Supporting network connectivity for multiple categories of user devices and applications

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10069950-B2
Application number	US-201614987422-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 4, 2016
Priority date	Jan 4, 2016
Publication date	Sep 4, 2018
Grant date	Sep 4, 2018

Abstract

A mobility management entity device (MME) may receive a request from a user device to attach to a network. The request to attach to the network may include a user device identifier for the user device. The MME may receive, from a home subscriber server (HSS) and based on the user device identifier for the user device, information relating to the user device. The information may include at least one connection parameter. The at least one connection parameter may include at least information indicating whether a bearer should be allocated to the user device. The MME may establish a network connection for the user device based on the at least one connection parameter. The MME may cause traffic to be routed from the user device based on the at least one connection parameter.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A mobility management entity device (MME), comprising:
a memory; and
one or more processors of the MME to:
receive, from a user device, a request to attach to a network,
the request to attach to the network including a user device identifier;

request, based on the user device identifier and from a home subscriber server (HSS), information relating to the user device;
receive, from the HSS, the information relating to the user device,
the information including:
a device category associated with the user device, and
at least one connection parameter,
 the at least one connection parameter including at least information indicating whether a bearer should be allocated to the user device;

establish a network connection, for the user device, based on the at least one connection parameter,
where the one or more processors of the MME, when establishing the network connection, for the user device, based on the at least one connection parameter, are to:
selectively allocate the bearer, based on the information indicating whether the bearer should be allocated to the user device specifying that the bearer should be allocated, or
selectively not allocate the bearer, based on the information indicating whether the bearer should be allocated to the user device specifying that the bearer should not be allocated; and

cause traffic to be routed, from the user device, based on the at least one connection parameter,
when the bearer is allocated, the traffic being routed via a packet data network gateway.

2. The MME of claim 1 ,
where the at least one connection parameter specifies an Internet protocol (IP) address for a network device; and
where the one or more processors of the MME, when causing the traffic to be routed, from the user device, based on the at least one connection parameter, are to:
cause the traffic to be routed, from the user device, to the network device based on the IP address for the network device.

3. The MME of claim 2 ,
where the at least one connection parameter specifies an SGs interface for the network connection; and
where the one or more processors of the MME, when causing the traffic to be routed, from the user device, based on the at least one connection parameter, are to:
cause the traffic to be routed, from the user device, to the network device, using the SGs interface.

4. The MME of claim 1 ,
where the at least one connection parameter specifies:
a communication interface to be used with the network connection,
the communication interface comprising short data service (SDS) messages sent over a transmission control protocol (TCP) transport layer; and

where the one or more processors of the MME, when establishing the network connection, for the user device, based on the at least one connection parameter, are to:
cause the network connection to use the communication interface comprising SDS messages sent over the TCP transport layer.

5. The MME of claim 1 ,
where the one or more processors of the MME are further to:
receive, from a location database, information indicating that traffic from the user device should be routed to a network device; and

where the one or more processors of the MME, when causing the traffic to be routed, from the user device, based on the at least one connection parameter, are to:
cause the traffic to be routed, from the user device, to the network device.

6. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:
one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of a mobility management entity device (MME), cause the one or more processors of the MME to:
receive, from a user device, a request to attach to a network,
the request to attach to the network including a user device identifier;

request, based on the user device identifier and from a home subscriber server (HSS), a device category for the user device;
receive, from the HSS, the device category for the user device,
the device category being used to identify:
at least one connection parameter including
 at least information indicating whether a bearer should be allocated to the user device;

establish a network connection, for the user device, based on the at least one connection parameter,
where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors of the MME to establish the network connection, for the user device, based on the at least one connection parameter, cause the one or more processors of the MME to:
selectively allocate the bearer, based on the information indicating whether the bearer should be allocated to the user device specifying that the bearer should be allocated, or
selectively not allocate the bearer, based on the information indicating whether the bearer should be allocated to the user device specifying that the bearer should not be allocated; and

cause traffic to be routed, from the user device, based on the at least one connection parameter;
when the bearer is allocated, the traffic being routed via a packet data network gateway.

7. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 ,
where the at least one connection parameter specifies an Internet protocol (IP) address for a network device; and
where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors of the MME to cause the traffic to be routed, from the user device, based on the at least one connection parameter, cause the one or more processors of the MME to:
cause the traffic to be routed, from the user device, to the network device based on the IP address for the network device.

8. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 7 ,
where the at least one connection parameter specifies an SGs interface to be used with the network connection; and
where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors of the MME to cause the traffic to be routed, from the user device, based on the at least one connection parameter, cause the one or more processors of the MME to:
cause the traffic to be routed, from the user device, to the network device, using the SGs interface.

9. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 ,
where the at least one connection parameter specifies:
a communication interface to be used with the network connection the communication interface comprising short data service (SDS) messages sent over a transmission control protocol (TCP) transport layer; and

where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors of the MME to establish the network connection, for the user device, based on the at least one connection parameter, cause the one or more processors of the MME to:
cause the network connection to use the communication interface comprising SDS messages sent over the TCP transport layer.

10. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 6 ,
where the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors of the MME, further cause the one or more processors of the MME to:
receive, from a location database, information indicating that traffic from the user device should be routed to a network device; and

where the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors of the MME to cause the traffic to be routed, from the user device, based on the at least one connection parameter, cause the one or more processors of the MME to:
cause the traffic to be routed, from the user device, to the network device.

11. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a mobility management entity device (MME), a request from a user device to attach to a network,
the request to attach to the network including a user d

Assignees

• Verizon Patent & Licensing Inc

Inventors

• Kotecha Lalit R
• Draznin Sagiv
• PATIL Sudhakar Reddy
• Nelson Matthew W
• Olson Brian

Classifications

• H04W76/10

  Connection setup · CPC title

• H04L67/125

  involving control of end-device applications over a network · CPC title

• H04L67/1097

  for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS] · CPC title

• H04L67/12

  specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks · CPC title

• H04W8/06

  Registration at serving network Location Register, VLR or user mobility server · CPC title