JP4834739B2 - Access network, gateway, and management server for mobile phone wireless communication system - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to the deployment of home gateways for mobile phone wireless networks.

  This will be described below in a specific application to a third generation (3G) mobile phone network of the UMTS (“Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service”) type. However, it will be appreciated that this can be applied to a wide variety of types of digital cellular telephone systems.

  It has been proposed to provide so-called home base stations (HBS) to mobile phone operator customers (see, for example, US Pat. No. 6,615,035). Such a device would be connected to the customer's landline and provide a wireless interface similar to that of the mobile phone infrastructure. When a customer uses a telephone at home, i.e. within the range of an HBS, the call is established via the landline and public switched telephone network (PSTN) rather than the cellular telephone network. The mobility function between the HBS coverage and the cell phone infrastructure cell is not provided.

  The deployment of home base stations poses several problems, particularly regarding wireless technology and access control. HBS has not been designed to extend the coverage of mobile phone infrastructure, but rather has been made convenient for customers to use their telephones at home while paying for communication charges at PSTN charges.

  So far the HBS concept has not been very successful, but it has the potential to provide indoor coverage that is always a challenge for mobile operators. This advantage also exists with the concept of “home gateway”. The home gateway (HGW) also provides a wireless interface similar to the mobile phone infrastructure, but the home gateway interfaces with a broadband data network rather than a PSTN. The coverage of the HGW can be considered as a cell of the network, which is fully integrated into the network.

  In modern cellular networks, cell sites are controlled by equipment called base station controllers or radio network controllers (RNCs). The RNC provides many radio resource control (RRC) functions for its managed cells and mobile stations. For this reason, the HGW proposed so far generally includes an RNC function in addition to a base station function. This architecture has several drawbacks. In particular, there are many problems associated with interfacing customer premises equipment with the mobile operator's core network because the core network switching nodes are not well suited for interfacing with many RNCs. Furthermore, in order for the HGW concept to be promising in the future, the cost of the gateway must be kept as low as possible and the RNC function is not suitable for this goal.

  The object of the present invention is to propose another architecture that can minimize the complexity of the HGW and also defines the association of the access network with the RNC.

  Accordingly, the present invention proposes an access network for a mobile phone wireless communication system, including a home gateway located in a customer premises and a private operator network. Each home gateway has an interface for communication over a broadband public network and a radio base station for providing a radio link to at least one mobile station and interfacing with a base station controller. The private operator network includes a base station control device, at least one security gateway, and at least one home gateway management server. The security gateway has a secure interface that establishes a secure tunnel for communicating with the home gateway through the broadband public network. Each home gateway is configured to communicate with the home gateway management server of the private operator network via the security gateway to obtain one address of the base station controller assigned to the home gateway. The wireless base station of the home gateway interfaces with the base station controller allocated to the home gateway via a secure tunnel with the private operator network and the security gateway.

  The HGW forms a mobile phone access point that is installed in the customer's premises, thus providing a solution to indoor coverage. Any terminal that is compatible with a cellular telephone wireless communication system can be used to communicate via the HGW. The RNC function can be performed at the remote base station controller so that the complexity and cost of the HGW is kept as low as possible and compatible with consumer demand.

  This access network architecture allows a BTS (HGW) / RNC interface to be securely owned by a broadband public network such as the Internet. Another advantage of this is that it does not affect the mobile operator's core network.

  Also, provisioning operations required at the HGW level are minimized. The HGW delivered to the customer must simply call the security gateway and then the home gateway management server to restore its configuration parameters as well as the assigned base station controller (RNC) identification. In an advantageous embodiment, a memory module is provided in the home gateway and includes an address of the home gateway management server and an allocated base station controller address to recover the configuration parameters.

  Preferably, the home gateway management server has an allocation module that dynamically allocates each base station controller to at least some of the home gateways. The base station controller allocated to at least one home gateway can be selected based on load balancing criteria between the base station controllers of the private operator network to minimize the risk of congestion. is there.

