Communication method, device and terminal
Technical Field
The present invention relates to the field of communications, and in particular, to a communication method, apparatus, and terminal.
Background
In order to maintain the competitiveness of the third Generation mobile communication (3G) System in the communication field, the third Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) standard working group is working on the evolution Packet domain System (EPS). Fig. 1 is a network architecture diagram of EPS. As shown in fig. 1, the whole EPS mainly includes two parts, namely an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) and an Evolved Packet Core (EPC). The EPC can support a user to Access from a Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution (EDGE) Radio Access Network (GERAN, GSM EDGE Radio Access Network) and a Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN).
The evolved packet core network comprises: a Home subscriber data server (HSS), a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Serving Gateway (S-GW), a Packet data network Gateway (P-GW, PDN Gateway), a Serving General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Support Node (SGSN), and a Policy and Charging Rules Function Entity (PCRF).
The HSS is a permanent storage place of the user subscription data and is positioned in a home network subscribed by the user; the MME is a storage place of the user subscription data in the current network and is responsible for Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling management from the terminal to the network, tracking and paging management functions and bearer management in an idle mode of the user; the S-GW is a gateway from a core network to a wireless system and is responsible for user plane bearing from a terminal to the core network, data caching in a terminal idle mode, a function of initiating a service request at a network side, and functions of lawful interception, packet data routing and forwarding; the P-GW is an evolved packet domain system and a gateway of an external network of the system, and is responsible for functions of network Protocol (IP, Internet Protocol) address allocation, a charging function, packet filtering, policy application and the like of a terminal; SGSN is a service support point for accessing GERAN and UTRAN users to EPC, and is similar to MME in function and is responsible for functions of user location update, paging management, bearing management and the like; the PCRF is responsible for providing Policy control and Charging rules to a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function entity (PCEF).
Wherein Iu is an interface between a radio network controller and an SGSN, Gr is an interface between the SGSN and an HSS, S1-MME is an interface between a base station and the MME, S1-U is an interface between the base station and an S-GW, S3 is an interface between the MME and the SGSN, S4 is an interface between the SGSN and the S-GW, S5 is an interface between the S-GW and the P-GW, S6a is an interface between the MME and the HSS, S7 is an interface between the P-GW and the PCRF, S10 is an interface between the MME, S11 is an interface between the MME and the S-GW, SCi is an interface between the P-GW and a packet data network, and Rx is a reference point interface between the PCRF and the packet data network.
With the development of intelligent sensors, more and more devices with communication capability, such as non-traditional terminal devices like intelligent cameras and intelligent monitors, can access a network and data communication occurs. The data communication of this type of communication device has the characteristics of small transmission data volume (mainly some data reporting), and infrequent data transmission (timing reporting or bursty data reporting), and this type of terminal is called a mobile Internet of Things (CIoT, Cellular Internet of Things) terminal. In the conventional EPS, because the EPS mainly aims at a terminal which continuously transmits a large amount of data, a complicated conversion between an IDLE state and a connection state is designed, that is, the terminal can transmit data in the connection state and enters the IDLE state (IDLE) without transmitting data. This mechanism ensures high reliability and efficiency of communication. However, when the CIoT terminal accesses the conventional EPS, the CIoT terminal transmits a small amount of data through a complex idle state and connected state conversion process. Thus, signaling waste is caused, and network load is increased.
For the specificity of CIoT terminals, CIoT terminals may access the network architecture as shown in fig. 2. As shown in fig. 2, a mobile internet of things terminal (CIoT UE) is an internet of things terminal that frequently or infrequently transmits small data packets; mobile internet of things radio access network (CIoT RAN) and mobile internet of things packet core network (CIoT EPC) are CIoT's private network, employing simplified or enhanced EPS related functions (mobility management and session management) to support CIoT's data transmission. In order to simplify signaling between interfaces, functions of the MME, the S-GW, and the P-GW in fig. 1 may be integrated into one Network element of a CIoT Core Network (CN), or the MME and the S-GW may be integrated into one Network element and the P-GW is separately provided, so that a roaming scenario may be effectively supported.
