[0065] In the present invention, the multicast group is established by the OMC, and the controlled network element joins the multicast group of the corresponding software package to realize the reception of the software package.
[0066] Such as image 3 As shown, the software update method of the controlled network element of the present invention includes:
[0067] Step 31: After receiving the reported information sent by the controlled network element, the OMC determines an upgrade software package based on the reported information, where the upgrade software package is a software package higher than the existing software version of the controlled network element;
[0068] Step 32: OMC establishes a multicast group corresponding to the upgrade software package, and notifies the controlled network element of the multicast group corresponding to the upgrade software package;
[0069] Step 33: The controlled network element joins the multicast group, communicates with the OMC based on the multicast protocol, and receives the upgrade software package from the OMC.
[0070] Here, the controlled network element can send the report information through a version file download request message, or through another message.
[0071] Here, the multicast protocol used in the method of the present invention can be various types of multicast protocols, but in order to ensure the transmission reliability of the mobile communication system, the specific embodiment of the present invention uses RM (Reliable Multicast, Reliable Multicast) Related agreements.
[0072] In step 32, it is necessary to determine the upgrade software package for the controlled network element to be upgraded according to the reported information of the controlled network element. Here, the reported information includes at least information about the current software version of the controlled network element. For information about the current software version of the controlled network element (software version serial number), select an upgrade software package higher than the existing software version of the controlled network element from the software package.
[0073] However, with the continuous evolution of access network technology, its architecture has undergone tremendous changes.
[0074] For example, in the LTE system, base stations can be divided into two categories: Macro-BS and Home-BS (Macro-BS is mainly used for outdoor coverage, and Home-BS is used for indoor coverage). The design goals and characteristics of these two base stations have There is a big difference, so the supporting software it runs will be two different types, namely the type used for Macro-BS and the type used for Home-BS.
[0075] In the B3G system, which is an evolution of the LTE system, in order to further enhance the coverage performance and throughput performance of the system, a relay station connected via an air interface is introduced between the BS and the mobile station, and the relay station is a controlled node. The software also needs to be upgraded to ensure the best overall system performance.
[0076] Therefore, if only the information of the current software version of the controlled network element is used to determine the upgrade software package, errors may occur. Therefore, in the method of the present invention, the reported information of the controlled network element further includes the type information of the controlled network element , To distinguish different controlled network elements.
[0077] According to the type information of the controlled network element and the information of the existing software version of the controlled network element, the OMC selects an upgrade software package with a version higher than the existing software version of the controlled network element from the set of software packages corresponding to the controlled network element.
[0078] At the same time, existing controlled network elements have different capabilities (such as hardware platform capabilities) when their functions are the same. That is, in the same type of controlled network elements under the same OMC, some of the controlled network elements have the ability to support comparison High version software, and the capabilities of other controlled network elements cannot support high version software.
[0079] Therefore, in order to avoid the software update problem caused by the difference in the capabilities of the controlled network element, in the specific embodiment of the present invention, the reported information of the controlled network element further includes the capability information of the controlled network element. Element type information, capability information, and current software version information, from the set of software packages corresponding to the controlled network element, select an upgrade software package that can be supported by its capability and whose version is higher than the existing software version of the controlled network element .
[0080] When the reported information of the controlled network element includes the type information of the controlled network element and the information of the existing software version, the software package stored by the OMC is saved according to the type of controlled network element and the software version, and is based on the type and version of the controlled network element. The software version establishes the corresponding multicast group.
[0081] The IP address information of the controlled network element can be obtained through the DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, dynamic host configuration protocol) process;
[0082] The address of the controlled network element to the OMC can be indirectly obtained through the default configuration or through the "zip code" type of information based on geographic constraints to obtain the address of the related service OMC.
[0083] The complete software upgrade process of the controlled network element is described in detail below.
[0084] When the controlled network element is a base station, the complete software upgrade process of the controlled network element using the method of the present invention includes:
[0085] Step 401, the BS joins the network and is powered on;
[0086] Step 402: The BS sends the reported information, and the OMC receives and saves the reported information of the BS. The reported information includes: hardware version information, network element type information, and existing software version information;
[0087] Step 403: After the OMC collects information reported by the BS for a period of time (to minimize the occurrence of sporadic response scenarios), the OMC makes a comprehensive judgment based on the information reported by the BS to determine whether it is a BS upgrade software package. If it needs to be updated, it proceeds to step 404. Otherwise, return to step 402;
[0088] In step 403, OMC decides whether to provide an appropriate version of the software package for the BS based on the reported information of the BS. The conditions to be met for its update are as follows:
[0089] The set of software packages corresponding to the network element types of the BS includes software packages whose versions are higher than the existing software versions of the BS and that the hardware capabilities of the BS can support.
