Bandwidth Control Method, Apparatus and System

• US 20120263083A1
• Filed: 06/29/2012
• Published: 10/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zhou, Han, Wu, Wenfu
• Granted Patent: US 9,119,219 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/310
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/20 Negotiating bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/22 Negotiating communication rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/121 for groups of terminals or users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/004 in the uplink, i.e. towards network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a bandwidth control method, apparatus, and system. The method includes: receiving an access request message sent by a user equipment; obtaining, according to the access request message, a group identity of a group to which the user equipment belongs and group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs, so that a bandwidth control device performs bandwidth control on a user equipment in the group according to the group identity and the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information.

Claims

1-18. -18. (canceled)

19. A bandwidth control method, comprising:

receiving an access request message sent by a user equipment (UE); and

obtaining, according to the access request message, a group identity of a group to which the user equipment belongs and group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs, so that a bandwidth control device performs bandwidth control on a user equipment in the group according to the group identity and the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the access request message carries the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs, and the obtaining comprises:

obtaining the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the access request message;

obtaining, according to the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs, subscription data of the group to which the user equipment belongs; and

obtaining the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the subscription data of the group to which the user equipment belongs.

21. The method according to claim 19, wherein the access request message carries a user equipment identity of the user equipment, and the obtaining comprises:

obtaining subscription data of the user equipment or context information of the user equipment according to the user equipment identity; and

obtaining the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs and the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the subscription data or context information.

22. The method according to claim 19, wherein the access request message carries a user equipment identity of the user equipment, and the obtaining comprises:

obtaining subscription data of the user equipment or context information of the user equipment according to the user equipment identity, obtaining the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the subscription data or context information;

obtaining, according to the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs, subscription data of the group to which the user equipment belongs; and

obtaining the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the subscription data of the group to which the user equipment belongs.

23. The method according to claim 19, wherein if the bandwidth control device comprises a gateway, the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information is a Group-APN-AMBR parameter or a Group-AMBR parameter.

24. The method according to claim 23, wherein, if the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information comprises the Group-APN-AMBR parameter, the bandwidth control device performs the bandwidth control by:

limiting, by the bandwidth control device, all non-GBR bearer bandwidths of UEs in the group in an APN corresponding to the Group-APN-AMBR parameter to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-APN-AMBR parameter;

or

limiting, by the bandwidth control device, all bearer bandwidths of UEs in the group in an APN corresponding to the Group-APN-AMBR parameter to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-APN-AMBR parameter.

25. The method according to claim 23, wherein, if the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information comprises the Group-AMBR parameter, the bandwidth control device performs the bandwidth control by:

limiting, by the bandwidth control device, all non-GBR bearer bandwidths of UEs in the group to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-AMBR parameter;

or

limiting, by the bandwidth control device, all bearer bandwidths of UEs in the group to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-AMBR parameter.

26. The method according to claim 19, wherein if the bandwidth control device comprises an access network element, the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information is a Group-AMBR parameter.

27. The method according to claim 19, wherein UEs in the group form the group in a master/slave networking manner;

wherein the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs comprises a master equipment identity; and

wherein the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs comprises aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of master equipment.

28. A bandwidth control method, comprising:

receiving a group identity of a group to which a user equipment (UE) belongs, wherein the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs is sent by a mobile management network element;

obtaining group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs; and

performing bandwidth control on a user equipment in the group according to the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs and the obtained group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs.

29. The method according to claim 28, wherein the obtaining comprises obtaining the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs, wherein the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs is sent by the mobile management network element.

30. The method according to claim 28, wherein the obtaining comprises obtaining the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs in user equipment context of the group.

31. The method according to claim 28, wherein the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information comprises a Group-APN-AMBR parameter or a Group-AMBR parameter.

32. The method according to claim 31, wherein, if the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information comprises the Group-APN-AMBR parameter, performing the bandwidth control on the user equipment in the group comprises:

limiting all non-GBR bearer bandwidths of UEs in the group in an APN corresponding to the Group-APN-AMBR parameter to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-APN-AMBR parameter;

or

limiting all bearer bandwidths of UEs in the group in an APN corresponding to the Group-APN-AMBR parameter to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-APN-AMBR parameter.

33. The method according to claim 31, wherein if the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information comprises the Group-AMBR parameter, performing the bandwidth control on the user equipment in the group comprises:

limiting all non-GBR bearer bandwidths of UEs in the group to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-AMBR parameter;

or

limiting all bearer bandwidths of UEs in the group to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-AMBR parameter.

34. A mobile management network element, comprising:

a first receiving module, configured to receive an access request message sent by a user equipment; and

a first obtaining module, configured to obtain, according to the access request message, a group identity of a group to which the user equipment belongs and group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs, so that a bandwidth control device performs bandwidth control on a user equipment in the group according to the group identity and the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information.

35. The mobile management network element according to claim 34, wherein the access request message carries the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs, and the first obtaining module comprises:

a first obtaining unit, configured to obtain, from the access request message, the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs; and

a second obtaining unit, configured to obtain, according to the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs, subscription data of the group to which the user equipment belongs, and obtain the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the subscription data of the group to which the user equipment belongs.

36. The mobile management network element according to claim 34, wherein the access request message carries a user equipment identity of the user equipment, and the first obtaining module comprises:

a third obtaining unit, configured to obtain subscription data of the user equipment or context information of the user equipment according to the user equipment identity; and

a fourth obtaining unit, configured to obtain the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs and the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the subscription data or context information.

37. The mobile management network element according to claim 34, wherein the access request message carries a user equipment identity of the user equipment, and the first obtaining module comprises:

a fifth obtaining unit, configured to obtain subscription data of the user equipment or context information of the user equipment according to the user equipment identity, and obtain the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the subscription data or context information; and

a sixth obtaining unit, configured to obtain, according to the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs, subscription data of the group to which the user equipment belongs, and obtain the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the subscription data of the group to which the user equipment belongs.

38. A bandwidth control device, comprising:

a second receiving module, configured to receive a group identity of a group to which a user equipment belongs, wherein the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs is sent by a mobile management network element;

a second obtaining module, configured to obtain group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs; and

a control module, configured to perform bandwidth control on a user equipment in the group according to the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs and the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs, wherein the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs is obtained by the second obtaining module.