WO2009056061A1

WO2009056061A1 - Method, system and device for transmitting general packet radio service tunneling protocol datagram

Info

Publication number: WO2009056061A1
Application number: PCT/CN2008/072815
Authority: WO
Inventors: Shiyong Tan; Hui Ni
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
Priority date: 2007-10-24
Filing date: 2008-10-24
Publication date: 2009-05-07
Also published as: CN101420369A

Abstract

A method for transmitting general packet radio service (GPRS) tunneling protocol (GTP) datagram is disclosed, which includes: the first network element encapsulates one or more GTP protocol datagrams into one IP data packet by multiplexing mode; the first network element transmits the encapsulated IP data packet to the second network element. A system and device for transmitting GTP protocol datagram are also disclosed. Applying the method, system and device of the embodiments of the invention in the course of transmitting GTP protocol datagram can improve the proportion of the effective load data in the IP data packet.

Description

General packet radio service tunnel protocol message transmission method, system and device

The present invention relates to a mobile communication technology, and in particular, to a GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) tunneling protocol (GTP, GPRS Tunneling Protocol) message transmission method, system and device.

Background technique

Currently, GPRS technology has been widely used in wireless communication networks. The GPRS network realizes end-to-end packet data transmission by introducing packet data technology in the original Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), providing users with more abundant service types, such as web browsing and file downloading. And online games and more.

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an existing GPRS network architecture. As shown in FIG. 1 , the existing GPRS network architecture mainly includes: a GPRS Service Support Node (SGSN), a GPRS Gateway Support Node (GGSN), and a Home Location Register (HLR). .

The SGSN is used to implement signaling transmission in packet switching, and is used for processing and transmitting data packets, and provides mobility management, security management, access control, and routing capabilities for users.

GGSN, used to be responsible for the connection between the GPRS network and various external data networks, such as the Internet (Internet) enterprise network and the X.25 network; the GGSN is the gateway located in the GPRS backbone network and the external data network, and is GPRS. The transmission path between the network and the external data network.

The HLR is used to store the GPRS subscription information and routing information of the user. The GGSN and the SGSN are respectively connected to the HLR, and the subscription data of the user is obtained from the HLR. When the user roams, the SGSN and the HLR may be located in different networks.

The SGSN and the GGSN exchange information through the Gn interface. The Gn interface uses the IP-based GTP protocol for communication. The GSN (GPRS Supporting Node) transmits packet data packets through the GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP). It generally supports static or dynamic routing protocols in the domain.

The GGSN is a GSN in a different Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), such as the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) land radio access network (UTRAN, UMTS Terrestrial) shown in FIG. The SGSNs in the Radio Access Network) exchange information through the Gp interface. In addition to providing the functions of the Gn interface, the Gp interface also adds security functions required for the PL-Ethernet and support for inter-domain routing protocols, such as Border Gateway Protocol (BGP).

The other network elements and interfaces shown in Figure 1 are mainly used to provide wireless access and service control capabilities, which are not described here.

In practical applications, multiple protocols can be used for data transmission between two network nodes. These protocols are combined in a hierarchical order to form a protocol stack. The information to be transmitted is encapsulated and decapsulated multiple times through the protocol stack to implement transparency of the lower layer transmission mode to the upper layer. A schematic diagram of a Gn or Gp interface protocol stack between existing GSNs is shown in Figure 2. The functions of each layer protocol in the protocol stack are as follows:

L1 protocol: The physical layer transport protocol, which is related to the specific physical technology used for transmission.

L2 protocol: Data link layer protocol, which provides functions such as establishment and teardown of data links, and implements error detection and correction of data; Available protocol types include Ethernet and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM). For example, the widely used Ethernet, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), draft standards (RFC, Request For Comments) The encapsulation format of the Ethernet frame is defined in 894, as shown in Table 1 below:

Transmission slot synchronization bit

Greater than 12 bytes 8 bytes 6 bytes 6 bytes 2 bytes 46 ~ 1500 bytes 4 bytes Table 1 Ethernet frame encapsulation format

As can be seen from Table 1, the additional information in each Ethernet frame is 18 bytes long, including 6 bytes of the destination address, 6 bytes of the source address, 2 bytes of the type, and 4 bytes of the check digit. In addition, at least 12 bytes of transmission time slot and 8 bytes of synchronization bits are required in each frame.

IP protocol, network interconnection protocol, mainly complete routing function, used for user data and signaling routing; IP protocol openness makes there is no necessary connection between the upper layer application and the lower layer bearer network, application service and bearer network technology can According to their respective independent developments; the current IP protocol mainly includes two versions of IPv4 and IPv6; as shown in Table 2, Table 2 shows the existing IPv4 packet format:

The options in the IPv4 packet shown in Table 2 are generally not used. For normal IPv4 datagrams that do not include the option part, the header length is a total of 20 bytes. The header length of an IPv6 datagram is typically 40 bytes.

User Datagram Protocol (UDP), which provides non-connection-oriented and unreliable data transmission links; UDP protocol does not need to establish a connection before data transmission, and the reliability of data transmission is guaranteed by the upper layer application; As shown in Figure 3, Table 3 shows the existing UDP packet format:

Table 3 UDP packet format

As shown in Table 3, the length of the UDP packet header is 8 bytes.

The GTP protocol is mainly used to transmit user packet data and tunnel management information between GSNs, such as tunnel establishment and release. Maintenance, etc., carried on top of the UDP protocol.

The existing GTP protocols can be mainly divided into three types: GTP-GTP, a control plane for transmitting control signaling, GTP-U, a user plane for transmitting user data packets, and a meter in the charging system. The GTP' protocol used between the Charging Date Function (CDF) and the Charging Gateway Function (CGF). The GTP protocol allows multiple protocol packets, such as IP and X.25 packets, to be tunneled between GSNs.

In addition, the GTP protocol can also be applied to communication between other network entities, such as UTRAN and SGSN, Home Nodes in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (SAE, System Architecture Evolution). (eNodeB) and the service gateway (S-GW, Serving Gateway), and between the S-GW and the public-data networks gateway (P-GW).

