JP6537109B2 - Connection distribution system and method, and connection distribution program - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a communication system having a communication terminal, a base station accommodating the communication terminal in each area, a plurality of gateway devices, and a network in which the base station and the gateway device are accommodated. .

  In the near future, the spread of mobile video content and the diversification of IoT (Internet on Things) services may add various requirements to the delay and required bandwidth for each service. In particular, for services that require low latency, it is necessary to shorten the physical distance to the Internet by using gateway devices distributed and distributed throughout the country. Until now, NW (Network) devices such as gateway devices have been integrated with HW (Hardware) / SW (Software), but with the development of virtualization technology, it is possible to operate using a general-purpose server with a minimum of resources is there.

  In the mobile core configuration in the existing Long Term Evolution (LTE), S1-Flex is used to provide redundant paths between the eNB (eNodeB) as a base station and the S-GW (Serving-Gateway) as a gateway device. It is done. In S1-Flex, as shown in FIG. 11, the eNB can belong to a plurality of S-GWs, and connection between the base station and the gateway device by switching upon failure detection and distributing Attach requests by weighted round robin (See Patent Document 1 and Non-Patent Document 1).

International Publication No. 2013/187144

"3rd Generation Partnership Project; Technical Specification Group Services and System Aspects; Architecture enhancements for non-3GPP accesses (Release 10)", 3GPP TS 23.402 V10.7.0, March 2012

  However, in the environment where the gateway apparatus assumed in the present invention is dispersed, the number of terminals to be accommodated is small, so that it is difficult to obtain the large grouping effect, and the fluctuation of the traffic amount generally becomes large. Even if distributed deployment is performed to bring gateway devices close to terminals in order to provide low-latency services, an increase in delay due to temporary congestion can not be avoided, so connections are distributed to gateway devices that can not meet the delay requirements. there is a possibility. In addition, as the number of connections with small amount of data communication increases due to the spread of sensor terminals etc., not only connections with large amount of data communication centered on conventional smartphones but various connections will be mixed, so weighting Even if the number of connections is evenly distributed using the gateway device selection method by round robin, the processing load of the gateway device will be uneven depending on time and area, and if the facility is expanded according to the maximum amount of load, more capital investment will be required. It becomes a problem (see FIG. 12).

  The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and the object of the present invention is to extract a group of gateway devices that can satisfy the requirement of communication service in a communication system, and a group of gateway devices to be connection destination candidates. A connection distribution system and method for equalizing traffic processing load, and a connection distribution program.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is a communication system having a communication terminal and a core network, wherein the core network is a connection point between a base station accommodating the communication terminal in each area and an external network. and a plurality arranged gateway device to one of the external network is in the communication terminal Oite the communication system for communicating with the external network via the base station and one of the gateway device, wherein A connection distribution system for distributing connections in a core network , comprising: a service request condition holding unit which holds in advance a service request condition including at least a delay requirement for each service type of connection request from the communication terminal; Network resource status with the gateway device A resource status holding unit for holding the resource status of the gateway device; and a connection request from the communication terminal, determining a service type of the connection request and acquiring a service request condition from the service request condition holding unit; A selection unit configured to select a gateway apparatus in which the communication related to the communication terminal satisfies the service request condition based on the resource status held in the resource status holding unit; and the communication terminal and the gateway apparatus selected by the selection unit And connection processing means for establishing a connection between them.

  According to the present invention, since it is possible to select an appropriate gateway apparatus for each communication service request condition, it is possible to secure the communication quality of the request condition. Also, as a secondary effect, the load is evenly distributed, so the amount of equipment can be reduced.

