CN101902835B - Method for identifying relay node, base station, relay node and mobile management entity - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention discloses a relay node identification method, a base station, a relay node, and an MME, wherein the method includes: the relay node carrying a specific relay node identifier in a non-access sublayer message; the network side according to the The relay node identifier identifies the relay node. Various embodiments of the present invention can not only ensure the identification of the relay node access network, but also complete the verification of the relay node and other functions, and solve the defect that the existing access method cannot identify the relay node under the LTE-A network.

Description

Relay node identification method, base station, relay node and mobility management entity

technical field

The present invention relates to the relay technology in the communication field, in particular to a relay node identification method, a base station, a relay node and a mobility management entity.

Background technique

FIG. 1 is a schematic flow diagram of an existing user equipment (User Equipment, UE for short) performing network-side attachment (Attach). As shown in Figure 1, in the existing LTE network, after the user side UE completes the connection establishment request (RRCConnectionRequest) through the uplink random access procedure (RACH), the base station side will feed back the connection establishment (RRCConnectionSetup) message, as shown in Figure 1 In the evolved Node B (Evolved NodeB, referred to as eNB), the user side sends a connection establishment complete (RRCConnectionComplete) message to the base station side, and the connection establishment completion message will carry the unique user identifier of the UE in the entire network. The initial UE message (that is, the Initial UE Message) is forwarded to the mobility management entity (Mobile Management Entity, MME for short) on the network side, and the MME can identify the user terminal and the corresponding priority through the unique user identifier of the UE in the entire network .

In the future Long Term Evolution (LTE for short)-Advanced network (LTE-A for short), a relay node is introduced, and the network side (for example, base station eNB) does not process the UE and the relay node The same, therefore, causes the identification problem of the relay node on the network side, that is, how network elements such as eNB and MME know whether the access node is a relay node, so as to perform corresponding processing. However, the existing LTE system only specifies the access procedure for common UEs, and does not provide a solution for identifying relay nodes on the network side.

In the process of realizing the present invention, the inventors found that since there is no relay node in the previous wireless network, the identification problem of the relay node on the network side is not involved in the previous network. If the LTE-A If the access method shown in Figure 1 is used for network access, the network side will not be able to identify the relay node, which will affect the effective processing of relay data and fail to implement the necessary scheduling strategy.

Contents of the invention

The first purpose of the present invention is to propose a relay node identification method to realize the relay node under the LTE-A network according to the existing access method, and the defect of the relay node cannot be identified under the LTE-A network. identify.

The second purpose of the present invention is to propose a base station for identifying the relay node in the LTE-A network, aiming at the technical defect that the eNB cannot identify the relay node in the prior art.

The third purpose of the present invention is to propose a relay node to realize the different access of ordinary user terminals, based on the existing access method, which will not be able to identify the defect of the relay node under the LTE-A network.

The fourth object of the present invention is to propose a mobility management entity to identify the relay node under the LTE-A network according to the defect that the relay node cannot be identified under the LTE-A network in the existing access mode.

In order to achieve the first purpose above, according to one aspect of the present invention, a method for identifying a relay node is provided.

The relay node identification method according to the embodiment of the present invention includes: the relay node carries a specific relay node identifier in a Non Access Stratum (NAS for short) message; the network side according to the relay node identifier Identify the relay node.

Preferably, the specific relay node identifier may include: IMSI or GUTI information used to identify the relayed user terminal, Global Cell ID information used to identify the relayed base station, and special relay ID information.

In the above solution, the operation of identifying the relay node by the network side according to the relay node identifier may include: the MME on the network side determines whether the originator of the NAS message is a relay node according to the relay node identifier; the MME notifies the forwarding NAS of the identification result The base station of the message; the base station performs corresponding scheduling according to the identification result.

Wherein, the MME may notify the base station forwarding the NAS message of the identification result through the initial terminal context establishment request message, or the initial context establishment request message for the relay node.

To achieve the second purpose above, according to another aspect of the present invention, a base station is provided.

