KR101093342B1 - Home User Management Method and Indoor Base Station for It - Google Patents

Abstract

Disclosed are a home user management method capable of easily and conveniently registering a connection user who wants to access an indoor base station as a home user, and an indoor base station therefor. According to the present invention, when the owner (account owner) of an indoor base station is connected, authentication is performed by referring to the account holder's information, and the public IP address of the successful account holder is stored. The indoor base station notifies the terminal of the public IP address of the user (access applicant) who wishes to connect to the terminal, and allows / disallows access of the access user as the account holder approves / disapproves.

Indoor base station, home user, account holder, femto, authentication

Description

HOME USER MANAGEMENT METHOD AND INDOOR BASE STATION FOR THE SAME}

The present invention relates to the field of mobile communication technology, and more particularly, an account holder can grasp the service status of his indoor base station, and can easily and conveniently register a user who wants to access an indoor base station as a home user. A home user management method and an indoor base station therefor.

Recently, due to the rapid development of communication, computer network, and semiconductor technology, various services using wireless communication networks are being provided, and demands of consumers are increasing day by day, and the global market for wireless internet services is exploding. It is a trend. Accordingly, a service provided by a mobile communication system using a wireless communication network is developing not only a voice service but also a multimedia communication service for transmitting various data.

Currently, wireless data services such as Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000, Evolution Data Only (EV-DO), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) are commercially available. Demand is constantly increasing, and according to this trend, a method of providing a mobile communication service by installing a small mobile communication base station indoors to access a mobile communication core network through an indoor broadband network has been proposed. In particular, in the next generation network system, in order to satisfy the demand for high data rate and to provide a variety of services, a method of arranging multiple small multi-cells (small power base station) has been proposed as an alternative. Such a low power mobile communication base station is called an indoor base station or a femto base station. By reducing the size of the cell, the efficiency of the next-generation network system using a high frequency band can be improved, and the use of multiple small cells can be advantageous in terms of increasing the frequency reuse frequency. In addition, the present invention can improve the channel deterioration problem due to the attenuation of radio waves, which is caused when a single base station covers the entire cell area, and the inability to service shadow users. Has this advantage. Based on these advantages, a method of combining existing macrocells (cell areas managed by outdoor base stations) and femtocells (cell areas managed by indoor base stations or femto base stations) are emerging. .

In case of femtocell service, a function of controlling whether to allow service of terminals attempting to access an indoor base station is defined while providing home user registration, modification and deletion functions for home user management for each indoor base station. In addition, the home user management function for access authority control in the indoor base station is provided through the account owner (Account Owner) of the indoor base station.

The conventional home user management process is as follows.

The access requester who wants to access the indoor base station informs the account holder of his or her ID, and the account owner executes the Internet web browser to register the access user as a home user. Interface), enter ID / Password to authenticate, and then register in the home user list by entering the ID of the access user in the home user registration window provided by the indoor base station to the account holder's terminal. The indoor base station then updates the home user list and synchronizes the home user information in conjunction with the indoor base station management system (ACS / EMS).

According to the prior art, in order to register and manage a home user, an account holder must always run a web browser to access an indoor base station. In other words, in order to register the access user as a home user, the account holder must ask the access user for their ID and access the indoor base station to register manually. In addition, whenever an account holder wants to know the current service status of an indoor base station, i.e. how many home users are currently receiving service from the system, and who is disconnected and who is disconnected, they must access the indoor base station each time through a web browser. It was.

An object of the present invention is to provide a home user management method that allows an account holder to grasp the service status of an indoor base station, and to easily and conveniently register a user who wants to access an indoor base station as a home user. It is to provide a content base station.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is disclosed a home user management method and an indoor base station therefor, which can easily and conveniently register a connection user who wants to access an indoor base station as a home user. According to the present invention, when the owner (account owner) of an indoor base station is connected, authentication is performed by referring to the account holder's information, and the public IP address of the successful account holder is stored. The indoor base station notifies the terminal of the public IP address of the user (access applicant) who wishes to connect to the terminal, and allows / disallows access of the access user as the account holder approves / disapproves.

According to the present invention, the account holder can interwork with the indoor base station anytime and anywhere, and can check the service status of his indoor base station in real time. In addition, whenever an access requester attempts to access an indoor base station, the indoor base station reports to the account holder in real time, so that the account owner can conveniently register a home user only through a confirmation procedure.

