Apparatus and method to efficiently send device trigger messages

• US 8,989,070 B2
• Filed: 01/31/2013
• Issued: 03/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 07/02/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Jain, Puneet, Rao, Varun, Shan, Chang Hong, Venkatachalam, Muthaiah
• Primary Examiner(s): BLANTON, JOHN D
• Application Number:
  US13/755,166
• Publication Number:
  US 20140003313A1
• Time in Patent Office: 782 Days
• US Class Current: 370/311
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0025 Transmission of mode-switching indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0026 Transmission of channel quality indication
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1628 List acknowledgements, i.e. the acknowledgement message consisting of a list of identifiers, e.g. of sequence numbers H04L1/1614 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1812 Hybrid protocols; Hybrid automatic repeat request [HARQ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1854 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1861 Physical mapping arrangements for ACK signaling see also H04L5/0053
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/1887 Scheduling and prioritising arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0048 Allocation of pilot signals, i.e. of signals known to the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0053 Allocation of signaling, i.e. of overhead other than pilot signals
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0055 Physical resource allocation for ACK/NACK for physical mapping arrangements in ARQ protocols H04L1/1861
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0064 Rate requirement of the data, e.g. scalable bandwidth, data priority
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/0073 Allocation arrangements that take into account other cell interferences for intercell interference mitigation or co-ordination in orthogonal multiplex systems H04J11/005
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 5/14 Two-way operation using the same type of signal, i.e. duplex
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1033 Signalling gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0205 at the air interface dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/08 : Load balancing or load distribution transferring a connection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 : for handling the traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 : Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 : Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 : using downlink control channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0206 : in access points, e.g. base stations access point devices per se H04W88/08
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0209 : in terminal devices terminal devices per se H04W88/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0212 : managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0245 : according to signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/383 : power control in peer-to-peer links
• 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 72/0446 : Resources in time domain, e.g. slots or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/046 : the resource being in the space domain, e.g. beams
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/21 : in the uplink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/23 : in the downlink direction of a wireless link, i.e. towards a terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/30 : Resource management for broadcast services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/569 : of the traffic information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/27 : Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 : Access point devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 : Inter-networking arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 40/60 : Superconducting electric elements or equipment; Power systems integrating superconducting elements or equipment

Abstract

With the proliferation of Machine-Type Communication (MTC), an excessive use of device trigger messages in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network can have negative effects on user equipment (UE). These effect can include a shortening of UE battery life and/or excessive signalling caused by the frequent changing from an idle mode to an active mode. An MTC Interworking Function (MTC-IWF) can be configured to determine the status of a UE to which a device trigger message is intended. If the device trigger message is low priority and the UE is in an idle state, the MTC-IWF or Mobile Management Entity (MME)/Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN)/Mobile Switching Center (MSC) can buffer the device trigger message.

Claims

1. A Machine Type Communication Interworking Function (MTC-IWF) in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network comprising:

a processor arranged to;

receive a request to send a device trigger message via the LTE network;

validate the request to send a device trigger message;

request status information of a user equipment (UE) to which the device trigger message is to be sent;

receive the status information of the UE;

determine a priority of the request to send the device trigger message; and

send the device trigger message based on the status information, when the priority of the request to send the device trigger message is high;

wherein

the status information comprises information on a connection status of the UE.

2. The MTC-IWF of claim 1 wherein the status information indicates if the UE is in an idle state or in a connected state.

3. The MTC-IWF of claim 1 wherein the MTC-IWF is further arranged to,

when the priority of the device trigger request is low[M],

send the device trigger message when the UE is in a connected state;

and

buffer the device trigger message when the UE is in an idle state.

4. A method for sending a device trigger message to a destination user equipment (UE) in an LTE network comprising:

receiving a request to send a device trigger message;

determining a priority of the device trigger message;

transmitting the device trigger message if the priority of the device trigger message is high;

if the priority of the device trigger message is low, checking if the destination UE for the device trigger message is in a connected state;

sending the device trigger message when the destination UE is in a connected state;

otherwise buffering the device trigger message until the destination UE is in a connected state.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the method is performed by a Machine Type Communications Interworking Function (MTC-IWF).

6. The method of claim 4 wherein the method is performed by a mobile management entity (MME).

7. A method for sending a device trigger message in a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network comprising:

receiving a request to send a device trigger message;

validating the request to send the device trigger message;

requesting status information of the user equipment (UE) to which the device trigger message is to be sent;

determining the priority of the request to send the device trigger message;

receiving the status information of the UE to which the device trigger message is to be sent; and

sending the device trigger message based on the status information, when the priority of the request to send a device trigger message is high;

wherein

the status information comprises information on the connection status of the UE.

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the status information indicates if the UE is in an idle state or in a connected state.

9. The method of claim 7 wherein sending the device trigger message based on the status information comprises,

when the priority of the request to send a device trigger message is low,

sending the device trigger message when the UE is in a connected state;

and

buffering the device trigger message when the UE is in an idle state.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein buffering the device trigger message is performed by a Mobile Management Entity (MME).

11. The method of claim 7 further comprising:

creating a report detailing the sending of the device trigger message; and

creating a charging data record (CDR) based on the sending of the device trigger.

12. The method of claim 7 wherein the method is performed by a Machine Type Communication Interworking Function (MTC-IWF).

13. The method of claim 12 wherein:

requesting status information of the user equipment (UE) to which the device trigger message is to be sent comprises sending a subscriber information request (SIR) message to a Home Subscriber Server (HSS); and

receiving the status information of the UE to which the device trigger message is to be sent comprises receiving a Subscriber Information Answer (SIA) message from the HSS.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein the SIR message comprises a state information request of the UE;

and

further wherein the SIA message comprises state information of the UE.

15. The method of claim 14 wherein the state information comprises information regarding whether the UE is in an idle state or in a connected state.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the state information is selected from the following:

detached, Attached_Not_Reachable_For_Paging, Attached_Reachable_For_Paging, Connected_Not_Reachable_For_Paging, Connected_Reachable_For_Paging, and Network_Determined_Not_Reachable.

17. The method of claim 13 wherein

the SIR message is a User State Information Request (USIR) message;

and

the SIA message is a User State Information Answer (USIA) message.

18. The method of claim 12 wherein:

requesting status information of the user equipment (UE) to which the device trigger message is to be sent comprises sending a subscriber information request (SIR) message to a Mobile Management Entity (MME); and

receiving the status information of the UE comprises receiving a Subscriber Information Answer (SIA) message from the MME.

19. The method of claim 12 wherein:

requesting status information of the user equipment (UE) to which the device trigger is to be sent comprises sending a subscriber information request (SIR) message to a Presence Server; and

receiving the status information of the UE comprises receiving a Subscriber Information Answer (SIA) message from the Presence Server.

20. The method of claim 12 wherein:

requesting status information of the user equipment (UE) to which the device trigger message is to be sent comprises sending a subscriber information request (SIR) message to a Home Subscriber Server (HSS); and

receiving the status information of the UE comprises receiving a Subscriber Information Answer (SIA) message from the HSS.

21. A method comprising:

receiving a first request to send a device trigger message;

validating the first request to send a device trigger message;

requesting status information of the user equipment (UE) to which the device trigger is to be sent;

determining the priority of the request to send the device trigger message;

receiving the status information of the UE; and

submitting a second request to a mobile management entity to process the first request to send a device trigger message, when the priority of the first request to send the device trigger message is high.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein:

the method is performed by a Machine Type Communication Interworking Function (MTC-IWF).