Gateway association

Gateway connection

The embodiments of the present invention are related to the field of communication networks, especially related to network gateway selection and load distribution in broadband wireless access communication networks.

Broadband wireless networks include a series of coexisting or overlapping technologies capable of wireless high-speed communication. A technology called Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) has been developed to provide long-range wireless networking capabilities. WiMAX may be a generic name used to represent the association of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) 802.16 standard (for example, IEEE 802.16-2009 approved on May 13, 2009).

Usually in a WiMAX network, during the initial network entry (INE) period, a subscriber station will be connected to a base station (Base Station; BS for short). After connection, the BS can select a default network gateway such as an Access Service Network Gateway (ASN-GW) to serve the subscriber station. The default ASN-GW can be specified according to various criteria such as the manufacturer of the ASN-GW. When assigning an ASN-GW to a user station in a static manner, it may lead to inefficient deployment, use, and control of a network.

In addition, when a user station moves from a cell associated with a BS to another cell, the new BS can select another network gateway. The new network gateway can communicate with the originally selected network gateway that is used as an anchor, in order to capture service flows in particular. The reliance on gateway communication or R4 sending in the network may also reduce the efficiency and bandwidth of the hierarchical structure.

[Summary of the Invention] and [Implementation Modes]

In the following embodiments, reference will be made to the drawings constituting a part of the embodiments, in which the drawings are shown through implementable embodiments. We should understand that other embodiments can also be used, and various structural or logical changes can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the following embodiments should not be understood in a restrictive manner, and the scope of each embodiment is defined by the scope of the last patent application and its equivalents.

It is possible to explain each operation as a plurality of separate operations performed in sequence in a way to help understand each embodiment. However, the order of the description should not be interpreted to mean that these operations have sequential dependencies or all of the mentioned operations Operations are all necessary for these embodiments.

The terms "coupled" and "connected" and their derivatives can be used. We should understand that these terms will not be synonymous with each other. More precisely, in certain embodiments, "connected" may be used to indicate that two or more elements are in physical or electrical direct contact with each other. "Coupled" may mean that two or more elements are in physical or electrical direct contact. However, "coupled" can also mean that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other, but still cooperate or interact with each other.

In order to facilitate the description of the present invention, words in the form of "A/B" or "A and/or B" mean "(A), (B), or (A and B)". In order to facilitate the description of the present invention, the form "at least one of A, B, and C" means "(A), (B), (C), (A and B), (A and C), (B And C), or (A, B, and C)". To facilitate the description of the present invention, words in the form of "(A)B" mean "(B) or (AB)", that is, A is an optional element.

This description may use the terms "embodiments" or "embodiments", and these terms may respectively mean one or more identical or different embodiments. In addition, when the terms "include", "include", and "have" are used in a manner related to each embodiment, these terms are all synonymous.

In the various embodiments, methods, equipment, and systems for efficient network gateway selection, load balancing, and data path optimization in communication networks are disclosed. In each of the embodiments, communication that enables creative network deployment, efficient network gateway load balancing, and overload control is disclosed. The present disclosure can reduce the complexity of network design and can promote interoperability among multiple vendors. In an exemplary embodiment, a computing system may be provided with one or more components of the disclosed devices and/or systems, and the computing system may be used to execute one or more methods disclosed in the present invention.

The embodiment of the present invention can dynamically select a network gateway, and can associate the network gateway with a user station. In various embodiments, an access point such as a base station may be associated with one or more networks such as an access service network gateway (ASN-GW) in an associated cluster (cluster). Road gateway communication. Based on the communication, the base station can determine and/or receive a selection of an appropriate network gateway to serve the subscriber station. The appropriate network gateway can be determined through one or more optimization algorithms that can be executed by a network gateway or by the base station. In various embodiments, when a user station enters a cell associated with the base station, when the user station leaves the cell, or when load balancing is required, the network gateway may be assigned to the user station.

