WO2013131486A1

WO2013131486A1 - Communication method, communication apparatus and user equipment

Info

Publication number: WO2013131486A1
Application number: PCT/CN2013/072319
Authority: WO
Inventors: 熊春山
Original assignee: 华为技术有限公司
Priority date: 2012-03-07
Filing date: 2013-03-07
Publication date: 2013-09-12
Also published as: CN103313232B; CN103313232A

Abstract

Disclosed are a communication method, a communication apparatus and a user equipment (UE). The method comprises: establishing a multi-path TCP connection through a plurality of radio access networks with a UE having a plurality of IP addresses, and establishing a second TCP connection with an IP host (210), the multi-path TCP connection comprising a plurality of first sub TCP connections corresponding to the plurality of IP addresses; forwarding data between the plurality of first sub TCP connections and the second TCP connection (220). Embodiments of the present invention may establish a multi-path TCP connection with a UE having a plurality of IP addresses through a plurality of radio access networks, establish a second TCP connection with an IP host, and forward data between the multi-path TCP connection and the second TCP connection, enabling a UE to perform data transmissions with another IP host by simultaneously using a plurality of radio access networks and a plurality of IP addresses.

Description

Communication method, communication, equipment and user

This application is submitted to the Chinese Patent Office on March 7, 2012, and the application number is

The priority of the Chinese patent application is hereby incorporated by reference. Technical field

The present invention relates to the field of wireless communications, and in particular, to a communication method, a communication device, and a user equipment. Background technique

In the mobile communication system evolved packet (Evolved Packet System, EPS), the terminal may access the radio access network to an evolved packet core (Evolved Packet various Third Generation Partnership Ge ^{1 j (3rd Generation Partnership Project,} 3GPP) Core, EPC) network, connected to the Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW) through the Serving Gateway (S-GW), and connected to the external Packet Data Network (PDN) through the PGW. The SGi interface communicates with an external PDN. The 3GPP radio access network includes a Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) and a Global System of Mobile communication (GSM) Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution (Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution, EDGE) GSM EDGE Radio Access Network (GERAN), and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (EUTRAN).

Although the 3GPP GPP defines that User Equipment (UE) can access the EPC network through various 3GPP radio access networks, only one UE of the International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) cannot be connected at the same time. Enter two or more 3GPP radio access networks. If a UE has two IMSIs and supports two different 3GPP radio access networks at the same time, the UE can use different IMSIs. Accessing to different 3GPP radio access networks, but assigning two IP addresses to the UE at this time is equivalent to merging the two physically separated UEs into one UE. For convenience of description, a UE having two or more IMSIs and capable of simultaneously transmitting data in two or more different 3GPP radio access networks is referred to as a multimode UE.

However, the multimode UE cannot simultaneously use two or more IP addresses to perform data transmission of the same TCP data stream with another IP host. When the multimode UE communicates with the IP host, according to the current Transport Control Protocol (TCP), in order to maintain the continuity of the IP session, it is required that the communication parties must use an IP address in the process of communication, and this The IP address cannot be changed during the communication process. Therefore, it is impossible to implement the data transmission of the same TCP data stream by the UE using two or more IP addresses simultaneously with another IP host. Summary of the invention

The embodiment of the invention provides a communication method, a communication device and a user equipment, which can implement data transmission of the same TCP data stream by the UE simultaneously using two or more IP addresses and another IP host.

In one aspect, a communication method is provided, including: establishing a multipath transmission control protocol TCP connection with a user equipment having multiple Internet Protocol IP addresses via a plurality of radio access networks, and establishing a second TCP connection with the IP host, wherein The multipath TCP connection includes a plurality of first sub-TCP connections corresponding to the plurality of IP addresses, and data is forwarded between the plurality of first sub-TCP connections and the second TCP connection.

In another aspect, a communication method is provided, including: a user equipment establishing a multipath transmission control protocol TCP connection with a first communication device via a plurality of radio access networks, wherein the multipath TCP connection includes multiple a plurality of first sub-TCP connections corresponding to the IP address; the number of transmissions between the user equipment and the IP host by the user equipment by using the plurality of first sub-TCP connections and the second TCP connection According to the second TCP connection, the first communication device is established with the IP host, and the data is forwarded by the first communication device between the plurality of first sub-TCP connections and the second TCP connection.

In another aspect, a communication method is provided, including: the HSS storing a plurality of subscription data of the user equipment; the HSS providing the foregoing to the core network mobility management entity node when the user equipment accesses multiple radio access networks Signing data, so that the core network mobility management entity node establishes multiple PDN connections between the user equipment and the at least one PGW based on the multiple subscription data, where the multiple PDN connections are used for establishing the user equipment with the user. a multipath TCP connection corresponding to a plurality of IP addresses of the device, wherein the plurality of IP addresses are allocated by the at least one PGW, the plurality of subscription data corresponding to the plurality of IMSIs of the user equipment and corresponding to the plurality of radio access networks The plurality of subscription data includes the identifiers of the same access point name APN and at least one PGW.

In another aspect, a communication device is provided, including: an establishing module, configured to establish a multipath transmission control protocol TCP connection with a user equipment having multiple Internet Protocol IP addresses via multiple radio access networks, and establish an IP connection with an IP host a second TCP connection, wherein the multipath TCP connection includes a plurality of first sub-TCP connections corresponding to the plurality of IP addresses, and a forwarding module, configured to be between the plurality of first sub-TCP connections and the second TCP connection Forward data.

In another aspect, a user equipment is provided, including: an establishing module, configured to establish a multipath transmission control protocol TCP connection with a first communication device via multiple radio access networks, where the multipath TCP connection includes the user equipment a plurality of first sub-TCP connections corresponding to the plurality of IP addresses; a transmission module, configured to transmit data between the user equipment and the IP host by using the plurality of first sub-TCP connections and the second TCP connection, the second TCP The connection is established by the first communication device with the IP host, the data being forwarded by the first communication device between the plurality of first sub-TCP connections and the second TCP connection.

In another aspect, a communication device is provided, including: a storage module, configured to store multiple subscription data of the user equipment; and a sending module, configured to move to the core network when the user equipment accesses multiple radio access networks The plurality of subscription data is sent by the physical management entity node, so that the core network mobility management entity node establishes multiple PDNs between the user equipment and the at least one PGW based on the multiple subscription data. a connection, wherein the plurality of PDN connections are used by the user equipment to establish a multipath TCP connection corresponding to a plurality of IP addresses of the user equipment, wherein the plurality of IP addresses are allocated by the at least one PGW, and the plurality of subscription data corresponds to The plurality of IMSIs of the user equipment correspond to the plurality of radio access networks, and the plurality of subscription data includes identifiers of the same access point name APN and at least one PGW.

The embodiment of the present invention may establish a multipath TCP connection with a user equipment having multiple IP addresses via multiple radio access networks, establish a second TCP connection with the IP host, and between the multipath TCP connection and the second TCP connection. Forwarding data enables the UE to simultaneously use multiple IP addresses for data transmission with another IP host. DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings used in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly described below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only the present invention. For some embodiments, other drawings may be obtained from those skilled in the art without any inventive effort.

1A and 1B are schematic architectural diagrams of a communication system in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Figure 1C is a hierarchical structure of MPTCP in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a communication process provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a communication process according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Figure Ί is a schematic flow chart of a communication process provided in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a communication process according to still another embodiment of the present invention.

9 is a structural schematic diagram of a communication device provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention. 11 is a schematic structural diagram of a communication device provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. detailed description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention are clearly and completely described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings. All other embodiments obtained by a person of ordinary skill in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts are within the scope of the present invention.

It should be understood that the technical solution of the present invention can be applied to various communication systems, such as: GSM (Global System of Mobile communication) system, CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access), and its evolution and enhancement series. System, WCDM A (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) system, TD-SCDMA (Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access) system, GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) In the present invention, the LTE (Long Term Evolution) system, the LTE-A (Advanced Long Term Evolution) system, the UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System), and the like It is not limited, but for convenience of description, the embodiment of the present invention will be described by taking an LTE network as an example.

Embodiments of the present invention can be used in wireless networks of different standards. A wireless access network may include different network elements in different systems. For example, the network elements of the radio access network in the LTE and the LTE-A include an eNB (eNodeB, an evolved base station), and the network elements of the radio access network in the WCDMA include an RNC (Radio Network Controller) and a NodeB, similar to Other wireless networks, such as WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access), may also use a solution similar to the embodiment of the present invention, but the related modules in the base station system may be different, and the embodiment of the present invention does not limited.

It should also be understood that, in the embodiment of the present invention, the user equipment (UE, User Equipment) includes but It is not limited to a mobile station (MS, Mobile Station), a mobile terminal (Mobile Terminal), a mobile telephone (Mobile Telephone), a mobile phone (handset), and a portable device, etc., and the user equipment can pass through a radio access network (RAN, Radio Access Network) communicates with one or more core networks. For example, the user equipment can be a mobile phone (or "cellular, telephone"), a computer with wireless communication function, etc., and the user equipment can also be portable, pocket-sized. , handheld, computer built-in or in-vehicle mobile devices.

In the initial deployment phase of Long Term Evolution (LTE) networks, since LTE network coverage only covers hotspots rather than continuous coverage, some wireless carriers now require multimode UEs to simultaneously access EPC through UTRAN and EUTRAN. in. In this case, when the multimode UE is located in the coverage area of the LTE network, the multimode UE can simultaneously communicate through two radio access networks, UTRAN and EUTRAN, so that the data rate of the access network of the multimode UE is greatly increased. increase. When the UE moves out of the coverage area of the LTE network, the multimode UE can maintain its original IP data connection and transmission by accessing the UTRAN. For multi-mode UEs, this method can enable multi-mode UEs to experience the high rate of LTE in the initial deployment phase of LTE, increasing user stickiness. For wireless operators, this method can increase the user's network access rate and gains.

In the above method, since the multimode UE uses two IP addresses to transmit data through the UTRAN and the EUTRAN, respectively, it is required to ensure that the IP host communicating with the multimode UE also supports the simultaneous use of the two IP addresses with the multimode UE. Communicate. For example, the Multipath Transport Control Protocol (hereinafter also referred to as MultiPath Transport Control Protocol, MPTCP) is an implementation that enables an MPTP-capable host and another MPTCP-capable host to perform TCP over multiple IP paths. The technology of data communication. When the multimode UE communicates with the IP host using MPTCP, it is necessary to ensure that the IP host also supports MPTCP. However, in reality, it is difficult to upgrade all IP hosts to hosts that support MPTCP. Therefore, the above method cannot implement the same TCP data flow for the UE using two IP addresses simultaneously with another IP host that does not support MPTCP. Data transfer.

1A and 1B are schematic architectural diagrams of a communication system 100 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The communication system 100 includes a UE 110, an EUTRAN 120, a Serving Gateway (SGW) 130, a Packet Data Network Gateway (PDN Gateway, PGW) 140, a UTRAN 150, a GERAN 160, and a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN). 165. Mobility Management Entity (MME) 170, Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 180, and IP host 190. In this embodiment, the radio access network UTRAN 150 and the EUTRAN 120 are taken as an example for description. The embodiment according to the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, the radio access network may also be a GERAN 160 or other type of radio access network. .

UE 110 is a multi-mode UE that can be connected to SGW 130 via a radio access UTRAN and to SGW 130 via EUTRAN 120. The SGW 130 can be connected to the PGW 140 via IP routing, and the PGW 140 can be connected to the IP host 190 via IP routing. The EUTRAN 120 can be connected to the MME 170, the UTRAN 150 can be connected to the SGSN 165, the SGSN 165 can be connected to the HSS 180, and the MME 170 can be connected to the HSS 180.

The multimode UE 110 according to an embodiment of the present invention supports the MPTCP function, which is not supported by the IP host.

The MPTCP function, and data communication between the multimode UE 110 and the IP host 190 is achieved by arranging MPTCP functional entities on the network nodes of the communication system 100. The MPTCP functional entity 145 may also be referred to as an MPTCP proxy (Proxy). For example, the MPTCP functional entity may be arranged on the PGW 140 (see Fig. 1A), or on the interface SGi outside the PGW 140, or on a router or switch outside the PGW 140 (see Fig. 1B). In Fig. 1B, the PGW 140 may be at least one.

Different from the hierarchical structure of conventional TCP, in the embodiment of FIG. 1C, the transport layer of the hierarchical structure of MPTCP includes an MPTCP sublayer supporting multiple path transmission and multiple TCP sublayers (for example, two TCP sublayers) ). The MPTCP sublayer splits the application layer data that needs to be transmitted to different sub-portions. Data is transmitted on the data stream, and each sub-stream corresponds to a TCP sublayer. The MPTCP sublayer is also used to merge sub-data streams uploaded by multiple TCP sublayers into application layer data.

