SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR HAND-IN DISAMBIGUATION USING USER EQUIPMENT WIFI LOCATION IN A NETWORK ENVIRONMENT

• US 20140241316A1
• Filed: 10/29/2013
• Published: 08/28/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Okmyanskiy, Anton, Graham, Mickael, Grayson, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 9,143,995 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0005 Control or signalling for completing the hand-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0016 Hand-off preparation specially adapted for end-to-end data sessions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0022 for transferring data sessions between adjacent core network technologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0061 of neighbour cell information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0066 of control information between different types of networks in order to establish a new radio link in the target network
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0072 of resource information of target access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0083 Determination of parameters used for hand-off, e.g. generation or modification of neighbour cell lists
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/08 Reselecting an access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/14 Reselecting a network or an air interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/32 by location or mobility data, e.g. speed data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/38 by fixed network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/0453 Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

An example method is provided in one example embodiment and includes receiving a handover request from a first radio network to handover a user equipment (UE) to a second radio network, wherein the handover request includes an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) for a user associated with the UE and a pseudo cell identifier (ID); determining a target channel configuration for the UE using the pseudo cell ID; querying a third radio network using the user IMSI to determine a location of the UE, wherein at least one access point in the third radio network is in communication with the UE; and selecting a particular target access point in the second radio network for handover of the UE based, at least in part, on the location of the UE, the target channel configuration for the UE and a location of the particular target access point.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a handover request from a first radio network to handover a user equipment (UE) to a second radio network, wherein the handover request includes an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) for a user associated with the UE and a pseudo cell identifier (ID) and wherein the second radio network includes a plurality of target access points;

determining a target channel configuration for the UE based on the pseudo cell ID;

querying a third radio network using the user IMSI to determine a location of the UE, wherein at least one access point in the third radio network is in communication with the UE; and

selecting a particular target access point in the second radio network for handover of the UE based, at least in part, on the location of the UE, the target channel configuration for the UE and a location of the particular target access point.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of target access points in the second radio network are at least one of:

a Home Node B (HNB);

a Node B (NB);

a Home eNode B (HeNB); and

an eNode B (eNodeB).

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

registering a location for each of the plurality of target access points in the second radio network; and

registering a location for each of a plurality of access points in the third radio network.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the particular target access point further comprises:

comparing a location for each of the plurality of target access points to the location of the UE to determine one or more potential target access points near the location of the UE;

comparing a channel configuration for each of the one or more potential target access points to the target channel configuration for the UE to determine one or more potential target access points having a channel configuration that matches the target channel configuration for the UE; and

selecting the particular target access point from the one or more potential target access points that has a location near the location of the UE and that has a channel configuration that matches the target channel configuration for the UE.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

filtering out from the one or more potential target access points any potential target access point that is in a closed access mode.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

filtering out from the one or more potential target access points any potential target access point that is in a closed access mode that the user is not authorized to access.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

maintaining a handover history for each of the one or more potential target access points, wherein the handover history comprises the user IMSI and a handover success factor for each of the one or more potential target access points that indicates handover success rates for past handovers to the one or more potential target access points for the UE;

if more than one potential target access point is near the location of the UE and has a channel configuration that matches the target channel configuration for the UE, comparing the handover success factors for each of the one or more potential target access points to determine a highest handover success factor for a corresponding potential target access point; and

selecting the particular target access point from the one or more potential target access points that has a location near the location of the UE, that has a channel configuration that matches the target channel configuration for the UE and that has the highest handover success factor.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the target channel configuration for the UE comprises a frequency channel number and at least one of:

a scrambling code; and

a physical cell identifier.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

prior to receiving the handover request, registering the user IMSI in the third radio network.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the registering the user IMSI with the third radio network comprises at least one of:

authenticating the UE with the third radio network using an extensible authentication protocol subscriber identity module (EAP-SIM) authentication technique to determine the user IMSI;

authenticating the UE with the third radio network using a EAP authentication and key agreement (EAP-AKA) authentication technique to determine the user IMSI; and

storing, in the third radio network, a media access control (MAC) address of the UE associated with the user IMSI.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the UE includes a latitude and longitude of the UE.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the location of the UE includes an access point identity for an access point in the third radio network that is in communication with the UE.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the third radio network comprises one or more wireless radio access points.

14. One or more non-transitory tangible media encoding logic that include instructions for execution that, when executed by a processor, is operable to perform operations comprising:

receiving a handover request from a first radio network to handover a user equipment (UE) to a second radio network, wherein the handover request includes an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) for a user associated with the UE and a pseudo cell identifier (ID) and wherein the second radio network includes a plurality of target access points;

determining a target channel configuration for the UE based on the pseudo cell ID;

querying a third radio network using the user IMSI to determine a location of the UE, wherein at least one access point in the third radio network is in communication with the UE; and

selecting a particular target access point in the second radio network for handover of the UE based, at least in part, on the location of the UE, the target channel configuration for the UE and a location of the particular target access point.

15. The media of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

registering a location for each of the plurality of target access points in the second radio network; and

registering a location for each of a plurality of access points in the third radio network.

16. The media of claim 14, wherein the operations for selecting the particular target access point further comprise:

comparing a location for each of the plurality of target access points to the location of the UE to determine one or more potential target access points near the location of the UE;

comparing a channel configuration for each of the one or more potential target access points to the target channel configuration for the UE to determine one or more potential target access points having a channel configuration that matches the target channel configuration for the UE; and

selecting the particular target access point from the one or more potential target points that has a location near the location of the UE and that has a channel configuration that matches the target channel configuration for the UE.

17. The media of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

maintaining a handover history for each of the one or more potential target access points, wherein the handover history comprises the user IMSI and a handover success factor for each of the one or more potential target access points that indicates handover success rates for past handovers to the one or more potential target access points for the UE;

if more than one potential target access point is near the location of the UE and has a channel configuration that matches the target channel configuration for the UE, comparing the handover success factors for each of the one or more potential target access points to determine a highest handover success factor for a corresponding potential target access point; and

selecting the particular target access point from the one or more potential target access points that has a location near the location of the UE, that has a channel configuration that matches the target channel configuration for the UE and that has the highest handover success factor.

18. The media of claim 14, wherein the operations further comprise:

registering the user IMSI in the third radio network, wherein the registering includes at least one of;

authenticating the UE with the third radio network using an extensible authentication protocol subscriber identity module (EAP-SIM) authentication technique to determine the user IMSI;

authenticating the UE with the third radio network using a EAP authentication and key agreement (EAP-AKA) authentication technique to determine the user IMSI; and

storing, in the third radio network, a media access control (MAC) address of the UE associated with the user IMSI.

19. An apparatus, comprising:

a femtocell location engine;

a memory element for storing data; and

a processor that executes instructions associated with the data, wherein the processor and memory element cooperate such that the apparatus is configured for;

receiving, at the apparatus, a handover request from a first radio network to handover a user equipment (UE) to a second radio network, wherein the handover request includes an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) for a user associated with the UE and a pseudo cell identifier (ID) and wherein the second radio network includes a plurality of target access points;

determining a target channel configuration for the UE based on the pseudo cell ID;

querying a third radio network using the user IMSI to determine a location of the UE, wherein at least one access point in the third radio network is in communication with the UE; and

selecting a particular target access point in the second radio network for handover of the UE based, at least in part, on the location of the UE, the target channel configuration for the UE and a location of the particular target access point.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the target channel configuration for the UE comprises a frequency channel number and at least one of:

a scrambling code; and

a physical cell identifier.