RU2616882C2 - Cluster access network, terminal equipment and method for joining cluster group - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: radio engineering, communication.

SUBSTANCE: when requesting to join a certain cluster group, the non-voting subscriber equipment receives a paging group message of this group using the identifier of this group and receives the confidential T-RNTI of the group from this message. The non-voting subscriber equipment receives a multicast group message in the TGCCH group channel, descrambles the received message using the received T-RNTI confidential identifier of the group, obtains the configuration information of shared channels of the group, configures the shared data channel in accordance with the content of the configuration information of the shared channels and receives shared data of the cluster call downlink in the shared data channel.

EFFECT: possibility of sharing channels in the broadband of a cluster network in the process of upgrading broadband cluster systems.

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Description

Technical field

The present invention relates to mobile communication systems, and describes a cluster access network, terminal equipment, and a method of joining a cluster group.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

At the end of the twentieth century, with the growing popularity of digital communication systems, cluster communication systems and services based on digital communication technologies were also widely used. The cluster communication system is a mobile planning system, and the cluster communication services provided by the cluster communication system have such technical characteristics as sharing and dynamic distribution of channels, which allows providing groups of users from various structural divisions and organizational units with services such as directional transfer directions and planning. In recent years, thanks to the rapid development of third and fourth generation wireless technologies, the requirements for many aspects of digital cluster communication systems have grown, for example, their bandwidth, speed and smooth evolution.

In cluster communication systems, the key technology is the sharing of resources, while in such systems, through the sharing of communication channels, simultaneous transmission of information to multiple called subscribers is achieved, which allows for simultaneous management and scheduling for multiple called subscribers. In systems of cluster communication of the 2nd and 3rd generation (2G or 3G), implemented on the basis of GSM, CDMA2000 and WCDMA technologies, the joint use of channels had a carefully developed implementation scheme, which was already widely used. The requirements for broadband wireless cluster communication systems today highlight the issue of implementing sharing of broadband channels based on Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology.

In earlier cluster communication systems, 2G or 3G, there is a carefully developed scheme for connecting subscribers of a cluster communication system to a group call, however, in cluster communication systems based on long-term evolution (LTE) technology, a sufficiently advanced method of connecting subscribers of a cluster communication system has not yet been proposed to a group call. In the prior art, the procedure for subscribers to access a cluster group in an LTE system is consistent with the illustration in FIG. one.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The technical challenge facing the present invention is to propose a cluster access network, terminal equipment and a method of joining a cluster group in order to solve the problem of channel sharing in broadband cluster communication and in the process of upgrading broadband cluster communication systems.

To solve the technical problem described above, the present invention provides a method of joining a cluster group, which includes:

upon request to join a specific cluster group, receive, by non-voting subscriber equipment, a group paging message of a certain group using the identifier of this group, and obtain a confidential scrambling and descrambling identifier (T-RNTI) of this group from the message; and

receiving, by subscriber equipment without the right to vote, a group broadcast message in a broadband control channel (TGCCH) of a group to which it is connected, descrambling a received group broadcast message using the received confidential identifier of a group T-RNTI, receiving configuration information of group shared channels and receiving jointly the used cluster call data in the shared data channel.

Preferably, said method also includes:

after creating a group call, periodically transmitting, by a cluster access network, a group paging message in a paging cluster channel, said group paging message comprising a group identifier and a confidential group scrambling and descrambling identifier; and

transmitting, by the cluster access network, a multicast message using the confidential T-RNTI of the group to the group units via the broadcast control channel (TGCCH) independently set for the group, said group broadcast message containing configuration information of the group shared channels.

Preferably, in the method described above, said shared channel configuration information includes at least the following:

radio resources of the physical layer of the shared data channel of the downlink of the group (TGTCH), information about the resources of the transmission channels for the wireless data channels of each level of the protocol stack of the radio interface, the type of call specified by the core network, and the membership of the call specified by the core network.