  Alternatively, the base station controller having connectivity with another base station controller of the mobile telephone network, in which the allocation module manages at least one cell covering the position with respect to the home gateway having the predetermined position Can be selected. If the location of the active HGW is known, this allows the customer's terminal mobility during communication from the HGW coverage to the normal BTS coverage of the cellular network.

  Another aspect of the present invention relates to a home gateway for an access network of a mobile phone wireless communication system, and the access network includes a base station controller, at least one security gateway, and at least one home gateway management server. Includes private operator network. The home gateway includes an interface for communicating via a broadband public network, a radio base station for interfacing with a base station controller of a private operator network by providing a radio link to at least one mobile station, and the home Means for communicating with the home gateway management server of the private operator network via the security gateway in order to obtain one address of the base station controller assigned to the gateway, and the wireless base station is a private operator The base station controller allocated to the home gateway is interfaced via a secure tunnel established in the broadband public network between the network and the security gateway and the home gateway.

  Still another aspect of the present invention relates to a home gateway management server for an access network of a mobile phone wireless communication system, and the access network includes a home gateway disposed in a customer premises, the home gateway management server, the base station control device, And a private operator network including at least one security gateway, each home gateway providing an interface for communicating with the security gateway via a broadband public network, a radio link to at least one mobile station, and base station control A radio base station for interfacing with the device. This home gateway management server has means for transmitting each address of one of the base station controllers allocated to the home gateway to at least one of the home gateways via the security gateway.

  Other features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description of non-limiting exemplary embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.

  Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional UMTS system includes a core network (CN) 1 that constitutes an interconnected switch called a circuit switched service MSC and a packet switched service SGSN. In the UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) architecture, several radio network controllers (RNCs) 2 are connected to the CN switch. Each RNC 2 manages several radio base stations (BTS) 3, or “Node Bs” via an interface called lub in the UMTS standard. BTS is distributed over the area covered by the access network. Each BTS serves as one or several cells in which cellular service is generally made available.

  According to the invention, a home gateway (HGW) 5 is added to the access network to define different types of cells. The HGW 5 uses the same wireless interface as the normal BTS 3. For convenience, a series of HGWs 5 can be assigned a specific carrier frequency that is different from that used for BTS to avoid complicating the radio technology of the public part of the access network due to HGW intervention. . The radio range of the HGW is small, usually several tens of meters. This is intended to be installed in a customer premises and is therefore a sufficient means for a mobile operator to provide indoor coverage.

  The HGW 5 uses a customer's digital subscriber line (DSL), for example an asymmetric digital subscriber line (ADSL), for broadband access to the Internet 6. The customer DSL connects the HGW 5 to the router 7 of the customer's Internet service provider (ISP).

A private operator network configured as a local area network (LAN) 20 is provided to the HGW integrated into the mobile phone access network. The private network 20 device is
A security gateway (SGW) 21 connected to the Internet 6 and capable of establishing a secure tunnel with the HGW through the Internet 7;
A plurality of RNCs 22 each connected to the core network 1 and designated here as H-RNC;
An authentication server 23 typically using the RADIUS protocol;
A DHCP server 24 that provides an IP address to the HGW via a standard dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP);
A domain name server (DNS) 25;
A home gateway management server 26, that is, a home gateway database (HGDB).

  In the exemplary embodiment (FIG. 2), the HGW 5 is a set-top as a built-in device or as a peripheral device, along with other modules such as an Ethernet board 11, a WiFi board 12, a TV decoder 13. In box 10. A network address translation (NAT) module 14 is provided in the set-top box 10 to interface with the Internet by means of a subscriber access line 16 and to separate the public addressing domain from the customer's private addressing domain.

