Machine type communication monitoring framework for 3GPP systems

1. A network element comprising a mobility management entity (MME) or a serving general packet radio service support node (SGSN) for monitoring events associated with a user equipment (UE) configured to provide machine type communications (MTC) in a cellular network, the network element comprising:

a memory device;

a processor operatively coupled to the memory device and configured to:

receive a monitoring request message to configure a monitoring event on the network element, the monitoring request message indicates a monitoring type and originates from a services capability server (SCS) or an application server (AS) configured to receive the MTC;

examine the monitoring request message to enable the monitoring event based on the monitoring type; and

provide a monitoring response message to acknowledge the monitoring request message.

2. The network element of claim 1 , in which the monitoring request message indicates a recipient of a monitoring indication message to be provided by the network element.

3. The network element of claim 1 , in which the monitoring request message includes a parameter to associate a monitoring event report to a specific monitoring request or an original source of the monitoring request message.

4. The network element of claim 1 , in which the monitoring request message includes a parameter that indicates a status of the monitoring request message.

5. The network element of claim 1 , in which the monitoring request message includes a parameter to deactivate event reporting or includes information indicating a condition for which monitoring expires.

6. The network element of claim 1 , in which the monitoring request message includes a parameter that makes a monitoring request a continuous monitoring request or that indicates that a monitoring request should generate a single monitoring report.

7. The network element of claim 1 , in which the processor is further configured to:

detect an occurrence of the monitoring event; and

generate a report in response to detecting the occurrence of the monitoring event.

8. The network element of claim 1 , in which the monitoring request message comprises subscriber data provided by a home subscriber service (HSS), and in which the processor is further configured to determine, based on an operator configuration, whether the network element can accept a monitoring request.

9. The network element of claim 1 , in which the processor is further configured to delete a monitoring configuration.

10. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:

receive from a node in a cellular network a monitoring request for monitoring event configuration of a monitoring event associated with a user equipment (UE) configured to provide machine type communications (MTC) in the cellular network;

determine whether the monitoring request may be used for configuring the monitoring event on a network element comprising a mobility management entity (MME), a serving general packet radio service support node (SGSN), or a home subscriber service (HSS) node; and

send to the node a monitoring response message to acknowledge acceptance or failure of the monitoring request.

11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , in which the operations further comprise:

determine whether the monitoring request would exceed a quota or rate of submitting monitoring requests; and

provide to the node a cause value indicating an error in response to determining the monitoring request has failed.

12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , in which the operations further comprise:

determine whether a services capability server (SCS) or application server (AS) are authorized to make the monitoring request; and

provide to the node a cause value indicating an error in response to determining the monitoring request has failed.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , in which the node is a services capability server (SCS), an application server (AS), or an MTC interworking function (MTC-IWF).

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , in which the monitoring request comprises a first monitoring request message, and in which the operations further comprise:

prepare a second monitoring request message based on the first monitoring request message; and

send the second monitoring request message to the HSS.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , in which the monitoring request includes a parameter to associate a monitoring event report to a specific monitoring request or includes an identification to associate a corresponding monitoring report with the node.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , in which the monitoring request includes a parameter that indicates a time at which a related monitoring request is considered to expire.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , in which the monitoring request includes a parameter that indicates a maximum number of event reports to be generated by the node until an associated monitoring event is considered to expire.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , in which the monitoring request includes a parameter that makes a monitoring request a continuous monitoring request or that indicates that a monitoring request should generate a single monitoring report.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , in which the monitoring request includes a monitoring type, and in which the operations further comprise provide a message including the monitoring type to the MME/SGSN.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 10 , in which the operations further comprise receive the monitoring request from an MTC interworking function (MTC-IWF) through an S6m interface.