As shown in Table 4, Table 4 shows the existing GTP packet format:

Version number (3 digits) Flag bit (5 digits) GTP message type (8 bits) Load length (16 bits)

Tunnel identification number (32-bit)

Data section

Table 4 GTP packet format

Table 4 shows the format of the GTP packet that does not include the extended header. As shown in Table 4, the length of the GTP packet header that does not include the extended header is 8 bytes. If the extended header is included, the header length will be It will increase depending on the specific situation.

Based on the above description, Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the encapsulation process of data entering the protocol stack when data is transmitted using GTP protocol packets. Assume that the IP protocol in Figure 3 is IPv4 and the L2 protocol is Ethernet. As shown in FIG. 3, at the transmitting end, according to the protocol used in the protocol stack, multiple encapsulation processes are performed in descending order, and finally the encapsulated Ethernet frame is sent at the physical layer via the physical device; At the end, the corresponding decapsulation process is performed in the order of low to high, and finally the transmitted application data is obtained, thereby implementing communication between devices. When the GTP protocol type is GTP-C, the destination port number encapsulated in the UDP header is 2123. When the GTP protocol type is GTP-U, the destination port number encapsulated in the UDP header is 2152. When transmitting GTP When the protocol type is GTP', the destination port number encapsulated in the UDP header is 3386.

In the process of implementing the present invention, the inventor has found that: when using existing GTP protocol messages to transmit data, the proportion of payload data in IP datagrams is low, which reduces network transmission efficiency and wastes bandwidth.

Summary of the invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a general packet radio service tunnel protocol message transmission method, which can improve the proportion of payload data in the IP datagram.

The technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention is implemented as follows:

A general packet radio service tunneling protocol GTP message transmission method, the method comprising:

The first network element encapsulates the one or more GTP protocol packets in the same IP data packet by using the multiplexed manner; the first network element sends the encapsulated IP data packet to the second network. yuan.

A GTP protocol message transmission system, the system includes: a first network element and a second network element;

The first network element is configured to encapsulate one or more GTP protocol packets in the same IP data packet in a multiplex manner, and send the packet to the second network element. The second network element is configured to receive an IP data packet from the first network element.

A GTP protocol message transmission device, the device includes: a packaging unit and a sending unit;

The encapsulating unit is configured to encapsulate one or more GTP protocol packets in the same IP data packet by multiplexing;

The sending unit is configured to send the encapsulated IP data packet to the receiving device.

In the embodiment of the present invention, one or more GTP protocol packets are encapsulated in the same IP datagram and transmitted in a multiplex manner, thereby increasing the proportion of the payload data in the IP datagram, thereby improving network transmission efficiency and saving. The bandwidth.

DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of an existing GPRS network architecture;

2 is a schematic diagram of a Gn or Gp interface protocol stack between existing GSNs;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of a packaging process of data entering a protocol stack when data is transmitted by using GTP protocol packets;

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of an existing voice transmission mode;

Figure 5 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method of the present invention;

6 is a schematic structural diagram of an IP datagram encapsulated in a multiplexing manner according to an embodiment of the present invention;

7 is a schematic structural diagram of another IP datagram encapsulated in a multiplexing manner according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 8 is a flow chart of the first embodiment of the method of the present invention;

Figure 9 is a flow chart of a second embodiment of the method of the present invention;

Figure 10 is a flow chart of a third embodiment of the method of the present invention;

Figure 11 is a flow chart of a fourth embodiment of the method of the present invention;

12 is a schematic structural diagram of a system embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of an apparatus according to the present invention.

detailed description

In order to make the objects, the technical solutions and the advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more clearly, the embodiments of the present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

As shown in Figure 3, in the existing GTP packet transmission mechanism, only one GTP packet can be encapsulated in one UDP packet. Similarly, only one UDP packet can be encapsulated in one IP packet. As shown in Figure 3, in the encapsulation process, a certain length of protocol control information, such as a UDP header and an IP header, is added to each layer. Therefore, for a service application with a small GTP packet length, the payload data is The proportion of the encapsulated packets will be small, resulting in a decrease in network transmission efficiency.

For example, for a voice communication using the GSM-Adaptive Multi-Rate (AMR) coding format, the code rate is usually 4.75 Kbps~12. 2 Kbps, and the sampling interval is 20 ms. Then, assuming an average code rate of 8 Kbps, each speech frame includes a total of 160 bits, that is, 20 bytes. It is assumed that the voice communication is performed according to the existing typical voice transmission mode shown in FIG. 4, wherein the upper layer tunnel of the GTP-U protocol further includes voice data, Real Time Transport Protocol (RTP, UDP, and IPv4) as shown in FIG. Structure. For the entire voice communication process, the sender first encapsulates the voice data into an IPv4 datagram format in the GTP-U protocol upper layer tunnel, and then encapsulates the IPv4 datagram in the manner shown in FIG. 3 and sends the voice data to the receiving end; Decapsulation is performed to obtain the transmitted IPv4 datagram. The format of the RTP packet is shown in Table 5: Version number and flag bit (16 bits) Serial number (16 bits)

Timestamp (32 bit)

Synchronization source ID (32-bit)

Data

Table 5 RTP packet format

It can be seen from Table 5 that the header of the RTP packet includes 12 bytes. Then, according to the method shown in Figure 4, after the voice data to be transmitted is encapsulated into a GTP protocol packet, the length of the obtained packet will be 20 (data length). + 12 (RTP header length) +8 (UDP header length) +20 (IPv4 header length) +8 (GTP header length), a total of 68 bytes. For a payload of 68 bytes, the length of the payload is 96 bytes, and the effective data is only 70.8%; the length after encapsulation is an Ethernet frame is 114 bytes. If we further consider the transmission time slots and synchronization bits shown in Table 1, the total is 134 bytes, of which the payload data only accounts for 50%.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the first network element encapsulates one or more GTP protocol packets in the same IP datagram by multiplexing, and sends the packet to the second network element; the second network element receives the received IP address. The datagram is decapsulated to obtain the one or more GTP protocol messages.

