WO2014154138A1

WO2014154138A1 - Machine-type communication method and device

Info

Publication number: WO2014154138A1
Application number: PCT/CN2014/074082
Authority: WO
Inventors: 李娜
Original assignee: 华为终端有限公司
Priority date: 2013-03-27
Filing date: 2014-03-26
Publication date: 2014-10-02
Also published as: CN104080123A; CN104080123B

Abstract

Provided in an embodiment of the present invention are a machine-type communication (MTC) method and device, the method comprising: receiving a first inquiry request transmitted by an MTC server in communication with a user equipment (UE); determining a machine-type communication interworking function (MTC-IWF) entity in communication with the UE according to the MTC-IWF load condition and/or the UE position information; and transmitting a first inquiry response to the MTC server, the first inquiry response carrying the identifier of the MTC-IWF in communication with the UE, such that the MTC server, according to the identifier of the MTC-IWF, establishes communication with the MTC-IWF communicating with the UE. The method of the embodiment of the present invention determines an MTC-IWF in communication with a UE according to the MTC-IWF load condition and/or the UE position information, thus properly allocating network resources and improving utilization of the entire network.

Description

Method and device for machine type communication

The present application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201310102139. 2, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Machine Communication", filed on March 27, 2013, the entire contents of which is incorporated herein by reference. . Technical field

The present invention relates to communication technologies, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for machine type communication. Background technique

Machine to Machine (M2M) services are increasingly being added, such as logistics systems, remote meter reading, health monitoring and smart home applications. In the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network architecture, a Machine-Type Communication (MTC) architecture was introduced to enhance the MTC server and the 3GPP core network. The Machine-Type Communication Interworking Function (MTC-IWF) entity, the main function of the MTC-IWF entity is to shield the topology structure of the 3GPP network by the MTC server, and provide a Machine-Type Communication Server (Machine-Type Communication Server, Referred to as the MTC server) interface with the 3GPP network.

The MTC server often needs to communicate with the User Equipment (UE). There are two ways for the MTC server to communicate with the UE: The MTC server and the UE implement user plane communication through the IP address; the MTC server and the UE pass Communication (control plane communication) relayed by the mobile network control plane node. In the user plane communication, the MTC server and the UE know each other's network protocol (Internet Protocol, IP) address, and the control plane communication is often applied to the MTC server to actively establish communication with the UE, but the MTC server does not know the IP address of the UE. In this case, the UE can be addressed through the network under the MTC server. For example, when the MTC server wants to communicate with the UE, it must know the IP address of the MTC-IWF. At this time, the MTC server can store the address of the MTC-IWF itself, or use the Domain Name System (DNS) according to the external part of the UE. The identification query obtains the address of the MTC-IWF.

With the increase of MTC devices, multiple MTC-IWF services exist in a local public land mobile network (HPLMN). When the MTC-IWF is overloaded, network congestion is likely to occur. When other MTC-IWFs are light, they will The waste of network resources causes the distribution of network resources to be unreasonable. Summary of the invention

The present invention provides a method and apparatus for machine type communication, which solves the problem of unreasonable allocation of network resources in the prior art, and can improve the utilization rate of the entire network.

A first aspect of the present invention provides a method for machine type communication, including:

Receiving a first query request sent by a machine type communication MTC server communicating with the user equipment UE; determining an MTC-IWF communicating with the UE according to a load status of the machine type interactive function entity MTC-IWF and/or location information of the UE ;

Sending a first query response to the MTC server, where the first query response carries the

The identifier of the MTC-IWF communicated by the UE, so that the MTC server establishes communication with the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the identifier of the MTC-IWF.

In a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect of the present invention, the determining, by the load status of the machine type interaction function entity MTC-IWF, the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE includes:

And determining, according to the load status of the MTC-IWF, the MTC-IWF with low load as the MTC-IWF communicating with the UE.

In a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect of the present disclosure, the first query request includes an external identifier of the UE, and determining, according to the location information of the UE, the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE includes:

Obtaining, according to an external identifier of the UE, a service node identifier of the UE;

And determining, according to the mapping relationship between the serving node identifier of the UE and the MTC-IWF, the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect of the present invention, in a third possible implementation manner of the first aspect of the present disclosure, the obtaining, by the external identifier of the UE, the service node identifier of the UE includes:

Sending, by the subscription server HSS, a second query request that carries the external identifier of the UE;

Receiving a second query response that is returned by the HSS and carrying the service node identifier of the UE.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect of the present invention, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect of the present invention, determining, according to the mapping relationship between the serving node identifier of the UE and the MTC-IWF After the MTC-IWF of the UE communication, the method further includes: If the load of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the serving node identifier of the UE is higher than a set threshold, the MTC-IWF with low load is determined as the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE.

In a fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect of the present invention, before the receiving, by the MTC server that is in communication with the UE, the first query request, the method further includes:

Receive the load status reported by each MTC-IWF.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the first aspect of the present invention, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the first aspect of the present disclosure, before the first query request sent by the MTC server that is in communication with the UE, :

And receiving a message for updating the identifier of the UE serving node, and updating a mapping relationship between the external identifier of the UE and the identifier of the UE serving node.

