CN103703838A - A communication method and device - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a communication method and device. The method includes: a first base station obtaining information related to an S1 link failure of a second base station serving as a target base station; and the first base station determining a handover type or reselecting a target base station based on the information related to the S1 link failure. This method can improve LTE handover efficiency when an X2 handover fails.

Description

A communication method and device

technical field

The present invention relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a communication method and equipment.

Background technique

In order to meet the challenges of wireless broadband technology and maintain the leading edge of the 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) network, 3GPP has formulated a long-term evolution (LTE) plan for mobile communication networks. Under the guidance, a new mobile communication network architecture is defined, that is, the architecture of the Long Term Evolution/System Architecture Evolution (LTE/SAE) network system.

In LTE/SAE network, handover can be divided into handover based on X2 and handover based on S1. When an X2 signaling plane connection is established between the handover source and target base stations (for example, evolved Node B (evolved Node B, eNB), also known as evolved base stations), and the source eNB and target eNB belong to the same mobile When there is no Mobility Management Entity (MME) resource pool, X2-based handover can be initiated; otherwise, S1-based handover can be initiated.

At present, during the X2 handover process, if the X2 handover fails, the source base station will start a protection timer, and prohibit the initiation of the X2 handover to the target base station before the timer expires. However, after the timer expires, the handover to the target base station will be triggered again, which may cause the new handover to fail.

It can be seen that in the prior art, when the X2 handover fails, the LTE handover efficiency is low.

Contents of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a communication method and equipment, which improve LTE handover efficiency when X2 handover failure occurs.

In order to solve the above technical problems, the embodiment of the present invention discloses the following technical solutions:

In a first aspect, a communication method is provided, including:

The first base station acquires information related to the S1 link failure of the second base station serving as the target base station;

The first base station determines a handover type or reselects a target base station according to information related to the S1 link failure.

With reference to the first aspect above, in a first possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the information related to the S1 link failure includes a cause of the handover failure, where the cause of the handover failure includes information about the S1 link failure, and The first base station acquires information related to the S1 link failure of the second base station serving as the target base station, including:

The first base station sends a handover request message to the second base station;

The first base station receives a response message from the second base station to the handover request message, where the response message includes the handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes information about an S1 link failure.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the first aspect above, in a second possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the response message is a handover preparation failure response message.

With reference to the above first aspect or the first or second possible implementation of the first aspect, in the third possible implementation of the first aspect, the information about the S1 link failure includes the faulty S1 link Information about the corresponding mobility management entity MME, and the information related to the S1 link failure of the second base station acquired by the first base station includes:

The first base station receives a base station configuration update message sent by the second base station, the base station configuration update message includes information about the MME corresponding to the faulty S1 link, and the base station configuration update message is sent by the second base station and sent to the first base station when the S1 link failure is detected.

In conjunction with the third possible implementation of the first aspect above, in the fourth possible implementation of the first aspect, the base station configuration update message includes one or all of the following information:

Deleting the information of the MME, including the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link among the S1 links between the second base station and all connected MMEs;

The information of the MME is added, including the information of the MME corresponding to the restored S1 link among the S1 links between the second base station and all connected MMEs.

With reference to the third or fourth possible implementation manner of the first aspect above, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the first aspect, the information of the MME includes the GUMMEI or MMEC of the MME.

In a second aspect, a communication method is provided, including:

The second base station monitors the status of the S1 link between the second base station and the MME;

When detecting that the S1 link is faulty, the second base station sends information about the MME corresponding to the faulty S1 link to the first base station.

With reference to the second aspect above, in a first possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the second base station sends information about the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link to the first base station through a base station configuration update message.

With reference to the first possible implementation of the second aspect above, in a second possible implementation of the second aspect, the base station configuration update message includes one or all of the following information:

Deleting the information of the MME, including the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link among the S1 links between the second base station and all connected MMEs;

The information of the MME is added, including the information of the MME corresponding to the restored S1 link among the S1 links between the second base station and all connected MMEs.

With reference to the above second aspect or the first or second possible implementation manner of the second aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the information of the MME includes the GUMMEI or MMEC of the MME.

In combination with the above second aspect or one of the first to third possible implementations of the second aspect, in the fourth possible implementation of the second aspect, when the user equipment under the first base station needs to handover When arriving at the second base station, and before the second base station sends the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link to the first base station, the method further includes:

The second base station receives the handover request message sent by the first base station;

The second base station sends a response message to the handover request message to the first base station, where the response message includes a handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes information about the S1 link failure.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the second aspect above, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the second aspect, the response message includes a handover preparation failure response message.

In a third aspect, a communication method is provided, including:

The first base station receives the MME information sent by the second base station, and the S1 link between the MME and the second base station fails;

When the first base station correctly receives the information of the MME, send a confirmation message to the second base station.

