Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W8/00—Network data management
  • H04W8/02—Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W8/00—Network data management
  • H04W8/02—Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks
  • H04W8/08—Mobility data transfer
  • H04W8/082—Mobility data transfer for traffic bypassing of mobility servers, e.g. location registers, home PLMNs or home agents

Definitions

• Wireless communications systems such as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) mobile communications system, also referred to as Evolved Packet System (EPS) or 4 th Generation (4G) system, the Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications, or the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (W-CDMA) mobile
• LTE Long Term Evolution
• EPS Evolved Packet System
• 4G 4 th Generation
• GSM Global System for Mobile
• W-CDMA Wideband Code Division Multiple Access
• Roaming services for mobile networks are usually employed according to home routed roaming or local breakout schemes.
• Home routed roaming suffers from long data delays and interoperability issues.
• Local breakout while providing faster connection, may not be suitable for accessing private networks.
• another roaming scheme referred to herein as hub breakout roaming, enables data access to a mobile device, subscribed with a home network and roaming into a visited network, by a hub breakout system through the visited network.
• the hub breakout system Upon receiving a request for data access from the visited network, the hub breakout system assigns an IP address to the mobile device.
• the hub breakout system then routes data packets, associated with the data access requested by the mobile device, to and from at least one corresponding data source, using the assigned IP address.
• the data source includes the Internet, a private network associated with the home network, or any other service provider entity.
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an overview of a communications system with different approaches of handling roaming services between separate wireless communications networks;
• FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a communications system illustrating an Internet Protocol (IP) eXchange (IPX) breakout roaming approach, according to at least one example embodiment
• FIG. 2B is a block diagram of a communications system illustrating the handling of roaming services, according to IPX breakout roaming, associated with a mobile device roaming into multiple visited networks;
• FIG. 3A is a signaling flow chart illustrating data signals exchanged between different entities when initiating a roaming session, according to a first example embodiment
• FIG. 3B is a signaling flow chart illustrating data signals exchanged between different entities when initiating a roaming session, according to a second example embodiment
• FIG. 4A is a block diagram of a communications system illustrating an example of accessing a home confined private network in IPX breakout roaming
• FIG. 4B is a flow chart illustrating a method of enabling access to a home confined private network in IPX breakout roaming
• FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a communication system illustrating handling of charging data record (CDR) in IPX breakout roaming; and FIG. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method of handling roaming services for mobile devices according to at least one example embodiment.
• CDR charging data record
• Mobile technology experienced rapid evolution with deployment of packet- based infrastructures. Such revolution resulted in a significant increase in mobile subscribers compelled by a continually improving service quality and a variety of data services provided by mobile network operators (MNOs).
• MNOs mobile network operators
• wireless data traffic now exceeds voice traffic in wireless networks indicating a high consumption volume of data services.
• Mobile subscribers are more and more attached to their IP- based services as they, typically, spend long hours accessing data through their mobile devices. As such, mobile subscribers expect to be connected even as they travel across different towns, countries, or regions. Such expectation drives a strong demand for efficient and reliable roaming services.
• FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating an overview of a communications system 100 with different approaches for handling roaming services between separate wireless communications networks.
• the communications system 100 includes a home wireless communications network 110, e.g., an LTE network, to which a user equipment (UE) 1 15, or a respective user, is subscribed.
• the UE 1 15 is roaming to a visited wireless communications network 120, e.g., a LTE network.
• a visited wireless communications network 120 e.g., a LTE network.
• a hub breakout system 130 within a hub network 140, is coupled to both the home wireless communications network 1 10 and the visited wireless communications network 120.
• the hub breakout system 130 is configured to provide routing and interconnecting services.
• the hub breakout system 130 may further provide additional interoperability services.
• hub networks 140 examples include General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Roaming eXchange (GRX) systems, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) Roaming eXchange (CRX) systems, Internet Protocol eXchange (IPX) systems, or the like.
• GPRS General Packet Radio Service
• GRX Roaming eXchange
• CDMA Code Division Multiple Access
• CRX Roaming eXchange
• IPX Internet Protocol eXchange
• the IPX framework is a GSM Association endorsed service framework enabling IP reachability among core networks involved in a roaming service.
• the IPX system in particular, is configured to provide interoperability of IP-based services and exchange of IP based traffic between different service providers according to service level agreements between the service providers. Since more and more MNOs migrate to IP-based network architectures such as the Long Term evolution (LTE) system, IPX is gaining more attraction.
