Downlink data handling for idle mode UE when the SGW is split into control plane node and user plane node

An apparatus for a serving gateway control plane (SGW-C) comprising a control plane node associated with a serving gateway (SGW) of a wireless communication network, the apparatus comprising:

• one or more processors configured to:
• process a serving gateway user plane (SGW-U) downlink (DL) data notification message received from a serving gateway user plane (SGW-U) comprising a user plane node associated with the SGW, wherein the SGW-U DL data notification message indicates an availability of a DL data for a user equipment (UE) served by the SGW-C;
• provide a first SGW-C DL data notification message, generated based on the SGW-U DL data notification message, to a mobility management entity (MME) associated with the UE;
• process an MME DL data notification acknowledge (ACK) message received from the MME, in response to providing the first SGW-C DL data notification message to the MME, wherein the MME DL data notification ACK message comprises a DL buffering duration time;
• and
• provide an SGW-C DL data notification acknowledge message to the SGW-U, in response to processing the MME DL data notification ACK message from the MME, wherein the SGW-C DL data notification acknowledge message comprises a status information associated with the SGW-U DL data notification message and the DL buffering duration time, wherein the DL buffering duration time causes the SGW-U to introduce a delay corresponding to the DL buffering duration time prior to providing a subsequent SGW-U DL data notification message to the SGW-C, when subsequent data packets are received at the SGW-U before an expiration of the DL buffering duration time.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause one or more processors of a mobility management entity (MME) of a wireless communication network, to perform operations comprising:

• processing a first serving gateway control plane (SGW-C) downlink (DL) data notification message received from a serving gateway control plane (SGW-C) comprising a control plane node associated with a serving gateway (SGW), wherein the first SGW-C DL data notification message indicates an availability of a DL data for a user equipment (UE) served by the MME;
• and
• providing an MME DL data notification acknowledge message to the SGW-C, in response to the first SGW-C DL data notification message, wherein the MME DL data notification acknowledge message comprises a status information associated with the first SGW-C DL data notification message and a DL buffering requested indication comprising a DL buffering duration time, wherein the MME DL data notification acknowledge message causes the SGW-C to provide an SGW-C DL data notification acknowledge message comprising the DLexper buffering duration time to a serving gateway user plane (SGW-U) comprising a user plane node associated with the SGW to cause the SGW-U to introduce a delay corresponding to the DL buffering duration time prior to providing a subsequent SGW-U DL data notification message to the SGW-C, when subsequent data packets are received at the SGW-U before an expiration of the DL buffering duration time.