CN1866889A - Method for LAN terminal accessing LAN - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for a local area network terminal to access a local area network. The invention mainly includes: in the local area network, the local area network terminal equipment receives the message carrying its network intercommunication capability information sent by the network side, and obtains the corresponding network intercommunication capability information. In this way, when the local area network terminal roams to a new local area network, it can select a desired local area network for roaming access according to the acquired intercommunication capability information of each local area network. Therefore, the network capability discovery method provided by the present invention enables the LAN terminal to accurately obtain the network intercommunication capability information before attempting to access the WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network), so that it can The interworking capability information accurately selects a WLAN that can be accessed. In this way, the success rate of roaming access of the LAN terminal can be greatly improved, and the time consumed for trying to access can be reduced, and user satisfaction can be improved.

Description

Method for LAN terminal to access LAN

technical field

The invention relates to the technical field of network communication, in particular to a method for a local area network terminal to access a local area network.

Background technique

WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) technology is popular in the market because of its wireless advantages, high-speed access comparable to wired, and low cost. At present, WLAN technology has begun to replace wired and widely used in homes, campuses, hotels, corporate offices, etc., and has begun to be widely deployed in public hot spots as a wireless broadband access technology to provide public wireless broadband data access services.

Currently, the basic structure of the WLAN system defined by IEEE 802.11 is shown in Figure 1, including:

STA (Station, station) refers to a terminal device that includes an IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN interface. At present, many mobile phones on the market support wireless LAN interfaces, and portable computers have built-in wireless LAN interfaces. For some devices without a wireless local area network interface, a wireless local area network interface can be provided through a WLAN wireless network card.

AP (Access Point, access point), which is equivalent to the base station of the mobile network, its main function is to enable STAs to communicate with other STAs or related equipment of the wired network, for example: multiple STAs access one AP to form an The wireless local area network communicates, STAs connected to different APs form a local area network for communication, and the STAs communicate with related devices of the wired local area network. STAs associated to an AP constitute a BSS (Basic Service Set).

DS (Distribution System, distribution system) is used to form a large local area network between different BSSs, and between BSSs and wired LANs. The portal refers to the logical point that provides MSDUs (MAC Service Data Unit) forwarding between the DS and the wired LAN.

In the WLAN system, SSID (Service Set Identifier, Service Set Identifier) is used to distinguish different wireless local area networks. When different BSSs (identified by BSSID) form a large LAN through DS, they have the same SSID.

At present, in hotspot areas such as hotels, campuses, and airports, it is common to provide customers with internet access services based on WLAN interfaces. The WLAN access services are either provided by local telecom operators, or operated by hotels, campuses, etc. . Therefore, there is still a lack of a unified wireless access network specification for WLAN. Different WLAN access networks may require different STA client programs, air interface security standards, and user access authentication methods, making it difficult to support cross-connectivity. Operator's roaming service.

In the IEEE 802.11 standard, a lot of capability information is defined for WLAN to support the intercommunication between STA and AP, and the capability information can be published through its periodically broadcast management frame (Beacon frame). When a STA associates (equivalent to establishing a connection) to an AP, it must ensure that its own capabilities are consistent with those supported by the AP, otherwise it cannot associate with the AP.

The capability information defined by the current IEEE 802.11 standard includes:

(1) IEEE 802.11 physical layer related capability information, such as physical layer standard, rate, etc.;

(2) IEEE 802.11MAC (Media Access Control) layer-related capability information, such as security capability information, QoS (Quality of Service) capability information, etc.

When a STA roams to a WLAN network, according to the current IEEE 802.11 standard, the STA cannot know whether the WLAN network has intercommunication capabilities with external networks and what kind of intercommunication capabilities it has. Before performing user access authentication, the STA also has no way of knowing whether the WLAN network has a roaming relationship with its home network and whether access is allowed. In short, the current IEEE802.11 standard does not take into account the intercommunication requirements between the WLAN network and external networks. Therefore, when a STA roams to a new WLAN access network, the STA can only select a WLAN network arbitrarily, associate and establish a connection, and start the user access authentication process. During user access authentication, the STA may find that the network does not support the expected access capability at all, for example, the network cannot identify your identity. In this way, the process of trying to access takes too long, causes the STA terminal to consume too much power, and cannot support real-time service switching across different interfaces.