In particular, the transport layer of the MPTCP functional entity may include an MPTCP sublayer and a TCP sublayer for establishing an MPTCP connection with the multimode UE for data transmission between the multimode UE and the MPTCP functional entity through the MPTCP connection, the MPTCP function The entity may further include a TCP layer for establishing a TCP connection with the TCP layer of the IP host to perform data transmission between the MPTCP functional entity and the IP host through the TCP connection. This embodiment is described by taking an example that the UE has two IP addresses (for example, IP-1 and IP-2) and the IP host has an IP address (for example, IP-D), and the embodiment according to the present invention is not limited thereto. For example, a UE may have multiple IP addresses.

The MPTCP function entity can establish an MPTCP connection with the multimode UE by using the IP address IP-D of the IP host as its IP address, and the MPTCP connection includes two TCP connections corresponding to the IP addresses 1 and IP of the multimode UE respectively. -2. The MPTCP functional entity may establish a TCP connection with the IP host with one of the two IP addresses of the multimode UE (e.g., IP-1) as its IP address.

When the multi-mode UE sends data to the IP host, the multi-mode UE offloads the application layer data into two sub-data streams through the MPTCP sub-layer, and passes the TCP sub-layer-1 of the multi-mode UE and the TCP sub-layer-1 of the MPTCP functional entity. The TCP connection between the TCP connection and the TCP sublayer-2 of the UE and the TCP sublayer-2 of the MPTCP functional entity transmits the above two substreams. The MPTCP functional entity receives the above two sub-data streams from the TCP sub-layer-1 and the TCP sub-layer-2 through the MPTCP sublayer, and merges the above two sub-data streams into application layer data. Thereafter, the MPTCP functional entity converts the application layer data into a TCP data stream through a TCP layer of the MPTCP functional entity, and transmits the TCP data stream through a TCP connection between the TCP layer of the MPTCP functional entity and the TCP layer of the IP host, and The TCP layer of the IP host converts the above TCP data stream into application layer data.

When the IP host sends data to the multimode UE, the IP host converts the application layer data into a TCP data stream through the TCP layer, and transmits the TCP data stream through a TCP connection between the TCP layer of the IP host and the TCP layer of the MPTCP functional entity. And the above TCP is implemented by the TCP layer of the MPTCP functional entity. The data stream is converted to application layer data. Thereafter, the MPTCP sublayer of the MPTCP functional entity splits the application layer data into two sub-data streams, respectively, through a TCP connection between the TCP sub-layer-1 of the MPTCP functional entity and the TCP sub-layer-1 of the multi-mode UE, and MPTCP. The TCP connection between the TCP sublayer-2 of the functional entity and the TCP sublayer-2 of the UE transmits the above two substreams, and the above two substreams are merged into application layer data by the MPTCP sublayer of the UE.

FIG. 2 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method of FIG. 2 is performed by a communication device including the foregoing MPTCP functional entity. The method of Figure 2 includes the following.

210. Establish an MPTCP connection with a UE having multiple IP addresses via multiple radio access networks, and establish a second TCP connection with the IP host, where the MPTCP connection includes multiple first sub-subjects corresponding to the multiple IP addresses. TCP connection.

For example, the plurality of radio access networks may include at least two of UTRAN, GERAN, and EUTRAN, and the plurality of radio access networks correspond to the plurality of IP addresses.

For example, the UE is a multimode UE supporting MPTCP function (or MPTCP protocol), and the IP host does not support MPTCP function. In an implementation of this embodiment, an MPTCP functional entity according to an embodiment of the present invention may be included in a PGW. Alternatively, the MPTCP functional entity may also be included on the interface SGi outside the at least one PGW, or may be arranged in a router or switch to which the PGW is connected. In other words, the PGW supporting the MPTCP function may establish the foregoing MPTCP connection with the multi-mode UE, and establish a second TCP connection with the IP host, or the MPTCP function entity located on the other communication device establishes an MPTCP connection with the UE through the PGW. And establish a second TCP connection with the IP host.

220. Forward data between the plurality of first sub-TCP connections and the second TCP connection.

For example, data received from the UE over a plurality of first sub-TCP connections may be converted (eg, synthesized) into data transmitted over the second TCP connection, and/or data converted from the IP host through the second TCP connection may be converted (For example, offloading) is data transmitted through a plurality of first sub-TCP connections.

Embodiments of the present invention may be established with multiple UEs having multiple IP addresses via multiple radio access networks The MPTCP connection establishes a second TCP connection with the IP host, and forwards data between the MPTCP connection and the second TCP connection, so that the UE can simultaneously use multiple IP addresses for data transmission with another IP host.

In 210, the multiple first sub-TCP connections may be established with the UE by using the multiple PDN connections of the UE, where the multiple first sub-TCP connections are connected to the multiple PDNs. Corresponding.

For example, the plurality of PDN connections may be that at least one PGW is connected to a PDN established by the UE, and the plurality of first sub-TCP connections are associated with the plurality of PDN connections.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the method of FIG. 2 further includes: establishing, according to the plurality of subscription data of the UE, the foregoing multiple PDN connections, and allocating, to the UE, the foregoing corresponding to the multiple PDN connections. a plurality of IP addresses, the plurality of subscription data corresponding to the plurality of IMSIs of the UE and corresponding to the plurality of radio access networks, the plurality of subscription data including the same Access Point Name (APN) and the same PGW The identifier of the PGW is the IP address of the PGW. The plurality of subscription data are stored in the home contracting server HSS and are obtained by the core network mobility management entity node from the home contracting server HSS.

For example, the multi-mode UE may include multiple IMSIs corresponding to multiple radio access networks. When the user of the multi-mode UE subscribes to an APN with the wireless carrier, the multiple IMSIs need to sign the APN. The HSS stores multiple subscription data of multiple IMSI subscriptions to the APN. The core network mobility management entity node (e.g., the MME connected to the EUTRAN or the SGSN connected to the UTRAN) may acquire corresponding subscription data from the HSS when the multimode UE accesses the radio access network. It should be understood that the user of the multi-mode UE can also sign other APNs. When the multi-mode UE subscribes to other APNs, multiple IMSIs need to sign with other APNs. In the case that the foregoing MPTCP function entity is disposed on the PGW, the PGW identifier in the plurality of subscription data to which each APN belongs is the IP address of the PGW, so that when the multi-mode UE uses the multiple IMSIs, the same one can be connected. APN is on the same PGW. Optionally, in another embodiment, the multiple IP addresses are allocated by the at least one PGW when the multiple PDN connections are established based on the multiple subscription data of the UE, where the multiple IP addresses correspond to the multiple PDNs. The plurality of subscription data corresponding to the plurality of IMSIs of the UE and corresponding to the plurality of radio access networks, wherein the plurality of subscription data includes an identifier of the same access point name APN and at least one PGW, and the at least one PGW The identifier is the same IP address or the same Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN), and the plurality of subscription data are stored in the home contract server HSS and acquired by the core network mobility management entity node from the HSS.

For example, since there may be multiple PGWs belonging to the APN, the FQDNs of the multiple PGWs are the same, and the IP addresses of the multiple PGWs are different and unique. If the PGW identifier included in the plurality of subscription data is an FQDN, it is possible to make multiple PDN connections respectively established on different PGWs. In the case that the above MPTCP function entity is disposed on the SGi other than the PGW, the same FQDN may be used as the identifier of the PGW including the plurality of subscription data to which the same APN belongs, so that multiple IMSIs are established to the same one. The APN's PDN connection can be connected to different PGWs.

In 220, a plurality of first data streams sent by the UE may be received from the plurality of first sub-TCP connections, respectively, and the plurality of first data streams are merged into a second data stream, and the second TCP connection is used. Transmitting the data stream to the IP host, where the plurality of first data streams have different source IP addresses, and the plurality of first data streams and the second data stream have the same target IP address and TCP target port number, and second The source address of the data stream is one of the above multiple IP addresses.

For example, when the multi-mode UE needs to send data to the IP host, the multi-mode UE may divide the data into multiple parts according to the MPTCP protocol, and respectively send through multiple first sub-TCP connections to form a plurality of first data streams. For example, the plurality of first data streams are sub-TCP data streams of the MPTCP protocol. A communication device (eg, PGW) including an MPTCP functional entity merges and repacks the plurality of first data streams received from the plurality of first sub-TCP connections, converts to a second data stream, and transmits to the second TCP connection to the second TCP connection The IP host, for example, the second data stream is capable of supporting and identifying the IP host TCP data stream in the TCP protocol.

For example, when the multimode UE needs to send data to the IP host, the source IP addresses of the plurality of first data streams correspond to the plurality of IP addresses. The target IP addresses of the plurality of first data streams and the second data streams are all IP addresses of the IP host.

In 220, a third data stream may be received from the second TCP connection; the third data stream is divided into a plurality of fourth data streams corresponding to the plurality of first child TCP connections; and the plurality of first child TCP connections are connected Transmitting the plurality of fourth data streams to the UE, where the plurality of fourth data streams and the third data stream have the same source IP address and TCP source port number, and the plurality of fourth data streams have different target IP addresses. And an address corresponding to the plurality of IP addresses of the user equipment, where the target address of the third data stream is one of the plurality of IP addresses.

For example, when the IP host needs to send data to the multi-mode UE, the IP host sends the data through the second TCP connection to form a third data stream, where the third data stream is a TCP that the IP host can support and recognize. TCP data stream in the protocol. The communication device (eg, PGW) including the MPTCP functional entity re-encapsulates and offloads the third data stream received from the TCP connection into a fourth plurality of data streams, and respectively from the plurality of first child TCPs, according to the MPTCP protocol. The connection is sent to the multimode UE, and the plurality of fourth data streams are sub-TCP data streams of the MPTCP protocol that the multi-mode UE can recognize.

The method of this embodiment converts a plurality of first data streams received from the plurality of first sub-TCP connections into a second data stream, and transmits the same to the IP host through the second TCP connection; and/or, will be from the second The third data stream received by the TCP connection is converted into a plurality of fourth data streams, and the plurality of fourth data streams are respectively sent to the multi-mode UE through the plurality of first sub-TCP connections, so the IP host support may not be required to be utilized. A protocol in which an IP path performs TCP data transmission (for example, an MPTCP protocol), thereby implementing communication of the same IP data stream with the IP host by the multimode UE through at least two radio access networks.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when the third data stream is divided into the plurality of fourth data streams, the third data stream may be divided into the foregoing according to a transmission rate of the plurality of first sub-TCP connections. a fourth data stream, the fourth data stream corresponding to the first sub-TCP connection having a larger transmission rate having a larger flow rate, wherein the transmission rates of the plurality of first sub-TCP connections are respectively determined according to the plurality of The transmission rate of the radio access network.

For example, in the transmission rate, the transmission rate of the UTRAN is much smaller than that of the EUTRAN. In communication, the MPTCP sublayer can determine the TCP data provided by each TCP sublayer according to the flow control function of the TCP of the lower layer TCP sublayer. The transmission rate of the stream, so that the MPTCP Protocol Data Unit (PDU) is allocated according to the transmission rate of each TCP sublayer. For example, in TCP, when the sender receives three consecutive identical TCP acknowledgments (ACKs), it is considered that the transmission channel is congested at this time, and thus the previous transmission rate is the maximum transmission rate. For example, by this method, it is determined that the transmission rate of the UTRAN is 2 mbps, and the transmission rate of the EUTRAN is 10 mbps, and their transmission rate ratio is 1:5, then a data packet can be sent to the UE through the TCP sub-connection corresponding to the UTRAN, and then The subsequent 5 data packets are sent to the UE through the sub-connection corresponding to the EUTRAN, so that the balanced and effective wireless connection can be used. Due to the dynamic nature of the wireless transmission channel, the transmission rate of each TCP sublayer changes dynamically, so the MPTCP sublayer also needs to be dynamically adjusted according to the method described. After the method of this embodiment is adopted, the MPTCP function entity can fully multiplex the UTRAN and the EUTRAN at different rates, and efficiently multiplex the data of the application layer into the transmission channel of the UTRAN and the EUTRAN for transmission.

In 210, a first request for establishing the MPTCP connection may be received from the UE; according to the first request, the MPTCP connection is established with the UE by using the multiple radio access networks, where a target address of the first request is The IP address of the IP host, the source address of the first request is an IP address allocated by the UE when accessing the first radio access network; and the second request for establishing the TCP connection is sent to the IP host, The IP host establishes a second TCP connection, where the source address of the second request is an IP address allocated by the UE when accessing the first radio access network, and the target address of the second request is an IP address of the IP host, first The radio access network is the radio access network with the largest coverage among the plurality of radio access networks. For example, the first request may be a TCP packet containing a SYN identity for establishing an MPTCP connection, including an indication that the multimode UE supports the MPTCP function. After receiving the TCP SYN packet, the MPTCP function entity sends a TCP packet containing the SYN and ACK identifiers to the multimode UE, where the MPTCP function entity supports the indication of the MPTCP function, and the multimode UE receives the TCP packet including the SYN and the ACK. Thereafter, the TCP packet including the ACK identifier is replied to the MPTCP function entity, thereby completing the initial first sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection between the MPTCP function entity and the multi-mode UE through the three-way handshake process. The process of adding the other first sub-TCP connection to the MPTCP connection may refer to the establishment process of other sub-TCP connections of the conventional MPTCP connection, and details are not described herein again.

