Method and system for notifying attribute of IP address and SGW

• US 20140153544A1
• Filed: 06/13/2012
• Published: 06/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/21/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Original Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Inventors: Lu, Fei, Chen, Gang
• Granted Patent: US 9,713,042 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1407 Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1425 involving dedicated fields in the data packet for billing purposes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5007 Internet protocol [IP] addresses
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5076 Update or notification mechanisms, e.g. DynDNS
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/83 Notification aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/84 Types of notifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/85 characterised by the type of condition triggering a notification
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0011 for data sessions of end-to-end connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0019 adapted for mobile IP [MIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/12 Reselecting a serving backbone network switching or routing node
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A method and a system for notifying an attribute of an Internet Protocol (IP) address and a Serving Gateway (SGW) are disclosed. When an SGW is taken as a User Equipment'"'"'s (UE'"'"'s) SGW, the new SGW can be notified of an attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address. The technology of notifying an attribute of an IP address in the disclosure can ensure that the new SGW can learn the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address in time when the new SGW is taken as the UE'"'"'s SGW. Therefore, a charging gateway function entity connected with the new SGW can accurately charge the UE according to the attribute of the IP address.

Claims

1. A method for notifying an attribute of an Internet Protocol (IP) address, comprising:

when a new Serving Gateway (SGW) is taken as a User Equipment'"'"'s (UE'"'"'s) SGW, notifying the new SGW of an attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the notifying comprises at least one of the following:

passing, by a mobility management unit, the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address to the new SGW in a session establishment request message;

or

passing, by a Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW), the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address to the new SGW, after the UE moves and the new SGW is taken as the UE'"'"'s SGW.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein

in the case that the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address is passed to the new SGW by the mobility management unit in the session establishment request message, the method further comprises:

acquiring, by the mobility management unit, the attribute of the IP address during at least one of an attach procedure, a UE-requested Packet Data Network (PDN) connection establishment procedure, and a Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context activation procedure; and

in the case that the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address is passed to the new SGW by the PGW, the PGW passes the attribute of the IP address in a bearer modification response message.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein

in the case that the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address is passed to the new SGW by the mobility management unit in the session establishment request message, the method further comprises:

passing, by the PGW, the attribute of the IP address to the mobility management unit via the new SGW in a session establishment response message; and

when the UE moves to a coverage area of a new mobility management unit, passing, by the UE'"'"'s original mobility management unit, the attribute of the IP address to the new mobility management unit during a context pass procedure; and

in the case that the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address is passed to the new SGW by the PGW, the method further comprises;

storing, by the PGW, the attribute of the IP address in a PGW context during at least one of an attach procedure, a UE-requested PDN connection establishment procedure, and a PDP context activation procedure.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address comprises a dynamic-IP-address attribute and a static-IP-address attribute.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the mobility management unit is a Mobility Management Entity (MME) or a Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN).

7. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

charging, by a Charging Gateway Function (CGF) entity connected with the SGW, the UE according to the attribute of the IP address.

8. A system for notifying an attribute of an Internet Protocol (IP) address, comprising an Serving Gateway (SGW) confirmation unit and an IP address attribute notification unit, wherein

the SGW confirmation unit is configured to confirm that a new SGW is taken as a UE'"'"'s SGW, and notify the IP address attribute notification unit of the confirmed result;

and

the IP address attribute notification unit is configured to notify a new SGW of an attribute of the User Equipment'"'"'s (UE'"'"'s) IP address according to the notification of the SGW confirmation unit.

9. The system according to claim 8, wherein the IP address attribute notification unit is configured to notify the new SGW of the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address by at least one of the following:

controlling a mobility management unit to pass the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address to the new SGW in a session establishment request message;

or

controlling a Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW) to pass the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address to the new SGW, after the UE moves and the new SGW is taken as the UE'"'"'s SGW.

10. The system according to claim 9, wherein

in the case that the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address is passed to the new SGW by the mobility management unit in the session establishment request message, the mobility management unit is further configured to:

acquire the attribute of the IP address during at least one of an attach procedure, a UE-requested Packet Data Network (PDN) connection establishment procedure, and a Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context activation procedure; and

in the case that the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address is passed to the new SGW by the PGW, the PGW is configured to pass the attribute of the IP address in a bearer modification response message.

11. The system according to claim 9, wherein

in the case that the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address is passed to the new SGW by the mobility management unit in the session establishment request message, the PGW is further configured to pass the attribute of the IP address to the mobility management unit via the new SGW in a session establishment response message;

and when the UE moves to a coverage area of a new mobility management unit, the UE'"'"'s original mobility management unit is configured to pass the attribute of the IP address to the new mobility management unit during a context pass procedure; and

in the case that the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address is passed to the new SGW by the PGW, the PGW is further configured to store the attribute of the IP address in a PGW context during at least one of an attach procedure, a UE-requested PDN connection establishment procedure, and a PDP context activation procedure.

12. The system according to claim 8, further comprising a Charging Gateway Function (CGF) entity connected with the SGW, wherein the CGF entity is configured to charge the UE according to the attribute of the IP address.

13. The system according to claim 8, wherein the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address comprises a dynamic-IP-address attribute and a static-IP-address attribute.

14. The system according to claim 9, wherein the mobility management unit is a Mobility Management Entity (MME) or a Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN).

15. A Serving Gateway (SGW), which is configured to receive an attribute of a User Equipment'"'"'s (UE'"'"'s) Internet Protocol (IP) address, wherein the SGW is one which is newly taken as the UE'"'"'s SGW.

16. The SGW according to claim 15, wherein the attribute of the IP address is passed by an IP address attribute notification unit;

and the IP address attribute notification unit is configured to notify the new SGW of the attribute of the IP address by at least one of the following;

controlling a mobility management unit to pass the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address to the new SGW in a session establishment request message;

or

controlling a Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW) to pass the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address to the new SGW, after the UE moves and the new SGW is taken as the UE'"'"'s SGW.

17. The SGW according to claim 16, wherein

in the case that the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address is passed to the new SGW by the mobility management unit in the session establishment request message, the mobility management unit is further configured to:

acquire the attribute of the IP address during at least one of an attach procedure, a UE-requested Packet Data Network (PDN) connection establishment procedure, and a Packet Data Protocol (PDP) context activation procedure; and

in the case that the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address is passed to the new SGW by the PGW, the PGW is configured to pass the attribute of the IP address in a bearer modification response message.

18. The SGW according to claim 16, wherein

in the case that the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address is passed to the new SGW by the mobility management unit in the session establishment request message, the PGW is further configured to pass the attribute of the IP address to the mobility management unit via the new SGW in a session establishment response message;

and when the UE moves to a coverage area of a new mobility management unit, the UE'"'"'s original mobility management unit is configured to pass the attribute of the IP address to the new mobility management unit during a context pass procedure; and

in the case that the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address is passed to the new SGW by the PGW, the PGW is further configured to store the attribute of the IP address in a PGW context during at least one of an attach procedure, a UE-requested PDN connection establishment procedure, and a PDP context activation procedure.

19. The SGW according to claim 15, wherein the SGW is connected with a Charging Gateway Function (CGF) entity, and the CGF entity is configured to charge the UE according to the attribute of the IP address

wherein the attribute of the UE'"'"'s IP address comprises a dynamic-IP-address attribute and a static-IP-address attribute.

21. The SGW according to claim 16, wherein the mobility management unit is a Mobility Management Entity (MME) or a Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN).

20. (canceled)