Network Policy Control via Application-System Linkage

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Solution Overview

Problem

Current network technologies fail to provide differentiated services effectively, leading to a decline in user experience due to limited bandwidth and network quality, which hampers the development of multimedia services and revenue growth for network operators.

Innovation Solution

A method and system for network policy control that determines a user's need for a high-priority network service policy, requesting it from a policy control system, and maintaining a service state machine to ensure network quality assurance and differentiated services.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Quantity of substance

If network operators increase bandwidth provision to users, then network capacity and service quality improve, but revenue does not grow correspondingly and ARPU declines

Engineering Contradiction:
ImprovebandwidthVSAvoidrevenue efficiency
Core Design Contradiction:
Quantity of substanceVSLoss of energy

Solution Approach 1:

The patent implements differentiated service policies that assign different quality levels to different users or services. The policy control system determines specific service policies for different users based on their requirements, allowing high-priority users to receive enhanced network resources while standard users receive baseline service. This resolves the contradiction by allocating bandwidth locally to where it generates value rather than uniformly across all users.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #3Local quality

Solution Approach 2:

The system dynamically changes network service parameters (priority levels, bandwidth allocation, quality of service) based on user requirements and service states. The application system can request high-priority service policies when needed, and the policy control system adjusts parameters accordingly. This allows the network to adapt bandwidth provision to actual service needs, improving revenue efficiency while maintaining quality where required.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #35Parameter changes

2Device complexity

If network operators provide uniform network service to all users, then system complexity is reduced, but differentiated services cannot be provided and user experience deteriorates

Engineering Contradiction:
Improvenetwork control complexityVSAvoidservice differentiation capability
Core Design Contradiction:
Device complexityVSAdaptability or versatility

Solution Approach 1:

The patent segments the network control function into distinct components: application systems that detect service requirements, policy control systems that determine appropriate policies, and network elements that execute policies. This segmentation allows differentiated services to be provided through modular interactions rather than complex monolithic control, resolving the contradiction between simplicity and adaptability.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #1Segmentation

Solution Approach 2:

The policy control system acts as an intermediary between application systems and the network infrastructure. Application systems communicate their service requirements to the policy control system, which then translates these into appropriate network service policies. This intermediary layer simplifies the overall system architecture while enabling sophisticated service differentiation, as the intermediary handles the complexity of policy management centrally.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Loss of time

If application systems directly request high-priority service policies from the policy control system, then service response time is reduced, but network control complexity increases

Engineering Contradiction:
Improveservice policy acquisition timeVSAvoidsystem integration complexity
Core Design Contradiction:
Loss of timeVSDevice complexity

Solution Approach 1:

The system establishes preliminary connections and interfaces between application systems and the policy control system. Application systems are pre-configured to know how to request service policies, and the policy control system is pre-configured to recognize and process these requests. This preliminary setup reduces the time required for service policy acquisition during actual operation, as the communication pathways and protocols are already in place rather than being established ad hoc.

Inventive Principle:
Principle #10Preliminary action

Data Source

PatentEP2897336B1Method, device and system for network policy control
Publication Date: 2017.08.02 ZTE CORP
  • EP2897336B1 patent drawingFigure 1~2
  • EP2897336B1 patent drawingFigure 3~4
  • EP2897336B1 patent drawingFigure 5~6

AI summary

A method, device and system for network policy control are provided. In the method, an application system determines that a user requires a high-priority network service policy; and the application system requests the high-priority network service policy from a policy control system. With the solution, the policy control system can configure the high-priority network service policy for the user on the basis of the request of the application system, a linkage between the application system and the network is implemented, thus the network quality assurance is implemented for the user on the network, and the service experience is improved for the user.