Policy management in multi-access scenarios

摘要

The invention comprises methods and arrangements for Policy Decision Point discovery in a roaming or handover scenario in an IP network (IN) comprising a plurality of network elements. The invention introduces a Re-direct Policy Decision (RPDF) Function which can deliver addresses to PDPs associated to a certain Mobile Terminal. The RPDF comprises a memory for storing addresses (APDPA, SPDPA1) of Policy Decision Points and Mobile Terminals. The RPDF makes it possible for a network element, e.g. an application function, a policy enforcement point or another policy decision point, to find a Policy Decision Point associated to the Mobile Terminal.

主权项

1. A method of operating a re-direct policy decision function for policy decision point discovery for a mobile terminal roaming in an Internet protocol network, comprising:
the re-direct policy decision function storing a mapped address between an address of the mobile terminal and an address of a first policy decision point; the re-direct policy decision function receiving a request from a second policy decision point for the mapped address; and the re-direct policy decision function providing the mapped address to the second policy decision point wherein the second policy decision point discovers the first policy decision point associated with the mobile terminal, and wherein the first policy decision point is a serving policy decision point and the second policy decision point is an anchor policy decision point.