WO2004073272A1

WO2004073272A1 - Method for effectively updating mbms service parameters in ggsn, sgsn and rnc

Info

Publication number: WO2004073272A1
Application number: PCT/KR2004/000319
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sung-Ho Choi; Kook-Heui Lee; Detao Li; Chang Duan
Original assignee: Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.; Beijing Samsung Telecom R & D Center
Priority date: 2003-02-17
Filing date: 2004-02-17
Publication date: 2004-08-26
Also published as: CN1523798A

Abstract

A method for effectively updating MBMS service parameters in GGSN, SGSN and RNC comprises the steps of configuring an MBMS service area in the RNC and the BM-SC; establishing a service distribution tree in the BM-SC; and updating service parameters of a part of or all the network equipments by the BM-SC. The present invention provides the method for updating MBMS service parameters of a part of or all the network equipments using MBMS service by a method of configuring the service area by means of operation and maintenance and a method of upstream cascaded registration.

Description

METHOD FOR EFFECTIVELY UPDATING MBMS SERVICE PARAMETERS IN

GGSN, SGSN AND RNC

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1 . FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a method for effectively updating MBMS (Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service) service parameters in the network equipments (SGSN, GGSN and RNC) of WCDMA communication system.

2. DESCRIPTION OF THE PRIOR ART

Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service (hereinafter referred to as MBMS) is a new service under standardization by 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (simplified as

3 GPP). MBMS service is a unidirectional point-to-multipoint (p-t-m) service whose most remarkable characteristic is that it can make use of radio resources and network resources efficiently.

In order to better explain MBMS, Figure 1 describes a system structure of MBMS; Figure 2 illustrates a setup flow of MBMS multicast service as an example; Figure 3 describes a process of registering MBMS network equipments; Figure 4 describes a process of providing service parameters to network equipment by BM-SC.

As shown in Figure 1 , MBMS network structure is based on the core network of General Packet Radio Service (hereinafter referred to as GPRS), and adds new network units into it. Broadcast and multicast service center 101 (hereinafter referred to as BM-SC) is a service control center of MBMS system. Gateway GPRS Supporting Node 102 (hereinafter referred to as GGSN) and Service GPRS Supporting Node 103

(hereinafter referred to as SGSN) compose a transmission network of MBMS service and provide route for data transfer. Radio Network Controller 104 (hereinafter referred to as RNC) and Base Station 105 (hereinafter referred to as NODE B) construct a terrestrial radio access network (hereinafter referred as RAN), and provide radio resources for MBMS service in cell 106 (hereinafter referred to as CELL) over an air interface. User Equipment 107 (hereinafter referred to as UE) is a terminal device used to receive data. Home Location Register 108 (hereinafter referred to as HLR) saves the data related to user and can provide services such as user's authentication. Gn/Gp 109 represents an interface between SGSN and GGSN. Iu 110 represents an interface between SGSN and RNC. Uu 111 represents an air interface. The radio resources used by MBMS service are not dedicated for one user, but are shared by all users of this service.

The flow shown in Figure 2 is explained as follows:

201 In an existing GPRS network, during a process of establishing a PDP context between a UE and a GGSN, the function of an RNC and an SGSN is to establish a connection bearer for the communication between the UE and the GGSN.

202 The UE sends an IGMP message including an IP multicast address which represents an MBMS service to the GGSN.

203 The GGSN notifies the BM-SC of the information of the UE, and the BM-SC authenticates the UE.

204 Authentication is passed, and the GGSN notifies the SGSN.

205 The SGSN requires the UE to establish a MBMS context.

206 The UE sends an Establish MBMS Context message to the SGSN.

207 After receiving the UE's request, the SGSN sends an Establish MBMS Context Request message to the GGSN.

208 The GGSN and the BM-SC perform signaling interaction to determine whether the BM-SC is able to provide the service.

209 The GGSN sends a confirmation message to the SGSN.

210 The SGSN sends the confirmation message to the UE and the UE establishes the MBMS service successfully.

The flow shown in Figure 3 is explained as follows:

301 AUE establishes an MBMS service successfully.

302 An RNC sends a Registration Request message to an SGSN to request for receiving a certain MBMS service. 303 The SGSN sends a Registration Request message including only the information about the SGSN to GGSN to request for receiving a certain MBMS service.

304 The GGSN sends a Registration Request message including only the information about the GGSN to a BM-SC to request for receiving a certain MBMS service. 305 The BM-SC sends a response message to the GGSN.

