Selective activation of network management policies of mobile devices in a mobile network

• US 8,923,116 B1
• Filed: 09/12/2013
• Issued: 12/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 06/17/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Seven Networks LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Seven Networks Inc
• Inventors: SELEZNYOV, Alexandr
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhou, Yong
• Application Number:
  US14/025,765
• Publication Number:
  US 20140369188A1
• Time in Patent Office: 474 Days
• US Class Current: 370/229
• 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 36/08 Reselecting an access point
• 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:

prior to a change in location of a mobile device between a first location area and a second location area of a plurality of location areas of a mobile network, receiving, by the mobile device, a network management policy for the second location area, wherein the location area includes a plurality of cells forming the location area;

responsive to a change in the location of the mobile device in the mobile network, determining if a new location is on a location area list distributed by a proxy server, wherein the location area list includes a congestion trigger associated with a congested network at a cell; and

activating, by the mobile device, a network management policy associated with the mobile device when the new location is on the location area list,

wherein the network management policy does not have specific binding to a particular location in the mobile network but is responsive to the congestion trigger in the location area list such that the network management policy is activated when the mobile device enters the congested cell but is not activated in uncongested cells in the location area.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location area list includes congested cell identifiers indicating congested cells in a location area of multiple location areas of the mobile network, wherein a cell includes a congested cell identifier if the cell is congested.

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

and wherein the cell identifiers are guaranteed unique within the location area.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

responsive to the change in the location of the mobile device in the mobile network, determining, by the mobile device, if a new location is in a new location area; and

if the new location is in the new location area, reporting the new location area to the proxy server.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein, the historical metrics are specific and relevant to the mobile device.

6. The method of claim 4 wherein, the mobile device is provisioned with the historical metrics that are specific and relevant to the mobile device.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the location is reported to the proxy server responsive to the change in the location of the mobile device in the mobile network.

8. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving, by the mobile device, network topology information identifying one or more of the multiple location areas of the mobile network.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the congested cells in the current location area are further determined to be congested based on historical metrics associated with the cells.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the activating the network management policy associated with the mobile device further comprises:

modifying communications of the mobile device to reduce congestion in the new location.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

monitoring, by the mobile device, the location of the mobile device in the mobile network.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the mobile device, the location area cell list from a proxy server responsive to a change in a current location area of multiple location areas of the mobile network.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the mobile device, the network management policy associated with the mobile device based on the network management policy including a congested cell trigger.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the network management policy comprises a modification to another network management policy.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

responsive to another change in the location of the mobile device in the mobile network, determining if another new location is on the location area list distributed by the proxy server; and

deactivating, by the mobile device, the active network management policy associated with the mobile device when the another new location is not on the location area list.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing, by the mobile device, one or more previous location area lists in on the mobile device.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein activating a network management policy associated with the mobile device when the new location is on the location area list comprises determining whether a cell associated with the new location is congested based only on the location area list.

18. A mobile device comprising:

a radio;

a processor;

memory storing instructions, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the mobile device to;

receive at the mobile device, prior to a change in location of the mobile device in a first location area and a second location area in a mobile network, a network management policy for the second location area, wherein the location area includes a plurality of cells forming the location area;

in response to a change in the location of the mobile device in the mobile network, determining if a new location is on a location area list distributed by a proxy server, wherein the location area list includes a congestion trigger associated with a congested network at a cell;

locally trigger the network management policy when the current cell location is on the location area cell list,

wherein the network management policy does not have specific binding to a particular cell in the mobile network but is responsive to a congestion trigger of a congested cell in the location area list such that the network management policy is activated when the mobile device enters the congested cell but is not activated in uncongested calls in the location area list.

19. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the location area cell list includes congested cell identifiers indicating congested cells in a location area of multiple location areas of the mobile network.

20. The mobile device of claim 19, wherein the multiple location areas each indicate a different set of cell locations in the mobile network.

21. The mobile device of claim 19, wherein the congested cell identifiers are guaranteed unique within the location area.

22. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein to trigger the network management policy, the instructions, when executed by the processor, causes further the mobile device to modify communications of the mobile device to reduce congestion in the new cell location.

23. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, further causes the mobile device to:

monitor the cell location of the mobile device in the mobile network;

responsive to a change in the cell location of the mobile device in the mobile network, determine if a new cell location is in a new location area; and

report the new cell location area to a proxy server if the new location is in the new location area.

24. The mobile device of claim 18, further comprising:

an interface in communication with the processor and the radio, wherein the interface;

receives the location area cell list from a proxy server responsive to a change in a current location area of multiple location areas of the mobile network; and

wherein the location area cell list is stored in the memory on the mobile device.

25. The mobile device of claim 18, further comprising:

an interface in communication with the processor and the radio, wherein the interface;

receives the network management policy including a congested cell trigger; and

wherein the network management policy is stored in memory on the mobile device.

26. A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium storing instructions to be implemented by a mobile device having a processor, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor, causes the mobile device to:

prior to a change in the location area of a mobile device between a first location area and a second location area of a plurality of location areas of a mobile network, receive, by the mobile device, a network management policy for the second location area, wherein the location area includes a plurality of cells forming the location area;

responsive to a change in a location of the mobile device in the mobile network, determine if a new location is on a location area list distributed by a proxy server, wherein the location area list includes a congestion trigger associated with a congested network at a cell; and

trigger a network management policy associated with the mobile device locally when the new location is on the location area list,

wherein the network management policy does not have specific binding to a particular location in the mobile network but is responsive to a congestion trigger of a congested cell in the location area list such that the network management policy is activated when the mobile device enters the congested cell but is not activated in uncongested cells in the location area list.

27. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 26, wherein, when the network management policy is triggered, the mobile device modifies communications to reduce congestion in the new location.

28. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 26, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor further cause the processor to:

preload the network management policy including a congested location status trigger on the mobile device,

wherein the network management policy is received prior to the change in the location of the mobile device in the mobile network, and

wherein the congested location status trigger causes the triggering of the network management policy when the new location is on the location area list.

29. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 28, wherein the instructions, when executed by the processor further cause the processor to:

monitor the location of the mobile device in the mobile network;

responsive to a change in the location of the mobile device in the mobile network, determine if a new location is in a new location area; and

if the new location is in the new location area, report the new location area to the proxy server.

30. The computer-readable non-transitory storage medium of claim 26, wherein the location area list includes congested cell identifiers indicating congested cells in a current location area of multiple location areas of the mobile network, wherein the multiple location areas each indicate a different set of cell locations in the mobile network;

and wherein the cell identifiers are guaranteed unique within the current location area of the mobile network.