Gateway device, mobile communication system, mobile terminal, packet transfer control method, control method of mobile terminal, and non-transitory computer readable medium

• US 9,461,848 B2
• Filed: 08/31/2010
• Issued: 10/04/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 10/13/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Awano, Jun
• Primary Examiner(s): Jiang, Charles C
• Assistant Examiner(s): BUTT, WALLI Z
• Application Number:
  US13/501,440
• Publication Number:
  US 20120201186A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,226 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/277, 370/312, 370/390, 370/468, 370/392, 370/252, 455/414, 455/502, 455/503, 455/458, 455/453, 455/435.1, 709/206, 709/230, 714/748, 725/34
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1877 Measures taken prior to transmission
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/189 in combination with wireless systems selective distribution or broadcast in wireless communication networks H04W4/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/4633 Interconnection of networks using encapsulation techniques, e.g. tunneling
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/66 Arrangements for connecting between networks having differing types of switching systems, e.g. gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/4511 using domain name system [DNS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0263 Rule management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/102 Entity profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0007 for multicast or broadcast services, e.g. MBMS multicast or broadcast application services H04W4/06; resource management for broadcast services H04W72/30; connection management for selective distribution or broadcast H04W76/40
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/026 Multicasting of data during hand-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/22 Manipulation of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A pass-through packet determination unit (112) of an anchor GW 100A controls whether or not to transfer a Layer 3 packet arriving from an external network (20) to a downlink channel set up with a mobile terminal (700) based on a transfer policy. Further, a transfer policy control unit (111) changes the transfer policy to enable transfer of a multicast packet or a broadcast packet to the mobile terminal (700) by the downlink channel in response to receiving from the mobile terminal (700) a Layer 3 packet preliminarily specified as a trigger to start transfer of a multicast packet or a broadcast packet to the mobile terminal (700) by the downlink channel.

Claims

1. A gateway device located at a boundary between a radio access network to conduct wireless communication with a mobile terminal or a core network connected to the radio access network and an external network, the gateway device comprising:

a channel management unit implemented by a processor, that terminates an established logical downlink channel for transmitting a packet to the mobile terminal and a logical uplink channel for receiving a packet from the mobile terminal, wherein the channel management unit is configured to set a downlink channel and the uplink channel individually with a plurality of mobile terminals;

a pass-through packet determination unit implemented by the processor, that controls whether to transfer a packet arriving from the external network to the downlink channel based on a transfer policy; and

a transfer policy control unit implemented by the processor, that changes the transfer policy to enable transfer of a multicast packet or a broadcast packet to the mobile terminal by the downlink channel in response to detecting a service discovery multicast packet which is transmitted from the mobile terminal to the external network through the logical uplink channel and designates a multicast address as a destination,

wherein the transfer policy control unit changes the transfer policy to enable selective transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal from which the service discovery multicast packet is transmitted.

2. The gateway device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a packet duplication unit implemented by the processor, that duplicates a multicast packet or a broadcast packet allowed to be transferred by the pass-through packet determination unit to create packets of the same number as the number of transfer destination mobile terminals,

wherein the channel management unit transmits each of the packets duplicated by the packet duplication unit to each of downlink channels associated with the transfer destination mobile terminals.

3. The gateway device according to claim 1, wherein the transfer policy control unit detects the service discovery multicast packet by monitoring at least one of a destination address, a destination port number and protocol type information assigned to a Layer 3 packet in an uplink direction transmitted from the mobile terminal to the external network through the uplink channel.

4. The gateway device according to claim 1, wherein the service discovery multicast packet contains an IP (Internet Protocol) multicast packet related to SSDP (Simple Service Discovery Protocol) or mDNS (multicast Domain Name System).

5. The gateway device according to claim 1, wherein the transfer policy control unit changes the transfer policy to stop transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal by the downlink channel in the response to detecting that transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal is not needed.

6. The gateway device according to claim 5, wherein the transfer policy control unit detects that transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal is not needed by detecting a predetermined packet from among a packet flow in an uplink direction transmitted from the mobile terminal to the external network.

7. The gateway device according to claim 5, wherein the transfer policy control unit detects that transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal is not needed based on deletion of the downlink channel and the uplink channel.

8. The gateway device according to claim 1, further comprising:

a proxy response unit implemented by the processor, configured to generate a response packet to be transmitted to the external network on behalf of the mobile terminal when a multicast packet or a broadcast packet, which triggers the mobile station to send a response, is detected from among a packet flow arriving from the external network.

