Method for Transmitting MTC Data in a Mobile Communication System

• US 20120282956A1
• Filed: 02/11/2011
• Published: 11/08/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Hyunsook, Kim, Taehyeon, Kim, Laeyoung, Stojanovski, Saso, Vedrine, Arnaud
• Granted Patent: US 9,401,820 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/466
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 2212/00 Encapsulation of packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/02 Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal

Abstract

The present invention relates to a mobile communication system, and more particularly relates to a method for transmitting a small-sized control signal (also known as “small data”) using a control plane in a MTC (machine-type communication) service in a mobile communication system. In the present invention, MTC data is encapsulated in an existing control procedure or control message or the like, on a control signal, without performing packet data bearer setup, and the control signal having the encapsulated MTC data is sent between a network and a terminal, thereby optimizing network resource efficiency and reducing the wireless channel load.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting data in a mobile communication system, the method comprising the steps of:

(A) receiving from a user equipment (UE) a control signaling message, with MTC data encapsulated therein;

(B) extracting the MTC data from the control signaling message, the control signaling message including the MTC data encapsulated therein; and

(C) transmitting the extracted MTC data to an MTC server, wherein the extracted MTC data is MTC data extracted from the control signaling message including the MTC data encapsulated therein.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (B) further comprises the step of determining whether the received control signaling message has encapsulated MTC data.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein, in the step (B), it is checked whether an indicator indicating that the MTC data is encapsulated exists in the received control signaling message to thereby determine the presence of the encapsulated MTC data in the received control signaling message.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein, in the step (B), it is checked whether a contents field of the MTC data exists in the received control signaling message to thereby determine the presence of the encapsulated MTC data the received control signaling message.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein, in the step (B), if both an indicator field indicating that the MTC data is encapsulated and a contents field of the MTC data are present in the received control signaling message, it is determined that the encapsulated MTC data is present in the received control signaling message.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the indicator field is ‘

protocol discriminator’

, and the contents field of the MTC data is ‘

protocol configuration options’

.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the step (C) is performed in parallel or together with an existing procedure of a data transmission method, or performed by dedicated or separate signaling.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the control signaling message is a message on a control plane, and

the control signaling message includes any one of a procedure message that the UE attaches to a network, a paging response message, a location registration message, and a UE triggered service request procedure message.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the control signaling message comprises one or both of an indicator field indicating that the MTC data is encapsulated and a contents field of the MTC data.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of including Ack information about the MTC data when transmitting to the UE an accept or reject message in response to the control signaling message.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the Ack information about the MTC data includes at least one of the following:

information representing the successful reception of the encapsulated MTC data from the UE;

information representing that the MTC data extracted from the received control signaling message has been transmitted to the MTC server;

information confirming that the MTC server has successfully received the extracted MTC data;

information that the MTC server requests the UE to re-transmit MTC data due to the failure of MTC data extraction or the like; and

information to be reported to the UE.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving, from the MTC server, a response to the extracted MTC data transmitted to the MTC server.

13. A method for transmitting data in a mobile communication system, the method comprising the steps of:

(a) receiving from a user equipment (UE) a service request message with machine type communication (MTC) data encapsulated therein;

(b) determining whether the received service request message is a message dedicated for transmitting the encapsulated MTC data;

(c) extracting the MTC data from the received service request message including the encapsulated MTC data; and

(d) transmitting the extracted MTC data to an MTC server.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of, if it is determined that the service request message is a message dedicated for transmitting the encapsulated MTC data in the step (b), transmitting a service release command to a base station servicing the UE and thereby releasing an RRC connection between the UE and the base station.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein, in the determination of the step (b), it is checked whether there is an indicator indicating that the service request message is a message dedicated for transmitting the encapsulated MTC data to thereby determine that the service request message is a dedicated message for transmitting the encapsulated MTC data.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the service request message comprises at least one of:

an indicator field indicating that the MTC data is encapsulated; and

an indicator field indicating that the service request message is a message dedicated for transmitting the encapsulated MTC data.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein the service request message comprises one or both of an indicator field indicating that the MTC data is encapsulated;

and a contents field of the MTC data.

18. The method of claim 13, wherein the service request message comprises only a contents field of the MTC data, the contents field indicating the presence of the MTC data in the received service request message.

19. The method of claim 13, further comprising the step of receiving, from the MTC server, a response to the extracted MTC data transmitted to the MTC server.

