PROVIDING OFFLOADS IN A COMMUNICATION NETWORK

• US 20110075557A1
• Filed: 09/27/2010
• Published: 03/31/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 09/26/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: DIGIORGIO, Michael, OYEDELE, Taiwo, RANGAN, Mohan, KOODLI, Rajeev, CHOWDHURY, Kuntal
• Granted Patent: US 8,693,367 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1403 Architecture for metering, charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1485 Tariff-related aspects
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/2528 Translation at a proxy
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/306 intercepting packet switched data communications, e.g. Web, Internet or IMS communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/41 Billing record details, i.e. parameters, identifiers, structure of call data record [CDR]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic

Abstract

This disclosure relates to a system and method for offloading selected data to an alternate communication network. The offloading provides another route for selected packet traffic that can relieve the burden on a mobile operator'"'"'s network, such as the backhaul and core networks. As the proliferation of data rich content and increasingly more capable mobile devices has continued, the amount of data communicated over mobile operator'"'"'s networks has exponentially increased. Upgrading the existing network that was designed for voice calls is not desirable or practical for many mobile operators. A offload gateway is provided that inspects packets and determines those packets to offload to an alternate network as well as providing mobility management to allow for seamless handoffs and gateway relocations.

Claims

1. An offload gateway comprising:

a first interface that is configured to communicate with a home gateway in a packet core network;

a second interface that is configured to communicate with an Internet for offloading packets to bypass the packet core network;

a processor that is configured to inspect a received control plane packet and obtain information from the received control plane packet that is used to determine offload eligibility for traffic corresponding to the received control plane packet;

an offload logic in communication with the processor, the offload logic being configured to determine the offload eligibility of the received control plane packet based on criteria and to offload the traffic corresponding to the received control plane packet onto the Internet such that the home gateway is bypassed; and

a network address translation functionality that is configured to modify packets selected for offload by the offload logic such that the packets selected for offload are routed through the Internet at the offload gateway.

2. The offload gateway of claim 1, wherein the offload logic determines whether to direct the received packet to a service LAN.

3. The offload gateway of claim 1, further comprising a proxy that is configured to capture subscriber and session information during connection setup with the offload gateway.

4. The offload gateway of claim 1, further comprising a control plane interface that is configured to provide mobility for offloaded traffic and allow for relocation to a second offload gateway.

5. The offload gateway of claim 1, wherein the offload logic evaluates information such as application type and access point name (APN) to determine whether to offload user plane traffic.

6. The offload gateway of claim 1, further comprising a charging function that generates a call detail record (CDR) when traffic is offloaded.

7. The offload gateway of claim 1, further comprising an IuPS interface for communicating with a radio network controller and an Iuh interface for communicating with a home nodeB (HNB) and wherein the first interface is a Gn interface and the second interface is a Gi interface.

8. The offload gateway of claim 1, further comprising an Sl-U interface for communicating with an evolved nodeB (eNB) and wherein the first interface is an S5 interface and the second interface is a SGi interface.

9. A method comprising:

establishing a session on an offload gateway to communicate with a user equipment (UE);

receiving a packet on an interface at the offload gateway with the session that is bound to or from the user equipment (UE);

inspecting the packet to obtain information regarding the packet to make an offload determination;

determining if the packet meets offload criteria by comparing information obtained from inspection with offload logic criteria;

upon determining that the packet is offload eligible, modifying the packet at a network address translation functionality to route the packet onto an Internet to bypass a packet core network; and

sending a non-offload eligible packet to a home gateway in the packet core network.

10. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a second packet bound for the user equipment at the offload gateway from the Internet; and

modifying the packet at a network address translation functionality to route the packet onto the radio access network to the user equipment.

11. The method of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a relocation request at the offload gateway to receive a transfer session from a second offload gateway;

receiving information regarding the session from the second offload gateway including information regarding offload criteria and network address functionality information;

receiving traffic that is offload eligible and determining whether to offload the offload eligible traffic using information received from the second offload gateway; and

offloading eligible traffic using network address translation information received from the second offload gateway.

12. The method of claim 9, further comprising determining at the offload logic whether to direct the packet to a service LAN.

13. The method of claim 9, further comprising capturing subscriber and session information during connection setup at the offload gateway.

14. The method of claim 9, further comprising evaluating information at the offload logic such as application type and access point name (APN) to determine whether to offload user plane traffic.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising generating a call detail record (CDR) when traffic is offloaded.

16. The method of claim 9, further comprising communicating with a radio network controller on an IuPS interface, communicating with gateway GRPS support node (GGSN) on a Gn interface, and communicating with the Internet on a Gi interface.

17. The method of claim 9, further comprising communicating with an evolved nodeB (eNB) on an S1-U interface, communicating with a PDN gateway on an S5 interface, and communicating with the Internet on an SGi interface.

20. The logic of claim 9, further comprising:

receiving a relocation request at the offload gateway to receive a transfer session from a second offload gateway;

receiving information regarding the session from the second offload gateway including information regarding offload criteria and network address functionality information;

receiving traffic that is offload eligible and determining whether to offload the offload eligible traffic using information received from the second offload gateway; and

offloading eligible traffic using network address translation information received from the second offload gateway.

18. Logic encoded on one or more tangible media for execution and when executed operable to:

establish a session on an offload gateway to communicate with a user equipment (UE);

receive a packet on an interface at the offload gateway with the session that is bound to or from the user equipment (UE);

inspect the packet to obtain information regarding the packet to make an offload determination;

determine if the packet meets offload criteria by comparing information obtained from inspection with offload logic criteria;

upon determining that the packet is offload eligible, modify the packet at a network address translation functionality to route the packet onto an Internet to bypass a packet core network; and

send a non-offload eligible packet to a home gateway in the packet core network.

19. The logic of claim 18, further comprising:

receiving a second packet bound for the user equipment at the offload gateway from the Internet; and

modifying the packet at a network address translation functionality to route the packet onto the radio access network to the user equipment.