Method for controlling MTC service network overload in mobile communication system and device thereof

• US 8,942,175 B2
• Filed: 05/04/2011
• Issued: 01/27/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/04/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Hyunsook, Kim, Laeyoung, Kim, Taehyeon
• Primary Examiner(s): MEW, KEVIN D
• Application Number:
  US13/696,039
• Publication Number:
  US 20130044594A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,364 Days
• Field of Search: 370/229, 370/230, 370/230.1, 370/231, 370/232, 370/233, 370/234, 370/235, 370/236, 370/465
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/04 Error control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for controlling an overload of a network, which may be generated due to a service request of a terminal in a mobile communication system of machine type communication (MTC). The invention controls a network overload and efficiently use network resources, by requesting activation of a particular MTC function to the network on the basis of information on changes in unnecessary MTC functions, without allowing a terminal to request (for example, attach request) the unnecessary MTC functions.

Claims

1. A method of controlling a network overload in a mobile communication system, the method comprising:

receiving and storing, by a terminal, information about a control of the network overload from a network node;

determining, by the terminal, whether a service request to the network node is to be rejected or accepted by analyzing the stored information about the control of the network overload; and

transmitting, by the terminal, a message requesting a service to the network node when it is determined that the network node is to accept the service request,

wherein the information about the control of the network overload includes information indicating an activation state of machine type communication (MTC) features associated with the terminal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about the control of the network overload comprises at least one of:

a list of activation of MTC features supportable by the network node with respect to the terminal;

a list of deactivation of the MTC features of the terminal by the network node;

a list of MTC features the terminal is capable of or need to activate or a list of MTC features the terminal is capable of or need to deactivate;

an incompatible setting among the MTC features of the terminal;

a parameter value of a corresponding MTC feature for avoiding the incompatible setting among the MTC features of the terminal;

information in a form of combination of each MTC feature and an on/off flag, among the MTC features of the terminal; and

if information previously transmitted to the terminal by the network node exists, updated information of a corresponding information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the message requesting the service comprises at least one of:

information about MTC features the terminal wants to activate;

information about MTC features in an activation state currently stored in the terminal;

information about a device capability currently supportable by the terminal and/or information about corresponding MTC features; and

information about user preference for the MTC features of the terminal.

4. A method of controlling a network overload in a mobile communication system, the method comprising:

receiving, by a network node, a message requesting a service from a terminal;

receiving, by the network node, information about machine type communication (MTC) features of the terminal from a subscriber registration server;

determining, by the network node, whether to reject or accept a service request of the terminal by considering the received information about the MTC features of the terminal, a network condition, and an operator policy; and

transmitting, by the network node, a message of accepting or rejecting the service request together with information about a control of the network overload to the terminal, based on the determination.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

generating, by the network node, the information about the control of the network overload by considering the received information about the MTC features of the terminal, the network condition, and the operator policy.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

updating the information about the control of the network overload generated by the network node to the subscriber information server.

7. The method of claim 4, wherein the information about the control of the network overload comprises:

a list of activation of MTC features supportable by the network node with respect to the terminal;

a list of deactivation of the MTC features of the terminal by the network node;

a list of MTC features the terminal is capable of or need to activate or a list of MTC features the terminal is capable of or need to deactivate;

an incompatible setting among the MTC features of the terminal;

a parameter value of a corresponding MTC feature for avoiding the incompatible setting among the MTC features of the terminal;

information in a form of combination of each MTC feature and an on/off flag, among the MTC features of the terminal; and

if information previously transmitted to the terminal by the network node exists, updated information of a corresponding information.

8. The method of claim 4, wherein the message requesting the service comprises at least one of:

information about MTC features the terminal wants to activate;

information about MTC features in an activation state currently stored in the terminal;

information about a device capability currently supportable by the terminal and/or information about corresponding MTC features; and

information about user preference for the MTC features of the terminal.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein the terminal is an MTC device capable of supporting an MTC service, and the network node is a mobility management entity (MME), a serving GPRS support node (SGSN), or a mobile telephone switching (MSC).

10. A mobile communication terminal comprising:

a transmission and receiving unit configured to request a service to a network node and configured to receive, from the network node, information about a state of machine type communication (MTC) features, information about a cause for rejection to a request for the service, and information about MTC features currently capable of being activated;

a storage unit configured to store the information about the state of MTC features, the information about the cause for rejection to the request for the service, and the information about the MTC features currently capable of being activated, received from the network node; and

a controller configured to control a network overload by determining whether to request the service to the network by considering the received information such that the network overload is not generated.