# US 8,542,587 B2 · Policy control method and system for accessing fixed broadband access network > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 8,542,587 B2 - Document ID: US8542587B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 13/814,678 - Filed: 2011-07-25 - Published: 2013-06-06 - Granted: 2013-09-24 - Earliest claimed: 2010-08-12 - Assignees: Zte Corporation - Applicants: Xiaoyun Zhou; Tong Rui - Inventors: Xiaoyun Zhou; Tong Rui - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8542587B2 ## CPC - H04W 28/24: Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service] - H04L 41/0896: Bandwidth or capacity management, i.e. automatically increasing or decreasing capacities (flow or congestion control using dynamic resource allocation, e.g. in-call renegotiation, H04L47/76) - H04L 41/5054: Automatic deployment of services triggered by the service manager, e.g. service implementation by automatic configuration of network components - H04M 15/66: {Policy and charging system} - H04W 28/0247: {based on conditions of the access network or the infrastructure network (central resource management H04W28/16)} - H04L 61/103: across network layers, e.g. resolution of network layer into physical layer addresses or address resolution protocol [ARP] - H04L 61/256: NAT traversal - H04L 61/2592: using tunnelling or encapsulation - 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 The disclosure provides a policy control method and a policy control system for accessing a fixed broadband access network. The policy control method includes: a FMC PF used for sensing the access of UE to a fixed broadband access network is set in a mobile network which a user requests to be accessed to; after the FMC PF receives a trigger message from an ePDG, the FMC PF requests a BPCF to establish a policy session, and the BPCF performs, policy control according to the information of the fixed broadband access network accessed by the UE. It can be seen from the method of the disclosure that when the UE is accessed to the 3GPP through the fixed broadband access network, the FMC PF senses a gateway control session establishment request message or a DHCP request message from the ePDG, so that a PCRF of the 3GPP access network accessed by the UE is triggered to send a policy session request to the BPCF. In this way, in the case that the fixed broadband access network fails to sense the access of the UE or that the fixed broadband access network does not support 3GPP-based access authentication in the conventional art where the UE is accessed to a 3GPP core network through the fixed broadband access network, QoS control is achieved for the access of the UE, and thus QoS guarantee is provided to the entire transmission path of data. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A policy control method for accessing a fixed broadband access network, in which a Fixed Mobile Convergence Policy Function (FMC PF) is set in a mobile network which a user requests to be accessed to, comprising after the FMC PF receives a trigger message from an Evolved Packet Data Gateway (ePDG), requesting, by the FMC PF, a Broadband Policy Control Framework (BPCF) in the fixed broadband access network to establish a policy control session; and performing, by the fixed broadband access network, admission control according to Quality of Service (QoS) rules or QoS information transmitted from the FMC PF through the policy control session. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The policy control method according to claim 1, wherein the FMC PF serves as a separate function entity, or is integrated in a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF). ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The policy control method according to claim 1, wherein the trigger message received by the FMC PF from the ePDG is: a gateway control session establishment message carrying Internet Protocol Security (IPSec) external tunnel information or a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) request message carrying IPSec external tunnel information; wherein the IPSec external tunnel information comprises a User Equipment (UE) local IP address received by the ePDG. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The policy control method according to claim 3, wherein requesting, by the FMC PF, the BPCF to establish a policy control session comprises: determining, by the FMC PF, the BPCF of the fixed broadband access network accessed by the UE or the entry point of the fixed broadband access network in which the BPCF is located according to the UE local IP address, and sending, by the FMC PF, an S9* session establishment message to the BPCF, wherein the S9* session establishment message is carried with the IPSec external tunnel information. ### Claim 5 (depends on 4) The policy control method according to claim 4, wherein the IPSec external tunnel information comprises a source port number. ### Claim 6 (depends on 3) The policy control method according to claim 3, wherein the IPSec external tunnel information comprises a source port number. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The policy control method according to claim 1, wherein when the user is a non-roaming user, the mobile network which the user requests to be accessed to is the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) to which the user belongs; when the user is a roaming user, the mobile network which the user requests to be accessed to is the PLMN that the user visits. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The policy control method according to claim 1, wherein requesting to establish a policy control session and performing, by the fixed broadband access network, admission control comprise: after the FMC PF acquires Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rules, QoS rules or a QoS request, transmitting, by the FMC PF, the QoS rules or QoS information to the BPCF through the policy control session. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The policy control method according to claim 8, wherein the FMC PF serves as a separate function entity, acquiring, by the FMC PF, the QoS rules or the QoS information comprises: acquiring, by the FMC PF, the PCC rules or the QoS rules from a PCRF; or acquiring, by the FMC PF, the QoS request from the ePDG. ### Claim 10 (depends on 9) The policy control method according to claim 9, wherein performing, by the fixed broadband access network, resource admission control according to a request comprises: if the BPCF receives a request for allocating bandwidth resource GBR (Guaranteed Bit Rate), performing, by the fixed broadband access network, the resource admission control according to the currently available bandwidth of a subscribed fixed-network line: when the rest available bandwidth is greater than or equal to the GBR, accepting, by the fixed broadband access network, the request of the FMC PF of the mobile network which the user requests to be accessed to; returning, by the fixed broadband access network, an acceptance acknowledgement message to the FMC PF of the mobile network which the user requests to be accessed to; and deducting, by the fixed broadband access network, the GBR from the currently available bandwidth of the subscribed fixed-network line, when the rest available bandwidth is less than the GBR, rejecting, by the fixed broadband access network, the request of the FMC PF of the mobile network which the user requests to be accessed to; and returning, by the fixed broadband access network, a rejection message to the FMC PF of the mobile network which the user requests to be accessed to, wherein the rejection message is carried with the bandwidth that the fixed broadband access network can accept, if the BPCF receives a request for releasing the bandwidth resource GBR, returning, by the BPCF, an acceptance acknowledgement message; and adding, by the fixed broadband access network, the GBR to the currently available bandwidth of the subscribed fixed-network line. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The policy control method according to claim 10, wherein if the FMC PF receives the rejection message, the method further comprising: performing, by the FMC PF, resource pre-emption according to an Allocation and Retention Priority (ARP). ### Claim 12 (depends on 8) The policy control method according to claim 8, wherein the FMC PF is integrated in a PCRF; acquiring, by the FMC PF, the PCC rules, the QoS rule or the QoS request comprises: when the user is a non-roaming user, making the PCC rules and/or the QoS rules by the PCRF; when the user is a roaming user, acquiring, by the PCRF, the PCC rules or the QoS rules from a PCRF of the PLMN to which the user belongs; or acquiring, by the PCRF, the QoS request from the ePDG. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The policy control method according to claim 12, wherein performing, by the fixed broadband access network, resource admission control according to a request comprises: if the BPCF receives a request for allocating bandwidth resource GBR (Guaranteed Bit Rate), performing, by the fixed broadband access network, the resource admission control according to the currently available bandwidth of a subscribed fixed-network line: when the rest available bandwidth is greater than or equal to the GBR, accepting, by the fixed broadband access network, the request of the FMC PF of the mobile network which the user requests to be accessed to; returning, by the fixed broadband access network, an acceptance acknowledgement message to the FMC PF of the mobile network which the user requests to be accessed to; and deducting, by the fixed broadband access network, the GBR from the currently available bandwidth of the subscribed fixed-network line, when the rest available bandwidth is less than the GBR, rejecting, by the fixed broadband access network, the request of the FMC PF of the mobile network which the user requests to be accessed to; and returning, by the fixed broadband access network, a rejection message to the FMC PF of the mobile network which the user requests to be accessed to, wherein the rejection message is carried with the bandwidth that the fixed broadband access network can accept, if the BPCF receives a request for releasing the bandwidth resource GBR, returning, by the BPCF, an acceptance acknowledgement message; and adding, by the fixed broadband access network, the GBR to the currently available bandwidth of the subscribed fixed-network line. ### Claim 14 (depends on 13) The policy control method according to claim 13, wherein if the FMC PF receives the rejection message, the method further comprising: performing, by the FMC PF, resource pre-emption according to an Allocation and Retention Priority (ARP). ### Claim 15 A policy control system for accessing a fixed broadband access network, at least comprising an Evolved Packet Data Gateway (ePDG), a Fixed Mobile Convergence Policy Function (FMC PF) and a Broadband Policy Control Framework (BPCF), wherein the ePDG is configured to send a trigger message to the FMC PF; the FMC PF is set in a mobile network which a user requests to be accessed to and is configured to receive the trigger message from the ePDG and to request the BPCF to establish a policy control session; and the BPCF is configured to receive the request from the FMC PF and to perform admission control according to QoS rules or QoS information transmitted through the policy control session or to delegate another network element of the fixed broadband access network to perform the admission control. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The policy control system according to claim 15, wherein the FMC PF is configured to acquire PCC rules, QoS rules or a QoS request containing GBR, and to transmit the QoS rules or QoS information to the BPCF through the policy control session. ### Claim 17 (depends on 16) The policy control system according to claim 16, wherein the FMC PF serves as a separate function entity, the system further comprising a PCRF which is configured to provide the PCC rules or the QoS rules to the FMC PF; or the ePDG is further configured to provide the QoS request to the FMC PF. ### Claim 18 (depends on 16) The policy control system according to claim 16, wherein when the FMC PF receives a rejection message from the BPCF, the FMC PF is configured to perform resource pre-emption according to an ARP. ### Claim 19 (depends on 15) The policy control system according to claim 15, wherein the FMC PF is integrated in a PCRF, the PCRF is configured to make PCC rules or QoS rules when the user is a non-roaming user, and to acquire the PCC rules or the QoS rules from a PCRF of the PLMN to which the user belongs when the user is a roaming user; or the PCRF is configured to acquire the QoS request from the ePDG.