KR20150094139A - Home Subscriber Server, CONTROL METHOD THEREOF, AND RECORDING MEDIUM FOR RECORDING PROGRAM FOR EXECUTING THE CONTROL METHOD - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a home subscriber server (HSS), a control method thereof, and a recording medium for executing a control method. The control method of a home subscriber server (HSS), according to the present invention, includes information about a call connection setup support device of a first connection network (hereinafter, a first call connection setup support device) and information about a call connection setup support device of a second communications network (hereinafter, a second call connection setup support device), corresponding to a hybrid terminal which is connectable to a heterogeneous communications network and comprises the first communications network and the second communications network, and provides the information about the first connection setup support device preferentially than the information about the second call connection setup support device to a calling side, when there is a call connection request to the hybrid terminal by setting a priority of the first communications network higher than that of the second communications network. The control method comprises the steps of: determining whether at least one of call processing entities, matched to a hybrid receiving terminal of the first communications network which is set to be higher in priority, has a failure or not, when a call connection request signal to the hybrid receiving terminal is received from the calling side; and extracting information about the second call connection setup support device and transmitting the information to the calling side, when at least one of the call processing entities, matched to the hybrid receiving terminal of the first communications network, has a failure based on a determination result of the step above.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), a control method thereof, and a recording medium for executing the control method.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a home subscriber server (HSS), a control method thereof, and a recording medium for executing the control method. More particularly, An HSS providing information on the call connection setup supporting device according to a determination result, a control method thereof, and a recording medium for executing the control method.

Recently, the mobile communication network is further developed in the third generation mobile communication, and LTE (Long Term Evolution) communication network is also used.

LTE stands for Long Term Evolution and is the name given to the technology that has evolved 3G in the long term. LTE is based on the standard "Release 8" established in December 2008 by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a wireless standardization organization.

However, in the process of moving from 3G to LTE, many terminals are configured to support both 3G communication and LTE communication. A terminal supporting such heterogeneous communication network is called a hybrid terminal.

In order to connect a call, a communication network may be equipped with a home subscriber server (HSS), which is a kind of database for storing subscriber information. When the HSS detects an incoming signal to a hybrid terminal, the HSS transmits a call to the called CSCF Session Control Function) information or a mobile switching center (MSC) information for connection to a 3G communication network (for example, a CDMA communication network). At this time, when the HSS detects the incoming signal to the hybrid terminal, it provides the called party's CSCF information to the calling party in preference to the called party's MSC information in order to preferentially process the communication to the LTE network.

The outline of the procedure in which the HSS provides the called CSCF information and the call is connected according to the request of the originating terminal is as shown in FIG.

1, a user equipment (UE) refers to a mobile communication terminal used by a mobile communication subscriber. An eNodeB (Evolved Node B) is a kind of base station that provides wireless connection between a UE and an LTE network. , A PDN gateway) is an apparatus that assigns an IP address to a terminal and performs a function of allowing each UE to connect to an IP-based communication network such as an IMS (IP Multimedia Subsystem) network or the Internet. In particular, an MME (Mobility Management Entity) is a device for authenticating a UE as a switching device, managing an EPS bearer, and managing a mobility state of a subscriber, and is a core device for call processing.

The CSCF (Call Session Control Function) corresponds to a device for supporting a call connection, that is, a call connection setup supporting device, and performs functions according to the network in which the subscriber is located. Accordingly, CSCF (P-CSCF), Interrogating (I-CSCF), Serving CSCF (S-CSCF). The functional configuration and function of the CSCF itself are well known and will not be described in detail.

When the calling terminal acquiring the communication channel through communication with the calling MME transmits an INVITE message corresponding to the call connection signal to the calling CSCF via the SP-GW (step S1), the calling CSCF (LIA signal) of the called terminal to the HSS (step S3). When the HSS transmits the LIA signal of the called terminal to the CSCF (step S3), the CSCF transmits the location information of the called terminal And transmits an INVITE message to the called CSCF on the basis of step S5.

At this time, if the called CSCF operates normally to the called MME, the called CSCF transmits an INVITE message to the called terminal via the called SP-GW or the like (step S7). Thereafter, A call channel is established between the terminals and the caller and the called party can talk with each other.

FIG. 1 illustrates a process in which VoLTE-VoLTE communication is successfully performed between a calling terminal supporting VoLTE and a calling terminal supporting VoLTE and legacy communication (for example, CDMA communication network).

However, if a problem occurs in the destination MME, a normal call connection process as shown in FIG. 1 is not performed. This process is shown in FIG.