The base station according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: an interface module, configured to forward a non-access sublayer message on the user side to a network-side mobility management entity, and receive a corresponding feedback message; an identification module, configured to respond to the feedback from the mobility management entity The message identifies whether the originator of the non-access sublayer message is a relay node; the processing module is used to implement a corresponding scheduling strategy according to the result of the identification module.

To achieve the above third objective, according to another aspect of the present invention, a relay node is provided.

The relay node according to the embodiment of the present invention includes: a random access module, used to establish a random access process with the network side; Successor node ID.

To achieve the above fourth objective, according to yet another aspect of the present invention, a mobility management entity is provided.

The mobility management entity according to the embodiment of the present invention includes: an interface module, configured to receive an initial user terminal message sent by a base station; an identification module, configured to determine whether the originator of the message is a Chinese NAS message according to the initial user terminal message The relay node and the type of the relay node; a processing module, configured to notify the base station of the identification result of the identification module through the interface module.

For the relay node identification method, base station, relay node, and mobility management entity in each embodiment of the present invention, since the relay node side carries a specific relay node identifier in the NAS message sent to the network side, the network side can After subsequent relay node identification, the base station can adopt different scheduling policies for scheduling. Various embodiments of the present invention can complete functions such as verification of the relay node while ensuring the access of the relay node.

The technical solutions of the present invention will be described in further detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and embodiments.

Description of drawings

The accompanying drawings are used to provide a further understanding of the present invention, and constitute a part of the description, and are used together with the embodiments of the present invention to explain the present invention, and do not constitute a limitation to the present invention. In the attached picture:

FIG. 1 is a schematic flow diagram of an existing user terminal performing network-side attachment;

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of Embodiment 1 of a method for identifying a relay node according to the present invention;

Fig. 3 is a flow chart of Embodiment 2 of the relay node identification method according to the present invention

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a signaling process according to Embodiment 3 of the relay node identification method of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a base station according to the present invention;

FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a relay node according to the present invention;

FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a mobility management entity according to the present invention;

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment in which a base station, a relay node and a mobility management entity are applied to relay node access identification according to the present invention.

Detailed ways

The preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the preferred embodiments described here are only used to illustrate and explain the present invention, and are not intended to limit the present invention.

method embodiment

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a method for identifying a relay node is provided, and FIG. 2 is a flow chart of Embodiment 1 of the method for identifying a relay node according to the present invention.

As shown in Figure 2, this embodiment includes:

Step S102: the relay node carries a specific relay node identifier in the non-access sublayer message;

Step S104: The network side identifies the connected user-side device according to the relay node identifier, and determines whether it is a relay node.

In this embodiment, the relay node carries a specific relay node identifier in the non-access sublayer (NAS) message accessed to the network side, so the network side can carry out subsequent relay node identification, thereby judging the NAS message Whether the initiator of is a relay node. In this embodiment, while ensuring access and identification of the relay node, functions such as validity authentication and verification of the relay node can also be completed.

The relay node in this embodiment is different from the traditional repeater relay node (repeater for short), the main difference is that the forwarding processing method is different: the repeater is only a simple amplification and forwarding of the signal; the relay in this embodiment The node can be a Type 1 relay node with an independent Physical Cell ID, which is an independent physical cell; it can also be a Type 2 relay node, which shares the Physical Cell ID of the main eNB and is transparent to UEs in the cell .

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of Embodiment 2 of a method for identifying a relay node according to the present invention. As shown in Figure 3, this embodiment includes:

Step S202: the relay node carries a specific relay node identifier in the NAS message;

Specifically, the relay node identifier may be: International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI for short) or Globally Unique Temporary Identifier (GUTI for short) information used to identify the user terminal of the relay node, The Global Cell ID information of the base station used to identify the relay node, the special relay ID information, etc., the following embodiment three will describe this step in detail;

Step S204: the base station sends the initial UE message including the NAS message;

Step S206: the mobility management entity (MME) obtains the relay node identifier according to the NAS message in the initial UE message, thereby determining whether the originator of the NAS message is a relay node and the type of the relay node;

Step S208: The MME notifies the base station in step S204 of the identification result, so that the base station can select a corresponding scheduling strategy.

