Method, user equipment, system, or telecommunications network, program, and computer program product for using or applying user equipment routing policy information when operating user equipment connected to a telecommunications network

Abstract

The invention relates to a method for applying user equipment routing policy information when operating a user equipment connected to a telecommunication network including a core network, the user equipment applying the routing policy information to user plane data carried by data packets, the user equipment including a user equipment routing policy function such that the data packets are processed according to the user equipment routing policy information, the user equipment routing policy information including at least one modification and / or handling instruction, the method comprising: - in a first step, the considered data packet is received by the user equipment routing policy function, - in a second step, one or more of the following actions are performed by the user equipment routing policy function: - the considered data packet is processed to be buffered, - the considered data packet is processed to be assigned to a specific protocol data unit session of the user equipment, - a notification is sent by the user equipment to a core network of the telecommunication network, - the user equipment routing policy information is modified.

Description

[Background technology]

[0001] The present invention relates to a method of using or applying user equipment routing policy information when operating a user equipment connected to a telecommunications network, the telecommunications network comprising a core network, the user equipment using or applying the routing policy information to user plane data constituted by or carried by data packets, the user equipment including a user equipment routing policy function that uses or applies the user equipment routing policy information such that data packets containing or carrying such user plane data are processed in accordance with the user equipment routing policy information.

[0002] Furthermore, the present invention relates to a user equipment for using or applying user equipment routing policy information when operating in a telecommunications network including a core network, the user equipment using or applying the routing policy information to user plane data consisting of or carried by data packets, the user equipment including a user equipment routing policy function for using or applying the user equipment routing policy information such that data packets including or carrying such user plane data are processed in accordance with the user equipment routing policy information.

[0003] Furthermore, the present invention relates to a system or telecommunications network for using or applying user equipment routing policy information when operating user equipment connected to the telecommunications network, the telecommunications network comprising a core network, the user equipment configured to use or apply the routing policy information to user plane data consisting of or carried by data packets, the user equipment comprising a user equipment routing policy function for using or applying the user equipment routing policy information such that data packets containing or carrying such user plane data are processed in accordance with the user equipment routing policy information.

[0004] Additionally, the present invention relates to programs and computer readable media for using or applying user equipment routing policy information in accordance with the methods of the present invention.

[0005] In conventionally known telecommunication networks, if uplink traffic needs to be steered, the 5G mobile communication network or 5G system also defines User Equipment Routing Policies (or UE Routing Policies: URSP) defined in TS 24.526, which allows the network to instruct the user equipment on how to route data packets, i.e. based on a set of rules, such rules instruct or command the user equipment to steer specific traffic for a given PDU (Protocol Data Unit) session.

[0006] In conventionally known telecommunication networks, such user equipment routing policy rules allow some limited path allocation logic to be implemented in (or by) the user equipment, e.g., the user equipment routing policy rules are limited to selecting a matching protocol data unit session (PDU session) to which the corresponding (data) traffic should be sent. However, conventionally known uses of user equipment routing policy rules are rather limited or rather static, especially with regard to their structure (traffic detection) and the selection of the destination PDU session. In particular, conventional uses of user equipment routing policy rules do not include their flexible use, e.g., with regard to influencing the handled traffic, potential modification of the handled traffic, nor further enhanced functions, e.g., providing communication capabilities regarding the handled traffic or modifying the rules themselves. Summary of the Invention

[0007] It is an object of the present invention to provide a technically simple, effective and cost-effective solution for flexibly using or applying user equipment routing policy information when operating a user equipment connected to a telecommunications network, the user equipment using or applying the routing policy information to user plane data consisting of or carried by data packets, the user equipment comprising a user equipment routing policy functionality for using or applying the user equipment routing policy information such that data packets containing or carrying such user plane data are processed in accordance with the user equipment routing policy information. It is a further object of the present invention to provide a corresponding user equipment, system or telecommunications network as well as corresponding programs and computer readable media.

[0008] The object of the invention is achieved by a method of using or applying user equipment routing policy information in operating a user equipment connected to a telecommunications network, the telecommunications network comprising a core network. The user equipment uses or applies the routing policy information to user plane data consisting of or carried by data packets. The user equipment comprises a user equipment routing policy function which uses or applies the user equipment routing policy information such that data packets containing or carrying such user plane data are processed in accordance with the user equipment routing policy information. The user equipment routing policy information comprises at least one modification and / or handling instruction for considered data packets to be handled or processed by the user equipment routing policy function, such that the method comprises the following steps: In a first step, the considered data packet is received by a user equipment routing policy function. In a second step, based on or depending on the content of the at least one modification and / or handling instruction, one or more of the following actions are performed: The action taken by which the considered data packet is treated is to be dropped or buffered. The action whereby the considered data packet is modified and processed in such a way that it is assigned or provided to a particular protocol data unit session of the user equipment. -An action in which a notification is sent by a user equipment to a core network of a telecommunications network. - An action in which user equipment routing policy information is modified.

[0009] According to the present invention, it is advantageously possible to overcome limitations according to or related to the use of previously known user equipment routing policy information. Typically, data to be transmitted by a user equipment (connected to a telecommunication network), in particular user plane data, is carried or transmitted by data packets, and the user equipment routing policy information (or the user equipment routing policy rules contained in or included in the user equipment routing policy information) indicates or prescribes how such data packets, typically or often (but not necessarily) upstream data packets, should be handled by the user equipment. Conventionally, the processing options for such data packets only or mainly involve the determination by which protocol data unit session the considered data packet should be transmitted. According to the present invention, it is proposed to expand the possible handling options for such data packets. In particular, according to the invention, for example, it is advantageously possible that user equipment routing policies or user equipment routing policy rules can (or rather can be prescribed (in a user equipment routing policy function of the user equipment) to) modify data packets, for example data packets routed using a given user equipment routing policy rule or a given protocol data unit session (for example, this may include modifying the header content or the traffic (or data packet) itself, for example by encrypting at least a part of the data packet, in particular its payload part). Furthermore, according to the invention, for example, it is advantageously possible that user equipment routing policies or user equipment routing policy rules can (or rather can be prescribed (in a user equipment routing policy function of the user equipment) to) drop or buffer data packets.Furthermore, according to the invention, it is for example advantageously possible that the user equipment routing policies or user equipment routing policy rules can send (or rather can be provided (in the user equipment routing policy function of the user equipment) to send) one or more notifications triggered by some event, for example a first data packet of a data stream (of data packets, i.e. a data stream including a number of different data packets, typically having associated payload content (such as for example related to a video or audio stream, or an application), typically in sequence or approximately in sequence). Furthermore, according to the invention, it is for example advantageously possible that the user equipment routing policies or user equipment routing policy rules can modify, in particular delete or disable (or rather can be provided (in the user equipment routing policy function of the user equipment) to modify, in particular delete or disable) the user equipment routing policy information, in particular the same user equipment routing policy rules (i.e. the user equipment routing policy rules provide for the modification, in particular the deletion or invalidation thereof), which modification, in particular the deletion or invalidation, is likewise triggered by a particular event.

[0010] According to the method of the present invention, the user equipment routing policy information is (or can be) used or applied more flexibly by the user equipment when the user equipment is operating connected to a telecommunications network. The telecommunications network typically includes a core network that transmits user equipment routing policy information to the user equipment to be applied to user plane data (consisting of or carried by data packets), typically by the user equipment (or, rather, by a user equipment routing policy function of the user equipment). The user equipment routing policy function is typically an instance or function within or as part of the user equipment that ensures the correct use (or interpretation) and / or application of the user equipment routing policy information, i.e., such that data packets that include or carry such user plane data are processed in accordance with the user equipment routing policy information. According to the present invention, in order to advantageously provide the possibility of overcoming limitations associated with the previously known use of user equipment routing policy information, the user equipment routing policy information comprises at least one modification and / or handling instruction, the modification and / or handling instruction corresponding to a portion (or portions) of the user equipment routing policy information (i.e. one of the one or more user equipment routing policy rules) indicating (or prescribing) one or more handling options or actions with respect to one or more data packets. Thus, according to the present invention, the considered data packet can be handled or processed (as indicated or prescribing by the at least one modification and / or handling instruction, as part of the user equipment routing policy information) by the user equipment, or rather the user equipment routing policy function, performing a step of receiving the considered data packet by the user equipment routing policy function, a second step and, based on or depending on the content of the at least one modification and / or handling instruction, performing one or more of the following actions: The action taken by which the considered data packet is treated is to be dropped or buffered. The action whereby the considered data packet is modified and processed in such a way that it is assigned or provided to a particular protocol data unit session of the user equipment. -An action in which a notification is sent by a user equipment to a core network of a telecommunications network. - User equipment routing policy information is modified (e.g. traffic descriptor modification, route descriptor, route selection, priority, application descriptor modification, modify / remove route selection validation criteria, remove / disable user equipment routing rule) actions.

[0011] Thus, according to the invention, it is advantageously possible for user equipment routing policy rules (or, in general, user equipment routing policy information) to modify routed data traffic, for example between a user equipment and a gateway in a core network, or between a user equipment and a home network (e.g., a home public land mobile network) gateway, or between a user equipment and a third party (e.g., an application provider or application server entity, i.e., data packets traversing not only the access network and / or visited network but also the home network of the user equipment, possibly in encrypted form), for example by modifying data packet headers (e.g., DSCP headers) and / or by applying or performing encryption of data packets (or at least parts thereof). Furthermore, it is advantageously possible for user equipment routing policies (or user equipment routing policy rules) to specify dropping or buffering traffic (i.e., data packets).

[0012] Moreover, according to the invention, it is also possible, advantageously, to overcome limitations associated with the use of previously known user equipment routing policy information by not only considering data packets more or less in isolation, but also considering data streams, i.e. streams of data packets (meaning a plurality of data packets). Such data streams or streams of data packets also have properties (e.g. their history or data volume or bandwidth requirements or packet data rates) that cannot be individually associated with one data packet of said stream. According to the invention, it is also advantageously possible that one or more actions are performed based on a property (or properties) of the considered data stream, based on or depending on the content of at least one modification and / or handling instruction, i.e. according to the invention, the user equipment routing policy information comprises at least one modification and / or handling instruction, such that for a considered data packet (as part of the considered data stream or considered stream of data packets) to be handled or processed by the user equipment routing policy function, the method comprises the following steps: In a first step, the considered data packet is received by a user equipment routing policy function as part of a considered data stream or a stream of considered data packets. In a second step, based on or depending on the content of the at least one modification and / or handling instruction, one or more of the following actions are performed: The action taken by which the considered data packet is treated is to be dropped or buffered. The action whereby the considered data packet is modified and processed in such a way that it is assigned or provided to a particular protocol data unit session of the user equipment. - an action in which the considered data packet is processed to be assigned or provided to a further specific protocol data unit session of the user equipment different from the protocol data unit session used for the considered data stream or preceding data packets of the considered stream of data packets. -An action in which a notification is sent by a user equipment to a core network of a telecommunications network. - An action in which user equipment routing policy information is modified. According to such an embodiment of the present invention, instead of considering only one data packet (i.e. the "considered data packet"), a data stream or a stream of data packets, i.e. at least two data packets, are considered, and the user equipment routing policy information comprises at least one modification and / or handling instruction with respect to the considered preceding data packet, in particular such that the considered data packet and the considered preceding data packet belong to a data stream or the same data stream (or stream of data packets) and the considered preceding data packet precedes the considered data packet, and the method comprises a third step prior to the first step, in which the considered preceding data packet is received by the user equipment routing policy function and based on or depending on the content of the at least one modification and / or handling instruction the considered preceding data packet is processed to be assigned or provided to a specific protocol data unit session of the user equipment.

