SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SHARING A COMMON PDP CONTEXT

• US 20130155948A1
• Filed: 03/30/2012
• Published: 06/20/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Pinheiro, Ana Lucia A., Cha, Inhyok, Howry, Dolores F., Starsinic, Michael F., Seed, Dale N., Wang, Chonggang, Lu, Guang, Kaur, Samian J., Majumder, Debjani, Dong, Lijun, Ding, Zongrui
• Granted Patent: US 9,820,335 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/14 Backbone network devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods and devices for sharing a packet data protocol (PDP) context among a plurality of devices. For example, a method or sharing a PDP context among a plurality of devices may include a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) sending a request to establish or modify a PDP context. The request to establish or modify the PDP context may include an indication that the WTRU is a member of shared context group. The method may also include the WTRU receiving a response indicating that the request to establish or modify the PDP context was accepted. The method may also include the WTRU acting as a gateway for at least one other device in the shared context group. The request to establish or modify the PDP context may be an attach request. The indication that the WTRU is a member of shared context group may be a group identifier (ID).

Claims

1. A method for sharing a packet data protocol (PDP) context among a plurality of devices, the method comprising:

a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) sending a request to establish or modify a PDP context, the request to establish or modify the PDP context including an indication that the WTRU is a member of shared context group;

the WTRU receiving a response indicating that the request to establish or modify the PDP context was accepted; and

the WTRU acting as a gateway for at least one other device in the shared context group.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to establish or modify the PDP context is an attach request and the indication that the WTRU is a member of shared context group is a Group identification (ID).

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising the WTRU authenticating with one or more core network nodes, wherein the WTRU authenticates at least one other device that is a member of the shared context group when the WTRU authenticates with the one or more core network nodes.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the WTRU determines an authentication response based on authentication responses of a plurality of other devices that are members of the shared context group.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the request to establish or modify the PDP context includes a request for a plurality of internet protocol (IP) addresses to be allocated to a plurality of devices that are members of the shared context group sharing a common PDP context.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the indication that the WTRU is a member of shared context group is included in an evolved packet service (EPS) attach type information element.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one other device in the shared context group is a non-third generation partnership project (non-3GPP) device.

8. A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) comprising a processor configured to:

send a request to establish or modify a packet data protocol (PDP) context, the request to establish or modify the PDP context including an indication that the WTRU is a member of shared context group; and

receive a response indicating that the request to establish or modify the PDP context was accepted, wherein at least one other device in the shared context group shares the PDP context with the WTRU.

9. The WTRU of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to share an internet protocol (IP) address with the at least one other device in the shared context group.

10. The WTRU of claim 8, wherein the indication that the WTRU is a member of shared context group is a group identifier (ID).

11. The WTRU of claim 8, wherein the processor is further configured to perform authentication with at least one core network node and there is a sequence of authentication for devices in the shared context group.

12. The WTRU of claim 11, wherein the processor is further configured to dynamically determine the sequence of authentication for devices in the shared context group.

13. The WTRU of claim 8, wherein the response indicating that the request to establish or modify the PDP context was accepted indicates a number of IP addresses allocated to the shared context group and a starting IP address.

14. The WTRU of claim 8, wherein the response indicating that the request to establish or modify the PDP context was accepted explicitly indicates an internet protocol address to be allocated to a device in the shared context group.

15. A method implemented in a core network node for sharing a packet data protocol context, the method comprising:

receiving a request to establish or modify a packet data protocol (PDP) context, the request to establish or modify the PDP context including an indication that a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) is a member of shared context group;

determining that at least one other device that is a member of the shared context group has previously established the PDP context;

allocating a shared default bearer from the previously established PDP context for use by the WTRU; and

sending a response indicating that the request to establish or modify the PDP context was accepted.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising maintaining a count of a number of devices in the shared context group that are currently utilizing the shared default bearer.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the request to establish or modify a packet data protocol (PDP) context is an attach request and the core network node refrains from performing a location update procedure for the WTRU.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the core network node is one of a mobility management entity (MME) or a serving gateway support node (SGSN).

19. The method of claim 15, further comprising authenticating the WTRU based on a group identifier for the shared context group and an individual identifier for the WTRU.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the WTRU is a machine type communications (MTC) gateway.