KR20080000200A - Apparatus and method of vertical network interworking - Google Patents

Abstract

An interworking method between different networks is provided to allow WLAN subscribers in a hot spot region to use a service of a 802.16 system having the advantage of mobility. A terminal uses a WLAN service. An IEEE 802.1x network provides the WLAN service. A network provides an IEEE 802.16 family service. A combined type terminal receives the IEEE 802.16 family network service and cooperatively operates the IEEE 802.1x network and the IEEE 802.16 family network. The combined type terminal includes a function part for processing the IEEE 802.16 family signal, a function part for processing the IEEE 802.1x signal, and a gate function part for converting the IEEE 802.1x signal into an IEEE 802.16 family signal. The combined type terminal provides mobility to the terminal by allocating a fixed IP address or a mobile IP address from the IEEE 802.16 family network to the terminal.

Description

Interworking method between heterogeneous networks {APPARATUS AND METHOD OF VERTICAL NETWORK INTERWORKING}

1 is a diagram illustrating a heterogeneous interworking configuration according to an embodiment of the present invention.

2 is a diagram illustrating an authentication procedure between an AP of a CPE and a WLAN;

The present invention relates to a device and a method for interworking between heterogeneous networks, and more particularly, to a network for serving a WiBro system, an IEEE 802.16d, and an IEEE 802.16e (hereinafter, referred to as an 802.16 system) and a network for providing a WLAN service. In association with the present invention, an apparatus and method for providing a WLAN service in an 802.16 system to secure a wider subscriber than in the related art.

In the recent era of wireless multimedia, the necessity of transmitting large amounts of data at high speed using wireless channels is urgently needed, and thus, global wireless and high-speed data transmission systems are needed to support Internet services through mobile channels and wireless channels. Is being actively researched.

That is, since the maximum transmission speed of the currently used 3rd generation communication system is 2 Mbps in the stationary state, the 4th generation (4G: 4G) communication system aiming at a transmission rate of about 100 Mbps To provide users with various quality of service (hereinafter referred to as QoS) to users. Accordingly, a new communication system has been developed in the form of guaranteeing mobility and QoS in a wireless local area network (WLAN) and an 802.16 system that guarantee a relatively high transmission speed at a transmission rate of 20Mbps to 50Mbps. Researches are being actively conducted to support high-speed services to be provided by the system.

Here, the WLAN is based on the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 in 1999 for the users of the stationary state in a limited area such as indoor, crowded downtown and university library for the expansion of the conventional wired LAN. It was developed for near field communication. The WLAN provides Internet access at a high data rate of up to 11-54 Mbps in accordance with technical standards within a hot spot.

In addition, the cost of the access point (hereinafter referred to as "AP") for establishing the hot spot is not only low in cost, but also has an advantage of easy installation.

However, as the radius of the wireless LAN is about 100m and a service area is narrow, a very large number of APs are required to widen the area. In addition, there is a disadvantage that it is difficult to provide a service while moving in the hot spot.

Next, the 802.16 system is a service capable of seamlessly accessing the wireless Internet anytime, anywhere at high speed during stop, walk, and movement at medium speed (up to 60 km / h) using a portable Internet terminal. In particular, the 802.16 system can support a variety of multimedia terminals, such as notebooks, PDAs or smartphones by providing a transmission speed of 1Mbps or more that can smoothly provide a variety of ultra-high speed wireless multimedia services.

Moreover, the cell radius is around 10km, and nationwide wide area service is possible through network configuration. The 802.16 system provides a seamless service even while moving. The 802.16 system is a wireless Internet technology suitable for providing a service such as the Internet to a user of a high speed mobile state at a medium / low speed transmission speed.

When a user receiving the wireless LAN service is provided with a service such as an 802.16 system having strengths in mobility, both systems can only serve a terminal belonging to their own mobile station. There is no conventional standard itself that can provide a service to a terminal to which it belongs.

In other words, when configuring an 802.16 system with strengths in mobility, operators operating in the 802.16 series standard could not accommodate WLAN (802.1x) subscribers in a hot spot area, thus making it impossible to secure 802.1x subscribers. .

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to solve such a problem, for example, a mobile communication network such as an 802.16 system may provide a service to an 802.1x TE by interworking with a WLAN 802.1x network.

More specifically, for example, when the 802.16 series network is configured, the operator can accommodate WLAN (802.1x) subscribers in the hot spot area, thereby enabling the 802.1x subscriber acquisition to operators operating in the 802.16 series standard. It is done.

