US 2020/0029197 A1 · SYSTEM AND METHOD OF SELECTIVE PACKET DATA NETWORK GATEWAY DISCOVERY

Abstract

A Slicing Agent node is deployed between standard Home Subscriber Server (HSS) node and a Serving General Packet Radio Service Support Node (SGSN) node, a Mobility Management Entity (MME) node, or a 3rd Generation Partnership Project Authentication Authorization and Accounting (3GPP AAA) node on S6a/S6d/SWx interfaces of a Core Network. The Slicing Agent node selects the Packet Data Gateway (PGW) and communicates the identifying information of the selected PGW to SGSN/MME/3GPP AAA nodes. The PGW is selected to serve subscriber sessions based on the subscriber's profile, usage, and business needs. The Slicing Agent node can be positioned in any Core Network setup around the globe irrespective of whether it is a roaming or a non-roaming scenario for subscribers/devices having global or country-specific Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), without requiring any enhancements or upgrades in legacy or existing network nodes including SGSN, MME, 3GPP AAA and HSS.

Claims20

Dependent claims

A method of discovering a Packet Distribution Network Gateway (PGW), comprising:

deploying a Slicing Agent node between a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) node and a node selected from the group consisting of a Serving General Packet Radio Service Support Node (SGSN) node, a Mobility Management Entity (MME) node, and a 3rd Generation Partnership Project Authentication, Authorization and Accounting (3GPP AAA) node;
receiving, by the Slicing Agent node, an Update Location Request message or an Access Registration Request;
identifying, by the Slicing Agent node, a current location of a User Equipment (UE) and a service type;
identifying, by the Slicing Agent node, the PGW proximal to the current location of the UE and configured to provide the service type;
replying to the Update Location Request or the Access Registration Request with identifying information of the PGW;
responsive to receiving the identifying information of the PGW, querying a DNS server for an Internet Protocol (IP) Address of the PGW;
obtaining the IP Address of the PGW from the DNS server in response to the query;
forwarding a Create Packet Data Protocol (PDP) Context Request or Create Session Request to the IP Address of the PGW;
and
establishing a data session for the UE.

7 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

System and method of selective packet data network gateway discovery

Life of this patent

System and method of selective packet data network gateway discovery

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims20