SUPPORTING A MULTIMEDIA APPLICATION BASED ON NETWORK ZONE RECOGNITION

• US 20120093145A1
• Filed: 04/19/2011
• Published: 04/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/20/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Anchan, KiranKumar, Song, Bongyong, Brewer, Beth A.
• Granted Patent: US 8,774,169 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/10 adapted for application session management, e.g. SIP [Session Initiation Protocol] connection management H04W76/00; arrangements for session management H04L67/14

Abstract

In an embodiment, a user equipment (UE) determines that a current serving network is associated with a network support zone of a given type, wherein network support zones of different types are characterized by different levels of support for a multimedia client application configured to manage server-arbitrated communication sessions at the UE. The UE loads zone-specific network procedures for supporting the multimedia client application within the network support zone of the given type, and then executes the zone-specific network procedures at the UE. In another embodiment, an application server determines that the current serving network of the UE is associated with the network support zone of the given type. The application server selects zone-specific network parameters and/or features based on the determination, and then interacts with the multimedia client application within the network support zone of the given type with the selected zone-specific network parameters and/or features.

Claims

1. A method of operating a user equipment (UE) within a wireless communications system, comprising:

determining that a current serving network of the UE is associated with a network support zone of a given type, wherein network support zones of different types are characterized by different levels of support for a multimedia client application configured to manage server-arbitrated communication sessions at the UE;

loading a set of zone-specific network procedures for supporting the multimedia client application within the network support zone of the given type; and

executing the set of zone-specific network procedures at the UE.

2. The method of claim 1,

wherein the wireless communications system includes network support zones of a first type and a second type,

wherein the network support zone of the first type is configured to provide a given set of network resources to the UE for supporting the multimedia client application, and

wherein the network support zone of the second type is not configured to provide the given set of network resources to the UE for supporting the multimedia client application.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the given set of network resources includes a threshold Quality of Service (QoS), timing information used by the multimedia client application for timestamp-based authentication credential generation and/or a set of always-on packet data protocol (PDP) contexts.

4. The method of claim 2,

wherein the network support zone of the first type includes home and/or affiliate networks of the UE,

and wherein the network support zone of the second type includes roaming networks of the UE.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the network support zone of the given type corresponds to the network support zone of the first type.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein executing the set of zone-specific network procedures at the UE includes (i) requesting the given set of resources from the current serving network of the UE and/or an application server configured to arbitrate the server-arbitrated communication sessions for the UE, (ii) notifying the application server that the UE is operating within the network support zone of the first type, (iii) sending keep-alive packets at a frequency associated with the network support zone of the first type, and/or (iv) operating in dual packet data protocol (PDP) with Quality of Service (QoS).

7. The method of claim 2, wherein the network support zone of the given type corresponds to the network support zone of the second type.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein executing the set of zone-specific network procedures at the UE includes (i) refraining from requesting the given set of resources from the current serving network of the UE and/or an application server configured to arbitrate the server-arbitrated communication sessions for the UE, (ii) notifying a user of the UE that the UE is operating within the network support zone of the first type, and/or (iii) notifying the application server that the UE is operating within the network support zone of the second type.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein executing the set of zone-specific network procedures at the UE includes attempting to support the multimedia client application in the network zone of the second type using best-effort protocols without Quality of Service (QoS).

10. The method of claim 2,

wherein the wireless communications system further includes a network support zone of a third type,

wherein the network support zone of the third type is configured to provide a subset of the given set of network resources to the UE for supporting the multimedia client application.

11. The method of claim 10,

wherein the network support zone of the first type includes home and/or affiliate networks of the UE,

and wherein the network support zone of the second type and the network support zone of the third type each include roaming networks of the UE.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the network support zone of the given type corresponds to the network support zone of the third type.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein executing the set of zone-specific network procedures at the UE includes (i) requesting the subset of the given set of resources from the current serving network of the UE and/or an application server configured to arbitrate the server-arbitrated communication sessions for the UE, (ii) notifying the application server that the UE is operating within the network support zone of the third type, (iii) sending keep-alive packets at a frequency associated with the network support zone of the third type, and/or (iv) operating in single packet data protocol (PDP) with Quality of Service (QoS).

