WO2012146205A1

WO2012146205A1 - Home enb and method for determining connection state of home enb

Info

Publication number: WO2012146205A1
Application number: PCT/CN2012/074894
Authority: WO
Inventors: 祝建建; 奚进; 谢峰; 陈琳; 黄莹; 翟恒星
Original assignee: 中兴通讯股份有限公司
Priority date: 2011-04-29
Filing date: 2012-04-28
Publication date: 2012-11-01
Also published as: CN102761924B; CN102761924A

Abstract

Disclosed in the present invention are a Home eNB(HeNB) and a method for determining the connection state of the HeNB are disclosed in the invention. The method comprises the following steps: according to the switching operation procedure, the HeNB determines whether the HeNB is connected to the HeNB Gateway(HeNB GW). By guaranteeing the precondition of transparence design principle for the HeNB GW, the invention avoids occurrence of redundancy cells and signallings, and further avoids redundancy operations.

Description

Method for determining connection status of home base station and home base station

Technical field

The present invention relates to a wireless cellular communication system, and more particularly to a method for determining a connection state of a home base station and a home base station in an LTE home base station deployment scenario.

Background technique

Home eNB (HeNB) is a small, low-power base station deployed in indoor locations such as homes and offices. The main advantage of home base stations is that they can provide users with higher service rates and lower the cost of using high-rate services, while at the same time making up for the lack of coverage of existing distributed cellular wireless communication systems. The advantages of home base stations are affordability, convenience, low power output, plug and play, and more.

The home base station network architecture in the Advanced Long Term Evolution (LTE) system introduced by the Third Generation Partnership Projects (3GPP) is shown in Figure 1. The HeNB is connected to the core network element based on the core network interface protocol defined in the standard, and the user equipment (User Equipment, UE) accesses the HeNB based on the air interface interface protocol defined in the standard. To a large extent, there is no difference between the HeNB and the ordinary macro base station (Macro eNB). Based on network planning requirements, in some deployment scenarios, the HeNB and the Mobile Network Entity (MME) may also enter a new network element: Home Base Station Gateway (HeNB GateWay, HeNB GW) ). The main functions of the HeNB GW are: relaying and/or terminating the control plane between the HeNB and the MME and/or terminating the user plane data packet between the HeNB and the Serving Gateway (S-GW); The UE accessing the network selects the serving MME; assumes a part of the paging operation related functions. The Security Gateway (SeGW) in Figure 1 is used to take care of security-related functions in the network. The main function of the HeNB Management System (HMS) is to perform configuration management operations on the HeNB.

The existing system requires that the introduction of the HeNB GW does not affect the existing network structure. The HeNB GW related signaling, messages, and interaction operations need to follow the transparent design principle. Based on the principle of transparent design, for HeNB, HeNB GW is equivalent to one MME, for MME Said HeNB GW is equivalent to one HeNB. Due to the ignorance of the HeNB GW, the HeNB cannot know whether the peer network element with which the S1 connection is established is the MME or the HeNB GW. Therefore, some signaling messages in some operation flows of the existing network carry redundant cells and/or Redundant signaling occurs in the operational flow.

Based on the status of the existing standard protocol, it is known that in the scenario where the HeNB GW exists, some signaling messages sent by the HeNB to the MME need to carry more cells. For example, based on the LTE protocol standard document description, in the operation flow of the UE completing the handover based on the X2 interface, if the target base station is the HeNB connected to the MME through the HeNB GW, the target HeNB sends a route conversion request (PATH SWITCH REQUEST) to the MME. The message needs to additionally carry the Globally Unique MME Identifier (GUMMEI) of the source MME. However, due to the ignorance of the HeNB GW, when the HeNB GW does not exist, the target HeNB also needs to carry the GUMMEI cell in the route conversion request signaling, that is, the bearer transmission of the redundant cell is caused. In addition, in the scenario of the signaling interaction of some operations, the HeNB needs to additionally add some signaling to the MME for the scenario in which the HeNB GW exists. Due to the ignorance of the HeNB GW, in the scenario where the HeNB GW does not exist, these Signaling also needs to be transmitted, which will cause redundant signaling transmission. For example, after the UE completes the handover from the source HeNB to the target base station based on the X2 handover procedure, the source HeNB needs to release the context information of the UE that has been handed over based on the indication message of receiving the target base station, if the source HeNB is connected to the MME through the HeNB GW. Then, it is further required that the HeNB GW whose source HeNB triggers its connection releases the context of the UE. However, due to the ignorance of the HeNB GW, when the HeNB is not connected to the HeNB GW, the source HeNB will still send a message to trigger the HeNB GW to release the UE context. In this scenario, the MME will receive redundant signaling, so it is required. The system adds additional processing mechanisms to handle these redundancy.

