Mechanism to prevent load in 3GPP network due to MTC device triggers
Embodiments of methods and apparatus to manage MTC device trigger load in a wireless network are described herein. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.
1. A method to respond to device trigger requests in a mobile network, comprising:
initiating load control of signals received by a machine type communications interworking function (MTC-IWF) to avoid signaling overload from one or more machine type communications (MTC) servers;
receiving a device trigger request message comprising a priority from the MTC server, the MTC server adapted to transmit the device trigger request to trigger a user equipment (UE) to initiate communication with the MTC server;
identifying a priority associated with the device trigger request message;
transmitting a subscriber information request to a home subscriber server (HSS);
receiving a subscriber information response from the HSS;
determining whether the MTC server is authorized to trigger the UE;
determining whether the device trigger can be sent to the UE; and
transmitting a device trigger report to the MTC server.
2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting a cause value with the device trigger report to the MTC server.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the cause value indicates that the device trigger was not transmitted to the UE.
4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising adjusting the load control of signals received by the MTC-IWF based on receiving the device trigger request.
5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is performed in compliance with 3 rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release 11 Long Term Evolution Advanced (LTE).
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising initiating a timer after receiving the device trigger request.
7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising receiving a second device trigger request before the timer expires and rejecting the second device trigger.
8. A method for machine type communications (MTC) in a public land mobile network (PLMN) comprising receiving, by a user equipment (UE), a device trigger to prompt the UE to initiate communication with the MTC server, wherein the MTC server is adapted to transmit a subscriber information request to a home subscriber server (HSS) and receive a subscriber information response from the HSS to indicate if the MTC server is authorized to request that the device trigger be sent to the UE, and wherein the MTC server transmits a device trigger request and a priority associated with the device trigger request to a MTC interworking function (MTC-IWF), wherein the MTC-IWF is adapted to send a device trigger report to the MTC server.
9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising receiving the device trigger to trigger the UE to initiate communication with a MTC application associated with the MTC server.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein one or more MTC-IWFs reside in the PLMN.
11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising an overload handling function (OHF) associated with the MTC-IWF, wherein the OHF is adapted to generate the device trigger report for the MTC server.
12. The method of claim 8 , wherein a back-off timer is used to control a load of device triggers in the PLMN.
13. The method of claim 8 , wherein the device trigger request is a second device trigger request to trigger a second UE.
14. A user equipment (UE) adapted for machine type communications (MTC) with an MTC server in a mobile network, the UE comprising:
at least one antenna; and
a receiver adapted to receive a device trigger to prompt the UE to take an action in response to the device trigger, wherein the MTC server is adapted to transmit a device trigger request with a priority parameter to a MTC interworking function (MTC-IWF) for the MTC-IWF to determine:
whether a device trigger can be sent to the UE; and
whether the MTC server is authorized to request the device trigger for the UE, wherein the MTC-IWF is further adapted to transmit a device trigger report comprising a cause value to the MTC server.
15. The UE of claim 14 , wherein the user equipment (UE) is a device selected from the group consisting of a tablet, smartphone, netbook, laptop, ultrabook, and mobile device.
16. The UE of claim 14 , wherein the MTC-IWF comprises a load control mechanism to control an ingress rate of trigger requests from the MTC server.
17. The UE of claim 16 , wherein the MTC-IWF further comprises a back-off timer to determine whether the device trigger can be sent to the UE.
18. An apparatus to communicate a device trigger in a mobile network, the apparatus comprising circuitry adapted to receive a device trigger request comprising a priority message from a machine type communication (MTC) server, the MTC server adapted to transmit the device trigger request to trigger a user equipment (UE) to take an action in response to a device trigger, to identify a priority associated with the device trigger request, to determine whether the MTC server is authorized to send the device trigger request for the UE by transmitting a subscriber information request to a home subscriber server (HSS) and receiving a subscriber information response from the HSS, and to transmit a device trigger report to the MTC server.
19. The apparatus of claim 18 , the circuitry further adapted to initiate a back-off time to reject a subsequent device trigger request during a back-off time duration.
20. The apparatus of claim 19 , the circuitry further adapted to indicate the back-off time in the device trigger report.