CN102377831B - Method, device and system for obtaining address of policy control entity - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a method, device and system for acquiring the address of a policy control entity. The method includes: when a first policy management entity in a mobile network determines that a user equipment accesses through a home base station, the first policy management entity sends The domain name server DNS server queries the address of the policy management entity of the fixed network; the first policy management entity receives the address of the second policy management entity returned by the DNS server. In the present invention, the policy control entity in the mobile network perceives the user's access through the Femto, and obtains the address of the corresponding fixed network policy control entity in the Femto access network.

Description

Method, device and system for obtaining address of policy control entity

technical field

The present invention relates to the technical field of communication, in particular to a method, device and system for acquiring the address of a policy control entity.

Background technique

With the continuous development of technology and the continuous improvement of user needs, the mutual integration of heterogeneous networks has become an inevitable trend of network development. An important aspect, and Femto is a typical example of the convergence of mobile and fixed networks.

Specifically, the home base station is introduced to solve the problem of poor indoor signal coverage. The home base station is a small base station deployed indoors. In the 3G network, it can be HNB (Home NodeB, home base station), LTE (Long Term Evolution , Long Term Evolution) network is HeNB (Home evolved Home NodeB, evolved home base station). Wherein, the backhaul link (backhaul) of the home base station uses a fixed network, and is connected to the core network of the mobile operator through the fixed network.

Since the data transmission in the fixed network is best effort (Best Effort) transmission, in order to ensure the QoS (Quality of Service) of the service when the user accesses the home base station, the mobile network needs to inform the fixed network of the corresponding strategy. , to ensure the QoS of the service.

In order to realize the above functions, the policy control entity in the mobile network needs to interact with the policy control entity in the fixed network, deliver the policy in the mobile network to the fixed network, and negotiate related parameters.

However, in the process of realizing the present invention, the inventor finds that there are at least the following problems in the prior art:

In the prior art, there is no mechanism for the network elements in the mobile network to obtain the IP address of the policy control entity in the fixed network, that is, the mechanism for the mobile core network to obtain the address of the policy control entity in the fixed network when there is no Femto access.

Contents of the invention

The present invention provides a method, device and system for acquiring the address of a policy control entity, so that a mobile network can obtain the address of the policy control entity of a home base station access network.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a method for obtaining the address of a policy control entity, the method comprising:

When the first policy management entity in the mobile network determines that the user equipment is accessed through the home base station, the first policy management entity queries the domain name server DNS server for the address of the policy management entity in the fixed network;

The first policy management entity receives the address of the second policy management entity returned by the DNS server.

The present invention provides a policy management entity device, including:

A determining module, configured to determine that the user equipment accesses through the home base station;

A query module, configured to query a DNS server for an address of a policy management entity of a fixed network when the determination module determines that the user equipment is accessed through a home base station;

A receiving module, configured to receive the address of the policy management entity returned by the DNS server.

The present invention provides a communication system, including:

The first policy management entity is configured to, when it is determined that the user equipment accesses through the home base station, query the DNS server for the address of the policy management entity of the fixed network; and receive the address of the second policy management entity returned by the DNS server;

The DNS server is configured to send the address of the second policy management entity to the first policy management entity when receiving the query request from the first policy management entity.

Compared with the prior art, the embodiments of the present invention have at least the following advantages:

Realize that the policy control entity in the mobile network perceives the user's access through the Femto, and obtains the address of the corresponding fixed network policy control entity in the Femto access network.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic flowchart of a method for obtaining a policy control entity address provided by Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram of an application scenario when a UE accesses a mobile network through a Femto connected to a fixed network provided by Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a method for obtaining a policy control entity address provided in Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of a HeMS architecture provided by Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

Fig. 5 is a schematic structural diagram of a policy control entity address device provided by an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order to ensure the QoS of the service when the user accesses the home base station, the policy control entity in the mobile network needs to interact with the policy control entity in the fixed network to deliver the policy in the mobile network to the fixed network. In the prior art There is no way to enable a network element in a mobile network to obtain the IP address of a policy control entity in a fixed network.

