Policy Decision Point Server for Shared Quota Management
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current telecommunications systems face challenges in enforcing quality of service (QoS) policies across multiple associated sessions with different connection identifiers, leading to potential quota exceedance, particularly in scenarios like family bundles or shared service plans, which complicates operator offerings and requires different service plans for each identifier.
Innovation Solution
A server-based solution that acts as a policy decision point, managing a shared total usage quota across multiple connection identifiers, ensuring that quotas are allocated and enforced across all sessions to prevent exceedance, by determining available quotas based on ongoing sessions and updating usage records to maintain fair resource distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate service plans are created for each connection identifier to prevent quota exceedance, then quota control reliability is improved, but device complexity and operator offering complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple connection identifiers under a shared parent quota entity. Instead of creating separate service plans for each connection identifier, the system combines them into a hierarchical structure where a parent quota encompasses multiple child connection identifiers. This allows centralized quota control across all identifiers while maintaining individual session management, thereby improving quota control reliability without increasing service plan complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The parent quota entity serves multiple functions: it acts as a shared resource pool for multiple connection identifiers, provides centralized authorization for all children, and enables flexible quota allocation across different sessions. This multi-functional design allows a single service plan structure to manage multiple identifiers, reducing overall system complexity while maintaining reliable quota control.
2Device complexity
If a shared total usage quota is implemented across multiple connection identifiers, then operator offering complexity is reduced, but determining fair quota allocation becomes more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the shared parent quota into allocable portions for each child connection identifier based on defined policies. The system divides the total usage quota fairly among multiple identifiers using allocation rules that can consider factors like historical usage, priority levels, or equal distribution. This segmentation approach simplifies operator offerings by providing a single shared quota structure while enabling fair and transparent allocation across individual sessions.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms that continuously monitor quota consumption across all child connection identifiers and dynamically adjust allocations. When one identifier approaches its allocated portion, the system can reallocate from underutilized siblings or trigger authorization updates. This feedback loop ensures fair quota distribution while maintaining simplicity in the overall offering structure, as the complexity of fair allocation is handled automatically through policy-based enforcement.
3Speed
If quota is allocated per session without considering total user quota, then session setup speed is improved, but total quota exceedance risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by pre-authorizing quota allocations for multiple child connection identifiers under a shared parent quota before sessions are established. The system performs upfront authorization checks that consider the total available parent quota and allocate appropriate portions to each child identifier in advance. This preliminary allocation enables fast session setup without repeated authorization delays while ensuring that the sum of all allocations does not exceed the parent quota, thus maintaining both speed and reliability.
Data Source
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AI summary
A server configured to provide a policy decision point for a packet-based communication network. The server comprises a user account manager for maintaining and/or determining, for each of a plurality of users, an available total usage quota and a set of registered, linked connection identifiers. A request handler is provided for receiving from a policy enforcement point, a request for allocation of a quota in respect of a packet session associated with a specified connection identifier. A quota determiner responds to receipt of a quota request by determining a quota for said packet session taking into account the total usage quota for the associated user and any currently ongoing sessions associated with other connection identifiers belonging to the same set as said specified connection identifier. A responder is provided for sending the determined quota to said policy enforcement point.