Contents of the invention

In view of the problems existing in the above-mentioned prior art, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a method for a LAN terminal to access a LAN, so that it can be determined whether the WLAN network supports the intercommunication requirements of STAs before the user tries to access, so as to select a roaming access method. access to the network, improve the access success rate, and shorten the access time.

The purpose of the present invention is achieved through the following technical solutions:

The present invention provides a method for a local area network terminal to access a local area network, comprising:

A. The LAN terminal device obtains the network interoperability information of the roaming local area network to be accessed;

B. Determine the local area network in the roaming area that can be accessed according to the network interworking capability information, and request to access the determined local area network in the roaming area.

Described step A comprises:

A1. The LAN broadcasts its network interoperability information through broadcast messages;

A2. The LAN terminal device connected to the LAN scans the broadcast message to obtain network interworking capability information, or network interworking capability information and external network information.

Described step A1 comprises:

The LAN periodically sends its network interoperability information through broadcast messages.

Described step A also includes:

A3. The LAN terminal device sends a discovery request message to the network side;

A4. The network side sends external network information, or network interoperability information and external network information to the LAN terminal device through the discovery response message, and the LAN terminal device obtains corresponding information.

In the present invention, when the LAN terminal obtains the corresponding network interworking capability information through a broadcast message, the discovery request message carries the external network information that the LAN terminal device needs to obtain.

The network interoperability information includes:

The identification information of the LAN network owner, the basic capability information of network interworking and/or the information of the online registration method supported, and each information is carried in the corresponding fields of the message.

The basic capability information for network interworking includes:

The indication information of whether to support visitor user access, whether to support emergency calls and/or the indication information of whether to support media-independent handover MIH, and the information is respectively carried in the corresponding fields of the message.

The said external network information includes:

Home network identification information, additional home network information and/or interworking service type information, and the information is carried in corresponding fields of the message.

The local area network includes a wired local area network and a wireless local area network, and in the wireless local area network WLAN, the network interworking capability discovery request message can be carried by a probe request Probe Request management frame or an operation Action management frame, and the network interworking capability discovery response The message can be carried by Probe Response management frame or Action management frame.

The network interworking capability information is stored on the access point device on the network side or set in an independent information server on the network side.

Described step B comprises:

The local area network terminal device selects a matching local area network as the local area network of the roaming area that can be accessed according to the network interoperability information of each local area network in the roaming area and its own access requirements, and requests to access the local area network.

The network intercommunication capability discovery method provided by the present invention enables a STA (local area network terminal) to determine whether the WLAN supports the intercommunication requirements of the STA before attempting to access the WLAN, so that a WLAN that can be accessed can be selected more accurately. In this way, the local area network The success rate of terminal access can be greatly improved, and the time spent trying to access can be reduced, thereby improving user satisfaction.

In addition, the present invention can also enable LAN terminals to obtain other auxiliary information related to external network intercommunication, such as charging policies, etc., so that STAs can support more flexible network selection strategies during network operation, so that STAs can freely choose The network it most wants to access.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of an existing WLAN system;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of a processing process for obtaining network interworking capability information in the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a schematic diagram of the processing flow of the method of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of processing for obtaining network interworking capability information in the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order to facilitate the understanding of the present invention, the requirements of the present invention are first described.

One application requirement is: before selecting a WLAN network, a STA that requires intercommunication with an external network needs to know whether the network has intercommunication capability and what kind of intercommunication capability it has, as well as corresponding external network information. The STA determines whether the WLAN supports its intercommunication requirement according to the above information. The interworking requirements include that the network accepts the access authentication of the STA's home network and the corresponding interworking type (such as internet access, interworking with 3GPP, etc.), or the STA can choose the online registration method provided by the network to access the network.

Another requirement is: when the STA is a multi-mode terminal supporting MIH (Media Independent Handover), the external network must also have the MIH capability to support the MIH function. At the same time, the above external network information should also include external network MIH related information to help STAs select networks across different access media.

According to the above requirements, considering that when a STA roams to a certain WLAN access network, the STA needs to know whether the WLAN access network meets its intercommunication requirements, for example, whether the WLAN network can provide internet access services or other intercommunication services. What authentication method is used to access the WLAN network, whether the STA is allowed to access the WLAN network, and so on.

