Packet data protocol context management for handover from cellular network to a femto cell

• US 8,891,490 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2008
• Issued: 11/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: LYFT Incorporated
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Choi-Grogan, Yung Shirley
• Primary Examiner(s): YOUNG, STEVE R
• Application Number:
  US12/276,717
• Publication Number:
  US 20100128697A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,185 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/332
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/32 Hierarchical cell structures
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0016 Hand-off preparation specially adapted for end-to-end data sessions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0044 of quality context information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/04 Reselecting a cell layer in multi-layered cells
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/045 using private Base Stations, e.g. femto Base Stations, home Node B

Abstract

System(s) and method(s) are provided to manage packet data protocol (PDP) contexts upon cellular-to-femto handover, wherein femto network has disparate capabilities to support applications with distinct access point names (APNs) and quality of service (QoS) profiles. Based at least on activity factors of applications associated with PDP contexts, a QoS-based ranking of PDP contexts, and subscriber input, cellular network platform selects active PDP contexts to retain and suspend upon handover. A group of active PDP contexts is handed off in accordance with femto coverage capability, with remaining active PDP contexts suspended during handover. When a suspended PDP context, and application associated therewith, is resumed through femto coverage, a PDP context modification is conducted with a new APN and the application is routed to a corresponding femto gateway node and application server. Additionally, femto network platform performs a radio access bearer reconfiguration to meet QoS requirements of the resumed PDP context.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

determining, by a system comprising a processor, activity data representing a set of activity levels corresponding to a set of packet data protocol contexts;

ranking, by the system, quality of service requirements of active packet data protocol contexts of the set of packet data protocol contexts based on quality of service requirements of an application associated with the active packet data protocol contexts and a determined packet data protocol context selection;

receiving, by the system, a confirmation of a selection of a set of active packet data protocol contexts from the active packet data protocol contexts, wherein the confirmation is based on input received via a mobile device user interface and wherein the selection is based on the ranking of the quality of service requirements;

facilitating, by the system, transferring the set of active packet data protocol contexts selected from the active packet data protocol contexts from cellular coverage to femtocell coverage in response to receiving the confirmation of the selection of the set of active packet data protocol contexts;

suspending, by the system, a second set of packet data protocol contexts that are not in the selected set of active packet data protocol contexts resulting in suspended packet data protocol contexts; and

maintaining, by the system, the suspended packet data protocol contexts until the transferring of the selected set of active packet data protocol contexts is determined to have completed;

in response to a release of the transferred selected set of active packet data protocol contexts, requesting packet data protocol context modification of a suspended packet data protocol context of the suspended packet data protocol contexts is determined to satisfy a defined criterion; and

resuming a highest ranking packet data protocol context in response to completion of a packet data protocol context modification,

wherein the selected set of active packet data protocol contexts have rankings that have been determined to satisfy a criterion with respect to a quality of service for the application, and a number of the selected set of active packet data protocol contexts is determined based on a determined femtocell network capability.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the facilitating the transferring of the set of active packet data protocol contexts comprises:

conveying an indication of a second selection of the second set of packet data protocol contexts for suspension;

suspending the second set of active packet data protocol contexts in response to receiving a confirmation of the second selection.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the system, that the selected set of active data protocol contexts are terminated;

selecting, by the system, a suspended packet data protocol context with a highest quality of service requirement; and

resuming, by the system, the selected suspended packet data protocol context.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the selecting the suspended packet data protocol context is based at least in part on subscriber input.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

analyzing, by the system, historic data on previous subscriber selections of active packet data protocol contexts; and

selecting, by the system, the suspended packet data protocol context based on a result of the analyzing.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising conveying, by the system, a ranking of active packet data protocol contexts to a femtocell network platform.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection of the set of active packet data protocol contexts is based at least in part on an inferred ranking of the plurality of active packet data protocol contexts based upon historical confirmations received via the mobile device user interface.

8. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device comprising executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a device comprising a processor to perform operations, comprising:

comparing activities determined for packet data protocol contexts of a set of packet data protocol contexts and suspending at least a subset of the set of packet data protocol contexts that are determined to be inactive;

ranking quality of service characteristics of active packet data protocol contexts of the set of packet data protocol contexts based on a quality of service requirement of an application associated with the active packet data protocol contexts and a predicted packet data protocol selection;

receiving confirmation of a selection of a set of active packet data protocol contexts from the active packet data protocol contexts, wherein the confirmation is based on input received from a mobile device user interface and wherein the selection is based on the ranking of the quality of service characteristics;

facilitating transferring, from a cellular network device to a femtocell network device, the set of active packet data protocol contexts of the active packet data protocol contexts having a ranked quality of service characteristic that satisfies a defined ranking criterion for the associated applications in response to receiving the confirmation of the selection of the set of active packet data protocol contexts;

suspending an active packet data protocol context of the active packet data protocol contexts that was not transferred from the cellular network device to the femtocell network device;

maintaining the packet data protocol context in suspension until the transferring of the active packet data protocol context is determined to be complete;

signaling a cellular network to modify a highest ranking suspended packet data protocol context; and

resuming a highest ranking suspended packet data protocol context after a transferred active packet data protocol context is released.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

suspending an inactive packet data protocol context of the active packet data protocol contexts.

10. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

transferring a highest ranked active data protocol context until an active packet data protocol context capacity of a femtocell network device is reached.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining suspension of the inactive packet data protocol context.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage device of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

selecting the set of active packet data protocol contexts based at least in part on an inferred ranking of the plurality of active packet data protocol contexts based upon historical confirmations received via the mobile device user interface.

13. A system, comprising:

a memory to store instructions; and

a processor, coupled to the memory, to facilitate execution of the instructions to perform operations, comprising;

comparing a set of activity levels corresponding to a set of packet data protocol contexts and ranking a subset of the set of active packet data protocol contexts based on a quality of service requirement of an application associated with the active packet data protocol context and a predicted packet data protocol selection;

receiving an indication of a confirmation of a selection of the subset of active packet data protocol contexts, wherein the confirmation is based on input received via a mobile device user interface;

facilitating a transfer, from cellular coverage to femtocell network coverage, of an active packet data protocol context of the active packet data protocol contexts with a defined level of quality of service requirement in response to receiving the indication of the confirmation;

suspending another active packet data protocol context of the active packet data protocol contexts that was not transferred;

maintaining the other packet data protocol context as suspended until the transfer of the active packet data protocol context is determined to have completed;

signaling a cellular network to modify the highest ranking suspended packet data protocol context; and

resuming a highest ranking suspended packet data protocol context after a transferred active packet data protocol context is released.

14. The system of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

conveying an indication of a second set of packet data protocol contexts.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

suspending the second set of packet protocol contexts in response to receiving confirmation of the second set.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise facilitating a conveyance of information representing the ranking of the subset of active packet data protocol contexts with the data.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise analyzing historical confirmations of selections of transferred packet data protocol contexts to generate prediction data about future packet data protocol context selections.

18. The system of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining an active packet data protocol context capacity of a femtocell network; and

transferring another active data protocol context with a highest ranked quality of service requirement until the active packet data protocol context capacity of the femtocell network is reached.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise selecting the active packet data protocol context to transfer based on the analyzing of the historical confirmations.

20. The system of claim 13, wherein the operations further comprise:

selecting the subset of active packet data protocol contexts based at least in part on an inferred ranking of the plurality of active packet data protocol contexts based upon historical confirmations received via the mobile device user interface.

21. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system comprising a processor, a transferred active packet data protocol context;

receiving, by the system, ranking data representing respective rankings of a set of suspended active packet data protocol contexts that were suspended prior to transfer of the transferred active packet data protocol context, wherein the respective rankings are based on respective quality of service requirements of applications associated with the set of suspended active packet data protocol contexts and a determined packet data protocol selection;

receiving an indication of a confirmation of the respective rankings of the set of suspended packet data protocol contexts via a user interface;

in response to receiving the indication of the confirmation, maintaining, by the system, the set of suspended packet data protocol contexts until the transfer of the transferred active packet data protocol context is determined to be complete;

requesting, by the system, a modification of a highest ranked suspended active packet data protocol context of the set of suspended active packet data protocol contexts in response to the transferred active packet data protocol context being released; and

resuming, by the system, the highest ranked suspended packet data protocol context in response to completing the modification of the highest ranked packet data protocol context.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the requesting further comprises sending, by the system, an indication to a cellular network to modify the highest ranked suspended active packet data protocol context.

23. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

generating the ranking data of the set of suspended active packet data protocol contexts based at least in part on an inferred ranking of the suspended active packet data protocol contexts based upon historical confirmations received via the mobile device user interface.

24. A non-transitory computer-readable storage device comprising executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a device comprising a processor to perform operations, comprising:

receiving a transferred active packet data protocol context via a cellular-to-femto transfer;

receiving a set of suspended packet data protocol contexts, suspended prior to the cellular-to-femto transfer, wherein the set of suspended packet data protocol contexts are ranked based on a corresponding set of quality of service requirements of applications associated with the set of suspended packet data protocol contexts and an inferred packet data protocol context selection;

receiving an indication of a confirmation of the set of suspended packet data protocol contexts as ranked via a user interface;

in response to receiving the indication of the confirmation, maintaining suspended packet data protocol contexts until the transferred active packet data protocol contexts is determined to be received;

in response to a release of the transferred active packet data protocol context, requesting packet data protocol context modification of a suspended packet data protocol context of the set of suspended packet data protocol contexts determined to satisfy a defined criterion;

resuming the suspended packet data protocol context in response to completion of the packet data protocol context modification; and

resuming a highest ranking packet data protocol context in response to completion of a packet data protocol context modification.

25. A system, comprising:

a memory to store executable instructions; and

a processor, coupled to the memory, to facilitate execution of the executable instructions to perform operations, comprising;

receiving a set of active packet data protocol contexts from a transfer of contexts;

receiving ranking data representative of a ranking of suspended packet data protocol contexts, suspended prior to the transfer, wherein the ranking is based on quality of service requirements for applications associated with the suspended packet data protocol contexts and a predicted packet data protocol context selection;

receiving an indication of a confirmation of the ranking data representative of the ranking of the suspended packet data protocol contexts via a user interface;

in response to receiving the indication of the confirmation, maintaining the suspended packet data protocol contexts until the transfer of the contexts is determined to be complete;

signaling a cellular network to modify a highest ranking suspended packet data protocol context; and

resuming a highest ranking suspended packet data protocol context after a transferred active packet data protocol context is released.