Patent ID: 11956671
Assignee: CHARTER COMMUNICATIONS OPERATING, LLC
Field: Digital communication (Electrical engineering)
Classification: CPC H | IPC H

Claim 0:
1. A session management function (SMF) node for a 5G network further comprising a multi-path transport protocol (MPTP) proxy node, where the SMF node is connected to a user plane function (UPF) node, wherein:
the MPTP proxy node is external to the UPF node;
the SMF node is configured to provide address information of the external MPTP proxy node to a user equipment (UE) node of the 5G network;
the SMF node is configured to distribute access traffic steering, switching, and splitting (ATSSS)-related rules to the UE node, to the UPF node via an SMF-UPF interface, and to the external MPTP proxy node either (i) directly, from the SMF node to the external MPTP proxy node via an SMF-proxy interface, or (ii) indirectly, from the SMF node to UPF node via the SMF-UPF interface and then from the UPF node to the MPTP proxy node via a UPF-proxy interface;
at least one of:
the SMF node is configured to distribute the ATSSS-related rules directly to the external MPTP proxy node, and the SMF node is configured to perform an MPTP proxy selection function to select the external MPTP proxy node; and
the SMF node is configured to distribute the ATSSS-related rules indirectly to the external MPTP proxy node.