In order to support the above functions, the prior art provides a small data transmission flow, as shown in fig. 3:
step 300: the CIoT UE registers to the network and establishes a secure connection with the network;
step 301: the CIoT UE initiates a random access request, wherein the random access request carries a terminal identifier and a connectionless establishment instruction;
step 302: the CIoT RAN returns a random access response, wherein the random access response carries a terminal identifier and uplink authorized resources;
step 303: the CIoT UE sends a random access response, wherein the random access response carries uplink small data, and the small data is transmitted by an encrypted NAS (non-access stratum);
step 304: the CIoT RAN selects a proper core network (such as CIoT EPC) for the CIoT UE according to the terminal identification, and sends an initial UE establishment message, wherein the initial UE establishment message carries the terminal identification and encrypted data;
step 305: CIoT EPC checks the message and decrypts the data; the CIoT EPC sends the small data to the P-GW, and temporarily stores the wireless access network identification of the small data sent by the CIoT UE;
step 306: when downlink small data arrive, the P-GW sends the downlink small data to the CIoT EPC;
step 307: the CIoT EPC performs paging optimization when downlink data arrives according to the stored wireless access network identification, and sends a paging message to the CIoT RAN, wherein the paging message contains encrypted downlink data;
step 308: and the CIoT RAN receiving the paging message pages the CIoT UE, the CIoT UE receives the paging message, sends a response message to the CIoT RAN and acquires encrypted downlink data from the CIoT RAN.
Although most of services of the mobile internet of things are small data services, large data are generated occasionally in consideration of requirements of service upgrading or software upgrading and the like. At this time, if the small data transmission method shown in fig. 3 is still used, the transmission rate is greatly reduced.
Disclosure of Invention
In order to solve the technical problem, the invention provides a communication method, a communication device and a communication terminal, which are used for solving the problem that a transmission rate is reduced because a small data transmission mode is still adopted by a mobile internet of things terminal aiming at downlink data with large data volume and/or downlink data with high transmission frequency.
In order to achieve the above technical object, the present invention provides a communication method, including: the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things compares the data volume of the downlink data packet with a first threshold value, and/or compares the transmission frequency of the downlink data packet with a second threshold value; and when the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things compares that the data volume of the downlink data packet is larger than a first threshold value and/or the transmission frequency is larger than a second threshold value, the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things informs the terminal that the switching from the small data communication to the conventional communication is needed.
The invention also provides a communication device, which is applied to the network element at the network side of the mobile internet of things and comprises the following components: the comparison module is used for comparing the data volume of the downlink data packet with a first threshold value and/or comparing the transmission frequency of the downlink data packet with a second threshold value; and the notification module is used for notifying the terminal that the small data communication needs to be switched to the conventional communication when the comparison module compares that the data volume of the downlink data packet is larger than a first threshold and/or the transmission frequency is larger than a second threshold.
The invention also provides a communication method, which comprises the following steps: the terminal receives a notice that the small data communication needs to be switched to the conventional communication from the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things; the terminal switches from small data communication to regular communication.
The present invention also provides a terminal, comprising: the receiving module is used for receiving a notice that the small data communication needs to be switched to the conventional communication from the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things; and the processing module is used for switching from the small data communication to the conventional communication.
The invention also provides a communication method, which comprises the following steps: informing the terminal that a handover from the small data communication to the conventional communication is required according to a communication method applied to the mobile internet of things network side; the terminal switches from the small data communication to the regular communication after receiving the notification that the switching from the small data communication to the regular communication is required.