For example, the second request may be a TCP packet containing a SYN identifier for establishing a TCP connection, where the indication of the MPTCP function is not included, and after the IP host receives the TCP packet including the SYN packet identifier, the IPTCP function entity replies with the SYN. With the TCP packet identified by the ACK, which does not include the indication of the MPTCP function, the MPTCP function entity receives the TCP packet containing the SYN and ACK identifiers and then replies to the IP host with the TCP packet containing the ACK identifier, thereby completing the MPTCP function through the three-way handshake process. The establishment of a TCP connection between the entity and the IP host. In addition, the TCP source port number and the destination port number of the second request may be respectively a TCP source port number and a TCP target port number in the first request.

In 210, a first request for establishing the MPTCP connection may be received from the UE, where a target address of the first request is an IP address of the IP host, and a source address of the first request is that the UE is from the first radio access The IP address assigned when the network accesses; forwarding the first request to the IP host, and establishing a second TCP connection with the IP host according to the response of the IP host to the first request; according to the first request, The plurality of radio access networks establish the MPTCP connection with the UE, and the first radio access network is the radio access network with the largest coverage among the plurality of radio access networks.

For example, the first request may be a TCP packet including an SYN identifier for establishing an MPTCP connection, and the MPTCP function entity forwards the first request TCP packet to the IP host because it does not know whether the IP host supports the MPTCP function, for example, This TCP packet containing the SYN is sent to the IP host without any modification. If the IP host supports the MPTCP function, it indicates that the MPTCP function is supported in its response to the first request (for example, a TCP packet containing the SYN and ACK identifiers), and the MPTCP function entity, after receiving the response of the second request, It is sent to the multimode UE without any modification in order to implement an MPTCP connection between the multimode UE and the IP host. After that, the MPTCP function entity forwards the TCP packet sent by the UE to the target host to the target IP host, and forwards the TCP packet sent by the target IP host to the UE to the UE. The forwarding process does not perform any operations on the content of the data.

If the IP host does not support the MPTCP function, it does not include an indication to support the MPTCP function in its response to the second request (for example, a TCP packet containing SYN and ACK). At this time, the MPTCP function entity establishes an MPTCP connection with the multi-mode UE through the three-way handshake process of the MPTCP according to the first request, for example, sending a TCP packet including the SYN and the ACK identifier to the multi-mode UE, and the TCP packet including the SYN and the ACK identifier. The MPTCP function entity is instructed to support the MPTCP function, and the three-way handshake process is completed after receiving the TCP packet containing the ACK identifier sent by the multi-mode UE, thereby completing the initial MPTS connection between the MPTCP function entity and the multi-mode UE through the three-way handshake process. The first child TCP connection. The process of adding the other first sub-TCP connections to the MPTCP connection can refer to the establishment process of other sub-TCP connections of the conventional MPTCP connection, and details are not described herein again. At the same time, the MPTCP function entity establishes a TCP connection with the IP host through the three-way handshake process of the TCP by using the second request, for example, after receiving the TCP packet containing the SYN and ACK identifiers that does not include the indication of supporting the MPTCP function, sending the inclusion to the IP host. The TCP packet identified by the ACK completes the three-way handshake process, thereby establishing a TCP connection.

For example, the first radio access network is a UTR AN with a large coverage in UTR AN and EUTR AN. Since the EUTRAN is deployed only in the hotspot area during the initial deployment phase, when the multi-mode UE moves, it may enter an area without LTE coverage, so that the IP address corresponding to the EUTRAN is allocated to other UEs, thereby causing the IP host to pass the IP address. The user terminal during communication is no longer the original multimode UE. In this embodiment, preferably, the UE initiates communication with the IP host by using a source IP address corresponding to the UTRAN, so that the IP host can always ensure the source corresponding to the UTRAN. The IP address communicates with the UE.

In 210, a third request for establishing the TCP connection is received from the IP host; and a second TCP connection is established with the IP host according to the third request, where a target address of the third request is that the UE is connected from the first wireless The IP address assigned to the network access, the source address of the third request is the IP address of the IP host, and the fourth request for establishing the MPTCP connection is sent to the UE, to establish the MPTCP connection with the UE, where The source address of the fourth request is an IP address of the IP host, and the target address of the fourth request is an IP address allocated when the UE accesses the first radio access network.

For example, the third request may be a TCP packet containing a SYN identifier for establishing a TCP connection, and the MPTCP function entity establishes a TCP connection with the IP host through a three-way handshake process of the TCP according to the third request. The fourth request may be a TCP packet containing the SYN identifier for establishing an MPTCP connection, and the MPTCP function entity establishes an MPTCP connection with the multi-mode UE through the three-way handshake process of the MPTCP by using the fourth request. For example, the initial TCP may be established for an IP address. Connect, then establish a new sub-TCP connection for other IP addresses.

In the third request process, if the IP host supports MPTCP and the UE does not support MPTCP, the related processing is the same as the above-mentioned first request process, the UE supports MPTCP and the IP host does not support MPTCP processing. Similarly, in the third request process, if the IP host and the UE support MPTCP at the same time, the related processing process and the first request process described above simultaneously support the processing of the MPTCP by the UE and the IP host. The description will not be repeated here.

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to another embodiment of the present invention. The method of Figure 3 is performed by the multi-mode UE 110 of Figure 1A. The method of Fig. 3 corresponds to the method of Fig. 2, and a detailed description is omitted as appropriate. The method of Figure 3 includes the following.

310. The UE establishes an MPTCP connection with the first communications device via multiple radio access networks, where the MPTCP connection includes multiple first sub-TCP connections corresponding to multiple IP addresses of the UE.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the first communication device may be a communication device including an MPTCP functional entity, for example, an interface on the interface SGi other than the PGW or PGW or the route to which the PGW is connected Or switch.

320. The UE transmits data between the UE and the IP host by using the multiple first and second TCP connections, and the second TCP connection is established by the first communications device and the IP host, where the data is used by the first communications. The device forwards between the plurality of first sub-TCP connections and the second TCP connection.

The embodiment of the present invention may establish an MPTCP connection corresponding to multiple IP addresses of the UE via a plurality of radio access networks and a communication device supporting the MPTCP function, and establish a second TCP connection with the IP host through the communication device, and The data is forwarded between the MPTCP connection and the second TCP connection, so that the UE can simultaneously use two IP addresses for data transmission with another IP host.

In 310, the UE may establish the multiple first sub-TCP connections with the PGW via the multiple radio access networks based on multiple PDN connections, where the multiple first sub-TCP connections are connected to the multiple PDNs. correspond.

For example, when the multimode UE needs to access the packet data network PDN identified by the access point name APN, the multimode UE establishes multiple PDN connections with the first communication device, and the multiple PDN connections respectively correspond to multiple wireless Access Network.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the first communications device is a PGW, and the method of FIG. 3 further includes: the UE establishing multiple PDN connections with the PGW based on the plurality of subscription data of the UE, where the PDN connection is corresponding to the PDN connection. The plurality of IP addresses are allocated by the PGW, the plurality of subscription data corresponding to the plurality of IMSIs of the UE and corresponding to the plurality of radio access networks, the plurality of subscription data including the same access point name APN and the same PGW The identifier of the PGW is the IP address of the PGW, and the plurality of subscription data are stored in the home contracting server HSS and acquired by the core network mobility management entity node from the HSS.

For example, the first communication device is a PGW, that is, the MPTCP function entity is disposed on the PGW, and the multi-mode UE can access the core network mobility management entity node (for example, the SGSN when accessing the first radio access network (eg, UTRAN) And transmitting a connection establishment request, where the connection establishment request includes a first IMSI corresponding to the first radio access network and an APN to which the multimode UE needs to access. Core network mobility tube The physical entity node obtains the first subscription data corresponding to the first IMSI according to the first IMSI, and selects the corresponding PGW according to the IP address of the PGW of the APN subscription data in the first subscription data to establish the first PDN of the multimode UE. Connected, and the PGW assigns an IP address to the multi-mode UE. Similarly, the multimode UE may send a connection establishment request to a core network mobility management entity node (eg, MME) when accessing the second radio access network (eg, E-UTRAN), the connection establishment request including The second IMSI corresponding to the second radio access network and the foregoing APN. The core network mobility management entity node obtains the second subscription data corresponding to the second IMSI according to the second IMSI querying the HSS, and selects the PGW to establish and the second wireless according to the IP address of the PGW of the APN subscription data in the second subscription data. A second PDN connection corresponding to the access network, and the PGW allocates an IP address for the multi-mode UE. Since the identifier of the PGW of the APN subscription data in the first subscription data and the second subscription data is the IP address of the same PGW, the multi-mode UE can establish the two PDN connections with the PGW.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the method of FIG. 3 further includes: the UE establishing a plurality of PDN connections with the at least one PGW based on the plurality of subscription data of the UE, where the multiple IP addresses corresponding to the PDN connection Assigned by the PGW, the plurality of subscription data corresponding to the plurality of IMSIs of the UE and corresponding to the plurality of radio access networks, the plurality of subscription data including identifiers of the same access point name APN and at least one PGW, the at least The identifier of a PGW is the same IP address or the same full-name domain name FQDN. The plurality of subscription data are stored in the home contract server HSS and acquired by the core network mobility management entity node from the HSS.

For example, the first communication device is an interface SGi, router or switch connected to the at least one PGW, i.e., the MPTCP functional entity is disposed on the SGi, router or switch.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in 320, the UE divides the data into a plurality of first data streams corresponding to the plurality of first sub-TCP connections; the UE is first to the first plurality of first sub-TCP connections The communication device transmits the plurality of first data streams, so that the first communication device merges the plurality of first data streams into the second data stream and sends the second data stream to the IP host through the second TCP connection, The plurality of first data streams have different source IP addresses, the plurality of first data streams and the second data stream have the same target IP address and a TCP target port number, and the source address of the second data stream is the plurality of One of the IP addresses.

Optionally, in another embodiment, in 320, the UE divides the data into the multiple first data streams according to a transmission rate of the multiple first sub-TCP connections, so that the first TCP with a larger transmission rate is used. The first data stream corresponding to the connection has a larger flow rate, wherein the transmission rates of the plurality of first sub-TCP connections are respectively determined by the transmission rates of the plurality of radio access networks.

For example, in the transmission rate, the transmission rate of the UTRAN is much smaller than that of the EUTRAN. In communication, the MPTCP sublayer of the multimode UE can determine each TCP sublayer according to the flow control function of the TCP of the lower layer TCP sublayer. The transmission rate of the provided TCP data stream is such that the MPTCP Protocol Data Unit (PDU) is allocated according to the transmission rate of each TCP sublayer. For example, in TCP, when a multimode UE receives three consecutive identical TCP acknowledgments (ACKs), it considers that the transmission channel is congested at this time, and thus the previous transmission rate is the maximum transmission rate. For example, by this method, it is determined that the transmission rate of the UTRAN is 2 mbps, and the transmission rate of the EUTRAN is 10 mbps, and their transmission rate ratio is 1:5, then a data packet can be sent to the MPTCP functional entity through the TCP sub-connection corresponding to the UTRAN. Then, the subsequent 5 data packets are sent to the MPTCP functional entity through the sub-connection corresponding to the EUTRAN, so that the balanced and effective wireless connection can be used. Due to the dynamic nature of the wireless transmission channel, the transmission rate of each TCP sublayer changes dynamically, so the MPTCP sublayer also needs to be dynamically adjusted according to the method described. After the method of this embodiment is adopted, the UE can fully multiplex the UTRAN and the EUTRAN at different rates, and efficiently multiplex the data of the application layer into the transmission channel of the UTRAN and the EUTRAN for transmission.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in 320, the UE receives a plurality of fourth TCP data streams from the plurality of first child TCP connections, respectively, wherein the third data stream received by the first communication device from the second TCP connection Dividing into the plurality of fourth TCP data streams; the UE combining the plurality of fourth TCP data streams into the data, wherein the plurality of fourth data streams and the third data stream have the same source IP address The address and the TCP source port number, the plurality of fourth data streams have different target IP addresses, and correspond to the plurality of IP addresses of the user equipment, and the target address of the third data stream is one of the plurality of IP addresses.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, in 310, the UE sends a first request for establishing the MPTCP connection to the first communication device, to establish the MPTCP connection with the first communication device via the multiple radio access networks, where The target address of the first request is an IP address of the IP host, and the source address of the first request is an IP address allocated when the UE accesses from the first radio access network.

Optionally, as another embodiment, in 310, the UE receives a fourth request for establishing the MPTCP connection from the first communications device, and the first communications by using the multiple radio access networks according to the fourth request. The device establishes an MPTCP connection, where the source address of the fourth request is an IP address of the IP host, and the target address of the fourth request is an IP address allocated when the UE accesses the first radio access network.

