WO2008148357A1 - Communication system and method, household base station gateway and household base station server - Google Patents

Abstract

A communication system and method, a household base station gateway and a household base station server are provided, and the problem is solved that the household base station is not led in a current communication system. The communication system includes a household base station, a third party network and a household base station gateway. The household base station is used for communicating with the household base station gateway using a first address, and the first address is used for determining the household base station in the third party network uniquely; the third party network is used for connecting with the household base station and the household base station gateway; the household base station gateway is used for making the household base station communicate with other nodes in the communication system using a second address, and the second address is used for determining the household base station in the communication system uniquely. The scheme describes a situation that a household base station accesses to a packet data network, and can make a sufficient use of the household base station.

Description

 Communication system and method, home base station gateway and home base station server

 The embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of communications technologies, and in particular, to a communication system and method, a home base station gateway, and a home base station server. Background technique

 With the rapid development of Internet (Internet) services and the wide application of broadband access networks and wireless networks, high-speed and convenient access to the network is the goal pursued by people. In order to better utilize the resources of existing networks and protect the cost of network equipment operators, 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Project) introduced the concept of Home NB (Home Base Station). A home base station refers to a small, small base station for home or office. It may be completely private. It can also be opened to the public for use with different priorities and permissions. Its ownership is private, not government or The operator; its use may be a small range of users, but also a wide range of users.家用Using home base stations to achieve wireless access, can better utilize existing network resources, save more network equipment operators' costs, and combine the advantages of mobile access networks and fixed access networks.

 Considering the competitiveness of the future network, 3GPP is studying a new evolutionary network architecture to meet the application requirements of mobile networks for the next ten years or more. The evolution network is also called SAE (System Architecture Evolution). (Evolution) / LTE (Long Term Evolution) network, the access network of the evolved network is called E-UTRAN (Evolved UMTS Territorial Radio Access Network), evolved UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) Radio Access Network The goal of network evolution is to provide a low latency, high data rate, high system capacity and coverage, low cost, fully IP based network.

The core network of the evolved network architecture includes a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Serving GW, and a Home Subscriber Server (HSS). Wherein The MME is responsible for the mobility management of the control plane, including user context and mobility state management, assigning user temporary identity, etc., corresponding to current GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) / UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunication System) System) The control plane part of the internal SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node) of the system; the Serving GW is responsible for initiating paging for downlink data in idle state, managing and storing IP bearer parameters and routing information within the network, corresponding to the current GPRS / UMTS system internal SGSN and GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node) data plane part; HSS is used to store user subscription information.

 In carrying out the process of the present invention, the inventors have found that the prior art has at least the following problems:

 Since the home base station has not been introduced into the E-UTRAN and has not been introduced into other networks (such as the UMTS network), the advantages of the home base station cannot be reflected in the communication network (such as the SAE/LTE network, the UMTS network), thus, Limit the development of home base stations. Summary of the invention

 Embodiments of the present invention provide a communication system and method, a home base station gateway, and a home base station server to implement the introduction of a home base station in a communication system.

 Embodiments of the present invention provide a communication system including a home base station, a third party network, and a home base station gateway.

 The home base station is configured to communicate with the home base station gateway by using a first address, and determine the home base station in the third-party network according to the first address;

The third-party network is configured to connect the home base station and the home base station gateway; the home base station gateway is configured to enable the home base station to communicate with other nodes in the communication network by using a second address, according to the The two addresses determine the home base station in a communication network. An embodiment of the present invention further provides a home base station gateway, including:

 a storage unit, including a first storage unit, configured to store a home base station user identifier, a first address, and a second address;

 a receiving unit, configured to receive a first data packet sent by the home base station to other nodes in the communication network, and/or a second data packet sent by the other node in the communication network to the home base station, where the first data packet is sent to the home base station The uplink data packet of the other node; the second data packet is a downlink data packet sent by another node received by the home base station.

 a processing unit, configured to convert the first address into a second address according to the content stored by the storage unit and the address of the data packet received by the receiving unit, and convert the second address into a first address;

 And a sending unit, configured to send a data packet processed by the processing unit. The embodiment of the present invention further provides a home base station server, including: a receiving unit, configured to receive an authentication information request message and a service request message, where the authentication information request message or the service request message includes a home base station user identifier;

 a storage unit, including a first storage unit, configured to store a home base station user identifier and a security context corresponding to the home base station user identifier;

 The authentication unit is configured to authenticate the home base station according to the home base station user identifier received by the receiving unit and the security context corresponding to the home base station user identifier. An embodiment of the present invention further provides a communication method, including:

 The home base station and the home base station gateway communicate using the first address, and the first address is used to uniquely determine the home base station in the third party network;

 The home base station gateway causes the home base station to communicate with other nodes in the communication network using a second address for uniquely determining a home base station in the communication network.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiment of the present invention describes a case where a home base station accesses a communication system, and the role of the home base station can be fully utilized. DRAWINGS

 1A is a schematic structural diagram of a SAE/LTE communication network according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

 1B is a schematic structural diagram of a UMTS communication network according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention; FIG. 2A is a diagram showing a home base station gateway according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

 2B shows a home base station gateway according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

 2C shows a home base station server according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

 FIG. 3 shows a communication method according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

 FIG. 4 is a diagram showing an authentication process of a home base station in Embodiment 4 of the present invention;

 5 shows a process of assigning an IP address (IP2) according to Embodiment 5 of the present invention; FIG. 7 is a flowchart showing a process of synchronizing a home base station with a home base station server according to Embodiment 7 of the present invention;

 8 is a diagram showing a process of synchronizing a home base station server and a home base station according to Embodiment 7 of the present invention;

 FIG. 9 is a diagram showing a protocol stack after a security association is established according to an embodiment of the present invention;

 FIG. 10 shows a protocol stack of a control plane according to an embodiment of the present invention; FIG.

