FEMTOCELL LOCAL BREAKOUT MECHANISMS

• US 20100128708A1
• Filed: 11/20/2009
• Published: 05/27/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Huber, Kurt, Faryar, Alireza, Liu, Cheng P.
• Granted Patent: US 8,787,331 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/03 Protocol definition or specification protocol conformance testing H04L1/244
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/22 Parsing or analysis of headers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0226 based on location or mobility handoff or reselection H04W36/00; mobile application services making use of the location of users or terminals H04W4/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0231 based on communication conditions dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition based on channel quality criteria H04W72/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0268 using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0289 Congestion control load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0967 Quality of Service [QoS] parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0022 for transferring data sessions between adjacent core network technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/248 Connectivity information update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/00 Synchronisation arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 56/001 Synchronization between nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/53 based on regulatory allocation policies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 : using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/12 : Access point controller devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 : Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A system and methodology that employs local breakout mechanisms at a femto access point (FAP) to facilitate efficient utilization of backhaul and/or macro networks is provided. In particular, a slave Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) can be integrated within the FAP to directly route the incoming traffic from a user equipment (UE) at the FAP. In one example, Internet bound traffic can be directly routed to the Internet, without employing macro network resources. Further, the system can avoid hairpinning by routing traffic between the UE and a home Local Area Network (LAN) by a anchoring a call or a session in the slave GGSN and facilitate integration of UEs with home applications by employing a UE Digital Home Agent. In addition, the FAP can perform UE-to-UE CS media breakout to facilitate communication between UEs attached to the FAP, without routing the traffic through the core macro network.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates efficient utilization of backhaul and macro networks during femtocell communication, comprising:

a routing component that employs one or more local breakout mechanisms at a femto access point (FAP) to facilitate routing of a subset of traffic received at the FAP without directing the subset of traffic through the macro network.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the routing component at least one of:

routes Internet bound traffic directly to the Internet from the FAP, without employing macro network resources;

or

routes traffic between a user equipment (UE) and a Local Area Network (LAN) via the FAP, without employing macro network resources, the FAP connected to the LAN.

3. The system of claim 1, further comprising, a packet inspection component that determines a destination for traffic received at the FAP based in part on an analysis of at least one of the traffic or additional information associated with the traffic, the routing component utilizes the determined destination to facilitate routing of the traffic at the FAP.

4. The system of claim 1, further comprising, a management component that facilitates at least one of management, creation, or modification, of at least one of a Policy Decision function (PDF), or Policy Enforcement Function (PEF) that is utilized by the routing component to facilitate local breakout.

5. The system of claim 1, further comprising, a database that stores information, including at least one of an access control list (ACL), a user preference, an attached UE parameter, a service provider policy, a PDF or a PEF, the routing component utilizes at least a subset of the stored information to facilitate local breakout at the FAP.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the routing component performs UE-to-UE circuit switched (CS) media breakout at the FAP to facilitate communication between two or more UEs attached to the FAP, without routing the communication through the macro network.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising, a slave Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN), included within the routing component, which anchors a communication session at the FAP and is utilized to route the subset of traffic to a determined destination from the FAP.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising, a residential gateway at least one of integrated within the FAP or externally connected to the FAP that facilitates routing of the subset of traffic between at least two of a UE attached to the FAP, a LAN connected to the FAP or the Internet, without routing the subset of traffic through the macro network.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a component that performs Network address translation (NAT) to modify network address information in a packet header to facilitate inter-network communication; and

a component that employs a firewall that at least one of prevents or detects unauthorized intrusion and prohibits bridging a LAN, connected to the FAP, with the Internet through the macro network.

10. The system of claim 1, further comprising UE Digital Home (DH) agent that facilitates communication between a UE attached to the FAP and a DH LAN connected to the FAP by performing mapping to provide DH functions to the UE.

11. The system of claim 10, wherein the UE DH Agent renders an application-specific User Interface (UI) on a display of the UE that enables a user to at least one of monitor or control at least one of an application, a service or a device on the DH LAN.

12. The system of claim 1, further comprising, a femto DH agent that is employed to at least one of authenticate the FAP during at least one of attaching, detaching or establishing presence in a LAN, or perform a location assisted cellular service by obtaining location information associated with the FAP from the LAN and providing the location information to a mobility location server.

13. A method that facilitates local breakout mechanisms at a femto access point (FAP), comprising:

receiving traffic at the FAP;

determining a path for the received traffic based in part on an analysis of the received traffic; and

routing the received traffic directly to a destination, without directing the received traffic through a macro network, when the analysis indicates that local breakout can be performed at the FAP.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising, routing Internet bound traffic directly to the Internet from the FAP, without employing macro network resources.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising, routing traffic between a user equipment (UE) and a Local Area Network (LAN), connected to the FAP, via the FAP.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising, performing UE-to-UE circuit switched (CS) media breakout at the FAP to facilitate communication between two or more UEs attached to the FAP.

17. The method of claim 13 further comprising, analyzing at least one of the received traffic or additional information associated with the received traffic to determine the path, the additional information includes at least one of an access control list (ACL), a user preference, an attached UE parameter, a service provider policy, a Policy Decision function (PDF) or a Policy Enforcement function (PEF).

18. A system that performs local breakout at a femto access point (FAP), comprising:

means for determining a path for traffic received at the FAP based in part on an analysis of the received traffic; and

means for routing the received traffic directly to a destination, without directing the received traffic through a macro network, when the analysis indicates that local breakout can be performed at the FAP.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the means for routing includes at least one of means for routing Internet bound traffic directly to the Internet from the FAP, means for routing traffic between a user equipment (UE) and a Local Area Network (LAN), connected to the FAP, via the FAP, or means for routing traffic between two or more UE attached to the FAP, without employing macro network resources.

20. The system of claim 18, further comprising, means for performing mapping to provide Digital home (DH) functions to a UE, attached to the FAP, by rendering an application-specific User Interface (UI) on a display on the UE that facilitates at least one of monitoring or controlling at least one of an application, a service or a device of a DH LAN connected to the FAP.