Machine type communication interworking function proxy

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9948646-B1
Application number	US-201715645576-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Jul 10, 2017
Priority date	Jul 8, 2016
Publication date	Apr 17, 2018
Grant date	Apr 17, 2018

Abstract

A method of establishing connectivity between a mobile network operator (MNO) and a machine type communications (MTC) service provider. A machine type communications interworking function (MTC-IWF) Proxy is hosted on an IPX network service. MTC-IWF Proxy is connected to a MTC-IWF of the MNO and is also connected to a Service Capacities Center (SCS) of the MTC service provider. MTC-IWF Proxy connects to the MNO and the MTC service providers via trigger-service provider (Tsp) interface. Identity mapping services are provided between a first set of subscriber identifiers used by the MNO and a second set of subscriber identities used by the MTC service provider. The MTC-IWF Proxy hides the internal topology and relays signaling protocols used over a Tsp interface, thus enabling the MTC service providers and MNOs communicate without modifying their internal signaling protocols.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of providing connectivity between a mobile network operator (MNO) and a machine-type-communications (MTC) service provider, comprising:
providing an Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) network service;
providing an MTC Interworking Function (MTC-IWF) Proxy hosted on the IPX network surface, the MTC-IWF Proxy being separate from an MTC-IWF of the MNO;
establishing a first connection between the MTC-IWF of the MNO and the MTC-IWF Proxy;
establishing a second connection between the MTC-IWF Proxy and a Services Capabilities Server (SCS) of the MTC service provider; and
establishing a third connection between a Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW) of the MNO and an Application Server (AS) of the MTC service provider, the third connection being via an IPX server; and
providing identity mapping services between a first set of subscriber identifiers used by the MNO and a second set of subscriber identities used by the MTC service provider, thereby enabling a many-to-many connection between multiple MNOs and multiple MTC service providers via the MTC-IWF Proxy.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first connection and the second connection use a trigger-service provider (Tsp) interface.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the MTC-IWF Proxy hides an internal topology of the MNO and relays signaling protocols over a Tsp interface.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the MTC-IWF Proxy enables the MNO and the MTC service provider to communicate with one another without modifying their internal signaling protocols.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein mutual authentication and security is provided by a transport layer security (TLS), a datagram transport layer security (DTLS), or an internet key exchange (IPSec-IKEv2).

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF) Proxy hosted on the IPX server, the SCEF Proxy communicating with a SCEF of the MNO and communicating with the SCS of the MTC service provider, the SCEF Proxy performing the identity mapping services.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the SCEF Proxy connects to the SCEF and the SCS via Application Programming Interface (API).

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the SCEF Proxy performs one or more functions selected from the group consisting of authentication and authorization; enabling external entities to discover service capabilities of the MTC service provider; policy enforcement; shielding the MNO from requests exceeding predefined permissions; accounting for monitoring events and/or non-IP data delivery (NIDD); and integrity protection, replay protection, and confidentiality protection of a subscriber.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) of a subscriber is not sent outside of MNO's domain.

10. The method of claim 6 , wherein the SCEF Proxy is coupled with the MTC-IWF Proxy.

11. A system for providing connectivity between a mobile network operator (MNO) and a machine-type-communications (MTC) service provider, comprising:
a mobile network operator (MNO);
a machine-type-communications (MTC) service provider;
an Internetwork Packet Exchange (IPX) network service;
an MTC Interworking Function (MTC-IWF) Proxy hosted on the IPX network service;
an MTC-IWF within the MNO, wherein a first connection is established between the MTC-IWF and the MTC-IWF Proxy;
a Services Capabilities Server (SCS) of the MTC service provider, wherein a second connection is established between the SCS and the MTC-IWF Proxy; and
a Packet Data Network Gateway (PGW) within the MNO and an Application Server (AS) of the MTC service provider, wherein a third connection via an IPX server is established between the PGW and the AS; and
providing identity mapping services between a first set of subscriber identifiers used by the MNO and a second set of subscriber identities used by the MTC service provider, thereby enabling a many-to-many connection between multiple MNOs and multiple MTC service providers via the MTC-IWF Proxy.

12. The system of claim 11 , wherein the first connection and the second connection use a trigger-service provider (Tsp) interface.

13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the MTC-IWF Proxy hides an internal topology of the MNO and relays signaling protocols over a Tsp interface.

14. The system of claim 11 , wherein the MTC-IWF Proxy enables the MNO and the MTC service provider to communicate with one another without modifying their internal signaling protocols.

15. The system of claim 11 , wherein mutual authentication and security is provided by a transport layer security (TLS), a datagram transport layer security (DTLS), or an internet key exchange (IPSec-IKEv2).

16. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF) Proxy hosted on the IPX server, the SCEF Proxy communicating with a SCEF of the MNO and communicating with the SCS of the MTC service provider, the SCEF Proxy performing the identity mapping services.

17. The system of claim 16 , wherein the SCEF Proxy connects to the SCEF and the SCS via Application Programming Interface (API).

18. The system of claim 16 , wherein the SCEF Proxy performs one or more functions selected from the group consisting of authentication and authorization; enabling external entities to discover service capabilities of the MTC service provider; policy enforcement; shielding the MNO from requests exceeding predefined permissions; accounting for monitoring events and/or non-IP data delivery (NIDD); and integrity protection, replay protection, and confidentiality protection of a subscriber.

19. The system of claim 16 , wherein international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) of a user's equipment is not sent outside of MNO's domain.

20. The system of claim 16 , wherein the SCEF Proxy is coupled with the MTC-IWF Proxy.

Assignees

• Syniverse Technologies Llc

Inventors

• Lai Danh
• Datar Prashant
• Simonelli Rob

Classifications

• H04W4/70

  Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC] · CPC title

• H04W12/04

  Key management, e.g. using generic bootstrapping architecture [GBA] · CPC title

• H04W12/06

  Authentication · CPC title

• H04W4/50

  Service provisioning or reconfiguring · CPC title

• H04L63/0884 Primary

  by delegation of authentication, e.g. a proxy authenticates an entity to be authenticated on behalf of this entity vis-à-vis an authentication entity · CPC title