It should be noted that the foregoing descriptions of "first network element" and "second network element" are only for convenience of description. In practical applications, "first network element" or "second network element" can be used to represent Any one of the two communication parties, that is, the above-mentioned function completed by the "first network element" can also be completed by the "second network element".

Figure 5 is a flow chart of an embodiment of a method of the present invention. The first network element and the second network element in this embodiment may be any two nodes or devices that communicate through the GTP protocol, such as the SGSN and the GGSN, and the S-GW and the P-GW. As shown in FIG. 5, the method includes the following steps: Step 51: The first network element encapsulates one or more GTP protocol packets in the same IP datagram and multiplexes them into the second network element.

Before this step, the two communication parties, that is, the first network element and the second network element, need to first acquire the multiplexing control information of the other party. The operations performed on the two sides of the first network element and the second network element are the same. Therefore, in the embodiment of the present invention, the first network element side is taken as an example for description.

In this embodiment, the multiplexing control information of the second network element acquired by the first network element may include: a support capability for multiplexing transmission, and a GTP protocol type using multiplexing transmission, such as GTP. -C, GTP-U or GTP', UDP destination port number for receiving multiplexed packets, maximum encapsulation delay time, one or any combination of information such as the maximum packet length for multiplex encapsulation. Different GTP protocol types or different bearers in the network may correspond to different multiplexing control information.

The support capability of the multiplex transmission may be divided into a transmission capability and a reception capability, and the first network element or the second network element may have only one of the capabilities, or both.

After acquiring the multiplex control information of the second network element, the first network element determines, according to the support capability information of the multiplex transmission carried therein, whether the second network element supports the multiplex transmission, if supported, Step 51 is performed; if it is not supported, for example, the second network element only has multiplexed transmission capability and no receiving capability, or has neither transmission capability nor reception capability, the first network element is in accordance with the existing common The transmission mode transmits GTP protocol packets to the second network element. Only multiplexed transmission for the second network element If the capability is not available, the second network element may send the GTP protocol packet to the first network element in a multiplexed manner. Of course, the first network element needs to have a receiving function. In summary, in the embodiment of the present invention, the multiplexed encapsulation and transmission mode may be adopted only in one direction of the communication parties, and the existing encapsulation and transmission mode may be adopted in the other transmission direction, or Multiplexed encapsulation and transmission are used in all directions.

The manner in which the first network element obtains the multiplexing control information of the second network element may be any one of the following three or any combination:

Manner 1: Obtain some or all of the multiplexing control information of the second network element by using a pre-configuration manner.

In the embodiment, when the connection or the bearer of the user is established or modified, the part or all of the multiplexed control information is carried in the GTP-C message sent to the other party, and is notified to the other party. For example, in this embodiment, The first network element learns part or all of the multiplexed control information of the second network element according to the GTP-C message received from the second network element.

Mode 3: When the two parties establish a connection for the first time, the two parties carry some or all of the multiplexed control information in the GTP-C message to be sent to the other party. For example, in this embodiment, the first network element receives the From the GTP-C message of the second network element, some or all of the multiplexed control information of the second network element is learned, and the information is stored for subsequent determination of the transmission mode between the two.

The first network element may obtain the multiplex control information of the second network element by using any one of the foregoing three methods, or by any combination. For example, some information can be obtained in a pre-configured manner, and other required information is obtained through the above methods 2 and 3. Other possible combinations are not listed one by one.

It should be noted that the GTP-C message for carrying the multiplexed control information in the above modes 2 and 3 can also be replaced with other messages known in the art, and is not limited to the GTP-C message.

After obtaining the multiplexing control information of the second network element, and determining that the second network element supports the multiplexed transmission, the first network element needs to be sent to the same IP target address, that is, the GTP protocol report of the second network element. The packet is encapsulated into the same IP datagram and sent to the second network element.

If the multiplexed control information obtained by the first network element includes the maximum encapsulated delay time, the first network element encapsulates one or more GTP protocol packets in the same IP datagram by multiplexing. This process needs to be completed within the maximum package delay time to limit the delay due to multiplexed transmission; if the multiplexed control information acquired by the first network element includes the maximum applicable multiplexed package The length of each GTP protocol packet encapsulated in the same IP datagram by the first network element in the multiplexed manner needs to be less than or equal to the maximum packet size of the applicable multiplexed encapsulation. length. Moreover, if different GTP protocol messages correspond to different QoS (Quality of Service) requirements, for example, if some users in the current network are on the Internet and some are in a video chat, then the two different activities In this embodiment, the GTP protocol packets with the same QoS requirements are encapsulated in the same IP datagram, that is, the same IP datagram. GTP packets need to have the same QoS.

The manner of multiplexing and encapsulating in the embodiment of the present invention may be as follows:

The same IP datagram encapsulates only the same type of GTP protocol packets, for example,

GTP-C, GTP-U or GTP':

The first network element sends different types of GTP protocol packets to different UDP destination ports. Wherein, each GTP protocol message may further include a multiplexing header.

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of an IP datagram encapsulated in a multiplexing manner according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 6, it The format of the IP header is the same as that of the prior art, and is not described here. The UDP header includes the UDP source port number and destination port number used for transmitting the multiplexed packet, the length of the UDP packet, and the checksum. The UDP source port number can be the newly assigned port number of the first network element, or the UDP source port number of the encapsulated GTP protocol packet in the normal manner; Configuring or negotiating the UDP destination port number carried in the multiplexed control information; the multiplex header may include: transmitting, in an ordinary manner, a GTP protocol packet corresponding to the multiplexer header One or both of the UDP source port number and the length information of the adjacent GTP protocol packets to be used. If neither of the above information is included, the multiplex header can be omitted.

Different types of GTP packets are encapsulated in the same IP datagram. The first NE sends different types of GTP packets to the same UDP destination port. Wherein, each GTP protocol message may further include a multiplexing header.