With reference to the above third aspect, in a first possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the first base station receives the information of the MME through a base station configuration update message sent by the second base station.

With reference to the first possible implementation of the third aspect above, in a second possible implementation of the third aspect, the base station configuration update message includes one or all of the following information:

Deleting the information of the MME, including the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link among the S1 links between the second base station and all connected MMEs;

The information of the MME is added, including the information of the MME corresponding to the restored S1 link among the S1 links between the second base station and all connected MMEs.

With reference to the above third aspect or the first or second possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the information of the MME includes the GUMMEI or MMEC of the MME.

With reference to the above third aspect or one of the first to third possible implementations of the third aspect, in a fourth possible implementation of the third aspect, the first base station receives the MME's After information is sent, when the user equipment under the first base station needs to be handed over to the second base station, the method further includes:

The first base station determines a handover type or reselects a target base station according to the information of the MME.

With reference to the above third aspect or one of the first possible implementation manner to the third possible implementation manner of the third aspect, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the first base station receives Before the information of the MME, when the user equipment under the first base station needs to be handed over to the second base station, the method further includes:

The first base station sends a handover request message to the second base station;

The first base station receives a response message to the handover request message sent by the second base station, where the response message includes a handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes information about the S1 link failure.

In combination with the fifth possible implementation of the third aspect above, the sixth possible implementation of the third aspect also includes:

According to the information about the failure of the S1 link in the reasons for the handover failure, determine the handover type or reselect the target base station.

With reference to the fifth or sixth possible implementation manner of the third aspect above, in a sixth possible implementation manner of the third aspect, the response message includes a handover preparation failure response message.

In a fourth aspect, a base station is provided, including:

A fault obtaining module, configured to obtain information related to the fault of the S1 link of the target base station;

The first processing module is configured to determine a handover type or reselect a target base station according to information related to the S1 link failure.

With reference to the fourth aspect above, in a first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the information related to the S1 link failure includes a handover failure cause, where the handover failure cause includes information about the S1 link failure, and The fault acquisition module includes:

a first request unit, configured to send a handover request message to the target base station;

The first receiving unit is configured to receive a response message from the target base station to the handover request message, where the response message includes the handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes information about S1 link failure.

With reference to the first possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect above, in a second possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the response message is a handover preparation failure response message.

In combination with the above fourth aspect or the first or second possible implementation of the fourth aspect, in the third possible implementation of the fourth aspect, the information about the S1 link failure includes the faulty S1 link The information of the corresponding MME, and the fault acquisition module includes:

The second receiving unit is configured to receive a base station configuration update message sent by the target base station, where the base station configuration update message includes information about a mobility management entity MME corresponding to the faulty S1 link, and the base station configuration update message is composed of When the target base station detects that the S1 link is faulty, it is sent.

With reference to the third possible implementation of the fourth aspect above, in a fourth possible implementation of the fourth aspect, the base station configuration update message includes one or all of the following information:

Deleting the information of the MME, including the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link among the S1 links between the target base station and all connected MMEs;

The information of the MME is added, including the information of the MME corresponding to the normal S1 link among the S1 links between the target base station and all connected MMEs.

With reference to the third or fourth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect above, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the information of the MME includes the GUMMEI or MMEC of the MME.

In a fifth aspect, a base station is provided, including:

A monitoring module, configured to monitor the state of the S1 link with the MME;

The failure sending module is configured to send the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link to the neighboring base station when the failure of the S1 link is detected.

With reference to the fifth aspect above, in a first possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the failure sending module sends the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link to the neighboring base station through a base station configuration update message.

With reference to the first possible implementation of the fifth aspect above, in a second possible implementation of the fifth aspect, the base station configuration update message includes one or all of the following information:

Deleting the information of the MME, including the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link among the S1 links between the base station and all connected MMEs;

The information of the MME is added, including the information of the MME corresponding to the normal S1 link among the S1 links between the base station and all connected MMEs.

With reference to the fifth aspect or the first or second possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the information of the MME includes the GUMMEI or MMEC of the MME.

In combination with the fifth aspect above, or one of the first to third possible implementations of the fifth aspect, the fourth possible implementation of the fifth aspect further includes:

A request receiving module, configured to receive a handover request message sent by the neighboring base station;

A response sending module, configured to send a response message to the handover request message to the neighboring base station, where the response message includes a handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes information about the S1 link failure.

With reference to the fourth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect above, in a fifth possible implementation manner of the fifth aspect, the response message includes a handover preparation failure response message.

In a sixth aspect, a base station is provided, including:

The third receiving module is configured to receive the information of the MME sent by the adjacent base station, and the S1 link between the MME and the adjacent base station is faulty;

A confirmation module, configured to send a confirmation message to the neighboring base station when the information of the MME is received correctly.

