System and method for shared sessions in communication networks

Abstract

A system, apparatus and method are provided for supporting shared sessions in communication networks. The system, apparatus and method include interoperation between a User Equipment and serving nodes of a communication network. The serving nodes communicate with at least one anchor node of the communication network. In some implementations a shared session identifier and User Equipment identifying component are used to identify a User Equipment within a shared session. In some implementations, a paging notification is used to inform one or more target User Equipment that of a downlink message relating to the shared session.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method in a wireless network, the method comprising:
 receiving, by a serving node of the wireless network, an uplink transmission from a user equipment (UE), the uplink transmission including a UE identifier (UEID), a session identifier that identifies a shared session for a group of one or more UEs, and uplink user plane data;   transmitting, by the serving node, a downlink transmission to the UE, the downlink transmission including a security challenge;   receiving, by the serving node, from the UE, a challenge response to the security challenge;   transmitting, by the serving node, an uplink wireless network protocol data unit (PDU) to an anchor node of the wireless network, the anchor node associated with the UEID and the uplink wireless network PDU including the UEID, the session identifier, the uplink user plane data, the security challenge and the received challenge response;   receiving, by the anchor node, the uplink wireless network PDU;   determining, by the anchor node, using the session identifier, cryptographic keying material associated with the shared session for the group of one or more UEs;   deriving, by the anchor node, an expected challenge response from at least the security challenge and the cryptographic keying material; and,   transmitting, by the anchor node, to another network node, the uplink user plane data after determining that the received challenge response matches the expected challenge response.   
     
     
         2 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the uplink transmission includes a random access preamble and the downlink transmission includes a random access response, the random access response including the security challenge and an allocation of uplink radio resources for transmission of the challenge response. 
     
     
         3 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the uplink transmission includes a random access preamble and the downlink transmission includes a random access response, the random access response including an allocation of downlink radio resources for a further downlink transmission, the further downlink transmission including the security challenge and an allocation of uplink radio resources for transmission of the challenge response. 
     
     
         4 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the UEID includes an anchor node identifying component indicating the anchor node for the shared session. 
     
     
         5 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the UEID includes a session identifying component and the session identifier includes the session identifying component. 
     
     
         6 . The method according to  claim 1 , wherein the uplink transmission includes a logical channel identifier (LCID) and the session identifier includes the LCID. 
     
     
         7 . A serving node of a wireless network, the serving node comprising:
 a radio link interface;   a network interface;   one or more processors;   one or more memories, wherein the one or more memories store instructions for execution by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:   receive from a user equipment (UE) using the radio link interface, an uplink transmission, the uplink transmission including a UE identifier (UEID), a session identifier that identifies a shared session for a group of one or more UEs, and uplink user plane data;   transmit to the UE using the radio link interface, a downlink transmission, the downlink transmission including a security challenge;   receive from the UE using the radio link interface, a challenge response to the security challenge; and   transmit to an anchor node associated with the UEID, using the network interface, an uplink wireless network protocol data unit (PDU), the uplink wireless network PDU including the UEID, the session identifier, the uplink user plane data, the security challenge and the received challenge response.   
     
     
         8 . The serving node according to  claim 7 , wherein the uplink transmission includes a random access preamble and the downlink transmission includes a random access response, the random access response including the security challenge and an allocation of uplink radio resources for transmission of the challenge response. 
     
     
         9 . The serving node according to  claim 7 , wherein the uplink transmission includes a random access preamble and the downlink transmission includes a random access response, the random access response including an allocation of downlink radio resources for a further downlink transmission, the further downlink transmission including the security challenge and an allocation of uplink radio resources for transmission of the challenge response. 
     
     
         10 . The serving node according to  claim 7 , wherein the UEID includes an anchor node identifying component indicating the anchor node for the shared session. 
     
     
         11 . The serving node according to  claim 7 , wherein the UEID includes a session identifying component and the session identifier includes the session identifying component. 
     
     
         12 . The serving node according to  claim 7 , wherein the uplink transmission includes a logical channel identifier (LCID) and the session identifier includes the LCID. 
     
     
         13 . An anchor node of a wireless network, the anchor node comprising:
 one or more network interfaces;   one or more processors;   one or more memories, wherein the one or more memories store instructions for execution by the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:   receive, using one of the network interfaces, an uplink wireless network protocol data unit (PDU), the uplink wireless network PDU including a UE identifier (UEID), a session identifier, an uplink user plane data, a security challenge and a challenge response.   determine, using the session identifier, cryptographic keying material associated with a shared session for a group of one or more UEs;   derive an expected challenge response from at least the security challenge and the cryptographic keying material; and,   transmit to another network node using one of the network interfaces, the uplink user plane data after determining that the received challenge response matches the expected challenge response.   
     
     
         14 . The anchor node according to  claim 13 , wherein the UEID includes a session identifying component and the session identifier includes the session identifying component. 
     
     
         15 . A system comprising a serving node and an anchor node, the serving node configured to:
 receive from a user equipment (UE), an uplink transmission, the uplink transmission including a UE identifier (UEID), a session identifier that identifies a shared session for a group of one or more UEs, and uplink user plane data;   transmit to the UE, a downlink transmission, the downlink transmission including a security challenge;   receive from the UE, a challenge response to the security challenge; and   transmit an uplink wireless network protocol data unit (PDU) to the anchor node, the anchor node associated with the UEID and the uplink wireless network PDU including the UEID, the session identifier, the uplink user plane data, the security challenge and the received challenge response; and   the anchor node configured to:   receive the uplink wireless network PDU;   determine, using the session identifier, cryptographic keying material associated with the shared session for the group of one or more UEs;   derive an expected challenge response from at least the security challenge and the cryptographic keying material; and,   transmit to another network node, the uplink user plane data after determining that the received challenge response matches the expected challenge response.   
     
     
         16 . The system according to  claim 15 , wherein the uplink transmission includes a random access preamble and the downlink transmission includes a random access response, the random access response including the security challenge and an allocation of uplink radio resources for transmission of the challenge response. 
     
     
         17 . The system according to  claim 15 , wherein the uplink transmission includes a random access preamble and the downlink transmission includes a random access response, the random access response including an allocation of downlink radio resources for a further downlink transmission, the further downlink transmission including the security challenge and an allocation of uplink radio resources for transmission of the challenge response. 
     
     
         18 . The system according to  claim 15 , wherein the UEID includes an anchor node identifying component indicating the anchor node for the shared session. 
     
     
         19 . The system according to  claim 15 , wherein the UEID includes a session identifying component and the session identifier includes the session identifying component. 
     
     
         20 . The system according to  claim 15 , wherein the uplink transmission includes a logical channel identifier (LCID) and the session identifier includes the LCID.