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of another IP datagram encapsulated in a multiplexing manner according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in Figure 7, the format of the IP header is the same as that of the prior art, and is not described here. The UDP header includes the UDP source port number and the destination port number used to transmit the multiplexed packet, and the UDP packet. The UDP destination port number is the UDP destination port number carried in the multiplex control information obtained through pre-configuration or negotiation. The UDP source port number can be newly assigned by the first network element. The UDP source port number of any GTP protocol packet that is encapsulated in the normal mode. The multiplexer header includes: a UDP destination port number to be used when the GTP protocol packet corresponding to the GTP protocol packet is sent in the normal manner, for example, when the corresponding GTP protocol type is GTP-C, the corresponding UDP destination port number. 2123, when the corresponding GTP protocol type is GTP-U, the corresponding UDP destination port number is 2152. When the corresponding GTP protocol type is GTP', the corresponding UDP destination port number is 3386, thus making the second The network element can obtain the specific type of the GTP protocol packet when decapsulating. Alternatively, the network element can directly carry the protocol type identifier of the GTP protocol packet corresponding to the multiplexer. For example, the 00 is used to represent the GTP. The protocol type of the protocol packet is GTP-C, and the protocol type of the GTP protocol packet with 01 is GTP-U. In addition, the multiplex header may further include: one or two of a UDP source port number and a length information of the GTP protocol packet to be used in the GTP protocol packet corresponding to the GTP protocol packet.

Step 52: The second network element decapsulates the received IP datagram to obtain one or more GTP protocol packets.

The second network element performs decapsulation of the received IP datagram by the IP protocol layer, and receives the UDP protocol packet decapsulated by the IP protocol layer in the UDP destination port specified in the encapsulated IP datagram, and according to the existing The method performs subsequent decapsulation on the packet, extracts multiple GTP protocol packets included, and completes multiplex transmission.

It can be seen that, by using the foregoing solution of the embodiment of the present invention, multiple GTP protocol packets are encapsulated into the same IP datagram for transmission, so that the payload data in the IP datagram is increased, the network transmission efficiency is improved, and the bandwidth is saved. . The solution of the present invention will be further described in detail below by way of specific examples.

Embodiment 1:

Figure 8 is a flow chart of a first embodiment of the method of the present invention. In this embodiment, the GTP protocol packet transmitted by the first network element and the second network element in a multiplexed manner is a GTP-U protocol packet, and the network layer transmission protocol is IPv4; the first network element and the first network element The manner in which the second network element obtains the multiplex control information of the other party is: when the connection or bearer is established or modified, the support capability information of the multiplex transmission is negotiated through the GTP-C message; The path multiplexing control information, such as the UDP destination port number for receiving the multiplexed message. It is assumed that the UDP destination port number in this embodiment is A, and the first network element and the second network element are respectively S-GW and P-GW. As shown in Figure 8, the following steps are included:

When the user connection or bearer 1 is established, it is assumed that the S-GW supports the GTP-U protocol multiplex transmission mode on the connection or bearer, and the P-GW does not support the GTP-U multiplexing on the connection or bearer. transfer method:

Step 81: When the connection or bearer 1 is established, the S-GW sends a GTP-C message to the P-GW, where the message carries the S-GW support capability information for the multiplex transmission, to notify the P-GW of the local end to support Multiplex transmission of the GTP-U protocol.

Step 82: The P-GW sends a GTP-C message to the S-GW, where the message does not include the P-GW support capability information for the multiplex transmission, to notify the S-GW that the local end does not support the GTP-U protocol. Or the multiplexed transmission; or, the P-GW sends, to the S-GW, capability information that is identifiable by both parties and is a specific value, such as 0000, to notify the S-GW that the local end does not support the multiplex of the GTP-U protocol. Use transmission.

Step 83: Since the P-GW does not support the multiplex transmission of the GTP-U protocol, the S-GW and the P-GW can still use the existing common GTP-U protocol packets in the connection or bearer 1 The encapsulation mode is encapsulated and transmitted, where the destination port number of UDP is 2152.

When the user connection or bearer 2 is established, it is assumed that both the S-GW and the P-GW support the multiplexed transmission mode of the GTP-U protocol on the connection or bearer:

Step 84: When the connection or bearer 2 is established, the S-GW sends a GTP-C message to the P-GW, where the message carries the S-GW support capability information for the multiplex transmission, to notify the P-GW of the local end to support Multiplex transmission of the GTP-U protocol.

Step 85: The P-GW sends a GTP-C message to the S-GW, where the message carries the P-GW support capability information for the multiplex transmission, to notify the S-GW that the local end supports the GTP-U protocol. Multiplexed transmission.

Step 86: The S-GW performs multiplex multiplexing encapsulation on the GTP-U protocol packets that need to be sent to the P-GW IP address and have the same QoS requirements.

Wherein the destination port number of UDP header is _A; each multiplexed header UDP source port number carried in UDP source port number when the transmission packets corresponding thereto using GTP-U to the ordinary mode.

Step 87: The S-GW sends an IP datagram encapsulated with multiple GTP-U protocol packets to the P-GW. The P-GW decapsulates the received IP datagram, and extracts multiple GTPs included therein. U protocol message.

In this embodiment, the manner in which the S-GW sends the IP datagram to the P-GW is the same as that in the prior art, and the specific transmission process is not described herein. Step 88: The P-GW sends the GTP-U packet with the same QoS requirement to the S-GW IP address for multiplexed encapsulation.

Step 89: The P-GW sends an IP datagram encapsulating multiple GTP-U protocol packets to the S-GW. The S-GW decapsulates the received IP datagram, and extracts multiple GTPs included therein. U protocol message.

When the user connection or bearer 3 is established, it is assumed that the S-GW supports the multiplex transmission mode of the GTP-U protocol on the connection or the bearer, and the P-GW only supports the GTP-U protocol multiplexed encapsulation message. Send, but does not support the reception of this type of message:

Step 810: When the connection or bearer 3 is established, the S-GW sends a GTP-C message to the P-GW, where the message carries the S-GW support capability information for the multiplex transmission, to notify the P-GW of the local end to support Multiplex transmission of the GTP-U protocol.

