Joint paging method and device, medium and equipment

Abstract

The invention discloses a joint paging method and device, a medium and equipment, and relates to the technical field of computers. The method comprises the following steps: when a source mobility management entity initiates paging for a preset number of times to target user equipment and does not receive a service request message sent by the target user equipment, sending GTPv2-C paging to a neighbor mobility management entity; after the neighbor mobility management entity receives the GTPv2-C paging, judging whether a tracking area identifier exists in the GTPv2-C paging, and determining a neighbor base station according to a judgment result; the number of the adjacent cell base stations is one or more; for each of the adjacent cell base stations, the adjacent cell base stations page all user equipment within the range of the adjacent cell base stations through the international mobile subscriber identity in GTPv2-C paging, so that the user equipment corresponding to the international mobile subscriber identity sends an attachment request to an adjacent cell mobility management entity; and if the neighbor mobility management entity receives the attachment request, determining that the paging result is successful. The method can expand the paging range.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of computer technology, and in particular to a joint paging method, apparatus, medium and equipment. Background Art

[0002] Hardware resource limitations mean that during the actual deployment of core network functional elements, each server unit has an upper limit on the total number of users it can serve and the total number of base stations it can connect to. Hardware resources include memory, network port speed, hard disk, CPU, and socket connections. For example, the upper limit on the number of user equipment (UE) that can be served by a single virtual machine or physical server is 50,000. During the actual deployment of core network functional elements, multiple network entities and multiple functional units are deployed simultaneously. For example, the Mobility Management Entity (MME) and Access Management Function (AMF) functional units are deployed simultaneously.

[0003] Currently, core network functional elements are deployed with multiple MMEs and AMFs. This can lead to challenges in the paging process. There are various paging strategies, such as paging based on the Tracking Area Identity List (TAI List), paging based on user behavior, and paging based on core network policies.

[0004] However, the existing paging process can only be controlled by the MME within the same 4G core network. When connecting to different MMEs, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) process prevents paging on base stations connected to different MMEs. Existing network-wide paging, when there are multiple MMEs in the network, can only page a single MME; cross-MME paging is not possible. Summary of the Invention

[0005] Based on this, it is necessary to provide a joint paging method, apparatus, medium and device to address the above technical issues. The method can expand the paging range.

[0006] The present invention adopts the following technical solutions: The present invention provides a joint paging method, comprising: When the source mobility management entity initiates paging to the target user equipment for a preset number of times and does not receive a service request message sent by the target user equipment, the source mobility management entity sends a GTPv2-C paging to the neighboring mobility management entity; When the neighboring cell mobility management entity receives the GTPv2-C paging, it determines whether the tracking area identifier exists in the GTPv2-C paging, and determines the neighboring cell base station based on the determination result; the number of neighboring cell base stations is one or more; For each of the neighboring base stations, the neighboring base station pages all user equipment within the range of the neighboring base station using the international mobile user identity in the GTPv2-C paging, so that the user equipment corresponding to the international mobile user identity sends an attach request to the neighboring mobility management entity; If the neighboring cell mobility management entity receives the attach request, it determines that the paging result is successful.

[0007] Preferably, determining the neighboring base station according to the judgment result includes: If the result of the determination is that the tracking area identifier exists, the base station in the tracking area identifier is determined as a neighboring base station; If the result of the determination is that the tracking area identifier does not exist, all base stations on the neighboring cell mobility management entity are determined as neighboring cell base stations.

[0008] Preferably, the method further comprises: After determining that the paging result is successful, sending a message indicating that the paging result is successful to the source mobility management entity; When the source mobility management entity receives a message indicating that the paging result is successful, it sets the state of the target user equipment to offline.

[0009] Preferably, the source mobility management entity initiates paging to the target user equipment a preset number of times, including: The source mobility management entity sends a preset number of temporary mobile user identity pagings at a fixed frequency to all base stations in the tracking area identity list corresponding to the target user equipment.

[0010] Preferably, the method further comprises: When the source mobility management entity initiates temporary mobile user identity paging to the target user equipment for a preset number of times and does not receive a service request message sent by the target user equipment, the source mobility management entity initiates international mobile subscriber identity paging.

