Overload Handling in BTS Paging Queues ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Overload Handling in BTS Paging Queues

A Paging Queue in the BTS consists of 2 PAGING REQUESTS (i.e. a PAGING REQUEST TYPE 1, TYPE 2 or TYPE3 message). Depending on its type a PAGING REQUEST may contain up to 4 mobile subscriber identities (IMSI or TMSI). In general a MS only monitors the paging channels belonging to its own Paging Group. This paging group is calculated on the basis of the IMSI, the CCCH configuration (including the setting of NBLKACGR) and the setting of NFRAMEPG in the MS as well as in the BSC. Monitoring only a part of the CCCH blocks for paging (discontinuous reception) helps to save battery capacity in the MS. For each paging group an own paging queue is available in the BTS. The higher the created CCCH capacity, the more paging groups (and thus paging queues) are available.

Paging Group: S

1 S TMSI TMSI

2 S TMSI TMSI

3 S

4 S

Second PAGING REQUEST in the paging queue IMSI IMSI TMSI S TMSI IMSI TMSI First PAGING REQUEST in the paging queue IMSI TMSI S S S S S TMSI TMSI IMSI IMSI S S S S paging queue

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Overload Handling in BTS Paging Queues ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Overload in one paging queue is handled by inserting the paging request in one of the other queues: If a paging queue overload occurs for a specific paging group the BTS changes its page mode first to extended paging. The MS is informed about this change by the Page Mode IE within the PAGING REQUEST messages sent for its paging group. By setting the Page Mode to extended paging ( E ) the BTS instructs the MS to monitor the next but one paging group in addition to its default paging group. If also in extended paging mode no queue place is available for the PAGING REQUEST, the BTS changes the page mode to paging reorganization which means that the BTS may insert the PAGING REQUEST into the queue of any other paging group. Thus, if the ,Page Mode IE indicates paging reorganization the MS must monitor all possible paging groups. If also in this page mode no space is found in any paging queue the BTS discards the paging and sends the RSL message OVERLOAD with cause CCCH overload to the BSC which it turn starts overload handling by discarding further PAGING COMMANDs to this BTS for a time defined by the database parameter BSCT17 (SET BSC PKGBSCB).

IMSI belonging to paging group 1 Paging Group:

Paging queue for paging group 1 full!

extended paging 1 S TMSI TMSI E S TMSI TMSI 2 S 3 S 4 S n

Second PAGING REQUEST in the paging queue

IMSI

IMSI TMSI

S TMSI

paging queue

IMSI First PAGING REQUEST in the paging queue TMSI TMSI TMSI IMSI TMSI S S S S S IMSI IMSI IMSI

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Overload Handling in BTS Paging Queues ________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

It is important to distinguish the terms Paging Capacity and Paging Buffer Space in the BTS. The Um Paging Capacity represents the ability of the BTS to transmit PAGING REQUESTs via the Um interface and is defined by the number of CCCH blocks that are available for the transmission of PAGING REQUEST messages via the radio interface. The number of CCCH blocks available for paging directly depends on the CCCH configuration (i.e. the type of BCCH created (MAINBCCH, MBCCHC, additional CCCHs on further timeslots?) the setting of the parameter NBLKACGR (Number of Blocks Reserved for Access Grant), which determines how many of the CCCH blocks may not be used for paging but only for the AGCH (IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT procedure). The Paging Buffer Space in the BTS represents the ability of the BTS to buffer PAGING REQUESTs in a paging queue before transmitting via the radio interface. The Paging Buffer Space in the BTS is proportional to the number of paging groups, because, as mentioned above, for each paging group one paging queue (with two places for one PAGING REQUEST each) is available. The number of paging groups and thus the Paging Buffer Space in the BTS thus depends on the CCCH configuration (i.e. the type of BCCH created (MAINBCCH, MBCCHC, additional CCCHs on further timeslots?) the setting of the parameter NBLKACGR (Number of Blocks Reserved for Access Grant), which determines how many of the CCCH blocks may not be used for paging but only for the AGCH (IMMEDIATE ASSIGNMENT procedure). the value of the parameter NFRAMEPG (Number of Multiframes between Paging). This parameter basically defines the number of TDMA multiframes (51 TDMA frames) between two PAGING REQUESTs sent for the same paging group. Setting NFRAMEPG to a higher value results in an increase of the number of paging groups (that are thus sent on the Um with a lower frequency as the Um capacity remains the same), and thus to an extension of the buffer space which is available in the BTS for the PAGING REQUESTs that are to be transmitted. Thus, with a higher value of NFRAMEPG the incoming paging traffic is distributed over a greater number of paging groups (paging queues) and thus the BTS can manage temporary paging peaks in a better way than with a small value of NFRAMEPG. The smaller the value of NFRAMEPG, the earlier the BTS will run into congestion of single paging queues, which results in extended paging or/and paging reorganization. On the other hand, the higher the value of NFRAMEPG, the longer the time distance between pagings of the same paging group. This increases the average call setup time for MTCs (from point of view of the calling party). In any case, if the paging traffic is continuously higher than the available Um Paging Capacity, the higher number of paging groups caused by a high value of NFRAMEPG cannot avoid extended paging, paging reorganization or even paging overload (PCH overload). Note: When the BTS has already stored some MS identities in the paging queue, it can still add further identities (TMSI or IMSI) from further received PAGING COMMANDs as long as the PAGING REQUEST has not yet been transmitted! In other words, as long as the PAGING REQUESTs are buffered in the BTS paging queues, they can be dynamically extended by new incoming MS identities.

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