The present invention also provides terminal access network equipment, which includes:

the first block, configured: after creating a group call, for periodically transmitting a group paging message in a paging cluster channel, said group paging message comprising a group identifier and a confidential group scrambling and descrambling identifier (T-RNTI); and

a second unit, configured: for transmitting a group broadcast message using said confidential identifier T-RNTI of said group into group units on a broadcast control channel (TGCCH) independently set for said group, said group broadcast message containing configuration information of shared channels groups.

Preferably, in the cluster access network terminal equipment described above, said shared channel configuration information includes at least the following:

radio resources of the physical layer of the shared data channel of the downlink of the group (TGTCH), information about the resources of the transmission channels for the wireless data channels of each level of the protocol stack of the radio interface, the type of call specified by the core network, and the membership of the call specified by the core network.

Preferably, the cluster access network equipment described above is an evolved Node B.

The present invention also provides terminal equipment that includes:

the first block, configured: when the current subscriber equipment makes a request to join a specific group, to receive a group paging message of this group using the identifier of this group, and to obtain the confidential T-RNTI of the said group from it;

a second unit, configured: to receive a group broadcast message on a broadcast control channel (TGCCH), to descramble the received group broadcast message using the received confidential T-RNTI of the group, and to obtain configuration information of the group shared channels; and

the third block, configured: for configuring the shared data channel in accordance with the contents of the received configuration information of the shared channels, and for receiving the shared downlink data of the cluster call in said shared data channel.

Preferably, in the equipment described above, said group shared channel configuration information includes at least the following:

radio resources of the physical layer of the shared data channel of the downlink of the group (TGTCH), information about the resources of the transmission channels for the wireless data channels of each level of the protocol stack of the radio interface, the type of call specified by the core network, and the membership of the call specified by the core network.

Preferably, the terminal equipment described above is a terminal equipment of a long-term evolution (LTE) system.

The technical scheme of the present invention provides a method and equipment for connecting cluster communication subscribers to a group call based on LTE technology, which can effectively solve the key problem of channel sharing in broadband cluster communication systems and in the process of upgrading broadband cluster communication systems.

Brief Description of the Drawings

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a network access algorithm in traditional LTE systems.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart of a data processing algorithm for receiving and processing by a non-voting subscriber a confidential configuration message of downlink shared channels in a common downlink group channel in one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 represents a sequence of operations associated with a configuration message of shared channels of a group in an algorithm for establishing a cluster call by an eNodeB based on an LTE system.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a configuration message for group shared channels in an algorithm for adding, deleting, and modifying a group broadcast downlink data channel in the case of a cluster call based on an LTE system.

FIG. 5 is a sequence of operations associated with the configuration message of the shared channels of a group in a delayed access algorithm of a subscriber in the case of a cluster call based on an LTE system.

Preferred Embodiments

Below, in combination with the attached drawings, the technical scheme of the present invention will be described in more detail. It should be noted that embodiments of the present invention and their characteristics can optionally be combined with each other in the absence of contradictions.

First Embodiment

In this embodiment of the present invention, a method for joining a cluster group is provided, its main purpose being the procedure for ensuring the connection of subscriber equipment without voting rights to the cluster group. Namely, the procedure has the following form:

when the non-voting subscriber equipment makes a request to join a specific cluster group, the non-voting subscriber equipment receives a group paging message of this group using the identifier of this group and obtains the confidential scrambling and descrambling identifier (T-RNTI) of this group from Messages and

receiving, by subscriber equipment without the right to vote, a group broadcast message in a broadband control channel (TGCCH) of a group to which it is connected, descrambling a received group broadcast message using the received confidential identifier of a group T-RNTI, receiving configuration information of group shared channels and receiving jointly the used cluster call data in the shared data channel.

