CN109874161B - Method and system for improving success rate of service steering WLAN - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a method and a system for improving the success rate of service steering WLAN, wherein the method comprises the following steps: a base station eNB sends a WT addition request message to a wireless local area network termination node WT; the WT determines a second bearer list according to the first bearer list and the WLAN mobile set and sends a WT addition request acknowledgement message to the eNB; when the eNB receives the WT addition request confirmation message, the eNB sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE; the RRC connection reconfiguration message is used for indicating the UE to carry out configuration according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message; the RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises a service steering command; the traffic steering command includes an indication to steer the WLAN, a WLAN mobility set, a WT's MAC address, and a fourth bearer list; and the UE performs service steering according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message. The method and the system for improving the success rate of service steering to the WLAN improve the service quality of the service.

Description

Method and system for improving success rate of service steering WLAN

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a method and a system for improving a success rate of service steering WLAN.

Background

In an LTE system supporting RCLWI (RCLWI: RAN controlled LTE-WLAN Interworking, interconnection of LTE and WLAN controlled by RAN; RAN: Radio Access Network, Radio Access Network; LTE: Long Term evolution, Long Term evolution; WLAN: Wireless Local Area Network), E-UTRAN (E-UTRAN: Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network) supports bidirectional traffic diversion between E-UTRAN and WLAN under the control of E-UTRAN, namely: for a UE in RRC _ CONNECTED (RRC _ CONNECTED: RRC CONNECTED state; RRC: Radio Resource Control), the E-UTRAN controls selection and traffic steering of an access network between LTE and WLAN.

An LTE system supporting RCLWI is shown in fig. 1. In the system architecture shown in fig. 1, eNB may interact with MME/S-GW through S1 interface, and eNB may also interact with WT (WT: WLAN Termination) through Xw interface. Specifically, when the eNB instructs a UE (User Equipment) to divert traffic to the WLAN through a diversion command, the eNB does not specifically indicate which traffic to divert to the WLAN, but the UE decides which traffic to divert to the WLAN. This may result in: the UE chooses to divert a service with a higher rate to the WLAN, and none of the access points in the WLAN mobility set configured to the UE have sufficient WLAN resources to carry the service, so that the service diversion fails, or although the service can be transmitted through the WLAN, the service quality of the service cannot be guaranteed.

Specifically, when the eNB decides to divert a part of traffic of the UE from LTE to WLAN, the eNB sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE, where the message carries a traffic diversion command. The eNB would carry in this command: an indication that traffic is diverted to WLAN and a WLAN Mobility Set (WLAN Mobility Set: WLAN Mobility Set). And after receiving the command, the UE stores the WLAN mobile set and feeds back an RRC connection reconfiguration completion message to the eNB. Then, a WLAN status listening procedure is performed. In which the UE attempts to connect with an AP (Access Point) in the WLAN mobility set. The UE may select an AP from the WLAN mobility set for Connection, and if the UE can connect to the AP, the UE reports a WLAN Connection success to the eNB through a WLAN Connection Status Report message. If the connection fails, the UE may attempt to connect to another AP in the WLAN mobility set. And if the UE cannot be connected with any AP in the WLAN mobile set, the UE reports the WLAN Connection failure to the eNB through a WLAN Connection Status Report message. After the UE successfully connects to an AP, the UE accesses the EPC through the AP and then transmits selected traffic directed to the WLAN through the AP and the EPC.

Disclosure of Invention

The invention provides a method and a system for improving the success rate of service steering WLAN, which are used for improving the service quality of service.

The embodiment of the invention provides a method for improving the success rate of service steering WLAN, which comprises the following steps:

a base station eNB sends a WT addition request message to a wireless local area network termination node WT; the WT add request message includes a first bearer list and a WLAN mobility set; the first bearer list is an EPS bearer list which is determined by the eNB in all EPS bearers of the UE and needs to be steered to the WLAN; the WLAN mobile set is a set of Access Points (APs) with better signal quality around the UE, and all APs in the AP set correspond to the same WT;

the WT determines a second bearer list according to the first bearer list and the WLAN mobile set and sends a WT addition request acknowledgement message to the eNB; wherein, the WT addition request acknowledge message includes a MAC address of the WT, a second bearer list and a third bearer list, and the second bearer list is an EPS bearer list in which the WT successfully allocated WLAN radio resources in the first bearer list; the third bearer list is an EPS bearer list in the first bearer list for which the WT failed to allocate WLAN radio resources;

when the eNB receives a WT addition request confirmation message, the eNB sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE; the RRC connection reconfiguration message is used for indicating the UE to carry out configuration according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message; the RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises a service steering command; the traffic steering command includes an indication to steer the WLAN, a WLAN mobility set, a WT's MAC address, and a fourth bearer list;

