CN111181745B

CN111181745B - Centralized unit function entity, base station and network management method

Info

Publication number: CN111181745B
Application number: CN201811330165.XA
Authority: CN
Inventors: 孙军帅
Original assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Current assignee: China Mobile Communications Group Co Ltd; China Mobile Communications Ltd Research Institute
Priority date: 2018-11-09
Filing date: 2018-11-09
Publication date: 2022-10-21
Anticipated expiration: 2038-11-09
Also published as: CN111181745A

Abstract

The present invention relates to the wireless field and the network management field, and in particular, to a Centralized Unit (CU) functional entity, a base station, and a network management method. According to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the radio resource management function using an intelligent control mode is introduced into the CU functional entity and is defined as a logical node corresponding to the intelligent control plane. Therefore, the wireless resource management function using an intelligent control mode can be introduced into the CU functional entity, and a brand-new CU functional entity structure is provided. And provides a base station and a corresponding network management method comprising the completely new CU functional entity structure.

Description

Centralized unit function entity, base station and network management method

Technical Field

The present invention relates to the wireless field and the network management field, and in particular, to a Centralized Unit (CU) functional entity, a base station, and a network management method.

Background

Fifth generation mobile communication (5G) proposes that the base station (gNB) can be divided into two functional entities, CU and Distributed Unit (DU), and further, the CU can be divided into a centralized unit Control Plane (CU-CP, CU-Control Plane) and a centralized unit User Plane (CU-UP, CU-User Plane). 5363 the protocol, CU-CP and CU-UP, are defined as logical nodes in the 38.401 protocol.

In the third generation partnership project independent networking 5 (3 gpp SA5) standard, the existing gNB resource model does not define the Management models of a Network Management System (NMS) and a Network Equipment Management System (EMS), and currently, the same EMS is still used to simultaneously manage CU and DU, which cannot satisfy such a flexible functional entity manner in 5G.

In a Radio access network architecture (O-RAN), a near-Real-Time Radio Intelligent Controller (nRT RIC) is proposed, which takes charge of related Radio control. However, nRT RIC is not introduced into the current base station functional entity, and once nRT RIC is introduced, the existing network management method is also more challenging, so it is also desirable to provide a corresponding network management method.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a CU functional entity, a base station and a network management method, which are used for providing a brand-new CU functional entity, a base station and a corresponding network management method.

A functional entity of a centralized unit CU comprises a control plane CU-CP logical node of the centralized unit and a user plane CU-UP logical node of the centralized unit, and further comprises a logical node corresponding to an intelligent control plane of the centralized unit, wherein the logical node corresponding to the intelligent control plane of the centralized unit is used for realizing a radio resource management function using an intelligent control mode.

A base station comprising a distributed unit, DU, functional entity and a centralized unit, CU, functional entity as described above.

A network management method applied to the base station as described above, the network management method comprising:

when the NMS generates NMS management objects, the network management system NMS respectively generates two groups of NMS management objects aiming at the CU functional entity and the DU functional entity;

the NMS respectively generates NMS management objects aiming at logical nodes corresponding to the CU-CP logical node, the CU-UP logical node and the centralized unit intelligent control surface in the NMS management objects generated aiming at the CU functional entity, and respectively establishes logical relations between the NMS management objects generated aiming at the logical nodes corresponding to the CU-CP logical node, the CU-UP logical node and the centralized unit intelligent control surface and the NMS management objects generated aiming at the DU functional entity according to the logical relations between the CU functional entity and the DU functional entity;

after the logic function of a CU function entity is generated, the NMS distributes identity marks for NMS management objects respectively generated by logic nodes corresponding to CU-CP logic nodes, CU-UP logic nodes and centralized unit intelligent control surfaces in the CU function entity, and distributes identity marks for NMS management objects generated by the DU function entity after the logic function of a DU function entity is generated;

and the NMS manages NMS management objects respectively generated aiming at the CU-CP logical nodes, the logical nodes corresponding to the CU-UP logical nodes, the centralized unit intelligent control surface and the DU functional entity according to the corresponding logical relation and the distributed identity.

