Service redundancy method and related apparatus

• US 10,405,206 B2
• Filed: 07/31/2017
• Issued: 09/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 01/30/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Fan, Yu, Sun, Xiaoji, Chen, Bo
• Primary Examiner(s): Duong, Frank
• Application Number:
  US15/664,986
• Publication Number:
  US 20170332257A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/08 Mobility data transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/30 Network data restoration; Network data reliability; Network data fault tolerance

Abstract

A service redundancy method and a related apparatus, where the method includes sending, by a mobility management entity (MME), a request message to a domain name system (DNS) server, receiving a request response message sent including MME codes (MMECs) of all MMEs in the MME pool, determining a backup MME of the MME according to the MMECs of all the MMEs in the MME pool, sending an interface request message to the DNS server, where the interface request message includes an MMEC of the backup MME and the pool identity of the MME pool, receiving an interface response message from the DNS server, where the interface response message includes interface information of the backup MME, and sending, according to the interface information of the backup MME, user information of user equipment UE attached to the MME to the backup MME.

Claims

1. A service redundancy method, comprising:

sending, by a mobility management entity (MME), a request message to a domain name system (DNS) server, wherein the request message comprises a pool identity of an MME pool in which the MME is located, and wherein the request message requests to acquire MME codes (MMECs) of all MMEs in the MME pool;

receiving, by the MME, a request response message from the DNS server, wherein the request response message comprises the MMECs of all the MMEs in the MME pool;

determining, by the MME, a backup MME of the MME according to the MMECs of all the MMEs in the MME pool and a preset policy;

sending, by the MME, an interface request message to the DNS server, wherein the interface request message comprises an MMEC of the backup MME and the pool identity of the MME pool, and wherein the interface request message requests interface information of the backup MME;

receiving, by the MME, an interface response message from the DNS server, wherein the interface response message comprises the interface information of the backup MME; and

sending, by the MME according to the interface information of the backup MME, user information of user equipment (UE) attached to the MME to the backup MME.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining the backup MME of the MME comprises:

sorting, by the MME, the MMECs of all the MMEs in the MME pool according to an ascending order of the MMECs to obtain a sorting result;

setting, by the MME, a first MME corresponding to an MMEC adjacent to an MMEC of the MME and greater than the MMEC of the MME as the backup MME; and

setting, by the MME, a second MME of which an MMEC is the smallest in the sorting result as the backup MME when the MMEC of the MME is the largest in the sorting result.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein sending the user information of the UE attached to the MME to the backup MME comprises sending, by the MME, a backup request message to the backup MME using an interface corresponding to the interface information of the backup MME, wherein the backup request message comprises an identity of the UE and the user information of the UE, and wherein the backup request message requests the backup MME to back up the user information of the UE.

4. A service redundancy method, comprising:

receiving, by a serving mobility management entity (MME), a service request message from user equipment (UE) using an evolved NodeB (eNodeB) after an MME to which the UE is attached becomes faulty, wherein the service request message comprises an identity of the UE and an identity of the MME to which the UE is attached, wherein the service request message requests the MME to which the UE is attached to provide a service for the UE, wherein the serving MME is an MME selected;

by the eNodeB to provide the service for the UE after the MME to which the UE is attached becomes faulty, and wherein the MME to which the UE is attached and the serving MME are located in a same MME pool;

acquiring, by the serving MME, user information of the UE from a backup MME determined according to the identity of the UE or according to the identity of the UE and the identity of the MME to which the UE is attached; and

providing, by the serving MME according to the user information of the UE, the service corresponding to the service request message for the UE.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein before the MME to which the UE is attached becomes faulty, the method further comprises:

receiving, by the serving MME, the user information of the UE and the identity of the UE from the MME to which the UE is attached;

recording, by the serving MME, a correspondence between the user information of the UE and the identity of the UE, and

wherein acquiring the user information of the UE comprises;

determining, by the serving MME according to the identity of the UE, that the user information of the UE is stored in the serving MME and the serving MME is the backup MME; and

acquiring, by the serving MME according to the identity of the UE, the user information of the UE saved by the serving MME.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein acquiring the user information of the UE comprises:

