CN105682017A - Method and system for determining location of user terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a method and system for determining the location of a user terminal, and relates to the field of policy and charging control. According to the method and the system, the specific location of the user terminal in a PCC (Policy and Charging Control) District can be determined. The method comprises that when building an IP-CAN session for UE, a PCRF (Policy and Charging Rules Function) sends PCC Area information to an MME, wherein the PCC Area information is the identity information of a PCC Area applied by the IP-CAN session; the MME receives the PCC Area information and determines whether the UE enters or leaves the PCC Area in real time; when the UE enters or leaves the PCC Area, the MME reports the location information of the UE after entering or leaving the PCC Area; the PCRF receives the location information and determines the PCC Area or PCC District in which the UE is located currently according to the location information, wherein the PCC District is the special district in the PCC Area, the PCC Area at least comprises one PCC District. The method and the system provided by the invention are applied in reporting the location information of the UE reported in a PCC framework.

Description

Method and system for determining the location of a user terminal

technical field

The present invention relates to the field of policy and charging control, in particular to a method and a system for determining the location of a user terminal.

Background technique

Data between various points in the network (for example, a user terminal UE and an access device) is transmitted in the form of a flow (ie, a network flow). A flow is a sequence of packetized data that travels from one point in the network to another over a period of time. In order to perform charging control and policy control on the flow, the third generation partnership project 3GPP proposes a PCC (Policy and Charging Control, policy and charging control) architecture (see FIG. 5 ). Based on the PCC architecture, operators can establish corresponding IP-CAN bearers for different PCC areas (PCCArea), where PCCArea corresponds to the PCCArea list (PCC area list), and a PCCArea list includes multiple cell/eNB/TA/RA Identity ID, the IP-CAN bearer in the PCCArea is established based on these cells/eNB/TA/RA, and the operator formulates corresponding PCC rules for charging control and policy control. Wherein, cell is a cell, eNB is an evolved base station (EvolvedNodeB), RA is a routing area (RoutingArea), and TA is a tracking area (TrackingArea).

In the prior art, an IP-CAN session (IP-CAN session) is only associated with one PCCArea. When the UE conducts an IP-CAN session, the PCEF identifies the PCCArea corresponding to the IP-CAN bearer used by the session, and corresponds to the PCCArea based on the PCCArea. The PCC rules for this session perform charging control and policy control.

In the process of realizing the above-mentioned billing control and policy control, the inventor found that there are at least the following problems in the prior art: the physical coverage of a PCCArea is generally large, such as a city, and "one size fits all" billing control is performed on the entire PCCArea There are many unreasonable things in policy control, such as the inability to guarantee the quality of service QoS in crowded places. However, there is no solution for how to determine the specific location of the user terminal in the PCCArea in the prior art.

Contents of the invention

Embodiments of the present invention provide a method and system for determining the location of a user terminal, which are used to determine the specific location of the user terminal in the PCC area.

In order to achieve the above object, embodiments of the present invention adopt the following technical solutions:

A method for determining the location of a user terminal, applied to the policy and charging control PCC architecture proposed by the third generation partnership project 3GPP, wherein the policy and charging rule function unit PCRF creates an IP connection access network IP-CAN session for the user terminal , the method includes:

When establishing an IP-CAN session for the user terminal, the PCRF sends PCCArea information to the mobility management entity MME, and the PCCArea information is the identification information of the PCCArea applicable to the IP-CAN session;

The MME receives the PCCArea information, and determines in real time that the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCArea;

When the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCArea, the MME reports the location information of the user terminal after entering or leaving the PCCArea to the PCRF;

The PCRF receives the location information, and determines the PCCArea or PCCDistrict where the user terminal is currently located according to the location information, where the PCCArea is a special area in the PCCArea, and the PCCArea includes at least one PCCDistrict .