A second aspect of the present invention provides a device for machine type communication, including:

a receiving module, configured to receive a first query request sent by a machine type communication MTC server that communicates with the user equipment UE;

a selection module, configured to determine, after the receiving module receives the first query request, the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to a load status of the machine type interaction function entity MTC-IWF and/or location information of the UE ;

a sending module, configured to send a first query response to the MTC server after the selecting module determines the MTC-IWF that is in communication with the UE, where the first query response carries the MTC that communicates with the UE An identifier of the IWF, such that the MTC server establishes communication with the MTC-IWF that the UE communicates according to the identity of the MTC-IWF.

In a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect of the present invention, the selecting module includes: a load selecting unit, configured to load according to the MTC-IWF after the receiving module receives the first query request State, the MTC-IWF with low load is determined as the MTC-IWF communicating with the UE.

In a second possible implementation manner of the second aspect of the present invention, the first query request includes

The external identifier of the UE, the selection module includes:

An acquiring unit, configured to acquire, according to an external identifier of the UE included in the first query request received by the receiving module, a service node identifier of the UE;

a mapping selection unit, configured to determine, according to the serving node identifier of the UE acquired by the acquiring unit, and a mapping relationship between a serving node identifier of the UE and an MTC-IWF, determining to communicate with the UE MTC-IWF.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect of the present invention, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the acquiring unit includes:

The query request sending unit is configured to send, according to the external identifier of the UE included in the first query request received by the receiving module, a second query request that carries the external identifier of the UE to the subscription server HSS;

a query response receiving unit, configured to receive a second query response that is sent by the HSS and that carries the service node identifier of the UE, where the serving node identifier of the UE is used by the HSS according to the UE in the second query request The external identity query is obtained.

With reference to the second possible implementation manner of the second aspect of the present invention, in a fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the mapping selecting unit is further configured to: determine, according to the service node identifier of the UE, If the load of the MTC-IWF communicating with the UE is higher than the set threshold, the MTC-IWF with low load is determined as the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE.

In a fifth possible implementation manner of the second aspect of the present invention, the device further includes: a load status receiving module, configured to receive, before the receiving module receives the first query request sent by the MTC server that communicates with the UE The reported load status of each MTC-IWF.

With reference to the second possible implementation of the second aspect of the present invention, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the second aspect of the present invention, the device further includes:

a message receiving module, configured to receive a message for updating a UE service node identifier before the receiving module receives the first query request sent by the MTC server that is in communication with the UE;

And a mapping relationship update module, configured to update a mapping relationship between the external identifier of the UE and the serving node identifier of the UE according to the message that is updated by the message receiving module to update the UE serving node identifier.

The embodiment of the invention provides a method and a device for the communication of the device, and selects an appropriate MTC-IWF for the UE according to the load state of the MTC-IWF and/or the location information of the UE, and sends the identifier corresponding to the MTC-IWF to the MTC server. So that the MTC server establishes communication with the MTC-IWF. The method provided in this embodiment, on the one hand, selects a lower-load MTC-IWF to communicate with the UE according to the load state of the MTC-IWF, thereby avoiding network congestion caused by excessive load of the MTC-IWF, and, on the other hand, according to the UE Location information, select the appropriate MTC-IWF, so as to select the best path for the UE, achieve reasonable allocation of network resources, and improve the utilization of the entire network. DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, 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 It is a certain embodiment of the present invention, and other drawings can be obtained from those skilled in the art without any creative work.

1 is a flow chart of Embodiment 1 of a method for machine type communication according to the present invention;

2 is a flowchart of Embodiment 2 of a method for machine type communication according to the present invention;

3 is a flowchart of Embodiment 3 of a method for machine type communication according to the present invention;

4 is a signaling flowchart of a method for machine type communication according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention;

5 is a signaling flowchart of a method for machine type communication according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention;

6 is a signaling flowchart of a method for machine type communication provided by Embodiment 6 of the present invention;

7 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 1 of a device for machine type communication according to the present invention;

8 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 2 of a device for communicating by machine type according to the present invention;

9 is a flowchart of Embodiment 7 of a method for machine type communication according to the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 3 of a device for machine type communication according to the present invention.

The technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention are clearly and completely described in the following with reference to the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. It is a partial embodiment of the invention, and not all of the embodiments. 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.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of Embodiment 1 of a method for machine type communication according to the present invention. The method may be implemented by a device for communicating by a machine type, and the device may be implemented by hardware or software, or may be implemented by a combination of software and hardware. The device can be integrated into an existing entity, such as integrated in a Domain Name System (DNS), or as a separate entity, such as an Analysis Query Function (AQF). As shown in FIG. 1, the method for machine type communication provided by this embodiment includes the following steps: Step 101: Receive a first query request sent by an MTC server that communicates with the UE. When the MTC server needs to communicate with the UE, and the MTC server itself does not store the IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, the MTC server needs to know the IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE. The MTC server may directly send the first query request to the AQF, or may send the first query request to the DNS, and the DNS forwards the first query request to the AQF, where the first query request is used to obtain the MTC-IWF that communicates with the MTC server. IP address.

