Policy and charging rules function (PCRF) and performance intelligence center (PIC) based congestion control

• US 8,681,622 B2
• Filed: 12/19/2011
• Issued: 03/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tekelec
• Original Assignee: Tekelec
• Inventors: Chatterjee, Amit H., Besset, Philippe, Riley, Yusun Kim, Rajagopalan, Sundaram, Terrien, Olivier
• Primary Examiner(s): Moore, Ian N
• Assistant Examiner(s): La, Phong
• Application Number:
  US13/330,086
• Publication Number:
  US 20120257499A1
• Time in Patent Office: 827 Days
• Field of Search: 370/229, 370/232, 370/233, 370/235, 370/248, 370/253
• US Class Current: 370/232
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/762 triggered by the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/805 QOS or priority aware
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/822 Collecting or measuring resource availability data
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/824 Applicable to portable or mobile terminals
• 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 28/0284 detecting congestion or overload during communication monitoring arrangements H04L43/00

Abstract

A system for congestion control in a mobile communications network includes a monitoring module configured to monitor message traffic associated with a cell in a mobile communications network. The message traffic includes control plane and user plane messages. The monitoring module determines, based on the message traffic, whether a predetermined congestion threshold associated with the cell in the mobile communications network has been crossed. In response to the threshold being crossed, the monitoring module generates a cell congestion notification message that includes the identity of subscribers that are contributing to the congestion. A policy server receives the cell congestion notification message and generates a PCC rule that modifies the policy of the one or more identified subscribers and for communicating the PCC rule to a PCEF.

Claims

1. A system for congestion control in a mobile communications network, the system comprising:

a monitoring module configured to;

monitor message traffic associated with a cell in a communications network, wherein the message traffic includes control plane and user plane messages;

determine, based on the message traffic, whether a pre-determined congestion threshold associated with the cell has been crossed; and

in response to determining that the congestion threshold associated with the cell has been crossed, generate a cell congestion notification message that includes an identity of one or more subscribers that are contributing to a congestion; and

a policy server configured to;

receive the cell congestion notification message;

generate a policy and charging control (PCC) rule that modifies a policy of the one or more identified subscribers; and

communicate the PCC rule to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF),

wherein the monitoring module is configured to determine whether the congestion threshold has been crossed by computing a congestion indicator based on circuit switched call volume, packet switched data volume, radio bearer establishments, rate of radio bearer releases caused by congestion, total amount of bandwidth allocated for circuit switched calls, total amount of bandwidth allocated for packet switched sessions, total amount of bandwidth de-allocated because of circuit switched call terminations, and total amount of bandwidth de-allocated because of packet switched session terminations.

2. The system of claim 1 wherein the monitoring module is configured to monitor message traffic on an interface of at least one radio network control device.

3. The system of claim 2 wherein the interface comprises an Iu interface and wherein the at least one radio network control device comprises at least one radio network controller (RNC).

4. The system of claim 1 wherein the cell congestion notification message includes at least one international mobile station identifier (IMSI) for the one or more identified subscribers.

5. The system of claim 1 wherein the monitoring module is configured to determine whether the predetermined congestion threshold has been crossed by computing a congestion indicator value based on key performance indicator (KPI) feeds from radio access network equipment, transmission control protocol (TCP) retransmission rates, average TCP round trip times, and historical data collected over a period of time.

6. The system of claim 1 wherein the cell congestion notification message includes one of:

network resource usage information, mobile device type, user application identifying information, and geo-location information associated with a subscriber.

7. The system of claim 1 wherein the cell congestion notification message includes at least one of:

a cell identifier and cell location information.

8. The system of claim 1 wherein the cell congestion notification message includes a cell congestion level indicator value.

9. The system of claim 1 wherein the policy server comprises a policy and charging rules function (PCRF).

10. The system of claim 1 wherein the PCEF comprises one of:

a gateway general packet radio service support node (GGSN), a packet data network (PDN) gateway, and a deep packet inspection (DPI) element.

11. A method for congestion control in a mobile communications network, the method comprising:

monitoring control and user plane traffic associated with a cell in a mobile communications network;

determining, based on the monitored message traffic, whether a congestion threshold associated with the cell has been crossed;

in response to determining that the congestion threshold associated with the cell has been crossed, generating a congestion notification message that includes an identity of one or more subscribers that are contributing to a congestion;

receiving the congestion notification message at a policy server;

generating a policy control and charging rule that modifies a policy of the one or more subscribers; and

communicating the PCC rule to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF),

wherein determining whether the congestion threshold has been crossed includes computing a congestion indicator based on circuit switched call volume, packet switched data volume, radio bearer establishments, rate of radio bearer releases caused by congestion, total amount of bandwidth allocated for circuit switched calls, total amount of bandwidth allocated for packet switched sessions, total amount of bandwidth de-allocated because of circuit switched call terminations, and total amount of bandwidth de-allocated because of packet switched session terminations.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein monitoring the control and user plane traffic includes monitoring the control and user plane traffic on an interface of at least one radio network control device.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein the interface comprises an Iu interface and wherein the at least one radio network control device comprises at least one radio network controller (RNC).

14. The method of claim 11 wherein determining whether the predetermined congestion threshold has been crossed includes computing a congestion indicator value based on key performance indicator (KPI) feeds from radio access network equipment, transmission control protocol (TCP) retransmission rates, average TCP round trip times, and historical data collected over a period of time.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein generating the cell congestion notification message includes including international mobile subscriber identifiers (IMSIs) in the cell congestion notification message.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein generating the cell congestion notification message includes identifying network resource usage information, mobile device handset type, user application identifying information, and geo location information associated with a subscriber in the cell congestion notification message.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein generating the cell congestion notification message includes including at least one of a cell identifier and cell location information in cell congestion notification message.

18. The method of claim 11 wherein generating the cell congestion notification message includes including a cell congestion level indicator value in the cell congestion notification message.

19. The method of claim 11 wherein the policy server comprises a policy and charging rules function (PCRF).

20. The method of claim 11 wherein the PCEF comprises one of a gateway general packet radio service support node (GGSN), a packet data network (PDN) gateway, and a deep packet inspection (DPI) element.

21. A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions that when executed by a processor of a computer control the computer to perform steps comprising:

monitoring control and user plane traffic associated with a cell in a mobile communications network;

determining, based on the monitored message traffic, whether a congestion threshold associated with the cell has been crossed;

in response to determining that the congestion threshold associated with the cell has been crossed, generating a congestion notification message that includes an identity of one or more subscribers that are contributing to a congestion;

receiving the congestion notification message at a policy server;

generating a policy control and charging rule that modifies a policy of the one or more subscribers; and

communicating the PCC rule to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF),

wherein determining whether the congestion threshold has been crossed includes computing a congestion indicator based on circuit switched call volume, packet switched data volume, radio bearer establishments, rate of radio bearer releases caused by congestion, total amount of bandwidth allocated for circuit switched calls, total amount of bandwidth allocated for packet switched sessions, total amount of bandwidth de-allocated because of circuit switched call terminations, and total amount of bandwidth de-allocated because of packet switched session terminations.