A system for determining the location of a user terminal, applied to the policy and charging control PCC architecture proposed by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project 3GPP, wherein the policy and charging rule function unit PCRF creates an IP connection access network IP-CAN session for the user terminal ,

Including PCRF, mobility management entity MME, gateway GW; where,

The PCRF is used to send PCCArea information to the MME via the GW when establishing an IP-CAN session for the user terminal, where the PCCArea information is identification information of the PCCArea applicable to the IP-CAN session;

The MME is configured to receive the PCCArea information, and determine in real time that the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCArea;

The MME is further configured to: when the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCArea, report the location information of the user terminal after entering or leaving the PCCArea to the PCRF via the GW;

The PCRF is further configured to: receive the location information, and determine the PCCArea or PCCDistrict where the user terminal is currently located according to the location information, wherein the PCCArea is a special area in the PCCArea, and the PCCArea includes at least One of the PCCDistrict.

In the method and system for determining the location of the user terminal provided by the embodiments of the present invention, the MME receives the identification information of the PCCArea applicable to the IP-CAN session sent by the PCRF, and accordingly determines in real time whether the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCArea; and only When the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCArea, the MME reports to the PCRF the location information of the user terminal after entering or leaving the PCCArea, so that the PCRF determines the PCCArea or PCCDistrict where the user terminal is currently located according to the location information. Wherein, PCCDistrict is at least one special area included in PCCArea. According to the method and system provided by the embodiments of the present invention, it can be determined whether the user terminal is in a PCCArea or a specific PCCDistrict, which is of great significance for how to differentiate the specific location of the user terminal in its associated PCCArea.

Description of drawings

FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for determining the location of a user terminal provided by Embodiment 1;

Fig. 2 is the schematic diagram of PCCArea and PCCDistrict involved in embodiment one;

FIG. 3 is another flow chart of the method for determining the location of a user terminal provided by Embodiment 1;

FIG. 4 is a signaling diagram of a method for determining the location of a user terminal provided in Embodiment 2;

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of an existing PCC architecture.

detailed description

The method and system for determining the location of a user terminal provided by the embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Before that, the existing PCC architecture and PCCArea reporting mechanism will be explained.

As shown in Figure 5, the existing PCC architecture mainly includes PCEF (PolicyandChargingEnforcementFunction, policy and charging enforcement function), GGSN (GatewayGPRSSupportNode, gateway GPRS support node, namely gateway GW), PCRF (PolicyandChargingRulesFunction, policy and charging rule functional unit ), SPR (SubscriptionProfileRepository, user subscription database), AF (ApplicationFunction, application function), OCS/OFCS (OnlineChargingSystem/OfflineChargingSystem, online charging system/offline charging system) and other network entities.

Among them, the PCEF is located in the GGSN, which is used to identify the service flow and report the service characteristics to the PCRF, and obtain and execute the control and charging policy based on the service flow from the PCRF; more specifically, execute the PCC rules formulated by the PCRF, such as according to the PCC rules, for Service data flow is detected and measured to ensure service QoS, user plane traffic establishment and control plane session management are triggered; furthermore, in order to ensure service QoS and service data flow charging, all IP data sent by UE Packets or all IP data packets to be received need to pass through PCEF, which uses the IP data packet filtering rules in PCC rules to filter the service data flow of each IP data packet, allowing IP data packets that meet the requirements to pass through, and IP data packet filtering The rules stipulate the source address and destination address, business data flow and other information of IP data packets allowed to pass through PCEF;

GGSN mainly acts as a gateway GW, and it can be connected to a variety of different data networks, such as ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network, Integrated Services Digital Network), PSPDN (PacketSwitched Public Data Network, packet switching public data network) and LAN (LocalAreaNetwork, local area network) and so on. GGSN can convert the GPRS packet data packets in the GSM network, so that these packet data packets can be transmitted to the remote TCP/IP network or X.25 network;

PCRF is the policy and charging control policy decision point for service data flow and IP bearer resources. PCRF formulates PCC rules according to service characteristics and related user attributes, and dynamically sends them to PCEF;

SPR manages and stores all user/subscription-related information required by PCRF, which can be used for PCRF construction policy decisions, and can be independent or integrated with other databases on the live network;

AF provides business information to PCRF, and dynamically provides business information of the application layer to it, and PCRF can dynamically generate or modify corresponding PCC rules according to the business information;

OCS/OFCS refers to the billing system that participates in the communication process control, which can solve the problems of real-time credit control of users, real-time billing of prepaid data services and value-added services, etc.

