# US 8,787,174 B2 · Methods, systems, and computer readable media for condition-triggered policies

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- Number: US 8,787,174 B2
- Document ID: US8787174B2
- Status: Granted
- Kind: B2
- Application number: 12/973,228
- Filed: 2010-12-20
- Published: 2011-06-30
- Granted: 2014-07-22
- Earliest claimed: 2009-12-31
- Assignees: Tekelec
- Applicants: Yusun Kim Riley; Bradley W Gosnell; Peter Joseph Marsico
- Inventors: Yusun Kim Riley; Bradley W Gosnell; Peter Joseph Marsico
- Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US8787174B2

## CPC

- H04L 12/1403: {Architecture for metering, charging or billing}
- H04L 12/14: Charging, metering or billing arrangements specially adapted for data communications, e.g. authentication, authorisation and accounting [AAA] framework
- H04L 43/0876: Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
- H04L 63/102: {Entity profiles}
- H04W 12/06: Authentication
- H04L: TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION (arrangements common to telegraphic and telephonic communication H04M)
- H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72)

## Abstract

According to one aspect, the subject matter described herein includes a method for determining condition-triggered policies. The method occurs at a Diameter node. The method includes receiving a notification of a network condition. The method further includes determining, based on the network condition, policy information for a plurality of associated subscribers.

## Claims

### Claim 1

A system for determining condition-triggered information, the system comprising:
a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) node comprising:
a communications interface; and
a policy selection module for receiving a notification of a network condition and determining, based on the network condition, policy information for a plurality of associated subscribers, wherein the PCRF node receives an indication of network congestion regarding a first subscriber of the plurality of associated subscribers and wherein the policy selection module selects and communicates, to a plurality of subscriber terminals associated with the plurality of associated subscribers or to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF), the policy information for changing policies of the plurality of associated subscribers, wherein the plurality of associated subscribers are in a geographic area and wherein the policies are configured to mitigate congestion in the geographic area, wherein the policy information is for triggering the subscriber terminals to establish connections via a non-congested node,
wherein the communications interface is configured for sending a steering of roaming (SoR) message including the policy information, a re-authorization request (RAR) message including the policy information, or a credit control answer (CCA) message including the policy information.

### Claim 2 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein the PCRF node receives an indication of network congestion regarding a network node and wherein the policy selection module selects and communicates to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) the policy information for changing the policies of the plurality of associated subscribers, wherein the plurality of associated subscribers are being served by the network node and wherein the policies are configured to mitigate congestion.

### Claim 3 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein determining, based on the network condition, the policy information for the plurality of associated subscribers includes identifying subscribers affected by or potentially causing the network condition.

### Claim 4 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein the communications interface is configured for sending the policy information towards a user device, a universal integrated circuit card (UICC), a subscriber profile repository (SPR), a home subscriber server (HSS), a home location register (HLR), a visitor location register (VLR), an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server, a policy and charging rules function (PCRF), a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF), a mobility management entity (MME), a network operator, a network management node, a radio network controller (RNC), a base station controller (BSC), a transceiver node, a node B, an enode B, a monitoring probe, a bearer binding and event reporting function (BBERF), a diameter signaling router, a diameter relay agent, a network node, a policy engine, a policy server, a long term evolution (LTE) node, an application function (AF), an Internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) network node, a radio access network (RAN) node, a core network node, an external network node, a server, a database, or a computing platform.

### Claim 5 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein the communication interface is configured for sending, for each associated subscriber, a message including the policy information for the associated subscriber to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) serving the associated subscriber.

### Claim 6 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein the communication interface is configured for sending a message including the policy information for the plurality of associated subscribers to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) serving the plurality of associated subscribers.

### Claim 7 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein the policy selection module uses location information associated with a first subscriber in determining that the second subscriber is associated with the condition notification.

### Claim 8 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein determining, based on the network condition, the policy information for the plurality of associated subscribers includes determining a service level associated with each subscriber and using the associated service levels in determining the policies.