A diagram for explaining the configuration and connection process of a communication system to which connection distribution according to the first embodiment is applied Example of information stored in the service request condition storage unit An example of surplus resource accumulation information of the resource information accumulation unit Flow chart for explaining the operation of the reception control function unit A diagram for explaining a configuration of a communication system to which connection distribution is applied according to the second embodiment and a resource monitoring process Example of information stored in the service request condition storage unit Example of stored information of resource information storage unit Diagram for explaining connection processing in the communication system to which the connection distribution system according to the second embodiment is applied Flow chart for explaining the operation of the S / P-GW selection function unit Diagram for explaining the configuration and connection process of a communication system to which the connection distribution system according to the third embodiment is applied A diagram for explaining a conventional communication system A diagram for explaining a conventional communication system

First Embodiment
A connection distribution system according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. 1 is a diagram for explaining the configuration and connection process of the communication system to which the connection distribution system is applied, FIG. 2 is an example of accumulated information of the service request condition accumulating unit, FIG. 3 is an example of residual resource accumulated information of the resource information accumulating unit, FIG. 4 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the reception control function unit.

  In the present embodiment, a mobile communication system, in particular, LTE will be described as an example of the communication system. In this system, EPC (Evolved Packet Core) 100, which is a core network, accommodates a plurality of eNodeBs (hereinafter abbreviated as eNB) 200, which is a wireless base station device. Each eNB 200 accommodates a UE (User Equipment) 10 which is a wireless mobile communication terminal. In EPC 100, MME (Mobility Management Entity) 300 and a plurality of S / P-GW (Serving / Packet data network-Gateway) 400 are arranged. Further, in the EPC 100, a plurality of core routers 500 for relaying packets between respective devices are disposed. In the section between the eNB 200 and the S / P-GW 400, it is possible to guarantee the communication quality by Diffserv.

  Here, the above-mentioned MME is a mobility management control apparatus that performs mobility management (mobility control) and bearer control, such as setting / releasing a session (connection) for packet communication and controlling handover. Also, the S / P-GW described above is a gateway apparatus in which the S-GW and the P-GW are aggregated, the P-GW plays a role of a connection point with the external network, and user packets are transmitted with the external network. The external network gateway apparatus for transferring between them, S-GW is a routing gateway apparatus for providing a routing function and a forwarding function of user packets.

  Each of the above-mentioned devices is a logical device corresponding to the LTE function, and the implementation form is not limited. That is, a virtualization environment may be constructed on a general-purpose server using virtualization technology, and the program may be implemented by installing the program in the virtualization environment, or even if the program is installed and implemented in a dedicated physical device. Good. Note that, for example, descriptions are omitted for other apparatuses that configure LTE, such as Home Subscriber Server (HSS) and Domain Name System (DNS).

  In the communication system according to the present embodiment, one eNB 200 can be connected to a plurality of S / P-GWs 400. Also, a plurality of S / P-GWs 400 can be connected to one external network. That is, it is possible to establish different communication paths from the UE 10 to one external network in the EPC 100. The present invention is to select an S / P-GW 400 appropriate for the communication request condition of the UE 10, and select and establish an appropriate communication path.

  In this embodiment, for each service type related to the Attach request from the UE 10, calculation resources of the S / P-GW 400 assumed to be required for the service type and network resources of the eNB 200 / S / P-GW 400 section Manage consumption, and perform admission control for communication services that should be set high in priority, such as low-latency services. Note that “Attach” means connecting the UE 10 to the EPC 100 and establishing a communication path in the EPC 100 to the default or designated external network, which is usually performed when the UE 10 is powered on.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the UE 10, the eNB 200, the MME 300, and the S / P-GW 400 each include an Attach processing function unit 11, 210, 310, 410. MME 300 further includes a reception control function unit 320, a resource control instruction function unit 330, a service request condition storage unit 340, and a resource information storage unit 350. In addition, the S / P-GW 400 further includes a thread distribution function unit 420, a general processing 430, and a priority processing 440. Also, the core router 500 includes a general forwarding 510 and a priority forwarding 520.

  The service request condition stored in the service request condition storage unit 340 is, as shown in the example of FIG. 2, the delay time allowed for the service type for each service type related to the Attach request from the UE 10, the service type The calculation resource of S / P-GW400 assumed to be needed, and the consumption of the network resource of an eNB200 * S / P-GW400 area are included. Note that the estimated consumption calculation resource amount of the service type indicates the maximum CPU consumption unit consumed per communication process measured in advance. Further, it can be determined which service type the Attach request from the UE 10 belongs to, according to the terminal type of the UE 10, the external network of the connection destination included in the Attach request, and the like. In the example of FIG. 2, as a method of determining the service type of the UE 10, it is determined whether or not the IMSI is within the range allocated in advance using IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity) that is an identifier of the UE 10 Thus, it is possible to determine, for example, whether the UE 10 is an actuation terminal or a high-quality video reproduction terminal. The service requirement can be registered in advance in the service requirement storage unit 340 by a telecommunications carrier or the like.