 FIG. 11 shows a protocol stack of a service control function according to an embodiment of the present invention;

 FIG. 12 is a diagram showing a network management function protocol stack when the Logic OAM mode is used in the embodiment of the present invention;

 FIG. 13 is a diagram showing a network management function protocol stack in an ordinary manner of the embodiment of the present invention;

 Figure 14 shows a user plane protocol stack in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. detailed description

 In order to facilitate a person skilled in the art to understand and implement the present invention, the embodiments of the present invention are described in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

In the following embodiments, the communication system of the present invention is described by taking an SAE/LTE network as an example. System and method.

 Embodiment 1

 As shown in FIG. 1A, this embodiment provides an S AE/LTE communication system with a home base station.

 This embodiment describes a communication system of the present invention, which includes a User Equipment (UE), a Home Base Station (HNB), a third party network, a Home Base Station Gateway (HNBGW), a Home Base Station Server, a Mobility Management Entity (MME), and A node such as a Serving GW, wherein the above-mentioned home base station server may be a separate entity in the network, or may be combined with a home subscriber server HSs in the network. The various parts of the communication system of this embodiment are separately described below.

 The user equipment is configured to access the core network through the home base station and the home base station gateway to communicate with other network nodes.

 The home base station is configured to communicate with a home base station gateway by using a first address (ie, IP1 hereinafter), according to which the home base station can be uniquely determined in a third-party network (such as the Internet). The home base station is further configured to store a home base station user identifier (HNB ID), a security context (including a basic key, an authentication algorithm, an encryption algorithm, a digital certificate, and the like) and a user list, and provide air interface access. The function and the access restriction function are used to connect the user equipment to the home base station through a wireless link, and the access restriction function can be implemented by using an access restriction list, that is, a user list, that is, in the user list. The listed users can access, and users in the user list are not allowed to access. The link between the home base station and the home base station gateway may be provided by a third party, such as xDSL provided by a third party (xDSL is a collective term for DSL (Digital Subscriber Line), ie, digital subscriber line) line, Ethernet (Ethernet), etc. . The home base station can be linked to the network node such as the MME, the serving gateway, the OAM, and the HSS through the home base station gateway. The third-party network is used to connect a home base station and a home base station gateway, and the third-party network may be an Internet.

The home base station gateway is configured to enable the home base station to use the second address (ie, IP2 in the following) and other nodes in the communication network (eg, mobility management entity, service gateway, HSS) And communicating, according to which the home base station can be uniquely determined in the communication network. In this way, the home base station gateway can communicate with the other nodes in the communication network by the home base station through the first address and the second address. An interface exists between the home base station gateway and the MME, the serving gateway, the home base station server, and the OAM, wherein the interface between the home base station gateway and the MME is mainly used to transmit some UE-related control information; between the home base station gateway and the serving gateway The interface is mainly the data transmission of the user plane. The interface between the home base station gateway and the home base station server is mainly that the home base station gateway needs to obtain some service control information about the home base station from the home base station server; the interface between the home base station gateway and the OAM Used to provide management functions for home base stations. Through these interfaces, the home base station gateway can implement management of the home base station.

 The communication system and method, the home base station gateway, and the home base station server are also applicable to other communication systems. For the UMTS system, as shown in FIG. 1B, an interface exists between the home base station gateway and the SGSN, the home base station server, and the OAM. The interface between the home base station gateway and the SGSN is mainly used to transmit some UE-related control information and user plane. The interface between the home base station gateway and the home base station server is mainly that the home base station gateway needs to obtain some service control information about the home base station from the home base station server; the interface between the home base station gateway and the OAM is used to provide management for the home base station. Features. Through these interfaces, the home base station gateway can implement management of the home base station.

As shown in FIG. 2A, the home base station gateway includes: a storage unit 11 that includes a first storage unit, configured to store a home base station user identifier, a first address, a second address, and a possible access restriction list, and the like. The access restriction list is a user list; the receiving unit 12 is configured to receive a first data packet sent by the home base station to other nodes in the communication network, and/or a second data packet sent by the other node in the communication network to the home base station, where the The source address of a data packet is the address of the home base station in the third-party network, that is, the first address, and the destination address of the second data packet is the address of the home base station in the communication network, that is, the second address; the processing unit 14 is configured to: Converting the first address to a second address and converting the second address to a first address according to the content stored by the storage unit 11 and the address of the data packet received by the receiving unit 12; the sending unit 14, Used to send data packets processed by the processing unit 14. The processing unit 14 includes: a determining unit 141, configured to determine, received by the receiving unit a data packet; an obtaining unit 142, configured to: when the data packet determined by the determining unit 141 is a first data packet, obtain a second address according to the content stored by the storage unit 11 and the first address; when the determining When the data packet determined by the unit 141 is the second data packet, the first address is obtained according to the content stored by the storage unit 11 and the second address; the setting unit 143, and, as shown in FIG. 2B, the home base station gateway Also includes:

 The initial access unit 15 is configured to connect the home base station to other nodes in the communication network after the home base station selects the home base station gateway according to a DNS (Domain Name System) of the home base station gateway or a fixed address.

 The SCTP aggregation unit 16 is configured to link the SCTP between the home base station gateway and the home base station to the SCTP link between the home base station gateway and the MME.

 The service control unit 17 is configured to perform corresponding management on the services of the home base station. For example, the mutual authentication between the network side and the home base station is implemented. For example, when the service request message of the home base station is received, the interaction and processing of the service request message between the network side and the home base station is implemented. The service request message may be a user adding, modifying, deleting an access restriction list, etc., through the unit, the synchronization of the access restriction list between the network side and the home base station may be implemented.

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 The management unit 18 is configured to manage the home base station, and the management includes management by using a Logic OAM method or management by an ordinary manner.

