KR20060066039A - Apparatus and method for broker of converged-access network in heterogeneous wireless access networks environment - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a network relaying apparatus and method of an integrated base station for providing integrated services between networks in a heterogeneous wireless subscriber network environment.

When the network intermediary device receives a message from the wireless subscriber network or the processing device in the base station, the network intermediary device identifies the type of the received message and processes the received message according to a result of the verification to generate a processing message. The transmission destination of the processing message is determined, and the processing message is transmitted to the wireless subscriber network or the processing apparatus in the base station according to the determination result. In this case, the processing message is reconfigured into a first format that can be processed by an integrated base station and transmitted to a processing unit within a base station, or the processing message is reconfigured into a second format that can be processed by a predetermined wireless subscriber network and then transmitted to a wireless subscriber network. .

Therefore, integration between heterogeneous wireless subscriber networks is possible, and open and independent processing for various different wireless subscriber networks and signaling protocols is possible.

Heterogeneous wireless subscriber network, integrated base station, can broker

Description

Network mediation device of integrated base station and its method {APPARATUS AND METHOD FOR BROKER OF CONVERGED-ACCESS NETWORK IN HETEROGENEOUS WIRELESS ACCESS NETWORKS ENVIRONMENT}

1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a next-generation wireless subscriber network to which the present invention is applied.

2 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a network intermediary device of an integrated base station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart of a method for network mediation of an integrated base station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a network relaying device and a method thereof, and more particularly, to a network relaying device and a method of an integrated base station for providing an integrated service between these networks in a heterogeneous wireless subscriber network environment having different wireless transmission technology. will be.

The wireless subscriber network technology has been developed along with the terminal and core network according to the development of wireless and mobile communication technology, the digital hybrid network supporting the first generation analog subscriber network, the second generation digital subscriber network, the third generation line and packet service, Based on the packet transmission network after 3G and 3G, it is developing into an IP-based open multimedia subscriber network that integrates existing networks and supports various types of services.

According to this trend, terminals, subscriber networks, and core networks are each evolving into the Internet base suitable for packet data transmission in their respective areas, and first, the core network has been evolved to be suitable for packet data transmission.

Accordingly, since 1998, we have attempted to evolve the core network itself under the condition that users do not feel the first generation of mobile communication terminals under the name of All-IP network.

Later, in 1999, efforts were made to introduce IP technology to the Radio Access Network (RAN), centered on the Mobile Wireless Internet Forum (MWIF), followed by 3GPP, the de facto standardization body for 3G mobile communications. In this paper, IP-based subscriber network technology has been studied in 3GPP2.

In Korea, the evolution of wired and wireless subscriber networks is planned in stages according to the basic plan of BcN (broadband convergence network) construction.However, wired and wireless subscriber networks are mainly integrated around BcN delivery networks. It is not true.

It is expected that more diverse subscriber networks will emerge in the future, and how to effectively integrate these subscriber networks to provide seamless services through handover along with service mobility, user mobility, terminal mobility, and network mobility between heterogeneous subscriber networks. It will be an important issue.

The conventional mobile communication network provides a limited form of data service in a network designed for voice, and a technology for providing a wireless multimedia service by integrating various subscriber networks in a core network is currently being developed, but in fact, fully integrated in a subscriber network. This is a difficult problem. Therefore, there is a need for an apparatus for integrated processing for different subscriber networks.

Therefore, the technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to solve the conventional problem, in a heterogeneous wireless subscriber network environment having at least one or more wireless subscriber networks having different frequencies and transmission protocols, integrated type for integrated management of various wireless subscriber networks The present invention provides a network intermediary device and a method thereof.

In particular, the technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to provide a network intermediary device and a method having a matching function for signals of various wireless subscriber networks in a heterogeneous wireless subscriber network.

In order to solve this technical problem, the network intermediary device of the integrated base station according to the characteristics of the present invention, connected to a plurality of different wireless subscriber network, includes a plurality of processing devices for integrated management of the plurality of wireless subscriber network An integrated base station network relay apparatus, comprising: a message processing unit for classifying messages transmitted and received from the wireless subscriber network by type; A session processing unit that performs mediation of session processing through a predetermined processing device of the base station when the transmitted and received message is a session related message; A group mobility processor for mediating mobility control of the corresponding group members through a predetermined processing device of the base station when the transmitted and received message is a group mobility related message; An authentication processing unit for mediating user authentication processing through a predetermined processing device of the base station when the transmitted and received message is an authentication related message; And a main controller configured to control a message flow between the message processor and each processor such that the message is processed by the processor based on a received message classification result of the message processor when the existence of the received message is confirmed through the message processor. .

