Management of serving gateways for enhanced performance

• US 8,625,612 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2010
• Issued: 01/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/29/2010
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Cuervo, Fernando, Robinson, Allen, Cutler, Kevin Scott
• Primary Examiner(s): Wilson, Robert
• Assistant Examiner(s): Davis, Ronald H
• Application Number:
  US12/826,014
• Publication Number:
  US 20110317709A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,288 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/401
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1403 Architecture for metering, charging or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Various embodiments relate to a system and related method for managing a connection of a user device to a communications network. Various embodiments relate to a Policy and Charging Rules Node (PCRN) receiving a user requests through multiple serving gateways. The PCRN may assign one of the serving gateways as a primary serving gateway when the serving gateway sends a Gateway Control Session that binds to an IP-CAN session established in the PCRN. When the PCRN receives a subsequent message from another serving gateway, the PCRN may reassign the new serving gateway as primary when its Gateway Control Session matches. The PCRN may then mark the former serving gateway as pending termination and signal the marked gateway to terminate. After sending rules to serving gateways not pending termination, the PCRN may delete those serving gateways marked for termination.

Claims

1. A method performed by a Policy Charging and Rules Node (PCRN) to manage a connection of a user device to a communications network, the method comprising:

receiving a user request from the user device through a first serving gateway for connection to the communications network;

receiving the user request from the user device through at least a second serving gateway for connection to the communications network;

generating a rule based on the information included in the user request received from the user device through the first serving gateway;

assigning the first serving gateway as a primary serving gateway; and

signaling the second serving gateway to terminate at least one session associated with the user device when the first serving gateway is assigned as the primary serving gateway.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first serving gateway comprises a serving gateway with a Gateway Control Session that matches an Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session established in the PCRN.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the Gateway Control Session matches the IP-CAN session when a session binding identifier (SBI) included in a received binding message containing the Gateway Control Session and an SBI included in a received establishing message containing the IP-CAN session are associated with a common subscriber.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the SBI of the Gateway Control Session and the SBI of the IP-CAN session are comprised of a set of attributes, the attributes including at least one of:

a session identification;

an Ipv4 address;

an Ipv6 address;

an Access Point Name (APN); and

at least one subscriber identifier (SID);

wherein the attributes comprising the SBI of the Gateway Control Session and the SBI of the IP-CAN session also comprise attributes in at least one subscriber profile.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein the Gateway Control Session matches the IP-CAN session when an IP-CAN Type included in a received binding message containing the Gateway Control Session matches the IP-CAN session.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

pushing the rule to at least the first serving gateway, when the first serving gateway is not pending termination.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein the first and second serving gateways are connected to nodes configured to receive communications from the user device after a handover from a third serving gateway.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the PCRN receives the user request from the user device through the third serving gateway.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

reassigning the third serving gateway from the primary serving gateway to a secondary serving gateway after pushing the rule to at least the first and third serving gateways.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

waiting for a response from the second serving gateway for a pre-determined period after the signaling to the second gateway to terminate at least one session associated with the user device.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the signaling of the second gateway to terminate at least one session associated with the user device further comprises:

sending a session-abort-cause Attribute-Value Pair (AVP) in response to assigning the first serving gateway as the primary serving gateway.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

deleting the second serving gateway from a database in the PCRN when the second serving gateway does not respond to the signal to terminate at least one session associated with the user device.

13. A system for handling a user device in a communications network, the system comprising:

at least a first and second serving gateway that receive a user request generated from the user device for establishing a connection with the communications network, the first serving gateway generating a first binding message and the second serving gateway generating a second binding message;

a Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW) that generates an establishing message to establish an Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session; and

a Policy Charging and Rules Node (PCRN) that receives at least the establishing message from the PGW and the first and second binding messages from the first and second gateways, wherein the PCRN;

receives the user request from the user device through the first serving gateway for connection to the communications network;

generates a rule based on the information included in the user request received from the user device through the first binding message generated by the first serving gateway;

assigns the first serving gateway as a primary serving gateway; and

signals the second serving gateway to terminate at least one session associated with the user device when the first serving gateway is assigned as the primary serving gateway.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the first serving gateway comprises a serving gateway with a Gateway Control Session that matches an IP-CAN session established in the PCRN.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the Gateway Control Session matches the IP-CAN session when an IP-CAN Type included in the first binding message containing the Gateway Control Session matches the IP-CAN session.

16. The system of claim 13, wherein the PCRN deletes the second serving gateway from a database in the PCRN when the second serving gateway does not respond to the signal to terminate the at least one session associated with the user device.

17. The system of claim 13, wherein the PCRN further:

pushes the rule to at least the first serving gateway, wherein the first serving gateway is not pending termination.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein the first and second serving gateways are connected to nodes configured to receive communications from the user device after a handover from a third server gateway.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the PCRN receives the user request from the user device through the third server gateway.

20. The system of claim 19, wherein the PCRN reassigns the third serving gateway from the primary serving gateway to a secondary serving gateway after pushing the rule to at least the first and third serving gateways.

21. The system of claim 13, wherein the PCRN waits for a response from the second serving gateway for a pre-determined period after the signaling to the second gateway to terminate at least one session associated with the user device.

22. The system of claim 13, wherein the PCRN signaling of the second gateway to terminate at least one session associated with the user device comprises sending a session-abort-cause Attribute-Value Pair (AVP) in response to assigning the first serving gateway as the primary serving gateway.