Methods and devices for providing application services to users in communications network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10244580-B2
Application number	US-201414568625-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2014
Priority date	Oct 16, 2014
Publication date	Mar 26, 2019
Grant date	Mar 26, 2019

Abstract

A gateway network element includes a memory and at least one processor. The memory is configured to store a program routine or module. The at least one processor is configured, by executing the program routine or module, to: map a first multi-path transport control protocol (MPTCP) flow to a first evolved packet system (EPS) bearer associated with a first serving base station for the user; map a second MPTCP flow to a second EPS bearer associated with a WiFi access point for the user, each of the first and second MPTCP flows corresponding to a same MPTCP connection for an application; output the first MPTCP flow on the first EPS bearer for delivery to the user through the first serving base station; and output the second MPTCP flow on the second EPS bearer for delivery to the user through the WiFi access point.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method for providing application services to a user in a communications network, the method comprising:
mapping a first multi-path transport control protocol (MPTCP) flow to a first evolved packet system (EPS) bearer associated with a first serving base station for the user based on quality of service information and at least one of source address information and destination address information,
mapping a second MPTCP flow to a second EPS bearer associated with a WiFi access point based on the quality of service information and at least one of the source address information and the destination address information, each of the first and second MPTCP flows corresponding to a same MPTCP connection for an application, the quality of service information including a first quality of service class index (QCI) for the first MPTCP flow and a second QCI for the second MPTCP flow;
outputting the first MPTCP flow on the first EPS bearer for delivery to the user through the first serving base station; and
outputting the second MPTCP flow on the second EPS bearer for delivery to the user through the WiFi access point,
wherein the mapping the first MPTCP flow includes applying a 5-tuple packet filter, a description of the 5-tuple packet filter including additional information such that the 5-tuple packet filter is applicable to any source IP address for the first bearer for delivery to the user through the first serving base station and the second bearer for delivery to the user through the WiFi access point, and
the mapping the second MPTCP flow includes applying the 5-tuple packet filter.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein each of the first and second MPTCP flows is associated with a same destination IP address for the user.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein each of the first and second MPTCP flows are associated with at least one of (i) different source port numbers for an application server providing the application services, and (ii) different destination port numbers associated with the same destination IP address.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
delivering the first MPTCP flow to the user through the first serving base station.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
delivering the second MPTCP flow to the user through the WiFi access point.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein:
the delivering the first MPTCP flow to the user through the first serving base station is concurrent with the delivering of the second MPTCP flow to the user through the WiFi access point.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
delivering the first MPTCP flow to the first serving base station on the first EPS bearer over an S5/S8 interface between a packet data network (PDN) gateway and a serving gateway, and over a first S1 interface between the serving gateway and the first serving base station.

8. A gateway network element to provide application services to a user in a communications network, the gateway network element comprising:
a memory storing a program routine or module; and
at least one processor configured, by executing the program routine or module, to cause the gateway network element to,
map a first multi-path transport control protocol (MPTCP) flow to a first evolved packet system (EPS) bearer associated with a first serving base station for the user based on quality of service information and at least one of source address information and destination address information,
map a second MPTCP flow to a second EPS bearer associated with a WiFi access point for the user based on the quality of service information and at least one of the source address information and the destination address information, each of the first and second MPTCP flows corresponding to a same MPTCP connection for an application, the quality of service information including a first quality of service class index (QCI) for the first MPTCP flow and a second QCI for the second MPTCP flow,
output the first MPTCP flow on the first EPS bearer for delivery to the user through the first serving base station, and

output the second MPTCP flow on the second EPS bearer for delivery to the user through the WiFi access point,
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the gateway network element to map the first MPTCP flow includes by applying a 5-tuple packet filter, a description of the 5-tuple packet filter including additional information such that the 5-tuple packet filter is applicable to any source IP address for the first bearer for delivery to the user through the first serving base station and the second bearer for delivery to the user through the WiFi access point, and
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to cause the gateway network element to map the second MPTCP flow by applying the 5-tuple packet filter.

9. The gateway network element of claim 8 , wherein each of the first and second MPTCP flows are associated with at least one of (i) different source port numbers for an application server providing the application services, and (ii) different destination port numbers associated with the same destination IP address.

10. The gateway network element of claim 8 , wherein the gateway network element is configured to deliver the first MPTCP flow to the user through the first serving base station.

11. The gateway network element of claim 10 , wherein the gateway network element is configured to deliver the second MPTCP flow to the user through the WiFi access point.

12. The gateway network element of claim 10 , wherein the gateway network element is configured to deliver the first MPTCP flow to the user through the first serving base station concurrently with the delivery of the second MPTCP flow to the user through the WiFi access point.

13. The gateway network element of claim 8 , wherein, in response to detecting that the user has disconnected from the WiFi access point, the gateway network element is further configured to,
map a third MPTCP flow to a third EPS bearer associated with a second serving base station for the user, the third MPTCP flow corresponding to the same MPTCP connection for the application, and
output the third MPTCP flow on the third EPS bearer for delivery to the user through the second serving base station.

Assignees

• Kanugovi Satish
• Vasudevan Subramanian
• Urie Alistair
• Nokia America Corp

Inventors

• Kanugovi Satish
• Vasudevan Subramanian
• Urie Alistair

Classifications

• H04L69/14

  Multichannel or multilink protocols · CPC title

• H04W76/15 Primary

  Setup of multiple wireless link connections · CPC title

• H04W76/12

  Setup of transport tunnels · CPC title

• H04L69/163

  In-band adaptation of TCP data exchange; In-band control procedures · CPC title

• H04W80/06

  Transport layer protocols, e.g. TCP [Transport Control Protocol] over wireless {(transmission control protocol/Internet protocol [TCP/IP] or user datagram protocol [UDP] H04L69/16)} · CPC title