Policy Node Grouping for Network Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Policy nodes in destination realms within mobile networks often experience high failure rates or heavy loads, leading to underperformance and negative user experiences due to inefficient load balancing and error redirection.
Innovation Solution
Implementing policy node grouping and failover mechanisms within a proxy-call session control function (P-CSCF) to select an optimal policy node group based on data traffic session requests and group policy criteria, with configurable failover criteria and latency timers for intra-group or inter-group failovers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If policy nodes are grouped into destination realms with a single DRA, then load balancing can be performed within the realm, but the system becomes vulnerable to single points of failure and heavy loads that degrade performance
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides policy nodes into multiple policy node groups, each with its own DRA, instead of having all policy nodes in a single destination realm. This segmentation allows the system to isolate failures to individual groups while maintaining service through other groups, thereby improving reliability without excessive complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The P-CSCF acts as an intermediary that performs failover operations between policy node groups. When a policy node or DRA fails, the P-CSCF redirects traffic to alternative policy node groups, serving as a mediator that maintains service continuity without requiring complex changes to the underlying policy node structure
2Reliability
If the P-CSCF monitors policy node health and performs failover operations, then service continuity is improved during failures, but the operational complexity and monitoring overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The system implements automated failover operations where the P-CSCF autonomously monitors policy node health and performs failover decisions without manual intervention. The failover latency timer and failover criteria enable the system to self-manage service continuity, improving reliability while keeping operations simple through automation rather than manual processes
Data Source
AI summary
Policy node grouping provides efficient network operation by improving the speed and reliability of policy node traffic. Disclosed solutions include: receiving, at a proxy-call session control function (P-CSCF), from a user equipment (UE), a data traffic session request; based on at least the data traffic session request and group policy criteria, selecting a policy node group from among a plurality of policy node groups, the plurality of policy node groups each comprising policy node peers grouped by a service type; based on at least the selected policy node group, determining a selected policy node; based on at least the selected policy node and the data traffic session request, establishing a data traffic session for the UE; and based on at least meeting policy node failover criteria and a failover latency timer, performing an inter-group or intra-group failover according to the group policy criteria.