[0013] Thus, according to such an embodiment of the present invention, the considered data stream (or stream of data packets) has not yet met or verified a certain trigger condition until the considered preceding data packet (and thus typically data packets of such a data stream are assigned or provided to a particular protocol data unit session or to a "normal" protocol data unit session), but such trigger condition is met or verified upon receipt in the user equipment routing policy function, or one or more actions (including dropping or buffering or modifying the considered data packet, or sending a notification or modifying user equipment routing policy information) are performed upon processing of the considered data packet (after the considered preceding data packet). In this respect, according to the invention it is particularly preferred that the considered data packets are processed (alternatively or cumulatively to one or more actions of or defined in the second step) and, for example, assigned or provided to a further specific protocol data unit session of the user equipment different from the specific (or "normal") protocol data unit session (i.e. the specific protocol data unit session is the normal (or default or defined) protocol data unit session for data packets of the considered data stream).

[0014] According to the invention, by making it possible to execute one or more sets of actions based on or depending on the content of at least one modification and / or handling instruction, based on properties (or trigger conditions) of the considered data packet or properties (or trigger conditions) associated therewith, and / or based on properties (or trigger conditions) of the considered preceding data packet and of the considered data packet's data stream (or stream of data packets) or properties (or trigger conditions) associated therewith, it is advantageously possible: User Equipment Routing Policies (or User Equipment Routing Policy Rules) can enforce bandwidth constraints (e.g., maximum bandwidth, maximum packet data rate) and / or define what happens to traffic that exceeds the constraints. Per-application and / or per-network slice granularity is achieved for quality of service parameters: Protocol Data Unit sessions enable quality of service flows, but user equipment routing policies or user equipment routing policy rules can operate at a different per-application and / or per-slice granularity than that supported by the PDU session. - A more distributed traffic handling architecture is enabled. In conventionally known telecommunication networks (or network architectures), all traffic enforcement functions are based on the gateway (user plane function in the case of 5G networks). Therefore, offloading parts of the (traffic enforcement functions) computing to the user equipment to better support exponential traffic growth results in a more distributed traffic handling architecture. The user equipment routing policies or user equipment routing policy rules, in particular, allow the user equipment routing policy rules to specify bandwidth throttling and / or to specify dropping traffic and / or (overlapping both, for the general case) to include code processing logic, i.e. programs / scripts / code specifying how traffic should be processed, e.g. to implement bandwidth related constraints in order to enable all of the above mentioned actions for handling data packets, thus making it possible to implement corresponding functions (e.g. modifying, dropping or buffering data packets) as well as logical operations (e.g. conditions, loops, function calls, communication with other modules, etc.), thus providing the possibility to deploy data processing logic (instead of parameters) according to the invention allows increased flexibility and in effect makes it possible to turn the user equipment into a programmable part of the telecommunications network. User equipment is able to perform more traffic processing, thus enabling a more distributed (network) architecture, where central nodes (e.g. user plane functions or gateway entities or functions) can be kept simpler and focus on how the aggregate traffic should be shaped, while tasks related to individual subscriptions (e.g. maximum bandwidth) can be offloaded to user equipment. - modification and / or handling instructions that can trigger notifications (in case of certain triggering events) to allow, for example, a core network (of a telecommunications network) to have visibility into the actual usage of user equipment routing policy information (in particular user equipment routing policy rules) by the user equipment and / or to automate changes based on said usage (e.g. when a user equipment routing policy rule is first used, at regular time intervals, after a given amount of data has been processed, when the user equipment is under low / medium / high packet load, when a data packet burst is detected / terminated, when a data packet of a certain characteristic has been processed, when one or more data packets have been dropped / buffered / modified), for example to notify the core network and / or to limit the validity of a given user equipment routing policy rule based on usage). Instead of offloading functionality to the user equipment, the modification and / or handling instructions can trigger notifications, allowing the telecommunications network to compare usage reports generated by the user equipment with usage reports from the network side to evaluate whether the user equipment routing policy rules are correctly applied by the user equipment. The modification and / or handling instructions may include, for example, traffic-based triggers (i.e., dependent on the usage of the routing policy rule for a given user equipment), such that a notification is sent towards the (core) network, for example, when certain criteria are met and / or a user equipment routing policy rule is modified and / or a user equipment routing policy rule automatically expires (e.g., it is deleted or marked as invalid). A more distributed (network) architecture is enabled by providing more flexible management of user equipment routing policy information or user equipment routing policy rules, in particular by: User equipment routing policy based implementation of data caps that can be enforced on the user equipment side, e.g. "up to X GB can be sent via the low latency slice (user equipment routing policy rule A), after which the default slice is used (user equipment routing policy rule B)". - User equipment based generation of notifications to the (core) network regarding traffic matching specific rule sets available, e.g. for billing purposes and / or to enable measurement of quality of service parameters of the data being routed and / or to enable data volume measurements (e.g. number of (data) packets, data volume, packet / data rate, packet type) and / or to enable measurement of expiry of user equipment routing policy time windows, thus generally enabling more visibility to the (core) network regarding the use of user equipment routing policy rule sets by the user equipment.

[0015] According to the invention, a telecommunication network typically comprises an access network and a core network. However, the invention also relates to situations where a telecommunication network does not, strictly speaking, include both an access network and a core network, but where the telecommunication network is associated with or assigned only to an access network (and in particular comprises a core network), or where the telecommunication network is associated with or assigned only to a core network (and in particular comprises an access network), or where the telecommunication network is associated with or assigned only to both an access network and a core network. According to the invention, the core network in particular provides user equipment with data connectivity to a data network.

[0016] In conventionally known telecommunication networks as well as in accordance with the present invention, a user equipment can typically be connected to a data network via a core network. The user equipment typically communicates with an access network (or radio access network) via an interface, typically a radio interface or air interface. This is used to carry both signaling information and data traffic, but there is typically a logical separation (logical channels) for the transport of both types of traffic. Similarly, between an access network (especially a radio access network, especially a gNB base station entity) and a core network, signaling information and user data are typically separated. To establish a data connection that allows a user equipment to communicate with a data network (or with a core network), a protocol data unit (PDU) session is required. A protocol data unit session is a logical data transport channel that is terminated in the core network that provides connectivity to the data network. A protocol data unit session can have one or more associated qualities of service for the underlying transported data (e.g. one or more quality of service flows within a PDU session). The protocol data unit session establishment is performed by the user equipment via the radio interface. Although the radio access network is aware of the protocol data unit session (the eNB needs the information to make physical resource allocations, for example on the Uu reference point between the base station entities (especially the gNB) and the user equipment), the protocol data unit session is managed by the core network. Currently, separate protocol data unit sessions are considered independent, i.e. a protocol data unit session establishment is not linked to other protocol data unit session establishment requests.

[0017] In currently known telecommunication networks and according to the present invention, user equipment routing policy information or user equipment routing policy rules are used by the telecommunication network to oblige the user equipment to use a set of rules for applying or steering uplink traffic, i.e. how to route data packets. In particular, such user equipment routing policy rules instruct or command the user equipment to steer specific traffic for a given or predefined protocol data unit session. In particular, such user equipment routing policy rules or such user equipment routing policy information are set or defined by the core network of the telecommunication network, i.e., the telecommunication network (or its core network) sets the user equipment routing policy rules or user equipment routing policy information by sending corresponding messages to the user equipment as part of the control data flow exchange between the telecommunication network and the user equipment over the air interface between the user equipment and a corresponding access network element, typically a base station entity, e.g. a gNodeB entity. As a result of the user equipment receiving such user equipment routing policy rule (or multiple thereof) or user equipment routing policy information, the user equipment can or will apply such rule information, i.e., traffic; in particular, application traffic (in the uplink direction towards the telecommunications network) that matches the corresponding user equipment routing policy rule or user equipment routing policy information is routed by the user equipment as dictated or prescribed by the user equipment routing policy rule / information, e.g., "steer traffic specific to a given protocol data unit session", and in currently known telecommunications networks, a route corresponds to a protocol data unit session in the sense of "where the user equipment sends traffic".In currently known telecommunication networks, the user equipment routing policy rules or user equipment routing policy information itself, i.e. in particular its structure, is defined in 3GPP TS 23.503 and is a set of one or more user equipment routing policy rules, where a user equipment routing policy rule generally consists of three parts: a priority value as a first part, a traffic descriptor as a second part, and one or more routing descriptors as a third part. The priority value of a URSP rule (as the first part of the user equipment routing policy rule) identifies the priority of the URSP rule considered among all existing URSP rules (either already present in the user equipment or transmitted as part of the user equipment routing policy information). The traffic descriptor (as the second part of the user equipment routing policy rule) includes either a match-all traffic descriptor or at least one of the following components: one or more application identifiers, one or more IP3 tuples defined in 3GPP TS 23.503, i.e., destination IP address, destination port number, and protocol used over IP, one or more non-IP descriptors, i.e., destination information for non-IP traffic, one or more DNNs (Data Network Names), one or more connection capabilities, one or more domain descriptors, i.e., destination FQDNs (Fully Qualified Domain Names). Each routing descriptor (as the third part of the user equipment routing policy rule) consists of a priority value of the routing descriptor, either a non-seamless non-3GPP offload indication, or one PDU session type, and optionally one or more of the following: SSC mode (Session and Service Continuity Mode), one or more S-NSSAIs (Single Network Slice Selection Assistance Information), one or more DNNs, preferred access type, multi-access priority, time window, and location criteria. In this context, the time window indication and location criteria do not actually describe the traffic path allocation, but are part of the path selection descriptor (or the third part of the user equipment path selection policy rules) even though they correspond to the path selection validation criteria.A given or considered path selection descriptor is not considered valid unless all of the provided validation criteria are met and control the validity of said elements. The component describing the actual path assignment corresponds to the path selection component. Exemplarily, what user equipment path selection policy rules achieve is a set of rules in the user equipment so that a particular traffic can be transmitted via a particular traffic description (e.g., access type). For the application of user equipment path selection policy rules or user equipment path selection policy information (specified in TS 23.503, 6.6.2.3), for each newly detected application (i.e., requiring an uplink data stream to be transmitted by the user equipment), the user equipment evaluates the available (i.e., stored or received) user equipment path selection policy rules in the order of rule priority and determines whether the application matches the traffic descriptor of any URSP rule. If a URSP rule is determined to be applicable to a given application (clause 6.6.2.1), the user equipment shall select a path selection descriptor within this URSP rule in the order of path selection descriptor priority. If the user equipment determines that there are multiple matching and existing protocol data unit sessions (e.g., the selected path selection descriptor specifies only a network slice selection, but there are multiple existing PDU sessions that match the network slice selection with different DNNs), it is up to the user equipment implementation to select one of them for use.