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, a method for network brokering of an integrated base station is connected to a plurality of different wireless subscriber networks, and includes a plurality of processing devices for integrated management of the plurality of wireless subscriber networks. A method comprising: a) checking a type of the received message when a message is received from the wireless subscriber network or a processing device in the base station; b) processing the received message according to the confirmation result to generate a processing message; c) determining a destination of the processing message, and transmitting the processing message to the processing apparatus in the wireless subscriber network or the base station according to the determination result. Wherein step b) includes: reconfiguring the processing message into a first format that can be processed by an integrated base station; And reconfiguring the processing message into a second format that can be processed in a predetermined wireless subscriber network.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art may easily implement the present invention. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. In the drawings, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted in order to clearly describe the present invention. Like parts are designated by like reference numerals throughout the specification.

In the future, wireless subscriber networks such as 4G mobile communication networks, High Speed Downlink Packet Data (HSDPA), WiBro, and high-speed WLAN provide high-speed broadband wireless services to meet various service needs. In addition to consolidation in, the consolidation in the subscriber network is expected to be active.

Existing wireless subscriber network provides data service only in single network environment, but in order to support complex requirements of users in the future and to consider integration, handover and QoS support with various subscriber networks, open structure in wireless subscriber network Must be oriented towards, intelligently address subscriber needs, and must provide scalability across networks.

In accordance with the future trend of such a wireless subscriber network, in an embodiment of the present invention, a terminal may use various wireless communication services in a heterogeneous wireless subscriber network environment in which various wireless subscriber networks using different wireless transmission technologies and wireless protocols are mixed. An integrated base station provides services by integrating heterogeneous wireless subscriber networks. In particular, for this purpose, the network intermediary device of the integrated base station processes the messages of different protocols provided from heterogeneous wireless subscriber networks and delivers them to a predetermined device of the base station.

First, a structure of an integrated base station according to an embodiment of the present invention for providing an integrated service for a mobile wireless subscriber network will be described.

1 is a view showing the structure of an integrated base station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 1, an integrated base station 100 (also referred to as a “base station”) according to an embodiment of the present invention is connected to a terminal 300 through a heterogeneous wireless subscriber network 200, and a core network ( 400 is connected to control the predetermined service to the terminal 300. If the terminal is registered in the integrated base station and the local call can be serviced only by the base station, the base station 100 may provide an independent service to the terminal 300 without the support of the core network.

The heterogeneous wireless subscriber network 200 includes a plurality of subscriber networks that communicate according to different wireless transmission technologies and wireless protocols, and specifically, a high-speed mobile multimedia (HMm) radio station and a HPi speed Portable internet) AP, WLAN AP, HSDPA radio access network (Radio Access Network), but is not limited thereto.

The terminal 300 that can access the integrated base station 100 through the heterogeneous wireless subscriber network 200 is a multimode terminal (MT, also referred to as a "terminal" for convenience of description), and the integrated base station 100 Through the connection with the MMoIP or VoIP, and data services are provided.

Integrated base station 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention to provide a service to the terminal 300 by integrated management of the heterogeneous wireless subscriber network 200, as shown in Figure 1, a state in which a variety of wireless subscriber network is bundled with a switching network In the can broker 10, resource manager 20, session manager 30, RFID manager 40, reconfiguration server 50, group mobility agent 60, mobility manager 70, various information is stored Database portion (D), call server 80, media gateway 90. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, the components 20 to 90 of the base station are also referred to as "processing apparatus".

The CAN broker 10 processes the signaling messages provided from the heterogeneous wireless subscriber network 200 through the switching network, and specifically determines which wireless subscriber network the signaling message is provided through, and according to the determination result, the message. Mediation is done for.

The resource manager 20 performs common resource management for the wireless subscriber network to integrate various wireless subscriber networks such as HMm, HPi, WLAN, HSDAP, etc., and the session manager 30 manages sessions between the wireless subscriber networks. Integrate and manage

The radio frequency identification (RFID) manager 40 performs a relay function for recognizing and managing RFID for interworking with a sensor network (not shown). Here, the database for RFID is not located in the base station 100, but is located in the core network 400, and the RFID manager 40 of the base station 100 receives a signal received in association with an RFID DB (not shown) of the core network 400. It performs the function to identify RFID and to carry it in wireless subscriber network.

