NETWORK SYSTEM, METHOD, APPARATUS, AND PROGRAM

• US 20150295833A1
• Filed: 11/15/2013
• Published: 10/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 11/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Mizukoshi, Yasuhiro, Fujinami, Makoto, Yamada, Yoshiyuki
• Granted Patent: US 9,461,919 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/22 Alternate routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/082 for traffic bypassing of mobility servers, e.g. location registers, home PLMNs or home agents

Abstract

A switch is provided between a first network and a second network and an offloading determination unit determines whether or not to offload traffic for the first network, and configures an offload path to bypass the first network for the switch when the offloading is performed. When the traffic is offloaded, the switch forwards a packet to be offloaded to the offload path.

Claims

1. A network system comprising:

a switch unit arranged between a first network and a second network; and

an offloading determination unit that determines whether or not to perform offloading of a traffic for the first network, and that, when it is determined to perform offloading, configures an offload path that bypasses the first network, for the switch,

a packet to be offloaded being forwarded between the offload path and the second network through the switch, when the traffic for the first network is offloaded.

2. The network system according to claim 1, wherein the network system further comprises:

an offloading unit that offloads the traffic for the first network, wherein, when the traffic is offloaded, the offloading unit forwards the packet to be offloaded to the offload path, from which the packet is transmitted to the second network through the switch.

3. The network system according to claim 2, comprising

a control apparatus including the offloading determination unit the control apparatus configured to control the switch;

and

the offloading unit provided in a base station of a radio access network.

4. The network system according to claim 2, comprising

a node including the offloading determination unit, the node configured to manage mobility of a mobile terminal, and

the offloading unit provided in base station of a radio access network and/or in a gateway node configured to offload a selected packet.

5. The network according to claim 1, wherein the offloading determination unit and the offloading unit are provided in a base station of a radio access network.

6. The network system according to claim 2, wherein the offloading unit is provided in a node on an interface between a radio link controller and the first network.

7. The network system according to claim 6, wherein the offloading determination unit and the offloading unit are provided in the node.

8. The network system according to claim 2, wherein the offloading unit is provided in a femto-gateway configured to connect a femtocell and the first network.

9. The network system according to claims 8, wherein the offloading determination unit, together with the offloading unit, are provided in the femto-gateway.

10. The network system according to claim 3, wherein, when the control apparatus determines that the offloading is necessary, the control apparatus instructs the switch to forward the packet to be offloaded to the offload path configured to connect the base station and the second network.

11. The network system according to claim 3, wherein, when a packet from a mobile terminal is via a radio bearer for offloading, the offloading unit of the base station makes a request for configuring the offload path to the offloading determination unit of the control apparatus.

12. The network system according to claim 3, wherein, when a packet that arrives from a mobile terminal via a radio bearer is to be offloaded, the offloading unit of the base station transmits a connect request of the offload path to the control apparatus through the switch, and

the offloading determination unit of the control apparatus receives the connect request, performs setting on the switch such that a packet forwarded from the base station to the switch through the offload path is forwarded to the second network and that a packet from the second network is forwarded from the switch to the base station through the offload path, and returns a connect response to the base station.

13. The network system according to claim 12, wherein at a time of a handover by the mobile terminal, the control apparatus performs offload path disconnection for a mobile source station and performs offload path setting for a mobile destination base station, according to whether the mobile source base station offloads the traffic for the first network or the mobile destination base station includes the offloading unit with respect to the mobile source base station and the mobile destination base station.

14. The network system according to claim 12, wherein upon reception of a preset predetermined command from a node configured to manage mobility of the mobile terminal, the base station transmits a disconnect request for deleting the offload path to the control apparatus through the switch, and

the control apparatus performs disconnection processing of the offload path and returns a disconnect response to the base station.

15. A network system, comprising:

an offloading unit that offloads a traffic for a first network; and

an offloading determination unit that instructs the offloading unit to offload the traffic for the first network, wherein

upon reception of an instruction of the offloading, the offloading unit determines whether or not to offload a received packet, and forwards the packet to an offload path that bypasses the first network.

16. The network system according to claim 15, wherein the offloading determination unit is provided in a control apparatus configured to control a switch, and

the offloading unit is provided in a base station of a radio access network.