That is, when a malfunction occurs in the called MME, the called CSCF can not normally communicate with the called terminal via the called SP-GW or the like. That is, the step S37 in FIG. 2 does not proceed normally, and therefore the subsequent process for the call connection can not proceed as shown in FIG.

However, in the case where a malfunction has occurred in the called MME, there has not been proposed a technique for confirming this in advance, so it is time to send the INVITE message to the called terminal via the called party SP-GW in the called party CSCF Only the INVITE message can not be transmitted properly.

That is, since the functional failure state of the destination MME could not be confirmed in advance, the signal transmission process from the source CSCF to the destination SP-GW was performed without any meaning.

This results in a delay in the connection of the call or a decrease in the success rate of the call connection, which causes the complaints of the subscribers.

Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 10-2009-0053865

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide an HSS and a control method thereof, in which, even when a malfunction occurs in an MME corresponding to a call processing entity corresponding to a called subscriber, And a recording medium for executing the control method.

In order to achieve the above object, there is provided a call connection setup support device of a first communication network corresponding to a hybrid terminal connectable to a heterogeneous communication network including a first communication network and a second communication network according to the present invention (Hereinafter referred to as " second call connection setup support device ") of the second communication network corresponding to the hybrid terminal, and transmits the first communication network to the second communication network (HSS) that provides information on the first call connection setup supporting device to the calling party prior to the information on the second call connection setup supporting device when there is a call connection request to the hybrid terminal Home Subscriber Server) comprises: a receiver for receiving a call connection request signal from a calling party to a called party; When a call connection request signal to the hybrid receiver terminal is received at the receiver, the failure determination unit determines whether at least one of the call processing entities matching the hybrid receiver terminal of the first communication network, Wow; When at least one of the call processing entities matched to the hybrid call receiving terminal of the first communication network is in a failure occurrence state as a result of the determination by the failure determination unit, information on the second call connection setup supporting device is extracted and transmitted to the calling side And an information providing unit.

In order to achieve the above-mentioned object, according to the present invention, there is provided a call connection setup assisting device (hereinafter, referred to as a first call connection establishing device) of the first communication network corresponding to a hybrid terminal connectable to a heterogeneous communication network including a first communication network and a second communication network, And a second call connection setup support device (hereinafter, referred to as a second call connection setup support device) of the second communication network, wherein the first communication network is higher in priority than the second communication network A home subscriber server (HSS) for providing information on the first call connection setup supporting device to the calling party prior to the information on the second call connection setup supporting device when the call connection request to the hybrid terminal exists, When receiving a call connection request signal from a calling side to a hybrid call receiving terminal, And the step of determining whether the call processing entity of at least one of the fault matching the hybrid call destination; If at least one of the call processing entities matched to the hybrid call receiving terminal of the first communication network is in a failure occurrence state, information on the second call connection setup supporting device is extracted and transmitted to the calling side / RTI >

As described above, according to the present invention, even if a failure occurs in the called party MME corresponding to the hybrid terminal corresponding to the called terminal, the originating terminal can be connected to the 3G network by the processing of the HSS.

At this time, since the failure occurrence state of the MME can be determined by the HSS before the signal transmission process from the source CSCF to the destination SP-GW is performed, rapid call connection and call success rate can be increased.

FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating a process in which a call is normally connected according to a conventional method,
FIG. 2 is a process in which a call is not normally connected according to a conventional method,
3 is a schematic configuration diagram of an entire communication system including an HSS according to an embodiment of the present invention,
Figure 4 is a functional block diagram of the HSS of Figure 3,
5 is a control flowchart of an HSS according to an embodiment of the present invention,
Figure 6 is a control flow diagram of an overall communication system according to an embodiment of the present invention compared to Figure 2;

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in order to facilitate understanding of the present invention, and the present invention is not limited to these embodiments. In particular, the present invention can be configured by combining at least any one of individual components, individual functions, or individual steps included in each embodiment.

A schematic configuration of an entire communication system including an HSS (Home Subscriber Server) 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is as shown in FIG.

As shown in the figure, the calling party 200 receives the called party information from the HSS 100 and connects the call.

A brief description of each component is as follows.

First, the calling terminal 200 includes an originating terminal 210, an eNB 220, an MME 230, an SP-GW 240, and a CSCF 250.

The components included in the calling side 200 are shown for convenience of explanation, and some known components required for actual communication are omitted.

The calling terminal 210 is a terminal operated by a calling user, and corresponds to a terminal capable of communicating with a calling party such as a feature phone, a smart phone, or a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants). In this embodiment, the originating terminal 210 is connected to a 4G (4 Generation) communication network.