With reference to the sixth aspect above, in a first possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the third receiving module receives the information of the MME through a base station configuration update message sent by the neighboring base station.

With reference to the first possible implementation of the sixth aspect above, in a second possible implementation of the sixth aspect, the base station configuration update message includes one or all of the following information:

Deleting the information of the MME, including the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link among the S1 links between the adjacent base station and all connected MMEs;

The information of the MME is added, including the information of the MME corresponding to the restored normal S1 link among the S1 links between the adjacent base station and all connected MMEs.

With reference to the sixth aspect above, or the first or second possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a third possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the information of the MME includes the GUMMEI or MMEC of the MME .

In combination with the sixth aspect above, or one of the first to third possible implementations of the sixth aspect, the fourth possible implementation of the sixth aspect further includes:

The second processing module is configured to determine a handover type or reselect a target base station according to the information of the MME when the user equipment under the base station needs to be handed over to the neighboring base station after receiving the information of the MME.

In combination with the sixth aspect above, or one of the first to third possible implementation manners of the sixth aspect, the fifth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect further includes:

The second request module is configured to send a handover request message to the adjacent base station when the user equipment under the base station needs to switch to the adjacent base station before the base station receives the information of the MME;

The second receiving module is configured to receive a response message to the handover request message sent by the neighboring base station, where the response message includes a handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes information about the S1 link failure.

In combination with the fifth possible implementation of the sixth aspect above, the sixth possible implementation of the sixth aspect further includes:

The third processing module is configured to determine a handover type or reselect a target base station according to the S1 link failure information in the handover failure cause.

With reference to the fifth or sixth possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, in a seventh possible implementation manner of the sixth aspect, the response message includes a handover preparation failure response message.

In a seventh aspect, a server is provided, including: a first processor, a first memory, a bus, and a communication interface; the first memory is used to store computer-executable instructions, and the first processor communicates with the first memory through The bus connection, when the server is running, the first processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the first memory, and communicates with devices external to the server through the communication interface, so that The server executes any one of the communication methods in the first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, a server is provided, including: a second processor, a second memory, a bus, and a communication interface; the second memory is used to store computer-executable instructions, and the second processor communicates with the second memory through The bus connection, when the server is running, the second processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the second memory, and communicates with devices external to the second server through the communication interface, so that the second server executes the communication method according to any one of the second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, a server is provided, including: a third processor, a third memory, a bus, and a communication interface; the third memory is used to store computer-executable instructions, and the third processor communicates with the third memory through The bus connection, when the server is running, the third processor executes the computer-executed instructions stored in the third memory, and communicates with devices external to the server through the communication interface, so that The first server executes the communication method according to any one of the third aspect.

In the embodiment of the present invention, for handover based on X2, if a certain MME in the MME resource pool where the first base station as the source base station and the second base station as the target base station is abnormal, the S1 between the MME and the first base station When the link is normal but the S1 link with the second base station fails, by feeding back the S1 link failure information between the MME and the second base station to the first base station, the first base station can obtain the failure information in time, It avoids re-initiating X2 handover related to the faulty S1 link to the second base station, thereby avoiding repeated X2 handover failure scenarios, and improving LTE handover efficiency.

Description of drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention or the prior art, the following will briefly introduce the drawings that need to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Obviously, the accompanying drawings in the following description are only These are some embodiments of the present invention. For those skilled in the art, other drawings can also be obtained according to these drawings without any creative effort.

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a communication method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

Fig. 2 shows the realization flowchart of step 101 in Fig. 1;

FIG. 3 is a flowchart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of another communication method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart corresponding to another communication method in FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart corresponding to another communication method in FIG. 5;

FIG. 8 is a structural block diagram of a first type of base station provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is a structural block diagram of a second base station provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 10 is a structural block diagram of a third base station provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a structural block diagram of a fourth base station provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 12 is a structural block diagram of another base station corresponding to FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 is a structural block diagram of another base station corresponding to FIG. 11;

FIG. 14 is a structural block diagram of another base station corresponding to FIG. 11;

FIG. 15 is a structural block diagram of a server provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 16 is a structural block diagram of a server provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a structural block diagram of another server provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order to enable those skilled in the art to better understand the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, and to make the above-mentioned purposes, features and advantages of the embodiments of the present invention more obvious and understandable, the following describes the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings For further detailed explanation.

In the X2-based handover process, the signaling plane connection between the source eNodeB and the target eNodeB is completed through the X2 link establishment process; whether the source eNodeB and the target eNodeB belong to the same MME resource pool is completed through the X2 configuration update process .

