System and method for determining that a maximum number of IP sessions have been established

• US 20080049741A1
• Filed: 10/13/2006
• Published: 02/28/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 08/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Research In Motion Limited (Blackberry Limited)
• Inventors: Wirtanen, Jeff, Kim, Jin, Islam, M. Khaledul, Plestid, Trevor
• Granted Patent: US 8,315,162 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/389
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/14 using user query or user detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

Systems and methods for determining that a maximum number of IP sessions have been established are provided. There are instances when the mobile device transmits a request to the wireless network. According to an aspect, in the event that the maximum number of IP sessions is already established for the mobile device, the wireless network transmits a response indicating that the request cannot be fulfilled. The mobile device determines based on the response that the maximum number of IP sessions is already established, which allows the mobile device to determine the maximum number of IP sessions that can be supported so that IP sessions can be managed accordingly.

Claims

1. A method in a mobile device comprising:

transmitting at least one request of a predefined type;

receiving an indication that a given request of the at least one request cannot be fulfilled because a maximum number of IP sessions is already established for the mobile device; and

determining based on the indication that the maximum number of IP sessions is already established for the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

determining the maximum number of IP sessions supported for the mobile device in a given network area based on the indication.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein:

transmitting the at least one request comprises transmitting a plurality of requests in an attempt to establish simultaneous IP sessions;

receiving the indication comprises receiving responses to the plurality of requests; and

determining the maximum number of IP sessions supported comprises determining a number of IP sessions supported by the given network area on the basis of the attempts to establish IP sessions and the responses to such attempts.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein determining the maximum number of IP sessions supported further comprises

establishing a default value for the maximum number of IP sessions supported based on capabilities of the wireless network.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein determining the maximum number of IP sessions supported further comprises:

performing a count of how many simultaneous IP sessions have been established.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein determining the maximum number of IP sessions supported further comprises:

upon receiving a defined response to an attempt to establish an IP session, setting the number of IP sessions supported by the given network area to the count of how many simultaneous IP sessions have been established.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the defined response is one of:

a PDP activate reject response with a cause code 26,

a PDP activate reject response with a cause code 38;

a PDP activate reject response with a cause code 101;

a response requesting the deactivation of another existing context;

a response requesting the release of radio bearer associated with another existing context; and

a response specifically configured to indicate that there are no more PDP contexts available.

8. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

for previously visited network areas, maintaining history information indicating the maximum number of IP sessions supported by each network area; and

upon moving to a new network area, if the new network area is listed in the history information looking up the maximum number of IP sessions supported by the network area in the history information, and otherwise, determining the maximum number of IP sessions supported by the new network area.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the history information is maintained for network areas to a granularity of PLMN.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein history information is maintained for network areas to a granularity of PLMN and LAC (local area code).

11. The method of claim 8 wherein history information is maintained for network areas to a granularity of Routing Area Code (RAC) and Radio Network Controller Identifier (RNC Id).

12. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

prior to changing network areas from a first network area to a second network area in which fewer IP sessions are supported than in the first network area, the mobile device preemptively deactivating at least one selected IP session.

13. The method of claim 3 further comprising:

having established the number of IP sessions supported by a current network area, actively managing allocation of IP sessions where there are fewer IP sessions than there are device functions that need IP sessions, with regard to the number of IP sessions supported.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein actively managing the allocation of IP sessions comprises:

prioritizing device functions, and allocating the IP sessions by priority.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein actively managing the allocation of IP sessions comprises:

after changing network areas from a first network area to a second network area in which fewer IP sessions are supported than in the first network area, selectively determining which device functions are to be allocated the IP sessions in the second network area, and establishing these if not already established and deactivating others if not already deactivated.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the indication comprises:

receiving a response to the given request, the response comprising a cause code indicating that the given request cannot be fulfilled because the maximum number of IP sessions is already established for the mobile device.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the cause code has a cause value of 102 indicating that the maximum number of IP sessions is already activated.

18. The method of claim 16 wherein:

the given request is an Activate PDP context request for requesting a new PDP context to be established; and

the response is an Activate PDP context reject for rejecting the Activate PDP context request.

19. The method of claim 16 wherein:

the given request is a PDP context service request for requesting service for an existing PDP context; and

the response is a service reject for rejecting the PDP context service request.

20. The method of claim 16 wherein:

the given request is an Activate PDP context request for requesting a new PDP context to be established; and

the response is an MT PDP Deactivate Request for deactivating an existing PDP context.