Therefore, the core of the present invention is to address the network selection problem faced by WLAN applied to the wireless access network, and propose a method for LAN terminals to access the LAN, so that the STA can communicate with the network before establishing an association with the target access network. Capability information is obtained to quickly determine whether the target access network is a candidate network, that is, whether it can provide corresponding capability support, so as to achieve the purpose of STA time saving, power saving, and network selection and access automation processing.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the AP may obtain the network interworking capability and corresponding external network information based on a broadcast mechanism or a request-response mechanism, or may simultaneously apply the two mechanisms to obtain corresponding information.

In the WLAN system, the broadcast mechanism can be based on the passive channel scanning mechanism, that is, carrying relevant information through the Beacon frame; the request-response mechanism can be based on the active scanning mechanism, that is, Probe-request carries external network information requests, and Probe-Response carries Network interoperability and/or external network information response. The request-response mechanism can also be implemented using ACTION management frames.

In the following, a specific application example is used to describe the method for a LAN terminal to access a local area network provided by the present invention, but the process of implementing the present invention is not limited to this application example.

As shown in Figure 3 and Figure 4, the method of the present invention specifically includes the following steps:

Step 31: The LAN terminal device obtains the network interworking capability information of the roaming local area network to be accessed through a broadcast message and/or a request/response message;

The specific way to obtain the network interoperability information is shown in Figure 4. The network interoperability information can be obtained through message 1, such as a broadcast message, or the network interoperability information can be obtained through message 2 and message 3, such as Request/response messages, or, message 1, message 2 and message 3 can also be used simultaneously to acquire network interworking capability information;

The following will describe the message 1, message 2 and message 3 respectively:

Message 1: The AP releases the WLAN network interoperability information message through a periodic broadcast channel (such as 802.11 Beacon frame), and the STA can obtain the broadcast WLAN network interoperability information during the scanning period, which is called information 1;

Of course, the AP can also carry the information 1 in a message in response to the STA initiating a Probe Request (probe request) back to the ProbeResponse (probe response);

Message 2: The STA sends a network interworking capability discovery request message to the AP. The message carries the specific network interworking capability information request that the STA needs to obtain to access the WLAN network, which is called information 2;

Message 3: The AP responds to the STA with a network interworking capability discovery response message. The message carries the corresponding network interworking capability information determined according to its request, called information 3, which includes the network interworking capability that the STA requested to discover.

In the present invention, the purpose of obtaining the network interworking capability information in two steps is: for the basic network interworking capability information of a summary nature, it can be obtained first through message 1, and further, more specific external network information closely related to STAs can be obtained through subsequent Message 2 and Message 3 are obtained.

In the actual application process, when using message 1, message 2 and message 3 to obtain network interworking capability information, the STA first judges whether the network can meet the basic needs of STA access during the period of scanning broadcast messages. Based on this, message 2 and message 3 are exchanged to find that all the network interworking capabilities required by the STA access can be supported.

Step 32: The local area network terminal determines the local area network of the roaming area that can be accessed according to the acquired network interworking capability information;

Specifically, the selection of the local area network to be accessed can be performed according to the acquired network interoperability information and the needs of the local area network terminal itself;

Step 33: The LAN terminal requests to access the determined LAN in the roaming location.

After the above process, the local area network terminal can accurately select the local area network to access, and can quickly implement network access while roaming.

The specific content information included in the information 1, information 2 and information 3 involved in the processing described in step 31 will be described below.

Information 1: Basic network interoperability information

Basic WLAN network interoperability information includes three parts:

(1) WLAN network owner identification information (Network Owner Identifier);

(2) Network Interworking Capability information;

(3) Supported online enrollment method information (Online Enrollment Methods);

Specifically as shown in Table 1: Network Owner Identifier Network Interworking Capability Online Enrollment Methods

in:

(1) WLAN network owner identification:

It is used to explain who the WLAN network belongs to. For example, the owner of the WLAN network at the airport may be the airport or a local operator, the owner of the WLAN network at the hotel may be the hotel or a local operator, and the WLAN network of a community may be owned by the WLAN network. Those who may belong to the property management department, etc. At present, in some practical applications, the SSID is also used to identify the network owner. Since the SSID has its specific semantics, a new field for distinguishing the WLAN network owner is added to the broadcasted WLAN interworking capability information. The STA can determine whether the network belongs to its home network (Home Network) through the WLAN network owner ID.

