Group Policy Coordination for User Equipment Consistency
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Solution Overview
Problem
In current mobile communication networks, ensuring policy consistency across a group of user equipment (UEs) is challenging, particularly when a policy change occurs in one UE, requiring synchronized adjustments across all UEs to maintain coordinated and consistent policies for collaborative actions or applications.
Innovation Solution
A policy coordination method and apparatus that utilize a policy control function (PCF) network element to receive and process policy requests, leveraging pre-stored group policy information to ensure each UE in the group adopts the necessary policies, with the ability to distribute policy information across multiple PCF network elements if needed, ensuring policy synchronization among UEs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If policy control is implemented for each UE individually in a group, then policy flexibility for each UE is improved, but policy consistency across the group deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments policy control into two distinct layers: group-level policy coordination handled by a centralized network element, and UE-specific policy configuration handled by individual policy control functions. This segmentation allows each layer to address its specific requirement - group consistency at the coordination level and individual flexibility at the configuration level - thereby resolving the contradiction between policy flexibility and policy consistency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a group policy coordination function as an intermediary between the external policy requirements and individual UE policy control functions. This intermediary receives policy coordination requests, determines appropriate policies based on group information, and forwards them to relevant PCFs, thereby mediating between the need for group-wide consistency and individual UE flexibility.
2Reliability
If centralized policy coordination is implemented for the group, then policy consistency across UEs is improved, but system complexity deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent designs the group policy coordination function with multi-functionality to handle various policy coordination scenarios (policy creation, modification, deletion, synchronization) through a unified interface and standardized processing flow. By consolidating diverse policy management tasks into a single versatile coordination mechanism, the system achieves policy consistency without proportionally increasing complexity.
3Reliability
If real-time policy synchronization is implemented across UEs, then policy coordination is improved, but processing time deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-establishing group policy information including UE group relationships, policy templates, and coordination rules before actual policy changes occur. When policy coordination is needed, the system leverages these pre-configured elements to rapidly determine and synchronize policies, significantly reducing real-time processing requirements while maintaining coordination accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
The present disclosure provide a policy coordination method for a group of user equipment (UEs), the method includes receiving a policy request, where the policy request is related to a group policy for the group of UEs; and performing, according to the policy request and pre-stored group policy information, policy coordination on the group of UEs, where the pre-stored group policy information indicates a policy required to be adopted by each UE in the group of UEs for various group policies of the group of UEs.