The embodiments of the present invention can also optimize the data path between one or more components of the communication network. For example, a possible data path can usually be described as: a service base station communicates with a service network gateway, and the service network gateway communicates with an anchor network gateway. The previous serving base station may have assigned the anchor network gateway to the subscriber station, and a current serving base station may have assigned the service network gateway. The above-mentioned situation may occur in a handover situation. The communication link between the service network gateway and the anchor point network gateway can be a redundant communication link, and in various embodiments, the current service base station can be connected to the anchor point The network gateway communicates directly, and the communication link is cancelled. The anchor network gateway, the service network gateway, the service base station, or various other components in the communication system that will be described in more detail in this specification can trigger the data path optimization. This interoperability can reduce the need for gateway communication within the network.

Please refer to FIG. 1, which shows a block diagram of a communication network according to various embodiments. The communication network 100 may be a WiMAX network. However, those skilled in the art can easily understand that the teaching disclosed in the present invention can also be applied to other communication networks. The communication network 100 may include clusters 102 and 104, network access points such as base stations 108a-d, network gateways 106a-d, and a subscriber station 110. The communication network 100 may include other components than those shown without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

The communication network 100 includes clusters 102 and 104. Although two clusters are shown, the disclosure of the present invention is applicable to communication networks with more or less clusters. According to various embodiments, a cluster may be one or more components belonging to a domain of a specific deployment situation, such as one or more network gateways. The cluster can be an overlapping or non-overlapping cluster according to the network configuration, and can be based on a call group, authentication domain, mobility domain, or other network characteristics. As shown, the cluster 102 may include one or more network gateways 106a-b. The cluster 104 may include one or more network gateways 106c-d. The clusters 102 and 104 may include more or less gateways without departing from the scope of the disclosure. In addition, in various embodiments, the network gateway 106a-d may be ASN-GW; however, the disclosure of the present invention is not limited to this manner.

In various embodiments, the clusters 102 and 104 may also include one or more network access points such as base stations 108a-d. Base stations 108a-d can be assigned to a specific cluster. For example, base stations 108a-b can be associated with cluster 102, base station 108d can be associated with cluster 104, and base station 108c can be associated with both clusters 102 and 104. In various embodiments, any base station 108a-d can communicate with any network gateway 106a-d in its cluster. In the illustrated embodiment, the base station 108a-b can communicate with the network gateway 106a or 106b, and the base station 108d can communicate with the network gateway 106c or 106d, and because the base station 108c can be connected to two clusters Associated, so the base station 108c can communicate with any of the network gateways 106a-d.

The communication 112 between the base stations 108a-d and the network gateway 106a-d may include R6 signaling. Although other sending messages are not shown, they can also be used in the communication network without departing from the scope of the present invention. Such sending may include (but is not limited to): R1 sending between a subscriber station and a base station, R2 sending between a subscriber station and a Connectivity Service Network (CSN), and a deposit Access service network (Access Service Network; ASN for short) and a CSN between R3 sending, R4 sending between two network gateways, R5 sending between two CSNs, one network gateway One is R7 sending between the data plane and the control plane, and R8 sending between two base stations. Other communications can be transmitted in the entire communication network 100 without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

Please refer to Figure 1 again. For example, when the user station 110 is within the cell range of the base station 108a, the user station 110 can communicate with the base station 108a. In various embodiments, the user station 110 may be a mobile user station 110 such as a laptop computer, a personal digital assistant, a simple function desktop (nettop), a simple notebook computer (netbook), a smart phone, etc., or a mobile user station 110 capable of Other wireless devices that move in and out of each cell range. Alternatively, the user station 110 may be a fixed user station such as a desktop computer, or other communication devices maintained at a fixed position in most cases. The disclosure of the present invention is not limited to this way.