FIG. 4 is a schematic flowchart of a communication method according to still another embodiment of the present invention. The method of the figure is performed by the HSS 180 of Figure 1A. The method of Figure 4 corresponds to the method of Figures 2 and 3, and a detailed description is omitted herein.

410. The HSS stores multiple subscription data of the UE.

420. The HSS provides the foregoing multiple subscription data to a core network mobility management entity node when the UE accesses multiple radio access networks, so that the core network mobility management entity node establishes the UE according to the multiple subscription data. a plurality of PDN connections between the at least one PGW, wherein the plurality of PDN connections are used by the UE to establish an MPTCP connection corresponding to the plurality of IP addresses of the UE, where the plurality of IP addresses are allocated by the at least one PGW, The subscription data corresponds to a plurality of IMSIs of the UE and corresponds to the plurality of radio access networks, and the plurality of subscription data includes identifiers of the same access point name APN and at least one PGW.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the identifier of the at least one PGW is the same IP address or the same full name i or the name FQDNo

The embodiment of the present invention may be configured by the HSS to store multiple subscription data of the UE, so as to establish multiple PDN connections between the UE and the at least one PGW based on the multiple subscription data, for establishing and Multiple IP addresses corresponding to the MPTCP connection. Since the identifiers of the PGWs in the plurality of subscription data are the same IP address or the same FQDN, it is ensured that the IP data packets transmitted through the multiple PDN connections may pass through the MPTCP function entity on the PGW or on the network device connected to the PGW. The MPTCP functional entity enables the UE to simultaneously use multiple IP addresses for data transmission with another IP host.

Embodiments of the present invention are described in more detail below with reference to specific examples.

FIG. 5 is a schematic flow chart of a communication process provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The method of Figure 5 is an example of the method of Figures 2, 3 and 4.

In this embodiment, the multi-mode UE accesses the radio access network UTRAN and the EUTRAN through two IMSIs as an example. In this embodiment, the MPTCP functional entity (i.e., MPTCP proxy) is included in the PGW. When the user of the multi-mode UE subscribes to an APN with the wireless carrier, the two IMSIs need to sign the APN, and save the subscription data of the two IMSI subscriptions to the APN on the HSS. The P4000 identifier of the PGW may be included in the subscription data. In this implementation, preferably, the PGW is identified as an IP address of the PGW. In the subscription data of each APN that is subscribed to by the user of the multi-mode UE, the signed PGW identifier uses the same PGW IP address. Because the IP address of the PGW is unique, it can be ensured that the PDN connection is established on the PGW, so that the IP data packet transmitted through the two PDN connections can pass through the PGW, so that the IP data packet can also reach the PGW. The MPTCP functional entity on it.

510. The multimode UE establishes a PDN connection with the PGW through the UTRAN.

For example, when the multimode UE needs to access a wireless carrier through the UTRAN,

When the PDN is identified by the APN, the multi-mode UE can establish a PDN connection with the PGW belonging to the APN through the UTRAN. The PDN connection includes an air interface Uu connection from the multimode UE to the UTRAN, an interface S12 or S4 connection from the UTRAN to the SGW, and an interface S5 connection from the SGW to the PGW. For example, the multi-mode UE may send a connection establishment request to the SGSN, where the connection establishment request includes an IMSI corresponding to the UTRAN and an APN that the multi-mode UE needs to access. The SGSN Obtaining APN-related subscription data provided by the UE by querying the HSS according to the IMSI, and establishing a PDN connection according to the IP address of the PGW in the subscription data, where the PGW may allocate an IP address corresponding to the IMSI for the multi-mode UE. .

520. The multimode UE establishes another PDN connection with the PGW through the EUTRAN.

For example, the multimode UE can establish another PDN connection with the PGW belonging to the APN through the EUTRAN. The PDN connection includes an air interface connection LTE-Uu from the multimode UE to the EUTRAN, an interface S1-U connection from the EUTRAN to the SGW, and an interface S5 connection from the SGW to the PGW. The multimode UE may send a connection setup request to the MME, the connection setup request including the IMSI corresponding to the EUTRAN and the APN that the multimode UE needs to access. The MME obtains the APN-related subscription data by querying the HSS according to the IMSI, and establishes a PDN connection according to the IP address of the PGW in the subscription data, where the PGW can allocate an IP address corresponding to the IMSI to the multi-mode UE.

530. The multi-mode UE establishes an initial sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection with the MPTCP function entity configured on the PGW through a PDN connection corresponding to the UTRAN.

For example, for the IP address assigned by the PGW when the multimode UE accesses the UTRAN, the multimode UE may initiate or initiate an MPTCP connection by sending an MPTCP connection establishment request to the IP host, and the MPTCP connection establishment request may be a SYN identifier. a TCP packet (ie, a packet for initiating a "three-way handshake"), and the TCP SYN packet may carry an MP_CAPABLE option for indicating that the multi-mode UE supports the MPTCP function, and the source address of the TCP SYN packet is a multi-mode UE connection. The IP address assigned to the PGW when it is UTRAN, and the destination address is the IP address of the IP host. After receiving the TCP SYN packet, the MPTCP function entity on the PGW can parse the destination IP address IP-D of the received TCP SYN packet, and the MPTCP function entity on the PGW will receive the TCP SYN packet without any operation. Modified, transparently sent to the IP host.

If the IP host supports the MPTCP function, the host sends a TCP SYN-ACK packet carrying the MP_CAPABLE option to the UE. At the same time, the MPTCP function entity on the PGW will receive the TCP SYN-ACK data carrying the MP_CAPABLE option replied by the IP host. After the packet, it is known that the IP host also supports the MPTCP function, and the TCP SYN-ACK packet carrying the MP_CAPABLE option received by the IP host is forwarded transparently to the UE without any modification, so as to establish a multimode UE and an IP host. Inter-MPTCP connection. Thereafter, the MPTCP function entity on the PGW only transparently forwards the MPTCP communication data packet between the UE and the IP host without changing the content of the MPTCP data packet.

If the IP host does not support the MPTCP function, the host sends a TCP SYN-ACK packet that does not carry the MP_CAPABLE option to the UE. At the same time, the MPTCP function entity on the PGW will receive the TCP SYN-ACK packet that does not carry the MP_CAPABLE option, and the IP host does not support the MPTCP function, and automatically starts the TCP proxying the IP address of the IP address. The function is to establish an MPTCP connection with the multi-mode UE according to the foregoing TCP SYN packet sent by the multi-mode UE, for example, returning a SYN-ACK packet to the multi-mode UE, where the SYN-ACK packet carries an MP_CAPABLE option, which is used to indicate that the MPTCP functional entity supports The MPTCP function, after receiving the SYN-ACK packet, the multi-mode UE sends an ACK packet carrying the MP_CAPABLE option to the MPTCP function entity, thereby completing the initial sub-TCP connection establishment process of the MPTCP connection.

535. The MPTCP functional entity configured on the PGW establishes a TCP connection with the IP host.

The MPTCP function entity transparently forwards the TCP SYN packet sent by the UE carrying the MP_CAPABLE option to the target IP address in 530. When the target IP host responds with a TCP SYN-ACK packet that does not carry the MP_CAPABLE option, the MPTCP functional entity A TCP ACK packet is sent to the target IP host to complete the establishment of a regular TCP connection.

Alternatively, 530 and 535 can be performed simultaneously, for example, the above TCP connection and the above initial sub-TCP connection can be established at the same time.

540. The multimode UE adds a new sub-TCP connection of an established MPTCP connection to the MPTCP functional entity configured on the PGW through a PDN connection corresponding to the EUTRAN.

For the IP address assigned by the PGW when the multimode UE accesses the EUTRAN, the multimode UE can add the sub TCP connection of the MPTCP connection between the multimode UE and the MPTCP functional entity, for example. For example, the UE sends a TCP SYN packet carrying the MP_JOIN and an option identifying the previously established MPTCP connection to the target IP address, and the MPTCP function entity on the PGW knows according to the MP_JOIN carried in the TCP SYN packet and the option to identify the previously established MPTCP connection. Add a sub-TCP connection to the MPTCP connection established by 530. The MPTCP function entity sends a packet of the TCP SYN-ACK carrying the option of MP_JOIN to the UE, and then the UE sends a packet carrying the ACK of the option of MP_JOIN to the destination IP address, thereby completing the process of adding the sub-TCP connection on the MPTCP connection. Similarly, the multimode UE can notify the MPTCP function entity of its other IP address through the path management function of MPTCP in order to establish a new sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection. The process in which the MPTCP function entity initiates a new sub-TCP connection to the UE is similar to the process in which the previous UE initiates a new sub-TCP connection, and will not be described in detail herein.

550. When the multi-mode UE sends the application layer data to the IP host, the application layer data may be offloaded, and a sub-data stream is sent through the sub-TCP connection of the UTRAN MPTCP connection.

For example, after the above MPTCP connection and the TCP connection are established, the multimode UE can send data to the IP host, that is, the MPTCP sublayer of the multimode UE subnets the upper application layer data and adds the sequence number of the MPTCP sublayer. And the data with the serial number (represented by MPTCP PDU) is transmitted to the lower layer TCP sublayer for transmission. This TCP sublayer adds some extension headers and corresponding functions on the conventional TCP. In other words, this TCP sub The layer transmits the MPTCP PDU to the MPTCP functional entity through the sub-TCP connection. Since there may be multiple TCP sublayers under the MPTCP sublayer, the MPTCP sublayer forwards the MPTCP PDUs to multiple TCP sublayers for transmission.

The source address of the MPTCP sub-data stream sent by the multi-mode UE through the sub-TCP connection in the UTRAN MPTCP connection is the IP address assigned by the PGW when the multi-mode UE accesses the UTRAN, and the target IP address and the destination port number are IP hosts. IP address and TCP destination port number.

555. The multi-mode UE may send another sub-data stream through another sub-TCP connection of the same MPTCP connection of the EUTRAN. 555 is similar to 550 and will not be described here.

560, the MPTCP functional entity will connect to the sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection of EUTRAN The transmitted MPTCP sub-data stream and the MPTCP sub-data stream transmitted by another sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection of the UTRAN are merged into application layer data. Further, the MPTCP function entity packs the application layer data into a TCP data stream, and sends the TCP data stream to the IP host through the established TCP connection, where the source IP address of the TCP data stream is a multi-mode UE in accessing the UTRAN. The assigned IP address, whose target IP address and destination port number are the target IP address and TCP destination port number of the sub-data stream transmitted through the above plurality of sub-TCP connections.

For example, the MPTCP function entity establishes an MPTCP connection with the multimode UE on the one hand, and on the other hand, the MPTCP function entity proxy multimode UE establishes a TCP connection with the IP host. After the MPTCP connection and the TCP connection are established, the MPTCP function entity can forward data between the multi-mode UE and the IP host, that is, the MPTCP function entity receives the application layer data of the multi-mode UE through multiple sub-TCP connections connected by the MPTCP. Afterwards, the data is forwarded to the IP host through the TCP connection; after receiving the application layer data of the IP host through the TCP connection, the MPTCP function entity forwards the data to the multi-mode UE through multiple sub-TCP connections connected by the MPTCP.

For example, after receiving the MPTCP PDUs of the multiple TCP sublayers of the lower layer, the MPTCP sublayer reassembles the MPTCP PDUs according to the sequence number on the MPTCP PDU to form an MPTCP SDU (ie, application layer data), and provides the upper layer application layer. .

570. When the IP host sends application layer data to the UE, the IP host may convert the application layer data into a TCP data stream, and send the TCP data stream by using the foregoing TCP connection.

580. After receiving the TCP data stream, the MPTCP function entity disposed on the PGW converts the TCP data stream into application layer data by using a TCP layer, and offloads the application layer data into two MPTCP sub-data streams through the MPTCP sublayer, and passes through the UTRAN. A sub-TCP connection of the PDN connection and the MPTCP connection sends a sub-data stream.

585. The MPTCP functional entity disposed on the PGW sends another sub-data stream through the PDN connection of the EUTRAN and another sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection. The multimode UE will send the MPTCP sub-data stream sent through the PUT connection of the EUTRAN and the PDN connection through the UTRAN. The sent MPTCP sub-data streams are merged into application layer data and uploaded to the application layer.

The source IP address and source port number of the two MPTCP sub-streams may be the source IP address and the TCP source port number in the TCP data stream in 570.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, when a multimode UE communicates with another UE accessing the same APN and the P-GW, the IP data packet at this time may not pass through the SGi interface outside the P-GW, therefore, The MPTCP functional entity in the P-GW can implement the conversion between the MPTCP and the TCP and the forwarding of the application layer data between the multi-mode UE and another UE, thereby being able to support communication between the internal UEs of the PGW.

It should be understood that the multi-mode UE of the embodiment of the present invention can also establish an initial MPTCP connection through the EUTRAN and establish a new MPTCP connection through the UTRAN.

