Packet Data Gateway Roaming Tunnel Control
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing mobile communication systems face challenges in controlling and managing internet protocol packets when a mobile node roams from its home packet data network to a visited network, leading to issues with packet recognition and routing, especially across different 3GPP and non-3GPP networks.
Innovation Solution
A packet data gateway is introduced to detect binding update packets and establish a care of address within the visited network, allowing the home agent to route internet protocol packets through the gateway, ensuring control and management of communication resources, including policing, billing, and authentication, even when the mobile node roams between different network standards.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a mobile node roams from home network to visited network using standard IPv4/IPv6 protocols, then the mobile node can maintain internet protocol communications session, but the packet data gateway cannot recognize or control the internet protocol packets routed to the mobile node's home agent
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a tunnel interface as an intermediary between the packet data gateway and the mobile node's home agent. This tunnel interface enables the gateway to recognize, control, and manage internet protocol packets destined for roaming mobile nodes while maintaining standard IPv4/IPv6 communications. The tunnel acts as a mediator that bridges the gap between gateway control requirements and standard mobile IP routing.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the packet routing path by creating a separate tunnel interface within the packet data gateway that handles mobile node traffic specifically. This segmentation allows the gateway to apply specialized recognition and control rules to mobile node packets without affecting other network traffic, resolving the difficulty of detecting and measuring packets for roaming nodes.
2Speed
If internet protocol packets are routed directly to the mobile node's care of address in the visited network, then communication speed is improved, but the packet data gateway loses control over policing, billing, and authentication functions
Solution Approach 1:
The tunnel interface serves as a mandatory intermediary that all internet protocol packets to roaming mobile nodes must pass through. This ensures that the packet data gateway maintains control over policing, billing, and authentication functions while still enabling efficient routing to the mobile node's care of address in the visited network.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent establishes the tunnel interface in advance before mobile node roaming occurs. This preliminary configuration ensures that when mobile nodes roam and generate binding update packets, the gateway is already prepared to recognize and control their traffic through the pre-established tunnel, maintaining resource control capability without compromising communication speed.
3Productivity
If the packet data gateway implements strict packet recognition and routing control for roaming mobile nodes, then resource management and billing control are improved, but the complexity of the gateway system increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent reduces gateway system complexity by segmenting the packet handling function into a dedicated tunnel interface. This interface specifically handles mobile node traffic with simplified recognition rules based on binding update packet detection, rather than requiring the entire gateway system to implement complex recognition logic for all network traffic.
Solution Approach 2:
The tunnel interface acts as a specialized intermediary that handles the complexity of mobile node packet recognition and control in isolation. This allows the main gateway system to remain relatively simple while the tunnel interface provides the necessary sophisticated control mechanisms for policing, billing, and authentication of roaming mobile node traffic.
Data Source
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AI summary
A packet data gateway of a home packet data network is operable to communicate internet packets to and from a mobile node using an internet protocol, and to provide a communications session to the mobile node, when the mobile node is affiliated with the home packet data network, the home packet data network including a home agent of the mobile node. Upon receipt of a binding update internet packet providing a care of address of the mobile node following a change of affiliation from the home packet data network to a visited packet data network, said visited packet data network being operable to communicate internet packets to and from the mobile node to provide the communications session, when the mobile node is affiliated with the visited packet data network, the packet data gateway and the mobile node are operable to establish a mobile internet protocol tunnel for communicating internet packets to and from the mobile node in the visited network from and to the packet data gateway and to establish an internet protocol security tunnel, the mobile internet protocol tunnel being arranged to be within the internet protocol security tunnel.