IP Library Granted Patent US 11,997,476
Granted Patent B2
US 11,997,476 · App. 18/467,352 · Granted May 28, 2024

Systems, methods, and devices for privacy and control of traffic accessing PLMN service at a non-public network

Inventors: Ching-Yu Liao (Portland, OR); Abhijeet Kolekar (Hillsboro, OR)
Assignee: APPLE INC.
H04W12/02H04L67/14H04W12/06H04W28/086H04W12/80H04W84/042
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Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 11,997,476
App. No.
18/467,352
Granted
May 28, 2024
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems and methods are provided to control traffic accessing a public land mobile network service (PLMN) at a non-public network to perform local breakout for selected traffic.

Claims (36)

1. An apparatus for a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising:

a memory interface to send or receive, to or from a memory device, data corresponding to a UE configuration update; and

a processor to:

after successful authentication with a public network, send the UE configuration update to a policy control function (PCF) via a non-public network (NPN) session management function (SMF), the UE configuration update comprising:

first user preferences of application identifiers (App-IDs) for privacy;

a quality of service (QoS) preference of the App-IDs for latency; and

second user preferences of the App-IDs for an NPN corresponding to the NPN SMF; and

route uplink traffic between two anchor points for two different QoS flows of a same protocol data unit (PDU) session.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the UE configuration update comprises an indication of a local breakout.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive, from the NPN SMF, two internet protocol (IP) addresses for the two different QoS flows of the same PDU session.

4. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the processor is further configured to select source prefixes of a plurality of PDUs in the PDU session to steer the uplink traffic toward the two anchor points.

5. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein a local user plane function (UPF) supporting branching point functionality, based on received information of the UE configuration update from the UE, receives the traffic and provides traffic detection.

6. The apparatus of claim 5 , wherein the local UPF supporting the branching point functionality, based on the received information of the UE configuration update from the UE, further forwards uplink traffic to the to the two anchor points.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the local UPF supporting the branching point functionality, based on the received information of the UE configuration update from the UE, further merges downlink traffic to the UE from the two anchor points.

8. A method of a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

after successful authentication with a public network, receiving a UE configuration update from a policy control function (PCF) via a non-public network (NPN) session management function (SMF), the UE configuration update comprising at least one of:

operator configured application identifiers (App-IDs) for privacy;

operator configured quality of service (QoS) of the App-IDs for latency; and

operator configured App-IDs for an NPN corresponding to the NPN SMF; and

routing uplink traffic toward two anchor points for two different QoS flows of a same protocol data unit (PDU) session.

9. The method of claim 8 , further comprising receiving, from the NPN SMF, two QoS flow IDs for the two different QoS flows of the same PDU session.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising routing traffic of applications via the two QoS flow IDs based on receive App-IDs information in a UE configuration update procedure.

11. The method of claim 8 , further comprising, after the successful authentication with the public network, securely receiving an updated list of data network names (DNNs) from the public network.

12. The method of claim 11 , wherein the UE maintains an applicable privacy policy for an application enabled for a local breakout and is preconfigured or updated dynamically from the public network for the updated list of DNNs.

13. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of a user equipment (UE), the computer-readable storage medium having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, the computer readable instructions configured to instruct one or more processors of the UE to:

after successful authentication with a public network, send a UE configuration update to a policy control function (PCF) via a non-public network (NPN) session management function (SMF), the UE configuration update comprising:

first user preferences of application identifiers (App-IDs) for privacy;

a quality of service (QoS) preference of the App-IDs for latency; and

second user preferences of the App-IDs for an NPN corresponding to the NPN SMF; and

route uplink traffic between two anchor points for two different QoS flows of a same protocol data unit (PDU) session.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the UE configuration update comprises an indication of a local breakout.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 13 , wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to receive, from the NPN SMF, two internet protocol (IP) addresses for the two different QoS flows of the same PDU session.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15 , wherein the computer-readable instructions are further configured to select source prefixes of a plurality of PDUs in the PDU session to steer the uplink traffic toward the two anchor points.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16 , wherein a local user plane function (UPF) supporting branching point functionality, based on received information of the UE configuration update from the UE, receives the traffic and provides traffic detection.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17 , wherein the local UPF supporting the branching point functionality, based on the received information of the UE configuration update from the UE, further forwards uplink traffic to the to the two anchor points.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein the local UPF supporting the branching point functionality, based on the received information of the UE configuration update from the UE, further merges downlink traffic to the UE from the two anchor points.

Continuity (4)
Division 17288843
Provisional Application 62757035 · Nov 7, 2018
Provisional Application 62755044 · Nov 2, 2018
Related Publication 20240007850A1 · Jan 4, 2024