In accordance with a first aspect of the present invention for achieving the above objects, there is provided an apparatus for interworking heterogeneous networks, comprising: a terminal using a WLAN service, an IEEE 802.1x network providing a WLAN service, and an IEEE 802.16 series service And a combined terminal for receiving the IEEE 802.16 series network service and interworking the IEEE 802.1x network and the IEEE 802.16 series network.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for interworking heterogeneous networks, the method comprising: providing a WLAN service to a terminal in an IEEE 802.1x network, and interworking an IEEE 802.16 series network and the IEEE 802.1x network to the terminal; It characterized in that it comprises the step of providing the IEEE 802.16 series services.

Hereinafter, with reference to the accompanying drawings, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail. In the following description of the present invention, detailed descriptions of related well-known functions or configurations will be omitted.

First, reference numerals of FIG. 1 will be briefly described.

Reference numeral 1 denotes a customer premise equipment (CPE). Reference numeral 1 may support, for example, IEEE 802.16e + IEEE 802.1x, Unshielded Twist Pair (UTP), Universal Serial Bus (USB) interface, and AAA (Authentication, Athorization, Accounting) client. Reference numeral 2 denotes an image CAM for transferring the image via an IP (Internet Protocol) device or USB or UTP.

In addition, reference numeral 3 denotes an 802.1x access point (AP) (with or without IP), and reference numeral 4 denotes an 802.1x terminal equipment (TE).

Reference numeral 5 denotes an AAA client, and reference numeral 6 denotes a RAS (Radio Access System).

In addition, reference numeral 7 denotes an access control router (ACR), and reference numeral 8 denotes an AAA server.

Further, reference numeral 9 denotes an over-the-air server, and reference numeral 10 denotes an 802.16e network.

Reference numeral 11 denotes an 802.1x network, and reference numeral 12 denotes an 802.16e portable subscriber station (PSS).

Further, reference numeral 13 denotes an uplink network from the Internet to ACR, and reference numeral 14 denotes a downlink backhaul between the ACR and the RAS.

Reference numeral 15 denotes a Diameter Base Protocol, and reference numeral 16 denotes a wire.

Reference numeral 17 denotes IEEE 802.16e, and reference numeral 18 denotes a wired line.

Further, reference numeral 19 denotes a wired or WLAN 802.1x, and reference numeral 20 denotes a protocol gateway by authentication of the WLAN 802.1x TE below the reference 19 through the 802.16e backhaul.

Next, the heterogeneous interworking method according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail.

Referring to FIG. 1, reference numeral 12 is a terminal that satisfies the 802.16e standard, and reference numeral 1 is a CPE and belongs to a combined terminal in the category of reference numeral 12, but reference numeral 1 is a gateway between two protocols ( Has a difference from reference numeral 12. The reference numeral 1 is equipped with 802.16e and WLAN (802.1x) functions to allow WLAN subscribers to receive authentication and billing of the 802.16e network using the 802.16e network as a backhaul. What is needed to implement this feature is the WLAN Access Gateway (WAG). The WAG processes the interface between the 802.16e module and the WLAN module, creates or maintains a security association between both modules, and also handles an authorization procedure.

Referring to FIG. 2, when service authentication is successful for a WLAN terminal connected to 802.16e, an IP address is allocated according to a request of the terminal. When the AAA server of FIG. 1 delivers a static IP address of the terminal together with the service authentication result, the AAA server allocates the IP address delivered by the AAA server to the WLAN terminal. Otherwise, the IP address of the terminal is allocated according to a procedure such as DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) or IPCP (IP Control Protocol). In order to accommodate mobile IP service subscribers, it performs FA function. In addition, it processes the user traffic delivered to the WLAN terminal connected to the 802.16e, and performs the IP routing function for the user traffic received through the interface from the WAG of the 802.16e to the APC. Collecting billing information for WLAN users and terminals connected to 802.16e and forwarding to the AAA server.

The requirements of the WAG to support the interface from WLAN to 802.16e system are as follows. When the terminal initially accesses the WLAN, it transmits a paging controller ID of the WAG to the terminal. When the WLAN terminal initially accesses the WLAN access point to create a network session, the WLAN terminal generates and stores 802.16e session information corresponding thereto. Then, when the ACR requests the 802.16e session information for the UE, the WAG transfers the session information stored by the WAG to the ACR. When the WLAN terminal receives notification from the ACR that the WLAN terminal has accessed the 802.16e system, it creates a GRE tunnel with the ACR and transmits user traffic between the WLAN and the 802.16e system through the tunnel. When the terminal assigned the IP address in the WLAN moves to the 802.16e system, the WAG performs an IP routing function for the user traffic and transfers the charging information collected about the terminal to the AAA. To do this, support the Diameter AAA client (EAP / Accounting) function (requires porting).

Next, the components and functions thereof necessary for performing service authentication of the WLAN terminal will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 is a TE connected to a reference numeral 1 and a wire (LAN), and supports an I / O interface (UTP, USB) for processing traffic such as an IP-based camera, GPS, telematics, and a car black box. It enables the transmission of related images, and performs wired authentication through the CM (Connection Manager).