The reconfiguration server 50 enables the base station to download software that the terminal 300 does not have when the base station is upgraded to a new version or when the terminal 300 tries to access another wireless subscriber network. The group mobility agent 16 performs a function to support Network Mobility (NEMO) working in Institute For The Future (IETF). In particular, unlike the mobility of the terminal performs the function of managing the group mobility when the group of the terminal moves. In addition, the database unit D stores information necessary for base station system initialization information, subscriber authentication, location management, user profile management, and the like in the base station 100.

The mobility manager 70 may perform a location management function such as paging, terminal location registration / cancellation, location update, and the like, with respect to various wireless subscriber networks.

The call server 80 generates, maintains, and releases a call in a base station for providing VoIP service, and in particular, acts as a proxy. The call server 80 has a structure in which the call server (not shown) of the core network 400 is connected to each other to operate, and when the VoIP service between subscribers in the same base station is serviced, the call server is located in the core network 400. It works independently without support. That is, the profile and authentication information of the subscriber is required for call processing, but in the integrated base station according to the embodiment of the present invention, since the call server 80 is included and the subscriber information is stored in the database unit D, When there is a call attempt between subscribers in one base station, the call server 80 performs call processing based on the information stored in the database unit D without being associated with the call server of the core network. In this case, the time required for call setup can be significantly reduced. It also enables load balancing across core networks and speeds up processing.

The media gateway 90 provides a VoIP call with the call server 80 when there is a VoIP service request in the same base station, and integrates and manages different codecs between various wireless subscriber networks.

In the integrated base station 100 that provides a communication service by integrating different types of wireless subscriber networks as described above, a can broker, that is, a network intermediary device, according to an embodiment of the present invention has the following structure.

2 is a diagram illustrating a structure of a network intermediary device of an integrated base station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the network relaying apparatus of the integrated base station according to an embodiment of the present invention may include a first message processing unit 11, a second message processing unit 12, a main control unit 13, an initialization unit 14, It includes a session processor 15, a group mobility processor 16, and an authentication processor 17.

The first message processor 11 receives and classifies messages transmitted from a terminal through various heterogeneous wireless subscriber networks, and transfers each classified received message to a corresponding processor. Specifically, the first message processing unit 11 uses a port number to distinguish messages transmitted and received from various wireless subscriber networks such as an HMm radio station, an HPi AP, a WLAN AP, an HSDPA radio access network, and the like. do. At this time, the first message processing unit 11 uses an arbitrary value between 49152 and 65535 according to the port number allocation rule defined by IANA based on TCP / UDP / SCTP communication based on the IP network. Select a port number at random and use it as the port number when received. For example, the first message processing unit 11 has a port number of 50000 when communicating with a HMm radio station, a port number 50001 when communicating with an HPi AP, a port number 50002 when communicating with a WLAN AP, and an HSDPA RAN. When communicating with the network, select the port number as 50003, and then add one after another from 50004 to 65535 for the new wireless subscriber network to be added.

As described above, the first message processor 11 transmits and receives a message from each wireless subscriber network, and distinguishes from which network the transmitted and received message is transmitted and received based on the transmitted and received port number. It also identifies what kind of message it is, and then delivers the message to the processor with the result of the discrimination. In this way, the first message processor 11 may classify the messages transmitted through the various wireless subscriber networks according to the corresponding wireless subscriber networks, and allow the messages to be processed by type.

The second message processing unit 12 receives and classifies the messages transmitted from the predetermined processing units 20 to 90 of the base station, and transmits the classified received messages to the corresponding processing unit.

The main controller 13 confirms the existence of the received message through the first and second message processing units 11 and 12, and based on the message classification results of the first and second message processing units 11 and 12, And control the message flow between the second message processing units 11 and 12 and the units 14 to 17.

The initialization unit 14 causes the base station 100 to be initialized at the initial start-up of the base station or upon a reconfiguration request for reconfiguring the base station software so that the base station is upgraded to a new version. If the messages transmitted and received through the first and second message processing units 11 and 12 are necessary for creating, maintaining, managing, and releasing sessions, the session processing unit 15 reconstructs these messages to perform session related processing. do.

If the messages transmitted through the first and second message processing units 11 and 12 are messages related to group mobility, the group mobility processing unit 16 reconstructs these messages to control mobility of terminals belonging to the group. .

If the message transmitted through the first and second message processing units 11 and 13 is a message related to authentication, the authentication processing unit 17 processes and reconstructs the corresponding message so that subscriber authentication is processed.

