KR20060066040A - System and method for local mobility managing device of converged-access network in heterogeneous wireless access networks environment - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for managing mobility of an integrated base station.

In an integrated base station for providing an integrated service between networks in a heterogeneous wireless subscriber network environment, the mobility management device performs mobility management for each wireless subscriber network. Specifically, the message processing unit of the device analyzes the types of messages transmitted and received according to the mobility management protocol or the session related protocol, and based on the analysis result, the main control unit initializes information, subscriber information, terminal location registration data, session mobility information, and subscriber. Messages related to the authentication information are transmitted to the initialization unit, the subscriber information control unit, the location registration control unit, the session processing unit, and the authentication processing unit, respectively, to be processed.

Accordingly, by performing mobility management function in heterogeneous wireless subscriber network environment, wireless multimedia service can be provided without interruption, and mobility management function of different wireless subscriber network can be integrated.

Wireless subscriber network, core network, integrated base station, mobility management, HMm

Description

Device and method for managing mobility of integrated base station {SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR LOCAL MOBILITY MANAGING DEVICE 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 an mobility management apparatus of an integrated base station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a mobility management method of an integrated base station according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a diagram illustrating a flow of a signal message transmitted and received through interworking with another system in a mobility management apparatus of an integrated base station according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

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

Wireless subscriber network technology has been developed along with terminals and core networks according to the development of wireless and mobile communication technologies, and digital hybrid networks supporting the first generation analog subscriber network, the second generation digital subscriber network, and the third generation line and packet services. Based on the packet transmission network after 3G and 3G, it is developing into an IP-based open multimedia subscriber network that supports the integration of existing networks and 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 the first attempt has been made to make the core network 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.

Since 1999, efforts have been made to introduce IP technology to the Radio Access Network (RAN), centering on the Mobile Wireless Internet Forum (MWIF), followed by 3GPP, the de facto standardization body for 3G mobile communications. The researches on IP-based subscriber network technology have been conducted in and 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.

In the future, various subscriber networks are expected to emerge, including HMm (High-speed Mobile Multimedia), which is under development, and how to integrate these various subscriber networks effectively, service mobility, user mobility, terminal mobility, Along with network mobility, whether to provide seamless services through handover will be an important issue.

Currently, mobile communication networks provide limited form of data service in the network designed for voice and integration in core network is being promoted, but full integration of wireless protocol, mobility management, authentication, handover, etc. in subscriber network is not achieved. Therefore, integrated management of heterogeneous subscriber networks is required, and in particular, mobility management of heterogeneous subscriber networks is required.

However, there is little research on the needs of mobility management of heterogeneous subscriber networks.

An object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus and method for managing mobility of an integrated base station for providing a seamless mobile communication service to a terminal in a heterogeneous wireless subscriber network environment having at least two wireless subscriber networks having different frequencies and transmission protocols. To provide.

In addition, the technical problem to be achieved by the present invention is to effectively integrate and control the signaling procedures and messages for the mobility control of the terminals of different wireless subscriber networks, while providing services to the local call without the support of the core network, or without the core network have.

An apparatus for managing mobility of an integrated base station according to an aspect of the present invention for solving this problem includes a database storing subscriber information and mobility related information in a mobility management apparatus of an integrated base station connected to a plurality of different wireless subscriber networks; A message processing unit which analyzes a mobility management related message or a session management related message received from a predetermined wireless subscriber network, determines a type, and classifies the message according to a result; A session processor configured to perform session related processing based on the message when the message is a message related to a session; A location registration controller configured to perform mobility related processing based on the message if the message is a mobility related message corresponding to one of location registration, release, and paging of a terminal; An authentication processing unit for performing an authentication process based on the message if the message is an authentication related message; A subscriber information control unit managing the information through the database if the message is a subscriber information related message; And a main controller configured to control a message flow between the message processor and each unit so that the message is processed in the corresponding unit according to a message interpretation result of the message processor, and perform all control operations for an integrated mobility management function. .

In addition, the mobility management method of an integrated base station according to another aspect of the present invention, in the mobility management method of an integrated base station connected to a plurality of different wireless subscriber network, a) a message received from a predetermined wireless subscriber network or mobility management; Determining whether a message corresponds to a session management; b) interpreting the received message and classifying the received message if the received message is a configuration message; And c) reconfiguring the received message into a form that can be processed by an integrated base station, and performing mobility related processing corresponding to the classified characteristic based on the reconstructed message.

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.

