Enhanced APN resolution

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9351234-B2
Application number	US-99736009-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2009
Priority date	Jun 11, 2008
Publication date	May 24, 2016
Grant date	May 24, 2016

Abstract

The present invention relates to a solution for resource allocation and in particular in relation to resolving a gateway. The solution according to the present invention uses an infix in an access point name, comprising a geographical area, in communicating with a domain name server. The infix is chosen from a list comprising unique combinations of selection criteria.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method performed by a mobility node for resolving a gateway in a wireless communication network, the method comprising:
obtaining a request for bearer activation;
determining, based on the request for bearer activation, an access point name (APN) with an infix selected from a list of combinations of selection criteria;
sending the APN with the infix to a domain name server (DNS), the APN representing a request to determine a gateway to which a user equipment (UE) is to be connected, the infix comprising at least an indication of a geographical area, and the geographical area comprising at least one routing area or at least one tracking area; and
receiving a gateway identification of the gateway from the DNS.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the infix comprises at least one other identification relating to a unique combination of selection criteria.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the infix further comprises at least one of network identification, traffic class, and charging information.

4. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising communicating the gateway identification to nodes in the wireless communication network.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the mobility node is a Serving GPRS Support node (SGSN) or a Mobility Management Entity node (MME).

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the infix comprises a Service category Index (SCI).

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the geographical area comprises at least one routing area and at least one tracking area.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one routing area or the at least one tracking area belong at most to the geographical area.

9. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising aggregating one or more APNs with similar selection rules into an APN class.

10. A non-transient computer-readable medium encoded with a computer program for relating a communication session of a user equipment to a network gateway, the computer program comprising instructions, that when executed by a processor are configured to:
obtain a request for bearer activation;
determine, based on the request for bearer activation, an access point name (APN) with an infix selected from a table;
send the APN to a domain name server (DNS), the APN representing a request to determine a gateway to which a user equipment (UE) is to be connected, the infix comprising at least an indication of a geographical area, and the geographical area comprising at least one routing area or at least one tracking area; and
receive a gateway identification of the gateway from the DNS.

11. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the computer program is stored in a Serving GPRS Support node (SGSN) or a Mobility Management Entity node (MME).

12. The computer-readable medium of claim 10 , wherein the infix comprises at least one other identification relating to a unique combination of selection criteria.

13. A node in a wireless communication network, the node comprising:
a communication interface configured to obtain a request for bearer activation; and
a processor configured to determine, based on the request for bearer activation, an access point name (APN) with an infix selected from a table,
wherein the communication interface further configured to
send the APN to a domain name server (DNS), the APN representing a request to determine a gateway to which a user equipment (UE) is to be connected, the infix comprising at least an indication of a geographical area, and the geographical area comprising at least one routing area or at least one tracking area, and
receive a gateway identification of the gateway from the DNS.

14. The node of claim 13 , wherein the node is a Serving GPRS Support node (SGSN) or a Mobility Management Entity node (MME).

15. The node of claim 13 , wherein the infix comprises at least one other identification relating to a unique combination of selection criteria.

16. The node of claim 13 , wherein the infix further comprises at least one of a network identification, traffic class, and charging information.

17. The node of claim 13 , wherein the communication interface is further configured to communicate the gateway identification to nodes in the wireless communication network.

18. The node of claim 13 , wherein the infix comprises a Service category Index (SCI).

19. The node of claim 13 , wherein the geographical area comprises at least one routing area and at least one tracking area.

20. The node of claim 13 , wherein the at least one routing area or the at least one tracking area belong at most to the geographical area.

21. The node of claim 13 , wherein one or more APNs with similar selection rules are aggregated into an APN class.

Assignees

• Ramle Peter
• Lennartsson Wang Min
• Olsson Lasse
• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Ramle Peter
• Lennartsson Wang Min
• Olsson Lasse

Classifications

• H04W48/20

  Selecting an access point · CPC title

• H04W48/17 Primary

  Selecting a data network PoA [Point of Attachment] · CPC title