Method and apparatus for detecting and managing user plane congestion

• US 9,867,077 B2
• Filed: 02/08/2017
• Issued: 01/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ahmad, Saad, Watfa, Mahmoud, Wang, Guanzhou
• Primary Examiner(s): Lee, Jae Y
• Assistant Examiner(s): Voltaire, Jean F
• Application Number:
  US15/427,523
• Publication Number:
  US 20170150390A1
• Time in Patent Office: 335 Days
• Field of Search: 370235
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2475 for supporting traffic characterised by the type of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/263 Rate modification at the source after receiving feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0215 based on user or device properties, e.g. MTC-capable devices services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] H04W4/70; wireless resource selection or allocation plan definition based on terminal or device properties H04W72/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0231 based on communication conditions dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition based on channel quality criteria H04W72/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0289 Congestion control load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/22 Negotiating communication rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/51 based on terminal or device properties
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for managing user plane congestion in a network are disclosed. A method performed by a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) for user plane congestion in a network includes receiving an indication from the network that user plane congestion exists in the network, transmitting a request for the network to provide a lower Quality of Service (QoS) level for a particular service based on the indication, and observing a decrease in user plane QoS based on the transmitted request.

Claims

1. A method, performed by a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), for managing user plane congestion in a network, the method comprising:

receiving congestion control information for each of a plurality of application-specific congestion control categories from the network, wherein the congestion control information includes a time period during which access to the network is restricted, wherein the plurality of application-specific congestion control categories includes a highest ranked application-specific congestion control category and a lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category, wherein the highest ranked application-specific congestion control category includes one or more operator identified applications subject to a least amount of restrictions, and wherein the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category includes one or more operator identified applications subject to a most amount of restrictions;

determining not to attempt to access the network for any of the operator identified applications of the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category based on the congestion control information for the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category; and

transmitting a request for access to the network for at least one of the operator identified applications of the highest ranked application-specific congestion control category during the time period in which access to the network is restricted for the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving signaling including information for provisioning the WTRU with the plurality of application-specific congestion control categories.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

provisioning the WTRU with the plurality of application-specific congestion control categories.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the signaling comprises any of non-access stratum (NAS) signaling, radio resource control (RRC) signaling and open mobile alliance (OMA) signaling.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the congestion control information further includes a data rate limit.

6. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

transmitting traffic from one or more of the operator identified applications of the highest ranked application-specific congestion control category during the time period in which access to the network is restricted for the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category and in accordance with the data rate limit.

7. An apparatus comprising circuitry, including one or more integrated circuits, configured to:

receive congestion control information for each of a plurality of application-specific congestion control categories from the network, wherein the congestion control information includes a time period during which access to the network is restricted, wherein the plurality of application-specific congestion control categories includes a highest ranked application-specific congestion control category and a lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category, wherein the highest ranked application-specific congestion control category includes one or more operator identified applications subject to a least amount of restrictions, and wherein the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category includes one or more operator identified applications subject to a most amount of restrictions;

determine not to attempt to access the network for any of the operator identified applications of the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category based on the congestion control information for the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category; and

transmit a request for access to the network for at least one of the operator identified applications of the highest ranked application-specific congestion control category during the time period in which access to the network is restricted for the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category.

8. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the circuitry is configured to receive signaling including information for provisioning the WTRU with the plurality of application-specific congestion control categories.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the circuitry is configured to provision the WTRU with the plurality of application-specific congestion control categories.

10. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the signaling comprises any of non-access stratum (NAS) signaling, radio resource control (RRC) signaling and open mobile alliance (OMA) signaling.

11. The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the congestion control information further includes a data rate limit.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the circuitry is configured to transmit traffic from one or more of the operator identified applications of the highest ranked application-specific congestion control category during the time period in which access to the network is restricted for the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category and in accordance with the data rate limit.

13. A method implemented in one or more network nodes of a network, the method comprising:

transmitting signaling including information for provisioning a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) with a plurality of application-specific congestion control categories, wherein the congestion control information includes a time period during which access to the network is restricted, wherein the plurality of application-specific congestion control categories included a highest ranked application-specific congestion control category and a lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category, wherein the highest ranked application-specific congestion control category includes one or more operator identified applications subject to a least amount of restrictions, and wherein the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category includes one or more operator identified applications subject to a most amount of restrictions;

transmitting congestion control information for each of the plurality of application-specific congestion control categories to the WTRU;

receiving, from the WTRU after expiration of the time period in which access to the network is restricted for the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category, traffic from one or more the operator identified applications of the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category based on the congestion control information for the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category; and

receiving, from the WTRU, traffic from one or more of the operator identified applications of the highest ranked application-specific congestion control category during the time period in which access to the network is restricted for the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the signaling comprises any of non-access stratum (NAS) signaling, radio resource control (RRC) signaling and open mobile alliance (OMA) signaling.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the congestion control information further includes a data rate limit.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising:

receiving traffic from one or more of the operator identified applications of the highest ranked application-specific congestion control category during the time period in which access to the network is restricted for the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category and in accordance with the data rate limit.

17. A network comprising one or more network nodes having circuitry, including one or more integrated circuits, configured to:

transmit signaling including information for provisioning a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) with a plurality of application-specific congestion control categories, wherein the congestion control information includes a time period during which access to the network is restricted, wherein the plurality of application-specific congestion control categories included a highest ranked application-specific congestion control category and a lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category, wherein the highest ranked application-specific congestion control category includes one or more operator identified applications subject to a least amount of restrictions, and wherein the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category includes one or more operator identified applications subject to a most amount of restrictions;

transmit congestion control information for each of the plurality of application-specific congestion control categories to the WTRU;

receive, from the WTRU after expiration of the time period in which access to the network is restricted for the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category, traffic from one or more the operator identified applications of the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category based on the congestion control information for the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category; and

receive, from the WTRU, traffic from one or more of the operator identified applications of the highest ranked application-specific congestion control category during the time period in which access to the network is restricted for the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category.

18. The network of claim 17, wherein the signaling comprises any of non-access stratum (NAS) signaling, radio resource control (RRC) signaling and open mobile alliance (OMA) signaling.

19. The network of claim 17, wherein the congestion control information further includes a data rate limit.

20. The network of claim 19, wherein the one or more network nodes are configured to:

receive traffic from one or more of the operator identified applications of the highest ranked application-specific congestion control category during the time period in which access to the network is restricted for the lowest ranked application-specific congestion control category and in accordance with the data rate limit.