306 The GGSN sends a response message to the SGSN.

307 The SGSN sends a response message to the RNC. The flow shown in Figure 4 is explained as follows: 401 Before a BM-SC determine to send MBMS service data, it firstly provides service parameters. Therefore, the BM-SC sends an MBMS Service Parameters message including the relevant parameters on the MBMS service to all GGSNs in a PLMN.

402 All the GGSNs who have received the MBMS Service Parameters message send an MBMS Service Parameters message to all SGSNs associated with them.

403 All the SGSNs who have received the MBMS Service Parameters message send an MBMS Service Parameters message to RNCs connecting with them through an lu interface.

As MBMS is a new technology under research, in the existing MBMS technology, the existing methods for establishing MBMS Service as well as the existing methods for registering network equipments in the existing network equipments (GGSN, SGSN and RNC) make the BM-SC provide all service parameters needed for service to GGSN, SGSN and RNC at one time after the existing MBMS service establishments are completed. However, if the contents of the service changes during the whole service process, the existing mechanism does not provide effective method for updating service parameters that can update the service parameters of a part of or all the GGSN, SGSN and RNC proving the service.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The object of the present invention is to provide a method for updating service parameters of a part of or all GGSN, SGSN and RNC providing the service.

To accomplish above object, a method for effectively updating MBMS service parameters in GGSN, SGSN and RNC comprises: configuring an MBMS service area in a RNC and a BM-SC; establishing a service distribution tree in the BM-SC; and updating service parameters of a part of or all the network equipments by the BM-SC.

The present invention provides a method for updating MBMS service parameters of a part of or all the network equipments using MBMS service by a method of configuring the service area by means of operation and maintenance and a method of upstream cascaded registration.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Figure 1 illustrates a system structure of realizing MBMS service as well as a logic network equipment node.

Figure 2 illustrates a method of establishing MBMS service in the prior art;

Figure 3 illustrates a process of an MBMS network equipment registration initiated by an RNC.

Figure 4 illustrates a process of a BM-SC providing MBMS service parameters.

Figure 5 illustrates an example of O&M configuring a service area in an RNC and a BM-SC.

Figure 6 illustrates an improved network equipment registration process initiated by the RNC.

Figure 7 illustrates a process of establishing an MBMS service distribution tree by using a response message of a MBMS session message.

Figure 8 illustrates a process of a BM-SC updating MBMS network equipment parameters by using the service distribution tree.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

1. By means of operation and maintenance functions (hereinafter referred to as O&M), the following configuration for a service area of an MBMS service is performed in a BM-SC and an RNC, the configuration comprises:

(1) With respect to all cells having MBMS service capability within the whole PLMN, a unique label is assigned to each cell. The label is identified as SAL Different cells have different SAIs. At the same time, according to each RNC that has MBMS capability, the SAIs corresponding to the cells it controls are saved in the RNC; SAI is composed of two parts, i.e. RNC_ID and CELL_NO. An RNC ID uniquely identifies a

RNC. A CELLJMO uniquely identifies a CELL under the RNC. Thus the uniqueness of SAI is ensured within the whole PLMN. At the same time, it can be judged from SAI that the cell identified by the SAI is under the control of which RNC.

(2) All the SAIs of the cells that have MBMS service capability in the PLMN are saved in the BM-SC.

(3) With respect to each kind of MBMS service, correspondence between SAIs of all the cells included in the service area of the service and the service identification (hereinafter referred to as SI) uniquely identifying the service is created in the BM-SC. The manner that the BM-SC saves the correspondence is the tree structure as shown in the figures. At this time, with respect to this service, no path from BM-SC to the cell has been established, i.e. BM-SC doesn't know which ones among GGSN, SGSN and RNC the messages about the MBMS service sent by it will go through to reach the cell. 2. There are two methods to establish a service distribution tree in the BM-SC:

(1) A process for network equipment registration is improved and the service distribution tree is established in the BM-SC;

(2) When one service session starts and the BM-SC sends a Service Session message to all the registered network equipments, the service distribution tree is established in the BM-SC by including bottom-to-up routing information in a response message.

3. When the BM-SC decides to update the service parameters of a part of or all the network equipments, the BM-SC decides a path according to the service distribution tree and sends updating service parameter information to the network equipments on the path.

Embodiments

1. An example for configuring a service area in an RNC and a BM-SC by means of O&M is shown in Figure 5. Here, a service distribution tree in the BM-SC is not configured by means of O&M but created by an afterward process of establishing a service distribution tree. Herein, it is only used to explain the function of O&M configuration.

