U.S. patent application number 14/061276 was filed with the patent office on 2014-02-20 for evolved packet system quality of service enforcement deactivation handling to prevent unexpected user equipment detach.
This patent application is currently assigned to BlackBerry Limited. The applicant listed for this patent is BlackBerry Limited. Invention is credited to Wei Wu, Xiaoming Zhao.
Application Number | 20140051457 14/061276 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 39432861 |
Filed Date | 2014-02-20 |
United States Patent
Application |
20140051457 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Zhao; Xiaoming ; et
al. |
February 20, 2014 |
Evolved Packet System Quality of Service Enforcement Deactivation
Handling to Prevent Unexpected User Equipment Detach
Abstract
A system of a telecommunications network is provided. The system
includes a processor configured to promote preventing a detachment
of a user equipment (UE) from the network by preventing
deactivation of at least one default bearer between the UE and the
network when at least one bearer between the UE and the network is
to be deactivated based on a quality of service parameter.
Inventors: |
Zhao; Xiaoming; (Plano,
TX) ; Wu; Wei; (San Jose, CA) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
BlackBerry Limited |
Waterloo |
|
CA |
|
|
Assignee: |
BlackBerry Limited
Waterloo
CA
|
Family ID: |
39432861 |
Appl. No.: |
14/061276 |
Filed: |
October 23, 2013 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
|
|
12052890 |
Mar 21, 2008 |
8599765 |
|
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14061276 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
455/452.2 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 76/34 20180201;
H04W 72/10 20130101; H04W 88/16 20130101; H04W 76/25 20180201; H04W
60/06 20130101; H04W 76/36 20180201 |
Class at
Publication: |
455/452.2 |
International
Class: |
H04W 76/06 20060101
H04W076/06; H04W 60/06 20060101 H04W060/06 |
Claims
1. A method for preventing a detachment of a user equipment (UE)
from a network, comprising: when at least one bearer between the UE
and the network is to be deactivated based on a quality of service
parameter, preventing deactivation of at least one default bearer
between the UE and the network, wherein the quality of service
parameter of the UE is a priority level of the UE, and a decision
is made to deactivate the at least one bearer when the priority
level of the UE is lower than a priority level of another UE
connected to the network.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein preventing at least one
deactivation of at least one default bearer between the UE and the
network is accomplished by implementing a policy specifying that
deactivation of default bearers is not allowed.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the policy is implemented by one
of: a packet data network gateway; and a policy control and
charging rules function.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein preventing at least one
deactivation of at least one default bearer between the UE and the
network is accomplished by implementing a policy specifying that a
request to deactivate a default bearer is to be rejected.
5. The method of claim 4, wherein the policy to reject the request
to deactivate the default bearer is implemented by one of: the UE;
a mobility management entity; and a serving gateway.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein preventing at least one
deactivation of at least one default bearer between the UE and the
network is accomplished by implementing a policy specifying that a
request to deactivate at least one of a plurality of default
bearers is to be rejected by a mobility management entity.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein preventing at least one
deactivation of at least one default bearer between the UE and the
network is accomplished by rejecting a request to deactivate at
least one of a plurality of default bearers at a mobility
management entity.
8. A system in a telecommunications network, comprising: a
processor configured to promote preventing a detachment of a user
equipment (UE) from the network by preventing deactivation of at
least one default bearer between the UE and the network when at
least one bearer between the UE and the network is to be
deactivated based on a quality of service parameter, wherein the
quality of service parameter of the UE is a priority level of the
UE, and a decision is made to deactivate the at least one bearer
when the priority level of the UE is lower than a priority level of
another UE connected to the network.
9. The system of claim 8, wherein the component prevents
deactivation of at least one default bearer between the UE and the
network by implementing a policy specifying that deactivation of
default bearers is not allowed.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein the system is one of: a packet
data network gateway; and a policy control and charging rules
function.
11. The system of claim 8, wherein the system prevents deactivation
of at least one default bearer between the UE and the network by
implementing a policy specifying that a request to deactivate a
default bearer is to be rejected.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein the system is one of: the UE; a
mobility management entity; and a serving gateway.
13. The system of claim 8, wherein the system prevents deactivation
of at least one default bearer between the UE and the network by
implementing a policy specifying that a request to deactivate at
least one of a plurality of default bearers is to be rejected by a
mobility management entity.
14. The system of claim 8, wherein the system prevents deactivation
of at least one default bearer between the UE and the network by
rejecting a request to deactivate at least one of a plurality of
default bearers at a mobility management entity.
15. A system in a telecommunications network, comprising: a
processor configured to promote preventing a detachment of a user
equipment (UE) from the network by preventing deactivation of at
least one default bearer between the UE and the network when at
least one bearer between the UE and the network is to be
deactivated based on a quality of service parameter, wherein the
quality of service parameter of the UE is a priority level of the
UE, and a decision is made to deactivate the at least one bearer
when the priority level of the UE is lower than a priority level of
another UE connected to the network and a congestion condition
exists on the network.
