Communication control method, user terminal, and processor

• US 10,349,308 B2
• Filed: 05/08/2014
• Issued: 07/09/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 05/10/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Inventors: Nagasaka, Yushi, Fujishiro, Masato, Adachi, Hiroyuki, Morita, Kugo, Yamazaki, Chiharu, Chang, Henry
• Primary Examiner(s): Rivas, Salvador E
• Assistant Examiner(s): Fayed, Rasha K
• Application Number:
  US14/890,094
• Publication Number:
  US 20160112921A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,888 Days
• Field of Search: 370331, 370235, 370338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/02 Buffering or recovering information during reselection ; Modification of the traffic flow during hand-off
• 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 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A communication control method is a method for performing offload to transfer a traffic load of a cellular base station to an access point. The communication control method comprises a step of maintaining without releasing the first connection, by a user terminal that have established a first connection with the cellular base station, even when the offload is started after establishing a second connection with the access point; and a determining step of determining, by the user terminal, whether the offload is continued or canceled after the offload is started.

Claims

1. A communication control method for performing offload to transfer a traffic of an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), comprising:

receiving, by a user terminal, from the E-UTRAN, before releasing a connection between the E-UTRAN and the user terminal, first information that is for configuration of an operation of the user terminal after releasing the connection;

starting, by the user terminal, the offload;

determining, by the user terminal, whether the offload is canceled after the offload is started, based at least on a communication status between the user terminal and the WLAN;

starting use of the first information by the user terminal after releasing the connection and a transition to an idle state; and

canceling the offload and discarding the first information, by the user terminal, in response to determining that the offload is canceled.

2. The communication control method according to claim 1, wherein in the determining, the user terminal determines whether the offload is canceled after the offload is started, on the basis of a communication status with the WLAN.

5. The communication control method according to claim 1, wherein

the receiving first information comprises receiving, by the user terminal, from the E-UTRAN, before releasing the connection between the E-UTRAN and the user terminal, second information that is for determining start of the offload, and

the starting the offload comprises starting, by the user terminal, the offload based on the second information.

3. A user terminal comprising:

a processor and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the processor is configured to execute processes of;

receiving, from an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), before releasing a connection between the E-UTRAN and the user terminal, first information that is for configuration of an operation of the user terminal after releasing the connection;

starting an offload to transfer a traffic of the E-UTRAN to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN);

determining whether the offload is canceled after the offload is started, based at least on a communication status between the user terminal and the WLAN;

starting use of the first information by the user terminal after releasing the connection and a transition to an idle state; and

canceling the offload and discarding the first information, by the user terminal, in response to determining that the offload is canceled.

6. The user terminal according to claim 3, wherein

the controller is configure to:

receive, from the E-UTRAN, before releasing the connection between the E-UTRAN and the user terminal, second information that is for determining start of the offload; and

starting the offload based on the second information.

4. An apparatus for controlling a user terminal, the apparatus comprising:

a processor and a memory communicatively coupled to the processor, the processor is configured to execute processes of;

receiving, from an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), before releasing a connection between the E-UTRAN and the user terminal, first information that is for configuration of an operation of the user terminal after releasing the connection;

starting an offload to transfer a traffic of the E-UTRAN to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN);

determining whether the offload is canceled after the offload is started, based at least on a communication status between the user terminal and the WLAN;

starting use of the first information by the user terminal after releasing the connection and a transition to an idle state; and

canceling the offload and discarding the first information, by the user terminal, in response to determining that the offload is canceled.

7. The processor according to claim 4, wherein

the memory includes instructions, such that when executed by the processor performs the processes of:

receiving, from the E-UTRAN, before releasing the connection between the E-UTRAN and the user terminal, second information that is for determining start of the offload; and

starting the offload based on the second information.