This disclosure relates generally to mechanisms to enable user equipment to be offloaded from a cellular-based network to a broadband based data connection.
In Release 8 of the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) standards, a UE indicator, named IP mobility indicator (IPMS) was introduced. Dynamic IP Mobility Mode Selection (IPMS) consists of IP mobility management protocol that allows for selection between Network Based Mobility (NBM), Dual Stack Mobile IP version 6 (DSMIPv6) or Mobile IPv5 (MIPv4); and additionally allows for a decision on IP address preservation if NBM is selected.
Upon either initial attachment to a non-3GPP access network or handoff to a non-3GPP access network, the UE performs IPMS by providing an indication during network access authentication for EPC. For trusted access (access through a trusted non-3GPP access network), the indication is provided before an IP address is allocated to the UE. When using an un-trusted access network, the indication is provided during IKEv2 signalling for IPSec tunnel establishment with the ePDG.
When the UE provides an explicit indication for IPMS, then the network is required to provide an indication to the UE identifying the selected mobility management mechanism.
When the dynamic IP mobility mode selection is used and the UE does not receive an indication of a selected mobility protocol in response to providing an explicit indication, it is considered as an abnormal case and the UE may not get connectivity to the EPC.
In 3GPP release 10, a new feature, named non-seamless WLAN offload, was added. Non-seamless WLAN offload is an optional capability that applies to a UE that can support WLAN radio access in addition to 3GPP radio access. It allows a UE to be directed to shift traffic from the 3GPP based Radio Access Network (RAN) to a Wi-Fi connection.
A UE supporting non-seamless WLAN offload may, while connected to WLAN access, route specific IP flows via the WLAN access without traversing the EPC. These IP flows are identified via user preferences, the Local Operating Environment Information defined in TS 23.261, and via policies set in the UE. The policies may be statically defined in the UE (such as by operator configuration), or could be dynamically set by the operator via the ANDSF. For such IP flows the UE uses the local IP address allocated by the WLAN access network and no IP address preservation is provided between WLAN and 3GPP accesses. To perform the non-seamless WLAN offload, the UE needs to acquire a local IP address through the WLAN access network. The UE is not required to connect to an evolved packet data gateway (ePDG).
In a scenario where the WLAN access is EPC connected, it is possible for a UE which supports seamless WLAN offload to perform seamless WLAN offload for some IP flows and non seamless WLAN offload for some other IP flows. The two different offload scenarios can be carried out simultaneously.
As currently defined in the above referenced standards, the IPMS indicator specifies one of three values: DSMIPv6, MIPv4 or Network based mobility (NBM). When the UE performs an initial attachment over a WLAN, 3GPP based access authentication may be performed. During the access authentication, the UE may send the IPMS to the 3GPP AAA. If EPC routing is allowed for the UE over the selected WLAN, the 3GPP AAA can respond with the IPMS. However, when EPC routing is not allowed for the UE over the selected WLAN, the 3GPP AAA is unable to respond to the UE IPMS request. According to TS 24.302, this situation is considered as an abnormal case in which the UE may stop the attachment procedure.
One skilled in the art will appreciate that 3GPP TS 24.302 and 3GPP TS 24.402 are publicly accessible documents that, as they exist at the time of filing, form background information known to those skilled in the art.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method that obviate or mitigate the above described problems
It is an object of the present invention to obviate or mitigate at least one disadvantage of the prior art.
In an embodiment of the present invention, a 3GPP compliant AAA server transmits an indicator to the UE to inform the UE that EPC access is not permitted, but he access to the local network is accepted. The U, upon receipt of such an indicator, will process the message to determine the status of the indicator and will proceed with network attachment accordingly.
In a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for configuring network access at a User Equipment node. The method is carried out at the UE and comprises the steps of transmitting, to a third generation partnership project, 3GPP, compliant authentication server, a request for access authentication for access to a 3GPP compliant packet core network through a non-3GPP access network and for access authentication for access to the non-3GPP access network; receiving a reply to the transmitted request rejecting the request for access to the packet core network; and configuring the UE to use the non 3GPP access network for a data connection.