• LTE Long Term evolution
• data access may be provided to the UE 1 15 according to different approaches.
• a first approach is known in the art as home routing, or routed, roaming 191, in which an IP address is assigned to the UE 115, via the hub network 140, by the home network 1 10 and data traffic associated with the data access is routed from the home network 1 10 to the UE 115 through the visited network 120.
• a second approach is known in the art as local breakout roaming 193 in which the IP address is assigned to the UE 1 15 by the visited network 120 and data services are accessed by the UE 115 directly from the visited network 120.
• hub breakout 195 another roaming approach referred to herein as hub breakout 195 may be employed.
• the IP address is assigned to the UE 115 by the hub breakout system 130.
• Data packets associated with data services requested by the UE are accessed by the hub breakout system 130 and routed to UE 1 15 through the visited network 120.
• an IP address is assigned by a packet data network (PDN) gateway (P-GW) of the home network 110 to the UE 1 15 and a GPRS Tunneling Protocol (GTP) tunnel is established between a serving gateway (S-GW) of the visited network 120 and the P-GW of the home network 1 10.
• PDN packet data network
• GTP GPRS Tunneling Protocol
• S-GW serving gateway
• S-GW serving gateway
• S-GW serving gateway
• the roaming UE 1 15 accesses any IP based services, including home confined services or Internet accessible services, from the home network 1 10.
• the user experience of accessing certain services may suffer due to the long traversing delay over the GTP tunnel between the S-GW of the visited network and the P-GW of the home network.
• IP eXchange (IPX) framework a visited network still has to test, at least once, and establish the GTP tunnel, or S8 interface, with each of its roaming partners' P-GW, one by one.
• the testing of GTP tunnels is typically performed by the visited network 120 for each P-GW of a home network 110.
• the GTP tunnel testing involves testing of IP connectivity by analyzing parameters within protocol headers to check for any inconsistencies, if any. Such operational task tends to be consuming in terms of time and resources.
• An MNO may sometimes find it difficult to establish GTP tunnels with all its wished partners due to the limited resources and difficulty of resolving protocol incompatibility among multiple vendors' implementations. As such, the GTP tunnel testing may present a technical burden that may become sometimes a barrier for establishing a roaming relationship with another operator.
• the roaming UE 115 is assigned an IP address by a P-GW of the visited network 120 and a GTP tunnel is established between an S-GW of the visited network 120 and the P-GW of the visited network 120.
• the roaming UE 1 15 is able to access IP based services, for example, directly from the local visited network 120 without going through the long IP path, e.g., GTP tunnel established in a home routed roaming.
• local breakout roaming 193 offers an improved user experience for accessing IP based services.
• the roaming UE 1 15 may not be able to access home confined services, provided by the home network 1 10, because it employs an IP address acquired at the visited network 120.
• Home confined sub-networks within the home network 1 10 may not be accessible to IP addresses acquired at the visited network 120.
• charging data record (CDR) of a roaming user, generated at the P-GW of the visited network 1 10 is not immediately available to the home network 1 10.
• the CDR generated by the P-GW of the home network may be used in real-time or pseudo real time, for example, to track each end user's data usage and to notify the end user when its usage reaches a certain predefined threshold.
• IP based services include IP based voice services, e.g., voice over IP (VoIP) or voice over LTE (VoLTE), IP based video services, IP based messaging services, IP based data services, or the like.
• VoIP voice over IP
• VoIP voice over LTE
• IP based video services IP based video services
• IP based messaging services IP based data services, or the like.
• the request for data access includes a request to access such services by the user of the UE 1 15.
• the hub breakout roaming may be employed when providing any of such services to the UE 1 15.
• Hub breakout roaming 195 described herein offers solutions to the problems, described above, associated with the home routed roaming 191 and the local breakout roaming 193 scenarios.
• Hub breakout roaming simplifies the connection operation to each roaming partner, e.g., home network 1 10 and visited network 120, and overcomes the drawbacks associated with home routed roaming 191 and local breakout roaming 193.
• each roaming partner e.g., home network 1 10 and visited network 120
• one or more P-GWs associated with the hub breakout system 130 are employed.
• the hub breakout system 130 and the hub network 140 are usually managed by an entity independent of the MNOs of the home and visited networks.