[0011] The present invention provides a joint paging device, comprising: a sending module, configured to, when the source mobility management entity initiates paging to the target user equipment for a preset number of times and does not receive a service request message sent by the target user equipment, send a GTPv2-C paging to the neighboring mobility management entity; The first determination module is configured to, when the neighboring cell mobility management entity receives a GTPv2-C paging, determine whether a tracking area identifier is present in the GTPv2-C paging, and determine a neighboring cell base station based on the determination result; the number of neighboring cell base stations is one or more; a paging module configured to page, for each of the neighboring base stations, all user equipment within the range of the neighboring base station using the international mobile user identity in the GTPv2-C paging, so that the user equipment corresponding to the international mobile user identity sends an attach request to the neighboring mobility management entity; The second determining module is configured to determine that the paging result is successful if the neighboring cell mobility management entity receives the attach request.

[0012] The present invention provides a computer-readable storage medium, wherein the storage medium stores a computer program, and when the computer program is executed by a processor, the above-mentioned joint paging method is implemented.

[0013] The present invention provides a computer device, comprising a memory, a processor, and a computer program stored in the memory and operable on the processor, wherein the processor implements the above-mentioned joint paging method when executing the program.

[0014] At least one of the above technical solutions adopted by the present invention can achieve the following beneficial effects: When a neighboring cell mobility management entity receives a GTPv2-C paging, it determines whether a tracking area identifier is present in the GTPv2-C paging and, based on the determination, determines a neighboring cell base station. For each neighboring cell base station, the neighboring cell base station pages all user equipment within the neighboring cell base station using the international mobile user identity code in the GTPv2-C paging, so that the user equipment corresponding to the international mobile user identity code sends an attach request to the neighboring cell mobility management entity. A single or multiple neighboring cell base stations initiate paging in parallel, expanding coverage through spatial diversity. If the neighboring cell mobility management entity receives the attach request, it determines that the paging result is successful. The method proposed in the present invention expands the paging range by transmitting paging messages between multiple mobility management entities. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0015] The drawings described herein are used to provide a further understanding of the present invention and constitute a part of the present invention. The exemplary embodiments of the present invention and their descriptions are used to explain the present invention and do not constitute an improper limitation of the present invention. In the drawings:

[0016] Figure 1 A paging flow chart of the prior art provided by the present invention; Figure 2 A schematic diagram of a joint paging method provided by the present invention; Figure 3 A block diagram of joint paging provided by the present invention; Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a joint paging device provided by the present invention; Figure 5A schematic diagram of a computer device for implementing a joint paging method provided by the present invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0017] To make the objectives, technical solutions, and advantages of the present invention more clear, the technical solutions of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with specific embodiments of the present invention and corresponding drawings. Obviously, the embodiments described are only some embodiments of the present invention, not all embodiments. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in this field without making creative efforts are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0018] For the convenience of description, the following description will only take the server as the execution subject as an example.

[0019] The paging process in the prior art is as follows: Figure 1 As shown, the MME initiates the paging process by sending a paging message to the evolved access point base station; after receiving the paging message, the access point base station pages the UE in the cell of the tracking area list (List of TAIs IE).

[0020] like Figure 1 The paging process shown here must be executed from the same MME operating entity and can only be applied to base stations connected to that MME. For example, a certain operator has 3.62 million 4G base stations. These 3.62 million 4G base stations cannot be connected to a single MME at a server network port. Instead, they are connected to different MMEs at the provincial or regional level. Existing paging processes cannot perform paging across MMEs.

[0021] This invention proposes a joint paging method. During the paging process, if an MME cannot page the UE on its connected base station, or if base stations connected to other MMEs are within the TAI range included in the TAI List, the MME directly triggers cross-MME paging through specific coordination. This method improves the paging success rate and solves paging coverage issues in border areas.

[0022] The technical solutions provided by various embodiments of the present invention are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0023] Figure 2 The figure is a flowchart of a joint paging method in the present invention, which specifically includes the following steps: S201: When a source mobility management entity initiates paging to a target user equipment for a preset number of times and does not receive a service request message sent by the target user equipment, the source mobility management entity sends a GTPv2-C paging to a neighboring mobility management entity.