In the invention, a network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things compares the data volume of a downlink data packet with a first threshold value and/or compares the transmission frequency of the downlink data packet with a second threshold value; and when the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things compares that the data volume of the downlink data packet is larger than a first threshold value and/or the transmission frequency is larger than a second threshold value, the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things informs the terminal that the switching from the small data communication to the conventional communication is needed. According to the invention, the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things judges the downlink data packet aiming at the terminal adopting small data communication, and informs the mobile Internet of things terminal of adopting a proper data transmission mode according to the judgment result, thereby solving the problem of the transmission rate reduction caused by the fact that the mobile Internet of things terminal still adopts the small data transmission mode aiming at the data with larger data volume and/or the data with higher transmission frequency in the prior art.
Drawings
FIG. 1 is a network architecture diagram of an EPS;
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a mobile Internet of things architecture in the prior art;
FIG. 3 is a flow chart of small data transmission in the prior art;
fig. 4 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a first embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 6 is a flowchart of a second embodiment of the present invention;
FIG. 7 is a flow chart of a third embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention;
fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to another embodiment of the present invention.
Detailed Description
The embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, and it should be understood that the embodiments described below are only for illustrating and explaining the present invention and are not intended to limit the present invention.
Fig. 4 is a flowchart of a communication method according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 4, the communication method provided in this embodiment is applied to a network element on a mobile internet of things network side, and includes the following steps:
step 401: the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things compares the data volume of the downlink data packet with a first threshold value, and/or compares the transmission frequency of the downlink data packet with a second threshold value;
step 402: and when the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things compares that the data volume of the downlink data packet is larger than a first threshold value and/or the transmission frequency is larger than a second threshold value, the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things informs the terminal that the switching from the small data communication to the conventional communication is needed.
The data amount may be measured by the size of a data packet and/or the total amount of data packets for a certain user, the transmission frequency may be measured by the number of transmitted data packets and/or the number of times of transmitting data packets in a unit time, and a specific unit of the unit time may be configured by the detected network element.
Specifically, the network element at the network side of the mobile internet of things compares the data volume of the downlink data packet with a first threshold value, and when the network element at the network side of the mobile internet of things compares that the data volume of the downlink data packet is larger than the first threshold value, the network element at the network side of the mobile internet of things informs the terminal that the switching from the small data communication to the conventional communication is needed;
or,
the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things compares the transmission frequency of the downlink data packet with a second threshold value, and when the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things compares that the transmission frequency of the downlink data packet is greater than the second threshold value, the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things informs the terminal that the switching from the small data communication to the conventional communication is needed;
or,
the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things compares the data volume of the downlink data packet with a first threshold value and compares the transmission frequency of the downlink data packet with a second threshold value; when the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things compares that the data volume of the downlink data packet is larger than a first threshold value or the transmission frequency is larger than a second threshold value, the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things informs the terminal that the switching from the small data communication to the conventional communication is needed;
or,
the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things compares the data volume of the downlink data packet with a first threshold value and compares the transmission frequency of the downlink data packet with a second threshold value; and when the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things compares that the data volume of the downlink data packet is larger than the first threshold value and the transmission frequency is larger than the second threshold value, the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things informs the terminal that the switching from the small data communication to the conventional communication is needed.
Herein, the manner in which the terminal switches from the small data communication to the regular communication includes, for example: a terminal initiates a Public Data Network (PDN) connection establishment process, or initiates a service request process and establishes a common bearer in the process to acquire Data; or, reselect to connect to the normal network.
In an embodiment, when the network element on the network side of the mobile internet of things is a P-GW, before step 401, the method further includes: the P-GW detects the data quantity and/or transmission frequency of the downlink data packet.
When the network element on the network side of the mobile internet of things is a P-GW, step 402 includes:
the method comprises the steps that a P-GW sends a notice to a mobile Internet of things core network, and triggers the mobile Internet of things core network to send a paging message to a terminal through a wireless access network, wherein the paging message carries a terminal identification and an indication for requiring the terminal to switch from small data communication to conventional communication; or,
the P-GW sends a notice to a mobile Internet of things core network, triggers the mobile Internet of things core network to page a terminal through a wireless access network according to a terminal identifier and sends an instruction for requiring the terminal to switch from small data communication to conventional communication after the terminal sends a paging response.