It should also be understood that embodiments of the present invention may also initiate the establishment of a TCP connection by the IP host to the multimode UE. For example, when the IP host initiates TCP communication to the multimode UE, the IP host initiates TCP communication with the IP address IP-1 of the multimode UE using the source IP address IP-D. When the TCP packet reaches the MPTCP functional entity, MPTCP The target IP address IP-1 of the received IP packet can be parsed, and the TCP function of proxying the IP address IP-1 is automatically started, a TCP connection with the IP host is established, and then the establishment of the MPTCP connection with the multimode UE is started, that is, The source IP address IP-D of the IP data packet sent by the IP host received by the MPTCP function entity is the source address, and the IP address of the IP data packet IP-1 is used as the destination address proxy IP-D to initiate an MPTCP connection to the IP-1. The establishment of. In other words, the MPTCP functional entity proxyes the multimode UE to establish a TCP connection with the IP host, and on the other hand, the proxy IP host establishes an MPTCP connection with the multimode UE. After the MPTCP connection and the TCP connection are established, the MPTCP function entity can forward data between the multimode UE and the IP host, that is, the MPTCP function entity receives the application layer data of the IP host through the TCP connection, and then connects through the MPTCP. Forwarded to the multimode host, the MPTCP function entity receives the application layer data of the multimode UE through the MPTCP connection, and then forwards it to the IP host through the TCP connection.

FIG. 6 is a schematic flowchart of a communication process according to another embodiment of the present invention. Figure 6 The method is another example of the methods of Figures 2, 3 and 4. 610 to 520 of FIG. 6 are the same as 510 to 520 of FIG. 5 except for the position where the MPTCP functional entity is located, and 650 to 685 of FIG. 6 are the same as 550 to 585 of FIG. 5, and a detailed description is appropriately omitted herein.

The embodiment of FIG. 6 is different from the embodiment of FIG. 5 in that the MPTCP function entity configured on the PGW knows in advance (for example, by configuration) that the target IP host does not support the MPTCP function, and the MPTCP function entity may first establish an MPTCP connection with the UE. Initially a sub-TCP connection, then add a sub-TCP connection to the initial sub-TCP connection, and finally establish a general TCP connection with the target IP.

610. The multimode UE establishes a PDN connection with the PGW through the UTRAN.

620. The multimode UE establishes another PDN connection with the PGW through the EUTRAN.

630. The multimode UE establishes an initial sub-TCP connection of the initial MPTCP connection with the MPTCP functional entity configured on the PGW through a PDN connection corresponding to the UTRAN.

For example, for the IP address assigned by the PGW when the multi-mode UE accesses the UTRAN, the multi-mode UE may initiate or initiate an MPTCP connection by sending an MPTCP connection establishment request to the IP host, and the MPTCP connection establishment request may be a TCP SYN packet ( That is, a packet for initiating a "three-way handshake", and the TCP SYN packet may carry an MP_CAPABLE option for indicating that the multi-mode UE supports the MPTCP function, and the source address of the TCP SYN packet is when the multi-mode UE accesses the UTRAN. The IP address assigned by the PGW, and the destination address is the IP address of the IP host. After receiving the TCP SYN packet, the MPTCP function entity on the PGW can parse the destination IP address IP-D of the received TCP SYN packet, and automatically initiate the TCP function of proxying the IP address IP-D, that is, according to the TCP SYN. The packet establishes an MPTCP connection with the multi-mode UE, for example, returns a SYN-ACK packet to the multi-mode UE, and the SYN-ACK packet carries an MP_CAPABLE option, which is used to indicate that the MPTCP functional entity supports the MPTCP function, and the multi-mode UE receives the SYN- After the ACK packet, the ACK packet is sent to the MPTCP function entity, thereby completing the establishment process of the initial MPTCP connection.

635. The multimode UE is configured by using a PDN corresponding to the EUTRAN and the PGW. The MPTCP functional entity adds a new sub-TCP connection to an established MPTCP connection, or the MPTCP functional entity adds a sub-TCP connection to the UE through a PDN connection corresponding to the EUTRAN.

For the IP address assigned by the PGW to the multi-mode UE when the ETURAN is connected to the EUTRAN, the multi-mode UE may add a sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection between the multi-mode UE and the MPTCP functional entity. For example, the UE sends the MP_JOIN and the identifier. The TCP SYN packet of the established MPTCP connection option is given to the destination IP address. The MPTCP function entity on the PGW knows that the MP_JOIN carried in the TCP SYN packet and the option to identify the previously established MPTCP connection are added to the MPTCP connection established in 630. A child TCP connection. The MPTCP function entity sends a packet of TCP SYN-ACK carrying the option of MPJOIN to the UE, and then the UE sends a packet carrying the ACK of the option of MP_JOIN to the destination IP address, thereby completing the process of adding the TCP connection on the MPTCP connection. Similarly, the multimode UE can notify the MPTCP function entity of its other IP address through the path management function of MPTCP to establish a new sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection. The process in which the MPTCP function entity initiates a new sub-TCP connection to the UE is similar to the process in which the previous UE initiates a new sub-TCP connection, and will not be described in detail herein.

640. The MPTCP functional entity configured on the PGW establishes a TCP connection with the IP host. The MPTCP function entity may use the source address of the above TCP SYN packet (that is, the IP address assigned by the PGW when the multimode UE accesses the UTRAN) as the source address, and the destination address of the TCP SYN packet (ie, the IP address of the IP host). For the destination IP address, the proxy multimode UE initiates the establishment of a TCP connection to the IP host. Similarly, the establishment process of the TCP connection is also a three-way handshake process, which is similar to the process of establishing a regular TCP connection, and will not be described here.

650. When the multi-mode UE sends the application layer data to the IP host, the application layer data may be offloaded, and a sub-data stream is sent through a sub-TCP connection of the UTRAN MPTCP connection.

655. The multi-mode UE may send another sub-data stream through another sub-TCP connection of the same MPTCP connection of the EUTRAN. 660. The MPTCP function entity merges the MPTCP sub-data stream sent by the sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection of the EUTRAN with the MPTCP sub-data stream sent by another sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection of the UTRAN into the application layer data. Further, the MPTCP function entity packs the application layer data into a TCP data stream, and sends the TCP data stream to the IP host through the established TCP connection, where the source IP address of the TCP data stream is a multi-mode UE in accessing the UTRAN. The assigned IP address, whose target IP address and destination port number are the target IP address and TCP destination port number of the sub-data stream transmitted through the above plurality of sub-TCP connections.

670. When the IP host sends application layer data to the UE, the IP host may convert the application layer data into a TCP data stream, and send the TCP data stream by using the foregoing TCP connection.

680. After receiving the TCP data stream, the MPTCP function entity disposed on the PGW converts the TCP data stream into application layer data by using a TCP layer, and offloads the application layer data into two MPTCP sub-data streams through the MPTCP sublayer, and passes through the UTRAN. A sub-TCP connection of the PDN connection and the MPTCP connection sends a sub-data stream.

685. The MPTCP functional entity disposed on the PGW sends another sub-data stream through the PDN connection of the EUTRAN and another sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection. The multimode UE combines the MPTCP substream sent through the EDNRAN's PDN connection with the MPTCP substream sent through the UTRAN's PDN connection into application layer data and uploads it to the application layer.

Figure Ί is a schematic flow chart of a communication process provided in accordance with another embodiment of the present invention. The method of Figure 7 is another example of the method of Figures 2, 3 and 4. 710 to 785 of Fig. 7 are similar to 510 to 585 of Fig. 5 except that the position of the MPTCP functional entity is different, and a detailed description is omitted as appropriate.

In this embodiment, the multi-mode UE accesses the radio access networks UTRAN and EUTRAN through two IMSIs as an example for description. In this embodiment, the MPTCP functional entity may be disposed on the SGi interface outside the PGW, or on the router or switch to which the PGW is connected through the SGi interface. The multimode UE establishes two PDN connections with the same PGW through EUTRAN and UTRAN. When the user of the multi-mode UE subscribes to an APN with the wireless carrier, the two IMSIs need to sign the APN, and the subscription data of the two IMSI subscriptions to the APN are saved on the HSS. It should be understood that the multi-mode UE can also sign other APNs. When the user of the multi-mode UE subscribes to other APNs, the two IMSIs need to be contracted with other APNs. The PGD identifier of the PGW may be included in the subscription data. In this implementation, preferably, the PGW identifier is an IP address of the PGW. In the subscription data of each APN contracted with the multi-mode UE, the signed PGW ID uses the same P-GW IP address. Because the IP address of the PGW is unique, it can be ensured that the two PDN connections are established on the PGW, so that the IP data packets transmitted through the two PDN connections can pass through the PGW, so that the IP data packet can also be reached. The MPTCP functional entity on the interface SGi outside the PGW.

710. The multimode UE establishes a PDN connection with the PGW through the UTRAN.

720. The multimode UE establishes another PDN connection with the PGW through the EUTRAN.

730. The multi-mode UE establishes an initial sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection by using an PDN connection corresponding to the UTRAN and an MPTCP function entity configured on the interface SGi outside the PGW.

735. The MPTCP function entity configured on the SGi outside the PGW establishes a TCP connection with the IP host.

740. The multimode UE adds a new sub-TCP connection to the established MPTCP connection of the 730 by the PDN connection corresponding to the EUTRAN and the MPTCP function entity on the SGi outside the PGW, or the MPTCP functional entity corresponds to the EUTRAN. The PDN connection adds a sub-TCP connection to the UE.

750. When transmitting the application layer data to the IP host, the multimode UE may offload the application layer data, and send an MPTCP sub-data stream through a sub-TCP connection of the UTRAN MPTCP connection.

755. The multi-mode UE may send another MPTCP sub-data stream through another sub-TCP connection of the EUTRAN MPTCP connection.

760, the MPTCP functional entity will connect to a sub-TCP connection through the EUTRAN MPTCP connection The other MPTCP sub-data stream sent by the transmitted MPTCP sub-data stream and another sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection of the UTRAN is merged into application layer data. Further, the MPTCP function entity converts the application layer data into a TCP data stream, and sends the TCP data stream to the IP host through the TCP connection.

770. When the IP host sends the application layer data to the multimode UE, the IP host may convert the application layer data into a TCP data stream, and send the TCP data stream by using the foregoing TCP connection.

780. After receiving the TCP data stream, the MPTCP function entity disposed on the SGi outside the PGW converts the TCP data stream into application layer data by using a TCP layer, and offloads the application layer data into two MPTCP sub-data streams through the MPTCP layer, and passes the A PDN connection of UTRAN and a sub-TCP connection of MPTCP send an MPTCP sub-data stream.

785. The MPTCP function entity disposed on the SGi outside the PGW sends another MPTCP sub-data stream through the PDN connection of the EUTRAN and another sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP. The multimode UE combines the MPTCP substream sent through the PDN connection of the EUTRAN with the MPTCP substream sent through the PDN connection of the UTRAN into application layer data, and uploads it to the application layer.

In this embodiment, the MPTCP functional entity is deployed on the SGi interface outside the PGW, and no change to the current EPC and RAN is required, and only the independent deployment of the MPTCP functional entity can be implemented, so that the PGW and the MPTCP functional entity are not necessary. One vendor provides it, and the PGW and MPTCP functional entities can be upgraded and deployed separately.

It should be understood that the multi-mode UE of the embodiment of the present invention can also establish an initial MPTCP connection through the EUTRAN, and then establish a new MPTCP connection through the UTRAN.

FIG. 8 is a schematic flowchart of a communication process according to still another embodiment of the present invention. The method of Figure 8 is yet another example of the method of Figures 2, 3 and 4.

In this embodiment, the MPTCP functional entity is located on the SGi interface outside the PGW, and the UE establishes a PDN connection with the two PGWs (eg, PGW1 and PGW2) through EUTRAN and UTRAN, respectively. For example, if different PGWs are connected to an external PDN through the same fiber, they are directly Connect this fiber to the MPTCP functional entity and connect to the external PDN. Alternatively, if different PGWs are connected to the same router or switch, the MPTCP functional entity can be implemented on this router or switch. This embodiment uses a multi-mode UE to access UTRAN and EUTRAN through two IMSIs as an example. When the user of the multi-mode UE subscribes to an APN with the wireless carrier, the two IMSIs need to sign the APN, and the subscription data of the two IMSI subscriptions to the APN are saved on the HSS. It should be understood that the multi-mode UE can also sign other APNs. When the user of the multi-mode UE subscribes to other APNs, the two IMSIs need to be contracted with other APNs. The PPG identifier of the PGW may be included in the above contract data. In this implementation, preferably, the PGW is identified as the FQDN of the PGW. In the subscription data of each APN that is subscribed to the multi-mode UE, the signed PGW ID uses the same FQDN, and does not necessarily have to use the IP address of the PGW. Thus, the PDN connection established by the two IMSIs to the same APN can be Connected to different PGWs to achieve load balancing of the PGW.