It should be noted that the above procedure for connecting subscriber equipment without voting rights to the cluster group also includes a functional procedure performed on the side of the cluster access network, while the above procedure has the following form:

after creating a group call, the cluster access network periodically transmits the group paging message in the paging cluster channel, wherein the group paging message contains a group identifier and a confidential scrambling and descrambling identifier (T-RNTI) of this group; and

the cluster access network transmits a group broadcast message using said confidential T-RNTI of the group to group units on a broadcast control channel (TGCCH) independently set for said group, said group broadcast message containing configuration information of group shared channels.

Moreover, the configuration information of the shared channels transmitted by the cluster access network in the TGCCH channel is the most critical message in the group broadcast control signaling of the downlink and contains information of at least three of the following types:

1. Radio resources of the physical layer in a group shared downlink data channel, TGTCH;

2. Information about the resources of the transmission channels for wireless data transmission channels at each level of the protocol stack for the radio interface;

3. Other information, for example, the transit of relevant information, including the type of call and call identity, defined by the core network.

From the above it follows that at the time of the initial formation of the group, the non-voting subscriber joins the group using group paging and group configuration message of the TGCCH channel. Additionally, group shared channel configuration information may also have the options described below.

1. The establishment, modification and deletion of a multicarrier downlink broadcast data channel after group creation can be performed using the configuration information of the group shared channels.

2. After creating a cluster communication group, non-voting subscribers in one cluster group perform deferred access.

The specific procedure for joining a cluster group in accordance with the method described above will be discussed below in combination with a specific application scenario.

It is assumed that the non-voting subscriber receives and processes the configuration information of the shared channels of the group in the common downstream shared channel of the group in order to perform the procedure of joining the group call, namely, the procedure corresponds to the illustration of figure 2 and includes steps 201-204, described below .

In step 201, the eNodeB broadcasts the group paging message to the cell on the paging channel, wherein the message contains a group ID and a confidential group scrambling and descrambling identifier T-RNTI.

At this step, the purpose of transmitting a group paging message is to notify the cell about the existence of the group and transmit the most basic information to access the group call.

In step 202, after receiving a group paging message, the terminal device in the same group responds with a paging response message using the T-RNTI identifier from the group paging message as a scrambling code for monitoring the TGCCH channel, and performs a TGCCH message analysis, waiting for reception of shared channel configuration information of this group.

In step 203, the eNodeB receives a response paging message from the terminal device if no group instance has been created, creates a group instance and transmits the configuration information of the shared channels of the group in the TGCCH, scrambles the configuration information of the shared channels of the group using the group T-RNTI identifier as a scrambling code, and at the same time establishes a shared data channel, TGTCH, in the eNodeB.

In step 204, the terminal monitors the TGCCH, performs descrambling using the same T-RNTI, obtains the correct configuration information of the shared channels of the group, obtains the corresponding information about the physical resources of the wireless communication and information about the wireless data channels from it, and sets a shared data channel, TGTCH, identical to that configured by the eNodeB.

As can be seen from the above flowchart, the non-voting subscriber and the eNodeB use the same configuration channel TGTCH, therefore, the non-voting subscriber terminal is capable of receiving and analyzing downlink broadcast data transmitted by the eNodeB in the TGTCH , and accordingly, the procedure of subscriber joining the group is completed.

The functionality of the configuration message of the downlink broadcast channel, designed to guide the subscriber in order to join the group during the whole procedure, is illustrated in FIG. 3. In accordance with the illustration, the message is transmitted after the group instance is initiated by the eNodeB using the paging message, and the downlink data broadcast channel TGTCH is set in the eNodeB, that is, the eNodeB first sets up the channel for itself .

After joining a non-voting subscriber to a group, in accordance with the flowchart of the algorithm and the LTE characteristics, the radio interface between the eNodeB and the terminal supports the establishment of a data channel with a lot of data. In this case, the sequence of operations for establishing, modifying, and deleting a transmission channel with a plurality of data is illustrated in FIG. 4 and is similar to the group creation process.