16. The system of claim 15, wherein the system prevents
deactivation of at least one default bearer between the UE and the
network by rejecting a request to deactivate at least one of a
plurality of default bearers at a mobility management entity.
Description
BACKGROUND
[0001] Easily transportable devices with wireless
telecommunications capabilities, such as mobile telephones,
personal digital assistants, handheld computers, and similar
devices, will be referred to herein as user equipment (UE). The
term "UE" may refer to a device and its associated Universal
Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) that includes a Subscriber Identity
Module (SIM) application, a Universal Subscriber Identity Module
(USIM) application, or a Removable User Identity Module (R-UIM)
application or may refer to the device itself without such a card.
The term "UE" may also refer to devices that have similar
capabilities but that are not transportable, such as a desktop
computer or a set-top box. A connection between a UE and some other
element in a telecommunications network might promote a voice call,
a file transfer, or some other type of data exchange, any of which
can be referred to as a call or a session.
[0002] Some UEs communicate in a circuit switched mode, wherein a
dedicated communication path exists between two devices. For the
duration of a call or session, all data exchanged between the two
devices travels along the single path. Some UEs have the capability
to communicate in a packet switched mode, wherein a data stream
representing a portion of a call or session is divided into packets
that are given unique identifiers. The packets might then be
transmitted from a source to a destination along different paths
and might arrive at the destination at different times. Upon
reaching the destination, the packets are reassembled into their
original sequence based on the identifiers.
[0003] Communications that take place via circuit switching can be
said to occur in the circuit switched domain and communications
that take place via packet switching can be said to occur in the
packet switched domain. Within each domain, several different types
of networks, protocols, or technologies can be used. In some cases,
the same network, protocol, or technology can be used in both
domains. The wireless communication networks may be based on Code
Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Time Division Multiple Access
(TDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Orthogonal
Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), or some other multiple
access scheme. A CDMA-based network may implement one or more
standards such as 3GPP2 IS-2000 (commonly referred to as CDMA 1x),
3GPP2 IS-856 (commonly referred to as CDMA 1x EV-DO), or 3GPP UMTS
(Universal Mobile Telecommunications System). The modes of access
for UMTS are referred to as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access
(UTRA). A TDMA-based network may implement one or more standards
such as 3GPP Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) or 3GPP
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS).
[0004] GSM is an example of a wireless network standard that uses
only the circuit switching mode. Examples of wireless network
standards that use only packet switching include GPRS, CDMA 1x
EV-DO, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), and
Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), which might comply with
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) standards
such as 802.16, 802.16e, 802.11a, 802.11b, 802.11g, 802.11n, and
similar standards. Examples of wireless network standards that may
use both circuit switching and packet switching modes include CDMA
1x and UMTS. The IP (Internet Protocol) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS)
is a packet switched technology that allows multimedia content to
be transmitted between UEs.
[0005] In traditional wireless telecommunications systems,
transmission equipment in a base station transmits signals
throughout a geographical region known as a cell. As technology has
evolved, more advanced equipment has been introduced that can
provide services that were not possible previously. This advanced
equipment might include, for example, an enhanced node B (ENB)
rather than a base station or other systems and devices that are
more highly evolved than the equivalent equipment in a traditional
wireless telecommunications system. Such advanced or next
generation equipment may be referred to herein as long-term
evolution (LTE) equipment, and a packet-based network that uses
such equipment can be referred to as an evolved packet system
(EPS).
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0006] For a more complete understanding of this disclosure,
reference is now made to the following brief description, taken in
connection with the accompanying drawings and detailed description,
wherein like reference numerals represent like parts.
[0007] FIG. 1 is an illustration of a wireless telecommunications
system according to an embodiment of the disclosure.
[0008] FIG. 2 is a call flow diagram for preventing the detachment
of a UE according to an embodiment of the disclosure.
[0009] FIG. 3 is a diagram of a wireless communications system
including user equipment operable for some of the various
embodiments of the disclosure.
[0010] FIG. 4 is a block diagram of user equipment operable for
some of the various embodiments of the disclosure.
[0011] FIG. 5 is a diagram of a software environment that may be
implemented on user equipment operable for some of the various
embodiments of the disclosure.
[0012] FIG. 6 is an illustrative general purpose computer system
suitable for some of the various embodiments of the disclosure.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[0013] It should be understood at the outset that although
illustrative implementations of one or more embodiments of the
present disclosure are provided below, the disclosed systems and/or
methods may be implemented using any number of techniques, whether
currently known or in existence. The disclosure should in no way be
limited to the illustrative implementations, drawings, and
techniques illustrated below, including the exemplary designs and
implementations illustrated and described herein, but may be
modified within the scope of the appended claims along with their
full scope of equivalents.
[0014] According to one embodiment, a system of a
telecommunications network is provided. The system includes a
processor configured to promote preventing a detachment of a user
equipment (UE) from the network by preventing deactivation of at
least one default bearer between the UE and the network when at
least one bearer between the UE and the network is to be
deactivated based on a quality of service parameter.
