Dynamic ANDSF Policy Activation via Set-IDs
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current 3GPP technology lacks the capability for real-time or nearly real-time activation of ANDSF policies, which is essential for supporting use cases such as traffic offload during charging cycles, overload situations, and marketing campaigns, where flexible and immediate policy activation is required.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of ANDSF Set-IDs that identify preconfigured policy sets, transmitted via the 3GPP control plane in real-time or quasi-real-time, allows for dynamic activation of ANDSF policies, enabling their immediate application by User Equipment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If ANDSF policies are provisioned via OMA DM protocol, then policy management is standardized, but real-time activation capability is lost
Solution Approach 1:
The ANDSF policy is segmented into multiple policy sets, each identified by a unique Set-ID. This segmentation allows the network to activate specific policy sets independently without re-provisioning the entire policy, enabling real-time activation while maintaining standardized OMA DM provisioning for the overall policy structure.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple ANDSF policy sets are pre-configured in the UE before runtime, with each set assigned a unique Set-ID. When real-time activation is needed, the network simply indicates which pre-configured set to activate, avoiding the delay of transmitting full policy data and enabling immediate policy switching while keeping OMA DM for initial standardized provisioning.
2Speed
If complete ANDSF policies are transmitted in real-time, then immediate activation is achieved, but network signaling overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
The Set-ID is extracted as a separate identifier from the complete ANDSF policy data. Instead of transmitting entire policy sets in real-time, only the compact Set-ID is signaled to the UE, which then activates the corresponding pre-configured policy set locally. This dramatically reduces signaling overhead while maintaining real-time activation capability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple ANDSF policies are provided to UE, then policy flexibility increases, but UE memory requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The ANDSF policy is divided into multiple smaller policy sets, each identified by a unique Set-ID. This segmentation allows the UE to store multiple policies in an organized manner, activating only the relevant set for current conditions. The segmentation enables efficient memory management and reduces the overhead of handling large monolithic policies.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of storing multiple complete policy versions, the UE stores one copy of each policy set and uses Set-IDs to reference them. When activation is needed, the UE copies or retrieves the specific policy set identified by the Set-ID, reducing overall memory requirements while maintaining the ability to switch between multiple policies.
Data Source
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AI summary
In current 3GPP technology (as defined in 3GPP TS 23.402, "Architecture enhancements for non-3GPP accesses") ANDSF (Access Network Discovery and Selection Function) can provide policies to a mobile terminal (UE) in push or pull mode. The provisioning of offload policies happens via a protocol based on OMA DM (as described in 3GPP TS 24.312, "Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF) Management Object (MO)") and is assumed not to be a real-time process. However, there are several use cases where the usage of such policies should be controlled in (nearly) real-time, e.g. in case of overload, a special offload policy for overload need to be activated more or less in real time (ideally within a few seconds) for many users; or for the support of a marketing campaign where offload to non-3GPP access plays a role, real-time activation of offload policies should support this case. The problem with current technology is that (nearly) real-time activation of ANDSF policies is not possible and thus the above mentioned use cases cannot be supported. An ANDSF policy is a set of one or more policy rules, whereby the ANDSF management object according to 3GPP TS 23.312 comprises rules which have a number of validity conditions, e.g. current access technology or location. Hence currently, valid rules can be identified but not active rules. This problem is solved, in that a set of rules being referred to as ANDSF policy set is defined and each is linked with a unique identifier, referred to as ANDSF Set-ID. The different policy sets are provisioned to targeted UEs in non-real time (3), i.e. any set will be provided well before it is to be used by a particular UE. Basically, the provisioning step may be realized based on existing methods, for instance by using a protocol based on OMA DM (as described in 3GPP TS 24.312, "Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF) Management Object (MO)") via the S14 interface. The real-time character of the process may be achieved by conveying ANDSF Set-IDs in the 3GPP control plane in real time or quasi real- time (4). The UE then applies the ANDSF policy set according to the received ANDS Set-ID (5).