and the UE carries out service steering according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the performing, by the UE, service steering according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message includes:

the UE saves the service steering command in the RRC connection reconfiguration message and sends an RRC connection reconfiguration completion message to the eNB; the RRC connection reconfiguration complete message is used for indicating that the UE configuration is complete;

the UE attempting to establish a connection with an AP in the WLAN mobility set in the traffic steering command; if the traffic steering command stored by the UE carries the MAC address of the WT, the UE is associated with the corresponding WT according to the MAC address of the WT after establishing connection with an AP;

the UE establishes connection with an EPC through the AP establishing connection;

the UE applies for resources from an EPC for services corresponding to each EPS bearer in the fourth bearer list through the AP, and establishes corresponding bearers transmitted through the AP;

the UE transmits the corresponding traffic through the bearer transmitted through the AP.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the UE attempts to establish a connection with an AP in a WLAN mobility set; if the traffic steering command stored by the UE carries a WT MAC address, after the UE establishes a connection with an AP and associates with a corresponding WT according to the WT MAC address, the method further includes:

the WT transmitting a WT association confirm message to the eNB;

the eNB determines UE associated with a respective WT according to the WT association confirmation message.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the UE attempts to establish a connection with an AP in a WLAN mobility set; if the traffic steering command stored by the UE carries a WT MAC address, associating with a corresponding WT according to the WT MAC address after the UE establishes a connection with an AP, further comprising:

the UE sends a WLAN connection state reporting message to the eNB; wherein, the connection status report message is used to indicate that the UE is connected to the WLAN;

and the eNB determines that the UE is connected to the WLAN according to the connection state reporting message.

In an embodiment of the present invention, after the WT determines the second bearer list according to the first bearer list and the WLAN mobility set, the method further includes:

when the second bearer list does not include any EPS bearers, the WT sends a WT addition request reject message to the eNB.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a system for improving the success rate of service steering WLAN, including: a base station eNB, a wireless local area network termination node WT and user equipment UE;

wherein the eNB is configured to transmit a WT add request message to the WT; the WT add request message includes a first bearer list and a WLAN mobility set; the first bearer list is an EPS bearer list which is determined by the eNB in all EPS bearers of the UE and needs to be steered to the WLAN; the WLAN mobile set is a set of Access Points (APs) with better signal quality around the UE, and all APs in the AP set correspond to the same WT;

the WT is configured to determine a second bearer list according to the first bearer list and the WLAN mobility set and send a WT addition request acknowledgement message to the eNB; wherein, the WT addition request acknowledge message includes a MAC address of the WT, a second bearer list and a third bearer list, and the second bearer list is an EPS bearer list to which the WT successfully allocates WLAN radio resources in the first bearer list; the third bearer list is an EPS bearer list in the first bearer list for which the WT failed to allocate WLAN radio resources;

the eNB is configured to send an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE when the eNB receives a WT addition request acknowledgement message; the RRC connection reconfiguration message is used for indicating the UE to carry out configuration according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message; the RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises a service steering command; the traffic steering command includes an indication to steer the WLAN, a WLAN mobility set, a WT's MAC address, and a fourth bearer list;

and the UE is used for carrying out service steering according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the UE is configured to store a service steering command in the RRC connection reconfiguration message, and send an RRC connection reconfiguration complete message to the eNB; the RRC connection reconfiguration complete message is used for indicating that the UE configuration is complete; the UE tries to establish connection with the AP in the WLAN mobile set in the service steering command; if the traffic steering command stored by the UE carries the MAC address of the WT, the UE is associated with the corresponding WT according to the MAC address of the WT after establishing connection with an AP; establishing connection with the EPC through the AP for establishing connection; applying for resources to the EPC for the service corresponding to each EPS bearer in the fourth bearer list through the AP, and establishing a corresponding bearer transmitted through the AP; and serves to transmit corresponding traffic through the bearer transmitted through the AP.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the WT is further configured to send a WT association confirm message to the eNB;

the eNB is further configured to determine a UE associated with a respective WT from the WT association confirmation message.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the UE is further configured to send a WLAN connection status report message to the eNB; wherein, the connection status report message is used to indicate that the UE is connected to the WLAN;

the eNB is further configured to determine that the UE is connected to the WLAN according to the connection state reporting message.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the first and second electrodes are,

the WT is further configured to send a WT addition request reject message to the eNB when the second bearer list does not include any EPS bearers.