[0024] In an exemplary embodiment, the source mobility management entity initiates a preset number of pagings to the target user equipment, including: the source mobility management entity sends a preset number of temporary mobile user identity pagings at a fixed frequency to all base stations in the tracking area identity list corresponding to the target user equipment.

[0025] In an exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: when the source mobility management entity initiates temporary mobile user identity paging to the target user equipment a preset number of times and does not receive a service request message sent by the target user equipment, the source mobility management entity initiates international mobile user identity code paging.

[0026] Specifically, when downlink data arrives, the MME triggers a paging process for the target UE. First, based on the base station to which the MME is connected, if the base station's tracking area identifier (TAI) is within the tracking area identifier list (TAI List) stored by the user equipment, a paging message is sent to the base station. Paging messages are categorized as either temporary mobile subscriber identity (S-TMSI) paging or international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) paging.

[0027] The MME first sends four S-TMSI paging messages in sequence with an interval of 1 second. If the MME receives a Service Request message from the UE, the paging is successful and no subsequent paging messages are sent. If the UE has not sent a Service Request message after sending four S-TMSI paging messages, the MME will use the IMSI for paging in the fifth paging message. After receiving the IMSI paging, the UE will trigger the reattachment process and send an Attach Request message to the network. The UE will then complete the subsequent attachment process together with the core network and base station.

[0028] During the fifth paging of the MME, the MME sends an IMSI paging message and also sends a GTPv2-C paging message (Paging (IMSI)) to the connected neighboring MME.

[0029] The newly added message type definitions are shown in Table 1.

[0030] Table 1 The definition of the newly added paging message directly delivered by the MME is shown in Table 2: Table 2 S202: After receiving the GTPv2-C paging, the neighboring cell mobility management entity determines whether there is a tracking area identifier in the GTPv2-C paging, and determines a neighboring cell base station based on the determination result; the number of neighboring cell base stations is one or more.

[0031] In an exemplary embodiment, the neighboring base station is determined based on the judgment result, including: if the judgment result is that there is a tracking area identifier, the base station in the tracking area identifier is determined as the neighboring base station; if the judgment result is that there is no tracking area identifier, all base stations on the neighboring mobility management entity are determined as neighboring base stations.

[0032] Specifically, IMSI paging is initiated via the GTPv2-C protocol, and eNodeBs within a specific range initiate IMSI paging via the S1AP protocol. Upon receiving the IMSI paging message, the neighboring MME retrieves the IMSI and TAI from the message. If the TAI exists, it searches for the TAI information of the connected base station. If the base station has these TAI identifiers, it sends a paging message to the base station using the IMSI. If the message does not contain TAI information, the neighboring MME, upon receiving the message, sends an IMSI paging message to all base stations connected to the neighboring MME.

[0033] S203: For each of the neighboring base stations, the neighboring base station pages all user equipment within the range of the neighboring base station through the international mobile user identity code in the GTPv2-C paging, so that the user equipment corresponding to the international mobile user identity code sends an attach request to the neighboring mobility management entity.

[0034] Specifically, after receiving the paging request from the MME, the neighboring base station sends a paging message including the IMSI within the coverage area through the air interface broadcast method, notifying the user equipment to establish a connection to receive data or signaling.

[0035] S204: If the neighboring cell mobility management entity receives the attach request, it determines that the paging result is successful.

[0036] If the UE responds to the IMSI paging message, the UE sends an Attach Request; if the UE does not respond to the IMSI paging message, the UE does not send an Attach Request.

[0037] When the neighboring cell mobility management entity receives the attach request, it determines that the paging result is successful; when the neighboring cell mobility management entity does not receive the attach request, it determines that the paging result is failed.

[0038] The format of the paging result is shown in Table 3: Table 3 In an exemplary embodiment, the method further includes: after determining that the paging result is successful, sending a message indicating that the paging result is successful to the source mobility management entity; when the source mobility management entity receives the message indicating that the paging result is successful, setting the status of the target user equipment to offline.

