Verizon Patent and Licensing Inc.

Cellco Partnership

Ho Yin Cheuk

Lixia Yan

Barry F Hoffner

Marc Chiaverini

Imtiyaz Shaikh

Robert Martin Ephraim

Xuming Chen

Imtiaz Shaikh

Violeta Cakulev

Ravikumar Pattabiraman

Sudhakar Reddy Patil

Priscilla Lau

Andrew E Youtz

James Mathison

Niranjan B Avula

Raymond So

Paul Herbert Siedelhofer

John Charles Powell

Miguel Angel Carames

Phillip Andrew Ritter

Javier Alejandro Ferro

Sergei Karpov

Daniel Mindler

Jay Hsu

Lindsay Notwell

Daniel J Murphy

A network device for a mobile carrier network sends, to a third-party content platform, a client message including a first dedicated subscription parameter extension. The first dedicated subscription parameter extension indicates one or more subscription parameters for a data flow between a user equipment (UE) device that originated the client message and the third-party content platform. The network device receives, from the third-party content platform, a server message including a second dedicated subscription parameter extension. The second dedicated subscription parameter extension confirms the third-party content platform will abide by the one or more subscription parameters. The network device generates, based on the one or more subscription parameters, a policy enforcement rule for the data flow that relies, at least in part, on cooperation of the third-party content platform.

Method and system for carrier-initiated traffic tuning and communication of subscriber parameters

A method is provided for performing RAN-usage-based tracking in a wireless core network. The method includes obtaining a plan code for a communication device connecting to a radio access network (RAN); associating, based on the plan code, the communication device with a RAN-usage-based plan; and reporting, after the associating, a tracking instance of RAN usage by the communication device.

Network interface for tracking radio resource utilization

Systems and methods allow a mobile carrier to inform a content provider of data flow restrictions associated with a subscriber's account so that the carrier and the content provider can cooperate to limit data flows without resorting to the inefficiencies of throttling by the carrier. A network device for the carrier network sends, to a third-party content platform, a client message including a first dedicated subscription parameter extension. The first extension indicates one or more subscription parameters for a data flow between user equipment and the third-party content platform. The network device receives, from the third-party content platform, a server message including a second dedicated subscription parameter extension. The second extension confirms the third-party content platform will abide by the subscription parameters. The network device generates, based on the subscription parameters, a policy enforcement rule for the data flow that relies on cooperation of the third-party content platform.

A system described herein may provide a mechanism for accurately tracking data usage across multiple User Plane Function ('UPF') devices in a telecommunications network. For example, different types of traffic may be handled by UPFs (e.g., may be dropped or forwarded), and the UPFs may be able to report the dropping of specific types of traffic, without needing to perform deep packet inspection ('DPI'). Header information may be passed from an upstream UPF to a downstream UPF with the traffic, where the header information indicates rules and/or policies that were applied by the upstream UPF. The downstream UPF may identify the rules and/or policies from the upstream UPF, and may use this information when reporting usage to a Session Management Function (&#x201c;SMF&#x201d;).

Systems and methods for tracking and calculating network usage in a network with multiple user plane functions

A method, a device, and a non-transitory storage medium are described in which a radio access network enforces uplink and downlink aggregate maximum bit rates for packet data unit sessions, uplink and downlink maximum bit rates for non-guaranteed bit rate flows, and uplink and downlink maximum bit rates for service data flows.

Method and system for data flow enforcement

A method is provided for enforcing quality of service parameters. A gateway receives a request for data usage from a mobile device. The gateway sends, to a controller, inquiry for allowed bit rate. Upon receiving a first bit rate value, the gateway sends, to a charging system, request for quota. In response to receiving the quota, the gateway provides data to the mobile device based on the first bit rate value. The gateway provides data to the mobile device until the quota is exhausted. Once a data usage threshold is reached, the gateway receives, from the controller, a second bit rate value. In response to receiving the second bit rate value, the gateway provides data to the mobile device based on the second bit rate value, until an activation-time is reached. When the activation-time is reached, the gateway resets the allowed bit rate to the first bit rate value.

Enforcing parameters for quality of data link service at a future time

A computing device may include a memory configured to store instructions and a processor configured to execute the instructions to monitor a radio access technology type being used by a user equipment (UE) device to wirelessly communicate with a base station. The processor may be further configured to detect a change from a first radio access technology type to a second radio access technology type; determine that the second radio access technology type has been sustained for at least a particular time period; and report information identifying the change from the first radio access technology type to the second radio access technology type to a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) device.

Radio access technology change reporting

A system described herein may provide an interface between a Session Management Function ('SMF') and a charging system in a wireless telecommunications system. The charging system may generate triggers which cause the SMF to monitor traffic associated with user equipment ('UE') and alert the charging system when certain trigger conditions have been satisfied. The triggers may be modified during a communication session between the UE and the wireless telecommunications system. The triggers may be configured on a per-subscriber or a per-price plan level basis. The SMF may also cache a number of satisfied trigger conditions before notifying the charging system, which may result in an efficient use of networking and/or processing resources. The unification of &#x201c;offline&#x201d; and &#x201c;online&#x201d; charging events, by virtue of the interface, may also result in an efficient use of networking and/or processing resources.

Charging interface between SMF and charging server in next generation wireless networks

Systems and methods for providing content provider charged web content to a mobile device are disclosed. A mobile routing server receives a request for a mobile device to access web content associated with a content provider. The mobile routing server determines whether the request is associated with a provider-charged gateway. If the request is associated with the provider-charged gateway, the mobile routing server provides access to the web content via the provider-charged gateway and signals a billing server to charge an account associated with the content provider for data charges associated with the access to the web content. If the request is not associated with the provider-charged gateway, the mobile routing server provides access to the web content via a regular Internet gateway and signals the billing server to charge an account associated with the mobile device for the data charges associated with the access to the web content.

Content provider charged gateway

A method is provided for performing RAN-usage-based tracking in a wireless core network. The method includes receiving a connection authorization request from a radio access network (RAN); obtaining a plan code for a communication device associated with the connection authorization request; associating, based on the plan code, the communication device with a RAN-usage-based plan; and sending, in response to the associating, tracking instances of RAN usage by the communication device to a usage-tracking server device.

A system includes a wireless access network, a gateway that controls communications between the wireless access network and a packet data network, and a policy-charging-and-rule-function (PCRF). The PCRF includes a routing agent in communication with the gateway and a group of multi-media processing engines (MPEs) that are associated with the routing agent. The routing agent receives from the gateway a request to establish a session for a piece of user equipment, and selects one of the MPEs to handle the session based on an IMSI of the piece of user equipment. The routing agent maintains a table indexed by IP address, and makes an entry therein that points to the selected MPE.

Geo-redundant PCRF MRA with MPE allocation via IMSI hashing and IP indexed table

A device receives, from an application server, a message destined for a user equipment, and reformats the message into a non-access stratum (NAS) transparent message. The device also provides, to a home subscriber server, a query for an identification of a mobility management entity serving the user equipment, and receives, from the home subscriber server, the identification of the mobility management entity serving the user equipment. The device further provides the NAS transparent message to the identified mobility management entity, where the mobility management entity forwards the NAS transparent message to the user equipment.

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Bridgewater, NJ, United States of America

Ho Yin Cheuk