[0015] In another embodiment, a method is provided for preventing a
detachment of a user equipment (UE) from a network. The method
includes when at least one bearer between the UE and the network is
to be deactivated based on a quality of service parameter,
preventing deactivation of at least one default bearer between the
UE and the network.
[0016] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless telecommunications
system 100 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. It should
be noted that some of the lines connecting the components in FIG. 1
might represent bearer connections and some of the lines might
represent signaling connections. Traditionally, different styles of
lines are used to represent the different types of connections.
However, for the sake of clarity in the drawing, the different
types of connections in FIG. 1 are represented by the same style of
line. Also, other connections that are not shown might exist
between the components in FIG. 1.
[0017] The system 100 includes a plurality of UEs 110 each of which
can connect to a plurality of packet data networks (PDNs) 160. The
PDNs 160 might be Internet-based networks or might be other types
of networks that can provide packet-based data. The PDNs 160 could
also be considered to be access point names (APNs). Each PDN 160
can allow access to packet-based services, such as World Wide Web
pages, multimedia broadcast/multicast services, and other data
packet-based services. To access the PDNs 160, the UEs 110 might
first establish one or more radio bearer connections with an ENB
120, a base station, or a similar component. While only one ENB 120
is shown, multiple ENBs 120 could be present.
[0018] In some cases, the UEs 110 may connect, via the radio bearer
connections and the ENB 120, to a serving gateway 140, which can
also be referred to as a mobile access gateway (MAG). The serving
gateway 140 terminates the user plane interface of the radio access
portions of the system 100. The UEs 110 may connect, via the ENB
120, to mobility management entity (MME) 130. The mobility
management entity (MME) 130 terminates the control plane interface
of the radio access portions of the system 100. The serving gateway
140 forwards packets to the PDNs 160 via a plurality of PDN
gateways 150. While each PDN gateway 150 is shown providing access
to only one PDN 160, each PDN gateway 150 might provide access to a
plurality of PDNs 160.
[0019] Multiple bearers may be established between the serving
gateway 140 and each of the PDN gateways 150. An initial connection
between one of the PDN gateways 150 and the serving gateway 140 is
known as a default bearer 172 for that PDN gateway 150. The default
bearer 172 is typically a non-guaranteed bit rate (non-GBR)
connection so that "always on" connectivity can be supported.
[0020] After the default bearer 172 is connected to one of the PDN
gateways 150, any additional connections that are made from the
serving gateway 140 to that PDN gateway 150 are known as dedicated
bearers 178. Based on the UEs' quality of service (QoS) profiles,
the dedicated bearers 178 might conform to a set of QoS
requirements, such as a guaranteed bit rate (GBR), a maximum bit
rate (MBR), a packet delay budget (PDB), and other parameters of
data transfer quality. In FIG. 1, only one dedicated bearer 178
connects each of the PDN gateways 150 to the serving gateway 140,
but in other cases there could be no dedicated bearers 178 or
multiple dedicated bearers 178 to each PDN gateway 150.
[0021] A home subscriber server (HSS)/authentication/authorization
accounting server (AAA) 180, or a similar component, can connect to
the MME 130 and can store data related to services available to the
UEs 110, billing policies for the UEs 110, and similar UE profile
data. If dynamic policy and charge control (PCC) rules are deployed
in the system 100, a policy control and charging rules function
(PCRF) 190, or a similar component might be present. The PCRF 190
can connect to the serving gateway 140 and the PDN gateways 150 and
can store policies related to the connections from the ENB 120 to
the PDN gateways 150.
[0022] Some of the UEs 110 might connect to two or more PDN
gateways 150 concurrently via the serving gateway 140. This could
provide the UEs 110 with fast access to multiple PDNs 160. For
example, one of the UEs 110 might connect to PDN 160.sub.1 in order
to access the World Wide Web and might connect to PDN 160.sub.2 in
order to access a video download. If concurrent bearers exist to
both PDN gateway 150.sub.1 and PDN gateway 150.sub.2, the user
could quickly switch between accessing PDN 160.sub.1 and PDN
160.sub.2. If concurrent bearers were not possible and the user
wished to switch from PDN 160.sub.1 to PDN 160.sub.2, an existing
bearer might need to be torn down and a new bearer established at
the time access to PDN 160.sub.2 was attempted.
[0023] One of the UEs 110 that is connected to one or more of the
PDNs 160 could be detached from one or more of the PDNs 160 as a
result of a request from the UE 110. Alternatively, a UE detachment
could be initiated by another component in the system 100. For
example, the MME 130 might detach one of the UEs 110 as a result of
the MME 130 not receiving a keep-alive response from the UE 110, or
the HSS/AAA 180 might detach one of the UEs 110 based on a service
expiring or being disallowed.