 The primary access unit 15, the SCTP aggregation unit 16, the service control unit 17, and the management unit 18 provide a function for the home base station gateway to manage the home base station.

The home base station server is configured to save a home base station user identifier, a subscription information corresponding to the home base station user identifier, a user list corresponding to the home base station user identifier, and a security context corresponding to the home base station user identifier (including a basic key, Weight algorithm, encryption algorithm, digital certificate, etc.). The device identifier of the home base station and the vendor information, the home base station gateway address linked to the home base station, etc., when the home base station accesses the network, the home base station server needs to authenticate the home base station, in this case, the home base station The server acts as a AAA Server. The home base station server can be the same service as the server used to save the user subscription information in the original E-UTRAN network. Or a new server. As shown in FIG. 2C, the home base station server includes: a receiving unit 21, configured to receive an authentication information request message, where the authentication information request message includes a home base station user identifier; and the storage unit 22 includes a first storage unit 221 And storing a home base station user identifier and a security context corresponding to the home base station user identifier, the second storage unit 222, configured to store subscription information of the home base station user, and a user list included in the user group, so that other network nodes use the The subscription information of the home base station user and the user list included in the user group control the communication of the home base station; the authentication unit 23 is configured to: according to the home base station user identifier received by the receiving unit and the home base station user identifier The base key authenticates the home base station; the first processing unit 24 and/or the second processing unit 25. The first processing unit 24 is configured to modify the information stored by the second storage unit 222 (for example, modify a user list), and synchronize the modification result to the user list of the home base station. The second processing unit 25 is configured to receive a service request message (eg, modify a user list request), and modify data stored by the second storage unit 222 according to the request.

 The MME is configured to perform mobility management, authentication and key management of user equipment, encryption of signaling, integrity protection, management, and allocation of temporary mobile subscriber identity. The MME is further configured to store a UE (User Equipment) control plane context, where the UE control plane context includes a UEID (User Equipment Identity), a User Equipment Status (including activation, standby), a tracking area where the user equipment is located, and the like.

 The service gateway is responsible for user plane processing, and the user plane processing includes routing and forwarding of data, storing UE user plane context, user plane support when the home base station is switched, and downlink data triggering/initiating paging when LTE-IDLE. The UE user plane context includes basic IP bearer information, routing information, and the like.

 The OAM (operation, management, and maintenance entity) is mainly responsible for network management functions. Embodiment 2

 As shown in Fig. 3, this embodiment describes the communication method of the present invention. The communication of the present invention will be described below in accordance with the process of establishing a link between a home base station and a network and performing data transmission.

Step 31: After the home base station is powered on, obtain the first address (IP1) and pass the home The domain name of the base station gateway or other manner (for example, the address of the gateway is directly configured in the base station). The address of the home base station gateway is determined. After determining the address of the home base station gateway, the home base station can access the home base station gateway, according to the first address. The home base station is uniquely identified in the third party network.

 Step 32: After the home base station accesses the home base station gateway, the home base station registers and authenticates with the network. After the authentication succeeds, a secure tunnel is established between the home base station gateway and the home base station.

 Step 33: After the security tunnel is established, the DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) server allocates a second address (IP2) to the home base station, where the second address is an internal IP address of the communication network, and is in the communication network. The only one home base station is identified.

 It should be noted that the above steps 32 and 33 can be combined in one step. For example, the authentication process and the secure tunnel establishment process in the foregoing steps 32 and 33 can be performed simultaneously, and the IP address allocation process and the secure tunnel establishment process can also be performed simultaneously. The IP address allocation mode includes but is not limited to the DHCP method.

 Step 34: Before starting the data transmission, each home base station can establish a limited SCTP (Stream Control Transmission Protocol) link with the home base station gateway, and a small amount of SCTP is also established between the home base station gateway and the MME. Linking, the home base station gateway can aggregate the SCTP link between the home base station gateway and the home base station into an SCTP link between the home base station gateway and the MME.

 The network side can control the service of the network to the home base station through the home base station server, and complete the synchronization of the service information between the network side and the home base station.

 The network side can also provide network management functions for the home base station through 0 AM.

 The above respective communication steps are respectively described by the third embodiment to the ninth embodiment.

 Embodiment 3

This embodiment describes a process in which a home base station accesses a home base station gateway (step 31). After the home base station is powered on, the third-party network (such as the xDSL network in the Internet) will assign an IP address (such as IP1) to the home base station, the home base station can link with the home base station gateway, and the home base station determines the home base station gateway. There are three ways to address. 1. Manually input the domain name or fixed address of the home base station gateway into the home base station.

2. When the home base station uses the card separation scheme, the domain name of the home base station gateway can be provided as a parameter in the BSIM (Base Station Identifier Module) card to the home base station.

 3. The domain name of the home base station gateway can be placed in the third party's DHCP server. When the DHCP server returns a DHCP response to the home base station, the domain name of the home base station gateway is sent to the home base station.

 After obtaining the domain name of the home base station gateway, the home base station then uses the domain name to resolve the IP address of the home base station gateway through the domain name server, and accesses the home base station gateway through the IP address.

 Embodiment 4

 This embodiment describes an authentication process of a home base station (step 32). After the home base station accesses the home base station gateway, it also needs to register and authenticate to the core network to identify the legitimacy of the home base station. As shown in FIG. 4, the authentication process of the home base station will be described in detail below.

 Step 41: After the home base station is powered on, send a registration request message (Register) to the home base station gateway, where the registration request message includes a home base station user identifier (HNB ID), so as to send the home base station user identifier to the home base station gateway, where The home base station user identity is obtained by the user who uses the base station at the time of registration, and may be a BSIM ID (Home Base Station Identity) or a Home Base Station Device Identity.

 Step 42: After obtaining the registration request message, the home base station gateway sets the home base station user identifier in the registration request message in the authentication information request message (AuthlnfoReq), and sends the authentication information request message to the home base station server.