Step 102: Determine, according to a load status of the machine type interaction function entity MTC-IWF and/or location information of the UE, an MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE.

The AQF stores the identifier corresponding to each MTC-IWF, the load status of each MTC-IWF, and the location information of the UE, where the location information can use the identity of the service node of the UE (Identity, referred to as ID) to learn the service node to serve The location of the node is the location of the UE. AQF generally has a mapping relationship between the ID of the service node and the MTC-IWF. According to the load state of the MTC-IWF, the MTC-IWF with a lower load may be selected as the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, or the appropriate MTC-IWF may be selected to communicate with the UE according to the current location information of the UE, or according to the MTC-IWF. The load state and the location information of the UE are used to select an appropriate MTC-IWF.

Step 103: Send a first query response to the MTC server, where the first query response carries the identifier of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, so that the MTC server establishes communication with the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the identifier of the MTC-IWF.

After determining the MTC-IWF that is in communication with the UE, the identifier of the determined MTC-IWF is carried in the first query response and sent to the MTC server, and the first query response may be forwarded to the MTC server through the DNS, and the MTC server receives the The identity of the MTC-IWF to which it is established, establishes communication with the MTC-IWF, and communicates with the UE through the MTC-IWF. The identifier may be an IP address of the MTC-IWF, or may be an internal identifier, where the internal identifier is used to uniquely identify an MTC-IWF, and a mapping relationship between the internal identifier and the IP address is established, and the internal identifier is used to obtain an IP address. .

It should be noted that the UE in this embodiment includes a common mobile phone and the like, and also includes a device communication device.

The method provided in this embodiment receives the first query sent by the MTC server that communicates with the UE. After the request, the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE is determined according to the load status of the MTC-IWF and/or the location information of the UE, and the identifier corresponding to the MTC-IWF is sent to the MTC server. The method provided in this embodiment can be based on the MTC- The resource condition of the IWF and the location information of the UE are reasonably selected to the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE. Achieve reasonable allocation of network resources and improve utilization of the entire network. 2 is a flowchart of Embodiment 2 of a method for machine type communication according to the present invention. The method provided in this embodiment is based on Embodiment 1 and is applicable to determining an MTC-IWF that communicates with a UE according to a load state of an MTC-IWF. As shown in FIG. 2, the method provided in this embodiment includes the following steps: Step 201: Receive a load status reported by each MTC-IWF.

The MTC-IWF can periodically report the load status to the AQF, or report the load status when the load of the MTC-IWF reaches the set threshold, so that the AQF can update the load status of the MTC-IWF in time, and the load status can be divided into four levels. , low load (low), medium load (Middle), high load (high), and overloaded (overload) state. Step 202: Receive a first query request sent by an MTC server that communicates with the UE. In this embodiment, the first query request may be forwarded by the DNS. Step 203: Determine, according to the load status of the MTC-IWF, the MTC-IWF with low load as

MTC-IWF for UE communication.

After receiving the first query request, the AQF selects the MTC with low load as the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE. The IP address and load status of each MTC-IWF are stored in the AQF, as shown in Table 1.

MTC-IWF ID IP address Load status

MTC-IWF 1 IP Address 1 low

MTC-IWF 2 IP Address 2 middle

MTC-IWF-3 IP Address 3 high

MTC-IWF-N IP Address N overload Step 204: Send a first query response to the MTC server, where the first query response carries an identifier of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, so that the MTC server establishes communication with the MTC-IWF that the UE communicates according to the identifier of the MTC-IWF. In this embodiment, the identifier of the MTC-IWF is an IP address, and the IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE is carried in the first query response sent to the MTC server. If the AQF returns the first query response to the MTC server through the DNS, after receiving the first query response, the DNS forwards the IP address to the MTC server, and the MTC server according to the received IP address of the MTC-IWF. Establish communication with the MTC-IWF and communicate with the UE through the MTC-IWF. On the other hand, the DNS caches the received IP address of the MTC-IWF, so that the next time the query is made, the MTC server can directly send a query request including the external identifier of the UE to the DNS, and the DNS according to the stored external identifier of the UE and the MTC-IWF The IP address, return the IP address of the MTC-IWF to the MTC server, which is convenient for the MTC server to query. The method for the machine type communication provided in this embodiment, according to the load state of the MTC-IWF, selects the MTC-IWF with a lower load to serve the UE, avoids the overload of the MTC-IWF, causes network congestion, and can properly allocate the network. Resources, improve the utilization of the entire network. FIG. 3 is a flowchart of Embodiment 3 of a method for machine type communication according to the present invention. The method provided in this embodiment is applicable to the case of selecting an appropriate MTC-IWF based on the UE location information. As shown in FIG. 3, the method provided in this embodiment includes the following steps: Step 301: Receive and UE The first query request sent by the MTC server of the communication including the external identifier of the UE. Step 302: Acquire a service node identifier of the UE according to an external identifier of the UE. The serving node of the UE may be a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) or a Mobility Management Entity (MME), and one serving node manages multiple UEs. Obtaining the service node identifier of the UE according to the external identifier of the UE, specifically: sending the bearer to the HSS