[0090] In step 404, OMC selects the appropriate version of the software package for the BS. Here, the OMC selects from the set of software packages corresponding to the BS's network element type that the hardware capabilities can support, and the version is higher than the latest version of the BS existing software version Software package;
[0091] In step 405, it is determined whether the multicast group corresponding to the software package selected by the BS has been established. If yes, go to step 407, otherwise go to step 406; here, if the software package is transmitted for the first time, a corresponding Multicast group
[0092] Step 406, the OMC enters step 407 after establishing a multicast group corresponding to the software package;
[0093] Step 407: OMC instructs the BS to join the corresponding multicast group;
[0094] Step 408, the BS joins the multicast group corresponding to the software package, and receives the software package;
[0095] Step 409: After the one-time multicast transmission process ends, the OMC waits for a response from the BS;
[0096] Step 410: The BS judges whether the software package is completely received, and if so, it overwrites the original software package, and reboots the system to complete the remote upgrade of the BS itself, and informs the OMC that the upgrade is successful, otherwise it sends a software package retransmission request message to the OMC ;
[0097] In step 411, after the OMC deletes the successfully updated BS from the corresponding multicast group, it organizes the multicast group for rotation and retransmits the software package until all BSs are successfully upgraded.
[0098] In the above processing process, if a new version of the software package is added to the OMC, it is necessary to determine whether the existing BS needs and can perform the corresponding software package upgrade according to the report information of the saved BS at this time, if it is, go to the step 407. Perform software package update.
[0099] In step 410, the BS notifies the OMC that the upgrade is successful includes the current software version identifier.
[0100] At the same time, OMC also controls and manages the multicast group corresponding to the software package, such as:
[0101] Set the idle time of the multicast group, when the idle time of the multicast group exceeds a preset threshold (the BS that has not joined the multicast group requests multicast), delete the multicast group;
[0102] Set the management of the number of multicast groups. Set a preset value for the multicast groups of different versions of the same software package. When the number of multicast groups of different versions of the same software package reaches the preset value, release the lowest version of the multicast group. The multicast group corresponding to the software package provides address space for the latest version of the software package.
[0103] At the same time, considering that each controlled network element often uses a distributed architecture, each controlled network element is a peer node, such as a base station in the LTE system and B3G. Therefore, if only the OMC establishes a multicast to realize the download of the software package It does not fully utilize the multi-node network load sharing characteristics of the distributed architecture.
[0104] For the controlled network element of the distributed architecture, the present invention further sets the following steps:
[0105] A controlled network element that has not completely received the software package establishes a point-to-point connection with other peer-to-peer controlled network elements in the domain that have completely received the software package, and the software package is obtained from the peer-to-peer controlled network element that has completely received the software package .
[0106] The following takes the controlled network element as the BS as an example to describe in detail the update method of multicast and controlled network element point-to-point transmission software package, such as Figure 5 As shown, it includes:
[0107] Step 501, the BS joins the network and is powered on;
[0108] Step 502: The BS sends the reported information, and the OMC receives and saves the reported information of the BS. The reported information includes: hardware version information, network element type information, and existing software version information;
[0109]Step 503: After OMC collects the BS report information for a period of time (to minimize the occurrence of sporadic response scenarios), OMC makes a comprehensive judgment based on the BS report information to determine whether it is a BS upgrade software package. If it needs to be updated, go to step 504. Otherwise, return to step 502;
[0110] In step 504, the OMC selects the appropriate version of the software package for the BS. Here, the OMC selects from the set of software packages corresponding to the BS's network element type that the hardware capabilities can support, and the version is higher than the latest version of the BS's existing software version Software package;
[0111] In step 505, it is judged whether the multicast group corresponding to the software package selected by the BS has been established, if yes, go to step 507, otherwise go to step 506; here, if the software package is transmitted for the first time, a corresponding Multicast group
[0112] Step 506, the OMC enters step 507 after establishing a multicast group corresponding to the software package;
[0113] Step 507: OMC instructs the BS to join the corresponding multicast group;
[0114] Step 508, the BS joins the multicast group corresponding to the software package, and receives the software package;
[0115] Step 509: After the one-time multicast transmission process ends, the OMC waits for a response from the BS;
[0116] Step 510: The BS judges whether the software package is completely received, and if so, it overwrites the original software package, and reboots the system to complete the remote upgrade of the BS itself, and informs the OMC that the upgrade is successful; otherwise, it broadcasts in the domain including the network element type information and Software package request message for version information, and wait for the response from the BS in the domain that has completely received the software package;
[0117] Step 511: The BS selects a target BS from the responding BSs, establishes a point-to-point connection with the target BS, and receives the software package. The protocol for establishing the point-to-point connection can adopt FTP/TFTP;
[0118] Step 512, the BS overwrites the original software package, reboots the system, completes the remote upgrade of the BS itself, and notifies the OMC that the upgrade is successful.