[0024] In addition, a detachment of one of the UEs 110 could occur
based on the UE's QoS parameters. Under congestion conditions, it
is possible that the total bandwidth needed by the UEs 110 over all
of the default bearers 172 and dedicated bearers 178 could exceed
the total bandwidth available from the PDNs 160. In such cases, the
PCRF 190 or one or more of the PDN gateways 150 might determine
whether the deactivation of one or more of the default bearers 172
and/or dedicated bearers 178 could decrease bandwidth usage to a
level within the capacity of the PDNs 160. If such a deactivation
would sufficiently reduce bandwidth usage, the PCRF 190 or one or
more of the PDN gateways 150 might deactivate one or more of the
default bearers 172 and/or one or more of the dedicated bearers
178.
[0025] If dynamic PCC is deployed in the system 100, the PCRF 190
might make the decisions of whether to deactivate one or more
bearers and which bearers to deactivate. If dynamic PCC is not
deployed in the system 100, one or more of the PDN gateways 150
might make these decisions. The decision of which bearers to
deactivate might be based on the QoS parameters of the UEs 110 that
are connected to the bearers. Bearers connecting UEs 110 with
higher priorities, possibly obtained through higher service fees
paid by the UE user, might remain activated. Bearers connecting UEs
110 with lower priorities might be deactivated to make bandwidth
available for the high-priority UEs 110.
[0026] If one of the UEs 110 has multiple PDN connections, it may
be acceptable to deactivate some or most of the bearers between the
UE 110 and the PDNs 160. However, if all of the bearers between the
UE 110 and the PDNs 160 are deactivated, including the default
bearers 172, the UE 110 could enter a detached or deregistered
state, which may be unacceptable even for low-priority UEs 110.
Thus, bearer deactivation based on QoS enforcement could lead to
unexpected UE detachments.
[0027] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, an unexpected UE
detachment caused by enforcement of this QoS-based bearer
deactivation procedure can be prevented by ensuring that at least
one default bearer 172 remains active between the UE 110 and at
least one of the PDNs 160. In an embodiment, this can be
accomplished in one of two ways. In a first option, QoS policies
are modified to trigger the PCRF-initiated or PDN gateway-initiated
bearer deactivation procedure only for dedicated bearers 178, and
not for default bearers 172. In this way, the active default bearer
connections 172 of each of the UEs 110 to the PDNs 160 are
retained, and UE detachments due to QoS enforcement do not occur.
In some cases, some of the dedicated bearer connections 178 might
also be retained.
[0028] In a second option, the QoS policies allow the PCRF 190 or
the PDN gateways 150 to initiate deactivation of both the default
bearers 172 and the dedicated bearers 178. However, the bearer
deactivation procedure is modified such that, for each UE 110, at
least one message to deactivate one of the default bearers 172 is
rejected. Such a rejection is valid only for the authenticated and
authorized UE 110 and it ensures that at least one default bearer
172 is retained for each UE 110 and thus prevents UE detachment by
preserving at least one PDN-to-UE connection. Deactivation requests
related to the dedicated bearers 178 might be allowed, and the
dedicated bearers 178 might be deactivated as described above.
[0029] As an example, UE 110.sub.1 might be connected to PDN
gateway 150.sub.1 via default bearer 172.sub.1 and dedicated bearer
178.sub.1 and to PDN gateway 150.sub.2 via default bearer 172.sub.2
and dedicated bearer 178.sub.2. If UE 110.sub.1 is a low-priority
UE and if congestion conditions exist, a decision might be made to
deactivate some or all of UE 110.sub.1's bearers 172.sub.1,
178.sub.1, 172.sub.2, and/or 178.sub.2. Messages might be
transmitted among the components of the system 100 to carry out the
deactivations. In an embodiment, at least one of these messages is
rejected for default bearer 172.sub.1, default bearer 172.sub.2, or
both, and default bearer 172.sub.1, default bearer 172.sub.2, or
both remain active.
[0030] The decision of whether to reject deactivation of default
bearer 172.sub.1, default bearer 172.sub.2, or both can be based on
an operator-dependent policy that is established prior to
implementation of the bearer deactivation procedure. For example,
an operator of the network 100 or of a component of the network 100
might specify that all requests to deactivate default bearers 172
are to be rejected. This could allow the UE 110 to remain connected
via at least one bearer to every PDN gateway 150 to which it was
previously connected. Alternatively, the operator might specify
that all requests to deactivate default bearers 172 and dedicated
bearers 178 are to be allowed until no dedicated bearers 178 are
active and only one default bearer 172 remains active. This could
allow the UE 110 to remain connected via a single bearer to a
single PDN gateway 150. Alternatively, the operator might specify
that some other number of default bearers 172 are to remain
active.
[0031] The rejection of a message to deactivate one of the default
bearers 172 might be carried out by either the serving gateway 140,
the MME 120, or one of the UEs 110. One of these components might
send a "Delete Bearer Request Reject" message, or a similar
message, to the PDN gateway 150 to which the connection is to be
maintained after receiving a "Delete Bearer Request" message, or a
similar message, from that PDN gateway 150 or from the PCRF 190.