### Claim 9 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 comprising one or more databases for storing subscriber related information, policy rules, and condition information.

### Claim 10 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein the PCRF node comprises one of a Diameter signaling router, a Diameter routing agent, a network node, a policy engine, a policy server, an application function (AF), an application server, a Diameter signaling agent, a long term evolution (LTE) node, an Internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) network node, a server, a node, a database, and a computing platform.

### Claim 11 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein at least one of subscriber related information or the condition notification is sent by a user device, a universal integrated circuit card (UICC), a subscriber profile repository (SPR), a home subscriber server (HSS), a home location register (HLR), a visitor location register (VLR), an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server, a policy and charging rules function (PCRF), a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF), a mobility management entity (MME), a network operator, a network management node, a radio network controller (RNC), a base station controller (BSC), a transceiver node, a node B, an enode B, a monitoring probe, a bearer binding and event reporting function (BBERF), a diameter signaling router, a diameter relay agent, a network node, a policy engine, a policy server, a long term evolution (LTE) node, an application function (AF), an Internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) network node, a radio access network (RAN) node, a core network node, an external network node, a server, a database, or a computing platform.

### Claim 12 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein the condition notification indicates one of a cell congestion event, a network congestion event, a node congestion event, a service congestion event, a service interruption event, a network event, a service event, a node event, an access node event, a bandwidth usage event, a usage time event, a time event, a day event, a reset event, a subscriber event, a registration event, a de-registration event, an emergency event, a service level event, a quality of service event, a user device event, an access network, an external network, a core network event, and a tier event.

### Claim 13 (depends on 1)

The system of claim 1 wherein the policy information includes information indicating priority among a plurality of access networks, information indicating that a congested network has a lower priority than a non-congested network, information for triggering a user device to end a connection with a congested network, information for triggering a user device to establish a connection with a non-congested network, information for triggering a user device to end a connection with a congested node, information for triggering a user device to establish a connection via a non-congested node, information for throttling traffic associated with a subscriber, information for blocking traffic associated with a subscriber, information for allowing traffic associated with a subscriber, information for affecting traffic, information for affecting a service, information for affecting network access, information for affecting node access, or information for affecting service access.

### Claim 14

A method for determining condition-triggered information, the method comprising:
at a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) node:
receiving a notification of a network condition;
determining, based on the network condition, policy information for a plurality of associated subscribers, wherein the PCRF node receives an indication of network congestion regarding a first subscriber of the plurality of associated subscribers and wherein the policy information is communicated, to a plurality of subscriber terminals associated with the plurality of associated subscribers or to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF), for changing policies of the plurality of associated subscribers, wherein the plurality of associated subscribers are in a geographic area and wherein the policies are configured to mitigate congestion in the geographic area, wherein the policy information is communicated for triggering the subscriber terminals to establish connections via a non-congested node; and
sending the policy information, wherein sending the policy information includes sending a steering of roaming (SoR) message including the policy information, a re-authorization request (RAR) message including the policy information, or a credit control answer (CCA) message including the policy information.

### Claim 15 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14 wherein the PCRF node receives an indication of network congestion regarding a network node and wherein the policy information is communicated to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) for changing the policies of the plurality of associated subscribers, wherein the plurality of associated subscribers are being served by the network node and wherein the policies are configured to mitigate congestion.

### Claim 16 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14 wherein determining, based on the network condition, the policy information for the plurality of associated subscribers includes identifying subscribers affected by or potentially causing the network condition.

### Claim 17 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14 wherein sending the policy information towards a user device, a universal integrated circuit card (UICC), a subscriber profile repository (SPR), a home subscriber server (HSS), a home location register (HLR), a visitor location register (VLR), an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server, a policy and charging rules function (PCRF), a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF), a mobility management entity (MME), a network operator, a network management node, a radio network controller (RNC), a base station controller (BSC), a transceiver node, a node B, an enode B, a monitoring probe, a bearer binding and event reporting function (BBERF), a diameter signaling router, a diameter relay agent, a network node, a policy engine, a policy server, a long term evolution (LTE) node, an application function (AF), an Internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) network node, a radio access network (RAN) node, a core network node, an external network node, a server, a database, or a computing platform.