[0119] Of course, if there is no response from the BS for a period of time, or the software package is still not successfully received, the BS that has not received the software package will send a software package retransmission request message to the OMC, and the OMC will organize the software package. The broadcast group performs a carousel and retransmits the software package.
[0120] The BS notifies the OMC that the upgrade is successful includes the current software version identifier.
[0121] in Figure 5 In the software upgrade process shown, the BS that has not completely received the software package directly broadcasts the software package request message. Of course, it can also be controlled by the OMC. The OMC control method will be described in detail below.
[0122] The OMC obtains the report information of the successful update of the BS, and at the same time, the OMC instructs the BS requesting the update to enable the distributed point-to-point mode. At this time, the BS directly starts the broadcast request process to other BSs without waiting for the multicast of the OMC.
[0123] Of course, when the number of successfully updated BSs exceeds a preset threshold, the OMC may indicate to the BS requesting the update to enable the distributed point-to-point mode to ensure the successful acquisition of the software package.
[0124] In step 511, it needs to be selected from the responding BS, and its selection strategy can be selected according to the order in which the response messages arrive.
[0125] Generally speaking, the software packages of the controlled nodes are relatively large. In order to further improve the transmission efficiency of the upgraded software package, in the specific embodiment of the method of the present invention, the software package to be transmitted is divided into multiple parts, and each part is numbered. (That is, set the serial number identification of the segment) and then transmit.
[0126] After segmenting the software package, the BS may miss some segmented multicast content due to late joining the multicast group, etc. Therefore, the changes to the method of the present invention are directed to multicast and the combination of multicast and point-to-point transmission The two methods are described separately.
[0127] For OMC to establish a multicast group for software package transmission, and use the multicast group for carousel, retransmit the software package to achieve software upgrades (ie Figure 4 The process shown), after the software package is set into segments, combine Figure 4 As shown, it mainly involves two steps:
[0128] In step 407, when the OMC instructs the BS to join the corresponding multicast group, it also needs to indicate the number of segments of the software package to be received in the multicast, so that the BS can determine whether all segments are received;
[0129] In step 410, the BS judges whether a complete software package is received according to the number of segments, and there is no difference in other processes, which will not be repeated here.
[0130] For the upgrade method that combines multicast and point-to-point transmission (ie Figure 5 In terms of the process shown), it involves a wide range of aspects. The following combination Figure 5 Give details.
[0131] Of course, step 507 and step 510 correspond to step 407 and step 410. When the OMC instructs the BS to join the corresponding multicast group, it also needs to indicate the number of segments of the software package to be received in the multicast, and the BS according to the segment The number is used to determine whether the complete package is received.
[0132] At the same time, in step 510, after the BS determines that the software package has not been completely received, the broadcast software package request message should also include the serial number identification of the missing segment.
[0133] Of course, a software package request message may carry the serial number identifications of all missing segments, or a software package request message may be constructed for each missing segment.
[0134] When a BS lacks multiple segments of a software package, the missing segment may be received from one BS including all the missing segments among the responding BSs, or the missing segments may be received separately from multiple responding BSs.
[0135] For example, BS1 lacks 3 software package segments, and BS2 includes the 3 software package segments, and BS3, BS4, and BS5 each have one of the software package segments, and BS2, BS3, BS4, and BS5 all responded. At this time, BS1 can choose to receive all software package segments from BS3. At this time, only a point-to-point connection needs to be established. It can also receive software package segments from BS3, BS4, and BS5. At this time, the speed is faster, but three Point-to-point connection.