The method for sending the notification to the mobile internet of things core network by the P-GW includes: and the P-GW sends a notification message of a specific message, a specific data packet or newly added specific information to a core network of the mobile Internet of things.
In the notification message of the newly added specific information, the newly added specific information can be realized by a newly added cell or a newly added value of an existing cell. And the notification message may use an update bearer request or other GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) message with similar functions.
In an embodiment, when the network element on the network side of the mobile internet of things is a core network of the mobile internet of things, before step 401, the method further includes:
the method comprises the steps that a mobile Internet of things core network detects the data volume and/or transmission frequency of a downlink data packet; and/or the presence of a gas in the gas,
and the mobile Internet of things core network receives the data volume and/or the transmission frequency of the downlink data packet detected by the P-GW from the P-GW.
When the network element on the network side of the mobile internet of things is a core network of the mobile internet of things, step 402 includes: and the mobile Internet of things core network sends a paging message to the terminal through the wireless access network, wherein the paging message carries a terminal identifier and an instruction for requiring the terminal to switch from small data communication to conventional communication.
In addition, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a communication method, including: the terminal receives a notice that the small data communication needs to be switched to the conventional communication from the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things; the terminal switches from the small data communication to the regular communication.
Wherein the terminal switching from the small data communication to the regular communication comprises: the terminal establishes common data connection in the current mobile Internet of things; or, the terminal switches to a common network.
In addition, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a communication method, including: informing the terminal of switching from small data communication to conventional communication according to a communication method applied to a network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things; the terminal switches from the small data communication to the regular communication after receiving the notification that the switching from the small data communication to the regular communication is required.
The invention is illustrated below by means of a number of specific examples.
Example one
Fig. 5 is a flowchart of a first embodiment of the invention. The embodiment is suitable for roaming scenes or non-roaming scenes. In this embodiment, the P-GW detects the data amount and/or transmission frequency of a data packet transmitted to a certain terminal, and determines whether it is suitable to transmit the data packet to the terminal by the small data transmission method as shown in fig. 3. And when the data volume and/or the transmission frequency of the data packet exceed the corresponding threshold, the P-GW triggers and informs the terminal that a common data connection needs to be established or a common network needs to be switched to. As shown in fig. 5, the present embodiment includes the following steps:
step 500: the terminal registers to the network and establishes safe connection with the network;
step 501: the P-GW judges whether to inform the terminal to initiate the establishment of the common data connection or switch to the common network according to the data volume and/or the transmission frequency of the received data packet; when the judgment result is that the terminal needs to be notified, the subsequent steps are executed;
step 502: if the P-GW and the CIoT core network establish a control plane tunnel, the P-GW can inform the CIoT core network of needing the terminal to establish common data connection or switching to a common network through a specific message; if the P-GW and the CIoT core network do not establish a control plane tunnel or a bearer, the P-GW may notify the CIoT core network through a specific packet (e.g., a specific packet is generated by a specific packet header or an added tag);
step 503-505: after receiving the specific message or the specific data packet, the CIoT core network sends a paging message, and carries an indication in the paging message to require the terminal to switch to a normal bearer or initiate bearer establishment, or reselect to a normal network to acquire a service (for example, switch to a normal communication indication); the CIoT core network pages the terminal through the CIoT wireless access network, and a paging request of the CIoT wireless access network also carries a corresponding indication;
step 506: the terminal receives the paging message, initiates a Public Data Network (PDN) connection establishment process, or initiates a service request process and establishes a common bearer in the process to acquire data; if the CIoT network does not support this, the terminal reselects to connect to the normal network.
