Method and System for Service Access Control in Shared Networks

• US 20080112353A1
• Filed: 12/21/2005
• Published: 05/15/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 12/30/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Teliasonera AB
• Original Assignee: Teliasonera AB
• Inventors: Ljung, Rickard, Dahlen, Anders
• Granted Patent: US 7,894,338 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/315
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/12 Access point controller devices

Abstract

In a method of sharing a Radio Access Network, RAN, in one or more areas by at least two operators the determination whether to grant admission or not of a User Equipment, UE, to the RAN is performed in an admission control algorithm. A Radio Network Controller, RNC, is reading Network Resource Identifier, NRI, information contained in an “Initial Direct Transfer” message sent by the UE when requesting a service, and the read NRI information is used in a service admission control to check a plurality of service admission parameters as a part of a set of admission control parameters to grant or reject the requested service depending on whether the operator associated with the NRI has invested in needed technology or not. A corresponding radio access network comprises admission control means to determine whether to grant admission of a User Equipment, UE, to the network, RAN, or not. A Radio Network Controller, RNC, is arranged to read NRI, information contained in the “Initial Direct Transfer” message sent by an UE, when requesting a service, and sending the read NRI information to the admission control means to check a plurality of service admission parameters as a part of a set of admission control parameters to grant or reject the requested service depending on whether the operator associated with the NRI has invested in needed technology or not.

Claims

1. A method of sharing a Radio Access Network, RAN in one or more areas by at least two operators, in which method the determination whether to grant admission or not of an User Equipment, UE, to the RAN is performed in an admission control algorithm, wherein a Radio Network Controller, RNC, is reading Network Resource Identifier, NRI, information, and said read NRI information is used in a service admission control to check a plurality of service admission parameters as a part of a set of admission control parameters to grant or reject the requested service depending on whether the operator associated with the NRI has invested in needed technology or not, characterized in that said NRI information is contained in an “

Initial Direct Transfer”

message sent by the UE when requesting a service, in that traffic is routed to correct Core Network, CN, by a Serving Radio Network Controller, SRNC, in that the service admission control is performed by the SRNC and in that an UE request is sent to a Drift Radio Network Controller, DRNC, by SRNC only if the service admission control admits the request, and, when DRNC wishes to set up or modify a radio bearer, it informs the SRNC which then performs the service admission control and grants the requested set up or modification from DRNC if admitted by the service admission control.

2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that said plurality of service admission parameters comprises Operation and Management, O&

M, parameters set by Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, UMTS, Terrestrial Radio Access Network, UTRAN, supporting company or set by network manufacturer.

3. The method according to claim 2, said network sharing being performed as standardized in 3^rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP, for Release 6, characterized in that said plurality of service admission parameters comprises High Speed Downlink Packet Access, HSDPA, Operator A=True/False, HSDPA Operator B=True/False, High Speed Uplink Packet Access, HSUPA, Operator A=True/False, HSUPA Operator B=True/False, Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service, MBMS, Operator A=True/False, MBMS Operator B=True/False, and/or Voice over IP, VoIP, Operator A True/False, VoIP, Operator B=True/False.

4. The method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that the Radio Network Controller, RNC, maps information about the operator to an integer identity number for the operator.

5. The method according to claim 4, characterized in that, in case of a request of resources for a new radio bearer, operator information is supplied to the admission control and a Quality of Service, QoS, admission control of the request is performed, and, if the request is admitted by both admission controls, the service admission control relies on operator information sent at each request of a radio bearer change, or on operator information for the radio bearer stored together with the bearer'"'"'s identity number.

6. The method according to claim 5, characterized in that the allowance of a requested radio bearer change is checked in the service admission control from a service perspective.

7. The method according to any of the preceding claims, characterized in that admission and congestion controls on the cells of a specific node are performed by a Controlling Radio Network Controller, CRNC, of said node.

8. A radio access network intended to be shared in one or more areas by at least two operators, comprising admission control means to determine whether to grant admission of an User Equipment, UE, to the network, RAN, or not, a Radio Network Controller, RNC, arranged to read Network Resource Identifier, NRI, information and sending said read NRI information to said admission control means to check a plurality of service admission parameters as a part of a set of admission control parameters to grant or reject the requested service depending on whether the operator associated with the NRI has invested in needed technology or not, characterized in that said NRI information is contained in an “

Initial Direct Transfer”

message sent by an UE, when requesting a service, in that a Serving Radio Network Controller, SRNC is arranged to route traffic to correct Core Network, CN, in that the SRNC is arranged to perform the service admission control, in that the SRNC is adapted to send an UE request to a Drift Radio Network Controller, DRNC, only if the service admission-control admits the request, in that the DRNC is arranged to inform the SRNC about desires to set up or modify a radio bearer, and in that the SRNC is arranged to then perform the service admission control and grant the requested set up or modification from DRNC if admitted by the service admission control

9. The network according to claim 8, characterized in that said plurality of service admission parameters comprises operation and Management, O&

M, parameters set by Universal Mobile Telecommunication System, UMTS, Terrestrial Radio Access Network, UTRAN, supporting company or set by network manufacturer.

10. The network according to claim 9, said network sharing being performed as standardized in 3^rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP, for Release 6, characterized in that said plurality of service admission parameters comprises High Speed Downlink Packet Access, HSDPA, Operator A=True/False, HSDPA Operator B=True/False, High Speed Uplink Packet Access, HSUPA, Operator A=True/False, HSUPA Operator B=True/False, Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service, MBMS, Operator A=True/False, MBMS Operator B=True/False, and/or Voice over IP, VoIP, Operator A=True/False, VoIP Operator B=True/False.

11. The method according to any of the claims 8-10, characterized in that the Radio Network Controller, RNC, is arranged to map information about the operator to an integer identity number for the operator.

12. The network according to claim 11, characterized in that, in case of a request of resources for a new radio bearer, said admission control means are arranged to receive operator information and perform admission control and a Quality of Service, QoS, admission control of the request, and, if the request is admitted by both controls, the service admission control is relying on operator information sent at each request of a radio bearer change, or on operator information for the radio bearer stored together with the bearer'"'"'s identity number.

13. The network according to claim 12, characterized in that the admission control means are arranged to check the allowance of a requested radio bearer change in said service admission control from a service perspective.

14. The network according to any of the claims 8-13, characterized in that a Controlling Radio Network Controller, CRNC, of a specific node is arranged to control said node admission and congestion on the cells of said node.

15. The network according to any of the claims 8-14, wherein more than one RNC are involved in the connection between an UE and the Core Network, CN, characterized in that each RNC is either a Serving Radio Network Controller, SRNC, or a Drift Radio Network Controller, DRNC.