Control Plane Gateway Configuration for Distributed LTE User Planes
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing configuration methods for gateways in LTE networks result in a heavy configuration workload, inflexible updates, and low efficiency, especially when the number of gateways increases significantly, leading to a substantial burden on the operation and maintenance system.
Innovation Solution
Implement a distributed gateway architecture that separates control plane and user plane functions into independent network elements, with the control plane gateway configuring parameters for the user plane gateway, enhancing flexibility and efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the OM entity uniformly configures parameters for all gateways, then centralized control is maintained, but the configuration workload becomes heavy and configuration efficiency decreases when the quantity of gateways is greatly increased
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the gateway configuration system into a control plane gateway (CPGW) and multiple user plane gateways (UPGWs). The CPGW handles configuration management for multiple UPGWs, dividing the configuration workload from the OM entity. This segmentation allows the OM entity to configure only CPGWs rather than each individual gateway, significantly reducing configuration workload and improving efficiency when gateway quantities increase by dozens of times.
2Adaptability or versatility
If the OM entity performs uniform configuration update for all gateways, then system consistency is maintained, but update flexibility decreases and configuration becomes inflexible
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides gateway functions into control plane and user plane, allowing independent configuration of UPGWs by the CPGW. This enables flexible, localized configuration updates for specific UPGWs without requiring system-wide updates, while the CPGW maintains overall system consistency through centralized control plane management.
Solution Approach 2:
The CPGW pre-configures template parameters and policies that can be automatically distributed to multiple UPGWs. This preliminary configuration action enables rapid, flexible deployment and updates across multiple gateways while maintaining consistency through the standardized templates managed by the CPGW.
3Quantity of substance
If the quantity of user plane gateways is greatly increased in distributed deployment, then system capacity and coverage are improved, but the impact on the OM system increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a hierarchical gateway architecture where one CPGW manages multiple UPGWs. This segmentation allows the OM system to interact only with CPGWs, not individual UPGWs. When the quantity of UPGWs increases by dozens of times for distributed deployment, the OM system's workload increases minimally because it configures only CPGWs, which then automatically manage their subordinate UPGWs.
Solution Approach 2:
The CPGW acts as an intermediary between the OM entity and multiple UPGWs. The OM entity sends configuration commands to the CPGW, which then distributes and manages configurations for all subordinate UPGWs. This intermediary role shields the OM system from the complexity of managing large quantities of distributed UPGWs, maintaining system scalability.
Data Source
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AI summary
This application discloses a gateway configuration method and a gateway device, so as to resolve problems of a relatively heavy configuration workload, update inflexibility, and low configuration efficiency that exist when an OM entity is used to uniformly configure gateways in an LTE system. The method includes: configuring, by a control plane gateway, a parameter for a user plane gateway, and sending, by the control plane gateway, a configuration message to the user plane gateway, where the configuration message carries the configuration parameter configured by the control plane gateway for the user plane gateway. In this application, the control plane gateway configures the parameter for the user plane gateway, so that the control plane gateway implements configuration of the user plane gateway, and configuration flexibility and configuration efficiency are improved. Because the control plane gateway configures the parameter for the user plane gateway, in a scenario in which user plane gateways are deployed in a distributed manner, even if a quantity of user plane gateways is greatly increased, no large impact is caused on an OM system, and the OM system is prevented from configuring a large amount of service data for each user plane gateway.