According to the future trend of the wireless subscriber network, in the embodiment of the present invention, in the heterogeneous wireless subscriber network environment in which various wireless subscriber networks using different wireless transmission technologies and wireless protocols are mixed, the subscriber station is provided with various wireless communication services. The integrated base station provides a service by integrating heterogeneous wireless subscriber networks to use. In particular, in this integrated base station, the mobility management device manages mobility for a subscriber station regardless of any wireless subscriber network.

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 provide a predetermined service to the terminal 300. If the terminal is registered in the integrated base station and the base station is sufficient local service for the base station only, 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. For example, a high-speed mobile multimedia (HMm) radio station, an HPi ( High-speed Portable internet (AP) 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 ) Provides MMoIP or VoIP, and data services.

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, in a state in which a variety of wireless subscriber network bundled with a switching network 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 unit D, call server 80, media gateway 90 is included. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, the components 10 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 in particular, determines which wireless subscriber network the signaling messages are provided through, and according to the determination result, Mediation to ensure that processing is done.

Specifically, the can broker 10 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. At this time, the CAN broker 10 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. The number is arbitrarily selected and used, and upon reception, a value determined by a predetermined rule is used as the port number. For example, port number 50000 when communicating with the HMm radio station, 50001 port number when communicating with the HPi AP, 50002 port number when communicating with the WLAN AP, and 50003 port number when communicating with the HSDPA RAN. After that, new allocations are made between 50004 and 65535 for each new wireless subscriber network to be added.

When the CAN broker 10 transmits and receives a message from each wireless subscriber network, the CAN broker 10 distinguishes from which network the transmitted / received message is transmitted based on the transmitted / received port number. 70). In this way, the can broker 10 may classify messages transmitted through various wireless subscriber networks according to the corresponding wireless subscriber networks, and allow the messages to be processed according to the corresponding characteristics.

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 the RFID may be located in the core network 400 instead of the base station 100, and the RFID manager 40 of the base station 100 receives in conjunction with an RFID DB (not shown) of the core network 400. It performs the function to identify the RFID of the received signal and carry it in the wireless subscriber network.

The reconfiguration server 50 allows 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 60 performs a function to support Network Mobility (NEMO) working in Institute For The Future (IETF). In particular, when a terminal group moves, it performs a function of managing group mobility. In addition, the database unit D includes a plurality of databases that store 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, the mobility manager, that is, the mobility management device according to the embodiment of the present invention has the following structure.

2 is a diagram illustrating a specific structure of an apparatus for managing mobility of an integrated base station according to an embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 2, the mobility manager, that is, the mobility management device 70 according to an embodiment of the present invention, includes a message processing unit 71, a mobility database 72, a database interface unit 73, and an initialization unit 74. ), A location registration control unit 75, a main control unit 76, a session processing unit 77, a subscriber information control unit 78, and an authentication processing unit 79.

The message processing unit 71 receives the messages transmitted from the heterogeneous wireless subscriber network 200 according to the mobility control protocol (MC) or the session related protocol (Session Control, SC) through the integrated base station 100 and classifies the messages. Perform the operation, and transmit the received message to the corresponding part according to the result.

The mobility database 72 stores subscriber information and mobility-related data, and the database interface 73 plays a role of generating, deleting, and updating data between the main controller 76 and the mobility database 72. This database interface 73 may perform the functions as described above using an embedded database language.

The initialization unit 74 initializes the base station 100 at initial startup or upon reconfiguration request for reconfiguring the base station software so that the base station is upgraded to a new version, and the location registration control unit 75 transmits and receives through the message processing unit 71. If the message is a message related to mobility, such as location registration, release, and paging of the terminal, the message is reconstructed so that mobility-related processing (location registration, release, paging, etc.) is performed.

The session processor 77 reconstructs the message including the mobility information when the message transmitted / received through the message processor 71 is a session related message required for creating, maintaining, managing, and releasing a session.

The subscriber information control unit 78 manages the subscriber information through the mobility database 72 when the message received through the message processing unit 71 is a subscriber information related message, and the authentication processing unit 79 performs the message processing unit 71. If the message transmitted / received through) is an authentication-related message, it is responsible for processing and reconstructing the message. The main controller 76 collectively controls the mobility management device having such a structure.

The mobility management apparatus according to the embodiment of the present invention having such a structure integrates various wireless subscription networks such as HPi, WLAN, and HDSPA as well as HMm, which is the fourth generation mobile communication service, interworking, handing over, and managing calls. The messages provided from these various wireless subscriber networks are classified into functions such as mobility management, session management, location registration, and resource management, and each part reconstructs numerous messages having different formats and contents 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 used by the integrated base station.