determining, by the serving MME according to the identity of the UE, that the user information of the UE is not stored in the serving MME and the serving MME is not the backup MME;

acquiring, by the serving MME according to the identity of the MME to which the UE is attached, interface information of the backup MME of the MME to which the UE is attached; and

acquiring, from the backup MME, the user information of the UE according to the identity of the UE and the interface information of the backup MME, and

wherein the backup MME and the serving MME are located in the same MME pool.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the identity of the MME to which the UE is attached is an MME code (MMEC) of the MME to which the UE is attached, and wherein acquiring the interface information of the backup MME of the MME to which the UE is attached comprises:

sending, by the serving MME, a request message to a domain name system (DNS) server, wherein the request message comprises a pool identity of an MME pool in which the serving MME is located, and wherein the request message requests to acquire MME codes (MMECs) of all MMEs in the MME pool;

receiving, by the serving MME, a request response message from the DNS server, wherein the request response message comprises the MMECs of all the MMEs in the MME pool;

acquiring, by the serving MME according to the MMEC of the MME to which the UE is attached and the MMECs of all the MMEs and according to a preset policy, the backup MME of the MME to which the UE is attached;

sending, by the serving MME, an interface request message to the DNS server, wherein the interface request message comprises an MMEC of the backup MME and the pool identity of the MME pool such that the DNS server acquires the interface information of the backup MME according to the pool identity of the MME pool and the MMEC of the backup MME; and

receiving, by the serving MME, an interface response message from the DNS server, and wherein the interface response message comprises the interface information of the backup MME.

8. The method according to claim 4, wherein the identity of the MME to which the UE is attached is an MME code (MMEC) of the MME to which the UE is attached.

9. The method according to claim 4, wherein the service request message is a tracking area update (TAU) request message of the UE, wherein the identity of the MME to which the UE is attached is a globally unique temporary identity (GUTI) allocated to the UE by the MME to which the UE is attached, and wherein the GUTI comprises an MME code MMEC of the MME to which the UE is attached.

10. The method according to claim 4, wherein after acquiring the user information of the UE, the method further comprises:

determining, by the serving MME according to the user information of the UE, that the UE is an authorized user;

separately sending, by the serving MME, a modification request message to a serving gateway (SGW) and a home subscriber server (HSS) connected to the serving MME, wherein the modification request message comprises the identity of the UE, and wherein the modification request message requests the SGW and the HSS to modify a correspondence between the UE and the MME to which the UE is attached to a correspondence between the UE and the serving MME;

reallocating, by the serving MME, a globally unique temporary identity (GUTI) to the UE; and

sending, by the serving MME, the reallocated GUTI to the UE such that the UE is attached to the serving MME.

11. A mobility management entity (MME), comprising:

a transmitter configured to send a request message to a domain name system (DNS) server, wherein the request message comprises a pool identity of an MME pool in which the MME is located, and wherein the request message requests to acquire MME codes (MMECs) of all MMEs in the MME pool;

a receiver configured to receive a request response message from the DNS server, wherein the request response message comprises the MMECs of all the MMEs in the MME pool; and

a processor coupled to the transmitter and the receiver and configured to determine a backup MME of the MME according to the MMECs of all the MMEs in the MME pool and a preset policy,

wherein the transmitter is further configured to send an interface request message to the DNS server,

wherein the interface request message comprises an MMEC of the backup MME and the pool identity of the MME pool,

wherein the interface request message requests interface information of the backup MME,

wherein the receiver is further configured to receive an interface response message from the DNS server,

wherein the interface response message comprises the interface information of the backup MME, and

wherein the transmitter is further configured to send, according to the interface information of the backup MME, user information of user equipment (UE) attached to the MME to the backup MME.

12. The MME according to claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to:

sort the MMECs of all the MMEs in the MME pool according to an ascending order of the MMECs to obtain a sorting result;

set a first MME corresponding to an MMEC adjacent to an MMEC of the MME and greater than the MMEC of the MME as the backup MME; and

set a second MME of which an MMEC is the smallest in the sorting result as the backup MME when the MMEC of the MME is the largest in the sorting result.