14. The method of claim 12, wherein executing the set of zone-specific network procedures at the UE includes attempting to support the multimedia client application in the network zone of the third type using best-effort protocols without Quality of Service (QoS).

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining that the UE has transitioned to a serving network associated with a network support zone of a different type;

loading a different set of zone-specific network procedures for supporting the multimedia client application within the network support zone of the different type; and

executing the set of zone-specific network procedures at the UE.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the UE is provisioned with a network identifier database that includes a list of network identifiers that identify networks within the wireless communications system, with each listed network identifier mapped to a particular type of network support zone.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the determining step includes:

determining a given network identifier of the current serving network,

determining a listed network identifier within the network identifier database that matches the given network identifier, and

establishing the network support zone of the given type as the particular type of network support zone to which the matching network identifier is mapped.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the determining step includes:

determining a given network identifier of the current serving network,

determining that the given network identifier does not match any listed network identifiers within the network identifier database, and

establishing the network support zone of the given type as a default type of network support zone based on the no-match determination.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the determining step includes:

determining a given network identifier of the current serving network,

determining that the given network identifier does not match any listed network identifiers within the network identifier database,

attempting to register, from the current serving network, with an application server configured to arbitrate the server-arbitrated communication sessions for the UE,

selecting between a first type of network support zone and a second type of network support zone based on whether the attempt to register with the application server is successful, AND

establishing the network support zone of the given type as the selected type of network support zone.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining that the attempt to register with the application server is not successful; and

executing a registration failure fallback protocol based on the registration-failure determination.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the registration failure fallback mechanism protocol includes:

repeatedly attempting to register with the application server from the current serving network at a given interval until a successful registration is achieved.

22. The method of claim 16, wherein the determining step includes:

determining a given network identifier of the current serving network,

determining that the given network identifier does not match any listed network identifiers within the network identifier database that are associated with a home network and/or an affiliate network of the UE, and

attempting to register, from the current serving network, with an application server configured to arbitrate the server-arbitrated communication sessions for the UE.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the determining step further includes:

if the attempt to register with the application server is determined to be successful, establishing the network support zone of the given type as a network support zone associated with the home network and/or the affiliate network; and

if the attempt to register with the application server is determined not to be successful,

executing a registration failure fallback protocol based on the registration-failure determination.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the registration failure fallback mechanism protocol includes:

repeatedly attempting to register with the application server from the current serving network at a given interval until a successful registration is achieved.

25. The method of claim 16, wherein the listed network identifiers correspond to public land mobile network (PLMN) identifiers.

26. A method of operating an application server that is configured to arbitrate communication sessions for a user equipment (UE) within a wireless communications system, comprising:

determining that a current serving network of the UE is associated with a network support zone of a given type, wherein network support zones of different types are characterized by different levels of support for a multimedia client application configured to manage the UE'"'"'s communication sessions with the application server;

selecting a set of zone-specific network parameters and/or features based on the determination; and

interacting with the multimedia client application within the network support zone of the given type with the selected set of zone-specific network parameters and/or features.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein the determining step includes:

receiving a report from the UE that includes a network identifier of the current serving network of the UE;

comparing the reported network identifier to a network identifier table that stores a plurality of network identifiers, each of the plurality of network identifiers stored in association with a network support zone of a given type; and

determining the current serving network to be associated with the network support zone of the given type based on the comparison.

28. The method of claim 27,

wherein the comparison identifies a network identifier from among the plurality of network identifiers that matches the reported network identifier, and

wherein the network support zone of the given type is determined to correspond to the given type of network support zone that is stored in association with the matching network identifier.