The user station 110 can communicate with the base stations 108a-d using any communication protocol known in the art. For example, in one embodiment, the user station 110 may use Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM for short) and Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA for short) and the base station 108a communication. OFDM is a multi-carrier transmission technology that uses multiple frequencies to transmit multiple signals simultaneously in parallel. The signals can be processed so that they are orthogonal to each other, so there is no Inter-carrier Interference (ICI). In various embodiments, a user station 110 can communicate with a base station 108a and a network gateway 106a to connect to an Internet Protocol (IP) network such as the Internet.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a block diagram of a device is shown according to various embodiments. The device may be included in a network gateway 106a-d, or may be an independent device that is operatively and/or communicatively coupled to a network gateway 106a-d. The device may include: a communication block 202 having at least a first interface 208 and a second interface 210, an identifier 204, and a reconfiguration processor 206. The device 106 may include more or fewer components without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

Although the figure shows that the communication block 202 has a first interface 208 and a second interface 210, the communication block 202 may include more or less interfaces without departing from the scope of the disclosure. In various embodiments, the interfaces 208 and 210 can be used to communicate with various components of the communication network 100. The interfaces 208 and 210 may be interfaces configured to communicate via any of the aforementioned types of signaling, such as R1-R8 signaling. In addition, although shown as independent interfaces in the figure, the interface 208 and the interface 210 may alternatively be a single interface capable of communicating with various components of the network 100.

In various embodiments, the interface 208 may be an R6 interface configured to communicate with one or more base stations 108a-d in a cluster 102, 104. The R6 signaling can implement intra-ASN channels, and can be used for control plane signaling. In addition, the interface 210 can be an R4 interface, and can be configured to communicate with one or more network gateways such as network gateways 106a-d. R4 sending can promote the mobility of the subscriber station 110 across the network gateways of the communication network 100.

In various embodiments, the communication block 202 can be configured to receive a network gateway selection request from a communication network cluster 102, 104, and from one of a plurality of network gateways in a communication network cluster or Multiple network gateways receive load information. For example, the communication block 202 of the network gateway 106a can receive a network gateway selection request from the base station 108a via the first interface 208, and receive the load from the network gateway 106b via the second interface 210 News.

In addition, in various embodiments, the communication block 202 can be configured to respond to the network gateway selection request and transmit a network gateway selection response to an access point of the communication network cluster. The network gateway selection response may include an indication of one of the network gateways to be used to serve a subscriber station 110. Continuing the above example, the communication block 202 of the network gateway 106a can be configured to transmit the network gateway selection response to an access point such as the base station 108a. This specification will further describe the signaling between various components with reference to one or more signal diagrams.

In various embodiments, the device shown in FIG. 2 may also include an identifier 204. The identifier 204 can be coupled to the communication block 202, and can be configured to identify, based on load information, from one or more of the network gateways 106a-d, such as A required network gateway such as the road gateway 106a. In one embodiment, the identifier 204 can identify the network gateway 106a as the required network gateway based on the network gateway 106a having a smaller load than other network gateways in the cluster 102 Device. Since the network gateway 106a is identified as the required network gateway in response to a network gateway selection request, the overload of other network gateways in the cluster 102 can be avoided, and the broadband traffic can be more evenly distributed Distributed to the communication network 100.

Still referring to FIG. 2, according to various embodiments, the device may also include a reconfiguration processor 206. The reconfiguration processor 206 can be coupled to the identifier 204 and can be configured to trigger a network gateway reconfiguration. A network gateway is reconfigured to associate another network gateway of the plurality of network gateways 106a-b, such as the network gateway 106b, with the access point. When a network gateway or access point determines that a new network gateway (not shown in the figure) has entered the communication network cluster, or determines that a network gateway currently in use is overloaded At time, or when a reconfiguration request is received from an access point such as a base station 108a-d, the network gateway can be triggered to reconfigure. In various embodiments, the reconfiguration processor 206 can ensure proper allocation of network resources after the initial network entry of a user station 110.