It should also be noted that since the group instance on the network side and the subscriber with the terminal device are not in the one-to-one relationship, but in the one-to-many relationship, a situation may arise in which other subscribers without the right to vote during a cluster call they will perform access after creating an instance of the group on the network side, while the implementation of joining such users to the group is based on the periodic transmission by the eNodeB node of a group paging message and configuration information of shared channels fishing groups. In accordance with the illustration of FIG. 5, the terminal device can receive a group paging message at any time, and if it is found that the group ID in the group paging message is identical to the group ID of this terminal equipment, then it analyzes the most basic group call resource T-RNTI in the message , and upon receipt of the identifier, the T-RNTI uses this T-RNTI identifier as a scrambling code for signaling analysis on the TGCCH. A correctly analyzed message will obviously be a group configuration message transmitted using the same T-RNTI, and after correctly analyzing the message, a broadcast information channel for downlink data transmission, TGTCH, that is, a time delay will occur and the subscriber may access the group at any given time.

In short, there is only one way to join a cluster communication group of subscribers, however, many different event scenarios may arise. Moreover, in each of the scenarios, transmission of the signaling on the configuration of the downlink broadcast channel, TGCCH, is of critical importance.

Second Embodiment

This embodiment of the present invention provides cluster access network equipment that includes at least a first block and a second block.

The first block periodically transmits a group paging message in a paging cluster channel, wherein said group paging message contains a group identifier (ID) and a confidential group scrambling and descrambling identifier, T-RNTI.

The second block transmits the group broadcast message scrambled using the confidential T-RNTI of the group to the group units via the broadcast control channel, TGCCH, independently set for each group, wherein the group broadcast message contains configuration information of the group shared channels.

Moreover, the configuration information of the shared channels of the group includes information of at least three of the following types:

1. Radio resources of the physical layer in a shared group downlink data channel (TGTCH);

2. Information about the resources of the transmission channels for wireless data transmission channels at each level of the protocol stack for the radio interface;

3. Other information, for example, the type of call specified by the core network, and the membership of the call specified by the core network, etc.

In particular, the cluster access network equipment described above may be an evolved Node B (eNodeB).

Third Embodiment

In this embodiment of the present invention, there is provided terminal equipment that includes at least a first block, a second block, and a third block.

When the current subscriber equipment makes a request to join a specific group, the first block receives a group paging message using the identifier of this group and obtains the confidential T-RNTI from the message.

The second block receives the group broadcast message in the dedicated broadcast control channel, TGCCH, descrambles the received group broadcast message using the received confidential group T-RNTI identifier, and obtains configuration information of the group shared channels.

The third block configures the shared data channel in accordance with the contents of the received configuration information of the shared channels of the group and receives the shared downlink data of the cluster call in this shared data channel.

Moreover, the configuration information of the shared channels of the group includes information of at least three of the following types:

1. Radio resources of the physical layer in a shared group downlink data channel (TGTCH);

2. Information about the resources of the transmission channels for wireless data transmission channels at each level of the protocol stack for the radio interface;

3. Other information, for example, the type of call specified by the core network, and the membership of the call specified by the core network, etc.

In particular, the terminal equipment described above may be LTE terminal equipment.

As can be seen from the above-described embodiments of the present invention, the technical principle of implementing non-voting deferred access of a subscriber is reflected mainly in the two aspects described below in the technical scheme of the present invention.

The first of these is the periodic retransmission of a group paging message, while the transmission interval can be configured in accordance with the actual state of the network, which guarantees reception of the message by the terminal device and allows, at the same time, reduce the transmitted amount of service information in the system.

The second aspect is to configure the information on the transmission channel in the form of a complete set, since the cluster communication group inherits and supports the multi-service characteristics of LTE transmission channels, thanks to periodic transmission it is guaranteed that the non-voting subscriber performing delayed access can accept the latest configuration of information about used information channels for data transmission of the downlink when accessing the system at any time, while the number of information x is the current channel number of them.

