Disaster roaming control methods, network elements, terminals and related equipment

Abstract

This disclosure provides a disaster roaming control method, network element device, terminal, and related equipment, relating to the field of communication technology. The method includes: a Mobility Management Entity (MME) providing disaster roaming indication information to a Home Subscriber Server (HSS). When a terminal sends a disaster roaming access request to a first network where the MME resides, the MME may send the disaster roaming indication information to the HSS in a second network, causing the HSS in the second network to send the terminal's authentication data or subscription data to the MME in the first network, thereby enabling the first network to provide communication services to the terminal. This disclosure enables a terminal to temporarily access a network and obtain basic communication services during disaster roaming, without being limited by network standards.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to the field of communication technology, and in particular to a disaster roaming control method, network element equipment, terminal and related equipment. Background Technology

[0002] Inter-network roaming allows a terminal belonging to a PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network) to access another PLMN and obtain communication services when it leaves the coverage area of ​​its own network or in specific scenarios.

[0003] However, the home PLMN network and the visited PLMN network of a terminal often belong to different telecommunications operators. Currently, inter-network roaming services are only available for specific network standards (such as only supporting 5G inter-network roaming and not 4G), and terminals can only obtain 5G inter-network roaming services and cannot roam to 4G networks.

[0004] In actual operation, 5G network infrastructure may fail. When a 5G base station fails, if only the visited 4G network is available, the visited 4G network cannot provide communication services to the terminal, which greatly affects the user's communication service experience.

[0005] It should be noted that the information disclosed in the background section above is only used to enhance the understanding of the background of this disclosure, and therefore may include information that does not constitute prior art known to those skilled in the art. Summary of the Invention

[0006] This disclosure provides a disaster roaming control method, network element device, terminal and related equipment, which at least to some extent overcomes the technical problem that disaster roaming services provided in related technologies can only be applied to specific network standards.

[0007] Other features and advantages of this disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, or may be learned in part from practice of this disclosure.

[0008] According to one aspect of this disclosure, a disaster roaming control method is provided, applied to a mobility management entity (MME), comprising: providing disaster roaming indication information to a home subscriber server (HSS).

[0009] In some embodiments, the MME is located within a first network, and the HSS is located within a second network.

[0010] In some embodiments, the first network is the visited public land mobile network; the second network is the home public land mobile network.

[0011] In some embodiments, before providing disaster roaming indication information to the HSS, the method further includes: receiving a disaster roaming access request sent by the terminal to the first network.

[0012] In some embodiments, the first network includes: a first base station and a second base station; the disaster roaming access request is an access request sent by the terminal to the second base station in the event of a failure of the first base station.

[0013] In some embodiments, the second base station is further configured to broadcast disaster roaming service information to terminals within the first network in the event of a failure of the first base station.

[0014] In some embodiments, the first base station is a 5G base station; the second base station is a 4G base station.

[0015] In some embodiments, after providing disaster roaming indication information to the HSS, the method further includes receiving authentication data returned by the HSS.

[0016] In some embodiments, after providing disaster roaming indication information to the HSS, the method further includes receiving subscription data returned by the HSS.

[0017] In some embodiments, the method further includes providing disaster roaming indication information to the serving gateway S-GW of the first network.

[0018] In some embodiments, the S-GW of the first network is also used to store the disaster roaming indication information into the bearer context.

[0019] In some embodiments, the S-GW of the first network is also used to provide disaster roaming indication information to the public data gateway PDN-GW of the second network.

[0020] In some embodiments, the PDN-GW of the second network is also used to execute policies and billing controls based on the disaster roaming indication information.

[0021] According to another aspect of this disclosure, a disaster roaming control method is also provided, applied to an HSS, comprising: receiving disaster roaming instruction information provided by an MME.

[0022] In some embodiments, the MME is located within a first network, and the HSS is located within a second network.

[0023] In some embodiments, the disaster roaming indication information is sent by the MME within the first network after receiving a disaster roaming access request sent by a terminal to the first network.

[0024] In some embodiments, after receiving disaster roaming indication information provided by the MME, the method further includes: confirming whether the terminal's subscription data is stored; if so, returning authentication data and / or subscription data to the MME; if not, returning access denial indication information to the MME, wherein the access denial indication information is used to instruct the MME to reject the terminal's disaster roaming access request.

[0025] According to another aspect of this disclosure, a disaster roaming control method is also provided, applied to a terminal, comprising: sending a disaster roaming access request to an MME, so that the MME provides disaster roaming indication information to the HSS.

[0026] In some embodiments, the MME is located within a first network, and the HSS is located within a second network.

[0027] In some embodiments, the first network includes: a first base station and a second base station; the disaster roaming access request is an access request sent by the terminal to the second base station in the event of a failure of the first base station.

[0028] In some embodiments, the method further includes: receiving disaster roaming service information broadcast by the second base station.

[0029] According to another aspect of this disclosure, a network element device is also provided, including: a disaster roaming indication module for providing disaster roaming indication information to the HSS.

[0030] According to another aspect of this disclosure, a network element device is also provided, including: a disaster roaming indication information acquisition module, used to receive disaster roaming indication information provided by an MME.

[0031] According to another aspect of this disclosure, a terminal is also provided, comprising: a disaster roaming access request module, configured to send a disaster roaming access request to an MME, so that the MME provides disaster roaming indication information to the HSS.