In LTE handover, for X2-based handover, there are the following scenarios: a certain MME in the MME resource pool where the source base station and the target base station are located is abnormal, the S1 link between the MME and the source base station is normal, and the MME and the target base station When the S1 link between the source base station and the MME is faulty, when the source base station carries the MME identifier in the X2 handover request, the target base station will return the X2 handover failure message HANDOVER PREPARATION to the source base station after judging that the S1 link between it and the MME is faulty FAILURE, the failure reason in the handover failure message is "Unspecified". At present, the 3GPP protocol cannot inform the source base station of the cause of the handover failure in the above-mentioned X2 handover failure scenario, and the source base station cannot know the link status between the target base station and an MME from the configuration update process, because the source base station cannot know the relevant If the S1 link is abnormal, the handover related to the abnormal S1 link will continue to be initiated on the X2 link, resulting in a decrease in the handover success rate.

In order to improve the LTE switching efficiency in the above application scenarios, the present invention discloses a corresponding communication method and equipment.

Firstly, the communication method provided by the present invention is introduced. For ease of description, the source base station is assumed to be the first base station, and the target base station is assumed to be the second base station. As shown in Figure 1, it is an embodiment of a communication method provided by the present invention, the method may include the following execution steps:

Step 101, the first base station acquires information related to the S1 link failure of the second base station serving as the target base station;

Step 102, the first base station determines a handover type or reselects a target base station according to information related to the S1 link failure.

In the embodiment of this aspect, for X2-based handover, if a certain MME in the MME resource pool where the first base station as the source base station and the second base station as the target base station is abnormal, the S1 between the MME and the first base station When the link is normal but the S1 link with the second base station fails, by feeding back the S1 link failure information between the MME and the second base station to the first base station, the first base station can obtain the failure information in time, Determine the handover type in time or reselect the target base station to avoid re-initiating X2 handover related to the faulty S1 link to the second base station, thereby avoiding repeated X2 handover failure scenarios and improving LTE handover efficiency.

In the specific implementation process, the information related to the S1 link failure may include the reason for the handover failure, wherein the handover failure cause includes information about the S1 link failure, that is, the information about the S1 link failure is carried by the handover failure reason, the In the implementation mode, the specific implementation of the above step 101 is shown in Figure 2:

Step 201, the first base station sends a handover request message HANDOVERREQUEST to the second base station;

Step 202, the first base station receives a response message from the second base station to the handover request message, the response message includes the handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes S1 link failure information S1PathError. Specifically, the response message may be a handover preparation failure response message HANDOVERPREPARATION FAILURE.

In this implementation mode, after the second base station receives the X2 handover request HANDOVER REQUEST sent by the first base station, if it finds that the S1 link with the MME carried in the handover request fails, it will report to the The second base station feeds back the handover failure message HANDOVER PREPARATION FAILURE, and carries the handover failure cause information S1PathError in the handover failure message HANDOVER PREPARATION FAILURE. The first base station learns the failure state of the S1 link between the MME and the second base station according to the received handover failure cause information, and no longer initiates an X2 handover related to the failed S1 link to the second base station, thereby Avoid repeated X2 switching failure scenarios.

The source base station may continue to implement LTE handover by selecting another candidate target base station or by handover based on S1.

In this implementation mode, by modifying the existing 3GPP protocol, the handover failure message HANDOVER PREPARATION FAILURE fed back by the second base station to the first base station carries the actual handover failure reason, so that the source base station can re-perform the handover failure according to the actual handover failure reason. Effective X2 toggle.

In addition, a third-party network element may also be set to monitor the connection status of the S1 link between the MME and the first base station and the second base station respectively. When the third-party network element detects that the S1 link between the second base station and the MME carried in the handover request fails, it feeds back handover failure cause information to the second base station. The first base station learns the failure state of the S1 link between the MME and the second base station according to the received handover failure cause information, and no longer initiates an X2 handover related to the failed S1 link to the second base station, thereby Avoid repeated X2 switching failure scenarios. During specific implementation, the third-party network element may be an operation and maintenance network element of the base station.

It should be noted that the information related to the S1 link failure may include information about the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link, and in another implementation manner, the first base station obtains the related information about the S1 link failure of the second base station. Information includes:

The first base station receives the base station configuration update message eNBCONFIGURATION UPDATE sent by the second base station, the base station configuration update message includes the information of the MME corresponding to the faulty S1 link, and the base station configuration update message is sent by the second base station When the second base station detects that the S1 link is faulty, it sends the message to the first base station.

