METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR TRAFFIC OFFLOADING BASED ON CONGESTION IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20140029420A1
• Filed: 07/25/2013
• Published: 01/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2012
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: JEONG, Sangsoo, CHO, Songyean, BAE, Beomsik, LIM, Hanna, SON, Jungje
• Application Number:
  US13/950,850
• Publication Number:
  US 20140029420A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5692 Selection among different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/122 by diverting traffic away from congested entities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0247 based on conditions of the access network or the infrastructure network central resource management H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data

Abstract

A method that can increase network performance and user perceived service quality by allocating more radio resources to user data through a non-3GPP Access Network (AN) in a wireless communication system such as LTE is provided. Use of a 3GPP AN or a non-3GPP AN may be set in a user equipment or set according to a policy received from a policy server such as ANDSF. A scheme for dynamically updating and applying a policy according to user and AN conditions is provided. The scheme provides two approaches for determining whether to apply a policy according to user and the AN conditions.

Claims

1. A method for a User Equipment (UE) to select an Access Network (AN) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

receiving, by the UE, a policy for an AN selection from a policy server;

obtaining state information of at least one AN; and

selecting an AN to be accessed according to results of a comparison between the policy for the AN selection and the obtained state information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the policy for the AN selection includes a validity condition for each AN.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the policy for the AN selection includes congestion information of an AN.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the congestion information includes at least one of Basic Service Set (BSS) load information and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) metric information.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the policy for the AN selection further includes at least one of a Cellular Offload Preference Indicator (COPI) and achievable throughput.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting of the AN comprises:

creating a candidate group of selectable ANs; and

selecting an AN with the highest priority from the candidate group and sending traffic through the selected AN.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform the method of claim 1.

7. A User Equipment (UE) supporting an Access Network (AN) selection in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising:

a wireless communication unit configured to send and receive signals to and from one or more entities included in the wireless communication system; and

a control unit configured to control receiving a policy for an AN selection from a policy server, to control obtaining state information of at least one AN, and to control selecting an AN to be accessed according to results of a comparison between the policy for the AN selection and the obtained state information.

8. The UE of claim 7, wherein the policy for the AN selection includes a validity condition for each AN.

9. The UE of claim 7, wherein the policy for the AN selection includes congestion information of an AN.

10. The UE of claim 9, wherein the congestion information includes at least one of Basic Service Set (BSS) load information and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) metric information.

11. The UE of claim 7, wherein the policy for the AN selection further includes at least one of a Cellular Offload Preference Indicator (COPI) and achievable throughput.

12. The UE of claim 7, wherein the control unit controls an operation to create a candidate group of selectable ANs, to select an AN with the highest priority from the candidate group, and to send traffic through the selected AN.

13. A policy transmission method for a policy server in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

generating a policy enabling a User Equipment (UE) to select an Access Network (AN); and

sending the policy to the UE,

wherein the policy includes a validity condition for each AN.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the policy includes congestion information of an AN.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the congestion information includes at least one of Basic Service Set (BSS) load information and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) metric information.

16. The method of claim 13, wherein the policy further includes at least one of a Cellular Offload Preference Indicator (COPI) and achievable throughput.

22. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed, cause at least one processor to perform the method of claim 13.

17. A policy server for supporting policy transmission in a wireless communication system, the policy server comprising:

a wireless communication unit configured to send and receive signals to and from one or more entities included in the wireless communication system; and

a control unit configured to control a process of generating a policy enabling a User Equipment (UE) to select an Access Network (AN), and to send the policy to the UE,

wherein the policy includes a validity condition for each AN.

18. The policy server of claim 17, wherein the policy includes congestion information of an AN.

19. The policy server of claim 18, wherein the congestion information includes at least one of Basic Service Set (BSS) load information and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) metric information.

20. The policy server of claim 17, wherein the policy further includes at least one of a Cellular Offload Preference Indicator (COPI) and achievable throughput.