Methods, systems, and computer readable media for user controlled policy sharing

• US 8,903,974 B2
• Filed: 09/23/2011
• Issued: 12/02/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 10/05/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tekelec
• Original Assignee: Tekelec
• Inventors: Rajagopalan, Sundaram, Marsico, Peter J.
• Primary Examiner(s): HOANG, HIEU T
• Application Number:
  US13/244,237
• Publication Number:
  US 20120084371A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,166 Days
• Field of Search: 709/223, 709/228
• US Class Current: 709/223
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/1407 Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0893 Assignment of logical groups to network elements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0894 Policy-based network configuration management
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0896 Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5029 Service quality level-based billing, e.g. dependent on measured service level customer is charged more or less
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5054 Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/78 Redistributing amount between accounts
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/781 dynamically
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/783 by user request
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/20 Negotiating bandwidth
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]

Abstract

According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a method for user controlled policy sharing. The method includes receiving, from a first user device, a request to share with a second user device a policy attribute associated with the first user device. The method also includes generating a signaling message containing instructions to modify the policy attribute. The method further includes communicating the signaling message to a policy control function associated with the second user device.

Claims

1. A method for user controlled policy sharing, the method comprising:

at a policy and charging rules function (PCRF);

receiving, from a first user device, a user device initiated request to share with a second user device a policy attribute associated with the first user device;

generating a signaling message containing instructions to modify the policy attribute; and

communicating the signaling message to a policy control function associated with the second user device.

2. The method of claim 1 comprising:

receiving, by the policy control function associated with the second user device, the signaling message;

generating, by the policy control function associated with the second user device, a policy control and charging (PCC) rule that modifies the policy attribute; and

communicating, by the policy control function associated with the second user device and to a policy enforcement function associated with the second user device, the PCC rule.

3. The method of claim 1 comprising:

generating, by the PCRF, a PCC rule that modifies the policy attribute; and

communicating, by the PCRF and to a policy enforcement function associated with the first user device, the PCC rule.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the PCRF comprises at least one of an application function (AF) and a resource admission control subsystem (RAGS).

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the steps are performed at a network node that includes the at least one of the PCRF, the AF, and the RAGS.

6. The method of claim 2 wherein the policy enforcement function associated with the second user device comprises a policy control and enforcement function (PCEF).

7. The method of claim 2 wherein the PCC rule is configured to expire after a predetermined time period.

8. The method of claim 1 comprising identifying the policy control function associated with the second user device, wherein identifying the policy control function includes querying at least one of a subscription profile repository (SPR), a subscription binding repository (SBR), and a home subscriber server (HSS).

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the request comprises at least one of a short message service (SMS) message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, an instant message, an email message, a Diameter message, an extensible markup language (XML) message, a session initiation protocol (SIP) message, and a simple object access protocol (SOAP) message.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the policy attribute specifies at least one of a guaranteed download bit rate, a minimum download bit rate, a maximum download bit rate, a permitted service data flow (SDF), a permitted QoS class, a permitted access point name (APN), a permitted destination Internet protocol (IP) address, and a download quota.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein generating the signaling message comprises generating the signaling message in response to determining that at least one of the first user device and the second user device is permitted to share the policy attribute.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein determining that at least one of the first user device and the second user device is permitted to share the policy attribute comprises determining that at least one of the first user device and the second user device is associated with a predetermined network operator.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein determining that at least one of the first user device and the second user device is associated with a predetermined network operator comprises determining that at least one of a mobile network code (MNC) associated with the first user device and an MNC associated with the second user device is associated with the predetermined network operator.

14. A system for user controlled policy sharing, the system comprising:

a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) comprising;

a communication interface;

a policy sharing module implemented using a processor for executing instructions stored in a memory, wherein the policy sharing module is configured to;

receive, from a first user device and via the communication interface, a user device initiated request to share with a second user device a policy attribute associated with the first user device;

generate a signaling message containing instructions to modify the policy attribute; and

communicate, via the communication interface, the signaling message to a policy control function associated with the second user device.

15. The system of claim 14 wherein the policy control function associated with the second user device is configured to:

receive the signaling message;

generate a policy control and charging (PCC) rule that modifies the policy attribute; and

communicate, to a policy enforcement function associated with the second user device, the PCC rule.

16. The system of claim 14 wherein the PCRF is configured to:

generate a PCC rule that modifies the policy attribute; and

communicate, to a policy enforcement function associated with the first user device, the PCC rule.

17. The system of claim 16 wherein the PCRF comprises at least one of an application function (AF) and a resource admission control subsystem (RAGS).

18. The system of claim 17 wherein the PCRF is located at a network node that includes the at least one of the PCRF, the AF, and the RAGS.

19. The system of claim 15 wherein the policy enforcement function associated with the second user device comprises a policy control and enforcement function (PCEF).

20. The system of claim 15 wherein the PCC rule is configured to expire after a predetermined time period.

21. The system of claim 14 wherein the policy sharing module is configured to identify the policy control function associated with the second user device by querying at least one of a subscription profile repository (SPR), a subscription binding repository (SBR), and a home subscriber server (HSS).

22. The system of claim 14 wherein the request comprises at least one of a short message service (SMS) message, a multimedia messaging service (MMS) message, an instant message, an email message, a Diameter message, an extensible markup language (XML) message, a session initiation protocol (SIP) message, and a simple object access protocol (SOAP) message.

23. The system of claim 14 wherein the policy attribute specifies at least one of a guaranteed download bit rate, a minimum download bit rate, a maximum download bit rate, a permitted service data flow (SDF), a permitted QoS class, a permitted access point name (APN), a permitted destination Internet protocol (IP) address, and a download quota.

24. The system of claim 14 wherein the policy sharing module is configured to generate the signaling message in response to determining that at least one of the first user device and the second user device is permitted to share the policy attribute.

25. The system of claim 24 wherein determining that at least one of the first user device and the second user device is permitted to share the policy attribute comprises determining that at least one of the first user device and the second user device is associated with a predetermined network operator.

26. The system of claim 25 wherein determining that at least one of the first user device and the second user device is associated with a predetermined network operator comprises determining that at least one of a mobile network code (MNC) associated with the first user device and an MNC associated with the second user device is associated with the predetermined network operator.

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

at a policy and charging rules function (PCRF);

receiving, from a first user device, a user device initiated request to share with a second user device a policy attribute associated with the first user device;

generating a signaling message containing instructions to modify the policy attribute; and

communicating the signaling message to a policy control function associated with the second user device.