Mobility management method and device

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention provides a mobility management method and device, relates to the technical field of satellite communication, is applied to an S-CMF network element configured on a satellite, and comprises the following steps: determining the position of a terminal; according to the position of the terminal, whether the position of the terminal is located in a first area served by a first AMF is judged, and the first AMF is the AMF currently connected with the S-CMF; and if not, establishing connection with a second AMF used for serving a second area, so that the second AMF selects a first SMF matched with the position of the terminal and transmits data to the terminal through the selected first SMF, and the position of the terminal is located in the second area. By applying the scheme provided by the embodiment of the invention, the communication data of the terminal can be processed by the core network of the area where the terminal is located.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The embodiments of the present invention relate to the field of satellite communication technology, and in particular to a mobility management method and device. Background Art

[0002] In recent years, satellite communications have ushered in a new round of development boom around the world, and the integration of satellite communications and ground mobile networks has become a new hotspot. Among the related technologies, the satellite Internet core network is often deployed on the ground, and base stations are deployed on the satellite, which can be called satellite base stations.

[0003] Both the terminals on the ground and the satellites in the ground orbit are movable. In order for the mobile satellites to provide communication services to the mobile terminals normally, it is necessary to provide a mobility management method suitable for satellite Internet. Summary of the invention

[0004] The purpose of the embodiment of the present invention is to provide a mobility management method and device, so that the core network in the area where the terminal is located can process the communication data of the terminal. The specific technical solution is as follows:

[0005] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a mobility management method, which is applied to an S-CMF network element configured on a satellite, wherein the S-CMF network element is used to provide a connection management service for a terminal, and the method includes:

[0006] Determine the location of the terminal;

[0007] According to the location of the terminal, determining whether the location of the terminal is located in a first area served by a first AMF, wherein the first AMF is: the AMF currently connected to the S-CMF;

[0008] If not, a connection is created with a second AMF for serving the second area so that the second AMF selects a first SMF that matches the location of the terminal and transmits data to the terminal through the selected first SMF, and the location of the terminal is located in the second area.

[0009] In one embodiment of the present invention, the area where the satellite is located does not change, and the terminal moves from the first area to the second area.

[0010] In one embodiment of the present invention, the area where the terminal is located does not change, and the satellite moves from the second area to the first area.

[0011] In one embodiment of the present invention, the method further comprises:

[0012] For a new terminal that subsequently accesses, determining a location of the new terminal;

[0013] If the location of the new terminal is in the same area as the satellite, controlling the satellite to transmit data to the new terminal through the AMF and SMF in the area where the satellite is located;

[0014] If the location of the new terminal is not in the same area as the satellite, a connection is created with the third AMF so that the third AMF selects an SMF that matches the location of the new terminal and transmits data to the new terminal through the selected SMF. The third AMF is the AMF in the area where the new terminal is located.

[0015] In one embodiment of the present invention, determining the location of the terminal includes:

[0016] receiving a RegRequest message and terminal location information sent by a satellite connected to the terminal, and determining the location of the terminal according to the terminal location information, wherein the RegRequest message is sent by the terminal when it is determined that the tracking area in which the terminal is located is not in the tracking area list of the first AMF;

[0017] The determining, according to the location of the terminal, whether the location of the terminal is located in a first area served by a first AMF includes:

[0018] After receiving the RegRequest message, determine whether the location of the terminal is located in the first area served by the first AMF.

[0019] In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a mobility management device, which is applied to an S-CMF network element configured on a satellite, the S-CMF network element being used to provide a connection management service for a terminal, the device comprising:

[0020] A first determination module, used to determine the location of the terminal;

[0021] A judging module, configured to judge, according to the location of the terminal, whether the location of the terminal is located in a first area served by a first AMF, wherein the first AMF is: the AMF currently connected to the S-CMF;

[0022] A first connection module is used to create a connection with a second AMF for serving a second area if the terminal is not located in the first area, so that the second AMF selects a first SMF that matches the location of the terminal and transmits data to the terminal through the selected first SMF, and the terminal is located in the second area.

[0023] In one embodiment of the present invention, the area where the satellite is located does not change, and the terminal moves from the first area to the second area.

[0024] In one embodiment of the present invention, the area where the terminal is located does not change, and the satellite moves from the second area to the first area.

[0025] In one embodiment of the present invention, the device further comprises:

[0026] A second determination module is used to determine the position of a new terminal that subsequently accesses the network;

[0027] A control module, configured to control the satellite to transmit data to the new terminal through the AMF and SMF in the area where the satellite is located if the location of the new terminal is in the same area as the satellite;

[0028] The second connection module is used to create a connection with the third AMF if the location of the new terminal is not in the same area as the satellite, so that the third AMF selects an SMF that matches the location of the new terminal and transmits data to the new terminal through the selected SMF. The third AMF is the AMF in the area where the new terminal is located.

[0029] In one embodiment of the present invention, the first determining module is specifically configured to:

[0030] receiving a RegRequest message and terminal location information sent by a satellite connected to the terminal, and determining the location of the terminal according to the terminal location information, wherein the RegRequest message is sent by the terminal when it is determined that the tracking area in which the terminal is located is not in the tracking area list of the first AMF;

[0031] The judgment module is specifically used for:

[0032] After receiving the RegRequest message, determine whether the location of the terminal is located in the first area served by the first AMF.

[0033] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an electronic device, including a processor, a communication interface, a memory and a communication bus, wherein the processor, the communication interface and the memory communicate with each other via the communication bus;

[0034] Memory, used to store computer programs;

[0035] The processor is used to implement any method step of the first aspect when executing the program stored in the memory.

[0036] In a fourth aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method steps of any one of the first aspects are implemented.

