Paging control in communication networks

• US 9,474,052 B2
• Filed: 08/21/2013
• Issued: 10/18/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/15/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Mehta, Pratik
• Primary Examiner(s): Sam, Phirin
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chau, Peter
• Application Number:
  US13/972,011
• Publication Number:
  US 20130343309A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,154 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/70 Admission control; Resource allocation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• 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 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/00 Connection management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

A method is provided that includes receiving, at a serving gateway, an uplink data packet from a UE and caching information regarding the uplink packet on a per UE basis. The method also includes receiving a downlink packet destined for the UE when the serving gateway is unaware of any bearer connection being established for sending the packet to the UE. The method further includes determining whether the downlink packet is in response to an uplink data packet recently sent by the UE prior to receiving from an MME a notification at the serving gateway that a bearer connection is established for the UE to receive the downlink packet. The method also includes buffering the downlink packet until a bearer connection is established when the downlink packet is determined to be in response to an uplink packet.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at a serving gateway, an uplink data packet from a user equipment;

caching information regarding the uplink data packet on a per user equipment basis;

receiving a downlink packet destined for the user equipment;

determining, by the serving gateway, whether or not the downlink packet is in response to the uplink data packet sent by the user equipment, the determining performed prior to receiving from a mobility management entity (MME) a notification that a bearer connection is established for the user equipment to receive the downlink packet, and

when the downlink packet is determined to be in response to the uplink packet;

buffering, by the serving gateway, the downlink packet until the notification that the bearer connection is established is received; and

determining, by the serving gateway, to not send a page message to the MME.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the uplink data packet is control signaling sent from the user equipment.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining is for a configurable time based on an amount of time to re-establish a bearer connection with the user equipment.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising matching the downlink packet to at least one per user equipment filter cache residing on the serving gateway.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a page to a mobility management entity when the serving gateway determines that no bearer connection is being re-established with the user equipment.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the user equipment is a smartphone running an application and the application triggers the uplink data packet.

7. A method comprising:

receiving, at a serving gateway, a downlink packet destined for a user equipment after a bearer connection for sending the packet to the user equipment has been torn down;

determining, at the serving gateway, whether or not the user equipment is capable of receiving the downlink packet when information at the serving gateway indicates the user equipment is currently incapable of receiving the downlink packet, and

withhold sending, by the serving gateway, a page notification from the serving gateway to a mobility management entity for the downlink packet to initiate a re-establishment of the bearer connection, based on a determination, made by the serving gateway prior to the serving gateway receiving confirmation of the re-establishment of the bearer connection, that the downlink packet was sent in response to an uplink packet received from the user equipment.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, at the serving gateway, an uplink data packet from the user equipment; and

sending, from the serving gateway, the uplink data packet towards its destination, wherein the uplink data packet is control signaling sent from the user equipment.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising checking, at the serving gateway, whether the downlink packet is in response to an uplink data packet sent by the user equipment before the bearer connection is re-established to permit sending of downlink data packets to the user equipment.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the checking is performed for a configurable time based on an amount of time to re-establish a bearer connection with the user equipment.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the user equipment includes a smartphone running an application and the application triggers the uplink data packet.

12. The method of claim 7, further comprising sending a page to the mobility management entity when the serving gateway determines that no bearer connection is being re-established with the user equipment.

13. The method of claim 7, further comprising matching the downlink packet to at least one per user equipment filter cache residing on the serving gateway.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the serving gateway is in communication with a femto transceiver and selective paging is used to control messaging to a femto network.

15. A computer program product residing on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, the computer program product comprising computer executable code which, when executed by one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to perform a method comprising:

receiving, at a serving gateway, an uplink data packet from a user equipment;

caching information regarding the uplink data packet on a per user equipment basis;

receiving a downlink packet destined for the user equipment;

determining, by the serving gateway, whether or not the downlink packet is in response to the uplink data packet sent by the user equipment, the determining performed prior to receiving from a mobility management entity (MME) a notification that a bearer connection is established for the user equipment to receive the downlink packet, and

when the downlink packet is determined to be in response to the uplink data packet;

buffering, by the serving gateway, the downlink packet until the notification that the bearer connection is established is received; and

determining, by the serving gateway, to not send a page message to the MME.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, at the serving gateway, the uplink data packet from the user equipment; and

sending, from the serving gateway, the uplink data packet towards its destination, wherein the uplink data packet is control signaling sent from the user equipment.

17. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises matching the downlink packet to at least one per user equipment filter cache residing on the serving gateway.

18. The computer program product of claim 15, wherein the method further comprises sending a page to a mobility management entity when the serving gateway determines that no bearer connection is being re-established with the user equipment.