Policy-Based Non-IP Messaging Across Roaming Networks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing wireless networks face challenges in implementing non-IP messaging across different networks without requiring Network Exposure Function (NEF) or Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF) support, especially when User Equipment (UE) is roaming or connected to a visited network.
Innovation Solution
The system maintains non-IP identifiers like Mobile Directory Number (MDN) or International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) to route messages between UE and application servers, leveraging existing interfaces between home and visited network elements like UPF and SMF, without needing dedicated non-IP messaging functions in the visited network.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If non-IP messaging is implemented across different networks, then communication continuity is improved, but network complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a Network Exposure Function (NEF) as an intermediary component that mediates between the application server and the core network elements. The NEF provides a standardized interface for exposing network capabilities, enabling non-IP messaging across different networks without requiring each network to implement complex proprietary solutions. This intermediary layer simplifies the overall network architecture by centralizing the complexity in a dedicated function.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the non-IP messaging functionality into distinct modular components: the NEF for interface management, the SMF for session management, and the UPF for user plane routing. This segmentation allows each component to be independently implemented and configured, reducing overall system complexity while enabling communication continuity across network boundaries.
2Adaptability or versatility
If dedicated non-IP messaging functions are deployed in visited networks, then messaging capability is improved, but deployment complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent makes the NEF a universal function that can be deployed in home networks, visited networks, or as a cloud-based service. The NEF provides multi-functional capabilities including non-IP message routing, IP address management, and policy enforcement through a single standardized interface. This universality eliminates the need for separate dedicated non-IP messaging functions in each visited network, reducing deployment complexity while maintaining messaging capability.
3Adaptability or versatility
If IP address changes are accommodated during roaming, then network mobility is improved, but session stability deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a feedback mechanism where the NEF continuously monitors the UE's IP address assignments from different networks and dynamically updates the routing information. When the UE roams and obtains a new IP address, the NEF receives feedback about the IP change and automatically adjusts the message routing paths to maintain session stability. This closed-loop feedback ensures that non-IP messaging remains stable despite IP address changes during mobility.
Data Source
AI summary
A system described herein may maintain a set of policies associated with non-Internet Protocol (“IP”) messaging; maintain information associating an IP address of a User Equipment (“UE”) with a non-IP identifier of the UE; receive first traffic, that includes the IP address of the UE as a source of the first traffic, and payload information; identify, using the maintained information associating the IP address of the UE with the non-IP identifier of the UE, the non-IP identifier of the UE based on the IP address of the UE included in the first traffic; identify that the first traffic is associated with a particular policy of the set of policies; and forward second traffic, including the payload information and the non-IP identifier of the UE, to a destination device indicated in the first traffic, where forwarding the second traffic includes implementing the particular policy with respect to the second traffic.