The home network 10 includes a mobile node (MN) 100, a home agent (HA) 200, and a serving node 400. The home agent 200 and the serving node 400 provide services for the home network 10. The foreign network 20 includes a foreign agent (FA) 500. The foreign agent 500 provides services for the foreign network 20, and periodically transmits an advertisement packet.
The mobile node 100 can wirelessly communicate with a correspondent node (CN) 300. In the exemplary embodiment, the CN 300 may be located in the home network 10, the foreign network 20, or other networks.
The mobile node 100 can roam between the home network 10 and the foreign network 20. In the exemplary embodiment, the mobile node 100 registers with the home agent 200, and then the home agent 200 registers with the serving node 400. Thus, the mobile node 100 can maintain communication with the CN 300 when the mobile node 100 roams from the home network 10 to the foreign network 20.
The movement detection module 110 detects whether the mobile node 100 is moving away from the home network 10 or roaming, and informs the node control module 120 when the mobile node 100 is roaming. In the exemplary embodiment, the foreign agent 500 periodically transmits the advertisement packet, and the advertisement packet includes a roaming identifier. The movement detection module 110 receives the advertisement packet from the foreign agent 500, and determines that the mobile node 100 roams from the home network 10 to the foreign network 20 according to the roaming identifier of the advertisement packet.
The node control module 120 controls the movement detection module 110, the routing information recording module 130, and the connection module 140. In the exemplary embodiment, when the movement detection module 110 detects the mobile node 100 is roaming, the node control module 120 informs the connection module 140 to acquire a care-of address (CoA) from the foreign network 20.
The connection module 140 acquires the CoA from the foreign network 20. In the exemplary embodiment, the foreign network 20 is a WLAN, and the connection module 140 listens to the advertisement packet transmitted by the foreign agent 500 to acquire the CoA, namely a foreign agent (FA) CoA.
In other embodiments, the foreign network 20 may further include a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP) server, and the connection module 140 may acquire the CoA from the DHCP server, namely a co-located CoA (CCoA).
After the connection module 140 acquires the CoA, the node control module 120 transmits a mobile registration packet to the home agent 200 for registration. The mobile registration packet includes a home address field and a CoA address field. The home address field is set to an Internet protocol (IP) address of the mobile node 100 in the home network 10, and the CoA address field is set to the CoA acquired by the connection module 140. In the exemplary embodiment, the mobile registration packet is a mobile IP registration (MIP_REG) packet 1000.
Referring to
The lifetime field 1300 indicates a lifetime of the MIP_REG packet 1000. That is, the MIP_REG packet 1000 is regarded to be overdue and invalid after the lift time indicated by the lifetime field 1300. The home address field 1400 is set to the IP address of the mobile node 100 in the home network 10. The home agent field 1500 is set to an IP address of the home agent 200. The CoA field 1600 is set to the CoA of the mobile node 100, namely the CoA acquired by the connection module 140. The identification field 1700 indicates an identification of the MIP_REG packet 1000.
After receiving the mobile registration packet transmitted from the mobile node 100, the home agent 200 registers with the serving node 400. When the home agent 200 successfully registers with the serving node 400, the home agent 200 transmits a mobile reply packet to the node control module 120 of the mobile node 100. In the exemplary embodiment, the mobile reply packet is a MIP_REP packet 2000.
As shown in
The lifetime field 2300 indicates a lifetime of the MIP_REP packet 2000. The home address field 2400 is set to the IP address of the mobile node 100 in the home network 10. The home agent field 2500 is set to the IP address of the home agent 200. The identification field 2700 indicates an identification of the MIP_REP packet 2000.
The routing information recording module 130 manages routing packet information of the mobile node 100. In the exemplary embodiment, when the node control module 120 successfully registers with the home agent 200, the node control module 120 informs the routing information recording module 130 amends the routing packet information of the mobile node 100 according to the CoA acquired by the connection module 140.
The home agent 200 receives the mobile registration packet, and registers with the serving node 400 by transmitting a registration request packet. In the exemplary embodiment, the home agent 200 includes a packet filter module 210, an agent control module 220, a routing information database 230, and a registration module 240.
The packet filter module 210 detects the mobile registration packet transmitted from the mobile node 100, and informs the agent control module 220. In the exemplary embodiment, the packet filter module 210 detects the mobile registration packet transmitted from the mobile node 100, and then transmits the mobile registration packet to the agent control module 220.