[0032] According to another aspect of this disclosure, an electronic device is also provided, comprising: a processor; and a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to perform the disaster roaming control method described in any of the preceding claims by executing the executable instructions.

[0033] According to another aspect of this disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium is also provided, on which a computer program is stored, which, when executed by a processor, implements the disaster roaming control method described in any of the preceding claims.

[0034] According to another aspect of this disclosure, a computer program product is also provided, comprising: a computer program or instructions that, when executed by a processor, implement the disaster roaming control method described in any one of the preceding claims.

[0035] The disaster roaming control method, network element device, terminal, and related equipment provided in this disclosure embodiment involve a Mobility Management Entity (MME) providing disaster roaming indication information to a Home Subscriber Server (HSS). When a terminal sends a disaster roaming access request to the first network where the MME resides, the MME can send the disaster roaming indication information to the HSS in a second network. This allows the HSS in the second network to send the terminal's authentication data or subscription data to the MME in the first network, thereby enabling the first network to provide communication services to the terminal. This disclosure embodiment enables a terminal to temporarily access a network and obtain basic communication services during disaster roaming. When the first network is the visited network and the second network is the home network, the terminal is allowed to temporarily access the visited network and obtain user subscription data from the home network through the visited network to obtain basic communication services, without being limited by network standards.

[0036] It should be understood that the above general description and the following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory only, and are not intended to limit this disclosure. Attached Figure Description

[0037] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and form part of this specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with this disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of this disclosure. It is obvious that the drawings described below are merely some embodiments of this disclosure, and those skilled in the art can obtain other drawings based on these drawings without any inventive effort.

[0038] Figure 1 This diagram illustrates a communication system architecture according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0039] Figure 2 This diagram illustrates a disaster roaming control method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0040] Figure 3 A flowchart of an optional disaster roaming control method is shown in an embodiment of this disclosure;

[0041] Figure 4 A flowchart of an optional disaster roaming control method is shown in an embodiment of this disclosure;

[0042] Figure 5 This diagram illustrates a flowchart of yet another disaster roaming control method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0043] Figure 6A flowchart of yet another optional disaster roaming control method is shown in this embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0044] Figure 7 This diagram illustrates another disaster roaming control method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0045] Figure 8 A flowchart of another optional disaster roaming control method in an embodiment of this disclosure is shown;

[0046] Figure 9 This diagram illustrates a specific implementation flowchart of a disaster roaming control method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0047] Figure 10 This diagram illustrates a network element device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0048] Figure 11 This diagram illustrates yet another network element device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0049] Figure 12 This diagram illustrates a terminal according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0050] Figure 13 A schematic diagram of an electronic device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure is shown. Detailed Implementation

[0051] Exemplary embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, these exemplary embodiments can be implemented in many forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, they are provided so that this disclosure will be more comprehensive and complete, and will fully convey the concept of the exemplary embodiments to those skilled in the art. The described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments.

[0052] Furthermore, the accompanying drawings are merely illustrative of this disclosure and are not necessarily drawn to scale. The same reference numerals in the drawings denote the same or similar parts, and therefore repeated descriptions of them will be omitted. Some block diagrams shown in the drawings are functional entities and do not necessarily correspond to physically or logically independent entities. These functional entities may be implemented in software, in one or more hardware modules or integrated circuits, or in different network and / or processor devices and / or microcontroller devices.

[0053] To facilitate understanding, before introducing the embodiments of this disclosure, the following explanations are provided for several terms involved in the embodiments of this disclosure:

[0054] The following is an explanation of these terms as required:

[0055] MME: Mobility Management Entity.

[0056] HSS: Home Subscriber Server, the server belonging to the subscriber.

[0057] PLMN: Public Land Mobile Network.

[0058] V-MME: Visited MME, the Visited Mobility Management Entity (typically used in roaming scenarios, referring to the MME in the network visited by the user).

[0059] H-HSS: Home HSS, Home Subscriber Server (emphasizing that it is the HSS in the subscriber's home network).

[0060] VS-GW: Visited Serving Gateway (a gateway in the visited network responsible for data forwarding and other functions when a user is roaming).

[0061] H-PDN-GW: Home PDN Gateway, a gateway connecting a user's home network to an external data network.

[0062] UE: User Equipment, also known as user terminal (short for terminal).

[0063] The specific implementation methods of the embodiments of this disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0064] Figure 1 A schematic diagram of a communication system architecture is shown, such as Figure 1 As shown, the system architecture includes terminal 10, first network 30A and second network 30B.

[0065] For example, the first network 30A is the visited network; the second network 30B is the home network; the first network 30A includes a first base station 201 and a second base station 202; optionally, the first base station 201 is a 5G base station; and the second base station 202 is a 4G base station. The core network elements deployed in the first network 30A include, but are not limited to, those specified below. Figure 1 The visited service gateway 303 and visited mobility management entity 301 shown; the core network elements deployed in the second network 30B include, but are not limited to, those shown. Figure 1 The image shows the home subscriber server 304 and the home packet data gateway 303.

[0066] When the first base station 201 fails, the terminal 10 can send a disaster roaming access request to the second base station in the first network 30A; the mobility management entity MME in the first network 30A provides disaster roaming indication information to the home subscriber server HSS in the second network 30B.

