SGC and PGC and SGU and PGU allocation procedure
View Patent ↗Apparatuses and methods are provided by which an apparatus (e.g., an MME) establishes a connection session in a network which involves a network resource (e.g., SGW) to be selected, and selects at least one of a control plane (e.g., SGW-C) and a user plane (e.g., SGW-U) of the network resource.
1. A method comprising
establishing a connection session in a network involving a network resource to be selected
detecting when the network resource to be selected is a non software defined network based resource or a software defined network based resource, and
selecting a control plane or a user plane of the network resource for a software defined network based resource only.
2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein a software defined network based resource is identified by a specific information element.
3. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising
accessing a network element containing information regarding the network structure for obtaining information regarding the control plane and/or the user plane of the network resource to be selected.
4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the other one of the control plane and the user plane of the network resource is selected by a separate network element.
5. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising
selecting also the other of the control plane and the user plane of the network resource.
6. The method according to claim 5 , further comprising
signaling identification information of the selected user plane of the network resource to the selected control plane of the network resource.
7. An apparatus comprising
a memory,
at least one network interface, and
a processor configured
to establish a connection session in a network involving a network resource to be selected,
to detect when the network resource to be selected is a non software defined network based resource or a software defined network based resource, and
to select a control plane or a user plane of the network resource for a software defined network based resource only.
8. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein a software defined network based resource is identified by a specific information element.
9. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to
access a network element containing information regarding the network structure for obtaining information regarding the control plane and/or the user plane of the network resource to be selected.
10. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the other one of the control plane and the user plane of the network resource is selected by a separate network element.
11. The apparatus according to claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to
select also the other of the control plane and the user plane of the network resource.
12. The apparatus according to claim 11 , wherein the processor is further configured to
signal identification information of the selected user plane of the network resource to the selected control plane of the network resource.
13. A computer program product embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable medium, said product comprising code means for performing a method according to claim 1 when run on a processing means or module.