FEMTOCELL AND FEMTOCELL SUBSCRIBER AUTHENTICATION METHOD

• US 20170238180A1
• Filed: 05/01/2017
• Published: 08/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2015
• 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: Yu, Rongdao, Li, Yingtao
• Granted Patent: US 10,327,140 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B

Abstract

A femtocell subscriber includes: receiving, by a femtocell, an access request sent by an access terminal, where the access request carries IMSI information of the access terminal; determining, by the femtocell, whether an international mobile subscriber identity IMSI of the access terminal is in a CSG subscriber list of the femtocell; if the access terminal is in the closed subscriber group CSG subscriber list, allowing the access terminal to access the femtocell; or if the IMSI of the access terminal is not in the CSG subscriber list of the femtocell, obtaining, by the femtocell from a server, a mobile phone number corresponding to the IMSI; if the mobile phone number of the access terminal is not in the CSG subscriber list of the femtocell, requesting, by the femtocell, a management terminal to determine whether to allow the access terminal to access the femtocell.

Claims

1. A femtocell subscriber authentication method, comprising:

receiving, by a femtocell, an access request sent by an access terminal, wherein the access request carries an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) of the access terminal;

determining, by the femtocell, whether the IMSI of the access terminal is in a closed subscriber group subscriber list of the femtocell, and

when the IMSI of the access terminal is in the closed subscriber group subscriber list, allowing the access terminal to access the femtocell, or

when the IMSI of the access terminal is not in the CSG subscriber list of the femtocell, obtaining, by the femtocell from a server, a mobile phone number corresponding to the IMSI;

when the mobile phone number of the access terminal is not in the closed subscriber group subscriber list of the femtocell, requesting, by the femtocell, a management terminal to determine whether to allow the access terminal to access the femtocell; and

receiving, by the femtocell, a determining result, of the management terminal, of whether to allow access of the terminal, and determining, according to the determining result, whether to accept the access request of the access terminal, and

when the femtocell receives a determining result that the management terminal allows the access terminal to access the femtocell, sending, to the access terminal, a response message indicating that access is allowed, or

when the femtocell receives a determining result that the management terminal does not allow the access terminal to access the femtocell, sending a response message indicating that access of the access terminal is rejected.

2. The femtocell subscriber authentication method according to claim 1, wherein:

the server comprises a home subscriber server (HSS) or a home location register (HLR); and

obtaining, by the femtocell from a server, a mobile phone number corresponding to the IMSI comprises;

requesting, by the femtocell, subscription information of the access terminal from the HSS or the HLR, and

receiving, by the femtocell, the subscription information of the access terminal from the HSS or the HLR, and obtaining, by parsing the subscription info Elation, the mobile phone number that is of the access terminal and corresponding to the IMSI.

3. The femtocell subscriber authentication method according to claim 1, further comprising:

if the management terminal allows the access terminal to access the femtocell, sending, by the femtocell, an access allow notification to the access terminal, and adding the access terminal to the closed subscriber group subscriber list of the femtocell.

4. A femtocell subscriber authentication method, comprising:

receiving, by a management terminal, a determining request of a femtocell, wherein the determining request is used by the femtocell to request the management terminal to determine whether to allow the access terminal to access the femtocell, and the determining request carries an identifier ID of the access terminal or a mobile phone number of the access terminal; and

matching, by the management terminal, the mobile phone number of the access terminal and a contact list or a call record of the management terminal, and

when the mobile phone number of the access terminal is not in the contact or the call record of the management terminal, sending, to the femtocell, a determining result that the access terminal is not allowed to access the femtocell.

5. The femtocell subscriber authentication method according to claim 4, wherein matching, by the management terminal, the mobile phone number of the access terminal and a contact or a call record of the management terminal comprises:

when the mobile phone number of the access terminal is in the contact or the call record of the management terminal, sending, to the femtocell, a determining result that the access terminal is allowed to access the femtocell.