810. The multimode UE establishes a PDN connection with PGW1 through the UTRAN.

For example, when the multimode UE needs to access the PDN provided by the APN provided by a certain wireless carrier through the UTRAN, the multimode UE can establish a PDN connection with the PGW1 belonging to the APN through the UTRAN. The PDN connection includes an air interface Uu connection from the multimode UE to the UTRAN, an interface S12 or S4 connection from the UTRAN to the SGW, and an interface S5 connection from the SGW to the PGW1. The multimode UE may send a connection setup request to the SGSN, the connection setup request including the IMSI1 corresponding to the UTRAN and the APN to which the multimode UE needs to access. The SGSN obtains APN-related subscription data by querying the HSS according to the IMSI1, and establishes a PDN connection according to the FQDN of the PGW1 in the subscription data, where the PGW1 can allocate an IP address corresponding to the IMSI1 for the multi-mode UE.

820. The multimode UE establishes another PDN connection with the PGW2 through the EUTRAN.

For example, the multi-mode UE can establish another PDN connection with the PGW 2 belonging to the APN through the EUTRAN. The PDN connection includes an air interface connection LTE-Uu from the multimode UE to the EUTRAN, The interface Sl-U connection from the EUTRAN to the SGW and the interface S5 from the SGW to the PGW2 are connected. The multimode UE may send a connection establishment request to the MME, the connection establishment request including the IMSI2 corresponding to the EUTRAN and the above APN. The MME obtains APN-related subscription data by querying the HSS according to the IMSI2, and establishes a PDN connection between the multi-mode UE and the PGW2 according to the FQDN of the PGW2 in the subscription data, where the PGW2 can allocate the IMSI with the IMSI. Corresponding IP address.

830. The IP host establishes a TCP connection with the MPTCP functional entity configured on the SGi.

The IP host can select an IP address of the multimode UE to initiate the establishment of a TCP connection for the destination address. Similarly, the establishment process of the TCP connection is also a three-way handshake process, which is similar to the process of establishing a regular TCP connection, and will not be described here. MPTCP can parse the destination IP address of the received IP packet and automatically start the TCP function that proxyes this IP address.

840. The MPTCP functional entity configured on the SGi establishes an initial MPTCP connection with the multi-mode UE by using a PDN connection corresponding to the UTRAN.

For example, the MPTCP function entity may send an MPTCP connection establishment request to the multi-mode UE, where the MPTCP connection establishment request may be a TCP SYN packet (ie, a data packet for initiating a "three-way handshake"), and the TCP SYN packet may carry the MP_CAPABLE option. For indicating the multi-mode UE, the sender of the TCP data supports the MPTCP function, the source address of the TCP SYN packet is the IP address of the IP host, and the target address is the target IP address of the parsed IP packet. After receiving the TCP SYN packet, the multimode UE establishes an MPTCP connection with the MPTCP function entity according to the TCP SYN packet and the carried MP_CAPABLE option, for example, returns a TCP packet containing the SYN and ACK identifiers to the MPTCP function entity (TCP SYN-ACK packet) The TCP SYN-ACK packet carries an MP_CAPABLE option for indicating that the multimode UE supports the MPTCP function, and the MPTCP function entity sends the TCP containing the ACK identifier carrying the MP_CAPABLE option to the multimode UE after receiving the TCP SYN-ACK packet. The packet completes the initial MPTCP connection and the establishment of the first sub-TCP connection.

It should be understood that embodiments of the present invention do not limit the order of execution of 830 and 840 830 and 840. Can be executed at the same time.

845. The MPTCP function entity configured on the SGi establishes a sub-TCP connection with the multi-mode UE on the established MPTCP connection by using a PDN connection corresponding to the EUTRAN.

The MPTCP functional entity can also create other sub-TCP connections in the established MPTCP connection between the multi-mode UE and the MPTCP functional entity in a similar manner. For example, the multimode UE can notify the MPTCP function entity of its own IP address through the path management function of MPTCP to establish a new sub-TCP connection.

850. When the IP host sends the application layer data to the multimode UE, the IP host may convert the application layer data into a TCP data stream, and send the TCP data stream by using the foregoing TCP connection.

860. After receiving the TCP data stream, the MPTCP function entity disposed on the SGi converts the data layer into application layer data through a TCP layer, and offloads the application layer data into two MPTCP sub-data streams through the MPTCP sublayer, and passes the A PDN connection corresponding to the UTRAN and a sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection send an MPTCP sub-data stream.

865. The MPTCP functional entity disposed on the SGi sends another MPTCP sub-data stream through a PDN connection corresponding to the EUTRAN and another sub-TCP connection of the MPTCP connection. The multimode UE combines the MPTCP substream sent through the PDN connection of the EUTRAN and the MPTCP substream sent through the PDN connection of the UTRAN into application layer data, and uploads it to the application layer.

870. When transmitting the application layer data to the IP host, the multimode UE may offload the application layer data, and send an MPTCP sub-data stream through a sub-TCP connection in the MPTCP connection corresponding to the UTRAN.

875. The multimode UE may send another MPTCP sub-data stream through another sub-TCP connection in the MPTCP connection corresponding to the EUTRAN.

880. The MPTCP function entity merges the MPTCP sub-data stream sent by the MPTCP connection corresponding to the EUTRAN and the MPTCP sub-data stream sent by the MPTCP connection corresponding to the UTRAN into application layer data. Further, the MPTCP functional entity converts the application layer data into TCP The data stream is sent to the IP host through the TCP connection. It should be understood that the multi-mode UE and the MPTCP functional entity of the embodiment of the present invention may also establish an initial sub-TCP connection through the EUTRAN, and then establish a new sub-TCP connection through the UTRAN.

The communication method according to the embodiment of the present invention has been described above, and the communication device and the UE according to the embodiment of the present invention will be described below with reference to Figs. 9 and 10, respectively.

FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a communication device 900 provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The communication device 900 includes a setup module 910 and a forwarding module 920.

The establishing module 910 establishes an MPTCP connection with a UE having multiple Internet Protocol IP addresses via multiple radio access networks, and establishes a second TCP connection with the IP host, where the MPTCP connection includes multiples corresponding to the multiple IP addresses. The first child TCP connection. The forwarding module 920 forwards data between the plurality of first sub-TCP connections and the second TCP connection.

The embodiment of the present invention may establish an MPTCP connection with a UE having multiple IP addresses via multiple radio access networks, establish a second TCP connection with the IP host, and forward the data stream between the MPTCP connection and the second TCP connection, thereby It is possible to realize that the UE simultaneously uses multiple IP addresses to perform data transmission with another IP host.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, the establishing module 910 establishes the multiple first sub-TCP connections with the UE via the multiple radio access networks, based on the multiple PDN connections of the UE, where the multiple first sub-TCP connections are The plurality of PDN connections described above correspond.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the establishing module 910 further establishes the multiple PDN connections with the UE according to the multiple subscription data of the UE, and allocate, to the UE, the multiple IPs corresponding to the multiple PDN connections. The address, the multiple subscription data corresponding to the multiple IMSIs of the UE and corresponding to the multiple radio access networks, the multiple subscription data includes the same access point name APN and the identifier of the same PGW, and the identifier of the PGW is PGW. The IP address, the plurality of subscription data are stored in the home contracting server HSS and obtained by the core network mobility management entity node from the HSS.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the foregoing multiple IP addresses are based on the at least one PGW. Allocating a plurality of PDN connections to the UE when the plurality of subscription data of the UE is allocated, the plurality of IP addresses corresponding to the plurality of PDN connections, the plurality of subscription data corresponding to the plurality of IMSIs of the UE and corresponding to the multiple wireless The access network, the plurality of subscription data includes an identifier of the same access point name APN and at least one PGW, and the identifier of the at least one PGW is the same IP address or the same full-name domain name FQDN, and the plurality of subscription data are stored in the HSS and The core network mobility management entity node is obtained from the HSS.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the forwarding module 920 respectively receives a plurality of first data streams sent by the UE from the plurality of first sub-TCP connections, merges the plurality of first data streams into a second data stream, and passes the The second TCP connection sends the second data stream to the IP host, where the plurality of first data streams have different source IP addresses, and the plurality of first data streams and the second data stream have the same target IP address and TCP target The port number, the source address of the second data stream is one of the plurality of IP addresses.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the forwarding module 920 receives the third data stream from the second TCP connection, and divides the third data stream into multiple fourth data streams corresponding to the multiple first sub-TCP connections, and Transmitting the plurality of fourth data streams to the UE by using the plurality of first sub-TCP connections, wherein the plurality of fourth data streams and the third data stream have the same source IP address and TCP source port number, and the plurality of The fourth data stream has different target IP addresses and corresponds to multiple IP addresses of the user equipment, and the target address of the third data stream is one of the plurality of IP addresses.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the forwarding module 920 divides the third data stream into the multiple fourth data streams according to the transmission rate of the multiple first sub-TCP connections, so that the first sub-TCP with a larger transmission rate is configured. The fourth data stream corresponding to the connection has a larger flow rate, wherein the transmission rates of the plurality of first sub-TCP connections are respectively determined by the transmission rates of the plurality of radio access networks.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the establishing module 910 receives a first request for establishing the MPTCP connection from the UE, and establishes the MPTCP connection with the UE via the multiple radio access networks according to the first request, where the first The target address of the request is an IP address of the IP host, and the source address of the first request is an IP address allocated by the UE when accessing the first radio access network; The IP host sends a second request for establishing the TCP connection to establish a second TCP connection with the IP host, where the source address of the second request is an IP address allocated when the UE accesses the first radio access network. The target address of the second request is an IP address of the IP host, and the first radio access network is a radio access network with the largest coverage in the plurality of radio access networks.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the establishing module 910 receives, from the user equipment, a first request for establishing the multipath TCP connection, where the target address of the first request is an IP address of the IP host, and the first request is The source address is an IP address allocated by the user equipment when accessing from the first radio access network; forwarding the first request to the IP host and establishing a second TCP connection with the IP host according to the response of the IP host to the first request And establishing, according to the first request, the multipath TCP connection with the user equipment by using the multiple radio access networks, where the first radio access network is the radio access network with the largest coverage among the plurality of radio access networks.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the establishing module 910 receives a third request for establishing the TCP connection from the IP host, and establishes a second TCP connection with the IP host according to the third request, where the third request is The target address is an IP address allocated by the UE when accessing from the first radio access network, and the source address of the third request is an IP address of the IP host; the establishing module 910 sends a message for establishing the MPTCP connection to the UE. And the request is to establish the MPTCP connection with the UE, where the source address of the fourth request is an IP address of the IP host, and the target address of the fourth request is an IP address allocated by the UE when accessing the first radio access network. address.

For the operations and functions of the establishing module 910 and the forwarding module 920 of the communication device 900, reference may be made to 210 and 220 of the method of FIG. 2 above. To avoid repetition, details are not described herein again.

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of a UE 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention. The UE 1000 includes a setup module 1010 and a transport module 1020.

The setup module 1010 establishes an MPTCP connection with the first communication device via a plurality of radio access networks, wherein the MPTCP connection includes a plurality of first sub-TCP connections corresponding to the plurality of IP addresses of the UE. The transmission module 1020 is connected to the UE by the plurality of first sub-TCP connections and the second TCP connection Data is transmitted between the IP hosts, and the second TCP connection is established by the first communication device with the IP host, and the data is forwarded by the first communication device between the plurality of first sub-TCP connections and the second TCP connection.

