METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR CONTROLLING CONGESTION STATUS OF MOBILE COMMUNICATION NETWORK

• US 20140254367A1
• Filed: 03/11/2014
• Published: 09/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: JEONG, Sangsoo, CHO, Songyean, BAE, Beomsik, LIM, Hanna
• Granted Patent: US 10,003,995 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/233
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/263 Rate modification at the source after receiving feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/803 Application aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0205 at the air interface dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0231 based on communication conditions dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition based on channel quality criteria H04W72/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0289 Congestion control load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12

Abstract

A method and an apparatus determining a policy by a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) is provided. The method of determining a policy by the PCRF includes receiving congestion status information of a network from a base station, transmitting the congestion status information to a content server, receiving a parameter for adjusting traffic transmission characteristics from the content server, and determining a policy related to traffic transmission based on the parameter.

Claims

1. A method of determining a policy by a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), the method comprising:

receiving congestion status information of a network from a base station;

transmitting the congestion status information to a content server;

receiving a parameter for adjusting traffic transmission characteristics from the content server; and

determining a policy related to traffic transmission based on the parameter.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the congestion status information includes at least one of whether a congestion status occurs, a level of the congestion status, information on a cell where the congestion status occurs, identification information of a user equipment, and a transmission parameter allowed in the congestion status.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameter includes at least one of size, quality, and a maximum data rate of a content transmitted by the content server.

4. A Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and/or receive a signal with one of a base station and a content server; and

a controller configured to receive congestion status information of a network from the base station, to transmit the congestion status information to the content server, to receive a parameter for adjusting traffic transmission characteristics from the content server, and to determine a policy related to traffic transmission, based on the parameter.

5. The PCRF of claim 4, wherein the congestion status information includes at least one of whether a congestion status occurs, a level of the congestion status, information on a cell where the congestion status occurs, identification information of a user equipment, and a transmission parameter allowed in the congestion status.

6. The PCRF of claim 4, wherein the parameter includes at least one of size, quality, and a maximum data rate of a content transmitted by the content server.

7. A method of controlling a congestion status of a network by a content server that provides content to a User Equipment (UE), the method comprising:

receiving congestion status information from a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF);

storing the congestion status information;

upon receiving a service request from the UE, determining a parameter for adjusting traffic transmission characteristics based on the congestion status information; and

transmitting the determined parameter to the PCRF.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the congestion status information includes at least one of whether a congestion status occurs, a level of the congestion status, information on a cell where the congestion status occurs, identification information of the UE, and a transmission parameter allowed in the congestion status.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the parameter includes at least one of size, quality, and a maximum data rate of a content transmitted by the content server.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising transmitting the determined parameter to the UE.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising transmitting content to the UE based on the determined parameter.

12. A content server that provides content to a User Equipment (UE), the content server comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and/or receive a signal with one of the UE and a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF); and

a controller configured to receive congestion status information of a network from the PCRF, to store the congestion status information, to determine a parameter for adjusting traffic transmission characteristics based on the congestion status information, when receiving a service request from the UE, and to transmit the determined parameter to the PCRF.

13. The content server of claim 12, wherein the congestion status information includes at least one of whether a congestion status occurs, a level of the congestion status, information on a cell where the congestion status occurs, identification information of the UE, and a transmission parameter allowed in the congestion status.

14. The content server of claim 12, wherein the parameter includes at least one of size, quality, and a maximum data rate of a content transmitted by the content server.

15. The content server of claim 12, wherein the controller transmits the determined parameter to the UE.

16. The content server of claim 12, wherein the controller transmits content to the UE based on the determined parameter.

17. A method of determining a transmission priority of an application by a User Equipment (UE), the method comprising:

receiving a policy related to traffic transmission of the UE from an operator network server;

storing the policy;

determining, when application traffic is generated, whether an application corresponding to the generated application traffic is included in the policy; and

determining, when the application corresponding to the generated application traffic is included in the policy, a transmission priority of the application corresponding to the generated application traffic,

wherein the policy includes an application identifier, and the determining of whether the application corresponding to the generated application traffic is included in the policy is performed by matching the application to the application identifier.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the policy includes a predetermined use condition, and the method further comprising:

transmitting the determined transmission priority to a base station when the predetermined use condition is satisfied.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the use condition includes at least one of a condition indicating that congestion status information is received from a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, a condition indicating that a congestion level included in the congestion status information received from the RAN node is greater than or equal to a reference value, a condition indicating that a current time corresponds to a time period, and a condition indicating that a current location of the UE corresponds to a specific location.

20. A User Equipment (UE) that executes an application, the UE comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and/or receive a signal with one of a base station and an operator network server; and

a controller configured to receive a policy related to traffic transmission of the UE from the operator network server, to store the policy, to determine whether an application corresponding to application traffic is included in the policy when the application traffic is generated, and to determine a transmission priority of the application corresponding to the generated application traffic when the application corresponding to the generated application traffic is included in the policy,

wherein the policy includes an application identifier, and the controller determines whether the application corresponding to the generated application traffic is included in the policy by matching the application to the application identifier.

21. The UE of claim 20, wherein the policy includes a predetermined use condition, and the controller is configured to transmit the determined transmission priority to the base station when the predetermined use condition is satisfied.

22. The UE of claim 21, wherein the use condition includes at least one of a condition indicating that congestion status information is received from a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, a condition indicating that a congestion level included in the congestion status information received from the RAN node is equal to or higher than a predetermined reference value, a condition indicating that a current time corresponds to a predetermined time, and a condition indicating that a current location of the UE corresponds to a specific location.

23. A method of controlling a congestion status of a network by a base station, the method comprising:

receiving information on a transmission priority of an application from a User Equipment (UE), the application corresponding to application traffic generated in the UE and corresponding to an application identifier included in a policy related to traffic transmission of the UE;

storing the transmission priority; and

performing differentiated data transmission based on the transmission priority.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the differentiated data transmission is applied to traffic with the same subscription priority or the same bearer QCI.

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the performing of the differentiated data transmission comprises performing data transmission while placing a lower transmission priority on traffic classified as an unattended status.

26. A base station that controls a congestion status of a network, the base station comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and/or receive a signal with a User Equipment (UE); and

a controller configured to receive information on a transmission priority of an application from the UE, the application corresponding to application traffic generated in the UE and corresponding to an application identifier included in a policy related to traffic transmission of the UE, to store the transmission priority, and to perform differentiated data transmission based on the transmission priority.

27. The base station of claim 26, wherein the controller is configured to apply the differentiated data transmission to traffic with the same subscription priority or the same bearer QCI.

28. The base station of claim 26, wherein the controller performs the differentiated data transmission by performing data transmission while placing a lower transmission priority on traffic classified as an unattended status.