Step 43: After receiving the authentication information request message, the home base station server finds the basic key corresponding to the HNB ID according to the HNB ID in the authentication information request message, and generates a random number, using the basic key and the random number as parameters. Performing an authentication algorithm to generate an authentication result (Resultl); at the same time, the home base station server may also generate a derived key according to the basic key, the random number, and a specific key generation algorithm, and then the home base station server sends the authentication to the home base station gateway. An information response message (AuthlnfoResp), the authentication information response message including an authentication result (Resultl), a random number, and a derived key, so as to be used for the authentication result ( Resultl ), random number and derived key are sent to the home base station gateway.

 Step 44: After receiving the authentication information response message, the home base station gateway sets the random number in the authentication information response message in an authentication request message (AuthChallenge), and sends the authentication request to the home base station.

 Step 45: After receiving the authentication request, the home base station generates an authentication result (Result2) according to the random number in the authentication request and the basic key stored in the home base station, using the same authentication algorithm as in step 43. The key and the random number are generated using the same key generation algorithm as in step 43. Next, the home base station sets the authentication result (Result2) in the authentication response message, and sends the authentication response message to the home base station gateway.

 The derived key generated in step 43 and step 45 can be used as a pre-shared key of IKE in IPSec, which is used to generate a security association (SA) in IPSec, and the derived key can also be used for transmission between the home base station and the network. The key to protect the data.

 Step 46: The home base station gateway compares the authentication result (Result2) with the authentication result (Resultl) transmitted by the home base station server. If the authentication fails, the authentication fails. Otherwise, the authentication succeeds, and the user who uses the home base station is legal. The user, the home base station gateway will send a registration confirmation message (RegisterAck) to the home base station.

 After the authentication is passed, in order to ensure communication security between the home base station gateway and the home base station, secure tunnel communication can be used between the home base station gateway and the home base station. There are several types of security tunnels, such as IPSec security tunnels and L2TP (Layer 2 Tunneling Protocol) tunnels. In an embodiment of the invention, the secure tunnel is an IPSec secure tunnel. IPSec requires a Security Association (SA), which can be dynamically established by using IKE (Internet Key Exchange) using pre-shared keys, digital signatures, or public key encryption.

 After the IPSec secure tunnel is established between the home base station gateway and the home base station, the home base station gateway functions as a security gateway.

After the security association is established, the control plane data transmission mode between the home base station and the home base station gateway will adopt the IPSec tunnel mode. When the MME needs to send data to the home base station, the destination IP address of the IP layer uses the IP address (IP2) assigned by the communication network to the home base station, and the data packet is first routed to the home base station gateway, and then the home base station gateway. The IP packet is encapsulated in IPSec as it is. The IP address (IP1) assigned to the home base station by the third-party network (for example, xDSL network) is used in the outer IP of the IPSec, and can be searched on the home base station gateway. The home base station address mapping relationship obtains IP1 corresponding to IP2. Conversely, when the home base station sends data to the MME, the same method is used. The internal IP address uses the IP address (IP2) assigned by the communication network to the home base station, and the external IP address is used by a third party. The IP address (IP1) assigned to the home base station. Figure 9 shows the protocol stack after the security association is established. The uppermost layer of the protocol stack is the application layer between the network node and the home base station. It can be any application layer protocol, and may be RANAP (Radio Access Network Application Part, wireless access). The network application sub-) protocol is used for the MME to control the HNB, and may also be a user plane protocol; the transport layer below the application layer may be SCTP, UDP or other protocols; below the transport layer is the IP layer, the network node and the home base station gateway, and the home User data and signaling between the base station gateway and the home base station are routed through the IP layer. The data packet between the home base station gateway and the home base station is encapsulated by IPSec and uses the IP address IP1 assigned by the third party to the home base station (IP1 corresponding to IP2 can be obtained by looking up the home base station address mapping relationship on the home base station gateway). ) as the outer IP of IPSec. The lower two layers of the protocol stack, the network node and the home base station gateway, and the L1 and L2 layers between the home base station gateway and the home base station are physical layer and data link layer, and any technology capable of carrying the IP protocol can be used, for example, It is Ethernet, ATM or Token Ring.

 Embodiment 5

 This embodiment describes a process in which a communication network allocates an internal IP address to a home base station.

After the home base station accesses the home base station gateway and the authentication succeeds, in order for the home base station to communicate with other nodes in the communication network, the DHCP server needs to allocate the internal IP address (IP2) of the communication network to the home base station. In this way, other network nodes in the communication network can use the home base station as a node in the communication network to be routed by using the internal IP address (IP2), so that communication with the home base station can be conveniently performed. After the assignment of the internal IP address (IP2) of the home base station is completed, the home base station gateway has obtained the external IP address of the home base station (IP1, and the third party assigns the home base station) IP address), home base station internal IP address (IP2) and home base station user ID (HNB ID), the home base station gateway needs to establish a home base station user identification HNB ID, home base station external IP address (IP1) and home base station A home base station address mapping relationship table between internal IP addresses (IP2), such that when the home base station gateway and the home base station perform user data and signaling routing through the IP layer, the home base station gateway can use the home base station address mapping relationship. The table finds the internal IP address (IP1) of the home base station corresponding to the external IP address (IP2) of the home base station. In order to communicate with other nodes on the network management plane, the DHCP server on the network management plane usually needs to assign another IP address (IP3) to the home base station.

 The DHCP server that allocates the home base station internal IP address (IP2) may be placed on the home base station gateway or may be a separate network node; when the DHCP server is a separate network node, the home base station gateway needs to assume DHCP. Relay (DHCP relay) function. After the DHCP server assigns an IP address (IP2) to the home base station, the IP address (IP2) is sent to the home base station.

