Method and apparatus for providing a service to a roaming UE via a packet data network gateway

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9560517-B2
Application number	US-201514637061-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 3, 2015
Priority date	Mar 3, 2015
Publication date	Jan 31, 2017
Grant date	Jan 31, 2017

Abstract

A method of providing a service to a user equipment (UE) via a packet data network gateway (PDN GW), wherein the UE is served by a visited public land mobile network (V-PLMN) and wherein the UE has a subscription with a home public land mobile network (H-PLMN) comprising the steps of: providing, by a register in the H-PLMN, a H-PLMN-allowed indication, indicating whether a PDN GW in the H-PLMN is authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service, and providing, based on the H-PLMN-allowed indication, an indication to the UE, whether the UE can expect successful execution of the service.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method of providing a service to a user equipment (UE) via a packet data network gateway (PDN GW), wherein the UE is served by a visited public land mobile network (V-PLMN), and wherein the UE has a subscription with a home public land mobile network (H-PLMN) comprising the steps of:
providing, by a register in the H-PLMN, a H-PLMN-allowed indication, indicating whether a PDN GW in the H-PLMN is authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service;
providing, by the register in the H-PLMN of the UE, a V-PLMN-allowed indication, indicating whether a PDN GW in the V-PLMN is authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service; and
providing, based on the H-PLMN-allowed indication and the V-PLMN-allowed indication, an indication to the UE, whether the UE can expect successful execution of the service,
wherein selection of the PDN GW for routing a service request to the selected PDN GW is executed based on the H-PLMN-allowed indication and the V-PLMN-allowed indication in a prioritized order.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the V-PLMN-allowed indication and the H-PLMN-allowed indication are encapsulated in a PDN subscription context, provided by the register in the H-PLMN for the UE.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the indication to the UE indicates that the UE can expect a successful execution of the service if at least one of the V-PLMN-allowed indication or H-PLMN-allowed indication indicates that the PDN GW in the V-PLMN or in the H-PLMN is authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the selection of the PDN GW for routing the service request to the selected PDN GW is executed by first selecting a PDN GW in the H-PLMN if the H-PLMN-allowed indication indicates that a PDN GW in the H-PLMN is authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service, and if this indication is negative, selecting a PDN GW in the V-PLMN if the V-PLMN-allowed indication indicates that a PDN GW in the V-PLMN is authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the selection of the PDN GW for routing the service request to the selected PDN GW is executed by first selecting a PDN GW in the V-PLMN if the V-PLMN-allowed indication indicates that a PDN GW in the V-PLMN is authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service, and if this indication is negative, selecting a PDN GW in the H-PLMN if the H-PLMN-allowed indication indicates that a PDN GW in the H-PLMN is authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the indication to the UE indicates that the UE cannot expect a successful execution of the service if the V-PLMN-allowed indication and the H-PLMN-allowed indication indicate that the PDN GWs in the V-PLMN and the H-PLMN are not authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service.

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the service is a voice over an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) service and wherein the indication to the UE is a Voice over PS Session Support Indication.

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the V-PLMN-allowed indication is a V-PLMN Address Allowed (VPAA) parameter.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein if the V-PLMN-allowed indication and the H-PLMN-allowed indication indicate that a PDN GW in the H-PLMN and a PDN-GW in the V-PLMN are authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service then the selection of the serving PDN GW is based on a preference in the V-PLMN.

10. The method according to claim 9 , wherein the preference in the V-PLMN is based on the Access Point Name (APN) provided by the UE.

11. The method according to claim 1 , wherein if the V-PLMN-allowed indication and the H-PLMN-allowed indication indicate that a PDN GW in the H-PLMN and a PDN-GW in the V-PLMN are authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service then a PDN-GW in a non-preferred PLMN is selected as a fallback PDN GW if the serving PDN GW in the preferred PLMN is not able to serve the UE.

12. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising a computer program, comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to claim 1 .

13. A control node in a visited public land mobile network (V-PLMN) serving a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE has a subscription with a home public land mobile network (H-PLMN), and wherein the control node is adapted to:
receive a request for a service from the UE;
receive a H-PLMN-allowed indication indicating whether a packet data network gateway (PDN GW) in the H-PLMN is authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service;
receive a V-PLMN-allowed indication indicating whether a PDN GW in the V-PLMN is authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service; and
provide, based on the H-PLMN-allowed indication and the V-PLMN-allowed indication, an indication to the UE, whether the UE can expect successful execution of the service,
wherein selection of the PDN GW for routing a service request to the selected PDN GW is executed based on the H-PLMN-allowed indication and the V-PLMN-allowed indication in a prioritized order.

14. The control node according to claim 13 , wherein the indication to the UE indicates that the UE can expect a successful execution of the service if at least one of the V-PLMN-allowed indication or H-PLMN-allowed indication indicates that the PDN GW in the V-PLMN or the PDN GW in the H-PLMN is authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service.

15. The control node according to claim 13 , wherein the indication to the UE indicates that the UE cannot expect a successful execution of the service if the V-PLMN-allowed indication and the H-PLMN-allowed indication indicate that the PDN GWs in the V-PLMN and in the H-PLMN are not authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service.

16. The control node according to claim 13 , wherein the control node is further adapted to route the service request to the PDN GW in the V-PLMN if the V-PLMN-allowed indication indicates that the PDN GW in the V-PLMN is authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service and the H-PLMN-allowed indication indicates that the PDN GW in the H-PLMN is not authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service.

17. The control node according to claim 13 , wherein the control node is further adapted to route the service request to the PDN GW of the H-PLMN if the H-PLMN-allowed indication indicates that the PDN GW in the H-PLMN is authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service and the V-PLMN-allowed indicator indicates that the PDN GW in the V-PLMN is not authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service.

18. The control node according to claim 13 , wherein selection of the PDN GW for routing the service request to the selected PDN GW in a prioritized order is based on if the H-PLMN-allowed indication and the V-PLMN-allowed indication indicate that the PDN GWs in the V-PLMN and in the H-PLMN are both authorized to be selected for the UE for execution of the service.

19. The control node according to claim 13 , wherein the control node is a Mobility Management Entity (MME) or a Serving GPRS Support node (SGSN).

20. A method in a control node of a visited public land mobile network (V-PLM

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Keller Ralf
• Dannebro Patrik

Classifications

• H04W8/12

  between location registers or mobility servers · CPC title

• H04L65/40

  Support for services or applications · CPC title

• H04W8/10 Primary

  between location register and external networks · CPC title

• H04W12/08

  Access security · CPC title

• H04W12/088

  using filters or firewalls · CPC title