In this implementation mode, when the X2 link configuration changes, that is, when the S1 link between a certain MME in the first pool of MME resources where the first base station and the second base station are located and the second base station fails, The second base station feeds back the X2 link configuration update prompt message eNB CONFIGURATION UPDATE to the first base station, the X2 link configuration update prompt message carries MME failure indication information, and the MME failure indication information includes: The S1 link between the MME and the first base station is normal, the S1 link between the MME and the second base station is faulty, and the first base station learns that the MME and the The fault status of the S1 link between the second base stations is described above, and the X2 handover related to the faulty S1 link is not initiated to the second base station again, so as to avoid repeated X2 handover failure scenarios.

The first base station may continue to implement LTE handover by selecting another candidate second base station or by handover based on S1.

In this implementation mode, by modifying the existing 3GPP protocol, the X2 link configuration update prompt message eNB CONFIGURATION UPDATE fed back by the second base station to the first base station carries the actual cause of handover failure, so that the first base station can Failure reason, re-execute effective X2 switching.

Wherein, the base station configuration update message includes one or all of the following information:

Deleting the information of the MME, including the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link among the S1 links between the second base station and all connected MMEs;

The information of the MME is added, including the information of the MME corresponding to the restored S1 link among the S1 links between the second base station and all connected MMEs.

The information of the MME includes the globally unique MME identifier (Globally Unique MMEIdentity, GUMMEI) or MME code (MME code, MMEC) of the MME.

In addition, a third-party network element can also be set to monitor the S1 between the MME in the first pool of MME resources where the first base station and the second base station are respectively located and the first base station and the second base station through the third-party network element. Link connection status. When the third-party network element detects that the S1 link between a certain MME in the first pool of MME resources and the second base station fails, it feeds back an X2 link configuration update prompt message to the second base station. The first base station learns the failure state of the S1 link between a certain MME and the second base station according to the received X2 link configuration update prompt message, and no longer initiates an error related to the faulty S1 link to the second base station. X2 switching, so as to avoid repeated X2 switching failure scenarios. During specific implementation, the third-party network element may be an operation and maintenance network element of the base station.

As shown in Figure 3, it is another communication method embodiment provided by the present invention, the method may include the following execution steps:

Step 301, the second base station monitors the status of the S1 link between the second base station and the MME;

Step 302. When detecting that the S1 link is faulty, the second base station sends the information of the MME corresponding to the faulty S1 link to the first base station.

In the embodiment of the present invention, it is described that when a certain base station (second base station) finds that the S1 link between a certain MME connected to it is faulty, it will feed back the faulty S1 link to its neighboring base station (first base station). Information about the corresponding MME. Therefore, the first base station can know that the S1 link corresponding to a certain MME of the second base station is faulty. Therefore, when there is a user equipment in the first base station that needs to be handed over to the second base station, it can be known in advance which S1 link is faulty, and avoid initiating X2 handover related to the faulty S1 link to the second base station, thereby reducing the occurrence of X2 handover In the case of failure, the efficiency of LTE handover is improved.

In a specific implementation process, the second base station sends information about the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link to the first base station through a base station configuration update message.

The base station configuration update message includes one or all of the following information:

Deleting the information of the MME, including the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link among the S1 links between the second base station and all connected MMEs;

The information of the MME is added, including the information of the MME corresponding to the restored S1 link among the S1 links between the second base station and all connected MMEs.

The information of the MME includes the GUMMEI or MMEC of the MME.

In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, when the user equipment under the first base station needs to be handed over to the second base station, and the second base station sends the fault to the first base station Before the information of the MME corresponding to the S1 link, the following steps may also be included:

Step 303, the second base station receives the handover request message sent by the first base station;

Step 304: The second base station sends a response message to the handover request message to the first base station, where the response message includes a handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes information about the S1 link failure.

Specifically, the response message includes a handover preparation failure response message.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 4 , a possible implementation manner in specific implementation is described. In this implementation manner, before the second base station sends the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link to the first base station, the first base station initiates an X2 handover request. For the handover request of the first base station, when the second base station detects that the S1 link is faulty, it sends a response message to the handover request message to the first base station, the response message includes a handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes the Information about the S1 link failure.

As shown in Figure 5, it is another embodiment of a communication method provided by the present invention, the method may include the following execution steps:

Step 501, the first base station receives the MME information sent by the second base station, and the S1 link between the MME and the second base station is faulty;

Step 502: When the first base station correctly receives the information of the MME, send a confirmation message to the second base station.

In the embodiment of the present invention, it is described that when the first base station receives the information of the MME corresponding to the faulty S1 link fed back by the second base station, the first base station can know the S1 link corresponding to a certain MME of the second base station road failure. Therefore, when there is a user equipment in the first base station that needs to be handed over to the second base station, which S1 link failure can be known in advance, and X2 handover related to the failed S1 link can be avoided to be initiated to the second base station again, thereby avoiding repeated In the event of X2 handover failure, the efficiency of LTE handover is improved.

