Method and apparatus for controlling congestion status of mobile communication network

• US 10,003,995 B2
• Filed: 03/11/2014
• Issued: 06/19/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Jeong, Sangsoo, Cho, Songyean, Bae, Beomsik, Lim, Hanna
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Brian D
• Assistant Examiner(s): Ahmed, Abdullahi
• Application Number:
  US14/204,432
• Publication Number:
  US 20140254367A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,561 Days
• Field of Search: 370233
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/263 Rate modification at the source after receiving feedback
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/803 Application aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0205 at the air interface dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• 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

Abstract

A method and an apparatus determining a policy by a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) is provided. The method of determining a policy by the PCRF includes receiving congestion status information of a network from a base station, transmitting the congestion status information to a content server, receiving a parameter for adjusting traffic transmission characteristics from the content server, and determining a policy related to traffic transmission based on the parameter.

Claims

1. A method of determining a policy by a policy and charging rules function (PCRF), the method comprising:

receiving, by the PCRF, congestion status information of a network from a base station;

transmitting, by the PCRF, the congestion status information to a content server providing content to a user equipment (UE);

receiving, by the PCRF, a parameter determined by the content server based on the congestion status information for adjusting traffic transmission characteristics from the content server; and

determining, by the PCRF, a policy for a congestion status based on the parameter.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the congestion status information includes at least one of whether a congestion status occurs, a level of the congestion status, information on a cell where the congestion status occurs, identification information of a user equipment, or a transmission parameter allowed in the congestion status.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameter includes at least one of size, quality, or a maximum data rate of a content transmitted by the content server.

4. A policy and charging rules function (PCRF) comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and/or receive a signal with one of a base station and a content server; and

a controller configured to;

receive congestion status information of a network from the base station,

transmit the congestion status information to the content server providing content to a user equipment (UE),

receive a parameter determined by the content server based on the congestion status information for adjusting traffic transmission characteristics from the content server, and

determine a policy for a congestion status based on the parameter.

5. The PCRF of claim 4, wherein the congestion status information includes at least one of whether a congestion status occurs, a level of the congestion status, information on a cell where the congestion status occurs, identification information of a user equipment, or a transmission parameter allowed in the congestion status.

6. The PCRF of claim 4, wherein the parameter includes at least one of size, quality, or a maximum data rate of a content transmitted by the content server.

7. A method of controlling a congestion status of a network by a content server that provides content to a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

receiving, by the server, congestion status information from a policy and charging rules function (PCRF);

storing, by the server, the congestion status information;

upon receiving a service request from the UE, determining, by the server, a parameter for adjusting traffic transmission characteristics based on the congestion status information; and

transmitting, by the server, the parameter to the PCRF to determine a policy for a congestion status based on the parameter.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the congestion status information includes at least one of whether a congestion status occurs, a level of the congestion status, information on a cell where the congestion status occurs, identification information of the UE, or a transmission parameter allowed in the congestion status.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the parameter includes at least one of size, quality, or a maximum data rate of a content transmitted by the content server.

10. The method of claim 7, further comprising transmitting the determined parameter to the UE.

11. The method of claim 7, further comprising transmitting content to the UE based on the determined parameter.

12. A content server that provides content to a user equipment (UE), the content server comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and/or receive a signal with one of the UE and a policy and charging rules function (PCRF); and

a controller configured to;

receive congestion status information of a network from the PCRF,

store the congestion status information,

determine a parameter for adjusting traffic transmission characteristics based on the congestion status information, when receiving a service request from the UE, and

transmit the parameter to the PCRF to determine a policy for a congestion status based on the parameter.

13. The content server of claim 12, wherein the congestion status information includes at least one of whether a congestion status occurs, a level of the congestion status, information on a cell where the congestion status occurs, identification information of the UE, or a transmission parameter allowed in the congestion status.

14. The content server of claim 12, wherein the parameter includes at least one of size, quality, or a maximum data rate of a content transmitted by the content server.