Next, the operation of the mobility management apparatus of the integrated base station according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.

3 is a flowchart illustrating a mobility management method of an integrated base station according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the integrated base station 100, when the base station mobility management function starts, the main control unit 76 of the mobility management apparatus operates the initialization unit 74 to perform initialization of the integrated base station (S1). When the initialization process is completed, it is checked whether there is a message received through the message processing unit 71 (S2).

When a predetermined message is transmitted from the multi-mode terminal 300, the message is input to the base station 100 through the predetermined wireless subscriber network. This message is delivered to each processing device 20 to 60 through a switching network, a can broker 10, or a message processing unit 71 of the mobility management device 70 through a media gateway 90 and a call server 80. It is input to the predetermined buffer in the inside. Alternatively, the predetermined messages transmitted from the core network 400 are also input to the predetermined buffer of the message processing unit 71 through the call server 80.

If there is a received message in the buffer (S3), the message processor 71 interprets the received message to determine whether the message is a mobility control (MC) or session control (SC) related message. (S4). When the received message is an MC or SC related message, the message is interpreted to determine in detail what kind of mobility management or session management related message (S5).

The message processing unit 71 checks whether the corresponding message is one of an initialization request message, a session related message, a location registration or release, a paging related message, an authentication related message, and a subscriber information related message based on the result of analyzing the message (S6). , S7, S8, S9, S10). In this case, it is possible to determine what kind of message the message is based on a predetermined identification code assigned to the preamble or frame of the message. Since the method is known in the art, a detailed description thereof will be omitted. In addition, the message acknowledgment method is not limited to that described above. On the other hand, the message processing unit 71 reports an error to a higher means (for example, a call server, etc.) if the message does not belong to any of the above messages in the message checking process (S11).

The message processing unit 71 receives the received message based on the above message interpretation result through the main control unit 76, the initialization unit 74, the location registration control unit 75, the session processing unit 77, and the subscriber information control unit 78. The data is transmitted to one of the authentication processing units 79 (S12).

Specifically, if the received message is an initialization-related message, the message processor 71 transmits the corresponding message to the initialization unit 74. If the message is a mobility-related message necessary for creating, maintaining, managing, and releasing a session, the message processor 71 transmits the message. To send). If the received message is a mobility related message such as location registration, release, and paging of the terminal, the message is transmitted to the location registration control unit 75.

Also, if the received message is an authentication related message, the message is transmitted to the authentication processing unit 79. If the received message is a subscriber information related message, the information contained in the message stores subscriber information and mobility related information. 72 is transmitted to the subscriber information control unit 78 to be managed through.

Each of the processing units 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, and 79 views the received message and generates a message to be processed by using internal functions required for function processing (S13). In this case, the generated processing message is a message reconstructed from the received message to be processed inside the integrated base station as described above.

After the processing message is generated, each processing unit transfers the processing message to the MC if the processing message is to be processed according to mobility management (MC) (S14, S15), and to the SC if the message is to be processed according to session management (SC). Transfer (S16, S17). Here, the transfer to the MC means that each processing unit performs related processing (eg, location registration, release, paging, authentication, etc. of the terminal) based on the processing message according to the mobility management so that processing is performed according to the mobility management protocol. This means that the message is transmitted to the higher processing function of the or the predetermined processing device of the base station 100. Or forwarding the message to another portion of the mobility management device 70 to perform the related processing. In addition, to deliver to the SC, the message is delivered to its own higher processing function that performs related processing (eg, creation, maintenance, management, release, etc.) based on the processing message according to the session management. This means that the session related processing is performed by transferring to another processing device (eg, session manager) related to session processing of the base station 100.

Accordingly, according to the messages transmitted to the MC, the mobility management device 70 performs mobility management functions such as authentication, paging for various wireless subscription networks, terminal location registration and release, and location update. In addition, according to the messages transmitted to the SC, the mobility management device 70 and the session manager 23 interoperate with each other to integrate and manage sessions between wireless subscriber networks.

On the other hand, in the above step (S14, S16), each processing unit performs an error processing operation when the generated processing message is not a message to be delivered to the MC or SC (S18).

As described above, in the embodiment of the present invention, the mobility management device 70 classifies various types of messages transmitted from different wireless subscriber networks according to their characteristics, and the integrated base station 100 may process the classified messages. By reconfiguring and processing the message as possible, the mobility management functions of different wireless subscriber networks can be integrated and controlled and processed.