The embodiment of the present invention may establish an MPTCP connection corresponding to multiple IP addresses of the UE via a plurality of radio access networks and a communication device supporting the MPTCP function, and establish a second TCP connection with the IP host through the communication device, and The data stream is forwarded between the MPTCP connection and the second TCP connection, so that the UE can simultaneously use multiple IP addresses for data transmission with another IP host.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the establishing module 1010 establishes the multiple first sub-TCP connections with the PGW via the multiple radio access networks based on the multiple PDN connections, where the multiple first sub-TCP connections and the multiple PDN connection corresponds

Optionally, as another embodiment, the first communications device is a PGW, and the establishing module 1010 further establishes, by using the multiple subscription data of the UE, multiple PDN connections, where the multiple IP addresses corresponding to the PDN connection are The address is allocated by the PGW, the plurality of subscription data corresponding to the plurality of IMSIs of the UE and corresponding to the plurality of radio access networks, wherein the plurality of subscription data includes an identifier of the same access point name APN and the same PGW, the PGW The identifier is the IP address of the PGW, and the plurality of subscription data are stored in the home contract server HSS and acquired by the core network mobility management entity node from the HSS.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the establishing module 1010 further establishes, by using the plurality of subscription data of the UE, a plurality of PDN connections, where the multiple IP addresses corresponding to the PDN connection are allocated by the PGW. The plurality of subscription data corresponding to the multiple IMSIs of the UE and corresponding to the multiple radio access networks, the plurality of subscription data includes an identifier of the same access point name APN and at least one PGW, and the identifier of the at least one PGW is The same IP address or the same full-name domain FQDN, the plurality of subscription data are stored in the HSS and acquired by the core network mobility management entity node from the HSS.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the transmission module 1020 divides the data into a plurality of first data streams corresponding to the plurality of first child TCP connections, and connects to the first plurality of first child TCP connections. Transmitting, by the communication device, the plurality of first data streams, so that the first communications device merges the plurality of first data streams into the second data stream and sends the second data stream to the IP host by using the second TCP connection, where The plurality of first data streams have different source IP addresses, the plurality of first data streams and the second data stream have the same target IP address and a TCP target port number, and the source address of the second data stream is the plurality of IP addresses. one.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the transmission module 1020 further divides the data into the plurality of first data streams according to a transmission rate of the multiple first sub-TCP connections, so that the first TCP connection with a large transmission rate is The corresponding first data stream has a larger flow rate, wherein the transmission rates of the plurality of first sub-TCP connections are respectively determined by the transmission rates of the plurality of radio access networks.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the transmission module 1020 receives a plurality of fourth TCP data streams from the plurality of first child TCP connections, where the third data stream received by the first communication device from the second TCP connection is received. Dividing into the plurality of fourth TCP data streams; the transmitting module 1020 merges the plurality of fourth TCP data streams into the data, wherein the plurality of fourth data streams and the third data stream have the same source IP address and TCP source port The plurality of fourth data streams have different target IP addresses and correspond to the plurality of IP addresses of the user equipment, and the target address of the third data stream is one of the plurality of IP addresses.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, the establishing module 1010 sends a first request for establishing the MPTCP connection to the first communication device to establish the MPTCP connection with the first communication device via the plurality of radio access networks, wherein the first request The target address is the IP address of the IP host, and the source address of the first request is the IP address allocated when the UE accesses from the first radio access network.

Optionally, as another embodiment, the establishing module 1010 receives a fourth request for establishing the MPTCP connection from the first communications device, and establishes with the first communications device by using the multiple radio access networks according to the fourth request. An MPTCP connection, where a source address of the fourth request is an IP address of the IP host, and a target address of the fourth request is an IP address allocated when the UE accesses the first radio access network.

For the operations and functions of the establishing module 1010 and the transmitting module 1020 of the UE 1000, reference may be made to the above figure. The methods 310 and 320 of 3, in order to avoid repetition, will not be repeated here.

FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of a communication device 1100 provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The communication device 1100 includes a storage module 1110 and a transmission module 1120.

The storage module 1110 stores a plurality of subscription data of the UE. The sending module 1120 provides the foregoing multiple subscription data to the core network mobility management entity node when the UE accesses multiple radio access networks, so that the core network mobility management entity node establishes the UE and the at least based on the multiple subscription data. a plurality of PDN connections between a PGW, wherein the plurality of PDN connections are used by the UE to establish an MPTCP connection corresponding to a plurality of IP addresses of the UE, where the plurality of IP addresses are allocated by the at least one PGW, the plurality of The subscription data corresponds to a plurality of IMSIs of the UE and corresponds to the plurality of radio access networks, and the plurality of subscription data includes identifiers of the same access point name APN and at least one PGW.

The embodiment of the present invention may be used by the HSS to store multiple subscription data of the UE, so as to establish multiple PDN connections between the UE and the at least one PGW based on the multiple subscription data, and use the UE to establish an MPTCP corresponding to multiple IP addresses. connection. Since the identifiers of the PGWs in the plurality of subscription data are the same IP address or the same FQDN, it is ensured that the IP data packets transmitted through the multiple PDN connections may pass through the MPTCP function entity on the PGW or on the network device connected to the PGW. The MPTCP functional entity enables the UE to simultaneously use multiple IP addresses for data transmission with another IP host.

For the operations and functions of the storage module 1110 and the transmitting module 1120 of the communication device 1100, reference may be made to the methods 410 and 420 of FIG. 4 above, and in order to avoid redundancy, details are not described herein again.

An embodiment in accordance with the present invention includes a communication system including the communication device 900 of FIG. 9, the user device 1100 of FIG. 10, and the communication device 1100 of FIG.

One of ordinary skill in the art will recognize the various aspects described in connection with the embodiments disclosed herein. The unit and algorithm steps of the example can be implemented in electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are performed in hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the solution. A person skilled in the art can use different methods to implement the described functions for each particular application, but such implementation should not be considered to be beyond the scope of the present invention.

A person skilled in the art can clearly understand that, for the convenience and the cleaning of the description, the specific working process of the system, the device and the unit described above can refer to the corresponding processes in the foregoing method embodiments, and details are not described herein again.

In the several embodiments provided herein, it should be understood that the disclosed systems, devices, and methods may be implemented in other ways. For example, the device embodiments described above are merely illustrative. For example, the division of the unit is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be another division manner, for example, multiple units or components may be combined or Can be integrated into another system, or some features can be ignored, or not executed. In addition, the coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some interface, device or unit, and may be electrical, mechanical or otherwise. The components displayed by the unit may or may not be physical units, that is, may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solution of the embodiment.

In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment of the present invention may be integrated into one processing unit, or each unit may exist physically separately, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

The functions may be stored in a computer readable storage medium if implemented in the form of a software functional unit and sold or used as a standalone product. Based on such understanding, the technical solution of the present invention, which is essential or contributes to the prior art, or a part of the technical solution, may be embodied in the form of a software product, which is stored in a storage medium, including The instructions are used to cause a computer device (which may be a personal computer, server, or network device, etc.) to perform all or part of the steps of the methods described in various embodiments of the present invention. The foregoing storage medium includes: a U disk, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk or an optical disk, and the like, which can store program codes. .

The above is only a specific 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 substitutions within the technical scope of the present invention. It should be covered by the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of the invention should be determined by the scope of the claims.

Claims

Rights request

A communication method, comprising:

Establishing a multipath transmission control protocol TCP connection with a user equipment having a plurality of Internet Protocol IP addresses via a plurality of radio access networks, and establishing a second TCP connection with the IP host, wherein the multipath TCP connection includes the plurality of a plurality of first sub-TCP connections corresponding to the IP address;

Forwarding data between the plurality of first sub-TCP connections and the second TCP connection.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing a multipath TCP connection with a user equipment having multiple IP addresses via a plurality of wireless access networks comprises:

Establishing the plurality of first sub-TCP connections with the user equipment via the plurality of radio access networks based on a plurality of PDN connections of the user equipment, wherein the plurality of first sub-TCP connections and the plurality of The PDN connections correspond.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

Establishing the plurality of PDN connections with the user equipment based on the plurality of subscription data of the user equipment, and allocating, for the user equipment, the multiple IP addresses corresponding to the multiple PDN connections, The subscription data corresponds to the multiple IMSIs of the user equipment and corresponds to the multiple radio access networks, and the multiple subscription data includes the same access point name APN and the identifier of the same PGW, and the identifier of the PGW is The IP address of the PGW, the plurality of subscription data is stored in the home contracting server HSS and acquired by the core network mobility management entity node from the home contracting server HSS.

The method according to claim 2, wherein the plurality of IP addresses are allocated by the at least one PGW to the user equipment when a plurality of PDN connections are established based on the plurality of subscription data of the user equipment, Said plurality of IP addresses corresponding to said plurality of PDN connections, said plurality of subscription data corresponding to a plurality of IMSIs of said user equipment and corresponding to said plurality of radio access networks, said plurality of subscription data comprising the same Access point name APN and at least one PGW The identifier of the at least one PGW is the same IP address or the same full-name domain name FQDN, and the plurality of subscription data is stored in the home contracting server HSS and acquired by the core network mobility management entity node from the HSS.

The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the forwarding data between the plurality of first child TCP connections and the second TCP connection comprises: The plurality of first sub-TCP connections receive the plurality of first data streams sent by the user equipment;

Merging the plurality of first data streams into a second data stream, and transmitting the second data stream to the IP host through the second TCP connection, wherein the plurality of first data streams have different The source IP address, the plurality of first data streams and the second data stream have the same target IP address and a TCP target port number, and the source address of the second data stream is one of the plurality of IP addresses.

The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the forwarding of data between the plurality of first child TCP connections and the second TCP connection comprises: The second TCP connection receives the third data stream;

Dividing the third data stream into a plurality of fourth data streams corresponding to the plurality of first sub-TCP connections;

Transmitting the plurality of fourth data streams to the user equipment by the plurality of first sub-TCP connections, wherein the plurality of fourth data streams and the third data stream have the same source IP address and TCP a source port number, the plurality of fourth data streams having different target IP addresses, and corresponding to the plurality of IP addresses of the user equipment, where the target address of the third data stream is one of the plurality of IP addresses .

7. The method of claim 6 wherein:

And dividing the third data stream into a plurality of fourth data streams corresponding to the multiple first sub-TCP connections, including: Dividing the third data stream into the plurality of fourth data streams according to a transmission rate of the plurality of first sub-TCP connections, so that the fourth data stream corresponding to the first sub-TCP connection with a larger transmission rate has a larger flow rate, wherein the transmission rates of the plurality of first sub-TCP connections are respectively determined by the transmission rates of the plurality of radio access networks.

The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein the multi-path TCP connection is established with a user equipment having a plurality of IP addresses via a plurality of radio access networks, and with an IP host Establish a second TCP connection, including:

Receiving, from the user equipment, a first request for establishing the multipath TCP connection; establishing, according to the first request, the multipath TCP connection with the user equipment via the multiple radio access networks, where The target address of the first request is an IP address of the IP host, and the source address of the first request is an IP address allocated when the user equipment accesses from the first radio access network;

Sending, to the IP host, a second request for establishing the TCP connection, to establish the second TCP connection with the IP host, where a source address of the second request is the user equipment from the An IP address allocated when the radio access network is accessed, the target address of the second request is an IP address of the IP host, and the first radio access network is an overlay in the multiple radio access networks. The largest range of wireless access networks.

Receiving, by the user equipment, a first request for establishing the multipath TCP connection, where a target address of the first request is an IP address of the IP host, and a source address of the first request is the user An IP address assigned by the device when accessed from the first radio access network;

Forwarding the first request to the IP host and establishing the second TCP connection with the IP host according to the response of the IP host to the first request; And establishing, according to the first request, the multipath TCP connection with the user equipment by using the multiple radio access networks, where the first radio access network has the largest coverage range among the multiple radio access networks. Wireless access network.

Receiving a third request for establishing the TCP connection from the IP host;

Establishing a second TCP connection with the IP host according to the third request, where a target address of the third request is an IP address allocated by the user equipment when accessing the first radio access network, The source address of the third request is an IP address of the IP host;

Sending, to the user equipment, a fourth request for establishing the multipath TCP connection, to establish the multipath TCP connection with the user equipment, where a source address of the fourth request is an IP address of the IP host An address, where the target address of the fourth request is an IP address allocated when the user equipment accesses the first radio access network.

11. A communication method, comprising:

The user equipment establishes a multipath transmission control protocol TCP connection with the first communication device via the plurality of radio access networks, wherein the multipath TCP connection includes a plurality of first sub-TCPs corresponding to the plurality of IP addresses of the user equipment Connection

The user equipment transmits data between the user equipment and the IP host through the plurality of first child TCP connections and the second TCP connection, wherein the second TCP connection is performed by the first communication device and the IP host Established, the data is forwarded by the first communications device between the plurality of first child TCP connections and the second TCP connection.

The method of claim 11, wherein the user equipment establishes a multipath transmission control protocol TCP connection with the first communication device via the multiple radio access networks, including: the user equipment is based on multiple PDNs Connecting, via the plurality of wireless access networks, The first communications device establishes the plurality of first child TCP connections, wherein the plurality of first child TCP connections correspond to the plurality of PDN connections.

The method of claim 12, wherein the first communications device is a PGW, further comprising:

The user equipment establishes a plurality of PDN connections with the PGW based on the plurality of subscription data of the user equipment, where the multiple IP addresses corresponding to the PDN connection are allocated by the PGW, and the multiple subscriptions The data corresponds to the multiple IMSIs of the user equipment and corresponds to the multiple radio access networks, and the plurality of subscription data includes the same access point name APN and the identifier of the same PGW, and the identifier of the PGW is the PGW. The IP address, the plurality of subscription data is stored in the home contracting server HSS and acquired by the core network mobility management entity node from the HSS.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

The user equipment establishes a plurality of PDN connections with the at least one PGW based on the plurality of subscription data of the user equipment, where the multiple IP addresses corresponding to the PDN connection are allocated by the PGW, and the multiple subscriptions The data corresponds to the plurality of IMSIs of the user equipment and corresponds to the multiple radio access networks, and the plurality of subscription data includes an identifier of the same access point name APN and at least one PGW, and the identifier of the at least one PGW For the same IP address or the same full-name domain FQDN, the plurality of subscription data is stored in the home contract server HSS and acquired by the core network mobility management entity node from the HSS.

