Service specific subscriber priority

• US 8,751,652 B2
• Filed: 12/23/2004
• Issued: 06/10/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Kuure, Pekka, Rotsten, Kirsi
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, PHUOC H
• Application Number:
  US11/019,225
• Publication Number:
  US 20060056394A1
• Time in Patent Office: 3,456 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/217, 709/226
• US Class Current: 709/226
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5041 characterised by the time relationship between creation and deployment of a service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/61 taking into account QoS or priority requirements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0268 using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24

Abstract

A communication method manages the allocation of Quality of Service using a communication network having an application server providing services and user equipment operated by subscriber The method also includes prioritizing a subscriber according to their subscription details for each service provided. The method also includes allocating Quality of Service for a service provided to user equipment according to the priority of a subscriber operating the respective user equipment.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

managing an allocation of quality of service using a communication network having an application server providing services and user equipment operated by a subscriber, wherein the managing includes;

prioritizing the subscriber according to subscription details separately for each of at least two services provided, wherein the prioritization is service-specific and further wherein an identity of the subscriber is associated with at least two service-specific priority settings, and

allocating said quality of service for a service provided to said user equipment according to a priority of the subscriber operating the user equipment,

wherein a provided service comprises a push to talk over cellular service and said quality of service to be allocated comprises a streaming traffic class.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the allocating comprises indicating, by the communication network to the user equipment, said quality of service to be requested for a packet data protocol context for a service.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the prioritizing comprises causing priorities to be stored into a subscription management database of a responsible home subscriber server.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the prioritizing comprises causing priorities to be stored locally into the application server providing the service with respect to which the subscriber is prioritized.

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

causing the priority of the subscriber to be fetched by using a responsible network entity during a registration procedure of the user equipment operated by the subscriber in the communication network.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the prioritizing further comprises:

using several internet protocol multimedia subsystem public user identities by the subscriber; and

causing a priority setting to be stored for each of the identities according to a specific application server into a home subscriber server.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing respective priority information to be stored in one of a subscriber identity module, a universal mobile telecommunications system identity module, or an internet protocol multimedia subsystem identity module.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a respective priority indication of the subscriber after a session initiation protocol session request.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the allocating comprises causing said quality of service to be requested for a packet data protocol context for a service to be indicated by the communication network to the user equipment.

10. A system, comprising:

a communication network configured to manage an allocation of quality of service, the communication network having an application server configured to provide services and user equipment operated by a subscriber;

a first network entity configured to prioritize the subscriber according to subscription details separately for each of at least two services provided, wherein the prioritization is service-specific, wherein an identity of the subscriber is associated with at least two service-specific priority settings, and wherein the first network entity is operably connected with the application server providing a push to talk over cellular service; and

a second network entity configured to allocate the quality of service for a service provided to the user equipment according to a priority of the subscriber operating the user equipment,

wherein a connection is configured so that the quality of service to be allocated to the subscriber comprises a streaming traffic class.

11. The system according to claim 10, wherein the communication network is further configured to indicate, to the user equipment, with which quality of service a packet data protocol context for a service is to be requested.

12. The system according to claim 10, further comprising:

a home subscriber server having a subscription management database, wherein the first network entity is operably connected with a home subscriber service so that the priorities are stored into a subscription management database.

13. The system according to claim 10,

wherein the first network entity is operably connected with the application server providing the service with respect to which the subscriber is prioritized, and

wherein a connection is configured so that priorities are stored locally into the application server.

14. The system according to claim 10, further comprising:

a third network entity configured to fetch the priority of the subscriber by using a responsible network entity during a registration procedure of the user equipment operated by the subscriber in the communication network.

15. The system according to claim 14, further comprising a home subscriber server,

wherein the first network entity is further configured to use several internet protocol multimedia subsystem public user identities for the subscriber, and

wherein the home subscriber server and the first network entity are operably connected to store a priority setting for each of the internet protocol multimedia subsystem public user identities according to a specific application server into the home subscriber server.