In the existing PCCArea reporting mechanism, whenever the IP-CAN bearer is established or modified, for example, the ID of the cell/eNB/TA/RA in the PCCArea list changes, resulting in a change in the PCCArea and the need to modify the IP-CAN bearer, the MME will Update the PCCArea list and start the PCCArea reporting mechanism based on the latest PCCArea list. When the IP-CAN session based on the IP-CAN bearer is in progress, the MME as a mobility management network element can sense in real time that the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea associated with the IP-CAN session. Since an IP-CAN session can only be associated with one PCCArea, the MME perceives in real time that the PPCCArea that the UE enters or leaves is the only PCCArea associated with the IP-CAN session. For example, by judging the connection status between the UE and the eNB in the PCCArea list, the MME can judge whether the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea, and report the perceived event to the PCRF. The PCRF can adjust the PCC rules for the UE entering the PCCArea according to the event. For example, when the UE enters the PCCAreaA (the only PCCArea associated with the IP-CAN session), the PCRF will adjust the PCC rules applicable to the IP-CAN session to the PCCAreaA corresponding PCC rules.

For reasons of QoS assurance, operators have the requirement to divide a large PCCArea into multiple PCC districts (PCCDistrict), or to select multiple PCCdistricts from a large PCCArea for key management, among which, the physical coverage of PCCDistrict is generally Set it to be smaller than PCCArea, such as densely populated stations and business districts (corresponding to PCCDistrict) in a city (corresponding to PCCArea). However, since each IP-CAN session can only be associated with one PCCArea, when the UE moves between different PCCDistricts in the same PCCArea, PCRF will not be able to identify the specific PCCDistrict where the UE is located, and still apply the PCC rules corresponding to the PCCArea to The UE. As a result, it is impossible to apply different PCC rules to the UE according to different PCC Districts, that is, one IP-CAN session can only be associated with one PCCArea and the operator needs to associate one IP-CAN session with multiple PCC Districts. A contradiction arose between.

Embodiment one

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, this embodiment provides a method for determining the location of a user terminal, which is applied to such a scenario: in the PCC framework proposed by 3GPP, PCRF creates an IP-CAN session for the UE, and the session is connected to a certain The PCCArea is associated, and the PCCArea includes at least one PCCDistrict, and the PCCDistrict is a special area in the PCCArea; the UE can move from the PCCArea into the PCCDistrict, or leave the PCCDistrict to enter the PCCArea. FIG. 1 is a flowchart of a method for determining the location of a user terminal provided in Embodiment 1. As shown in FIG. 1, the method includes:

S11. When establishing an IP-CAN session for the UE, the PCRF sends PCCArea information to the MME.

In this embodiment, the PCRF can establish an IP-CAN session for the UE in an existing manner. Generally, after the IP-CAN bearer is established, the UE sends a request to the PCRF to establish the IP-CAN session, and the PCRF responds to the request sent by the UE to establish the IP-CAN session for the UE. For example, when the UE accesses a certain website according to the link clicked by the user, the PCRF can use the IP-CAN bearer established in advance for the UE and the network according to the IP address (source address) of the UE and the corresponding IP address (destination address) of the website, thereby Establish an IP-CAN session between the source address and the destination address.

When establishing an IP-CAN session for the UE, in order for the MME to determine that the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea, the PCRF sends PCCArea information to the MME. Wherein, the PCCArea information is identification information of the PCCArea applicable to the IP-CAN session. The IP-CAN session is based on the pre-established IP-CAN bearer. When establishing the IP-CAN bearer, PCRF also determines the PCCArea identification information corresponding to the IP-CAN bearer. Covered by cell, eNB, TA and RA. The identification information of these cells, eNB, TA and RA is the identification information of the PCCArea applicable to the IP-CAN session established based on the IP-CAN bearer.

S12. The MME receives the PCCArea information, and determines in real time that the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea.

The MME receives the PCCArea information sent by the PCRF; during the IP-CAN session, in order to report the location information of the UE to the PCRF according to the UE entering or leaving the PCCArea, the MME determines that the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea according to the PCCArea information .

For example, when the PCCArea information is specifically the identification information of the cell/eNB/TA/RA, the MME detects in real time the cell/eNB/TA/RA where the UE is currently located, and determines whether the identification of the cell/eNB/TA/RA where the UE is currently located Exist in the PCCArea information: If the identity of the cell/eNB/TA/RA where the UE is located at the previous moment does not exist in the PCCArea information, but the identity of the cell/eNB/TA/RA where the UE is currently located exists in the If the identification of the cell/eNB/TA/RA where the UE is located at the previous moment exists in the PCCArea information, and the identification of the cell/eNB/TA/RA where the UE is currently located does not exist in the PCCArea information, it is determined that the UE leaves the PCCArea.

S13. When the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea, the MME reports the location information of the UE after entering or leaving the PCCArea to the PCRF.

When the MME judges that the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea according to the PCCArea information, in order to enable the PCRF to determine the specific PCCArea or PCCDistrict where the UE is currently based on the location information after the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea, the MME reports to the PCRF where the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea. The location information after the above PCCArea. It should be noted that the PCCArea where the MME determines that the UE is currently located is the PCCArea associated with the IP-CAN session.

Taking the location information as the identification of cell/eNB/TA/RA as an example, when the UE enters the PCCArea, the MME can report the identification of the first cell/eNB/TA/RA connected to the UE in the entered PCCArea; when the UE After leaving the PCCArea, similarly, the MME can report the identity of the first cell/eNB/TA/RA that the UE is connected to after leaving the PCCArea.

2 for illustration, the user terminal leaves PCCArea and enters PCCDistrictA according to the direction shown by arrow a, leaves PCCDistrictA according to the direction shown by arrow b and enters PCCArea again, and leaves PCCArea again according to the direction shown by arrow c and enters PCCDistrictB, etc.

S14. The PCRF receives the location information, and determines the PCCArea or PCCDistrict where the UE is currently located according to the location information.

The PCRF receives the location information of the UE after entering or leaving the PCCArea reported by the MME. The PCRF determines the PCCArea or PCCDistrict where the UE is currently located according to the location information, specifically including:

Acquire PCCDistrict information, where the PCCDistrict information is the identification information of the PCCDistrict to which the IP-CAN session applies; when the location information exists in the PCCArea information but not in the PCCDistrict information, determine that the UE is currently in the PCCArea; when When the location information exists in the PCCArea information and in the PCCDistrict information, determine the PCCDistrict where the UE is currently located.

For example, the location information reported by the MME after the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea is the identifier of the first cell/eNB/TA/RA that the UE is connected to after entering or leaving the PCCArea; corresponding to the UE entering or leaving the PCCArea , when the identifier of the first cell/eNB/TA/RA exists in the PCCArea information but not in the PCCDistrict information, it is determined that the UE is currently in the PCCArea; corresponding to the UE leaving the PCCArea, When the identifier of the first cell/eNB/TA/RA exists in the PCCArea information and in the PCCDistrict information, it is determined that the UE is currently in the PCCDistrict, and when one PCCArea includes multiple When the PCCDistrict is adjacent, the PCCDistrict where the UE is currently located is the PCCDistrict corresponding to the PCCDistrict information in which the identifier of the first cell/eNB/TA/RA specifically exists.

It can be seen from the above that, in the method for determining the location of the user terminal provided in this embodiment, the MME receives the identification information of the PCCArea applicable to the IP-CAN session sent by the PCRF, and accordingly determines in real time whether the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCArea and only when the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCArea, the MME reports to the PCRF the location information of the user terminal entering or leaving the PCCArea, so that the PCRF determines the PCCArea or PCCDistrict where the user terminal is currently located according to the location information. According to the method provided in this embodiment, it can be determined whether the user terminal is in the PCCArea or a specific PCCDistrict, which is of great significance for how to differentiate the specific location of the user terminal in its associated PCCArea.

