REGISTRATION AREA DETERMINING METHOD AND MOBILITY MANAGEMENT ENTITY

• US 20170257752A1
• Filed: 05/19/2017
• Published: 09/07/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/20/2014
• 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: Yin, Yu, Qi, Caixia
• Granted Patent: US 10,091,639 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0226 based on location or mobility handoff or reselection H04W36/00; mobile application services making use of the location of users or terminals H04W4/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/04 using triggered events
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/02 Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/02 Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose a registration area determining method, to reduce overheads for sending paging signaling to user equipment. The method in the embodiments of the present disclosure includes: determining, by a mobility management entity, that both duration in which user equipment does not access a basic registration area in a registration area of the user equipment and duration in which the user equipment does not initiate a periodic basic registration area update procedure are greater than or equal to preset duration; generating, by the mobility management entity, a new registration area for the user equipment, where the new registration area does not include the basic registration area; and sending, by the mobility management entity, the new registration area to the user equipment. The embodiments of the present disclosure further provide a mobility management entity, to reduce the overheads for sending paging signaling to the user equipment.

Claims

1. A registration area determining method, comprising:

determining, by a mobility management entity, that both duration in which user equipment does not access a basic registration area in a registration area of the user equipment and duration in which the user equipment does not initiate a periodic basic registration area update procedure are greater than or equal to preset duration;

generating, by the mobility management entity, a new registration area for the user equipment, wherein the new registration area does not comprise the basic registration area; and

sending, by the mobility management entity, the new registration area to the user equipment.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein generating, by the mobility management entity, a new registration area for the user equipment comprises:

deleting, by the mobility management entity, the basic registration area from the registration area, to obtain the new registration area.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining, by a mobility management entity, that both duration in which user equipment does not access a basic registration area in a registration area of the user equipment and duration in which the user equipment does not initiate a periodic basic registration area update procedure are greater than or equal to preset duration comprises:

if the mobility management entity does not receive, in the preset duration starting from a time when the mobility management entity allocates the registration area to the user equipment, a signaling message sent by the user equipment in the basic registration area or a periodic basic registration area update request message sent by the user equipment, determining that both the duration in which the user equipment does not access the basic registration area and the duration in which the user equipment does not initiate the periodic basic registration area update procedure are greater than or equal to the preset duration.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining, by a mobility management entity, that both duration in which user equipment does not access a basic registration area in a registration area of the user equipment and duration in which the user equipment does not initiate a periodic basic registration area update procedure are greater than or equal to preset duration comprises:

starting a timer when the mobility management entity allocates the registration area to the user equipment; and

if the mobility management entity does not receive, from a time when the timer is started to a time when timing duration of the timer reaches the preset duration, the signaling message sent by the user equipment in the basic registration area or the periodic basic registration area update request message sent by the user equipment, determining that both the duration in which the user equipment does not access the basic registration area and the duration in which the user equipment does not initiate the periodic basic registration area update procedure are greater than or equal to the preset duration.

5. The method according to claim 4, further comprising:

restarting the timer when the timing duration of the timer reaches the preset duration.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the user equipment does not initiate a periodic basic registration area update procedure when:

the user equipment is in a connected state;

or

the user equipment switches between a connected state and an idle state.

7. A mobility management entity, comprising:

a processing unit, configured to;

determine that both duration in which user equipment does not access a basic registration area in a registration area of the user equipment and duration in which the user equipment does not initiate a periodic basic registration area update procedure are greater than or equal to preset duration, and generate a new registration area for the user equipment, wherein the new registration area does not comprise the basic registration area; and

a sending unit, configured to send the new registration area to the user equipment.

8. The mobility management entity according to claim 7, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

delete the basic registration area from the registration area to obtain the new registration area.

9. The mobility management entity according to claim 7, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

if the processing unit does not receive, in the preset duration starting from a time when the processing unit allocates the registration area to the user equipment, a signaling message sent by the user equipment in the basic registration area or a periodic basic registration area update request message sent by the user equipment, determine that both the duration in which the user equipment does not access the basic registration area and the duration in which the user equipment does not initiate the periodic basic registration area update procedure are greater than or equal to the preset duration.

10. The mobility management entity according to claim 7, wherein the processing unit is configured to:

start a timer when the processing unit allocates the registration area to the user equipment; and

if the signaling message sent by the user equipment in the basic registration area or the periodic basic registration area update request message sent by the user equipment is not received from a time when the timer is started to a time when timing duration of the timer reaches the preset duration, determine that both the duration in which the user equipment does not access the basic registration area and the duration in which the user equipment does not initiate the periodic basic registration area update procedure are greater than or equal to the preset duration.

11. The mobility management entity according to claim 10, wherein the processing unit is further configured to:

restart the timer when the timing duration of the timer reaches the preset duration.

12. The mobility management entity according to claim 7, wherein the user equipment does not initiate a periodic basic registration area update procedure when:

the user equipment is in a connected state;

or

the user equipment switches between a connected state and an idle state.