Method And Arrangement For Reducing The Amount Of Messages Sent In A Communication Network

Abstract

The invention relates to a method and an arrangement for reducing the amount of messages sent in a communication network comprising a first communication network entity (200), a second communication network entity (100) connected to said first communication network entity (200) over a communication interface and one or more user equipments (120) connected to said second communication network entity (100) over a radio interface, whereby messages are sent on said interfaces using at least a first and a second protocol. General rules are provided for sending first protocol messages packed inside second protocol messages, so called “piggybacking”, and each first protocol message is provided with an instruction field defining a co-ordination of procedure steps to be taken for performing an action.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD[0001]The present invention relates to a method and an arrangement in a communication system and, particularly, to an arrangement allowing for reducing the amount of messages sent in a communication network as well as a method for such reduction. The invention further relates to a computer-readable medium containing computer program for reducing the amount of messages sent in a communication network.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Currently in the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) specifications of UMTS, the signalling protocols used between the network and the User Equipment (terminal) is divided into Access Stratum (AS) and Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocols. The Non-Access Stratum protocols (e.g. Session Management (SM), Mobility management (MM), SMS) are terminated in the terminal (UE) and Core network (CN) and are sent transparently via the Radio Access Network (RAN). The Access Stratum protocols (e.g. Radio Resource Control (RRC), Radio Link Control (...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0010]Accordingly, it is an objective with the present invention to provide an improved method for reducing the amount of messages sent in a communication network comprising a first communication network entity, a second communication network entity connected to said first communication network entity over a communication interface and one or more user equipments connected to said second communication network entity over a radio interface, whereby messages are sent on said interfaces using at least a first and a second protocol.

[0012]A further objective with the present invention is to provide an improved arrangement for reducing the amount of messages sent in a communication network comprising a first communication network entity, a second communication network entity connected to said first communication network entity over a communication interface and one or more user equipments connected to said second communication network entity over a radio interface, whereby messages are sent on said interfaces using at least a first and a second protocol.

[0014]A still further objective with the present invention is to provide an improved computer-readable medium containing computer programs for reducing the amount of messages sent in a communication network comprising a first communication network entity, a second communication network entity connected to said first communication network entity over a communication interface and one or more user equipments connected to said second communication network entity over a radio interface, whereby messages are sent on said interfaces using at least a first and a second protocol.

[0017]Thanks to the provision of general rules defining what type of co-ordination of the NAS and AS procedures invoked by the NAS and AS protocol messages respectively, the benefits of piggy-backing can be fully explored. I.e. the possibilities to reduce the procedure delay will be enabled. The reduced delay is achieved by having less handshaking over the radio interface creating less transmission delay and by enabling parallel processing of messages in the UE and in the network nodes.

Problems solved by technology

Since there is a clear split between Access Stratum (AS) and Non-Access Stratum (NAS) functions it is not possible to co-ordinate AS and NAS procedures in an efficient way.

This leads to that a typical UMTS procedure e.g. “service activation” involves many message exchanged over the radio interface, causing significant delay to the execution of the procedure.

In both cases the bandwidth of the reverse channel would be almost entirely wasted.

The problem with the existing solution is that although piggybacking of NAS protocol messages into AS protocol messages potentially would reduce the amount of signalling between the network and the UE it would require a significant effort in defining the coordinated behaviour expected in the UE for all possible (or all allowed) combinations of NAS protocol messages and AS protocol messages.

This problem would in practice make piggybacking difficult to achieve.

Images