In addition, the method provided in this embodiment adopts a mechanism for hierarchically dividing the PCC action area, that is, dividing the PCCArea into smaller PCC Districts, and further dividing the PCC District into smaller PCC action areas, such as PCCsub-District. In contrast, in the prior art, on the one hand, there is a defect that the granularity (the size of the PCC action area) is too large based on the control based only on PCCarea; on the other hand, in the prior art, as long as the MME detects that the The mechanism of reporting immediately when the cell/eNB/TA/RA changes. In this mechanism, the change of the cell/eNB/TA/RA connected to the UE does not mean that the PCC area is switched (for example, PCCArea or PCCDistrict both It can include multiple cell/eNB/TA/RA) switching, therefore, this "unscrupulous" reporting method will cause excessive occupation of air interface resources when the UE frequently switches the connected cell/eNB/TA/RA, There is a problem of too fine granularity. According to the reporting mechanism provided by this embodiment, the granularity of controlling the IP-CAN session can be set according to actual needs, which can not only meet the needs of operators for various control granularities, but also because only when the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea, The MME only reports the location information of the UE after entering or leaving the PCCArea to the PCRF, thus avoiding excessive occupation of air interface resources caused by "unscrupulous" reporting and saving air interface resources.

On the basis of the first embodiment, the method for determining the location of the user terminal may further include various methods of differentiation based on the specific location of the UE in its associated PCCArea, for example, the PCRF determines the PCCArea/ The PCC rule corresponding to the PCCDistrict is executed by the PCEF to control the UE in a differentiated manner. The present invention does not limit the specific manner of differentiated control, and any manner of performing differentiated control based on the specific position of the UE in the PC Carea falls within the protection scope of the present invention. In the following, the differentiation control is performed according to the PCC rules.

In the specific embodiment of Embodiment 1, after step S14, as shown in FIG. 3 , the method may further include:

S15. The PCRF determines the PCC rule corresponding to the PCCArea or PCCDistrict where the UE is currently located.

When the UE is currently in the PCCArea, the PCRF determines the PCC rule corresponding to the PCCArea where the UE is currently located; or, when the UE is currently in the PCCDistrict, the PCRF determines the PCC rule corresponding to the PCCDistrict where the UE is currently located. In this way, the PCEF can perform differential control on the IP-CAN session performed by the UE according to the PCC rules corresponding to the PCCArea or PCCDistrict.

According to this specific embodiment, for each IP-CAN session, not only can the IP-CAN session be controlled universally in the PCCArea with relatively large coverage, but also when the PCRF recognizes that the UE moves into the PCCarea For a specific PCC District with a relatively small coverage area, the IP-CAN session is controlled individually, and therefore, differentiated control of the IP-CAN session for the UE can be realized.

Embodiment two

This embodiment is used to specifically illustrate the process of how the PCRF creates an IP-CAN session (IP-CANSession) for the UE and defines the PCCArea for the UE in the method for determining the location of the user terminal, and how the MME performs monitoring based on the delivered PCCArea, And report it to the PCRF in time so that the PCRF can judge which area the UE is in based on this.

FIG. 4 is a signaling diagram of a method for determining the location of a user terminal provided in Embodiment 2. As shown in FIG. 4, the method specifically includes:

S401. The UE initiates an IP-CANSession establishment request to the MME.

S402. The MME sends an IP-CANSession establishment request to a P-GW (Packet Gateway) via an S-GW (Signaling Gateway, signaling gateway).

S403. The P-GW sends an IP-CANSession establishment request to the PCRF.

S404. The PCRF determines the parameters needed to establish the IP-CANSession and the corresponding relationship between the PCCArea and the cell/eNB/TA/RA.

PCRF maintains the correspondence between PCCArea<->cell/eNB/TA/RA.

S405. The PCRF replies to the establishment request, and the reply message carries the corresponding relationship between PCCarea and cell/eNB/TA/RA.

S406. The P-GW forwards the reply message of the PCRF to the MME.

S407. The MME judges in real time whether the UE has entered or left the PCCArea according to the obtained corresponding relationship between the PCCArea and the cell/eNB/TA/RA.

The MME needs to maintain the corresponding relationship between PCCarea<->cell/eNB/TA/RA. Whether the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea is used as a trigger event to trigger the PCRF to judge that the UE is in the PCCArea or PCCDistrict.

S408. When the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea, the MME reports the trigger event to the P-GW in the report message. At the same time, the MME also reports the first cell/eNB/TA/ RA.

After the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea, the first cell/eNB/TA/RA perceived by the MME corresponds to a serving district.

