Policy formulating method, policy server, and gateway

• US 9,391,846 B2
• Filed: 05/10/2013
• Issued: 07/12/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 11/11/2010
• 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: Hu, Yusheng, Hu, Xiang
• Primary Examiner(s): Thieu, Benjamin M
• Application Number:
  US13/891,405
• Publication Number:
  US 20130254370A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,159 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/14 Charging , metering or billing arrangements for data wireline or wireless communications
• 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 41/50 Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/5006 Creating or negotiating SLA contracts, guarantees or penalties
• 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 67/30 Profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/66 Policy and charging system
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/752 Terminal based account
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8016 based on quality of service [QoS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing

Abstract

The policy formulating method includes: receiving, by a policy server, User-Agent user-agent information sent by a gateway, where the User-Agent information carries type information of a terminal or type information of a browser used by a terminal; determining, by the policy server, a type of the terminal according to the User-Agent information; and formulating, by the policy server, a charging policy and/or a QoS quality of service policy according to the type of the terminal. Type information of a user terminal or type information a browser used by a terminal is reported to a policy server; the policy server is capable of correctly distinguishing a terminal type, for example a mobile phone or a PC is surfing the Internet, and then the policy server formulates a corresponding policy to implement Internet access charging and QoS guarantee.

Claims

1. A policy formulating method comprising:

performing, by a gateway, Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) on a packet sent by a terminal to acquire user agent information and sending the user agent information to a policy server;

receiving, by the policy server, the user agent information sent by the gateway, wherein the user agent information carries a terminal type information or a browser type information used by the terminal accessing a wireless network;

registering, by the policy server, a user agent information reporting event on the gateway;

determining, by the policy server, whether the terminal is a mobile phone directly accessing the wireless network or a personal computer using a mobile phone as a modem to indirectly access the wireless network according to the user agent information;

formulating, by the policy server, a charging or quality of service (QoS) policy according to whether the terminal is a mobile phone directly accessing the wireless network or is a personal computer using a mobile phone as a modem to indirectly access the wireless network;

delivering, by the policy server, the charging or QoS policy to the gateway and performing, by the gateway, the policy and notifying the policy to the user terminal; and

wherein the charging or QoS policy prohibits the terminal from accessing the Internet when the terminal is a personal computer using a mobile phone as a modem to indirectly access the wireless network, and

wherein the charging or QoS policy permits the terminal to access the Internet when the terminal is a mobile phone directly accessing the Internet.

2. The policy formulating method according to claim 1, after the receiving, by the policy server, the user agent information sent by the gateway, further comprising:

canceling, by the policy server, the user agent information reporting event on the gateway.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein a different charging or QoS policy is formulated when the terminal is a mobile phone directly accessing the wireless network than when the terminal is a personal computer using a mobile phone as a modem to indirectly access the wireless network.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the charging or QoS policy provides a different QoS guarantee for the terminal when the terminal is a mobile phone directly accessing the wireless network than when the terminal is a personal computer using a mobile phone as a modem to indirectly access the wireless network.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the charging or QoS policy specifies a different Internet access charge for the terminal when the terminal is a mobile phone directly accessing the wireless network than when the terminal is a personal computer using a mobile phone as a modem to indirectly access the wireless network.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the policy server is a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) entity.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the gateway is a gateway general packet radio service (GPRS) support node (GGSN).

8. A policy server comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer readable storage medium coupled to the processor and storing programming for execution by the processor, the programming including instructions to;

receive user agent information sent by a gateway, wherein the user agent information carries a terminal type information or a browser type information associated with a terminal accessing a wireless network, and wherein Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) was performed on the packet by the gateway;

register a user agent information reporting event on the gateway;

determine whether the terminal is a mobile phone directly accessing the wireless network or a personal computer using a mobile phone as a modem to indirectly access the wireless network according to the user agent information;

formulate a charging or a quality of service (QoS) policy according to whether the terminal is a mobile phone directly accessing the wireless network or a personal computer using a mobile phone as a modem to indirectly access the wireless network; and

deliver the charging or QoS policy to the gateway and performing, by the gateway, the policy and notifying the policy to the terminal;

wherein the charging or QoS policy prohibits the terminal from accessing the Internet when the terminal is a personal computer using a mobile phone as a modem to indirectly access the wireless network, and

wherein the charging or QoS policy permits the terminal to access the Internet when the terminal is a mobile phone directly accessing the Internet.

9. The policy server according to claim 8, wherein the programming further includes instructions to:

cancel the user agent information reporting event on the gateway after the user agent information sent by the gateway is received.

10. The policy server according to claim 8, wherein a different charging or QoS policy is formulated when the terminal is a mobile phone directly accessing the wireless network than when the terminal is a personal computer using a mobile phone as a modem to indirectly access the wireless network.

11. The policy server according to claim 8, wherein the charging or QoS policy provides a different QoS guarantee for the terminal when the terminal is a mobile phone directly accessing the wireless network than when the terminal is a personal computer using a mobile phone as a modem to indirectly access the wireless network.

12. The policy server according to claim 8, wherein the charging or QoS policy specifies a different Internet access charge for the terminal when the terminal is a mobile phone directly accessing the wireless network than when the terminal is a personal computer using a mobile phone as a modem to indirectly access the wireless network.

13. The policy server according to claim 8, wherein the policy server is a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) entity.

14. The policy server according to claim 8, wherein the gateway is a gateway general packet radio service (GPRS) support node (GGSN).