The present invention relates to a method, nodes, computer program and network for high speed data traffic in a telecommunication network and in particular to a tunneling of data traffic to a central node from a mobile node.
The current mobile stations and future mobile stations are being developed towards a combination of data and voice traffic towards an infrastructure network. This stems from the demand from the customers to be “connected” wherever they are. They want to be able to communicate with coworkers, family, and others with a telephone and also be able to have connection to email, web services, file servers and other similar data applications. However, there is an increasing demand from the users that this should be done from the same mobile station, i.e. the mobile station must be arranged to handle both voice applications and preferably high speed data connections.
The general trend in mobile stations are in this direction and therefore it exists several solutions, for instance for cellular phones with high speed data communication built in using 2G, 2.5G and/or 3G wireless communication for both voice and data, with mobile stations with separated voice and data (e.g. 2G for voice and WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) for data). In solutions using the same radio interface for data and voice there is a drawback in that the infrastructure needs to handle both data and voice through the same infrastructure devices and thus allocate unnecessary resources and decreasing the possible data traffic rate. Different demands may exist for packet switched data (generally data traffic) and circuit switched data (generally voice traffic).
It is an object of the present invention to remedy at least some of the problems with the existing technologies and provide a high speed solution for data traffic operating in conjunction with voice traffic
This is provided in a number of aspects, in which a first is presented: a method of communicating in a wireless mobile network environment, comprising the steps of:
The step of forwarding the packet switched data may comprise forwarding the data in a forwarding tunnel. The forwarding tunnel may be set up as a GPRS Tunnel Packet, GTP, tunnel.
The tunnel terminating device may also operate as a security solution. The security solution may include at least one of firewall, network address translation and filtering functions.
The connection tunnel may be set up through at least one of a home based network, a public or commercial operator based network.
The connection tunnel may be set up directly with the TTD through a service provider based network or indirectly with the TTD via a public network, e.g. the Internet.
The mobile station may communicate with the infrastructure using at least one of Mobile@Home, WiMAX, or MowLAN standards.
Another aspect of the present invention, a communication infrastructure device is provided comprising at least one communication interface and a processing unit characterised in that the communication interface is arranged to receive communication information in a tunnel connection and the device further comprises means to analyse the communication information, means to separate CS data from PS data and means to communicate the CS data to a CS data receiving infrastructure components and DS data to a DS data receiving device.
The device may further comprise a security solution, which may comprise at least one of a firewall, network address translation, and filtering functions.
Yet another aspect of the present invention, a mobile communication unit comprising at least one wireless communication interface and at least one processing unit arranged to pack circuit, CS, and packet, PS, switched data into a mutual connection tunnel packet addressed to a tunnel terminating device, the data being packed so as to allow for separation in the tunnel terminating device between CS and PS traffic.
The communication interface may be arranged to operate using at least one of Mobile@Home, WiMAX, or MowLAN communication protocols.
Yet another aspect of the present invention, an infrastructure telecommunication wireless network is provided, comprising at least one tunnel terminating device arranged to operate the method described above.
Still another aspect of the present invention, a computer program is provided for communicating with a mobile communication unit, comprising instructions sets for:
With the solutions as provided by the present invention it is possible to provide high speed packet based communication access to network using existing telecommunications network infrastructure with minor adjustments at low cost and it is possible to migrate existing technologies to include this high speed access as well.
In the following the invention will be described in a non-limiting way and in more detail with reference to exemplary embodiments illustrated in the enclosed drawings, in which:
In
WLAN includes all wireless local area network protocols, for instance IEEE 802.11, 802.15, 802.16 based protocols, and WPAN include wireless personal area networks, e.g. Bluetooth or similar protocols.
The operation of the present invention is as follows: both circuit switched and packets switched data information are packed into tunnel packets in the mobile station 1 and sent directly to the FW/TTD 7 (similar to a Tunnel Terminating Gateway, TTG) via the appropriate infrastructure network components depending on the communication interface and protocol. The tunnel is mutual for CS and PS traffic. At the FW/TTD 7 the tunnel packets are opened for examination and a policy based routing is performed separating CS (Circuit Switched) and PS (Packet Switched) information traffic. CS information relate generally to speech traffic for instance as in GSM or GPRS protocols. PS information traffic generally relates to data traffic for instance email, HTML, FTP or similar IP based information. However, it should be understood that other protocols may be applicable within the PS channel, e.g. UDP (User Datagram Protocol) or ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) based traffic protocols. The policy based routing may be coupled to information content in the data packets and/or information regarding the user or the type of business arrangement between the user and the service provider/operator; this may include service level, bandwidth paid for, services subscribed to, priority, operator, or similar business related agreements.
Traffic originating from the mobile station is sent through an IPSec based tunnel to the FW/TTD which in turn relays the traffic to appropriate channels depending on type of information. The method according to the present invention will be discussed in more detail below in this document. It should be noted that with the term IPSec is not meant any special IP security protocol but any suitable secure tunnel protocol operating in an IP environment may be used.
The Access point 402 that the mobile station 401 connects to may belong to the users own home network 403, to a visited and operator owned network, or any other suitable network that accepts connection for the mobile station 401 and for which there is a connection to the FW/TTD 405 directly or indirectly.
The present invention may be operated in its core application as a program code executed in a processing unit (201) as instruction sets stored in a memory (202, 203) performing the following method steps:
901. Receiving traffic information data in a secure tunnel from a mobile station in the FW/TTD.
902. Extracting the traffic data and separating CS and PS traffic.
903. Forwarding CS traffic to suitable communication network device.
904. Forwarding PS traffic to suitable network application device.
905. Optionally handling billing issues in suitable device or devices, e.g. the FW/TTD. This can be done using suitable FBC/AWARE solutions.
