Edge Node Registration for Dual-Mode Terminal Identity Visibility
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Solution Overview
Problem
Broadband networks cannot identify and provide preferential treatment to dual-mode terminals connected through a Residential Gateway, limiting access to subscribed services and personalized content due to the terminal's 3GPP identity being invisible beyond the gateway.
Innovation Solution
A method and nodes that register a terminal by receiving its identity and credentials, allocating a local identifier, and sending authorization requests to an edge node, which maps the terminal's address and applies policies for quality of service and resource allocation, enabling the terminal to benefit from policies defined in one network while active in another.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the Residential Gateway hides the home network and locally connected devices to provide basic routing functionality, then network security and basic connectivity are improved, but the terminal's 3GPP identity becomes invisible to the fixed access network, preventing preferential treatment and service personalization
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an edge node as an intermediary between the Residential Gateway and the fixed access network. This edge node receives authorization requests from the RG containing the terminal's 3GPP identity, forwards them to the 3GPP network for authentication, and stores the mapping between terminal identity and local identifier. This mediator enables the terminal's identity to be visible to the fixed access network while maintaining the RG's basic routing function, thus resolving the contradiction between network connectivity and identity visibility.
2Ease of manufacture
If the Residential Gateway allocates IP addresses from a /56 prefix to local devices without revealing their identities, then address management simplicity is improved, but the fixed access network operator cannot identify dual-mode terminals to apply subscribed service policies
Solution Approach 1:
The edge node acts as an intermediary that receives authorization requests from the RG containing the terminal's 3GPP identity, forwards them to the 3GPP network for authentication, and stores the mapping between terminal identity and local identifier. This enables the fixed access network to identify dual-mode terminals and apply subscribed service policies while the RG maintains simple address management.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements a feedback mechanism where the edge node receives authorization responses from the 3GPP network containing service policies specific to the terminal's subscription level. These policies are then stored and applied to traffic flowing to and from the terminal, ensuring that the terminal receives the appropriate service level agreement (SLA) treatment based on its subscription.
3Device complexity
If the fixed access network cannot identify dual-mode terminals behind the Residential Gateway, then network architecture simplicity is improved, but preferential treatment and personalized content delivery to subscribed terminals become impossible
Solution Approach 1:
The edge node serves as a mediator that adds identity visibility functionality to the network without requiring complex changes to the existing RG architecture. It intercepts authorization requests, obtains terminal identities from the 3GPP network, and stores mappings that enable subsequent policy-based service delivery, thus improving productivity without significantly increasing architectural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The edge node performs preliminary actions by pre-obtaining terminal identities and service policies during the authorization phase before actual data traffic flows. This allows the system to have all necessary information ready for efficient policy-based routing and service delivery, improving productivity without adding complexity to the data path.
Data Source
AI summary
A method and nodes are provided for registering a terminal. The terminal is capable of connecting in two distinct networks. The registration process for the terminal maps an identity and traffic handling policies of the terminal in a first network with an address prefix of the terminal obtained from the second network. The address prefix is obtained from the second network following authorization of the terminal in the first network. As traffic is exchanged between the terminal and a correspondent node while the terminal is accessing the second network, the mapping is used to ensure that policies for the terminal in the first network are applied in the second network.