2. In the present invention, a method for establishing a service distribution tree in a BM-SC is in that a process for registering MBMS network equipment initiated by an

RNC is improved. The feature of this improvement exists in that when a certain intermediate network equipment, i.e. SGSN or GGSN, is registered with its upper level network equipment, the routing information of its lower level network will be added in, as shown in Figure 6. 601. A UE establishes an MBMS service successfully.

602. An RNC initiates a registration process. The RNC sends a Registration Request message including an address of the RNC to an SGSN.

603. The SGSN registers the address of the RNC that requests for a service and sends a Registration Request message, in which not only includes an address of the SGSN but includes the address of the RNC registered in the SGSN, to a GGSN.

604. The GGSN registers the address of the SGSN that requests for a service and sends a Registration Request message, in which not only includes an address of the GGSN but also includes the address of the SGSN registered in the GGSN and the address of the RNC registered in the SGSN, to a BM-SC. 605. The BM-SC establishes the association from RNC, SGSN and GGSN to

BM-SC according to the message received. The association relationship is a logical distribution tree, by which the BM-SC can get known a path to certain network equipment, so that the BM-SC can update the service parameters of the part of network equipments.

606. The BM-SC sends a response message to the GGSN.

607. The GGSN sends a response message to the SGSN. 608. The SGSN sends a response message to the RNC.

3. In the present invention, another method for establishing a service distribution tree in a BM-SC is in that when the BM-SC sends a Service Session message to all the registered network equipments at the beginning of a service session, the routing information of a lower stage is included in a response message of each stage network equipment, as shown in Figure 7.

701. A BM-SC sends a Service Session message including parameters related to an MBMS service, i.e. Quality of Service and Service Area, etc. to GGSNs registered in it.

702. The GGSN sends the Service Session message to SGSNs registered in it.

703. The SGSN sends the Service Session message to RNCs registered in it or controlled by it.

704. The RNC having received the Service Session message checks the cell included in the service area parameters in the session message. If one or more cells under the control of the RNC belong to the service area, the RNC sends a feedback message of success to the SGSN; otherwise, the RNC sends a feedback message of failure to the SGSN. The feedback message of success or failure can act as a response to the Service Session message.

705. After collecting all feedback messages from the RNCs registered in it or controlled by it, the SGSN sends the association between the RNCs sending the feedback messages of success and itself to the GGSN as a response to the session message.

706. After receiving the response from the SGSNs registered in it, GGSN sends the associations between the RNCs, the SGSNs and itself to the BM-SC as a response to the session message. The BM-SC will have sufficient information to establish the MBMS service distribution tree after receiving the response message of the GGSN. 4. In the present invention, a method of updating service parameters of a part of or all network equipments according to a service distribution tree is shown in Figure 8.

801. During a service session, a BM-SC decides to update the service attributes of all or a part of cells that participate in the service. If the service attribute update is performed to all the cells, the BM-SC sends an Update Service Parameters message including the service parameters to be updated and no path information to all GGSNs registered in it. If the service attribute update is performed to a part of the cells, the BM-SC checks the service distribution tree and finds those network equipment nodes that are on the path to these cells, i.e. RNC, SGSN and GGSN, and then sends an Update Service Parameters message including the service parameters to be updated and the path information to GGSNs on the path.

802. The GGSN updates its service parameters after receiving the Update Service Parameters message. If the received message includes the path information, the GGSN sends the Update Service Parameters message to SGSNs on the path, and also includes the path information into the message to be sent. If the received message doesn't include the path information, the GGSN sends the Update Service Parameters message to all the SGSNs registered in it and the message to be sent include no path information. 803. After receiving the Update Service Parameters message, the SGSN updates its own service parameters. If the received message includes the path information, the SGSN sends the Update Service Parameters message to RNCs on the path; otherwise, the SGSN sends the Update Service Parameters message to all the RNCs registered in it.

804. The RNC checks the cell range included in the Update Service Parameters message. If one or more cells under its control belong to the cell range, then the RNC updates its own service parameters and sends an acknowledgement message to the SGSN.

805. The SGSN sends an acknowledgement message to the GGSN.

806. The GGSN sends an acknowledgement message to the BM-SC.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. A method for effectively updating MBMS service parameters in GGSN, SGSN and RNC comprises the steps of: configuring an MBMS service area in the RNC and a BM-SC; establishing a service distribution tree in the BM-SC; and updating service parameters of a part of or all the network equipments by the BM-SC.

