Mechanism to prevent load in 3GPP network due to MTC device triggers

• US 8,854,960 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2012
• Issued: 10/07/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/03/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Daedalus Prime LLC (Daedalus Group LLC)
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Jain, Puneet, Kedalagudde, Meghashree Dattatri, Venkatachalam, Muthaiah
• Primary Examiner(s): Jung, Min
• Application Number:
  US13/617,524
• Publication Number:
  US 20130083653A1
• Time in Patent Office: 753 Days
• Field of Search: 370/230, 370/328
• US Class Current: 370/230
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0215 based on user or device properties, e.g. MTC-capable devices services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] H04W4/70; wireless resource selection or allocation plan definition based on terminal or device properties H04W72/51
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0247 based on conditions of the access network or the infrastructure network central resource management H04W28/16
• 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 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/06 based on traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Embodiments of methods and apparatus to manage MTC device trigger load in a wireless network are described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Claims

1. A method to respond to device trigger requests in a mobile network, comprising:

initiating load control of signals received by a machine type communications interworking function (MTC-IWF) to avoid signaling overload from one or more machine type communications (MTC) servers;

receiving a device trigger request message comprising a priority from the MTC server, the MTC server adapted to transmit the device trigger request to trigger a user equipment (UE) to initiate communication with the MTC server;

identifying a priority associated with the device trigger request message;

transmitting a subscriber information request to a home subscriber server (HSS);

receiving a subscriber information response from the HSS;

determining whether the MTC server is authorized to trigger the UE;

determining whether the device trigger can be sent to the UE; and

transmitting a device trigger report to the MTC server.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a cause value with the device trigger report to the MTC server.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the cause value indicates that the device trigger was not transmitted to the UE.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising adjusting the load control of signals received by the MTC-IWF based on receiving the device trigger request.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the method is performed in compliance with 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 11 Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE).

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising initiating a timer after receiving the device trigger request.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising receiving a second device trigger request before the timer expires and rejecting the second device trigger.

8. A method for machine type communications (MTC) in a public land mobile network (PLMN) comprising receiving, by a user equipment (UE), a device trigger to prompt the UE to initiate communication with the MTC server, wherein the MTC server is adapted to transmit a subscriber information request to a home subscriber server (HSS) and receive a subscriber information response from the HSS to indicate if the MTC server is authorized to request that the device trigger be sent to the UE, and wherein the MTC server transmits a device trigger request and a priority associated with the device trigger request to a MTC interworking function (MTC-IWF), wherein the MTC-IWF is adapted to send a device trigger report to the MTC server.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising receiving the device trigger to trigger the UE to initiate communication with a MTC application associated with the MTC server.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein one or more MTC-IWFs reside in the PLMN.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising an overload handling function (OHF) associated with the MTC-IWF, wherein the OHF is adapted to generate the device trigger report for the MTC server.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein a back-off timer is used to control a load of device triggers in the PLMN.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the device trigger request is a second device trigger request to trigger a second UE.

14. A user equipment (UE) adapted for machine type communications (MTC) with an MTC server in a mobile network, the UE comprising:

at least one antenna; and

a receiver adapted to receive a device trigger to prompt the UE to take an action in response to the device trigger, wherein the MTC server is adapted to transmit a device trigger request with a priority parameter to a MTC interworking function (MTC-IWF) for the MTC-IWF to determine;

whether a device trigger can be sent to the UE; and

whether the MTC server is authorized to request the device trigger for the UE, wherein the MTC-IWF is further adapted to transmit a device trigger report comprising a cause value to the MTC server.

15. The UE of claim 14, wherein the user equipment (UE) is a device selected from the group consisting of a tablet, smartphone, netbook, laptop, ultrabook, and mobile device.

16. The UE of claim 14, wherein the MTC-IWF comprises a load control mechanism to control an ingress rate of trigger requests from the MTC server.

17. The UE of claim 16, wherein the MTC-IWF further comprises a back-off timer to determine whether the device trigger can be sent to the UE.

18. An apparatus to communicate a device trigger in a mobile network, the apparatus comprising circuitry adapted to receive a device trigger request comprising a priority message from a machine type communication (MTC) server, the MTC server adapted to transmit the device trigger request to trigger a user equipment (UE) to take an action in response to a device trigger, to identify a priority associated with the device trigger request, to determine whether the MTC server is authorized to send the device trigger request for the UE by transmitting a subscriber information request to a home subscriber server (HSS) and receiving a subscriber information response from the HSS, and to transmit a device trigger report to the MTC server.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, the circuitry further adapted to initiate a back-off time to reject a subsequent device trigger request during a back-off time duration.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, the circuitry further adapted to indicate the back-off time in the device trigger report.