According to the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the radio resource management function using the intelligent control mode is introduced into the CU functional entity and is defined as the logical node corresponding to the intelligent control plane. Therefore, the wireless resource management function using an intelligent control mode can be introduced into the CU functional entity, and a brand-new CU functional entity structure is provided. And provides a base station and a corresponding network management method comprising the completely new CU functional entity structure.

Additional features and advantages of the invention will be set forth in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objectives and other advantages of the invention will be realized and attained by the structure particularly pointed out in the written description and claims hereof as well as the appended drawings.

Drawings

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

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a CU functional entity according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating steps of a network management method according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of a management model according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

In a Radio access network architecture (O-RAN), a near-Real-Time Radio Intelligent Controller (nRT RIC) is proposed, which takes charge of related Radio control. Based on this, the invention introduces the radio resource management function using intelligent control mode into the base station functional entity CU, and considers that the CU-CP and CU-UP are defined as logic nodes in the current protocol, therefore, the radio resource management function using intelligent control mode is also defined by adopting the mode of logic nodes, and on this basis, a new NMS and EMS management method is adopted.

In order to make the objects, technical solutions and advantages of the present invention more apparent, the present invention will be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. 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.

It should be noted that, the "plurality" or "a plurality" mentioned herein means two or more. "and/or" describes the association relationship of the associated objects, meaning that there may be three relationships, e.g., a and/or B, which may mean: a exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. The character "/" generally indicates that the former and latter associated objects are in an "or" relationship.

The terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and in the claims, and in the drawings described above, 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 capable of operation in sequences other than those illustrated or 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.

The first embodiment,

A schematic structural diagram of a CU functional entity according to an embodiment of the present invention may be as shown in fig. 1, and includes, in addition to a CU-CP logical node 11 and a CU-UP logical node 12: a logical node 13 corresponding to the intelligent control Plane of the centralized unit (in the embodiments of the present invention, a logical node corresponding to the intelligent control Plane of the centralized unit is named CU-AIP (CU-AI Plane) for example, and the CU-AIP logical node 13 is configured to implement a radio resource management function using an intelligent control method.

The Radio Resource Management function using the intelligent control mode may be understood to include, but not limited to, a Radio Resource Management (RRM) algorithm and function, an intelligent enhanced algorithm and function, and a brand new intelligent algorithm and function; and the reception and processing functions of the measurement data required to support these algorithms.

It should be noted that the CU-AIP logical node 13 includes at least two types of interfaces, which are respectively an Interface with an upper layer of the CU-AIP logical node and may be but is not limited to be defined as Interface1, and an Interface with a lower layer of the CU-AIP logical node and may be but is not limited to be defined as Interface2;

wherein, the Interface1 may be but not limited to be configured to receive configuration information from the upper layer of the CU-AIP logical node and send measurement data required by the upper layer of the CU-AIP logical node; the Interface2 may be, but is not limited to being, configured to receive measurement data from the CU-AIP logical node lower layer and to send information to the CU-AIP logical node lower layer.

The CU-AIP logical node 13 is configured to connect to the CU-UP logical node 12, and receive measurement information of various user planes reported by the CU-UP logical node 12;

the CU-AIP logical node 13 is further configured to connect with the CU-CP logical node 11, receive various measurement information reported by the CU-CP logical node 11, and send an indication message to the CU-CP logical node 11 when control needs to be triggered, to indicate the CU-CP logical node 11 to generate a corresponding air interface signaling according to the indication message.

Namely, the CU-AIP logical node, the CU-UP logical node and the CU-CP logical node can be directly connected for information interaction. The CU-UP logical node reports to the CU-AIP logical node measurement information of various user planes, which may include data status of the user, and the like. The CU-CP logical node reports various control plane measurement information to the CU-AIP logical node, which may include user mobility status, air interface efficiency, and the like.

Note that the CU-AIP logical node 13 is a part of the CU functional entity, and has a radio resource management function across physical devices of the CU functional entity in addition to an intra-physical-device radio resource management function of one CU functional entity.

The first embodiment of the present invention provides the following base station and network management method based on the same inventive concept.