S409. The P-GW forwards the report message to the PCRF.

S410. The PCRF receives the report message, and determines according to the first cell/eNB/TA/RA that the UE has entered the PCCArea or a specific District area.

PCRF also needs to maintain the correspondence between different PCCDistricts and cell/eNB/TA/RA (District1<->List1ofcell/eNB/TA/RA; District2<->List2ofcell/eNB/TA/RA; District3<->List3ofcell/ eNB/TA/RA).

In this step, the PCRF receives the message reported by the MME, and at the same time obtains the first cell/eNB/TA/RA where the UE enters the PCCArea. When the UE leaves the PCCArea, the PCRF can compare the cell/eNB/TA/RA with the District<->Listofcell/eNB/TA/RA stored in the network element, so as to know which District the UE has entered.

S411. The PCRF modifies the PCC policy.

According to the method provided in this embodiment, it can be determined whether the user terminal is in the PCCArea or a specific PCCDistrict, which is of great significance for how to differentiate the specific location of the user terminal in its associated PCCArea.

Embodiment Three

Corresponding to Embodiment 1, this embodiment describes a system for determining the location of a user terminal, which is applied to the existing PCC architecture proposed by 3GPP, wherein the policy and charging rule functional unit PCRF creates an IP connection for the user terminal to access the network IP- CAN session. As shown in Figure 5, the system 50 (the part shown by the dotted line) at least includes: PCRF51, mobility management entity MME52, gateway GW53; wherein,

PCRF51 is used to send PCCArea information to MME52 via GW53 when establishing an IP-CAN session for the user terminal, and the PCCArea information is the identification information of the PCCArea applicable to the IP-CAN session;

MME52 is used to receive the PCCArea information, and determine in real time that the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCArea;

The MME52 is also used to: when the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCArea, report the location information of the user terminal after entering or leaving the PCCArea to the PCRF51 via the GW53;

The PCRF51 is also used to: receive the location information, and determine the PCCArea or PCCDistrict where the user terminal is currently located according to the location information, wherein the PCCArea is a special area in the PCCArea, and the PCCArea includes at least one PCCArea .

In the system provided in this embodiment, the MME receives the identification information of the PCCarea applicable to the IP-CAN session sent by the PCRF, and determines in real time based on which the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCarea; and only when the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCarea PCCarea, the MME reports to the PCRF the location information of the user terminal after entering or leaving the PCCarea, so that the PCRF can determine whether the user terminal is currently in the PCCarea or a specific PCCdistrict according to the location information. It is important to differentiate in the specific position in the PCCarea to which it is associated.

In addition, the system provided by this embodiment adopts a mechanism for hierarchically dividing PCC action areas, and can set the granularity of controlling IP-CAN sessions according to actual needs, which can not only meet the needs of operators for various control granularities, but also Since the MME reports the location information of the UE after entering or leaving the PCCArea to the PCRF only when the UE enters or leaves the PCCArea, it can avoid excessive occupation of air interface resources caused by "unscrupulous" reporting and save air interface resources.

Corresponding to the first embodiment above, in a more specific embodiment of the third embodiment, in order to perform differentiated control on the IP-CAN session performed by the UE according to the PCC rules corresponding to PCCarea or PCCdistrict, the PCRF51 can also be used for: when the user terminal When currently in the PCCArea, determine the PCC rule corresponding to the PCCArea where the user terminal is currently located; or, when the user terminal is currently in the PCCDistrict, determine the PCC rule corresponding to the PCCDistrict where the user terminal is currently located.

In order to determine the PCCArea or PCCDistrict where the user terminal is currently specifically located, PCRF51 can be used to: obtain PCCDistrict information, and the PCCDistrict information is the identification information of the PCCDistrict applicable to the IP-CAN session; when the location information exists in the PCCArea information but not When it exists in the PCCDistrict information, determine that the user terminal is currently in the PCCArea; or, when the location information exists in the PCCArea information and in the PCCDistrict information, determine the PCCArea where the user terminal is currently located.

In the above embodiments, PCCArea and PCCDistrict include but not limited to the coverage areas of cells, eNBs, TAs and RAs. Moreover, when the PCCArea includes multiple PCCDistricts, the multiple PCCDistricts are not adjacent to each other.

