UE-Driven QoS Flow Description Updates Across Firewall Barriers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Firewalls and network address translations (NATs) prevent direct communication between network elements, hindering the network's ability to receive valid Quality of Service (QoS) flow information, leading to inefficient QoS management and resource consumption in UPFs.
Innovation Solution
A UE-driven packet flow description (PFD) management method where the user equipment (UE) requests updates to the QoS flow information directly to the core network (CN), using a differentiated services code point (DSCP) mark to transmit packets, thereby bypassing firewalls and reducing the need for reflective QoS indicators (RQI) and deep packet inspection (DPI).
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If firewalls and NATs are deployed for security, then network security is improved, but the network's ability to receive valid QoS flow information is hindered
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism where the UE acts as a mediator to forward QoS flow information from the application to the core network. The UE extracts PFD parameters from downlink packets and sends them to the network via uplink signaling, bypassing the firewall/NAT barrier that blocks direct communication between the application server and the network. This intermediary approach allows QoS information to be transmitted without compromising the security architecture.
2Adaptability or versatility
If reflective QoS indicators (RQI) and deep packet inspection (DPI) are used to update QoS flows, then QoS management capability is improved, but UPF resources are overloaded
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by having the UE extract and prepare PFD parameters from downlink packets before forwarding them to the core network via uplink signaling. This pre-processing of QoS information at the UE side eliminates the need for the UPF to perform resource-intensive deep packet inspection and reflective QoS operations, thereby reducing UPF resource consumption while maintaining QoS management capability.
3Reliability
If multiple data flows are configured with detailed QoS management, then service quality is improved, but network signaling load increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple QoS flow update operations into a single uplink signaling message. Instead of sending separate signaling messages for each QoS flow update, the UE consolidates PFD parameters for multiple data flows into one message that is sent to the core network. This merging approach reduces the overall network signaling load while enabling detailed QoS management for multiple data flows, thus improving service quality without proportionally increasing signaling overhead.
Data Source
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AI summary
In some aspects, the present disclosure relates to a method for performing packet flow description (PFD) management, the method including establishing a Quality-of-Service (QoS) flow between a user equipment (UE) and a core network (CN) for a data flow of an application, creating, by the UE, a UE-requested packet flow description (PFD) upon a change in the data flow, sending, from the UE to the CN, a request to the CN for updating a CN PFD to an updated PFD using the UE-requested PFD, receiving, at the UE from the CN, a downlink (DL) packet mapped to the QoS flow using the updated PFD.