• an MNO acting as the visited network 120 connects its S-GW to one of the one or more P-GWs in the hub breakout system.
• a GTP tunnel protocol between the S-GW of the MNO and the P-GW of the hub breakout system 130 may be tested.
• the GTP tunnel may then be used by the MNO for all its roaming UEs.
• Each roaming UE is assigned an IP address by the P- GW of the hub breakout system 130 to access the Internet, a confined service network, or walled-garden network, associated with the respective home network, or any other IP-based service.
• the CDR of the roaming user generated by the P-GW of the hub breakout system 130 is captured, classified and relayed back to the respective home network 110.
• the roaming user's identification information such as International Mobile Subscriber Identity (ISMI) may be used to associate the generated CDR with the corresponding roaming user.
• ISMI International Mobile Subscriber Identity
• the hub network 140 may include multiple hub breakout systems 130 distributed across one or more geographic areas.
• a P-GW, of one of the multiple hub breakout systems 130, which is geographically close to the visited network 120 may be selected to establish the GTP tunnel with the S-GW of the visited network 120.
• the hub breakout roaming 195 provides data access services with data access speed similar to that provided by local breakout 193.
• a UE 1 15 with a respective home network 110 in the United States of America and roaming with a visited network 120 in China is provided data access using a P-GW, of one of the multiple hub breakout systems 130, located in China or Hong Kong.
• a P-GW, of one of the multiple hub breakout systems 130, located in Germany or elsewhere in Europe may be used.
• FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a communications system illustrating an IP eXchange (IPX) breakout roaming approach, according to at least one example embodiment.
• IPX IP eXchange
• the UE 1 15, subscribed with an LTE home network 210 is roaming with a visited LTE network 220.
• the visited LTE network 220 includes an evolved node B (ENodeB) 221 configured to communicate with mobile devices, e.g., the UE 1 15, and coupled to a S-GW 225 within an LTE core 222.
• the S-GW 225 is coupled to a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 223 of the LTE core 222.
• MME Mobility Management Entity
• the home LTE network 210 includes an ENodeB 231 connected to an LTE core system 212 which includes an S-GW 213 and a P-GW 215 coupled to each other.
• the LTE core 212 also includes a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 219.
• the P-GW 215 is also coupled to a private network 217 of the home network 210 configured to provide walled- garden services such as domain name system (DNS) services, portal services, IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) services, banking services, or the like.
• An IPX breakout system 230 is acting as the hub breakout system 130 by providing roaming, interconnecting, and other interoperability services to the home LTE network 210 and the visited LTE network 220.
• the IPX breakout system 230 includes one or more P-GWs 235.
• An IPX system acting as a hub network 140 may include multiple IPX breakout networks distributed across multiple geographic areas.
• the P-GWs 235 of the IPX system may be implemented as a service with different protocol variants or as a cluster of P- GWs 235 from different vendors.
• the IPX system and the P-GWs 235 therein may be managed and operated by one or more trusted service providers independent of the MNOs of the home and visited networks.
• the IPX breakout system 230 may also include a private IP subnet system 238 configured to provide and manage access of the private network 217.
• the private IP subnet system 238 includes, for example, a plurality of IP addresses known to the private network 217.
• the private IP subnet system 238 may further include one or more routers configured to route data packets, for example, to the Internet 150 or to the private network 217.
• the IPX breakout system 230 also includes a Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) 233 coupled to the MME 223 of the visited network 220 over S6a/S9 interface 269 and the HSS 219 of the home network 210 over S6a/S9 interface 271.
• DRA Diameter Routing Agent
• a GTP tunnel 261 Upon a request for data access by the roaming UE 115, a GTP tunnel 261 , also referred to as S 8 interface, is established between the S-GW 225 of the visited LTE network 220 and the P-GW 235 of the IPX breakout system 230.
• the GTP tunnel 261 typically supports an IP connection between the S-GW 225 of the visited LTE network 220 and the P-GW 235 of the IPX breakout system 230.
• the visited LTE network 220 uses the S8 interface 261 between its S-GW 225 and the P-GW 235 of the IPX breakout system 230 for all roaming UEs from different home LTE networks.
• the visited LTE network 220 is then enabled to provide LTE roaming services to roaming devices associated with different home networks.
• the MNO of visited LTE network 220 is spared the burden of addressing the interoperability issues associated with establishing multiple GTP tunnels with different other mobile networks as is the case when employing home routed roaming 191.