 After the DHCP server of the network management plane assigns an IP address (IP3) to the home base station, in addition to sending the IP address (IP3) to the home base station, the IP address of the OAM server needs to be sent to the home base station. When using Logic OAM (Logical Network Management), since there is no direct interface between the OAM and the home base station, there is only an interface between the OAM and the home base station gateway, and the home base station gateway can be managed by the home base station gateway. Assign this IP address to the home base station.

 Fig. 5 shows the process of assigning an IP address (IP2), and the process of assigning an IP address (IP2) will be described below with reference to FIG.

 Step 51: The home base station sends an address service request message to the DHCP server of the user plane, requesting obtaining an IP address (IP2) in the communication network, where the address service request message includes the home base station user identifier; if the home base station and the DHCP server are not located On the same network segment, the home base station gateway needs to assume the function of relaying, and forwards the message to the DHCP server;

 Step 52: After receiving the address service request message of the home base station, the DHCP server allocates an IP address (IP2) to the home base station according to the identity of the home base station itself.

Step 53: DHCP sends an address service response message to the home base station, where the address service The response message contains the IP address (IP2) of the home base station.

 Fig. 6 shows the process of assigning the IP address (IP3) of the network management plane, and the process of assigning the IP address (IP3) of the network management plane will be described below with reference to FIG.

 Step 61: The home base station sends an address service request message to the DHCP server on the network management plane, requesting to obtain an IP address of the network management plane, where the address service request message includes the home base station user identifier; if the home base station is not in the same network segment as the DHCP server , the home base station gateway needs to assume the function of the DHCP relay, and forwards the message to the DHCP server;

 Step 62: After receiving the address service request message of the home base station, the DHCP server allocates the IP address IP3 of the user plane to the home base station according to the identifier of the home base station, and determines the address of the OAM.

 Step 63: The DHCP returns a home base station address service response message, where the address service response message includes an IP address (IP3) of the home base station and an address of the OAM server. Embodiment 6

 This embodiment describes the S C TP link aggregation function of the home base station gateway (see step 34).

 Considering the existence of tens of thousands of home base stations in the communication network, and each home base station needs to establish a link to the SCTP of the MME, the method of establishing has the following three steps:

 1. Each home base station can establish a limited SCTP link with the home base station gateway, such as four SCTP links.

 2. A small number of SCTP links are also established between the home base station gateway and the MME. Since there are a large number of home base stations under the home base station gateway, the home base station gateway needs to aggregate all the SCTPs to the home base stations to between the small number and the MME. Go to the SCTP link.

 3. Considering that a home base station can be linked with multiple MMEs, the home base station gateway needs to transfer the SCTP of a certain home base station to a different MME.

When there is an SCTP switch between the MME and the home base station, there is a SCTP between the MME and the home base station gateway, and there exists between the home base station gateway and the home base station. In another SCTP, the two SCTPs are transferred on the home base station gateway.

 For the downlink, when the MME needs to send a data packet to the home base station, the destination IP address of the data packet is the IP address of the home base station gateway, and the identifier of the destination home base station is carried in the packet header of the data packet, where the home base station The user ID can be identified by the PPI (Postload Protocol Identifier) in the SCTP header. After receiving the data packet, the home base station gateway is handed over to the SCTP layer, and the SCTP parses the SCTP Service Data Unit (SCTP Service Data Unit), and then re-encapsulates the SCTP SDU into an SCTP link of a home base station. Going out; the home base station gateway determines to forward the data packet to the home base station according to the home base station user identifier in the SCTP packet header, and then finds the identifier of the SCTP link of the home base station, etc., encapsulates the SCTP SDU, and then adds the home base station. The IP address, and then the IP packet is encapsulated in IPSec and sent to the home base station.

 For the uplink, the home base station may be connected to multiple MMEs. When the UE initially attaches (Attach), an MME can be selected according to the load condition of the MME, and there are two options:

 1. The home base station selects the MME, and after the home base station selects the MME, the home base station gateway is notified of the result of the selection, and the home base station gateway transfers the corresponding SCTP link to the corresponding MME according to the MME selected by the home base station; For this case, the home base station needs to know the load information of each MME and select the corresponding MME accordingly. The interaction of the load information between the MME and the home base station can be performed through the RANAP layer.

 2. The home base station gateway selects the MME, and the home base station gateway can select the corresponding MME according to the load information of the MME.

 When the UE is in the other link-building process after the attachment, for example, performing a TAU (Tracking Area Update) process or performing a service request process; the home base station may be based on the TMSI (Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity) of the UE. ) to choose MME.

When the home base station selects the MME, the selected MME is notified to the home base station gateway, so that the home base station gateway transfers the SCTP link of the home base station to the home base station gateway to the SCTP of the MME; similarly, the home base station and the Home base station gateway The identifier of the target MME is carried in the SCTP packet header to provide a home base station gateway selection; the identifier can be placed in the PPI of the SCTP packet header to be sent to the home base station gateway.

 Figure 10 shows the protocol stack of the control plane when the SCTP is aggregated. The upper layer of the protocol stack is the application layer between the MME and the home base station, which may be the RANAP protocol or the S1AP protocol, and is used by the MME to control the HNB. The application layer is carried on the SCTP, the SCTP layer is divided into two segments, a SCTP between the MME and the home base station gateway, and another SCTP between the home base station gateway and the home base station, and the two SCTPs are in the home base station gateway. Transfer on. Below the SCTP layer is the IP layer. User data and signaling between the MME and the home base station gateway and the home base station gateway and the home base station are routed through the IP layer. The data packet between the home base station gateway and the home base station is encapsulated by IPSec and uses the IP address IP1 assigned by the third party to the home base station (IP1 corresponding to IP2 can be obtained by looking up the home base station address mapping relationship on the home base station gateway). ) as the outer IP of IPSec. The lowermost two layers of the protocol stack, the MME and the home base station gateway, and the L1 and L2 layers between the home base station gateway and the home base station are physical layer and data link layer, and any technology capable of carrying the IP protocol can be used, for example, Ethernet, ATM or Token Ring.