In the method and system for improving the success rate of the service steering WLAN, before indicating the UE to perform service steering, the base station eNB sends a WT addition request message to a wireless local area network termination node WT; the WT determines a second bearer list according to the first bearer list and the WLAN mobile set and sends a WT addition request acknowledgement message to the eNB; when the eNB receives the WT addition request confirmation message, the eNB sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE; the RRC connection reconfiguration message is used for indicating the UE to carry out configuration according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message; the RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises a service steering command; the traffic steering command includes an indication to steer the WLAN, a WLAN mobility set, a WT's MAC address, and a fourth bearer list; and the UE performs service steering according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message. Therefore, the method and the system for improving the success rate of service steering to the WLAN can improve the service quality of the service steering to the WLAN.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a system architecture of the prior art;

fig. 2 is a schematic diagram illustrating a method for improving a success rate of a service steering WLAN according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a system for improving a success rate of a service steering WLAN according to an embodiment of the present invention.

With the foregoing drawings in mind, certain embodiments of the disclosure have been shown and described in more detail below. These drawings and written description are not intended to limit the scope of the disclosed concepts in any way, but rather to illustrate the concepts of the disclosure to those skilled in the art by reference to specific embodiments.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to the exemplary embodiments, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. When the following description refers to the accompanying drawings, like numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements unless otherwise indicated. The implementations described in the exemplary embodiments below are not intended to represent all implementations consistent with the present disclosure. Rather, they are merely examples of apparatus and methods consistent with certain aspects of the present disclosure, as detailed in the appended claims.

The terms "first," "second," "third," "fourth," and the like in the description and in the claims, as well as in the drawings, if any, are used for distinguishing between similar elements and not necessarily for describing a particular sequential or chronological order. It is to be understood that the data so used is interchangeable under appropriate circumstances such that the embodiments of the invention described herein are, for example, capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or otherwise described herein. Furthermore, the terms "comprises," "comprising," and "having," and any variations thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, such that a process, method, system, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of steps or elements is not necessarily limited to those steps or elements expressly listed, but may include other steps or elements not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus.

In the existing LTE system supporting the RCLWI, when the base station instructs the UE to divert traffic to the WLAN through a divert command, the eNB does not specifically indicate which traffic to divert to the WLAN, but the UE decides which traffic to offload to the WLAN. This may result in: the UE selects to divert a service with a larger rate to the WLAN, and the access points in the WLAN mobile set configured to the UE do not have enough WLAN resources to carry the service, so that the service diversion fails, or the service quality method of the service is guaranteed although the service can be transmitted through the WLAN. In order to improve the service quality of the service, the invention provides a method for improving the success rate of service steering WLAN, wherein before the service steering, an eNB sends a WT addition request message to a WT; the WT can determine which bearers in the first bearer list can be provided with sufficient radio resources according to the first bearer list and the WLAN mobile set in the WT addition request message, and when the WT can provide sufficient radio resources for part of or all of the bearers in the first bearer list, the WT sends the WT addition request acknowledgement message to the eNB, so that the eNB determines the diversion service according to the second bearer list carried in the WT addition request acknowledgement message, and instructs the UE to divert the traffic, thereby improving the service quality of the diversion service. The first bearer list is an EPS bearer list determined by the eNB to be steered to the WLAN, and the second bearer list is an EPS bearer list capable of allocating sufficient WLAN resources for transmission in the first bearer list determined by the WT.

The technical means of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to specific examples. It should be noted that the following embodiments may be combined with each other, and the description of the same or similar contents in different embodiments is not repeated.

Fig. 2 is a schematic diagram of a method for improving a success rate of a traffic steering WLAN according to an embodiment of the present invention, please refer to fig. 2, where the method for improving the success rate of the traffic steering WLAN may include:

s201, eNB sends WT add request message to corresponding WT. The WT is the WT corresponding to all APs in the UE's WLAN mobility set.

The WT addition request (WT addition request) message includes: eNB UE XwAP ID, WLAN MAC address of UE, first bearer list and WLAN mobile set of UE. The eNB UE XwAP ID is an ID distributed to the UE by the eNB and used for identifying the UE on the eNB side of an Xw interface, the WLAN MAC address of the UE is used for identifying the UE in the process of associating the UE with the WT for receiving the WT addition request message later, and the first bearer list is a list of EPS bearers needing to be diverted to the WLAN and determined by the eNB in all EPS bearers of the UE; the WLAN mobility set is a set of WLAN APs with better signal quality around the UE, and these APs are APs under the control of the same WT. The eNB sends a WT add request message to WTs corresponding to all APs in the UE's WLAN mobility set.