Summary of the invention

A technical problem to be solved by embodiments of the present invention is to provide a method for determining a connection relationship between a home base station and a home base station and a home base station to avoid redundant cells, redundant signaling, or redundant operations.

In order to solve the above problem, an embodiment of the present invention provides a method for determining a connection relationship between a home base station and a home base station gateway, including:

Determining, by the home base station, whether the home base station is connected to the home base station network based on a handover operation procedure turn off.

Optionally, determining, by the home base station, whether the home base station is connected to the home base station gateway, according to a handover operation procedure, includes:

Determining, by the home base station, according to the handover request message received on the S1 interface: when the handover request message carries the mobile management entity identifier and the user equipment identifier allocated by the mobility management entity, the home base station is determined to be connected. And to the home base station gateway; when the handover request message does not carry the mobile management entity identifier and the user equipment identifier of the mobility management entity identifies two cells, it is determined that the home base station is not connected to the home base station gateway.

Optionally, the method further includes: if the home base station determines that it is connected to the home base station gateway, the signaling message carries a specific cell, and if the home base station determines that it is not connected to the home base station gateway, The specific signaling element does not carry a specific cell, and the specific cell includes a cell that needs to be notified to the home base station gateway in the handover operation.

Optionally, when the home base station is the target base station of the 切换2 handover operation procedure: when the home base station determines that it is not connected to the home base station gateway, the home base station is configured to send a route conversion request signaling message on the S1 interface. The service mobility management entity identifier cell when the user equipment does not carry the network based on the source base station accessing the network;

When the home base station determines that it is connected to the home base station gateway, the route conversion request signaling message sent by the home base station on the S1 interface carries the service mobility management entity identifier cell when the user equipment accesses the network based on the source base station.

Optionally, the method further includes: if the home base station determines that it is connected to the home base station gateway, performs a specific operation and/or sends a specific signaling message, and the home base station determines that it is not connected to the home base station gateway. And not performing a specific operation and/or not transmitting a specific signaling message, the specific operation including an operation related to the home gateway in the handover operation, where the specific signaling message includes a handover operation needs to be sent to The signaling message of the home gateway.

Optionally, when the home base station is used as the source base station of the Χ2 handover operation procedure:

When the home base station determines that it is not connected to the home base station gateway, the home base station does not trigger the peer network element to release the context of the user equipment that is performing the handover operation;

When the home base station determines that it is connected to the home base station gateway, the home base station triggers and builds The home base station gateway to which the SI is connected releases the context of the user equipment that is performing the handover operation.

Optionally, the method further includes: the home base station further acquiring, by the home base station, information about whether the peer home base station that establishes the X2 connection is connected to the home base station gateway, where the home base station is the source base station of the X2 handover operation procedure, When the peer home base station is used as the target base station:

If the home base station and the peer home base station are not connected to the home base station gateway, and the home base station and the opposite home base station are both uniquely connected to one mobility management entity, the home base station is sent to the home station The handover request message of the peer home base station does not carry the service mobility management entity identifier cell when the user equipment accesses the network based on the source base station;

If at least one of the home base station and the peer home base station is not connected to the home base station gateway, or at least one of the home base station and the opposite home base station is not uniquely connected to a mobility management entity, the home The handover request message sent by the base station to the peer home base station carries the service mobility management entity identifier cell when the user equipment accesses the network based on the source base station.