 As can be seen from Fig. 10, after the SCTP convergence is used, the home base station gateway is transparent to the application layer of the control plane, which can reduce the complexity of the home base station gateway processing and the processing delay of the Fallier.

 Example 7

 This embodiment describes a service control function.

 The home base station is a network node, and the network side may need to manage its services accordingly, such as managing the list of users allowed to access on the home base station or the location information of the user. If a list of users allowed to access is set on the home base station, these service lists need to be synchronized to the network. In turn, some network parameters may be set on the network side, and these service parameters also need to be transmitted to the home base station. From this perspective, there is a network control function for the home base station.

In this embodiment, the home base station server can serve as a service control node of the home base station, and all related service information of the home base station is stored thereon, and the network can control the home base station through an interface between the home base station server and the home base station gateway. At home base station An application layer protocol needs to be established between the gateway and the home base station for the home base station gateway to control the home base station. The Application layer can be carried on the TCP or on the SCTP. Considering that there is an SCTP link between the home base station gateway and the home base station, the Application bearer is better on the SCTP. Through the above interface and application layer protocol, the management of the home base station by the home base station gateway is realized. Figure 11 shows the protocol stack of the service control function. The uppermost layer of the protocol stack is the application layer, which is used for the home base station server to control the home base station through the home base station gateway. The application layer protocol between the home base station server and the home base station gateway may use a MAP (Mobile Application Part) protocol or other possible protocols for the home base station server to control the home base station gateway; at the home base station gateway and the home The application layer protocol between the base stations may be a RANAP protocol for the home base station gateway to control the home base station. The transport layer protocol between the home base station server and the home base station gateway below the application layer may be SCTP or SCCP, and the transport layer protocol between the home base station gateway and the home base station may be SCTP or TCP. Below the transport layer is the IP layer. User data and signaling between the home base station server and the home base station gateway and the home base station gateway and the home base station are routed through the IP layer. The data packet between the home base station gateway and the home base station is encapsulated by IPSec and uses the IP address assigned by the third party to the home base station IP1 (IP1 corresponding to IP2 can be obtained by looking up the home base station address mapping relationship on the home base station gateway) ) as the outer IP of IPSec. The lowermost two layers of the protocol stack, the home base station server node and the home base station gateway, and the L1 and L2 layers between the home base station gateway and the home base station are physical layer and data link layer, and any technology capable of carrying the IP protocol can be used. For example, it can be Ethernet, ATM or Token Ring.

 The following describes the synchronization process of the user access list as an embodiment of the service control function.

 After the user access list of the home base station is modified, it needs to be synchronized to the home base station server, so that the home base station server adjusts the charging policy for these users. As shown in FIG. 7, the following describes the process of synchronizing the access list of the home base station and the home base station server.

Step 71: The home base station sends a user list modification request message to the home base station gateway, where The user list modification request message includes operation parameters (such as addition, deletion), the addition is to add a user to the user list, and the deletion is to delete the user from the user list.

 Step 72: After receiving the user list modification request message, the home base station gateway sends the user list modification request message to the home base station server.

 Step 73: The home base station server modifies the request message according to the received user list, adds a user to the user list according to the operation parameter, or deletes the user from the list, and sends a modify user list response message to the home base station gateway.

 Step 74: The home base station gateway sends a modify user list response message to the home base station, and after receiving the message, the home base station allows or restricts some users from accessing the home base station.

 When the owner of the home base station modifies the access restriction list through the mobile terminal, the internet, etc., the user access list on the home base station server may be modified first. After the user access list of the home base station in the home base station server is modified, it needs to be synchronized to the home base station, so that the home base station server adjusts the charging policy for these users. As shown in Fig. 8, the following describes the process of synchronizing the home base station server with the home base station.

 Step 81: The home base station server sends a user list modification request message to the home base station gateway, where the user list modification request message includes operation parameters (such as adding, deleting), and the adding is adding a user to the user list, and the deleting is The user is deleted from the user list.

 Step 82: After receiving the user list modification request message, the home base station gateway sends the user list modification request message to the home base station.

 Step 83: The home base station modifies the request message according to the received user list, adds a user to the user list according to the operation parameter, or deletes the user from the list, and sends a modify user list response message to the home base station gateway.

 Step 84: The home base station gateway sends a modify user list response message to the home base station server, and after receiving the message, the home base station server allows or restricts some users from accessing the home base station.

 Example eight

 This embodiment describes the network management control function.

When the home base station is used as a network node, the network side needs to provide a network to the node. Network management functions; There are two ways to manage the network:

 1, Logic OAM mode:

 For the Logic OAM mode, OAM actually only has an interface with the home base station gateway, and uses Logic OAM between the home base station gateway and the home base station.应用 When using Logic OAM, the application layer can be reused with the application layer of the service control function; considering that the interface between the home base station and the OAM may be open, the interface between the OAM and the home base station gateway may be open.

 Figure 12 shows the network management function protocol stack when using the Logic OAM mode. The uppermost layer of the protocol stack is the application layer, which is used by OAM to control the home base station through the home base station gateway. The transport layer protocol between the home base station gateway and the home base station may be SCTP or TCP. Below the transport layer is the IP layer. User data and signaling between the OAM and the home base station gateway and the home base station gateway and the home base station are routed through the IP layer. The data packet between the home base station gateway and the home base station is encapsulated by IPSec and uses the IP address IP1 assigned by the third party to the home base station (IP1 corresponding to IP2 can be obtained by looking up the home base station address mapping relationship on the home base station gateway). ) as the outer IP of IPSec. The lower two layers of the protocol stack, the L1 and L2 layers between the OAM and the home base station gateway, and the home base station gateway and the home base station are the physical layer and the data link layer, and any technology capable of carrying the IP protocol can be used, for example, Ethernet, ATM or Token Ring.

