Establishing operating system and application-based routing policies in multi-mode user equipment

• US 9,526,022 B2
• Filed: 12/11/2012
• Issued: 12/20/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/03/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Gupta, Vivek G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Barry, Lance L
• Application Number:
  US13/711,338
• Publication Number:
  US 20140040504A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,470 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/27 for locating or positioning the transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0013 Rate matching, e.g. puncturing or repetition of code symbols
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0659 by isolating or reconfiguring faulty entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/082 the condition being updates or upgrades of network functionality
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0836 to enhance reliability, e.g. reduce downtime
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/306 Route determination based on the nature of the carried application
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1045 Proxies, e.g. for session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1063 Application servers providing network services systems providing special services to telephonic subscribers H04M3/42
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/613 for the control of the source by the destination control signals issued by the client directed to the server or network components specially adapted for selective content distribution H04N21/637
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/80 Responding to QoS
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/10 in which an application is distributed across nodes in the network software deployment G06F8/60; multiprogramming arrangements G06F9/46
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/125 involving control of end-device applications over a network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/75 Indicating network or usage conditions on the user display
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/23439 for generating different versions
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/2385 Channel allocation H04N21/266 takes precedence; Bandwidth allocation H04N21/24 takes precedence ; allocation of channels according to the instantaneous demands of the users in time-division multiplex systems H04J3/1682; admission control, resource allocation in open networks H04L12/5692; arrangements for maintenance or administration in data switching networks involving bandwidth and capacity management H04L41/0896; negotiating bandwidth in wireless networks H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/25825 involving client display capabilities, e.g. screen resolution of a mobile phone optimising the visualisation of content during browsing in the Internet G06F16/9577; processing of terminal status or physical abilities in wireless networks H04W8/22; authentication in wireless network security H04W12/06
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/266 : Channel or content management, e.g. generation and management of keys and entitlement messages in a conditional access system, merging a VOD unicast channel into a multicast channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4436 : Power management, e.g. shutting down unused components of the receiver power management in computer systems G06F1/3203; hibernate or awake process in computer systems G06F9/4418
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/4516 : involving client characteristics, e.g. Set-Top-Box type, software version or amount of memory available
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6338 : directed to network
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/64322 : IP
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6543 : for forcing some client operations, e.g. recording remote booting in general G06F9/4416
• CPC Class Codes: H04N 21/6582 : Data stored in the client, e.g. viewing habits, hardware capabilities, credit card number arrangements where receivers interact with the broadcast H04H20/38
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/06 : Authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/18 : Network planning tools
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 16/28 : using beam steering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 : Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 : Arrangements for maintaining operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/1446 : wherein at least one of the networks is unlicensed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 : Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 : Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/20 : based on geographic position or location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/22 : using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/246 : Connectivity information discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/14 : using user query or user detection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 : Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/00 : Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes gain control in transmitters or power amplifiers H03G3/3042
• 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 52/0216 : using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0229 : where the received signal is a wanted signal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0251 : using monitoring of local events, e.g. events related to user activity
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0258 : controlling an operation mode according to history or models of usage information, e.g. activity schedule or time of day
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/16 : Involving different core network technologies, e.g. a packet-switched [PS] bearer in combination with a circuit-switched [CS] bearer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 : Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 : adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Techniques for establishing and implementing operating system and application-based routing policies for multi-mode wireless communication devices such as a user equipment (UE) are generally described herein. In some examples, information particular to the profile and platform configuration of the UE is communicated to an Access Network Discovery Function (ANDSF) server. The ANDSF server may provide an inter-system routing policy (ISRP) to handle appropriate network offloading actions for the particular application and device configuration. In some examples, the ISRP may be specific to flow-based or non-seamless based traffic offloading from certain software applications. The techniques described herein may be propagated from the ANDSF server and implemented in a variety of multi-mode UE mobile computing devices in connection with offloading policies established in a 3GPP Long Term Evolution/Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE/LTE-A) Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network architecture.

Claims

1. A multi-mode user equipment (UE), comprising:

one or more hardware processors configured to;

cause the UE to transmit a first Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF) management object to an ANDSF server maintained within an Evolved Packet Core of a carrier-based access network, the first ANDSF management object including UE profile information, the UE profile information including an operating system identifier (OSId) to uniquely identify a specific version of an operating system of the UE;

receive, from the ANDSF server, a second ANDSF management object, wherein the second ANDSF management object includes an inter-system routing policy (ISRP) provided in response to transmission of the OSId in the UE profile information,

wherein the ISRP includes an application network routing rule for offloading data of a software application arranged for operation within the operating system of the UE,

wherein the application network routing rule of the ISRP is customized to an operating system-specific application identifier (OSAppId) for the software application arranged for operation within the operating system of the UE, wherein the OSAppId is associated with the software application and uniquely identifies a specific version of the software application to execute on the specific version of the operating system of the UE,

wherein a value for the OSAppID is defined in a first node of the ISRP, and wherein a value for the OSId is defined in a second node of the ISRP, and

wherein the first node and the second node are nested in the ISRP under a third node indicating an application identifier (AppID), wherein the third node indicates use of the application network routing rule for data traffic sent from the software application within the operating system based on the first node and the second node; and

perform offloading of data generated from the software application to a secondary access network in accordance with the ISRP.