29. The method of claim 27,

wherein the comparison does not identify a network identifier from among the plurality of network identifiers that matches the reported network identifier, and

wherein the network support zone of the given type is determined to correspond to a default type of network support zone.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein the set of zone-specific network parameters and/or the features corresponds to parameters and/or features that are expected to be supported within the network support zone of the given type.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein the set of zone-specific network parameters and/or features includes one or more of (i) a push-to-talk (PTT) feature, (ii) a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) feature, (iii), a set of always-on packet data protocol (PDP) contexts, (iv) a threshold level of Quality of Service (QoS) and/or (v) timing information used by the multimedia client application for timestamp-based authentication credential generation.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein network support zone of the given type is associated either with (i) home and/or affiliate networks that are expected to fully or near-fully support a given set of network resources configured for use by the multimedia client application, or (ii) a roaming network that is not expected to fully or near-fully support the given set of network resources configured for use by the multimedia client application.

33. The method of claim 32,

wherein the network support zone of the given type corresponds to (i),

wherein the interacting step includes notifying the UE that the multimedia client application is supported in the current serving network including an indication of the level of support for the multimedia client application and then supporting the multimedia client application in accordance with the indicated level of support.

34. The method of claim 32,

wherein the network support zone of the given type corresponds to (ii),

wherein the interacting step includes notifying the UE that the multimedia client application is unsupported in the current serving network,

wherein the set of zone-specific network parameters and/or features corresponds to a denial of service.

35. A user equipment (UE) within a wireless communication system, comprising:

means for determining that a current serving network of the UE is associated with a network support zone of a given type, wherein network support zones of different types are characterized by different levels of support for a multimedia client application configured to manage server-arbitrated communication sessions at the UE;

means for loading a set of zone-specific network procedures for supporting the multimedia client application within the network support zone of the given type; and

means for executing the set of zone-specific network procedures at the UE.

36. An application server that is configured to arbitrate communication sessions for a user equipment (UE) within a wireless communications system, comprising:

means for determining that a current serving network of the UE is associated with a network support zone of a given type, wherein network support zones of different types are characterized by different levels of support for a multimedia client application configured to manage the UE'"'"'s communication sessions with the application server;

means for selecting a set of zone-specific network parameters and/or features based on the determination; and

means for interacting with the multimedia client application within the network support zone of the given type with the selected set of zone-specific network parameters and/or features.

37. A user equipment (UE) within a wireless communications system, comprising:

logic configured to determine that a current serving network of the UE is associated with a network support zone of a given type, wherein network support zones of different types are characterized by different levels of support for a multimedia client application configured to manage server-arbitrated communication sessions at the UE;

logic configured to load a set of zone-specific network procedures for supporting the multimedia client application within the network support zone of the given type; and

logic configured to execute the set of zone-specific network procedures at the UE.

38. An application server that is configured to arbitrate communication sessions for a user equipment (UE) within a wireless communications system, comprising:

logic configured to determine that a current serving network of the UE is associated with a network support zone of a given type, wherein network support zones of different types are characterized by different levels of support for a multimedia client application configured to manage the UE'"'"'s communication sessions with the application server;

logic configured to select a set of zone specific network parameters and/or features based on the determination; and

logic configured to interact with the multimedia client application within the network support zone of the given type with the selected set of zone-specific network parameters and/or features.

39. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by a user equipment (UE) within a wireless communications system, cause the UE to perform operations, the instructions comprising:

program code to determine that a current serving network of the UE is associated with a network support zone of a given type, wherein network support zones of different types are characterized by different levels of support for a multimedia client application configured to manage server-arbitrated communication sessions at the UE;

program code to load a set of zone-specific network procedures for supporting the multimedia client application within the network support zone of the given type; and

program code to execute the set of zone-specific network procedures at the UE.

40. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions stored thereon, when executed by an application server that is configured to arbitrate communication sessions for a user equipment (UE) within a wireless communications system, cause that application server to perform operations, the instructions comprising:

program code to determine that a current serving network of the UE is associated with a network support zone of a given type, wherein network support zones of different types are characterized by different levels of support for a multimedia client application configured to manage the UE'"'"'s communication sessions with the application server;

program code to select a set of zone-specific network parameters and/or features based on the determination; and

program code to interact with the multimedia client application within the network support zone of the given type with the selected set of zone-specific network parameters and/or features.