• the IPX breakout system 230 may select, or cause the selection of, a P-GW 235 that is geographically close to the visited network 220 for establishing the GTP tunnel 261.
• the IPX breakout system may select, or cause selection of, a particular P-GW based on other criteria such as the home network 210, the visited network 220, a user group associated with the roaming UE 115, the type of the UE 1 15, communication quality, delay associated with a corresponding communication path, capacity or bandwidth of a corresponding communication link, business
• consideration(s) such as agreements/arrangements with MNOs, or the like.
• the IPX breakout system 230 provides access of a respective data source such as the Internet 150 or the private network 217 of the home LTE network 210. For example, if the service requested by the roaming UE 1 15 relates to accessing the Internet 150, respective data packets are routed, by the IPX breakout system 230, between the P-GW 235 and the Internet 150, for example, through the
• IPX breakout system 230 In another example where the service requested by the roaming UE 1 15 relates to a home confined service, e.g., a walled- garden service, associated with the private network 217, respective data packets are routed by the IPX breakout system 230 between the private IP subnet system 238 and the private network 217, for example, through a virtual private network (VPN) connection 263.
• VPN virtual private network
• the roaming UE 1 15 is assigned an IP address, by the P-GW 235, that is recognized by the private network 217 in order to allow access to home confined services. Based on the assigned IP address, access to the Internet via the connection 267 or access to the private network 217 via the VPN connection 263 is provided to the roaming UE 1 15 by the IPX breakout system 230. Besides the assigned IP address, a routing policy is employed by the IPX breakout system 230 in order to enable access of, for example, the Internet 150 and the private network 217. The routing policy may be enforced by the private IP subnet system 238. For example, a private IP address known to the private network 217 may be assigned to the UE 1 15.
• NAT network address translation
• a public IP address may be assigned to the UE 1 15 by the P- GW 235 where the assigned public IP address belongs to a group of IP addresses pre-allocated by the private IP subnet system 238 to the home network 210. That is, the assigned public IP address is known to private network 217 and enables access of walled-garden services provided by the private network 217. Therefore, the IPX breakout roaming overcomes the shortcomings of local breakout roaming 193, because it enables roaming UEs 1 15 to access home confined services.
• Each LTE MNO may operate as a home network and as a visited network. As such, each LTE MNO may provision two separate private links to the IPX breakout system 230, a first one for the S8 Interface IP connection 261 between its S-GW and P-GW 235 when acting as visited network, and the second for the VPN IP connection 263 between its private network and the respective designated private IP subnet system 238 when acting as home network.
• the IPX breakout system 230 designates a private IP subnet system 238 for each MNO subscribed to, or may, act as a home network.
• the first link is to handle core network traffic, and the second one is to handle user traffic.
• the two links may correspond to two separate physical connections or share a single physical connection. If a single physical connection is shared, a VPN is used to separate the traffic.
• FIG. 2B is a block diagram of a communications system illustrating the handling of roaming services, through IPX breakout, associated with a mobile device roaming into multiple visited networks.
• the UE 1 15 associated with the home LTE network 210 roams with multiple visited networks, e.g., 220a, 220b, 220c, and 220d, as the corresponding user of the UE 115 travels across areas served by the visited LTE networks 220a, 220b, 220c, and 220d.
• the local S-GW e.g., 225a, 225b, 225c, and 225d, establishes an S8 interface, e.g., 261a, 261b, 261c, and 261d, to a P-GW 235 of the IPX system 230, and the end UE 115 is assigned an IP address, e.g., by the pre-defined private IP subnet 238 associated with the home network 210. For example, a private subnet 10.10.10.x is pre-allocated to the home network 210.
• Traffic associated with an IP address in such private subnet is routable to the private network 217 via a VPN connection 263 pre-defined between the home network 210 and the IPX Breakout System 230.
• the roaming UE 1 15 associated with the home LTE network 210 is able to access the Internet 150 via the interface 267, where routing and network address translation (NAT) is carried out for IP communication between private network and public Internet 150. Meanwhile, the roaming UE 1 15 is also enabled to access home confined services associated with the private network 217 via the pre- defined VPN or private connection 263.
• NAT network address translation
• FIG. 3A is a signaling flow chart illustrating data signals exchanged between different entities when initiating a roaming session, according to a first example embodiment.