2. The multi-mode UE of claim 1, wherein the UE profile information includes information for one or more aspects of the UE including a software version, a hardware version, or a hardware architecture.

3. The multi-mode UE of claim 1, wherein the ISRP includes a non-seamless offload-based routing rule defined in a fourth node of the ISRP.

4. The multi-mode UE of claim 1, wherein the ISRP includes a flow-based routing rule defined in a fifth node of the ISRP.

5. The multi-mode UE of claim 1, wherein the carrier-based access network operates in accordance with a standard from a 3GPP Long Term Evolution or Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE/LTE-A) standards family, and wherein the secondary access network operates in accordance with a standard from an IEEE 802.11 standards family.

6. The multi-mode UE of claim 1, comprising an accelerometer.

7. The multi-mode UE of claim 1, comprising:

a first transceiver arranged to communicate with the carrier-based access network; and

a second transceiver arranged to communicate with the secondary access network.

8. A method, performed at an Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF) server, for establishing an application-based network routing policy, the method comprising:

receiving from a multi-mode user equipment (UE), a first ANDSF management object, the first ANDSF management object including UE profile information, the UE profile information including an operating system identifier (OSId) to uniquely identify a specific version of an operating system of the UE;

determining, based on the OSId, an application routing policy for offloading data from a primary access network to a secondary access network for a software application arranged to operate within the operating system of the UE;

defining an application node within an inter-system routing policy (ISRP) node of a second ANDSF management object, the application node including the application routing policy for offloading data to the secondary access network,

wherein the application routing policy is customized to an operating system-specific application identifier (OSAppId) for the software application arranged to operate within the operating system of the UE,

wherein the OSAppId is associated with the software application and uniquely identifies a specific version of the software application to execute on the specific version of the operating system of the UE,

wherein a value for the OSAppID is defined in a first node located in the ISRP node,

wherein a value for the OSId is defined in a second node located in the ISRP node, and

wherein the first node and the second node are nested in the ISRP node under a third node indicating an application identifier (AppID), wherein the third node indicates use of the application routing policy for data traffic sent from the software application within the operating system based on the first node and the second node; and

providing the second ANDSF management object to the UE.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the ISRP node includes a flow-based routing rule defined in a fourth node located in the ISRP node.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the ISRP node includes a non-seamless offload-based routing rule defined in a fifth node located in the ISRP node.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein obtaining the OSId includes obtaining the first ANDSF management object from the UE during an Open Mobile Alliance Device Management (OMA-DM) exchange.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein the first ANDSF management object and the second ANDSF management object are structured in an eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein a distinct application node is included within the ISRP node for each application of the UE identified for inclusion in the application routing policy for offloading data to the secondary access network.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the ANDSF server is provided within an Evolved Packet Core operating in accordance with a standard from a 3GPP Long Term Evolution or Long Term Evolution-Advanced (LTE/LTE-A) standards family, and wherein the secondary access network is a wireless local area network operating in accordance with a standard from an IEEE 802.11 standards family.

15. A non-transitory machine readable medium including instructions, which when performed by a machine, cause the machine to perform operations to:

transmit a first Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF) management object to an ANDSF server maintained within an Evolved Packet Core of a carrier-based access network, the first ANDSF management object including user equipment (UE) profile information, the UE profile information including an operating system identifier (OSId) to uniquely identify a specific version of an operating system of the UE;

receive, from the ANDSF server, a second ANDSF management object, wherein the second ANDSF management object includes an inter-system routing policy (ISRP) provided in response to transmission of the OSId in the UE profile information,

wherein the ISRP includes an application network routing rule for offloading data of a software application arranged for operation within the operating system of the UE,

wherein the application network routing rule of the ISRP is customized to an operating system-specific application identifier (OSAppId) for the software application arranged for operation within the operating system of the UE, wherein the OSAppId is associated with the software application and uniquely identifies a specific version of the software application to execute on the specific version of the operating system of the UE,

wherein a value for the OSAppID is defined in a first node of the ISRP, and wherein a value for the OSId is defined in a second node of the ISRP, and

wherein the first node and the second node are nested in the ISRP under a third node indicating an application identifier (AppID), wherein the third node indicates use of the application network routing rule for data traffic sent from the software application within the operating system based on the first node and the second node; and

perform offloading of data generated from the software application to a secondary access network in accordance with the ISRP.

16. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15, wherein the UE profile information includes information for one or more of:

a software version, a hardware version, or a hardware architecture.

17. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15, wherein the ISRP includes a non-seamless offload-based routing rule defined in a fourth node of the ISRP.

18. The non-transitory machine readable medium of claim 15, wherein the ISRP includes a flow-based routing rule defined in a fifth node of the ISRP.