[0037] Beneficial effects of the embodiments of the present invention:

[0038] An embodiment of the present invention provides a mobility management method, which is applied to an S-CMF (Satellite Connect Manager Function) network element configured on a satellite, wherein the S-CMF network element is used to provide connection management services for terminals, and the method includes: determining the location of the terminal; judging, based on the location of the terminal, whether the location of the terminal is located in a first area served by a first AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function), wherein the first AMF is: the AMF to which the S-CMF is currently connected; if not, creating a connection with a second AMF used to serve a second area, so that the second AMF selects a first SMF (Session Management Function) matching the location of the terminal, and transmits data to the terminal through the selected first SMF, and the location of the terminal is located in the second area.

[0039] As can be seen from the above, in the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the location of the terminal is first determined. If it is found that the location of the terminal is not in the area served by the AMF currently connected to the S-CMF, it indicates that the core network currently connected to the terminal is not the core network corresponding to the location of the terminal. In this case, the S-CMF connects the satellite connected to the terminal to the AMF serving the area where the terminal is located. The AMF selects the SMF matching the area where the terminal is located to transmit data to the terminal, thereby realizing that the communication data of the terminal is processed by the core network in the area where the terminal is located. In addition, ensuring that the communication data of the terminal is processed by the core network in the area where the terminal is located can not only ensure the transmission security of the terminal communication data, but also enable reasonable billing of the terminal's communication services.

[0040] In addition, the embodiment of the present invention separates the connection management service originally belonging to AMF and deploys it as a separate network element on the target satellite, which is S-CMF. As the signaling anchor point between the core network and the satellite base station, S-CMF can process part of the interactive signaling originally processed by AMF, thereby reducing the amount of interactive signaling that AMF needs to process under high-speed satellite movement, alleviating the performance pressure of AMF. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0041] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other embodiments can also be obtained based on these drawings.

[0042] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of the connection between the satellite and the core network in the related technology;

[0043] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of mobility management of a satellite and terminal connection system in the related art;

[0044] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of a network element deployment structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0045] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a flow chart of a first mobility management method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0046] Figure 5 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of terminal cross-region connection;

[0047] Figure 6 A schematic diagram of the structure of a terminal inter-regional mobility management process provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0048] Figure 7 A schematic diagram of a flow chart of signaling interaction in terminal cross-region mobility management provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0049] Figure 8 It is a schematic diagram of the structure of satellite cross-region connection;

[0050] Fig. 9 A schematic diagram of the structure of a satellite inter-regional mobility management process provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0051] Fig.10 A schematic diagram of a flow chart of a second mobility management method provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0052] Fig.11 A schematic diagram of the structure of a cross-region mobility management process provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0053] Fig.12 A schematic diagram of the structure of a mobility management device provided by an embodiment of the present invention;

[0054] Fig.13 A schematic structural diagram of an electronic device provided by an embodiment of the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0055] The following will be combined with the drawings in the embodiments of the present invention to clearly and completely describe the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only part of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of the embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field based on the present invention belong to the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0056] In related technologies, the satellite Internet core network is often deployed on the ground, and satellite base stations are deployed on the satellite. The structural diagram of the connection between the satellite and the core network in related technologies is as follows: Figure 1 As shown. Figure 1 It can be seen that the satellite is connected to the gateway station through a feeder, and the gateway stations are connected to each other and to the core network through a bearer network. Figure 1 In the satellite, the satellite link routing can receive and transmit the signal between the satellite and the terminal; the satellite also contains DU (Distributed Unit) and CU (Centralized Unit); the satellites transmit signals through the inter-satellite link (ISL). Figure 1 In the network, the gateway station includes UPF (User Plane Function), the core network includes NSSF (Network Slice Selection Function), AMF, SMF, PCF (Policy Control function), NRF (Network Repository Function), UPF, UDM (Unified Data Management), and AUSF (Authentication Server Function).

[0057] according to Figure 1 As shown in the figure, the core network is uniformly deployed on the ground to manage terminal authentication, mobility management, session establishment, etc. Due to the rapid movement of satellites and changes in terminal positions, changes may occur in the connection between the terminal and the satellite, the satellite feeder link, and the core network accessed by the terminal. The mobility management is further explained from two main scenarios: the terminal position changes and the terminal position remains unchanged.

[0058] See also Figure 2 , is a schematic diagram of mobility management of satellite and terminal connection system in related technology. Figure 2 It can be seen that the situation of terminal position change is specifically described as:

[0059] (1) The terminal location changes, but the access satellite remains unchanged. This situation only involves the processes within the satellite base station, and there is no core network mobility management process.

[0060] (2) The terminal moves and the new satellite carries the service. In this case, cross-gNB (the nextGeneration Node B, 5G base station) switching will be performed based on Xn switching or N2 switching, where 5G stands for 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology.

[0061] (3) The terminal crosses the gateway boundary, but the satellite does not cross the gateway. The terminal remains connected to the satellite and there is no core network mobility management process. The terminal decides whether to perform registration update based on the current location information and the TAI (Tracking Area Identity) list information assigned by the core network.

[0062] (4) Both the terminal and the satellite cross the gateway boundary. The terminal remains connected to the satellite, but the feeder connection between the satellite and the gateway is updated. In this case, the terminal decides whether to perform a registration update based on the current location information and the TAI list information assigned by the core network.

[0063] (5) The terminal crosses regions. The terminal and the satellite cross the gateway. The two gateways belong to different regions, which will cause the terminal to move across PLMNs (Public Land Mobile Networks), resulting in the switching of the core network to which the terminal is connected. In this scenario, the feasibility and continuity of the service need to be considered.

[0064] exist Figure 2 In the case where the terminal position remains unchanged, the specific description is:

[0065] (1) The satellite position moves, but the terminal remains unchanged relative to the satellite. In this case, only the processes within the satellite base station are involved, and there is no core network mobility management process.

[0066] (2) The satellite moves out of the terminal location and the new satellite carries the service. In this case, an inter-gNB handover is performed based on Xn handover or N2 handover.

[0067] (3) During satellite movement, the satellite corresponding to the terminal remains unchanged, the gateway station corresponding to the satellite changes, and the core network remains unchanged. In this case, the terminal is located between the gateway stations, and there is no core network mobility management process, which involves the update process of the feeder connection between the satellite and the gateway station.