Specifically, in order to ensure the security of services, there will be an IPSec (Internet Protocol Security) tunnel between Femto and the security gateway of the mobile core network (that is, the backhaul link in the fixed broadband network), which makes it impossible for the policy control entity of the fixed network to Knowing that the UE (User Equipment, user equipment) accesses through the Femto and proactively informs the policy control entity in the mobile network.

Therefore, the mobile core network needs to recognize that the UE accesses through Femto, and the policy control entity in the mobile network needs to obtain the address of the policy control entity in the fixed network and perform QoS and policy interaction with it, and finally realize user data in the fixed broadband network Policy control at transfer time.

In order to guarantee the quality of service and manage users in fixed-mobile convergence, it is very important for the policy control entity in the mobile network to perceive that users access through Femto and obtain the address of the corresponding fixed network policy control entity in the Femto access network. of.

For the solutions related to Femto access in the prior art, only attention is paid to the interaction between Femto equipment and mobile core network related network equipment, and there is no mechanism for the mobile core network to obtain the policy control entity address of the fixed network when Femto access is not available. In the present invention A method, device and system for obtaining the address of a policy control entity are provided, so that the policy control entity in the mobile network perceives the user's access through Femto, and obtains the address of the corresponding fixed network policy control entity in the Femto access network.

The following will clearly and completely describe the technical solution of the present invention in conjunction with the accompanying drawings of the present invention. Obviously, the described embodiments are only some of the embodiments of the present invention, not all of them. Based on the embodiments of the present invention, all other embodiments obtained by persons of ordinary skill in the art without making creative efforts belong to the protection scope of the present invention.

Embodiment 1 of the present invention provides an address acquisition policy control entity address acquisition method, which is applied to a system including fixed network and mobile network integration. As shown in FIG. 1, the method includes the following steps:

Step 101, when the first policy management entity in the mobile network determines that the user equipment is accessed through the home base station, the first policy management entity queries the DNS server for the address of the policy management entity in the fixed network.

Step 102, the first policy management entity receives the address of the second policy management entity returned by the DNS server.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the DNS server stores the corresponding relationship between the fully qualified domain name FQDN of the home base station and the address of the second policy management entity; the first policy management entity queries the DNS server for the address of the fixed network The address of the policy management entity, including: the first policy management entity obtains the FQDN of the home base station according to the E-UTRAN cell global identifier ECGI of the home base station; the first policy management entity obtains the FQDN of the home base station according to the The FQDN queries the DNS server for the address of the second policy management entity corresponding to the FQDN.

The process of storing the corresponding relationship between the FQDN of the home base station and the address of the second policy management entity in the DNS server is specifically: the evolved home base station management system HeMS or the home base station acquires the second policy management entity The address of the entity; the HeMS or the home base station obtains the FQDN of the home base station according to the ECGI of the home base station, and stores the correspondence between the FQDN of the home base station and the address of the second policy management entity in the DNS server.

The acquisition of the address of the second policy management entity by the HeMS includes: when the HeMS performs address verification on the home base station, acquiring the home base station or its access device (that is, the access device of the home base station, including but Not limited to the IP address of the home router, DSL Model, etc.); the HeMS queries the IP address range stored in the database according to the IP address of the home base station or the IP address of the access device of the home base station and the second policy According to the mapping relationship of the address of the management entity, the address of the second policy management entity is obtained; or, the HeMS sends the network address in the fixed network according to the IP address of the home base station or the IP address of the access device of the home base station The unit obtains the address of the second policy management entity.