(2) Basic capability field for network interworking:

The interoperability description used to illustrate the basic summary nature expresses the corresponding network interoperability by specifying the specific meanings of different bits, including:

Visited User Access (1bit), used to identify whether the network has a roaming relationship with other service providers, and supports visitors to access external networks. If set to 1, it means support, and if it is 0, it means no Support; for a network that does not support visitor user access, STA can only choose the online access method provided locally by the network to access the network.

Emergency call (1 bit), used to indicate whether the network supports emergency call service, if set to 1, it means emergency call is supported, and if it is 0, it does not support; the network that supports emergency call has the ability to communicate with the emergency call center, and has the ability to communicate with the emergency call center. Emergency call centers provide the ability to call terminal location information. Emergency call services are generally required to be provided free of charge.

MIH (1 bit), used to indicate whether the network supports the MIH standard, that is, it can support the switching of terminals across different access media. If the bit is set to 1, it means it supports it, and if it is set to 0, it means it does not support it. For a multi-mode terminal supporting MIH, switching between the WLAN network and other networks is required, so the corresponding WLAN network is also required to have the MIH standard support capability.

(3) Supported online registration methods:

This field lists the online registration methods supported by the network, for example, whether to support UAM (Universal Access Method, an access authentication method based on browser hijacking). STA can choose the online registration method supported by the network to access the network.

Therefore, after the STA obtains the content of message 1, it can obtain two aspects of information:

On the one hand, it can be known: whether the network belongs to its home network;

On the other hand, it can be known that if the network does not belong to its home network, the specific network interworking capability and supported online registration methods of the network can be known.

Suppose the STA’s home network is A. When the network does not belong to A, the STA needs to know whether the WLAN network supports its access and obtain related services. At this time, it enters step 2 to interact with information 2 and information 3, so as to obtain Specific network interoperability information.

It should be noted that before the STA chooses to enter step 2, it should also comprehensively consider other capability information of the network, such as security capability information, QoS capability information, etc., to determine whether the network can meet the corresponding service requirements; Other capability information of the network can be obtained through active scanning or passive scanning.

Information 2: Information carried in the network interoperability discovery request

The information 2 is carried in the network interworking capability discovery request message to inquire whether the AP has a roaming relationship with its home network and whether it supports corresponding interworking service requirements. Considering that a STA may be loaded with client programs of multiple home networks, information 2 can be used to query the AP's ability to support multiple home networks at the same time.

The format of the information 2 is shown in the following table: Number of belonging networks (N) Home network information (1st home network) ... Home network information (Nth home network)

The content of the attribution network information includes:

Home Network Identifier (HNI);

Interworking Type.

The types of intercommunication services described are:

Describe the type of external network that the STA expects to support and the intercommunication mode between the WLAN and the external network. Specific possible types of interworking services include:

Intranet access;

internet access

3GPP-Scenario 2;

3GPP-Scenario 3;

3GPP2;

UMA (unlicensed band mobile access, an intercommunication method between WLAN/Bluetooth and GSM/GPRS)

etc.

In an 802.11 WLAN network, the information 2 may be carried by a Probe Request (probe request) management frame, or by an Action (operation) management frame.

Information 3: Information carried in the network interoperability discovery response message

After receiving the STA's information 2, the AP needs to determine whether there is a roaming relationship with the STA's home network. The format of message 3 is shown in the table below: Number of belonging networks (N) Home Network Discovery Results (1st Home Network) ... Home network discovery result (Nth home network)

Among them, the home network discovery results for each home network in information 2 mainly include:

(1) Home Network Identifier (HNI);

(2) Result (Result), which mainly identifies the cause of success or failure. Success means that the home network of the LAN terminal and the AP can roam and intercommunicate, and failure means that the roaming and intercommunication between the two networks cannot be performed;

(3) Additional home network information. When the home network discovery result is successful, it may further carry the additional home network information of the network, for example:

Billing policy: such as the calculation of roaming charges;

MIH related information: when MIH is supported, MIH related information on the network side;

etc.

(4) Interworking Service Requirements;

The types of intercommunication services described are:

Describe the type of external network that the STA expects to support and the intercommunication mode between the WLAN and the external network. Specific possible types of interworking services include:

Intranet access;

internet access

3GPP-Scenario 2;

3GPP-Scenario 3;

3GPP2;

UMA (unlicensed band mobile access, an intercommunication method between WLAN/Bluetooth and GSM/GPRS)

etc.

The information 3 can be carried by the Probe Response management frame, or can also be carried by the Action management frame.