[0018] According to the invention, a user equipment connected to a telecommunications network is considered, the telecommunications network comprising a core network with a policy and charging function, the policy and charging function being adapted to transmit user equipment routing policy information to the user equipment.

[0019] According to the invention, in particular as part of the path selection descriptor or as part of the path selection components of the user equipment path selection policy information, it is further advantageously possible and preferred that the modification and / or handling instruction includes or corresponds to a bandwidth (e.g. based on data throughput or packet data rate) limitation instruction or that the user equipment path selection policy information includes a bandwidth limitation instruction (in particular as a modification and / or handling instruction), where in particular a bandwidth limitation is reached with or following the considered preceding data packet, so that the subsequent traffic, in particular the considered data packet, is throttled, in particular by the considered data packet being dropped or buffered or assigned or provided to a further specific protocol data unit session instead of a specific protocol data unit session. Here, the bit rate, in particular related to the data stream, can be controlled or shaped in particular to implement or provide a maximum bit rate or a guaranteed bit rate or packet rate. Here, the bandwidth limitation instruction includes such an instruction that the handling of the excess traffic can be specified, in particular by buffering such excess traffic and / or dropping such excess traffic and / or applying predefined user equipment path selection policy rules to such excess traffic. Here, dropping excess traffic is specifically performed by a bandwidth limit indication that includes a traffic sink indication as part of the routing descriptor or as part of the routing component of the user equipment routing policy information, where reaching the bandwidth limit with or following a considered preceding data packet results in a notification or message being sent by the user equipment towards the core network and / or to an application server entity.

[0020] Thereby, advantageously, the method of the invention can be realized and performed relatively simply and efficiently. By using the bandwidth limitation indication, it is advantageously possible to apply bandwidth limitation rules as part or user equipment routing policy rules.

[0021] According to the invention, it is further advantageously possible and preferred that the modification and / or handling indication comprises or corresponds to a header modification indication, in particular as part of the routing descriptor or as part of the routing component of the user equipment routing policy information, or that the user equipment routing policy information comprises a header modification indication (in particular as a modification and / or handling indication), where in particular the header modification indication comprises in particular a description of a header parameter to modify on or of a differentiated service field codepoint header parameter of a data packet that is to be routed using the corresponding user equipment routing policy rule, where in particular the header modification indication comprises value information to be used and one or more of the following: a header identifier, a name, a position and a variable type, in particular a string type indication or an integer type indication.

[0022] Thereby, advantageously the method of the invention can be implemented and performed relatively simply and efficiently.By using the header modification indications, it is advantageously possible to modify the data packets with respect to their header values.

[0023] Furthermore, according to the invention, it is advantageously possible and preferred that the modification and / or handling instruction comprises or corresponds to a traffic encryption instruction, in particular as part of the routing descriptor or as part of the routing component of the user equipment routing policy information, or that the user equipment routing policy information comprises a traffic encryption instruction (in particular as a modification and / or handling instruction), where in particular the traffic encryption instruction comprises the following encryption parameters: - Provided by a telecommunications network. - provided by another telecommunications network. - Provided by a third party. Wherein, data packets transmitted by the user equipment, in particular the considered data packet and / or the considered preceding data packet, are modified by encrypting such data packets at least a payload or a part thereof, wherein the encrypted part of such data packets can be decrypted by the telecommunications network, or by another telecommunications network, or by a third party, wherein the other telecommunications network corresponds to a home network of the user equipment and / or the third party corresponds to an application server entity or an application provider.

[0024] Thereby, advantageously, the method of the present invention can be implemented and performed relatively simply and efficiently.By using the traffic encryption indication, it is advantageously possible to provide more secure and confidential communications.

[0025] Furthermore, according to the invention, it is advantageously possible and preferred that the modification and / or handling instructions comprise or correspond to processing logic instructions, in particular as part of the routing descriptor or as part of the routing component of the user equipment routing policy information, or that the user equipment routing policy information comprises processing logic instructions (in particular as modification and / or handling instructions), where in particular the processing logic instructions comprise program elements comprising logic code, where in particular the logic code or program elements comprise: -traffic manipulation instructions, particularly as interpretable or compilable source code, which describe the processing of traffic. -Logical code metadata that provides verifiable information about the origin of the logical code; and / or - Machine readable programs, in particular interfacing the User Equipment Routing Policy Function's processing input and / or output as compiled or executable code.

[0026] Thereby, advantageously, the method of the present invention can be implemented and performed relatively simply and efficiently. By using the processing logic instructions, advantageously, it is possible to increase the flexibility in using the user equipment routing policy rules or user equipment routing policy information.

[0027] Furthermore, according to the invention, it is advantageously possible and preferred that the modification and / or handling instructions include or correspond to a notification instruction, or that the user equipment routing policy information includes a notification instruction (particularly as a modification and / or handling instruction), in particular as part of the routing descriptor or as part of the routing component of the user equipment routing policy information. In particular, the user equipment routing policy function includes a key performance indicator monitoring function, and the sending of a notification by the user equipment is triggered when it is detected that a key performance indicator threshold has been reached or exceeded in relation to a particular key performance indicator, where the particular key performance indicator is or relates to the amount (e.g. bytes, number of packets), content (e.g. destination address), characteristics (e.g. inter-packet time) and / or nature (e.g. protocol type) of data routed by the respective user equipment routing policy rule and / or charging data record.

[0028] Thereby, advantageously, the method of the invention can be realized and performed relatively simply and efficiently. By using a notification indication, it is possible to send a notification to the core network, whereby it is advantageously possible to inform the core network about the uplink traffic management of the user equipment.

[0029] Furthermore, according to the invention, it is advantageously possible and preferred that the modification and / or handling instructions comprise or correspond to rule modification instructions, in particular as part of the routing descriptor or as part of the routing component of the user equipment routing policy information, or that the user equipment routing policy information comprises rule modification instructions (in particular as modification and / or handling instructions), where in particular the user equipment routing policy function comprises a key performance indicator monitoring function, and the modification of the user equipment routing policy rules to be applied is triggered when it is detected that a key performance indicator threshold has been reached or exceeded in relation to a particular key performance indicator, where the particular key performance indicator is or relates to the amount of data routed by the respective user equipment routing policy rule and / or charging data records, where in particular the validity status of the corresponding user equipment routing policy rule is changed by detecting that a key performance indicator threshold has been reached or exceeded.

[0030] Thereby, advantageously, the method of the present invention can be implemented and performed relatively simply and efficiently. The use of rule change indications advantageously allows for increased flexibility in using user equipment routing policy rules or user equipment routing policy information.

[0031] Furthermore, according to the invention, advantageously, when a notification is sent by the user equipment, in particular to a core network of a telecommunication network and / or to its home core network, it is possible and preferred that the notification is sent as a result of applying a particular user equipment routing policy rule and as a result or part of a modification and / or handling instruction of that particular user equipment routing policy rule, or as a result of a modification and / or handling instruction of that particular user equipment routing policy rule corresponding to or including one or more bandwidth limitation instructions, header modification instructions, traffic encryption instructions, notification instructions and rule modification instructions. The notification comprises at least the following information: - a reference to a particular user equipment routing policy rule being generated and / or a reference to modification and / or handling instructions being generated; and / or - Trigger event information indicating or relating to a trigger event or a trigger condition that triggers the generation of a notification.

[0032] Thus, according to the present invention, it is advantageously possible to realize and implement the method of the present invention in a relatively simple and efficient manner, such that notifications generated by a user equipment and typically sent to a core network or its home core network can be meaningfully processed.

[0033] Furthermore, the present invention relates to a user equipment for using or applying user equipment routing policy information when operating in a telecommunications network including a core network, where the user equipment uses or applies the routing policy information to user plane data consisting of or carried by data packets, where the user equipment comprises a user equipment routing policy function for using or applying the user equipment routing policy information such that data packets including or carrying such user plane data are processed in accordance with the user equipment routing policy information, where the user equipment routing policy information comprises at least one modification and / or handling indication, and where with respect to a considered data packet to be handled or processed by the user equipment routing policy function the user equipment is configured as follows: The considered data packet is received by a user equipment routing policy function. Based on or depending on the content of at least one modification and / or handling instruction, one or more of the following actions are performed: The action taken by which the considered data packet is treated is to be dropped or buffered. The action whereby the considered data packet is modified and processed in such a way that it is assigned or provided to a particular protocol data unit session of the user equipment. -An action in which a notification is sent by a user equipment to a core network of a telecommunications network. - An action in which user equipment routing policy information is modified.

[0034] Furthermore, the invention relates to a system or a telecommunication network for using or applying user equipment routing policy information when operating a user equipment connected to a telecommunication network, the telecommunication network comprising a core network. The user equipment is configured to use or apply the routing policy information to user plane data consisting of or carried by data packets. The user equipment comprises a user equipment routing policy function for using or applying the user equipment routing policy information such that data packets including or carrying such user plane data are processed in accordance with the user equipment routing policy information. The user equipment routing policy information comprises at least one modification and / or handling instruction such that with respect to a considered data packet to be processed or to be processed by the user equipment routing policy function the user equipment and the telecommunication network, or a system comprising the telecommunication network, is configured to: The considered data packet is received by a user equipment routing policy function. Based on or depending on the content of at least one modification and / or handling instruction, one or more of the following actions are performed: The action taken by which the considered data packet is treated is to be dropped or buffered. The action whereby the considered data packet is modified and processed in such a way that it is assigned or provided to a particular protocol data unit session of the user equipment. -An action in which a notification is sent by a user equipment to a core network of a telecommunications network. - An action in which user equipment routing policy information is modified.

