US 8,554,933 B2Granted

Dynamic selection of packet data network gateways

AssigneeVerizon Patent and Licensing Inc.

InventorsEmerando M. Delos Reyes, Imtiyaz Shaikh

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Abstract

A device receives a PDN connection request from a UE, and exchanges, with a HSS, authentication and authorization information associated with the UE. The device also constructs an APN FQDN based on the authentication and authorization information, and sends a query, that includes the APN FQDN, to a DNS server. The device further receives, from the DNS server, PGW FQDNs that contain the APN FQDN, and compares the PGW FQDNs with a FQDN associated with a SGW. The device determines, based on the comparison, a PGW, associated with a PGW FQDN that is a closest match to the FQDN associated with the SGW, to be a primary PGW for the PDN connection request. The device also determines, based on the comparison, one or more PGWs, residing within a predetermined distance of the SGW, to be one or more backup PGWs for the PDN connection request.

Claims17

Dependent claims

A computing device-implemented method, comprising:

receiving, by the computing device, a packet data network (PDN) connection request from a user equipment (UE);
exchanging, by the computing device and with a home subscriber server (HSS), authentication and authorization information associated with the UE;
constructing, by the computing device, an access point name (APN) fully qualified domain name (FQDN) based on the authentication and authorization information;
sending, by the computing device, a query to a domain name system (DNS) server, wherein the query includes the APN FQDN;
receiving, by the computing device and from the DNS server, PDN gateway (PGW) FQDNs that contain the APN FQDN;
comparing, by the computing device, the PGW FQDNs with a FQDN associated with a serving gateway (SGW);
determining, by the computing device and based on the comparison, a PGW, associated with a PGW FQDN that is a closest match to the FQDN associated with the SGW, to be a primary PGW for the PDN connection request;
determining, by the computing device and based on the comparison, one or more PGWs, residing within a particular distance of the SGW, to be one or more backup PGWs for the PDN connection request, wherein the computing device comprises a mobility management entity (MME) for which no direct signaling exists with respect to the primary PGW and the one or more backup PGWs;
sending, to the DNS server, queries based on FQDNs associated with the primary PGW and the one or more backup PGWs;
receiving, from the DNS server and based on the queries, Internet protocol (IP) addresses that match the FQDNs associated with the primary PGW and the one or more backup PGWs;
storing, in a memory of the computing device, the IP addresses corresponding to the primary PGW and the one or more backup PGWs that the UE is allowed to access;
receiving, at the computing device, an indication that the primary PGW is unavailable;
and
selecting, responsive to the indication, one of the one or more backup PGWs.

11 more elements

A device, comprising:

a memory to store a plurality of instructions;
and
a processor to execute instructions in the memory to:
receive a packet data network (PDN) connection request from a user equipment (UE),
receive, from a home subscriber server (HSS), profile data associated with the UE,
create an access point name (APN) fully qualified domain name (FQDN) based on the profile data associated with the UE,
send a query, that includes the APN FQDN, to a domain name system (DNS) server,
receive, from the DNS server, PDN gateway (PGW) FQDNs that contain the APN FQDN,
determine a PGW, associated with a PGW FQDN that is a closest match to a FQDN associated with a serving gateway (SGW), to be a primary PGW for the PDN connection request,
determine one or more PGWs, residing within a particular distance of the SGW, to be one or more backup PGWs for the PDN connection request, wherein the device comprises a mobility management entity (MME) for which no direct signaling exists with respect to the primary PGW and the one or more backup PGWs,
send, to the DNS server, queries based on FQDNs associated with the primary PGW and the one or more backup PGWs,
receive, from the DNS server and based on the queries, Internet protocol (IP) addresses that match the FQDNs associated with the primary PGW and the one or more backup PGWs, wherein at least one of the primary PGW or the one or more backup PGWs are unavailable, and
store, in the memory, the IP addresses irrespective of an availability of the primary PGW and the one or more backup PGWs.

10 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.