5G Core Overload Protection via Session-Level Traffic Mitigation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional 5G core network overload protection methods fail to specifically target user equipment (UE) devices and sessions causing network overload, leading to unnecessary throttling of innocent users and lack a centralized, efficient approach for identifying and mitigating abnormal UE behavior patterns.
Innovation Solution
A network traffic management system, including a service communication proxy (NTMD), monitors network traffic types and sessions to identify overloaded sessions exceeding threshold amounts, allowing targeted mitigation actions to reduce traffic from specific causes of overload, while avoiding innocent users.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If conventional message-level throttling is applied to protect producer NF from overload, then the producer NF is protected from overload, but innocent UE devices and sessions are unnecessarily penalized
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the network traffic into individual session-level flows and identifies the specific sessions causing overload, rather than applying blanket throttling to all traffic. This allows selective mitigation targeting only the problematic sessions while preserving service for innocent users.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different treatment to different sessions based on their contribution to overload. Sessions identified as causing abnormal traffic patterns receive throttling, while sessions with normal patterns continue unaffected, creating localized quality differentiation rather than uniform treatment.
2Measurement precision
If NWDAF node is deployed for analytics to identify abnormal UE behavior, then UE behavior patterns can be categorized, but additional signaling overhead and implementation complexity are introduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the analytics functionality from a separate NWDAF node and integrates it into the existing Service Communication Proxy (SCP). This eliminates the need for a separate analytics node and its associated signaling overhead while maintaining the pattern recognition capabilities.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent combines the analytics function with the Service Communication Proxy, merging two functions into a single component. This reduces system complexity by eliminating the need for separate analytics node deployment and inter-node signaling.
3Ease of manufacture
If message-level throttling is applied without session identification, then implementation is simple, but traffic patterns and UE behavior cannot be effectively analyzed
Solution Approach 1:
The patent performs preliminary analytics at the Service Communication Proxy to identify abnormal sessions before throttling is applied. This advance identification enables informed throttling decisions based on actual traffic patterns and UE behavior, rather than blind message-level throttling.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, non-transitory computer readable media, network traffic management devices and network traffic management systems that provide for efficient overload protection in 5G core networks are illustrated. With this technology, a load at a producer network function (NF) is monitored and in response to determining that the producer NF is overloaded, a plurality of types of network traffic flowing to the overloaded producer NF are monitored. An overloaded network traffic type is identified, which is a type of network traffic flowing to the producer NF that is of an amount that exceeds a first threshold amount above a first baseline amount of network traffic. An overloaded session is identified, which is a session having an amount of the overloaded network traffic type that exceeds a second threshold amount above a second baseline amount of network traffic. A mitigating action to reduce network traffic from the overloaded session is performed.