And a second query request that is externally identified by the UE, and receives a second query response that is returned by the HSS and carries an identifier of the serving node of the UE. In this embodiment, the AQF receives the UE external standard sent by the MTC server that communicates with the UE. After the first query request is identified, the second query request carrying the external identifier of the UE is sent to the HSS. The HSS stores the UE subscription data, and the stored content includes information such as the International Mobile Subscriber Identification (IMSI) of the UE, the mapping relationship between the external identifier of the UE, and the serving node ID of the UE. The HSS determines the ID of the service node (ie, SGSN or MME) that is currently serving the UE according to the external identifier of the UE in the second query request, and carries the service node ID of the UE in the second query response and returns it to the AQF. Step 303: Determine, according to a mapping relationship between the serving node identifier of the UE and the IP address of the MTC-IWF, the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE.

The AQF not only stores the IP address and load status of the MTC-IWF, but also stores the mapping relationship between the ID of the serving node of the UE and the IP address of the MTC-IWF. As shown in Table 2, it should be noted that an MTC-IWF is required. It can correspond to multiple service nodes, and one service node can serve multiple UEs. Therefore, the service node of the UE is determined according to the external identifier of the UE, and then the mapping relationship between the ID of the service node and the IP address of the MTC-IWF is determined. The MTC-IWF of the UE communication.

Step 304: Send a first query response to the MTC server, where the first query response carries an IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE. The IP address of the determined MTC-IWF is carried in the first query response and sent to the MTC server, so that the MTC server establishes communication according to the IP address of the MTC-IWF and the MTC-IWF communicating with the UE.

In this embodiment, the AQF may also send the first query response to the DNS, and forward it to the DNS. MTC server. Further, in an implementation achievable, the AQF may also send a mapping relationship indication message that updates the DNS domain name and the IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE to the DNS.

The DNS updates and saves the mapping relationship between the DNS domain name and the IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the indication message, so that the MTC server can directly obtain the IP address of the MTC-IWF from the DNS when the next query is performed by the MTC server, without Query through AQF. The method for the machine type communication provided in this embodiment selects an appropriate MTC-IWF according to the location information of the UE, that is, the ID of the service node currently serving the UE, and selects the MTC-IWF based on the ID of the current serving node of the UE, and selects the most The excellent path communicates with the UE, which saves network resources. Further, in a preferred implementation manner of the embodiment of the present invention, after the step 303, that is, according to the mapping relationship between the identifier of the serving node of the UE and the IP address of the MTC-IWF, after determining the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, It may be determined whether the determined load of the MTC-IWF is higher than a set threshold. If the load of the MTC-IWF determined according to the identifier of the serving node of the UE is higher than a set threshold, the MTC with a low load is selected according to the state of the load. - IWF as the MTC-IWF in communication with the UE. If the determined load of the MTC-IWF is not higher than the set threshold, the IP address corresponding to the MTC-IWF is returned to the DNS. In this implementation manner, the most suitable MTC-IWF is determined by combining the load status of the MTC and the location information of the UE, thereby reasonably allocating network resources and improving network resource utilization.

FIG. 4 is a signaling flowchart of a method for machine type communication according to Embodiment 4 of the present invention. In this embodiment, AQF is used as a single functional entity, and the method for machine type communication provided by the present invention is described in detail below with reference to FIG. 4. Step 401: The MTC-IWF reports the load status to the AQF.

The MTC-IWF can report the load status to the AQF periodically, or report the load status when the load of the MTC-IWF reaches the set threshold, so that the AQF can update the load status of the MTC-IWF in time.

Step 402: The MTC server sends a first query request that includes an external identifier of the UE to the DNS.

The DNS receives the first query request sent by the MTC server, and learns that the MTC server needs to communicate with the MTC-IWF, and needs to obtain the IP address of the MTC-IWF. Step 403: The DNS forwards the first query request that includes the external identifier of the UE to the AQF. Step 404: The AQF selects an appropriate MTC-IWF according to the load status of each MTC-IWF. After receiving the first query request including the external identifier of the UE, the AQF selects the MTC-IWF with a lower load by querying the load status of the multiple MTC-IWFs managed by the AQF, and the AQF also stores the corresponding MTC-IWF. IP address, and send the IP address corresponding to the selected MTC-IWF to the DNS.

Step 405: The AQF sends the IP address of the selected MTC-IWF to the DNS.

Step 406: The DNS caches the IP address of the MTC-IWF.

By buffering the IP address of the MTC-IWF, the IP address of the MTC-IWF can be obtained directly from the DNS in the next query, without the need to query through the AQF. Step 407: The DNS forwards the IP address of the MTC-IWF to the MTC server.

Step 408: The MTC server sends a message to the MTC-IWF.

In this step, after obtaining the IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, the MTC server establishes communication with the MTC-IWF according to the IP address of the MTC-IWF, and sends a message to the MTC-IWF, and further communicates with the UE through the MTC-IWF. The method provided in this embodiment, according to the load state of the MTC-IWF, selects the MTC-IWF with lower load to communicate with the UE, allocates network resources reasonably, avoids network congestion caused by excessive load of the MTC-IWF, and improves utilization of network resources. rate. FIG. 5 is a signaling flowchart of a method for machine type communication according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention. The method for machine type communication provided by the present invention is described in detail below with reference to FIG.

