UDM Policy Association Flags for 5G Signaling Reduction
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current communication systems lack efficient mechanisms for dynamically managing policy associations for user equipment (UE) in 5G networks, leading to unnecessary policy associations and increased signaling, particularly due to the lack of clear criteria for establishing or terminating UE, access management, and session management policy associations.
Innovation Solution
The introduction of flags (e.g., amReqInd, ueReqInd, smReqInd) in the Unified Data Management (UDM) to indicate the requirement for policy associations, which can be dynamically set and reset based on requests from application functions and network exposure functions, along with timers to manage the duration of these associations, allowing for more precise control over policy associations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If policy associations are established for all user equipment by default, then service requirements can be satisfied, but signaling overhead and network complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces flag parameters (amReqInd, ueReqInd, smReqInd) that can be dynamically set to indicate whether policy associations are required. This parameter-based control mechanism allows the network to switch between different policy association modes (mandatory vs. optional) based on service requirements, thereby resolving the contradiction between ensuring service satisfaction and reducing network complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements dynamic management of policy associations through flags that can be updated based on service provisioning events. Instead of static default behavior, the system dynamically determines whether policy associations are needed by checking flag states, allowing the network to adapt to varying service requirements and reduce unnecessary associations
2Reliability
If policy associations are established for all user equipment, then service requirements are met, but signaling overhead increases
Solution Approach 1:
By introducing controllable flag parameters, the system can distinguish between UEs that require policy associations and those that don't. This parameter-based differentiation prevents unnecessary signaling for UEs where policy associations are not needed, while ensuring proper signaling for UEs that require them, thus resolving the signaling overhead issue
3Productivity
If flags are introduced to dynamically manage policy associations, then signaling efficiency improves, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the policy association management by introducing separate flags for different policy types (access management flag amReqInd, UE policy flag ueReqInd, session management flag smReqInd). This segmentation allows independent control of different policy associations, improving signaling efficiency by being precise about what is needed while keeping the complexity manageable through organized, modular flag structures
4Productivity
If timers are used to manage policy association duration, then resource allocation improves, but control complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements periodic action through timers that automatically manage the duration of policy associations. When a service provisioning event occurs, a timer is started, and the policy association remains active until the timer expires. This periodic/time-based management improves resource allocation by automatically cleaning up expired associations, while the timer mechanism itself handles the control complexity, keeping the overall system control manageable
Data Source
AI summary
There is provided an apparatus comprising: means for storing at least one flag in a first state at a first time, wherein the at least one flag is associated with at least one user equipment and the first state indicates that no policy association is required for the at least one user equipment; means for receiving, at a second time which is after the first time, a request from a network exposure function indicating that the at least one flag should be updated to a second state, wherein the second state indicates that a policy association is required for the at least one user equipment, wherein a purpose of the policy association is to satisfy service requirements of a service which has been or will be provisioned at the at least one user equipment; and means for, in response to receiving the request, updating the flag to the second state.