9. The gateway device according to claim 8, wherein the transfer policy control unit is configured to capture and store a response packet generated by the mobile terminal to respond to the multicast packet or the broadcast packet for request from among the packet flow arriving from the mobile terminal by the uplink channel, and

wherein the proxy response unit generates the response packet for proxy response using the response packet stored by the transfer policy control unit.

32. The gateway device according to claim 1, wherein the transfer policy control unit applies a result of a monitoring of an uplink traffic as a trigger to change the transfer policy applied to the multicast packet or the broadcast packet transferred to the mobile terminal via the downlink channel.

34. The gateway device according to claim 1, wherein the transfer policy control unit captures an uplink IP packet to trigger a start of the transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet in a downlink direction to the mobile terminal.

35. The gateway device according to claim 1, wherein the transfer policy control unit captures the service discovery multicast packet transmitted from the mobile terminal to the external network.

36. The gateway device according to claim 1, wherein the transfer policy control unit determines the transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet in a downlink direction to the mobile terminal based on a uplink packet that is received from the mobile terminal.

10. A mobile communication system, comprising:

a radio access network to conduct wireless communication with a mobile terminal;

a core network connected to the radio access network; and

a gateway device located at a boundary between the radio access network or the core network and an external network and including an interface connectable to the external network,

wherein the gateway device includes;

a channel management unit implemented by a processor, that terminates an established logical downlink channel for transmitting a packet to the mobile terminal and a logical uplink channel for receiving a packet from the mobile terminal, wherein the channel management unit is configured to set a downlink channel and the uplink channel individually with a plurality of mobile terminals;

a pass-through packet determination unit implemented by the processor, that controls whether to transfer a packet arriving from the external network to the downlink channel based on a transfer policy; and

a transfer policy control unit implemented by the processor, that changes the transfer policy,

wherein the transfer policy control unit changes the transfer policy to enable transfer of a multicast packet or a broadcast packet to the mobile terminal by the downlink channel in response to detecting a service discovery multicast packet which is transmitted from the mobile terminal to the external network through the logical uplink channel and designates a multicast address as a destination, and

wherein the transfer policy control unit changes the transfer policy to enable selective transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal from which the service discovery multicast packet is transmitted.

11. The mobile communication system according to claim 10, further comprising:

a packet duplication unit implemented by the processor, that duplicates a multicast packet or a broadcast packet allowed to be transferred by the pass-through packet determination unit to create packets of the same number as the number of transfer destination mobile terminals,

wherein the channel management unit transmits each of the packets duplicated by the packet duplication unit to each of downlink channels associated with the transfer destination mobile terminals.

12. The mobile communication system according to claim 10, wherein the transfer policy control unit detects the service discovery multicast packet by monitoring at least one of a destination address, a destination port number and protocol type information assigned to a Layer 3 packet in an uplink direction transmitted from the mobile terminal to the external network through the uplink channel.

13. The mobile communication system according to claim 10, wherein the service discovery multicast packet contains an IP (Internet Protocol) multicast packet related to SSDP (Simple Service Discovery Protocol) or mDNS (multicast Domain Name System).

14. The mobile communication system according to claim 10, wherein the transfer policy control unit changes the transfer policy to stop the transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal by the downlink channel in response to detecting that transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal is not needed.

15. The mobile communication system according to claim 14, wherein the transfer policy control unit detects that transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal is not needed by detecting that a predetermined packet from among a packet flow in an uplink direction transmitted from the mobile terminal to the external network.

16. The mobile communication system according to claim 14, wherein the transfer policy control unit detects that transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal is not needed based on deletion of the downlink channel and the uplink channel.

17. The mobile communication system according to claim 10, further comprising:

a proxy response unit implemented by the processor, configured to generate a response packet to be transmitted to the external network on behalf of the mobile terminal when a multicast packet or a broadcast packet for request, which triggers the mobile station to send a response, is detected from among a packet flow arriving from the external network.

18. The mobile communication system according to claim 17, wherein the transfer policy control unit is configured to capture and store a response packet generated by the mobile terminal to respond to the multicast packet or the broadcast packet for request from among the packet flow arriving from the mobile terminal by the uplink channel, and

wherein the proxy response unit generates the response packet for proxy response using the response packet stored by the transfer policy control unit.