AAA functions (Authentication, Authorization and Accounting) may operate according to standard communication protocols or they may at least in part be implemented in the FW/TTD. For instance based on policy decision functions at least some AAA functions are advantageously performed in the FW/TTD.
The present invention allow for easy migration from different standard network configurations allowing operators and/or network providers to enhance the network utilization and optimize the performance for the customers without affecting network service negatively during setup of the solution according to the present invention. The invention provides one combined solution for tunnel termination and switching systems. Infrastructure devices may be better utilized since they may double or triple their usage, e.g. the same equipment may be used for TT, IDP/IDS and FW. It can later be scaled towards a layered architecture on GSN. Support CS replacement, i.e. it can support both a central and a distributed solution of PS termination/handling. The solution solves a Mobile@Home problem which may be found in relation to 3GPP TS 24.008 packetization of the PS part of the Mobile system. It will enhance the bandwidth experience for the users since it will reduce the bottleneck (HBSC/SGSN) in the 3GPP UMA solution.
It should be noted that the word “comprising” does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps than those listed and the words “a” or “an” preceding an element do not exclude the presence of a plurality of such elements. It should further be noted that any reference signs do not limit the scope of the claims, that at least parts of the invention may be implemented at least in part by means of both hardware and software, and that several “means”, “units” and “devices” may be represented by the same item of hardware.
The above mentioned and described embodiments are only given as examples and should not be seen to be limiting to the present invention. Other solutions, uses, objectives, and functions within the scope of the invention as claimed in the below described patent claims should be apparent for the person skilled in the art.
Definitions
AAA Authentication, Authorization and Accounting
APN Access Point Name
ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
BGP Border Gateway Protocol
BGw Billing Gateway
CAS Customer Administration System
CS Circuit Switched
CDS Common Directory System
CGSN Combined GSN
CLI Command Line Interface
CN Core Network
DIP Dynamic IP
DMZ DeMilitarized Zone
DNS Domain Name System
E-AAA Ericsson AAA
EMA Ericsson Multi-Activation
ESRP Extreme Standby Router Protocol
FE Fast Ethernet
FPC Flexible PICs Concentrator
FVS Forwarding Virtual Server
FW Firewall
GE Gigabit Ethernet
GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node
GGSN-VIP GGSN Virtual IP address (same as GTP VIP)
GPRS General Packet Radio Service
GRD Generic Routing Domain
GRE L2 Tunnel Protocol
GRX GPRS Roaming Exchange
GSM Global System for Mobile Communication
GSN GPRS Support Node
GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol
HA High Availability
HE-VASP Home Environment Value Added Service Provider
HLR Home Location Register
HTTP Hypertext Transfer Protocol
IBR Inband RADIUS
iLB internal Load Balancer
Inet Internet
IPI IP Infrastructure
IPMP IP MultiPathing
IPsec IP Security
ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network
ISP Internet Service Provider
L2/L3 Layer 2/Layer 3
LB Load Balancer
LDAP Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
MAC Medium Access Control
MIB Management Information Base
MIEP Mobile Internet Enabler Proxy
MIP Mapped IP
MMC Multi-Media Center
MMS Multi-Media Service
MS Mobile Station
MSC Mobile Services Switching Center
MTA Mail Transfer Agent
NAT Network Address Translation
NOC Network Operation Center
OBR Outband RADIUS
OGw Online Mediation Gateway
OOB Out of Band
O&M Operations & Maintenance
OSN Optimization Server Node
OSPF Open Shortest Path First (Routing)
PAT Port Address Translation
PBN Packet Backbone Network
PIU Plug-In-Unit
PM Provisioning Manager
PLMN Public Land Mobile Network
PoI Point of Interconnection
PP Product Package
PS Packet Switched
PSTN Public Switched Telephone Network
PVC Permanent Virtual Circuit
RADIUS Remote Authentication Dial In User Service
RNC Radio Network Controller
SAPI Server Access and Protection Infrastructure
SCR (or SCM) Service Configuration Registry, also called Service Configuration Manager
SF Server Farm
SGW Signaling Gateway
SLB Server Load Balancer
SMS-CShort Message Service Center
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
SN Service Network
SN-IPI Service Network IP Infrastructure
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol
SNOC Service Network Operation and Maintenance Center
SNOS Service Network Operation and Maintenance System
SOS Service Ordering System
STM Synchronous Transfer Mode
STP Signaling Transfer Point
STP Spanning Tree Protocol
SVS Standard Virtual Server
SW Switch
SD Security Domain
SR Site Router
SZ Security Zone
TCP Transport Control Protocol
TPS Transactions per seconds
TSC Transit Switching Center
TSP Telecom Server Platform
UDP User Datagram Protocol
UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunication System
USIS User Session and Identity Server
VIP Virtual IP
VLAN Virtual LAN
VPN Virtual Private Network
VR Virtual Router
VRF VPN Routing and Forwarding Table
VRRP Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol
WAP Wireless Application Protocol
WCDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
WLAN Wireless Local Area Network (e.g. IEEE 802.11, 802.15, 802.16 series of protocols)
WPAN Wireless Personal Area Network (e.g. Bluetooth)
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
---|---|---|---|---|
PCT/SE06/01512 | 12/28/2006 | WO | 00 | 6/29/2009 |