Network-Assisted Device-Based Intelligent Radio Access Control

• US 20140162645A1
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Published: 06/12/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cui, Zhi, Bari, Farooq, Blackburn, Alan, Hallahan, Ryan
• Granted Patent: US 9,998,983 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/435.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service

Abstract

Concepts and technologies are described herein for a network-assisted device-based radio access control. According to one aspect disclosed herein, a mobile device selects one or more radio access networks (“RANs”) to connect to, based upon network conditions, policies, user profiles, local device information, and/or other information. The mobile device can receive network load information from multiple RANs. The mobile device can also receive one or more policies from a radio access technology (“RAT”) selection system. The mobile device can also obtain local device information such as, but not limited to, mobility state information, performance measurement information, battery utilization information, channel quality information, applications, and/or a user override selection.

Claims

1. A mobile device comprising:

a processor; and

a memory in communication with the processor, the memory comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising

receiving a policy,

receiving network load information from a plurality of radio access networks that the mobile device is capable of connecting to, the plurality of radio access networks operating in accordance with a plurality of radio access technologies,

obtaining local device information, and

selecting a radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the policy, the network load information, and the local device information.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the policy comprises conditions under which to select each of the plurality of radio access networks.

3. The mobile device of claim 2, wherein the conditions comprise network load thresholds for each of the plurality of radio access networks, the network load thresholds each identifying a maximum network load for one of the plurality of radio access networks.

4. The mobile device of claim 2, wherein the computer-executable instructions, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform further operations comprising receiving a user profile associated with a user of the mobile device, and wherein selecting the radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks is further based upon the user profile.

5. The mobile device of claim 4, wherein the conditions define priorities for a plurality of service tiers with respect to each of the plurality of radio access networks, and the user profile specifies a service tier of the plurality of service tiers associated with a service account of the user.

6. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the local device status information comprises mobility state information of the mobile device.

7. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the local device status information comprises performance measurement information obtained by the mobile device.

8. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the local device status information comprises battery utilization information of the mobile device.

9. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the local device status information comprises channel quality information.

10. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the local device status information comprises a user override selection of the radio access network, and selecting the radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks comprises selecting the radio access network of the plurality radio access networks in response to the user override selection of the radio access network.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, at a target mobile device, a policy;

receiving, at the target mobile device, network load information from a plurality of radio access networks that the target mobile device is capable of connecting to, the plurality of radio access networks operating in accordance with a plurality of radio access technologies;

obtaining local device information; and

selecting, by the target mobile device, a radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the policy, the network load information, and the local device information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the policy comprises conditions under which to select each of the plurality of radio access networks.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the conditions comprise network load thresholds for each of the plurality of radio access networks, the network load thresholds each identifying a maximum network load for one of the plurality of radio access networks.

14. The method of claim 12, further comprising receiving, at the target mobile device, a user profile associated with a user of the target mobile device, and wherein selecting the radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks is further based upon the user profile.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the conditions define priorities for a plurality of service tiers with respect to each of the plurality of radio access networks, and the user profile specifies a service tier of the plurality of service tiers associated with a service account of the user.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the local device information comprises mobility state information of the target mobile device, performance measurement information obtained by the mobile device, battery utilization information of the mobile device, an application, or channel quality information.

17. The method of claim 11, wherein the local device information comprises a user override selection of the radio access network, and selecting the radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks comprises selecting the radio access network of the plurality radio access networks further in response to the user override selection of the radio access network.

18. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a mobile device, cause the mobile device to perform operations comprising:

receiving a policy;

receiving network load information from a plurality of radio access networks that the mobile device is capable of connecting to, the plurality of radio access networks operating in accordance with a plurality of radio access technologies;

obtaining local device information; and

selecting a radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the policy, the network load information, and the local device information.

19. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the local device information comprises mobility state information of the target mobile device, performance measurement information obtained by the mobile device, battery utilization information of the mobile device, an application, or channel quality information.

20. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 19, further comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising receiving a user profile associated with a user of the mobile device, and wherein the policy comprises conditions under which to select each of the plurality of radio access networks, the conditions comprising network load thresholds for each of the plurality of radio access networks, the network load thresholds each identifying a maximum network load for one of the plurality of radio access networks, the conditions further comprising priorities for a plurality of service tiers with respect to each of the plurality of radio access networks, and the user profile specifies a service tier of the plurality of service tiers associated with a service account of the user.