In an embodiment of the first aspect of the present invention, the step of transmitting includes transmitting the request over the non-3GPP access network. In a further embodiment, the 3GPP compliant authentication server is a 3GPP Authentication, Authorization and Accounting, AAA, Server. In another embodiment, the step of transmitting includes transmitting the request with an IP Mobility Mode Selection, IPMS, indicator. In yet a further embodiment, the received reply further includes authorization and authentication for access to the non-3GPP access network. In another embodiment, the step of receiving includes receiving an Extensible Authentication Protocol, EAP, response and optionally the received reply further includes authorization and authentication for access to the non-3GPP access network and may include an IP Mobility Mode Selection response indicating authentication for local access only. In a further embodiment, the step of configuring includes configuring the UE to transmit data over the non-3GPP access network and optionally further includes the step of configuring the UE to use the non-3GPP access network without attempting a tunnel to the packet core network. In another embodiment, the transmitted request is specific to a single data flow from the UE. In another embodiment, the 3GPP core network is an Evolved Packet Core, EPC, network.
In a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a user equipment node (UE). The UE comprises a first network interface, a processor and a memory. The first network interface allows for communication with a third generation partnership project (3GPP) compliant Authentication, Authorization and Accounting server. The memory stores program instructions. The processor executes the instructions stored in the memory, and upon doing so is capable of transmitting, to the 3GPP AAA server over the first network interface, a request for access authentication for access to a 3GPP compliant packet core network through a non-3GPP access network and for access authentication for access to the non-3GPP access network; and responsive to receipt of a reply to the transmitted request that rejects the request for access to the packet core network, configuring the UE to use the non 3GPP access network for a data connection.
In an embodiment of the second aspect of the present invention, the first network interface is a non-3GPP compliant interface for communicating over a non-3GPP compliant access network. In another embodiment, the first network interface is a 3GPP compliant radio access network interface, and further including a non-3GPP compliant interface for communicating over the non-3GPP compliant access network.
In a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of authorizing a User Equipment node, UE, for access to a non-third generation partnership project, 3GPP, access network. The method is carried out at a 3GPP compliant Authentication, Authorization and Accounting, AAA, server and comprises the steps of: receiving from the UE a request for access authentication to a 3GPP compliant packet core network through the non-3GPP access network, and for access authentication to the non-3GPP access network; authorizing the UE for access to the non-3GPP access network; and transmitting approval to the UE for access to the non-3GPP access network but not the 3GPP core network.
In an embodiment of the third aspect of the present invention, the step of receiving includes receiving the request over the non-3GPP access network. In another embodiment of the third aspect, the received request includes an IP Mobility Mode Selection, IPMS, indicator. In a further embodiment, the method further includes the step of failing to authorize the UE for access to the 3GPP compliant packet core network through the non-3GPP access network in response to receiving the request. In a further embodiment, the step of transmitting includes transmitting the approval as an Extensible Authentication Protocol, EAP, response and optionally, the EAP response includes an IP Mobility Mode Selection response indicating authentication for local access only. In another embodiment, the approval includes an explicit rejection of the request for access to the packet core network. In a further embodiment, the received request is specific to a single data flow from the UE. In another embodiment, the 3GPP compliant packet core network is an Evolved Packet Core, EPC, network.
In a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided an Authentication, Authorization and Accounting, AAA, server for authorizing a User Equipment node, UE, to access a non-third generation partnership project, 3GPP, access network. The server comprises a network interface, a memory and a processor. The network interface allows for receiving request from, and transmitting responses to the UE. The memory stores program instructions. The processor, upon execution of the instructions stored in the memory performs the steps of responsive to receiving, over the network interface, a UE request for access authentication to a 3GPP compliant packet core network through the non-3GPP access network, and for access authentication to the non-3GPP access network, authorizing the UE for access to the non-3GPP access network; and transmitting towards the UE, through the network interface, approval for the UE to access the non-3GPP access network but not the 3GPP core network
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those ordinarily skilled in the art upon review of the following description of specific embodiments of the invention in conjunction with the accompanying figures.