The various embodiments in this specification have been described emphatically, the same and similar parts of the various embodiments can be referred to each other, and each embodiment focuses on the differences from other embodiments. In particular, as for the system embodiment, since it is basically similar to the method embodiment, the description is relatively simple, and for related parts, please refer to part of the description of the method embodiment.

Claims (10)

1. A method for determining the position of a user terminal is applied to a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) framework proposed by the third generation partnership project (3 GPP), wherein a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) unit creates an IP connection for the user terminal to access a network IP-CAN session, and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

when an IP-CAN session is established for a user terminal, PCRF sends PCCArea information to a mobile management entity MME, wherein the PCCArea information is identification information of a PCCArea area applicable to the IP-CAN session;

the MME receives the PCCArea information and determines that the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCArea in real time;

when the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCArea, the MME reports the position information of the user terminal after entering or leaving the PCCArea to the PCRF;

and the PCRF receives the position information and determines a PCCArea or a PCCDistrict area where the user terminal is located currently according to the position information, wherein the PCCDistrict is a special area in the PCCArea, and the PCCArea at least comprises one PCCDistrict.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

when the user terminal is currently in the PCCArea, the PCRF determines a PCC rule corresponding to the PCCArea where the user terminal is currently located; or,

and when the user terminal is currently at the PCCDistrict, the PCRF determines a PCC rule corresponding to the PCCDistrict where the user terminal is currently located.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2,

the determining the PCCArea or PCCDistrict where the user terminal is currently located according to the location information includes:

acquiring PCCDistrict information, wherein the PCCDistrict information is identification information of the PCCDistrict applicable to the IP-CAN session;

determining that the user terminal is currently in the PCCArea when the location information exists in the PCCArea information but does not exist in the PCCDistrict information;

and when the position information exists in the PCCArea information and the PCCDistrict information, determining the PCCArea where the user terminal is currently located.

4. The method of claim 3,

the pccerea and the PCCDistrict include, but are not limited to, coverage of a cell, eNB, TA, and RA.

5. The method of claim 3,

when the PCCArea includes a plurality of the PCCDistricts, the plurality of PCCDistricts are not adjacent to each other.

6. A system for determining the location of a user terminal for use in a policy and charging control, PCC, architecture proposed by the third Generation partnership project, 3GPP, wherein a policy and charging rules function, PCRF, creates an IP connection for the user terminal to access a network IP-CAN session,

the system is characterized by comprising a PCRF, a mobile management entity MME and a gateway GW; wherein,

the PCRF is used for sending PCCArea information to the MME through the GW when an IP-CAN session is established for a user terminal, wherein the PCCArea information is identification information of the PCCArea applicable to the IP-CAN session;

the MME is used for receiving the PCCArea information and determining that the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCArea in real time;

the MME is further configured to: when the user terminal enters or leaves the PCCArea, reporting the position information of the user terminal after entering or leaving the PCCArea to the PCRF through the GW;

the PCRF is further configured to: receiving the location information, and determining a PCCArea or a PCCDistrict where the user terminal is currently located according to the location information, wherein the PCCDistrict is a special area in the PCCArea, and the PCCArea at least comprises one PCCDistrict.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the PCRF is further configured to:

when the user terminal is currently in the PCCArea, determining a PCC rule corresponding to the PCCArea where the user terminal is currently located; or,

and when the user terminal is currently at the PCCDistrict, determining a PCC rule corresponding to the PCCDistrict where the user terminal is currently located.

8. The system according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that the PCRF is specifically configured to:

acquiring PCCDistrict information, wherein the PCCDistrict information is identification information of the PCCDistrict applicable to the IP-CAN session;

determining that the user terminal is currently in the PCCArea when the location information exists in the PCCArea information but does not exist in the PCCDistrict information;

and when the position information exists in the PCCArea information and the PCCDistrict information, determining the PCCArea where the user terminal is currently located.

9. The system of claim 8,

the pccerea and the PCCDistrict include, but are not limited to, coverage of a cell, eNB, TA, and RA.

10. The system of claim 8,

when the PCCArea includes a plurality of the PCCDistricts, the plurality of PCCDistricts are not adjacent to each other.