[0067] After receiving the disaster roaming instruction information provided by the MME in the first network 30A, the HSS in the second network 30B checks whether the terminal's subscription data is stored. If so, it returns authentication data and / or subscription data to the MME in the first network 30A. If not, it returns access denial instruction information to the MME in the first network 30A. The access denial instruction information is used to instruct the MME in the first network 30A to reject the terminal's disaster roaming access request.

[0068] In some embodiments, after the MME in the first network 30A provides disaster roaming indication information to the HSS in the second network 30B, the HSS in the second network 30B returns authentication data to the MME in the first network 30A.

[0069] In some embodiments, when the MME in the first network 30A provides disaster roaming indication information to the HSS in the second network 30B, the HSS in the second network 30B returns subscription data to the MME in the first network 30A.

[0070] In some embodiments, the MME within the first network 30A also provides disaster roaming indication information to the serving gateway S-GW within the first network 30A. The S-GW of the first network 30A is also used to store the disaster roaming indication information in the bearer context. The S-GW of the first network 30A is also used to provide the disaster roaming indication information to the public data gateway PDN-GW of the second network, so that the PDN-GW of the second network 30B can execute policy and charging controls based on the disaster roaming indication information.

[0071] It should be noted that, in the embodiments of this disclosure, terminal 10 refers to an entity on the user side used to receive or transmit signals, and may also be referred to as terminal equipment, mobile station (MS), mobile terminal (MT), etc. The embodiments of this disclosure do not limit the specific technology or device form used by the terminal. In some embodiments of this disclosure, the terminal 10 may be a mobile phone, tablet computer, laptop computer, notebook computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), handheld computer, netbook, ultra-mobile personal computer (UMPC), mobile internet device (MID), augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) device, robot, wearable device, flight vehicle, vehicle user equipment (VUE), shipboard equipment, pedestrian user equipment (PUE), smart home (home devices with wireless communication capabilities, such as refrigerators, televisions, washing machines, or furniture), game console, personal computer (PC), ATM, or self-service machine, etc. Wearable devices include: smartwatches, smart bracelets, smart earphones, smart glasses, smart jewelry (smart bracelets, smart chains, smart rings, smart necklaces, smart anklets, smart anklets, etc.), smart wristbands, smart clothing, etc. Among these, in-vehicle devices can also be referred to as in-vehicle terminals, in-vehicle controllers, in-vehicle modules, in-vehicle components, in-vehicle chips, or in-vehicle units, etc. It should be noted that the specific type of terminal 10 is not limited in the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0072] In some embodiments of this disclosure, the base station may also be other access network devices such as a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point (AP) or a Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) node. In this context, a base station may be referred to as a Node B (NB), Evolved Node B (eNB), Next Generation Node B (gNB), New Radio Node B (NR Node B), Access Point, Relay Base Station (RBS), Serving Base Station (SBS), Base Transceiver Station (BTS), Radio Base Station, Radio Transceiver, Basic Service Set (BSS), Extended Service Set (ESS), Home Node B (HNB), Home Evolved Node B, Transmission Reception Point (TRP), or any other suitable term in the relevant field, as long as the same technical effect is achieved. The base station is not limited to specific technical terms. It should be noted that the embodiments in this disclosure use base stations as examples to describe various embodiments, but do not limit the specific type of base station.

[0073] Optionally, the first and second base stations in this embodiment are merely examples. In practice, the first and second base stations can be base stations of any network standard, such as 3G, 4G, 5G, or later versions. It should be noted that this embodiment does not limit the specific type of base station. This embodiment does not limit the specific technology or equipment form used in the base station. The base station provided in this embodiment can be composed of a central unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU). The CU can also be called a control unit. By adopting a CU-DU structure, the base station, for example, can have its protocol layer separated. Some protocol layer functions are centrally controlled by the CU, while the remaining part or all of the protocol layer functions are distributed in the DU, which is centrally controlled by the CU.

[0074] In this embodiment of the disclosure, other core network functional entities or network element devices may also be deployed in the first network 30A and the second network 30B. The core network devices may differ in different versions of the communication system. Taking a 5G NR system as an example, the core network device 30 may include, but is not limited to, at least one of the following: core network node, core network function, Mobility Management Entity (MME), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), User Plane Function (UPF), Policy Control Function (PCF), Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), Edge Application Server Discovery Function (EASDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Unified Data Repository (UDR), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Centralized Network Configuration (CNC), and Network Repository. Functions include Network Exposure Function (NEF), Local NEF (or L-NEF), Binding Support Function (BSF), and Application Function (AF). It should be noted that this disclosure uses only core network devices in an NR system as an example and does not limit the specific type of core network device.

[0075] Those skilled in the art will know that Figure 1 The number of terminals, base stations, and network element devices shown is merely illustrative; any number of terminals, base stations, and network element devices can be used as needed. This disclosure does not limit this.

[0076] Under the above system architecture, this disclosure provides a disaster roaming control method, which can be executed by any electronic device with computing power.

[0077] In some embodiments, the disaster roaming control method provided in this disclosure can be executed by the Mobility Management Entity (MME) of the system architecture described above; in other embodiments, the disaster roaming control method provided in this disclosure can be implemented by the Mobility Management Entity (MME), the Home Subscriber Server (HSS), and the terminal in the system architecture through interaction.

