SERVICE-BASED ROUTING FOR MOBILE CORE NETWORK

• US 20110131338A1
• Filed: 11/30/2009
• Published: 06/02/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2009
• 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 8,499,087 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

System(s), method(s), and device(s) that enable establishment of data session based in part on services are presented. When establishing a data session for a communication device, the desired mobility gateway can be dynamically assigned via a specified policy mechanism or provisioned using a predefined service policy table, where particular services are linked with respective identifiers associated with respective mobility gateways. A communication device can reference the service policy table to locate a service that is to be used for the data session and can identify an identifier(s) linked to the service(s) and associated with a mobility gateway(s). The identifier(s) can be received and used to facilitate selecting one or more respective mobility gateways for the data session(s). The service policy table can be automatically pushed to the communication device or the communication device can initiate a download of the service policy table when the default data connection is established.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates establishment of a data session associated with a communication device, comprising:

a plurality of mobility gateways, wherein the at least one mobility gateway of the plurality of gateways is selected to facilitate communication of data between the communication device and at least one of a service or an application employed during the data session; and

a session establishment component that selects the at least one mobility gateway based at least in part on the at least one of the service or the application.

2. The system of claim 1, the session establishment component dynamically selects the at least one mobility gateway based at least in part on at least one service rule, in accordance with predefined service criteria.

3. The system of claim 2, the predefined service criteria relates to at least one of relative location of the communication device with respect to one or more at least a portion of the plurality of gateways comprising the at least one gateway that can facilitate provision of the at least one of a service or the application, respective amount of latency expected to be incurred in relation to respective mobility gateways of the plurality of mobility gateways, relative cost of using the at least one mobility gateway over at least one other mobility gateway for the data session, whether a secure connection is desired or not for the data session, available functions or features associated with the communication device, preferences associated with the communication device, desired Quality of Service (QoS) associated with the communication device, respective resources currently available at respective mobility gateways of the plurality of mobility gateways, current congestion in a core network associated with the communication device, type of subscription associated with the communication device, or whether the communication device contains functionality to utilize a service policy table or identify the at least one mobility gateway in the service policy table.

4. The system of claim 2, the session establishment component inspects data traffic associated with the communication device and determines the at least one of the service or the application based at least in part on the inspection of the data traffic to facilitate the dynamic selection of the at least one mobility gateway.

5. The system of claim 1, the session establishment component transmits at least a portion of a service policy table to the communication device in response to a request to download the service policy table or upon reception of an indication that the at least one of the service or the application is initiated with respect to the communication device.

6. The system of claim 5, further comprising:

the communication device, wherein the communication device receives the at least a portion of the service policy table, the communication device references the at least one of the service or the application in the at least a portion of the service policy table to identify an identifier associated with the at least one mobility gateway and transmits the identifier to the session establishment component.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one of the service or the application is mapped to the identifier, the mapping associated with the identifier is stored in the service policy table.

8. The system of claim 6, further comprising:

at least one of an edge gateway or a serving gateway that inspects data traffic associated with the communication device and determines the at least one of the service or the application based at least in part on the inspection of the data traffic, references the at least one of the service or the application in the service policy table, identifies an identifier associated with the at least one mobility gateway, wherein the identifier is mapped to the at least one of the service of the application in the service policy table.

9. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

a service policy component that facilitates creation of or update of a service policy table that includes a plurality of identifiers respectively associated with the plurality of mobility gateways, wherein one or more of the plurality of identifiers are respectively mapped to respective services or applications in accordance with predefined service criteria.

10. The system of claim 1, the session establishment component selects the at least one mobility gateway based at least in part on the at least one of the service or the application, and selects at least one other mobility gateway based at least in part on at least one of another service or another application, wherein the at least one other mobility gateway is selected to facilitate communication of data between the communication device and the at least one of another service or another application employed during at least one other data session, which occurs concurrently with the data session.

11. The system of claim 1, the communication device is one of a cellular phone, a smart phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a computer, a television, a gaming device, a set-top box, or a printer.

12. A method for establishing a data session associated with a mobile communication device, comprising:

selecting a mobility gateway from a plurality of mobility gateways associated with a core network based at least in part on a received identifier that corresponds with the mobility gateway, wherein the identifier is selected based at least in part on at least one of a service or an application to be utilized by the mobile communication device during the data session; and

establishing a data connection between the mobility gateway and the mobile communication device to facilitate communication associated with the mobile communication device during the data session in relation to the at least one of the service or the application.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

inspecting data traffic associated with the mobile communication device;

identifying the at least one of the service or the application based at least in part on the inspection of the data traffic;

dynamically selecting the mobility gateway based at least in part on predefined service criteria and the at least one of the service or the application; and

dynamically assigning the mobility gateway to the data session.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

detecting the mobile communication device;

establishing an initial data connection between the mobile communication device and a default mobility gateway; and

transmitting a service policy table comprising at least a mapping of the identifier to the at least one of the service or the application when the initial data connection is established between the mobile communication device and the default mobility gateway.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

referencing the service policy table to locate the at least one of the service or the application in the service policy table;

identifying the identifier associated with the at least one of the service or the application based at least in part on a mapping of the identifier to the at least one of the service or the application; and

transmitting the identifier to the default mobility gateway.

16. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

automatically transmitting the service policy table; and

receiving the identifier in relation to initiating the at least one of the service or the application to facilitate selecting the mobility gateway for the data session.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving a request to download the service policy table;

transmitting at least a portion of the service policy table in response to the received request; and

receiving the identifier in relation to initiating the at least one of the service or the application to facilitate selecting the mobility gateway for the data session

18. The method of claim 12, further comprising:

creating a service policy table comprising a plurality of identifiers respectively associated with the plurality of mobility gateways;

generating a mapping of at least one identifier of the plurality of identifiers to the at least one of the service or the application; and

storing the mapping in the service policy table.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

updating at least a portion of the service policy table with new information at least one of periodically or in response to change associated with at least one of the mobile communication device or the core network.

20. An apparatus, comprising:

means for selecting at least one mobility gateway from a plurality of mobility gateways associated with a core network based at least in part on a received identifier associated with the at least one mobility gateway, wherein the identifier is selected based at least in part on at least one of a service or an application to be utilized by a communication device; and

means for establishing a dedicated data connection between the at least one mobility gateway and the communication device to facilitate communication associated with the communication device during a data session in relation to the at least one of the service or the application.