The method according to any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the user equipment is connected to the user equipment and the IP by the plurality of first child TCP connections and the second TCP connection Transfer data between hosts, including:

The user equipment divides the data into a plurality of first data streams corresponding to the plurality of first sub-TCP connections;

Sending, by the user equipment, the first communications device by using the multiple first sub-TCP connections Transmitting the plurality of first data streams, so that the first communications device merges the plurality of first data streams into a second data stream and transmits the second data stream to the An IP host, wherein the plurality of first data streams have different source IP addresses, and the plurality of first data streams and the second data stream have the same target IP address and a TCP target port number, where The source address of the two data streams is one of the plurality of IP addresses.

The method of claim 15, wherein the user equipment divides the data into a plurality of first data streams corresponding to the plurality of first child TCP connections, including: the user equipment Dividing the data into the plurality of first data streams according to a transmission rate of the plurality of first sub-TCP connections, so that the first data stream corresponding to the first TCP connection having a larger transmission rate has a larger stream Rate, wherein the transmission rates of the plurality of first sub-TCP connections are respectively determined by the transmission rates of the plurality of radio access networks.

The user equipment receives a plurality of fourth TCP data streams from the plurality of first child TCP connections, respectively, wherein the third data stream received by the first communication device from the second TCP connection is divided into the plurality of Fourth TCP data stream;

The user equipment merges the plurality of fourth TCP data streams into the data, wherein the plurality of fourth data streams and the third data stream have the same source IP address and TCP source port number, The plurality of fourth data streams have different target IP addresses and correspond to a plurality of IP addresses of the user equipment, and the target address of the third data stream is one of the plurality of IP addresses.

The method according to any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the user equipment establishes a multipath transmission control protocol TCP connection with the first communication device via a plurality of radio access networks, including:

Sending, by the user equipment, the first communication device, to establish the multipath TCP connection a first request to establish the multipath TCP connection with the first communication device via the plurality of radio access networks, wherein a target address of the first request is an IP address of the IP host, The source address of the first request is an IP address allocated when the user equipment accesses from the first radio access network.

Receiving, by the user equipment, a fourth request for establishing the multipath TCP connection from the first communication device;

And establishing, according to the fourth request, a multipath transmission control protocol TCP connection with the first communication device by using the multiple radio access networks, where a source address of the fourth request is an IP address of the IP host, The target address of the fourth request is an IP address allocated when the user equipment accesses from the first radio access network.

20. A communication method, comprising:

The HSS stores a plurality of subscription data of the user equipment;

The HSS provides the plurality of subscription data to the core network mobility management entity node when the user equipment accesses multiple radio access networks, so that the core network mobility management entity node is based on the multiple subscription data Establishing a plurality of PDN connections between the user equipment and the at least one PGW, wherein the multiple PDN connections are used by the user equipment to establish a multipath TCP connection corresponding to multiple IP addresses of the user equipment, where The plurality of IP addresses are allocated by the at least one PGW, the plurality of subscription data corresponding to multiple IMSIs of the user equipment and corresponding to multiple radio access networks accessed by the user equipment, the multiple The subscription data contains the identity of the same access point name APN and at least one PGW.

The method according to claim 20, wherein the identifier of the at least one PGW is the same IP address or the same full-name domain name FQDN.

22. A communication device, comprising:

a establishing module, configured to establish a multipath transmission control protocol TCP connection with a user equipment having multiple internet protocol IP addresses via multiple radio access networks, and establish a second TCP connection with the IP host, where the multipath TCP connection includes a plurality of first sub-TCP connections corresponding to the plurality of IP addresses;

And a forwarding module, configured to forward data between the plurality of first child TCP connections and the second TCP connection.

The device according to claim 22, wherein the establishing module establishes the multiple numbers with the user equipment via the plurality of radio access networks based on a plurality of PDN connections of the user equipment. A child TCP connection, wherein the plurality of first child TCP connections correspond to the plurality of PDN connections.

The device of claim 23, wherein the establishing module further establishes the multiple PDN connections with the user equipment based on the plurality of subscription data of the user equipment, and allocates the multiple PDN connections The plurality of IP addresses corresponding to the plurality of PDN connections, the plurality of subscription data corresponding to the plurality of IMSIs of the user equipment and corresponding to the plurality of radio access networks, the plurality of subscriptions The data includes an identifier of the same access point name APN and the same PGW, the identifier of the PGW is an IP address of the PGW, and the plurality of subscription data is stored in the home contracting server HSS and the core network mobility management entity node is from the HSS Obtain.

The device according to claim 23, wherein the plurality of IP addresses are allocated by the at least one PGW to the user equipment when establishing a plurality of PDN connections based on the plurality of subscription data of the user equipment, Said plurality of IP addresses corresponding to said plurality of PDN connections, said plurality of subscription data corresponding to a plurality of IMSIs of said user equipment and corresponding to said plurality of radio access networks, said plurality of subscription data comprising the same An identifier of the access point name APN and at least one PGW, where the identifier of the at least one PGW is the same IP address or the same full name domain name FQDN, the plurality of subscription data is stored in the HSS and acquired by the core network mobility management entity node from the HSS.

The device according to any one of claims 22 to 25, wherein the forwarding module receives a plurality of first data streams sent by the user equipment from the plurality of first child TCP connections, respectively Merging the plurality of first data streams into a second data stream, and transmitting the second data stream to the IP host through the second TCP connection, wherein the plurality of first data streams have different a source IP address, the plurality of first data streams and the second data stream having the same target IP address and a TCP target port number, and the source address of the second data stream is one of the plurality of IP addresses .

The device according to any one of claims 22 to 25, wherein the forwarding module receives a third data stream from the second TCP connection, and divides the third data stream into a plurality of first sub-TCP connections corresponding to the plurality of fourth data streams, and transmitting the plurality of fourth data streams to the user equipment by the plurality of first sub-TCP connections, wherein the plurality of The fourth data stream and the third data stream have the same source IP address and TCP source port number, and the plurality of fourth data streams have different target IP addresses and correspond to multiple IP addresses of the user equipment. The target address of the third data stream is the plurality of IP addresses

The device according to claim 27, wherein the forwarding module divides the third data stream into the plurality of fourth data streams according to a transmission rate of the plurality of first child TCP connections, such that The fourth data stream corresponding to the first sub-TCP connection having a large transmission rate has a larger flow rate, wherein the transmission rates of the plurality of first sub-TCP connections are respectively determined by the plurality of radio access networks Transmission rate.

The device according to any one of claims 22 to 25, wherein the establishing module receives a first request for establishing the multipath TCP connection from the user equipment, and according to the a first request, via the plurality of radio access networks and the user equipment Establishing the multipath TCP connection, where the target address of the first request is an IP address of the IP host, and the source address of the first request is when the user equipment accesses from the first radio access network An assigned IP address; the establishing module transmitting a second request for establishing the TCP connection to the IP host to establish the second TCP connection with the IP host, wherein a source address of the second request The IP address assigned by the user equipment when the user equipment is accessed from the first radio access network, the target address of the second request is an IP address of the IP host, and the first radio access network is The wireless access network with the largest coverage among multiple radio access networks.

The device according to any one of claims 22 to 25, wherein the establishing module receives a first request for establishing the multipath TCP connection from the user equipment, wherein the The target address of the request is the IP address of the IP host, and the source address of the first request is an IP address allocated when the user equipment accesses the first radio access network; to the IP host Forwarding the first request and establishing the second TCP connection with the IP host according to the response of the IP host to the first request; according to the first request, via the multiple radio access networks The user equipment establishes the multipath TCP connection, where the first radio access network is a radio access network with the largest coverage area among the multiple radio access networks.

The device according to any one of claims 22 to 25, wherein the establishing module receives a third request for establishing the TCP connection from the IP host, and according to the third Requesting, establishing a second TCP connection with the IP host, where the target address of the third request is an IP address allocated by the user equipment when accessing the first radio access network, the third request The source address is an IP address of the IP host; the establishing module sends a fourth request for establishing the multipath TCP connection to the user equipment, to establish the multipath TCP connection with the user equipment, The source address of the fourth request is an IP address of the IP host, and the target address of the fourth request is an IP address allocated when the user equipment accesses the first radio access network.

32. A user equipment, comprising: Establishing a module, configured to establish a multipath transmission control protocol TCP connection with the first communication device via multiple radio access networks, where the multipath TCP connection includes multiple numbers corresponding to multiple IP addresses of the user equipment a child TCP connection;

a transmission module, configured to transmit data between the user equipment and the IP host by using the plurality of first sub-TCP connections and the second TCP connection, where the second TCP connection is performed by the first communication device and the IP The host establishes, and the data is forwarded by the first communication device between the plurality of first child TCP connections and the second TCP connection.

The user equipment according to claim 32, wherein the establishing module establishes the plurality of first child TCP connections with the PGW via the plurality of radio access networks based on a plurality of PDN connections, Where the plurality of first sub-TCP connections correspond to the plurality of PDN connections

The user equipment according to claim 33, wherein the first communication device is a PGW, and the establishing module further establishes a plurality of PDN connections with the PGW based on the plurality of subscription data of the user equipment, The plurality of IP addresses corresponding to the PDN connection are allocated by the PGW, the plurality of subscription data corresponding to multiple IMSIs of the user equipment and corresponding to the multiple radio access networks, The plurality of subscription data includes an identifier of the same access point name APN and the same PGW, the identifier of the PGW is an IP address of the PGW, and the plurality of subscription data is stored in the home contracting server HSS and is managed by the core network mobility management entity node. Obtained from the HSS.

The user equipment according to claim 33, wherein the establishing module further establishes a plurality of PDN connections with the at least one PGW based on the plurality of subscription data of the user equipment, where the PDN connection corresponds to The plurality of IP addresses are allocated by the PGW, the plurality of subscription data corresponding to the plurality of IMSIs of the user equipment and corresponding to the multiple radio access networks, the multiple subscription data including the same access An identifier of the point name APN and the at least one PGW, where the identifier of the at least one PGW is the same IP address or the same full name domain name FQDN, the plurality of subscription data is stored in the HSS and acquired by the core network mobility management entity node from the HSS.

The user equipment according to any one of claims 32 to 35, wherein the transmission module divides the data into a plurality of first data corresponding to the plurality of first sub-TCP connections Streaming, and transmitting the plurality of first data streams to the first communication device over the plurality of first child TCP connections, such that the first communication device merges the plurality of first data streams into a second And transmitting, by the second TCP connection, the second data stream to the IP host, where the plurality of first data streams have different source IP addresses, and the plurality of first data streams and The second data stream has the same target IP address and a TCP target port number, and the source address of the second data stream is one of the plurality of IP addresses.

The user equipment according to claim 36, wherein the transmission module further divides the data into the plurality of first data streams according to a transmission rate of the plurality of first sub-TCP connections, such that The first data stream corresponding to the first TCP connection having a large transmission rate has a large flow rate, wherein the transmission rates of the plurality of first sub-TCP connections are respectively determined according to the transmission rates of the multiple radio access networks .

The user equipment according to any one of claims 32 to 35, wherein the transmission module receives a plurality of fourth TCP data streams from the plurality of first sub-TCP connections, respectively The first communication device divides the third data stream received from the second TCP connection into the plurality of fourth TCP data streams; the transmission module merges the plurality of fourth TCP data streams into the data, The plurality of fourth data streams and the third data stream have the same source IP address and TCP source port number, and the plurality of fourth data streams have different target IP addresses, and correspond to the user equipment. a plurality of IP addresses, and a target address of the third data stream is one of the plurality of IP addresses.

The user equipment according to any one of claims 32 to 35, wherein the establishing module transmits, to the first communication device, a method for establishing the multipath TCP connection. a request to establish the multipath TCP connection with the first communication device via the multiple radio access networks, where a target address of the first request is an IP address of the IP host, the first The source address of the request is an IP address assigned when the user equipment accesses from the first radio access network.

40. The user equipment according to any one of claims 32 to 35, wherein the establishing module receives a fourth request for establishing the multipath TCP connection from the first communication device, and And establishing, according to the fourth request, a multipath transmission control protocol (TCP) connection with the first communication device by using the multiple radio access networks, where a source address of the fourth request is an IP address of the IP host, The target address of the fourth request is an IP address allocated when the user equipment accesses from the first radio access network.

41. A communication device, comprising:

a storage module, configured to store multiple subscription data of the user equipment;

a sending module, configured to provide the multiple subscription data to a core network mobility management entity node when the user equipment accesses multiple radio access networks, so that the core network mobility management entity node is based on the multiple The subscription data establishes a plurality of PDN connections between the user equipment and the at least one PGW, wherein the plurality of PDN connections are used by the user equipment to establish a multipath TCP connection corresponding to multiple IP addresses of the user equipment The plurality of IP addresses are allocated by the at least one PGW, the plurality of subscription data corresponding to the plurality of IMSIs of the user equipment and corresponding to the multiple radio access networks, the multiple subscription data includes The identity of the same access point name APN and at least one PGW.

The communication device according to claim 41, wherein the identifier of the at least one PGW is the same IP address or the same full-name domain name FQDN.