2. The method according to Claim 1, wherein said step of configuring an MBMS service area in the RNC and the BM-SC comprises:

(1) with respect to all cells having MBMS service capability within the whole PLMN, a unique label is assigned to each cell; at the same time, according to each RNC that has MBMS capability, the labels corresponding to the cells it controls are saved in the RNC;

(2) all the labels of the cells that have MBMS service capability in the PLMN are saved in the BM-SC;

(3) with respect to each kind of MBMS service, correspondence between said labels of all the cells included in the service area of the service and the service identification uniquely identifying the service is created in the BM-SC.

3. The method according to Claim 2, wherein said label is composed of two parts, i.e. RNCJD and CELL_NO, and wherein one RNCJD uniquely identifies one RNC, and one CELL_NO uniquely identifies one CELL under the RNC.

4. The method according to Claim 1, wherein said step of establishing a service distribution tree in the BM-SC comprises:

(1) aUE establishes an MBMS service successfully;

(2) after the UE establishes the MBMS service successfully, an RNC initiates a registration process, and it sends a Registration Request message including an address of the RNC to an SGSN;

(3) the SGSN registers the address of the RNC that requests for a service and sends a Registration Request message, in which not only includes an address of the SGSN but also includes the association relation between the RNC registered in the SGSN and the SGSN, to a GGSN; (4) the GGSN registers the address of the SGSN that requests for a service and sends a Registration Request message, in which not only includes an address of the GGSN but also includes the association relations between the SGSN registered in the GGSN, the RNC registered in the SGSN and the GGSN, to a BM-SC;

(5) the BM-SC establishes the association from RNC, SGSN and GGSN to BM-SC according to the message received;

(6) the BM-SC sends a response message to the GGSN;

(7) the GGSN sends a response message to the SGSN; and

(8) the SGSN sends a response message to the RNC.

5. The method according to Claim 4, wherein said UE reports the cell position where it locates to the BM-SC, thus the BM-SC can judge whether the position where the cell locates belongs to the service area or not, and determines whether the establish MBMS service request of the UE is permitted or not.

6. The method according to Claim 1, wherein said step of establishing a service distribution tree in the BM-SC comprises:

(1) when the BM-SC decides to initiate a service session, the BM-SC sends a Service Session message including Quality of Service and parameters of the service area related to the MBMS service to the GGSNs registered in it;

(2) the GGSN sends a Service Session message to the SGSNs registered in it after receiving the message from the BM-SC;

(3) after receiving the message from the GGSN, the SGSN sends a Service Session message to all the RNCs registered in or controlled by it; (4) the RNCs receiving the Service Session message check the cell included in the service area parameter in the session message, and if one or more cells under the control of the RNCs belong to the service area, the RNCs sends a feedback message of success to the SGSN, otherwise, the RNCs send a feedback message of failure to the SGSN;

(5) after collecting the feedback messages from all the RNCs registered in or controlled by it, the SGSN sends a response message to the GGSN as a response to the session message in step (2), wherein this message includes not only the address of the SGSN, but also the association relationships between the RNCs sending the feedback message of success and the SGSN;

(6) after receiving the response from the SGSNs registered in it, the GGSN sends a response message to the BM-SC as a response to the session message in step (1), wherein this message includes the association relationships between the RNCs, the SGSNs and the GGSN; and

(7) the BM-SC establishes the MBMS service distribution tree after receiving the response message from the GGSNs.

7. The method according to Claim 1, wherein said steps of updating service parameters of a part of or all the network equipments by the BM-SC comprises:

(1) if the service attributes are updated to all the cells, the BM-SC sends an Update Service Parameters message including service parameters to be updated and no path information to all the GGSNs registered in it, and if the service attributes are updated to the part of the cells, the BM-SC checks the service distribution tree and finds those network equipment nodes, i.e. RNC, SGSN and GGSN, that are on the path to these cells, and then sends an Update Service Parameters message to the GGSNs on the path;

(2) the GGSN updates its service parameters after receiving the Update Service Parameters message, and if the received message includes the path information, the

GGSN sends the Update Service Parameters message to the SGSNs included in the path information, and the path information is included in the message to be sent, and if the received message includes no path information, the GGSN sends the Update Service Parameter message to all the SGSNs registered in it, and the message to be sent includes no path information;

(3) after receiving the Update Service Parameters message, the SGSN updates its own service parameter, and if the received message includes the path information, the SGSN sends the Update Service Parameter message to the RNCs included in the path information, otherwise, the SGSN sends the Update Service Parameters message to all the RNCs registered in it;

(4) the RNC checks the cell range included in the Update Service Parameters message, and if one or more cells under its control belong to the range, the RNC updates its own service parameters and sends an acknowledgement message to the SGSN;

(5) the SGSN sends an acknowledgement message to the GGSN; and (6) the GGSN sends an acknowledgement message to the BM-SC.