System and method for account level maximum bit rate enforcement

• US 10,498,657 B2
• Filed: 03/10/2017
• Issued: 12/03/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/10/2017
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: McCarley, William David, Hoffner, Barry F., Yan, Lixia
• Primary Examiner(s): Jain, Raj
• Application Number:
  US15/456,207
• Publication Number:
  US 20180262625A1
• Time in Patent Office: 998 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1407 Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/193 at the transport layer, e.g. TCP related
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/27 Evaluation or update of window size, e.g. using information derived from acknowledged [ACK] packets
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/57 for integrated multimedia messaging subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/64 On-line charging system [OCS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/75 Account location specifications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8228 Session based
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

A network device enables account-level data speed enforcement over a wireless core network. The network device obtains an account identifier for a user device requesting a session, wherein the account identifier applies to multiple user devices. The network device stores the account identifier associated with a user device identifier for the user device and an access point name (APN) identifier for the session. The network device associates the account identifier with an account aggregate maximum bit rate (AMBR) value and stores, in a memory, an entry including the account identifier, the user device identifier, and the APN identifier. The network device calculates, a per-APN AMBR value for the session, wherein the per-APN AMBR value includes a portion of the account AMBR value, and sends, to a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) device, the per-APN AMBR value for the session requested by the user device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining, by a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) device, an account identifier for a user device requesting a session over a wireless network, wherein the account identifier applies to multiple user devices that share an aggregate maximum bit rate (AMBR) among the multiple user devices;

storing, by the PCRF device, the account identifier associated with a user device identifier for the user device and an access point name (APN) identifier for the session;

associating, by the PCRF device, the account identifier with an account AMBR value;

storing, by the PCRF device and in a memory, an entry including the account identifier, the user device identifier, and the APN identifier;

calculating, by the PCRF device, a per-APN AMBR value for the session, wherein the per-APN AMBR value comprises a portion of the account AMBR value allocated to the user device among other active user devices of the multiple user devices with the account identifier;

sending, by the PCRF device and to a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) device, the per-APN AMBR value for the session requested by the user device;

receiving, by the PCRF device and from an online charging system (OCS) device, a throttling indication for the account identifier;

updating, by the PCRF device, the memory to reflect a throttled account AMBR value shared among the multiple user devices with the account identifier; and

re-calculating, by the PCRF device, an adjusted per-APN AMBR value for the user device as a portion of the throttled account AMBR value shared among the multiple user devices.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

sending, by the PCRF device and to the PGW device, the adjusted per-APN AMBR value for the session.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining includes receiving, from an OCS device, the account identifier.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the account identifier in included within an attribute value pair (AVP) for one of a Spending-Limit-Answer (SLA) message or a Spending-Status-Notification-Answer (SNA) message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining includes providing, by the PCRF device, a request via a Sy interface.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the PCRF device, the account identifier associated with another user device requesting another session over the wireless network;

storing, by the PCRF device, the account identifier associated with another user device identifier for the other user device and another APN identifier for the other session;

storing, by the PCRF device and in a database, an entry including the account identifier, the other user device identifier, or the other APN identifier;

calculating, by the PCRF device and based on the account AMBR value, a first updated per-APN AMBR value for the session and a second updated per-APN AMBR value for the other session;

sending, by the PCRF device and to the PGW device, the first updated per-APN AMBR value for the session requested by the user device; and

sending, by the PCRF device and to the PGW device, the second updated per-APN AMBR value for the other session requested by the other user device.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory comprises a centralized database accessible by multiple PCRF devices.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the memory comprises a distributed database that is synchronized among multiple PCRF devices.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating comprises identifying, from the memory, a total number of active entries in a list of multiple user devices, with the same account identifier and allocating separate per-APN AMBR values, for each of the active entries, from the account AMBR value.

