TRANSMISSION OF MACHINE TYPE COMMUNICATIONS DATA USING DISRUPTED CONNECTIVITY

• US 20160255532A1
• Filed: 05/11/2016
• Published: 09/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/13/2013
• 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: HUANG, Yangcheng
• Granted Patent: US 10,039,027 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0215 based on user or device properties, e.g. MTC-capable devices services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] H04W4/70; wireless resource selection or allocation plan definition based on terminal or device properties H04W72/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/38 for collecting sensor information
• 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

Abstract

The invention relates to methods for controlling transmission of machine type communications data to or from machine type communications devices within a mobile communication system. Furthermore, the invention relates to a network component and a network node for implementing such methods, and to implementations of the methods in software.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting machine type communication data from at least one machine type communications device within a mobile communication system with disrupted connectivity, the method comprising the following steps performed by a network node in the radio access network or in the core network of the mobile communication system:

receiving one or more data packets, each data packet comprising machine type communications data and a disrupted-connectivity header, wherein the disrupted-connectivity header indicates a maximum tolerable delay for forwarding the machine type communications data and an address of a target device to receive the respective machine type communications data,

determining a load status of the mobile communication system, and

if the load status indicates no overload situation and if the maximum delay for a respective machine type communications data has not been reached, forwarding the machine type communications data to the respective target device within the maximum tolerable delay indicated in the disrupted-connectivity header.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of storing the machine type communications data comprised in the one or more data packets, while the determined load status indicates an overload situation.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising the step of aggregating the machine type communications data comprised in data packets received during an overload situation and being destined to the same target device or being destined to the same target machine type communications application running on the same target device,

wherein said forwarding of the machine type communications data to the target device comprises forwarding the aggregated machine type communications data via a single connection.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the machine type communications data which are aggregated for forwarding via the single connection are received in data packets from different source machine type communications applications running on the same source device or on different source devices.

5. The method according to claim 2, wherein for different data packets with the same disrupted-connectivity header the disrupted-connectivity header is stored once and the one stored disrupted-connectivity header is associated with the stored machine type communications data from said different data packets with the same disrupted-connectivity header.

6. The method according to claim 2, wherein the network node is configured to discard stored machine type communications data and a disrupted-connectivity header associated to said stored machine type communications data, if said machine type data communications can'"'"'t be forwarded within the maximum tolerable delay indicated in said associated disrupted-connectivity header due to an overload situation indicated in the load status.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the disrupted-connectivity header comprises a port number associated to a target machine type communications application running on the target device to receive the respective machine type communications data.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the data packets are IP packets further comprising a header indicating the IP address of the network node.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a connection request message in the control plane from a mobile terminal, wherein the connection request message requests the establishment of a connection between the network node and the mobile terminal, and indicates that the requesting mobile terminal is a machine type communication device;

in dependence on the load situation of the mobile communication system, transmitting, in the control plane and to the mobile terminal, a connection setup message, wherein the connection setup message informs the mobile terminal that the machine type communications data can only be transmitted in a disrupted-connectivity mode,

receiving, in response to the connection setup message and in the control plane, a connection setup complete message from the mobile terminal confirming the use of the disrupted-connectivity mode for transmission of the machine type communications data, and

establishing the requested connection to the mobile terminal for transmission of the machine type communications data in disrupted-connectivity mode; and

wherein at least a part of the received one or more data packets were transmitted from the mobile terminal to the network node.

10. A method for transmitting machine type communication data in a mobile communication system with disrupted connectivity, the method comprising the following steps performed by a network component:

switching from a non-disrupted-connectivity mode to a disrupted-connectivity mode;

in the disrupted-connectivity mode, forming one or more data packets, each data packet comprising machine type communication data and a disrupted-connectivity header, wherein the disrupted-connectivity header indicates the maximum tolerable delay for forwarding the machine type communications data and an address of the respective target device to receive the respective machine type communications data; and

in the disrupted-connectivity mode, transmitting the one or more data packets to a network node.

11. The method according to claim 10, further comprising:

transmitting a connection request message in the control plane to the network node, wherein the connection request message requests the establishment of a connection between the network component and the network node, and indicates that the data to be send is machine type communications data;

receiving, in the control plane and from the network node, a connection setup message, wherein the connection setup message informs the network component that the machine type communications data can only be transmitted in a disrupted-connectivity mode;

transmitting, in response to the connection setup message and in the control plane, a connection setup complete message to the network node to confirm the use of the disrupted-connectivity mode for transmission of the machine type communications data; and

establishing the requested connection to the network node for transmission of the machine type communications data in the disrupted-connectivity mode;

wherein the switching from the non-disrupted-connectivity mode to the disrupted-connectivity mode is performed in response to the reception of said connection setup message.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein the data packets are IP packets and the method further comprises the step of:

in the disrupted-connectivity mode, adding a header to each IP packet, the header indicating an IP address of the network node.