Example two
Fig. 6 is a flowchart of a second embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment is suitable for roaming scenes or non-roaming scenes. In this embodiment, a mobile Network Gateway Service entity (C-GSN) in a core Network of the mobile internet of things detects a data amount and/or a transmission frequency of a data packet sent to a certain terminal, and determines whether the data packet is suitable for being sent to the terminal in a small data transmission manner as shown in fig. 3; or, the P-GW detects the data amount and/or transmission frequency of a data packet transmitted to a certain terminal, and transmits the detection result to the C-GSN, which determines whether it is suitable for transmitting to the terminal through the small data transmission manner as shown in fig. 3. And after the data packet quantity and/or the transmission frequency exceed the corresponding threshold values, the C-GSN caches the data and triggers the notification terminal to establish a common data connection or switch to a common network. As shown in fig. 6, the present embodiment includes the following steps:
step 600: the terminal registers to the network and establishes safe connection with the network;
step 601: the P-GW sends data to a CIoT core network;
at this time, if the P-GW also has the capability of counting the data amount and/or transmission frequency of the received data packet, the P-GW may also send the statistical data to the CIoT core network;
step 602: the CIoT core network judges whether to inform the terminal to initiate the establishment of the common data connection or switch to the common network according to the data volume and/or the transmission frequency of the received data packet and/or statistical data sent by the P-GW; when the judgment result is that the terminal needs to be notified, the subsequent steps are executed;
if the result is negative, that is, the terminal does not need to be notified, the GIoT core network may notify the P-GW of releasing the response cache, where this operation may be to request the P-GW not to issue the data of the terminal or to release the number of data packets of the terminal within a period of time, and therefore, the notification message may further include time information and/or threshold information of the number of data packets;
step 603-604: the CIoT core network receives the message or the data packet, initiates a paging message, and carries an indication in the paging message to require the terminal to switch to a normal bearer or initiate bearer establishment, or reselect to a normal network to acquire service (for example, switch to a normal communication indication); the CIoT core network pages the terminal through the CIoT wireless access network, and the paging message of the CIoT wireless access network also carries corresponding indication;
step 605: the terminal receives the paging message, initiates a PDN connection establishment process, or initiates a service request process and establishes a common bearer in the process to acquire data; if the CIoT network does not support this, the terminal reselects to connect to the normal network.
EXAMPLE III
FIG. 7 is a flowchart of a third embodiment of the present invention. The embodiment is suitable for roaming scenes or non-roaming scenes. In this embodiment, the P-GW detects the data amount and/or transmission frequency of a data packet transmitted to a certain terminal, and determines whether it is suitable to transmit the data packet to the terminal by the small data transmission method as shown in fig. 3. And when the data volume and/or the transmission frequency of the data packet exceed the corresponding threshold, the P-GW triggers and informs the terminal that a common data connection needs to be established or a common network needs to be switched to. As shown in fig. 7, the present embodiment includes the following steps:
step 700: the terminal registers to the network and establishes safe connection with the network;
step 701: the P-GW judges whether to inform the terminal to initiate common data connection or switch to a common network according to the data volume and/or the transmission frequency of the received data packet; when the judgment result is that the terminal needs to be notified, the subsequent steps are executed;
step 702: if the P-GW and the CIoT core network establish a control plane tunnel, the P-GW can inform the CIoT core network of needing the terminal to establish common data connection or switching to a common network through a specific message; if the P-GW and the CIoT core network do not establish a control plane tunnel or a bearer, the P-GW may notify the CIoT core network through a specific packet (e.g., a specific packet is generated by a specific packet header or an added tag);
step 703-704: after receiving the specific message or the specific data packet, the CIoT core network sends a paging message to the CIoT radio access network, wherein the paging message includes the specific data packet or an encrypted NAS message, the NAS message may be a detach message or other messages with similar actions, and the message carries an indication to require the terminal to reinitiate a common bearer, or initiate PDN connection establishment, or reselect a common network, thereby acquiring large data transmission;
step 705: a CIoT wireless access network paging terminal receiving the paging message;
step 706-707: the terminal receives the paging message, initiates a paging response, and acquires a specific data packet or an encrypted NAS message from the CIoT wireless access network;
step 708: the terminal initiates a PDN connection establishment process according to the received specific data packet or the encrypted NAS message, or initiates a service request process and establishes a common bearer in the process to acquire data; if the CIoT network does not support this, the terminal reselects to connect to the normal network.