 2, the ordinary way:

 For the normal mode, there is a direct interface between the OAM and the home base station, and the home base station gateway only provides the function of the security gateway at this time; the structure of the protocol stack is as shown in FIG.

Figure 13 shows the network management function protocol stack when the normal mode is used. In the protocol stack structure, there is a direct application layer and a transport layer between the OAM and the home base station, and the OAM directly controls the home base station. Below the transport layer is the IP layer. User data and signaling between the OAM and the home base station gateway and the home base station gateway and the home base station are routed through the IP layer. The data packet between the home base station gateway and the home base station is encapsulated by IPSec and uses the IP address IP1 assigned by the third party to the home base station (IP1 corresponding to IP2 can be obtained by looking up the home base station address mapping relationship on the home base station gateway). M乍 is the outer IP of IPSec. The bottom two layers of this protocol stack, OAM and home base station gateways and home base The L1 and L2 layers between the station gateway and the home base station are physical layer and data link layer, and any technology capable of carrying the IP protocol can be used, for example, Ethernet, ATM or Token Ring.

 Example nine

 This embodiment provides a user plane function.

 For the user side, the home base station gateway is just a security gateway. When the user plane bearer is established, the serving gateway uses the IP address (IP2) of the home base station and the TEID (Tunnel End Point Identifier) assigned by the home base station to establish a downlink bearer, and the home base station uses the IP address and service of the serving gateway. The TEID assigned by the gateway establishes an uplink bearer. That is to say, the home base station gateway does not participate in any tunnel establishment, release, and modification work. The GTP-U (User Plane GPRS Tunneling Protocol) data packet is a transparent data packet for the home base station gateway, so that for the user plane, A home base station gateway is equivalent to a router. The advantage of this is that there are fewer intermediate nodes and less latency.

 Figure 14 shows the user plane protocol stack. The top three layers of the protocol stack (application layer, TCP/UDP layer and IP layer) are peer-to-peer protocols between the UE and the network server, and encapsulate the packets of the UE. The GTP-U layer is a peer-to-peer protocol between the serving gateway and the home base station, and is used for establishing a tunnel between the serving gateway and the home base station to transmit the upper layer packet data, and the GTP-U is implemented by the lower layer UDP protocol. . The IP layer below the UDP layer is used to route user data between the serving gateway and the home base station gateway and the home base station gateway and the home base station. The data packet between the home base station gateway and the home base station is encapsulated by IPSec and uses the IP address (IP1) assigned by the third-party network protocol to the home base station as the outer IP of the IPSec. The lower two layers of the protocol stack, the service gateway and the home base station gateway, and the LI and L2 layers between the home base station gateway and the home base station are the physical layer and the data link layer, and any technology capable of carrying the IP protocol can be used, for example, It is Ethernet, ATM or Token Ring.

It is described above that the home base station can be accessed into SAE/LTE. According to the embodiment of the present invention, the home base station can also access other networks (such as a UMTS network), so that the role of the home base station can be fully utilized. In addition, the home base station gateway and the communication method described in the embodiments of the present invention can be applied to other communication systems in addition to the SAE/LTE system. Such as UMTS, CDMA, etc. Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the present invention can be implemented by hardware, or can be implemented by means of software plus necessary general hardware platform, and the technical solution of the present invention. It can be embodied in the form of a software product that can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (which can be a CD-ROM, a USB flash drive, a mobile hard disk, etc.), including a number of instructions for making a computer device (may It is a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) that performs the methods described in various embodiments of the present invention.

 While the invention has been described by the embodiments of the invention, the invention Request to limit.