[0136] Considering that the software package request message broadcast here is different from the software package retransmission request message that the BS points to the OMC, in order to facilitate the OMC and other BSs in the domain to respond differently, the above messages can be distinguished in the following ways:
[0137] Message name, distinguished by different message names;
[0138] The value of the specific field, assign different values to the specific field, for example, 1 means a broadcasted package request message, and 2 means a package retransmission request message pointing to the OMC;
[0139] Carrying parameters. For example, the software package retransmission request message directed to the OMC does not carry the sequence number identifier of the software package segment, while the broadcast software package request message includes the sequence number identifier indicating the segment.
[0140] After the BS in the domain receives the broadcast software package request message, it needs to determine whether to respond. In this case, the following methods are used to determine:
[0141] Respond when it has all the segments of the software package indicated in the software package request message;
[0142] When the missing segment indicated in the software package request message is owned, a response is made, but the response message should carry the serial number identification of the segment it owns.
[0143] The BS establishes a point-to-point connection with the responding BS, and receives its missing software package segments from the target BS.
[0144] In step 512, it is also necessary to perform data reorganization on all the received software packages to obtain the final upgrade software package, and use the software package to upgrade.
[0145] Of course, the software package requested by the controlled network element may not be used for its own upgrade, but may also be an upgrade software package for the controlled network element under its jurisdiction.
[0146] When the method of the present invention is used to upgrade the software packages of other controlled network elements under the control of the controlled network element, the difference lies only in the following points:
[0147] The information reported by the controlled network element (such as BS) includes the information of its subordinate controlled network element (such as RS);
[0148] The software package obtained by the controlled network element is not used for its own upgrade, and it needs to send the obtained software package to other controlled network elements under its jurisdiction for upgrade.
[0149] The detailed process will not be described in detail here.
[0150] The operation and maintenance center of the present invention is such as Figure 6 Shown, including:
[0151] The report information receiving and saving module is used to receive and save the report information sent by the controlled network element;
[0152] The software package selection module is used to select the software package for the controlled network element according to the reported information;
[0153] The multicast group establishment and notification module is used to establish a multicast group corresponding to the software package and notify the controlled network element.
[0154] The controlled network element of the present invention is such as Figure 6 Shown, including:
[0155] The report information sending module is used to send report information to the operation and maintenance center;
[0156] The multicast group joining module is used to join the corresponding software package multicast group according to the notification from the operation and maintenance center;
[0157] The upgrade software package receiving module is used to communicate with the operation and maintenance center based on the multicast protocol, and use the multicast group corresponding to the upgrade software package to receive the corresponding software package.
[0158] In order to ensure the transmission reliability of the mobile communication system, the multicast protocol uses the RM (Reliable Multicast) related protocol.
[0159] In the reported information of the controlled network element, the type information, capability information, and existing software version information of the controlled network element, the software package selection module selects from the set of software packages corresponding to the controlled network element according to the reported information, and its capabilities can support Is an upgrade package that is higher than the existing software version of the controlled network element.
[0160] At the same time, when the controlled network element is a peer node, it also includes:
[0161] The software package request message broadcasting module is used to broadcast the software package request message including network element type information and version information in the IP domain;
[0162] The software package request message response module is used to send the software package request message to the controlled node when it receives the software package request message broadcast by other controlled network elements and determines that it has the software package requested by the software package request message. Send package request message response;
[0163] The point-to-point connection establishment module is used to establish a point-to-point connection with the controlled node that sends the software package request message response;
[0164]The second software package receiving module is used to use the established point-to-point connection with other controlled nodes to receive the corresponding software package.
[0165] When the software package is transmitted in segments, the software package request message also includes the segment identifier of the missing segment. The software package request message response module is used to receive the software package request message broadcast by other controlled network elements, And when it is judged that the missing segment of the software package requested by the software package request message is saved, the software package request message response is sent to the controlled node that sent the software package request message; the second software package receiving module is used to use the established point-to-point Connect with other controlled nodes and receive the missing segments of the corresponding software package.
[0166] The above are only the preferred embodiments of the present invention. It should be pointed out that for those of ordinary skill in the art, without departing from the principle of the present invention, several improvements and modifications can be made, and these improvements and modifications should also be made. It is regarded as the protection scope of the present invention.