17. The network system according to claim 16, wherein, when a packet from the mobile terminal is a packet via a radio bearer for offloading, the offloading unit of the base station forwards the packet to the offload path.

18. The network system according to claim 16, wherein, when the offloading determination unit of the control apparatus determines that the offloading of the traffic for the first network is necessary,

the offloading determination unit instructs the offloading unit of the base station to forward the packet to be offloaded to the offload path.

19. The network system according to claim 16, wherein, when the packet from a mobile terminal comprises a packet via a radio bearer for offloading, the offloading unit of the base station makes a request for configuring the offload path to the offloading determination unit of the control apparatus.

20. The network system according to claim 16, wherein the network system further comprises:

a second switch arranged between the first network and a second network, when the traffic is offloaded, the offloading determination unit of the control apparatus instructs the second switch to forward the packet to be offloaded to the offload path, configured to connect the base station and the second network.

21. A base station apparatus comprising:

a unit that, when offloading a traffic for a core network, transmits a request for configuring an offload path that bypasses the core network to a node including an offloading determination unit to determine whether or not to perform offloading of a packet received from a mobile terminal, and

a unit that forwards the received packet to the offload path when the offloading is performed.

22. A base station apparatus;

comprising;

a unit that receives an offload instruction from an offloading determination unit that instructs offloading of a traffic for a core network;

a unit that determines whether or not to perform offloading of a packet received from a mobile terminal; and

a unit that forwards the packet to be offloaded to an offload path that bypasses the core network, when the offloading is performed.

23. A control apparatus comprising:

a unit that receives a request for configuring an offload path from an offloading unit that performs offloading of a traffic for a first network;

a unit that configures the offload path that bypasses the first network and connects to a second network, for a switch connected between the first network and the second network.

24. A control apparatus comprising:

a unit that transmits an offload instruction to an offloading unit that performs offloading of a traffic for a first network, upon reception of a request for configuring an offload path from the offloading unit; and

a unit that causes the offloading unit to offload a received packet to be offloaded to the offload path configured to bypass the first network.

25. A network control method comprising:

determining whether or not to offload traffic for a first network and, when the offloading is performed;

configuring an offload path to bypass the first network for switch arranged between the first network and a second network; and

forwarding a packet to be offloaded between the offload path and the second network through the switch, when the traffic for the first network is offloaded.

26. The network control method according to claim 25, comprising:

when the traffic for the first network is offloaded, forwarding to the offload path the packet to be offloaded, and further transmitting the packet to the second network through the switch.

27. A network control method comprising:

upon reception of an offload instruction by an offloading unit from an offloading determination unit that determines whether or not to perform offloading of a traffic for a first network;

determining whether or not to perform offloading of a received packet; and

when the offloading of the received packet is performed, forwarding the received packet to an offload path to bypass the first network.

28. The network control method according to claim 27, comprising:

configuring the offload path for a switch arranged between a first network and a second network, by the offloading determination unit, the offload path being configured to connect to the second network by bypassing the first network.

29. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium storing therein a program for causing a computer comprising a base station apparatus to execute processing comprising:

when a packet that arrives from a mobile terminal via a radio bear is to be offloaded,

transmitting, to a switch arranged between a first network and a second network, a connect request of an offload path configured to bypass the first network, directly or through the first network; and

transmitting to the switch a disconnect request of the offload path, when a predetermined command is received from a node configured to manage mobility of the mobile terminal.

30. A non-transitory computer readable recording medium storing therein a program for causing a computer comprising a control apparatus configured to control a switch arranged between a first network and a second network to execute processing comprising:

upon reception, from a base station apparatus through the switch, a connect request of an offload path configured to bypass the first network, configuring the switch such that a packet forwarded from the base station apparatus to the offload path is forwarded to the second network and that a packet from the second network is forwarded to the offload path, and returning to the base station apparatus a connect response for the connect request of the offload path; and

upon reception from the base station apparatus through the switch a disconnect request of the offload path, configuring the switch such that a gateway node of the first network is connected to the second network, and returning to the base station apparatus a disconnect response for the disconnect request of the offload path.