[0068] (4) During satellite movement, the satellite corresponding to the terminal remains unchanged, but the corresponding gateway station and core network change. The terminal remains connected to the previously connected satellite. Since only one feeder connection between the satellite and the gateway station can be maintained at the same time, the satellite feeder connection will change and connect to the gateway station in other areas. In this case, the terminal is at the regional boundary, that is, the terminal is still in the original area, but the terminal crosses the PLMN and AMF, and the core network connected to the terminal changes.

[0069] From the above description, it can be seen that during the movement of the satellite and the terminal, the terminal may connect to the core network of other areas different from the area where the terminal is located, resulting in the terminal data that should be processed by the core network of the area where the terminal is located being processed by the core network of other areas, which is not conducive to the secure transmission of terminal data.

[0070] In order to solve the above problems, the embodiments of the present invention provide a mobility management method and device, which are described in detail below.

[0071] First, a mobility management method provided by an embodiment of the present invention is described.

[0072] In the embodiment of the present invention, the network element functions of the core network in the related art are replanned, and the connection management service of the AMF in the related art is separated and configured as a separate network element on the satellite, and this separate network element is defined as S-CMF. The other AMF service capabilities except the connection management service in the related art are integrated into the AMF in the embodiment of the present invention.

[0073] In the embodiment of the present invention, the functions of the S-CMF include: completing the management of the idle state and the connected state between the base station, receiving and sending N1 and N2 signaling, and AMF selection. Figure 3 , is a schematic diagram of a network element deployment structure provided by an embodiment of the present invention, Figure 3 Sat-gNB stands for satellite base station, and Sat is the abbreviation of Satellite. Figure 3 As can be seen in the figure, S-CMF is deployed on one satellite, AMF is deployed on multiple other satellites, and one S-CMF is connected to multiple AMFs and multiple satellite base stations. Specifically, AMF can be deployed on a satellite or on the ground. There is no limit on the number of AMFs and satellite base stations that the S-CMF is connected to. Figure 3 The number of AMFs and satellite base stations connected to the S-CMF is only an example.

[0074] See also Figure 4, which is a flow chart of the first mobility management method provided in an embodiment of the present invention. The method is applied to an S-CMF network element configured on a satellite. The S-CMF network element is used to provide connection management services for terminals. The method includes the following steps S401 to S403.

[0075] Step S401: Determine the location of the terminal.

[0076] Specifically, the terminal location information may be obtained by adopting a method for determining the terminal location in related technologies, and the S-CMF determines the current location of the terminal based on the obtained terminal location information.

[0077] In one embodiment of the present invention, step S401 can be implemented by following step A below.

[0078] Step A: Receive a RegRequest (registration request) message and terminal location information sent by a satellite to which the terminal is connected, and determine the location of the terminal based on the terminal location information.

[0079] Among them, the above-mentioned RegRequest message is sent by the above-mentioned terminal when it determines that the tracking area where it is located is not in the tracking area list of the above-mentioned first AMF, and Reg is the abbreviation of Registration.

[0080] Specifically, different areas correspond to different tracking areas. If the terminal determines that the tracking area in which it is located is not in the tracking area list of the first AMF, the terminal determines that the AMF service currently used by itself does not match the current area in which it is located, that is, the terminal is currently using the AMF service of other areas different from the area in which it is located. In this case, the terminal sends a RegRequest message to the satellite base station to initiate a registration update process. After receiving the above RegRequest message, the satellite terminal sends the RegRequest message and the terminal location information to the S-CMF. Among them, the above first AMF is: the AMF currently connected to the above S-CMF.

[0081] Step S402: Determine whether the location of the above-mentioned terminal is located in the first area served by the first AMF.

[0082] In one embodiment of the present invention, after receiving the above-mentioned RegRequest message, the S-CMF determines whether the location of the terminal is located in the first area served by the first AMF based on the acquired terminal location information.

[0083] The above-mentioned S-CMF determines whether the current location of the terminal is located in the first area served by the first AMF based on the determined current location of the terminal. If it is determined that the current location of the terminal is located in the first area, it indicates that the terminal is connected to the core network of the area where the terminal is currently located, and continues to maintain connection with the first AMF, using the first AMF in the area where the terminal is currently located to provide data services for the terminal; if it is determined that the current location of the terminal is not located in the first area, it indicates that the terminal is connected to the core network of other areas different from the area where the terminal is currently located, and this situation is not conducive to the secure transmission of terminal data, then the following step S403 is executed.

[0084] Step S403: Create a connection with a second AMF for serving the second area, so that the second AMF selects a first SMF that matches the location of the terminal and transmits data for the terminal through the selected first SMF.

[0085] The terminal is located in the second area.

[0086] After the S-CMF determines that the terminal is located in the second area, the S-CMF selects a suitable target satellite, which is connected to the satellite to which the terminal is currently connected via an inter-orbit ISL communication, and the target satellite is connected to the gateway station in the second area. As a result, the terminal can communicate with the second AMF for serving the second area via the target satellite, and the AMF can select the first SMF that matches the second area, and then transmit data to the terminal through the first SMF, that is, the terminal data is processed by the core network of the second area, thereby ensuring that the terminal data is processed by the core network of the area where the terminal is located.

[0087] As can be seen from the above, in the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the location of the terminal is first determined. If it is found that the location of the terminal is not in the area served by the AMF currently connected to the S-CMF, it indicates that the core network currently connected to the terminal is not the core network corresponding to the location of the terminal. In this case, the S-CMF connects the satellite connected to the terminal to the AMF serving the area where the terminal is located. The AMF selects the SMF matching the area where the terminal is located to transmit data to the terminal, thereby realizing that the communication data of the terminal is processed by the core network in the area where the terminal is located. In addition, ensuring that the communication data of the terminal is processed by the core network in the area where the terminal is located can not only ensure the transmission security of the terminal communication data, but also enable reasonable billing of the terminal's communication services.