The obtaining the address of the second policy management entity by the home base station includes: receiving, by the home base station, a message based on the Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol DHCP protocol or a router advertisement RA message based on the Neighbor Discovery ND protocol, and receiving the message from the DHCP protocol based The address of the second policy management entity is obtained from a message based on the ND protocol or an RA message based on the ND protocol; wherein the address of the second policy management entity is carried in the message based on the DHCP protocol or the RA message based on the ND protocol.

The first policy management entity in the mobile network determines that the user equipment UE accesses through the home base station, including: when the packet data network gateway PGW determines that the UE When accessing through the home base station, the first policy management entity receives the information reported by the PGW that the UE accesses through the home base station; or, the first policy management entity according to the bearer message The CSG-related parameters or ECGI-related parameters in determine that the UE accesses through the home base station.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the first policy management entity includes: a policy and charging rule function PCRF; the second policy management entity includes: a broadband policy and charging function BPCF.

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions provided by the embodiments of the present invention, the method for obtaining the address of the policy control entity will be discussed in detail below in conjunction with specific application situations. In each of the following application situations, the policy management entity in the mobile network is illustrated with PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function, policy and charging rule function) as an example, and the policy management entity in the fixed network is illustrated with BPCF (BroadBand Policy and Charging Function, broadband policy and billing function) as an example for illustration. Of course, in practical applications, the policy management entity in the mobile network and the policy management entity in the fixed network may also be other functional entities, which will not be described in detail in this embodiment of the present invention.

Embodiment 2 of the present invention provides a method for obtaining the address of a policy control entity. In this embodiment, UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System, Universal Mobile Communications System), LTE mobile network and broadband access network (i.e. fixed network) are involved. When the UE accesses through the Femto, the policy control entity of the mobile network obtains the address of the policy management entity of the fixed network accessed by the Femto.

In this embodiment, the LTE network (the processing process in the UMTS network and the network of other standards is similar to the LTE network, which will not be described in the embodiment of the present invention) as an example, as shown in FIG. A schematic diagram of an application scenario when a Femto in a fixed network (the BBF network is taken as an example in the present invention) accesses a mobile network.

It can be seen from Figure 2 that the link from 3GPP Femto to the core network SeGW (Security Gateway, security gateway) passes through the BBF (BroadBand Forum, Broadband Forum) network. For example, RG (Residential Gateway), AN (Access Network, Access Network), BRAS (Broadband Remote Access Server, Broadband Remote Access Server)/BNG (Broadband Network Gateway, Broadband Service Gateway) and other network elements.

When the UE accesses the mobile network through Femto, in order to enable the fixed network to provide quality of service guarantee for the mobile service data transmitted therein, this requires the PCRF in the mobile network to inform the BPCF in the fixed network of the relevant quality of service policies and requirements. However, there is an IPsec encrypted tunnel between SeGW and Femto, so when the UE accesses through Femto, the fixed network cannot know that the data packets transmitted are those transmitted by the UE to the mobile network through Femto, so BPCF cannot actively inform PCRF itself In order to correctly find the BPCF and inform the BPCF of the relevant quality of service policies and requirements to the BPCF in the fixed network, the PCRF needs to know the following information: (1) The UE accesses the mobile network through a Femto (rather than a common base station) (2) The address of BPCF in the fixed network connected by Femto.

Based on the above situation, the method for obtaining the address of the policy control entity provided by Embodiment 2 of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3 , includes the following steps:

In step 301, when the Femto is powered on or reset and restarted, perform an initial access process.

In this step, when the Femto is powered on or restarted, the Femto needs to perform an initial access process and obtain the corresponding initial configuration parameters required by itself from the network management. This process will not be described in detail in the embodiments of the present invention.

Step 302, HeMS (Home eNodeB Management System, evolved home base station management system) or Femto obtains the IP address of BPCF.

In the embodiment of the present invention, according to actual needs, the IP address of the BPCF may be acquired by the HeMS, or the IP address of the BPCF may be acquired by the Femto.

(1) HeMS obtains the IP address of BPCF.