The calling eNB 220 refers to the eNode B. The calling eNB 220 provides a wireless communication channel to the calling terminal 210 to enable wireless communication and corresponds to a kind of base station.

The originating MME (Mobility Management Entity) 240 authenticates the user terminal, i.e., the originating terminal 210, and manages the EPS bearer, which is a kind of logical tunnel for allowing the user terminal to perform IP-based communication (Creating, modifying, and releasing) a subscriber and managing the mobility state of the subscriber, which corresponds to a core entity for call processing.

SGW denotes an anchoring function during handover between eNBs, that is, an SGW (Serving Gateway) and a PGW (PDN Gateway) The handover of the communication terminal occurs in the eNB2.

The PGW allocates an IP address to the communication terminal (i.e., the originating terminal 210 in this embodiment), performs anchoring on the S-GWs when a handover occurs, applies different QoS policies to each communication terminal Ranking, bandwidth control, and so on).

The calling side CSCF (Call Session Control Function) 250 performs Session Control Protocol (SIP) based Call Control and Session Handling functions. According to the functions, the P-CSCF (Proxy-CSCF) CSCF), and S-CSCF (Serving-CSCF). However, since the individual configuration of the CSCF is only known, detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The source CSCF 250 transmits a call connection request signal (LIR: Location Information Request signal) to the HSS 100 when a call connection request signal (aka INVITE signal) according to the request of the originating terminal 210 is received And receives a corresponding response signal (LIA: Location Information Answer signal), and performs a function of connecting to the called party 300 using the information included in the response signal.

For example, when the calling party's CSCF 350 information is received from the HSS 100, the calling party's CSCF 250 uses the called party's CSCF 350 information so that a call connection request signal is transmitted to the called party's CSCF 350 The MSC 380 of the called party 300 uses the MSC 380 information of the called party 300 to receive the information of the MSC 380 from the HSS 100 The call connection request signal is transmitted.

The function of the CSCF corresponds to the known technology, and thus a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

The called party 300 includes an eNB, an MME, an SP-GW, and a CSCF as components of a 4G communication network to which the terminating terminal 310 and the terminating terminal 310 are connected. And includes a MSC 380, a BSC 370, and a BTS 360 as components of a 3G communication network to which the terminating terminal 310 is connected.

The components included in the called party 300 are shown for convenience of explanation, and some known components required for actual communication are omitted.

The receiving terminal 310 may be a communication terminal capable of communicating with a calling party such as a calling terminal 210. The calling terminal 310 may be a feature phone, a smart phone, a PDA (Personal Digital Assistants) Is a hybrid terminal capable of accessing both the 4G communication network and the 3G communication network.

Since the components of the 4G communication network included in the called party 300 correspond to the components described in the calling party 200, redundant description will be omitted.

Among the components included in the 3G communication network of the called party 300, a BTS (Base Transceiver Station) 360 is wirelessly connected to the communication terminal, that is, the called terminal 310 to control the incoming phone, Channel, which corresponds to a kind of base station.

A base station controller (BSC) 370 is a base station controller that operates in conjunction with a mobile communication exchange while connecting and controlling several base stations. A mobile switching center (MSC) 380 is a core equipment of a communication network, Control call and supplementary services, set up call paths, and provide connectivity to various other equipment and external networks.

The HSS 100 is a kind of database containing information of each subscriber, and in particular, has information on a call connection setup supporting device of each communication network (LTE network, legacy network). Here, the call connection setup supporting device is a device for supporting establishment of connection of a call in a call connection process, for example, a CSCF of an IMS network or an MSC 380 of a legacy network.

At this time, the HSS 100 sets the priority of the LTE network higher than that of the legacy network, and when there is a call connection request to the terminating terminal 310 as the hybrid terminal, the HSS 100 transmits CSCF information corresponding to the LTE network to the MSC 380 corresponding to the legacy network And provides it to the calling side 200 in a higher priority.

The function of the HSS 100 up to this point corresponds to a known technology. Hereinafter, the functional blocks of FIG. 4 will be referred to in order to explain the functions of the HSS 100 different from the conventional ones.

The HSS 100 may include a receiving unit 110, a failure determining unit 120, an information providing unit 130, and a storage unit 140, as shown in FIG.

The storage unit 140 stores information on each subscriber. For example, the call connection setup support device information (CSCF information) for the first communication network (LTE network) and the call connection to the second communication network (legacy network) And setup support device information (MSC 380 information). Furthermore, the status information of the call processing entity (MME, for example) of the first communication network or the network address for communication may be stored in the storage unit 140.

