User-plane congestion management

• US 9,973,966 B2
• Filed: 01/10/2014
• Issued: 05/15/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc. (InterDigital, Inc.)
• Inventors: Karampatsis, Dimitrios, Kaur, Samian, Adjakple, Pascal M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Smarth, Gerald
• Application Number:
  US14/759,818
• Publication Number:
  US 20160112896A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,586 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/22 Traffic shaping
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/32 by discarding or delaying data units, e.g. packets or frames
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0252 per individual bearer or channel dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0268 using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24
• 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 72/569 of the traffic information

Abstract

Methods, apparatuses and systems for user-plane congestion management are provided. Among these method, apparatuses and systems is a method, implementable by a base station (and/or a serving gateway), for mitigating user plane congestion. The method may include sending a congestion indication to a core network; receiving a general packet radio system (GPRS) tunneling protocol (GTP) packet including an first internet protocol (IP) packet associated with a first flow within a bearer; obtaining, from a header of the GTP packet, an indicator indicative of a priority of the IP packet, wherein the indicator was inserted into the header of the GTP packet by the core network responsive to the congestion indication; and dropping any of the GTP packet and the first IP packet on condition that a priority of a second IP packet associated with second flow within the bearer takes precedence over the priority of the first IP packet.

Claims

1. A method implemented in a radio access network (RAN) element of a RAN having a plurality of RAN elements, the method comprising:

receiving, at the RAN element, a user plane packet transported to the RAN via a single tunnel established between any of the plurality of RAN elements and a core network entity for a single packet data network connection, wherein the user plane packet comprises a header encapsulating a network layer packet associated to one particular traffic sub-class of the various traffic sub-classes mapped to the tunnel, and wherein the user plane packet is extracted from a transport level packet having a header including an indication of a transport level quality of service (QoS) classification;

obtaining, from the header of the user plane packet, an indicator indicative of a particular policy of a plurality of policies for handling the various differentiated traffic sub-classes mapped to the tunnel, wherein the indicator is based on any of subscription information and policy information; and

applying, at the RAN element, the particular policy on the received user plane packet based on the obtained indicator.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the plurality of policies from any of a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) and an access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the policies comprise one or more QoS enforcement policies specifying various traffic shaping rules.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein applying the particular policy on the received user plane packet comprises:

(i) delaying scheduling of the network layer packet on condition that the indicator is indicative of the particular policy that specifies the particular traffic sub-class is subordinate to another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes;

(ii) dropping any of the user plane packet and the network layer packet on condition that the indicator is indicative of the particular policy that specifies the particular traffic sub-class is subordinate to another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes;

(iii) scheduling the network layer packet ahead of other traffic associated with another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes on condition that the indicator is indicative of the particular policy that specifies the particular traffic sub-class is not subordinate to the other traffic sub-class;

(iv) performing queue management to de-queue traffic associated with another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes on condition that the indicator is indicative of the particular policy that specifies the other traffic sub-class is subordinate to the particular traffic sub-class;

(v) performing queue management to en-queue the network layer packet on condition that the indicator is indicative of the particular policy that specifies the particular traffic sub-class is not subordinate to another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes;

(vi) performing queue management to de-queue traffic associated with another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes on condition that the indicator is indicative of the particular policy that specifies the other traffic sub-class is subordinate to the particular traffic sub-class; and

(vii) performing queue management to en-queue the network layer packet on condition that the indicator is indicative of the particular policy that specifies the particular traffic sub-class is subordinate to another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting, at any of the plurality of RAN elements, user plane congestion.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, at any of the plurality of RAN elements, an indication of user plane congestion.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the network layer packet is part of network layer traffic from a single application, and wherein the network layer traffic is differentiated into the particular traffic sub-class and the various differentiated sub-classes.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the network layer traffic comprises first and second flows, wherein the first flow is differentiated into the particular traffic sub-class, and wherein the second flow is differentiated into respective the other traffic sub-class.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending from any of the plurality of RAN elements to a policy and charging rules function (PCRF), through bearer traffic, information indicating that any of the plurality of RAN elements and/or the RAN is experiencing congestion.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the user plane packet is received on a S1-U interface.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscription information is associated with a WTRU associated with the user plane packet.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the subscription information is associated with any of a WTRU associated with the user plane packet or another WTRU.

13. A radio access network (RAN) element of a RAN having a plurality of RAN elements, the RAN element comprising circuitry, including a receiver, a processor and memory, configured to:

receive a user plane packet transported to the RAN via a single tunnel established between any of the plurality of RAN elements and a core network entity for a single packet data network connection, wherein the user plane packet comprises a header encapsulating a network layer packet associated to one particular traffic sub-class of various traffic sub-classes mapped to the tunnel, and wherein the user plane packet is extracted from a transport level packet having a header including an indication of a transport level quality of service (QoS) classification;

obtain, from the header of the user plane packet, an indicator indicative of a particular policy of a plurality of policies for handling the various differentiated traffic sub-classes mapped to the tunnel, wherein the indicator is based on any of subscription information and policy information; and

apply the particular policy on the received user plane packet based on the obtained indicator.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to receive the plurality of policies from any of a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) and an access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF).

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the policies comprise one or more QoS enforcement policies specifying various traffic shaping rules.

16. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor being configured to apply the particular policy on the received user plane packet comprises any of:

(i) the processor being configured to delay scheduling of the network layer packet on condition that the indicator is indicative of the particular policy that specifies the particular traffic sub-class is subordinate to another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes;

(ii) the processor is configured to drop any of the user plane packet and the network layer packet on condition that the indicator is indicative of a policy that specifies the particular traffic sub-class is subordinate to another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes;

(iii) the processor being configured to schedule the network layer packet ahead of other traffic associated with another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes on condition that the indicator is indicative of the particular policy that specifies the particular traffic sub-class is not subordinate to the other traffic sub-class;

(iv) the processor being configured to perform queue management to de-queue traffic associated with another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes on condition that the indicator is indicative of the particular policy that specifies the other traffic sub-class is subordinate to the particular traffic sub-class;

(v) the processor being configured to perform queue management to en-queue the network layer packet on condition that the indicator is indicative of the particular policy that specifies the particular traffic sub-class is not subordinate to another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes;

(vi) the processor being configured to perform queue management to de-queue traffic associated with another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes on condition that the indicator is indicative of the particular policy that specifies the other traffic sub-class is subordinate to the particular traffic sub-class; and

(vii) the processor being configured to perform queue management to en-queue the IP packet on condition that the indicator is indicative of the particular policy that specifies the particular traffic sub-class is subordinate to another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes.

17. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to detect user plane congestion.

18. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to receive an indication of the user plane congestion.

19. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the network layer packet is part of network layer traffic from a single application, and wherein the network layer traffic is differentiated into the particular traffic sub-class and another of the various differentiated traffic sub-classes.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the network layer traffic comprises first and second flows is differentiated into the particular traffic sub-class, and wherein the second flow is differentiated into the other traffic sub-class.

21. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the processor is configured to send to a policy and charging rules function (PCRF), through bearer and/or control signaling traffic, information indicating that it and/or the RAN is experiencing congestion.

22. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the user plane packet is received on a S1-U interface.

23. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the subscription information is associated with a WTRU associated with the user plane packet.

24. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the subscription information is associated with any of a WTRU associated with the user plane packet or another WTRU.