For the UE in RRC _ CONNECTED, if the UE indicates that the UE supports the RCLWI in the capability information reported by the UE to the eNB, the eNB may configure the WLAN measurement for the UE through an RRC connection reconfiguration message. And the UE executes corresponding WLAN measurement according to the WLAN measurement configuration information of the eNB. When a measurement event is triggered or periodic measurement is triggered, the UE reports the WLAN measurement result to the eNB through a MeasurementReport message. The eNB determines a WLAN mobile set of the UE according to the WLAN measurement result reported by the UE, wherein the WLAN mobile set is a set of WLAN APs (Access points) with better signal quality around the UE, and the APs are APs under the control of the same WT. Then, the eNB dynamically updates the WLAN mobility set of the UE each time the WLAN measurement result reported by the UE is received.

When an EPS (Evolved Packet System) bearer is established between the UE and the EPC (Evolved Packet Core), the EPC may send QOS (Quality of Service) information of the EPS bearer to the eNB. QOS information for an EPS bearer includes: QCI (QCI: QoS Class Identifier), priority, whether preemption is supported, whether preemption is allowed, MBR and GBR, etc. For the UE that has established the EPS bearer and indicated to support the RCLWI in the capability report, the eNB may determine, according to the air interface UL/DL remaining resource condition, QOS information of each EPS bearer of the UE, the UE UL/DL channel quality condition, the WLAN measurement result recently reported by the UE, and the latest load measurement report of the WT corresponding to the WLAN mobile set of the UE: whether traffic on certain EPS bearers of the UE is transmitted over the WLAN. When an eNB decides to shunt services on certain EPS bearers of UE to a WLAN, in order to improve the success rate of service steering to the WLAN, the invention provides: the eNB sends a WT add request message to the corresponding WT first, and applies for radio resources to the corresponding WT in advance for traffic directed to the WLAN.

The configuration information of each EPS bearer in the first bearer list includes: identification of EPS bearer and QoS parameter set. The QoS parameter set includes QCI and Allocation contention Priority (Allocation and contention Priority). For GBR (Guaranteed Bit Rate) traffic, the QoS parameter set also includes GBR QoS information. The GBR QoS information is used for MBR and GBR providing GBR traffic.

S202, the WT determines a second bearer list according to the first bearer list and the WLAN mobility set in the WT add request message. When the second bearer list includes at least one EPS bearer, the WT sends a WT addition request confirm message to the eNB. When the second bearer list does not include any EPS bearers, the WT sends a WT addition request reject message to the eNB.

The WT add request acknowledgement message carries: eNB UE xwrap ID, WT UE xwrap ID, MAC address of WT, second bearer list, and third bearer list. The WT UE xwwap ID is an ID assigned by the WT to the UE, and is used to identify the UE on the WT side of the Xw interface, the MAC address of the WT is used to identify the WT in the subsequent association process between the UE and the WT, the second bearer list is an EPS bearer list in the first bearer list, to which WLAN radio resources are successfully assigned on the WT side, and the third bearer list is an EPS bearer list in the first bearer list, to which WLAN radio resources cannot be assigned on the WT side. For each EPS bearer in the third bearer list carrying a reason for failing to allocate WLAN resources.

Specifically, the method for determining the second bearer list and the third bearer list in the WT ADDITION REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE (WT ADDITION REQUEST ACKNOWLEDGE) message is as follows:

for each EPS bearer in the first bearer list, if the QoS parameter set carried by the bearer includes GBR QoS information, which indicates that the EPS bearer is a GBR bearer, the WT needs to determine whether sufficient WLAN resources can be allocated to the EPS bearer, so as to ensure the QoS of the EPS bearer. And if enough WLAN resources can be allocated to the EPS bearer, adding the EPS bearer into the second bearer list. And if the QoS parameter group carried by the EPS bearer does not contain GBR QoS information, indicating that the EPS bearer is a non-GBR bearer. The WT may determine whether to add the EPS bearer to the second bearer list in the following possible manner.

In a first possible approach, if the WT determines that the non-GBR bearer can be provided with the minimum bit rate, the EPS bearer is added to the second bearer list. The minimum bit rate value is set by the WT, and different minimum bit rates may be configured for non-GBR bearers of different priorities when the minimum bit rate value is set, or the same minimum bit rate may be configured for all non-GBR bearers. The minimum bit rate is used to guarantee the lowest acceptable traffic Experience (QoE) for non-GBR bearers.

In a second possible approach, it is determined whether steering the EPS bearer to WLAN is supported based on the assigned contention priority of the EPS bearer, the WLAN resources remaining by the WT, and the set of QoS parameters of the traffic that has been transmitted over the WLAN. For example: the EPS bearer supports preemption and the priority of the EPS bearer is higher than each service already supported by the WT, and these services already supported all support preemption, then the EPS bearer may be added to the second bearer list.

