Reducing the load due to reporting of information changes to a policy and/or charging controller in a mobile communication system
View Patent ↗In an embodiment, there is provided a method for reducing the load due to user location change reporting for location-based policy and/or charging control services for said user, in a mobile communication system wherein granularity of user location includes granularity at cell level and/or granularity at service area level, a service area (or Location or Routing or Tracking Area) comprising a set of cells defined at network operation level, a method wherein said user location change reporting is based on at least one of: a granularity of reporting at a base station level, whereby a user location change is reported upon change of serving base station, a granularity of reporting at a policy area level, whereby a user location change is reported upon entering or leaving a policy area, a policy area comprising a set of cells and/or serving areas, defined at policy and/or charging control level, for a granularity of reporting at a cell level or at a service area level or at a policy area level, a deferred user location change reporting until user plane activity is resumed, in case said user is not currently active in the user plane.
1. A method, comprising:
sending, a request to report whether a user equipment has entered or left a policy area, wherein the policy area is defined for policy and/or charging control services for said user; and
receiving a report whether said user equipment has entered or left the policy area;
wherein said request to report whether said user equipment has entered or left said policy area comprises a request towards a core network entity having mobility management functions serving said user equipment, said request containing one of: a definition of said policy area, and a pointer pointing to said policy area predefined in said core network entity.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the request to report whether said user equipment has entered or left said policy area contains a policy area identifier.
3. The method according to claim 2 , wherein:
said policy area identifier comprises said pointer pointing to said policy area predefined in said core network entity.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein:
the report whether said user equipment has entered or left said policy area contains a policy area identifier.
5. An apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory including computer program code;
the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform:
sending a request to report whether a user equipment has entered or left a policy area, wherein the policy area is defined for policy and/or charging control services for said user; and
receiving a report whether the user equipment has entered or left said policy area;
wherein said request to report whether said user equipment has entered or left said policy area comprises a request towards a core network entity having mobility management functions serving said user equipment, said request containing one of: a definition of said policy area, and a pointer pointing to said policy area predefined in said core network entity.
6. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein:
the request to report whether said user equipment has entered or left said policy area contains a policy area identifier.
7. The apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein:
said policy area identifier comprises said pointer pointing to said policy area predefined in said core network entity.
8. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein:
the report whether said user equipment has entered or left said policy area contains a policy area identifier.
9. An apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory including computer program code;
the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform:
receiving a request to report whether a user equipment has entered or left a policy area, wherein the policy area is defined for policy and/or charging control services for said user; and
sending a report whether said user equipment has entered or left said policy area;
wherein said request to report whether said user equipment has entered or left said policy area comprises a request towards a core network entity having mobility management functions serving said user equipment, said request containing one of: a definition of said policy area, and a pointer pointing to said policy area predefined in said core network entity.
10. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein:
the request to report whether said user equipment has entered or left said policy area contains a policy area identifier.
11. The apparatus according to claim 10 , wherein:
said policy area identifier comprises said pointer pointing to said policy area predefined in said core network entity.
12. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein:
the report whether said user equipment has entered or left said policy area contains a policy area identifier.
13. A method, comprising:
receiving a request to report whether a user equipment has entered or left a policy area, wherein the policy area is defined for policy and/or charging control services for said user; and
sending a report whether said user equipment has entered or left the policy area;
wherein said request to report whether said user equipment has entered or left said policy area comprises a request towards a core network entity having mobility management functions serving said user equipment, said request containing one of: a definition of said policy area, and a pointer pointing to said policy area predefined in said core network entity.
14. The method according to claim 13 , wherein:
the request to report whether said user equipment has entered or left said policy area contains a policy area identifier.
15. The method according to claim 13 , wherein:
said policy area identifier comprises said pointer pointing to said policy area predefined in said core network entity.
16. The method according to claim 13 , wherein:
the report whether said user equipment has entered or left said policy area contains a policy area identifier.
17. The apparatus according to claim 5 , wherein:
said apparatus comprises a policy and/or charging controller.
18. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein:
said apparatus comprises a core network entity.
19. The apparatus according to claim 9 , wherein:
said apparatus comprises a core network entity having mobility management functions.