Control of relay bearer QoS configuration based on messaging from IMS platform

• US 10,327,267 B1
• Filed: 08/04/2017
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Malhotra, Rajil, Velusamy, Saravana
• Primary Examiner(s): La, Phong
• Application Number:
  US15/669,514
• Time in Patent Office: 683 Days
• Field of Search: 370315
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/76 using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation requested by the user or requested by the network in response to changing network conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/762 triggered by the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/801 Real time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0252 per individual bearer or channel dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0257 the individual bearer or channel having a maximum bit rate or a bit rate guarantee
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0268 using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/22 using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/24 Connectivity information management, e.g. connectivity discovery or connectivity update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/10 adapted for application session management, e.g. SIP [Session Initiation Protocol] connection management H04W76/00; arrangements for session management H04L67/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/047 using dedicated repeater stations

Abstract

As IMS-based sessions are established for UEs served by a relay base station, the IMS platform will signal to a core network to request setup of bearers for carrying traffic of the IMS-based sessions and will identify the relay base station serving the UEs. Based on this IMS signaling messages identifying the relay base station serving the UEs for which the bearers are being set up, the core network will track a count of such bearers established for UEs served by the relay base station. And upon detecting that the tracked count reaches a threshold level, the core network will trigger adjustment of a maximum bit rate and/or other QoS attribute of a relay bearer established for providing aggregate wireless backhaul connectivity for the relay base station.

Claims

1. A method operable in a communication system in which a relay node is served by a donor base station and has a relay bearer extending via the donor base station between the relay node and a core network, wherein the relay bearer has a configured quality of service (QoS) level, and wherein the core network provides connectivity with an Internet Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) platform, the method comprising:

receiving by the core network, from the IMS platform, messages indicating that new end-user bearers are needed for IMS-based sessions being set up for user equipment devices (UEs) served by the relay node, the end-user bearers extending via the relay node and relay bearer between the UEs and the core network, the messages further indicating that the UEs are served by the relay node;

tracking by the core network, based on the messages from the IMS platform, a count of the end-user bearers established for IMS-based sessions for UEs served by the relay node; and

based on the tracked count of the end-user bearers established for IMS-based sessions for UEs served by the relay node, triggering by the core network an adjustment of the QoS level of the relay bearer,

wherein the receiving, tracking, and triggering are carried out by a policy server,

wherein the QoS level of the relay bearer defines a maximum bit rate of the relay bearer, and wherein triggering adjustment of the QoS level of the relay bearer comprises triggering adjustment of the maximum bit rate of the relay bearer, and

wherein the relay node is served by the donor base station over an air interface defining air interface resources, and wherein adjustment of the maximum bit rate of the relay bearer causes the donor base station to adjust an extent of the air interface resources that the donor base station reserves to accommodate traffic flow on the relay bearer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein triggering by the core network the adjustment of the QoS level of the relay bearer based on the tracked count of end-user bearers established for IMS-based sessions for UEs served by the relay node comprises:

determining by the policy server, based on the tracking based on the messages from the IMS platform, that the count of end-user bearers established for IMS-based sessions for UEs served by the relay node meets or exceeds a predefined threshold count; and

responsive to the determining, triggering by the policy server adjustment of the QoS level of the relay bearer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the relay bearer extends via the donor base station between the relay node and a relay gateway of the core network, and wherein triggering adjustment of the maximum bit rate of the relay bearer comprises transmitting from the policy server to the relay gateway a directive for adjustment of the maximum bit rate of the relay bearer.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each IMS-based session is a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) session, wherein each end-user bearer is a conversational-voice bearer for carrying voice traffic, and wherein the relay bearer is also a conversational-voice bearer for carrying voice traffic.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein for each IMS-based session being set up for a UE, at least one of the messages from the IMS platform to the policy server indicates that the UE is being served by the relay node by specifying a relay node identifier that the UE provided to the IMS platform within session setup signaling for the IMS-based session.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the signaling from the UE comprises Session Initiation Protocol signaling.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein tracking based on the messages from the IMS platform the count of end-user bearers established for IMS-based sessions for UEs served by the relay node is based on the messages indicating that the UEs are served by the relay node.