In various embodiments, the access points such as base stations 108a-d may also include components substantially similar to components of the device 106. For example, a base station 108a may include: a communication block with one or more interfaces for communicating with other components of the communication network 100, configured to be identified from a plurality of network gateways to serve the user station 110 one of the identifiers of one or more network gateways 106a-b, and a reconfiguration processor. The base stations 108a-d can use one or more optimization algorithms to determine an efficient network gateway distribution for each user station 110.

Please refer to Figs. 3-8, which show the sending diagrams according to the respective embodiments. The signal diagrams show various signals transmitted between components of a communication network such as the communication network 100 shown in FIG. 1. These signals can facilitate efficient network gateway selection, load balancing, and reconfiguration of various resources, and can represent these signals in a method or program such as a user station transmitting a signal. In various embodiments, any of many different codes stored in any combination of machine-accessible media such as volatile or non-volatile memory or other mass storage devices can be used to convert the underlying The method or program is implemented as machine-accessible instructions. For example, these machine-accessible instructions can be included in such as a programmable gate array, an application specific integrated circuit (Application Specific Integrated Circuit; ASIC), an erasable programmable read-only memory (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory; EPROM for short), Read Only Memory (ROM for short), Random Access Memory (RAM for short), magnetic media, optical media, and/or any other A machine-accessible medium such as a suitable type of medium.

Please refer to Fig. 3, which shows a message sending diagram according to various embodiments. The sending diagram shows various communications between these components of a communication network such as the communication network 100. In various embodiments, FIG. 3 may show the network gateway selection of the user station when the initial network enters, such as when the user station initiates network access to a WiMAX network. During the entry, the subscriber station can be connected to an access point such as a base station 108a. In various embodiments, the base station 108a can then select a network gateway such as the network gateway 106a.

In various embodiments, the subscriber station can perform initial communication 301, 302 with a base station. In various embodiments, the initial communication 301, 302 may include downlink channel acquisition, media access control (Media Access Control; MAC) synchronization, uplink channel parameters acquisition, initial ranging (initial ranging), and/or Physical (PHY) layer adjustment. Other communications can also be included without departing from the scope of the disclosure.

In communication 303, the subscriber station can transmit a subscriber station basic capability request (SBC-REQ) message to a base station to negotiate the subscriber station's basic capability. The communication 303, which can be a MAC message, can include the information related to a modulation and coding system supported by the user station. After receiving the SBC-REQ message from the subscriber station, the base station may transmit a subscriber station basic capability response (SBC-RSP) message, also denoted as 303, to the subscriber station. The base station can transmit the SBC-RSP303 after checking the modulation and coding system supported by the user station.

In various embodiments, the base station can communicate with a network gateway such as ASN-GW. The communication 304 may include a network gateway selection request 303a and a network gateway selection response 303b. These communications 304 enable efficient network gateway selection. For example, a base station 108a associated with the subscriber station 110 can transmit a network gateway selection request 303a to one of the network gateways 106a-b in the cluster 102. The network gateway selection request 303a may include selecting a network gateway 106a or 106b from the plurality of network gateways 106a-b in the cluster 102 to serve a request of the user station 110. In one embodiment, the network gateway selection request 303a may be transmitted to a default network gateway among the plurality of network gateways. The default network gateway can be identified by its Internet (IP) address. Alternatively, the network gateway selection request 303a can be transmitted to a virtual Internet Protocol (IP) address of the plurality of network gateways 106a-b. In various embodiments, the virtual IP address can be mapped to the master network gateway of one of the plurality of network gateways 106a-b.

In response to the network gateway selection request 303a, the base station can receive the network gateway selection response 303b. The network gateway selection response 303b may include information associated with at least one network gateway used to serve the subscriber station 110 of the plurality of network gateways in a cluster.

