Systems for selective activation of network management policies of mobile devices in a mobile network

• US 8,885,466 B1
• Filed: 09/12/2013
• Issued: 11/11/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Seven Networks LLC (FIG LLC (d/b/a Fortress Investment Group LLC))
• Original Assignee: Seven Networks Inc
• Inventors: SELEZNYOV, Alexandr
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhou, Yong
• Application Number:
  US14/025,788
• Time in Patent Office: 425 Days
• US Class Current: 370/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0226 based on location or mobility handoff or reselection H04W36/00; mobile application services making use of the location of users or terminals H04W4/02
• 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 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Systems and methods described herein employ techniques for generation and selective activation (or triggering) of network management policies in a congested network to, for example, prevent further aggravation of network congestion are disclosed. In order to address mobile network congestion it is necessary to be able to enforce network management policies on the devices which are in the a specific congested cell. This presents a challenge as the mobile devices cannot themselves determine if the cell they are currently located in is congested. Additionally, most network operators do not have mechanisms to determine which cells are congested in real-time. Thus, network operators (e.g., cellular providers) can create policies with congestion triggers that are not bound to specific cells to address congestion. The polices can be distributed to clients in the mobile network and selectively activated in congested cell locations (or areas) by the mobile clients.

Claims

1. A method of managing activation of network management policies in a mobile network, the method comprising:

processing a location update received from a mobile device to identify a change in the location area of the mobile device;

responsive to the change in the location area of the mobile device, provisioning, by a proxy server, a location area list for the new location area; and

distributing the location area list to the mobile device,

wherein the location area list includes location identifiers indicating congested locations in the new location area of multiple location areas of the mobile network, and

wherein provisioning the location area list for the new location area further comprises;

accessing a historical list of past congested locations received from a service provider;

identifying the past congested locations that are in the new location area; and

adding the past congested locations that are in the new location area to the location area list associated with the new location.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the multiple location areas each indicate a different set of cell locations in the mobile network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the location identifiers comprise cell identifiers that are guaranteed unique within the current location area of the mobile network.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the proxy server, the historical list of past congested locations from a node associated with the service provider.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each location in the historical list of past congested locations comprises a cell that is identifiable by an associated cell identifier and location area code (LAC).

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the past congested locations that are in the new location area are identified using cell identifiers.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the location identifiers are guaranteed unique only within the current location area of the mobile network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the location updates indicate a current location of the mobile device within the current location area of the mobile device in the mobile network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein monitoring the current location area of the mobile device further comprises:

receiving, by the proxy server, the location updates indicating a current location of the mobile device in the mobile network; and

processing the current location updates to identify the change in the current location area by comparing the current location with previous locations.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

providing, by the proxy server, an interface for generating a network management policy including a congested location status trigger;

wherein the network management policy does not have specific binding to a particular location in the mobile network.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

receiving, by the proxy server, one or more parameters from a service provider of the mobile network; and

generating, by the proxy server, the network management policy including the congested location status trigger,

wherein the congested location status trigger triggers activation of the network management policy by the mobile when in a congested location as determined by a location area list.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the parameters indicate the inclusion of the congested location status trigger in the network management policy.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing, by the proxy server, the network management policy to the service provider.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

providing, by the proxy server, the network management policy to one or more mobile devices.

15. A server comprising:

one or more processors; and

memory having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by the one or more processors, causes the server to;

receive a location area update from a mobile device;

generate a location area cell list for a new location area of the mobile device responsive to the location area update; and

distribute the location area cell list to the mobile device,

wherein the location area cell list includes cell identifiers indicating congested cells in the new location area of multiple location areas of the mobile network; and

wherein to generate the location area cell list for the new location area of the mobile device, the one or more processors are further configured to;

access a historical list of past congested cells received from a cellular service provider;

identify the past congested cells that are in the new location area; and

add the past congested cells that are in the new location area to the location area cell list associated with the new location.

16. The server of claim 15, wherein the multiple location areas each indicate a different set of cell locations in the mobile network.

17. The server of claim 15, wherein the cell identifiers are guaranteed unique only within the current location area of the mobile network.

18. The server of claim 15, wherein communication with the service provider includes:

receiving the historical list of past congested cells from a node associated with the service provider.

19. The server of claim 18 wherein each cell in the historical list of past congested cells is identifiable by an associated cell identifier and location area code;

and wherein the past congested cells that are in the new location area are identified using location area codes associated with the past congested cells.

20. The server of claim 15, wherein the cell location updates indicate a current cell location of the mobile device within the current location area of the mobile device in the mobile network.

21. The server of claim 15, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to provide an interface for generating a network management policy including a congested cell trigger;

wherein the network management policy does not have specific binding to a particular cell in the mobile network.

22. The server of claim 21, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to:

receive one or more parameters from a service provider of the mobile network; and

generate the network management policy including the congested cell trigger.

23. The server of claim 22, wherein the parameters indicate the inclusion of the congested cell trigger in the network management policy.

24. The server of claim 22, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to direct the interface to provide the network management policy to the service provider.

25. The server of claim 22, wherein the one or more processors are further configured to direct the interface to provide the network management policy to one or more mobile devices.