In other embodiments, when receiving general packets, namely non-mobile registration packets, the packet filter module 210 discards the general packets.
The agent control module 220 manages the packet filter module 210, the routing information database 230, and the registration module 240. In the exemplary embodiment, after receiving the mobile registration packet from the packet filter module 210, the agent control module 220 informs the routing information database 230 to amend the routing packet information of the mobile node 100 according to the mobile registration packet.
The routing information database 230 manages the routing packet information of the mobile node 100. In the embodiment, the routing information database 230 includes a binding table 231. The binding table 231 includes mapped relationships between the IP address of the mobile node 100 in the home network 10 and the CoA address of the mobile node 100. Whenever the mobile node 100 enters a new foreign network and transmits a new mobile registration packet to the home agent 200, the routing information database 230 will update the binding table 231 according to the new mobile registration packet. In the exemplary embodiment, when the mobile node 100 enters the foreign network 20, and transmits the MIP_REG packet 1000 to the home agent 200, the routing information database 230 updates the binding table 231 according to the MIP_REG packet 1000.
The registration module 240 registers with the serving node 400 when the agent control module 220 is informed by the packet filter module 210. In the exemplary embodiment, when the agent control module 220 receives the mobile registration packet from the packet filter module 210, the agent control module 220 informs the registration module 240 to register with the serving node 400. The registration module 240 transmits a registration request packet to the serving node 400 for registration, in order to inform the serving node 400 about a roaming state of the mobile node 100 and ask the serving node 400 to transmit packets meant for the mobile node 100 to the home agent 200. In the exemplary embodiment, the registration request packet includes a home address field and a CoA field. The home address field is set to the IP address of the mobile node 100 in the home network 10, and the CoA field is set to the IP address of the home agent 200.
After receiving the registration request packet, the serving node 400 transmits a registration reply packet to the registration module 240 for informing of successful registration. Therefore, if the registration module 240 receives the registration reply packet from the serving node 400, the home agent 200 has successfully registered with the serving node 400.
In the exemplary embodiment, the home network 10 is a 3GPP network, and the serving node 400 is a gateway general packet radio service (GPRS) support node (GGSN). The registration request packet is a heterogeneous intersystem mobility registration request (HIM_REG_REQ) packet 3000, and the registration reply packet is a heterogeneous intersystem mobility registration reply (HIM_REG_REP) packet 4000.
Referring to
The lifetime field 3300 indicates a lifetime of the HIM_REG_REQ packet 3000. The home address field 3400 is set to the IP address of the mobile node 100 in the home network 10. The CoA field 3600 is set to the IP address of the home agent 200. The identification field 3700 indicates an identification of the HIM_REG_REQ packet 3000.
As shown in
The lifetime field 4300 indicates a lifetime of the HIM_REG_REP packet 4000. The home address field 4400 is set to the IP address of the mobile node 100 in the home network 10. The identification field 4700 indicates an identification of the HIM_REG_REP packet 4000.
In another embodiment, the home network 10 may be a 3GPP2 network, and the serving node 400 may be a packet data serving node (PDSN). The registration request packet may be a P-P registration request (P-P_REG_REQ) packet 5000, and the registration reply packet may be a P-P registration reply (P-P_REG_REP) packet 6000.
Referring to
The lifetime field 5300 indicates a lifetime of the P-P_REG_REQ packet 5000. The home address field 5400 is set to the IP address of the mobile node 100 in the home network 10. The home agent field 5500 is set to an IP address of the serving node 400. The CoA field 5600 is set to the IP address of the home agent 200. The identification field 5700 indicates an identification of the P-P_REG_REQ packet 5000.
As shown in
The lifetime field 6300 indicates a lifetime of the P-P_REG_REP packet 6000. The home address field 6400 is set to the IP address of the mobile node 100 in the home network 10. The home agent field 6500 is set to the IP address of the serving node 400. The identification field 6700 indicates an identification of the P-P_REG_REP packet 6000.
When the home agent 200 successfully registers with the serving node 400, the agent control module 220 of the home agent 200 further transmits the mobile reply packet to the mobile node 100 for informing of successful registration.
In step S900, the mobile node 100 roams from the home network 10 to the foreign network 20.
In step S902, the mobile node 100 transmits a mobile registration packet to the home agent 20 for registration.
In step S904, the home agent 200 receives the mobile registration packet, and informs the registration module 240 to register via the agent control module 220.