The Delete Bearer Request Reject message can include the identity
of the default bearer that is to be retained and a rejection cause
indicating that a default bearer connection is being retained. If
dynamic PCC is deployed, the rejection information can also be
included in a Provision message to the PCRF 190.
[0032] FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of a call flow diagram for
preventing the detachment of the UE 110 by the second of these two
options. In this embodiment, the UE 110 makes a decision to reject
a bearer release request. In other embodiments, as described below,
the decision to reject a bearer release request could be made by
the MME 130 or the serving gateway 140.
[0033] At event 201, it has been decided that the bearer
deactivation procedure is to be initiated to free bandwidth for
high-priority users. If dynamic PCC is not deployed, one of the PDN
gateways 150 initiates the bearer deactivation procedure according
to a local QoS policy. Optionally, if dynamic PCC is deployed, the
PCRF 190 initiates the bearer deactivation procedure by sending a
PCC Decision Provision message to the PDN gateway 150.
[0034] At event 202, the PDN gateway 150 sends a Delete Bearer
Request message with the ID of the bearer to be deactivated to the
serving gateway 140. At event 203, the serving gateway 140 sends
the Delete Bearer Request message with the bearer ID to the MME
130. This message can include an indication that all bearers to the
PDN 150 are to be deactivated. At event 204, the MME 130 sends the
Deactivate Bearer Request message with the bearer ID to the ENB
120. At event 205, the ENB 120 sends a Radio Bearer Release Request
message with the bearer ID to the UE 110.
[0035] At event 206, the UE 110 decides that this bearer needs to
be retained for always-on connectivity and rejects the request to
deactivate the bearer. For example, the UE 110 might determine that
this bearer is the last default bearer connecting the UE 110 to a
PDN. The UE 110 then sends the ENB 120 a Radio Bearer Release
Reject message with a "reject cause" parameter, or a similar
parameter, set to a value of "keep always-on connectivity", or a
similar value.
[0036] At event 207, the ENB 120 acknowledges the bearer
deactivation rejection to the MME 130 with the bearer ID and the
reject cause. At event 208, the MME 130 acknowledges the bearer
deactivation rejection to the serving gateway 140 with the bearer
ID and the reject cause. At event 209, the serving gateway 140
acknowledges the bearer deactivation rejection to the PDN gateway
150 with the bearer ID and the reject cause. At event 210, if the
bearer deactivation procedure was triggered by a PCC Decision
Provision message from the PCRF 190 at event 201, the PDN gateway
150 indicates to the PCRF 190 that the requested PCC decision was
rejected by sending a Provision Reject message with a rejection
cause.
[0037] In alternative embodiments, the decision to reject the
request to deactivate the bearer could be made by the MME 130 or by
the serving gateway 140, since the MME 130 and the serving gateway
140 have information on all of the bearer types and IDs for all of
the PDN gateways 150 to which the UE 110 is connected. For example,
at event 204, the MME 130 might determine that this bearer is the
last default bearer connecting the UE 110 to a PDN. Then, instead
of the MME 130 sending the Delete Bearer Request message to the ENB
120, the MME 130 might send the serving gateway 140 a Delete Bearer
Reject message, as shown at event 208. Events 209 and 210 could
then occur, and events 205 through 207 could be eliminated.
[0038] Alternatively, at event 203, the serving gateway 140 might
determine that this bearer is the last default bearer connecting
the UE 110 to a PDN. Then, instead of the serving gateway 140
sending the Delete Bearer Request message to the MME 130, the
serving gateway 140 might send the PDN gateway 150 a Delete Bearer
Reject message, as shown at event 209. Event 210 could then occur,
and events 204 through 208 could be eliminated.
[0039] The determination of whether the serving gateway 140, the
MME 130, or one of the UEs 110 controls the retention of at least
one default bearer 172 by sending Delete Bearer Request Rejection
messages can be an implementation-dependent detail. It can be seen
in FIG. 2 that messaging overhead can be saved if the decision is
made early in the bearer deactivation procedure.
[0040] If the first of the two options for preventing the
detachment of the UE 110 had been followed instead of this second
option, the QoS policies in the PDN gateways 150 or the PCRF 190
would have prevented the deactivation of any default bearers. In
that case, none of the events depicted in FIG. 2 would occur for
default bearers, and events 201 through 205 might occur only for
dedicated bearers. The messages to deactivate a bearer might not be
rejected in that case, and therefore events 206 through 210 might
not occur for dedicated bearers. Instead the events 206 through 210
shall be replaced by the response messages with the requested
bearer deleting actions.
[0041] FIG. 3 illustrates a wireless communications system
including an embodiment of the UE 110. The UE 110 is operable for
implementing aspects of the disclosure, but the disclosure should
not be limited to these implementations. Though illustrated as a
mobile phone, the UE 110 may take various forms including a
wireless handset, a pager, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a
portable computer, a tablet computer, or a laptop computer. Many
suitable devices combine some or all of these functions. In some
embodiments of the disclosure, the UE 110 is not a general purpose
computing device like a portable, laptop or tablet computer, but
rather is a special-purpose communications device such as a mobile
phone, a wireless handset, a pager, a PDA, or a telecommunications
device installed in a vehicle. In another embodiment, the UE 110
may be a portable, laptop or other computing device. The UE 110 may
support specialized activities such as gaming, inventory control,
job control, and/or task management functions, and so on.