  The resource information stored in the resource information storage unit 350 has a delay time in the EPC 100 between the eNB 200 and the S / P-GW 400 connectable to the eNB 200, as shown in the example of FIG. The remainder bandwidth in the same section and the remainder calculation resource amount in the said S / P-GW400 are included.

  Next, the session establishment procedure in the communication system of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. 1 and FIG. First, the Attach processing function unit 210 of the eNB 200 receives an Attach request from the Attach processing function unit 11 of the UE 10 ((1) in FIG. 1). Next, the Attach processing function unit 310 of the MME 300 receives an Attach request from the Attach processing function unit 210 of the eNB 200 ((2) in FIG. 1). Next, the Attach processing function unit 310 of the MME 300 sends a session establishment request to the admission control function unit 320.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the reception control function unit 320 acquires a list of connectable S / P-GWs 400 from a DNS (not shown) (S1 in FIG. 4) and then reads the stored information of the resource information storage unit 350. (S2 in FIG. 4, (4) in FIG. 1). The admission control function unit 320 identifies the service type of the session from the IMSI or APN (Access Point Name: identification information capable of identifying the external network to which the connection is made), and one or more S / S satisfying the service type requirement. The P-GW 400 is narrowed down (S3 in FIG. 4). Here, when there is no S / P-GW 400 that satisfies the request condition, it is assumed that the Attach process has failed (S8 in FIG. 4).

  Next, the reception control function unit 320 selects one of the narrowed S / P-GWs 400 and passes it to the resource control instruction function unit 330 (S4 in FIG. 4 and (5) in FIG. 1). Here, the selection algorithm of the S / P-GW 400 is arbitrary, and may be random or round robin. Next, the resource control command function unit 330 sends a resource reservation command to the thread allocation function unit 420 of the S / P-GW 400 and the core router 500 which is a network device between the eNB 200 and the S / P-GW 400 (see FIG. S5 of 4 and (6) in FIG. If the resource reservation fails, the Attach process fails (S8 in FIG. 4). When the resource reservation is successful, the reception control function unit 320 passes the identifier of the S / P-GW 400 that has succeeded in the resource reservation to the Attach processing function unit 310 (S6 in FIG. 4). Next, the acceptance control function unit 320 subtracts the estimated consumption network resource amount and the estimated consumption calculation resource amount registered in the service request condition storage unit 340 from the surplus resource storage information of the resource information storage unit 350 (FIG. 4) S7, (8) in FIG.

  Next, the Attach processing function unit 310 transmits a bearer setting request to the Attach processing function unit 410 of the passed S / P-GW 400 ((7) in FIG. 1). The Attach processing function unit 410 of the S / P-GW 400 returns a response to the Attach processing function unit 310 of the MME 300, and when the wireless data link setup is completed, a session is established and U plane data is exchanged (FIG. 1). (9)). Note that (7) in FIG. 1 and (8) in FIG. 1 can be processed in parallel, and the processing timing can be reversed.

  According to the above process, an appropriate S / P-GW 400 corresponding to the service type is selected in response to the Attach request from the UE 10, and the communication quality between the eNB 200 and the S / P-GW 400 also corresponds to the service type It will be appropriate. In addition, since the load is evenly distributed, the amount of equipment can be reduced.

Second Embodiment
A connection distribution system according to a second embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 is a diagram for explaining the configuration of a communication system to which a connection distribution system is applied and resource monitoring processing, FIG. 6 is an example of storage information of a service request condition storage unit, FIG. 7 is an example of storage information of a resource information storage unit, 8 is a diagram for explaining connection processing in the communication system to which the connection distribution system is applied, and FIG. 9 is a flowchart for explaining the operation of the S / P-GW selection function unit.