8. A method comprising:

respectively for each of a plurality of user equipment devices (UEs) served by a relay node, a network entity receiving from an Internet Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) platform a message that indicates a new end-user bearer is needed for an IMS-based session being set up for the UE and that includes an identifier of the relay node that is serving the UE, wherein the relay node has an established relay bearer having a configured quality of service (QoS) level, and wherein the end-user bearer will be via the relay bearer;

tracking by the network entity a count of the end-user bearers established for IMS-based sessions for UEs served by the relay node, the tracking being based on the messages received by the network entity including the identifier of the relay node serving the UEs; and

based on the tracked count of the end-user bearers established in total for IMS-based sessions for UEs served by the relay node, the network entity triggering adjustment of the QoS level of the relay bearer,

wherein the network entity is a policy server, and

wherein the QoS level of the relay bearer defines a maximum bit rate of the relay bearer, and wherein triggering adjustment of the QoS level of the relay bearer comprises triggering adjustment of the maximum bit rate of the relay bearer, and

wherein triggering the adjustment of the QoS level of the relay bearer based on the tracked count of end-user bearers established in total for IMS-based sessions for UEs served by the relay node comprises (i) determining, based on the tracking based on the messages from the IMS platform, that the count of end-user bearers established for IMS-based sessions for UEs served by the relay node meets or exceeds a predefined threshold count and (ii) responsive to the determining, triggering adjustment of the QoS level of the relay bearer.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the relay bearer extends via a donor base station between the relay node and a relay gateway, and wherein triggering adjustment of the maximum bit rate of the relay bearer comprises transmitting from the policy server to the relay gateway a directive for adjustment of the maximum bit rate of the relay bearer.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the relay node is served by a donor base station over an air interface defining air interface resources, and wherein adjustment of the maximum bit rate of the relay bearer causes the donor base station to adjust an extent of the air interface resources that the donor base station reserves to accommodate traffic flow on the relay bearer.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein each IMS-based session is a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) session, wherein each end-user bearer is a conversational-voice bearer for carrying voice traffic, and wherein the relay bearer is also a conversational-voice bearer for carrying voice traffic.

12. A policy server comprising:

a network communication interface; and

a controller configured to control quality of service (QoS) level of a relay bearer established for a relay node, wherein the controller comprises a processing unit, non-transitory data storage, and program instructions stored in the non-transitory data storage and executable by the processing unit to carry out a plurality of operations,

wherein the operations include receiving from an Internet Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) platform, respectively for each of a plurality of user equipment devices (UEs) served by the relay node, a message that indicates that a new end-user bearer is needed for an IMS-based session being set up for the UE and that includes an identifier of the relay node that is serving the UE, wherein the end-user bearer will be via the relay bearer, and

wherein the operations further include (i) tracking a count of the end-user bearers established for IMS-based sessions for UEs served by the relay node, the tracking being based on the each received message including the identifier of the relay node, and (ii) based on the tracked count of the end-user bearers established for IMS-based sessions for UEs served by the relay node, triggering adjustment of the QoS level of the relay bearer,

wherein the QoS level of the relay bearer defines a maximum bit rate of the relay bearer, and wherein triggering adjustment of the QoS level of the relay bearer comprises triggering adjustment of the maximum bit rate of the relay bearer, and

wherein the relay node is served by a donor base station over an air interface defining air interface resources, and wherein adjustment of the maximum bit rate of the relay bearer causes the donor base station to adjust an extent of the air interface resources that the donor base station reserves to accommodate traffic flow on the relay bearer.

13. The policy server of claim 12, wherein each IMS-based session is a voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) session, wherein each end-user bearer is a conversational-voice bearer for carrying voice traffic of an associated VoIP session, and wherein the relay bearer is also a conversational-voice bearer.

14. The policy server of claim 12, wherein for each IMS-based session being set up for a UE, the message received by the policy server from the IMS platform includes the identifier of the relay node based on the IMS platform having received the identifier of the relay node in signaling from the UE for setup of the IMS-based session.