Method for selecting bearer mode, packet gateway, and policy and charging rule function entity

• US 9,491,656 B2
• Filed: 06/24/2014
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2011
• 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, Weihua, Zhang, Wanqiang
• Primary Examiner(s): NGO, RICKY QUOC
• Assistant Examiner(s): Kao, Wei-Po
• Application Number:
  US14/313,722
• Publication Number:
  US 20140307546A1
• Time in Patent Office: 868 Days
• Field of Search: 370216-240, 370310-350, 370431-463
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8044 Least cost routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0205 at the air interface dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for selecting a bearer mode, a packet gateway, and a policy and charging rule function entity, relating to the field of communications technologies, and solving the problem that a base station selects a suitable air interface transmission mode for a bearer of a mobile terminal. Indication information of an air interface transmission mode supported by a mobile terminal is received. According to the indication information and a received enhanced policy and charging control rule that is sent by a policy and charging rule function entity, an air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by a bearer bound with a service flow of the mobile terminal is determined. A session establishment reply message is sent to a serving gateway to which the mobile terminal belongs, where the session establishment reply message comprises the air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by the bearer.

Claims

1. A method for selecting a bearer mode, comprising:

receiving, by a packet gateway in a core network, indication information from a mobile terminal, wherein the indication information includes air interface transmission modes supported by the mobile terminal for establishing a session with the core network;

receiving an enhanced policy and charging control rule (PCC rule) sent by a policy and charging rule function (PCRF) entity in the core network, wherein the enhanced PCC rule comprises;

(a) at least one service flow of the mobile terminal, and (b) an air interface transmission mode associated with each service flow of the mobile terminal;

determining, according to the indication information and the enhanced PCC rule, an appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by one of a plurality of bearers of the mobile terminal, wherein each bearer is bound with one or more of the at least one service flow of the mobile terminal; and

sending a session establishment reply message to a serving gateway to which the mobile terminal belongs, wherein the session establishment reply message comprises the determined appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by the bearer.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein before the receiving the enhanced PCC rule sent by the PCRF entity, the method further comprises:

sending a session establishment message to the PCRF entity, wherein the session establishment message comprises the indication information, and the indication information is used for the PCRF entity to generate, the enhanced PCC rule for the at least one service flow of the mobile terminal, according to the indication information and a policy and charging setting that corresponds to the mobile terminal.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein if the at least one service flow of the mobile terminal comprised in the enhanced PCC rule is a newly added service flow of the mobile terminal, the determining the appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by the bearer comprises:

judging whether the bearer bound with the newly added service flow is a newly established bearer or an existing bearer;

if the bearer bound with the newly added service flow is the newly established bearer, determining an air interface transmission mode, which is allowed to be used by the newly added service flow, as the appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by the bearer bound with the newly added service flow;

or

if the bearer bound with the newly added service flow is the existing bearer, determining an air interface transmission mode, which is allowed to be used by all service flows bound with the existing bearer, as the appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by the bearer bound with the newly added service flow.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein if the at least one service flow of the mobile terminal comprised in the enhanced PCC rule is a deleted service flow, the determining the appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by the bearer comprises:

judging whether the bearer bound with the deleted service flow is further bounded with another service flow besides the deleted service flow; and

if the bearer bound with the deleted service flow is further bound with the another service flow, determining an air interface transmission mode, which is allowed to be used by the another service flow, as the appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by the bearer bound with the deleted service flow.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the determining the appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by the bearer further comprises:

if the bearer bound with the deleted service flow is not bound with the another service flow, deleting the bearer bound with the deleted service flow.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein

the appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by the bearer is sent from a mobility management entity (MME) to a base station (BS) using a bearer establishment message or a bearer modification message.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein after the sending the session establishment reply message to the serving gateway to which the mobile terminal belongs, the method further comprises:

receiving a session establishment response message, wherein the session establishment response message comprises the appropriate air interface transmission mode determined for the bearer;

sending the determined appropriate air interface transmission mode to the PCRF entity;

receiving a charging rule sent by the PCRF entity, wherein the charging rule is for the determined appropriate air interface transmission mode; and

charging the bearer according to the charging rule.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the determined appropriate air interface transmission mode comprised in the session establishment response message is received by the packet gateway from the serving gateway using the session establishment response message, and the determined appropriate air interface transmission mode is sent by the base station to the packet gateway via the MME and the serving gateway.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein the appropriate air interface transmission mode is a 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) mode, a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) mode, or a Long Term Evolution (LTE)/Wi-Fi hybrid mode.

9. A method for selecting a bearer mode, comprising:

receiving, by a policy and charging rule function (PCRF) entity in a core network, a session establishment message sent by a packet gateway in the core network, wherein the session establishment message comprises indication information sent from a mobile terminal, wherein the indication information includes air interface transmission modes supported by the mobile terminal for establishing a session with the core network;

generating an enhanced PCC rule for at least one service flow of the mobile terminal according to the indication information and a policy and charging setting that corresponds to the mobile terminal, wherein the enhanced PCC rule comprises;

(a) the at least one service flow of the mobile terminal, and (b) an air interface transmission mode associated with each service flow of the mobile terminal; and

sending the enhanced PCC rule to the packet gateway, wherein the enhanced PCC rule is used for the packet gateway to determine, according to the indication information and the enhanced PCC rule, an appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by one of a plurality of bearers bound with the at least one service flow of the mobile terminal, wherein each bear of the mobile terminal is bound with one or more of the at least one service flow.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein after the sending the enhanced PCC rule to the packet gateway, the method further comprises:

receiving the appropriate air interface transmission mode that is determined for the bearer and is sent by the packet gateway; and

sending a charging rule of the determined appropriate air interface transmission mode to the packet gateway, to enable the packet gateway to charge the bearer according to the charging rule.