Step 811: The P-GW sends a GTP-C message to the S-GW, where the message carries the P-GW support capability information for the multiplex transmission. To inform the S-GW that the local end only supports the transmission of GTP-U protocol multiplexed encapsulated packets, and does not support the reception of such packets. Step 812: The S-GW sends the GTP-U packet to the 2152 port of the P-GW in a normal encapsulation manner according to the receiving capability of the P-GW.

Steps 813-814: Since the P-GW supports multiplex transmission for the GTP-U protocol, the P-GW can still send and encapsulate multiple GTP-U protocols to the S-GW according to the procedures described in steps 88-89. IP datagram of the message. Embodiment 2:

Figure 9 is a flow chart of a second embodiment of the method of the present invention. In this embodiment, the GTP protocol packet transmitted by the first network element and the second network element in a multiplexed manner is a GTP-U and a GTP-C protocol packet, and the network layer transmission protocol is IPv4, and Different types of GTP packets are encapsulated into different IP datagrams for transmission. The first network element and the second network element obtain the multiplexed control information of the other party in the following manner: When the two parties establish a connection for the first time, the negotiation is performed. Support for multiplexed transmission and UDP destination port number information for receiving multiplexed messages; information such as maximum package delay time is obtained by pre-configuration. Assume that the maximum encapsulation delay of GTP-C packets is 20 ms in this embodiment. The maximum encapsulation delay of GTP-U packets is 30 ms. As shown in Figure 9, the following steps are included:

Step 91: When establishing a connection with the second network element for the first time, the first network element sends a negotiation message to the second network element, where the message carries the support capability information of the multiplex transmission of the first network element, to notify the The local end of the second network element supports the multiplex transmission of the GTP-C protocol and the GTP-U protocol, and the UDP destination port number of the multiplexed encapsulated packet of the local end receiving the GTP-U protocol is Al, and the GTP is received. The UDP destination port number of the multiplexed encapsulated packet of the C protocol is A2.

Step 92: The second network element receives the negotiation information sent by the first network element, and stores the information.

Step 93: The second network element sends a negotiation message to the first network element, where the message carries the support capability information of the multiplex transmission of the second network element, to notify the local end of the first network element to support the GTP-C protocol. The multiplexed transmission of the GTP-U protocol, and the UDP destination port number of the multiplexed encapsulation packet of the GTP-U protocol received by the local end is B1, and the multiplexed encapsulation packet of the GTP-C protocol is received. The UDP destination port number is B2.

Step 94: The first network element receives the negotiation information sent by the second network element, and stores the information.

After the above negotiation process, for the current connection between the two parties and the subsequent established connection, each party can use the stored support capability information about the multiplex transmission of the other party to determine whether and how to perform multiplex transmission. .

Step 95: The first network element multiplexes the GTP-C packet that is subsequently sent to the IP address of the second network element.

In this step, the encapsulation duration of the multiplexed encapsulation of the first network element is not more than 20 ms _; the UDP destination port number in the encapsulated IP datagram is B2 _; and each GTP protocol packet in the encapsulated IP datagram corresponds to The multiplexer header includes the UDP source port number, which is a source port number that should be used when the GTP-C protocol packet is sent in the normal manner, and may further include the length of the GTP protocol packet corresponding to the GTP protocol packet.

Step 96: The first network element sends an IPv4 data packet that encapsulates multiple GTP-C protocol packets to the second network element. The second network element decapsulates the received IPv4 datagram, and extracts the included data. GTP-C protocol packets.

Step 97: The second network element multiplexes the GTP-C protocol packet that is subsequently sent to the IP address of the first network element.

In this step, the encapsulation duration of the second network element for multiplexing and packaging does not exceed 20 ms _; the UDP in the encapsulated IP datagram The destination port number is A2. The multiplex header corresponding to each GTP protocol packet in the encapsulated IP datagram includes the UDP source port number. The value should be used when sending the GTP-C protocol packet in the normal mode. The source port number may further include the length information of the GTP protocol packet corresponding to the source port number.

Step 98: The second network element sends an IPv4 data packet encapsulating the plurality of GTP-C information to the first network element. The first network element decapsulates the received IPv4 data, and extracts multiple GTPs included therein. -C protocol message.

Step 99: The first network element multiplexes the GTP-U packet that is subsequently sent to the IP address of the second network element.

In this step, the encapsulation duration of the multiplexed encapsulation of the first network element is not more than 30 ms _; the UDP destination port number in the encapsulated IP datagram is B1; and each GTP protocol packet in the encapsulated IP datagram corresponds to The multiplex header includes the UDP source port number, which is the source port number that should be used to send the GTP-U packet in the normal manner.

Step 910: The first network element sends an IPv4 datagram that encapsulates multiple GTP-U information to the second network element. The second network element decapsulates the received IPv4 datagram, and extracts multiple GTPs included therein. -U protocol message.

Step 911: The second network element multiplexes the GTP-U packet that is subsequently sent to the IP address of the first network element.

In this step, the encapsulation duration of the multiplexed encapsulation of the second network element is not more than 30 ms _; the UDP destination port number in the encapsulated IP datagram is A1; and each GTP protocol packet in the encapsulated IP datagram corresponds to The multiplex header includes the UDP source port number, which is the source port number that should be used to send the GTP-U packet in the normal manner.

