CORRELATION ID FOR LOCAL IP ACCESS

• US 20110103310A1
• Filed: 11/01/2010
• Published: 05/05/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/02/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rosedale Dynamics LLC
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Vedrine, Arnaud, STOJANOVSKI, Saso
• Granted Patent: US 9,325,531 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2514 between local and global IP addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/32 Hierarchical cell structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/16 Involving different core network technologies, e.g. a packet-switched [PS] bearer in combination with a circuit-switched [CS] bearer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/22 Manipulation of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/082 for traffic bypassing of mobility servers, e.g. location registers, home PLMNs or home agents
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/04 Interfaces between hierarchically different network devices
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The invention relates to a home cellular base station (HeNB), comprising a radio interface (RI), to communicate with a user equipment (UE), a local interface (LI), to communicate with a local gateway (L-GW) providing access to a local IP network, a user plane interface (S1-U), to communicate with a serving gateway (SGW), and a control plane interface (S1-MME), to communicate with a control node (MME). The home cellular base station (HeNB) further comprises a selection module (SelMod) set to obtain a first correlation ID for enabling a direct user plane path between the home cellular base station (HeNB) and the local gateway (L-GW), the first correlation ID being obtained via the control plane interface (S1-MME) upon each establishment of a bearer providing access to the local IP network.

The invention also relates to a control node (MME), to a home subscriber server (HSS), to a direct path enablement method, and to a PDN management method.

Claims

1. A home cellular base station (HeNB), comprising

a radio interface (RI), to communicate with a user equipment (UE),

a local interface (LI), to communicate with a local gateway (L-GW) providing access to a local IP network,

a user plane interface (S1-U), to communicate with a serving gateway (SGW), and

a control plane interface (S1-MME), to communicate with a control node (MME),

wherein the home cellular base station (HeNB) further comprises a selection module (SelMod) set to obtain a first correlation ID for enabling a direct user plane path between the home cellular base station (HeNB) and the local gateway (L-GW), the first correlation ID being obtained via the control plane interface (S1-MME) upon each establishment of a bearer providing access to the local IP network.

2. The home cellular base station (HeNB) according to claim 1, wherein, upon reception of a downlink IP packet on the local interface (LI) along with a second correlation ID, the selection module (SelMod) is set to match the first correlation ID with the second correlation ID, in order to determine the radio bearer on which to transmit the downlink IP packet to the user equipment (UE) through the radio interface (RI).

3. The home cellular base station (HeNB) according to claim 1, wherein the selection module (SelMod) is set to send the first correlation ID to the local gateway (L-GW) through the local interface (LI) upon each establishment of a bearer providing access to the local IP network, and to delegate to the local gateway (L-GW) the matching of the first correlation ID with a second correlation ID identified by the local gateway (L-GW) during bearer binding of a downlink IP packet, in order to determine the radio bearer on which to transmit the downlink IP packet to the user equipment (UE) through the radio interface (RI).

4. The home cellular base station (HeNB) according to any previous claim, wherein, upon reception of an uplink IP packet on a radio bearer of the radio interface (RI), the selection module (SelMod) is set to check the presence of the first correlation ID for said radio bearer, to transmit the uplink IP packet through the local interface (LI) if the first correlation ID is present, and to transmit the uplink IP packet through the user plane interface (S1-U) if the first correlation ID is not present.

5. The home cellular base station (HeNB) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the radio bearer corresponds to a GTP bearer on the local gateway (L-GW), and wherein the first correlation ID comprises a PDN GW TEID.

6. The home cellular base station (HeNB) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the radio bearer corresponds to a PMIP tunnel on the local gateway (L-GW), and wherein the first correlation ID comprises a PGW GRE key.

7. A control node (MME), comprising a PDN management module for checking whether a given packet data network connection is established for local IP access, and upon positive check, for sending a first correlation ID to a home cellular base station (HeNB) which is managing this packet data network connection, wherein the first correlation ID is used for enabling a direct user plane path between the home cellular base station (HeNB) and a collocated local gateway (L-GW) providing access to a local IP network.

8. A control node (MME) comprising an authorization module arranged for receiving an APN associated with a packet data network connection and for checking this APN against a list of authorized APNs for the closed subscriber group (CSG) associated with the home cellular base station (HeNB).

9. A home subscriber server (HSS) comprising a local IP access management module (LIPA_MGT) set to provide a control node (MME) with local IP access configuration information.

10. The home subscriber server (HSS) according to claim 10, wherein the local IP access configuration information comprises for each closed subscriber group (CSG), the list of access point names (APNs) corresponding to the packet data networks (PDNs) accessible via local IP access from said closed subscriber group (CSG).

11. A direct path enablement method comprising a step of obtaining, in a home cellular base station (HeNB), a first correlation ID for enabling a direct user plane path between the home cellular base station (HeNB) and a local gateway (L-GW) providing access to a local IP network, wherein the first correlation ID is obtained via a control plane interface (S1-MME) of the home cellular base station (HeNB) upon each establishment of a bearer providing access to the local IP network.

12. The direct path enablement method according to claim 11, comprising a step of receiving a downlink IP packet and identifying a second correlation ID by the local gateway (L-GW) during bearer binding of the downlink IP packet, and a step of matching the first correlation ID with the second correlation ID, in order to determine the radio bearer on which to transmit the downlink IP packet to a user equipment (UE) through a radio interface (RI) of the home cellular base station (HeNB).

13. The direct path enablement method according to claim 12, wherein the downlink IP packet is received on a local interface (LI) of the home cellular base station (HeNB), and wherein the matching step is carried out by the home cellular base station (HeNB).

14. The direct path enablement method according to claim 12, comprising sending the first correlation ID from the home cellular base station (HeNB) to the local gateway (L-GW) through a local interface (LI) of the home cellular base station (HeNB) upon each establishment of a bearer providing access to the local IP network, and matching the first correlation ID with the second correlation ID by the local gateway (L-GW) on behalf of the home cellular base station (HeNB).

15. The direct path enablement method according to any of claims 11 to 14, comprising a step of receiving an uplink IP packet on a radio bearer of a radio interface (RI) of the home cellular base station (HeNB), a step of checking the presence of the first correlation ID for said radio bearer, and a step of transmitting the uplink IP packet through a local interface (LI) of the home cellular base station (HeNB) if the first correlation ID is present, and through the user plane interface (S1-U) of the home cellular base station (HeNB) if the first correlation ID is not present.

16. A PDN management method comprising a step of providing local IP access configuration information from a home subscriber server (HSS) to a control node (MME), in order to assist the control node in establishment of a packet data network (PDN) connection.

17. The PDN management method according to claim 16, wherein local IP access configuration information comprises information indicating, for each closed subscriber group (CSG), the list of access point names (APNs) corresponding to the packet data networks (PDNs) accessible via local IP access from said closed subscriber group (CSG).