Support for CUPS PFCP session at UE level for serving gateway

1. A method comprising:

providing a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) session at a User Equipment (UE) level, wherein the UE level is different from a Packet Data Network (PDN) level, for a Serving Gateway (SGW);

anchoring, by the SGW, the UE session at a session manager at the SGW, the session manager instantiating a data structure including information about the UE and about UE sessions for the UE with multiple PDNs;

handling, by the SGW, buffering of Idle UE and UE Active-to-Idle transitions for the UE sessions;

using, by the SGW, a single PFCP session for the UE sessions across the multiple PDNs; and

using, by the SGW, a same Buffering Action Rule (BAR) for all PDNs associated with the UE sessions.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein tracking the PFCP session occurs across at least one of multiple Radio Access Technologies (RATs), multiple Radio Access Networks (RANs) or cells, multiple core networks, a single UE across different RATs, RAT interworking, RAT virtualization, and RAN virtualization.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein further comprising handling the session manager and session using software virtualization and included with network functions using network function virtualization (NFV) on a NFV-enabled gateway.

4. A system comprising:

a Serving Gateway (SGW), having a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) session at a User Equipment (UE) level, wherein the UE level is different from a Packet Data Network (PDN) level, wherein the SGW anchors the UE session and handles buffering of Idle UE and UE Active-to-Idle transitions;

wherein a same PFCP session is used for multiple Packet Data networks (PDNs); and

wherein a same Buffering Action Rule (BAR) is used for multiple PDNs for a single UE session;

providing a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) session at a User Equipment (UE) level for a Serving Gateway (SGW) at a session manager at the SGW, the session manager instantiating a data structure including information about the UE and about a plurality of UE sessions for the UE across multiple PDNs;

anchoring, by the SGW, the plurality of UE sessions at the session manager;

handling, by the SGW, buffering of Idle UE and UE Active-to-Idle transitions at the session manager;

using, by the SGW, a same PFCP session for for the UE across the multiple PDNs; and

using, by the SGW, a same Buffering Action Rule (BAR) for for the UE across the multiple PDNs.

5. The system of claim 4 , wherein PFCP session tracking occurs across at least one of multiple Radio Access Technologies (RATs), multiple Radio Access Networks (RANs) or cells, multiple core networks, a single UE across different RATs, RAT interworking, RAT virtualization, and RAN virtualization.

6. The system of claim 4 wherein the session manager and session are handled using software virtualization and are included with network functions using network function virtualization (NFV) on a NFV-enabled gateway.

7. A non-transitory containing instructions for providing support for Control Plane and User Plane Separation (CUPS) Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) Session at UE Level for Serving Gateway which, when executed, cause a serving gateway to perform steps comprising:

providing a Packet Forwarding Control Protocol (PFCP) session at a User Equipment (UE) level for a Serving Gateway (SGW), wherein the UE level is different from a Packet Data Network (PDN) level;

anchoring, by the SGW, the UE session at a session manager at the SGW, the session manager instantiating a data structure including information about the UE and about UE sessions for the UE with multiple PDNs;

handling, by the SGW, buffering of Idle UE and UE Active-to-Idle transitions for the UE sessions;

using, by the SGW, a single PFCP session for the UE sessions across the multiple PDNs; and

using, by the SGW, a same Buffering Action Rule (BAR) for all PDNs associated with the UE sessions.

8. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 , further comprising instructions wherein tracking the PFCP session occurs across at least one of multiple Radio Access Technologies (RATs), multiple Radio Access Networks (RANs) or cells, multiple core networks, a single UE across different RATs, RAT interworking, RAT virtualization, and RAN virtualization.

9. The computer-readable medium of claim 7 further comprising instructions for handling the session manager and session using software virtualization and included with network functions using network function virtualization (NFV) on a NFV-enabled gateway.