The relay node identification method in this embodiment can use three ways to represent the relay node, and the network side can announce the relay node, so as to facilitate the base station to adopt different scheduling strategies, and also complete the verification function of the relay node at the same time.

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a signaling flow in Embodiment 3 of a method for identifying a relay node according to the present invention. The specific process is shown in Figure 4:

Step 1: The relay node and the base station perform an uplink random access process (RACH);

Step 2: After the relay node sends a connection establishment request (RRC ConnectionRequest) to the base station, the base station side will feed back a connection establishment (RRC Connection Setup) message;

Step 3: The relay node returns a connection establishment complete (RRC ConnectionComplete) message to the base station side. In the connection establishment complete message, if the user side is a relay node, it will carry a specific relay in the NAS message ("ATTACH REQUEST") Node ID;

Step 4: The base station forwards the NAS message to the Mobility Management Entity (MME) on the network side through the initial UE message (ie, Initial UE Message), wherein the initial UE message will contain the NAS message containing the relay node identifier;

Step 5: After receiving the initial UE message, the MME judges whether the connected user side is a normal UE or a relay node and the type of the relay node according to the relay node identifier in the NAS message forwarded in the message, and can further verify The effectiveness of the relay node, identifying and determining the content of the user side (ordinary UE or relay node) and the corresponding priority;

Step 6: The MME informs the base station eNB of the relay identity by reusing the initial context setup request (INITIAL CONTEXTSETUP REQUEST) or creating a new context setup request (Context Setup Request) message for the relay (Relay);

Step 7: The base station eNB recognizes that the relay node is accessed according to the message sent by the MME, and then schedules the relay node, sends reconfiguration information to the relay node, and completes the access of the relay node to the network side.

In step 3 of this embodiment, in the "ATTACH REQUEST" message of the relay node, the specific relay node identification can be in the following three ways:

A. Reuse the IMSI or GUTI information of the UE. Relay identification is performed by identifying the IMSI or GUTI information of the UE. At this time, a part of the IMSI information or GUTI information needs to be divided as a relay node to identify the identity of the relay node;

B. Reuse the Global Cell ID information of the base station. Relay identification is performed through the Global Cell ID information of the eNB. At this time, a part of the Global Cell ID needs to be divided, and the Global Cell ID information of the eNB is added to the NAS message, and the network side needs to know in advance that the Global Cell ID is used as a relay;

C. Special relay ID information. Relay identification is performed through special relay ID information. In this case, the relay ID information needs to be added to the NAS message, and the network side should know in advance that the ID is the relay ID.

In step 6 of this embodiment, the MME notifies the base station of the identity of the relay in the following two ways:

Method 1: In the initial context establishment request message, add relay identification information for distinguishing the relay node from a common user terminal, and identification information for identifying the type of the relay node. For example, one bit (bit) may be set in the initial context establishment request message to indicate the relay identification information. When the identification result in step 5 is a relay node, this position is 1, which is the Relay Indication (Relay Indication), otherwise it is set to 0, which is the common UE identification, which can be set to 0 by default, and is set to 1 only when relaying. Alternatively, when the identification result of the MME is a relay node, the relay node identifier may be directly added to the initial context establishment request message, and the identification information of the relay node type may be added (it may be represented by a new bit or a reserved bit The relay node type identification information). For example, Type 1 or Type 2, etc.

Method 2: Create a new node initial context establishment request message for the relay, including: relay identification information used to distinguish the relay node from a common user terminal, and identification information used to identify the type of the relay node. The relay node and its type are identified by the identification information, so that the base station can identify that the access is a relay.