[0088] In addition, the embodiment of the present invention separates the connection management service originally belonging to AMF and deploys it as a separate network element on the target satellite, which is S-CMF. As the signaling anchor point between the core network and the satellite base station, S-CMF can process part of the interactive signaling originally processed by AMF, thereby reducing the amount of interactive signaling that AMF needs to process under high-speed satellite movement, alleviating the performance pressure of AMF.

[0089] In one embodiment of the present invention, the area where the satellite is located does not change, and the terminal moves from the first area to the second area.

[0090] In the embodiments of the present invention, reference may be made to Figure 5 The schematic diagram of the terminal cross-region connection structure is shown in FIG. Figure 5 As shown, the area where the satellite is located has not changed, that is, the satellite base station is always connected to the first core network. After the terminal moves from the first area to the second area, the terminal is still connected to the core network of the first area. In this case, refer to Figure 6 The structure diagram of the terminal cross-region mobility management process is shown.

[0091] like Figure 6 As shown, the terminal moves from the first area to the second area, and the satellite base station is still connected to the first core network of the first area. In the related art, the terminal is located in the second area but connected to the first core network. In the embodiment of the present invention, after the S-CMF determines that the terminal is located in the second area, the S-CMF selects a target satellite. The target satellite is connected to the satellite currently connected to the terminal through an inter-orbit ISL communication, and the target satellite is connected to the gateway station of the second area through a feeder connection. The terminal communicates with the second AMF for serving the second area through the target satellite. The above-mentioned AMF can select the first SMF matching the second area, and then transmit data to the terminal through the above-mentioned first SMF, that is, the terminal data is processed by the core network of the above-mentioned second area, thereby ensuring that the terminal data is processed by the core network of the area where the terminal is located.

[0092] Specifically, in Figure 6 In the case where the terminal is in the second area, as shown in the solid line connection part, the satellite where the satellite base station to which the terminal is connected is located is connected to the target satellite for communication, and the target satellite is connected to the gateway station in the second area for feeding, and then connected to the core network of the second area, thereby finally realizing the connection of the terminal in the second area to the core network of the second area. Figure 6 The dotted line connection portion indicates that when the terminal is in the first area, the terminal is connected to the gateway station in the first area through a satellite, and then connected to the core network of the first area.

[0093] Among them, Figure 6In the figure, the second core network refers to the core network of the second area mentioned above, Internet refers to the Internet, and PSTN is the abbreviation of Public Switched Telephone Network, which means public switched telephone network.

[0094] For details, see Figure 7 , is a flow chart of signaling interaction in terminal inter-regional mobility management provided by an embodiment of the present invention when the satellite base station is always connected to the first core network and the terminal moves from the first area to the second area. Figure 7 As can be seen from the figure, the process of the above signaling interaction can be described as follows:

[0095] (1) The terminal sends a RegRequest message to the satellite base station.

[0096] The terminal is located in the first area and is connected to the core network of the first area through a satellite feeder connection with the gateway station of the first area. When the terminal moves to the second area, the satellite connected to the terminal does not change, and the satellite is still connected to the gateway station of the first area. The terminal determines that the tracking area it is currently in is not in the TAI list corresponding to the core network of the first area, so it initiates the registration update process and sends a RegRequest message to the connected satellite base station.

[0097] (2) The satellite base station sends an N2 message to the S-CMF.

[0098] After receiving the RegRequest message, the satellite base station sends an N2 message to the S-CMF. The N2 message carries the RegRequest message and the current location information of the terminal.

[0099] (3) S-CMF selects a new AMF based on the UE location information.

[0100] The S-CMF determines the AMF to which the terminal's current location belongs based on the received terminal's current location information, and selects a suitable new AMF. Since the terminal moves to the second area, the new AMF is the second AMF in the second area.

[0101] (4) The S-CMF sends a RegRequest message to the new AMF.

[0102] The S-CMF uses inter-satellite routing to connect to the gateway in the second region through a suitable satellite and sends the RegRequest message to the new AMF.

[0103] (5) The new AMF requests the old AMF to obtain the UE context.

[0104] The new AMF sends a request to the old AMF, that is, the first AMF in the first area, through the inter-track ISL to obtain the context of the terminal based on the GUTI (Globally Unique Temporary UserEquipment Identity) in the RegRequest message.

[0105] (6) The new AMF selects I-SMF (Intermediate Session Management Function).

[0106] The new AMF determines that the original SMF, that is, the SMF in the first area, can no longer serve the terminal and needs to insert an I-SMF. The new AMF selects a suitable I-SMF based on the current location information of the terminal.

[0107] (7) The new AMF sends a PDU (Protocol Data Unit) Session_CreateSM (Session Management) Context Request (Protocol Data Unit Session_Create Session Management Context Request) message to the I-SMF.

[0108] Specifically, the message includes information such as PDU ID (Identity), SM Context ID (session management context identifier), etc.

[0109] (8) The I-SMF selects the Intermediate User Port Function (I-UPF) to establish an N4 session.

[0110] After receiving the PDU Session_Create SM Context Request message, the I-SMF selects the I-UPF and establishes an N4 session with the I-UPF.

[0111] (9) I-SMF sends a PDU Session_Create Request message to SMF.

[0112] I-SMF sends a PDU Session_Create Request message to the SMF in the second area, which contains information such as the I-UPF downlink tunnel and the SM Context ID of I-SMF. After receiving the PDU Session_CreateRequest message, the SMF in the second area modifies the N4 Session to the UPF, provides information such as the downlink tunnel, and returns a PDU Session_Create Response message to the I-SMF, which contains information such as the uplink tunnel.

[0113] (10) The I-SMF sends a PDU Session_Create SM Context Response message to the new AMF.

[0114] Specifically, the N2 SM info (N2 session management information) carried in the message includes information such as PDU Session ID (Protocol Data Unit Session Identifier), CN (Core Node), N3 tunnel, etc., where info is the abbreviation of information.

[0115] (11) The new AMF sends Reg Accept and N2 info messages to the S-CMF.