The embodiment of the present invention is described by taking the above two possible manners as examples, and of course, the determination may be made by other possible manners, and the embodiment of the present invention is not particularly limited as to which manner is specifically adopted.

The second bearer list is determined through the above process, and the EPS bearers which cannot be listed in the second bearer list in the first bearer list constitute a third bearer list. Each EPS bearer in the third bearer list needs to carry the reason for failing to allocate WLAN resources.

When the radio resources on the WT side cannot support EPS bearer steering to WLAN in any of the first bearer lists, the WT feeds back a WT ADDITION REQUEST REJECT (WT ADDITION REQUEST) message. The message carries: eNB UE XwAP ID and cause value.

S203, when the eNB receives the WT addition request confirmation message, the eNB sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE. When the eNB receives the WT addition request rejection message, the eNB still sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE, or the eNB returns to step S201 after a certain time interval.

When the eNB receives the WT addition request rejection message, the eNB may stop diverting the traffic of the UE to the WLAN, and after a certain time interval, return to step S201, and send the WT addition request message to the corresponding WT again through step S201 to determine whether the WT has enough network resources to support the traffic diversion of the UE at this time.

Of course, when the eNB receives the addition request rejection message, if the current UL/DL remaining resources of the air interface are limited, or the current several EPS bearers of the UE support preemption, and the eNB decides to preempt the resources of these EPS bearers for use by other bearers, the eNB may also send a transmission RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE, and forcibly instruct the UE to switch the related service to the WLAN.

The RRC connection reconfiguration message carries: the traffic steering command. The command includes: an indication to steer to WLAN, WLAN mobility set, MAC address of WT, and fourth bearer list. When the eNB receives the WT addition request acknowledgement message, the fourth bearer list is the second bearer list; when the eNB receives the WT addition request reject message, the fourth bearer list is the first bearer list or a subset of the first bearer list.

S204, the UE saves the service steering command in the RRC connection reconfiguration message and sends an RRC connection reconfiguration completion message to the eNB.

After receiving the RRC connection reconfiguration message, the UE stores a service steering command in the message: and turning to the indication of the WLAN, the WLAN mobile set, the MAC address of the WT and the fourth bearer list, and sending an RRC connection reconfiguration complete message to the eNB to indicate that the RRC connection reconfiguration is completed.

S205, the UE tries to establish connection with the AP in the WLAN mobile set according to the stored service steering command. If the traffic steering command stored by the UE carries the "MAC address of the WT", after the UE establishes a connection with an AP, the UE associates with the corresponding WT according to the MAC address of the WT.

Specifically, the UE starts the WLAN status listening process according to the saved traffic steering command. In the WLAN status listening process, the UE selects one WLAN AP in the WLAN mobility set to initiate a connection establishment request. When it is not possible to connect to the AP, another AP is selected to initiate a connection establishment request until a WLAN AP is successfully connected, after which an association can be established with the WT via the WLAN AP.

It should be noted that, in this embodiment of the present invention, if the UE cannot be connected to any AP in the WLAN mobility set in step S205, the UE may request the eNB to continue transmitting the relevant service to be diverted through LTE, where the specific process is as follows:

the UE sends a WLAN Connection Stutus Report message to the eNB, and indicates that: the WLAN connection fails.

And after receiving the WLAN connection failure indication sent by the UE, the eNB sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE, wherein the message carries traffic steering command. The command includes: turning to the indication of LTE.

After receiving the RRC connection reconfiguration message, the UE applies for establishing an EPS bearer from the EPC through the eNB for the service which cannot be transmitted through the WLAN according to the carried indication of turning to the LTE, and then transmits the corresponding service through the established EPS bearer. When the EPS bearer is established and not released in some services, the UE directly recovers the bearer and transmits the services through LTE through the bearer.

S206, after the UE associates with the WT, the WT sends a WT association confirm message to the eNB.

The WT ASSOCIATION CONFIRMATION (WT ASSOCIATION CONFIRMATION) message includes a WT UE xwwap ID and an eNB UE xwwap ID, which are IDs assigned to the UE by the WT and eNB, respectively, for identifying the UE on the WT side and the eNB side of the Xw interface.

After the WT establishes an association with the UE, a WT association confirmation message is sent to the eNB, so that after the eNB receives the confirmation message, the UE associated with the corresponding WT is determined according to the WT UE XwAP ID and the eNB UE XwAP ID.

S207, after the UE is associated with the WT, the UE sends a WLAN connection state report message to the eNB.

