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US 12,764,691 B2Granted
User equipment clusters for network registration and authentication
AssigneeT-Mobile Innovations LLC
InventorsLyle Walter Paczkowski, Marouane Balmakhtar, Galip Murat Karabulut
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Abstract
Systems and methods for user equipment clusters for network registration and authentication are provided. In some embodiments, a UE aggregation gateway may define one or more UE clusters from a set of UE devices that have connected to an access network. In some embodiments, the UE aggregation gateway may register a UE logical entity with the network and associate a cluster of UE devices with that UE logical entity. The UE aggregation gateway may then function as a proxy gateway for members of the UE cluster, acting on behalf of the members of the UE cluster at least with regard to operations with functions of the operator network core.
Claims17
A system for cluster based user equipment (UE) network registration, the system comprising:
- one or more processors;
- and
- one or more computer-readable media storing computer-usable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
- define, at a UE aggregation gateway integrated into a server of a wireless access network, a UE cluster comprising a first plurality of UE selected from a second plurality of UE coupled to the wireless access network, wherein individual UE of the UE cluster are individually coupled to the wireless access network and the UE aggregation gateway, and the wireless access network is coupled to an operator core network of a telecommunications network, wherein the server executes a UE aggregation gateway application configured to select the first plurality of UE based on a clustering policy;
- instantiate a UE logical entity associated with the UE cluster, wherein the UE aggregation gateway application comprises a UE identifier (ID) synthesizer configured to generate a UE ID assigned to the UE logical entity;
- register the UE logical entity as an individual UE with the operator core network based on the UE ID;
- and
- transport data traffic associated with the UE logical entity for the UE cluster between the UE aggregation gateway and the operator core network via a first secure tunnel allocated to transport the data traffic for the UE logical entity, wherein via the first secure tunnel, the UE aggregation gateway receives a protocol data unit (PDU) session from the operator core network associated with the UE logical entity, and distributes PDU session data from the PDU session to respective UE of the individual UE of the UE cluster.
5 more elements
A method for cluster based user equipment (UE) network registration, the method comprising:
- defining, at a UE aggregation gateway integrated into a server of an access network, a UE cluster comprising a first plurality of UE selected from a second plurality of UE coupled to the access network, wherein individual UE of the UE cluster are individually coupled to the UE aggregation gateway, and the access network is coupled to an operator core network of a telecommunications network, wherein the server executes a UE aggregation gateway application configured to select the first plurality of UE based on a clustering policy;
- instantiating a UE logical entity associated with the UE cluster, wherein the UE aggregation gateway application comprises a UE identifier (ID) synthesizer configured to generate a UE ID assigned to the UE logical entity;
- registering the UE logical entity as an individual UE with the operator core network based on the UE ID;
- establishing at least a first secure tunnel allocated to transport data traffic for the UE logical entity;
- and
- transporting data traffic associated with the UE logical entity for the UE cluster between the UE aggregation gateway and the operator core network via the at least the first secure tunnel, wherein via the first secure tunnel, the UE aggregation gateway receives from the operator core network a protocol data unit (PDU) session associated with the UE logical entity, and distributes PDU session data from the PDU session to respective UE of the individual UE of the UE cluster.
3 more elements
A telecommunications network, the network comprising:
- an operator core network, wherein a first plurality of user equipment (UE) communicates with the operator core network through an access network;
- and
- one or more processing units to:
- define, at a UE aggregation gateway integrated into a server of the access network, a UE cluster comprising a second plurality of UE selected from the first plurality of UE based on a clustering policy, wherein individual UE of the UE cluster are individually coupled to the UE aggregation gateway, wherein the server executes a UE aggregation gateway application configured to select the first plurality of UE based on the clustering policy;
- instantiate a UE logical entity associated with the UE cluster, wherein the UE aggregation gateway application comprises a UE identifier (ID) synthesizer configured to generate a UE ID assigned to the UE logical entity;
- and
- register the UE logical entity as an individual UE with at least one network function of the operator core network based on the UE ID;
- and
- transport data traffic associated with the UE logical entity for the UE cluster between the UE aggregation gateway and the operator core network via a first secure tunnel allocated to transport the data traffic for the UE logical entity, wherein via the first secure tunnel, the UE aggregation gateway receives from the operator core network a protocol data unit (PDU) session associated with the UE logical entity, and distributes PDU session data from the PDU session to respective UE of the individual UE of the UE cluster.
6 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.