In the present invention, the DS is required to obtain relevant external network information to meet the intercommunication capability discovery requirements of the STA. These information can be directly configured on the AP, or the external network information service can be used as a function of the DS. The external network information provided by the AP through the DS service to obtain the corresponding external network information.

For the above-mentioned information 1, information 2 and information 3, corresponding protection or security mechanisms may also be provided during the transmission process as required.

The method for discovering the network intercommunication capability provided by the present invention can be applied to other access networks, such as IEEE 802.3 wired LAN and IEEE802.16 wireless metropolitan area network, in addition to 802.11 wireless local area network. When applied to other networks, the above information 1, information 2, and information 3 are carried by management frames supported by the corresponding network, or a new management frame is added to carry these information. For example, in an 802.3 network, a new Ethernet protocol type needs to be added to distinguish other data packets to support the transmission of these information.

The present invention also provides a method for a local area network terminal to access a wireless local area network. In this method, firstly, the local area network terminal device obtains the network intercommunication capability information of each WLAN in the roaming area to be accessed; Based on the network interworking capability information of each WLAN and its own access requirements, a matching WLAN is selected as a WLAN in a roaming location that can be accessed, and access to the WLAN is requested. Since the present invention selects accessible WLANs before accessing, the success rate of accessing can be greatly improved, multiple accessing attempts are avoided, and the time required for LAN terminals to roam and access WLANs is saved.

To sum up, the method for discovering the network intercommunication capability provided by the present invention enables the STA (local area network terminal) to determine whether the WLAN supports the intercommunication requirements of the STA before attempting to access the WLAN, so as to select an accessable WLAN more accurately. In this way, the access success rate of LAN terminals can be greatly improved, and the time spent trying to access can be reduced, and user satisfaction can be improved.

In addition, the present invention can also enable LAN terminals to obtain other auxiliary information related to external network intercommunication, such as charging policies, etc., so that STAs can support more flexible network selection strategies during network operation, so that STAs can freely choose The network it most wants to access.

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

Claims (10)

1. A method for a local area network terminal to access a local area network, comprising: A. The LAN terminal device obtains the network interoperability information of the roaming local area network to be accessed; B. Determine the local area network in the roaming area that can be accessed according to the network interworking capability information, and request to access the determined local area network in the roaming area. 2. The method for accessing a local area network by a local area network terminal according to claim 1, wherein said step A comprises: A1. The LAN broadcasts its network interoperability information through broadcast messages; A2. The LAN terminal device connected to the LAN scans the broadcast message to obtain network interworking capability information, or network interworking capability information and external network information. 3. The method for accessing a local area network by a local area network terminal according to claim 2, wherein said step A1 comprises: The LAN periodically sends its network interoperability information through broadcast messages. 4. The method for accessing a local area network by a local area network terminal according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein said step A comprises: A3. The LAN terminal device sends a discovery request message to the network side; A4. The network side sends external network information, or network interoperability information and external network information to the LAN terminal device through the discovery response message, and the LAN terminal device obtains corresponding information. 5. The method for accessing a local area network by a local area network terminal according to claim 4, wherein when the local area network terminal obtains the corresponding network interworking capability information through a broadcast message, the discovery request message carries the requirements of the local area network terminal equipment. Obtained external network information. 6. The method for accessing a local area network by a local area network terminal according to claim 4, wherein the network intercommunication capability information includes: The identification information of the LAN network owner, the basic capability information of network interworking and/or the information of the online registration method supported, and each information is carried in the corresponding fields of the message. 7. The method for accessing a local area network by a local area network terminal according to claim 6, wherein said basic network intercommunication capability information includes: The indication information of whether to support visitor user access, whether to support emergency calls and/or the indication information of whether to support media-independent handover MIH, and the information is respectively carried in the corresponding fields of the message. 8. The method for LAN terminal accessing a LAN according to claim 4, wherein said external network information includes: Home network identification information, additional home network information and/or interworking service type information, and the information is carried in corresponding fields of the message. 9. The method for a LAN terminal to access a LAN according to claim 4, wherein the LAN includes a wired LAN and a wireless LAN, and in the WLAN, the network interworking capability discovery request message can be passed The Probe Request management frame or the Action management frame is carried, and the network interworking capability discovery response message can be carried by the Probe Response management frame or Action management frame. 10. The method for a LAN terminal to access a LAN according to claim 4, wherein the network interoperability information is stored on an access point device on the network side or set in an independent information server on the network side.

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