19. A packet transfer control method at a boundary between a radio access network to conduct wireless communication with a mobile terminal or a core network connected to the radio access network and an external network, the packet transfer control method comprising:

terminating an established logical downlink channel for transmitting a packet to the mobile terminal and a logical uplink channel for receiving a packet from the mobile terminal by setting a downlink channel and the logical uplink channel individually with a plurality of mobile terminals;

detecting a service discovery multicast packet which is transmitted from the mobile terminal to the external network through the logical uplink channel and designates a multicast address as a destination; and

changing a packet transfer policy from the external network to the downlink channel to enable transfer of a multicast packet or a broadcast packet arriving from the external network to the mobile terminal in response to detecting the service discovery multicast packet,

wherein the changing of the packet transfer policy includes changing the transfer policy to enable selective transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal from which the service discovery multicast packet is transmitted.

20. The packet transfer control method according to claim 19, further comprising:

duplicating a multicast packet or a broadcast packet allowed to be transferred to the mobile terminal to create packets of the same number as the number of transfer destination mobile terminals; and

transmitting each of the duplicated packets to each of downlink channels associated with the transfer destination mobile terminals.

21. The packet transfer control method according to claim 19, wherein the detecting includes monitoring at least one of a destination address, a destination port number, and protocol type information assigned to a Layer 3 packet in an uplink direction transmitted from the mobile terminal to the external network through the uplink channel.

22. The packet transfer control method according to claim 19, wherein the service discovery multicast packet contains an IP (Internet Protocol) multicast packet related to SSDP (Simple Service Discovery Protocol) or mDNS (multicast Domain Name System).

23. The packet transfer control method according to claim 19, further comprising:

changing the transfer policy to stop the transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal by the downlink channel in response to detecting that transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal is not needed.

24. The packet transfer control method according to claim 23, wherein the detection that the transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal is not needed is done by detecting a predetermined packet from among a packet flow in an uplink direction transmitted from the mobile terminal to the external network.

25. The packet transfer control method according to claim 23, wherein the detection that transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal is not needed is done based on deletion of the downlink channel and the uplink channel.

26. The packet transfer control method according to claim 19, further comprising:

generating a response packet to be transmitted to the external network on behalf of the mobile terminal and transmitting the response packet to the external network when a multicast packet or a broadcast packet for request, which triggers the mobile station to send a response, is detected from among a packet flow arriving from the external network.

27. The packet transfer control method according to claim 26, further comprising:

capturing a response packet generated by the mobile terminal to respond to the multicast packet or the broadcast packet for request from among the packet flow arriving from the mobile terminal by the uplink channel and storing the captured packet as a sample,

wherein the response packet generated by proxy is generated based on the sample.

33. The packet transfer control method according to claim 19, wherein said changing the packet transfer policy comprises applying a result of a monitoring of an uplink traffic as a trigger to change the packet transfer policy applied to the multicast packet or the broadcast packet transferred to the mobile terminal via the downlink channel.

28. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing a program causing a computer to execute a packet transfer control at a boundary between a radio access network to conduct wireless communication with a mobile terminal or a core network connected to the radio access network and an external network, the transfer control comprising:

terminating an established logical downlink channel for transmitting a packet to the mobile terminal and a logical uplink channel for receiving a packet from the mobile terminal by setting a downlink channel and the logical uplink channel individually with a plurality of mobile terminals;

detecting a service discovery multicast packet which is transmitted from the mobile terminal to the external network through the logical uplink channel and designates a multicast address as a destination; and

changing a packet transfer policy from the external network to the downlink channel to enable transfer of a multicast packet or a broadcast packet arriving from the external network to the mobile terminal in response to detecting the service discovery multicast packet,

wherein the changing of the packet transfer policy includes changing the transfer policy to enable selective transfer of the multicast packet or the broadcast packet to the mobile terminal from which the service discovery multicast packet is transmitted.

29. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 28, further comprising:

generating a response packet to be transmitted to the external network on behalf of the mobile terminal and transmitting the response packet to the external network when a multicast packet or a broadcast packet for request, which triggers the mobile station to send a response, is detected among a packet flow arriving from the external network.

30. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 29, further comprising:

capturing a response packet generated by the mobile terminal to respond to the multicast packet or the broadcast packet for request from among the packet flow arriving from the mobile terminal by the uplink channel and storing the captured packet as a sample.

31. The non-transitory computer readable medium according to claim 30, wherein the response packet generated by proxy is generated based on the sample.