Specialists in the art should understand that all of the steps of the above method, or part of them, can be performed using software-controlled equipment, while the program can be stored on a machine-readable medium, for example, read-only memory, disk, optical disk etc. Alternatively, all or part of the steps of the above embodiments of the present invention may also be implemented using one or more integrated circuits. Accordingly, each module or block in the above-described embodiments of the present invention may be implemented in the form of hardware, or may also be implemented in the form of a software function module. Accordingly, the present invention is not limited to any candy combination of hardware and software.

The above is a description of only preferred embodiments of the present invention, which should not be used to limit the scope of legal protection of the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent replacements, enhancements, etc. within the essence and scope of the present invention fall within the scope of legal protection of the claims of the present invention.

Industrial applicability

The technical scheme of the present invention provides a method and equipment for connecting cluster communication subscribers to a group call based on LTE technology, which can effectively solve the key problem of channel sharing in broadband cluster communication systems and in the process of upgrading broadband cluster communication systems.

Claims (21)

1. The method of joining a cluster group, including: when requesting to join a particular cluster group, receiving, by non-voting subscriber equipment, a group paging message of this group using the identifier of this group and receiving a confidential scrambling and descrambling identifier (T-RNTI) of this group from the said paging message; and receiving, by subscriber equipment without the right to vote, a group broadcast message in a broadband control channel (TGCCH) of a group to which it is connected, descrambling a received group broadcast message using the received confidential identifier T-RNTI of this group, receiving configuration information of shared channels of the group, configuring shared data channel in accordance with the contents of this configuration information estno used group of channels and reception shared downlink data cluster call in the shared data channel. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: after creating a group call, periodically transmitting, by the cluster access network, a group paging message in a cluster paging channel, said group paging message comprising a group identifier and a confidential group scrambling and descrambling identifier (T-RNTI); and transmitting, by the cluster access network, a multicast message using the confidential T-RNTI of the group to the group units via the broadcast control channel (TGCCH) independently set for the group, said group broadcast message containing configuration information of the group shared channels. 3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein said group shared channel configuration information includes at least: radio resources of the physical layer of the shared data channel of the downlink of the group (TGTCH), information about the resources of the transmission channels for the wireless data channels of each level of the protocol stack of the radio interface, the type of call specified by the core network, and the membership of the call specified by the core network. 4. Cluster access network equipment, including: a first unit configured to periodically transmit a group paging message in a paging cluster channel after creating a group call, said group paging message comprising a group identifier and a confidential group scrambling and descrambling identifier (T-RNTI); and a second block configured to transmit a group broadcast message using said confidential identifier T-RNTI of said group to group units on a broadcast control channel (TGCCH) independently set for each group, said group broadcast message containing configuration information of group shared channels. 5. The equipment of claim 4, wherein said configuration information of the group shared channels includes at least: radio resources of the physical layer of the shared data channel of the downlink of the group (TGTCH), information about the resources of the transmission channels for the wireless data channels of each level of the protocol stack of the radio interface, the type of call specified by the core network, and the membership of the call specified by the core network. 6. Equipment according to claim 4 or 5, which is an evolved node B. 7. Terminal equipment, including: a first unit configured when the current terminal equipment is requesting to join a particular group to receive a group paging message of this group using the identifier of this group and to obtain a confidential scrambling and descrambling identifier (T-RNTI) of this group from this group paging message; a second unit, configured: to receive a group broadcast message on a broadcast control channel (TGCCH), to descramble the received group broadcast message using the received confidential T-RNTI of the group, and to obtain configuration information of the group shared channels; and a third unit configured to configure the shared data channel in accordance with the contents of the received configuration information of the shared channels and to receive the shared downlink data of the cluster call in said shared data channel. 8. The equipment of claim 7, wherein said configuration information of the shared channels of the group includes at least: radio resources of the physical layer of the shared data channel of the downlink of the group (TGTCH), information about the resources of the transmission channels for the wireless data channels of each level of the protocol stack of the radio interface, the type of call specified by the core network, and the membership of the call specified by the core network. 9. The equipment of claim 7 or 8, which is the terminal equipment of a long-term evolution (LTE) system.

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