External Identifier Routing for IoT Beyond Telephone Number Limits
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Solution Overview
Problem
Cellular networks face challenges in uniquely identifying a large number of Internet-of-Things (IoT) devices due to the limited availability of telephone numbers, necessitating a solution that allows for efficient routing without relying on MSISDNs.
Innovation Solution
The use of external identifiers (EXIDs), such as alpha-numeric identifiers like user-id@blah.com, to route messages and sessions across federated networks, enabling communication between IoT devices without relying on telephone numbers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If telephone numbers (MSISDNs) are used as unique identifiers for IoT devices, then routing and device identification can be implemented using existing cellular network infrastructure, but the system becomes infeasible due to the limited availability of telephone numbers and the extremely large expected number of IoT devices
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an EXID translation service as an intermediary component that maps external identifiers (EXIDs) to internal device identifiers (UE IDs). This translation layer enables the network to use abundant external identifier space (email addresses, phone numbers, device IDs) while maintaining compatibility with the cellular network's internal identifier system, thus resolving the contradiction between identifier quantity and infrastructure compatibility
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the identifier system into two distinct parts: external identifiers (EXIDs) that devices use for communication, and internal identifiers (UE IDs) that the cellular network uses for routing. The EXID translation service acts as the mapping layer between these two segments, allowing the network to support virtually unlimited external identifiers while maintaining efficient internal routing using the limited set of UE IDs
2Quantity of substance
If external identifiers (EXIDs) are used to route messages to IoT devices, then the system can support a large number of devices beyond telephone number availability, but the routing complexity increases due to the need for translation services and federated network coordination
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the translation function from the core cellular network routing logic and places it in a separate EXID translation service. This extraction allows the cellular network to maintain its simple, efficient routing based on UE IDs, while the translation service handles the complexity of mapping EXIDs to UE IDs. The translation service can be implemented as a standalone component or leveraged from existing federated network services, thereby managing routing complexity without limiting device scalability
Data Source
AI summary
A device may include a processor. The processor may be configured to receive, via a wireless connection, from an application server that provided a source external identifier to a source User Equipment device (UE), a routing request that includes data and an identifier for a destination UE. The processor may also be configured to look up a target external identifier for the destination UE; and route the data to a target application server that issued the target external identifier.