[0035] Furthermore, the invention relates to a program comprising computer readable program code which, when executed on a computer and / or on a User Equipment and / or on a network node of a telecommunications network, in particular on a Policy and Charging Function, or on a part on a User Equipment and / or on a network node of a telecommunications network, in particular on a Policy and Charging Function, causes a computer and / or a User Equipment and / or a network node of a telecommunications network to carry out the method of the invention.

[0036] Furthermore, the invention relates to a computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer and / or on a User Equipment and / or on a network node of a telecommunications network, in particular on a Policy and Charging Function, or on a part of a User Equipment and / or on a network node of a telecommunications network, in particular on a Policy and Charging Function, cause a computer and / or a User Equipment and / or a network node of a telecommunications network to carry out the method of the invention.

[0037] These and other characteristics, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of the invention. The description is given for the purposes of example only, without limiting the scope of the invention. The reference figures quoted below refer to the attached drawings. [Brief description of the drawings]

[0038] [Figure 1] 1 illustrates diagrammatically a telecommunications network comprising an access network, a core network and a user equipment, the core network typically comprising several network functions or services such as a policy and charging function, the policy and charging function typically adapted to transmit user equipment routing policy information to the user equipment. [Diagram 2] Different variations or embodiments of the user equipment routing policy function are illustrated generally in more detail within or as part of the user equipment, to suggest their functionality. [Diagram 3]Different variations or embodiments of the user equipment routing policy function are illustrated generally in more detail within or as part of the user equipment, to suggest their functionality. [Figure 4] 1 illustrates generally an embodiment of using a bandwidth restriction indication as part of a user equipment routing policy rule or as part of user equipment routing policy information. [Diagram 5] 1 illustrates generally an embodiment of using a bandwidth restriction indication as part of a user equipment routing policy rule or as part of user equipment routing policy information. [Figure 6] 13 illustrates a communication diagram for notification logic regarding what to do with excess traffic. [Figure 7] 1 illustrates, in a simplified manner, different embodiments using a traffic encryption indication as or as part of a modification and / or handling indication; [Figure 8] 1 illustrates, in a simplified manner, different embodiments using a traffic encryption indication as or as part of a modification and / or handling indication; [Figure 9] 13 illustrates an embodiment of a communication diagram regarding the use of traffic-related triggers to cause notifications and / or modifications to user equipment routing policy rules. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0039] The present invention will be described with respect to particular embodiments and with reference to certain drawings but the invention is not limited thereto but only by the claims. The drawings described are purely schematic and non-limiting. In the drawings, the size of some of the elements may be exaggerated and not drawn to scale for illustrative purposes.

[0040] Where an indefinite or definite article is used when referring to a singular noun e.g. "a", "an", "the", this includes a plural of that noun unless something else is specifically stated.

[0041] Moreover, the terms first, second, third, etc. in the description and claims are used to distinguish between similar elements and not necessarily to describe a sequential or chronological order. The terms so used are interchangeable under appropriate circumstances, with the understanding that the embodiments of the invention described herein are capable of operating in sequences other than those described or illustrated herein.

[0042] In Fig. 1, a telecommunications network 100 is shown in schematic form, comprising an access network 110 and a core network 120. The telecommunications network 100, in particular the core network 120, typically comprises several network functions or services, such as a policy and charging function 130, which is typically configured to transmit user equipment routing policy information 400 to the user equipment 20. The access network 110 comprises a number of radio cells 11, 12. In the exemplary situation or scenario depicted in Fig. 1, a first base station entity 111 generates or is associated with or spans the first radio cell 11 and a second base station entity 112 generates or is associated with or spans the second radio cell 12. User equipment 20 includes user equipment routing policy information 400 and user equipment routing policy function 21, such that user equipment routing policy information 400, and in particular user equipment routing policy rules, can be correctly applied, i.e., correctly handled, for different upstream traffic streams (i.e., respective associated data packets) that user equipment 20 is typically transmitting to core network 120. According to the present invention, user equipment routing policy information 400 includes at least one modification and / or handling instruction 410.

[0043] The user equipment 20 is typically, although not necessarily, mobile, i.e. capable of moving with respect to the (typically, although not necessarily, stationary) radio cells 11, 12 or corresponding base station entities 111, 112 of the access network 110. In the exemplary depicted diagram of Figure 1, the core network 120 includes or is connected to a data network 131. The core network 120 provides the user equipment 20 with data connectivity to the data network 131. Furthermore, the user equipment routing policy repository 125 is accessible via at least the telecommunications network 100, and in particular is part of the telecommunications network 100 or its core network 120.

[0044] Fig. 1 mainly illustrates a simple situation where the user equipment 20 is connected to its home network 100, in particular its home public land mobile network, i.e. the telecommunication network 100 represented in Fig. 1 corresponds to the home network of the user equipment 20. In either case, the user equipment 20 is connected using an access network 120, typically a radio access network. If this access network 120 does not correspond to (or does not belong to) the home network or home public land mobile network of the user equipment 20 (i.e. the telecommunication network 100 is not the home network of the user equipment 20), the access network 120 to which the user equipment 20 is connected is called the visited network or visited public land mobile network of the user equipment 20. In this case, the user equipment 20 is typically also connected to its home network, or to a core network of its home network. This is illustrated diagrammatically in Fig. 1 by a (further) telecommunication network 100' (i.e. the home network of the user equipment 20 when the telecommunication network 100 is the visited network) and a corresponding (further) core network 120'.

[0045] In Figures 2 and 3, the user equipment routing policy function 21 is shown in more detail and schematic form according to different embodiments or variants according to the invention. In general, with reference to both Figures 2 and 3, the user equipment routing policy function 21 provides handling of different data streams or data packets to be transmitted by the user equipment 20, typically in an upstream direction towards the core network 120 of the telecommunications network 100. The different data streams, i.e. respective data packets, are shown schematically as entering the user equipment routing policy function 21 from its bottom side and are indicated by reference characters A, B, C, which exemplarily represent three different data streams or streams of data packets. According to both embodiments or variants of the user equipment routing policy function 21, the user equipment routing policy function 21 includes a traffic selection function 22. By the traffic selection function 22, the different data packets of the different data streams A, B, C are typically matched to the corresponding user equipment routing policy information 400, in particular to the corresponding user equipment routing policy rules (as part of the user equipment routing policy information 400), which are applied only to the matching traffic (i.e., the matching data packets). Finally, the data packets of the different data streams A, B, C are specifically directed to a given protocol data unit session, three of which are shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2 and Fig. 3, indicated by the reference group 501, 502, 503. The routing is performed by the routing function 22', in particular using a routing descriptor, which determines where to send the respective traffic, i.e., the considered data packet (i.e., to which protocol data unit session 501, 502, 503). According to the invention, the modification and / or handling instruction 410 serves in particular as a "packet handling" routing descriptor.In this sense, the routing descriptor becomes, according to the invention, a "generic traffic handling descriptor", extending user equipment routing policy rules 400 to cover, for example, traffic manipulation logic that routes only a subset of it (to different protocol data unit sessions 501, 502, 503), and the proposed functionality extends user equipment routing policy function 21 by allowing user equipment routing policy rules to modify and / or shape matching traffic. Furthermore, according to the invention, it is advantageously possible to trigger notifications to core network 120 and / or modify user equipment routing policy rules 400 according to traffic / usage related conditions (as part of modification and / or handling instructions 410) in user equipment routing policy information 400, thereby enabling modification of user equipment routing policy rules 400 based on usage key performance indicators, as well as generating notifications / reports based on usage of user equipment routing policy rules 400. According to an embodiment of the user equipment routing policy function 21 exemplarily shown in FIG. 2, the user equipment routing policy function 21 comprises, in addition to the traffic selection function 22 (and the route selection function 22′), a traffic modification function 23 and a traffic shaping function 24. The modification function 23 enables the user equipment routing policy function 21 to modify data traffic, i.e., to modify data packets, e.g., to change packet headers (of the data packets) and / or to encrypt data packets (or parts thereof). The traffic shaping function 24 enables the user equipment routing policy function 21 to shape matching traffic to conform to a certain traffic profile, e.g., bandwidth shaping. According to an embodiment of the user equipment routing policy function 21 exemplarily shown in FIG. 3, the user equipment routing policy function 21 comprises, in addition to the traffic selection function 22 (and the route selection function 22′), a traffic function 25, a key performance indicator monitoring function 26, and a key performance indicator-based logic function 27.The key performance indicator monitoring function 26 performs monitoring of different key performance indicators of the user equipment 20, such as the amount of uplink user plane traffic. The key performance indicator based logic function 27 is triggered based on a set of user equipment routing policy rules that use the key performance indicators (i.e. based on the user equipment routing policy usage of the key performance indicators). This key performance indicator based logic function 27 can steer other user equipment routing policy components or functions and / or generate notifications (see reference N) to external entities, in particular the core network 120 of the telecommunications network 100, or internal entities, such as applications running on the user equipment 20.