Claims

Rights request A communication system, comprising: a home base station, a third party network, and a home base station gateway,  The home base station is configured to communicate with the home base station gateway by using a first address, determine the home base station in the third-party network according to the first address, and use the third-party network to connect the a home base station and the home base station gateway; the home base station gateway is configured to enable the home base station to communicate with other nodes in the communication network by using a second address, and determine the home base station in the communication network according to the second address .  2. The communication system according to claim 1, wherein the system further comprises a home base station server; and the home base station server comprises:  a receiving unit, configured to receive an authentication information request message and service request information, where the authentication information request message or the service request information includes a home base station user identifier;  And a storage unit, configured to include a first storage unit, configured to store the home base station user identifier, and a security context corresponding to the home base station user identifier.  The communication system according to claim 2, wherein the home base station server further comprises:  The authentication unit is configured to authenticate the home base station according to the home base station user identifier received by the receiving unit and the security context corresponding to the home base station user identifier.  The communication system according to claim 2, wherein the storage unit further comprises: a second storage unit, configured to store subscription information and a user list of the user of the home base station;  The home base station server further includes a first processing unit and/or a second processing unit, where the first processing unit is configured to modify the subscription information stored by the second storage unit, and synchronize the modification result to the home base station. Medium The second processing unit is configured to receive the modified service request information, and perform corresponding processing according to the service request information. The communication system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the system further comprises an operation, management and maintenance entity for performing network management.  6. A home base station gateway, comprising:  a storage unit, including a first storage unit, configured to store a home base station user identifier, a first address, and a second address;  a receiving unit, configured to receive a first data packet sent by the home base station to other nodes in the communication network, and/or a second data packet sent by the other node in the communication network to the home base station, where the first data packet is sent to the home base station The uplink data packet of the other node; the second data packet is a downlink data packet sent by another node received by the home base station.  a processing unit, configured to convert the first address into a second address according to the content stored by the storage unit and the address of the data packet received by the receiving unit, and convert the second address into a first address;  And a sending unit, configured to send a data packet processed by the processing unit.  The home base station gateway according to claim 6, wherein the processing unit comprises:  a determining unit, configured to determine a data packet received by the receiving unit;  And an obtaining unit, configured to: when the data packet determined by the determining unit is the first data packet, obtain a second address according to the content stored by the storage unit and the first address; when the data packet determined by the determining unit is The second data packet is timed, and the first address is obtained according to the content stored by the storage unit and the second address;  The home base station gateway according to claim 6, wherein the home base station gateway further comprises:  And an initial access unit, configured to connect the home base station to other nodes in the network after the home base station selects the home base station gateway.  The home base station gateway according to claim 6, wherein the home base station gateway further comprises: An SCTP convergence unit, configured to connect the home base station gateway and the home base station The SCTP link is aggregated into an SCTP link between the home base station gateway and the mobility management entity.  The home base station gateway according to claim 6, wherein the home base station gateway further comprises: a service control unit, configured to perform corresponding management on the services of the home base station.  The home base station gateway according to claim 6, wherein the home base station gateway further includes: a management unit, configured to manage the home base station, where the management includes management by using a Logic OAM method, Or management by ordinary means.  The home base station gateway according to any one of claims 6 to 11, wherein the home base station gateway directly transmits the content of the application layer of the control plane and the user plane without processing.  13. A home base station server, comprising:  a receiving unit, configured to receive an authentication information request message and a service request message, where the authentication information request message or the service request message includes a home base station user identifier;  a storage unit, including a first storage unit, configured to store a home base station user identifier and a security context corresponding to the home base station user identifier;  The home base station server according to claim 13, comprising: an authentication unit, configured to: according to the home base station user identifier received by the receiving unit and the security context corresponding to the home base station user identifier, the home base station Perform authentication.  The home base station server according to claim 13, wherein the storage unit further comprises: a second storage unit, configured to store subscription information and a user list of the user of the home base station;  The home base station server further includes a first processing unit and/or a second processing unit, where the first processing unit is configured to modify a user list stored by the second storage unit, and synchronize the modification result to the home base station. In the user list;  The second processing unit is configured to receive a modify user list request, and modify the user list stored by the second storage unit according to the modified user list request. 16. A communication method, comprising: The home base station and the home base station gateway communicate by using a first address, where the first address is used to uniquely determine the home base station in a third-party network;  The home base station gateway causes the home base station to communicate with other nodes in the communication network using a second address for uniquely determining a home base station in the communication network.  The method according to claim 16, wherein before the home base station and the home base station gateway use the first address for communication, the method further includes: the home base station obtaining the first address, and determining the home The base station gateway address; the home base station accesses the home base station gateway according to the first address and the home base station gateway address.  The method according to claim 16 or 17, wherein after the home base station accesses the home base station gateway, the method further includes: the home base station performing authentication on the communication network, after the authentication succeeds Establishing a secure tunnel between the home base station gateway and the home base station.  The method according to claim 18, wherein the authenticating, by the home base station, the communication network comprises:  The home base station gateway obtains a first authentication result from the home base station server, obtains a second authentication result from the home base station, and performs authentication according to the second authentication result and the first authentication result.  The method according to claim 19, wherein the obtaining, by the home base station, the first authentication result from the home base station server comprises:  The home base station gateway receives a registration request message sent by the home base station, where the registration request message includes a home base station user identifier;  The home base station gateway sends the home base station user identifier in the registration request message to the home base station server by using an authentication information request message; The home base station gateway receives the authentication information response message sent by the home base station server, where the authentication information response message includes a first authentication result, a random number, where the first authentication result is used by the home base station The server generates, by using an authentication algorithm according to the basic key and the random number as parameters, the random number is requested according to the authentication information. The home base station user identity is generated and the base key corresponding to the home base station user identity.  The method according to claim 20, wherein the obtaining, by the home base station, the second authentication result from the home base station comprises:  The home base station gateway sends the random number in the authentication information response message to the home base station by using an authentication request message;  Receiving, by the home base station, an authentication response message sent by the home base station, where the authentication response message includes a second authentication result, where the second authentication result is used by the home base station according to a random number in the authentication request The base key stored in the home base station is generated by executing the authentication algorithm.  The method according to claim 21, wherein, after the home base station gateway performs authentication according to the second authentication result and the first authentication result, when the authentication succeeds, the home base station gateway and the home A secure tunnel is established between the base stations.  The method according to claim 16, wherein after the home base station obtains the first address, the method further comprises: the home base station obtaining the second address.  The method according to claim 16, wherein after the home base station obtains the first address, the method further includes: the home base station obtaining a third address, where the third address is used for communication The network management plane in the network uniquely determines the home base station.  The method according to claim 23, wherein after the home base station obtains the second address, before the home base station communicates with other nodes in the communication network, the method further includes: A link between the home base station and the home base station gateway is aggregated to a link between the home base station gateway and the mobility management entity.  The method according to claim 16, wherein the method further comprises: the home base station gateway providing its own domain name DNS to the home base station.  The method according to claim 26, wherein the method further comprises: providing, by the home base station gateway, the home domain name DNS to the home base station, including:  Configuring the own domain name DNS at the home base station gateway; or Placing the own domain name DNS in a BSIM card for the home base station gateway; or The own domain name DNS is placed in a third party's DHCP server to provide the DNS to the home base station in a DHCP response.  The method according to claim 16, wherein the method further comprises: controlling, by the home base station server, the service of the home base station.  The method according to claim 28, wherein the controlling the service of the home base station by the home base station server comprises:  Controlling mutual authentication between the network side and the home base station;  Controlling access restriction list synchronization between the network side and the home base station.  The method according to claim 16, wherein the method further comprises: operating, maintaining, and managing an entity to manage the home base station.  31. The method of claim 30, wherein the managing the home base station comprises:  The home base station is managed by a logical Logic OAM method or a normal manner.