Mobile Core Network Paging for UE Sleep-State Reachability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing communication protocols and network architectures fail to efficiently manage power saving modes in user equipment (UEs), leading to situations where UEs become unreachable during long sleep periods, causing issues with mobile terminated communications and inefficient data buffering in the mobile core network (MCN).
Innovation Solution
A third-party application server informs the network to keep UEs awake during data transfers by adjusting power saving modes and configuring network nodes to ensure UEs are reachable, optimizing retransmission timers, and coordinating data delivery to align with UE availability.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If UEs use Power Saving Mode (PSM) or extended Idle Mode DRX (eDRX) to sleep for longer periods, then power consumption is reduced, but the UE becomes unreachable for mobile terminated communications
Solution Approach 1:
The application server sends data to the MCN in advance before the UE enters sleep mode. The MCN buffers the data and pages the UE before its sleep period begins, ensuring the UE is reachable when data needs to be delivered, thus resolving the contradiction between power saving and reachability
Solution Approach 2:
The MCN acts as an intermediary between the application server and the sleeping UE. It receives data from the server, buffers it, manages the UE's sleep/wake cycles, and pages the UE when appropriate, enabling both power saving mode operation and reliable data delivery
2Reliability
If the MCN buffers MT data for UEs in long sleep periods, then data delivery is enabled, but buffering capacity and network complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system pages the UE in advance before its sleep period starts, allowing the MCN to deliver buffered data during the UE's active periods. This reduces the need for long-term buffering capacity while maintaining reliable data delivery
Solution Approach 2:
The MCN uses periodic paging opportunities to deliver buffered data to UEs. By scheduling data delivery during periodic wake-up occasions, the network can manage buffering more efficiently without requiring excessive buffering capacity for extended periods
3Device complexity
If application layer protocols use standard retransmission timers, then protocol simplicity is maintained, but data delivery efficiency decreases when UEs are in sleep mode
Solution Approach 1:
The MCN provides feedback to the application server about the UE's availability status and sleep/wake schedules. This feedback enables the application server to adjust retransmission timers dynamically, improving data delivery efficiency without significantly increasing protocol complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The system delivers data to the UE before it enters sleep mode or during its active periods, eliminating the need for extended retransmission timers. This preliminary data delivery approach maintains protocol simplicity while improving delivery efficiency
Data Source
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AI summary
When mobile terminated devices sleep, the devices might not be reachable when needed, for instance when the device is a recipient of data from a third party server. As described herein, a third party application server may inform the network that it has data to send to a particular UE or group of UEs. In an example, the mobile core network (MCN) may use information from the third party server to ensure that the UE is awake when it needs to be. For example, a given UE or group of UEs can be prevented from entering a sleep state before a data transfer is completed.