Device triggering and APN-based congestion control

1. A method, comprising:

obtaining, by a network node of a communication network, device triggering information of a terminal from a message received from the terminal during one of an attach procedure, a tracking area update (TAU) procedure and a routing area update (RAU) procedure;

evaluating, by the network node, whether a connection can be established from the terminal to a server based on the obtained device triggering information, the evaluating including determining at least one of whether the network is congested, whether a back-off timer is running, and a remaining time of the back-off timer; and

transmitting, by the network node, a delivery delay indication to a device triggering control server, the delivery delay indication indicating at least one of impossibility of establishing the connection to the server after the trigger and a data transmission delay,

wherein the device triggering information of the terminal includes an indication of whether device triggering is currently configured.

2. The method according to claim 1 , comprising transmitting the trigger request to the terminal for triggering at least one of establishment of a connection and transmission of data from the terminal to the server.

3. The method according to claim 1 , comprising:

storing a state of a trigger request including at least one of the terminal identifier, the identifier of the device which sent the triggering request, and other transaction identifier; and

generating and transmitting a delivery delay indication wherein the indication includes at least one of the terminal identifier and the identifier of the device which sent the triggering request message.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein

the evaluating includes at least one of:

evaluating of a back-off timer running at the terminal; and

evaluating a validity period of data to be transmitted by the terminal in order to determine whether the data shall be transmitted from the terminal to the server, and to determine delay of the transmission of the data from the terminal to the server.

5. A method, comprising:

obtaining, by a serving network node of a communication network, device triggering information of a terminal of the communication network from a message received from the terminal during one of an attach procedure, a tracking area update (TAU) procedure and a routing area update (RAU) procedure;

receiving a trigger request for triggering establishment of a connection from the terminal to a server in the communication network, the trigger request being sent by the server over the communication network to the terminal;

determining, based on the device triggering information of the terminal and based on a current congestion state, whether to transmit the trigger request to the terminal; and

transmitting the trigger request to the terminal according to the result of the determining,

wherein the device triggering information of the terminal includes an indication of whether device triggering is currently configured.

6. The method according to claim 5 , wherein the device triggering information of the terminal includes at least one of:

a priority or service quality of the terminal indicated by a radio resource control protocol of a radio access network in which the terminal is located;

whether a message is received over a defined interface or a defined network entity;

a capability determined from a message received from a subscriber server;

a port number determined from a message, wherein a determined port number is used for device triggering;

a protocol discriminator determined from a header of a message carrying the trigger request, the protocol discriminator indicating a content type of the payload;

terminal device triggering capability or status determined from a message received from the terminal; and

whether a message is a device triggering message determined from a trigger request message header.

7. The method according to claim 5 , comprising:

determining an external network to which the terminal may establish a connection when receiving the trigger request message;

storing the determined external network for the terminal in the serving network node; and

determining according to the current congestion state whether said external network is congested.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the external network is determined by at least one of:

determining an external network to which the terminal is subscribed from a message received from a subscriber server;

determining an external network to which the terminal may establish connection after being triggered from a message received from the subscriber server;

determining an external network to which the terminal may establish connection after being triggered from a message received from the terminal;

determining whether the serving network node has a bearer context established for the terminal;

determining whether a bearer context is for a bearer to a congested network;

determining a maximum number of bearers allowed for a congested network;

determining connection types allowed for a congested external network; and

determining an external network to which the terminal may establish a connection based on an identity of the server which initiated the terminal triggering.

9. The method according to claim 7 , comprising transmitting to a selected server a message including a report regarding the delivery of the device trigger request and a time-period in which the selected server should not transmit or retransmit a trigger request to the terminal.

10. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the determining whether to transmit the device trigger request to the terminal comprises:

transmitting to the terminal information indicating at least one of a congestion condition of the external network and a back-off timer;

upon transmitting to the terminal the information indicating at least one of whether the external network is congested and a back-off timer, setting in a serving network entity a timer during which the serving network entity does not transmit a delivery report regarding a device trigger response from the terminal; and

receiving from the terminal information indicating at least one of:

that the terminal is unable to establish a data connection to an external network and an identity of the external network;

remaining time of the back-off timer; and

an identity of a device trigger response which could not be transmitted.

11. A serving network node, comprising:

a receiver, which, in operation, receives messages on a communication network;

a transmitter, which, in operation, transmits messages on the communication network; and

circuitry, coupled to the receiver and the transmitter, wherein the circuitry, in operation:

obtains device triggering information of a terminal of the communication network from a message received by the receiver from the terminal during one of an attach procedure, a tracking area update (TAU) procedure, and routing area update (RAU) procedure;

receives, from the receiver, a trigger request for triggering establishment of a connection from the terminal to a server of the communication network, the trigger request being sent by the server over the communication network to the terminal;

determines, based on the device triggering information of the terminal and based on a current congestion state, whether to transmit the trigger request to the terminal; and

transmits the trigger request to the terminal according to the determination,

wherein the device triggering information of the terminal includes an indication of whether device triggering is currently configured.