The WLAN Connection status Report (WLAN Connection Stutus Report) message carries: a successful association indication indicating that the UE has successfully connected to the WLAN.

Through the above S206 and S207, the eNB determines that the WT and the UE have established an association, and then the UE may transmit the traffic on each EPS bearer in the fourth bearer list in the traffic steering command through the WLAN, so that at the earliest, the eNB may release the LTE side resource occupied before each EPS bearer in the fourth bearer list. Of course, the eNB may also release the LTE resources occupied by the corresponding bearer in step S210 described below.

It should be noted that, in the embodiment of the present invention, the execution main bodies of S206 and S207 are different, there is no sequence between S206 and S207, S206 may be executed first, S207 may be executed first, and of course, S206 and S207 may also be executed simultaneously.

And S208, the UE establishes connection with the EPC through the AP establishing connection.

S209, the UE applies for resources from the EPC for the service corresponding to each EPS bearer in the fourth bearer list through the AP, and establishes the corresponding bearer transmitted through the AP.

And S210, the UE transmits corresponding services through corresponding bearers transmitted through the AP, releases each EPS bearer in the fourth bearer list, and releases LTE side resources occupied by the bearers. Accordingly, the eNB and EPC also release the LTE side resources previously occupied by these bearers.

In the method for improving the success rate of the service steering WLAN according to the embodiment of the present invention, before instructing the UE to perform service steering, the eNB first sends a WT addition request message to the WT, so that the WT determines a second bearer list according to the first bearer list and the WLAN mobility set, and sends a WT addition request confirmation message to the eNB, where the message carries the second bearer list, and each EPS bearer in the second bearer list is a bearer that can provide sufficient resources for the WT to transmit. When the eNB determines that the WLAN has enough resources to bear each EPS bearer in the second bearer list according to the WT addition request confirmation message, the eNB sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE, wherein the message carries the second bearer list, so that after the UE receives the RRC connection reconfiguration message, the UE performs service steering processing according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message and sends an RRC connection reconfiguration completion message to the eNB; and then, the UE tries to establish connection with one AP in the set according to the WLAN mobile set, establishes association with the WT through the AP, and sends a WT association confirmation message to the eNB after establishing the association, and the UE sends a connection state report message to the eNB so that the eNB determines that the WT and the UE establish the association according to the two messages. The UE establishes connection with the EPC through the connected AP, applies resources for services needing to be diverted to the WLAN to the EPC through the AP, establishes corresponding load bearing, and transmits the services diverted to the WLAN through the load bearing established by the AP and the EPC. Therefore, the method for improving the success rate of service steering to the WLAN can improve the service quality of the service steering to the WLAN.

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a system for improving a success rate of a traffic steering WLAN according to an embodiment of the present invention, please refer to fig. 3, which includes an eNB, a WT, and a UE. The WT has multiple APs pending.

Wherein the eNB is configured to send a WT add request message to the WT; the WT add request message includes a first bearer list and a WLAN mobility set; the first bearer list is an EPS bearer list which is determined by the eNB in all EPS bearers of the UE and needs to be diverted to the WLAN; the WLAN mobility set is a set of APs with better signal quality around the UE, and these APs correspond to the same WT.

The WT is configured to determine a second bearer list based on the first bearer list and the WLAN mobility set. When the second bearer list includes at least one EPS bearer, the WT sends a WT addition request confirm message to the eNB. When the second bearer list does not include any EPS bearers, the WT sends a WT addition request reject message to the eNB.

Wherein, the WT addition request acknowledge message includes a MAC address of the WT, a second bearer list and a third bearer list, the second bearer list is used to identify a steering service supportable by the WLAN in the first bearer list; the third bearer list is an EPS bearer list in which the WT side fails to successfully allocate WLAN radio resources in the first bearer list.

When the eNB receives the WT addition request confirmation message, the eNB sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE; when the eNB receives the WT addition request rejection message, the eNB still sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE, or the eNB sends the WT addition request message to the WT again after a certain time interval and receives feedback of the WT again, and the above processes are repeated according to the feedback of the WT again.

The RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises a service steering command; the traffic steering command includes an indication to steer the WLAN, a WLAN mobility set, the WT's MAC address, and a fourth bearer list.

And the UE is used for carrying out service steering according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message.

