Group EPS Bearers for LTE Handover Signaling Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
In LTE systems, the handling of a large number of user equipment (UEs) configured for Machine Type Communication (MTC) leads to significant signaling overhead due to frequent establishment and release of EPS bearers, especially since these devices often have short and infrequent traffic sessions, increasing network load and overhead.
Innovation Solution
Implementing group-based Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearers that aggregate traffic from multiple UEs into a single S1 or S5/S8 bearer, reducing the need for individual bearer establishments and releases, and utilizing an EPS Bearer Group ID to manage and facilitate handovers between source and target eNBs, thereby minimizing signaling overhead.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If individual EPS bearers are established for each UE, then individualized service quality can be ensured, but signaling overhead increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple individual EPS bearers into a single group EPS bearer that can serve multiple UEs simultaneously. The group bearer aggregates traffic from multiple UEs, reducing the number of bearer establishment and release operations. This combining approach maintains service quality for individual UEs while significantly reducing signaling overhead in the S1 and S5/S8 interfaces.
Solution Approach 2:
The group EPS bearer is designed to perform multiple functions by serving multiple UEs through a single bearer instance. The bearer structure allows different UEs to share the same bearer resources while maintaining individualized QoS parameters, making the bearer system more versatile and efficient.
2Adaptability or versatility
If frequent bearer establishment and release is performed for short traffic sessions, then individual UE traffic can be managed, but network load and overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The group EPS bearer is established in advance and maintained for a duration that covers multiple short traffic sessions from different UEs. Instead of establishing and releasing bearers for each short session, the group bearer remains active, allowing UEs to quickly access the network without triggering frequent bearer setup procedures, thus improving network efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The group bearer maintains continuous connectivity for multiple UEs over an extended period, ensuring that the bearer remains active throughout the duration of multiple short traffic sessions. This continuity eliminates the need for repeated bearer establishment and release operations, reducing network load and improving overall productivity.
3Productivity
If group-based EPS bearers are used to reduce signaling overhead, then network efficiency improves, but bearer management complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The bearer management system is segmented into hierarchical levels: group-level management for the collective bearer and UE-level management for individual attachments. This segmentation allows the system to handle group bearer operations (establishment, modification, release) separately from individual UE operations, simplifying the overall management complexity while maintaining network efficiency.
Data Source
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AI summary
Technology for a target evolved node B (eNB) operable to facilitate handover is disclosed. The target eNB can receive a handover request message to hand over a user equipment (UE) from the source eNB to the target eNB. The handover request message can include an evolved packet system (EPS) bearer group identifier (ID) indicating an EPS group bearer of the source eNB and associated with the UE, a last UE indicator to indicate whether the UE is a last UE of the source eNB to use the EPS group bearer, and a downlink (DL) traffic indicator to indicate whether the DL traffic for the UE during handover is negligible. The target eNB can perform a handover procedure to establish a connection with the UE based on at least one of the EPS bearer group ID, the last UE indicator, or the DL traffic indicator included in the handover request message.