[0046] According to the invention it is advantageously possible to overcome limitations associated with the previously known use of user equipment routing policy information 400, in particular such user equipment routing policy rules 400 are only used to select matching protocol data unit sessions 501, 502, 503 in which the corresponding (data) traffic (or data streams) A, B, C must be transmitted or provided. According to the invention also the user equipment routing policy information (or user equipment routing policy rules contained in or included in the user equipment routing policy information) indicates or prescribes how such data packets (of data streams A, B, C) should be processed by the user equipment. According to the invention it is proposed to expand the possible processing options for such considered data packets (of data streams A, B, C). In particular, according to the invention, for example, it is advantageously possible for the user equipment routing policies or user equipment routing policy rules 400 to modify (or rather can be prescribed (for the user equipment routing policy function 21 of the user equipment 20) to modify) the considered data packet, e.g. the data packet that is routed using a given user equipment routing policy rule or a given protocol data unit session (for example, this may involve modifying the header content or the traffic (or the considered data packet) itself, for example by encrypting at least a part of the considered data packet, in particular its payload part). Furthermore, according to the invention, for example, it is advantageously possible for the user equipment routing policies or user equipment routing policy rules 400 to drop or buffer (or rather can be prescribed (for the routing policy function 21 of the user equipment 20) the dropping or buffering) of the considered data packet.Furthermore, according to the invention, it is for example advantageously possible that the user equipment routing policies or user equipment routing policy rules 400 can send (or rather can prescribe (to the user equipment routing policy function 21 of the user equipment 20) the sending of) one or more notifications triggered by some event, such as, for example, the first data packet of a data stream (of data packets). Furthermore, according to the invention, it is for example advantageously possible that the user equipment routing policies or user equipment routing policy rules can modify, in particular delete or disable (or rather can prescribe (to the user equipment routing policy function 21 of the user equipment 20) the modification, in particular delete or disable) of the user equipment routing policy information 400, in particular the same user equipment routing policy rule (i.e. the user equipment routing policy rule prescribes its own modification, in particular its deletion or disablement). This modification, in particular the deletion or disablement is likewise triggered by a particular event, for example an event related to a key performance indicator. Thus, according to the method of the present invention, user equipment routing policy information 400 is (or can be) used or applied in a more flexible manner when user equipment 20 connected to telecommunications network 100 is operated. According to the present invention, in order to advantageously provide the possibility to overcome limitations associated with the previously known use of user equipment routing policy information, user equipment routing policy information 400 includes at least one modification and / or handling instruction 410 (schematically represented in FIG. 1 ), where the modification and / or handling instruction 410 corresponding to a portion (or portions) of user equipment routing policy information 400 (i.e., of one or more user equipment routing policy rules 400) indicates (or prescribes) one or more processing options or actions with respect to one or more considered data packets.Thus, according to the present invention, by performing a step of receiving the considered data packet (as part of one of the data streams A, B, C) by the user equipment routing policy function 21, the considered data packet can be processed or handled by the user equipment 20 or rather the user equipment routing policy function 21 (as indicated or specified by at least one modification and / or handling instruction 410 as part of the user equipment routing policy information 400) and, in a second step, based on or depending on the content of the at least one modification and / or handling instruction 410, performing one or more of the following set of actions: The action taken by which the considered data packet is treated is to be dropped or buffered. The action whereby the considered data packet is modified and processed in such a way that it is assigned or provided to a particular protocol data unit session of the user equipment. -An action in which a notification is sent by a user equipment to a core network of a telecommunications network. - An action in which user equipment routing policy information is modified. However, according to the present invention it is further advantageously possible to overcome limitations associated with the use of previously known user equipment routing policy information by not only considering the considered data packet more or less in isolation, but also by considering a data stream (A, B, C), i.e. a stream of data packets (meaning a plurality of data packets). Such a data stream or stream of data packets also has properties (e.g. its history or data volume or bandwidth requirements) that are related to the data stream and thus not related to the data packets individually. According to the present invention, it is also advantageously possible for one or more actions to be performed based on a property (or properties) of the considered data stream, based on or dependent on the content of at least one modification and / or handling instruction 410, i.e. according to the present invention, the user equipment routing policy information 400 comprises at least one modification and / or handling instruction 410 with respect to a considered data packet (as part of the considered data stream or considered stream of data packets) to be handled or processed by the user equipment routing policy function 21, and the considered data packet (after being received by the user equipment routing policy function 21 as part of the considered data stream or considered stream of data packets) is processed based on or dependent on the content of the at least one modification and / or handling instruction 410 according to one or more of the following group of actions: The action taken by which the considered data packet is treated is to be dropped or buffered. The action whereby the considered data packet is modified and processed in such a way that it is assigned or provided to a particular protocol data unit session of the user equipment. - an action in which the considered data packet is processed to be assigned or provided to a further specific protocol data unit session of the user equipment different from the protocol data unit session used for the considered data stream or preceding data packets of the considered stream of data packets. -An action in which a notification is sent by a user equipment to a core network of a telecommunications network. - An action in which user equipment routing policy information is modified. Therefore, according to such an embodiment of the present invention, instead of considering only one data packet (i.e. the "considered data packet"), a data stream or stream of data packets, i.e. at least two data packets, are considered, and the user equipment routing policy information 400 comprises at least one modification and / or handling instruction 410 with respect to the considered preceding data packet, in particular that the considered data packet and the considered preceding data packet belong to a data stream or the same data stream (or stream of data packets) and the considered preceding data packet precedes the considered data packet, and the method comprises a third step before the first step, in which the considered preceding data packet is received by the user equipment routing policy function 21 and based on or depending on the content of the at least one modification and / or handling instruction 410, the considered preceding data packet is processed to be assigned or provided to a specific protocol data unit session of the user equipment. Thus, according to such an embodiment of the present invention, the considered data stream (or stream of data packets) has a characteristic such that, up until the considered preceding data packet, a certain trigger condition has not yet been met or verified (and thus, typically, data packets of such a data stream are assigned to or provided to a particular protocol data unit session (e.g., 501) or to a "normal" protocol data unit session), but such trigger condition is met or verified upon receipt in the user equipment routing policy function 21, or upon processing of the considered data packet (after the considered preceding data packet), one or more of the mentioned actions (including dropping or buffering or modifying the considered data packet, or sending a notification or modifying user equipment routing policy information) will be performed.In this regard, according to the invention it is particularly preferred that the considered data packets are alternatively or cumulatively processed with one or more of the actions defined in or in the second step so as to be assigned or provided to a further specific protocol data unit session (e.g. 502) of the user equipment 20, which is different from the specific (or "normal") protocol data unit session (i.e. the specific protocol data unit session is the normal (or default or defined) protocol data unit session for the data packets of the considered data stream).

[0047] According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the modification and / or handling directive 410 includes or corresponds to a bandwidth restriction directive, or the user equipment routing policy information 400 includes a bandwidth restriction directive (particularly as a modification and / or handling directive 410). This advantageously allows the bandwidth restriction to be set by using the user equipment routing policy information 400. The bandwidth restriction directive is either part of the modification and / or handling directive 410 (which is part of the user equipment routing policy information 400 or the considered user equipment routing policy rules 400) or is part of or corresponds to the modification and / or handling directive 410 (which is part of the user equipment routing policy information 400), in particular part of the routing descriptor, or part of the routing component of the user equipment routing policy information 400 (or the user equipment routing policy rules 400). The use of a bandwidth restriction directive as part of the user equipment routing policy information 400 results in the following behavior of the user equipment 20: When the bandwidth limit is reached, the traffic (sent by the user equipment 20) is throttled, i.e. in particular the bandwidth limit is reached with or following the considered preceding data packet, so that the subsequent traffic, in particular the considered data packet, is throttled, in particular by dropping, buffering or assigning or providing the considered data packet to a further specific protocol data unit session (in particular having a lower quality of service level) instead of the specific protocol data unit session. In particular, a notification is provided to the (core) network 120 and / or the application that a given rule has been triggered (e.g. the application can decide to reduce traffic or use another protocol data unit session).Furthermore, according to the invention, it is possible and preferred that the bandwidth limitation indication includes an indication of what to do with the traffic (e.g. buffering, dropping, reference to a given routing identifier), i.e. the bandwidth limitation indication can define in particular the treatment of excess traffic, in particular by buffering such excess traffic and / or dropping such excess traffic and / or applying predefined user equipment routing policy rules to such excess traffic. In particular, this embodiment allows the user equipment routing policy rules 400 to incorporate a traffic shaping function in the user equipment 20, thus freeing this function from the core network 120 in the uplink direction, in particular allowing bandwidth limitation schemes such as: Maximum Bit Rate (MBR), Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR) or Packet Rate Enforcement, i.e. shaping of the bit rate of the matching traffic. In particular, the bandwidth limitation indication acts as a QER, QoS (Quality of Service) enforcement rule. In particular, the dropping of excess traffic is performed by a bandwidth limitation indication including a traffic sink indication as part of the routing descriptor or as part of the routing component of the user equipment routing policy information 400. Here, in particular, reaching the bandwidth limit with or following the considered preceding data packet results in a notification or message being sent by the user equipment 20 towards the core network 120 and / or to an application server entity.

[0048] Exemplary embodiments of the use of a bandwidth restriction indication are represented diagrammatically in Figures 4 and 5, which diagrammatically show a bandwidth restriction indication as part of a user equipment routing policy rule 400 or as part of user equipment routing policy information 400 according to different variants. According to the invention, user equipment routing policy information 400, i.e. in particular its structure, is defined in a different way than its currently known definition in the current version of 3GPP TS 23.503, since according to the invention it includes a modification and / or handling indication 410, where the modification and / or handling indication 410 includes a bandwidth restriction indication or corresponds to a bandwidth restriction indication (i.e. in this latter case the bandwidth indication and the modification and / or handling indication 410 can be used synonymously). Figures 4 and 5 diagrammatically show different embodiments of the structure of user equipment routing policy information 400 according to the invention. 4 and 5 show user equipment routing policy information 400 as comprising a plurality of (distinct) user equipment routing policy rule groups 460, 470, 480, 490 (i.e., first user equipment routing policy rule 460, second user equipment routing policy rule 470, third user equipment routing policy rule 480, and fifth user equipment routing policy rule 490). Here, for simplicity, the structure of only one of these rule groups (i.e., user equipment routing policy rule 460 or first user equipment routing policy rule 460) is shown generally. However, it will be appreciated that the other user equipment routing policy rule groups 470, 480, 490 may be similarly structured.According to one preferred embodiment of the present invention shown in Figures 4 and 5, modification and / or handling instructions 410 (including bandwidth restriction instructions or corresponding to bandwidth instructions) of user equipment routing policy rules 460 (including priority values ​​461, traffic descriptors 462, and at least one routing descriptor (list) 463) are part of at least one routing descriptor (list) 463, i.e., user equipment routing policy rules 460 include modification and / or handling instructions 410 as part of at least one routing descriptor (list) 463, and as part of routing validation criteria 465 (and in addition to routing component 464) (see Figure 4), or as part of routing component 464 (and in addition to routing validation criteria 465) (see Figure 5). In particular, Figures 4 and 5 represent the case where the modification and / or handling instruction 410 is or corresponds to a bandwidth limitation instruction, in particular as a quality of service enforcement rule (or quality of service enforcement component), i.e. in this case, reference number 410 refers in particular to a bandwidth limitation instruction in the form of a quality of service enforcement rule.

[0049] 4 and 5 show examples of how a bandwidth restriction indication (as part of or corresponding to a modification and / or handling indication) can be integrated into the structure of a user equipment routing policy rule. According to the present invention, alternatively or cumulatively to a bandwidth restriction indication, a header modification indication and / or a traffic encryption indication and / or a notification indication and / or a rule modification indication can also be integrated into the structure of a user equipment routing policy rule as part of or corresponding to a modification and / or handling indication, i.e., either as part of at least one routing descriptor (list) 463 and as part of the routing validation criteria 465 (and in addition to the routing component 464) (see FIG. 4), or as part of the routing component 464 (and in addition to the routing validation criteria 465) (see FIG. 5).