Optionally, the UE specifically stores the service steering command in the RRC connection reconfiguration message, and sends an RRC connection reconfiguration complete message to the eNB; subsequently, the UE attempts to establish a connection with an AP in the WLAN mobility set; if the traffic steering command stored by the UE carries the MAC address of the WT, the UE is associated with the corresponding WT according to the MAC address of the WT after establishing connection with an AP; establishing connection with the EPC through the AP for establishing connection; applying for resources from the EPC for the service corresponding to each EPS bearer in the fourth bearer list through the AP, and establishing a corresponding bearer transmitted through the AP; and transmits traffic directed to the WLAN over the corresponding bearer.

Optionally, the WT is further configured to send a WT association confirmation message to the eNB; the eNB is further configured to determine a UE associated with the corresponding WT from the WT association confirmation message.

Optionally, the UE is further configured to send a WLAN connection status report message to the eNB; wherein the connection status report message is used to indicate that the UE is connected to the WLAN; the eNB is further configured to determine that the UE is connected to the WLAN according to the connection status report message.

In an actual application procedure, the eNB is configured to transmit a WT addition request message to a corresponding WT; the WT is configured to determine a second bearer list according to the first bearer list and the WLAN mobility set in the WT addition request message; when the second bearer list includes at least one EPS bearer, the WT is configured to send a WT addition request confirm message to the eNB; when the second bearer list does not include any EPS bearers, the WT is to send a WT addition request reject message to the eNB; when receiving a WT addition request acknowledge message, the eNB is configured to send an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE, where the message includes a service steering command, where the service steering command carries a fourth bearer list, and the fourth bearer list is the same as the second bearer list; when receiving a WT addition request rejection message, the eNB is configured to send an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE, where the message carries a traffic steering command, where the traffic steering command carries a fourth bearer list, and the fourth bearer list is the first bearer list or a subset of the first bearer list, or the eNB sends a WT addition request message to the corresponding WT again after a period of time; when receiving the RRC connection reconfiguration message, the UE stores a service steering command in the RRC connection reconfiguration message and sends an RRC connection reconfiguration completion message to the eNB; and attempt to establish a connection with an AP in the WLAN mobility set; if the traffic steering command stored by the UE carries the MAC address of the WT, the UE is associated with the corresponding WT according to the MAC address of the WT after establishing connection with an AP; after the UE associates with the WT, the WT is configured to send a WT association confirm message to the eNB; after the UE associates with the WT, the UE is configured to send a WLAN connection status report message to the eNB, establish a connection with the EPC through the AP that establishes the connection, apply for a resource from the EPC through the AP for a service corresponding to each EPS bearer in the fourth bearer list, and establish a corresponding bearer transmitted through the AP; and then, the UE transmits corresponding services through corresponding bearers transmitted through the AP, releases each EPS bearer in the fourth bearer list, and releases the LTE side resources occupied by the bearers. Accordingly, the eNB and EPC also release the LTE side resources previously occupied by these bearers.

The system for improving the success rate of the service steering WLAN may correspondingly implement the technical solution of the method for improving the success rate of the service steering WLAN according to any embodiment, and the implementation principle and the technical effect are similar, which are not described herein again.

Other embodiments of the disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the disclosure disclosed herein. This application is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of the disclosure following, in general, the principles of the disclosure and including such departures from the present disclosure as come within known or customary practice within the art to which the disclosure pertains. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered as exemplary only, with a true scope and spirit of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

It will be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise arrangements described above and shown in the drawings and that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope thereof. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the appended claims.

Claims (8)

1. A method for increasing a success rate of traffic steering WLAN, comprising:

a base station eNB sends a WT addition request message to a wireless local area network termination node WT; the WT add request message includes a first bearer list and a WLAN mobility set; the first bearer list is an EPS bearer list which is determined by the eNB in all EPS bearers of the UE and needs to be steered to the WLAN; the WLAN mobile set is a set of Access Points (APs) with better signal quality around the UE, and all APs in the AP set correspond to the same WT; the configuration information of each EPS bearer in the first bearer list comprises an identification of the EPS bearer and a QoS parameter group;

the WT determines a second bearer list according to the first bearer list and the WLAN mobile set and sends a WT addition request acknowledgement message to the eNB; wherein, the WT addition request acknowledge message includes a MAC address of the WT, a second bearer list and a third bearer list, and the second bearer list is an EPS bearer list in which the WT successfully allocated WLAN radio resources in the first bearer list; the third bearer list is an EPS bearer list in the first bearer list for which the WT failed to allocate WLAN radio resources;

when the eNB receives a WT addition request confirmation message, the eNB sends an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE; the RRC connection reconfiguration message is used for indicating the UE to carry out configuration according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message; the RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises a service steering command; the traffic steering command includes an indication to steer the WLAN, a WLAN mobility set, a WT's MAC address, and a fourth bearer list;

the UE carries out service steering according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message;

