Bearer Priority Allocation for Reliable Network Handover

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Solution Overview

Problem

Existing telecommunications networks fail to correlate bearer selection with priority values during handover, leading to inconsistent dropping of bearers and potential termination of streaming-media sessions or negative user experiences.

Innovation Solution

Implement a method for bearer selection that prioritizes bearers based on quality of service (QoS), retention priority, and supplemental priority values, ensuring higher-priority bearers are retained during handover.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Reliability

If bearer selection is performed without correlating priority values during handover, then the handover process is simple and fast, but the bearer allocation becomes inconsistent and may terminate streaming-media sessions

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveservice continuityVSAvoidbearer selection complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
ReliabilityVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The patent assigns priority values to bearers in advance based on QoS parameters before handover occurs. This preliminary prioritization enables the network to quickly determine which bearers to retain during handover without complex real-time calculations, thus maintaining service continuity while keeping the handover process efficient

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent introduces supplemental priority values as an additional parameter to differentiate bearer priorities when QoS values are equal. This parameter differentiation allows the system to make consistent bearer selection decisions during handover, resolving the contradiction between simple selection and reliable service continuity

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

2Adaptability or versatility

If multiple bearers are allocated to a terminal, then more network services can be supported, but the network resource consumption increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenetwork service supportVSAvoidnetwork resource consumption
Core Design Contradiction:
Adaptability or versatilityVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies different priority values to different bearers based on their specific QoS requirements and service types. This allows the network to allocate resources selectively - maintaining high-priority bearers with critical services while allowing low-priority bearers to be released when resources are constrained, thus supporting service diversity while optimizing resource consumption

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

3Speed

If bearers are deallocated during handover without priority consideration, then the handover process is fast, but user experience deteriorates due to service termination

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvehandover speedVSAvoiduser experience degradation
Core Design Contradiction:
SpeedVSObject-affected harmful factors

Solution Approach 1:

Priority values are predetermined and assigned to bearers before handover based on QoS parameters. During handover, the network simply compares these pre-assigned priorities to determine which bearers to retain, enabling fast handover execution without complex real-time analysis, thus maintaining both speed and user experience

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP4465751B1Telecommunications network bearer allocation and deallocation
Publication Date: 2026.03.25 T MOBILE US INC
  • EP4465751B1 patent drawingFigure 1
  • EP4465751B1 patent drawingFigure 2
  • EP4465751B1 patent drawingFigure 3

AI summary

A device and method having a communications interface and a processor performing operations. Operations may include receiving a request to allocate a bearer for a terminal to receive a network service. The network service may be associated with a quality-of-service value, QV, and a retention-priority value, RPV. Operations may include determining a bearer identifier for the network service based at least in part on the QV, the RPV, and a supplemental priority value, SPV. The SPV may have a member selected from a first group consisting of an APN; priority flag; identification of a subscriber of the terminal; the type of terminal; equipment identifier of the terminal; network address for the terminal; Multimedia Priority Services indication; and Mission-Critical Services indication. Operations may include sending a reply having the bearer identifier. The SPV may be different from the QV. The SPV may be different from the RPV