a bearer and configuration information of a user, where the bearer and the configuration information are required to be offloaded to a second network from a second network core network, and the second network base station requests the bearer and the configuration information of the user to be offloaded to the second network;

the container transparent transmission module is used for transmitting the container including the configuration information to a terminal so that the terminal determines the access parameters of the second network base station according to the configuration information in the container, accesses the second network base station and completes the establishment and configuration of a second network bearer;

a bearer path change module, configured to request a first network core network and the second network core network to perform bearer path change;

18. The base station of claim 17, wherein the SeNB addition request message comprises:

19. The base station of claim 17, further comprising:

and the terminal capability storage module is used for receiving and storing the wireless air interface capability information of the terminal from the first network core network and whether the first network/second network dual-connection operation information is supported.

20. The base station of claim 18, wherein the container transparent module comprises:

a reconfiguration message sending unit, configured to send, after receiving the SeNB addition response message sent by the second network base station, configuration information of the offload bearer to the terminal through an RRC connection reconfiguration message; the RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises: the transparent transmission container carries access parameters, frequency points of the PSCell and ECGI information; a list of bearers that need to be released, including an identifier of each bearer on the wireless side;

and the reconfiguration completion processing unit is configured to send an SeNB reconfiguration completion message to the second network base station after receiving the reconfiguration completion signaling sent by the terminal, and forward to the second network base station the downlink data of the bearer that needs to be shunted to the second network.

21. The base station of claim 18, wherein the bearer path change module comprises:

a path switching request unit, configured to send a path switching request to a core network MME so that the MME instructs the S-GW to perform bearer update after receiving the path switching request;

and the path switching confirmation unit is used for receiving a path switching confirmation message sent by a core network MME, and the path switching confirmation message is sent after the MME receives a channel updating confirmation message sent by the second network core network.

22. A base station located in a second network, comprising:

an adding request receiving module, configured to receive a small cell enb adding request message from a first network base station;

a configuration information acquisition module, configured to request, from a second network core network, bearer and user configuration information that needs to be offloaded to a second network, encapsulate the configuration information in a container, and feed back a response message added by an SeNB to the first network base station;

the terminal access module is used for receiving the terminal access and completing the establishment and configuration of a second network bearer based on the access parameters determined by the terminal according to the configuration information in the container;

after the addition request receiving module receives the SeNB addition request message of the first network base station, the configuration information obtaining module sends a bearer information mapping request to the second network default core network control plane entity, and the second network core network completes QoS mapping for each bearer and stores terminal capability information of the UE.

23. The base station of claim 22, wherein the configuration information obtaining module comprises:

a bearer mapping request unit, configured to send a bearer information mapping request to the second network default core network control plane entity after receiving the SeNB addition request message of the first network base station, so that the second network core network completes QoS mapping for each bearer and stores terminal capability information of the UE;

a bearer mapping receiving unit, configured to receive a bearer information acknowledgement message sent by the second network core network when at least one bearer is admitted in the second network core network;

an admission judgment feedback unit, configured to perform admission control of the second network base station after receiving the bearer information confirmation message of the second network core network, and judge whether a relevant bearer can be admitted at the second network wireless side; and if at least one bearer which can be admitted exists in the bearers supporting the establishment and indicated by the core network, sending an SeNB addition response message to the first network base station.

24. The base station of claim 23,

the bearer information mapping request includes:

UE capability information of the terminal;

bearer information which needs to be shunted to a second network, wherein each bearer information comprises an identifier of an E-RAB and QCI information of a first network;

and/or

The bearer information confirmation message includes:

the second network core network distributes user identification for the user;

an AS layer security key of a user;

a user's NAS layer security key;

and/or

The SeNB add response message includes:

the second core network distributes user identification for the user;

an access layer security key of the user;

a user's NAS layer security key;

all or part of the broadcast message of the second network base station;

a list of E-RAB identities admitted by the second network base station;

25. The base station of claim 23, wherein the terminal access module comprises:

a reconfiguration complete processing unit, configured to receive an SeNB reconfiguration complete message from the first network base station, and forward downlink data of a relevant bearer that needs to be shunted to the base station;

a service request processing unit, configured to receive a service request initiated by a terminal, determine, according to an entity identifier of each core network control plane loaded in advance in a core network, an IP address of the core network control plane, and port address information, a core network control plane entity and a user plane entity to which the service request needs to be sent, and send a service request message to a corresponding core network entity;

and a bearer establishment processing unit, configured to receive a bearer establishment request from the second network core network, configure each bearer parameter to be established for the terminal through an RRC bearer configuration message, so that after receiving the bearer configuration message sent by the second network base station, the terminal completes establishment and configuration of a bearer and forwards uplink data of a user to the second network core network.

26. A communication system comprising a terminal according to any of claims 14 to 16, a base station according to any of claims 17 to 21 located in a first network and a base station according to any of claims 22 to 25 located in a second network.