The receiving unit 110 receives a call connection request signal from the calling party 200 to the called party 310. Here, the call connection signal may correspond to a LIR (Location Information Request) message according to a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol).

When the call connection request signal to the hybrid receiving terminal 310 is received by the receiving unit 110, the failure determining unit 120 determines whether or not the call processing entity of the first communication network, for example, the hybrid receiving terminal 310, And detects a failure of at least one of the call processing entities of the matched LTE network. For example, the failure determination unit 120 may determine whether the destination MME 330 has a failure among the components of the first communication network corresponding to the terminating terminal 310.

In the case where a failure such as a malfunction occurs in the receiver MME 330, since the normal communication with the receiver terminal 300 can not be performed, the failure determiner 120 determines in advance that the receiver MME (330) 330) is judged.

At this time, the failure determination unit 120 may exchange messages with the call processing entity matched with the corresponding hybrid call terminal 310 to determine whether the call processing entity matching the hybrid call terminal 310 has failed. For example, the failure determination unit 120 can determine whether the destination MME 330 has failed through a signal or a message exchange with the destination MME 330.

As another example, the failure determination unit 120 may check the flag setting of the failure of the destination MME 330 in the storage unit 140 to determine whether the MME has failed. Here, a flag indicating whether or not the destination MME 330 has failed may be set according to manual input by the HSS 100 manager or the like.

When at least one of the call processing entities matched to the hybrid call receiving terminal 310 of the first communication network is in a failure occurrence state as a result of the determination by the failure determination unit 120, the information providing unit 130 transmits a call connection corresponding to the legacy network And extracts information on the setup support device (for example, the MSC 380) and transmits the extracted information to the calling side 200.

Hereinafter, a control process of the HSS 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG.

When the HSS 100 receives a call connection request signal from the caller side 200 (step S41), the HSS 100 determines whether or not the communication processing entity included in the communication network having a higher priority, i.e., the LTE network, has failed (step S43) . In this embodiment, the HSS 100 determines whether the destination MME 330 provided in the LTE network has failed.

As a result of the determination, if the destination MME 330 is not in a failure occurrence state (step S45), information on the called CSCF 350 for only the LTE communication corresponding to the communication network having a high priority (for example, 350) network address and the like) (step S47) and transmits them to the calling side 200 (step S51).

As a result of the determination, if the destination MME 330 is in a failure occurrence state (step S45), the destination side of a legacy communication network (e.g., a 3G communication network or a Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) communication network) (E.g., the MSC 380 network address of the called party 300) (step S49) to the calling party 200 (step S51).

FIG. 6 illustrates a control flow of the entire communication network including the HSS 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

6, a receiving terminal (MS) 310 is a hybrid terminal supporting 4G and CDMA at the same time. In the HSS 100, a 4G communication network is set to a higher priority in the CDMA communication network for the MS (MS) .

In this state, when the originating terminal (UE) 210 transmits a call connection request signal, that is, an INVITE signal via the calling side 200 communication network 4G (step S61), the calling side CSCF 250 transmits the LIR signal , And transmits the location request signal of the terminating terminal 310 to the HSS 100 (step S63).

Upon receiving the LIR signal from the calling CSCF 250, the HSS 100 determines whether the called MME 330, which is the call processing entity of the called party 300G 4G network with a higher priority, has failed or not (step S65) .

For example, the HSS 100 can determine whether or not a fault has occurred in the MME by indirectly communicating with the MME directly or indirectly through another device. By checking the fault occurrence flag of the MME registered by the administrator, It is possible to judge whether or not it occurs.

In the present embodiment, it is assumed that the destination MME 330 is in a failure occurrence state.

The HSS 100 sends an LIA signal including the information of the MSC 380 of the called party 300 necessary for communication in the CDMA network to the calling CSCF 250 since the receiving MME 330 of the 4G network is in a failure occurrence state (Step S67).

In the following process, that is, when the calling CSCF 250 receives a Breakout Gateway Control Function (BGCF), a Media Gateway Control Function (MGW) 380, a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) 380, The call connection request signal is transmitted to the terminating terminal 310 via the base station BTS 300 (BTS 360) (steps S69 to S74), and eventually a call is established between the originating terminal 210 and the terminating terminal 310 (Steps S75 to S89) are merely known technologies, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted.