• the signaling shown in FIG. 3A illustrates the process of acquiring an IP address by the roaming UE 115, from the P-GW 235, and accessing home walled- garden services or the Internet 150 through a third party premise, e.g., IPX breakout system 230.
• a request for accessing a data service through the visited LTE network 220 is sent from the roaming UE 1 15.
• the request of accessing a local visited LTE network 220 from the roaming UE 115 is managed by a local mobility management entity (MME) 223 together with the local S-GW 225.
• MME mobility management entity
• the S-GW 225 then builds a GTP tunnel, or S8 Interface, with the P-GW 235 based on pre-defined arrangement(s) or agreement(s). For example, given an agreement between the provider of the IPX breakout system and MNOs of both the visited and home LTE networks, the S8 interface 261 is built with a particular P-GW 235 of the IPX breakout system 230 based on, for example, an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) or an access point name (APN) associated with the UE 115.
• IMSI international mobile subscriber identity
• API access point name
• the MME 223 may, for example, instruct the S-GW 225 to connect to a particular P-GW 235 of the IPX system 230.
• the MME 223, for example, receives instructions from the IPX breakout system 230 indicative of the particular P-GW 235.
• the particular P-GW 235 may be selected/determined by the IPX breakout system 230 based on delay associated with respective data path(s), capacity or bandwidth associated with respective data link(s), UE type, the home network, the visited network, user group associated with the roaming UE 1 15, business reason(s), geographical location, or the like.
• the particular P-GW 235 assigns an IP address to the roaming UE 115 from the pre-defined private IP subnet 217 designated for the home LTE network 210.
• the UE 115 Using the assigned IP address, the UE 115 is able to access, at 340, home walled-garden services associated with the private network 217 via pre-connected VPN or private link 263, or access at 330 the Internet 150 via the connection 267.
• the VPN connection 263 is, typically, established before the data access service is provided to the UE 1 15. Usually, the VPN 263 is not dynamically built on the fly.
• the VPN may be a physical connection or an IP security (IPSec) connection over the Internet.
• IPSec IP security
• network address translation may be employed when accessing the Internet 150.
• the IPX breakout system 230 hosts and manages multiple private IP subnets corresponding to different mobile networks.
• a private IP subnet associated with a particular mobile network includes one or more IP addresses to be assigned to roaming UEs associated with the particular mobile network.
• the one or more IP addresses of the private IP subnet associated with the particular mobile network are typically recognizable by the particular mobile network and therefore enable a respective roaming UE to access private networks associated with the particular mobile network.
• the private IP subnets may further include routing policies and routers implementing such policies.
• FIG. 3B is a signaling flow chart illustrating data signals exchanged between different entities when initiating a roaming session, according to a second example embodiment.
• FIG. 3B describes an approach of seamlessly selecting a P-GW, e.g., 235, of the IPX breakout system 230 by the visited LTE network 220 via Diameter signaling mediation at the Diameter Routing Agent (DRA) 233 of the IPX breakout system 230.
• DRA Diameter Routing Agent
• the local MME 223 authenticates and authorizes the roaming UE 1 15 to access the visited LTE network 220.
• a request for service or data access is received by the MME 223 of the visited LTE network 220 from the roaming UE 1 15.
• the MME 223 communicates, at 315, with the Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 219 of the home LTE network 220 using Diameter-based signaling, e.g., S6a, via the DRA 233 of the IPX breakout system 230.
• the DRA 233 forwards the Diameter messages received from the MME 223 to the HSS 219.
• the service profile of the user of the UE 115 is sent back at 335 to the DRA 233 to be forwarded to the MME 223.
• the service profile includes multiple attributes such as "VPLMN Address Allowed” indicative of whether or not a local breakout is allowed, "PDN GW Identity” to identify the P-GW to which the S-GW 225 is to connect, or "PDN GW Allocation Type” to indicate whether the P-GW may be changed or not.
• VPN Address Allowed indicative of whether or not a local breakout is allowed
• PDN GW Identity to identify the P-GW to which the S-GW 225 is to connect
• PDN GW Allocation Type to indicate whether the P-GW may be changed or not.
• the DRA 233 receives the service profile, modifies or inserts one or more attributes in the service profile, and forwards the modified service profile to the MME 223.
• the visited LTE network 220 may not use a local P-GW of the visited LTE network 220 to serve the roaming UE 1 15. Instead, the GTP tunnel 261 is established between the local S-GW 225 and the given static P-GW, whose IP address is provided in the modified service profile.