15. The content server of claim 12, wherein the controller transmits the determined parameter to the UE.

16. The content server of claim 12, wherein the controller transmits content to the UE based on the determined parameter.

17. A method of determining a transmission priority of an application by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

receiving, by the UE, a policy associated with traffic transmission of the UE in a congestion status from a server;

determining, by the UE, when application traffic is generated, whether a first application identifier of an application corresponding to the generated application traffic is matched with a second application identifier included in the policy; and

determining, by the UE, when the first application identifier of the application corresponding to the generated application traffic is matched with the second application identifier in the policy, a transmission priority order of the application corresponding to the generated application traffic.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the policy further includes a predetermined use condition, and the method further comprising:

transmitting the determined transmission priority order to a base station when the predetermined use condition is satisfied.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the use condition includes at least one of a condition indicating that congestion status information is received from a radio access network (RAN) node, a condition indicating that a congestion level included in the congestion status information received from the RAN node is greater than or equal to a reference value, a condition indicating that a current time corresponds to a time period, or a condition indicating that a current location of the UE corresponds to a specific location.

29. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining whether the generated traffic is attended based on the policy; and

transmitting, if the generated traffic is attended, the generated traffic to the base station.

20. A user equipment (UE) that executes an application, the UE comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and/or receive a signal with one of a base station and a server; and

a controller configured to;

receive a policy associated with traffic transmission of the UE in a congestion status from the server,

determine whether a first application identifier of an application corresponding to application traffic is matched with a second application identifier included in the policy when the application traffic is generated, and

determine a transmission priority order of the application corresponding to the generated application traffic when the first application identifier of the application corresponding to the generated application traffic is matched with the second application identifier in the policy.

21. The UE of claim 20, wherein the policy includes a predetermined use condition, and the controller is configured to transmit the determined transmission priority order to the base station when the predetermined use condition is satisfied.

22. The UE of claim 21, wherein the use condition includes at least one of a condition indicating that congestion status information is received from a radio access network (RAN) node, a condition indicating that a congestion level included in the congestion status information received from the RAN node is equal to or higher than a predetermined reference value, a condition indicating that a current time corresponds to a predetermined time, or a condition indicating that a current location of the UE corresponds to a specific location.

30. The UE of claim 20, wherein the controller is further configured to:

determine whether the generated traffic is attended based on the policy, and

transmit the generated traffic to the base station if the generated traffic is attended.

23. A method of controlling a congestion status of a network by a base station, the method comprising:

transmitting a policy associated with traffic transmission of a user equipment (UE) in a congestion status to the UE;

receiving information on a transmission priority order of an application from the UE; and

transmitting data based on the transmission priority order,

wherein the application is associated with application traffic generated in the UE and an application identifier included in the policy.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the data transmission is applied to traffic with the same subscription priority or the same bearer QoS class identifier (QCI).

25. The method of claim 23, wherein the transmitting of the data comprises transmitting data while placing a lower transmission priority order on traffic classified as an unattended status.

31. The method of claim 23, further comprising:

receiving, if the generated traffic is identified as attended by the UE, the generated traffic from the UE.

26. A base station that controls a congestion status of a network, the base station comprising:

a transceiver configured to transmit and/or receive a signal with a user equipment (UE); and

a controller configured to;

transmit a policy associated with traffic transmission of the UE in a congestion status to the UE,

receive information on a transmission priority order of an application from the UE, and

transmit data based on the transmission priority order,

wherein the application is associated with application traffic generated in the UE and an application identifier included in the policy.

27. The base station of claim 26, wherein the controller is further configured to apply the data transmission to traffic with the same subscription priority or the same bearer QoS class identifier (QCI).

28. The base station of claim 26, wherein the controller is further configured to transmit data while placing a lower transmission priority order on traffic classified as an unattended status.

32. The base station of claim 26, wherein the controller is further configured to receive the generated traffic from the UE if the generated traffic is identified as attended by the UE.