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the following description, well-known functions or constructions will not be described in detail if they obscure the subject matter of the present invention.

1 illustrates a configuration of an exemplary mobile communication network in which the present invention may be practiced.

In one embodiment, the mobile communication network includes, for example, Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), 2G mobile communication networks such as CDMA, LTE networks, wireless Internet such as WiFi, Wireless Broadband Internet (WiBro) and World Interoperability for Microwave Access. Mobile communication networks (e.g., 3G mobile networks such as WCDMA or CDMA2000, 3.5G mobile networks such as High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) or High Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA)) 4G, etc. to be developed in the future) and an outdoor base station (Macro-eNB), an indoor base station (Home-eNB), and any other mobile communication network including a UE as a component, but is not limited thereto. .

As shown in FIG. 1, a mobile communication network may be composed of one or more network cells, and different types of network cells may be mixed in the mobile communication network. The mobile communication network is called an indoor base station (Home-eNB) 21 to 25 that manages a narrow range of network cells (hereinafter, referred to as 'femtocells') indoors and a wide range of cells (hereinafter referred to as 'macrocells'). It may include an outdoor base station (Macro-eNB) 20, a terminal (UE) 10, other SON (Self Organizing & Optimizing Networks) server 30 and the MME (40). The number of components shown in FIG. 1 is exemplary, and the number of components of the mobile communication network to which the present invention can be implemented is not limited to the number shown in the drawings.

The outdoor base station (Macro-eNB) 20 may be used in, for example, an LTE network, a WiFi network, a WiBro network, a WiMax network, a WCDMA network, a CDMA network, a UMTS network, a GSM network, and the like, for example, having a radius of about 1 km. It may include a feature of the macro cell base station managing the cell, but is not limited thereto.

The indoor base station (Home-eNB) 21 to 25 may be used in, for example, LTE network, WiFi network, WiBro network, WiMax network, WCDMA network, CDMA network, UMTS network, GSM network, etc. The femtocell base station for managing a cell having a radius of may include, but is not limited thereto.

The network cell constituting the mobile communication network may include a macro cell and a femtocell. The macrocell may be managed by the outdoor base station 20, and the femtocell may be managed by the indoor base stations 21 to 25.

The outdoor base station 20 and the indoor base stations 21 to 25 may be connected to be communicated by separate backbone networks, and the indoor base stations 21 to 25 or the outdoor base stations 20 may be independently. It can have connectivity of the core network. In addition, the outdoor base station 20 and indoor base stations 21 to 25 may be replaced with a pico base station or a micro base station in addition to the macro base station and the femto base station.

UE 10 is used in 2G mobile communication networks such as GSM networks, CDMA networks, wireless Internet networks such as LTE networks, WiFi networks, mobile Internet networks such as WiBro networks and WiMax networks, or mobile communication networks supporting packet transmission. It may include features of the wireless mobile terminal, but is not limited thereto. In one embodiment, the terminal 10 may be a macrocell subscriber station and / or a femtocell subscriber station.

The SON server 30 may include any server that functions to perform installation and optimization of outdoor / indoor base stations and to provide basic parameters or data required for each base station.

The MME 40 may include any entity used to manage call processing and the like of the terminal 10.

In one embodiment, one network management device may perform all of the functions of the SON server 30 and the MME 40, the SON server 30 and the MME 40 is one or more of the outdoor base station 20 and One or more indoor base stations 21-25 may be managed.

In the mobile communication network, a macro cell and a femto cell are assumed to be mixed, but the network cell may be configured only by the macro cell or the femto cell.

In a mobile communication network, access to a macrocell is allowed to all terminals, but access to a femtocell may be restricted to a specific terminal (subscriber). Specifically, the indoor base stations 21 to 25 may broadcast system information block type 1 (SIB 1), which is information on a femtocell managed by the indoor base station 21 to 25, and whether access to the femtocell is restricted to the SIB 1. Included is a Closed Subscriber Group indicator that indicates whether or not. When the CSG indicator in SIB 1 broadcast by the indoor base stations 21 to 25 has a value of 'true', communication is performed in a closed manner so that only a specific subscriber can access the femtocell (CSG). A value of 'false' means that communication is performed in an open manner so that all subscribers can access the femtocell (OSG: Opened Subscriber Group). If the CSG indicator has a value of 'true', the terminal 10 is included in the femtocell only when it is confirmed that the femtocell is included in the white list, which is a list of femtocells accessible by the CSG indicator (CSG Closed Mode). Can be accessed. For indoor base stations operating in CSG Closed Mode, only users (home users) defined in the home user table can access and be provided with the indoor base stations. In addition, for indoor base stations operated in CSG Open Mode, not only users defined in the home user table but also non-home users can access and provide services to the indoor base stations. Can be given more preferential services than non-home users. Hereinafter, indoor base station means indoor base station operated in CSG Closed Mode.