6. The femtocell subscriber authentication method according to claim 5, wherein matching, by the management terminal, the mobile phone number of the access terminal and a contact or a call record of the management terminal comprises:

when the mobile phone number of the access terminal is in the call record of the management terminal, determining, by the management terminal, whether a quantity of call records or call duration of the access terminal exceeds a preset value, and

when the quantity of call records or the call duration of the access terminal exceeds the preset value, sending, to the femtocell, the determining result that the access terminal is allowed to access the femtocell, or

when the quantity of call records or the call duration of the access terminal does not exceed the preset value, sending, to the femtocell, the determining result that the access terminal is not allowed to access the femtocell.

7. A femtocell subscriber authentication method, comprising:

initiating, by a terminal, an access request to a femtocell, wherein the terminal is referred to as an access terminal, and the access request carries an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) of the access terminal;

after receiving the access request of the access terminal, determining, by the femtocell, whether the IMSI of the access terminal is in a closed subscriber group subscriber list of the femtocell, and

when the IMSI of the access terminal is in the closed subscriber group subscriber list, allowing the access terminal to access the femtocell, or

when the IMSI of the access terminal is not in the closed subscriber group subscriber list of the femtocell, obtaining, by the femtocell from a server, a mobile phone number corresponding to the IMSI;

when the mobile phone number of the access terminal is not in the closed subscriber group subscriber list of the femtocell, requesting a management terminal to determine whether to allow the access terminal to access the femtocell;

after receiving, from the femtocell, a request message for requesting to determine whether to allow the access terminal to access the femtocell, determining, by the management terminal, whether to allow the access terminal to access the femtocell, and sending the determining result to the femtocell, and

when the management terminal allows the access terminal to access the femtocell, sending, by the femtocell to the access terminal, a response message indicating that the access terminal is allowed to access the femtocell, or

when the management terminal does not allow the access terminal to access the femtocell, sending, by the femtocell to the access terminal, a response message indicating that access of the access terminal to the femtocell is rejected.

8. The femtocell subscriber authentication method according to claim 7, wherein:

the server comprises a home subscriber server (HSS) or a home location register (HLR); and

obtaining, by the femtocell from a server, a mobile phone number corresponding to the IMSI comprises;

requesting, by the femtocell, subscription information of the access terminal from the HSS or the HLR; and

receiving, by the femtocell, the subscription information of the access terminal from the HSS or the HLR, and obtaining, by parsing the subscription information, the mobile phone number that is of the access terminal and corresponding to the IMSI.

9. A femtocell, comprising:

a receiving device, configured to receive an access request sent by an access terminal, wherein the access request carries an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) of the access terminal;

a sending device, configured to send information to a terminal or another base station;

a storage device, configured to store a closed subscriber group subscriber list; and

a processor, configured to;

determine whether the IMSI of the access terminal is in the closed subscriber group subscriber list stored in the storage device, and

when the IMSI of the access terminal is in the closed subscriber group subscriber list, allow the access terminal to access the femtocell, or

when the IMSI of the access terminal is not in the closed subscriber group subscriber list of the femtocell, obtain, from a server by using the sending device and the receiving device, a mobile phone number corresponding to the IMSI, and when the mobile phone number of the access terminal is not in the closed subscriber group subscriber list of the femtocell, send a request to a management terminal by using the sending device, to request the management terminal to determine whether to allow the access terminal to access the femtocell, and wherein the processor is further configured to determine, according to a determining result of the management terminal that is received by the receiving device, whether to allow the access terminal to access the femtocell.

10. The femtocell according to claim 9, wherein:

the server comprises a home subscriber server (HSS) or a home location register (HLR); and

the processor is further configured to

request subscription information of the access terminal from the HSS or the HLR;

receive the subscription information of the access terminal from the HSS or the HLR; and

obtain, by parsing the subscription infatuation, the mobile phone number of the access terminal that corresponds to the IMSI.