METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR DETERMINING AND IMPLEMENTING POLICY CONTROLS IN A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

• US 20120140620A1
• Filed: 12/06/2010
• Published: 06/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Openet Telecom Limited (Amdocs Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Openet Research Limited
• Inventors: McNamee, Alan, Rieschick, Gary, Hogan, Joe, Dunne, Cameron Ross
• Granted Patent: US 8,699,332 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/147 for predicting network behaviour
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/149 for prediction of maintenance
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/127 by using congestion prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/245 using preemption
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/745 Reaction in network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/765 triggered by the end-points
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/823 Prediction of resource usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/83 based on usage prediction
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

A computer-implemented method of determining policy control decisions in a telecommunications network. The method comprises the steps of receiving a predictive indicator from a forecasting system, wherein the predictive indicator includes predictive network resource utilization information, responsive to receiving a service request from a gateway, determining a policy decision based on the predictive indicator, and sending the policy decision to the gateway.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method of determining policy control decisions in a telecommunications network, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving a predictive indicator from a forecasting system, wherein the predictive indicator includes predictive network resource utilization information;

responsive to receiving a service request from a gateway, determining a policy decision based on the predictive indicator; and

sending the policy decision to the gateway.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining a policy decision is further based on the service request.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the service request comprises at least one of the subscriber identity, user equipment identity, user equipment location, identity of the cell containing the user equipment, and information regarding the requested service.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the information regarding the requested service is specified in terms of the source IP address and port number, the destination IP address and port number, and the network protocol type.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining a policy decision is further based on subscriber data.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising extracting a subscriber identifier from the service request, and utilizing the subscriber identifier to retrieve subscriber data.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the subscriber data comprises at least one of the subscriber'"'"'s name, age, subscription type, subscription add-ons, account balance, total usage allowances, remaining usage allowances, allowed service information, and current location information.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the step of determining a policy decision is further based on any one of historical data, subscriber data, real-time network resource utilization, ongoing service information, operator policy information and network restrictions.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising receiving ongoing service information from an application layer function, wherein the policy decision is further based on the ongoing service information.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting to the forecasting system, a request for a predictive indicator.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting to the forecasting system periodically, a request for a predictive indicator.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising subscribing to the forecasting system to periodically receive a predictive indicator.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the subscribing comprises transmitting a request.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the request comprises at least one parameter indicating desired predictive network resource utilization information.

15. The computer-implemented method of claim 14, wherein the at least one parameter includes at least one of geographical location, specific types of resources, specific resources, dates and times, and a contribution or load factor range.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving from a policy configuration system, policy control decision logic, and wherein the policy decision is determined in accordance with the policy control decision logic and the predictive indicators.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving from a policy configuration system, policy control decision logic derived from predictive indicators received from the forecasting system, and wherein the policy decision is determined in accordance with the predictive indicator derived policy control decision logic and the predictive indicators.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the policy management system is arranged to receive from a policy configuration system, configuration information for communicating with the forecasting system.

19. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of:

a) a network address and a preferred access method to be employed by the policy management system to access the forecasting system;

b) identification and authentication information to be employed by the policy management system to access the forecasting system; and

c) a frequency with which the policy management system is to access the forecasting system.

20. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the policy management system is further arranged to notify the forecasting system of an identifier of resources whose resource utilization is likely to be affected by the policy decision based on the predictive indicator, and sent to the gateway.

30. The computer-implemented method of claim 16, wherein the policy control decision logic further includes charging control decision logic.

21. A policy management system in a telecommunications system, the policy management system arranged to:

receive a predictive indicator from a forecasting system, wherein the predictive indicator includes predictive network resource utilization information;

responsive to receiving a service request from a gateway, determine a policy decision based on the predictive indicator; and

send the policy decision to the gateway.

22. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium encoded with computer executed instructions, which when executed in a computing device, is arranged to carry out the following steps:

receive a predictive indicator from a forecasting system, wherein the predictive indicator includes predictive network resource utilization information;

responsive to receiving a service request from a gateway, to determine a policy decision based on the predictive indicator; and

send the policy decision to the gateway.

23. A computer-implemented method of determining policy control decisions in a telecommunications network, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving policy control decision logic from a policy configuration system, wherein the policy control decision logic is derived from a predictive indicator including predictive network resource utilization information;

responsive to receiving a service request from a gateway, determining a policy decision based on the policy control decision logic; and

sending the policy decision to the gateway.

24. A telecommunications system comprising:

a policy management system;

a policy configuration system, which is arranged to transmit to the policy management system, policy control decision logic;

a network capacity planning and forecasting system, arranged to transmit to the policy management system, predictive indicators;

a gateway, arranged to transmit to the policy management system, service requests;

wherein the policy management system is arranged to transmit a policy decision to the gateway in response to a service request; and

wherein the policy decision is determined in accordance with the policy control decision logic and the predictive indicators.

25. A computer-implemented method of configuring a policy management system in a telecommunications network, the method comprising the steps of:

receiving configuration parameter from an operator;

receiving from a forecasting system, a predictive indicator including predictive network resource utilization information;

generating policy control decision logic based on the configuration parameters and the predictive indicator; and

transmitting to the policy management system, the policy control decision logic.

26. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, further comprising transmitting to the policy management system, configuration information to enable the policy management system to communicate with the forecasting system.

27. The computer-implemented method of claim 26, wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of:

a) a network address and a preferred access method to be employed by the policy management system to access the forecasting system;

b) identification and authentication information to be employed by the policy management system to access the forecasting system; and

c) a frequency with which the policy management system is to access the forecasting system.

28. The computer-implemented method of claim 25, further comprising transmitting to the forecasting system, configuration information to enable the forecasting system to communicate with the policy management system.

29. The computer-implemented method of claim 28, wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of:

a) a network address and a preferred access method to be employed by the forecasting system to access the policy management system;

b) identification and authentication information to be employed by the forecasting system to access the policy management system; and

c) a frequency with which the forecasting system is to update the policy management system with a predictive indicator.