[0042] The UE 110 includes a display 402. The UE 110 also includes
a touch-sensitive surface, a keyboard or other input keys generally
referred as 404 for input by a user. The keyboard may be a full or
reduced alphanumeric keyboard such as QWERTY, Dvorak, AZERTY, and
sequential types, or a traditional numeric keypad with alphabet
letters associated with a telephone keypad. The input keys may
include a trackwheel, an exit or escape key, a trackball, and other
navigational or functional keys, which may be inwardly depressed to
provide further input function. The UE 110 may present options for
the user to select, controls for the user to actuate, and/or
cursors or other indicators for the user to direct.
[0043] The UE 110 may further accept data entry from the user,
including numbers to dial or various parameter values for
configuring the operation of the UE 110. The UE 110 may further
execute one or more software or firmware applications in response
to user commands. These applications may configure the UE 110 to
perform various customized functions in response to user
interaction. Additionally, the UE 110 may be programmed and/or
configured over-the-air, for example from a wireless base station,
a wireless access point, or a peer UE 110.
[0044] Among the various applications executable by the UE 110 are
a web browser, which enables the display 402 to show a web page.
The web page may be obtained via wireless communications with a
wireless network access node, a cell tower, a peer UE 110, or any
other wireless communication network or system 400. The network 400
is coupled to a wired network 408, such as the Internet. Via the
wireless link and the wired network, the UE 110 has access to
information on various servers, such as a server 410. The server
410 may provide content that may be shown on the display 402.
Alternately, the UE 110 may access the network 400 through a peer
UE 110 acting as an intermediary, in a relay type or hop type of
connection.
[0045] FIG. 4 shows a block diagram of the UE 110. While a variety
of known components of UEs 110 are depicted, in an embodiment a
subset of the listed components and/or additional components not
listed may be included in the UE 110. The UE 110 includes a digital
signal processor (DSP) 502 and a memory 504. As shown, the UE 110
may further include an antenna and front end unit 506, a radio
frequency (RF) transceiver 508, an analog baseband processing unit
510, a microphone 512, an earpiece speaker 514, a headset port 516,
an input/output interface 518, a removable memory card 520, a
universal serial bus (USB) port 522, a short range wireless
communication sub-system 524, an alert 526, a keypad 528, a liquid
crystal display (LCD), which may include a touch sensitive surface
530, an LCD controller 532, a charge-coupled device (CCD) camera
534, a camera controller 536, and a global positioning system (GPS)
sensor 538. In an embodiment, the UE 110 may include another kind
of display that does not provide a touch sensitive screen. In an
embodiment, the DSP 502 may communicate directly with the memory
504 without passing through the input/output interface 518.
[0046] The DSP 502 or some other form of controller or central
processing unit operates to control the various components of the
UE 110 in accordance with embedded software or firmware stored in
memory 504 or stored in memory contained within the DSP 502 itself.
In addition to the embedded software or firmware, the DSP 502 may
execute other applications stored in the memory 504 or made
available via information carrier media such as portable data
storage media like the removable memory card 520 or via wired or
wireless network communications. The application software may
comprise a compiled set of machine-readable instructions that
configure the DSP 502 to provide the desired functionality, or the
application software may be high-level software instructions to be
processed by an interpreter or compiler to indirectly configure the
DSP 502.
[0047] The antenna and front end unit 506 may be provided to
convert between wireless signals and electrical signals, enabling
the UE 110 to send and receive information from a cellular network
or some other available wireless communications network or from a
peer UE 110. In an embodiment, the antenna and front end unit 506
may include multiple antennas to support beam forming and/or
multiple input multiple output (MIMO) operations. As is known to
those skilled in the art, MIMO operations may provide spatial
diversity which can be used to overcome difficult channel
conditions and/or increase channel throughput. The antenna and
front end unit 506 may include antenna tuning and/or impedance
matching components, RF power amplifiers, and/or low noise
amplifiers.
[0048] The RF transceiver 508 provides frequency shifting,
converting received RF signals to baseband and converting baseband
transmit signals to RF. In some descriptions a radio transceiver or
RF transceiver may be understood to include other signal processing
functionality such as modulation/demodulation, coding/decoding,
interleaving/deinterleaving, spreading/despreading, inverse fast
Fourier transforming (IFFT)/fast Fourier transforming (FFT), cyclic
prefix appending/removal, and other signal processing functions.