Optionally, the method further includes: the home base station creating a state variable, the value of the state variable reflecting whether it is connected to the home base station gateway; and creating a timer associated with the state variable;

Before the determining, by the home base station, according to the handover request message received on the S1 interface, the method further includes: determining whether the timer is in an unstarted or timeout state, and if yes, performing the determining operation, after performing the determining operation, Setting the value of the state variable according to the determination result, and starting or restarting the timer.

The embodiment of the present invention further provides a home base station, where the home base station is configured to: determine, according to a handover operation procedure, whether the home base station is connected to a home base station gateway.

Optionally, the home base station is configured to determine, according to the handover request message received on the S1 interface, when the handover request message carries the mobility management entity identifier and the user equipment identifier allocated by the mobility management entity, Determining that the home base station is connected to the home base station gateway; when the handover request message does not carry the mobility management entity identifier and the user equipment identifier of the mobile management entity identifies two cells, determining that the home base station is not connected to the home base station Gateway.

Optionally, the home base station is further configured to: if it is determined to be connected to the home base station gateway, carry a specific cell in the sent signaling message, and if it is determined that it is not connected to the home base station gateway, The sent signaling message does not carry a specific cell, and the specific cell includes a cell that needs to be notified to the home base station gateway in the handover operation.

Optionally, the home base station is configured to: when the home base station is the target base station of the X2 handover operation procedure: when the home base station determines that it is not connected to the home base station gateway, the home base station sends on the S1 interface The route switching request signaling message does not carry the service mobility management entity identification cell when the user equipment accesses the network based on the source base station;

Optionally, the home base station is further configured to: if it is determined to connect to the home base station gateway, perform a specific operation and/or send a specific signaling message, if it is determined that it is not connected to the home base station gateway, Performing a specific operation and/or not transmitting a specific signaling message, the specific operation including an operation related to the home gateway in a handover operation, the specific signaling message including a handover operation to be sent to the home Signaling message of the gateway.

Optionally, the home base station is configured to: when the home base station is the source base station of the X2 handover operation procedure: when the home base station determines that it is not connected to the home base station gateway, the home base station does not trigger the establishment of the S1 The connected peer network element releases the context of the user equipment that is performing the handover operation; when the home base station determines that it is connected to the home base station gateway, the home base station triggers the home base station gateway with which the S1 connection is established to release the user who is performing the handover operation The context of the device.

Optionally, the home base station is further configured to: acquire information about whether the peer home base station that establishes the X2 connection with the home base station is connected to the home base station, where the home base station is the source base station of the X2 handover operation procedure, and the opposite end When the home base station is used as the target base station:

If the home base station and the peer home base station are not connected to the home base station gateway, and the home base station and the opposite home base station are both uniquely connected to one mobility management entity, the home base station is sent to the home station The handover request message of the peer home base station does not carry the identifier cell of the service mobility management entity when the user equipment accesses the network based on the source base station; If the at least one of the home base station and the peer home base station is not connected to the home base station gateway, or the at least one of the home base station and the opposite home base station is not uniquely connected to a mobility management entity, the home The handover request message sent by the base station to the peer home base station carries the identifier cell of the service mobility management entity when the user equipment accesses the network based on the source base station.

Optionally, the home base station is further configured to: create a state variable, where the value of the state variable reflects whether it is connected to the home base station gateway; and create a timer associated with the state variable;

And before the determining according to the switching request message received on the S1 interface: determining whether the timer is in an unstarted or timeout state, and if yes, performing the determining operation, after performing the determining operation, setting according to the determination result The value of the state variable is set and the timer is started or restarted.

The embodiment of the present invention provides a method for determining whether the HeNB is connected to the HeNB GW based on the user equipment handover operation procedure, so as to avoid the occurrence of redundant cells and redundant signaling, and further avoid Redundant operation. BRIEF abstract

1 is a network structure diagram of a home base station;

2 is a determination and operation diagram 1 based on a handover request (HANDOVER REQUEST) signaling message in an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a determination and operation diagram 2 based on the HANDOVER REQUEST signaling message in the embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a diagram 3 of determining and operating based on a HANDOVER REQUEST signaling message according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 5 is a flowchart showing a process of controlling a HeNB to frequently perform a determination operation in an embodiment of the present invention.

