Bandwidth control method, apparatus and system

• US 9,119,219 B2
• Filed: 06/29/2012
• Issued: 08/25/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Zhou, Han, Wu, Wenfu
• Primary Examiner(s): Beyen, Zewdu A
• Application Number:
  US13/539,189
• Publication Number:
  US 20120263083A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,152 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329, 370/330, 370/331, 370/338
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/20 Negotiating bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/22 Negotiating communication rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/121 for groups of terminals or users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 74/004 in the uplink, i.e. towards network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a bandwidth control method, apparatus, and system. The method includes: receiving an access request message sent by a user equipment; obtaining, according to the access request message, a group identity of a group to which the user equipment belongs and group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs, so that a bandwidth control device performs bandwidth control on a user equipment in the group according to the group identity and the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information.

Claims

1. A bandwidth control method, comprising:

receiving, at a mobility management entity, an access request message sent by a user equipment (UE) and that carries a user equipment identity of the user equipment; and

obtaining subscription data of the user equipment or context information of the user equipment according to the user equipment identity;

obtaining a group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the subscription data or context information;

obtaining, according to the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs, subscription data of the group to which the user equipment belongs; and

obtaining group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the subscription data of the group to which the user equipment belongs; and

sending a session management message to a bandwidth control device separate from the mobility management entity, the session management message comprising at least the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs, so that the bandwidth control device performs bandwidth control on a user equipment in the group according to the group identity of the session management message and further according to the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information;

wherein the group to which the user equipment belongs is a group of UEs.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein if the bandwidth control device comprises a gateway, the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information is a Group-APN-AMBR parameter or a Group-AMBR parameter.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein, if the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information comprises the Group-APN-AMBR parameter, the bandwidth control device performs the bandwidth control by:

limiting, by the bandwidth control device, all non-GBR bearer bandwidths of the UEs in the group in an APN corresponding to the Group-APN-AMBR parameter to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-APN-AMBR parameter;

or

limiting, by the bandwidth control device, all bearer bandwidths of the UEs in the group in an APN corresponding to the Group-APN-AMBR parameter to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-APN-AMBR parameter.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein, if the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information comprises the Group-AMBR parameter, the bandwidth control device performs the bandwidth control by:

limiting, by the bandwidth control device, all non-GBR bearer bandwidths of the UEs in the group to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-AMBR parameter;

or

limiting, by the bandwidth control device, all bearer bandwidths of the UEs in the group to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-AMBR parameter.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein if the bandwidth control device comprises an access network element, the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information is a Group-AMBR parameter.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the UEs in the group form the group in a master/slave networking manner;

wherein the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs comprises a master equipment identity; and

wherein the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs comprises aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of master equipment.

7. A bandwidth control method, comprising:

receiving, at a system element, a group identity of a group to which a user equipment (UE) belongs, wherein the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs is determined from subscription data or context information that is obtained according to a user equipment identity, wherein the group identity of the group is sent by a mobile management network element in a session management message and wherein the group to which the user equipment belongs is a group of UEs;

obtaining group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the subscription data of the group to which the user equipment belongs; and

performing bandwidth control, at the system element, on a user equipment in the group according to the group identity of the session management message and further according to the obtained group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the obtaining comprises obtaining the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs, wherein the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs is sent by the mobile management network element.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the obtaining comprises obtaining the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs in user equipment context of the group.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information comprises a Group-APN-AMBR parameter or a Group-AMBR parameter.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein, if the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information comprises the Group-APN-AMBR parameter, performing the bandwidth control on the user equipment in the group comprises:

limiting all non-GBR bearer bandwidths of the UEs in the group in an APN corresponding to the Group-APN-AMBR parameter to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-APN-AMBR parameter;

or

limiting all bearer bandwidths of the UEs in the group in an APN corresponding to the Group-APN-AMBR parameter to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-APN-AMBR parameter.

12. The method according to claim 10, wherein if the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information comprises the Group-AMBR parameter, performing the bandwidth control on the user equipment in the group comprises:

limiting all non-GBR bearer bandwidths of the UEs in the group to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-AMBR parameter;

or

limiting all bearer bandwidths of the UEs in the group to a value that does not exceed a value of the Group-AMBR parameter.

13. A mobile management network element, comprising:

a processor;

a nontransitory computer readable medium in communication with the processor and having stored thereon instructions for causing the processor to;

receive an access request message that carries a user equipment identity of the user equipment and that is sent by a user equipment; and

obtain subscription data of the user equipment or context information of the user equipment according to the user equipment identity;

obtain a group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the subscription data or context information;

obtain, according to the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs, subscription data of the group to which the user equipment belongs; and

obtain group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the subscription data of the group to which the user equipment belongs; and

send a session management message to a bandwidth control device separate from the mobile management network element, the session management message comprising at least the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs, so that a bandwidth control device performs bandwidth control on a user equipment in the group according to the group identity of the session management message and further according to the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information;

wherein the group to which the user equipment belongs is a group of UEs.

14. A bandwidth control device, comprising:

a processor;

a nontransitory computer readable medium in communication with the processor and having stored thereon instructions for causing the processor to;

receive a group identity of a group to which a user equipment belongs from a mobile management network element separate from the bandwidth control device, wherein the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs is determined from subscription data or context information that is obtained according to a user equipment identity, wherein the group identity of the group and is sent by a mobile management network element and wherein the group to which the user equipment belongs is a group of UEs;

obtain group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs from the subscription data of the group to which the user equipment belongs; and

perform bandwidth control on a user equipment in the group according to the group identity of the group to which the user equipment belongs and the group-aggregate maximum bit rate parameter information of the group to which the user equipment belongs.