### Claim 18 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14 wherein sending the policy information includes sending, for each associated subscriber, a message including policy information for the associated subscriber to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) serving the associated subscriber.

### Claim 19 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14 wherein sending the policy information includes sending a message including the policy information for the plurality of associated subscribers to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF) serving the plurality of associated subscribers.

### Claim 20 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14 wherein determining, based on the network condition, the policy information for the plurality of associated subscribers includes using location information for determining that the first subscriber and the second subscriber are associated with the condition notification.

### Claim 21 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14 wherein determining, based on the network condition, the policy information for the plurality of associated subscribers includes determining a service level associated with each subscriber and using the associated service levels in determining-policies.

### Claim 22 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14 wherein at least one of subscriber related information, policy rules, and condition information is stored at and received from a database.

### Claim 23 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14 wherein the PCRF node comprises a Diameter signaling router, a Diameter routing agent, a network node, a policy engine, a policy server, an application function (AF), an application server, a Diameter signaling agent, a long term evolution (LTE) node, an Internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) network node, a server, a node, a database, or a computing platform.

### Claim 24 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14 wherein subscriber related information or the condition notification is sent by a user device, a universal integrated circuit card (UICC), a subscriber profile repository (SPR), a home subscriber server (HSS), a home location register (HLR), a visitor location register (VLR), an authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) server, a policy and charging rules function (PCRF), a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF), a mobility management entity (MME), a network operator, a network management node, a radio network controller (RNC), a base station controller (BSC), a transceiver node, a node B, an enode B, a monitoring probe, a bearer binding and event reporting function (BBERF), a diameter signaling router, a diameter relay agent, a network node, a policy engine, a policy server, a long term evolution (LTE) node, an application function (AF), an Internet protocol (IP) multimedia subsystem (IMS) network node, a radio access network (RAN) node, a core network node, an external network node, a server, a database, or a computing platform.

### Claim 25 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14 wherein the condition notification indicates one of a cell congestion event, a network congestion event, a node congestion event, a service congestion event, a service interruption event, a network event, a service event, a node event, an access node event, a bandwidth usage event, a usage time event, a time event, a day event, a reset event, a subscriber event, a registration event, a de-registration event, an emergency event, a service level event, a quality of service event, a user device event, an access network event, an external network event, a core network event, and a tier event.

### Claim 26 (depends on 14)

The method of claim 14 wherein the policy information includes information indicating priority among a plurality of access networks, information indicating that a congested network has a lower priority than a non-congested network, information for triggering a user device to end a connection with a congested network, information for triggering a user device to establish a connection with a non-congested network, information for triggering a user device to end a connection with a congested node, information for triggering a user device to establish a connection via a non-congested node, information for throttling traffic associated with a subscriber, information for blocking traffic associated with a subscriber, information for allowing traffic associated with a subscriber, information for affecting traffic, information for affecting a service, information for affecting network access, information for affecting node access, or information for affecting service access.

### Claim 27

A non-transitory computer readable medium having stored thereon executable instructions that when executed by a processor of a computer control the computer to perform steps comprising:
at a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) node:
receiving a notification of a network condition;
determining, based on the network condition, policy information for a plurality of associated subscribers, wherein the PCRF node receives an indication of network congestion regarding a first subscriber of the plurality of associated subscribers and wherein the policy information is communicated, to a plurality of subscriber terminals associated with the plurality of associated subscribers or to a policy and charging enforcement function (PCEF), for changing policies of the plurality of associated subscribers, wherein the plurality of associated subscribers are in a geographic area and wherein the policies are configured to mitigate congestion in the geographic area, wherein the policy information is communicated for triggering the subscriber terminals to establish connections via a non-congested node; and
sending the policy information, wherein sending the policy information includes sending a steering of roaming (SoR) message including the policy information, a re-authorization request (RAR) message including the policy information, or a credit control answer (CCA) message including the policy information.