[0050] In accordance with the present invention, user equipment routing policy information 400 may include either one user equipment routing policy rule 460 or multiple user equipment routing policy rules 460, 470, 480, 490. In either case, in accordance with the present invention, modification and / or handling instructions 410 are preferably part of one (i.e., only one) user equipment routing policy rule 460 (of user equipment routing policy information 400), or, if multiple user equipment routing policy rules 460, 470, 480, 490 are present (in or as part of user equipment routing policy information 400), modification and / or handling instructions 410 are part of one of these user equipment routing policy rules 460, 470, 480, 490. Alternatively, modification and / or handling instructions 410 are part of multiple of these user equipment routing policy rules 460, 470, 480, 490. In addition to the modification and / or handling instructions 410, the structure of the user equipment routing policy information 400 corresponds to the definition as in the current version of 3GPP TS 23.503, i.e., it is a set of one or more URSP rules 460, 470, 480, 490, where the user equipment routing policy rule 460, 470, 480, 490, or each user equipment routing policy rule, generally comprises three parts: a priority value, a traffic descriptor, and one or more routing descriptors. Since the user equipment routing policy information 400 may include only one user equipment routing policy rule, throughout this specification both terms (user equipment routing policy information and user equipment routing policy rule) are also referred to synonymously by the reference sign 400.

[0051] In any case, in accordance with the present invention, the user equipment routing policy information 400 or user equipment routing policy rules 400, especially when they include bandwidth limitation instructions (as modification and / or handling instructions or modification and / or handling instructions 410), advantageously specify what to do (or in the case of excess traffic) in the event of "excess traffic" (e.g., buffering the traffic, and / or dropping the traffic, and / or applying a given user equipment routing policy rule, and / or whether the user equipment 20 should notify the core network 120 once excess traffic exists, and what has happened to this traffic). In FIG. 6 an example of such a notification logic is shown (schematically as a communication diagram between the user equipment 20 and the core network 120 (without the intervention of the access network 110). In a first processing step 601, a user equipment routing policy rule #1 is set (by a corresponding message sent by the core network 120 to the user equipment 20). In a second processing step 602, a user equipment routing policy rule #2 is set (by a corresponding message sent by the core network 120 to the user equipment 20) including a quality of service enforcement rule QER (an example of a bandwidth restriction instruction as a modification and / or handling instruction 410) for applying the user equipment routing policy rule #1 to excess traffic. In a third processing step 603, a user equipment routing policy rule #3 is set (by a corresponding message sent by the core network 120 to the user equipment 20) including a quality of service enforcement rule QER (an example of a bandwidth restriction instruction as a modification and / or handling instruction 410) for buffering excess traffic. In a fourth processing step 604, a user equipment routing policy rule #4 is set (by a corresponding message sent by the core network 120 to the user equipment 20) including a quality of service enforcement rule QER (an example of a bandwidth restriction instruction as a modification and / or handling instruction 410) for dropping excess traffic.In a fifth processing step 605, the user equipment 20 detects or determines excess traffic for user equipment routing policy rule #2 and notifies (to the core network 120) in a sixth processing step 606 the application of user equipment routing policy rule #1 for the excess traffic from user equipment routing policy rule #2. In a seventh processing step 607, the user equipment 20 detects or determines excess traffic for user equipment routing policy rule #3 and notifies (to the core network 120) in an eighth processing step 608 the buffering of the excess traffic from user equipment routing policy rule #3. In a ninth processing step 609, the user equipment 20 detects or determines excess traffic for user equipment routing policy rule #4 and notifies (to the core network 120) in a tenth processing step 610 the dropping of the excess traffic from user equipment routing policy rule #4.

[0052] If the bandwidth restriction indication indicates to drop traffic, the corresponding user equipment routing policy rule 400 specifically includes a corresponding indication in the routing description list, i.e., a definition of the destination of the dropped traffic is specifically added to the routing descriptor (e.g., in the form of a " / dev / null destination" indication for traffic matching the user equipment routing policy rule or traffic exceeding the traffic matching this user equipment routing policy rule). In addition, a notification is generated and sent to the core network 120 and / or the application that a given rule has been triggered (e.g., the application can decide to reduce the traffic or use another protocol data unit session). Alternatively or cumulatively, periodic or network-triggered reporting (in the form of a notification) of the amount of dropped traffic is also possible and preferred in accordance with the present invention. Thus, a simple addition to the user equipment routing policy rules allows implementing the traffic drop functionality in the user equipment 20 by using the user equipment routing policy rules (user equipment routing policy information) 400, preferably by adding a traffic sink as a destination in the routing component(s).

[0053] According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the modification and / or handling instructions 410 comprise or correspond to a header modification instruction or the user equipment routing policy information 400 comprises a header modification instruction (particularly as a modification and / or handling instruction 410). Thereby, it is advantageously possible to apply modifications to or to the (data) packets being routed via the considered user equipment routing policy rules 400, for example modifying the DSCP, Differentiated Services Code Point value. In particular, the header modification instruction comprises information on one or more of the following: a header identifier, a name, a position and / or a variable type (string, integer, etc.) and / or a value to use. The header modification instruction is either part of or corresponds to the modification and / or handling instruction 410 (which is part of the user equipment routing policy information 400 or the user equipment routing policy rules 400 considered), and in particular is part of the routing descriptor or part of the routing component of the user equipment routing policy information 400 (or the user equipment routing policy rules 400).

[0054] According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the modification and / or handling instruction 410 includes or corresponds to a traffic encryption instruction, or the user equipment routing policy information 400 includes a traffic encryption instruction (particularly as the modification and / or handling instruction 410). Thereby, advantageously, it is possible to provide traffic encryption based on the user equipment routing policy rules or the user equipment routing policy information 400. In conventionally known telecommunication networks, the user equipment routing policy rules are steered from a policy and charging function (as part of the core network 120), in particular the H-PCF in the roaming case (i.e. the home policy and charging function or policy and charging function of the home network). Thus, the core network 120 (or the home core network, H-CN) knows which user equipment routing policy information 400 or user equipment routing policy rules 400 are located in the user equipment 20. Thus, by encrypting the traffic or data packets via the user equipment routing policy rules or information, it is possible to steer from the home operator, so that the following can be achieved: -The traffic is not visible by the access network. -The traffic is not visible by the V-PLMN's (visited telecommunications network's) core network. This is illustrated diagrammatically in Figures 7 and 8, which show different embodiments using a traffic encryption indication as or as part of the modification and / or handling indication 410. In Figure 7, user equipment 20 is illustratively shown transmitting three data streams A, B, C (e.g., originating or generated by three applications A', B', C'). These data streams A, B, C are provided to a user equipment routing policy function 21 of user equipment 20, where data stream A is provided to or processed by second user equipment routing policy rules 402 and data streams B and C are provided to or processed by first user equipment routing policy rules 401 (e.g., "for traffic A, user equipment routing policy rules 401 (with encryption) are set, but traffic B and C use default user equipment routing policy rules 402"). 7 exemplarily illustrates a case where the second user equipment routing policy rule 402 includes a traffic encryption instruction as or as part of the modification and / or handling instruction 410, such that data stream A (i.e., data packets of data stream A) are (at least partially or fully) encrypted (e.g., with respect to their payload portion (i.e., excluding in particular their header portion) or with respect to at least a part of their payload portion) and are marked in particular so that the receiving gateway GW can filter and decode them. In the exemplary embodiment illustrated in FIG. 7, the data packets of data stream A and the data packets of data streams B and C are transported (or transmitted) from the user equipment 20 to the core network 120 (in this case, the core network 120 corresponds to the core network of the home network of the user equipment 20) or rather to a gateway GW of the core network 120, such as its user plane function, using the same protocol data unit session (represented in FIG. 7 as protocol data unit session 501).When the user equipment 20 is instructed or prescribed by the second user equipment routing policy 402, in particular its traffic encryption instruction, it encrypts the data stream A to be decrypted (or be able to be decrypted) only by the gateway GW of the core network 120, and the (encrypted) content of the data stream A is not accessible (or cannot be accessed by) the access network 110 (even if such access is attempted). In case of roaming, if the traffic is routed by the V-PLMN towards the H-PLMN, it is advantageous to perform the decryption in the H-PLMN, thus obscuring the traffic from the V-PLMN. This is shown diagrammatically in FIG. 8 which again shows the user equipment 20 exemplarily transmitting three data streams A, B, C (e.g. originating or generated by three applications A′, B′, C′). These data streams A, B, C are again provided to the user equipment routing policy function 21 of the user equipment 20, where data stream A is provided to or processed by the second user equipment routing policy rule 402 and data streams B and C are provided to or processed by the first user equipment routing policy rule 401 (e.g., "for traffic A, user equipment routing policy rule 401 (with encryption) is set, but traffic B and C use default user equipment routing policy rule 402"). Figure 8 exemplarily illustrates the case where the second user equipment routing policy rule 402 includes a traffic encryption instruction as or as part of the modification and / or handling instruction 410, such that data stream A (i.e., data packets of data stream A) are encrypted (at least partially or fully) and, in particular, marked so that a receiving gateway GW in the home telecommunications network of the user equipment 20 can filter and decrypt them.In the exemplary embodiment shown in Fig. 8, the data packets of data stream A as well as the data packets of data streams B and C are transported (or transmitted) again using the same protocol data unit session (represented in Fig. 8 as protocol data unit session 501). However, in contrast to the representation in Fig. 7, the user equipment 20 is connected to the access network 110 of the visited network 100, and therefore the protocol data unit session 501 is terminated at the corresponding gateway GW of the core network 120 of the visited telecommunication network 100. However, the encrypted data (of data stream A) are not accessible to the core network 120 of the visited telecommunication network 100, since they remain encrypted until they are transmitted to the core network 120' of the home network 100' of the user equipment 20 (in this considered roaming case). Only the gateway GW' of the core network 120' of the home network 100' can decrypt the encrypted data of data stream A. When the user equipment 20 is instructed or prescribed by the second user equipment routing policy 402, in particular its traffic encryption instructions, it encrypts data stream A to be decrypted (or capable of being decrypted) only by the gateway GW' of the core network 120' of the home network 100', and the (encrypted) content of data stream A is not accessible to (or cannot be accessed by) the access network 110 of the visited network 100, nor is it accessible to the core network 120 of the visited network 100 (even if such access is attempted).

[0055] In particular, according to the invention, the traffic encryption instruction includes the following encryption parameters: provided by the telecommunications network 100 (especially if it is a home network) provided by another telecommunications network (in particular the network 100' being the home network of the user equipment 20) - provided by a third party (in particular an application provider or an application server entity);

[0056] If the encryption parameters are provided by a third party, it is particularly preferred according to the invention that only the third party can decrypt the encrypted data (similar to the description in relation to Figures 7 and 8), i.e. the encrypted data remains encrypted, in particular via the visited telecommunications network and the home telecommunications network, and can only be decrypted by the application provider or a third party.

