Policy server and architecture providing radio network...

Details Policy server and architecture providing radio network... Policy server and architecture providing radio network...

2000-05-16

2004-03-30

Kizou, Hassan (Department: 2738)

Multiplex communications

Data flow congestion prevention or control

Control of data admission to the network

C370S395210, C709S226000

Reexamination Certificate

active

06714515

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates to telecommunication systems and, more particularly, to a policy server and architecture that provides radio network resource allocation rules in a real-time Internet Protocol (IP)-based telecommunications network.
2. Description of Related Art
As wireless networks evolve from primarily circuit-switched technology to IP-based packet-switched technology, networks with substantially more flexibility than current networks will bring new capabilities to consumers. However, converging Internet technology and wireless telecommunications technology is introducing new problems and new requirements on the wireless network. In circuit-switched networks, an application is assigned fixed-network resources (for example, a 64-kbit circuit) regardless of the amount of bandwidth actually required by that particular application. In many cases, the application may not fully utilize the allocated bandwidth, and network resources are wasted. Alternatively, if the application needs more bandwidth than the allocated amount, it may not be able to get it, and the application cannot request more bandwidth after it has started its execution.
As an example, a call may be placed from a mobile subscriber in Montreal to a mobile subscriber in Sweden. The circuit-switched call is routed from the cellular provider network in Montreal, through a domestic wireline provider, through an international provider, through one or more wireline providers in Europe, and finally to the Swedish mobile provider. Various gateways and switches contribute to establishing the end-to-end circuit-switched connection, which has to go through many different domains. Once the connection is established, there is no negotiation over bandwidth required for any particular application because the connection is fixed at 64 kbps. This is often a wasteful utilization of bandwidth capacity since a 64-kbps link is not required for a voice call; a voice call can be carried with excellent voice quality on a link operating, for example, at only 9.6 kbps.
The Application Performance Rating Table below further illustrates this problem by showing the amount of bandwidth required for different types of applications in order to achieve certain levels of Quality of Service (QoS). For example, if high quality video is carried over an ISDN link at 128 kbps, the end user sees jerky, robotic movement (fair). However, if the video is provided at 384 kbps, the quality of the video is much better. At the other end of the performance spectrum, a voice call can be carried at 9.6 kbps and still have excellent voice quality. For efficient use of network resources, a control mechanism is needed to ensure that the right amount of bandwidth is provided to deliver the requested QoS without wasting excess bandwidth.
Application Performance Rating Table
Data Rates (kbps)
9.6
14.4
32
64
128
384
2000
Applications
Application Performance Rating
Voice, SMS
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
E-mail
P
F
E
E
E
E
E
Internet Web Access
P
P
F
F
E
E
E
Database Access
P
P
F
E
E
E
E
Synchronization
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
Document Transfer
P
P
F
E
E
E
E
Location Services
F
E
E
E
E
E
E
Still Image Transfer
P
F
E
E
E
E
E
Video Lower Quality
P
F
F
E
E
E
E
Video High Quality
P
P
P
F
F
E
E
Excellent (E)
Fair (F)
Poor (P)
In packet-switched IP-based networks, the amount of assigned bandwidth is not fixed. An application can request specific network resources, and then renegotiate the allocated network resources during its lifetime. In an integrated network combining a fixed IP network with a radio access network, a major problem is how to provide this type of flexibility in the radio access portion of the network.
Another problem is that wireless access technologies such as “Enhanced Data for Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Evolution (EDGE)”. Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (Wideband CDMA or WCDMA), CDMA 2000, Wireless Local Area Networks (WLAN), or Bluetooth wireless radio links are more subject to transmission errors than conventional fixed networks. Consequently, integration of the radio access portion with the more reliable fixed IP network is introducing new problems. For example, when using the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) on a fixed IP network, lost packets due to transmission errors are retransmitted. Therefore, if someone in Australia is establishing a connection to a third generation (3G.IP) mobile terminal in North America using TCP, and some transmission errors occur on the radio link channel, TCP attempts to retransmit the data. The retransmission will occur from the originating point in Australia rather than locally between the base station and the mobile terminal. Therefore, an extra load is placed upon the entire network because of transmission problems in the radio portion.
An additional problem arises because the bandwidth over radio channels is typically more limited compared to the rest of the IP Access, EDGE, and core network. Therefore, some mechanisms are required in order to avoid unnecessarily carrying packets all the way from an origination point to a mobile terminal in a wireless network when the wireless network is not able to transport these packets to and from the mobile terminal. This is especially true when real-time applications such as Voice-over-IP (VoIP) are being utilized.
When a Voice-over-IP (VoIP) call is established across different domains in a packet-switched IP network, the parties involved in the call can change the bandwidth allocated to the call in the middle of the call. In other words, the characteristics of the bearer can be changed while the call is in progress. An example of the problem that this can present can be illustrated utilizing a scenario in which a real-time stream such as video is being sent from a mobile terminal in Montreal to a receiving mobile terminal in Sweden. During the call, the mobile subscriber receiving the transmission in Sweden requests that the sender increase the bandwidth, for example, to go from 8-bit color to 24-bit color to improve the accuracy of the received video. When the request is received in the sender's mobile terminal in Montreal, the terminal responds by increasing the bit rate to carry 24-bit color. The operators of the intermediate domains also increase the bandwidth allocation to the call to enable the additional data to be delivered. However, if radio resources in the receiver's radio access network in Sweden are totally occupied, the extra information cannot be delivered to the receiving mobile terminal, and is discarded. This is a highly inefficient use of system resources, and the carriers who provided the bandwidth to carry the information all the way from Montreal to the radio network in Sweden still want to be paid even though the information was discarded at the end.
There are no known prior art teachings of a solution to the aforementioned deficiencies and shortcomings. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has proposed a Policy Framework and Architecture for third generation (3G) wireless Internet Protocol (IP) networks and the Internet, the purpose of which is to establish the real-time network control that is necessary to transform the Internet from a “best efforts” data network to a more reliable, real-time network. There are two releases of the proposal for 3G systems, but neither of the releases addresses the issue of providing policy rules for the control of radio access network resources.
The first release, referred to as 3GPP Release 99, introduces some new radio access technology such as Wideband CDMA and EDGE. Wideband CDMA introduces not only a new radio technology, but also Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) technology in the radio access portion of the network. In the Wideband CDMA radio network controller, two interfaces are supported. One is called Iu-cs which is circuit-switched toward the current circuit-switched network, and one is called Iu-ps which is packet-switched toward the General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) wireless IP network. All the real-time voice and

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