Providing roaming status information for service control in a packet data based communication network

• US 20050239458A1
• Filed: 05/28/2004
• Published: 10/27/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Hurtta, Tuija
• Granted Patent: US 7,483,698 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/432.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/14 Session management for real-time applications in data packet communications networks H04L65/1066
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/02 Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A method for providing roaming status information for service control in a packet data based mobile communication network including one or more terminal devices. In response to a change detected in the state of a connection between a terminal device and a gateway node, roaming status information on the terminal device is derived and a request is made for service policy for the subscriber of the terminal device. The request, including the derived roaming status information, is sent from the gateway node to a session control means. A service policy indicating which subscriber services are allowed for the subscriber and rules for the subscriber services is generated.

Claims

1. A method of providing roaming status information for service control in a packet data based mobile communication network comprising one or more terminal devices, the method comprising the steps of:

detecting a change in a state of a connection between a terminal device and a gateway node of a mobile communication network;

deriving, at the gateway node, roaming status information on the terminal device;

sending a request for service policy for a subscriber of said terminal device from the gateway node to a session control means of the mobile communication network, said request comprising the roaming status information; and

generating, at the session control means, based on the request and the roaming status information comprised therein, a service policy indicating which subscriber services are allowed for said subscriber and further indicating rules for the allowed subscriber services.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of deriving the roaming status information is performed based on a Routing Area Identity information element received from a Serving GPRS Support Node of a General Packet Radio Service enabled mobile telecommunication network, wherein the mobile communication network comprises the serving GPRS Support Node.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of deriving the roaming status information is performed based on an Internet Protocol address of a serving node serving the terminal device.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of deriving the roaming status information comprises deriving the roaming status information to comprise information about whether the terminal device is roaming.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of deriving the roaming status information comprises deriving the roaming status information to comprise information about the network in which the terminal device is at that moment.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in the detecting step, the change comprises a received request for access bearer establishment.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in the detecting step, the change comprises a detected new service flow.

8. The method according to claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

forwarding changes in the roaming status information during the access bearer establishment to the session control means; and

amending the service policy correspondingly.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising the steps of:

forwarding changes in the roaming status information during the access bearer establishment to the session control means; and

amending the service policy correspondingly.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

acquiring subscription data associated with the subscriber of the terminal device from a subscriber database of the mobile communication network to be utilized in generating the service policy, said subscription data comprising roaming status specific subscription attributes.

11. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

generating the service policy utilizing pre-configured data, wherein the session control means comprises the pre-configured data, said pre-configured data comprising roaming status specific attributes.

12. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of:

receiving application session data from an application function means, wherein said application session data is to be utilized in generating the service policy, said application session data comprising roaming status specific application session attributes.

13. A system of providing roaming status information for service control in a packet data based mobile communication network, the system comprising:

at least one terminal device;

a gateway node comprising a detecting means for detecting a change in a state of a connection between the at least one terminal device and the gateway node, said gateway node further comprising a deriving means for deriving roaming status information on a particular terminal device of said at least one terminal device for which the change in the state of the connection has been detected, and said gateway node further comprising a policy request means for sending a request for a service policy for a subscriber of said particular terminal device, said request comprising the roaming status information; and

a session control means for generating, based on said request received from the gateway node and the roaming status information, the service policy indicating which subscriber services are allowed for said subscriber and further indicating rules for the subscriber services.

14. The system according to claim 13, wherein the packet data based mobile communication network comprises an Internet Protocol based mobile communication network.

15. The system according to claim 14, wherein the Internet Protocol based mobile communication network comprises a Wireless Local Area Network.

16. The system according to claim 15, wherein the gateway node comprises a Packet Data Gateway of the Wireless Local Area Network.

17. The system according to claim 14, wherein the Internet Protocol based mobile communication network comprises a General Packet Radio Service enabled mobile telecommunication network.

18. The system according to claim 17, wherein the gateway node comprises a Gateway GPRS Support Node of the General Packet Radio Service enabled mobile telecommunication network.

19. The system according to claim 14, wherein the Internet Protocol based mobile communication network comprises a Code Division Multiple Access based network.

20. The system according to claim 19, wherein the gateway node comprises a Packet Data Serving Node of the Code Division Multiple Access based network.

21. The system according to claim 17, wherein the deriving means is further configured to derive the roaming status information from a Routing Area Identity information element received from a Serving GPRS Support Node of the General Packet Radio Service enabled mobile telecommunication network serving the at least one terminal device.

22. The system according to claim 17, wherein the deriving means is further configured to derive the roaming status information based on an Internet Protocol address of a serving node serving the at least one terminal device.

23. The system according to claim 13, wherein the roaming status information comprises information about whether the at least one terminal device is roaming.

24. The system according to claim 13, wherein the roaming status information comprises information about the network in which the at least one terminal device is at that moment.

25. The system according to claim 13, wherein said change comprises a received request for access bearer establishment.

26. The system according to claim 13, wherein said detected change comprises a detected new service flow.

27. The system according to claim 25, wherein the gateway node is further configured to forward, when the roaming status information changes during the access bearer establishment, changes in the roaming status information to the session control means and wherein the session control means is further configured to amend the service policy correspondingly.

28. The system according to claim 26, wherein the gateway node is further configured to forward, when the roaming status information changes during the detected service flow, changes in the roaming status information to the session control means and wherein the session control means is further configured to amend the service policy correspondingly.

29. The system according to claim 13, wherein the system further comprises:

a subscriber database of the mobile communication network from which subscription data associated with the subscriber of the at least one terminal device is acquired to be utilized in generating the service policy, said subscription data comprising roaming status specific subscription attributes.

30. The system according to claim 13, wherein the session control means comprises pre-configured data to be utilized in generating the service policy, said pre-configured data comprising roaming status specific attributes.

31. The system according to claim 17, wherein the system further comprises:

an application function means from which application session data is received to be utilized in generating the service policy, said application session data comprising roaming status specific application attributes.

32. A network node comprising:

detecting means for detecting a change in a state of a connection between a terminal device of a packet data based mobile communication network and a gateway node of the mobile communication network;

deriving means for deriving roaming status information on said terminal device in response to said change; and

a policy request means for sending a request for service policy for a subscriber of said terminal device, said request comprising the roaming status information, and said service policy indicating which subscriber services are allowed for said subscriber and further indicating rules for the subscriber services.

33. A network node comprising:

connection means for connecting the network node to a packet data based mobile communication network; and

a session control means for generating a service policy indicating which subscriber services are allowed for a subscriber of a terminal device and further indicating rules for the subscriber services, wherein the service policy is based on a request received from a gateway node of said mobile communication network that includes roaming status information on the terminal device of said mobile communication network for which said terminal device a change has been detected in a state of a connection between said terminal device and said gateway node.

34. A computer program embodied on a computer readable medium, said computer program executing a computer process comprising:

detecting a change in a state of a connection between a terminal device of a packet data based mobile communication network and a gateway node of the mobile communication network;

deriving roaming status information on the terminal device;

sending a request for a service policy for a subscriber of said terminal device from the gateway node to a session control means of the mobile communication network, said request comprising the derived roaming status information; and

generating, at the session control means, based on the request and the roaming status information, the service policy indicating which subscriber services are allowed for said subscriber and further indicating rules for the subscriber services.