SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING MESSAGE DELIVERY AND PAGING TO A GROUP OF USERS IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT

• US 20160007316A1
• Filed: 11/06/2014
• Published: 01/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 07/03/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Vaidya, Maulik Vijay, Salot, Nirav, Seymour, James Paul, Jha, Vivek, Speicher, Sebastian, Bhaskaran, Sridhar, Chamarty, Ravi Shankar, Vaidya, Rahul
• Granted Patent: US 10,225,698 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/16 Multipoint routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• 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 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/02 Arrangements for increasing efficiency of notification or paging channel

Abstract

An example method is provided in one example embodiment and may include communicating a message for a group of one or more user equipment (UE) from a machine type communication-interworking function (MTC-IWF) to a packet data network gateway (PGW), wherein the message includes a group identity (ID) associated with the group of one or more UE; communicating the message from the PGW to one or more serving gateways (SGWs); and communicating the message from each of the one or more SGWs to each of the one or more UE of the group of the one via a tunnel for each of the one or more UE.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

communicating a message for a group of one or more user equipment (UE) from a machine type communication-interworking function (MTC-IWF) to a packet data network gateway (PGW), wherein the message includes a group identity (ID) associated with the group of one or more UE;

communicating the message from the PGW to one or more serving gateways (SGWs); and

communicating the message from each of the one or more SGWs to each of the one or more UE of the group via a tunnel for each of the one or more UE.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein a geographic restriction is included with the message to communicate the message to one or more UE of the group that are located within the geographic restriction.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein a Radio Access Technology (RAT) type restriction is included with the message to communicate the message to one or more UE of the group operating using the RAT type restriction.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a geographic restriction and a Radio Access Technology (RAT) type restriction are both included with the message.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining whether each of the one or more UE of the group are in a connected mode or an idle mode;

communicating the message by each of the one or more SGWs to each of the one or more UE of the group that are in a connected mode using the tunnel for each UE;

paging each of the one or more UE that are in an idle mode; and

communicating the message from each of the one or more SGWs to each of the one or more UE of the group using via the tunnel for each UE once each of the one or more idle mode UE of the group are transitioned to a connected mode.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating the message by the one or more SGWs to each of the one or more UE includes communicating the message to each of the one or more UE using a destination address comprising at least one of:

a link-local Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) prefix for a particular UE; and

an IP version 4 (IPv4) address for a particular UE.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein communicating the message by each of the one or more SGWs to each of the one or more UE includes communicating the message to each of the one or more UE using a multicast destination address.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the multicast destination address is shared by multiple groups of UE.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising at least one of:

receiving the message by the MTC-IWF from a service capability server using a Tsp interface;

receiving the message by the MTC-IWF from an application server using the Tsp interface; and

receiving the message by the MTC-IWF from a service capability exposure function using the Tsp interface.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

requesting, by a particular SGW, a list of one or more UE in a connected mode within a particular geographic restriction associated with an Evolved Cell Global Identity (ECGI) or a Tracking Area Identity (TAI) if the SGW is to apply the geographic restriction at the associated ECGI or TAI when communicating the message.

11. One or more non-transitory tangible media encoding logic that include instructions for execution that, when executed by a processor, is operable to perform operations comprising:

communicating a message for a group of one or more user equipment (UE) from a machine type communication-interworking function (MTC-IWF) to a packet data network gateway (PGW), wherein the message includes a group identity (ID) associated with the group of one or more UE;

communicating the message from the PGW to one or more serving gateways (SGWs); and

communicating the message from each of the one or more SGWs to each of the one or more UE of the group via a tunnel for each of the one or more UE.

12. The media of claim 11, wherein a geographic restriction is included with the message to communicate the message to one or more UE of the group that are located within the geographic restriction.

13. The media of claim 11, wherein a Radio Access Technology (RAT) type restriction is included with the message to communicate the message to one or more UE of the group operating using the RAT type restriction.

14. The media of claim 11, wherein a geographic restriction and a Radio Access Technology (RAT) type restriction are both included with the message.

15. The media of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

determining whether each of the one or more UE of the group are in a connected mode or an idle mode;

communicating the message by each of the one or more SGWs to each of the one or more UE of the group that are in a connected mode using the tunnel for each UE;

paging each of the one or more UE that are in an idle mode; and

communicating the message from each of the one or more SGWs to each of the one or more UE of the group using via the tunnel for each UE once each of the one or more idle mode UE of the group are transitioned to a connected mode.

16. The media of claim 11, wherein communicating the message by the one or more SGWs to each of the one or more UE includes communicating the message to each of the one or more UE using a destination address comprising at least one of:

a link-local Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) prefix for a particular UE; and

an IP version 4 (IPv4) address for a particular UE.

17. The media of claim 11, wherein communicating the message by each of the one or more SGWs to each of the one or more UE includes communicating the message to each of the one or more UE using a multicast destination address.

18. The media of claim 11, the operations further comprising:

requesting, by a particular SGW, a list of one or more UE in a connected mode within a particular geographic restriction associated with an Evolved Cell Global Identity (ECGI) or a Tracking Area Identity (TAI) if the SGW is to apply the geographic restriction at the associated ECGI or TAI when communicating the message.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

a memory element for storing data; and

a processor that executes instructions associated with the data, wherein the processor and memory element cooperate such that the apparatus is configured for;

communicating a message for a group of one or more user equipment (UE) from a machine type communication-interworking function (MTC-IWF) to a packet data network gateway (PGW), wherein the message includes a group identity (ID) associated with the group of one or more UE;

communicating the message from the PGW to one or more serving gateways (SGWs); and

communicating the message from each of the one or more SGWs to each of the one or more UE of the group via a tunnel for each of the one or more UE.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein at least one of:

a geographic restriction is included with the message to communicate the message to one or more UE of the group that are located within the geographic restriction; and

a Radio Access Technology (RAT) type restriction is included with the message to communicate the message to one or more UE of the group operating using the RAT type restriction.