13. The MME according to claim 11, wherein the transmitter is further configured to send a backup request message to the backup MME using an interface corresponding to the interface information of the backup MME, wherein the backup request message comprises an identity of the UE and the user information of the UE, and wherein the backup request message requests the backup MME to back up the user information of the UE.

14. A serving mobility management entity (MME), comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a service request message from user equipment (UE) using an evolved NodeB (eNodeB) after an MME to which UE is attached becomes faulty, wherein the service request message comprises an identity of the UE and an identity of the MME to which the UE is attached, wherein the service request message requests the MME to which the UE is attached to provide a service for the UE, wherein the serving MME is an MME selected by the eNodeB to provide the service for the UE after the MME to which the UE is attached becomes faulty, and wherein the MME to which the UE is attached and the serving MME are located in a same MME pool; and

a processor coupled to the receiver and configured to;

acquire user information of the UE from a backup MME determined according to the identity of the UE or according to the identity of the UE and the identity of the MME to which the UE is attached; and

provide, according to the user information of the UE, the service corresponding to the service request message for the UE.

15. The serving MME according to claim 14, wherein the receiver is further configured to receive the user information of the UE and the identity of the UE from the MME to which the UE is attached, and wherein the processor is further configured to:

record a correspondence between the user information of the UE and the identity of the UE;

determine, according to the identity of the UE, that the user information of the UE is stored in the serving MME and the serving MME is the backup MME; and

acquire, according to the identity of the UE, the user information of the UE and saved by the serving MME.

16. The serving MME according to claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine, according to the identity of the UE, that the user information of the UE is not stored in the serving MME and the serving MME is not the backup MME;

acquire, according to the identity of the MME to which the UE is attached, interface information of the backup MME of the MME to which the UE is attached; and

acquire, from the backup MME, the user information of the UE according to the identity of the UE and the interface information of the backup MME, and

wherein the backup MME and the serving MME are located in the same MME pool.

17. The serving MME according to claim 16, wherein the identity of the MME to which the UE is attached is an MME code (MMEC) of the MME to which the UE is attached, and wherein the processor is further configured to:

send a request message to a domain name system (DNS) server, wherein the request message comprises a pool identity of an MME pool in which the serving MME is located, and wherein the request message requests to acquire MME codes (MMECs) of all MME in the MME pool;

receive, using the receiver, a request response message from the DNS server, wherein the request response message comprises the MMECs of all the MMEs in the MME pool;

acquire, according to the MMEC of the MME to which the UE is attached and the MMECs of all the MMEs and a preset policy, the backup MME of the MME to which the UE is attached;

send an interface request message to the DNS server, wherein the interface request message comprises an MMEC of the backup MME and the pool identity of the MME pool such that the DNS server acquires the interface information of the backup MME according to the pool identity of the MME pool and the MMEC of the backup MME; and

receive an interface response message from the DNS server, wherein the interface response message comprises the interface information of the backup MME.

18. The serving MME according to claim 14, wherein the identity of the MME to which the UE is attached is an MME code (MMEC) of the MME to which the UE is attached.

19. The serving MME according to claim 14, wherein the service request message is a tracking area update (TAU) request message of the UE, wherein the identity of the MME to which the UE is attached is a globally unique temporary identity (GUTI) allocated to the UE by the MME to which the UE is attached, and wherein the GUTI comprises an MME code (MMEC) of the MME to which the UE is attached.

20. The serving MME according to claim 14, wherein the processor is further configured to:

determine, according to the user information of the UE, that the UE is an authorized user;

separately send a modification request message to a serving gateway (SGW) and a home subscriber server (HSS) connected to the serving MME,

wherein the modification request message comprises the identity of the UE, and

wherein the modification request message requests the SGW and the HSS to modify a correspondence between the UE and the MME to which the UE is attached to a correspondence between the UE and the serving MME;

reallocate a globally unique temporary identity (GUTI) to the UE; and

send the reallocated GUTI to the UE such that the UE is attached to the serving MME.