Specifically, the first base station receives the information of the MME through a base station configuration update message sent by the second base station.

The base station configuration update message includes one or all of the following information:

Deleting the information of the MME, including the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link among the S1 links between the second base station and all connected MMEs;

The information of the MME is added, including the information of the MME corresponding to the restored S1 link among the S1 links between the second base station and all connected MMEs.

The information of the MME includes the GUMMEI or MMEC of the MME.

In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 6, after the first base station receives the information of the MME, when the user equipment under the first base station needs to be handed over to the second base station, the method Also includes:

Step 503, the first base station determines a handover type or reselects a target base station according to the information of the MME.

In this embodiment, when the first base station learns of the failure state of the S1 link between a certain MME and the second base station, it does not initiate the X2 handover related to the failed S1 link to the second base station again, but determines the handover type or re-select the target base station, so as to avoid repeated X2 handover failure scenarios.

In addition, in yet another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 7 , before the first base station receives the information of the MME, when the user equipment under the first base station needs to be handed over to the second base station, the The method also includes:

Step 504, the first base station sends a handover request message to the second base station;

Step 505. The first base station receives a response message to the handover request message sent by the second base station, where the response message includes a handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes information about the S1 link failure.

Specifically, the response message includes a handover preparation failure response message.

In the embodiment shown in FIG. 7 , a possible implementation manner in specific implementation is described. In this implementation manner, before the second base station sends the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link to the first base station, the first base station initiates an X2 handover request. For the handover request of the first base station, when the second base station detects that the S1 link is faulty, it sends a response message to the handover request message to the first base station, the response message includes a handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes the Information about the S1 link failure.

Corresponding to the foregoing method embodiments, the present invention provides a base station. As shown in Figure 8, the base station may specifically include:

A fault obtaining module 801, configured to obtain information related to the fault of the S1 link of the target base station;

The first processing module 802 is configured to determine a handover type or reselect a target base station according to information related to the S1 link failure.

In the embodiment of this aspect, for X2-based handover, if an MME in the MME resource pool where the source base station and the target base station are located is abnormal, the S1 link between the MME and the source base station is normal, and the link with the target base station is normal. When the S1 link between the MME and the target base station fails, the source base station can obtain the fault information in time by feeding back the fault information of the S1 link between the MME and the target base station to the source base station, determine the handover type in time or reselect the target base station, and avoid sending The target base station initiates the X2 handover related to the faulty S1 link again, so as to avoid repeated X2 handover failure scenarios and improve the LTE handover efficiency.

It should be noted that the information related to the S1 link failure includes a reason for the handover failure, wherein the reason for the handover failure includes information about the S1 link failure, and the failure acquisition module may include:

a first request unit, configured to send a handover request message to the target base station;

The first receiving unit is configured to receive a response message from the target base station to the handover request message, where the response message includes the handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes information about S1 link failure.

The response message is a handover preparation failure response message.

In addition, the relevant information about the S1 link failure includes information about the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link, and the failure obtaining module may include:

The second receiving unit is configured to receive a base station configuration update message sent by the target base station, where the base station configuration update message includes information about a mobility management entity MME corresponding to the faulty S1 link, and the base station configuration update message is composed of When the target base station detects that the S1 link is faulty, it is sent.

The base station configuration update message includes one or all of the following information:

Deleting the information of the MME, including the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link among the S1 links between the target base station and all connected MMEs;

The information of the MME is added, including the information of the MME corresponding to the normal S1 link among the S1 links between the target base station and all connected MMEs.

The information of the MME includes the GUMMEI or MMEC of the MME.

Corresponding to the foregoing method embodiments, the present invention provides a base station. As shown in Figure 9, the base station may specifically include:

A monitoring module 901, configured to monitor the state of the S1 link with the MME;

The failure sending module 902 is configured to send the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link to a neighboring base station when the S1 link failure is detected.

In the embodiment of the present invention, when a certain base station discovers that an S1 link between a certain MME connected to it fails, it feeds back the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link to its neighbor base station. Therefore, the neighboring base station can know that the S1 link corresponding to a certain MME of the base station is faulty. Therefore, when there is a user equipment in a neighboring base station that needs to be handed over to the base station, which S1 link fails can be known in advance, so as to avoid repeated X2 handover failure scenarios and improve LTE handover efficiency.

It should be noted that the failure sending module specifically sends the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link to the neighboring base station through a base station configuration update message.

The base station configuration update message includes one or all of the following information:

Deleting the information of the MME, including the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link among the S1 links between the base station and all connected MMEs;

The information of the MME is added, including the information of the MME corresponding to the normal S1 link among the S1 links between the base station and all connected MMEs.

The information of the MME includes the GUMMEI or MMEC of the MME.