The HGW 5 includes a network (TCP / IP) interface 8 and a BTS device 9 suitable for performing a UMTS standard Node B function. The HGW 5 also has a memory micro card (MMC) module 15 in which certain parameters are stored, and includes the following:
A read-only accessible HGW identifier (ID), which can be encoded in the same way as an international mobile phone subscriber identification number (IMSI),
IP address of main SGW 21 communicated by HGW (if main SGW is not available, IP address of backup SGW may be provided),
IP address of HGDB 26 communicated by HGW,
HGW security certificate that is stored inside the MMC and cannot be accessed from the outside.

  The control module 18 of the HGW 5 manages the operation of the BTS device 9 and exchanges information with the MMC module 15 and the private operator network 20 as will be described later.

  Before the HGW 5 is delivered to the customer, to create the HGW ID and associated security certificate and record them on the RADIUS server 23 and to load the parameters described above into the MMC module 15 Such prior configuration is required. In addition, any customer specific parameters required for the operation of the HGW ID are defined and stored in the HGDB 26.

  The HGW 5 is designed to be plug and play. When the customer plugs in the HGW and activates it, the control module 18 automatically communicates with the SGW 21 having the IP address written in the MMC module 15. This starts the Internet access phase 30 shown in FIG. When connected to the RADIUS server 23, the SGW starts authentication of the HGW and establishment of the HGW and the IPsec tunnel 17. This secure tunnel 17 is used to encapsulate the UMTS lub interface between the HGW BTS device 9 and the H-RNC 22 over the Internet 6. By using a secure tunnel, an unauthorized HGW is prevented from receiving services from CN1, and various potential security threats are avoided.

  The next stage 31 of the configuration is to assign an IP address to the HGW by a request sent by the HGW control module 18 to the DHCP server 24. Therefore, in step 32, the control module 18 of the HGW 5 communicates with the HGDB 26 whose address is stored in the MMC module 15, and from this HGDB all customer-specific information including the domain name of the H-RNC 22 allocated to this HGW is obtained. Search for parameters. In step 33, the IP address of the H-RNC is determined by the exchange between the control module 18 of the HGW and the DNS 25. Therefore, the HGW 5 can start the attachment 34 of the allocated H-RNC 22 and the BTS device 9 of this HGW.

  In the attach step 34, the HGW transmits an attach request to the H-RNC 22. The H-RNC retrieves all parameters supplied to the HGW from the HGDB 26 and confirms the attachment to the HGW. The BTS device 9 can then support communication of one or more terminals (UE, “user equipment”) located within that range.

  The attach step 34 is repeated each time the HGW 5 is turned on. The parameters returned by the HGDB 26 in response to the H-RNC request include the identification of the H-RNC 22 currently allocated to the HGW. The allocation may change over time, in which case the H-RNC communicated by the control module 18 and receives another H-RNC ID from the HGDB notices the inconsistency and tells the HGW its configuration procedure. Returns a message to resume from the beginning. This establishes a new link between the HGW and the HGW's new serving H-RNC. The previous H-RNC then deletes this HGW from the list of managed BTSs.

  Depending on the situation, knowing the actual owner of the HGW, in preparation for emergency services, the geographical coordinates of the installed HGW, or any mobility information available in some advantageous embodiments described later, such as Several post-configuration steps can be performed to add information to previously stored customer specific parameters.

  FIG. 4 shows a possible structure of the HGBD 26 having the TCP / IP interface 40 with the LAN 20, the HGW configuration module 41 for exchanging information with the control module 18 of the HGW 5 and the H-RNC management module 42 as described above. Is shown. The HGBD 26 has two databases 43 and 44, that is, a database for storing HGW data and a database for storing H-RNC data.

  The HGW database 43 includes customer-specific data created when programming the MMC module 15 as well as identification indications of the H-RNCs 22 each assigned to the HGW 5.

The H-RNC database 44 includes OMC information in the pool of the H-RNC 22 of the private LAN 20. Specifically, for each H-RNC 22,
Display of H-RNC load according to the number of allocated HGW5,
Connectivity information identifying the RNC 2 of the public part of the mobile phone network to which the switch of the core network 1 can be connected.

  The H-RNC management module 42 manages the update of the content of the H-RNC database 44. The H-RNC management module also communicates with the H-RNC 22 in the attach step 34 described above.