Step 912: The second network element sends an IPv4 datagram that encapsulates multiple GTP-U information to the first network element. The first network element decapsulates the received IPv4 datagram, and extracts multiple GTPs included therein. -U protocol message. Embodiment 3:

Figure 10 is a flow chart of a third embodiment of the method of the present invention. In this embodiment, the GTP protocol packets transmitted by the first network element and the second network element in a multiplexed manner are GTP-U, GTP-C, and GTP' protocol packets, and the network layer transmission protocol is IPv6. And the different types of GTP protocol packets are encapsulated into the same IP datagram for transmission; the manner in which the first network element and the second network element obtain the multiplexed control information of the other party is: when the user connection or bearer is established or modified. The negotiation multiplex transmission support capability, the UDP destination port number for receiving multiplexed messages, and the maximum message length information applicable to the multiplexed encapsulation. As shown in Figure 10, the following steps are included:

Step 101: When the connection or bearer is established or modified, the first network element sends the negotiation information to the second network element, where the first network element carries the support capability information of the multiplex transmission, to notify the local end of the second network element. Supports multiplexed transmission of GTP protocol packets, and the UDP destination port number of the GTP protocol packet received by the local end is multiplexed, and the maximum packet length of the multiplexed encapsulation is 100 words. Section.

Step 102: The second network element sends a negotiation message to the first network element, where the second network element carries the support capability information of the multiplex transmission, to notify the local end of the first network element to support the GTP protocol message. The multiplexed packet length of the GTP protocol packet received by the local end is D2, and the maximum packet length of the multiplexed encapsulation is 120 bytes.

Step 103: The first network element multiplexes the GTP protocol packet whose destination address is the second network element IP address, the QoS requirement is the same, and the packet length does not exceed 120 bytes.

The UDP destination port number in the encapsulated IP datagram is D2 _; the corresponding GTP protocol packets in the encapsulated IP datagram correspond to The UDP source port number carried in each multiplexer header is the source port number that should be used when the GTP protocol packet is sent in the normal manner; each multiplexer header also includes its corresponding GTP protocol packet. The type identifier is, for example, the GTP-C protocol packet is 1 for the GTP-C protocol packet and 2 for the GTP-U protocol packet.

Step 104: The first network element sends an IPv6 data packet that encapsulates multiple GTP protocol packets to the D2 port of the second network element. Step 105: The second network element decapsulates the received IPv6 datagram, and extracts multiple GTP protocol packets. The second network element can determine the specific protocol type of the corresponding GTP packet according to the type identifier of the GTP protocol packet in the multiplexer header.

Steps 106 to 108: Similar to steps 103 to 105, the second network element may also send the IPv6 packet formed by multiplexing the multiple GTP protocol packets to the first network element by using the multiplexed encapsulation; the first network element is receiving After the decapsulation process, multiple GTP protocol packets are extracted.

Steps: For a GTP protocol packet that does not meet the multiplex transmission condition, for example, a GTP protocol packet whose packet length exceeds the maximum packet length of the multiplexed package can be transmitted in a normal encapsulation manner.

It is assumed that for some reason, for example, the network element is overloaded during operation, so to reduce the load, the multiplex transmission mode is no longer supported, or because it is configured to not support the multiplex transmission mode, etc. The support capability of the second network element for the multiplexed transmission is changed, and only the transmission of the GTP multiplexed encapsulated packet is supported, and the receiving of the packet is no longer supported. Then, in the following steps:

Step 1010: The second network element sends a negotiation message to the first network element, where the message includes the updated capability information of the second network element for the multiplex transmission, and the first network element is notified, and the local end does not support receiving. Multicast encapsulation message of GTP protocol.

Steps 1011 to 1012: Since the second network element still supports the multiplex transmission of the GTP protocol, the second network element can still transmit the GTP protocol multiplexing to the first network element according to the procedures described in steps 103 to 105. Encapsulate the message.

Step 1013: The first network element is not multiplexed and packaged for the subsequent GTP packet according to the change of the receiving capability of the second network element, but is transmitted to the second network element in a normal encapsulation manner. Embodiment 4:

Figure 11 is a flow chart of a fourth embodiment of the method of the present invention. In this embodiment, the GTP protocol packets transmitted by the first network element and the second network element in a multiplexed manner are GTP-U, GTP-C, and GTP' protocol packets, and the network layer transmission protocol is IPv4. And the different types of GTP protocol packets are encapsulated into the same IP datagram for transmission; the first network element and the second network element obtain the multiplexed control information of the other party in the following manner: The transmission support capability, the UDP destination port number for receiving multiplexed packets, and the maximum encapsulation delay time information. It is assumed that the maximum package delay time in this embodiment is 20 ms, and the UDP destination port number for receiving multiplexed packets is C. As shown in Figure 11, the following steps are included:

Step 111: According to the pre-configured information, the first network element multiplexes and encapsulates the GTP protocol packet whose destination address is the second network element IP address, and the QoS requirements are the same.

The pre-configuration mentioned in this step refers to pre-configuring the multiplex control information of both parties in the first network element and the second network element.

In this step, the duration of multiplexing and packaging of the first network element does not exceed the maximum package delay time of 20 ms; the number of IPs after encapsulation Reported the UDP destination port number carried are _C; source UDP port number of the multiplexed header of the IP datagram encapsulated in GTP packets each corresponding to the ordinary mode of the GTP protocol packets should be sent The source port number used; the UDP destination port number in each multiplexer header is the destination port number to be used when sending the corresponding GTP protocol packets in the normal manner. For example, if the GTP protocol packet corresponding to a multiplexer header is a GTP-C protocol packet, the destination port number is 2123. If the corresponding GTP protocol packet is a GTP-U protocol packet, then The destination port number is 2152. If the corresponding GTP protocol packet is GTP', the destination port number is 3386.

Step 112: The first network element sends an IP datagram that encapsulates multiple GTP protocol packets to the C port of the second network element.

Step 113: The second network element decapsulates the received IP datagram, and extracts multiple GTP protocol packets. The second network element can determine the specific type of the corresponding GTP protocol packet according to the value of the UDP destination port number carried in the multiplexer.

Steps 114 to 116: Similar to steps 111 to 113, the second network element encapsulates multiple GTP protocol packets in the same IP datagram and multiplexes them to the first network element. The first network element receives the packets. The IP datagram is decapsulated, and the plurality of GTP protocol messages included therein are extracted.

Based on the above method, FIG. 12 is a schematic structural diagram of a system embodiment of the present invention. The various method embodiments described above can be implemented based on the system shown in FIG. As shown in FIG. 12, the system includes: a first network element 121 and a second network element 122;

The first network element 121 is configured to encapsulate one or more GTP protocol packets in the same IP datagram by multiplexing, and send the same to the second network element 122;

The second network element 122 is configured to receive an IP datagram from the first network element 121.

