Method for controlling congestion in mobile communication system

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9749897-B2
Application number	US-201213978063-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 3, 2012
Priority date	Jan 3, 2011
Publication date	Aug 29, 2017
Grant date	Aug 29, 2017

Abstract

The present invention relates to a congestion control method for a Mobility Management Entity (MME) in a mobile communication system. The method includes: receiving a mobility management request signal from a user equipment (UE) having Packet Data Network (PDN) connections for at least one Access Point Name (APN); checking whether the APN is in a congested state; and rejecting, when a specific APN is in a congested state, the mobility management request.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A congestion control method by a mobility management entity (MME) in a mobile communication system, the method comprising:
establishing one or more connections to one or more packet data networks (PDNs) with a terminal, based on one or more access point names (APNs), in response to receiving one or more PDN connection requests from the terminal;
receiving a mobility management request signal from the terminal, the mobility management request signal being associated with the established one or more connections of the terminal with respect to the one or more PDNs;
in response to receiving the mobility management request signal, identifying whether at least one PDN corresponding to at least one of the one or more APNs is in a congested state; and
rejecting, if the at least one PDN is in the congested state, the mobility management request,
wherein if the terminal is transitioned to an idle state after the one or more connections to the one or more PDNs are established, the mobility management request signal is transmitted by the terminal for transition from the idle state to an active state.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobility management request signal is a service request message.

3. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein the identifying of whether the at least one PDN is in the congested state comprises examining a congestion state of a PDN corresponding to a default APN configured for the terminal, and
wherein the rejecting of the mobility management request comprises sending, if the PDN corresponding to the default APN is in the congested state, a service reject message to the terminal.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the service reject message contains a back-off time serving as a wait time during which the terminal is not allowed to resend the service request message.

5. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein the mobility management request signal is a service request message,
wherein the identifying of whether the at least one PDN is in the congested state comprises examining congestion states of all PDNs corresponding to the one or more APNs, and
wherein the rejecting of the mobility management request comprises sending, if at least one of the all PDNs is in the congested state, a service reject message to the terminal.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the service reject message contains information on each PDN for which rejection is made and a back-off time serving as a wait time during which the terminal is not allowed to resend the service request message.

7. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein the identifying of whether the at least one PDN is in the congested state comprises examining congestion states of all PDNs corresponding to the one or more APNs, and separating at least one PDN in the congested state from at least one PDN not in the congested state, and
wherein the rejecting of the mobility management request comprises sending, for the at least one PDN in the congested state, a partial service reject message to the terminal.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein the partial service reject message contains information on each APN for which rejection is made and a back-off time serving as a wait time during which the terminal is not allowed to resend the service request message.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising sending a delete session request message to a serving gateway to delete at least one connection to the at least one PDN in the congested state.

10. The method of claim 2 ,
wherein the service request message contains an APN related to data to be sent by the terminal,
wherein the identifying of whether the at least one PDN is in the congested state comprises examining a congestion state of a PDN corresponding to an APN contained in the service request message, and
wherein the rejecting of the mobility management request comprises sending, if the PDN corresponding to the APN contained in the service request message is in the congested state, a service reject message to the terminal.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobility management request signal is a tracking area update (TAU) message.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising obtaining context information of the terminal from an MME having served the terminal, after reception of the TAU message.

13. The method of claim 12 ,
wherein the identifying of whether the at least one PDN is in the congested state comprises examining a congestion state of PDNs configured for the terminal on the basis of the context information, and
wherein the rejecting of the mobility management request comprises sending, if at least one PDN corresponding to a default APN or the at least one of the one or more APNs is in the congested state, a TAU reject message to the terminal.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising sending a delete session request message to a serving gateway to delete at least one connection to the at least one PDN in the congested state.

15. The method of claim 13 , wherein the TAU reject message contains a back-off time serving as a wait time during which the terminal is not allowed to resend the service request message.

16. The method of claim 15 , further comprising receiving an attach request message from the terminal after expiration of the back-off time.

17. The method of claim 11 , further comprising sending a suspend request message to an MME having served the terminal to suspend bearers of the terminal, after rejecting the mobility management request.

18. A mobility management entity (MME) in a mobile communication system, the MME comprising:
a transceiver configured to receive a mobility management request signal from a terminal; and
at least one processor configured to:
establish one or more connections to one or more packet data networks (PDNs) with a terminal, based on one or more access point names (APNs), in response to receiving one or more PDN connection requests from the terminal,
control the transceiver to receive the mobility management request signal from the terminal, the mobility management request signal being associated with the established one or more connections of the terminal with respect to the one or more PDNs,
in response to receiving the mobility management request signal, identify whether at least one PDN corresponding to at least one of the one or more APNs is in a congested state, and
reject, if the at least one PDN is in the congested state, the mobility management request,
wherein if the terminal is transitioned to an idle state after the one or more connections to the one or more PDNs are established, the mobility management request signal is transmitted by the terminal for transition from the idle state to an active state.

19. The MME of claim 18 ,
wherein the mobility management request signal is a service request message, and
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
examine a congestion state of a PDN corresponding to a default APN configured for the terminal, and
control the transceiver to send, if the PDN corresponding to the default APN is in the congested state, a service reject message to the terminal.

20. The MME of claim 18 ,
wherein the mobility management request signal is a service request message, and
wherein the at least one processor is further configured to:
examine congestion states of all PDNs corresponding to the one or more APNs, and
control the transceiver to send, if at least one of the all PDNs is in the congested state, a service reject message to the terminal.

Assignees

• Cho Song Yean
• Bae Beom Sik
• Lim Chae Gwon
• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Cho Song Yean
• Bae Beom Sik
• Lim Chae Gwon

Classifications

• H04W76/027

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W28/0289 Primary

  Congestion control (load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12) · CPC title

• H04W28/02

  Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control · CPC title

• H04W76/18

  Management of setup rejection or failure · CPC title

• Y02D30/70

  in wireless communication networks · CPC title