Preferred embodiment of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that, in the case of no conflict, the features in the embodiments and the embodiments in the present application may be arbitrarily combined with each other. The embodiment of the invention provides a method for determining a connection relationship between a home base station and a home base station gateway, including:

The home base station determines whether the home base station is connected to the home base station gateway based on the handover operation procedure.

Optionally, the HeNB determines whether it is connected to the HeNB GW by carrying the MME identifier and the MME-assigned UE identifier (Information Element, IE) in the handover request message received on the S1 interface. For each IE, the HeNB is connected to the HeNB GW, otherwise, the HeNB is not connected to the HeNB GW.

Optionally, the HeNB determines whether to carry a specific cell in the sent signaling message according to whether it is connected to the HeNB GW.

Optionally, the HeNB decides whether to perform a specific operation and/or transmit a specific signaling message according to whether it is connected to the state of the HeNB GW.

Optionally, when the HeNB is the target base station based on the X2 handover operation procedure, the method includes: if the HeNB determines that it is not connected to the HeNB GW, the HeNB does not carry the UE based on the source base station in the route conversion request signaling message sent on the SI interface. The identity cell of the serving MME when accessing the network;

If the HeNB determines that it is connected to the HeNB GW, the route conversion request signaling message sent by the HeNB on the SI interface carries the identifier cell of the serving MME when the UE accesses the network based on the source base station.

Optionally, the HeNB further acquires information about whether the peer HeNB that establishes the X2 connection with the HeNB GW is connected to the HeNB GW, and the HeNB is used as the source base station of the X2 handover operation procedure. When the peer HeNB is used as the target base station:

If the HeNB and the peer HeNB are not connected to the HeNB GW, and the HeNB and the peer HeNB are both uniquely connected to one MME, the HeNB sends a handover request message to the opposite end HeNB. The identifier cell of the serving MME when the UE is based on the source base station accessing the network is not carried in the UE;

If the HeNB and the peer HeNB are not connected to the HeNB GW, or if the HeNB and the peer HeNB are not uniquely connected to one MME, the HeNB The handover request message sent to the peer HeNB carries the identifier cell of the monthly service MME when the UE accesses the network based on the source base station.

Optionally, when the HeNB is the source base station based on the X2 handover operation procedure, the method includes: if the HeNB determines that it is not connected to the HeNB GW, the HeNB does not trigger the peer network element with which the S1 connection is established to release the UE that is performing the handover operation. Context

If the HeNB determines that it is connected to the HeNB GW, the HeNB triggers the HeNB GW with which the S1 connection is established to release the context of the UE that is performing the handover operation.

Optionally, the HeNB creates a state variable, and the value of the state variable reflects whether it is connected to the HeNB GW.

Optionally, in the scenario of the home base station application of the LTE system, the HeNB introduces a timer mechanism to avoid frequent execution of the determining operation, and further includes:

Establishing a timer associated with the state variable that reflects whether the HeNB is connected to the HeNB GW; when the timer is in the initiating or timeout state, when the HeNB receives the handover request message, performing the foregoing operation of determining whether the HeNB connects to the HeNB GW; After determining the operation, setting the value of the state variable according to the determination result, and starting or restarting the timer;

When the timer is in the non-timeout state, when the HeNB receives the handover request message, the HeNB does not perform the above operation of determining whether the HeNB is connected to the HeNB GW.

The parameters and/or status of the above timers may be configured and/or modified by the HeNB and/or the home base station management system.

Figure 1 depicts the home base station network structure defined in the LTE standard. In the actual deployment scenario, after the HeNB power-on operation process is complete, the S1 connection is established with the MME or the HeNB GW. When the S1 connection between the HeNB and the peer network element is completed, the connection request of the UE is accepted, and The UE provides the service. Based on the accurate determination of the presence or absence of the HeNB GW, the system can perform some decisions more accurately in some scenarios, avoiding carrying redundant signals in some signaling messages, avoiding transmitting redundant signaling messages, and avoiding triggering against Redundant cells and redundant signaling processing operations can further optimize system performance on an original basis.