[0078] Figure 2 This diagram illustrates a disaster roaming control method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, such as... Figure 2 As shown, the disaster roaming control method provided in this embodiment includes the following steps:

[0079] S202, provides disaster roaming instruction information to the home subscriber server (HSS).

[0080] It should be noted that the MME and HSS can be network elements within the same network or network elements in different networks. In this embodiment, the aim is to protect the MME's ability to provide disaster roaming indication information to the HSS, so that the HSS can return authentication data and / or subscription data to the MME.

[0081] When a terminal is in a disaster roaming state, it can send a disaster roaming access request to the network where the MME is located. After receiving the terminal's disaster roaming access request, the MME provides disaster roaming indication information to the HSS in the same network or different networks.

[0082] In some embodiments, the MME is located within a first network, and the HSS is located within a second network. The first network and the second network can be any two different networks.

[0083] Optionally, the first network is the visited network, and the second network is the home network.

[0084] For example, in this embodiment of the disclosure, the first network may be the visited public land mobile network; the second network may be the home public land mobile network.

[0085] Currently, in inter-network roaming services, terminals can only obtain 5G inter-network roaming services, not 4G inter-network roaming services; that is, they are not allowed to access the visited 4G network. When the visited 5G network experiences a base station failure and can no longer provide services (entering a disaster state), terminal devices are allowed to temporarily access the visited 4G network for 4G disaster roaming to obtain basic communication services.

[0086] In some embodiments, such as Figure 3 As shown, before providing disaster roaming indication information to the HSS, the disaster roaming control method provided in this embodiment may further include the following steps:

[0087] S200, receiving a disaster roaming access request sent by the terminal to the first network.

[0088] In this step, the terminal can be a terminal that is connected to the first network or a terminal that is not connected to the first network.

[0089] In some embodiments, the first network includes: a first base station and a second base station; a disaster roaming access request is an access request sent by a terminal to the second base station in the event of a failure of the first base station.

[0090] It should be noted that the first base station and the second base station refer to different base stations deployed within the first network. They can be base stations of the same network standard or base stations of different network standards. This disclosure does not make any specific limitation in this regard.

[0091] In some embodiments, the second base station is further configured to broadcast disaster roaming service information to terminals within the first network in the event of a failure of the first base station.

[0092] In some embodiments, the first base station is a 5G base station; the second base station is a 4G base station.

[0093] In some embodiments, such as Figure 4 As shown, after providing disaster roaming indication information to the HSS, the disaster roaming control method provided in this embodiment may further include the following steps:

[0094] S204, Receive authentication data returned by HSS.

[0095] Furthermore, in some embodiments, such as Figure 4 As shown, after providing disaster roaming indication information to the HSS, the disaster roaming control method provided in this embodiment may further include the following steps:

[0096] S206, Receive the contract data returned by HSS.

[0097] In some embodiments, the disaster roaming control method provided in this disclosure may further include the following steps: providing disaster roaming indication information to the service gateway S-GW of the first network.

[0098] Furthermore, in some embodiments, the S-GW of the first network is also used to store disaster roaming indication information into the bearer context.

[0099] In some embodiments, the S-GW of the first network is also used to provide disaster roaming indication information to the public data gateway PDN-GW of the second network.

[0100] In some embodiments, the PDN-GW of the second network is also used to enforce policies and billing controls based on disaster roaming indication information.

[0101] In specific implementations of this disclosure, disaster roaming service indication information and related processing logic can be added to the following steps of the 4G attach process:

[0102] 1) For disaster roaming attachment, the Mobility Management Entity (MME) provides a disaster roaming service instruction to the Home Subscriber Server (HSS). The MME obtains authentication data from the HSS and performs authentication and security settings.

[0103] 2) The MME provides the HSS with a disaster roaming service instruction in the location update request message. The HSS provides the MME with the subscription data for the disaster roaming service.

[0104] 3) The MME can provide a disaster roaming service indication to the selected Serving Gateway (SGW). The SGW stores this indication in the Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer context.

[0105] 4) Upon receiving a disaster roaming service indication, the service gateway informs the Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW) of this information in the session creation request. The PGW stores this indication in the context. The PGW can also apply policies and charging controls based on this indication information according to the roaming protocol.

[0106] Based on the same inventive concept, this disclosure also provides a disaster roaming control method, which can be executed by any electronic device with computing power.

[0107] In some embodiments, the disaster roaming control method provided in this disclosure can be executed by the Home Subscriber Server (HSS) of the above-described system architecture; in other embodiments, the disaster roaming control method provided in this disclosure can be implemented by the Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Mobility Management Entity (MME), and terminals in the above-described system architecture through interaction.

[0108] Figure 5 This diagram illustrates a disaster roaming control method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, such as... Figure 5 As shown, the disaster roaming control method provided in this embodiment includes the following steps:

[0109] S502 receives disaster roaming instruction information provided by MME.

[0110] In some embodiments, the MME is located within a first network and the HSS is located within a second network.

[0111] In some embodiments, the disaster roaming indication information is sent by the MME in the first network after receiving a disaster roaming access request sent by the terminal to the first network.

[0112] In some embodiments, such as Figure 6 As shown, after receiving the disaster roaming indication information provided by the MME, the disaster roaming control method provided in this embodiment of the disclosure may further include the following steps:

[0113] S504, confirm whether the terminal's subscription data is stored;

[0114] S506, if so, return authentication data and / or contract data to the MME;

[0115] S508, if not, return access denial indication information to the MME, wherein the access denial indication information is used to indicate to the MME to reject the terminal's disaster roaming access request.