In addition, in another embodiment of the base station provided by the present invention, as shown in FIG. 10, the base station may further include:

A request receiving module 903, configured to receive a handover request message sent by the neighboring base station;

A response sending module 904, configured to send a response message to the handover request message to the neighboring base station, where the response message includes a handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes information about the S1 link failure.

Specifically, the response message includes a handover preparation failure response message.

Corresponding to the foregoing method embodiments, the present invention provides another base station. As shown in Figure 11, the first base station may specifically include:

The third receiving module 1101 is configured to receive the MME information sent by the neighboring base station, and the S1 link between the MME and the neighboring base station is faulty;

A confirmation module 1102, configured to send a confirmation message to the neighboring base station when the information of the MME is received correctly.

In the embodiment of the present invention, when a certain base station receives the information of the MME corresponding to the faulty S1 link fed back by the neighboring base station, the base station can know that the S1 link corresponding to a certain MME of the neighboring base station is faulty. Therefore, when there is a user equipment in the base station that needs to be handed over to the neighboring base station, which S1 link failure can be known in advance, so as to avoid re-initiating X2 handover related to the failed S1 link to the neighboring base station, thereby avoiding repeated occurrences In the scenario of X2 handover failure, the efficiency of LTE handover is improved.

The third receiving module receives the information of the MME through a base station configuration update message sent by a neighboring base station.

The base station configuration update message includes one or all of the following information:

Deleting the information of the MME, including the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link among the S1 links between the adjacent base station and all connected MMEs;

The information of the MME is added, including the information of the MME corresponding to the restored normal S1 link among the S1 links between the adjacent base station and all connected MMEs.

The information of the MME includes the GUMMEI or MMEC of the MME.

In another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 12, the base station may further include:

The second processing module 1103 is configured to determine a handover type or reselect a target base station according to the information of the MME when the user equipment under the base station needs to be handed over to the neighboring base station after receiving the information of the MME .

In yet another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 13, the base station may further include:

The second request module 1104 is configured to send a handover request message to the neighboring base station when the user equipment under the base station needs to switch to the neighboring base station before the base station receives the information of the MME;

The second receiving module 1105 is configured to receive a response message to the handover request message sent by the neighboring base station, where the response message includes a handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes information about the S1 link failure.

As shown in Figure 14, the base station may further include:

The third processing module 1106 is configured to determine a handover type or reselect a target base station according to the S1 link failure information in the handover failure cause.

Specifically, the response message includes a handover preparation failure response message.

As shown in FIG. 15 , the present invention also provides a server for implementing base station functions based on a computer system. In specific implementation, the server in this embodiment of the present invention may include: a first processor 1501, a first memory 1502, a bus 1503 and a communication interface 1504; the first memory 1502 is used to store computer-executable instructions, the first processor 1501 and the first memory 1502 are connected through the bus, and when the server is running, the first processor 1501 Execute the computer-executable instructions stored in the first memory 1502, and communicate with devices external to the server through the communication interface 1504, so that the server executes the communication methods shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 .

As shown in Figure 16, the present invention also provides a server based on a computer system to realize the function of the second base station. In specific implementation, the server in this embodiment of the present invention may include: a second processor 1601, a second memory 1602, and a bus 1603 and a communication interface 1604; the second memory 1602 is used to store computer-executable instructions, the second processor 1601 and the second memory 1602 are connected through the bus 1603, and when the server is running, the second The processor 1601 executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the second memory 1602, and communicates with devices external to the server through the communication interface 1604, so that the server performs the communication shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 method.

As shown in Figure 17, the present invention also provides a server based on a computer system to realize the function of the first base station. In specific implementation, the server in this embodiment of the present invention may include: a third processor 1701, a third memory 1702, and a bus 1703 and a communication interface 1704; the third memory 1702 is used to store computer-executable instructions, the third processor 1701 and the third memory 1702 are connected through the bus 1703, and when the server is running, the third The processor 1701 executes the computer-executed instructions stored in the third memory 1702, and communicates with devices external to the server through the communication interface 1704, so that the server executes the communication methods shown in FIGS. 5-7 .

The foregoing server may be a base station, and each processor may be a central processing unit (central processing unit, CPU), an application-specific integrated circuit (application-specific integrated circuit, ASIC), or the like.

Those skilled in the art can appreciate that the units and algorithm steps of the examples described in conjunction with the embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented by electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are executed by hardware or software depends on the specific application and design constraints of the technical solution. Those skilled in the art may use different methods to implement the described functions for each specific application, but such implementation should not be regarded as exceeding the scope of the present invention.

Those skilled in the art can clearly understand that for the convenience and brevity of the description, the specific working process of the above-described system, device and unit can refer to the corresponding process in the foregoing method embodiment, which will not be repeated here.