The first network element 121 is further configured to obtain the multiplexing control information of the second network element 122. The first network element 121 determines the second network according to the obtained multiplexing control information of the second network element 122. Whether the element 122 supports the multiplex transmission, if supported, the one or more GTP protocol messages are encapsulated in the same IP datagram by multiplexing, and sent to the second network element 122; if not supported, Then, the GTP protocol packet is transmitted to the second network element 122 according to the normal transmission mode.

FIG. 13 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of an apparatus according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 13, the device includes: a packaging unit 131 and a sending unit 132;

The encapsulating unit 131 is configured to encapsulate one or more GTP protocol packets in the same IP datagram by multiplexing, and the sending unit 132 is configured to send the encapsulated IP datagram to the receiving device.

In addition, the device further includes: an obtaining unit 133, configured to acquire multiplexing control information of the receiving device; and determining, according to the acquired multiplexing control information of the receiving device, whether the receiving device supports the multiplex transmission, If supported, the notification encapsulating unit 131 performs a multiplex encapsulation function; if not, the notification encapsulating unit 131 transmits a GTP protocol message to the receiving device according to the normal transmission mode. The multiplex control information may specifically include: support capability for multiplex transmission; or further including a GTP protocol type using multiplex transmission, a UDP destination port number for receiving multiplexed packets, and a maximum The encapsulation delay time, which is one or any combination of the maximum packet length information of the multiplexed encapsulation.

The obtaining unit 133 may specifically include: an obtaining subunit 1331 and a determining subunit 1332;

The obtaining sub-unit 1331 is configured to use the pre-configured manner, the negotiation mode when the connection or the bearer is established or modified, and the negotiation mode when the first network element 121 and the second network element 122 are first established. One or any combination, get received Multiplex control information for the device;

a determining subunit 1332, configured to determine, according to the multiplexing control information of the receiving device, whether the receiving device supports the multiplex transmission, and if so, notifying the encapsulating unit 131 to perform a multiplex encapsulation function; if not, The notification encapsulating unit 131 transmits the GTP protocol packet to the receiving device according to the normal transmission mode.

The foregoing encapsulating unit 131 may further include: a first encapsulating subunit 1311 and a second encapsulating subunit 1312; wherein: the first encapsulating subunit 1311 is configured to encapsulate the same type of GTP protocol packet in the same IP datagram;

The second encapsulation subunit 1312 is configured to encapsulate different types of GTP protocol packets in the same IP datagram.

The first encapsulating sub-unit 1311 may be further configured to: when the same type of GTP protocol packet is encapsulated in the same IP datagram, add one more before each GTP protocol packet encapsulated in the same IP datagram. The multiplexer header, the multiplexer header includes: one of a UDP source port number to be used in the GTP protocol packet corresponding to the GTP protocol packet, and one of the length information of the GTP protocol packet corresponding to the GTP protocol packet Two kinds;

The second encapsulation sub-unit 1312 is further configured to add a multi-channel before each GTP protocol packet encapsulated in the same IP datagram when the different types of GTP protocol packets are encapsulated in the same IP datagram. The multiplexer header, the multiplexer header includes: a UDP destination port number to be used for transmitting a GTP protocol packet corresponding to itself in a normal manner, or a protocol type identifier of a GTP protocol packet corresponding to itself.

For the specific working process of the system and device embodiments shown in FIG. 12 and FIG. 13 , refer to the description of the corresponding part of the method, and details are not described herein again. It can be seen that, by using the technical solution of the embodiment of the present invention, multiple GTP protocol packets are encapsulated in the same IP datagram for transmission, and the maximum load length of the IP datagram is fully utilized, thereby effectively improving the effectiveness of the IP datagram. The proportion of load data, which improves network transmission efficiency and bandwidth utilization efficiency.

In the following, a specific example is used to compare the different effects of using the solution according to the embodiment of the present invention to improve the proportion of payload data in an IP datagram compared with the existing transmission method.

For voice communication using the GSM-AMR coding format, assuming that the average transmission code rate is 8 Kbps and the sampling interval is 20 ms, the length of each speech frame is 20 bytes. It is assumed that the voice frame in the example is encapsulated and transmitted in the manner shown in FIG. 4, that is, the RTP protocol packet encapsulated in the voice data is carried in the IPv4 tunnel of the GTP upper tunnel, and the IPv4 data transmitted in the upper tunnel is transmitted. After being encapsulated as a GTP-U protocol packet, the total length is 68 bytes.

For this payload data of length 68 bytes:

If the existing normal transmission mode is used for transmission, the length after encapsulation as an IPv4 datagram is 96 bytes, and the length after encapsulation as an Ethernet frame is 114 bytes. If the transmission slot and synchronization bit of the Ethernet frame are further considered, A total of 134 bytes.

If the multiplex mode is used in the embodiment of the present invention, the same type of GTP protocol packet can be encapsulated in the same IP datagram as an example. A 2-byte multiplex header, then, according to the description in Table 1, the IPv4 datagram can encapsulate up to 1500 bytes of information, that is, a 28-byte UDP header and IP header, within the maximum package delay time. And about 20 GTP protocol messages.

For these 20 GTP protocol packets, if they are encapsulated in multiplexed mode, the final IPv4 datagram length is 1428 bytes, and the length after encapsulation as an Ethernet frame is 1466 bytes (considering Ethernet frames) The transmission time slot and the synchronization bit); if the existing encapsulation mode is adopted, the total length of the IPv4 datagram corresponding to the 20 GTP protocol messages will be 1920 bytes, and the total Ethernet frame transmission The input length is 2680 bytes. It can be seen that for the same 20 GTP protocol messages, when the two solutions of the embodiment of the present invention and the prior art are used, the lengths of the required IPv4 datagrams are respectively 1428 bytes and 1920 bytes. The length of the required Ethernet frames is 1466 bytes and 2680 bytes, respectively. That is to say, the solution described in the embodiment of the present invention significantly improves the proportion of payload data in IP datagrams and Ethernet frames.