[0039] After receiving the paging result, the source mobility management entity judges the paging result. If the paging result is successful, the source mobility management entity sets the status of the user equipment to offline; if the paging result is failed, the mobility management entity handles it according to the original policy.

[0040] The existing policy is: if paging fails, the mobility management entity will set the user status to "unreachable" and delete the user and set the user to offline status after the timer expires.

[0041] Specifically, the source MME receives a paging result indicating success or failure. If the result indicates success, the UE is already attached to another MME. The source MME sets the UE's status to offline. If the result indicates failure, the UE is not already attached to another MME, and the source MME handles the situation according to its existing policy.

[0042] In an exemplary embodiment, the present invention provides Figure 3 The joint paging block diagram is shown.

[0043] Step 1: The source mobility management entity sends a GTPv2-C message to the neighboring mobility management entity: Paging (IMSI).

[0044] Step 2: Based on the Tracking Area Identifier (TAI) in the GTPv2-C paging message, the eNodeBs within a specific range initiate paging using an S1AP message. Upon receiving the message, the neighboring mobility management entity retrieves the IMSI and TAI from the message. If the TAI exists, it searches for the TAI information of the connected eNodeB. If the eNodeB has the TAI, it sends a Paging message to that eNodeB, using its IMSI for paging. If the message does not contain TAI information, the MME, upon receiving the message, sends a Paging message to all eNodeBs connected to the MME, using their IMSI for paging.

[0045] Step 3: The neighboring cell mobility management entity sends an S1AP message to the neighboring cell base station eNodeB: Paging (IMSI).

[0046] Step 4: The base station eNodeB sends a paging message to the terminal equipment UE within its range.

[0047] Step 5: If the UE responds to the paging message, the UE sends an Attach Request. If not, the message is not sent.

[0048] Step 6: Within a certain period of time, the neighboring cell mobility management entity will return the paging result to the MME.

[0049] This invention proposes a joint paging method that transmits paging information between multiple MMEs, enabling paging over a wider range. This method is particularly suitable for areas where multiple MMEs connect to base stations. Joint paging across multiple MMEs improves the paging success rate and, in particular, expands the scope of network-wide paging.

[0050] When applying a joint paging method provided by the present invention, it is not necessary to Figure 2 The steps are executed in the order shown. The specific execution order of the steps can be determined according to needs, and the present invention does not limit this.

[0051] The above is a joint paging method provided by one or more embodiments of the present invention. Based on the same idea, the present invention also provides a corresponding joint paging device, such as Figure 4 shown.

[0052] Figure 4 A schematic diagram of a joint paging device provided by the present invention includes: The sending module 401 is configured to send a GTPv2-C paging message to a neighboring mobility management entity when the source mobility management entity initiates paging to the target user equipment for a preset number of times and does not receive a service request message sent by the target user equipment.

[0053] The first determination module 402 is configured to determine whether a tracking area identifier is present in a GTPv2-C paging message after the neighboring cell mobility management entity receives the GTPv2-C paging message, and determine a neighboring cell base station based on the determination result; the number of neighboring cell base stations is one or more.

[0054] The paging module 403 is configured to page all user equipment within the range of each neighboring base station using the international mobile user identity code in the GTPv2-C paging, so that the user equipment corresponding to the international mobile user identity code sends an attachment request to the neighboring mobility management entity.

[0055] The second determining module 404 is configured to determine that the paging result is successful if the neighboring cell mobility management entity receives the attach request.

[0056] The specific definition of a joint paging device can be found in the definition of a joint paging method above and will not be further elaborated here. Each module in the aforementioned joint paging device may be implemented in whole or in part via software, hardware, or a combination thereof. Each module may be embedded in or independent of a processor in a computer device in hardware form, or may be stored in a computer device memory in software form, so that the processor can call and execute the corresponding operations of each module.

[0057] The present invention also provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores a computer program, which can be used to execute the above Figure 2 A joint paging method is provided.