[0057] According to a further preferred embodiment of the invention, the modification and / or handling instructions 410 include or correspond to processing logic instructions or the user equipment routing policy information 400 includes processing logic instructions (particularly as modification and / or handling instructions 410). This advantageously provides the possibility to apply processing logic based on the user equipment routing policy rules or the user equipment routing policy information 400, especially in the routing description list. According to this embodiment of the invention, instead of using (rather static) user equipment routing policy parameters (as part of the user equipment routing policy rules 400), the user equipment routing policy rules are additionally or alternatively allowed to include program elements that are "black box" from the point of view of the corresponding user equipment routing policy rules. Such program elements are in particular traffic manipulation instructions that describe the processing of the traffic (i.e. the "source code" where the actual instructions are visible). Alternatively (or cumulatively), such program elements are machine-readable programs (parts) that interfacing with inputs and outputs of the user equipment routing policy engine and / or the user equipment routing policy function 21 (i.e., "compiled code" where the instructions themselves are not visible). According to this embodiment, it is typically required to provide a runtime for packet processing to enable platform-independent code execution (e.g., JVM, P4 compiler and executor, etc.). In particular, a local repository in the user equipment 20 is provided to store processing logic so that it can be referenced in the user equipment routing policy setup. This avoids sending or transmitting the entire code (information) every time. Furthermore, in particular, a "container repository" is provided to reference packet processing logic in the user equipment routing policy rules 400 (instead of having the code itself in the user equipment), for example realized by a "container repository" from which such logic can be retrieved.This is in contrast to the previously known use of user equipment routing policy information, which includes only parameters for a fixed set of traffic descriptors, routing descriptors, etc. The available degrees of freedom are therefore limited. Furthermore, the packet processing logic is visible to the user equipment 20, and therefore, according to an embodiment using at least one processing logic instruction, it is advantageously possible, according to the present invention, for the network to be able to deploy a set of user equipment routing policy rules that include packet processing applications. Typically, this requires a user equipment routing policy runtime, which includes, among other things: - An interface through which incoming packets matching traffic description criteria are input to a matching user equipment routing policy program. An interface through which the user equipment routing policy program passes data packets back to the user equipment routing policy runtime. Optionally, one or more interfaces through which the user equipment routing policy program may exchange data (in particular one or more of the following: capabilities of the URSP runtime, subscriber information in the user equipment, location, available access technologies, communication with the access network and / or communication with the core network via the user equipment routing policy runtime or via other user equipment components (e.g., DNS client) to, for example, retrieve network and / or radio load, query subscriber data in the network, and / or request triggering of network logic (e.g., setting additional user equipment routing policy rules, activating certain features / quality of service)) via the user equipment routing policy runtime with the user equipment routing policy runtime and / or other user equipment components (e.g., DNS client). In short, the use of at least one processing logic instruction allows the network to deploy packet processing logic similar to that which would be deployed in a packet gateway, thus achieving offloading of packet processing in the uplink, thus reducing stress on the network side. In particular, the user equipment routing policy program may preferably include a set of unique (e.g., operator-specific) rule implementations.

[0058] According to the present invention, the provision of the corresponding user equipment routing policy information including at least one processing logic instruction is particularly realized as follows: The core network sets a user equipment routing policy rule including a user equipment routing policy program reference (i.e., at least one processing logic instruction includes or references a user equipment routing policy program). If only a reference to a user equipment routing policy program is provided as part of the processing logic instruction (i.e., is part of the user equipment routing policy rule), the user equipment 20 uses the reference information of the user equipment routing policy rule / processing logic instruction to retrieve the user equipment routing policy program information from the user equipment routing policy program repository entity or function. The user equipment 20 then includes or contains the complete user equipment routing policy information, i.e., includes the user equipment routing policy program. In particular, the user equipment 20 can subscribe to changes to the respective user equipment routing policy program (particularly in the user equipment routing policy program repository). It then gets notified (also specifically from the user equipment routing policy program repository) in case of changes or modifications or deletions regarding the respective user equipment routing policy program, or in case of other relevant changes.

[0059] In particular, in accordance with the present invention, the user equipment routing policy program can take advantage of the capabilities of the user equipment routing policy runtime, namely capabilities relating to at least one or more of the following: -Data packet manipulation. -Variables and Boolean logic. -Interfacing the user equipment routing policy runtime with other components within the user equipment 20 and / or the access network and / or core network, and / or with third party components beyond the core network, either directly or indirectly via intermediate gateways (e.g. network exposure functions in the case of 5G). This in particular allows any logic to be implemented within (or triggered or prescribed by) the user equipment routing policy rules, as long as it is supported by the user equipment routing policy runtime. This allows network operators to deploy customer-specific and / or proprietary data processing on the user equipment via the user equipment routing policy rules or user equipment routing policy information. Such user equipment routing policy programs are considered to be part of the user equipment routing policy rules transmitted by the core network to the user equipment 20. This allows for efficient use of user equipment routing policy programs, so that the user equipment routing policy programs need only be instantiated when certain criteria are met. A further aspect relates to the setup of a "catch-all" traffic descriptor that applies to all traffic and / or results in a user equipment routing policy (i.e., a user equipment routing policy program) being applied in the user equipment routing policy transmitted from the core network, not in the user equipment routing policy program itself, but rather in a reference pointing to a user equipment routing policy repository from which the user equipment routing policy program can be retrieved.

[0060] According to a further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the modification and / or handling instructions 410 include or correspond to a notification instruction or the user equipment routing policy information 400 includes a notification instruction (particularly as the modification and / or handling instructions 410). Thereby, it is advantageously possible to generate notifications based on the user equipment routing policy usage, in particular an interface application owner can set up a set of user equipment routing policy rules in the user equipment 20 and has the ability to generate notifications based on the user equipment routing policy usage. According to a still further preferred embodiment of the present invention, the modification and / or handling instructions 410 include or correspond to a rule modification instruction or the user equipment routing policy information 400 includes (particularly as the modification and / or handling instructions 410). Thereby, it is advantageously possible to change the validity state of a user equipment routing policy rule by a trigger event (or to delete a user equipment routing policy rule), for example when a data cap is reached. A typical use case is the configuration of user equipment routing policy rules by the core network or external application owner (typically via a core network exposure function, e.g. network exposure function in 5G), in particular by configuring the user equipment routing policy rules to conditions, data trigger conditions, as opposed to purely time-based and / or location-based user equipment routing policy conditions. This is illustrated in FIG. 9, which represents an embodiment of a communication diagram for the use of traffic-related triggers resulting in notifications and / or modifications to user equipment routing policy rules. FIG. 9 illustrates a communication diagram between the user equipment 20, the core network 120, the application owner AO, and a third party 3P. In a first processing step 611, the AO configures (by sending a corresponding message to the core network 120) a user equipment routing policy rule that includes a traffic-related trigger condition and indicates a notification endpoint.In a second processing step 612, the core network 120 sets the user equipment routing policy trigger rule in the user equipment 20 (or by a message to the user equipment 20). This results in the trigger condition being monitored by the user equipment 20 (by including it in the respective user equipment routing policy rule). In a third processing step 613, the trigger condition is verified, i.e. a trigger is set in the user equipment 20, which results in a user equipment routing policy notification from the user equipment 20 to the core network 120 in a fourth processing step 614. This then results in a notification by the core network 120 to the AO (in a fifth processing step 615) and to the third party 3P (in a sixth processing step 616). In an optional seventh processing step 617, the user equipment routing policy rule is modified (e.g. deleted, or disabled, or deactivated).

[0061] Thus, according to the present invention, advantageously, the application owner's interface for configuring user equipment routing policy rules in user equipment 20 and the ability to generate notifications can be based on the use or user equipment routing policy rules. In particular, these notifications, and generally notifications triggered by all user equipment routing policy rules according to the present invention (i.e. notifications triggered by or based on a particular user equipment routing policy rule, in particular based on a modification and / or handling directive, where the modification and / or handling directive is, corresponds to or includes at least one of a bandwidth limitation directive, a header modification directive, a traffic encryption directive, a notification directive and a rule modification directive), include at least a reference to the particular user equipment routing policy rule being generated and / or a reference to the modification and / or handling directive being generated, and include trigger event information indicating or relating to a trigger event or a trigger condition that triggers the generation of the notification.

[0062] By using at least one notification instruction and / or at least one rule change instruction as part of the modification and / or handling instruction, in accordance with the present invention, a reporting capability can advantageously be added to the user equipment routing policy rules, which are then configured to include, for example, additional trigger condition(s). - The conditions under which a notification trigger is activated, for example, a certain amount of data has been routed by a user equipment routing policy rule (absolute or since last trigger) and / or a user equipment routing policy rule is in use. - The type of trigger, e.g. a one-time trigger (only once), or every time a condition is met, or periodically, i.e. if a condition was met last time. Data to be included in the trigger, e.g. the current amount of data to be transmitted in total or since the last trigger, and / or a user equipment routing policy description or identifier that uniquely identifies (at least within the user equipment 20) the user equipment routing policy rule. A possible use case of this functionality is to create a Charging Data Record (CDR). Such a CDR corresponds to a notification triggered by an event. Both such a notification is itself a CDR or the notification itself is converted to a CDR, for example by the core network 120. According to the present invention, it is further preferred that a user equipment routing policy rule usage related notification triggers logic in the core network, for example to set or modify or remove user equipment routing policy rules in the user equipment 20 and / or to steer session logic (e.g. protocol data unit session termination, session modification) and / or notifications of third party entities, for example via a network exposure function (NEF) for individual user equipment notifications or for an aggregate number of user equipments. In conventionally known telecommunication networks, such triggers are not available based on the use of a given user equipment routing policy rule, for example based on notifications to other network components based on said rules. Neither the Access Traffic Steering, Switching and Splitting (ATSSS) based method nor the user equipment routing policy based method allows notifications based on traffic rules (i.e. traffic filter triggers). Furthermore, according to the invention, by using at least one notification instruction and / or at least one rule change instruction as part of the modification and / or handling instruction, it is advantageously possible to set, for example, a maximum data limit of a user equipment routing policy rule, i.e. an additional option of a trigger (or trigger condition) is that the validity state of a user equipment routing policy rule is changed by a trigger event (or the deletion of said user equipment routing policy rule is triggered). A typical example is reaching a given data cap. In this case, when the data limit is reached, the rule is no longer valid (e.g. the traffic uses another "default traffic rule"). The user equipment 20 monitors how much traffic has matched the rule and keeps track of when the transferred data is equal to or exceeds a specified value.Once said limit is reached, the user equipment routing policy rule is no longer valid. This allows, among other things, notification to the network and / or application that a given rule has been triggered (e.g., the application can decide whether to apply certain logic, such as stopping latency-sensitive logic; the network triggers operator logic, such as notifying the subscriber that the data cap has been exhausted), and / or providing instructions on what to do with the traffic (e.g., buffer, drop, reference to a given routing identifier). This thus allows user equipment routing policy rules to lose validity once a certain amount of traffic has been routed through or using such user equipment routing policy rules.