[0116] Based on the same inventive concept, this disclosure also provides a disaster roaming control method, which can be executed by any electronic device with computing power.

[0117] In some embodiments, the disaster roaming control method provided in this disclosure can be executed by the Home Subscriber Server (HSS) of the above-described system architecture; in other embodiments, the disaster roaming control method provided in this disclosure can be implemented by the Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Mobility Management Entity (MME), and terminals in the above-described system architecture through interaction.

[0118] Figure 7 This diagram illustrates a disaster roaming control method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, such as... Figure 5 As shown, the disaster roaming control method provided in this embodiment includes the following steps:

[0119] S702, send a disaster roaming access request to the MME so that the MME can provide disaster roaming indication information to the HSS.

[0120] In some embodiments, the MME is located within a first network and the HSS is located within a second network.

[0121] In some embodiments, the first network includes: a first base station and a second base station; a disaster roaming access request is an access request sent by a terminal to the second base station in the event of a failure of the first base station.

[0122] In some embodiments, such as Figure 8 As shown, the disaster roaming control method provided in this embodiment may further include the following steps:

[0123] S704 receives disaster roaming service information broadcast by the second base station.

[0124] It should be noted that in order for the terminal to send a disaster roaming access request to the first network, the second base station in the first network needs to broadcast that it provides disaster roaming services, so that after the terminal receives the disaster roaming service information broadcast by the second base station, it can initiate a disaster roaming access request to the first network through the second base station.

[0125] The first network is the visited PLMN; the second network is the home PLMN. When the UE is in the roaming area, it can only access V-5G and cannot access V-4G. After V-5G enters a disaster state, V-4G allows the UE to access V-4G for disaster roaming. Figure 9 This illustrates the interaction process between the UE, V-MME, VS-GW, H-HSS, and H-PDN-GW after V-5G enters a disaster state, specifically including:

[0126] S900, V-5G network enters disaster status, V-4G broadcast provides disaster roaming service.

[0127] S902, the UE sends a disaster roaming access request to the V-MME.

[0128] S904, V-MME provides disaster roaming guidance information to H-HSS.

[0129] S906, H-HSS confirms whether the UE's subscription data is stored, and then determines whether the UE is allowed to obtain 4G disaster roaming service, preventing UEs without 4G subscription data from breaking through 4G restrictions through disaster roaming.

[0130] S908, H-HSS provides authentication data to V-MME for authentication and security processes. The intermediate access process is omitted.

[0131] S910, V-MME provides disaster roaming guidance information to H-HSS.

[0132] S912, H-HSS provides contract data to V-MME.

[0133] S914, V-MME provides disaster roaming indication information to VS-GW so that VS-GW can store the indication information in the Evolved Packet System EPS bearer context.

[0134] S916, VS-GW provides disaster roaming indication information to H-PDN-GW. H-PDN-GW stores the disaster roaming indication information for policy and billing control.

[0135] It should be noted that the disaster roaming indication information sent in S904, S910, S914, and S916 can be the same, but may be carried by different messages in different steps. For example, the MME sends an authentication and security establishment message containing disaster roaming indication information to the HSS to obtain authentication data from the HSS; the MME sends an update location request message containing disaster roaming indication information to the HSS to obtain subscription data from the HSS; the disaster roaming indication information sent by the MME to the SGW can be included in a session establishment request message; the disaster roaming indication information sent by the SGW to the PGW can be included in a session establishment request message.

[0136] As can be seen from the above, the disaster roaming control method provided in this embodiment can be used by the home network to control the UE. Specifically, when the UE initiates disaster roaming access to the visited 4G network, the V-MME provides a disaster roaming indication to the H-HSS. The H-HSS confirms that the UE has 4G subscription data and provides authentication and subscription data to the V-MME. The V-MME also provides the disaster roaming indication to the VS GW and H-PDN GW to implement disaster roaming-related policies and billing. Unlike UE roaming under normal network conditions, in this embodiment, the UE can only obtain disaster roaming service when the 5G network is in a disaster state, accessing the only available visited 4G network at this time. This 4G network is not allowed to be accessed by the UE under normal conditions. Therefore, the 4G network must provide disaster roaming information to the home network for the UE to be allowed to access.

[0137] After a 5G base station fails, only the visited 4G network is available. The UE initiates disaster roaming registration. The UE's home network needs to participate in the registration process to ensure that the UE has 4G subscription data before allowing the UE to roam to the visited 4G network. The network also controls the UE's disaster roaming service by providing 4G subscription data.

[0138] It should be noted that the acquisition, storage, use, and processing of data in this disclosed technical solution comply with the relevant provisions of laws and regulations. All types of data, such as personal identity data, operational data, and behavioral data related to individuals, customers, and groups, obtained in this disclosed embodiment have been agreed upon by the users.

[0139] Based on the same inventive concept, this disclosure also provides a network element device, which may be, but is not limited to, a mobility management network element device (such as an MME).

[0140] As described in the following embodiments. Since the principle of solving the problem in this network element device embodiment is similar to that in the above method embodiments, the implementation of this network element device embodiment can refer to the implementation of the above method embodiments, and repeated details will not be repeated.