• the DRA 233 sends instructions to the MME 223, for example, with regard to a particular P-GW 235 to be used or to enforce IPX breakout roaming by modifying the user service profile.
• the particular P-GW 235 to be used is determined/selected by the DRA 233 based on delay associated with respective data path(s), capacity or bandwidth associated with respective data link(s), UE type, the home network, the visited network, user group associated with the roaming UE 1 15, business reason(s), geographical location, or the like.
• the local MME 223 instructs the local S- GW 225 to connect to the P-GW 235 identified in the service profile received by the MME 223.
• the local S-GW 225 connects to the P-GW 235 to establish the S8 interface 261 and get an IP address for the roaming UE 1 15. Once an IP address is assigned to the roaming UE 1 15, the roaming session may then start and the UE 1 15 may access the requested service.
• the roaming scenario according to FIG. 3B may be perceived as home routed roaming 191.
• the visited LTE network 220 may not realize that the P-GW 235 is in the IPX breakout system 230 and not in the home visited LTE network 210.
• the signaling process described in FIG. 3B may be employed even when there is no agreement, or arrangement, between the operator of the visited LTE network 220 and the operator of the IPX breakout system 230.
• FIG. 4A is a block diagram of a communications system illustrating an example of accessing a home confined private network 217 in IPX breakout roaming.
• a domain name system (DNS) server 218, associated with the private network 238, is assigned to the roaming UE 115.
• DNS domain name system
• the DNS server 218 would typically be assigned to the UE 1 15, by the home P-GW 215, in the case of a non-roaming scenario or a home routed roaming 191 scenario.
• Any DNS query, by the UE 1 15, for resolving an IP address of targeted web address or a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) is then routed to home DNS server 218 via the private IP subnet 238 of the IPX breakout system 230 and the pre-connected VPN, or private link, 263.
• the resolved IP address belongs to the private network 217, or respective walled-garden services, e.g., 10.10.8.10 as a private portal
• the respective IP payload is routed to the private network 217 via the VPN connection 263.
• the resolved IP address belongs to public Internet
• the following IP payload is routed to Internet 150 via, for example, a network address translation (NAT) function over the interface 267 between the private subnet 238 and the public Internet 150.
• NAT network address translation
• FIG. 4B is a flow chart illustrating a method of enabling access to a home confined private network in IPX breakout roaming.
• the roaming UE 115 requests service access through the visited LTE Network 220.
• a GTP tunnel 261 is established between the S-GW of the 225 of the visited LTE network 220 the P-GW 235 of the IPX breakout system 230.
• the roaming UE 1 15 is assigned an IP address by the P-GW 235 via the GTP Tunnel, or S8 interface, 261.
• the IP address of the home DNS server 218 is also assigned to the roaming UE 1 15.
• the P-GW 235 assigns to the roaming UE the DNS Server IP address, e.g., 10.10.8.8, and an IP address, e.g., 10.10.10.5, selected from a pre-defined subnet, e.g., 10.10.10.x, maintained at the IPX system and associated with the Home LTE network 210. IP addresses of the subnet, e.g., 10.10.10.x, maintained at the IPX breakout system 230 are recognizable by the private network 207 (e.g., 10.10.8.x).
• the roaming UE 1 15 queries the home DNS server 218 about an IP address, e.g., a website IP address.
• the DNS server 218 resolves the IP address and responds back to the UE 115. If the resolved IP address is public, the corresponding payload is routed, at block 460, to the Internet 150. If the IP address assigned to the roaming UE 1 15 is private, e.g., a home walled-garden service address, the corresponding payload is routed, at block 470, to the private network 217. The routing of IP payload is carried out by the IPX breakout system 230 either via the VPN connection 263 to the private network 217 or using a NAT function over the connection 267 when routing to the Internet 150.
• FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a communication system illustrating handling of charging data record (CDR) in IPX breakout roaming.
• the IPX breakout system 230 includes a charging gateway 234, which receives CDR(s) for the roaming UE 1 15 from the P-GW 235, where each roaming UE 115 is assigned an IP address for accessing services confined at home private networks or services over Internet.
• the collected CDR(s) associated with the roaming UE 115 are then sent to the CG 214 at home LTE network 210 in a real-time, or pseudo real time over communication interface 508.
• the home LTE network 210 may notify the user of the UE 1 15 about data usage while roaming.