Example 1 According to the existing system flow, after the HeNB successfully establishes the S1 connection with the MME or the HeNB GW, the HeNB can accept the connection of the UE or switch the access request. When a certain UE switches to the target HeNB based on the S1 handover operation procedure, the core network element MME sends a handover request (HANDOVER REQUEST) message to the target HeNB for performing the handover operation. When the target HeNB is connected to the HeNB GW, the HANDOVER REQUEST message sent from the MME needs to pass through the HeNB GW to reach the target HeNB. When the HANDOVER REQUEST message is forwarded to the target HeNB by the HeNB GW, the HeNB GW needs to carry an additional two IEs in the message: GUMMEI and MME UE S1AP ID 2, where GUMMEI is the identity of the MME serving the UE, MME UE S1AP ID 2 is a service identifier assigned to the UE by the MME serving the UE. When the HeNB is not connected to the HeNB GW and directly connects to the MME, the two IEs do not need to be carried in the HANDOVER REQUEST message.

As shown in FIG. 2, when HeNB2 is the target HeNB of the S1 handover operation, a decision operation is performed when receiving the HANDOVER REQUEST message from the S1 interface, and the message carries the GUMMEI and the MME UE S1AP ID 2 In the case of IEs, HeNB2 can determine that it is connected to the HeNB GW, and conversely, it can be determined that it is not connected to the HeNB GW, but is directly connected to the MME. After the HeNB2 completes the determining operation, the value of a state variable previously created is set according to the result of the determining operation. For convenience of description, the state variable is named HeGW—Conn—State, when the HeGW—Conn—State is taken After the value setting is completed, the value of the HeGW_Conn_State can reflect whether the HeNB is connected to the HeNB GW.

As shown in FIG. 2, during a handover operation from a source base station to a HeNB 2 by a certain UE based on the X2 handover operation procedure, the HeNB 2 sends a PATH SWITCH REQUEST message to the MME during the handover completion phase. The message triggers the MME to perform corresponding operations to complete the route conversion of the core network to the UE to complete the handover operation of the UE from the source base station to the HeNB2. Before HeNB2 sends a PATH SWITCH REQUEST message based on the S1 interface, it needs to first determine how to encapsulate the message. The specific decision is as follows:

HeNB2 first checks the value of the HeGW-Conn-State state variable saved by itself. If the value of HeGW-Conn-State reflects that it is connected to the HeNB GW, it needs to carry the cell Source in the PATH SWITCH REQUEST message to be sent. MME GUMMEI, the cell is used to indicate that the UE that is performing the handover operation is connected to the core network based on the source base station. The identity of the MME. If the value of HeGW_Conn_State reflects that it is not connected to the HeNB GW, the source MME GUMMEL is not required to be carried in the PATH SWITCH REQUEST message to be sent.

After HeNB2 completes the decision operation for the encapsulated content of the PATH SWITCH REQUEST signaling message, it can encapsulate and send the message based on the S1 interface.

Example 2

In the same embodiment, in this embodiment, HeNB1 still performs a decision operation based on the received HANDOVER REQUEST message, and further sets the value of the state variable HeGW_Conn_State to reflect whether it is connected to the HeNB GW. As shown in FIG. 3, during a handover operation from HeNB1 to a target base station by a certain UE based on an X2 handover operation procedure, in a handover completion phase, the target base station sends a UE CONTEXT RELEASE message to the HeNB1 to trigger. HeNB1 releases the context of the UE that is performing the handover operation. After HeNB1 receives the UE CONTEXT RELEASE, it needs to perform further determination as follows:

HeNBl first checks the value of the HeGW-Conn-State state variable that it saves, if

The value of the HeGW_Conn_State reflects that it is connected to the HeNB GW, and it can be determined that the S1 interface needs to send an indication message to the HeNB GW to which it is connected to trigger the HeNB GW to release the context of the UE that is performing the handover operation. If the value of the HeGW_Conn_State reflects that it is not connected to the HeNB GW, it may be determined that the peer network element that initiates the S1 connection based on the S1 interface is not required to release the context of the UE that is performing the handover operation.