  Further, the HGBD 26 has an allocation module 45 that can apply various methods or algorithms to allocate the H-RNC 22 to the HGW 5.

  In an advantageous embodiment, the RNC pooling approach is used, and the allocation module 45 performs the least loaded RNC (based on information in the H-RNC database 44) each time the HGW 5 performs the setup process, i.e. is turned on. assign.

  Such a method selects a base station controller to be selected by the HGW using the load balancing standard in the H-RNC 22 of the private LAN 20. It will be appreciated that the balanced load can be measured in different ways. For example, rather than simply being measured by the number of HGWs attached, a weighting derived from the average amount of communications established via a particular H-RNC can be considered, which is customer activity or communications It depends on the average throughput. If such a possibility is utilized, the parameters that determine the weighting must be provided by the H-RNC 22 to the management module 42 and stored in the H-RNC database 44.

  When mobility options are provided to a particular user, the allocation module 45 takes into account the location of the user's HGW 5 along with the connectivity information stored in the H-RNC database 44.

  For example, in FIG. 1, a broken-line circle indicates that the HGW 5a is in the wireless coverage area of the umbrella cell supplied by the BTS 3a of the public part of the mobile phone network. If the owner of the HGW 5a has applied for the mobility option, the owner must indicate the location where the HGW is installed. The location information, the identifier of the BTS 3a of the umbrella cell, and the identifier of the RNC 2a that manages this BTS 3a are stored in the HGW database 43 as part of the record provided to the HGW 5a. In step 32, when the HGDB 26 is contacted by the HGW 5a, the allocation module 45 notices from the database 43 that the mobility option is valid for this HGW and recovers the identifier of the RNC 2a. By examining the H-RNC database 44, the allocation module selects an H-RNC 22 with connectivity via CN1, and the selected H-RNC is informed in response to the HGW 5a.

  Further, when the H-RNC request is received in the attach step 34, the H-RNC management module 42 determines from the HGW database 43 the identifier of the BTS 3a of the umbrella cell (or such if the HGW is in more than one cell). Identifier group) and these (these) identifiers are returned to the H-RNC as part of the HGW configuration parameters. Therefore, the H-RNC 22 signals to the HGW 5a which BTS is to be monitored by the UE communicating via the HGW 5a in preparation for a possible handover. Corresponding information is included in the system information broadcast by the HGW 5a on a common signaling channel or transmitted to the UE on a dedicated channel.

  In the above embodiment where the HGW uses a specific carrier frequency, a handover from one HGW to another HGW is generally not possible, so the HGW 5a normally does not inform any neighboring cell of the measurements in frequency. Monitoring of neighboring cells (BTS 3a) by the UE is performed in a so-called compressed mode, in which a transmission gap is introduced during communication and causes the UE to perform measurements between frequencies. Measurements made by the UE on signals received from the serving HGW 5a and on signals received in compressed mode from the neighboring BTS 3a are reported to the serving H-RNC 22 as part of a radio resource control (RRC) procedure. The criteria for handover examined by the H-RNC is completed by measurements made by the HGW 5a as much as possible, and based on such measurements, determines whether a handover is necessary depending on the radio conditions observed in the communication. When inter-frequency handover is determined, the corresponding signaling is sent to the new BTS 3a (due to the connectivity reserved by CN1) and to the UE via the old BTS 9 in the HGW 5a.

  Module 45 can use different allocation algorithms in parallel by different HGWs, especially if the mobility options described above apply only to some of the HGWs. For example, the H-RNC pooling technique can be applied to an HGW without a mobility option.

The H-RNC 22 is functionally similar to the RNC 2 in the public part of the mobile phone network. The following differences can be noted.
No Node B is paid in advance. The HGW is dynamically attached using the method described above.
The H-RNC interface with the controlled BTS 9 is based on the IP protocol as described above.
As required, new methods can be performed such that the H-RNC 22 provides the HGDB 26 with the number of attached HGWs and / or the weighting parameters described above. This is required when the HGDB 26 tries to balance the load between the H-RNCs.
Call processing tasks can be modified to incorporate looking up an access grant list (AGL) by IMSI.