• the MNO of the home LTE network may use the CDRs received from the IPX breakout system 230 as if they were collected via home P-GWs 215. In other words, all its existing applications based on the realtime collection of CDRs, used in non-roaming scenarios for example, may function correctly without any interruption in IPX breakout roaming scenarios.
• the home LTE MNO receives the CDRs related to its roaming UEs in a real-time fashion over the pre-provisioned IP connection between the IPX breakout system 230 and the home LTE network 210.
• the logical connections 269 or 263 may be used to carry the communication interface for exchanging CDRs data.
• the communication interface 508, for reporting CDRs between CG 234 and CG 214 may employ standard protocols known in the art such as GTP, or any other TCP/IP protocol, e.g., HTTP or SOAP, or any proprietary developed protocol.
• FIG. 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of hub breakout roaming performed by a hub breakout system 130.
• a request for a service or data access is received at the hub breakout system 130, e.g., IPX breakout system 230.
• the request for data access is associated with a mobile device roaming 115 in a visited wireless network, e.g., 120 and 220.
• the mobile device is subscribed to a home wireless network, e.g., 1 10 and 210.
• an IP address is assigned to the roaming mobile device 115 by the hub breakout system, e.g. , 130 or 230.
• the IP address is assigned to the roaming mobile device by a P-GW, e.g., 235, of the hub breakout system, e.g., 130 or 230.
• the hub breakout system e.g., 130 or 230, provides data access to the mobile device 1 15, via the visited wireless network, e.g., 120 and 220, by routing corresponding data packets to and from at least one data source, associated with the data access requested by the mobile device 1 15, using the IP address assigned to the mobile device.
• hub breakout roaming may be employed with other wireless networks or other communications networks in general.
• the approach of hub breakout roaming may be employed with communications networks providing Internet and data access.
• hub networks, or hub breakout systems, other than IPX system or IPX breakout system may be used to implement hub breakout roaming functions.
• the various methods and machines described herein may each be implemented by a physical, virtual or hybrid general purpose computer having a central processor, memory, disk or other mass storage, communication interface(s), input/output (I/O) device(s), and other peripherals.
• the general purpose computer is transformed into the machines that execute the methods described above, for example, by loading software instructions into a data processor, and then causing execution of the instructions to carry out the functions described, herein.
• such a computer may contain a system bus, where a bus is a set of hardware lines used for data transfer among the components of a computer or processing system.
• the bus or busses are essentially shared conduit(s) that connect different elements of the computer system, e.g., processor, disk storage, memory, input/output ports, network ports, etc., which enables the transfer of information between the elements.
• One or more central processor units are attached to the system bus and provide for the execution of computer instructions.
• I/O device interfaces for connecting various input and output devices, e.g., keyboard, mouse, displays, printers, speakers, etc., to the computer.
• Network interface(s) allow the computer to connect to various other devices attached to a network.
• Memory provides volatile storage for computer software instructions and data used to implement an embodiment.
• Disk or other mass storage provides non-volatile storage for computer software instructions and data used to implement, for example, the various procedures described herein.
• Embodiments may therefore typically be implemented in hardware, firmware, software, or any combination thereof.
• the procedures, devices, and processes described herein constitute a computer program product, including a non-transitory computer- readable medium, e.g., a removable storage medium such as one or more DVD- ROM's, CD-ROM's, diskettes, tapes, etc., that provides at least a portion of the software instructions for the system.
• a computer program product can be installed by any suitable software installation procedure, as is well known in the art.
• at least a portion of the software instructions may also be downloaded over a cable, communication and/or wireless connection.
• firmware, software, routines, or instructions may be described herein as performing certain actions and/or functions of the data processors. However, it should be appreciated that such descriptions contained herein are merely for convenience and that such actions in fact result from computing devices, processors, controllers, or other devices executing the firmware, software, routines, instructions, etc.
• flow diagrams, block diagrams, and network diagrams may include more or fewer elements, be arranged differently, or be represented differently. But it further should be understood that certain implementations may dictate the block and network diagrams and the number of block and network diagrams illustrating the execution of the embodiments be implemented in a particular way. Accordingly, further embodiments may also be implemented in a variety of computer architectures, physical, virtual, cloud computers, and/or some combination thereof, and, thus, the data processors described herein are intended for purposes of illustration only and not as a limitation of the embodiments.

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