In addition, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a communication apparatus, which is applied to a network element on a network side of a mobile internet of things, and includes: the comparison module is used for comparing the data volume of the downlink data packet with a first threshold value and/or comparing the transmission frequency of the downlink data packet with a second threshold value; and the notification module is used for notifying the terminal that the small data communication needs to be switched to the conventional communication when the comparison module compares that the data volume of the downlink data packet is larger than a first threshold and/or the transmission frequency is larger than a second threshold.
Further, the apparatus further comprises: and the detection module is used for detecting the data volume and/or the transmission frequency of the downlink data packet.
Further, when the network element on the network side of the mobile internet of things is the core network element of the mobile internet of things, the apparatus further includes: and the receiving module is used for receiving the data volume and/or the transmission frequency of the downlink data packet detected by the P-GW from the P-GW.
Further, when the network element on the network side of the mobile internet of things is a P-GW, the notifying module is configured to notify the terminal that the handover from the small data communication to the conventional communication is required, and includes:
sending a notification to a mobile Internet of things core network, triggering the mobile Internet of things core network to send a paging message to a terminal through a wireless access network, wherein the paging message carries a terminal identifier and an indication for requiring the terminal to switch from small data communication to conventional communication; or,
and sending a notice to a mobile Internet of things core network, triggering the mobile Internet of things core network to page the terminal through a wireless access network according to the terminal identification, and sending an instruction for requiring the terminal to switch from the small data communication to the conventional communication after the terminal sends a paging response.
Further, the notification module is configured to send a notification to a core network of the mobile internet of things, and includes: and sending a notification message of specific information, specific data packets or newly added specific information to the core network of the mobile Internet of things.
Further, when the network element on the network side of the mobile internet of things is a core network element of the mobile internet of things, the notifying module is configured to notify the terminal that the handover from the small data communication to the conventional communication is required, and includes: and sending a paging message to the terminal through a wireless access network, wherein the paging message carries a terminal identifier and an indication for requiring the terminal to switch from small data communication to conventional communication.
Fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 8, the communication apparatus provided in this embodiment, for example, applied to a P-GW or a mobile internet core network element, includes: the device comprises a detection module, a comparison module and a notification module. The specific functions of the modules are the same as those described above, and thus are not described herein again. In practical applications, the detecting module and the comparing module are, for example, components with information processing capability such as a processor, and the notifying module is, for example, components with information transmission capability such as a transmitter. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. The functions of the above modules may be implemented by a processor executing programs/instructions stored in a memory.
Fig. 9 is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to another embodiment of the present invention. As shown in fig. 9, the communication device provided in this embodiment, for example, applied to a core network element of a mobile internet of things, includes: the device comprises a receiving module, a comparing module and a notifying module. The specific functions of the modules are the same as those described above, and thus are not described herein again. In practical applications, the receiving module is a component with information receiving capability, such as a receiver, the comparing module is a component with information processing capability, such as a processor, and the notifying module is a component with information transmitting capability, such as a transmitter. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. The functions of the above modules may be implemented by a processor executing programs/instructions stored in a memory.
In addition, an embodiment of the present invention further provides a terminal, including: the receiving module is used for receiving a notice that the small data communication needs to be switched to the conventional communication from the network element at the network side of the mobile Internet of things; and the processing module is used for switching from the small data communication to the conventional communication.
Further, the processing module for switching from the small data communication to the regular communication comprises: establishing common data connection in the current mobile Internet of things; or, switch to the normal network.
In practical applications, the receiving module is a component such as a receiver having an information receiving capability, and the processing module is a component such as a processor having an information processing capability. However, the present invention is not limited thereto. The functions of the above modules may be implemented by a processor executing programs/instructions stored in a memory.
The foregoing shows and describes the general principles and broad features of the present invention and advantages thereof. The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, which are described in the specification and illustrated only for illustrating the principle of the present invention, but various changes and modifications may be made within the scope of the present invention as claimed without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.