10. A network device, comprising:

an interface that communicates with a network;

a memory configured to store instructions; and

a processor, coupled to the interface and the memory, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to;

obtain an account identifier for a user device requesting a session over a wireless network, wherein the account identifier applies to multiple user devices that share an aggregate maximum bit rate (AMBR) among the multiple user devices;

store the account identifier associated with a user device identifier for the user device and an access point name (APN) identifier for the session;

associate the account identifier with an account AMBR value;

store, in the memory, an entry including the account identifier, the user device identifier, and the APN identifier;

calculate a per-APN AMBR value for the session, wherein the per-APN AMBR value allocates a portion of the account AMBR value for the user device among other active user devices of the multiple user devices with the account AMBR;

send, to a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) device, the per-APN AMBR value for the session requested by the user device;

receive, from an online charging system (OCS) device, a throttling indication for the account identifier;

update the memory to reflect a throttled account AMBR value shared among the multiple user devices; and

re-calculate an adjusted per-APN AMBR value for the user device as a portion of the throttled account AMBR value shared among the multiple user devices.

11. The network device of claim 10, wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to:

send, to the PGW device, the adjusted per-APN AMBR value for the session.

12. The network device of claim 10, wherein the account identifier in included within a Spending-Limit-Answer (SLA) message or a Spending-Status-Notification-Answer (SNA) message.

13. The network device of claim 10, wherein the network device includes a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) device in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network.

14. The network device of claim 10, wherein the memory is a centralized database accessible by multiple other PCRF devices.

15. The network device of claim 10, wherein, when calculating the per-APN AMBR value for the session, the processor is further configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to:

identify, from the memory, a total number of active entries with the same account identifier and divide the account AMBR value among each entry.

16. The network device of claim 10, wherein, when obtaining the account identifier, the processor is further configured to execute the instructions stored in the memory to:

provide a request to an online charging system (OCS) via an Sy interface; and

receive the account identifier from the OCS via the Sy interface.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable medium, storing instructions executable by one or more processors, the non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising one or more instructions to:

obtain an account identifier for a user device requesting a session over a wireless network, wherein the account identifier applies to multiple user devices that share an aggregate maximum bit rate (AMBR) among the multiple user devices;

store the account identifier associated with a user device identifier for the user device and an access point name (APN) identifier for the session;

associate the account identifier with an account AMBR value;

store, in a memory, an entry including the account identifier, the user device identifier, and the APN identifier;

calculate a per-APN AMBR value for the session, wherein the per-APN AMBR value allocates a portion of the account AMBR value for the user device among other active user devices of the multiple user devices that share the account AMBR; and

send, to a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) device, the per-APN AMBR value for the session requested by the user device;

receive the account identifier associated with another user device requesting another session over the wireless network;

store the account identifier associated with another user device identifier for the other user device and another APN identifier for the other session;

store, in a database, an entry including the account identifier, the other user device identifier, or the other APN identifier;

calculate, based on the account AMBR value, a first updated per-APN AMBR value for the session and a second updated per-APN AMBR value for the other session;

send, to the PGW device, the first updated per-APN AMBR value for the session requested by the user device; and

send, to the PGW device, the second updated per-APN AMBR value for the other session requested by the other user device;

end, to the PGW device, the adjusted per-APN AMBR value for the session.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions to obtain the account identifier further comprise one or more instructions to:

provide a request to an online charging system (OCS) device via an Sy interface; and

receive the account identifier from the OCS device via the Sy interface.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising one or more instructions to:

receive, from an online charging system (OCS) device, a throttling indication for the account identifier;

update a database to reflect a throttled account AMBR value shared among the multiple user devices;

re-calculate an adjusted per-APN AMBR value for the user device as a portion of the throttled account AMBR value shared among the multiple user devices; and

send, to the PGW device, the adjusted per-APN AMBR value for the session.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the instructions to obtain the account identifier further comprise one or more instructions to:

extract the account identifier from an attribute value pair (AVP) in one of a Spending-Limit-Answer (SLA) message or a Spending-Status-Notification-Answer (SNA) message.