[0116] The new AMF constructs a Reg Accept message and sends the Reg Accept message and N2 info to the S-CMF.

[0117] (12) The S-CMF sends an N2 Request message to the satellite base station.

[0118] The S-CMF constructs an N2 Request message that carries N2 info. The S-CMF sends the N2 Request message to the satellite base station and updates the N3 tunnel information to the satellite base station.

[0119] (13) The satellite base station sends a Reg Accept message to the terminal.

[0120] (14) The satellite base station sends an N2 Response message to the S-CMF.

[0121] Specifically, the message includes N3 tunnel information of the satellite base station.

[0122] (15) The S-CMF sends an N2 info message to the new AMF.

[0123] (16) The new AMF sends a PDU Session_Update SM Context Request message to the I-SMF.

[0124] Specifically, the message carries N2 info including the satellite base station N3 tunnel information. After receiving the PDUSession_Update SM Context Request message, the I-SMF updates the N3 tunnel information to the I-UPF.

[0125] (17) The PDU Session_Update SM Context (Protocol Data Unit Session_Update Session Management Context) process is performed between the I-SMF and the SMF.

[0126] The PDU Session_Update SM Context process is performed between the I-SMF and the SMF in the second area. When the SMF in the second area is deployed with the PCF, the PCF is informed of the current location information of the terminal.

[0127] (18) The I-SMF sends a PDU Session_Update SM Context Response message to the new AMF.

[0128] (19) The terminal sends a RegComplete (registration completed) message to the satellite base station.

[0129] When the new AMF allocates a new GUTI to the terminal, the terminal sends a RegComplete message to the satellite base station.

[0130] (20) The satellite base station sends an N2 message to the S-CMF.

[0131] The satellite base station sends an N2 message containing RegComplete to the S-CMF.

[0132] (21) The S-CMF sends a RegComplete message to the new AMF.

[0133] As can be seen from the above, in the solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, for the situation where the core network connected to the satellite base station has not changed, the terminal position has changed but the connected satellite base station has not changed, resulting in a mismatch between the core network connected to the terminal and the terminal position, a target satellite connected to the core network of the area where the terminal is currently located is selected, and the target satellite is communicated with the above-mentioned satellite base station, so that the terminal can be connected to the core network of the area where the terminal is located via the above-mentioned target satellite without data interruption when the connected satellite base station remains unchanged, thereby ensuring the security of terminal information transmission and enabling reasonable billing of the terminal's communication services.

[0134] In another embodiment of the present invention, the area where the terminal is located does not change, and the satellite moves from the second area to the first area.

[0135] In the embodiments of the present invention, reference may be made to Figure 8 The schematic diagram of the structure of satellite cross-region connection is shown in FIG. Figure 8 As shown, the area where the terminal is located has not changed, that is, the terminal is always located in the second area. Due to the movement of the satellite, the core network accessed by the satellite base station has changed. In this case, refer to Fig. 9 The structure diagram of the satellite inter-regional mobility management process is shown in FIG.

[0136] like Fig. 9 As shown, the satellite base station is connected to the first core network, and the terminal is still located in the second area. In the related art, the terminal is located in the second area but connected to the first core network. In an embodiment of the present invention, after determining that the terminal is located in the second area, the S-CMF selects a target satellite. The target satellite is connected to the satellite to which the terminal is currently connected via an inter-orbit ISL communication. In addition, the target satellite is connected to the gateway station in the second area through a feeder connection. The terminal is connected to the second AMF for serving the second area through the target satellite. The above-mentioned AMF can select the first SMF that matches the second area, and then transmit data to the terminal through the above-mentioned first SMF. That is, the terminal data is processed by the core network of the above-mentioned second area, thereby ensuring that the terminal data is processed by the core network of the area where the terminal is located.

[0137] Specifically, in Fig. 9 In the figure, as shown in the solid line connection part, the satellite where the satellite base station connected by the terminal is located is connected to the target satellite for communication, the target satellite is connected to the gateway station in the second area for feeding, and then connected to the core network of the second area. Finally, the solid line terminal is connected to the core network of the second area in the second area. Fig. 9 The dotted line connection portion indicates that due to the movement of the satellite where the satellite base station to which the terminal is connected is located, the satellite is connected to the gateway station in the first area and is connected to the core network of the first area.

[0138] Specifically, when the terminal is always located in the second region and the core network accessed by the satellite base station is changed from the second core network to the first core network, the process of signaling interaction in satellite inter-regional mobility management provided by the embodiment of the present invention can be described as follows:

[0139] (1) After receiving the terminal control signaling sent by the terminal, the satellite base station sends the terminal control signaling to the S-CMF. The terminal control signaling is sent to the satellite base station when the terminal finds that the core network it is connected to is not the core network of the area where it is located.

[0140] (2) After receiving the terminal control signaling, the S-CMF selects a suitable AMF to serve the terminal according to the PLMN of the terminal's current location TAC (Tracking Area Code). Since the terminal is in the second area, the above-mentioned suitable AMF is the AMF of the second area.

[0141] (3) The AMF of the second area selects a suitable SMF according to the current location of the terminal. Since the terminal is in the second area, the suitable SMF is the SMF of the second area.

[0142] (4) The SMF in the second area selects the UPF to establish a session to ensure that the communication data of the terminal is processed through the core network of the second area.

[0143] As can be seen from the above, in the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, for the situation where the area where the terminal is located and the connected satellite base station remain unchanged, but the core network connected to the satellite base station changes, resulting in a mismatch between the core network connected to the terminal and the terminal location, a target satellite connected to the core network of the area where the terminal is currently located is selected, and the target satellite is communicated with the above-mentioned satellite base station, so that the terminal can be connected to the core network of the area where the terminal is located via the above-mentioned target satellite without data interruption while the connected satellite base station remains unchanged, thereby ensuring the security of terminal information transmission and enabling reasonable billing of the terminal's communication services.

