Method and Apparatus for Accessing Heterogeneous Networks via Wireless Local Area Network

• US 20100251331A1
• Filed: 03/24/2010
• Published: 09/30/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2009
• 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: Li, Guodong
• Granted Patent: US 9,100,384 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/3
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/06 Registration at serving network Location Register, VLR or user mobility server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method and an apparatus for accessing heterogeneous networks via a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) are disclosed. The method includes receiving an access request from a WLAN terminal or a portal/policy server; determining a target network that the terminal needs to access according to the access request; converting the access request according to the format of a target network transmission protocol; sending the converted access request to the target network; and receiving an authentication result from the target network, and sending the authentication result to the terminal.

Claims

1. A method for accessing heterogeneous networks via a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), the method comprising:

receiving an access request from a terminal or a portal/policy server;

determining a target network that the terminal needs to access according to the access request;

converting the access request according to a format of a target network transmission protocol;

sending the converted access request to the target network;

receiving an authentication result sent from the target network; and

sending the authentication result to the terminal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the access request comprises receiving the access request from the terminal, the method further comprising:

sending the access request from the terminal to the portal/policy server;

sending an authentication login page from the portal/policy server to the terminal;

sending authentication login information from the terminal to the portal/policy server; and

receiving an access request that carries an access policy from the portal/policy server;

wherein determining the target network that the terminal needs to access according to the access request comprises;

determining the target network that the terminal needs to access according to the access policy in the access request from the portal/policy server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein after receiving the authentication result from the target network, the method further comprises:

sending the authentication result to the portal/policy server;

receiving service policy information from the portal/policy server;

obtaining charging information according to user service information collected based on the service policy information; and

sending the charging information to at least one of a Business Operation Support System (BOSS), the target network, and a local charging system.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein after receiving the service policy information from the portal/policy server, the method further comprises:

sending the service policy information to the terminal.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein after receiving the service policy information from the portal/policy server, the method further comprises:

monitoring whether a heartbeat times out or whether a logout message is received from the terminal; and

if the heartbeat times out or the logout message is received from the terminal, stopping obtaining the charging information and disconnecting the target network.

6. An authentication serving gateway, comprising:

a request receiving unit, adapted to receive an access request from a terminal or a portal/policy server;

a target network determining unit, adapted to determine a target network that the terminal needs to access according to the access request;

a request converting unit, adapted to convert the access request according to a format of a target network transmission protocol;

a request sending unit, adapted to send the converted access request to the target network;

an authentication result receiving unit, adapted to receive an authentication result from the target network; and

an authentication result sending unit, adapted to send the authentication result to the terminal.

7. The authentication serving gateway of claim 6, further comprising:

a login page sending unit, adapted to send an authentication login page from the portal/policy server to the terminal; and

a login information sending unit, adapted to send authentication login information from the terminal to the portal/policy server;

wherein the request sending unit is further adapted to send the access request from the terminal received by the request receiving unit to the portal/policy server;

the request receiving unit is further adapted to receive an access request that carries an access policy from the portal/policy server; and

the target network determining unit is further adapted to determine the target network that the terminal needs to access according to the access policy in the access request sent from the portal/policy server.

8. The authentication serving gateway of claim 6, wherein the authentication result sending unit is further adapted to send the authentication result to the portal/policy server;

and the authentication serving gateway further comprises;

a service policy receiving unit, adapted to receive service policy information from the portal/policy server after the authentication result sending unit sends the authentication result to the portal/policy server;

a charging information obtaining unit, adapted to obtain charging information according to user service information collected based on the service policy information; and

a charging information sending unit, adapted to send the charging information obtained by the charging information obtaining unit to at least one of a Business Operation Support System (BOSS), the target network, and a local charging system.

9. The authentication serving gateway of claim 8, further comprising:

a service policy sending unit, adapted to send the service policy information to the terminal.

10. The authentication serving gateway of claim 9, further comprising:

a logout monitoring unit, adapted to monitor whether a heartbeat times out or whether a logout message is received from the terminal; and

an obtaining and connection controlling unit, adapted to stop obtaining the charging information and disconnect the target network if the heartbeat times out or the logout message is received from the terminal.

11. A portal/policy server, comprising:

an access request receiving unit, adapted to receive an access request from a terminal;

a login page sending unit, adapted to send an authentication login page to the terminal after receiving the access request;

a login information receiving unit, adapted to receive authentication login information from the terminal; and

an access request sending unit, adapted to determine an access policy according to the authentication login information and send an access request that comprises the access policy to an authentication serving gateway.

12. The portal/policy server of claim 11, further comprising:

an authentication result receiving unit, adapted to receive an authentication result from the authentication serving gateway; and

a service policy sending unit, adapted to send service policy information corresponding to the authentication result to the authentication serving gateway.