For the purposes of clarity, the description here separates the
description of this signal processing from the RF and/or radio
stage and conceptually allocates that signal processing to the
analog baseband processing unit 510 and/or the DSP 502 or other
central processing unit. In some embodiments, the RF Transceiver
508, portions of the Antenna and Front End 506, and the analog
baseband processing unit 510 may be combined in one or more
processing units and/or application specific integrated circuits
(ASICs).
[0049] The analog baseband processing unit 510 may provide various
analog processing of inputs and outputs, for example analog
processing of inputs from the microphone 512 and the headset 516
and outputs to the earpiece 514 and the headset 516. To that end,
the analog baseband processing unit 510 may have ports for
connecting to the built-in microphone 512 and the earpiece speaker
514 that enable the UE 110 to be used as a cell phone. The analog
baseband processing unit 510 may further include a port for
connecting to a headset or other hands-free microphone and speaker
configuration. The analog baseband processing unit 510 may provide
digital-to-analog conversion in one signal direction and
analog-to-digital conversion in the opposing signal direction. In
some embodiments, at least some of the functionality of the analog
baseband processing unit 510 may be provided by digital processing
components, for example by the DSP 502 or by other central
processing units.
[0050] The DSP 502 may perform modulation/demodulation,
coding/decoding, interleaving/deinterleaving,
spreading/despreading, inverse fast Fourier transforming
(IFFT)/fast Fourier transforming (FFT), cyclic prefix
appending/removal, and other signal processing functions associated
with wireless communications. In an embodiment, for example in a
code division multiple access (CDMA) technology application, for a
transmitter function the DSP 502 may perform modulation, coding,
interleaving, and spreading, and for a receiver function the DSP
502 may perform despreading, deinterleaving, decoding, and
demodulation. In another embodiment, for example in an orthogonal
frequency division multiplex access (OFDMA) technology application,
for the transmitter function the DSP 502 may perform modulation,
coding, interleaving, inverse fast Fourier transforming, and cyclic
prefix appending, and for a receiver function the DSP 502 may
perform cyclic prefix removal, fast Fourier transforming,
deinterleaving, decoding, and demodulation. In other wireless
technology applications, yet other signal processing functions and
combinations of signal processing functions may be performed by the
DSP 502.
[0051] The DSP 502 may communicate with a wireless network via the
analog baseband processing unit 510. In some embodiments, the
communication may provide Internet connectivity, enabling a user to
gain access to content on the Internet and to send and receive
e-mail or text messages. The input/output interface 518
interconnects the DSP 502 and various memories and interfaces. The
memory 504 and the removable memory card 520 may provide software
and data to configure the operation of the DSP 502. Among the
interfaces may be the USB interface 522 and the short range
wireless communication sub-system 524. The USB interface 522 may be
used to charge the UE 110 and may also enable the UE 110 to
function as a peripheral device to exchange information with a
personal computer or other computer system. The short range
wireless communication sub-system 524 may include an infrared port,
a Bluetooth interface, an IEEE 802.11 compliant wireless interface,
or any other short range wireless communication sub-system, which
may enable the UE 110 to communicate wirelessly with other nearby
mobile devices and/or wireless base stations.
[0052] The input/output interface 518 may further connect the DSP
502 to the alert 526 that, when triggered, causes the UE 110 to
provide a notice to the user, for example, by ringing, playing a
melody, or vibrating. The alert 526 may serve as a mechanism for
alerting the user to any of various events such as an incoming
call, a new text message, and an appointment reminder by silently
vibrating, or by playing a specific pre-assigned melody for a
particular caller.
[0053] The keypad 528 couples to the DSP 502 via the interface 518
to provide one mechanism for the user to make selections, enter
information, and otherwise provide input to the UE 110. The
keyboard 528 may be a full or reduced alphanumeric keyboard such as
QWERTY, Dvorak, AZERTY and sequential types, or a traditional
numeric keypad with alphabet letters associated with a telephone
keypad. The input keys may include a trackwheel, an exit or escape
key, a trackball, and other navigational or functional keys, which
may be inwardly depressed to provide further input function.
Another input mechanism may be the LCD 530, which may include touch
screen capability and also display text and/or graphics to the
user. The LCD controller 532 couples the DSP 502 to the LCD
530.
[0054] The CCD camera 534, if equipped, enables the UE 110 to take
digital pictures. The DSP 502 communicates with the CCD camera 534
via the camera controller 536. In another embodiment, a camera
operating according to a technology other than Charge Coupled
Device cameras may be employed. The GPS sensor 538 is coupled to
the DSP 502 to decode global positioning system signals, thereby
enabling the UE 110 to determine its position. Various other
peripherals may also be included to provide additional functions,
e.g., radio and television reception.
[0055] FIG. 5 illustrates a software environment 602 that may be
implemented by the DSP 502. The DSP 502 executes operating system
drivers 604 that provide a platform from which the rest of the
software operates. The operating system drivers 604 provide drivers
for the UE hardware with standardized interfaces that are
accessible to application software. The operating system drivers
604 include application management services ("AMS") 606 that
transfer control between applications running on the UE 110. Also
shown in FIG. 5 are a web browser application 608, a media player
application 610, and Java applets 612. The web browser application
608 configures the UE 110 to operate as a web browser, allowing a
user to enter information into forms and select links to retrieve
and view web pages. The media player application 610 configures the
UE 110 to retrieve and play audio or audiovisual media. The Java
applets 612 configure the UE 110 to provide games, utilities, and
other functionality. A component 614 might provide functionality
related to UE detachment.
