UE Capability ID Signaling with Restart Counters After UCMF Failure

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Solution Overview

Problem

The centralized UE Capabilities Management Function (UCMF) failures in cellular networks lead to data loss or corruption of UE radio capability IDs, causing stale IDs that the network cannot differentiate from post-recovery IDs, resulting in inefficiencies and signaling overhead.

Innovation Solution

Implement a restart counter value associated with UE radio capability IDs to indicate whether the ID is pre- or post-UCMF recovery, allowing the network to inhibit and update stale IDs, ensuring efficient UE capability management post-recovery.

Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles

VSEngineering Contradiction Analysis

1Loss of energy

If the network stores and reuses UE radio capability IDs after UCMF recovery, then signaling overhead is reduced, but the network cannot differentiate between pre-recovery (stale) and post-recovery IDs, causing incorrect capability assumptions

Engineering Contradiction:

Improvesignaling overheadVSAvoidUE capability identification accuracy

Core Design Contradiction:

Loss of energyVSReliability

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies preliminary action by incrementing the restart counter value before the UCMF actually recovers and begins reassigning UE radio capability IDs. This proactive update ensures that any UE capability ID retrieved from storage after recovery will have an updated restart counter value, automatically distinguishing it from pre-recovery (stale) IDs without requiring additional validation steps during UE registration

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The patent implements feedback by including the restart counter value with each UE radio capability ID stored in the database. When the UCMF recovers and reassigns IDs, the restart counter is incremented and fed back into the system, creating a feedback mechanism that allows the network to detect and invalidate stale capability IDs by comparing restart counter values

Inventive Principle:

Principle #23Feedback

2Productivity

If the network retrieves and reuses stored UE radio capability IDs after UCMF restart, then processing efficiency is improved, but data loss or corruption during failure causes stale IDs to be indistinguishable from valid post-recovery IDs

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveUE capability management efficiencyVSAvoidUE capability ID validity information

Core Design Contradiction:

ProductivityVSLoss of information

Solution Approach 1:

Inventive Principle:

Principle #10Preliminary action

Solution Approach 2:

The restart counter value serves as an intermediary element between the UCMF database storage system and the UE capability identification process. This intermediary carries validity information through the system, allowing the network to distinguish between stale and valid UE capability IDs without requiring complex validation protocols or additional storage of validity flags

Inventive Principle:

Principle #24Intermediary (Mediator)

3Measurement precision

If the UCMF stores comprehensive UE radio capability information, then capability management accuracy is improved, but the storage requirements and database size increase significantly

Engineering Contradiction:

ImproveUE capability information accuracyVSAvoidstored data volume

Core Design Contradiction:

Measurement precisionVSQuantity of substance

Solution Approach 1:

The patent applies the taking out principle by extracting only the essential UE radio capability identification information (UE radio capability ID and restart counter value) from the complete UE capability profile and storing it in the UCMF database. The full capability details remain stored in the UE device itself, allowing the network to efficiently retrieve and validate capability IDs without managing large volumes of detailed capability data

Inventive Principle:

Principle #2Taking out (Extraction)

Solution Approach 2:

The patent applies copying by storing compact representations (UE radio capability IDs) in the UCMF database that reference the full capability information kept in the UE device. This creates a lightweight copy mechanism where the database stores only identification pointers rather than complete capability profiles, significantly reducing storage requirements while maintaining the ability to retrieve accurate capability information when needed

Inventive Principle:

Principle #26Copying

Data Source

PatentEP3963830B1Optimezed user equipment capabilities signaling including recovery from database failure

Publication Date: 2026.04.22 NOKIA TECHNOLOGIES OY

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AI summary

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided for UE capability signaling. In some example embodiment, there may be provided an apparatus including caused to at least: receive, from a user equipment capability management function, a message including a first restart counter value indicating a restart of the user equipment capability management function; inhibit, in response to receiving the first restart counter value, one or more old user equipment capability identifiers associated with a second restart counter value, the second restart counter value being associated to a pre-restart state of the user equipment capability management function; and send the first restart counter value indicating the restart of the user equipment capability management function. Related systems, methods, and articles of manufacture are also described.