On the other hand, Figure 4, the mobility management device of the integrated base station according to an embodiment of the present invention operating as described above, the interworking with the function (or other processing device in the base station) to perform other functions according to the communication protocol The flow of processing a signaling message is illustrated. In FIG. 4, MC means a function of processing a message according to a mobility management protocol, SC means a function of processing a message according to a session management protocol, and ANAP means a function of delivering a mobility related message to another processing unit. do. The local mobility controller (LMC) also means another function of the mobility management device 70 that performs mobility management. In addition, MC and ANAP are functions performed in the mobility management apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention, SC is a function performed in the session manager.

Looking at the flow of the signaling message with reference to Figure 4, the Attach Request message transmitted from the terminal 300 is delivered to the access network application part (ANAP) of the mobility management device 70 through the physical layer, MAC layer not shown ANAP forwards this message to the MC in the form of MCPNAP_PDU_IND (S100).

If the identity of the terminal included in the Attach Request message is IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) or the IMSI of the terminal is obtained by an Identity Request / Response procedure (S110 to S120), the MC is an LMC or a Group Mobility Manager (GMM). From the group mobility agent 60, an authentication vector (RAND, XRES, AUTH, CK, IK) for authentication of the terminal is obtained (S130 to S160).

The MC performs an MC procedure (Authentication and Ciphering Request / Response) and a PNAP procedure (Security Mode Command / Complete) for authentication based on the authentication vector (S170 to S200).

The attach status of the terminal is reported to the LMC, and the LMC transmits subscriber information of the terminal to the MC. (Insert Local Subscriber Info / Ack) (S210 to S240).

Report the attach status of the terminal to the GMM. At this time, if the query of the subscriber information fails in the Insert Local Subscriber Info / Ack procedure, the subscriber information is queried to the GMM. MC specifies a request for subscriber information in Attach Indication. When the subscriber information is obtained from the GMM, it is stored in the MC context and transmitted to the LMC (S250 to S290). The MC informs the SC that the UE is attached (SCMC_ATTACH_IND / RSP) (S310 to S320). The terminal transmits an Attach Accept message to the terminal, and when the P-TMSI is allocated, the terminal transmits an Attach Complete message (SS330 to S340).

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 service 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 subscriber network environment in which a plurality of wireless subscriber networks having different transmission technologies and transmission protocols exist, mobility management for the wireless subscriber networks can be integrated. Therefore, it is possible to provide a mobile communication service without interruption to terminals moving to different subscription networks.

Claims (5)

In the mobility management device of an integrated base station connected to a plurality of different wireless subscriber network, A database for storing subscriber information and mobility related information; A message processing unit which analyzes a mobility management related message or a session management related message received from a predetermined wireless subscriber network, determines a type, and classifies the message according to a result; A session processor configured to perform session related processing based on the message when the message is a message related to a session; A location registration controller configured to perform mobility related processing based on the message if the message is a mobility related message corresponding to one of location registration, release, and paging of a terminal; An authentication processing unit for performing an authentication process based on the message if the message is an authentication related message; A subscriber information control unit managing the information through the database if the message is a subscriber information related message; And According to a message interpretation result of the message processing unit, the main control unit for controlling the message flow between the message processing unit and each unit so that the message is processed in the corresponding unit, and performs the overall control operation for the integrated mobility management function Mobility management device of the integrated base station comprising a. The method of claim 1, And an initialization unit for initializing the base station under the control of the main control unit when the initial management of the mobility management device or a request for software reconfiguration of the base station is performed. The method according to claim 1 or 2 And the session processing unit, the location registration control unit, and the authentication processing unit reconstruct the received message into a message of a setting format that can be processed by the base station, and perform the processing based on the reconstructed message. In the mobility management method of an integrated base station connected to a plurality of different wireless subscriber network, a) determining whether a message received from a predetermined wireless subscriber network is a setup message corresponding to mobility management or session management; b) interpreting the received message and classifying the received message if the received message is a configuration message; And c) reconfiguring the received message into a form that can be processed by an integrated base station, and performing mobility related processing corresponding to the classified characteristics based on the reconstructed message; Mobility management method of an integrated base station comprising a. In paragraph 4 Step c) If the received message is a session related message, reconfiguring the message and performing a corresponding function including mobility related information required to perform at least one of creating, maintaining, managing, and releasing the session; If the received message is a message related to one of location registration, release, and paging of the terminal, performing mobility related processing based on the message; If the received message is an authentication related message, performing subscriber authentication based on the message; And If the received message is a subscriber information related message, inserting or updating the information with respect to a database storing subscriber information and mobility related information; Mobility management method of an integrated base station comprising a.

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