Selection of a serving node in a wireless communication system

• US 9,832,719 B2
• Filed: 03/16/2015
• Issued: 11/28/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 10/17/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Horn, Gavin Bernard, Faccin, Stefano
• Primary Examiner(s): Duong, Frank
• Application Number:
  US14/659,435
• Publication Number:
  US 20160112943A1
• Time in Patent Office: 988 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/20 Control channels or signalling for resource management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/11 Allocation or use of connection identifiers
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/065 involving selection of the user mobility server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Some aspects of the disclosure provide various methods, apparatuses and computer-readable medium configured for wireless communication. A method operable at a user equipment (UE) may include transmitting a connection request message configured to request initial connection with a radio access network (RAN) node. The connection request message may include information configured to indicate a service profile of the UE. A method operable at the RAN node may include receiving the connection request message from the UE. The connection request message may include information configured to indicate the service profile of the UE. A method operable at a serving node may include receiving a connection request message from the RAN node. The connection request message may be configured to establish communication with the UE and may include a service profile corresponding to the UE.

Claims

1. A method of wireless communication operable at a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

transmitting a connection request message configured to request a connection with a radio access network (RAN) node, the connection request message comprising information configured to indicate a service profile of the UE, the service profile being configured to indicate one or more services required to be supported by a serving node; and

receiving a connection accept message comprising information configured to indicate a selected serving node, selected at least in part based on the service profile of the UE.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the serving node is one among a plurality of serving nodes in a core network, only a subset of serving nodes among the plurality of serving nodes having support for the one or more services indicated in the service profile,

wherein the serving node is selected from among the plurality of serving nodes in the core network based on its support for the one or more services indicated in the service profile.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising determining whether to include the service profile of the UE in the connection request message.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining whether to include the service profile comprises determining to include the service profile of the UE in the connection request message if UE is not already registered at a network.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the determining whether to include the service profile comprises determining to include the service profile of the UE in the connection request message if the service profile has changed since the UE last established a connection at a network.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the service profile of the UE comprises at least one service operational at the UE, and wherein a serving node is selected at least in part based on the at least one service operational at the UE.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

transmitting information to the RAN node indicating a change in the service profile of the UE; and

receiving information indicating a change in the selected serving node in accordance with the changed service profile of the UE.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a tracking area update (TAU) request message comprising information configured to indicate the service profile of the UE; and

receiving a TAU response accept message comprising information indicating a serving node selected at least in part based on the service profile of the UE.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a broadcast message from the RAN node, the broadcast message comprising information indicating whether at least one serving node associated with the RAN node supports the service profile of the UE; and

determining to establish the initial connection with the RAN node in accordance with the received broadcast message.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining to establish the initial connection with the RAN node in accordance with a determination that the RAN node is associated with at least one of a network identifier, a tracking area code, a cell identifier (cell-ID), or a service set identifier (SSID) known to the UE to support the service profile of the UE in accordance with a list of RAN nodes stored in a memory at the UE.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

transmitting a second connection request message configured to request a second connection with a second RAN node, the second connection request message comprising information configured to indicate a second service profile of the UE, different from the service profile of the UE.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving a second connection accept message comprising information configured to indicate a second serving node, different from the serving node, selected at least in part based on the second service profile of the UE.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable code, the computer-executable code configured for:

transmitting a connection request message configured to request a connection with a radio access network (RAN) node, the connection request message comprising information configured to indicate a service profile of the UE, the service profile being configured to indicate one or more services required to be supported by a serving node; and

receiving a connection accept message comprising information configured to indicate a selected serving node, selected at least in part based on the service profile of the UE.

14. A method of wireless communication operable at a radio access network (RAN) node, the method comprising:

receiving a connection request message from a user equipment (UE), the connection request message comprising information configured to indicate a service profile of the UE;

selecting a serving node for the UE at least in part based on the service profile of the UE, the service profile being configured to indicate one or more services operational at the UE; and

forwarding the connection request message to the selected serving node.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

broadcasting a message comprising information indicating supported service profiles of a set of serving nodes associated with the RAN node.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the service profile of the UE comprises at least one service operational at the UE.

17. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving information from the UE indicating a change in the service profile of the UE; and

in accordance with a determination that the selected serving node does not support the changed service profile of the UE, selecting a new serving node for the UE at least in part based on the changed service profile of the UE.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the determination that the selected serving node does not support the changed service profile of the UE is based on a configuration of service profiles supported by the serving node, wherein the configuration of service profiles is received as part of an establishment of an interface to the serving node or from operation and maintenance (OAM) configuration messaging.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising transmitting an indication of the new serving node to the UE or the selected serving node.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the service profile of the UE comprises

an identifier that identifies the UE.

21. The method of claim 14, wherein the selecting the serving node for the UE comprises:

determining a set of one or more serving nodes capable of attaching to a UE having the service profile of the UE; and

selecting the serving node from among the set of one or more serving nodes in accordance with capacity information element received from each serving node of the set of one or more serving nodes.

22. The method of claim 14, further comprising:

receiving information from the selected serving node, the information configured to indicate a service supported by the selected serving node; and

storing the information in a memory of the RAN node.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the information from the selected serving node is received as at least one of:

signaling that comprises a part of establishment signaling for establishing an interface between the RAN node and the selected serving node;

or

operation and maintenance (OAM) signaling between the RAN node and the selected serving node.

24. A user equipment (UE) configured for wireless communication, the UE comprising:

a transceiver;

a memory; and

at least one processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to;

utilize the transceiver to transmit a connection request message configured to request a connection with a radio access network (RAN) node, the connection request message comprising information configured to indicate a service profile of the UE, the service profile being configured to indicate one or more services required to be supported by a serving node; and

receive a connection accept message comprising information configured to indicate a selected serving node, selected at least in part based on the service profile of the UE.

25. A radio access network (RAN) node configured for wireless communication, the RAN node comprising:

a transceiver;

a memory; and

at least one processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to;

utilize the transceiver to receive a connection request message from a user equipment (UE), the connection request message comprising information configured to indicate a service profile of the UE, the service profile being configured to indicate one or more services operational at the UE;

select a serving node for the UE at least in part based on the service profile of the UE; and

utilize the transceiver to forward the connection request message to the selected serving node.

26. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable code, the computer-executable code configured for:

receiving a connection request message from a user equipment (UE), the connection request message comprising information configured to indicate a service profile of the UE;

selecting a serving node for the UE at least in part based on the service profile of the UE, the service profile being configured to indicate one or more services operational at the UE; and

forwarding the connection request message to the selected serving node.

27. A method of wireless communication operable at a serving node, the method comprising:

receiving a connection request message from a radio access network (RAN) node, the connection request message configured to establish communication with a user equipment (UE) and comprising a service profile corresponding to the UE;

determining an identifier for the UE, the identifier being a function of the service profile corresponding to the UE, the service profile being configured to indicate one or more services required to be supported by the serving node; and

transmitting a connection accept message to the RAN node, the connection accept message comprising the identifier for the UE.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

receiving a message indicating an update to the service profile corresponding to the UE;

determining that the received message indicates that the UE is no longer supported by the serving node; and

transmitting information to another serving node that supports the updated service profile corresponding to the UE.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising transmitting information to the RAN node for the UE to indicate another serving node to the UE.

30. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

receiving a request from the RAN node to establish an interface between the RAN node and the serving node; and

transmitting a response to the request to the RAN node, the response comprising information relating to one or more service profiles supported by the serving node.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein at least one of:

the one or more service profiles supported by the serving node comprises one or more UE services supported by the serving node;

or

the information relating to one or more service profiles supported by the serving node comprises one or more device identifier prefixes supported by the serving node.

32. A serving node configured for wireless communication, the serving node comprising:

a transceiver;

a memory; and

at least one processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and the memory, wherein the at least one processor is configured to;

utilize the transceiver to receive a connection request message from a radio access network (RAN) node, the connection request message configured to establish communication with a user equipment (UE) and comprising a service profile corresponding to the UE, the service profile being configured to indicate one or more services operational at the UE;

determine an identifier for the UE, the identifier being a function of the service profile corresponding to the UE; and

utilize the transceiver to transmit a connection accept message to the RAN node, the connection accept message comprising the identifier for the UE.

33. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising computer-executable code, the computer-executable code configured for:

receiving a connection request message from a radio access network (RAN) node, the connection request message configured to establish communication with a user equipment (UE) and comprising a service profile corresponding to the UE;

determining an identifier for the UE, the identifier being a function of the service profile corresponding to the UE, the service profile being configured to indicate one or more services operational at the UE; and

transmitting a connection accept message to the RAN node, the connection accept message comprising the identifier for the UE.