The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and any person skilled in the art can easily think of changes or within the technical scope disclosed by the present invention. Alternatives are intended to be covered by the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

Rights request

A method for transmitting a GTP packet of a general packet radio service tunneling protocol, the method comprising: the first network element encapsulating one or more GTP protocol packets in the same IP datagram by multiplexing The first network element sends the encapsulated IP data packet to the second network element.

The method according to claim 1, wherein the first network element, before the one or more GTP protocol packets are encapsulated in the same IP data packet by multiplexing, further includes:

Obtaining, by the first network element, multiplex control information of the second network element, where the first network element determines whether the second network element supports multiplex transmission, and if supported, according to the The multiplexing control information of the two network elements encapsulates one or more GTP protocol packets in the same IP data packet in a multiplexed manner, and sends the information to the second network element.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the multiplexing control information comprises at least one of: a support capability for multiplex transmission, a GTP protocol type using multiplex transmission, The user datagram protocol UDP destination port number, the maximum encapsulation delay time, and the maximum packet length information applicable to the multiplex encapsulation of the multiplexed packet.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the support capability for the multiplex transmission comprises at least one of: a transmission capability and a reception capability.

5. The method according to claim 3, characterized in that different bearers of different GTP protocol types or networks correspond to different multiplexing control information.

The method according to claim 3, wherein when the multiplexed control information includes a maximum encapsulation delay time, the first network element passes more than one GTP protocol packet by multiplexing The process of being encapsulated in the same IP data packet is completed within the maximum package delay time;

When the multiplexed control information includes a maximum packet length applicable to the multiplexed encapsulation, the length of each GTP protocol packet encapsulated in the same IP data packet by the multiplexing manner is less than Or equal to the maximum message length of the applicable multiplexed package.

The method according to any one of claims 2 to 5, wherein the acquiring, by the first network element, the multiplex control information of the second network element comprises at least one of the following manners:

Obtained by pre-configuration;

Obtained by negotiation when each user's connection or bearer is established or modified;

When the connection is first established between the first network element and the second network element, the connection is obtained through negotiation.

The method according to claim 7, wherein the obtaining by the negotiation mode comprises: the second network element carrying its own multiplex control information in the sent GTP-C message, and sending the multiplex control information to the The first network element, where the first network element obtains multiplexing control information of the second network element from the GTP-C message.

The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the one or more GTP protocol packets are encapsulated in the same IP data packet by multiplexing, including:

If different GTP protocol packets correspond to different QoS requirements, only one or more GTP protocol packets with the same QoS requirements are encapsulated in the same IP data packet.

The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the multiplexing mode comprises at least one of the following A type of GTP protocol packet is encapsulated in the same IP data packet, and different types of GTP protocol packets are encapsulated in the same IP data packet.

The method according to claim 10, wherein each GTP protocol encapsulated in the same IP data packet is encapsulated in the same IP data packet in the same type of GTP protocol packet. Set a multiplexing header before the message;

The multiplexer header includes at least one of the following: a UDP source port number to be used when the GTP protocol packet is sent in the normal manner, and a length information of the GTP protocol packet.

The method according to claim 10, wherein, in a manner of encapsulating different types of GTP protocol packets in the same IP data packet, each GTP protocol encapsulated in the same IP data packet Set a multiplexing header before the message;

The multiplexer header includes: a UDP destination port number to be used when the GTP protocol packet is sent in the normal manner, or a protocol type identifier of the GTP protocol packet.

The method according to claim 12, wherein the multiplexing header further includes at least one of the following manners for encapsulating different types of GTP protocol packets in the same IP data packet:

The UDP source port number to be used for sending GTP packets in the normal mode and the length information of GTP packets.

The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein, after the first network element sends the encapsulated IP data report to the second network element, the method further includes:

The second network element decapsulates the received IP data packet to obtain the one or more GTP protocol packets.

15. A GTP protocol message transmission system, the system comprising:

The first network element is configured to encapsulate one or more GTP protocol packets in the same IP data packet by using multiplexing, and send the packet;

The second network element is configured to receive an IP data packet from the first network element.

The system according to claim 15, wherein the first network element is further configured to acquire multiplexing control information of the second network element;

Determining, by the first network element, whether the second network element supports multiplex transmission, and if so, transmitting more than one GTP protocol message according to the acquired second network element multiplexing control information The multiplex mode is encapsulated in the same IP data packet and sent to the second network element.

The system according to claim 15 or 16, wherein the second network element is further configured to decapsulate the received IP data packet to obtain the one or more GTP protocol messages.

18. A GTP protocol message transmission device, the device comprising:

The encapsulating unit is configured to encapsulate one or more GTP protocol packets in the same IP data packet by using a multiplexing manner, and the sending unit is configured to send the encapsulated IP data packet to the receiving device.

The device according to claim 18, wherein the device further comprises:

An obtaining unit, configured to acquire multiplexing control information of the receiving device, determine whether the receiving device supports multiplex transmission, and if supported, notify the package according to the multiplexed control information of the obtained receiving device The unit performs a multiplexed package.

The device according to claim 19, wherein the acquiring unit specifically includes: an obtaining sub-unit, in a pre-configured manner, a negotiation manner when a connection or a bearer is established or modified, and Acquiring at least one of a negotiation mode when the first network element and the second network element establish a connection for the first time, acquiring multiplexing control information of the receiving device;

Determining a subunit, configured to determine whether the receiving device supports multiplex transmission, and if so, notifying the encapsulating unit to perform multiplexing encapsulation according to multiplexing control information of the receiving device.

The device according to any one of claims 18 to 20, wherein the encapsulating unit comprises: a first encapsulating subunit, configured to encapsulate the same type of GTP protocol packet in the same IP datagram. ;

The second encapsulation sub-unit is configured to encapsulate different types of GTP protocol packets in the same IP datagram.