  Further, the dimension designation of H-RNC 22 is generally different from that of RNC2. A conventional RNC 2 is typically designed to manage 1,000 to 2,000 BTSs 3 or cells, each having a relatively high traffic capacity (eg, about 4 erlangs). In contrast, the H-RNC may have to manage up to 50,000 or 100,000 HGW 5 with lower traffic capacity (eg, about 0.1 erlang).

  The access grant list (AGL) is useful in situations where not all UEs are allowed to communicate through the HGW 5. Since the HGW 5 uses the owner's private DSL access, it is beneficial to provide a service that restricts access to users that are specifically allowed by the HGW owner, depending on the situation. The AGL includes a list of IMSIs (eg, up to 16 IMSIs) of users authorized to communicate through a given HGW. This is permanently stored in the HGW database 43 and downloaded to the H-RNC allocated during the attach phase 34.

  The HGDB can define a restriction policy to be applied to each HGW 5. Table I below shows the three possible policy features, i.e. whether there are restrictions based on AGL.

  The OPEN policy states that if the owner does not actually want to manage access to his / her HGW, it will apply to each isolated location, i.e. where there is little or no interference from the neighbors. Intended. At this time, the HGW 5 can be regarded as an expansion of the outdoor coverage area of the network.

  The PRIVATE policy is also for isolated locations, but for cases where the owner wishes to have some control over access. However, in this case, other than the call identified as an urgent reason, no call can be made, but any “unauthorized” user can roam to the HGW and receive the call.

The CLOSED policy applies to owners who want to have full control over who uses HGW 5, and can be used in areas with HGW in close proximity, such as urban areas. When the user is closer to the adjacent HGW than his / her own HGW, the location registration area (LA) is prevented from being updated (*) for the reason of “prohibited LA”, thereby solving the perspective problem. An HGW that uses this policy cannot be considered an expansion of the open coverage, except for its owner and users registered with AGL.

  To determine whether connection setup can continue when a connection request to a given IMSI is received at the H-RNC 22 allocated to the HGW to which the PRIVATE or CLOSED policy is applied. Then, the H-RNC checks whether the call type and, if necessary, the IMSI is in the AGL associated with this HGW.

  The present invention has been described above in the specific case of a UMTS network for illustration. It will be appreciated that the present invention is applicable to various types of cellular telephone networks. Also, only for specific services provided to subscribers, for example, packet switched (PS) domain services and circuit switched (CS) domain services distributed through the public part of the network, HGW 5 and private operator LAN 20 Can also be provided.

1 is a block diagram of a mobile phone wireless communication system incorporating an embodiment of the present invention. 1 is a block diagram of customer equipment including a home gateway according to the present invention. FIG. FIG. 6 illustrates various stages of home gateway configuration according to the present invention. FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a home gateway management server according to the present invention.

Claims (18)

