SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR SERVICE BASED MOBILITY MANAGEMENT ENTITY SELECTION USING ENHANCED NAS NODE SELECTION FUNCTION (NNSF) ALGORITHM

1 . A system for selecting a mobile management entity (MME) comprising:

a non-transitory computer readable medium configured to store instructions thereon; and

a processor connected to the non-transitory computer readable medium, wherein the processor is configured to execute the instructions for:

determining a pool of MMEs available for connecting to a user equipment (UE);

identifying, from the pool of MMEs, a plurality of lists of MMEs, wherein each of the plurality of lists of MMEs includes only MMEs having a same service type;

determining a service type of the UE;

selecting a first MME from the pool of MMEs using a node selection algorithm, wherein the node selection algorithm is executed for a single list of the plurality of lists of MMEs, and the service type of the single list matches the service type of the UE; and

connecting the UE to the first MME.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of lists of MMEs comprises:

a first list including MMEs configured to provide long term evolution (LTE) service, and

a second list including MMEs configured to provide narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) service.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the node selection algorithm comprises a Round Robin algorithm.

4 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the node selection algorithm comprises a Weight Based algorithm.

5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions for determining whether prior MME information exists.

6 . The system of claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions for selecting an MME from the pool of MMEs in response to existence of the prior MME information.

7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions for determining the node selection algorithm based on a connection capacity of each of the MMEs in a list of the plurality of lists corresponding to the service type of the UE.

8 . A method of selecting a mobile management entity (MME), the method comprising:

determining a pool of MMEs available for connecting to a user equipment (UE);

identifying, from the pool of MMEs, a plurality of lists of MMEs, wherein each of the plurality of lists of MMEs includes only MMEs having a same service type;

determining a service type of the UE;

selecting a first MME from the pool of MMEs using a node selection algorithm, wherein the node selection algorithm is executed for a single list of the plurality of lists of MMEs, and the service type of the single list matches the service type of the UE; and

connecting the UE to the first MME.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the plurality of lists of MMEs comprises:

a first list including MMEs configured to provide long term evolution (LTE) service, and

a second list including MMEs configured to provide narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) service.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the node selection algorithm comprises a Round Robin algorithm.

11 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the node selection algorithm comprises a Weight Based algorithm.

12 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions for determining whether prior MME information exists.

13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions for selecting an MME from the pool of MMEs in response to existence of the prior MME information.

14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the processor is further configured to execute the instructions for determining the node selection algorithm based on a connection capacity of each of the MMEs in a list of the plurality of lists corresponding to the service type of the UE.

15 . A non-transitory computer readable medium configured to store instructions thereon, wherein the instructions are configured to cause a processor to perform operations comprising:

determining a pool of MMEs available for connecting to a user equipment (UE);

identifying, from the pool of MMEs, a plurality of lists of MMEs, wherein each of the plurality of lists of MMEs includes only MMEs having a same service type;

determining a service type of the UE;

selecting a first MME from the pool of MMEs using a node selection algorithm, wherein the node selection algorithm is executed for a single list of the plurality of lists of MMEs, and the service type of the single list matches the service type of the UE; and

connecting the UE to the first MME.

16 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the plurality of lists of MMEs comprises:

a first list including MMEs configured to provide long term evolution (LTE) service, and

a second list including MMEs configured to provide narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) service.

17 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the node selection algorithm comprises a Round Robin algorithm.

18 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the node selection algorithm comprises a Weight Based algorithm.

19 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the processor to:

determine whether prior MME information exists; and

select an MME from the pool of MMEs in response to existence of the prior MME information.

20 . The non-transitory computer readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the processor to determine the node selection algorithm based on a connection capacity of each of the MMEs in a list of the plurality of lists corresponding to the service type of the UE.