Cascading Policy Management Deployment Architecture

• US 20090113514A1
• Filed: 10/27/2007
• Published: 04/30/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/27/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hu, Q. James
• Granted Patent: US 7,831,701 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1066 Session management

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided to implement a dynamic and efficient cascading policy management framework architecture for both wired and wireless networks. A plurality of Policy Functions (PFs) are assigned to a plurality of Policy Enforcement Points (PEP). The PFs make decisions regarding local policy control at the specific PEP. The PFs then delegate the policy requests or IP flows to a separate PEP that is more conducive to enforcing that policy request. Thus, policy decisions are made at the point where the most information is available, leading to fewer policy requests traversing back and forth across a network. Additionally, this cascading Policy Management Framework Architecture allows for unified policy management across multiple types of networks, including wired (Internet) and wireless (UMTS).

Claims

1. A Policy Management Framework Architecture system, comprising:

a first Policy Enforcement Point on a network;

a first Policy Function in communication with the first Policy Enforcement Point, wherein the first Policy Function applies a first local Policy Rule to the first Policy Enforcement Point;

a second Policy Enforcement Point on a network in communication with the first Policy Function; and

a second Policy Function in communication with the second Policy Enforcement Point;

wherein the second Policy Function applies a second local Policy Rule to the second Policy Enforcement Point.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a Policy Database accessible by the first and second Policy Functions.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the Policy Enforcement Points reside within a data gateway such as GGSN.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the Policy Enforcement Points reside within an Application Server.

5. The system of claim 2, further comprising:

a Policy Provisioning Server.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the Policy Functions communicate with each other using a Session Initiation Protocol.

7. The system of claim 5, wherein the Policy Functions communicate with each other using the DIAMETER protocol or equivalents thereof.

8. The system of claim 5, wherein the Policy Functions support both IP and non-IP traffic flows.

9. A network system, comprising:

a plurality of Policy Enforcement Points on the network;

a plurality of Policy Functions in communication with each other and with the plurality of Policy Enforcement Points;

a database containing a plurality of Policy Rules; and

a logic process that determines which of the plurality of Policy Functions have to enforce the plurality of Policy Rules.

10. The network system of claim 9, further comprising:

a Policy Provisioning Server.

11. The network system of claim 10, wherein the logic process resides within the database containing the plurality of Policy Rules.

12. The network system of claim 10, wherein the logic process resides within the plurality of Policy Functions.

13. The network system of claim 10, wherein the Policy Enforcement Points reside within a network gateway such as a GGSN or Interconnect Gateway.

14. The network system of claim 10, wherein the Policy Enforcement Points reside within an Application Server.

15. The network system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of Policy Functions communicate with each other using a Session Initiation Protocol.

16. The network system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of Policy Functions communicate with each other using the DIAMETER protocol or equivalents thereof.

17. The network system of claim 10, wherein the plurality of Policy Functions supports both IP and non-IP traffic flows.

18. A method for efficient policy enforcement, comprising the steps of:

determining at a first Policy Enforcement Point whether or not a Policy Decision is to be made on a Policy Request;

enforcing a Policy Decision if the Policy Request matches a first Policy Rule, wherein the Policy Rule resides on a Policy Database; and

determining whether or not to submit the Policy Request to a second Policy Enforcement Point

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

referring to a second Policy Rule in determining whether or not to submit the Policy Request to the second Policy Enforcement Point.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein the Policy Enforcement Points reside within a network gateway such as a GGSN or Interconnect Gateway.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein the Policy Enforcement Points reside within an Application Server.

22. A method for improved policy management, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a Policy Request at a first Policy Enforcement Point, said first Policy Enforcement Point residing on a first network gateway;

communicating the Policy Request to a first Policy Function also residing on the first network gateway;

referring to a Policy Database to determine whether or not the Policy Request is to be enforced at the first network gateway; and

referring to a Policy Database to determine whether or not the Policy Request is to be submitted to a second Policy Enforcement Point to be decided by a second Policy Function;

wherein the second Policy Enforcement Point and second Policy Function reside on a second network gateway.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the plurality of Policy Functions communicate with each other using a Session Initiation Protocol.

24. The method of claim 22, wherein the plurality of Policy Functions communicate with each other using DIAMETER or any equivalent protocol.

25. The method of claim 22, wherein the Policy Functions support both IP and non-IP traffic flows.