Priority bearers in a mobile telecommunication network

• US 8,300,575 B2
• Filed: 12/29/2004
• Issued: 10/30/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 12/29/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Willars, Per
• Primary Examiner(s): Gonzalez, Amancio
• Application Number:
  US11/722,426
• Publication Number:
  US 20080020775A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,862 Days
• Field of Search: 455/450, 455/453, 455/512, 370/328
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/10 Flow control; Congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2408 for supporting different services, e.g. a differentiated services [DiffServ] type of service
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2416 Real-time traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2433 Allocation of priorities to traffic types
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2441 relying on flow classification, e.g. using integrated services [IntServ]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2475 for supporting traffic characterised by the type of applications
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/2491 Mapping quality of service [QoS] requirements between different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0263 involving mapping traffic to individual bearers or channels, e.g. traffic flow template [TFT]
• 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 72/569 of the traffic information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/04 Network layer protocols, e.g. mobile IP [Internet Protocol]

Abstract

Method for switching a packet to a bearer in a mobile telecommunication network, by setting up multiple parallel bearers for bearing the packet across a radio interface; associating the bearers with a bearer priority level of traffic handling; determining a priority level of the packet; mapping the packet priority level to the bearer priority level; switching the packet to one of the bearers based on the mapping; using the bearer priority level to prioritize the access to the radio resources. A further method for switching a packet by setting up multiple parallel bearers without resource reservation; associating each of the bearers with a bearer priority level; mapping a flow of packets to one of the bearer priority levels, when a service is started; switching each packet to one of the multiple bearers based on the mapping; using the bearer priority level to prioritize the access to the radio resources.

Claims

1. A method for transferring a packet on a bearer in a mobile telecommunication system, wherein the system comprises:

a mobile terminal;

a network with one or more network nodes supporting flow of a packet to the mobile terminal (downlink) and from the mobile terminal (uplink);

said method comprising the steps of;

setting up one or multiple parallel bearers for bearing packets across a radio interface;

associating said multiple parallel bearers with a bearer priority level of traffic handling;

determining a priority level of said packet;

mapping the packet to one of the multiple parallel bearers based on the priority level; and

,

using the bearer priority level to prioritise the access to the radio resources;

wherein the step of setting up one or multiple parallel bearers consists in that the network initiates the set up of a bearer with a signal to the mobile terminal; and

,

wherein the mapping of a packet in the downlink direction to one of the multiple bearers is controlled by configuring a packet filter for the bearer, containing the IP address and/or port number and/or Protocol Id of the packet, in a Gateway node terminating the bearer.

2. The method recited in claim 1, further comprising the steps of:

setting up said multiple parallel bearers before a session on application level is initiated for bearing the packet across a radio interface; and

, if radio resources should be reserved; and

,

reserving the radio resources of said network for any of the multiple parallel bearers after said setting up of the bearers.

3. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the packet to be transmitted is an uplink packet, and wherein the step of mapping is characterized in that:

the network determines the bearer to which the uplink packet shall be mapped, based on matching the priority level of the uplink packet with the priority level of the bearer;

the network constructs an uplink packet filter for the determined bearer and signals this to the mobile terminal; and

,

once the uplink packet is to be transferred, the mapping is performed within the mobile terminal, based on the uplink packet filter signalled from the network.

4. The method according to claim 3, further characterized in that the uplink packet filter is based on the addressing information of the IP header, or a subset thereof, including:

destination IP address and/or the destination IP port number and/or protocol ID.

5. The method according to claim 4, further characterized in that the uplink filter for a bearer in the mobile terminal, is signaled to the mobile terminal when the network is informed about the addressing information of the IP header for the uplink packet or a flow of uplink packets.

6. The method according to claim 5, further characterised in that the network is informed about the addressing information of the IP header by session level signaling between the mobile terminal and server or proxy server in the network.

7. The method according to claim 3, further characterised in that the uplink packet filter is constructed and signaled to the mobile terminal, before the network is informed about the need to transfer the uplink packet, and that the uplink packet filter is based on a DiffServ Code Point value, an IP version 4 Type Of Service value or an IP version 6 Type Of Service value.

8. The method recited in claim 1, wherein the step of determining a priority level of said packet is decided by a policy control function in the network.

9. The method according to claim 8, where the step of determining a priority level further characterized in that the network informs the application on the terminal side about the priority level for a flow of packets consists in including an indication on how to mark the packet priority level for the packets of the flow in an application level signalling message, that is exchanged to establish the flow of packets.

10. The method recited in claim 1, the system further comprising:

a mobile connection between the network and said mobile terminal, the method further comprising the step of;

deciding to switch the channel state of the mobile connection by state transition signalling between the network and the mobile terminal, based on arrival of the packet and packet arrival statistics from the past;

wherein the step of using the bearer priority level to prioritise the access to the radio resources is characterized in that the network reassigns resources from a mobile terminal with only low bearer priority level(s) to a mobile terminal with a high bearer priority level, by switching the mobile connection of the high priority terminal to a channel state permitting a high data rate, and switching the mobile connection of the low priority terminal to a channel state permitting lower data rates.