In the several embodiments provided in this application, 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 only illustrative. For example, the division of the units is only a logical function division. In actual implementation, there may be other division methods. For example, multiple units or components can be combined or May be integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored, or not implemented. In another point, the mutual coupling or direct coupling or communication connection shown or discussed may be through some interfaces, and the indirect coupling or communication connection of devices or units may be in electrical, mechanical or other forms.

The units described as separate components may or may not be physically separated, and the components shown as units may or may not be physical units, that is, they may be located in one place, or may be distributed to multiple network units. Part or all of the units can be selected according to actual needs to achieve the purpose of the solution of this embodiment.

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

If the functions described above are realized in the form of software function units and sold or used as independent products, they can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. Based on this understanding, the essence of the technical solution of the present invention or the part that contributes to the prior art or the part of the technical solution can be embodied in the form of a software product, and the computer software product is stored in a storage medium, including Several instructions are used to make a computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) or a processor (processor) execute all or part of the steps of the methods described in various embodiments of the present invention. The aforementioned storage media include: U disk, mobile hard disk, read-only memory (ROM, Read-Only Memory), random access memory (RAM, Random Access Memory), magnetic disk or optical disk and other media that can store program codes. .

The above is only a specific embodiment of the present invention, but the scope of protection of the present invention is not limited thereto. Anyone skilled in the art can easily think of changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in the present invention. Should be covered within the protection scope of the present invention. Therefore, the protection scope of the present invention should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Claims (14)

1. A communication method, characterized in that, comprising: The first base station acquires information related to the S1 link failure of the second base station serving as the target base station; The first base station determines a handover type or reselects a target base station according to information related to the S1 link failure. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information related to the S1 link failure includes a cause of handover failure, wherein the cause of the handover failure includes information about the S1 link failure, and the first base station Obtain relevant information about the S1 link failure of the second base station serving as the target base station, including: The first base station sends a handover request message to the second base station; The first base station receives a response message from the second base station to the handover request message, where the response message includes the handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes information about an S1 link failure. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the response message is a handover preparation failure response message. 4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the relevant information about the S1 link failure includes information about a mobility management entity (MME) corresponding to the failed S1 link, and the first The information related to the S1 link failure of the second base station acquired by the base station includes: The first base station receives a base station configuration update message sent by the second base station, the base station configuration update message includes information about the MME corresponding to the faulty S1 link, and the base station configuration update message is sent by the second base station and sent to the first base station when the S1 link failure is detected. 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the base station configuration update message includes one or all of the following information: Deleting the information of the MME, including the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link among the S1 links between the second base station and all connected MMEs; The information of the MME is added, including the information of the MME corresponding to the restored S1 link among the S1 links between the second base station and all connected MMEs. 6. The method according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the information of the MME includes the GUMMEI or MMEC of the MME. 7. A base station, characterized in that, comprising: A fault obtaining module, configured to obtain information related to the fault of the S1 link of the target base station; The first processing module is configured to determine a handover type or reselect a target base station according to information related to the S1 link failure. 8. The base station according to claim 7, wherein the information related to the S1 link failure includes a handover failure reason, wherein the handover failure reason includes information about the S1 link failure, and the failure acquisition module include: a first request unit, configured to send a handover request message to the target base station; The first receiving unit is configured to receive a response message from the target base station to the handover request message, where the response message includes the handover failure reason, and the handover failure reason includes information about S1 link failure. 9. The base station according to claim 8, wherein the response message is a handover preparation failure response message. 10. The base station according to any one of claims 7 to 9, wherein the relevant information about the S1 link failure includes information about the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link, and the failure acquisition module includes: The second receiving unit is configured to receive a base station configuration update message sent by the target base station, where the base station configuration update message includes information about a mobility management entity MME corresponding to the faulty S1 link, and the base station configuration update message is composed of When the target base station detects that the S1 link is faulty, it is sent. 11. The base station according to claim 10, wherein the base station configuration update message includes one or all of the following information: Deleting the information of the MME, including the information of the MME corresponding to the failed S1 link among the S1 links between the target base station and all connected MMEs; The information of the MME is added, including the information of the MME corresponding to the normal S1 link among the S1 links between the target base station and all connected MMEs. 12. The base station according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the information of the MME includes GUMMEI or MMEC of the MME. 13. A server, comprising: a first processor, a first memory, a bus, and a communication interface; the first memory is used to store computer-executable instructions, and the first processor and the first memory Through the bus connection, when the server is running, the first processor executes the computer-executable instructions stored in the first memory, and communicates with devices external to the server through the communication interface, so as to The server is made to execute the communication method according to any one of claims 1-6. 14. A computer program product comprising a computer readable medium comprising a set of program codes for performing the method according to any one of claims 1-6.

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