Specifically, CSG means a group of indoor base stations 21 to 25 having specific attributes. All indoor base stations 21 to 25 belonging to this group (CSG) allow access only to the terminal 10 allowed to access. The terminal 10 belonging to the femtocell managed by the indoor base stations 21 to 25 has an indoor base station ID called a white list, and can only connect to an indoor base station belonging to the white list and allow access to other indoor base stations. It doesn't work. For example, in a femtocell, assuming indoor base stations 22 to 25 as 'CSG base stations' and indoor base station 21 as 'OSG base stations', the OSG base station 21 is an indoor base station belonging to the white list. Becomes Therefore, the indoor base station 21 can be connected to all terminals, but only the terminals permitted to be connected to the indoor base stations 22 to 25 can be connected.

For example, the procedure of the terminal 10 accessing the indoor base station (eg, 21) is as follows. The terminal 10 may know whether access to the femtocell is restricted based on the CSG indicator of the SIB 1 broadcast by the indoor base stations 21 to 25. In addition, an identifier for identifying the femtocell by the terminal 10 includes a physical layer cell identifier (PCI), which is a cell division factor in a physical layer, and a global cell identifier (GCI), a cell division factor unique in a mobile communication network. Global Cell Identity. The cell identifier is included in SIB 1 broadcast by the indoor base stations 21-25. In one embodiment, when the terminal 10 detects that the access base station 21 to the outdoor base station 20, the outdoor base station 20 received the detection of the detection of the indoor base station 21 from the terminal 10 is The terminal 10 is instructed to read the SIB 1 received from the detected indoor base station 21 to report the cell identifier (PCI or CGI) of the indoor base station 21, and the terminal 10 reads it. It is determined whether the terminal 10 is accessible to the detected indoor base station 21 based on the cell identifier and the white list. If it is determined that the terminal 10 is accessible to the detected indoor base station 21, the mobile station permits handover to the indoor base station 21.

2, the terminals 101 and 102 are connected to the indoor base station 200, and the indoor base station 200 is connected to the Internet and the indoor base station management system (ACS) through a router. / EMS) 300.

For the femtocell managed by the indoor base station (base station operated in the CSG Closed Mode) 200, the owner / user of the indoor base station 200 is referred to as an 'account owner', and the user is currently connected to or disconnected from the femtocell. Is called 'home user', and the user who wants to access the femtocell is called 'access user'. The access requester can access the femtocell according to the account holder's access approval (in this case, the access requester is registered as a home user), and the home user includes the account holder.

The indoor base station 200 authenticates (for example, ID / password authentication) with reference to the account holder information when the account holder is connected, and stores the public IP address of the successful account holder. In the first embodiment, the indoor base station 200 is a terminal (account of the public IP address) of the information of the home user (i.e., who is connected, who is receiving the service, who is released, etc.) of the home user who is currently connected / disconnected. The terminal 102 of the owner may be transmitted in real time. In addition, home user information may be transmitted at the request of the account holder. In the second embodiment, the indoor base station 200 informs the terminal of the public who wishes to connect to the terminal of the public IP address (the terminal of the account holder 102), and the account holder approves / disallows it. Allow / disallow connection of connection requester.

The second embodiment may further include the second embodiment in performing the first embodiment, and the first embodiment may further include the second embodiment in performing the second embodiment.