For example, in one embodiment, the base station 108a may include identification codes such as IP addresses of all the network gateways 106a-b in the cluster 102. The base station 108a can transmit a network gateway selection request 303a to one of the plurality of network gateways 106a-b in the cluster 102. The one network gateway can be a default network gateway selected by one or more methods. In response, the base station 108a can receive a network gateway selection response 303b from the default network gateway 106a. The network gateway selection response 303b may include load information associated with the default network gateway 106a. In various embodiments, the network gateway selection response 303b may include the load information of each network gateway 106b in the cluster 102. According to the load information, the base station 108a can use an algorithm or other procedures to select one of the plurality of network gateways 106a-b to be used to serve the subscriber station 110.

In various embodiments, the base station 108a may also buffer the load information, and update the buffered load information according to the reception of other network gateway selection responses. In this way, the base station 108a can select another network gateway among the plurality of network gateways 106a-b for additional user stations entering the cell area of the base station 108a, without having to interact with the default network Road gateways or other network gateways 106a-b for further communication.

In another embodiment, the base station 108a may transmit a network gateway selection request 303a to a virtual IP address of the plurality of network gateways 106a-b. The virtual IP addresses of the plurality of network gateways 106a-b can be mapped to a master network gateway. Therefore, the base station may not know which network gateway is being used as the master network gateway, and thus can periodically change the master network gateway without affecting the base station Dao device.

In response to the transmission of the network gateway selection request 303a, the base station 108a can receive a network gateway selection response 303b from the master network gateway. The network gateway selection response 303b includes the plurality of networks. One of the gateways 106a-b will be used to serve the identity of the network gateway of the subscriber station 110. The identity can be an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the network gateway. In this way, the master network gateway can determine and select the most efficient network gateway among the network gateways 106a-b that will be used to serve the subscriber station 110. In various embodiments, the master network gateway can receive information such as load information from each network gateway 106a-b of the cluster 102, and use an optimized algorithm to determine a network Gateway selection.

Please refer to Figure 3 again. After communication 304, the environment of the subscriber station 110 can be initialized at 303c. After the environment is initialized 303c, an Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) can facilitate the generation and exchange of various keys on 305, including a Master Session Key (MSK), and continue This is because the Extensible Authentication Protocol (EAP) on 306 succeeded.

After the EAP on 306 is successful, the user station 110 and the network gateway can generate and transmit an authentication key on 307. After exchanging the authentication key, the user station 110 and the base station 108a can generate and transmit security association (SA) information such as cipher suite and security information 308. The base station 108a can also generate and transmit a Transport Encryption Key (TEK) to facilitate data encryption. The base station 108a can randomly generate the TEK.

After generating and transmitting the SA and TEK on 308, the subscriber station 110 can perform the IEEE802.16e registration 309a with the base station 108a. In addition, the base station 108a can register to the network gateway on 309b. After registration, the subscriber station 110 can establish a connection with the base station 108a through a Dynamic Service Addition Request (DSA-REQ), response, and approval 310a. In addition, the base station 108a can establish a data path with the network gateway 106a by sending a signal 310b via R6. The purpose of the sending diagram is only to illustrate a possible network gateway selection process. Those skilled in the art should understand that more or less signals can also be used without departing from the scope of the present invention.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 5, a transmission diagram of a base station reconfiguration is shown according to various embodiments. The sending shown in Figure 4 can be associated with a handover preparation phase, and the sending shown in Figure 5 can be associated with a handover action phase.

The communication 401 can be transmitted from a subscriber station to a serving base station (Serving Base Station for short SBS). In various embodiments, the serving base station can receive a handover request 401 such as a mobile station handover request (MOB-MSHO-REQ) message. In various embodiments, the handover request 401 may include information related to one or more proposed neighboring base stations.