11. A packet gateway, comprising:

a first receiving unit, configured to receive indication information from a mobile terminal, wherein the indication information comprises air interface transmission modes supported by the mobile terminal for establishing a session with a core network to which the packet gateway belongs;

a second receiving unit, configured to receive an enhanced policy and charging control rule (PCC rule) sent by a policy and charging rule function (PCRF) entity in the core network, wherein the enhanced PCC rule comprises;

(a) at least one service flow of the mobile terminal, and (b) an air interface transmission mode associated with each service flow of the mobile terminal;

a determining unit, configured to determine, according to the indication information and the enhanced PCC rule, an appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by one of a plurality of bearers of the mobile terminal, wherein each bearer is bound with one or more of the at least one service flow of the mobile terminal; and

a first sending unit, configured to send a session establishment reply message to a serving gateway to which the mobile terminal belongs, wherein the session establishment reply message comprises the determined appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by the bearer.

12. The packet gateway according to claim 11, further comprising:

a second sending unit, configured to send a session establishment message to the PCRF entity, wherein the session establishment message comprises the indication information received by the first receiving unit, and the indication information is used for the PCRF entity to generate the enhanced PCC rule for the at least one service flow of the mobile terminal, according to the indication information and a policy and charging setting that corresponds to the mobile terminal.

13. The packet gateway according to claim 11, wherein the determining unit comprises a first judging module, a first determining module and a second determining module;

wherein if the at least one service flow of the mobile terminal comprised in the enhanced PCC rule is a newly added service flow of the mobile terminal,

the first judging module is configured to judge whether the bearer bound with the newly added service flow is a newly established bearer or an existing bearer;

the first determining module is configured to, if the first judging module determines that the bearer bound with the newly added service flow is the newly established bearer, determine an air interface transmission mode, which is allowed to be used by the newly added service flow, as the appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by the bearer bound with the newly added service flow; and

the second determining module is configured to, if the first judging module determines that the bearer bound with the existing service flow is the existing bearer, determine an air interface transmission mode, which is allowed to be used by all service flows bound with the existing bearer, as the appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by the bearer bound with the newly added service flow.

14. The packet gateway according to claim 11, wherein the determining unit comprises a second judging module, a third determining module and a deleting module;

wherein if the at least one service flow of the mobile terminal comprised in the enhanced PCC rule is a deleted service flow,

the second judging module is configured to judge whether the bearer bound with the deleted service flow is further bound with another service flow besides the deleted service flow;

the third determining module is configured to, if the second judging module that the bearer bound with the deleted service flow is further bound with the another service flow, determine an air interface transmission mode, which is allowed to be used by the another service flow, as the appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by the bearer bound with the deleted service flow; and

the deleting module is configured to, if the second judging module that the bearer bound with the deleted service flow is not bound with the another service flow, delete the bearer bound with the deleted service flow.

15. The packet gateway according to claim 11, wherein the appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by the bearer is sent to a base station (BS) using a bearer establishment message or a bearer modification message.

16. The packet gateway according to claim 11, further comprising:

a third receiving unit, configured to receive a session establishment response message, wherein the session establishment response message comprises the appropriate air interface transmission mode determined for the bearer;

a third sending unit, configured to send the determined appropriate air interface transmission mode received by the third receiving unit to the PCRF entity;

a fourth receiving unit, configured to receive a charging rule sent by the PCRF entity, wherein the charging rule is for the determined appropriate air interface transmission mode; and

a charging unit, configured to charge the bearer according to the charging rule received by the fourth receiving unit.

17. The packet gateway according to claim 16, wherein the determined appropriate air interface transmission mode is received by the packet gateway from the serving gateway using the session establishment response message, and the determined appropriate air interface transmission mode is sent by a base station (BS) to the packet gateway via a mobility management entity (MME) and the serving gateway.

18. A policy and charging rule function entity, comprising:

a first receiving unit, configured to receive a session establishment message sent by a packet gateway in a core network, wherein the session establishment message comprises indication information received from a mobile terminal, wherein the indication information includes air interface transmission modes supported by the mobile terminal for establishing a session with the core network;

a generating unit, configured to generate an enhanced policy and charging control (PCC) rule for at least one service flow of the mobile terminal according to the indication information and a policy and charging setting that corresponds to the mobile terminal, wherein the enhanced PCC rule comprises (a) the at least one service flow of the mobile terminal, and (b) an air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by each service flow of the mobile terminal; and

a first sending unit, configured to send the enhanced PCC rule generated by the generating unit to the packet gateway, wherein the enhanced PCC rule is used for the packet gateway to determine, an appropriate air interface transmission mode allowed to be used by one of a plurality of bearers of the mobile terminal, wherein each bearer is bound with one or more of the at least one service flow of the mobile terminal, according to the indication information and the enhanced PCC rule.

19. The policy and charging rule function entity according to claim 18, further comprising:

a second receiving unit, configured to receive the appropriate air interface transmission mode that is determined for the bearer and is sent by the packet gateway; and

a second sending unit, configured to send a charging rule of the determined appropriate air interface transmission mode to the packet gateway, to enable the packet gateway to charge the bearer according to the charging rule.