What is important in this embodiment is that the HSS 100 determines in advance whether or not a fault has occurred in the called MME 330 at the time when the call connection request signal is received from the calling side 200 and if the called MME 330 has failed Information on the destination MSC 380 (call connection setup support device in the CDMA network) instead of the destination CSCF 350 information (call connection setup support device in the 4G network) .

6 and FIG. 2, the difference from the prior art can be clearly seen.

Needless to say, the process of performing each of the above-described embodiments can be performed by a program stored in a predetermined recording medium (for example, a computer readable medium).

The present invention is not limited to the above-described specific embodiments, and various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the gist of the present invention. It is to be understood that such variations and modifications are intended to be included in the scope of the appended claims.

In particular, in the above-described embodiments, the call connection setup supporting device is defined as CSCF or MSC, but it may be any device supported for establishing a call connection such as MME, MGW, or BGCF.

In addition, although the call processing entity is also an MME, it is needless to say that any entity that plays an essential role in real-time communication can be included in the call processing entity.

100: HSS 200: Outgoing side
300: Destination side 110: Receiver
120: Failure determination unit 130: Information providing unit
140: storage unit 210: originating terminal
220: Originating side eNB 230: Originating side SP-GW
240: Originating side MME 250: Originating side CSCF
310: terminating terminal 320: terminating eNB
330: Destination MME 340: Destination SP-GW
350: Destination side CSCF 360: BTS
370: BSC 380: MSC

Claims (11)

(Hereinafter referred to as a first call connection setup supporting device) of the first communication network corresponding to a hybrid terminal connectable to a heterogeneous communication network including a first communication network and a second communication network, (Hereinafter referred to as a second call connection setup supporting device), and when a call connection request to the hybrid terminal is made by setting the first communication network to a higher priority than the second communication network The method of controlling an HSS (Home Subscriber Server) for providing information on the first call connection setup supporting device to a calling party prior to information on the second call connection setup supporting device,
(a) when receiving a call connection request signal from a calling side to a hybrid destination terminal, judging whether or not at least one of the call processing entities matched to the hybrid destination terminal of the first communication network set to have a higher priority ;
(b) if at least one of the call processing entities matched to the hybrid call receiving terminal of the first communication network is in a failure occurrence state as a result of the determination in step (a), extracting information on the second call connection setup supporting device To the originating side of the HSS. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the call connection request signal corresponds to an LIR (Location Information Request) message according to a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Wherein the first call connection setup supporting device is a Call Session Control Function (CSCF) of an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network and the second call connection setup supporting device is a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) of a legacy network. / RTI > 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Wherein the call processing entity of the first communication network is a Mobility Management Entity (MME) of an LTE (Long Term Evolution) network. 3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,
Further comprising the step of performing a message exchange with a call processing entity matched with the corresponding hybrid call receiving terminal in order to determine whether the call processing entity matching the corresponding hybrid call receiving terminal in the step (a) / RTI > A computer-readable recording medium having recorded thereon a program for executing the method of claim 1 or 2. (Hereinafter referred to as a first call connection setup supporting device) of the first communication network corresponding to a hybrid terminal connectable to a heterogeneous communication network including a first communication network and a second communication network, (Hereinafter referred to as " second call connection setup support device ") of the second communication network, wherein the first communication network is set to have a higher priority than the second communication network, (HSS) that provides information on the first call connection setup supporting device to a calling party prior to information on the second call connection setup supporting device when there is a call connection request,
A receiver for receiving a call connection request signal from a calling party to a called party;
When a call connection request signal to the hybrid receiver terminal is received at the receiver, the failure determination unit determines whether at least one of the call processing entities matching the hybrid receiver terminal of the first communication network, Wow;
When at least one of the call processing entities matched to the hybrid call receiving terminal of the first communication network is in a failure occurrence state as a result of the determination by the failure determination unit, information on the second call connection setup supporting device is extracted and transmitted to the calling side And an information providing unit for transmitting the HSS information to the HSS. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the call connection request signal corresponds to an LIR (Location Information Request) message according to SIP (Session Initiation Protocol). 9. The method according to claim 7 or 8,
Wherein the first call connection setup supporting device is a Call Session Control Function (CSCF) of an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network and the second call connection setup supporting device is a Mobile Switching Center (MSC) of a legacy network. . 9. The method according to claim 7 or 8,
Wherein the call processing entity of the first communication network is a Mobility Management Entity (MME) of an LTE (Long Term Evolution) network. 9. The method according to claim 7 or 8,
Wherein the failure determination unit performs a message exchange with a call processing entity matched to the hybrid call receiving terminal to determine whether the call processing entity matching the hybrid call receiving terminal has failed.

Images