Home Agent Binding Table Dynamic Location Updates
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Solution Overview
Problem
In wireless telecommunications networks, home agents lack location-based information necessary for billing and providing location data to third parties, such as law enforcement, as this information is typically held by packet data serving nodes (PDSNs) and not communicated to the home agents.
Innovation Solution
A method to dynamically update home agents with location-based information by receiving signaling messages from mobile devices, referencing databases to associate identifiers, and communicating transaction updates to the home agents, allowing them to populate binding tables with location data accessible by third parties.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of information
If location-based information is kept only at the PDSN, then the PDSN can perform billing services, but the home agent cannot provide billing services or location data to third parties
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the information architecture by creating separate binding tables at different network elements (PDSN and home agent). The PDSN maintains a binding table with location-based information, while the home agent maintains its own binding table that is dynamically updated with location data. This segmentation allows each element to have the information it needs without requiring all elements to have access to all information, resolving the contradiction between information availability and architectural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces the home agent as an intermediary between the PDSN and third parties. The home agent receives location-based information from the PDSN through dynamic updates and then provides this information to authorized third parties (such as law enforcement agencies) and uses it for billing services. This intermediary role allows the home agent to gain access to location information without requiring direct access to the PDSN's internal databases, thus maintaining architectural integrity while enabling the desired functionality.
2Loss of information
If binding updates are sent to the home agent with session information, then session management is enabled, but location-based information is still not available to the home agent
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by having the PDSN proactively send location-based information to the home agent through dynamic updates of the binding table, rather than waiting for the home agent to request this information. This preliminary transmission of location data ensures that the home agent has the necessary information available before it needs to provide billing services or respond to third-party location requests, thereby enabling these services without additional delays or complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes a feedback mechanism where the home agent receives location-based information from the PDSN through binding table updates and then uses this information to provide billing services and location data to third parties. The home agent's ability to access and utilize this information creates a feedback loop that validates the information exchange mechanism, ensuring that the location data flows appropriately through the network architecture to enable the desired services.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and computer-readable media are provided to dynamically update a home agent with location-based information for a mobile device such that a third party, such as a law enforcement agency, may access the information to determine a location associated with the mobile device and, therefore, with the user of the mobile device. A signaling message is sent to a packet-routing component. The signaling message contains location-based information for a communications session. A transaction update is sent from the packet-routing component to the home agent each time the location-based information is updated, such as when the mobile device enters a new coverage area. A binding table is populated with the updated information. An acknowledgment is then sent from the home agent to the packet-routing component indicating that the information has been updated in the binding table. The third party is now able to access the location-based information via the home agent.