Method for determining data forwarding tunnel, access and mobility management function entity, and base station

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11184809-B2
Application number	US-201816758017-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 28, 2018
Priority date	Nov 16, 2017
Publication date	Nov 23, 2021
Grant date	Nov 23, 2021

Abstract

A method for determining a data forwarding tunnel, an AMF entity, and a base station (BS) are provided. The method includes: receiving data forwarding information of target UE forwarded by MME, and acquiring a QoS flow configured by a 5G core network for each bearer of the target UE, and mapping relationship between a bearer and a QoS flow, where the data forwarding information includes a list of bearers allocated by EPS to the target UE and an indication of a determination by a 4G BS as to whether each bearer of the target UE has data to forward; transmitting the data forwarding information, the configured QoS flow, and the mapping relationship to a target 5G BS; and receiving forwarding tunnel information of a 5G BS configured for the target UE by the target 5G BS according to the data forwarding information, the configured QoS flow, and the mapping relationship.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for determining a data forwarding tunnel, applied to an access and mobility management function (AMF) entity, comprising:
receiving data forwarding information of target user equipment (UE) forwarded by a mobility management entity (MME), and acquiring a quality of service (QoS) flow configured by a fifth-generation mobile communication (5G) core network for each bearer of the target UE, and a mapping relationship between a bearer and a QoS flow, wherein the data forwarding information comprises a list of bearers allocated by an evolved packet system (EPS) to the target UE and an indication of a determination by a source fourth-generation mobile communication (4G) base station as to whether each bearer corresponding to the target UE has data to forward;
transmitting the data forwarding information, the configured QoS flow, and the mapping relationship between a bearer and a QoS flow to a target 5G base station; and
receiving forwarding tunnel information of a 5G base station configured for the target UE by the target 5G base station according to the data forwarding information, the configured QoS flow, and the mapping relationship between a bearer and a QoS flow;
wherein the receiving data forwarding information of the target UE forwarded by the MME comprises:
receiving a forward relocation request transmitted by the MME after the MME receives a Handover Required message transmitted by the source 4G base station, wherein the Handover Required message carries the data forwarding information, and the forward relocation request carries the data forwarding information,
wherein the transmitting the data forwarding information, the configured QoS flow, and the mapping relationship between a bearer and a QoS flow to a target 5G base station comprises:
transmitting a handover request to the target 5G base station, wherein the handover request carries the data forwarding information, the configured QoS flow, and the mapping relationship between a bearer and a QoS flow,
wherein the data forwarding information is located in transparent containers of the Handover Required message, the forward relocation request and the handover request respectively.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the receiving the forwarding tunnel information of the 5G base station configured for the target UE by the target 5G base station comprises:
receiving a handover request acknowledgement (ACK) transmitted by the target 5G base station according to the handover request, wherein the handover request ACK comprises the forwarding tunnel information of the 5G base station, wherein
the forwarding tunnel information of the 5G base station comprises a 5G base station forwarding tunnel of the target UE and a bearer and/or a QoS flow of the target UE that has data to forward.

3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising:
acquiring, according to the forwarding tunnel information of the 5G base station, a forwarding tunnel of the 5G core network configured by the 5G core network for the target UE, and transmitting the forwarding tunnel of the 5G core network to the MME, wherein the MME allocates a forwarding tunnel of a 4G core network to the target UE and transmits the forwarding tunnel of the 4G core network to the source 4G base station.

4. An access and mobility management function (AMF) entity, comprising: a transceiver, a storage, a processor, and a computer program stored in the storage and configured to be executed by the processor, wherein
the transceiver is configured to implement the steps in the method for determining a data forwarding tunnel according to claim 1 .

5. The AMF entity according to claim 4 , wherein
the transceiver is further configured to: acquire, according to the forwarding tunnel information of the 5G base station, a forwarding tunnel of the 5G core network configured by the 5G core network for the target UE, and transmit the forwarding tunnel of the 5G core network to the MME, wherein the MME allocates a forwarding tunnel of a 4G core network to the target UE and transmits the forwarding tunnel of the 4G core network to the source 4G base station.

6. The AMF entity according to claim 4 , wherein, when the transceiver is configured to transmit a handover request to the target 5G base station, the transceiver is further configured to receive a handover request acknowledgement (ACK) transmitted by the target 5G base station according to the handover request, the handover request ACK comprises the forwarding tunnel information of the 5G base station, wherein
the forwarding tunnel information of the 5G base station comprises a 5G base station forwarding tunnel of the target UE and a bearer and/or a QoS flow of the target UE that has data to forward.

Assignees

• China Academy Telecommunications Technology
• Datang mobile communications equipment co ltd

Inventors

• Sun Jiancheng
• Wang Hucheng
• Wang Ying

Classifications

• H04W36/0022 Primary

  for transferring data sessions between adjacent core network technologies · CPC title

• H04W36/02

  Buffering or recovering information during reselection {; Modification of the traffic flow during hand-off} · CPC title

• H04W36/0016

  Hand-off preparation specially adapted for end-to-end data sessions · CPC title

• H04W36/0044

  of quality context information · CPC title

• H04W8/12

  between location registers or mobility servers · CPC title