Methods and apparatus for relocating and restoring connections through a failed serving gateway and traffic offloading

摘要

In a radio telecommunications network, a serving gateway support node controls connections between user equipment nodes and a packet-based network that pass through at least one serving gateway and at least one packet gateway. The serving gateway support node detects failure of communications to a first serving gateway. The serving gateway support node responds to the detected failure by initiating relocation of existing connections through the first serving gateway to instead pass through a second serving gateway. The serving gateway support node detects recovery of communications to the first serving gateway, and responds by ceasing relocation of at least some of the existing connections that have not yet been relocated to the second serving gateway. Related methods, serving gateways, and packet gateways are also disclosed.

主权项

1. A serving gateway support node that controls connections through at least one serving gateway of a radio telecommunications network, the serving gateway support node comprising circuitry configured to:
detect failure of communications to a first serving gateway; detect an event triggering handover of a user equipment node, the event triggering handover including one or more of a tracking area update, a routing area update, a radio handover, or a radio release with redirection; detect at the serving gateway support node the event triggering handover of a user equipment node, which has not yet been relocated to the second serving gateway, from the serving gateway support node to another serving gateway support node; initiate relocation of existing connections through the first serving gateway to instead pass through a second serving gateway in response to the detected failure of communications and the event triggering handover; relocate a first one of the existing connections associated with the user equipment node by communicating from the serving gateway support node to the other serving gateway support an instruction in a GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) message to carry out relocation of the first existing connection from the serving gateway support node to the other serving gateway support node: detect recovery of communications to the first serving gateway; and cease relocation of at least some of the existing connections that have not yet been relocated to the second serving gateway in response to the detected recovery of communications.