Wherein, the HeMS can locate the fixed network connected by the Femto by verifying the IP address of the Femto, and determine the IP address of the BPCF.

Since BPCF often manages user access in one or more address segments, HeMS can use HeMS to verify the address of Femto, determine the fixed network that provides services for Femto, and then obtain the IP address of BPCF in this network segment.

The following describes in detail how the HeMS obtains the address of the BPCF through address verification in conjunction with the schematic diagram of the HeMS architecture shown in FIG.

Specifically, when the HeNB (ie Femto) is initially powered on, it needs to obtain the corresponding configuration parameters from the HeMS, and the HeMS will verify the geographical location of the HeNB to determine the fixed network where the HeNB is located, so as to facilitate the management of the operator. and billing. Among them, the geographical location verification methods include but are not limited to IP address (such as the IP address of HeNB or the local gateway it accesses) verification method, GPS (Global Positioning System, Global Positioning System) verification method, and monitoring of surrounding macro base station cell information verification. Way.

After the HeMS performs address verification on the HeNB, the ways for the HeMS to obtain the BPCF address in the fixed network that provides services for the HeNB include but are not limited to:

a) When a mobile operator and a fixed network operator establish a cooperative relationship, the fixed network operator notifies the mobile operator of the mapping relationship between the network IP address range and the IP address of the BPCF, and forms a contract database. After knowing the IP address of the HeNB (or the IP address of the access device of the HeNB, for example, the IP address of the home router, the IP address of the DSL ModelIP, etc.), according to the IP address of the HeNB or the IP address of its access device, Then the HeMS can query the mapping relationship between the stored network IP address range and the IP address of the BPCF in the subscription database, so as to determine the address of the BPCF.

b) The HeMS inquires a certain network element (the network element can be arbitrarily selected according to the actual situation) in the fixed network to obtain the address of the BPCF.

(2) Femto obtains the IP address of BPCF.

Ways for Femto to obtain the BPCF address of the fixed network that provides services for it include but are not limited to: Femto can extend the DHCP (Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol) protocol or extend the RA (Neighbor Discovery, Neighbor Discovery) protocol Router Advertisement (Router Advertisement) message directly obtains the IP address of the corresponding BPCF.

Specifically, when Femto accesses a fixed network, in order to obtain an IP address or other network information (such as DNS address, etc.), it often needs to send a DHCP (DHCPv4 or DHCPv6) request. In the embodiment of the present invention, by defining a new DHCP option, Femto, as an IP access device, adds this new option in its DHCP message, indicating to the DHCP server that Femto needs BPCF address. When the DHCP server checks the request for this option, the IP address or FQDN (Fully Qualified Domain Name) of BPCF needs to be added in the returned message, so that Femto can directly obtain the IP address of BPCF.

In addition, for IPv6 access, Femto can also obtain the BPCF address by extending the RS/RA message of the ND protocol. Wherein, in the ND protocol of IPv6, the router notifies the host of the configuration information of the local link (such as network prefix, DNS server address, etc.) through the RA message.

By extending the RS/RA mechanism and defining a new option type, the router can carry the BPCF address in the RA message. Based on this, Femto can indicate in the RS message that the router should reply to the address information of BPCF. After receiving the information, the router needs to send the address of BPCF to Femto in the RA message, so that Femto can directly obtain the IP address of BPCF.

Step 303, HeMS or Femto updates DNS (Domain Name Server, domain name server) server.

Wherein, when the IP address of the BPCF is obtained by the HeMS in step 302, the DNS server needs to be updated by the HeMS; when the IP address of the BPCF is obtained by the Femto in step 302, the DNS server needs to be updated by the Femto.

Specifically, when HeMS or Femto obtains the IP address of BPCF, the HeMS or Femto can use Femto's ECGI (E-UTRAN Cell Global Identifier, E-UTRAN cell global identifier) to generate a FQDN, and then use Dynamic (dynamic) The DNS method writes the corresponding relationship between the FQDN and the IP address of the BPCF into the DNS server.