21. The method of claim 16 wherein:

the given request is an RAU (Routing Area Update) request for requesting to change to a new routing area; and

the response is an MT PDP Deactivate Request for deactivating an existing PDP context.

22. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

managing IP sessions based on the maximum number of IP sessions supported.

23. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

accepting a request from an application for establishing a new IP session;

wherein managing IP sessions comprises determining whether to request the new IP session from the wireless network based on the maximum number of IP sessions supported.

24. The method of claim 22 further comprising:

prioritising IP sessions;

wherein managing IP sessions comprises maintaining IP sessions of higher priority ahead of IP sessions of lower priority when IP sessions are restricted by the maximum number of IP sessions supported.

25. The method of claim 1 wherein each IP session is part of a respective PDP context.

26. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon for execution on a processor so as to implement the method of claim 1.

27. A mobile device comprising

a wireless access radio adapted to communicate with a wireless network;

and

an IP session management function adapted to transmit at least one request of a predefined type;

is receive an indication that a request of the at least one request cannot be fulfilled because a maximum number of IP sessions is already established for the mobile device; and

determining based on the indication that the maximum number of IP sessions is already established for the mobile device.

28. A method in a wireless network comprising:

upon receiving from a mobile device residing in a given network area a request of a predefined type;

determining whether there is a maximum number of IP sessions already established for the mobile device for the given network area; and

if the maximum number of IP sessions is already established, transmitting to the mobile device a response indicating that the request cannot be fulfilled because the maximum number of IP sessions is already established.

29. The method of claim 28 wherein the response comprises a cause code, the cause code indicating that the request cannot be fulfilled because the maximum number of IP sessions is already established.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the cause code has a cause value of 102 indicating that the maximum number of IP sessions is already activated.

31. The method of claim 28 wherein:

the request of the predefined type is an Activate IP Session Request for requesting a new IP session to be established; and

the response is an IP Session Reject for rejecting the Activate IP Session Request.

32. The method of claim 28 wherein:

the request of the predefined type is an IP Session Service Request for requesting service for an existing IP session; and

the response is an IP Service Reject for rejecting the IP Session Service Request.

33. The method of claim 28 wherein:

the request of the predefined type is an Activate PDP context request for requesting a new PDP context to be established; and

the response is an MT PDP Deactivate Request for deactivating an existing PDP context.

34. The method of claim 28 wherein:

the request of the predefined type is an RAU (Routing Area Update) request for requesting to change to a new rotating area; and

the response is an MT PDP Deactivate Request for deactivating an existing PDP context.

35. The method of claim 28 wherein each IP session is part of a respective PDP context.

36. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon for execution on a processor so as to implement the method of claim 28.

37. A wireless network comprising an IP session function adapted to:

upon receiving from a mobile device residing in a given network area a request of a predefined type;

determine whether there is a maximum number of IP sessions already established for the mobile device for the given network area; and

if the maximum number of IP sessions is already established, transmit to the mobile device a response indicating that the request cannot be fulfilled because the maximum number of IP sessions is already established.

38. A method comprising:

using information identifying a number of IP sessions supported by a given network area, a mobile device actively managing allocation of IP sessions where there are fewer IP sessions than there are device functions that need IP sessions, with regard to the number of IP sessions supported.

39. The method of claim 38 wherein the IP sessions are PDP contexts.

40. The method of claim 39 further comprising the mobile device determining the information identifying the number of PDP contexts supported by the given network area by:

the mobile device attempting to establish PDP contexts while residing in the given network area, and receiving responses to such attempts; and

on the basis of the attempts to establish PDP contexts, and the responses to such attempts, the mobile device establishing the number of PDP contexts supported by the given network area.

41. The method of claim 39 further comprising the mobile device determining the information identifying the number of PDP contexts supported by the given network area by:

the mobile device receiving the information from the given network area.

42. The method of claim 39 further comprising the mobile device being pre-configured with the information for a plurality of network areas.

43. The method of claim 39 further comprising:

each of a plurality of mobile devices determining the number of PDP contexts supported by network areas that mobile device visits, and making this information available to the plurality of mobile devices.

44. The method of claim 39 further comprising:

the mobile device determining the information identifying the number of PDP contexts supported by the given network area by performing a database query.

45. A computer readable medium having computer executable instructions stored thereon for execution on a processor so as to implement the method of claim 39.

46. A mobile device comprising:

a wireless access radio adapted to communicate with a wireless network; and

an IP session management function adapted to;

using information identifying a number of IP sessions supported by a given network area, actively manage allocation of IP sessions where there are fewer IP sessions than there are device functions that need IP sessions, with regard to the number of IP sessions supported.