# US 11,122,460 B2 · Policy control system, PCRF entity, policy control method, and non-transitory computer readable medium

> Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt

- Number: US 11,122,460 B2
- Document ID: US11122460B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 16/083,719
- Filed: 2016-11-28
- Published: 2020-09-24
- Granted: 2021-09-14
- Earliest claimed: 2016-03-11
- Assignees: NEC Corporation
- Applicants: NEC Corporation
- Inventors: Kyoji Hirata; Toru Yamada; Masahiro Serizawa; Akira Kamei; Yumiko Okuyama; Masashi Shimoma; Satoshi Hasegawa
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US11122460B2

## CPC

- H04W 4/24: Accounting or billing
- H04W 8/186: {Processing of subscriber group data}
- H04L 12/14: Charging, metering or billing arrangements specially adapted for data communications, e.g. authentication, authorisation and accounting [AAA] framework
- H04L 12/1407: {Policy-and-charging control [PCC] architecture}
- H04M 15/00: Arrangements for metering, time-control or time indication {; Metering, charging or billing arrangements for voice wireline or wireless communications, e.g. VoIP}
- H04M 15/66: {Policy and charging system}
- H04W 24/10: Scheduling measurement reports {; Arrangements for measurement reports}
- H04W 28/0215: {based on user or device properties, e.g. MTC-capable devices (services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] H04W4/70; wireless resource selection or allocation plan definition based on terminal or device properties H04W72/51)}
- H04W 28/0231: {based on communication conditions (dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition based on channel quality criteria H04W72/54)}
- H04W 28/22: Negotiating communication rate
- H04W 28/0289: {Congestion control (load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12)}
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- H04M: TELEPHONIC COMMUNICATION (circuits for controlling other apparatus via a telephone cable and not involving telephone switching apparatus G08)

## Abstract

An object is to provide a policy control system that can easily change a policy. A policy control system according to the present invention includes a PCRF entity (10) including a policy control unit (11) for determining a policy to be applied to a group including a plurality of wireless terminals according to environmental information changed at a specified timing and a PCEF entity (20) including a policy control execution unit (21) for applying the policy determined by the policy control unit (11) to communication related to the plurality of wireless terminals included in the group.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A policy control system including a first hardware, including a processor and a memory, and a second hardware, including a processor and a memory, the policy control system comprising:
a policy control unit implemented at least by the first hardware and configured to determine a policy to be applied to a group including a plurality of wireless terminals according to environmental information changed at a specified timing; and
a policy control execution unit implemented at least by the second hardware and configured to apply the policy determined by the policy control unit to communication related to the plurality of wireless terminals included in the group, wherein the policy control unit comprises a policy database configured to manage information about the group, the environmental information, and information about the policy to be applied to the group in association with one another and when the policy control unit receives a policy notification request message including identification information of a wireless terminal transmitted from the policy control execution unit, the policy control unit identifies the group to which the wireless terminal belongs and the environmental information, searches the policy database using the identified group and the environmental information, and determines the policy to be applied to the group to which the wireless terminal belongs.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The policy control system according to claim 1, wherein the policy control unit collects the environmental information from an external apparatus at a predetermined timing and determines the policy to be applied to at least one group among a plurality of the groups managed by the policy database.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The policy control system according to claim 1, wherein the policy control execution unit controls the communication related to the plurality of wireless terminals according to an upper limit transmission capacity of uplink data and downlink data related to the plurality of wireless terminals included in the group.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The policy control system according to claim 1, wherein the environmental information comprises traffic information indicating a congestion status of traffic.

### Claim 5 (depends on 4)

The policy control system according to claim 4, wherein the traffic information comprises at least one of a traffic status of a radio area network or a traffic status of a mobile core network.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The policy control system according to claim 1, wherein the policy control unit is included in a PCRF entity, and the policy control execution unit is included in a PCEF entity.

### Claim 7

A PCRF entity including a hardware, including a processor and a memory, the PCRF entity comprising:
a policy control unit implemented at least by the hardware and configured to determine a policy to be applied to a group including a plurality of wireless terminals according to environmental information changed at a specified timing and transmit information about the determined policy to a PCEF entity that applies the policy to communication related to the plurality of wireless terminals included in the group, and
a policy database configured to manage information about the group, the environmental information, and information about the policy to be applied to the group in association with one another, wherein
when the policy control unit receives a policy notification request message including identification information of a wireless terminal transmitted from the PCEF entity, the policy control unit identifies the group to which the wireless terminal belongs and the environmental information, searches the policy database using the identified group and the environmental information, and determines the policy to be applied to the group to which the wireless terminal belongs.

### Claim 8 (depends on 7)

The PCRF entity according to claim 7, wherein the policy control unit collects the environmental information from an external apparatus at a predetermined timing and determines the policy to be applied to at least one group among a plurality of the groups managed by the policy database.

### Claim 9

A policy control method comprising:
managing, with a policy database, information about a group, environmental information, and information about a policy to be applied to a group including a plurality of wireless terminals in association with one another;
determining the policy to be applied to the group according to environmental information changed at a specified timing;
transmitting information about the determined policy to a PCEF entity that applies the policy to communication related to the plurality of wireless terminals included in the group;
receiving a policy notification request message including identification information of a wireless terminal transmitted;
identifying the group to which the wireless terminal belongs and the environmental information;
searching the policy database using the identified group and the environmental information; and
determining the policy to be applied to the group to which the wireless terminal belongs.