POLICY CO-ORDINATION IN A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

摘要

In order to address the problem of allowing a GGSN 16 of a UMTS core network to work towards multiple Policy Control Functions (PCFs) 17 co-located with P-CSCF nodes 18 using the COPS protocol, a policy control function coordinator (PCF-C) 15 is implemented between the GGSN 16 and the P-CSCF 18. A single COPS connection is established between the GGSN 16 and the PCF-C 15, whilst a COPS connection is established between the PCF-C 15 and each of the P-CSCF nodes 18. Decisions made at the PCFs 17 are routed to the GGSN 16 via the PCF-C 17, and responses generated at the GGSN 16 are routed to the appropriate PCFs 17 via the GGSN 17. This architecture avoids conflicts which might otherwise arise with the COPS protocol.