Embodiments of the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the attached Figures, wherein:
The present invention is directed to a system and method for generating and recognizing new attributes in either the EAP or the IPMS response to indicate to the UE that local access network is permitted regardless of the status of the EPC access request.
Reference may be made below to specific elements, numbered in accordance with the attached figures. The discussion below should be taken to be exemplary in nature, and not as limiting of the scope of the present invention. The scope of the present invention is defined in the claims, and should not be considered as limited by the implementation details described below, which as one skilled in the art will appreciate, can be modified by replacing elements with equivalent functional elements.
As non-seamless offloading becomes more prevalent, situations in which the UE is authenticated for access to the local access network, but not to the 3GPP compliant EPC will increase in prevalence. As now laid out in 3GPP TS 24.302, this situation will result in the 3GPP AAA server (hereinafter referred to as a 3GPP AAA) being unable to respond to the UE's IPMS request, which will in turn result in the UE being unable to continue the attachment procedure. This is clearly problematic. To address this issue, the following embodiments are presented, in which the 3GPP AAA is able to instruct the UE that it can connect to the local access network, but cannot connect through the access network to the EPC. This configuration information can be used by the UE to establish a non-3GPP access network profile that allows the user to utilize a data connection between the UE and the non-3GPP access network.
In a first embodiment, upon receiving an IPMS request from the UE, over the non-3GPP access network, the 3GPP AAA responds with an extensible authentication protocol (EAP) message that provides one of the following options: “Request to access local network is accepted. But EPC access request is not accepted.” and “Request to access local network is accepted. EPC access request is accepted.”. One skilled in the art will appreciate that the particular names of these options can vary without departing from the scope of the present invention. This allows the 3GPP AAA to indicate to the UE that it has been authenticated for access to the local access network, but provides the flexibility of telling the UE whether it can access the EPC. The UE can then configure itself appropriately.
In a second embodiment, upon receiving an IPMS request from the UE, over the non-3GPP access network, the 3GPP AAA responds with an IPMS response containing a new attribute, such as that illustrated in
Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the AAA server generates an EAP response to the request for authentication from the UE. In embodiments of the present invention, the EAP response includes an AT_IPMS_RES attribute that includes a flag such as NoEPCaccess. This flag indicates that access to the EPC is not permitted. Upon receipt of the EAP response including this indicator, the UE will preferably configure itself to not perform any IP mobility procedures for the PDN connection setup over EPC using the non-3GPP access network. It should be understood that the UE can continue to use the non-3GPP access network for non-EPC traffic (e.g. non-seamless WLAN offloading). The terms NoEPCaccess and Local Access Only may be used in a relatively interchangeable fashion.
One skilled in the art will appreciate that
Embodiments of the invention may be represented as a software product stored in a machine-readable medium (also referred to as a computer-readable medium, a processor-readable medium, or a computer usable medium having a computer readable program code embodied therein). The machine-readable medium may be any suitable tangible medium including a magnetic, optical, or electrical storage medium including a diskette, compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc read only memory (DVD-ROM) memory device (volatile or non-volatile), or similar storage mechanism. The machine-readable medium may contain various sets of instructions, code sequences, configuration information, or other data, which, when executed, cause a processor to perform steps in a method according to an embodiment of the invention. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that other instructions and operations necessary to implement the described invention may also be stored on the machine-readable medium. Software running from the machine-readable medium may interface with circuitry to perform the described tasks.
In the above description, numerous acronyms were used, including
The above-described embodiments of the present invention are intended to be examples only. Alterations, modifications and variations may be effected to the particular embodiments by those of skill in the art without departing from the scope of the invention, which is defined solely by the claims appended hereto.
This application claims the benefit of priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/624,044 filed Apr. 13, 2012, the contents of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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61624044 | Apr 2012 | US |