Selection of capillary network gateway to a cellular network

• US 10,362,616 B2
• Filed: 09/16/2014
• Issued: 07/23/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Sachs, Joachim, Beijar, Nicklas, Eriksson, Anders E., Keranen, Ari, Militano, Francesco, Rune, Johan, Tsiatsis, Vlasios
• Primary Examiner(s): Lai, Andrew
• Assistant Examiner(s): Henson, Jamaal
• Application Number:
  US15/119,907
• Publication Number:
  US 20170071024A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,771 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0861 between base stations
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/10 Flow control between communication endpoints
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/70 Services for machine-to-machine communication [M2M] or machine type communication [MTC]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/17 Selecting a data network PoA [Point of Attachment]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/16 Involving different core network technologies, e.g. a packet-switched [PS] bearer in combination with a circuit-switched [CS] bearer

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to the capillary network gateway selection in a capillary network. In particular, the present disclosure relates to a methods and arrangements for selecting a capillary network gateway, CGW, for linking of a machine device, MD, arranged to operate in a capillary network, to a cellular network. The cellular network is arranged to operate according to a radio access technology different from the radio access technology of the capillary network, the capillary network including a plurality of CGWs, each of which CGWs being adapted to forward traffic between the capillary network and a radio base station, RBS, of the cellular network. The method comprises, for at least two CGWs of the plurality of CGWs, to gather (S51) data related to cells of RBSs having a cellular radio connection to the respective CGW in the capillary network, and to control (S52) selection of at least one CGW out of the at least two CGWs based on the gathered data.

Claims

1. A method, performed in a machine device (MD) of selecting a capillary network gateway (CGW) for linking the MD to a cellular network, wherein the MD operates according to a local area access technology in a capillary network, and wherein the capillary network comprises a plurality of CGWs that each have a connection to the cellular network, the method comprising:

receiving, at the MD, an instruction from a network node to select at least one CGW from the plurality of CGWs in the capillary network;

selecting, by the MD, the at least one CGW from the plurality of CGWs in the capillary network, based on data gathered related to cells of radio base stations (RBSs) having a cellular radio connection to a respective CGW in the capillary network; and

setting up, by the MD, a local area connection to the selected at least one CGW.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the instruction from the network node comprises:

receiving a set of policies and/or rules governing CGW selection by the MD, and receiving at least a subset of the gathered data from the network node.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

for each CGW, retrieving RBS cell related information for the RBS having the cellular radio connection to the CGW.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the retrieved RBS cell related information is cell traffic load.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the cell traffic load is a traffic load in one or more cells served by the RBS in which at least one of the plurality of CGWs in the capillary network is connected to the RBS, or wherein the cell traffic load is a combined traffic load of all the cells served by the RBS.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein retrieving further includes retrieving one or more dynamic properties for each CGW, and wherein selecting the at least one CGW is based on a combination of the RBS cell related information and the one or more dynamic properties.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the one or more dynamic properties comprise:

load experienced by each CGW, channel quality of the cellular radio connection for each CGW, and/or cellular radio access technology for each CGW connection to the cellular network.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein setting up the local area connection to the selected at least one CGW comprises receiving instructions from the network node to set up the local area connection to a specified CGW.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting the at least one CGW is based on one or more policies and/or rules stored in the MD for CGW selection.

10. A machine device (MD) arranged to select a capillary network gateway (CGW) for linking the MD to a cellular network, the MD operating according to a local area access technology in a capillary network comprising a plurality of CGWs, the MD comprising a processor, radio circuitry and a memory, said memory containing instructions executable by said processor, whereby the MD is operative to:

receive an instruction from a network node to select at least one CGW from the plurality of CGWs in the capillary network;

select the at least one CGW from the plurality of CGWs in the capillary network, based on data gathered related to cells of radio base stations (RBSs) having a cellular radio connection to a respective CGW in the capillary network; and

set up a local area connection to the cellular network via the selected at least one CGW.