Example II,

A second embodiment of the present invention provides a base station, where the base station includes a DU function entity and a CU function entity as described in the first embodiment.

Example III,

An embodiment of the present invention provides a network management method, where a flow of steps of the method may be as shown in fig. 2, and the method includes:

step 101, the NMS generates two sets of NMS management objects.

In this step, the NMS generates two sets of NMS management objects for the CU function entity and the DU function entity, respectively, when generating the NMS management objects.

Step 102, the NMS further generates NMS management objects.

In this step, the NMS may generate NMS management objects for the CU-CP logical node, the CU-UP logical node, and the CU-AIP logical node, respectively, within the NMS management objects generated for the CU functional entity.

And the NMS can respectively establish the logical relations between NMS management objects generated aiming at the CU-CP logical node, the CU-UP logical node and the CU-AIP logical node and the NMS management objects generated aiming at the DU functional entity according to the logical relations between the CU functional entity and the DU functional entity.

It should be noted that the CU functional entity may be used to manage the CU-CP logical node, the CU-UP logical node and the CU-AIP logical node, and may be used to describe the logical relationship of the DU functional entity. Since the logical relationship between the CU functional entity and the DU functional entity is specified in the protocol, the logical relationship between the CU-CP logical node, the CU-UP logical node, the CU-AIP logical node, and the DU functional entity is further refined under the logical relationship architecture of the CU functional entity and the DU functional entity.

Step 103, the NMS assigns an identity.

In this step, the NMS may respectively assign identities to NMS management objects respectively generated by the CU-UP logical node and the CU-AIP logical node for the CU-CP logical node in the CU functional entity after generating the logical function of the CU functional entity, and may assign identities to NMS management objects generated by the DU functional entity after generating the logical function of the DU functional entity.

The identification may be, but is not limited to, an Internet Protocol (IP) address, or an identification number (ID), but of course, the identification may be other forms of identification.

Step 104, NMS management.

In this step, the NMS may manage NMS management objects respectively generated for the CU-CP logical node, the CU-UP logical node, the CU-AIP logical node, and the DU functional entity according to the corresponding logical relationship obtained in step 102 and the identity allocated in step 103.

Further, in the network management method, in addition to the network management method corresponding to the NMS, a network management method corresponding to the EMS may be further included, that is, the present embodiment further includes step 105 and step 106:

step 105, EMS generates EMS management object.

In this step, the EMS may generate a corresponding EMS management object according to the identifiers respectively allocated by the NMS to the NMS management objects generated by the CU-CP logical node, the CU-UP logical node, the CU-AIP logical node, and the DU functional entity.

Step 106, EMS management.

In this step, the EMS may implement interconnection and interworking with each EMS management object according to the identity of each EMS management object, thereby implementing management of the EMS management object.

As shown in fig. 3, the management model corresponding to the third embodiment may be that, as the NMS manages the NMS management object corresponding to the DU function entity by allocating an identity, and based on the logical relationship between the CU function entity and the DU function entity, manages, through the allocated identity, the NMS management objects generated for the CU function entity, which are respectively generated for the CU-CP logical node, the CU-UP logical node, and the CU-AIP logical node.

EMS generates corresponding EMS management objects (Equipment) according to the identity identifiers respectively distributed by the NMS for the DU function entity, the CU-CP logic node, the CU-UP logic node and the CU-AIP logic node, and realizes interconnection and intercommunication with each EMS management object.

According to the operation, maintenance and management (OAM) scheme provided by the third embodiment of the present invention, the management of the nRTRIC function newly introduced into the CU functional entity is realized, and the base station is divided into four independently managed device objects: and the CU-CP logical nodes, the CU-UP logical nodes, the CU-AIP logical nodes and the DU functional entity realize a flat management mode.

The CU-CP logical nodes, CU-UP logical nodes, CU-AIP logical nodes, and DU function entity are managed by the NMS and EMS as independent objects with identities. In order to reduce the management complexity and maintain the consistency with the protocol, the CU functional entity is used as a CU-CP logical node, the hosts of the CU-UP logical node and the CU-AIP logical node still exist in the NMS, and the logical relations among the CU-CP logical node, the CU-UP logical node, the CU-AIP logical node and the DU functional entity are established according to the CU-DU logical relation. And the NMS manages the CU-CP logical nodes, the CU-UP logical nodes, the CU-AIP logical nodes and the DU functional entity by managing the distributed identity.