[0144] In the actual application of satellite communication, for a new terminal accessing a satellite base station, it is also necessary to ensure that the new terminal is connected to the core network in the area where the new terminal is located. To this end, the embodiment of the present invention provides the following Fig.10 The embodiment shown.

[0145] See also Fig.10 , is a flow chart of a second mobility management method provided by an embodiment of the present invention, which is similar to the above Figure 4 Compared with the embodiment shown, the method further includes the following steps S404 to S406.

[0146] Step S404: For a new terminal that subsequently accesses, the location of the new terminal is determined.

[0147] Specifically, the location of the new terminal is determined as described in step S401, and then it can be determined whether the new terminal and the satellite are in the same area.

[0148] Step S405: Control the satellite to transmit data to the new terminal via the AMF and SMF in the area where the satellite is located.

[0149] If it is determined that the location of the new terminal is in the same area as the satellite, the base station of the satellite can be controlled to transmit data to the new terminal through the AMF and SMF in the area where it is located, so that the core network in the area where the new terminal is located can process the communication data of the new terminal.

[0150] Step S406: Create a connection with the third AMF so that the third AMF selects an SMF that matches the location of the new terminal and transmits data for the new terminal through the selected SMF.

[0151] Among them, the above-mentioned third AMF is the AMF in the area where the above-mentioned new terminal is located.

[0152] When it is determined that the new terminal and the satellite are not in the same area, the S-CMF selects a suitable satellite, and the suitable satellite is connected to the satellite currently connected to the new terminal through the inter-orbit ISL communication, and the suitable satellite is connected to the gateway station in the area where the new terminal is located. As a result, the new terminal establishes a connection with the third AMF, and then transmits the communication data of the new terminal through the SMF matching the location of the new terminal, thereby ensuring that the communication data of the new terminal is processed by the core network in the area where the new terminal is located.

[0153] See also Fig.11 , which is a structural diagram of a cross-regional mobility management process provided in an embodiment of the present invention. Fig.11 There are two terminals: terminal 1 and terminal 2, either of which can be regarded as the new terminal. Fig.11 In the example, terminal 1 is located in the first area, terminal 2 is located in the second area, and the satellite base station is connected to the gateway station in the second area through a feeder connection. Terminal 2 is connected to the core network of the second area through the satellite base station, and terminal 1 is connected to the target satellite via a satellite including the above-mentioned satellite base station, and the target satellite is connected to the satellite including the above-mentioned satellite base station through an inter-orbit ISL communication, and the target satellite is connected to the gateway station in the first area through a feeder connection, thereby allowing terminal 1 to be connected to the core network of the first area.

[0154] As can be seen from the above, in the solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, for the terminal accessing the satellite base station, the area where the terminal is located is first determined, and then the AMF and SMF used to serve the area where the terminal is located are selected to transmit data to the terminal, thereby ensuring that the core network to which the terminal accessing the satellite base station is connected is the core network of the area where the terminal is located.

[0155] Corresponding to the aforementioned mobility management method, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a mobility management device.

[0156] See also Fig.12 , is a schematic diagram of the structure of a mobility management device provided in an embodiment of the present invention, the device is applied to an S-CMF network element configured on a satellite, the S-CMF network element is used to provide a connection management service for a terminal, and the device includes:

[0157] The first determining module 1201 is used to determine the location of the terminal.

[0158] The judgment module 1202 is used to judge whether the location of the above-mentioned terminal is located in the first area served by the first AMF according to the location of the above-mentioned terminal, wherein the above-mentioned first AMF is: the AMF to which the above-mentioned S-CMF is currently connected.

[0159] The first connection module 1203 is used to create a connection with the second AMF used to serve the second area if the location of the above-mentioned terminal is not located in the above-mentioned first area, so that the above-mentioned second AMF selects the first SMF matching the location of the above-mentioned terminal, and transmits data to the above-mentioned terminal through the selected first SMF. The location of the above-mentioned terminal is located in the above-mentioned second area.

[0160] As can be seen from the above, in the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the location of the terminal is first determined. If it is found that the location of the terminal is not in the area served by the AMF currently connected to the S-CMF, it indicates that the core network currently connected to the terminal is not the core network corresponding to the location of the terminal. In this case, the S-CMF connects the satellite connected to the terminal to the AMF serving the area where the terminal is located. The AMF selects the SMF matching the area where the terminal is located to transmit data to the terminal, thereby realizing that the communication data of the terminal is processed by the core network in the area where the terminal is located. In addition, ensuring that the communication data of the terminal is processed by the core network in the area where the terminal is located can not only ensure the transmission security of the terminal communication data, but also enable reasonable billing of the terminal's communication services.

[0161] In addition, the embodiment of the present invention separates the connection management service originally belonging to AMF and deploys it as a separate network element on the target satellite, which is S-CMF. As the signaling anchor point between the core network and the satellite base station, S-CMF can process part of the interactive signaling originally processed by AMF, thereby reducing the amount of interactive signaling that AMF needs to process under high-speed satellite movement, alleviating the performance pressure of AMF.

[0162] In one embodiment of the present invention, the first determining module 1201 is specifically configured to:

[0163] A RegRequest message and terminal location information sent by the satellite to which the receiving terminal is connected, and the location of the terminal is determined based on the terminal location information, wherein the RegRequest message is sent by the terminal when it determines that the tracking area in which it is located is not in the tracking area list of the first AMF.

[0164] The above-mentioned determination module 1202 is specifically used for:

[0165] After receiving the above-mentioned RegRequest message, it is determined whether the location of the above-mentioned terminal is located in the first area served by the first AMF.

[0166] As can be seen from the above, in the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, after the terminal determines that the tracking area in which it is located is not in the tracking area list of the above-mentioned first AMF, it sends a RegRequest message to the connected satellite base station. After confirming that the S-CMF has received the RegRequest message, it determines the location of the terminal and then adjusts the core network to which the terminal is connected, so that the terminal can connect to the core network of the area in which it is currently located.

[0167] In one embodiment of the present invention, the area where the satellite is located does not change, and the terminal moves from the first area to the second area.

