Access method and system, user equipment, and network side device

• US 10,009,787 B2
• Filed: 11/23/2016
• Issued: 06/26/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 12/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: Li, Hantao, Huang, Min
• Primary Examiner(s): Wu, Jianye
• Application Number:
  US15/360,772
• Publication Number:
  US 20170078910A1
• Time in Patent Office: 580 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0205 at the air interface dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0226 based on location or mobility handoff or reselection H04W36/00; mobile application services making use of the location of users or terminals H04W4/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0231 based on communication conditions dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition based on channel quality criteria H04W72/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0236 radio quality, e.g. interference, losses or delay
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0061 of neighbour cell information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide an access method and system, a user equipment, and a network side device. The method includes: receiving, by a user equipment, a first message that carries an identifier of a second network access point, where the second network access point can perform air interface offloading on a first network in which a user equipment is currently located; and when the first message carries identifiers of a plurality of second network access points, selecting, by the user equipment, one second network access point from the plurality of second network access points according to first auxiliary information, and accessing the selected second network access point. By adopting the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, an access delay can be effectively shortened, and access efficiency can improved, thereby effectively implementing offloading.

Claims

1. An access method comprising:

receiving, by a user equipment, a first message that carries identifiers of a plurality of second network access points, wherein each of the second network access points can perform air interface offloading with a first network in which the user equipment is located;

selecting, by the user equipment, a second network access point from the plurality of second network access points based on information provided by the identifiers describing characteristics of the plurality of second network access points, including at least a load of each of the second network access points; and

accessing, by the user equipment, the selected second network access point.

2. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the information for selecting the second network access point from the plurality of second network access points includes position information of the user equipment.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information for selecting the second network access point from the plurality of second network access points includes signal quality information of each second network access point.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the information for selecting the second network access point from the plurality of second network access points includes position and signal quality information of each second network access point.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein

a) the first network is a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) mobile communication network, and the second network is a non-3GPP mobile communication network;

or

b) the first network is a non-3GPP mobile communication network, and a second network is a short distance wireless communication network;

or

c) the first network is a 3GPP mobile communication network, and a second network is a short distance wireless communication network;

wherein

the 3GPP mobile communication network comprises one of a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), a Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), and a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network,

the non-3GPP mobile communication network comprises one of Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WIMAX) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000, and

the short distance wireless communication network comprises one of a wireless local area network (WLAN), infrared, Bluetooth, and Zigbee.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein when the second network is a wireless local area network, the identifier of the second network access points comprises at least one of:

a basic service set identifier (BSSID) of the second network access point and a media access control (MAC) layer address of the second network access point.

7. An access method comprising:

obtaining, by a network side device, identifiers of a plurality of second network access points, wherein each of the second network access points can perform air interface offloading to a second network from a first network in which a user equipment is located;

selecting, by the network side device, one of the second network access points at least in part according to load information included in each identifier;

generating, by the network side device, according to the selected second network access point, a message that carries the identifier of the selected second network access point; and

sending, by the network side device, the message to the user equipment, so that the user equipment is enabled to select one of the second network access points from the identifier in the message.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein selecting one of the second network access points includes selecting the second network access point according to position information of each second network access point.

9. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

receiving, by the network side device, a message sent by the user equipment and carrying at least one of (a) position information of the user equipment and (b) signal quality information of each second network access point.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein selecting the second network access point at least in part according to load information includes at least additional information describing one or more of (a) position information of the user equipment, (b) signal quality information of each second network access point and (c) position information of each second network access point.

11. The method according to claim 7, wherein the first network is a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) mobile communication network, and the second network is a non-3GPP mobile communication network;

or

the first network is a non-3GPP mobile communication network, and a second network is a short distance wireless communication network;

or

the first network is a 3GPP mobile communication network, and a second network is a short distance wireless communication network;

wherein

the 3GPP mobile communication network comprises one of a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), a Time Division Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA), and a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network,

the non-3GPP mobile communication network comprises one of Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WIMAX) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) 2000, and

the short distance wireless communication network comprises one of a wireless local area network (WLAN), infrared, Bluetooth, and Zigbee.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein when the second network is a wireless local area network, the identifier of the second network access points comprises at least one of:

a basic service set identifier (BSSID) of the second network access point and a media access control (MAC) layer address of the second network access point.

13. A user equipment comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer-executable instructions executed by the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a first message that carries identifiers of a plurality of second network access points, wherein each of the second network access points can perform air interface offloading on a first network in which the user equipment is located; and

selecting a second network access point from the plurality of second network access points based on information provided by the identifiers describing characteristics of the plurality of second network access points, including at least a load of each of the second network access points; and

accessing the selected second network access point.

14. The user equipment according to claim 13, wherein the information for selecting the second network access point from the plurality of second network access points includes position information of the user equipment.

15. The user equipment according to claim 13, wherein the information for selecting the second network access point from the plurality of second network access points includes signal quality information of each second network access point.

16. The user equipment according to claim 13, wherein the information for selecting the second network access point from the plurality of second network access points includes position and signal quality information of each second network access point.

17. A network side device comprising a processor and a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium including computer-executable instructions executed by the processor to perform operations comprising:

obtaining identifiers of a plurality of second network access points, wherein each of the second network access points can perform air interface offloading to a second network from a first network in which a user equipment is located;

selecting, by the network side device, one of the second network access points at least in part according to load information included in each identifier;

generating, according to the selected second network access point, a message that carries the identifier of the selected second network access point; and

sending the first message to the user equipment, so that the user equipment enabled to select one of the second network access points from the identifier in the message.

18. The network side device according to claim 17, wherein selecting one of the second network access points according position information of each second network access point.

19. The network side device according to claim 17, the operations further comprising:

receiving a message sent by the user equipment and carrying at least one of (a) position information of the user equipment and (b) signal quality information of each second network access point.

20. The network side device according to claim 19, wherein selecting the second network access point at least in part according to load information includes at least additional information describing one or more of (a) position information of the user equipment and (b) signal quality information of each second network access point and (c) position information of each second network access point.

21. The network side device according to claim 19, wherein the operations further comprise receiving registration information sent by the second network access points, wherein the registration information comprises the identifier of the second network access point.

22. The network side device according to claim 17, wherein the first network is a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) mobile communication network, and a second network is a non-3GPP mobile communication network;

or

the first network is a non-3GPP mobile communication network, and a second network is a short distance wireless communication network;

or

the first network is a 3GPP mobile communication network, and a second network is a short distance wireless communication network;

wherein when the first network is a 3GPP mobile communication network or the first network is a non-3GPP mobile communication network, the network side device is a network device of one of;

a radio access network (RAN) side of the 3GPP mobile communication network the non-3GPP mobile communication network, a network device disposed on a core network side, and a network device disposed on a packet data network side.