When HeNB1 completes the above determination operation, further operations can be performed based on the determination result.

Example 3

In the same embodiment, in the present embodiment, HeNB1 and HeNB2 still perform a decision operation based on the received HANDOVER REQUEST message, and further set the value of the state variable HeGW_Conn_State to reflect whether it is connected to the HeNB GW. When both HeNB1 and HeNB2 know the result of whether they are connected to the HeNB GW, the X2 interface mutually informs the opposite HeNB to store and/or update the determination result of whether or not each other is connected to the HeNB GW. As shown in FIG. 4, when a certain UE performs a handover operation from HeNB1 to HeNB2 based on the Χ2 handover operation procedure, in the handover preparation phase, the HeNB1 needs to perform a determination operation before transmitting a HANDOVER REQUEST message to the HeNB2, as follows:

HeNB1 first checks the value of the state variable HeGW_Conn_State-1, which reflects whether it is directly connected to the HeNB GW, and the value of the state variable HeGW_Conn_State-2, which reflects whether HeNB2 is directly connected to the HeNB GW. If the values of the two state variables reflect that HeNB1 and HeNB2 are not connected to the HeNB GW, and both HeNB1 and HeNB2 are connected to one MME, the cell GUMMEI does not need to be carried in the HANDOVER REQUEST message to be sent. The cell is used to indicate the identity of the serving MME when the UE performing the handover operation is connected to the core network based on HeNB1. If the condition that HeNB1 and HeNB2 are not connected to the HeNB GW is not satisfied or the condition that HeNB1 and HeNB2 are uniquely connected to one MME is not satisfied, the cell GUMMEI needs to be carried in the HANDOVER REQUEST message to be transmitted.

After HeNB1 completes the decision operation for the encapsulated content of the HANDOVER REQUEST signaling message, it can encapsulate and send the message based on the X2 interface.

Example 4

In the embodiment, the HeNB still performs the determining operation based on the received HANDOVER REQUEST message, and further sets the value of the state variable HeGW_Conn_State to reflect whether it is Connect to the HeNB GW. The home base station may perform a determination operation every time a HANDOVER REQUEST message is received, or set a determination condition to perform a determination operation when the home base station receives the HANDOVER REQUEST message and satisfies the set determination condition.

When a large number of UEs switch to the HeNB based on the S1 handover operation procedure in a short time, the HeNB may receive several HANDOVER REQUEST messages in a short time, and the value of the HeGW-Conn-State state variable does not change frequently or even There is no change, so the judgment condition can be preset and the judgment is made when the judgment condition is satisfied. Reduced by default judgment conditions Less unnecessary determination of the execution of the operation to save system resource overhead. For example, when the HeNB creates the state variable HeGW_Conn_State, an association timer is introduced, and based on the timer, the execution of the unnecessary determination operation is reduced to save system resource overhead, and the execution condition of the determination operation is the timer. Is not started or has timed out. The specific method of using the timer is further explained below.

As shown in Figure 5, after the HeNB is powered on, set the value of the HeGW-Conn-State state variable.

The HeNB is not connected to the HeNB GW state value, and is configured with an associated timer. For the convenience of description, the timer is named HeGW—Conn—Timer, and the initial state of the timer is configured as not started. When the HeNB receives the HANDOVER REQUEST message, it first checks the HeGW_Conn_Timer status. If the HeGW_Conn_Timer status is not started or timed out, perform the determination described in the above example 1 to determine whether the HeNB is connected to the HeNB GW operation, and update the value of the HeGW_Conn_State state variable based on the result of the determination operation, when the execution is completed. After the operation of determining whether the HeNB is connected to the HeNB GW, and starting or restarting the timer HeGW_Conn-Timer associated with the HeNB, if the HeGW_Conn-Timer status is already started and has not timed out, the method described in the foregoing Example 1 is not performed. It is determined whether the HeNB is connected to the HeNB GW.