16. The system according to claim 10, further comprising:

a third network entity configured to store respective priority information in one of a subscriber identity module, a universal mobile telecommunications system identity module and an internet protocol multimedia subsystem identity module.

17. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory device, the at least one processor being configured to, with the memory device, cause the apparatus at least to:

prioritize a subscriber according to subscription details separately for each of at least two services provided to a user equipment operated by the subscriber, wherein the prioritization is service-specific and further wherein an identity of the subscriber is associated with at least two service-specific priority settings; and

allocate quality of service for a service provided to the user equipment according to a priority of the subscriber operating the user equipment,

wherein the apparatus is configured to be operably connected to an application server providing a push to talk over cellular service so that the quality of service to be allocated to the subscriber comprises a streaming traffic class.

18. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the apparatus is further caused to indicate, to the user equipment, with which quality of service provided by an application server a packet data protocol context for a service is to be requested.

19. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the apparatus is operably connected with a subscription management database of a responsible home subscriber server that stores priorities into the database.

20. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the apparatus is operably connected with an application server providing the service with respect to which the subscriber is prioritized, to store priorities locally into the application server.

21. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, with the memory device, cause the apparatus at least to:

fetch the priority of the subscriber during a registration procedure of the user equipment operated by the subscriber in a communication network of the apparatus.

22. The apparatus according to claim 21,

wherein the apparatus is operably connected to an application server and to a home subscriber server, and

wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

use several internet protocol multimedia subsystem public user identities by the subscriber, and

store a priority setting for each of the identities according to a specific application server into the home subscriber server.

23. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, with the memory device, cause the apparatus at least to:

cause respective priority information to be stored in one of a subscriber identity module, a universal mobile telecommunications system identity module and an internet protocol multimedia subsystem identity module.

24. The apparatus according to claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further configured to, with the memory device, cause the apparatus at least to:

receive a respective priority indication of the subscriber after a session initiation protocol session request.

25. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the apparatus is further caused to indicate, to the user equipment, with which quality of service a packet data protocol context for the service is to be requested.

26. A method, comprising:

prioritizing a subscriber according to subscription details separately for each of at least two services provided to a user equipment operated by the subscriber, wherein the prioritization is service-specific and further wherein an identity of the subscriber is associated with at least two service-specific priority settings; and

allocating a quality of service for a service provided to the user equipment according to a priority of the subscriber operating the user equipment,

wherein a provided service comprises a push to talk over cellular service and said quality of service to be allocated comprises a streaming traffic class.

27. The method according to claim 26, further comprising:

causing a quality of service provided by an application server for a packet data protocol context for a service that is to be requested to be indicated.

28. The method according to claim 26, further comprising:

causing the priority of the subscriber to be fetched during a registration procedure of the user equipment operated by the subscriber in a communication network.

29. The method according to claim 28, further comprising:

using several internet protocol multimedia subsystem public user identities by the subscriber; and

causing a priority setting for each of the identities to be stored according to a specific application server into the home subscriber server.

30. The method according to claim 26, further comprising:

causing respective priority information to be stored in one of a subscriber identity module, a universal mobile telecommunications system identity module, or an internet protocol multimedia subsystem identity module.

31. The method according to claim 26, further comprising:

receiving a respective priority indication of the subscriber after a session initiation protocol session request.

32. The method according to claim 31, further comprising:

causing the quality of service that is to be requested for a packet data protocol context for the service to be indicated.

33. An apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, the processor being configured to, with the memory, cause the apparatus at least to:

receive, from a network, service-specific prioritization information that, according to subscription details, separately prioritizes a subscriber for each of at least two services provided by an application server and wherein an identity of the subscriber is associated with at least two service-specific priority settings; and

based on the service-specific prioritization information, cause a bearer to be requested for a given service provided by the application server to the apparatus,

wherein the application server provides a push to talk over cellular service so that a quality of service to be allocated to the bearer comprises a streaming traffic class.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein the apparatus further comprises a wireless receiver configured to receive a wireless communication including the service-specific prioritization information.