Method, system, and entity for exercising policy control

• US 10,306,073 B2
• Filed: 03/02/2015
• Issued: 05/28/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Qiao, Weihua, Wang, Xinfa, Chen, Cheng, Tan, Shiyong, Li, Yan, Huang, Shibi, Zhao, Peng, Mao, Yuxin
• Primary Examiner(s): Kim, Steven S
• Application Number:
  US14/635,819
• Publication Number:
  US 20150207636A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,548 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1407 Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2475 for supporting traffic characterised by the type of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

A method and a system for exercising policy control, a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) are provided, which can solve the problem that no policy control can be exercised over application service flows without an application function (AF). In the method, a PCRF receives information about an application event sent by a PCEF after subscribing the application event from the PCEF; and the PCRF generates a control policy for a service flow of the application according to the information about the application event. In the present invention, the PCEF sends the obtained information about the application event to the PCRF, so that even when no AF is involved, the PCRF can still generate a control policy according to policy contexts including the information about the application event and the like.

Claims

1. A method performed by a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) enabled gateway node of a communication network for exercising policy control over application service flows of user devices, comprising:

receiving, by the PCEF, an Re-Authentication Request (RAR) message from a Policy Control and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) device in the communication network, wherein the RAR message comprises an identifier of an application service to be controlled and an identifier of a triggering event, wherein the trigger event itself being a start of the application service;

detecting, by the PCEF, the trigger event of the start of the application service for an application service flow of a user device in the communication network according to the identifier of the triggering event, wherein the application service flow matches the identifier of the application service in the RAR message;

sending, by the PCEF, a Diameter Credit Control Request (CCR) message to the PCRF, wherein the CCR message indicates the detected trigger event and the identifier of the application service;

receiving, by the PCEF, a Credit Control Answer(CCA) message from the PCRF, wherein the CCA message comprises a control policy for the application service flow;

exercising, by the PCEF, the policy control over the application service flow of the user device according to a quality of service (QoS) information and charging control policy in the control policy.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the RAR message further comprises filtering rules of the application service.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the CCR message further comprises filtering rules of the application service.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the CCR message further comprises the Quality of Service (QoS) information.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the control policy comprises at least one of the followings:

a QoS policy, a charging policy and a gating policy.

6. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

detecting stopping of the application service of the application service flow of the user device;

sending a second Diameter CCR message to the PCRF device, wherein the second CCR message indicates the stopping of the application service.

7. A Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) enabled gateway node of a communication network, comprising:

a memory;

at least one processor executing program codes stored in the memory to;

receive a Re-Authentication Request (RAR) message from a Policy Control and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) device in the communication network, wherein the RAR message comprises an identifier of an application service to be controlled and an identifier of a triggering event, wherein the triggering event itself being a starting of the application service;

detect the trigger event of the start of the application service for an application service flow of a user device in the communication network according to the identifier of the triggering event, wherein the application service flow matches the identifier of the application service in the RAR message;

send a Diameter Credit Control Reguest (CCR) message to the PCRF, wherein the CCR message indicates the detected trigger event and the identifier of the application service;

receive a Credit Control Answer (CCA) message from the PCRF, wherein the CCA message comprises a control policy for the application service flow; and

exercises the policy control over the application service flow of the user device according to a quality of service (QoS) information and charging control policy in the control policy.

8. The PCEF according to claim 7, wherein the RAR message further comprises filtering rules of the application service.

9. The PCEF according to claim 7, wherein the CCR message further comprises filtering rules of the application service.

10. The PCEF according to claim 7, wherein the CCR message further comprises the Quality of Service (QoS) information.

11. The PCEF device according to claim 7, wherein the PCEF enabled gateway node is further configured to:

detect stopping of the application service of the application service flow of the user device;

send a second Diameter CCR message to the PCRF device, wherein the second CCR message indicates the stopping of the application service.