The embodiment of the present invention will be further described below in conjunction with an example of constructing an FQDN.

Among them, the ECI (E-UTRAN Cell Identifier, E-UTRAN cell identifier) in ECGI has a total of 28 bits, and this field (or converted into ASCII characters through a mechanism customized by the operator) and other operator-related information are used to construct the FQDN:

ECGI<Femto-ECGI>.bpcf.epc.mnc<MNC>.mcc<MCC>.3gppnetwork.org

After the FQDN is constructed, HeMS or Femto can store the mapping relationship between the FQDN and the BPCF address in the corresponding DNS server.

In step 304, the UE accesses the network through the Femto. Wherein, the network is a fixed network and a mobile network.

Specifically, when the UE is handed over to the Femto cell (cell) or the UE initially accesses through the Femto cell, the service data of the UE passes through the fixed network and the mobile network. In order to ensure the quality of service, it is necessary to communicate between the PCRF and the BPCF, so that The PCRF can inform the BPCF of relevant policy parameters.

In step 305, the PCRF perceives that the UE accesses through the Femto. Wherein, when the UE accesses the network through the Femto, the PCRF needs to perceive that the UE is accessed through the Femto.

Specifically, the ways in which the PCRF perceives UE access via Femto include but are not limited to:

(1) PGW (PDN Gateway, Packet Data Network Gateway) can determine whether the current UE is For access through Femto. If so, the PGW notifies the PCRF of the information that the UE is accessed through the Femto, and the PCRF perceives that the UE is accessed through the Femto.

(2) If the PCRF stores UE access information such as CSG, the PCRF can directly sense whether the UE is connected to the network through Femto. That is, the PCRF can directly judge whether the current UE is accessed through the Femto according to parameters such as the relevant CSG or ECGI. For example, if PCRF can obtain Femto-related identification information (such as User CSG Informaiton) in the process of PCEF Initiated IP-CAN Session Establishment/Modification, then PCRF can directly perceive that the user is accessed through Femto.

In the following, the PGW judges and notifies the PCRF of whether the UE accesses through the Femto as an example to describe in detail. When the UE is initially attached, TAU (Tracking Area Update, tracking area update), and handover, if the relevant process occurs in Femto, the MME (Mobile Management Entity, mobility management entity) will issue a Create Session Request (establish a session request ) or Modify Bear Request (bearer modification request), this message will reach PGW through SGW (Serving Gateway, service gateway).

After the PGW receives the relevant message, the following parameters can be used to determine whether the UE accesses through Femto:

(1) User CSG Information, the UserCSG Information in the Create Session Request received by PGW often contains Femto-specific parameters such as CSG Access Mode and CSG ID. Therefore, the PGW can determine whether the current UE accesses through Femto by checking the feature field in the message.

(2) eNB ID/HeNB ID: The operator can allocate a special number segment for the Femto device in advance, and the PGW can determine whether the current UE is accessed through Femto by analyzing the number segment where the corresponding eNB ID/HeNB ID is located in the ECGI.

When the PGW determines that the UE is accessed through the Femto, it needs to report this information to the PCRF through signaling. For example, a new flag bit field FemtoFlag can be added in the PCEF Initiated IP-CAN SessionEstablishment/Modification process or message between PGW and PCRF, and the information of whether the UE accesses through Femto is reported to PCRF through Femto Flag.

In step 306, the PCRF queries the DNS server for the IP address of the BPCF.

Wherein, when the PCRF perceives that the UE is accessed through the Femto, the PCRF needs to use the ECGI of the home base station to construct a FQDN, and use the FQDN to initiate a query to the DNS server to obtain the IP address of the BPCF. The way of constructing the FQDN is the same as that in step 303, and will not be repeated here.