According to the first embodiment, the indoor base station 200, the account holder information (ID, password, etc.) of the indoor base station 200 and the home user currently connected to / disconnected from the indoor base station 200 A storage unit 203 for storing information of the terminal (IP address, ID, etc. of the terminal), a call processing unit 201 for connecting the terminal (terminal 101 of the user who wishes to access the terminal 102 of the account holder), When the account holder is connected, the account holder is authenticated with reference to the account holder's information (for example, ID / password authentication), the public IP address of the successful account holder is stored in the storage unit 203, and the home user's information is stored in the public IP address. The management unit 202 for transmitting in real time to the terminal 102. As such, the management unit 202 may transmit the information of the home user in real time whenever the account holder is connected, or may configure the account holder to separately request the information of the home user.

According to the second embodiment, the indoor base station 200 includes information on the account holder (ID, password, etc.) of the indoor base station 200 and the home user who is currently connected to or disconnected from the indoor base station 200. A storage unit 203 for storing information (IP address, ID, etc. of the terminal), a call processing unit 201 for accessing the terminal (terminal 101 of the user who wishes to connect and terminal 102 of the account holder), and an account. When the owner is connected, authentication (eg ID / password authentication) is performed by referring to the account holder's information, the public IP address of the successful account holder is stored in the storage unit 203, and access is made to the indoor base station 200. It includes a management unit 202 for notifying the terminal 102 of the public IP address of the desired access requester, and allows / disallows access to the access requester as the account holder approves / disallows it. If the account holder approves, the indoor base station 200 adds the information of the access user to the home user list and synchronizes the indoor base station management system 300 with the home user information.

3 is a flowchart illustrating an account holder authentication procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the account owner authentication process of the present invention, even if the account holder is connected to the indoor base station 200 or another network (for example, the public Internet), the user is connected to the indoor base station 200 and the user is indoor. This is a procedure for authenticating the account holder of the base station 200, which is a basic function for the first and second embodiments.

The indoor base station 200 stores the IP address of the account holder terminal 102 in the storage unit 203 upon completion of authenticating that the account is owned by the account owner authentication procedure. In this case, the public IP is used as the IP address. In addition, the IP of the indoor base station 200 is registered in the terminal 102 of the account holder. Of course, the account holder may directly enter the IP address of the indoor base station 200 every time. The account holder may perform the account holder authentication process not only through his terminal 102 but also through a terminal of another person.

When the account holder executes the Internet web browser on his terminal 102 and accesses the Web GUI (Graphical User Interface) of the indoor base station and inputs an ID / password, the terminal 102 enters the account owner. The ID / password is transmitted to the indoor base station 200 to request the account holder authentication (S301).

The indoor base station 200 authenticates the ID / password with reference to the account holder's information stored in the storage unit 203 (S302). When the authentication result is successful, the public IP address of the account holder terminal 102 is mapped to the account holder information of the storage unit 203 and stored, and the authentication result (OK / NOK) is transmitted to the account holder terminal 102. (S303).

At this time, since the account holder is connected, the indoor base station 200 according to the first embodiment transmits the home user's information (eg, name, ID, IP, etc.) to the terminal 102 of the account holder in real time ( 304). As such, although the information of the home user may be automatically transmitted in real time when the account holder is connected, the account owner may separately configure the home user to request and transmit the information of the home user.

Here, the information (for example, name, ID, etc.) of the home user transmitted by the indoor base station 200 may be displayed by the user currently connected to the indoor base station 200 or recently (for example, within 1 hour, within 1 day, or 1 week). Etc.) may be information of a disconnected user.

In the home user registration process of the present invention, the indoor base station 200 automatically informs the account holder of the ID (and name) of the user who wishes to access the home of the indoor base station 200 as soon as the account holder merely approves. As a procedure for registering as a user, it corresponds to the second embodiment.

When the access requester who wants to access the indoor base station 200 attempts network entry through the terminal 101 (S401), the call processing unit 201 of the indoor base station 200 recognizes the network entry. If the home user information (eg ID or / and terminal IP) of the home user list is compared with the information of the access user (eg ID or / and terminal IP) and not listed as a home user, the information of the access user (ID or / and terminal) IP) is transmitted to the management unit 202 (S402).

The management unit 202 of the indoor base station 200 checks whether the account holder's terminal 102 is connected by referring to the account holder's information (ID, password, public IP address, etc.) in the storage unit 203, If the terminal 102 is connected to obtain a public IP address of the account holder (S403), the terminal 102 of the public IP address is notified that there is a connection requester and requests registration as a home user (S404). When notifying the access requester, information such as ID and name of the access requester may be transmitted.