[0056] The UE 110 and other components of FIG. 1 may include any
general-purpose computer with sufficient processing power, memory
resources, and network throughput capability to handle the
necessary workload placed upon it. FIG. 6 illustrates a typical,
general-purpose computer system 700 that may be suitable for
implementing one or more embodiments disclosed herein. The computer
system 700 includes a processor 720 (which may be referred to as a
central processor unit or CPU) that is in communication with memory
devices including secondary storage 750, read only memory (ROM)
740, random access memory (RAM) 730, input/output (I/O) devices
710, and network connectivity devices 760. The processor may be
implemented as one or more CPU chips.
[0057] The secondary storage 750 is typically comprised of one or
more disk drives or tape drives and is used for non-volatile
storage of data and as an over-flow data storage device if RAM 730
is not large enough to hold all working data. Secondary storage 750
may be used to store programs which are loaded into RAM 730 when
such programs are selected for execution. The ROM 740 is used to
store instructions and perhaps data which are read during program
execution. ROM 740 is a non-volatile memory device which typically
has a small memory capacity relative to the larger memory capacity
of secondary storage. The RAM 730 is used to store volatile data
and perhaps to store instructions. Access to both ROM 740 and RAM
730 is typically faster than to secondary storage 750.
[0058] I/O devices 710 may include printers, video monitors, liquid
crystal displays (LCDs), touch screen displays, keyboards, keypads,
switches, dials, mice, track balls, voice recognizers, card
readers, paper tape readers, or other well-known input devices.
[0059] The network connectivity devices 760 may take the form of
modems, modem banks, ethernet cards, universal serial bus (USB)
interface cards, serial interfaces, token ring cards, fiber
distributed data interface (FDDI) cards, wireless local area
network (WLAN) cards, radio transceiver cards such as code division
multiple access (CDMA) and/or global system for mobile
communications (GSM) radio transceiver cards, and other well-known
network devices. These network connectivity 760 devices may enable
the processor 720 to communicate with an Internet or one or more
intranets. With such a network connection, it is contemplated that
the processor 720 might receive information from the network, or
might output information to the network in the course of performing
the above-described method steps. Such information, which is often
represented as a sequence of instructions to be executed using
processor 720, may be received from and outputted to the network,
for example, in the form of a computer data signal embodied in a
carrier wave.
[0060] Such information, which may include data or instructions to
be executed using processor 720 for example, may be received from
and outputted to the network, for example, in the form of a
computer data baseband signal or signal embodied in a carrier wave.
The baseband signal or signal embodied in the carrier wave
generated by the network connectivity 760 devices may propagate in
or on the surface of electrical conductors, in coaxial cables, in
waveguides, in optical media, for example optical fiber, or in the
air or free space. The information contained in the baseband signal
or signal embedded in the carrier wave may be ordered according to
different sequences, as may be desirable for either processing or
generating the information or transmitting or receiving the
information. The baseband signal or signal embedded in the carrier
wave, or other types of signals currently used or hereafter
developed, referred to herein as the transmission medium, may be
generated according to several methods well known to one skilled in
the art.
[0061] The processor 720 executes instructions, codes, computer
programs, scripts which it accesses from hard disk, floppy disk,
optical disk (these various disk-based systems may all be
considered secondary storage 750), ROM 740, RAM 730, or the network
connectivity devices 760. While only one processor 720 is shown,
multiple processors may be present. Thus, while instructions may be
discussed as executed by a processor, the instructions may be
executed simultaneously, serially, or otherwise executed by one or
multiple processors.
[0062] The following are incorporated herein by reference for all
purposes: 3.sup.rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical
Specification (TS) 23.401 and 3GPP TS 23.402.
[0063] While several embodiments have been provided in the present
disclosure, it should be understood that the disclosed systems and
methods may be embodied in many other specific forms without
departing from the spirit or scope of the present disclosure. The
present examples are to be considered as illustrative and not
restrictive, and the intention is not to be limited to the details
given herein. For example, the various elements or components may
be combined or integrated in another system or certain features may
be omitted, or not implemented.
[0064] Also, techniques, systems, subsystems and methods described
and illustrated in the various embodiments as discrete or separate
may be combined or integrated with other systems, modules,
techniques, or methods without departing from the scope of the
present disclosure. Other items shown or discussed as coupled or
directly coupled or communicating with each other may be indirectly
coupled or communicating through some interface, device, or
intermediate component, whether electrically, mechanically, or
otherwise. Other examples of changes, substitutions, and
alterations are ascertainable by one skilled in the art and could
be made without departing from the spirit and scope disclosed
herein.
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