Step 501: The MTC server sends a first query request including the external identifier of the UE to the DNS. Step 502: The DNS forwards, to the AQF, a first query request that includes an external identifier of the UE.

Step 503: The AQF sends a second query request that carries the external identifier of the UE to the HSS.

The second query request also includes a UE external identifier, which is used to obtain the ID of the UE's service node from the HSS.

Step 504: The HSS queries, according to the external identifier of the UE, the service node ID of the UE from the subscription data.

After receiving the second query request that includes the external identifier of the UE, the HSS queries according to the external identifier of the UE. The serving node of the UE, and carrying the ID of the serving node of the UE in returning the second query response to the AQF.

Step 505: The HSS sends a second query response that carries the service node ID of the UE to the AQF. Step 506: The AQF selects an appropriate MTC-IWF according to the mapping relationship between the service node ID of the UE and the MTC-IWF.

After receiving the second query response of the ID of the serving node of the UE, the AQF determines the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the mapping relationship between the ID of the UE serving node and the MTC-IWF, and determines the IP address of the MTC-IWF. Sent to DNS.

Step 507: The AQF sends the IP address of the selected MTC-IWF to the DNS.

Step 508: The DNS forwards the IP address of the MTC-IWF to the MTC server.

Step 509: The MTC server sends a message to the MTC-IWF.

After obtaining the IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, the MTC server establishes communication with the MTC-IWF according to the IP address of the MTC-IWF, sends a message to the MTC-IWF, and further communicates with the UE through the MTC-IWF.

The method provided in this embodiment, based on the location information of the UE, selects the MTC-IWF according to the current serving node of the UE, and can determine that the optimal path communicates with the UE, thereby saving network resources.

FIG. 6 is a signaling flowchart of a method for machine type communication according to Embodiment 6 of the present invention. The method for machine type communication provided by the present invention is described in detail below with reference to FIG. Step 601: The UE reports the location information to the service node.

After the UE is handed over from one serving cell to another, the location information is reported to the serving node, and the serving node may be an SGSN or an MME, and the UE reports the location information to the SGSN or the MME in the switched serving cell.

Step 602: The serving node reports the location information of the UE to the HSS.

Step 603: The HSS updates the location information of the UE according to the location information of the UE reported by the serving node. Specifically, the HSS updates the mapping relationship between the UE external identifier and the ID of the serving node of the UE. Step 604: The HSS sends the updated UE service node ID and the external identifier of the UE to the AQF. Mapping relations.

Step 605: The AQF updates the mapping relationship between the UE service node ID and the UE external identifier. Step 606: The MTC server sends a first query request that includes an external identifier of the UE to the DNS. Step 607: The DNS forwards the first query request that includes the external identifier of the UE to the AQF.

Step 608: The AQF sends a second query request that carries the external identifier of the UE to the HSS.

The second query request also includes a UE external identifier, which is used to obtain the ID of the service node currently serving the UE from the HSS.

Step 609: The HSS queries, according to the external identifier of the UE, the service node ID of the UE from the subscription data. After receiving the second query request including the external identifier of the UE, the HSS queries according to the external identifier of the UE.

The serving node of the UE, and carries the ID of the serving node of the UE to the AQF to return to the third query response. Step 610: The HSS sends a second query response carrying the serving node ID of the UE to the AQF. Step 611: The AQF selects an appropriate MTC-IWF according to the mapping relationship between the service node ID of the UE and the MTC-IWF. After receiving the second query response of the ID of the serving node of the UE, the AQF determines the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the mapping relationship between the ID of the UE serving node and the MTC-IWF, and determines the IP address of the MTC-IWF. Sent to DNS. Step 612: The AQF sends the IP address of the selected MTC-IWF to the DNS. Step 613: The DNS forwards the IP address of the MTC-IWF to the MTC server.

Step 614: The MTC server sends a message to the MTC-IWF.

After obtaining the IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, the MTC server establishes communication with the MTC-IWF according to the IP address of the MTC-IWF, sends a message to the MTC-IWF, and further communicates with the UE through the MTC-IWF. In a possible implementation manner of the embodiment of the present invention, after step 610, it is further determined whether the load of the MTC-IWF selected according to the serving node of the UE is higher than a set threshold, if according to the serving node of the UE The load of the MTC-IWF that is determined to communicate with the UE is higher than the set width The value determines the MTC-IWF with low load as the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE.

In this embodiment, when the location of the UE is changed, the mapping relationship between the monthly service node of the UE and the MTC-IWF in the AQF can be updated in time by the HSS, so that the suitable MTC-IWF can be accurately selected for the UE.

9 is a flowchart of Embodiment 7 of a method for machine type communication according to the present invention. The method may be implemented by a device for communicating by a machine type, and the device may be implemented by hardware or software, or may be implemented by a combination of software and hardware. In this embodiment, the device may be integrated into the domain name resolution server DNS as an example for description. As shown in FIG. 9, the method for machine type communication provided by this embodiment includes the following steps:

Step 901: The DNS receives a first query request sent by an MTC server that communicates with the UE. When the MTC server needs to communicate with the UE, and the MTC server itself does not store the IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, the MTC server needs to know the IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE. The MTC server can directly send a first query request to the DNS, and the first query request is used to obtain the IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the MTC server.

