System and method for providing policy charging and rules function discovery in a network environment

• US 9,621,362 B2
• Filed: 02/03/2015
• Issued: 04/11/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 02/03/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Livanos, Konstantin, Campbell, Ian McDowell
• Primary Examiner(s): Thompson, Jr., Otis L
• Application Number:
  US14/612,827
• Publication Number:
  US 20160226669A1
• Time in Patent Office: 798 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1407 Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture
• 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: 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 67/1001 for accessing one among a plurality of replicated servers
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

A method is provided in one example embodiment and may include establishing a first binding for a first session for a UE, wherein the first binding includes, at least in part, PCEF connectivity information for a PCEF associated with a PGW hosting the first session for the UE, wherein the first binding is established by a first DRA in a first IP domain; receiving a request by second DRA in a second IP domain associated with establishing a second session for the UE; determining a PCRF serving the first session for the UE; and binding the second session for the UE with the first session for the UE. A method is provided in another example embodiment and may include exchanging PCEF connectivity information over a Dr interface between a plurality DRAs and maintaining PCEF connectivity information for one or more peer DRAs to which each DRA is connected.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

establishing a first binding for a first session for a user equipment (UE), wherein the first binding includes, at least in part, policy charging and enforcement function (PCEF) connectivity information for a PCEF associated with a packet data network gateway hosting the first session for the UE, wherein the first binding is established by a first DIAMETER routing agent (DRA) serving the packet data network gateway in a first IP domain and wherein the PCEF connectivity information comprises an origin-host identifier and an origin-realm identifier for the packet data network gateway;

receiving a request by a second DRA in a second IP domain associated with establishing a second session for the UE, wherein the request includes, at least in part, the PCEF connectivity information;

forwarding the request from the second DRA to the first DRA based, at least in part, on the origin-realm identifier included in the PCEF connectivity information;

determining a policy charging and rules function (PCRF) serving the first session for the UE based, at least in part, on the PCEF connectivity information; and

binding the second session for the UE with the first session for the UE based, at least in part, on the PCEF connectivity information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first session for the UE is associated with a Gx session for the UE and wherein the second session for the UE is associated with an Rx session for the UE.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the origin-host identifier identifies the packet data network gateway using a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the packet data network gateway and the origin-realm identifier identifies the first IP domain.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the first DRA, a request from the PCEF associated with the packet data network gateway served by the first DRA for a PCRF allocation for the first session for the UE; and

selecting, by the first DRA, the PCRF to serve the first session for the UE.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first binding further includes, at least one of:

an identity of the UE;

an IP address assigned to the UE for the first session; and

an identifier of the PCRF serving the first session for the UE.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the determining is performed by the first DRA in the first IP domain based on the first binding.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the request is an Authorization and Authentication Request (AAR) message received for the UE.

8. One or more non-transitory tangible media encoding logic that includes instructions for execution that when executed by a processor, is operable to perform operations comprising:

establishing a first binding for a first session for a user equipment (UE), wherein the first binding includes, at least in part, policy charging and enforcement function (PCEF) connectivity information for a PCEF associated with a packet data network gateway hosting the first session for the UE, wherein the first binding is established by a first DIAMETER routing agent (DRA) serving the packet data network gateway in a first IP domain and wherein the PCEF connectivity information comprises an origin-host identifier and an origin-realm identifier for the packet data network gateway;

receiving a request by a second DRA in a second IP domain associated with establishing a second session for the UE, wherein the request includes, at least in part, the PCEF connectivity information;

forwarding the request from the second DRA to the first DRA based, at least in part, on the origin-realm identifier included in the PCEF connectivity information;

determining a policy charging and rules function (PCRF) serving the first session for the UE based, at least in part, on the PCEF connectivity information; and

binding the second session for the UE with the first session for the UE based, at least in part, on the PCEF connectivity information.

9. The media of claim 8, wherein the first session for the UE is associated with a Gx session for the UE and wherein the second session for the UE is associated with an Rx session for the UE.

10. The media of claim 8, wherein the origin-host identifier identifies the packet data network gateway using a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the packet data network gateway and the origin-realm identifier identifies the first IP domain.

11. The media of claim 8, wherein the first binding further includes, at least one of:

an identity of the UE;

an IP address assigned to the UE for the first session; and

an identifier of the PCRF serving the first session for the UE.

12. The media of claim 8, wherein the request is an Authorization and Authentication Request (AAR) message received for the UE.

13. The media of claim 8, the operations further comprising:

receiving, by the first DRA, a request from the PCEF associated with the packet data network gateway served by the first DRA for a PCRF allocation for the first session for the UE; and

selecting, by the first DRA, the PCRF to serve the first session for the UE.

14. A system, comprising:

a first DIAMETER routing agent (DRA) comprising;

a memory element for storing data; and

a processor that executes instructions associated with the data, wherein the processor and the memory element cooperate such that the system is configured for;

establishing a first binding for a first session for a user equipment (UE), wherein the first binding includes, at least in part, policy charging and enforcement function (PCEF) connectivity information for a PCEF associated with a packet data network gateway hosting the first session for the UE, wherein the first binding is established by the first DRA serving the packet data network gateway in a first IP domain and wherein the PCEF connectivity information comprises an origin-host identifier and an origin-realm identifier for the packet data network gateway;

receiving a request by a second DRA in a second IP domain associated with establishing a second session for the UE, wherein the request includes, at least in part, the PCEF connectivity information;

forwarding the request from the second DRA to the first DRA based, at least in part, on the origin-realm identifier included in the PCEF connectivity information;

determining a policy charging and rules function (PCRF) serving the first session for the UE based, at least in part, on the PCEF connectivity information; and

binding the second session for the UE with the first session for the UE based, at least in part, on the PCEF connectivity information.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the first session for the UE is associated with a Gx session for the UE and wherein the second session for the UE is associated with an Rx session for the UE.

16. The system of claim 14, wherein the origin-host identifier identifies the packet data network gateway using a fully qualified domain name (FQDN) for the packet data network gateway and the origin-realm identifier identifies the first IP domain.

17. The system of claim 14, wherein the system is further configured for:

receiving, by the first DRA, a request from the PCEF associated with the packet data network gateway served by the first DRA for a PCRF allocation for the first session for the UE; and

selecting, by the first DRA, the PCRF to serve the first session for the UE.

18. The system of claim 14, wherein the first binding further includes, at least one of:

an identity of the UE;

an IP address assigned to the UE for the first session; and

an identifier of the PCRF serving the first session for the UE.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the determining is performed by the first DRA in the first IP domain based on the first binding.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the request is an Authorization and Authentication Request (AAR) message received for the UE.