Centralized Roaming Policy Server for MME Configuration
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Configuring and managing roaming policies across large networks is complex and time-consuming for network operators, as they need to individually adjust various devices, such as mobility management entities (MMEs), when entering roaming agreements with other networks.
Innovation Solution
Implementing a centralized storage device that manages global roaming policies, which communicates with multiple MMEs to update local policy tables, simplifying the configuration and management of roaming policies by storing network IDs and associated policies and providing them to MMEs for application.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If network operators individually configure roaming policies on each MME device, then roaming agreements can be implemented across the network, but the configuration process becomes complex and time-consuming
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple individual MME configuration operations into a single centralized policy server. The policy server consolidates roaming policy management, allowing network operators to configure policies once at the server level rather than individually on each MME device, thereby reducing configuration complexity while maintaining reliable roaming implementation across the network
Solution Approach 2:
The centralized policy server acts as an intermediary between network operators and multiple MME devices. It receives roaming policy configurations from operators and automatically distributes them to relevant MMEs, eliminating the need for operators to directly configure each MME individually. This intermediary approach simplifies the configuration process while ensuring consistent policy implementation across the network
2Reliability
If network operators manually configure each MME device for roaming agreements, then roaming connectivity is established, but the time required for implementation increases
Solution Approach 1:
The centralized policy server performs preliminary actions by pre-configuring and storing roaming policies centrally before they are needed. When roaming agreements are established, the policies are already prepared and can be quickly activated by the policy server distributing them to MMEs, significantly reducing the time required compared to manual configuration of each device at the time of need
Solution Approach 2:
The policy server creates and maintains copies of roaming policies centrally, which can be rapidly replicated and distributed to multiple MME devices simultaneously. This copying mechanism allows the same policy configuration to be applied across numerous MMEs in parallel, dramatically reducing the total configuration time while ensuring consistent roaming connectivity
Data Source
AI summary
A device may receive a network identifier and roaming policy information associated with the network identifier. The roaming policy information may identify a manner in which to treat traffic associated with mobile devices that are associated with a home network identified by the network identifier. The device may store the network identifier and the roaming policy information using a global roaming policy data structure. The device may provide the network identifier and the roaming policy information to a mobility management entity device for storage using a local roaming policy data structure accessible by the mobility management entity device. The mobility management entity device may be one of multiple mobility management entity devices having access to respective local roaming policy data structures.