As such, each component of the network intermediary device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention may process various wireless subscription networks such as HPi, WLAN, and HDSPA as well as HMm, which is a fourth generation mobile communication service. It reconstructs numerous messages of different formats and contents from wireless subscriber networks into messages in an integrated base station. That is, in order to process the functions commonly provided for the different wireless subscriber networks in the integrated base station, the message provided from the wireless subscriber network is reconfigured into a message of a configuration format (first format) used by the integrated base station. In addition, when the message is delivered inside the integrated base station and delivered to a predetermined wireless subscriber network, the message in the configuration format of the integrated base station is reconfigured into a message conforming to the format (second format) of the corresponding wireless subscriber network. As described above, each of the processing units 14 to 17 of the network intermediary device 10 plays a role of mediation of message processing between the sender and the receiver of the message so that the corresponding processing is performed for each type of message.

Meanwhile, the main controller 13 analyzes the received messages of the message processing units 11 and 12 to determine which of the initialization message, the session related message, the group mobility related message, and the authentication related message corresponds to the received message. Message is sent to the corresponding part. If the received message does not belong to any of the above messages, error processing is performed.

Next, with reference to Figure 3 will be described in detail the operation of the network relay device of the integrated base station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a method for network brokering of an integrated base station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, when the system function starts, the main controller 13 operates the initialization unit 14 to perform system initialization (S1). When the initialization process is completed, the main controller 13 operates the message processing units 11 and 12. Check whether there is a received message (S2).

When a predetermined message is transmitted from the multi-mode terminal 300, the message is input to the base station 100 through a predetermined wireless subscriber network, and the message is transmitted to the base station 100 through the switching network. 11). Meanwhile, the predetermined message transmitted from the core network 400 is input to the second message processing unit 12 of the network intermediary device 10 through the media gateway 90.

When the message is input in this way, when the message is provided from the wireless subscriber network, the first message processing unit 11 interprets and processes the message as described below, and the message is obtained from a predetermined component which is another processing device of the base station. In the case of the received message (including the message received from the core network), the second message processing unit 12 interprets and processes the message as described later (S3 and S4).

The first message processing unit 11 determines which wireless subscriber network the received message is received through, and what kind of message is received from the predetermined wireless subscriber network, that is, an initialization request message, a session related message, and a group. Check whether the message corresponds to the message related to mobility or authentication. In addition, when the received message is a message received from another processing device of the base station, the second message processor 12 checks which message among the initialization request message, session related message, group mobility related message, and authentication related message. (S5, S6, S7, S8, S9). If the received message does not belong to any of the above messages, the main controller 13 reports an error occurrence to a higher layer (S10).

The main control unit 13 transmits the received message to each of the processing units 14, 15, 16, and 17 in charge of the corresponding processing based on the message interpretation result of the first or second message processing unit 11 or 12 (S11). . In this case, a determination result indicating to which wireless subscriber network the received message is transmitted may be delivered to the processing unit together with the message. Based on the determination result, each processing unit reconstructs a received message having a format according to a predetermined wireless subscriber network into a message having a format of an integrated base station.

Each of the processing units 14, 15, 16, and 17 generates a processing message by using internal functions required for function processing by the received message (S12). Specifically, when the received message is an initialization message, the initialization unit 14 generates a processing message for performing initial startup or reconfiguration, and then provides it to the reconfiguration server 50 of the base station 100 to initialize or reset the base station. Allows for reconfiguration, such as downloading new base station software.

In addition, when the received message is a session related message, the session processing unit 15 reconfigures the message to include mobility related information necessary for any one of creating, maintaining, managing, and releasing a session for session related processing. A message is generated and provided to the session manager 30 of the base station 100 so that the creation, maintenance, management, and release of the session are selectively performed.

In addition, when the received message is a group mobility-related message, the group mobility processing unit 16 reconfigures the message for mobility processing, generates a corresponding processing message, and provides it to the group mobility agent 60 of the base station 100 to provide the corresponding message. Allows mobility control of members belonging to the group.

In addition, when the received message is an authentication related message, the authentication processing unit 17 reconfigures the message for authentication processing, and generates a processing message, which is transmitted to the mobility manager 70 through the media gateway 90 of the base station 100. The subscriber authentication process is performed on the terminal 300 which has transmitted the message.