11. The method recited in claim 1,

wherein the step of associating further comprises associating each of said one or multiple parallel bearers with one or more other bearer characteristics;

the method further comprising the step of using the one or more other bearer characteristics to select radio network parameters to use for transferring the packet, wherein the step of setting up and associating is characterised in that for each bearer, the associated bearer priority level and one or more other bearer characteristics, are indicated by a combined single protocol parameter in signalling between network nodes when setting up the bearer.

12. The method according to claim 11, characterized in that said radio network parameters determining the bearer characteristics include one or more of:

use of retransmission protocol, delay threshold parameters for scheduling, packet drop policies in queues and use of header compression.

13. The method according to claim 1, wherein the packet priority level is indicated with an IP Differentiated Services Codepoint, Internet Protocol version 4 Type-Of-Service value or Internet Protocol version 6 Traffic Class value.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein real-time traffic is mapped to a bearer optimized for low latency.

16. The method, according to claim 1, wherein the decision to set up the multiple bearers is based on a parameter of the group including:

a general subscription level of the user, such as Gold, Silver or Bronze, which level determines whether the user is authorised to activate certain services;

a service, such as a premium or non-premium service, to which the user is subscribed;

a likelihood of the user to activate specific premium services requiring the prioritisation function.

18. The method according to claim 1, wherein a flow identification function controls and/or marks the packet priority level in the downlink, before the packet reaches a Gateway General Packet Radio Service Node.

19. The method according to claim 1, wherein, for flows in the downlink direction, the operator controls the application server, to set the per-packet priority indication differently for different application flows.

20. The method according to claim 1, wherein the terminal is informed about the marking of the packet priority level for an uplink flow before the start of the flow by means of a signalling method on application level, such as a Session Initiation Protocol message.

21. The method, according to claim 1, wherein the packet priority level is included as a Diffserv Code Point, Internet Protocol version 4 Type Of Service value, or Internet Protocol version 6 Traffic Class value together with the Internet Protocol address and port number of each packet flow described in a Session Initiation Protocol message.

22. The method according to claim 1, wherein, in the uplink, a function in the mobile terminal marks the packet with a priority level according to a policy stored in the mobile terminal, the function comprising an application running on the mobile terminal or a common priority-marking function within the mobile terminal.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the network configures or reconfigures the policy stored in the mobile terminal by use of signalling procedures.

24. The method according to claim 1, wherein the multiple parallel bearers are realized as multiple parallel Packet Data Protocol contexts between the terminal and a Gateway General Packet Radio Service Node, each associated with an individual traffic handling priority.

25. The method, according to claim 24, wherein one of the Packet Data Protocol contexts is a primary context and the one or more additional bearers are secondary Packet Data Protocol contexts.

26. The method, according to claim 25, wherein the primary Packet Data Protocol context is assigned the lowest traffic handling priority level.

27. The method, according to claim 25, wherein a policy control of the network enforces the lowest traffic handling priority level for the primary Packet Data Protocol context during the establishment procedure of this primary Packet Data Protocol context.

28. The method, according to claim 25, wherein the network sends an order to the terminal to establish one or more secondary Packet Data Protocol contexts in addition to a primary Packet Data Protocol context, at the event triggering the setting up of the multiple parallel bearers.

29. The method, according to claim 28, wherein said order comprises information of a group including:

quality of service level such as type and traffic handling priority level; and

,

mapping of the packets onto the Packet Data Protocol contexts as a traffic flow template, which template is included by the terminal in the signalling when establishing the additional secondary Packet Data Protocol contexts.

30. The method, according to claim 28, wherein the order from the network to the terminal is sent as a new Wireless Application Protocol Push message.

31. The method, according to claim 28, wherein the order from the network to the terminal is sent as a new 3GPP Session Management message.

32. The method, according to claim 28, wherein the network, by broadcast information, orders the terminal to always set up one or more secondary Packet Data Protocol contexts in conjunction with establishing a primary Packet Data Protocol context, in the network.

33. The method according to claim 1, wherein the Gateway General Packet Radio Service Node implements the mapping of the packet to one of the multiple parallel bearers in the downlink.

34. The method according to claim 1, wherein rules for the mapping are defined as traffic flow templates, for which the DiffServ Code Point or Type-of-Service field of the IP packets are used.

35. The method according to claim 1, wherein the mapping of the packet to one of the bearers in the uplink is implemented in the terminal.

36. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of using the bearer priority level to prioritise access to the radio resources is done by the one or more network nodes, with mechanisms depending on the channel type the terminal is using, and ensuring prioritisation between bearers of one user and between bearers of different users in the system.

37. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of prioritising access is implemented by a scheduling algorithm, that can operate with strict priority, by always scheduling any packet with high priority level before all low priority packets, or operate with different level of fairness by ensuring some minimum level of throughput for lower priority traffic, and that combines the priority level with a variable number of other parameters, such as channel condition, delay threshold or buffer fill level.

38. The method according to claim 1, wherein the network, when deciding on dedicated resource assignment to a bearer, uses the priority level as input to the assignment decision, such that a bearer with high priority has a higher probability of being assigned a dedicated resource and/or a higher probability of being assigned a dedicated resource of a large size.

39. The method according claim 38, wherein the network applies a preemption mechanism, whereby a packet arriving on a high priority bearer can trigger the release of dedicated resources for a lower priority bearer, of the same or another terminal, in order for the network to assign these resources to the high priority bearer.

40. The method according to claim 1, wherein the network, when using a shared resource assignment to a bearer, uses the bearer priority level as input to the scheduling decision, in such a manner that a packet on a bearer with a high priority level has a higher probability of being scheduled to the shared resource and/or a higher probability of being allocated a large portion of the shared resource.

41. The method according claim 40, wherein the shared resource comprises at least one type of channel of the group including:

a “

3GPP WCDMA HS-DSCH”

channel, or “

HSDPA”

;

a “

3GPP WCDMA Enhanced DCH channel”

, or “

Enhanced Uplink”

, or “

HSUPA”

;

a “

3GPP GERAN PDCH channel”

.

42. The method according to claim 40, wherein for uplink traffic said scheduling is signalled from the one or more network nodes as a limitation on the maximum allowed rate either per individual terminal, based on individual terminals priority levels known by the one or more network nodes, or per traffic priority level, common for all terminals.

43. The method according to claim 1, wherein the network optimises a bearer for low latency using a method out of a group including:

using unacknowledged mode in radio link control protocol;

using a queuing time as a parameter for scheduling transmission of a packet to limit a delay;

using a lower target for a block error rate;

using robust header compression on an Internet Protocol packet transmitted on said bearer.

44. The method, according to claim 1, wherein the multiple parallel bearers are radio bearers between the terminal and an Radio Network Controller, each radio bearer being related to a common radio access bearer and a common Packet Data Protocol context, and each radio bearer being associated with a retransmission radio link controller protocol entity.

45. The method, according to claim 44, wherein the common bearer includes an attribute indicating the use of priority handling within the common bearer, which triggers the Radio Access Network to set up multiple parallel radio bearers for the common radio access bearer.

46. The method, according to claim 1, wherein the Radio Access Network uses a priority level of the packet, included in the tunnelling of data from the Core Network to the Radio Access Network to select a radio bearer for the packet

15. A method for transferring a packet on a bearer in a mobile telecommunication system, wherein the system comprises:

a mobile terminal;

a network with one or more network nodes supporting flow of a packet to the mobile terminal (downlink) and from the mobile terminal (uplink);

said method comprising the steps of;

setting up one or multiple parallel bearers for bearing packets across a radio interface;

associating said multiple parallel bearers with a bearer priority level of traffic handling;

determining a priority level of said packet;

mapping the packet to one of the multiple parallel bearers based on the priority level; and

,

using the bearer priority level to prioritise the access to the radio resources;

wherein the step of setting up one or multiple parallel bearers consists in that the network initiates the set up of a bearer with a signal to the mobile terminal;

wherein an event triggers the setting up of multiple parallel bearers, the event comprising one of the group including;

the establishment of a first bearer for Internet Protocol connectivity;

a user of the mobile terminal accessing a specific Universal Resource Locator or Internet Protocol address though the mobile terminals triggers said setting up of multiple parallel bearers; and

,

a signalling message on application level, such as a Session Initiation Protocol message.

17. A method for transferring a packet on a bearer in a mobile telecommunication system, wherein the system comprises:

a mobile terminal;

a network with one or more network nodes supporting flow of a packet to the mobile terminal (downlink) and from the mobile terminal (uplink);

said method comprising the steps of;

setting up one or multiple parallel bearers for bearing packets across a radio interface;

associating said multiple parallel bearers with a bearer priority level of traffic handling;

determining a priority level of said packet;

mapping the packet to one of the multiple parallel bearers based on the priority level; and

,

using the bearer priority level to prioritise the access to the radio resources;

wherein the step of setting up one or multiple parallel bearers consists in that the network initiates the set up of a bearer with a signal to the mobile terminal;

wherein the step of determining a packet priority level is based on a parameter selected from the group comprising;

a type of application flow;

a service level;

a charging level;

a Universal Resource Locator of an application server;

an Internet Protocol address of an application server;

a general subscription level of the subscriber; and

,

whether the subscriber is authorised to activate the service.