Specifically, when the PCRF checks the Femto Flag flag, or directly judges that the user accesses through Femto based on information such as USER CSGInformation, the PCRF needs to generate the FQDN according to the ECGI accessed by the UE, and initiate a query to the DNS server, and The DNS server returns the address of the BPCF to the PCRF.

It should be noted that after knowing the IP address of the BPCF, the PCRF can initiate an S9* session to the BPCF according to the IP address of the BPCF for policy coordination and negotiation. This process will not be described in detail in the embodiments of the present invention.

In addition, in order to avoid querying the same address multiple times in a short period of time, after PCRF obtains the address of BPCF, it can cache the correspondence between the IP-CAN Session and the address of BPCF according to the preset policy (such as cache time) for bearer modification , When the address of the BPCF needs to be used again when the bearer is deleted, the relevant records will be cleared after the IP-CAN Session is terminated.

In summary, by adopting the technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, (1) obtain the IP address of the access network policy control entity by means of existing Femto location inspection or extended DHCP, RS/RA message, the idea is simple and easy to apply . (2) Make full use of the existing FQDN mechanism, and minimize the changes to the network. (3) It is accurate and simple to identify its FQDN through Femto-related information such as ECGI. (4) A new field is added to the existing signaling message to carry necessary information, and no new interface is introduced.

Based on the same inventive concept as the above method, an embodiment of the present invention also provides a policy management entity device, as shown in Figure 5, including:

A determining module 11, configured to determine that the user equipment accesses through the home base station;

The query module 12 is configured to query the DNS server for the address of the policy management entity of the fixed network when the determining module 11 determines that the user equipment is accessed through a home base station;

The receiving module 13 is configured to receive the address of the policy management entity returned by the DNS server.

The DNS server stores the corresponding relationship between the FQDN of the home base station and the address of the policy management entity;

The query module 12 is specifically configured to obtain the FQDN of the home base station according to the ECGI of the home base station; and query the DNS server for the address of the policy management entity corresponding to the FQDN according to the FQDN of the home base station.

The determining module 11 is specifically configured to, when the PGW determines that the user equipment accesses through the home base station according to the CSG parameter or the ECGI parameter in the bearer message, the user equipment that receives the report from the PGW passes through the Information about femtocell access; or,

It is determined that the user equipment is accessed through the home base station according to the CSG parameter or the ECGI parameter in the bearer message.

Wherein, each module of the device of the present invention can be integrated into one body, or can be deployed separately. The above modules can be combined into one module, or can be further split into multiple sub-modules.

Based on the same inventive concept as the above method, an embodiment of the present invention also provides a communication system, including:

The first policy management entity is configured to query the DNS server for the address of the policy management entity of the fixed network when it is determined that the user equipment is accessed through the home base station; and receive the address of the second policy management entity returned by the DNS server;

The DNS server is configured to send the address of the second policy management entity to the first policy management entity when receiving the query request from the first policy management entity.

The DNS server is further configured to store the correspondence between the FQDN of the home base station and the address of the second policy management entity;

The first policy management entity is specifically configured to obtain the FQDN of the home base station according to the ECGI of the home base station; and query the DNS server for the second policy management corresponding to the FQDN according to the FQDN of the home base station The address of the entity.

The system also includes:

The HeMS or the home base station is configured to obtain the address of the second policy management entity;

And obtain the FQDN of the home base station according to the ECGI of the home base station, and store the corresponding relationship between the FQDN of the home base station and the address of the second policy management entity in the DNS server.

The HeMS is further configured to acquire the IP address of the home base station or the IP address of the access device of the home base station when performing address verification on the home base station;

According to the IP address of the home base station or the IP address of the access device of the home base station, the second policy is obtained by querying the mapping relationship between the IP address range stored in the database and the address of the second policy management entity The address of the management entity; the acquirer, according to the IP address of the home base station or the IP address of the access device of the home base station, queries the network element in the fixed network for the address of the second policy management entity.