Reference numeral 3 is an 802.1x access point (if it has or does not have an IP) associated with reference numeral 1 and communicates via UTP or wirelessly via a hub or L2 switch.

Reference numeral 4 is a TE connected with reference numeral 1 and 802.1x, and the network is configured to receive Internet service and authentication with reference numeral 10 as a backhaul.

Reference numeral 5 is an AAA client that performs CER / CEA, DPR / DPA, and DWR / DWA message handling functions, which are responsible for establishing and terminating the connection and checking the service status of the application layer. It performs application services to handle subscriber's network access and authority control and application services to handle usage of subscriber (access service), performs authentication system network access authentication, network access charging function, authentication system Must support diameter-based protocols (RFC3588).

Reference numeral 11 is a WLAN series 802.1x network, and reference numeral 10 is an 802.16e network.

Reference numeral 6 is a Radio Access System (RAS) supporting 802.16e.

Reference numerals 7, 5 are Access Control Routers (ACRs), which provide general router functionality, AAA Client functionality for Call Processing and 802.16e PSS and CPE authentication, and 802.1x TE has AAA Client for CPE. At this time, since it provides a function of relaying a communication message between the CPE and the AAA server, the AAA server transmits the authentication / accounting message of the TEs connected via wired / wireless CPE between the AAA server and the CPE section to the AAA server.

 Reference numeral 14 is a backhaul network composed of L2 switch groups for effective network configuration of RAS and can be configured as private IP or public IP.

Reference numeral 13 is a network in which a default G / W, which goes from the reference numeral 10 to the Internet network, is located.

Reference numeral 8 is responsible for the AAA function of the 802.16e and 802.1x TE, and reference numeral 9 is responsible for the OTA of the TE. In OTA, state and location information of TE is received from AAA, and OTA enables modification of TE's firmware and parameters.

Meanwhile, in the detailed description of the present invention, specific embodiments have been described, but various modifications are possible without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined not only by the scope of the following claims, but also by the equivalents of the claims.

When configuring the 802.16 series network, the operator can facilitate the service expansion by enabling the 802.16e service provider to use and authenticate the 802.1xe TE to accommodate WLAN (802.1x) subscribers in the hot spot area.

In other words, WLAN (802.1x) subscribers in the hot spot area can take advantage of the services of the 802.16 system with the advantage of mobility.

Claims (14)

In the device for interworking heterogeneous networks, A terminal using a WLAN service, An IEEE 802.1x network providing WLAN services, A network providing IEEE 802.16 series services; And a combined terminal receiving the IEEE 802.16 series network service and interworking the IEEE 802.1x network and the IEEE 802.16 series network. The method of claim 1, The combined terminal, A function unit for processing the IEEE 802.16 series signal; A function unit for processing the IEEE 802.1x signal; And a gate function unit for converting the IEEE 802.1x signal into the IEEE 802.16 series signal. The method of claim 2, The combined terminal, And assigning a fixed IP address or a dynamic IP address from the IEEE 802.16 series network to the terminal to provide mobility to the terminal. The method of claim 1, The combined terminal, Device that supports I / O interfaces such as IP-based cameras, GPS, telematics, and car black boxes. The method of claim 1, The combined terminal, Device for assigning an IP address to the terminal using a DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) or IPCP (IP Control Protocol). The method of claim 1, The combined terminal, Apparatus for providing a wired or wireless authentication function to the terminal. The method of claim 1, The combined terminal, And generating a Generic Routing Encapsulation (GRE) tunnel with a base station controller of the IEEE 802.16 series network and interfacing user traffic between the IEEE 802.1x network and the IEEE 802.16 series network through the tunnel. In a method for interworking heterogeneous networks, Providing WLAN service to a terminal in an IEEE 802.1x network; And providing the IEEE 802.16 based service to the terminal by interworking an IEEE 802.16 series network and the IEEE 802.1x network. The method of claim 8, The interworking step, And converting the signal of the IEEE 802.1x into the signal of the IEEE 802.16 series. The method of claim 8, The interworking step, And assigning a fixed IP address or a floating IP address from the IEEE 802.16 series network to the terminal to provide mobility to the terminal. The method of claim 8, The interworking step, Transmitting traffic collected from an IP based camera, GPS, telematics, car black box, etc. to the IEEE 802.16 family network. The method of claim 8, The interworking step, And assigning an IP address to the terminal using DHCP or IPCP. The method of claim 8, The interworking step, And providing a wired / wireless authentication function to the terminal. The method of claim 8, The interworking step, Creating a GRE tunnel between a combined terminal connected to an access point to which the terminal is connected and a base station controller of the IEEE 802.16 series network; Interfacing user traffic between the IEEE 802.1x network and the IEEE 802.16 family network over the tunnel.

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