[0168] As can be seen from the above, in the solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, for the situation where the core network connected to the satellite base station has not changed, the terminal position has changed but the connected satellite base station has not changed, resulting in a mismatch between the core network connected to the terminal and the terminal position, a target satellite connected to the core network of the area where the terminal is currently located is selected, and the target satellite is communicated with the above-mentioned satellite base station, so that the terminal can be connected to the core network of the area where the terminal is located via the above-mentioned target satellite without data interruption when the connected satellite base station remains unchanged, thereby ensuring the security of terminal information transmission and enabling reasonable billing of the terminal's communication services.

[0169] In one embodiment of the present invention, the area where the terminal is located does not change, and the satellite moves from the second area to the first area.

[0170] As can be seen from the above, in the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, for the situation where the area where the terminal is located and the connected satellite base station remain unchanged, but the core network connected to the satellite base station changes, resulting in a mismatch between the core network connected to the terminal and the terminal location, a target satellite connected to the core network of the area where the terminal is currently located is selected, and the target satellite is communicated with the above-mentioned satellite base station, so that the terminal can be connected to the core network of the area where the terminal is located via the above-mentioned target satellite without data interruption while the connected satellite base station remains unchanged, thereby ensuring the security of terminal information transmission and enabling reasonable billing of the terminal's communication services.

[0171] In one embodiment of the present invention, the above device further includes:

[0172] The second determining module 1204 is configured to determine the location of a new terminal that subsequently accesses the network.

[0173] The control module 1205 is used to control the satellite to transmit data to the new terminal through the AMF and SMF in the area where the satellite is located if the location of the new terminal is in the same area as the satellite.

[0174] The second connection module 1206 is used to create a connection with the third AMF if the location of the above-mentioned new terminal is not in the same area as the above-mentioned satellite, so that the third AMF selects an SMF that matches the location of the above-mentioned new terminal and transmits data to the above-mentioned new terminal through the selected SMF. The above-mentioned third AMF is the AMF in the area where the above-mentioned new terminal is located.

[0175] As can be seen from the above, in the solution provided in the embodiment of the present invention, for the terminal accessing the satellite base station, the area where the terminal is located is first determined, and then the AMF and SMF used to serve the area where the terminal is located are selected to transmit data to the terminal, thereby ensuring that the core network to which the terminal accessing the satellite base station is connected is the core network of the area where the terminal is located.

[0176] See also Fig.13 , is a structural diagram of an electronic device provided in an embodiment of the present invention, the electronic device includes: a processor 1301, a communication interface 1302, a memory 1303 and a communication bus 1304, wherein the processor 1301, the communication interface 1302, and the memory 1303 communicate with each other through the communication bus 1304.

[0177] The memory 1303 is used to store computer programs.

[0178] The processor 1301 is configured to implement any step of the aforementioned mobility management method when executing the program stored in the memory 1303 .

[0179] As can be seen from the above, in the solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the location of the terminal is first determined. If it is found that the location of the terminal is not in the area served by the AMF currently connected to the S-CMF, it indicates that the core network currently connected to the terminal is not the core network corresponding to the location of the terminal. In this case, the S-CMF connects the satellite connected to the terminal to the AMF serving the area where the terminal is located. The AMF selects the SMF matching the area where the terminal is located to transmit data to the terminal, thereby realizing that the communication data of the terminal is processed by the core network in the area where the terminal is located. In addition, ensuring that the communication data of the terminal is processed by the core network in the area where the terminal is located can not only ensure the transmission security of the terminal communication data, but also enable reasonable billing of the terminal's communication services.

[0180] In addition, the embodiment of the present invention separates the connection management service originally belonging to AMF and deploys it as a separate network element on the target satellite, which is S-CMF. As the signaling anchor point between the core network and the satellite base station, S-CMF can process part of the interactive signaling originally processed by AMF, thereby reducing the amount of interactive signaling that AMF needs to process under high-speed satellite movement, alleviating the performance pressure of AMF.

[0181] The communication bus mentioned in the above electronic device can be a Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus or an Extended Industry Standard Architecture (EISA) bus, etc. The communication bus can be divided into an address bus, a data bus, a control bus, etc. For ease of representation, only one thick line is used in the figure, but it does not mean that there is only one bus or one type of bus.

[0182] The communication interface is used for communication between the above electronic device and other devices.

[0183] The memory may include a random access memory (RAM) or a non-volatile memory (NVM), such as at least one disk memory. Optionally, the memory may also be at least one storage device located away from the aforementioned processor.

[0184] The above-mentioned processor can be a general-purpose processor, including a central processing unit (CPU), a network processor (NP), etc.; it can also be a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components.

[0185] In another embodiment of the present invention, a computer-readable storage medium is provided, in which a computer program is stored. When the computer program is executed by a processor, the steps of any of the above mobility management methods are implemented.

[0186] When the computer program stored in the computer-readable storage medium provided by the embodiment of the present invention is applied for mobility management, the location of the terminal is first determined. If it is found that the location of the terminal is not in the area served by the AMF currently connected to the S-CMF, it indicates that the core network currently connected to the terminal is not the core network corresponding to the location of the terminal. In this case, the S-CMF connects the satellite connected to the terminal to the AMF serving the area where the terminal is located. The AMF selects the SMF matching the area where the terminal is located to transmit data to the terminal, thereby realizing that the communication data of the terminal is processed by the core network in the area where the terminal is located. In addition, ensuring that the communication data of the terminal is processed by the core network in the area where the terminal is located can not only ensure the transmission security of the terminal communication data, but also enable reasonable billing of the terminal's communication services.

[0187] In addition, the embodiment of the present invention separates the connection management service originally belonging to AMF and deploys it as a separate network element on the target satellite, which is S-CMF. As the signaling anchor point between the core network and the satellite base station, S-CMF can process part of the interactive signaling originally processed by AMF, thereby reducing the amount of interactive signaling that AMF needs to process under high-speed satellite movement, alleviating the performance pressure of AMF.