In step S906, the home agent 200 transmits a registration request packet to the serving node 400 for registration. In the embodiment, the registration request packet includes a home address field and a CoA field. The home address field is set to the IP address of the mobile node 100 in the home network 10, and the CoA field is set to the IP address of the home agent 200.
In step S908, the home agent 200 receives a registration reply packet from the serving node 400 for affirming successful registration.
In step S910, the home agent 200 transmits a mobile reply packet to the mobile node 100 for informing of successful registration.
In step S912, the mobile node 100 receives the mobile reply packet from the home agent 200 for affirming successful registration.
In the network roaming method of
First, the mobile node 100 detects the mobile node 100 roams. In the embodiment, the foreign agent 500 periodically transmits an advertisement packet, and the advertisement packet includes a roaming identifier. The mobile node 100 receives the advertisement packet from the foreign agent 500, and determines whether the mobile node 100 is roaming according to the roaming identifier of the advertisement packet, namely detecting the mobile node 100 roams from the home network 10 to the foreign network 20.
Then, the mobile node 100 acquires a CoA from the foreign network 20. In the exemplary embodiment, the foreign network 20 is a WLAN, the mobile node 100 listens to the advertisement packet from the foreign agent 500 to acquire the foreign agent's CoA, namely an FA CoA.
In other embodiments, the foreign network 20 may further include a DHCP server, and the mobile node 100 may acquire the CoA from the DHCP server, namely a CCoA.
After acquiring the CoA, the mobile node 100 registers with the home agent 200. The mobile node 100 transmits a mobile registration packet to the home agent 200 for registration. The mobile registration packet includes a home address field and a CoA address field. The home address field is set to the IP address of the mobile node 100 in the home network 10, and the CoA address field is set to the CoA acquired by the mobile station 100. In the exemplary embodiment, the mobile registration packet is an MIP_REG packet 1000. Referring to
After receiving the mobile registration packet transmitted from the mobile node 100, the home agent 200 amends the routing packet information of the mobile node 100 by updating the binding table 231 according to the mobile registration packet.
Then, the home agent 200 registers with the serving node 400. In the exemplary embodiment, the home agent 200 transmits a registration request packet to the serving node 400 for registration, in order to inform the serving node 400 about a roaming state of the mobile node 100 and ask the serving node 400 to transmit packets meant for the mobile node 100 to the home agent 200. The registration request packet includes a home address field and a CoA field. The home address field is set to the IP address of the mobile node 100 in the home network 10, and the CoA field is set to the IP address of the home agent 200.
After receiving the registration request packet, the serving node 400 transmits a registration reply packet to the home agent 200. Therefore, the home agent 200 successfully registers with the serving node 400.
In the exemplary embodiment, the home network 10 is a 3GPP network, and the serving node 400 is a GGSN. The registration request packet is the HIM_REG_REQ packet 3000, and the registration reply packet is the HIM_REG_REP packet 4000. Referring to
In another embodiment, the home network 10 may be a 3GPP2 network, and the serving node 400 may be a PDSN. The registration request packet may be a P-P_REG_REQ packet 5000, and the registration reply packet may be a P-P_REG_REP packet 6000. Referring to
After successfully registering with the serving node 400, the home agent 200 further transmits a mobile reply packet to the mobile node 100 for informing of successful registration.
Then, the mobile node 100 receives the mobile reply packet from the home agent for affirming the successful registration. In the exemplary embodiment, when successfully registering with the home agent 100, the mobile node 100 amends the routing packet information thereof according to the CoA acquired by the mobile node 100.
In the exemplary embodiment, after the mobile node 100 successfully registers with the home agent 200, if the CN 300 needs to transmit a data packet to the mobile node 100, the data packet must first be transmitted to the serving node 400. Then the serving node 400 transmits the data packet to the home agent 200. Finally, the home agent 200 transmits the data packet to the mobile node 100. If the mobile node 100 needs to transmit a data packet to the CN 300, the data packet must first be transmitted to the home agent 200. Then the home agent 200 transmits the data packet to the CN 300.
In another embodiment, referring to
Thus, when the mobile node 100 roams from the home network 10 to the foreign network 20, communication with the CN 300 can be maintained.
While exemplary embodiments have been described above, it should be understood that they have been presented by way of example only and not by way of limitation. Thus the breadth and scope of the present invention should not be limited by the above-described exemplary embodiments, but should be defined only in accordance with the following claims and their equivalents.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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95118788 | May 2006 | TW | national |