Step 902: The DNS determines, according to the load status of the machine type interaction function entity MTC-IWF and/or the location information of the UE, the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE.

The MTC-IWF identifier, the load status of each MTC-IWF, and the location information of the UE are pre-stored in the DNS, and the mapping relationship between the ID of the serving node and the MTC-IWF is generally stored in the DNS.

In this embodiment, when the DNS selects the MTC-IWF for communication for the UE, there are three cases: In the first case, the DNS selects the MTC-IWF with lower load as the MTC that communicates with the UE according to the load status of the MTC-IWF. -IWF. After receiving the first query response sent by the MTC server, the DNS selects the MTC-IWF with the lowest load that can communicate with the UE to serve the UE according to the MTC-IWF load status pre-stored in the DNS. The account status of the MTC-IWF stored in the DNS is also changed in real time. The MTC-IWF can report the load status to the DNS periodically, or when the status of the MTC-IWF changes, it is reported in the event-triggered manner.

In the second case, the DNS selects an appropriate MTC-IWF and UE according to the current location information of the UE. Communication, and the location of the UE can be determined based on the location information of the serving node currently serving the UE. The serving node of the UE may be a GPRS service supporting node or a mobility management entity, etc., and one serving node manages multiple UEs.

In this embodiment, the DNS may obtain the location information of the UE in the following manner. The first query request sent by the MTC server to the DNS needs to carry the external identifier of the UE. After receiving the first query request, the DNS sends the external identifier of the UE to the HSS. The second query request. The HSS stores the UE subscription data, and the stored content includes information such as the IMSI of the UE, the mapping between the external identifier of the UE, and the ID of the serving node of the UE. The HSS determines the ID of the serving node (ie, the SGSN or the MME) that is currently serving the UE according to the UE external identifier in the second query request, and carries the ID of the serving node of the UE in the second query to return to the DNS. The DNS queries and obtains the IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the mapping relationship between the ID of the stored service node of the UE and the IP address of the MTC-IWF.

In the third case, the appropriate MTC-IWF is selected according to the load status of the MTC-IWF and the location information of the UE. When the NDS selects the MTC-IWF for the UE, the NDS considers the load status of the MTC-IWF and the location information of the UE. For example, the DNS first determines the relationship between the identifier of the serving node of the UE and the IP address of the MTC-IWF. The MTC-IWF of the UE communication. Further, the DNS may further determine whether the determined load of the MTC-IWF is higher than a set threshold. If the load of the MTC-IWF determined according to the identifier of the serving node of the UE is higher than a set threshold, according to the state of the load, The MTC-IWF with low load is selected as the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE. If the determined load of the MTC-IWF is not higher than the set threshold, the IP address corresponding to the MTC-IWF is returned to the DNS. Step 903: The DNS sends a first query response to the MTC server, where the first query response carries the identifier of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, so that the MTC server establishes communication with the MTC-IWF that the UE communicates according to the identifier of the MTC-IWF.

After the DNS determines the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, the identifier of the determined MTC-IWF is carried in the first query response and sent to the MTC server, and the MTC server establishes communication with the MTC-IWF according to the identifier of the received MTC-IWF. And communicate with the UE through the MTC-IWF. The identifier may be an IP address of the MTC-IWF, or may be an internal identifier, where the internal identifier is used to uniquely identify an MTC-IWF, and a mapping relationship between the internal identifier and the IP address is established, and the internal identifier is used to obtain an IP address. . FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 1 of a device for communicating in a machine type according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 7, the device for machine type communication provided in this embodiment includes: a receiving module 710, a selecting module 720, and a sending module 730. The receiving module 710 is configured to receive a first query request sent by an MTC server that communicates with the UE. When the MTC server itself does not store the IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, the MTC server needs to know the IP address of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, and the MTC server can send the first query request to the DNS, and the DNS will request the first query. A device that forwards to machine type communication. The selecting module 720 is configured to determine, after the receiving module 710 receives the first query request, the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the load status of the machine type interactive function entity MTC-IWF and/or the location information of the UE. After the receiving module 710 receives the first query request, the selecting module 720 determines the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the load status of the MTC-IWF and/or the location information of the UE. The sending module 730 is configured to: after the selecting module 720 determines the MTC-IWF that is in communication with the UE, send a first query response to the MTC server, where the first query response carries an identifier of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, so that the MTC server is configured according to the MTC server. The identity of the MTC-IWF establishes communication with the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE. After receiving the first query response that carries the identifier of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, the MTC server establishes communication with the MTC-IWF according to the identifier of the MTC-IWF, and implements communication with the UE through the MTC-IWF. The device provided in this embodiment may be used to implement the solution in the first embodiment of the method. The device may be implemented as a single physical function or integrated in an existing network element. The apparatus for machine type communication provided by the present example determines the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the load status of the MTC-IWF and/or the location information of the UE, and can select the MTC that communicates with the UE according to the resource condition of the MTC-IWF. IWF. Achieve reasonable allocation of network resources and improve utilization of the entire network.

