Policy Combining for Mobile Network Traffic Steering
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In mobile communication networks, existing technologies face challenges in managing conflicting uplink and downlink transmission policies, leading to inefficient resource management and increased costs due to contradictory policies between user equipment (UE) and the network.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of enhanced 3GPP signaling and policy combining functionality that generates a combined access policy by integrating UE access rules with network-based policies, ensuring consistent traffic steering and switching rules across multiple access networks, preventing UE from overriding these combined policies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If UE access rules and network-based policies are managed separately, then flexibility and adaptability are improved, but policy conflicts and resource management inefficiency occur
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines UE access rules and network-based policies into a unified policy framework. The policy combining functionality merges these previously separate policy sets, allowing them to work together harmoniously rather than in conflict, thus maintaining both flexibility and consistency.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a policy combining functionality as an intermediary component that mediates between UE access rules and network-based policies. This intermediary resolves conflicts and ensures consistent policy application, preventing the harmful effects of policy contradictions while preserving adaptability.
2Adaptability or versatility
If UE is allowed to override access rules with local policies, then local adaptability is improved, but resource management efficiency deteriorates due to conflicting policies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by combining policies before they are applied to traffic steering decisions. The policy combining functionality preprocesses and reconciles UE access rules with network-based policies in advance, preventing conflicts from arising during actual traffic management and ensuring efficient resource utilization.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements feedback mechanisms where the policy combining functionality continuously monitors and adjusts policy applications. This ensures that local adaptability is maintained while resource management efficiency is preserved through ongoing optimization and conflict resolution.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple policies are applied simultaneously for traffic steering, then traffic management flexibility is improved, but policy conflict and complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple traffic steering policies into a unified combined policy framework. By integrating UE access rules and network-based policies through the policy combining functionality, the system maintains traffic steering flexibility while reducing the complexity of managing multiple separate policies.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the policy management process into distinct functional components: policy combination functionality, policy application functionality, and traffic steering functionality. This segmentation allows each component to handle specific tasks efficiently, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining flexible traffic management capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
Techniques are described to provide traffic steering and policy combining in a mobile network. In one example, a method includes combining, by a policy function of a network, a user equipment (UE) access policy comprising UE access rules obtained from a UE with a network-based access policy associated with the network to generate a combined access policy, the combined access policy comprising combined access rules; communicating the combined access rules to the UE via a message, wherein the message comprises an indication that indicates that the UE is not allowed to override the combined access rules with the UE access rules; and communicating the combined access rules to a user plane function handling traffic for the UE.