The home base station is further configured to receive a message based on the DHCP protocol or an RA message based on the ND protocol, and acquire the address of the second policy management entity from the message based on the DHCP protocol or the RA message based on the ND protocol; in,

The message based on the DHCP protocol or the RA message based on the ND protocol carries the address of the second policy management entity.

The first policy management entity is further configured to, when the PGW determines that the user equipment accesses through the home base station according to the CSG parameter or the ECGI parameter in the bearer message, receive the information reported by the PGW that the user equipment has passed through Information about the home base station access; or,

It is determined that the user equipment is accessed through the home base station according to the CSG parameter or the ECGI parameter in the bearer message.

The first policy management entity includes: PCRF; the second policy management entity includes: BPCF.

Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the present invention can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general-purpose hardware platform, and of course also by hardware, but in many cases the former is a better implementation Way. Based on this understanding, the essence of the technical solution of the present invention or the part that contributes to the prior art can be embodied in the form of a software product. The computer software product is stored in a storage medium and includes several instructions to make a A computer device (which may be a personal computer, a server, or a network device, etc.) executes the methods described in various embodiments of the present invention.

Those skilled in the art can understand that the drawing is only a schematic diagram of a preferred embodiment, and the modules or processes in the drawing are not necessarily necessary for implementing the present invention.

Those skilled in the art can understand that the modules in the device in the embodiment can be distributed in the device in the embodiment according to the description in the embodiment, or can be located in one or more devices different from the embodiment according to corresponding changes. The modules in the above embodiments can be combined into one module, and can also be further split into multiple sub-modules.

The serial numbers of the above embodiments of the present invention are for description only, and do not represent the advantages and disadvantages of the embodiments.

The above disclosures are only a few specific embodiments of the present invention, however, the present invention is not limited thereto, and any changes conceivable by those skilled in the art shall fall within the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims (11)

1. A method for obtaining the address of a policy control entity (PCRF) is characterized in that the method comprises the following steps:

when a first policy management entity in a mobile network determines that user equipment is accessed through a home base station, the first policy management entity queries the address of a policy management entity of a fixed network from a Domain Name Server (DNS); wherein, the determining, by a first policy management entity in the mobile network, that the user equipment is accessed through the femtocell includes: the first policy management entity receives information reported by a packet data network gateway (PGW) and accessed by the user equipment through the home base station; the PGW judges that the user equipment is accessed through the femtocell according to a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) parameter or an ECGI parameter in a bearer message; or, the first policy management entity determines that the user equipment is accessed through the femtocell according to the CSG parameter or the ECGI parameter in the bearer message;

the first policy management entity receives the address of the second policy management entity returned by the DNS server;

the DNS server stores the corresponding relation between the fully qualified domain name FQDN of the home base station and the address of the second policy management entity;

the first policy management entity querying a DNS server for an address of a policy management entity of a fixed network includes:

the first strategy management entity obtains the FQDN of the home base station according to the E-UTRAN cell global identifier (ECGI) of the home base station;

and the first policy management entity inquires the DNS server about the address of the policy management entity corresponding to the FQDN according to the FQDN of the home base station.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of storing, in the DNS server, the correspondence between the FQDN of the home base station and the address of the second policy management entity is specifically:

an evolved home base station management system (HeMS) or the home base station acquires the address of the second policy management entity;

and the HeMS or the home base station obtains the FQDN of the home base station according to the ECGI of the home base station, and stores the corresponding relation between the FQDN of the home base station and the address of the second policy management entity in the DNS server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the HeMS obtaining the address of the second policy management entity comprises:

when the HeMS carries out address verification on the home base station, the IP address of the home base station or the IP address of access equipment of the home base station is obtained;

the HeMS acquires the address of the second policy management entity by inquiring the mapping relation between the IP address range stored in a database and the address of the second policy management entity according to the IP address of the home base station or the IP address of the access device of the home base station; or, the HeMS queries the address of the second policy management entity to a network element in a fixed network according to the IP address of the home base station or the IP address of the access device of the home base station.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the home base station obtaining the address of the second policy management entity comprises:

the home base station receives a message based on a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) or a Router Advertisement (RA) message based on a Neighbor Discovery (ND) protocol, and acquires an address of the second policy management entity from the message based on the DHCP or the RA message based on the ND protocol; wherein,

the message based on the DHCP protocol or the RA message based on the ND protocol carries the address of the second policy management entity.