After receiving the mobile station handover request message 401, the serving base station can send a target base station (Target Base Station; TBS for short) can receive a handover request 402. In various embodiments, the handover request 402 may be an R8 signal and may include the identification code of the network gateway associated with the serving base station. The identified anchor network gateway may be one of the network gateways in a communication network cluster. In various embodiments, the handover request 402 may also include the identification code of another network gateway, such as a network gateway used as an authentication network gateway.

Upon receiving the handover request 402, the target base station can start an environment capture operation 403 on a network gateway such as an authentication network gateway. In various embodiments, the communication 403 can start an environment capture process from the authentication network gateway. In this embodiment, the authentication network gateway can then be required to communicate with the original service network gateway, which can be called an anchor network gateway, in order to capture the service flow environment.

Or, because the anchor network gateway's instructions are included in the handover request 402, and the anchor network gateway is in the same cluster as the target base station, the target base station can be in the same cluster as the target base station. The anchor network gateway communicates directly. In various embodiments, the identification code may be the IP address of the anchor network gateway, or any other identification code known in the art. After the target base station receives from the serving base station the handover request 402 that includes the instructions of the anchor network gateway, the target base station and the anchor network gateway can use R6 signaling for Pre-registration and environment capture 404.

In various embodiments, after the target base station captures the environment from the authentication network gateway or anchor network gateway, the target base station may transmit a handover response 405 to the serving base station . In various embodiments, the handover response 405 can be sent via R8. In response, the serving base station may transmit a mobile station handover response 406 to the subscriber station, and transmit a handover approval 407 to the target base station.

Please refer to FIG. 5, which shows a signaling diagram of one of the base station reconfiguration handover actions according to various embodiments. On communication 501, the subscriber station can transmit a mobile station handover instruction (MOB_HO-IND) to a serving base station. When responding to the communication 501, the serving base station can transmit a handover confirmation (HO-CNF) 502 to the target base station. In various embodiments, the HO-CNF 502 may include an identification code or indication such as an IP address of the anchor network gateway and/or the authentication network gateway. HO-CNF502 can be executed via an R8 interface. In response, the target base station 108b may transmit a handover approval 503 to the serving base station 108a.

After the target base station approves the handover through the handover approval 503, if an environment capture procedure 504 is not executed during the handover preparation phase described in Figure 4 above, the target base station can The authentication network gateway executes the environment capture process 504. Alternatively, the environment capture program 504 is not used, but if a data path pre-registration program 505 is not executed during the handover preparation stage described in Figure 4 above, the target base station can use the anchor The point network gateway executes the data path pre-registration procedure 505.

If communication 504 or 505 is required, and after communication 504 or 505 is completed, the subscriber station can perform ranging and enter 506 into the network of the target base station. The target base station can then directly perform registration and environment extraction 507 on the anchor network gateway 106a to register the target base station with the anchor network gateway.

In various embodiments, the target base station can signal the anchor network gateway via an R6 interface to perform registration and environment capture 507. After registration and environment retrieval 507, the target base station can execute a key update program 508 to update each key. In various embodiments, the target base station can update the key along with both the authentication network gateway and the anchor network gateway. In addition, the anchor network gateway and the service base station can deregister each other on 509. When the target base station transmits a HO-Complete message 510 to the serving base station 108a, and receives an approval 511, the handover procedure can be completed.

The intent of the handover signal diagrams in Figures 4 and 5 is still not a limitation. Those skilled in the art should understand that more or less signals or signal corrections can be used without departing from the scope of the disclosure. As mentioned above, during the user station handover period, a serving base station can provide the IP address of an anchor network gateway to the target base station. If the target base station is in the same cluster as the serving base station, the target base station can establish a direct communication link with the anchor network gateway, or it can pass through a service network gateway To establish a data path with the anchor network gateway. In this way, the service network gateway can be used as a relay such as an R4 data path.