Here, if the account holder's terminal 102 is not connected, the account owner may register a home user according to the prior art.

The account holder may grant / deny registration as a home user with reference to the information on the access user who popped up on the terminal 102. If the account holder permits the access requester to register as a home user (S405), the management unit 202 of the indoor base station 200 adds the access requester to the home user list (S406) and the indoor base station management system 300 In synchronization with the home user information (S407).

Although the present invention has been described in connection with some embodiments thereof, it should be understood that various changes and modifications may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as understood by those skilled in the art. something to do. It is also contemplated that such variations and modifications are within the scope of the claims appended hereto.

1 illustrates a configuration of an exemplary mobile communication network in which the present invention may be practiced.

2 is a diagram illustrating a configuration of a femtocell network to which the present invention is applied.

3 is a flow chart illustrating an account holder authentication procedure in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a home user registration procedure according to an embodiment of the present invention.

* Explanation of symbols for the main parts of the drawings

101, 102: terminal 200: indoor base station

201: call processing unit 202: management unit

203: storage unit 300: indoor base station management system

Claims (11)

As a management method of an indoor base station, Authenticating by the management of the indoor base station with reference to the account holder information when the owner of the indoor base station (hereinafter referred to as 'account owner'); Storing, by the management unit of the indoor base station, a storage unit's public IP address of a successful authentication in a storage unit; And And transmitting, by the management unit of the indoor base station, information of a user who is currently connected / disconnected (hereinafter, referred to as a 'home user') to the terminal of the public IP address. The method of claim 1, The management unit of the indoor base station notifies the terminal of the public IP address of the user (hereinafter referred to as 'access requester') of the user who wishes to access the access to the terminal of the public hopeful address, and the accession of the access requester is made as the account holder approves / disapproves. An indoor base station management method further comprising the step of allowing / disallowing. As a management method of an indoor base station, Authenticating by the management of the indoor base station with reference to the account holder information when the owner of the indoor base station (hereinafter referred to as 'account owner'); Storing, by the management unit of the indoor base station, a storage unit's public IP address of a successful authentication in a storage unit; And The management unit of the indoor base station notifies the terminal of the public IP address of the user (hereinafter referred to as 'access requester') of the user who wishes to access the access to the terminal of the public hopeful address, and the accession of the access requester is made as the account holder approves / disapproves. An indoor base station management method comprising the step of allowing / disallowing. The method of claim 3, And transmitting, to a terminal of the public IP address, information of a user who is currently connected / disconnected (hereinafter, referred to as a 'home user') to the terminal of the indoor base station. The method according to claim 1 or 4, The indoor base station management unit, the indoor base station management method for transmitting the information of the home user to the terminal of the public IP address in response to the request of the account holder. As an indoor base station, A storage unit for storing information of an owner of the indoor base station (hereinafter referred to as an 'account owner') and information of a user who is currently connected / disconnected to the indoor base station (hereinafter referred to as a 'home user'); A call processor for terminal access; And When the account holder is connected, the authentication is performed by referring to the account holder's information, and the public IP address of the successful account holder is stored in the storage unit, and the home user's information is transmitted to the terminal of the public IP address. Indoor base station comprising a management unit. The method of claim 6, The management unit informs the terminal of the public IP address of a user who wishes to access the indoor base station (hereinafter referred to as an access requester), and accesses the access requester as the account holder approves / disallows it. Allow / disallow indoor base stations. As an indoor base station, A storage unit for storing information of an owner of the indoor base station (hereinafter referred to as an 'account owner') and information of a user who is currently connected / disconnected to the indoor base station (hereinafter referred to as a 'home user'); A call processor for terminal access; And When the account holder is connected, the user who authenticates with reference to the account holder's information, stores the public IP address of the successful account holder in the storage unit, and wishes to access the indoor base station And a management unit for notifying a terminal of the public IP address of the connection to the terminal of the public IP address, and allowing / disallowing the connection of the requesting user as the account holder approves / denies. The method of claim 8, The management unit, the indoor base station for transmitting the information of the home user to the terminal of the public IP address. The method of claim 6 or 9, The management unit, the indoor base station for transmitting the information of the home user to the terminal of the public IP address at the request of the account holder. The method according to any one of claims 6 to 9, The indoor base station is operated in a closed subscriber group (CSG) closed mode.

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