  The communication system to which the connection distribution system according to the present embodiment is applied is LTE as in the first embodiment, and as shown in FIG. 5, eNB 200, MME 300, and S / P-GW 400 are arranged in EPC 100. It is done. The mounting form of each device is the same as that of the first embodiment.

  The present embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that the resource status of the network between the eNB and the S / P-GW and the resource status of the S / P-GW gateway apparatus are monitored. That is, in the present embodiment, the load of the computational resources of S / P-GW 400 and the network load of the eNB 200 / S / P-GW 400 section are constantly monitored, and both conditions are required for each service type for which the Attach request is received. It is possible to establish a session between the appropriate S / P-GW 400 and the eNB 200 by adopting the S / P-GW selection method that can be confirmed up to the point where the S.P.

  As shown in FIG. 5, the eNB 200, the MME 300, and the S / P-GW 400 respectively include Attach processing function units 210, 310, and 410. Further, the eNB 200 and the S / P-GW 400 further include U-plane path quality measurement function units 250 and 450. Further, the S / P-GW 400 further includes a resource usage rate measurement function unit 460 and a quality information notification function unit 470. The MME 300 further includes an S / P-GW selection function unit 360, a service request condition storage unit 340, and a resource information storage unit 350.

  The service request condition stored in the service request condition storage unit 340 is, as shown in the example of FIG. 6, the delay time allowed for the service type and the required bandwidth for each service type related to the Attach request from the UE 10 And. The service requirement can be registered in advance in the service requirement storage unit 340 by a telecommunications carrier or the like.

  The resource information stored in the resource information storage unit 350 has a delay time in the EPC 100 between the eNB 200 and the S / P-GW 400 connectable to the eNB 200, as shown in the example of FIG. It includes the residual bandwidth in the same section. Here, the resource information storage unit 350 sequentially stores a plurality of resource information acquired by periodic monitoring processing as described later, together with monitoring time information.

  Next, resource monitoring processing in the communication system of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. First, the U-plane path quality measurement function units 250 and 450 of the eNB 200 and the S / P-GW 400 periodically check the quality such as the delay and residual bandwidth in the U-plane path of each transmission path using Ping, Iperf, etc. Measurement (Fig. 5 (A)). On the other hand, the resource usage rate measurement function unit 460 of the S / P-GW 400 periodically acquires node load information such as CPU usage rate and memory usage rate ((B) in FIG. 5). The information obtained by the processes (A) and (B) is notified to the quality information notification function unit 470 ((C) in FIG. 5), and notified from the quality information notification function unit 470 to the MME 300 (FIG. 5). (D), stored in the resource information storage unit 350 of the MME 300.

  Next, the session establishment procedure in the communication system of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 8 and 9. First, the Attach processing function unit 210 of the eNB 200 receives an Attach request from the Attach processing function unit 11 of the UE 10 ((1) in FIG. 8). Next, the Attach processing function unit 310 of the MME 300 receives an Attach request from the Attach processing function unit 210 of the eNB 200 ((2) in FIG. 8). Next, the Attach processing function unit 310 of the MME 300 inquires of the S / P-GW selection function unit 360 about the S / P-GW to establish a session.

  As shown in FIG. 9, the S / P-GW selection function unit 360 acquires a list of connectable S / P-GWs 400 from the omitted DNS (S11 in FIG. 9, (3) in FIG. 8), Next, the resource information of the resource information storage unit 350 is combined ((4) in FIG. 8), and the storage information of the resource information storage unit 350 is read (S12 in FIG. 9, (5) in FIG. 8). The S / P-GW selection function unit 360 specifies the service type of the session from the IMSI or APN, and narrows down one or more S / P-GWs 400 that satisfy the service type requirement (S13 in FIG. 9). Here, when there is no S / P-GW 400 that satisfies the request condition, it is assumed that the Attach process has failed (S15 in FIG. 9).

