Alcatel Lucent

Alcatel Canada Inc.

Kevin Scott Cutler

Kalyan Premchand Siddam

Felix Katz

Fernando Cuervo

Hamdy Farid

Fan Mo

Allen Robinson

Katha Kulasingam

Susan Patricia Ackerman

Steve Rock

Jeff Allan Kerluke

Haiqing H Ma

Mike Vihtari

Lui Chu Yeung

Ajay Kirit Pandya

Stephen Edgar Ellis

Hubert Holierhoek

Matthew Yee

Richard Anthony Brunet

Gerald Bloch

Craig Murray Mansell Wilson

James Paul

James Matthew Santry

Xu Chen

Jeff Kerluke

Kalyan Siddam

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a network policy node. The method may include: translating a policy into a plurality of rule objects, the policy including an applicability condition and one or more action rules; generating a selection rule table based on the applicability condition of one or more policies; generating an action rule table from the one or more action rules of an applicable policy, an action rule including an action condition and an action path; determining a set of applicable policies by evaluating the selection rule table using a rules engine; and selecting an action path by evaluating the action rule table using the rules engine. Various exemplary embodiments relate to a network policy node including a scanner that generates rules objects and rule tables based on one or more policies, a context information storage, and a rules engine that evaluates rule tables.

Rules engine evaluation for policy decisions

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: determining, at a policy and charging rules node, that the policy and charging rules node should perform a policy decision; comparing a criteria portion of at least one rule of a plurality of rules to a set of context information; identifying a rule of the plurality of rules that matches the set of context information; determining that a result portion of the identified rule includes a reference to a first managed object; and using the first managed object as at least part of a result of the policy decision.

Managed object support

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node and machine-readable storage medium including a policy and charging rules node (PCRN) receiving a plurality of related service requests from different devices. The PCRN may establish a Session Binding Identifier (SBI) for each message received. The SBI may include one or more subscriber IDs. Upon receipt of a message, the PCRN may compare the included subscriber IDs against information included in a subscriber database to match with a specific subscriber profile. The PCRN may use the subscriber profile to determine whether existing established sessions are associated with the same subscriber profile, and may bind the sessions together when they are associated with a common subscriber profile.

Session binding using subscriber identification

A method of exchanging a rules engine decision tree cache is disclosed. The method provides for provision accepting a command to build a replacement rules engine decision tree cache, replacing the existing cache if the decision tree creation process is successful, retaining the existing cache if the decision tree creation process is not successful, and providing specific error messages in the event that the replacement fails. The method allows an network operator to change the rules for the rule engine without disruption of real-time service and allows for a level of error checking prior to provisioning the new decision tree.

Method for loading a rule set in a rule engine

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node and machine-readable storage medium including one or more of the following: receiving, at the PCRN, a request message from an Evolved Packet Core node; determining whether the request message includes a request for a modification to an IP-CAN session; and if the request message includes a request for a modification to the IP-CAN session: determining a current bearer control mode for the IP-CAN session, determining a previous bearer control mode for the IP-CAN session, comparing the current bearer control mode to the previous bearer control mode, and if the current bearer control mode is different from the previous bearer control mode, modifying the IP-CAN session according to the current bearer control mode.

Method of handling a change to bearer control mode

Embodiments of the invention provide a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF) node and a method for authorizing a Quality of Service (QoS) for a wireless subscriber based on subscriber usage and time-of-day for a 3GPP-compliant packet data network.

QoS control in PCRF based on usage and time of day

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, at a policy and charging rules node from a first requesting device, a first message including a first set of information regarding an application request; generating a set of PCC rules for fulfilling the application request based on the first set of information; determining whether the PCRN should wait for a period of time for at least one PCC rule to receive a second message including a second set of information regarding the application request; and if the PCRN should wait for the period of time: waiting for the period of time to receive a second message including a second set of information regarding the application request, determining, after the time has elapsed, whether the second message has arrived, and if the second message has not arrived, initiating a cleanup procedure.

Method and system for determining a PCC rule waiting for further action

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, at the session management node, an initial request message, the initial request message including at least one subscription identifier; determining that the session management node does not have access to a subscription record associated with the at least one subscription identifier; generating a transient subscription record based on the initial request message; and processing the initial request message based on the initial request message and the transient subscription record.

Transient subscription records

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node including one or more of the following: receiving, at a policy and charging rules node (PCRN) from a requesting entity, a message including a request associated with at least one service data flow (SDF); extracting a subscriber identifier and a first identifier from the message; retrieving a subscription record associated with the subscriber identifier, wherein the subscription record is associated with a first plurality of subrecords; identifying an first subrecord from the plurality of subrecords based on the first identifier; and conditionally fulfilling the request based on a first value stored in the first subrecord.

Method and system for authorizing sessions using subscriber database

The invention is directed to providing a method and apparatus for managing and tracking default bearers in an Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session of a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) network while observing the requirements of the GPRS specifications.

GPRS default bearer tracking

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a policy and charging rules node for managing usage of a subscriber. The method may include: defining a primary metering policy having a first applicability condition and a first quota; defining a secondary metering policy having attributes including a second applicability condition and at least one inherited attribute that references an attribute of the primary metering policy; determining that the second metering policy is applicable when the first applicability condition and the second applicability condition are true; selecting the secondary metering policy as an active metering policy; and managing subscriber usage according to the attributes of the secondary metering policy. In various alternative embodiments, the step of managing subscriber usage includes: measuring subscriber usage according to a rating factor of the secondary metering policy; and charging the measured subscriber usage to both the primary metering policy and the secondary metering policy.

Hierarchical metering policy attributes

Various embodiments relate to a system and related method for managing a connection of a user device to a communications network. Various embodiments relate to a Policy and Charging Rules Node (PCRN) receiving a user requests through multiple serving gateways. The PCRN may assign one of the serving gateways as a primary serving gateway when the serving gateway sends a Gateway Control Session that binds to an IP-CAN session established in the PCRN. When the PCRN receives a subsequent message from another serving gateway, the PCRN may reassign the new serving gateway as primary when its Gateway Control Session matches. The PCRN may then mark the former serving gateway as pending termination and signal the marked gateway to terminate. After sending rules to serving gateways not pending termination, the PCRN may delete those serving gateways marked for termination.

Management of serving gateways for enhanced performance

Various exemplary embodiments relate to a method and related network node and machine-readable storage medium including one or more of the following: receiving, at the PCRN, the application request message; determining at least one requested service flow from the application request message; for each requested service flow of the at least one requested service flow, generating a new PCC rule based on the application request message; and providing each new PCC rule to a Policy and Charging Enforcement Node (PCEN). Various exemplary embodiments further include an application request message including at least one media component and at least one media subcomponent and the step of for each media subcomponent, determining a requested service flow from the media subcomponent.

Growing community of inventors

Carp, Canada

Kevin Scott Cutler