Please refer to FIGS. 6 and 7, which show signal diagrams according to various embodiments. These signal diagrams can show various embodiments of network gateway reconfiguration. Reconfiguration of the network gateway can be triggered by a base station or a network gateway, and can respond to including (but not limited to) a network gateway overload, a user station crossing a cluster boundary, and an operator activation Load balancing, or a new network gateway enters the network in various events to reconfigure the network gateway. In various embodiments, network gateway reconfiguration can promote a more efficient network, because there is no longer a need for a new network gateway to continuously communicate with the service network gateway via an R4 channel. communication. When the environment is reconfigured to a target base station, the user station can stop communication with an overloaded or inefficient network gateway.

Please refer to Fig. 6, which shows an embodiment of the network gateway reconfiguration triggered by a base station. The sending diagram shows the relationship between a serving base station such as a base station, a source network gateway such as a network gateway, and a target network gateway such as a network gateway. Various signals transmitted and received between. Other components can also participate in this reconfiguration; however, for clarity, those other components are not included.

The network gateway can be started by a base station that is currently serving a network gateway selection request 601 to one of the source network gateways in a cluster of multiple network gateways. Reconfigure. The network gateway selection request 601 may include a request for a new network gateway such as the target network gateway in order to replace the currently used network gateway. In each embodiment, the network gateway selection request 601 can be transmitted to the target network gateway among the plurality of network gateways according to at least one network condition. For example, a base station can use an algorithm and load information previously received from a network gateway to determine the target network gateway. In various embodiments, the load information may have been updated on the base station recently.

After receiving the network gateway selection request 601, the target network gateway can respond with a network gateway selection response 602. In various embodiments, the network gateway selection response 602 may include the identification code of a target network gateway among the plurality of network gateways that will take over to serve the subscriber station.

After receiving the network gateway selection response 602, the serving base station and the target network gateway can exchange communication 603 via an R6 interface for registration purposes. After registration, the service network gateway can perform an environment transmission exchange 604 with the target network gateway, so as to transmit an environment to the target network gateway, and the service base station can perform Cancel the registration communication 605 with one of the service network gateways, so as to cancel the registration of the service network gateway.

Now please refer to FIG. 7, which shows an embodiment of the reconfiguration of a network gateway triggered by a network gateway (NGT). In various embodiments, the network gateway may be a master network gateway in a cluster. The master network gateway can periodically receive load information from each network gateway in the cluster, and use one or more algorithms to determine whether a network gateway reconfiguration is approved.

In order to transmit an environment to a target network gateway, perform an environmental transmission with the target network gateway 701 A service network gateway can start the NGT network gateway reconfiguration. After the environment transmission 701, the service network gateway can transmit a network gateway update command 702 to the service base station. In various embodiments, the network gateway update command 702 may include an identification code of the target network gateway, such as the IP address of the target network gateway. After receiving the network gateway update command 702, the serving base station can transmit an approval 703 to the serving network gateway.

After the approval 703 is transmitted, the serving base station can perform a registration operation 704 on the target network gateway, and finally can perform an unregister operation 705 on the service network gateway. At this time, the reconfiguration of the network gateway triggered by the network gateway can be completed.

Now please refer to Figure 8, which shows an embodiment of a data path modification program. The data path modification can be used to modify the data path between the anchor network gateway of a subscriber station and the service base station in order to improve (for example, optimize) one or more characteristics of the data path. The modification may be, for example, removing a service network gateway from the data path, thereby establishing a direct data path between the anchor network gateway and the service base station. In various embodiments, the data path modification procedure can be triggered by a serving base station, the anchor network gateway, or the serving network gateway.

In each embodiment, before starting the data path modification procedure, the data path 801 from the anchor network gateway of the subscriber station to the service base station is relayed to the service network gateway. Because of the communication link between the service network gateway and the anchor network gateway, the anchor network gateway can trigger a data path modification process 802. As mentioned above, various other communication devices can also trigger the data path modification procedure.

