Handling user plane congestion in a wireless communication network
First Claim
1. A mobility management entity (MME) comprising:
- communications circuitry configured to communicate with a plurality of serving gateways (SGWs) and a plurality of packet data network gateways (PGWs) of an evolved packet core for a wireless communications network; and
management circuitry coupled to the communications circuitry and configured to;
receive, via the communications circuitry, a proactive PGW congestion notification from individual PGWs of the plurality of PGWs indicating a level of congestion for respective PGWs;
manage access to the PGWs by a user equipment of the wireless communications network based on the received proactive PGW congestion notifications; and
proactively transmit to the UE a notification to indicate high network congestion based on the levels of congestion of the PGWs.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Embodiments of the present disclosure describe devices, methods, computer-readable media and systems configurations for handling user plane congestion in a wireless communications network. A packet data network gateway (PGW) and/or a serving gateway (SGW) may proactively transmit a congestion notification to a mobility management entity (MME) including a level of congestion of the PGW and/or SGW. The MME may receive congestion notifications from a plurality of PGWs and/or SGWs. The MME may receive a request for a packet data network (PDN) connection from a user equipment (UE), and may take an action in response to the request based on the reported levels of congestion. The action may include selecting a PGW and/or SGW for the PDN connection, notifying the UE that the PDN connection cannot be established, and/or negotiating with the UE to terminate or modify one or more existing PDN connections in exchange for establishing the new PDN connection.
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Citations
23 Claims
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1. A mobility management entity (MME) comprising:
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communications circuitry configured to communicate with a plurality of serving gateways (SGWs) and a plurality of packet data network gateways (PGWs) of an evolved packet core for a wireless communications network; and management circuitry coupled to the communications circuitry and configured to; receive, via the communications circuitry, a proactive PGW congestion notification from individual PGWs of the plurality of PGWs indicating a level of congestion for respective PGWs; manage access to the PGWs by a user equipment of the wireless communications network based on the received proactive PGW congestion notifications; and proactively transmit to the UE a notification to indicate high network congestion based on the levels of congestion of the PGWs. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A mobility management entity (MME) comprising:
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communications circuitry configured to communicate with a plurality of serving gateways (SGWs) and a plurality of packet data network gateways (PGWs) of an evolved packet core for a wireless communications network; and management circuitry coupled to the communications circuitry and configured to; receive, via the communications circuitry, a proactive PGW congestion notification from individual PGWs of the plurality of PGWs indicating a level of congestion for respective PGWs; and manage access to the PGWs by a user equipment of the wireless communications network based on the received proactive PGW congestion notifications; wherein the management circuitry is further configured to receive a packet data network (PDN) request from the UE to establish a PDN connection with one of the plurality of PGWs, and to take an action in response to the request based on the levels of congestion of the plurality of PGWs; and wherein the management circuitry is further configured to proactively transmit a message to the UE indicating an overall congestion level of a user plane of the wireless communications network based on the received levels of congestion for the plurality of PGWs and/or SGWs.
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14. An apparatus to be employed by a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising:
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communications circuitry configured to communicate with an evolved Node B (eNB) over a wireless communications network; and packet data network (PDN) circuitry configured to; transmit, to a mobility management entity (MME) of the wireless communications network, a request for a new PDN connection associated with the eNB; receive, from the MME, a notification giving the UE an option to terminate or modify an existing PDN connection associated with the eNB in exchange for establishing the new PDN connection associated with the eNB; and send a response, based on the notification, to the MME. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
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22. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having instructions, stored thereon, that, when executed cause a computing system to:
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receive proactive packet data network gateway (PGW) congestion notifications from a plurality of PGWs indicating a level of congestion for the respective PGWs; receive proactive serving gateway (SGW) congestion notification from a plurality of SGWs indicating a level of congestion for the respective SGWs; receive a packet data network (PDN) request from a user equipment (UE) to establish a PDN connection with one of the plurality of PGWs; and take an action in response to the PDN request based on the levels of congestion of the plurality of PGWs and SGWs; wherein the action includes sending a notification to the UE that the PDN connection was unsuccessful or negotiating with the UE to terminate or modify an existing PDN connection in exchange for establishing the requested PDN connection. - View Dependent Claims (23)
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Specification