Handling Unresponsive MMEs

Abstract

A method for reducing a likelihood of paging all base stations in the tracking area is disclosed, comprising: tracking a per-cell paging success rate for cells in the radio access network and a last known cell for mobile devices attached in the radio access network; performing, based on a paging request message, a paging sequence to identify a paging set of base stations to page the specific mobile device, the paging sequence further comprising: identifying a paging set that is a last known cell for the specific mobile device based on the tracked last known cell, sending paging messages to the radio access network to all cells in the paging set, identifying a next paging set based on the tracked per-cell paging success rate, and sending paging messages to the radio access network to all cells in the next paging set.

1 . A method, comprising:
 tracking, at a messaging concentrator gateway between a radio access network and a core network, a per-cell paging success rate for cells in the radio access network and a last known cell for mobile devices attached in the radio access network;   receiving a paging request message from the core network at the messaging concentrator gateway for a specific mobile device;   performing, based on the paging request message, a paging sequence to identify a paging set of base stations to page the specific mobile device, the paging sequence further comprising:   identifying a paging set that is a last known cell for the specific mobile device based on the tracked last known cell, sending paging messages to the radio access network to all cells in the paging set, identifying a next paging set based on the tracked per-cell paging success rate, and sending paging messages to the radio access network to all cells in the next paging set; and   exiting the paging sequence once the specific mobile device has responded to a paging message from a base station in the paging set or once all base stations in a tracking area have been sent a paging message, thereby allowing paging of mobile devices while reducing a likelihood of paging all base stations in the tracking area.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the radio access network is a Long Term Evolution radio access network, the messaging concentrator gateway is between at least one eNodeB and a mobility management entity (MME), and the mobile devices are UEs. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the paging sequence further comprises identifying a paging set based on a geographic distance from the identified last known cell. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising identifying the next paging set based on the tracked per-cell paging success rate by selecting a single cell with a highest ranked paging success rate for the specific mobile device, or a set of cells with a highest paging success rate for the specific mobile device above a threshold, or a set of cells with a paging success rate for the specific mobile device that is within a rank threshold from the single cell with the highest ranked paging success rate. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising identifying the next paging set based on the tracked per-cell paging success rate by selecting a single cell with a highest ranked paging success rate for a plurality of mobile devices over time, or a set of cells with a highest paging success rate for the plurality of mobile devices above a threshold, or a set of cells with a paging success rate for the plurality of mobile devices that is within a rank threshold from the single cell with the highest ranked paging success rate. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising tracking the per-cell paging success rate across multiple cells in the radio access network or across multiple mobile devices in the radio access network. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising tracking the per-cell paging success rate and the last known cell by maintaining a table of mobile device identifiers and cell identifiers. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the mobile device identifiers are System Architecture Evolution Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identities (S-TMSIs) or International Mobile Subscriber Identities (IMSIs), and wherein the cell identifiers are Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network Cell Global Identifiers (ECGIs) or physical cell identifiers (PCIs). 
     
     
         9 . A system, comprising:
 a plurality of eNodeBs;   a core mobility node situated in a core network providing mobility services to the plurality of eNodeBs; and   a signaling concentrator node situated between the plurality of eNodeBs and the core mobility node, the signaling concentrator node further comprising:   a tracking area module configured to maintain a listing of each of the plurality of eNodeBs and a tracking area corresponding to each of the plurality of eNodeBs;   a paging module configured to identify a last known location of a mobile device, and to send a paging message to the last known location of the mobile device; and   a core network module configured to provide a single eNodeB interface with a single tracking area to the core mobility node,   wherein the tracking area module is further configured to track a per-cell paging success rate for each of the plurality of eNodeBs and a last known cell for each known mobile device in the radio access network, and   wherein the tracking area module is further configured to provide a paging set based on the tracked paging success rate and the last known cell to avoid unnecessarily paging all cells in a mobile device tracking area.   
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the core mobility node is a mobility management entity for the long term evolution (LTE) protocol. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the core mobility node provides a mobility proxying interface between the plurality of eNodeBs and a mobility management entity (MME) in a core network, and wherein the core mobility node provides a single eNodeB interface for the plurality of eNodeBs towards the MME. 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the tracking area module further comprises per-cell paging success rates across multiple eNodeBs, or across multiple mobile devices. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 9 , wherein the tracking area module further comprises a table of mobile device identifiers and cell identifiers. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 13 , wherein the mobile device identifiers are System Architecture Evolution Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identities (S-TMSIs) or International Mobile Subscriber Identities (IMSIs), and wherein the cell identifiers are Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network Cell Global Identifiers (ECGIs) or physical cell identifiers (PCIs). 
     
     
         15 . A core mobility node, comprising:
 a core network proxy module for providing a proxying interface for a plurality of eNodeBs towards a core network and a second proxying interface for a mobility management entity in the core network towards the plurality of eNodeBs; and   a tracking area management module for performing steps to handle paging instructions received by the second proxying interface for a mobile device attached to one of the plurality of eNodeBs, the steps further comprising:   tracking, at a messaging concentrator gateway between a radio access network and a core network, a per-cell paging success rate for cells in the radio access network and a last known cell for mobile devices attached in the radio access network;   receiving a paging request message from the core network at the messaging concentrator gateway for a specific mobile device;   performing, based on the paging request message, a paging sequence to identify a paging set of base stations to page the specific mobile device, the paging sequence further comprising: identifying a paging set that is a last known cell for the specific mobile device based on the tracked last known cell, sending paging messages to the radio access network to all cells in the paging set, identifying a next paging set based on the tracked per-cell paging success rate, and sending paging messages to the radio access network to all cells in the next paging set; and   exiting the paging sequence once the specific mobile device has responded to a paging message from a base station in the paging set or once all base stations in a tracking area have been sent a paging message,   thereby allowing paging of mobile devices while reducing a likelihood of paging all base stations in the tracking area.