13. A network node for transmitting machine type communication data from at least one machine type communications device within a mobile communication system with disrupted connectivity, the network node comprising:

a receiver configured to receive one or more data packets, each data packet comprising machine type communications data and a disrupted-connectivity header, wherein the disrupted-connectivity header indicates a maximum tolerable delay for forwarding the machine type communications data and an address of a target device to receive the respective machine type communications data,

a processor configured to determine a load status of the mobile communication system, and

a transmitter configured to forward the machine type communications data to the respective target device within the maximum tolerable delay indicated in the disrupted-connectivity header, if the load status indicates no overload situation and if the maximum tolerable delay indicated in the disrupted-connectivity header for the respective machine type communications data has not been reached.

14. A network component for transmitting machine type communication data in a mobile communication system with disrupted connectivity, the network component comprising:

a packet processor configured to form, in a disrupted-connectivity mode, one or more data packets, each data packet comprising machine type communication data and a disrupted-connectivity header, wherein the disrupted-connectivity header indicates the maximum tolerable delay for forwarding the machine type communications data and an address of a respective target device to receive the respective machine type communications data; and

a transmitter configured to transmit the one or more data packets to a network node.

15. A non-volatile computer readable storage medium, comprising computer program when read by one or more processors of a computer cause the computer to perform the following steps:

receiving one or more data packets, each data packet comprising machine type communications data and a disrupted-connectivity header, wherein the disrupted-connectivity header indicates a maximum tolerable delay for forwarding the machine type communications data and an address of a target device to receive the respective machine type communications data,

determining a load status of the mobile communication system, and

if the load status indicates no overload situation and if the maximum delay for a respective machine type communications data has not been reached, forwarding the machine type communications data to the respective target device within the maximum tolerable delay indicated in the disrupted-connectivity header.

16. The non-volatile computer readable storage medium according to claim 15, further comprising computer program to cause the computer to perform the following steps:

storing the machine type communications data comprised in the one or more data packets, while the determined load status indicates an overload situation.

17. The non-volatile computer readable storage medium according to claim 16, further comprising computer program to cause the computer to perform the following steps:

aggregating the machine type communications data comprised in data packets received during an overload situation and being destined to the same target device or being destined to the same target machine type communications application running on the same target device,

wherein said forwarding of the machine type communications data to the target device comprises forwarding the aggregated machine type communications data via a single connection.

18. A non-volatile computer readable storage medium, comprising computer program when read by one or more processors of a computer cause the computer to perform the following steps:

switching from a non-disrupted-connectivity mode to a disrupted-connectivity mode;

in the disrupted-connectivity mode, forming one or more data packets, each data packet comprising machine type communication data and a disrupted-connectivity header, wherein the disrupted-connectivity header indicates the maximum tolerable delay for forwarding the machine type communications data and an address of the respective target device to receive the respective machine type communications data; and

in the disrupted-connectivity mode, transmitting the one or more data packets to a network node.

19. The non-volatile computer readable storage medium according to claim 18, further comprising computer program to cause the computer to perform the following steps:

transmitting a connection request message in the control plane to the network node, wherein the connection request message requests the establishment of a connection between the network component and the network node, and indicates that the data to be send is machine type communications data;

receiving, in the control plane and from the network node, a connection setup message, wherein the connection setup message informs the network component that the machine type communications data can only be transmitted in a disrupted-connectivity mode;

transmitting, in response to the connection setup message and in the control plane, a connection setup complete message to the network node to confirm the use of the disrupted-connectivity mode for transmission of the machine type communications data; and

establishing the requested connection to the network node for transmission of the machine type communications data in the disrupted-connectivity mode;

wherein the switching from the non-disrupted-connectivity mode to the disrupted-connectivity mode is performed in response to the reception of said connection setup message.

20. The non-volatile computer readable storage medium according to claim 18, wherein the data packets are IP and the non-volatile computer readable storage medium further comprising computer program to cause the computer to perform the following step:

in the disrupted-connectivity mode, adding a header to each IP packet, the header indicating an IP address of the network node.