  Next, the reception control function unit 320 calculates the free capacity of the calculation resource amount from the result of comparing the resource information among the narrowed S / P-GW 400, and among them, the one with the largest available calculation resource amount is calculated. It is selected ((6) in FIG. 8), and passed to the Attach processing function unit 310 (S14 in FIG. 9, (7) in FIG. 8).

  Next, the Attach processing function unit 310 transmits a bearer setting request to the Attach processing function unit 410 of the passed S / P-GW 400 ((8) in FIG. 8). The Attach processing function unit 410 of the S / P-GW 400 returns a response to the Attach processing function unit 310 of the MME 300, and when the wireless data link setup is completed, a session is established and data of the U plane is exchanged (FIG. 8). (9)).

  According to the above process, an appropriate S / P-GW 400 corresponding to the service type is selected in response to the Attach request from the UE 10, and the communication quality between the eNB 200 and the S / P-GW 400 also corresponds to the service type It will be appropriate. In addition, since the load is evenly distributed, the amount of equipment can be reduced.

Third Embodiment
A connection distribution system according to a third embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 10 is a diagram for explaining the configuration and connection process of a communication system to which the connection distribution system is applied.

  The communication system to which the connection distribution system according to the present embodiment is applied is LTE as in the first and second embodiments, and as shown in FIG. 10, the EPC 100 includes an eNB 200, an MME 300, and an S / P-S. GW400 is arrange | positioned. The mounting form of each device is the same as that of the first embodiment.

  The present embodiment differs from the first embodiment in that the resource status of the network between the eNB and the S / P-GW and the resource status of the S / P-GW gateway device are managed and the management information is stored. Instead of selecting the S / P-GW on the basis of this, it selects the S / P-GW assumed to have a small link load and processing load on the destination host at the time of connection processing request from the UE 10. This method is based on the idea of measuring the delay between the eNB and a plurality of S / P-GWs and selecting the S / P-GW with the shortest delay time. Specifically, when the eNB receives an Attach request, it sends a session establishment request with an anycast address to the backbone network, establishes a session with the S / P-GW that has returned the response at the fastest, and finally attaches to the MME It is a mechanism that performs completion notification and performs location registration and bearer update request. As described above, since anycast is used in the present embodiment, the EPC 100 uses a communication protocol compatible with anycast, such as IPv6.

  As shown in FIG. 10, the eNB 200, the MME 300, and the S / P-GW 400 respectively include Attach processing function units 210, 310, and 410. Further, the eNB 200 and the S / P-GW 400 further include session processing function units 280 and 480.

  Next, a session establishment procedure in the communication system of the present embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. First, the Attach processing function unit 210 of the eNB 200 receives an Attach request from the Attach processing function unit 11 of the UE 10 ((1) in FIG. 10). Next, the session processing function unit 280 of the eNB 200 transmits a session establishment request to the anycast address ((2) in FIG. 10). The session processing function unit 480 of each S / P-GW 400 that has received the session establishment request transmits a session establishment request response to the eNB 200, respectively. Then, the Attach processing function unit 210 of the eNB 200 transmits a bearer setting request only to the S / P-GW 400 that has received the session establishment request response fastest ((3) in FIG. 10). In the example of FIG. 10, the response from the S / P-GW 400 in the upper right reaches the eNB 200 at the fastest, and at the time of the arrival, the response from the S / P-GW 400 in the lower right still reaches the eNB 200 It represents that there is no. Therefore, in the example of FIG. 10, the S / P-GW 400 in the upper right is selected.

  Next, when receiving the bearer setting response, the Attach processing function unit 210 of the eNB performs wireless data link setting with the UE 10 ((4) in FIG. 10). Next, the Attach processing function unit 11 of the UE 10 sends an Attach completion response to the Attach processing function unit 310 of the MME 300 ((5) in FIG. 10). Next, the Attach processing function unit 310 of the MME 300 sends a location registration request to the HSS (not shown), and finally sends a bearer update request to the Attach processing function unit 410 of the S / P-GW 400 to complete the Attach processing.

  In the case of S / P-GW selection by such anycast, the session establishment partner is determined by the speed of response, so it is physically or topologically close, and the processing load of the link load and destination host is sufficiently small. There is a high possibility that S / P-GW is selected.

