Patent ID: 9191960
Filing Date: 2015-11-17
Classification: H04L,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method of mitigating a service interruption that occurs due to a change of an IP address of a User Equipment (UE) that is receiving a service under control of a Policy and Charging Control (PCC) architecture, the method at a Policy and Charging Control Rules Function (PCRF) of the PCC architecture, the method comprising: receiving a service authorization request for the service from an Application Function, AF, in charge of service delivery to the UE; determining first PCC rules to apply for the service and submitting said first PCC rules to a Policy and Charging Enforcement Function (PCEF) of the PCC architecture for enforcement of quality of service on a bearer established for the service through a first access network, which is currently used by the UE to route service data flows of the service; determining that a change from the first access network to a second access network is required imminently and that a change of the IP address of the UE is to take place; before the change of the IP address takes place, determining and submitting to the PCEF second PCC rules to apply an increase in resources for the bearer in order to mitigate the service interruption to be caused by the change of the IP address of the UE; triggering a notification of an imminent change of the IP address of the UE to at least one of the UE and the AF; determining, in response to a request from the PCEF for authorizing a new bearer and for PCC rules for the second access network, that the change of the IP address of the UE has taken place; and determining and submitting to the PCEF third PCC rules to apply that discontinue the mitigating increase in the resources for the bearer.