the UE performs service steering according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message, and the method comprises the following steps:

the UE saves the service steering command in the RRC connection reconfiguration message and sends an RRC connection reconfiguration completion message to the eNB; the RRC connection reconfiguration complete message is used for indicating that the UE configuration is complete;

the UE attempting to establish a connection with an AP in the WLAN mobility set in the traffic steering command; if the traffic steering command stored by the UE carries the MAC address of the WT, the UE is associated with the corresponding WT according to the MAC address of the WT after establishing connection with an AP;

the UE establishes connection with an EPC through the AP establishing connection;

the UE applies for resources from an EPC for services corresponding to each EPS bearer in the fourth bearer list through the AP, and establishes corresponding bearers transmitted through the AP;

and the UE transmits corresponding services through corresponding bearers transmitted through the AP.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE attempts to establish a connection with an AP in a WLAN mobility set; if the traffic steering command stored by the UE carries a WT MAC address, after the UE establishes a connection with an AP and associates with a corresponding WT according to the WT MAC address, the method further includes:

the WT transmitting a WT association confirm message to the eNB;

the eNB determines UE associated with a respective WT according to the WT association confirmation message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE attempts to establish a connection with an AP in a WLAN mobility set; if the traffic steering command stored by the UE carries a WT MAC address, associating with a corresponding WT according to the WT MAC address after the UE establishes a connection with an AP, further comprising:

the UE sends a WLAN connection state reporting message to the eNB; wherein, the connection status report message is used to indicate that the UE is connected to the WLAN;

and the eNB determines that the UE is connected to the WLAN according to the connection state reporting message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein after the WT determines a second bearer list according to the first bearer list and the WLAN mobility set, further comprising:

when the second bearer list does not include any EPS bearers, the WT sends a WT addition request reject message to the eNB.

5. A system for improving the success rate of traffic steering WLANs, comprising: a base station eNB, a wireless local area network termination node WT and user equipment UE;

wherein the eNB is configured to transmit a WT add request message to the WT; the WT add request message includes a first bearer list and a WLAN mobility set; the first bearer list is an EPS bearer list which is determined by the eNB in all EPS bearers of the UE and needs to be steered to the WLAN; the WLAN mobile set is a set of Access Points (APs) with better signal quality around the UE, and all APs in the AP set correspond to the same WT; the configuration information of each EPS bearer in the first bearer list comprises an identification of the EPS bearer and a QoS parameter group;

the WT is configured to determine a second bearer list according to the first bearer list and the WLAN mobility set and send a WT addition request acknowledgement message to the eNB; wherein, the WT addition request acknowledge message includes a MAC address of the WT, a second bearer list and a third bearer list, and the second bearer list is an EPS bearer list to which the WT successfully allocates WLAN radio resources in the first bearer list; the third bearer list is an EPS bearer list in the first bearer list for which the WT failed to allocate WLAN radio resources;

the eNB is configured to send an RRC connection reconfiguration message to the UE when the eNB receives a WT addition request acknowledgement message; the RRC connection reconfiguration message is used for indicating the UE to carry out configuration according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message; the RRC connection reconfiguration message comprises a service steering command; the traffic steering command includes an indication to steer the WLAN, a WLAN mobility set, a WT's MAC address, and a fourth bearer list;

the UE is used for carrying out service steering according to the RRC connection reconfiguration message;

the UE is used for storing the service steering command in the RRC connection reconfiguration message and sending an RRC connection reconfiguration completion message to the eNB; the RRC connection reconfiguration complete message is used for indicating that the UE configuration is complete; the UE tries to establish connection with the AP in the WLAN mobile set in the service steering command; if the traffic steering command stored by the UE carries the MAC address of the WT, the UE is associated with the corresponding WT according to the MAC address of the WT after establishing connection with an AP; establishing connection with the EPC through the AP for establishing connection; applying for resources to the EPC for the service corresponding to each EPS bearer in the fourth bearer list through the AP, and establishing a corresponding bearer transmitted through the AP; and is used to transmit corresponding traffic through the EPS bearer transmitted through the AP.

6. The system of claim 5,

the WT further configured to send a WT association confirm message to the eNB;

the eNB is further configured to determine a UE associated with a respective WT from the WT association confirmation message.

7. The system of claim 5,

the UE is also used for sending a WLAN connection state report message to the eNB; wherein, the connection status report message is used to indicate that the UE is connected to the WLAN;

the eNB is further configured to determine that the UE is connected to the WLAN according to the connection state reporting message.

8. The system of claim 5,

the WT is further configured to send a WT addition request reject message to the eNB when the second bearer list does not include any EPS bearers.

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