FIG. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 2 of a device for communication of a machine type according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 8, the device for machine type communication provided in this embodiment includes: a receiving module 810, configured to receive an MTC server that communicates with a UE. a query request;

The selecting module 820 is configured to, after the receiving module 810 receives the first query request, according to the machine class The load status of the interworking function entity MTC-IWF and/or the location information of the UE determines the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE. The sending module 830 is configured to send the first to the MTC server after the selection module 820 determines the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE. An inquiry response, the first query response carries an identifier of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, so that the MTC server establishes communication according to the identifier of the MTC-IWF and the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE. The device of the machine type communication provided in this embodiment may further include: a load status receiving module 840, configured to receive the load reported by each MTC-IWF before the receiving module 810 receives the first query request sent by the MTC server that communicates with the UE. status.

In addition, the device may further include a message receiving module 850 for receiving and receiving at the receiving module 810.

Before the first query request sent by the MTC server of the UE communication, an update message of the service node identifier updated by the UE is received. The mapping relationship update module 860 is configured to update a mapping relationship between the external identifier of the UE and the service node identifier of the UE according to the update message of the identifier of the serving node of the updated UE received by the message receiving module 850.

In this embodiment, the selecting module 820 may specifically include: a load selecting unit 8210, configured to determine, after the receiving module 810 receives the first query request, the MTC-IWF with low load to determine communication with the UE according to the load status of the MTC-IWF. MTC-IWF. In a possible implementation, the first query request sent by the MTC server includes the external identifier of the UE, and the selecting module 820 may further include: an obtaining unit 8220, configured to be included in the first query request received by the receiving module 810. The external identifier of the UE acquires the service node identifier of the UE. The mapping selection unit 8230 is configured to obtain the service node identifier of the UE according to the obtaining unit 8220. And mapping the service node identifier of the UE to the MTC-IWF, and determining the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE. The serving node of the UE may be an SGSN or an MME. Specifically, the obtaining unit 8220 includes: a query request sending unit 8221, configured to send, according to the external identifier of the UE included in the first query request received by the receiving module 810, a second query request that carries the external identifier of the UE to the subscription server HSS; The response receiving unit 8222 is configured to receive, by the HSS, a second query response of the identifier of the serving node that carries the UE, where the serving node identifier of the UE is obtained by the HSS according to the UE external identifier query in the second query request. Obtained in the acquisition order 8220 After the current serving node identifier for the UE is served, the mapping selecting unit 8230 determines the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the mapping relationship between the stored serving node identifier of the UE and the IP address of the MTC-IWF. The mapping selection unit 8230 is further configured to determine, if the load of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the serving node identifier of the UE is higher than a set threshold, determine the MTC-IWF with low load as the MTC that communicates with the UE. IWF The device of the machine type communication provided by this embodiment can be used to implement the solution of any method embodiment of the present invention. The implementation manners and effects are similar, and therefore will not be described again. The device can be used as a separate functional entity or integrated into a network element in an existing network, for example integrated on the DNS.

The device provided in this embodiment can select an appropriate MTC-IWF to serve the UE according to the load status of the MTC-IWF and the location information of the UE, and can allocate network resources reasonably, thereby avoiding the problem that the MTC-IWF is overloaded and causing network congestion. FIG. 10 is a schematic structural diagram of Embodiment 3 of a device for communication of a machine type according to the present invention. As shown in FIG. 10, the communication device 1000 provided in this embodiment includes:

Receiver 1100, processor 1200, memory 1300, and transmitter 1400. The receiver 1100, the memory 1300, and the transmitter 1400 can be connected to the processor 1200 through a bus or other manner, respectively, and the bus connection is taken as an example in FIG. The memory 1400 is configured to store executable program code, the program code including computer operating instructions. The processor 1200 implements the method of machine type communication provided by the embodiments of the present invention by running a program stored in the memory 1300. The bus can be an Industry Standard Architecture (ISA) bus, a Peripheral Component (PCI) bus, or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus. The bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, and the like. For ease of representation, only one thick line is shown in Figure 10, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

The receiver 1100 is configured to receive a first query request sent by a machine type communication MTC server that communicates with the user equipment UE.

The processor 1200 is configured to determine, after the receiver 1100 receives the first query request, the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the load status of the machine type interaction function entity MTC-IWF and/or the location information of the UE; The transmitter 1400 is configured to send a first query response to the MTC server after the processor 1200 determines the MTC-IWF that is in communication with the UE, where the first query response carries an identifier of the MTC-IWF of the UE communication, so that the MTC server is configured according to the MTC. The identity of the -IWF establishes communication with the MTC-IWF that the UE communicates with. The processor 1200 is specifically configured to: after the receiver 1100 receives the first query request, according to