  As mentioned above, although the 1st-3rd embodiment of this invention was explained in full detail, this invention is not limited to this. For example, in the first and second embodiments, the resource status holding unit for holding the resource status of the network between the base station and the gateway device and the resource status of the gateway device is provided in the MME 300. The mounting form is arbitrary, such as mounting on a device or independently and independently disposed in the EPC 100.

  Moreover, although LTE was demonstrated as an example of the communication system which applies a connection distribution system in the said embodiment, even if it is another mobile communication system, this invention can be applied and the wire communication system which does not include a radio | wireless area Even the present invention can be applied. As a form of application to a wired communication system, for example, a load balancer in a data center can be mentioned.

10 ... UE
11 ... Attach processing function unit 100 ... EPC
200: eNB
210 ... Attach processing function unit 250 ... U plane path quality measurement function unit 300 ... MME
310 ... Attach processing function section 320 ... Reception control function section 330 ... Resource control instruction function section 340 ... Service request condition storage section 350 ... Resource information storage section 360 ... S / P-GW selection function section 400 ... S / P-GW
410 ... Attach processing function section 420 ... Thread distribution function section 430 ... General processing 440 ... Priority processing 450 ... U plane path quality measurement function section 460 ... Resource usage rate measurement function section 470 ... Quality information notification function section 500 ... Core router 510 ... General Forwarding 520 ... Priority forwarding

Claims (7)

A communication system having a communication terminal and a core network, wherein the core network is a connection point between an external network and a base station accommodating the communication terminal in each area, and a plurality of core networks are arranged for one external network. and and a gateway device, Oite to the communication system for communicating with the external network the communication terminal via the gateway device of the base station and one, a connectionless distribution system for distributing a connection in the core network ,
A service request condition holding unit which holds in advance a service request condition including at least a delay requirement for each service type of connection request from the communication terminal;
A resource status holding unit that holds a resource status of a network between the base station and the gateway device and a resource status of the gateway device;
In response to a connection request from the communication terminal, the service type of the connection request is determined, the service request condition is acquired from the service request condition storage unit, and the communication is performed based on the resource status stored in the resource status storage unit. Selecting means for selecting a gateway apparatus whose communication relating to the terminal satisfies the service request condition;
A connection distribution system comprising: connection processing means for establishing a connection between the communication terminal and a gateway device selected by the selection means. A resource securing control means is provided for securing resources of the communication path from the base station to the gateway apparatus selected by the selecting means so as to satisfy the communication quality according to the connection request from the communication terminal. The connection distribution system according to claim 1. A resource status monitoring means is provided for monitoring the resource status of the network between the base station and the gateway device and the resource status of the gateway device and storing the result in the resource status holding unit. Connection distribution system. The connection distribution system according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the selection means determines a service type based on an identifier of the communication terminal or identification information of an external network of a connection destination. The service request condition holding unit, the resource status holding unit, the selection unit, the connection processing unit, and a mobility management control apparatus that performs mobility management and bearer control of the communication terminal. The connection distribution system according to any one of Items 1 to 4. A communication system having a communication terminal and a core network, wherein the core network is a connection point between an external network and a base station accommodating the communication terminal in each area, and a plurality of core networks are arranged for one external network. and a gateway device, there at the communication terminal Oite the communication system for communicating with the external network via the base station and one of the gateway device, the connection allocation method for allocating a connection in the core network ,
The network is a service request condition holding unit which holds in advance a service request condition including at least a delay requirement for each service type of connection request from the communication terminal, a resource status of the network between the base station and the gateway device And a resource status holding unit that holds the resource status of the gateway device,
In response to a connection request from the communication terminal, the selection means determines the service type of the connection request, acquires the service request condition from the service request condition holding unit, and stores the resource status held in the resource status holding unit. Selecting a gateway apparatus based on which the communication relating to the communication terminal satisfies the service request condition;
A connection processing method comprising: establishing a connection between the communication terminal and the gateway device selected by the selecting device.   A program for causing a computer to function as each part of the connection distribution system according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

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