An access network for a mobile phone wireless communication system, including a home gateway (5) located in a customer premises and a private operator network (20),
Each home gateway provides an interface (8) for communication via the broadband public network (6) and a radio base station (9) for providing a radio link to at least one mobile station and interfacing with the base station controller And
The private operator network includes a base station controller (22), at least one security gateway (21), and at least one home gateway management server (26), and the security gateway is connected to the home gateway through a broadband public network. Having a secure interface for establishing a secure tunnel (17) for communication;
Each home gateway, the to obtain the address of one of the base station control apparatus allocated to the home gateway is configured to communicate with the home gateway management server of the private operator network via a security gateway,
An access network in which a radio base station of a home gateway interfaces with a base station controller allocated to the home gateway via a secure tunnel with a private operator network and a security gateway.   The access network according to claim 1, wherein the home gateway management server (26) comprises an allocation module (45) for dynamically allocating respective base station controllers (22) to at least some of the home gateways (5). .   The allocation module (45) allocates to the at least one home gateway (5) the base station controller (22) selected based on the load balancing criteria among the base station controllers of the private operator network (20). The access network according to claim 2, wherein the access network is configured.   The allocation module (45) is configured to allocate a base station controller (22) having connectivity with another base station controller (2a) of the mobile phone network to the home gateway (5a) having a predetermined position. The access network according to claim 2, wherein the another base station controller manages at least one cell covering the location.   The base station control device (22) allocated to the home gateway (5a) having a predetermined position performs communication established through the radio base station (9) of the home gateway according to the radio state of the communication. The access network according to claim 4, wherein the access network is configured to be handed over to a cell managed by the another base station controller (2a).   The home gateway (5) comprises a memory module (15) comprising the address of the home gateway management server (26) for recovering the configuration parameters and the allocated base station controller (22) address. The access network according to any one of 1 to 5.   The access network according to claim 6, wherein the memory module (15) further comprises the address of a security gateway (21) of the private operator network (20).   At least one of the home gateways (5) is associated with an access permission list stored on the home gateway management server (26), which access permission list is authorized to communicate through said one of the home gateways. The access network according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein a station is designated.   An access permission list is assigned to the one of the home gateways (5) in the step (34) of attaching the one of the home gateways to the base station controller from the home gateway management server (26). Access network according to claim 8, downloaded to the device (22).   A home gateway for an access network of a mobile phone wireless communication system, wherein the access network includes a private operator network (20) having a base station controller (22), at least one security gateway (21), and at least one Two home gateway management servers (26), for the home gateway (5) to communicate via the broadband public network (6) to obtain one address of the base station controller allocated to the home gateway Interface (8), a wireless base station (9) that provides a wireless link to at least one mobile station and interfaces with a base station controller of the private carrier network, and a home of the private carrier network via a security gateway Means (18) for communicating with the gateway management server; The wireless base station interfaces with a base station controller allocated to the home gateway via a secure tunnel established in a private operator network and a broadband public network between a security gateway and the home gateway. The home gateway that will become.   11. The home gateway according to claim 10, further comprising a memory module (15) containing the address of the home gateway management server for recovering the configuration parameters and the allocated base station controller (22) address.   12. The home gateway according to claim 11, wherein the memory module (15) further comprises the address of a security gateway (21) of the private operator network (20).   A home gateway management server for an access network of a mobile phone wireless communication system, wherein the access network includes a home gateway (5) placed in a customer premises, the home gateway management server (26), and a base station controller (22). ), And a private operator network (20) including at least one security gateway (21), each home gateway communicating with the security gateway (21) via the broadband public network (6) (8) And a radio base station (9) that provides a radio link to at least one mobile station and interfaces with the base station controller, and a home gateway management server (26) is connected via the security gateway to the home gateway. At least one of the home gateways Having means (41) for transmitting one of each address of the base station control units allocated to the home gateway management server.   14. The home gateway management server according to claim 13, further comprising an allocation module (45) for dynamically allocating respective base station controllers (22) to at least some of the home gateways (5).   The allocation module (45) allocates to the at least one home gateway (5) the base station controller (22) selected based on the load balancing criteria among the base station controllers of the private operator network (20). The home gateway management server according to claim 14 configured.   The allocation module (45) is configured to allocate a base station controller (22) having connectivity with another base station controller (2a) of the mobile phone network to the home gateway (5a) having a predetermined position. The home gateway management server according to claim 14, wherein the another base station control device manages at least one cell covering the location.   Means (43) for storing at least one access permission list associated with each one of the home gateways (5), wherein the access permission list is authorized to communicate through said one of the home gateways. The home gateway management server according to any one of claims 13 to 16, which specifies a station.   Means for downloading the access permission list to the base station controller (22) allocated to the one of the home gateways (5) in the step (34) of attaching the one of the home gateways to the base station controller The home gateway management server according to claim 17, further comprising (42).

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