5G Multicast Session Access Across Multiple Location Areas
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing communication systems in 5G networks face challenges in efficiently managing multicast sessions across multiple location areas, particularly in handling the distribution of content and session management for user equipment moving between different geographical locations.
Innovation Solution
An apparatus and method for storing multicast session information, including identifiers and access details for multiple location areas, and providing access information to these sessions based on location requests, utilizing control nodes and session management functions to manage content distribution across geographical areas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multicast session information is stored centrally for all location areas, then session management reliability is improved, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments multicast session information by location area, with each access network node storing and managing session information specific to its local area. This distributed segmentation approach maintains session management reliability within each location area while avoiding the centralization complexity of managing all location areas from a single point.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a location area dimension to the multicast session management system. Instead of a flat centralized or purely distributed model, session information is organized and stored across multiple spatial dimensions (location areas), allowing efficient local access while maintaining network-wide coordination through the dimensioned structure.
2Speed
If multicast content is distributed to all access network nodes, then content delivery speed is improved, but network resource consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements local quality by having each access network node store and deliver multicast content specific to its local location area. Nodes only maintain and transmit content relevant to their local area, enabling fast local content delivery while avoiding the waste of distributing and maintaining content across the entire network at all nodes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies partial action by having access network nodes store only the portion of multicast content needed for their specific location area rather than complete content sets. This partial storage approach achieves sufficient content delivery speed for local users while significantly reducing overall network resource consumption compared to full replication at all nodes.
3Reliability
If user equipment location is continuously tracked, then session continuity is improved, but signaling overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by having access network nodes proactively determine and store the location area information of user equipment before multicast session establishment. This advance preparation ensures session continuity when users move between location areas while avoiding continuous tracking signaling overhead, as the location information is already available when needed.
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided an apparatus. The apparatus is configured to: store information of a multicast session, the information comprising at least one identifier of the multicast session, and information about access to different content for the multicast session in a plurality of different location areas; and, in response to a request from a second apparatus, provide to the second apparatus information about access to content of the multicast session in at least one of the plurality of different location areas.