Content caching in the radio access network (RAN)
View Patent ↗A system and method to intercept traffic at standard interface points as defined by Cellular/Wireless networks (GSM/GPRS, 3G/UMTS/HSDPA/HSUPA, CDMA, WIMAX, LTE), emulate the respective protocols on either side of the interception point, extract user/application payloads within the intercepted packets, perform optimizations, and re-encapsulate with the same protocol, and deliver the content transparently is disclosed. The optimizations include but are not limited to Content Caching, prediction & pre-fetching of frequently used content, performance of content-aware transport optimizations (TCP, UDP, RTP etc.) for reducing back-haul bandwidth, and improvement of user experience. An additional embodiment of the current invention includes injecting opportunistic content (location based, profile based or advertisement content) based on the information derived while monitoring control plane protocols.
1. A method of optimizing communications in a radio access network (RAN), comprising:
using a device to intercept and interpret plurality of protocols that comprise a tunneled user plane and an associated control plane, between network elements in said RAN, wherein said interpreting comprises interpreting said control plane communications, extracting GTP-U tunnel information per user session, and associating the extracted GTP-U tunnel information with the corresponding per user session GTP-U traffic in the user plane;
determining a state of said RAN based on said interpreted control plane and tunneled user plane; and
optimizing communications in said RAN based on said determined state of said RAN.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said optimizing comprises an action selected from the group consisting caching, rate limiting, changing a TCP congestion window, prioritizing traffic based on data type, prioritizing traffic based on application type.
3. A method of optimizing communications in a radio access network (RAN), comprising:
using a device to intercept and interpret tunneled protocols between network elements in said RAN;
determining an identity of a user based on said interpreted protocols;
determining a service plan of said user by querying an external service plane network element; and
modifying communications to said user based on said service plan.
4. The method of claim 3 , wherein said modification is selected from the group consisting of supplying data from a cache to said user, limiting traffic to said user, prioritizing traffic to said user and providing on-deck content to said user.
5. A method of optimizing communications in a radio access network (RAN), comprising:
using a device to intercept and interpret tunneled protocols between network elements in said RAN, said protocols comprising a tunneled user plane and an associated control plane, wherein said interpreting comprises interpreting said control plane communications, extracting GTP-U tunnel information per user session, and associating the extracted GTP-U tunnel information with the corresponding per user session GTP-U traffic in the user plane;
determining channel quality index (CQI) from said control plane in said tunneled protocol, if available; and
optimizing communications in said RAN based on said CQI.
6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising estimating CQI based on Round Trip Time (RTT) and Over The Air Bandwidth (OTA-BW) for a user, if said CQI from said control plane is not available.
7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising estimating CQI by sending a protocol message to a user, if said CQI from said control plane is not available.
8. The method of claim 7 , wherein said protocol message comprises a PING message to a user.
9. A method of modifying communications to a user in a RAN network, based on user specific information, wherein said network comprising a plurality of network elements, comprising:
using a device to intercept and interpret plurality of protocols between two of said network elements in said RAN, said protocols comprising a tunneled user plane, and an associated control plane, wherein said interpreting comprises interpreting said control plane communications, extracting GTP-U tunnel information per user session, and associating the extracted GTP-U tunnel information with the corresponding per user session GTP-U traffic in the user plane;
determining congestion of a wireless sector, based on said interpreted protocols;
modifying communications at said user plane destined for users in said wireless sector, based on said determined congestion; and
transmitting said modified communications to said users.
10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
reporting said wireless sector and said determined congestion in said wireless sector to an external device.
11. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
identifying a peak user in said wireless sector based on network resource usage for traffic destined for said user; and
limiting communications to said peak user.
12. The method of claim 9 , wherein said modification comprises limiting multimedia streams.
13. The method of claim 9 , wherein said modification comprises controlling traffic to a specific category of user devices.
14. The method of claim 9 , wherein said modification comprises adjusting a TCP congestion window for a TCP session for one of said users.
15. The method of claim 14 , further comprising adjusting said TCP congestion window based on observed Round Trip Time (RTT) and estimated Over The Air Bandwidth (OTA-BW).