The load status of the MTC-IWF determines the MTC-IWF with low load as the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE. The load status of the MTC-IWF is stored in advance in the memory 1300. The processor 1200 is further configured to acquire the serving node identifier of the UE according to the external identifier of the UE included in the first query request, and according to the acquired UE serving node identifier, and the mapping between the UE serving node identifier and the MTC-IWF stored in the memory 1300. Relationship, determine the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE. The processor 1200 is further configured to determine, if the load of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the UE serving node identifier is higher than a set threshold, determine the MTC-IWF with low load as the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE. In this embodiment, the transmitter 1400 is further configured to send, according to the external identifier of the UE included in the first query request received by the receiver 1100, a second query request that carries the external identifier of the UE to the subscription server HSS; and the receiver 1100 receives the HSS return. The second query response carrying the identifier of the UE serving node, the serving node identifier of the UE is obtained by the HSS according to the external identifier of the UE in the second query request. In this embodiment, the receiver 1100 is further configured to receive the load status reported by the MTC-IWF, so that the processor 1200 timely updates the load status of the MTC-IWF stored in the memory 1300. The receiver 1100 is further configured to receive a message for updating the identifier of the UE serving node, and correspondingly, the processor 1200 is configured to update the external identifier of the UE and the UE service stored in the memory 1300 according to the message that is updated by the receiver 1100 to update the UE serving node identifier. The mapping relationship of node IDs. The method provided by this embodiment can be used to implement the technical solution of any method embodiment, and the specific implementation manner and the technical effect are similar, and therefore will not be described again.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that all or part of the steps of implementing the above method embodiments may be performed by hardware related to the program instructions. The aforementioned program can be stored in a computer readable storage medium. The program, when executed, performs the steps including the foregoing method embodiments; and the foregoing storage medium includes: ROM, RAM, disk or optical disk, and the like, which can store program codes. Medium.

It should be noted that the above embodiments are merely illustrative of the technical solutions of the present invention, and are not intended to be limiting; although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art The technical solutions described in the foregoing embodiments may be modified, or some or all of the technical features may be equivalently replaced; and the modifications or substitutions do not deviate from the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention. range.

Claims

Rights request

A method of machine type communication, characterized in that it comprises:

Sending a first query response to the MTC server, where the first query response carries an identifier of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE, so that the MTC server communicates with the UE according to the identifier of the MTC-IWF The MTC-IWF establishes communication.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining, by the load status of the MTC-IWF, the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE comprises:

The method according to claim 1, wherein the first query request includes an external identifier of the UE, and determining, according to the location information of the UE, the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE includes: Obtaining, by the external identifier of the UE, a service node identifier of the UE;

The method of claim 3, wherein the acquiring the service node identifier of the UE according to the external identifier of the UE comprises:

The method according to claim 3, wherein, after determining the MTC-IWF that is in communication with the UE according to the mapping relationship between the serving node identifier of the UE and the MTC-IWF, the method further includes: If the load of the MTC-IWF that is determined by the serving node identifier of the UE to communicate with the UE is higher than the set threshold, the MTC-IWF with low load is determined as the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE.

The method according to claim 1, wherein before the receiving the first query request sent by the MTC server that communicates with the UE, the method further includes:

Receive the load status reported by each MTC-IWF.

7. The method according to claim 3, wherein the receiving the MTC in communication with the UE Before the first query request sent by the server, it also includes:

8. A device for machine type communication, comprising:

a sending module, configured to send a first query response to the MTC server after the selecting module determines the MTC-IWF that is in communication with the UE, where the first query response carries an MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE And the identifier, so that the MTC server establishes communication with the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the identifier of the MTC-IWF.

The device according to claim 8, wherein the selection module comprises: a load selection unit, configured to: according to the load status of the MTC-IWF, after the receiving module receives the first query request Determining a low-loaded MTC-IWF as communicating with the UE

MTC-IWF.

The device according to claim 8, wherein the first query request includes an external identifier of the UE, and the selecting module includes:

An obtaining unit, configured to be included according to the first query request received by the receiving module

Obtaining, by the external identifier of the UE, a service node identifier of the UE;

And a mapping selection unit, configured to determine, according to the serving node identifier of the UE acquired by the acquiring unit, and the mapping relationship between the serving node identifier of the UE and the MTC-IWF, the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE.

The device according to claim 10, wherein the acquiring unit comprises: a query request sending unit, configured to: according to the external identifier of the UE included in the first query request received by the receiving module Sending, to the subscription server HSS, a second query request that carries the external identifier of the UE;

a query response receiving unit, configured to receive a second query response that is sent by the HSS and that carries the service node identifier of the UE, where the service node identifier of the UE is requested by the HSS according to the second query The UE external identification query obtained is obtained.

The device according to claim 10, wherein the mapping selection unit is further configured to: if the load of the MTC-IWF that communicates with the UE according to the serving node identifier of the UE is higher than a setting The threshold value is determined by the low load MTC-IWF as the MTC-IWF communicating with the UE.

13. The device according to claim 8, further comprising:

The load status receiving module is configured to receive the load status reported by each MTC-IWF before the receiving module receives the first query request sent by the MTC server that communicates with the UE.

The device according to claim 10, further comprising:

a mapping relationship update module, configured to update a mapping between an external identifier of the UE and an identifier of the UE service node according to the message that is updated by the message receiving module to update the UE service node identifier