Optimized always-on wireless service using network assistance and keep-alives

• US 9,554,366 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2013
• Issued: 01/24/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 08/31/2012
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Anchan, Kirankumar, Paladugu, Karthika, Santhanam, Arvind V.
• Primary Examiner(s): CHOUDHRY, SAMINA F
• Application Number:
  US14/012,923
• Publication Number:
  US 20140064209A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,245 Days
• Field of Search: 370/329
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/25 Maintenance of established connections
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

The disclosure generally relates to optimized always-on wireless service using network assistance and keep-alives. More particularly, in response to a user equipment (UE) requesting a bearer for an always-on service, a network may establish the bearer for the always-on service and transmit an availability time that indicates a period during which the bearer will be held in an active state to the UE. Any applications running on the UE may then use the bearer for the always-on service, and the UE may transmit a single keep-alive message to the network before the availability time expires to reset the period during which the bearer will be held in the active state. Furthermore, the keep-alive message may be structured to not generate a reply and thereby reduce battery consumption, reduce communication overhead, and improve network capacity.

Claims

1. A method for optimized always-on wireless service, comprising:

monitoring requests for always-on service from one or more applications or services on a user equipment (UE) that does not currently have always-on service from a network;

transmitting, to the network, a message that requests a bearer dedicated to always-on service in response to receiving a request to register for the always-on service from at least one of the one or more applications or services on the UE;

receiving, at the UE, an availability time that indicates a period during which the bearer dedicated to the always-on service will be held in an active state; and

transmitting a keep-alive message from the UE to the network before the availability time expires, wherein the keep-alive message comprises information instructing the network to reset the availability time during which the dedicated bearer will be held in the active state without generating a reply message to the UE such that the UE does not receive keep-alive traffic from the network, and wherein the UE maintains the active state associated with the dedicated bearer and notifies the one or more applications or services that have registered for the always-on service to suppress application-layer keep-alive messages.

2. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the UE transmits one keep-alive message to enable all of the one or more applications or services on the UE to utilize the bearer dedicated to the always-on service in the period during which the dedicated bearer will be held in the active state.

3. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at the UE, an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW) that terminates an interface associated with the dedicated bearer.

4. The method recited in claim 3, further comprising:

receiving an activation message associated with the dedicated bearer from the network, wherein the activation message includes the IP address associated with the P-GW within a Protocol Configuration Option (PCO) information element.

5. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising:

disabling the keep-alive messages on the UE to deactivate the always-on service and the bearer dedicated thereto in response to all of the one or more applications or services that requested the always-on service indicating that the always-on service is no longer required.

6. The method recited in claim 5, further comprising:

transmitting, to the network, a request to reactivate the bearer dedicated to the always-on service in response to the UE transitioning to a high-priority state or another notification from at least one of the one or more applications or services that requests the always-on service; and

receiving, at the UE, an availability time that indicates the period during which the reactivated bearer will be held in the active state.

7. The method recited in claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a high-priority call that terminates at the UE over the bearer dedicated to the always-on service, wherein the network reactivates the bearer dedicated to the always-on service in response to receiving the high-priority call.

8. The method recited in claim 5, further comprising:

receiving a non-priority call that terminates at the UE over a default bearer.

9. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the keep-alive message is communicated over a protocol different from one or more protocols of the always-on service, wherein the protocol of the keep-alive message includes Internet Control Messaging Protocol (ICMP).

23. The method recited in claim 9, wherein the keep-alive message comprises a message type field that has a value corresponding to a reserved field in the ICMP standard.

24. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the network comprises a radio access network (RAN) that supports packet-switched communications, and wherein the keep-alive message is transmitted to a component on the RAN that terminates an interface associated with the dedicated bearer toward the RAN.

10. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more processors configured to monitor requests for always-on service from one or more applications or services on a user equipment (UE) that does not currently have always-on service from a network, to transmit a message that requests a bearer dedicated to always-on service to the network in response to a request to register for the always-on service from at least one of the one or more applications or services on the UE, to receive an availability time that indicates a period during which the bearer dedicated to the always-on service will be held in an active state, and to transmit a keep-alive message from the UE to the network before the availability time expires, wherein the keep-alive message comprises information instructing the network to reset the availability time during which the dedicated bearer will be held in the active state without generating a reply message to the UE such that the UE does not receive keep-alive traffic from the network, and wherein the UE maintains the active state associated with the dedicated bearer and notifies the one or more applications or services that have registered for the always-on service to suppress application-layer keep-alive messages; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors.

11. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions recorded thereon, wherein executing the computer-executable instructions on one or more processors causes the one or more processors to:

monitor requests for always-on service from one or more applications or services on a user equipment (UE) that does not currently have always-on service from a network;

transmit, to the network, a message that requests a bearer dedicated to always-on service in response to receiving a request to register for the always-on service from at least one of the one or more applications or services on the UE;

receive, at the UE, an availability time that indicates a period during which the bearer dedicated to the always-on service will be held in an active state; and

transmit a keep-alive message from the UE to the network before the availability time expires, wherein the keep-alive message comprises information instructing the network to reset the availability time during which the dedicated bearer will be held in the active state without generating a reply message to the UE such that the UE does not receive keep-alive traffic from the network, and wherein the UE maintains the active state associated with the dedicated bearer and notifies the one or more applications or services that have registered for the always-on service to suppress application-layer keep-alive messages.

12. A method for optimized always-on wireless service, comprising:

establishing, at a network, a bearer dedicated to an always-on service on a user equipment (UE) in response to receiving a request for always-on service from the UE;

transmitting, to the UE, an availability time that indicates a period during which the bearer dedicated to the always-on service will be held in an active state; and

resetting the period during which the dedicated bearer will be held in the active state without generating a reply message to the UE in response to receiving a keep-alive message from the UE before the availability time expires, wherein the keep-alive message comprises information instructing the network to not send the reply message to the UE such that the network does not send keep-alive traffic to the UE.

13. The method recited in claim 12, further comprising:

routing traffic associated with one or more applications on the UE over the dedicated bearer in the period during which the dedicated bearer will be held in the active state.

14. The method recited in claim 12, further comprising:

transmitting, to the UE, an Internet Protocol (IP) address associated with a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW) that terminates an interface associated with the dedicated bearer.

15. The method recited in claim 14, wherein an activation message associated with the dedicated bearer includes the IP address associated with the P-GW within a Protocol Configuration Option (PCO) information element.

16. The method recited in claim 12, further comprising:

deactivating the bearer dedicated to the always-on service in response to determining that the keep-alive message was not received at the network before the availability time expired.

17. The method recited in claim 16, further comprising:

reactivating the bearer for the always-on service in response to the UE transitioning to a high-priority state or requesting activity on the bearer for the always-on service; and

transmitting, to the UE, an availability time that indicates the period during which the reactivated bearer will be held in the active state.

18. The method recited in claim 16, further comprising:

reactivating the bearer for the always-on service in response to receiving a high-priority call that terminates at the UE; and

terminating the high-priority call at the UE over the reactivated bearer.

19. The method recited in claim 16, further comprising:

receiving a non-priority call that terminates at the UE; and

terminating the non-priority call at the UE over a default bearer.

20. The method recited in claim 12, wherein the keep-alive message is communicated over a protocol different from one or more protocols of the always-on service, wherein the protocol of the keep-alive message includes Internet Control Messaging Protocol (ICMP).

25. The method recited in claim 20, wherein the keep-alive message comprises a message type field that has a value corresponding to a reserved field in the ICMP standard.

26. The method recited in claim 12, wherein the network comprises a radio access network (RAN) that supports packet-switched communications, and wherein the keep-alive message is received at a component on the RAN that terminates an interface associated with the dedicated bearer toward the RAN.

21. An apparatus, comprising:

one or more processors configured to establish a bearer dedicated to an always-on service on a user equipment (UE) in response to receiving a request for always-on service from the UE, to transmit an availability time to the UE, wherein the availability time indicates a period during which the bearer dedicated to the always-on service will be held in an active state, and to reset the period during which the dedicated bearer will be held in the active state without generating a reply message to the UE in response to receiving a keep-alive message from the UE before the availability time expires, wherein the keep-alive message comprises information instructing the apparatus to not send the reply message to the UE such that the apparatus does not send keep-alive traffic to the UE; and

a memory coupled to the one or more processors.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having computer-executable instructions recorded thereon, wherein executing the computer-executable instructions on one or more processors causes the one or more processors to:

establish, at a network, a bearer dedicated to an always-on service on a user equipment (UE) in response to receiving a request for always-on service from the UE;

transmit, to the UE, an availability time that indicates a period during which the bearer dedicated to the always-on service will be held in an active state; and

reset the period during which the dedicated bearer will be held in the active state without generating a reply message to the UE in response to receiving a keep-alive message from the UE before the availability time expires, wherein the keep-alive message comprises information instructing the network to not send the reply message to the UE such that the network does not send keep-alive traffic to the UE.