[0141] Figure 10 This illustration shows a schematic diagram of a network element device according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, such as... Figure 10 As shown, the network element device includes: a disaster roaming indication module 101, used to provide disaster roaming indication information to the HSS.

[0142] In some embodiments, the MME is located within a first network, and the HSS is located within a second network. The first network and the second network can be any two different networks.

[0143] Optionally, the first network is the visited network, and the second network is the home network.

[0144] For example, in this embodiment of the disclosure, the first network may be the visited public land mobile network; the second network may be the home public land mobile network.

[0145] In some embodiments, such as Figure 10 As shown, the network element may further include: a disaster roaming access request receiving module 102, used to receive a disaster roaming access request sent by the terminal to the first network.

[0146] In some embodiments, the first network includes: a first base station and a second base station; a disaster roaming access request is an access request sent by a terminal to the second base station in the event of a failure of the first base station.

[0147] It should be noted that the first base station and the second base station can be base stations of different network standards. For example, in one embodiment, the first base station is a 5G base station and the second base station is a 4G base station.

[0148] In some embodiments, the second base station is further configured to broadcast disaster roaming service information to terminals within the first network in the event of a failure of the first base station.

[0149] In some embodiments, the first base station is a 5G base station; the second base station is a 4G base station.

[0150] In some embodiments, such as Figure 10 As shown, the network element device may also include: an authentication data receiving module 103, used to receive authentication data returned by the HSS.

[0151] In some embodiments, such as Figure 10 As shown, the network element may also include: a subscription data receiving module 104, used to receive subscription data returned by the HSS.

[0152] In some embodiments, the disaster roaming indication module 101 is further configured to: provide disaster roaming indication information to the service gateway S-GW of the first network.

[0153] In some embodiments, the S-GW of the first network is also used to store disaster roaming indication information into the bearer context.

[0154] In some embodiments, the S-GW of the first network is also used to provide disaster roaming indication information to the public data gateway PDN-GW of the second network.

[0155] In some embodiments, the PDN-GW of the second network is also used to enforce policies and billing controls based on disaster roaming indication information.

[0156] Based on the same inventive concept, this disclosure also provides a network element device, which may be, but is not limited to, a Home Subscriber Server (HSS).

[0157] As described in the following embodiments. Since the principle of solving the problem in this network element device embodiment is similar to that in the above method embodiments, the implementation of this network element device embodiment can refer to the implementation of the above method embodiments, and repeated details will not be repeated.

[0158] Figure 11 This illustration shows another network element device in an embodiment of the present disclosure, such as... Figure 11 As shown, the network element device includes: a disaster roaming indication information acquisition module 111, used to receive disaster roaming indication information provided by the MME.

[0159] In some embodiments, the MME is located within a first network, and the HSS is located within a second network. The first network and the second network can be any two different networks.

[0160] Optionally, the first network is the visited network, and the second network is the home network.

[0161] For example, in this embodiment of the disclosure, the first network may be the visited public land mobile network; the second network may be the home public land mobile network.

[0162] In some embodiments, the disaster roaming indication information is sent by the MME in the first network after receiving a disaster roaming access request sent by the terminal to the first network.

[0163] In some embodiments, Figure 11 The network element device shown may further include: a terminal authentication module 112, used to: confirm whether the terminal's subscription data is stored; if so, return authentication data and / or subscription data to the MME; if not, return access denial indication information to the MME, wherein the access denial indication information is used to instruct the MME to reject the terminal's disaster roaming access request.

[0164] Based on the same inventive concept, this disclosure also provides a terminal, as described in the following embodiments. Since the principle by which this terminal embodiment solves the problem is similar to that of the above-described method embodiments, the implementation of this terminal embodiment can refer to the implementation of the above-described method embodiments, and repeated details will not be elaborated further.

[0165] Figure 12 This illustration shows another terminal schematic diagram in an embodiment of the present disclosure, such as... Figure 12 As shown, the terminal includes a disaster roaming access request module 121, which is used to send a disaster roaming access request to the MME so that the MME can provide disaster roaming indication information to the HSS.

[0166] In some embodiments, the MME is located within a first network, and the HSS is located within a second network. The first network and the second network can be any two different networks.

[0167] Optionally, the first network is the visited network, and the second network is the home network.

[0168] For example, in this embodiment of the disclosure, the first network may be the visited public land mobile network; the second network may be the home public land mobile network.

[0169] In some embodiments, the first network includes: a first base station and a second base station; a disaster roaming access request is an access request sent by a terminal to the second base station in the event of a failure of the first base station.

[0170] It should be noted that the first base station and the second base station can be base stations of different network standards. For example, in one embodiment, the first base station is a 5G base station and the second base station is a 4G base station.

[0171] In some embodiments, the terminal provided in this disclosure may further include: a broadcast message receiving module 122, used to receive disaster roaming service information broadcast by the second base station.

[0172] It should be noted that the examples and application scenarios implemented by the modules in the above device embodiments and the corresponding steps in the method embodiments are the same, but are not limited to the content disclosed in the above method embodiments. It should also be noted that the above modules, as part of the device, can be executed in a computer system such as a set of computer-executable instructions.

[0173] Those skilled in the art will understand that various aspects of this disclosure can be implemented in the following forms: a completely hardware implementation, a completely software implementation (including firmware, microcode, etc.), or a combination of hardware and software implementations, which can be collectively referred to herein as a "circuit", "module" or "system".