[0063] In particular, in accordance with the present invention, several locations are possible for including data caps that constrain the validity of a rule. Additionally, it is possible to implement counters that track the current rule usage and the action to be taken after a set amount is reached.

[0064] When data traffic routed by a user equipment routing policy rule triggers an event, the following actions are possible and preferred: In case of excess traffic, the traffic descriptor is specified to implement one of the following options: buffer traffic, drop traffic, apply another user equipment routing policy rule, i.e., apply user equipment routing policy rule chain. - An action of removing a user equipment routing policy rule from the user equipment routing policy list. - An action of marking a user equipment routing policy rule as not valid without deleting the user equipment routing policy rule.

[0065] Throughout this specification it is repeatedly stated that the modification and / or handling indication 410 includes, is or corresponds to a bandwidth restriction indication or a header modification indication or a traffic encryption indication or a notification indication or a rule modification indication. It is to be understood that the term modification and / or handling indication is replaced by one of the other terms, respectively, when the modification and / or handling notification is such other notification, so for example in the specific case of a modification and / or handling notification being (or corresponding to) a notification indication, the user equipment routing policy information 400 includes at least one notification indication, for a considered data packet to be handled or processed by the user equipment routing policy function 21, the method includes steps of the user equipment routing policy function receiving the considered data packet, and based on or depending on the content of the at least one notification indication, a notification is sent by the user equipment 20 to the core network 120 of the telecommunications network 100. Naturally, in the particular case of a modification and / or handling notification being (or corresponding to) a header modification indication or a traffic encryption indication, the method comprises a step of the user equipment routing policy function receiving the taken into account data packets, and based on or in response to the content of the at least one header modification indication or the at least one traffic encryption indication, the taken into account data packets are modified and processed in such a way that they are assigned to or provided to a particular protocol data unit session of the user equipment 20.

Claims

1. 1. A method of applying user equipment routing policy information (400) in operating a user equipment (20) connected to a telecommunications network (100), the telecommunications network (100) comprising a core network, The user equipment (20) applies the routing policy information (400) to user plane data carried by data packets; said user equipment (20) comprising a user equipment routing policy function (21) for applying said user equipment routing policy information (400) such that data packets carrying said user plane data are processed in accordance with said user equipment routing policy information (400); The user equipment routing policy information (400) includes at least one modification and / or handling instruction (410) for a considered data packet to be processed by the user equipment routing policy function (21), and the method comprises the steps of: - in a first step, said considered data packets are received by said User Equipment Routing Policy Function (21), in a second step, by said User Equipment Routing Policy Function (21) based on the content of said at least one modification and / or handling instruction (410), the considered data packets are processed in such a way that they are buffered; the considered data packets are modified and processed in such a way that they are assigned to a particular protocol data unit session of the user equipment (20); - an action in which a notification is sent by said user equipment (20) to said core network (120) of said telecommunications network (100); - the action in which said user equipment routing policy information (400) is modified; one or more of the following actions are performed: A method comprising:

2. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the user equipment routing policy information (400), which in particular comprises one or more routing policy rules, comprises the at least one modification and / or handling instruction (410) for a considered preceding data packet, in particular such that the considered data packet and the considered preceding data packet belong to the same data stream and the considered preceding data packet precedes the considered data packet, the method comprising a third step prior to the first step, in which the considered preceding data packet is received by the user equipment routing policy function (21) and processed in such a way that based on or depending on the content of the at least one modification and / or handling instruction (410), the considered preceding data packet is assigned to a specific protocol data unit session of the user equipment (20).

3. 2. The method according to claim 1, characterized in that the considered data packets are processed cumulatively with one or more of the actions of the second step so as to be assigned to an additional specific protocol data unit session of the user equipment (20) different from the specific protocol data unit session.

4. the modification and / or handling instructions (410) include or correspond to a bandwidth restriction instruction, or the user equipment routing policy information (400) includes a bandwidth restriction instruction; In particular, a bandwidth limit is reached with the considered previous data packet or is reached following the considered previous data packet, and subsequent traffic is throttled; In particular the bit rate associated with the data stream can be controlled, in particular a maximum bit rate or a guaranteed bit rate or a packet rate can be enforced or provided; In particular, said bandwidth limitation instructions include instructions such that a handling of said excess traffic can be defined, in particular by buffering the excess traffic and / or by applying predefined user equipment routing policy rules to said excess traffic, Reaching the bandwidth limit, in particular with or following the considered preceding data packet, causes a notification or message to be sent by the user equipment (20) towards the core network (120) and / or an application server entity.

2. The method of claim 1 .

5. the modification and / or handling instructions (410) include or correspond to a header modification instruction, or the user equipment routing policy information (400) includes a header modification instruction; In particular, the header modification instructions include a description of the header parameters to be changed; In particular, the header modification instruction includes value information to be used, a header identifier, a name, a position, and a variable type, in particular a string type instruction, or an integer type instruction, or one or more of the following; 2. The method of claim 1 .

6. the modification and / or handling instructions (410) include or correspond to a traffic encryption instruction, or the user equipment routing policy information (400) includes a traffic encryption instruction; In particular, the traffic encryption instruction includes encryption parameters, the encryption parameters being: provided by said telecommunications network (100), or - provided by another telecommunications network, or - provided by a third party; The data packets transmitted by the user equipment (20) are modified by encrypting at least the payload or a portion of the payload, the data packets.

2. The method of claim 1 .

7. the modification and / or handling instructions (410) include or correspond to processing logic instructions, or the user equipment routing policy information (400) includes processing logic instructions; In particular, the processing logic instructions include program elements including logic code, In particular, said logic code or said program element comprises: - traffic manipulation instructions describing said processing of traffic, in particular as interpretable or compilable source code, - logical code metadata providing verifiable information about the origin of said logical code; and / or - a machine readable program, in particular as compiled or executable code, for interfacing the processing inputs and / or outputs of said User Equipment Routing Policy Function (21); 2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

8. the modification and / or handling instructions (410) include or correspond to a notification instruction, or the user equipment routing policy information (400) includes a notification instruction; In particular, said User Equipment Routing Policy Function (21) includes a Key Performance Indicator Monitoring Function, the sending of a notification being triggered by said User Equipment (20) when it is detected that a Key Performance Indicator threshold has been reached or exceeded, in relation to a particular Key Performance Indicator; In particular, the particular key performance indicator is or relates to the amount of data routed by the respective user equipment routing policy rules and / or charging data records.

2. The method of claim 1 .

9. the modification and / or handling instructions (410) include or correspond to a rule modification instruction, or the user equipment routing policy information (400) includes a rule modification instruction; In particular, said user equipment routing policy function (21) includes a key performance indicator monitoring function, and said modification of the applied user equipment routing policy rules is triggered when it is detected that a key performance indicator threshold has been reached or exceeded, in relation to a particular key performance indicator; the particular key performance indicator being or relating to an amount of data routed by the respective user equipment routing policy rules and / or charging data records; In particular, the validity state of the corresponding user equipment routing policy rule is changed upon detecting that the key performance indicator threshold has been reached or exceeded.

2. The method of claim 1 .

10. If a notification is sent by the user equipment (20) as a result of applying a particular user equipment routing policy rule, The notification includes at least: a reference to the specific user equipment routing policy rules to be generated, and / or a reference to the modification and / or handling instructions to be generated (410), and / or - trigger event information indicating or relating to a trigger event or trigger condition that triggers said generation of said notification; 2. The method of claim 1, comprising:

11. A user equipment (20) that applies user equipment routing policy information (400) when operating in a telecommunications network (100), the telecommunications network (100) including a core network (120); The user equipment (20) applies the routing policy information (400) to user plane data carried by data packets; the user equipment (20) includes a user equipment routing policy function (21) that applies the user equipment routing policy information (400) such that data packets carrying the user plane data are processed in accordance with the user equipment routing policy information (400); The user equipment routing policy information (400) is configured to determine, with respect to a considered data packet processed by the user equipment routing policy function (21), whether the user equipment (20) - said considered data packets are received by said User Equipment Routing Policy Function (21); by said User Equipment Routing Policy Function (21) based on the content of at least one modification and / or handling instruction (410), the considered data packets are processed in such a way that they are buffered; the considered data packets are modified and processed in such a way that they are assigned to a particular protocol data unit session of the user equipment (20); - an action in which a notification is sent by said user equipment (20) to said core network (120) of said telecommunications network (100); - the action in which the user equipment routing policy information (400) is modified; one or more of the following actions are performed: The at least one modification and / or handling instruction (410) is configured to 16. A user equipment comprising:

12. A system or telecommunications network (100) for applying user equipment routing policy information (400) in operating a user equipment (20) connected to the telecommunications network (100), the telecommunications network (100) including a core network (120). the user equipment (20) is configured to apply the routing policy information (400) to user plane data carried by data packets; said user equipment (20) comprising a user equipment routing policy function (21) for applying said user equipment routing policy information (400) such that data packets carrying said user plane data are processed in accordance with said user equipment routing policy information (400); The user equipment routing policy information (400) is configured to determine, for a considered data packet processed by the user equipment routing policy function (21), whether the system including the user equipment (20) and the telecommunications network (100), or the telecommunications network (100): - said considered data packets are received by said User Equipment Routing Policy Function (21); by said User Equipment Routing Policy Function (21) based on the content of at least one modification and / or handling instruction (410), the considered data packet is processed in such a way that it is buffered; the considered data packets are modified and processed in such a way that they are assigned to a particular protocol data unit session of the user equipment (20); - an action in which a notification is sent by said user equipment (20) to said core network (120) of said telecommunications network (100); - the action in which the user equipment routing policy information (400) is modified; one or more of the following actions are performed:

4. A system or telecommunications network comprising said modification and / or handling instructions (410) adapted to:

13. A computer program product comprising computer readable program code which, when executed on a computer and / or on a user equipment (20), causes said computer and / or said user equipment (20) to perform the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10.

14. A computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed on a computer and / or on a user equipment (20), cause the computer and / or the user equipment (20) to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 10.

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