[0188] In another embodiment of the present invention, a computer program product including instructions is provided. When the computer program product is executed on a computer, the computer executes any mobility management method in the above embodiments.

[0189] When the computer program product provided by the embodiment of the present invention is applied for mobility management, the location of the terminal is first determined. If it is found that the location of the terminal is not in the area served by the AMF currently connected to the S-CMF, it indicates that the core network currently connected to the terminal is not the core network corresponding to the location of the terminal. In this case, the S-CMF connects the satellite connected to the terminal to the AMF serving the area where the terminal is located. The AMF selects the SMF matching the area where the terminal is located to transmit data to the terminal, thereby realizing that the communication data of the terminal is processed by the core network in the area where the terminal is located. In addition, ensuring that the communication data of the terminal is processed by the core network in the area where the terminal is located can not only ensure the transmission security of the terminal communication data, but also enable reasonable billing of the terminal's communication services.

[0190] In addition, the embodiment of the present invention separates the connection management service originally belonging to AMF and deploys it as a separate network element on the target satellite, which is S-CMF. As the signaling anchor point between the core network and the satellite base station, S-CMF can process part of the interactive signaling originally processed by AMF, thereby reducing the amount of interactive signaling that AMF needs to process under high-speed satellite movement, alleviating the performance pressure of AMF.

[0191] In the above embodiments, it can be implemented in whole or in part by software, hardware, firmware or any combination thereof. When implemented by software, it can be implemented in whole or in part in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When the computer program instructions are loaded and executed on a computer, the process or function described in the embodiment of the present invention is generated in whole or in part. The computer can be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. The computer instructions can be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, or transmitted from one computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions can be transmitted from a website site, computer, server or data center to another website site, computer, server or data center by wired (e.g., coaxial cable, optical fiber, digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, wireless, microwave, etc.). The computer-readable storage medium can be any available medium that a computer can access or a data storage device such as a server or data center that includes one or more available media integrated. The available medium can be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, a tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), or a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid-state hard disk Solid State Disk (SSD)), etc.

[0192] It should be noted that, in this article, relational terms such as first and second, etc. are only used to distinguish one entity or operation from another entity or operation, and do not necessarily require or imply any such actual relationship or order between these entities or operations. Moreover, the terms "include", "comprise" or any other variants thereof are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusion, so that a process, method, article or device including a series of elements includes not only those elements, but also other elements not explicitly listed, or also includes elements inherent to such process, method, article or device. In the absence of further restrictions, the elements defined by the sentence "comprise a ..." do not exclude the existence of other identical elements in the process, method, article or device including the elements.

[0193] Each embodiment in this specification is described in a related manner, and the same or similar parts between the embodiments can be referred to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. In particular, for the device, electronic device, computer-readable storage medium, and computer program product embodiments, since they are basically similar to the method embodiments, the description is relatively simple, and the relevant parts can be referred to the partial description of the method embodiments.

[0194] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the protection scope of the present invention. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present invention are included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A mobility management method, characterized in that: Applied to a satellite connection manager function S-CMF network element configured on a satellite, the S-CMF network element is used to provide a connection management service for a terminal, the method comprising: Determine the location of the terminal; According to the location of the terminal, determining whether the location of the terminal is located in a first area served by a first access and mobility management function AMF, wherein the first AMF is: the AMF currently connected to the S-CMF; If not, a connection is created with a second AMF for serving the second area so that the second AMF selects a first session management function SMF that matches the location of the terminal, and transmits data for the terminal through the selected first SMF, and the location of the terminal is located in the second area.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The area where the satellite is located does not change, and the terminal moves from the first area to the second area.

3. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that The area where the terminal is located does not change, and the satellite moves from the second area to the first area.

4. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that: The method further comprises: For a new terminal that subsequently accesses, determining a location of the new terminal; If the location of the new terminal is in the same area as the satellite, controlling the satellite to transmit data to the new terminal through the AMF and SMF in the area where the satellite is located; If the location of the new terminal is not in the same area as the satellite, a connection is created with the third AMF so that the third AMF selects an SMF that matches the location of the new terminal and transmits data to the new terminal through the selected SMF. The third AMF is the AMF in the area where the new terminal is located.

5. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that The determining the location of the terminal includes: receiving a registration request RegRequest message and terminal location information sent by a satellite connected to the terminal, and determining the location of the terminal according to the terminal location information, wherein the RegRequest message is sent by the terminal when it is determined that the tracking area in which the terminal is located is not in the tracking area list of the first AMF; The determining, according to the location of the terminal, whether the location of the terminal is located in a first area served by a first AMF includes: After receiving the RegRequest message, determine whether the location of the terminal is located in the first area served by the first AMF.

6. A mobility management device, characterized in that: Applied to a satellite connection manager function S-CMF network element configured on a satellite, the S-CMF network element is used to provide a connection management service for a terminal, and the device includes: A first determination module, used to determine the location of the terminal; A judging module, configured to judge, according to the location of the terminal, whether the location of the terminal is located in a first area served by a first access and mobility management function AMF, wherein the first AMF is: the AMF currently connected to the S-CMF; A first connection module is used to create a connection with a second AMF for serving a second area if the terminal is not located in the first area, so that the second AMF selects a first session management function SMF that matches the location of the terminal and transmits data to the terminal through the selected first SMF, and the terminal is located in the second area.

7. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that The area where the satellite is located does not change, and the terminal moves from the first area to the second area.

8. The device according to claim 6, characterized in that The area where the terminal is located does not change, and the satellite moves from the second area to the first area.

9. An electronic device, characterized in that: It includes a processor, a communication interface, a memory and a communication bus, wherein the processor, the communication interface and the memory communicate with each other via the communication bus; Memory, used to store computer programs; A processor is used to implement any one of the method steps in claims 1-5 when executing a program stored in a memory.

10. A computer-readable storage medium, characterized in that: The computer-readable storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the method steps in any one of claims 1 to 5 are implemented.

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