The corresponding operations are performed based on the values of the HeGW-Conn-State state variables as in Embodiment 1, Embodiment 2, and Embodiment 3.

The home base station is configured to: determine, according to the handover request message received on the S1 interface: when the handover request message carries the mobile management entity identifier and the user equipment identifier allocated by the mobility management entity, determining The home base station is connected to the home base station gateway; when the handover request message does not carry the mobile management entity identifier and the user equipment identifier allocated by the mobility management entity identifies two cells, it is determined that the home base station is not connected to the home base station gateway.

The home base station is further configured to: determine whether to carry a specific cell in the sent signaling message according to whether it is connected to the home base station gateway.

The home base station is configured to: when the home base station is used as an X2 handover operation flow When the target base station:

When the home base station determines that it is not connected to the home base station gateway, the route conversion request signaling message sent by the home base station on the S1 interface does not carry the service mobility management entity identifier cell when the user equipment accesses the network based on the source base station. ;

The home base station is further configured to: determine whether to perform a specific operation and/or send a specific signaling message according to whether it is connected to the home base station gateway.

The home base station is configured to: when the home base station is used as a source base station of an X2 handover operation procedure:

When the home base station determines that it is not connected to the home base station gateway, the home base station does not trigger the peer network element with which the S1 connection is established to release the context of the user equipment that is performing the handover operation;

When the home base station determines that it is connected to the home base station gateway, the home base station triggers the home base station gateway that establishes the S1 connection to release the context of the user equipment that is performing the handover operation.

The home base station is further configured to: obtain information about whether the peer home base station with which the X2 connection is established is connected to the home base station gateway, where the home base station is the source base station of the X2 handover operation procedure, and the opposite home base station When acting as a target base station:

If the home base station and the peer home base station are not connected to the home base station gateway, and the home base station and the opposite home base station are both uniquely connected to one mobility management entity, the home base station is sent to the The handover request message of the peer home base station does not carry the identifier cell of the service mobility management entity when the user equipment accesses the network based on the source base station;

If the home base station and the peer home base station are not connected to the home base station gateway, or the home base station and the opposite home base station are not uniquely connected to one mobility management entity, the home base station is The handover request message sent to the peer home base station carries the identifier cell of the service mobility management entity when the user equipment accesses the network based on the source base station.

The home base station is further configured to: create a state variable, where the value of the state variable reflects whether it is connected to the home base station gateway; and create a timer associated with the state variable; And, before the determining according to the handover request message received on the SI interface: determining whether the timer is an unstarted or timeout state, and if yes, performing the determining operation, after performing the determining operation, setting according to the determination result The value of the state variable is set and the timer is started or restarted.

Obviously, those skilled in the art should understand that the above modules or steps of the present invention can be implemented by a general-purpose computing device, which can be concentrated on a single computing device or distributed over a network composed of multiple computing devices. Alternatively, they may be implemented by program code executable by the computing device, such that they may be stored in the storage device by the computing device, or they may be separately fabricated into individual integrated circuit modules, or they may be Multiple modules or steps are made into a single integrated circuit module. Thus, the invention is not limited to any particular combination of hardware and software.

The above description is only the preferred embodiment of the present invention, and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes can be made to the present invention. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc. made within the spirit and scope of the present invention are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.

Industrial Applicability The present invention provides a method for determining whether a HeNB is connected to a HeNB GW based on a user equipment handover operation procedure, in order to avoid the occurrence of redundant cells and redundant signaling, on the premise of maintaining the HeNB GW transparency design principle. And thus avoid redundant operations.