After triggering the data path modification procedure 802, the anchor network gateway can use the data path registration transactions 803-805 to establish a direct data path 806 with the serving base station. In various embodiments, the transactions 803-805 may include a data path registration request, a data path registration response, and a data path registration approval.

After establishing a data path between the service base station and the anchor point network gateway, the service base station can perform deregistration operations 807-809 on the service network gateway to unregister it with the service network Data path between gateways. In various embodiments, the deregistration operations 807-809 may include the transmission and/or reception of the path deregistration request, the path deregistration response, and the path deregistration approval. Subsequently or at the same time, the service gateway can unregister 810-812 the data path between it and the anchor network gateway. In various embodiments, deregistration 810-812 may include route deregistration request, route deregistration response, and route deregistration approval. When the optimization process is completed, an R4 data path between the service network gateway and the anchor network gateway is no longer needed.

Although certain embodiments have been shown and described in this specification, those skilled in the art should understand that various alternative and/or equivalent embodiments or implementations that are expected to achieve the same purpose can be substituted for the shown and The illustrated embodiments will not depart from the scope of the disclosure of the present invention. Those who are familiar with this technology can easily understand that the embodiments can be implemented in a variety of ways. This application will cover any modifications or changes of the embodiments described in this specification. Therefore, each embodiment will obviously only be limited to the scope of the patent application and its equivalents.

<p>100. . . Communication network</p><p>102,104. . . Cluster</p><p>108a-d. . . Base station</p><p>106a-d. . . Network gateway</p><p>110. . . User Desk</p><p>112,303,304,501,603. . . communication</p><p>202. . . Communication block</p><p>208. . . First interface</p><p>210. . . Second interface</p><p>204. . . Recognizer</p><p>206. . . Reconfigure the processor</p><p>106. . . equipment</p><p>301,302. . . Start communication</p><p>303a,601. . . Network gateway selection requirements</p><p>303b, 602. . . Network gateway selection response</p><p>304c. . . Environment initialization</p><p>306. . . Extensible authentication protocol succeeded</p><p>307. . . Authentication key</p><p>308. . . Cipher sets and security information</p><p>309a. . . register</p><p>310a. . . Dynamic service join request, response, and approval</p><p>310b. . . R6 send letter</p><p>401. . . Handover requirements</p><p>402. . . Delivery requirements</p><p>403. . . Environment capture operation</p><p>404. . . Pre-register and environment capture</p><p>405. . . Handover response</p><p>406. . . Mobile station handover response</p><p>407. . . Handover approval</p><p>502. . . Handover confirmation</p><p>503. . . Handover approval</p><p>504. . . Environment capture process</p><p>505. . . Data path pre-registration procedure</p><p>506. . . Internet access</p><p>507. . . Registration and environmental capture</p><p>508. . . Key update procedure</p><p>510. . . Handover complete message</p><p>511,703. . . Recognized</p><p>604. . . Environmental Transmission Exchange</p><p>605. . . Unregister newsletter</p><p>701. . . Environment transmission</p><p>704. . . Registration operation</p><p>705,807-809. . . Unregister operation</p><p>801. . . Data path</p><p>802. . . Data path modification program</p><p>803-805. . . Data path registration transaction</p><p>806. . . Direct data path</p><p>810-812. . . Unregister</p>

If you refer to the detailed description in the preceding text in conjunction with the drawings, you will be able to easily understand the embodiments. The embodiments are explained by way of example but not limitation with reference to the drawings.

Figure 1 shows a block diagram of a network according to various embodiments;

Figure 2 shows a block diagram of a device according to various embodiments;

Figure 3 shows a message sending diagram according to various embodiments;

Figure 4 shows a message sending diagram according to various embodiments;

Figure 5 shows a message sending diagram according to various embodiments;

Figure 6 shows a message sending diagram according to various embodiments;

Figure 7 shows a message sending diagram according to various embodiments; and

Fig. 8 shows another signaling diagram according to various embodiments disclosed in the present invention.