[0058] The present invention also provides Figure 5 The structural diagram of the computer equipment shown in FIG. Figure 5 As shown in the figure, at the hardware level, the computer device includes a processor, an internal bus, a network interface, a memory, and a non-volatile memory. Of course, it may also include other hardware required for the business. The processor reads the corresponding computer program from the non-volatile memory into the memory and then runs it to achieve the above Figure 2 A joint paging method is provided.

[0059] Those skilled in the art will appreciate that all or part of the processes in the above-described method embodiments can be implemented by instructing the relevant hardware using a computer program. The computer program can be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium. When executed, the computer program can include the processes in the above-described method embodiments. Any reference to memory, storage, database, or other media used in the various embodiments provided herein may include at least one of non-volatile and volatile memory. Non-volatile memory may include read-only memory (ROM), magnetic tape, floppy disk, flash memory, or optical storage. Volatile memory may include random access memory (RAM) or external cache memory. By way of illustration and not limitation, RAM can take various forms, such as static random access memory (SRAM) or dynamic random access memory (DRAM).

[0060] The technical features of the above embodiments can be combined arbitrarily. In order to make the description concise, not all possible combinations of the technical features in the above embodiments are described. However, as long as there is no contradiction in the combination of these technical features, they should be considered to be within the scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A joint paging method, characterized in that: include: When the source mobility management entity initiates paging to the target user equipment for a preset number of times and does not receive a service request message sent by the target user equipment, the source mobility management entity sends a GTPv2-C paging to the neighboring mobility management entity; After receiving the GTPv2-C paging, the neighboring cell mobility management entity determines whether a tracking area identifier is present in the GTPv2-C paging, and determines a neighboring cell base station according to the determination result; the number of the neighboring cell base stations is one or more; For each of the neighboring cell base stations, the neighboring cell base station pages all user equipment within the range of the neighboring cell base station using the international mobile user identity code in the GTPv2-C paging, so that the user equipment corresponding to the international mobile user identity code sends an attach request to the neighboring cell mobility management entity; If the neighboring cell mobility management entity receives the attach request, it determines that the paging result is successful.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein The determining of the neighboring base station according to the judgment result includes: If the result of the determination is that the tracking area identifier exists, determining the base station in the tracking area identifier as a neighboring base station; If the result of the determination is that the tracking area identifier does not exist, all base stations on the neighboring cell mobility management entity are determined as neighboring cell base stations.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein The method further comprises: After determining that the paging result is successful, sending a message indicating that the paging result is successful to the source mobility management entity; When the source mobility management entity receives a message indicating that the paging result is successful, the state of the target user equipment is set to offline.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein The source mobility management entity initiates paging to the target user equipment a preset number of times, including: The source mobility management entity sends a preset number of temporary mobile user identity pagings at a fixed frequency to all base stations in the tracking area identity list corresponding to the target user equipment.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein The method further comprises: When the source mobility management entity initiates temporary mobile user identity paging to the target user equipment for a preset number of times and does not receive a service request message sent by the target user equipment, the source mobility management entity initiates international mobile subscriber identity paging.

6. A joint paging device, characterized in that: include: a sending module, configured to, when the source mobility management entity initiates paging to the target user equipment for a preset number of times and does not receive a service request message sent by the target user equipment, send a GTPv2-C paging to the neighboring mobility management entity; A first determining module is configured to, when the neighboring cell mobility management entity receives the GTPv2-C paging, determine whether there is a tracking area identifier in the GTPv2-C paging, and determine a neighboring cell base station according to the determination result; the number of the neighboring cell base stations is one or more; a paging module configured to page, for each of the neighboring cell base stations, all user equipment within the range of the neighboring cell base station using the international mobile user identity code in the GTPv2-C paging, so that the user equipment corresponding to the international mobile user identity code sends an attach request to the neighboring cell mobility management entity; The second determining module is configured to determine that the paging result is successful if the neighboring cell mobility management entity receives the attach request.

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

8. A computer device, characterized in that: The method comprises a memory, a processor and a computer program stored in the memory and executable on the processor, wherein the processor implements the method according to any one of claims 1 to 5 when executing the program.

Images