Claims

Claim

A method for determining a connection status of a home base station, comprising:

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determining, by the home base station, whether the home base station is connected to the home base station gateway based on a handover operation procedure includes:

The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: if the home base station determines that it is connected to the home base station gateway, carrying a specific cell in the sent signaling message, if the home base station determines If it is not connected to the home base station gateway, it does not carry a specific cell in the sent signaling message, and the specific cell includes a cell that needs to be notified to the home base station gateway in the handover operation.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein when the home base station is the target base station of the X2 handover operation procedure:

5. The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: if the home base station determines that it is connected to the home base station gateway, performing a specific operation and/or transmitting a specific signaling message, if the home base station Determining that it is not connected to the home base station gateway, does not perform a specific operation and/or does not transmit a specific signaling message, the specific operation including an operation related to the home gateway in the handover operation, the specific signaling The message includes a signaling message that needs to be sent to the home gateway in the handover operation.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein when the home base station is the source base station of the X2 handover operation procedure:

The method according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising: the home base station further acquiring information of whether the peer home base station with which the X2 connection is established is connected to the home base station gateway, when the home base station is switched as X2 The source base station of the operation process, when the peer home base station is the target base station: if the home base station and the opposite home base station are not connected to the home base station gateway, and the home base station and the opposite home base station are both When connected to a mobility management entity, the home base station does not carry the service mobility management entity identifier cell when the user equipment accesses the network based on the source base station in the handover request message sent to the peer home base station;

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

The home base station creates a state variable, the value of the state variable reflects whether it is connected to the home base station gateway; and creates a timer associated with the state variable;

9. A home base station, the home base station configured to: determine whether the home base station is connected to a home base station gateway based on a handover operation procedure.

10. The home base station according to claim 9, wherein the home base station is configured to determine according to the handover request message received on the S1 interface: when the handover request message carries mobile management And the user identifier of the mobile management entity identifies two cells, and then determines that the home base station is connected to the home base station gateway; when the handover request message does not carry the mobility management entity identifier and the user equipment identifier allocated by the mobility management entity Two cells determine that the home base station is not connected to the home base station gateway.

The home base station according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the home base station is further configured to: if it is determined to be connected to the home base station gateway, carry a specific cell in the sent signaling message, if it is determined that it is not connected The home base station gateway does not carry a specific cell in the sent signaling message, and the specific cell includes a cell that needs to be notified to the home base station gateway in the handover operation.

12. The home base station according to claim 11, wherein the home base station is configured to: when the home base station is used as a target base station of an X2 handover operation procedure:

13. The home base station according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the home base station is further configured to: perform a specific operation and/or transmit a specific signaling message if it is determined to be connected to the home base station gateway, the determining If it is not connected to the home base station gateway, no specific operation is performed and/or no specific signaling message is sent, the specific operation including an operation related to the home gateway in the handover operation, the specific signaling message A signaling message that needs to be sent to the home gateway in a handover operation is included.

14. The home base station according to claim 13, wherein the home base station is configured to: when the home base station is used as a source base station of an X2 handover operation procedure:

When the home base station determines that it is not connected to the home base station gateway, the home base station does not trigger the peer network element with which the S1 connection is established to release the context of the user equipment that is performing the handover operation; the home base station determines that it is connected to the home base station. At the time of the gateway, the home base station triggers the home base station gateway with which the S1 connection is established to release the context of the user equipment that is performing the handover operation.

The home base station according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the home base station is further configured to: acquire Whether the peer home base station that establishes the X2 connection is connected to the home base station gateway, when the home base station serves as the source base station of the X2 handover operation procedure, and the opposite home base station serves as the target base station:

If the home base station and the peer home base station are not connected to the home base station gateway, and the home base station and the opposite home base station are both uniquely connected to one mobility management entity, the home base station is sent to the home station The handover request message of the peer home base station does not carry the identifier cell of the service mobility management entity when the user equipment accesses the network based on the source base station;

If the at least one of the home base station and the peer home base station is not connected to the home base station gateway, or the at least one of the home base station and the opposite home base station is not uniquely connected to a mobility management entity, the home The handover request message sent by the base station to the peer home base station carries the identifier cell of the service mobility management entity when the user equipment accesses the network based on the source base station.

16. The home base station of claim 10, the home base station further configured to: create a state variable, the value of the state variable reflecting whether it is connected to a home base station gateway; creating a timer associated with the state variable ;