The relay node identification problem to be solved by the present invention can be distinguished from the relay node and the terminal node by adding an identifier in the initial random access process. For example, the application number proposed by the applicant is 200910079337.5, and the invention name is "Relay Node Network Access" Method, relay node, base station and system" patent application. The above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention propose that in the NAS message, the identity information of the relay node is marked by a specific relay node identifier, and then the information in the NAS message is passed through the "Initial Context Setup Request" or the initial context setup request message for the relay node. The identity information of the relay is notified to the base station node, so as to help the base station to clearly distinguish the data from the ordinary UE and the relay during the subsequent relay scheduling, so as to ensure that the data of the ordinary UE and the relay node are correctly processed and the necessary scheduling is performed. decision making. The above-mentioned embodiments of the present invention can better reuse the existing process, and at the same time, the MME can complete the access authentication verification of the relay, and the security is higher.

Device embodiment

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a base station, a relay node, and a mobility management entity are provided.

Fig. 5 is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of a base station according to the present invention. As shown in Figure 5, the base station of this embodiment includes:

The interface module 2 is used to forward the non-access sublayer message of the user side to the mobility management entity of the network side, and receive a corresponding feedback message (such as an initial terminal context establishment request message; or an initial context establishment request message for a relay node) ;

The identification module 4 is used to identify whether the originator of the non-access sublayer message is a relay node according to the feedback message from the mobility management entity; the feedback message may include relay identification information for distinguishing the relay node from a common user terminal and for Identify the identification information of the relay node type, therefore, the identification module 4 can identify the relay node and its type, for details, refer to the relevant description of the embodiment in Figure 4;

The processing module 5 is configured to implement a corresponding scheduling strategy according to the result of the identification module.

Fig. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a relay node according to the present invention. As shown in Figure 6, this embodiment includes: a random access module 1, used to establish a random access process with the network side; an identification module 3, used to add a specific For the relay node identification, please refer to the three ways of adding the relay node identification in step 3 in Figure 4 for details: IMSI or GUTI information of the user terminal, Global Cell ID information of the base station, and special relay ID information, which will not be discussed here Repeated descriptions of the same or similar content.

Fig. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment of a mobility management entity according to the present invention. As shown in Figure 7, the mobility management entity of this embodiment includes:

The interface module 6 is used to receive the initial user terminal message sent by the base station;

The identification module 7 is configured to determine whether the originator of the non-access sub-layer message is a relay node and its type according to the non-access sub-layer message in the initial user terminal message, see step 5 in FIG. 4 for details;

The processing module 8 is configured to notify the base station of the recognition result of the recognition module through the interface module 6, for details, refer to the two notification methods in step 6 in FIG. 4 .

The above-mentioned device embodiments belong to the same concept of the present invention, and the improvement on the network side or user side equipment can solve the problem of identifying the relay node on the network side, and complete the relay node identification while ensuring the access of the relay node. Validity verification and other functions.

Various embodiments of the method inventions in the above-mentioned Fig. 2-Fig. 4 can be implemented in a device having the structures shown in Fig. 5-Fig. 7 structural diagrams.

Fig. 8 is a schematic structural diagram of an embodiment in which a base station, a relay node and a mobility management entity are applied to relay node access identification according to the present invention. This embodiment is also a detailed schematic diagram of a relay node access system. For details, please refer to the third embodiment of the method and the description of the internal structure of the above-mentioned device. In this embodiment, the interior of the MME is further refined. Its interface module 6 and identification module 7 are similar to those in FIG.

The relay notification adding submodule is used to add the relay node identification used to identify the relay node in the initial terminal context establishment request message or in the initial context establishment request message for the relay node when the identification result is a relay node information and identification information of the relay node type;

The notification submodule is configured to relay the initial terminal context establishment request message processed by the relay notification adding submodule; or send the initial context establishment request message for the relay node to the base station.

As shown in FIG. 8 , information exchange is performed between devices in a wireless manner. The beneficial effects are the same as those of the method and each device embodiment, and will not be described again.