In the embodiments of the present invention, it should be understood that the disclosed apparatus and method may be implemented in other ways. For example, the above-described embodiments of the apparatus are merely illustrative, and for example, the described unit or division of units is only one division of logical functions, and there may be other divisions when actually implemented, for example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another system, or some features may be omitted, or not executed. In addition, the shown or discussed coupling or direct coupling or communication connection between each other may be through some interfaces, indirect coupling or communication connection between devices or units, and may be in an electrical or other form.

The functional units in the embodiments of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may be an independent physical module.

The integrated unit, if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a stand-alone product, may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, all or part of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium and includes instructions for causing a computer device, such as a personal computer, a server, or a network device, or a processor (processor) to execute all or part of the steps of the methods according to the embodiments of the present invention. And the aforementioned storage medium includes: various media that can store program codes, such as a universal serial bus flash drive (usb flash drive), a removable hard disk, a ROM, a RAM, a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

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

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

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

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

While preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described, additional variations and modifications in those embodiments may occur to those skilled in the art once they learn of the basic inventive concepts. Therefore, it is intended that the appended claims be interpreted as including the preferred embodiment and all changes and modifications that fall within the scope of the invention.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made in the present invention without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention. Thus, if such modifications and variations of the present invention fall within the scope of the claims of the present invention and their equivalents, the present invention is also intended to include such modifications and variations.

Claims

1. A centralized unit CU functional entity comprises a centralized unit control plane CU-CP logical node and a centralized unit user plane CU-UP logical node, and is characterized in that the centralized unit CU functional entity is applied to a base station and also comprises a logical node corresponding to a centralized unit intelligent control plane, wherein the logical node corresponding to the centralized unit intelligent control plane is used for realizing a radio resource management function using an intelligent control mode;

the logic node corresponding to the intelligent control plane of the centralized unit is used for being connected with the CU-UP logic node and receiving the measurement information of various user planes reported by the CU-UP logic node;

and the logic node corresponding to the intelligent control surface of the centralized unit is also used for being connected with the CU-CP logic node, receiving various measurement information reported by the CU-CP logic node, and sending an indication message to the CU-CP logic node when control needs to be triggered, so as to indicate the CU-CP logic node to generate a corresponding air interface signaling according to the indication message.

2. The functional entity according to claim 1, wherein the logical node corresponding to the centralized unit intelligent control plane comprises at least two types of interfaces, which are Interface1 at the upper layer of the logical node corresponding to the centralized unit intelligent control plane and Interface2 at the lower layer of the logical node corresponding to the centralized unit intelligent control plane;

the Interface1 is configured to receive configuration information from an upper layer of a logical node corresponding to the intelligent control plane of the centralized unit, and send measurement data required by the upper layer of the logical node corresponding to the intelligent control plane of the centralized unit; the Interface2 is configured to receive measurement data from a lower logical node layer corresponding to the intelligent control plane of the centralized unit, and send information to the lower logical node layer corresponding to the intelligent control plane of the centralized unit.

3. The functional entity according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the logical node corresponding to the centralized unit intelligent control plane has one intra-CU functional entity physical device radio resource management function and one inter-CU functional entity physical device radio resource management function.

4. A base station, characterized in that it comprises a distributed unit DU functional entity and a centralized unit CU functional entity according to any one of claims 1 to 3.

5. A network management method applied to the base station according to claim 4, wherein the network management method comprises:

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the method further comprises:

and the EMS generates corresponding EMS management objects according to the identification marks respectively distributed by the NMS for the NMS management objects generated aiming at the CU-CP logic nodes, the logic nodes corresponding to the CU-UP logic nodes, the intelligent control surface of the centralized unit and the DU function entity, and realizes interconnection and intercommunication with each EMS management object according to the identification mark of each EMS management object.

7. A method according to claim 5 or 6, wherein the identity is an Internet protocol, IP, address, or an identity number, ID.