In particular, when the processing messages 14 to 17 are generated, the processing units 14 to 17 check whether the destination of the processing message is the wireless subscriber network or the processing unit in the base station (S13, S14, S15). If the processing message is a message to be transmitted to the wireless subscriber network according to the check result, the processing message is reconfigured into a format corresponding to the wireless subscriber network, and then transmitted to the predetermined wireless subscriber network through the switching network (S14), and the other configuration in the base station. If it is an element, that is, a message to be transmitted to the processing device, it is transmitted to the corresponding processing device in the base station (S16). At this time, if the processing message is not a message to be transmitted to the wireless subscriber network or the predetermined processing apparatus in the base station, each processing unit 14 to 17 or the main control unit 13 processes the message as an error (S17).

In this way, each processing unit 14 to 17 reconstructs the received message of a predetermined type to perform the corresponding processing, and transfers the reconstructed message to the predetermined processing device of the base station, thereby performing session processing, mobility control processing of group members, authentication processing, Mediation is performed such that base station initialization processing is performed.

According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention as described above, the HMm network, which is a fourth generation wireless subscriber network, is not a wireless communication service in an independent network environment, such as CDMA 1x EV-DO, W-CDMA, WLAN, etc. It can provide seamless wireless multimedia services to subscribers in various heterogeneous wireless subscriber network environments such as HIDPA, WiBro, and high-speed WLAN such as HSDPA, WiBro, and high-speed WLAN.

Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements of those skilled in the art using the basic concepts of the present invention defined in the following claims are also provided. It belongs to the scope of rights.

As such, according to an embodiment of the present invention, in a heterogeneous subscriber network environment in which a plurality of wireless subscriber networks having different transmission technologies and transmission protocols exist, open and independent processing of signals of various wireless subscriber networks is possible. .

In addition, integrated control of any type of wireless subscriber network is possible, thereby effectively integrating heterogeneous wireless subscriber networks.

Claims (7)

In the network intermediate apparatus of the integrated base station connected to a plurality of different wireless subscriber networks, including a plurality of processing devices for the integrated management of the plurality of wireless subscriber networks, A message processor for classifying messages transmitted and received from the wireless subscriber network by type; A session processing unit which performs mediation of session processing through a predetermined processing device of the base station when the transmitted and received message is a session related message; A group mobility processor for mediating mobility control of the corresponding group members through a predetermined processing device of the base station when the transmitted and received message is a group mobility related message; An authentication processing unit for mediating user authentication processing through a predetermined processing device of the base station when the transmitted and received message is an authentication related message; And When the existence of the received message is confirmed through the message processing unit, a main control unit controlling a message flow between the message processing unit and each processing unit so that the message is processed in the processing unit based on the received message classification result of the message processing unit. Network intermediary device of the integrated base station comprising a. The method of claim 1, The message processing unit, A first message processor for classifying and transmitting a message transmitted and received from the wireless subscriber network to a corresponding processor; And A second message processor which classifies a message provided from a predetermined processing device of the base station and transfers the message to a corresponding processor; Network intermediary device of the integrated base station comprising a. The method of claim 1, And an initialization unit configured to initialize the base station under the control of the main controller when the network relay device is initially driven or when a request for software reconfiguration of the base station is performed. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, And the message processing unit allocates different port numbers to respective wireless subscriber networks, and determines a wireless subscriber network which has transmitted the received message based on the port number where the received message is received. In the network brokering method of an integrated base station, which is connected to a plurality of different wireless subscriber networks, comprising a plurality of processing devices for the integrated management of the plurality of wireless subscriber networks, a) when receiving a message from the wireless subscriber network or a predetermined processing apparatus in the base station, checking the type of the received message; b) processing the received message according to the confirmation result to generate a processing message; c) determining a destination of the processing message and transmitting the processing message to a corresponding processing device in the wireless subscriber network or the base station according to a determination result; Including, Step b) Reconstructing the processing message into a first format that can be processed by the base station; And Reconstructing the processing message into a second format that can be processed in a predetermined wireless subscriber network Network mediation method of the integrated base station further comprising. The method of claim 5 Step b) If the received message is an initialization message, generating a processing message for initialization of the base station; If the received message is a session related message, processing the message to include mobility related information required for any one of creating, maintaining, managing, and releasing a session to generate a corresponding processing message; If the received message is a group mobility related message, generating a processing message for mobility control of corresponding group members; And If the received message is an authentication related message, generating a processing message for subscriber authentication Network mediation method of the integrated base station comprising a. The method of claim 5, In step a), when the message is received from the wireless subscriber network, it is determined from which wireless subscriber network the message is received. In step b), the received message is determined based on the determination result. Network mediation method of integrated base station reconfiguring in format.

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