Media service delivery over a wireless relay in a data communication network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9608715-B1
Application number	US-201615058874-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Mar 2, 2016
Priority date	Mar 2, 2016
Publication date	Mar 28, 2017
Grant date	Mar 28, 2017

Abstract

A Long Term Evolution (LTE) network delivers a media service that uses an Access Point Name (APN) Quality-of-Service (QoS) Class Identifier (QCI) to serve User Equipment (UE) over a wireless relay. A relay control system transfers a session request indicating the APN QCI to a wireless base station serving the wireless relay. The base station and the wireless relay configure a wireless network bearer to use the APN QCI. Responsive to the network bearer configuration, the wireless relay transfers a relay bearer request for the APN QCI to the relay control system. The relay control system returns a session request to the wireless relay. The wireless relay and the UE then configure a wireless access bearer to use the APN QCI. The wireless relay exchanges user media over the wireless access bearer and the wireless network bearer between the UE and the wireless base station using the APN QCI.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of operating a Long Term Evolution (LTE) network for a media service that uses an Access Point Name (APN) Quality-of-Service (QoS) Class Identifier (QCI) to serve User Equipment (UE) over a wireless relay, the method comprising:
a relay control system receiving a macro bearer request for the APN QCI for the UE and responsively transferring a base station bearer/session request indicating the APN QCI for delivery to a wireless base station serving the wireless relay;
the wireless base station receiving the base station bearer/session request, and in response, the wireless base station and the wireless relay configuring a wireless network bearer to use the APN QCI for the UE;
the wireless relay, responsive to the wireless network bearer configuration, transferring a relay bearer request for the APN QCI for the UE for delivery to the relay control system;
the relay control system receiving the relay bearer request for the APN QCI for the UE and responsively transferring a relay bearer/session request indicating the APN QCI for the UE for delivery to the wireless relay; and
the wireless relay receiving the relay bearer/session request, and in response, the wireless relay and the UE configuring a wireless access bearer to use the APN QCI for the UE.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising:
the wireless relay, responsive to the wireless access bearer configuration, transferring a relay bearer/session response indicating the APN QCI for the UE for delivery to the relay control system;
the relay control system receiving the relay bearer/session response and responsively transferring a relay bearer response for delivery to the wireless relay; and
the wireless relay receiving the relay bearer response and responsively exchanging user media for the UE using the APN QCI over the wireless access bearer and the network data bearer.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the wireless relay transferring the relay bearer request for the APN QCI comprises Relay Equipment (RE), responsive to the wireless network bearer configuration, transferring a local media bearer request for the wireless access bearer for the UE to a Local Policy and Charging Rules Function (L-PCRF) in the wireless relay.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the wireless relay transferring the relay bearer request for the APN QCI comprises the L-PCRF receiving the local media bearer request and responsively transferring a relay Re-Authorization Request (RAR) indicating the APN QCI for the wireless access bearer for the UE to a Local Packet Data Security Gateway (L-PGW) in the wireless relay.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein the wireless relay transferring the relay bearer request for the APN QCI comprises the L-PGW receiving the relay RAR for the wireless access data bearer and responsively transferring a relay bearer request for the APN QCI for the UE to a Local Serving Gateway (L-SGW) in the wireless relay.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the wireless relay transferring the relay bearer request for the APN QCI for the UE comprises the L-SGW receiving the relay bearer request and responsively transferring the relay bearer request for delivery to the relay control system.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the relay control system comprises a Mobility Management Entity (MME).

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the wireless base station comprises an eNodeB in another wireless relay.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the UE APN comprises a Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) APN and the UE APN QCI comprises QCI 1.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the UE APN comprises a Video over Long Term Evolution (ViLTE) APN and the UE APN QCI comprises QCI 2.

11. A Long Term Evolution (LTE) network for a media service that uses an Access Point Name (APN) Quality-of-Service (QoS) Class Identifier (QCI) to serve User Equipment (UE) over a wireless relay, the LTE network comprising:
a relay control system configured to receive a macro bearer request for the APN QCI for the UE and responsively transfer a base station bearer/session request indicating the APN QCI for delivery to a wireless base station serving the wireless relay;
the wireless base station is configured to receive the base station bearer/session request, and in response, the wireless base station and the wireless relay are configured to configure a wireless network bearer to use the APN QCI for the UE;
the wireless relay is configured, responsive to the wireless network bearer configuration, to transfer a relay bearer request for the APN QCI for the UE for delivery to the relay control system;
the relay control system is configured to receive the relay bearer request for the APN QCI for the UE and responsively transfer a relay bearer/session request indicating the APN QCI for the UE for delivery to the wireless relay; and
the wireless relay is configured to receive the relay bearer/session request, and in response, the wireless relay and the UE are configured to configure a wireless access bearer to use the APN QCI for the UE.

12. The LTE network of claim 11 wherein:
the wireless relay is configured, responsive to the wireless access bearer configuration, to transfer a relay bearer/session response indicating the APN QCI for the UE for delivery to the relay control system;
the relay control system is configured to receive the relay bearer/session response and responsively transfer a relay bearer response for delivery to the wireless relay; and
the wireless relay is configured to receive the relay bearer response and responsively exchange user media for the UE using the APN QCI over the wireless access bearer and the network data bearer.

13. The LTE network of claim 12 wherein the wireless relay comprises Relay Equipment (RE), configured, responsive to the wireless network bearer configuration, to transfer a local media bearer request for the wireless access bearer for the UE to a Local Policy and Charging Rules Function (L-PCRF) in the wireless relay.

14. The LTE network of claim 13 wherein the wireless relay comprises the L-PCRF configured to receive the local media bearer request and responsively transfer a relay Re-Authorization Request (RAR) indicating the APN QCI for the wireless access bearer for the UE to a Local Packet Data Security Gateway (L-PGW) in the wireless relay.

15. The LTE network of claim 14 wherein the wireless relay comprises the L-PGW configured to receive the relay RAR for the wireless access data bearer and responsively transfer a relay bearer request for the APN QCI for the UE to a Local Serving Gateway (L-SGW) in the wireless relay.

16. The LTE network of claim 15 wherein the wireless relay comprises the L-SGW configured to receive the relay bearer request and responsively transfer the relay bearer request for delivery to the relay control system.

17. The LTE network of claim 11 wherein the relay control system comprises a Mobility Management Entity (MME).

18. The LTE network of claim 11 wherein the wireless base station comprises an eNodeB in another wireless relay.

19. The LTE network of claim 11 wherein the UE APN comprises a Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE) APN and the UE APN QCI comprises QCI 1.

20. The LTE network of claim 11 wherein the UE APN comprises a Video over Long Term Evolution (ViLTE) APN and the UE APN QCI comprises QCI 2.

Assignees

• Sprint Communications Co Lp
• Sprint Cômmunications Company L P

Inventors

• Fang Zheng

Classifications

• H04W28/24 Primary

  Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service] · CPC title

• H04L41/0806

  for initial configuration or provisioning, e.g. plug-and-play · CPC title

• H04W76/10

  Connection setup · CPC title

• H04W88/16

  Gateway arrangements · CPC title

• H04W28/0268

  using specific QoS parameters for wireless networks, e.g. QoS class identifier [QCI] or guaranteed bit rate [GBR] (negotiating SLA or negotiating QoS H04W28/24) · CPC title