METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR BYPASSING 3GPP PACKET SWITCHED CORE NETWORK WHEN ACCESSING INTERNET FROM 3GPP UES USING IP-BTS, FEMTO CELL, OR LTE ACCESS NETWORK

• US 20100077102A1
• Filed: 11/18/2009
• Published: 03/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/04/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Mavenir Systems Incorporated (Mavenir Group Holdings Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Stoke Incorporated (Mavenir Group Holdings Ltd.)
• Inventors: Bansal, Ankit, Lim, Heeseon, Kant, Nishi
• Granted Patent: US 8,363,665 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/240
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/12 Setup of transport tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/005 Data network PoA devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A type of network traffic associated with a packet received from a remote node of an access network is determined. A first interface logic routes the packet to a radio network controller (RNC) if the packet is received from an Internet protocol-basestation (IP-BTS) access network and destined to a packet core network. The RNC forwards the packet to a component of the packet core network. A second interface logic routes the packet to the component of the packet core network, including aggregating other packets of the same type received from other remote nodes, if the packet is received from a femto cell and destined to the packet core network. A breakout logic routes the packet to a destination of the Internet directly to enable the packet to reach the Internet without having to route the packet to the component of the packet core network, if the packet is destined to the Internet.

Claims

1. A machine-implemented method performed within a network element for processing network traffic of a packet network, the method comprising:

determining a type of network traffic associated with a packet received from a remote node of an access network;

routing, by a first interface logic, the packet to a radio network controller (RNC) associated with a radio access network (RAN) if the packet is received from an Internet protocol-basestation (IP-BTS) access network and destined to a packet core network, wherein RNC forwards the packet to a component of the packet core network;

routing, by a second interface logic, the packet to the component of the packet core network, including aggregating other packets of the same type received from other remote nodes, if the packet is received from a femto cell and destined to the packet core network; and

routing, by a breakout logic, the packet to a destination of the Internet directly to enable the packet to reach the Internet without having to route the packet to the component of the packet core network, if the packet is destined to the Internet regardless of the remote node of an access network the packet is received from.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the component of the packet core network is one of a general packet radio service (GPRS) support node (SGSN) and serving gateway (SGW) of the packet core network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein determining a type of network traffic further comprises authenticating and terminating, by a security gateway unit, a secured connection with the remote node if the packet is received via the secured connection.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the secured connection is an Internet protocol security (IPsec) compatible connection, and wherein the security gateway unit is configured to communicate with an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server via a management communication interface to perform one of authentication and authorization of the remote node.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising routing, by a third interface logic, the packet to the component of the packet core network, if the packet is received from a long term evolution (LTE) access network and destined to the packet core network.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first interface logic is configured to handle an IuB signaling protocol, wherein the second interface logic is configured to handle an IuH signaling protocol, and wherein the third interface logic is configured to handle an S1 interface based on GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP).

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising routing, by a IP routing unit, the packet directly to an operator service node without going through the component of the core packet network, if the packet is destined to an operator service associated with the operator service node.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response a request for establishing a communication session from the remote node of the access network, determining whether one or more parameters specified by the request is associated with an Internet service for the Internet; and

establishing a tunnel between the remote node and the network element, such that data exchanged through the tunnel is directly routed to the network element without being routed to the component of the packet core network.

9. A network element for processing network traffic of a packet network, the network element comprising:

a security gateway unit to secure the traffic received from a remote node of an access network;

a traffic identification unit to determine a type of network traffic associated with a packet received from a remote node of an access network;

a first interface logic coupled to the security gateway to route the packet to a radio network controller (RNC) associated with a radio access network (RAN) if the packet is received from an Internet protocol-basestation (IP-BTS) access network and destined to a packet core network, wherein RNC forwards the packet to a component of the packet core network;

a second interface logic coupled to the security gateway to route the packet to the component of the packet core network, including aggregating other packets of the same type received from other remote nodes, if the packet is received from a femto cell and destined to the packet core network; and

a breakout unit coupled to the security gateway to route the packet to a destination of the Internet directly to enable the packet to reach the Internet without having to route the packet to the component of the packet core network, if the packet is destined to the Internet.

10. The network element of claim 9, wherein the component of the packet core network is one of a general packet radio service (GPRS) support node (SGSN) and serving gateway (SGW) of the packet core network.

11. The network element of claim 9, further comprises a security gateway unit coupled to the first and second interface logics to authenticate and terminate a secured connection with the remote node if the packet is received via the secured connection.

12. The network element of claim 11, wherein the secured connection is an Internet protocol security (IPsec) compatible connection, and wherein the security gateway unit is configured to communicate with an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server via a management communication interface to perform one of authentication and authorization of the remote node.

13. The network element of claim 9, further comprising a third interface logic coupled to the security gateway unit to route the packet to the component of the packet core network, if the packet is received from a long term evolution (LTE) access network and destined to the packet core network.

14. The network element of claim 13, wherein the first interface logic is configured to handle an IuB signaling protocol, wherein the second interface logic is configured to handle an Ih-H signaling protocol, and wherein the third interface logic is configured to handle an S1 interface based on GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP).

15. The network element of claim 13, further comprising a IP routing unit coupled to the security gateway unit to route the packet directly to an operator service node without going through the component of the core packet network, if the packet is destined to an operator service associated with the operator service node.

16. The network element of claim 9, wherein the breakout unit is further configured to

in response a request for establishing a communication session from the remote node of the access network, determine whether one or more parameters specified by the request is associated with an Internet service for the Internet, and

establish a tunnel between the remote node and the network element, such that data exchanged through the tunnel is directly routed to the network element without being routed to the component of the packet core network.

17. A machine-readable storage medium having instructions stored therein, which when executed by a machine, cause the machine to perform a method within a network element for processing network traffic of a packet network, the method comprising:

determining a type of network traffic associated with a packet received from a remote node of an access network;

routing, by a first interface logic, the packet to a radio network controller (RNC) associated with a radio access network (RAN) if the packet is received from an Internet protocol-basestation (IP-BTS) access network and destined to a packet core network, wherein RNC forwards the packet to a component of the packet core network;

routing, by a second interface logic, the packet to the component of the packet core network, including aggregating other packets of the same type received from other remote nodes, if the packet is received from a femto cell and destined to the packet core network; and

routing, by a breakout logic, the packet to a destination of the Internet directly to enable the packet to reach the Internet without having to route the packet to the component of the packet core network, if the packet is destined to the Internet.

18. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein determining a type of network traffic further comprises authenticating and terminating, by a security gateway unit, a secured connection with the remote node if the packet is received via the secured connection.

19. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the method further comprises routing, by a third interface logic, the packet to the component of the packet core network, if the packet is received from a long term evolution (LTE) access network and destined to the packet core network.

20. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the first interface logic is configured to handle an IuB signaling protocol, wherein the second interface logic is configured to handle an IuH signaling protocol, and wherein the third interface logic is configured to handle an S1 interface based on GPRS tunneling protocol (GTP).

21. The machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the method further comprises routing, by a IP routing unit, the packet directly to an operator service node without going through the component of the core packet network, if the packet is destined to an operator service associated with the operator service node.