US 10,097,642 B2Granted

System and method for using VoLTE session continuity information using logical scalable units

AssigneeOpenet Telecom Ltd.

InventorsPeter Haraszti, David Davoren, Brian J. Forde, Ross Andreucetti, Tony Doolin, Niall O'Connell

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Abstract

Logical scalable units (LSU) can be used within a single network data center to provide stateful scalability. However, LSUs are not suitable for operating across multiple network data centers in order to provide geographical redundancy in active-active scenarios while providing high availability. This is because the latencies associated with replicating full session information are unacceptably slow. An additional component in the LSU (known as an LSU Frontend) can be used to replicate a small subset of session information between LSUs. This subset of session information may be enough to enable LSUs to process requests in an acceptable way rather than outright failing. This may be particularly advantageous in scenarios where the requests relate to Voice over LTE calls, because outright failure is very perceivable to subscribers, and it causes resource leakage within the telecommunications network.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of communicating messages in communication system, comprising:

receiving, in a processor of a multiprocessor computing system, at least one of an Authentication Authorization Request (AAR) message or a Session Termination Request (STR) message from a logical scalable unit (LSU) frontend component, wherein the received message was sent by the LSU frontend component in response to the LSU frontend component receiving a message from a first client component in response to the first client component determining that a user equipment set-up, modified, or terminated a VoLTE call;
determining via the processor whether session information relating to the received message may be obtained from a session store;
using session information included in the session store to make a policy decision in response to determining that session information relating to the received message may be obtained from the session store;
using session continuity information included in the received message to determine the session information, and using the determined session information to make the policy decision, in response to determining that session information relating to the received message may not be obtained from the session store, wherein the session continuity information includes at least one of Gx session information, a session continuation (SC) parameter, or a VoLTE-Session-Continuity Attribute-Value-Pair (AVP);
generating and sending an Authentication Authorization Answer (AAA) message or an Session-Termination-Answer (STA) message to the LSU frontend component based on the policy decision;
and
generating and sending a Re-Authorization Request (RAR) message that includes updated session continuity information to the LSU frontend component.

4 more elements

A server computing device, comprising:

a processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising:
receiving at least one of an Authentication Authorization Request (AAR) message or a Session Termination Request (STR) message from a logical scalable unit (LSU) frontend component, wherein the received message was sent by the LSU frontend component in response to the LSU frontend component receiving a message from a first client component in response to the first client component determining that a user equipment set-up, modified, or terminated a VoLTE call;
determining whether session information relating to the received message may be obtained from a session store;
using session information included in the session store to make a policy decision in response to determining that session information relating to the received message may be obtained from the session store;
using session continuity information included in the received message to determine the session information, and using the determined session information to make the policy decision, in response to determining that session information relating to the received message may not be obtained from the session store, wherein the session continuity information includes at least one of Gx session information, a session continuation (SC) parameter, or a VoLTE-Session-Continuity Attribute-Value-Pair (AVP);
generating and sending an Authentication Authorization Answer (AAA) message or an Session-Termination-Answer (STA) message to the LSU frontend component based on the policy decision;
and
generating and sending a Re-Authorization Request (RAR) message that includes updated session continuity information to the LSU frontend component.

5 more elements

A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving at least one of an Authentication Authorization Request (AAR) message or a Session Termination Request (STR) message from a logical scalable unit (LSU) frontend component, wherein the received message was sent by the LSU frontend component in response to the LSU frontend component receiving a message from a first client component in response to the first client component determining that a user equipment set-up, modified, or terminated a VoLTE call;
determining whether session information relating to the received message may be obtained from a session store;
using session information included in the session store to make a policy decision in response to determining that session information relating to the received message may be obtained from the session store;
using session continuity information included in the received message to determine the session information, and using the determined session information to make the policy decision, in response to determining that session information relating to the received message may not be obtained from the session store, wherein the session continuity information includes at least one of Gx session information, a session continuation (SC) parameter, or a VoLTE-Session-Continuity Attribute-Value-Pair (AVP);
generating and sending an Authentication Authorization Answer (AAA) message or an Session-Termination-Answer (STA) message to the LSU frontend component based on the policy decision;
and
generating and sending a Re-Authorization Request (RAR) message that includes updated session continuity information to the LSU frontend component.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 15/061,862Filed 4 Mar 2016 · continuation in part
Priority: 29 May 2012
Published: US 2016/0191631 A130 Jun 2016
Granted: 9 Oct 2018
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification5 codes

H04L 43/0888
Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level: throughput
H04L 41/0897
Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities: by horizontal or vertical scaling of resources, or by…
H04L 67/14
Network arrangements or protocols for supporting network services or applications: session management
H04L 67/568
Provisioning of proxy services: storing data temporarily at an intermediate stage, e.g. caching

Family

Application61/652,731Us provisional application · filed 29 May 2012
Application13/903,866Parent of this continuation-in-part · filed 28 May 2013
Application62/129,302Us provisional application · filed 6 Mar 2015
US 2016/0191631 A1Pre-grant publication · published 30 Jun 2016
US 10,069,707 B2Related patent
US 2013/0326058 A1Published application
US 10,097,642 B2This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.