[0174] Based on the same inventive concept, this disclosure also provides an electronic device, which includes: a processor; and a memory for storing executable instructions of the processor; wherein the processor is configured to execute the disaster roaming control method described above by executing the executable instructions. Since the principle by which this electronic device solves the problem is similar to that of the above method embodiments, the implementation of this electronic device embodiment can refer to the implementation of the above method embodiments, and repeated details will not be described again.

[0175] The following reference Figure 13 To describe an electronic device 1300 according to such an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 13 The electronic device 1300 shown is merely an example and should not be construed as limiting the functionality and scope of use of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0176] like Figure 13 As shown, the electronic device 1300 is manifested in the form of a general-purpose computing device. The components of the electronic device 1300 may include, but are not limited to: at least one processing unit 1310, at least one storage unit 1320, and a bus 1330 connecting different system components (including storage unit 1320 and processing unit 1310).

[0177] The storage unit stores program code that can be executed by the processing unit 1310, causing the processing unit 1310 to perform the steps described in the "Exemplary Methods" section above according to various exemplary embodiments of this disclosure.

[0178] In some embodiments, when the electronic device is a Mobility Management Entity (MME), the processing unit 1310 may perform the following steps of the above method embodiment: providing disaster roaming indication information to the Home Subscriber Server (HSS).

[0179] In some embodiments, when the electronic device is a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), the processing unit 1310 may perform the following steps of the above method embodiment: receiving disaster roaming indication information provided by the MME.

[0180] In some embodiments, when the electronic device is a terminal, the processing unit 1310 may perform the following steps of the above method embodiment: send a disaster roaming access request to the MME so that the MME provides disaster roaming indication information to the HSS.

[0181] Storage unit 1320 may include readable media in the form of volatile storage units, such as random access memory (RAM) 13201 and / or cache memory 13202, and may further include read-only memory (ROM) 13203.

[0182] Storage unit 1320 may also include a program / utility 13204 having a set (at least one) of program modules 13205, such program modules 13205 including but not limited to: operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules and program data, each or some combination of these examples may include an implementation of a network environment.

[0183] Bus 1330 can represent one or more of several types of bus structures, including a memory cell bus or memory cell controller, a peripheral bus, a graphics acceleration port, a processing unit, or a local bus using any of the various bus structures.

[0184] Electronic device 1300 can also communicate with one or more external devices 1340 (e.g., keyboard, pointing device, Bluetooth device, etc.), and with one or more devices that enable a user to interact with electronic device 1300, and / or with any device that enables electronic device 1300 to communicate with one or more other computing devices (e.g., router, modem, etc.). This communication can be performed via input / output (I / O) interface 1350. Furthermore, electronic device 1300 can also communicate with one or more networks (e.g., local area network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), and / or public networks, such as the Internet) via network adapter 1360. As shown, network adapter 1360 communicates with other modules of electronic device 1300 via bus 1330. It should be understood that, although not shown in the figures, other hardware and / or software modules can be used in conjunction with electronic device 1300, including but not limited to: microcode, device drivers, redundant processing units, external disk drive arrays, RAID systems, tape drives, and data backup storage systems.

[0185] From the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily understand that the exemplary embodiments described herein can be implemented by software or by combining software with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solutions according to the embodiments of this disclosure can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (such as a CD-ROM, USB flash drive, external hard drive, etc.) or on a network, including several instructions to cause a computing device (such as a personal computer, server, terminal device, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods according to the embodiments of this disclosure.

[0186] Based on the same inventive concept, this disclosure also provides a computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program that, when executed by a processor, implements any of the above-described disaster roaming control methods. Since the principle by which this computer-readable storage medium embodiment solves the problem is similar to that of the above-described method embodiments, the implementation of this computer-readable storage medium embodiment can refer to the implementation of the above-described method embodiments, and repeated details will not be elaborated further.

[0187] More specific examples of computer-readable storage media in this disclosure may include, but are not limited to: electrical connections having one or more wires, portable computer disks, hard disks, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), optical fiber, portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0188] In this disclosure, a computer-readable storage medium may include a data signal propagated in baseband or as part of a carrier wave, carrying readable program code. Such propagated data signals may take various forms, including but not limited to electromagnetic signals, optical signals, or any suitable combination thereof. A readable signal medium may also be any readable medium other than a readable storage medium, capable of transmitting, propagating, or transmitting a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device.

[0189] Optionally, the program code contained on the computer-readable storage medium may be transmitted using any suitable medium, including but not limited to wireless, wired, optical fiber, RF, etc., or any suitable combination thereof.

[0190] In practical implementation, program code for performing the operations of this disclosure can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages, including object-oriented programming languages ​​such as Java and C++, and conventional procedural programming languages ​​such as C or similar languages. The program code can execute entirely on the user's computing device, partially on the user's device, as a standalone software package, partially on the user's computing device and partially on a remote computing device, or entirely on a remote computing device or server. In cases involving remote computing devices, the remote computing device can be connected to the user's computing device via any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or it can be connected to an external computing device (e.g., via the Internet using an Internet service provider).

[0191] Based on the same inventive concept, this disclosure also provides a computer program product, including a computer program or instructions, which, when executed by a processor, implements the disaster roaming control method of any one of the above method embodiments. Since the principle by which this computer program product embodiment solves the problem is similar to that of the above method embodiments, the implementation of this computer program product embodiment can refer to the implementation of the above method embodiments, and repeated details will not be elaborated further.