Those of ordinary skill in the art can understand that all or part of the steps for realizing the above-mentioned method embodiments can be completed by hardware related to program instructions, and the aforementioned program can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium. When the program is executed, the It includes the steps of the above-mentioned method embodiments; and the aforementioned storage medium includes: base stations, MMEs, relays and other various media that can store program codes.

Finally, it should be noted that: the above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention. Although the present invention has been described in detail with reference to the foregoing embodiments, for those skilled in the art, it still The technical solutions recorded in the foregoing embodiments may be modified, or some technical features thereof may be equivalently replaced. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and principles of the present invention shall be included within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (9)

1. A relay node identification method, related to LTE-A network, is characterized in that, comprising: The relay node carries a specific relay node identifier in the non-access sublayer message; the specific relay node identifier includes: The IMSI or GUTI information used to identify the relay user terminal, the Global Cell ID information used to identify the relay base station, and the special relay ID information; The network side identifies the relay node according to the relay node identifier; wherein, The operation of the network side identifying the relay node according to the relay node identifier includes: The network-side mobility management entity determines whether the originator of the non-access sublayer message is a relay node according to the relay node identifier; The mobility management entity notifies the base station forwarding the non-access stratum message of the identification result; The base station performs corresponding scheduling according to the identification result. 2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the operation of the mobility management entity notifying the identification result to the base station forwarding the non-access stratum message comprises: The mobility management entity notifies the base station forwarding the non-access stratum message of the identification result through an initial terminal context establishment request message; or The mobility management entity notifies the base station forwarding the non-access stratum message of the identification result through an initial context establishment request message directed at the relay node. 3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the initial terminal context establishment request message or the initial context establishment request message for the relay node comprises: Relay identification information for distinguishing a relay node from a normal user terminal; and Identification information used to identify the relay node type. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein when the identification result is a relay node, the relay identification information is the relay node identifier. 5. A base station, characterized in that, comprising: The interface module is used to forward the non-access sublayer message of the user side to the mobility management entity of the network side, and receive the corresponding feedback message; An identification module, configured to identify whether the originator of the non-access sublayer message is a relay node according to the feedback message from the mobility management entity; A processing module, configured to implement a corresponding scheduling strategy according to the result of the identification module. 6. The base station according to claim 5, characterized in that: The feedback message is an initial terminal context establishment request message; or an initial context establishment request message directed to the relay node by the mobility management entity; The feedback message includes relay identification information for distinguishing the relay node from a common user terminal and identification information for identifying the type of the relay node. 7. A relay node, characterized in that it comprises: A random access module, configured to establish a random access process with the network side; An identification module, configured to add a specific relay node identification to the non-access sublayer message when the connection between the random access module and the network side is established; The specific stanza identifier includes: The IMSI or GUTI information used to identify the relay user terminal, the Global Cell ID information used to identify the relay base station, and the special relay ID information; The mobility management entity on the network side determines whether the originator of the non-access sublayer message is a relay node according to the relay node identifier; The mobility management entity notifies the base station forwarding the non-access stratum message of the identification result; The base station performs corresponding scheduling according to the identification result. 8. A mobility management entity, comprising: an interface module, configured to receive an initial user terminal message sent by the base station; An identification module, configured to determine whether the initiator of the non-access sub-layer message is a relay node and the type of the relay node according to the non-access sub-layer message in the initial user terminal message; The non-access sublayer message includes a specific relay node identifier; The specific stanza identifier includes: The IMSI or GUTI information used to identify the user terminal of the relay, the Global Cell ID information used to identify the base station of the relay, and the special relay ID information; the processing module is used to pass the identification result of the identification module through the interface module The base station is notified. 9. The mobility management entity according to claim 8, wherein the processing module comprises: The relay notification adding submodule is used to add the relay node identification information and the relay node type in the initial terminal context establishment request message or the initial context establishment request message for the relay node when the identification result is a relay node identifying information; The notification submodule is configured to notify the relay of the initial terminal context establishment request message processed by the adding submodule; or send the initial context establishment request message for the relay node to the base station.