Method, User Equipment and System for Maintaining a Large Number of Connections

• US 20140155074A1
• Filed: 11/23/2011
• Published: 06/05/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 08/25/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Original Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Inventors: Xu, Hui
• Granted Patent: US 9,363,834 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/450
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/00 Connection management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for maintaining a large number of connections. The method comprises: when there is no data transmission between a User Equipment (UE) and a network, a network device deletes a radio bearer and reserves UE context information related to link restoration and a default bearer; when data needs to be transmitted between the UE and the network, the network device establishes a bearer connection with the UE according to the reserved UE context information related to link restoration. At the same time, the present invention provides a UE and system for maintaining a large number of connections. By using the method, the UE and the system of the present invention, a large number of UE connections can be maintained effectively, the network load can be reduced and the connection recovery process can be accelerated.

Claims

1. A method for maintaining a large number of connections, comprising:

when there is no data transmission between a User Equipment (UE) and a network, a network device deleting a radio bearer and reserving UE context information related to link restoration and a default bearer; and

when data needs to be transmitted between the UE and the network, the network device establishing a bearer connection with the UE according to the reserved UE context information related to link restoration.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein when a time interval without data transmission between the UE and the network is smaller than a preset threshold, the method further comprises:

the network device further reserving a wire bearer;

wherein the wire bearer comprises;

an S1 bearer, an S5/8 bearer and an SGi bearer.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein when data transmission needs to be performed between the UE and the network all the time, or when a connection between the UE and the network needs to be maintained according to a subscription attribute of the UE or an operator strategy, the method further comprises:

the network device reserving the radio bearer and reserving all context information of the UE and the wire bearer;

wherein the wire bearer comprises;

an S1 bearer, an S5/8 bearer and an SGi bearer.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein said a large number of connections refer to more than two connections.

5. A method for maintaining a large number of connections, comprising:

when there is no data transmission between a User Equipment (UE) and a network, a network device deleting a radio bearer, and reserving UE context information related to link restoration and a default bearer;

after a fault or a power failure occurs in the network device, discarding all reserved context information of the UE and deleting all bearers, or after the network device initiates a detach process to delete all context information of a large number of UEs and all the bearers because a large amount of UE information is not detected within a specified duration, the method further comprises;

when a Machine Type Communication (MTC) server needs to transmit data to a group of the UEs, sending trigger information to the UEs by the network device to establish connections with the UEs.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein sending the trigger information to the UEs by the network device to establish the connections with the UEs comprises:

the MTC server sending the trigger information to the network device;

the network device forwarding the received trigger information and sending the trigger information to the UEs corresponding to the received trigger information; and

after receiving the trigger information, the UEs initiating an attach process and establishing connections with a network side.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein when the network device forwards the received trigger information, the method further comprises:

the network device converting a UE identifier in the received trigger information into an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI).

8. The method according to claim 5, wherein said a large number of connections refer to more than two connections.

9-15. -15. (canceled)

16. A system for maintaining a large number of connections, comprising a network device, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) server and a User Equipment (UE), wherein

the network device is configured to, when there is no data transmission between the UE and a network, delete a radio bearer and reserve UE context information related to link restoration and a default bearer;

the MTC server is configured to, when all reserved context information of the UE is lost and all bearers are deleted after a fault or a power failure occurs in the network device, or after the network side initiates a detach process to delete all context information of a large number of UEs and all the bearers because a large amount of UE information is not detected within a specified duration and when data needs to be transmitted to a group of the UEs, send trigger information to the UEs via the network device and establish connections between the MTC server and all the UEs; and

the UE is configured to, after receiving the trigger information sent by the MTC server via the network device, establish a connection with the MTC server.

17. The system according to claim 16, wherein the MTC server is configured to, send the trigger information to the network device;

the network device is configured to, after receiving the trigger information sent by the MTC server, forward the received trigger information and send the trigger information to the UE; and

the UE is configured to, after receiving the trigger information sent by the network device, initiate an attach process and establish a connection with the network side.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein when forwarding the received trigger information, the network device is further configured to convert a UE identifier in the received trigger information into an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI).

19. The system according to claim 16, wherein the number of the UEs is two or more than two.