[0192] It should be noted that although several modules or units for the device used to perform actions have been mentioned in the detailed description above, this division is not mandatory. In fact, according to embodiments of this disclosure, the features and functions of two or more modules or units described above can be embodied in one module or unit. Conversely, the features and functions of one module or unit described above can be further divided and embodied by multiple modules or units.

[0193] Furthermore, although the steps of the method in this disclosure are described in a specific order in the accompanying drawings, this does not require or imply that the steps must be performed in that specific order, or that all the steps shown must be performed to achieve the desired result. Additional or alternative steps may be omitted, multiple steps may be combined into one step, and / or a step may be broken down into multiple steps.

[0194] From the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily understand that the exemplary embodiments described herein can be implemented by software or by combining software with necessary hardware. Therefore, the technical solutions according to the embodiments of this disclosure can be embodied in the form of a software product, which can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (such as a CD-ROM, USB flash drive, external hard drive, etc.) or on a network, including several instructions to cause a computing device (such as a personal computer, server, mobile terminal, or network device, etc.) to execute the methods according to the embodiments of this disclosure.

[0195] Other embodiments of this disclosure will readily occur to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the specification and practice of the invention disclosed herein. This disclosure is intended to cover any variations, uses, or adaptations of this disclosure that follow the general principles of this disclosure and include common knowledge or customary techniques in the art not disclosed herein. The specification and examples are to be considered exemplary only, and the true scope and spirit of this disclosure are indicated by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A disaster roaming control method, characterized in that, Applied to Mobility Management Entities (MMEs), including: Provide disaster roaming instructions to the home subscriber server (HSS).

2. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 1, characterized in that, The MME is located in the first network, and the HSS is located in the second network.

3. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The first network is the visited public land mobile network; the second network is the home public land mobile network.

4. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The method further includes, prior to providing disaster roaming indication information to the HSS, the following: The receiving terminal sends a disaster roaming access request to the first network.

5. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 4, characterized in that, The first network includes: a first base station and a second base station; the disaster roaming access request is an access request sent by the terminal to the second base station in the event of a failure of the first base station.

6. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The second base station is also used to broadcast disaster roaming service information to terminals within the first network in the event of a failure of the first base station.

7. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 5, characterized in that, The first base station is a 5G base station; the second base station is a 4G base station.

8. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 1, characterized in that, After providing disaster roaming indication information to the HSS, the method further includes: Receive the authentication data returned by the HSS.

9. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 1, characterized in that, After providing disaster roaming indication information to the HSS, the method further includes: Receive the contract data returned by the HSS.

10. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 2, characterized in that, The method further includes: Provide disaster roaming indication information to the service gateway S-GW of the first network.

11. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The S-GW of the first network is also used to store the disaster roaming indication information into the bearer context.

12. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 10, characterized in that, The S-GW of the first network is also used to provide disaster roaming indication information to the public data gateway PDN-GW of the second network.

13. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 12, characterized in that, The second network's PDN-GW is also used to execute policies and billing controls based on the disaster roaming indication information.

14. A disaster roaming control method, characterized in that, Applied to HSS, including: Receive disaster roaming instructions from the MME.

15. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 14, characterized in that, The MME is located in the first network, and the HSS is located in the second network.

16. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 15, characterized in that, The disaster roaming indication information is sent by the MME in the first network after receiving a disaster roaming access request sent by the terminal to the first network.

17. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 16, characterized in that, After receiving disaster roaming instruction information provided by the MME, the method further includes: Confirm whether the terminal's subscription data is stored; If so, then return the authentication data and / or contract data to the MME; If not, then an access denial indication message is returned to the MME, wherein the access denial indication message is used to instruct the MME to reject the terminal's disaster roaming access request.

18. A disaster roaming control method, characterized in that, Applied to terminals, including: Send a disaster roaming access request to the MME so that the MME provides disaster roaming indication information to the HSS.

19. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 18, characterized in that, The MME is located in the first network, and the HSS is located in the second network.

20. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 19, characterized in that, The first network includes: a first base station and a second base station; the disaster roaming access request is an access request sent by the terminal to the second base station in the event of a failure of the first base station.

21. The disaster roaming control method according to claim 20, characterized in that, The method further includes: Receive disaster roaming service information broadcast by the second base station.

22. A mobility management network element device, characterized in that, include: The disaster roaming indication module is used to provide disaster roaming indication information to the HSS.

23. A network element device, characterized in that, include: The disaster roaming indication information acquisition module is used to receive disaster roaming indication information provided by the MME.

24. A terminal, characterized in that, include: The disaster roaming access request module is used to send a disaster roaming access request to the MME so that the MME can provide disaster roaming indication information to the HSS.

25. An electronic device, characterized in that, include: processor; as well as Memory for storing the executable instructions of the processor; The processor is configured to execute the disaster roaming control method of any one of claims 1 to 21 by executing the executable instructions.

26. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, characterized in that, When the computer program is executed by the processor, it implements the disaster roaming control method according to any one of claims 1 to 21.

27. A computer program product comprising: A computer program or instruction, characterized in that, when executed by a processor, the computer program or instruction implements the disaster roaming control method according to any one of claims 1 to 21.

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