Apparatus, and associated method, for facilitating QoS and bearer setup in an IP-based communication system
View Patent ↗Apparatus, and an associated method, for generating a bearer setup request in a mobile, or other, communication system. An application-level bearer setup request generator is positioned at the application level of the communication system. A request is forwarded to a transport level. And a bearer setup request signal generator, located at the transport level, generates a transport-level bearer setup request that is routed to the bearer manager. Bearer setup is performed by the bearer manager and a response is provided through the transport layer to the application level, and back to a communication node when the bearer setup is performed.
1. An apparatus for facilitating bearer setup initiated by a network, the apparatus comprising:
a bearer setup request generator, comprising hardware, associated with at least one application-level entity, said bearer setup request generator configured to:
generate an application-level bearer setup request to induce a selected bearer manager to create a bearer between a first node and a second node, wherein the application-level bearer setup request is free of network address identifiers for the selected bearer manager; and
provide the application-level bearer setup request to at least one first transport-level entity;
wherein, upon receiving the application-level bearer setup request, the at least one first transport-level entity is configured to send a transport-level bearer setup request to at least one second-transport level entity; and
wherein the at least one first transport-level entity is associated with a home network of the first node, and wherein the second transport-level entity is associated with a visited network of the first node.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one application-level entity is associated with the home network.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , further comprising a receiving component to receive the application-level request from a mobile node.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the bearer setup request generator is further configured to generate the application-level bearer setup request in response to reception of an application-level request from a mobile node.
5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein the application-level request comprises one or more quality of service parameters.
6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the bearer setup request generator is a component of an application server.
7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the bearer comprises a radio link connection between the first node and the second node.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the bearer is based on at least a requested data transmission rate threshold, a requested delay threshold, and a requested bit error ratio threshold.
9. An apparatus for facilitating bearer setup initiated by a network, the apparatus comprising:
a processor;
a memory communicatively coupled to the processor; and
computer-executable instructions stored in the memory, which when executed by the processor, cause performance of operations comprising:
generating in at least one application-level entity an application-level bearer setup request to induce a selected bearer manager to create a bearer between a first node and a second node, wherein the application-level bearer setup request is free of network address identifiers for the selected bearer manager; and
providing the application-level bearer setup request to at least one first transport-level entity;
wherein, upon receiving the application-level bearer setup request, the at least one first transport-level entity is configured to send a transport-level bearer setup request to at least one second-transport level entity; and
wherein the at least one first transport-level entity is associated with a home network of the first node, and wherein the at least one second transport-level entity is associated with a visited network of the first node.
10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein, the application-level entity is associated with the home network.
11. A method for facilitating bearer setup of a network, the method comprising:
generating, at an application server, an application-level bearer setup request to induce a selected bearer manager to create a bearer between a first node and a second node, wherein the application-level bearer setup request is free of network address identifiers for the selected bearer manager; and
providing, by the application server, the application-level bearer setup request to at least one first transport-level entity, wherein, upon receiving the application-level bearer setup request, the at least one first transport-level entity is configured to send the bearer setup request to at least one second-transport level entity;
wherein the at least one first transport-level entity is associated with a home network of the first node, and wherein the at least one second transport-level entity is associated with a visited network of the first node.
12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the application server is associated with the home network.
13. An apparatus for facilitating bearer setup of a network, the apparatus comprising:
a processor;
a memory communicatively coupled to the processor; and
computer-executable instructions stored in the memory, which when executed by the processor, cause performance of operations comprising:
generating an application-level bearer setup request to induce a selected bearer manager to create a bearer between a first node and a second node; and
providing the application-level bearer setup request to at least one first transport level entity;
wherein, upon receiving the application-level bearer setup request, the at least one first transport-level entity is configured to send a transport-level bearer setup request to at least one second-transport level entity; and
wherein the at least one first transport-level entity is associated with a home network of the first node, and wherein the at least one second transport-level entity is associated with a visited network of the first node.