20. A method for transmitting downlink machine type communication (MTC) data in a mobile communication system, the method comprising the steps in which:

(AA) a network entity receives downlink data from an MTC server or external network node;

(BB) the network entity checks whether MTC data is contained in the downlink data, and determines a specific UE or UEs of a specific group to which the MTC data is to be transmitted;

(CC) if the network entity determines UE or UEs of a specific group to which the MTC data is to be transmitted, the MTC data is encapsulated in a paging message; and

(DD) the network entity transmits the paging message with the MTC data encapsulated therein to each of the base stations of the UE or UEs of the specific group so as to broadcast the paging message to the UE or UEs of the specific group.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein, in the step (AA), the MTC data is included and transmitted in a downlink data notification message.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein the step (AA) comprise the steps in which:

the network entity receives the downlink data notification message with the MTC data encapsulated therein from a serving gateway S-GW; and

the network entity transmits a downlink data notification ACK message to the serving gateway S-GW.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the step (AA) comprises the steps in which:

the network entity requests the serving gateway S-GW to transmit a downlink data notification message with the MTC data encapsulated therein through a downlink data notification ACK message;

the network entity receives from the serving gateway S-GW the downlink data notification message with the MTC data encapsulated therein; and

the network entity transmits the downlink data notification ACK message to the serving gateway S-GW.

24. The method of claim 20, further comprising the step in which the network entity receives from the UE an ACK/NACK message, the ACK/NACK message indicating the reception of the MTC data.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the step (BB) further comprises the step in which the network entity selects a paging message as a control message for encapsulating and transmitting the MTC data.

26. The method of claim 20, wherein, in the step (CC), the paging message comprises at least one of:

an indicator field indicating that the MTC data is encapsulated in the paging message;

a field indicating a specific group if the MTC data is to be transmitted to UE or UEs of the specific group; and

a field containing a contents of the MTC data.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the indicator field is ‘

message type’

,

the field indicating the specific group is ‘

MTC Group Id list’

, and

the contents field of the MTC data is ‘

protocol configuration options’

.

28. The method of claim 20, wherein, in the step (CC), the paging message comprises only the contents field of the MTC data indicating the presence of the MTC data.

29. The method of claim 22 or 23, wherein the downlink data notification message comprise:

an indicator field indicating that the MTC data is encapsulated; and

a field containing contents of the MTC data.

30. The method of claim 29, wherein the indicator field is ‘

cause’

, and the contents filed of the MTC data is ‘

protocol configuration options’

.

31. The method of claim 20, wherein the network node is an MME (Mobility Management Entity) or SGSN (Serving GPRS Supporting Node).

32. A method for transmitting downlink machine type communication (MTC) data in a mobile communication system, the method comprising the steps in which:

(aa) a network entity receives downlink data from an MTC server or external network node;

(bb) the network entity checks whether MTC data is contained in the downlink data, and thereby determines a specific UE to which the MTC data is to be transmitted;

(cc) the network entity selects a control message for transmitting the MTC data, and encapsulates the MTC data in the selected control message; and

(dd) the network entity transmits to the specific UE the control message with the MTC data encapsulated therein.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the control message is one of a TAU accept message or TAU reject message, a RAU accept message or RAU reject message, and a service request accept message or service request reject message.

34. The method of claim 32, further comprising the step in which the network entity receives from the UE an ACK/NACK message indicating of the reception of the MTC data.

35. The method of claim 32, wherein the network node is an MME (Mobility Management Entity) or SGSN (Serving GPRS Supporting Node).

36. The method of claim 32, wherein, in the step (cc), the control message comprise:

an indicator field indicating that the MTC data is encapsulated; and

a field containing contents of the MTC data.

37. The method of claim 32, wherein, in the step (cc), the control message comprises only the contents field of the MTC data indicating the presence of the MTC data.

38. A method for transmitting downlink machine type communication (MTC) data in a mobile communication system, the method comprising the steps in which:

a user equipment (UE) receives from a network node a control message with MTC data encapsulated therein;

the UE checks whether the MTC data is encapsulated in the received control message, and thereby extracts the MTC data from the control message;

the UE updates configuration information based on the extracted MTC data; and

the UE sends an ACK or NACK message to the network node.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein the step of extracting the MTC data comprises the steps in which:

the UE checks the MTC Group Id list′

parameter contained in the control message to thereby check whether the UE is a target for receiving the MTC data or corresponds to a specific UE group to which a target for receiving the MTC data belongs; and

if the UE is a target for receiving the MTC data or corresponds to a specific UE group to which a target for receiving the MTC data belongs, the UE extracts the MTC data from the control message.