5. The method of any of claims 1-4, wherein the first policy management entity comprises: a policy and charging rules function PCRF; the second policy management entity comprises: broadband policy and charging function BPCF.

6. A policy management entity apparatus, comprising:

the determining module is used for determining the access of the user equipment through the home base station; specifically, the PGW is configured to receive, when determining that the ue is accessed through the femtocell according to a CSG parameter or an ECGI parameter in a bearer message, information that the ue is accessed through the femtocell and is reported by the PGW; or, determining that the user equipment is accessed through the femtocell according to the CSG parameter or the ECGI parameter in the bearer message;

the query module is used for querying the DNS server for the address of the policy management entity of the fixed network when the determining module determines that the user equipment is accessed through the home base station;

a receiving module, configured to receive an address of the policy management entity returned by the DNS server;

the DNS server stores the corresponding relation between the FQDN of the home base station and the address of the policy management entity;

the query module is specifically configured to obtain the FQDN of the femtocell according to the ECGI of the femtocell; and inquiring the address of a policy management entity corresponding to the FQDN from the DNS according to the FQDN of the home base station.

7. A communication system, comprising:

the first policy management entity is used for inquiring the address of the policy management entity of the fixed network from the DNS when the user equipment is determined to be accessed through the home base station; receiving an address of a second policy management entity returned by the DNS; the first policy management entity is further configured to receive, when the PGW determines that the user equipment is accessed through the home base station according to the CSG parameter or the ECGI parameter in the bearer message, information that the user equipment is accessed through the home base station and is reported by the PGW; or, determining that the user equipment is accessed through the femtocell according to the CSG parameter or the ECGI parameter in the bearer message;

the DNS server is used for sending the address of the second policy management entity to the first policy management entity when receiving a query request of the first policy management entity;

the DNS server is also used for storing the corresponding relation between the FQDN of the home base station and the address of the second policy management entity;

the first policy management entity is specifically configured to obtain an FQDN of the femtocell according to the ECGI of the femtocell; and inquiring the address of a second policy management entity corresponding to the FQDN from the DNS according to the FQDN of the home base station.

8. The system of claim 7, further comprising:

the HeMS or the home base station is used for acquiring the address of the second policy management entity;

and acquiring the FQDN of the home base station according to the ECGI of the home base station, and storing the corresponding relation between the FQDN of the home base station and the address of the second policy management entity in the DNS server.

9. The system of claim 8,

the HeMS is also used for acquiring the IP address of the home base station or the IP address of the access equipment of the home base station when the address of the home base station is verified;

acquiring the address of the second policy management entity by inquiring the mapping relation between the IP address range stored in a database and the address of the second policy management entity according to the IP address of the home base station or the IP address of the access device of the home base station; or inquiring the address of the second policy management entity from a network element in a fixed network according to the IP address of the home base station or the IP address of the access device of the home base station.

10. The system of claim 8,

the femtocell is further configured to receive a message based on a DHCP protocol or an RA message based on an ND protocol, and acquire an address of the second policy management entity from the message based on the DHCP protocol or the RA message based on the ND protocol; wherein,

the message based on the DHCP protocol or the RA message based on the ND protocol carries the address of the second policy management entity.

11. The system of any one of claims 7-10, wherein the first policy management entity comprises: PCRF; the second policy management entity comprises: BPCF.

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