SYSTEMS, METHODS AND DEVICES FOR TRAFFIC OFFLOADING

• US 20150092553A1
• Filed: 06/27/2014
• Published: 04/02/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Original Assignee: Intel IP Corporation (Intel Corporation)
• Inventors: Sirotkin, Alexander, Fong, Mo-Han, Himayat, Nageen
• Granted Patent: US 9,380,494 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/235
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0226 based on location or mobility handoff or reselection H04W36/00; mobile application services making use of the location of users or terminals H04W4/02
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0252 per individual bearer or channel dynamic wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0289 Congestion control load shedding arrangements in network planning H04W16/08; performing reselection for handling the traffic H04W36/22; wireless traffic scheduling H04W72/12
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/52 based on load
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• 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

Wireless communication traffic can be offloaded from a user equipment (UE) to two wireless points of access. For example, user equipment (UE) is connected to a radio access network (RAN) using a radio access technology (RAT) such as a long term evolution (LTE) network. The UE can determine which network capabilities are available for traffic offloading and adapt to the capabilities presented. In one embodiment, the UE can determine whether the network supports three different configurations and configure traffic offloading to operate within the network conditions: (1) RAN rules without access network detection and selection function (ANDSF), (2) ANDSF in conjunction with RAN rules or (3) enhanced ANDSF with RAN assistance.

Claims

1. A mobile device comprising:

a mobile broadband (MBB) interface for connecting to 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) networks;

a wireless network interface for connecting to non-MBB networks; and

a processor configured to execute instructions that cause the mobile device to;

determine a MBB network configuration for processing offload rules;

configuring the mobile device to use offload rules compatible with the MBB network configuration;

determine whether to offload traffic between the MBB interface and the wireless network interface based on the configured offload rules; and

when determined to offload, determining which connections to offload between the MBB interface and the wireless network interface.

2. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to:

receive offload configuration data from radio resource control (RRC) signaling;

receive non-MBB identifiers describing available non-MBB access points (non-MBB APs) for offload of the connections;

obtain non-MBB information for the non-MBB identifiers; and

evaluate the offload rules comprising radio access network (RAN) rules based at least in part on the offload configuration and the non-MBB information to;

determine to connect to a non-MBB AP; and

determine a set of the connections to offload to the non-MBB AP.

3. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to:

obtain MBB network information comprising offload configuration data;

obtain offload rules comprising access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF) rules;

evaluate the ANDSF rules to determine a set of access networks available for use, the set of access networks including a set of MBB networks and a set of non-MBB networks;

obtain non-MBB access network identifiers describing available non-MBB networks for offload of the connections;

obtain non-MBB information for received non-MBB identifiers; and

evaluate the offload rules based on the offload configuration, MBB network information and non-MBB information to;

determine a subset of the set of access networks to remove from the set of access networks available for use;

determine whether to connect to a non-MBB network in the set of access networks available for use; and

when determined to connect to the non-MBB network, determine which of the connections to offload to the non-MBB network.

4. The mobile device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive non-MBB offload configuration data;

receive non-MBB identifiers describing available non-MBB access points (non-MBB APs) for offload of the connections;

determine non-MBB parameters for received non-MBB identifiers;

receive offload rules comprising network provider rules that reference MBB parameters and the non-MBB parameters;

evaluate the network provider rules based on the MBB parameters and non-MBB parameters to;

determine a set of access networks available for use;

determine whether to connect to a non-MBB AP in the set of access networks available for use; and

when connecting to a non-MBB AP, determine which of the connections to offload to the non-MBB AP.

5. User equipment (UE) configured to:

receive offload configuration data from radio resource control (RRC) signaling;

receive WLAN identifiers describing available wireless local area network access points (WLAN APs) for offload of packet data network (PDN) connections;

obtain WLAN information for the WLAN identifiers; and

evaluate RAN rules based at least in part on the offload configuration and the WLAN information to;

determine to connect to a WLAN AP; and

determine a set of PDN connections to offload to the WLAN AP.

6. The UE of claim 5 wherein the offload configuration comprises one or more of 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) offload preference indicator (OPI), reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold data, reference signal quality (RSRQ) threshold data, received signal strength indicator (RSSI) threshold data, received channel power indicator (RCPI) threshold data, received signal noise indicator (RSNI) threshold data or basic service set (BSS) load threshold data.

7. The UE of claim 5 wherein to receive offload configuration further comprises:

evaluate the offload configuration to determine whether the RAN rules allow offload to WLAN; and

when the RAN rules do not allow offload to WLAN, stop further processing of WLAN offload evaluation.

8. The UE of claim 5 wherein to receive the WLAN identifiers further comprises obtain the WLAN identifiers by open mobile alliance device management (OMA DM) object receipt, radio resource control (RRC) signaling or access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF).

9. The UE of claim 5 wherein the WLAN information comprises at least one of signal strength basic service set (BSS) load, wide area network (WAN) metrics, received channel power indicator (RCPI) or received signal noise indicator (RSNI).

10. The UE of claim 5 wherein to determine to connect to the WLAN AP further comprises selecting the WLAN AP from a plurality of WLAN APs that satisfy the RAN rules.

11. A wireless mobile device comprising:

a cellular network interface for connecting to 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) networks;

a wireless network interface for connecting to non-3GPP networks; and

a processor configured to execute instructions that cause the wireless mobile device to;

obtain cellular network information comprising offload configuration data;

obtain access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF) rules;

evaluate the ANDSF rules to determine a set of access networks available for use, the set of access networks including a set of 3GPP networks and a set of non-3GPP networks;

obtain non-3GPP access network identifiers describing available non-3GPP networks for offload of packet data network (PDN) connections;

obtain non-3GPP information for received non-3GPP identifiers; and

evaluate offload rules based on the offload configuration, cellular network information and non-3GPP information to;

determine a subset of the set of access networks to remove from the set of access networks available for use;

determine whether to connect to a non-3GPP network in the set of access networks available for use; and

when determined to connect to the non-3GPP network, determine which PDN connections to offload to the non-3GPP network.

12. The wireless mobile device of claim 11, wherein the offload rules are radio access network (RAN) rules.

13. The wireless mobile device of claim 11, wherein the 3GPP networks comprise global system for mobile communications (GSM) network, general packet radio services (GPRS) network, enhanced data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) network, universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) network, long term evolution (LTE) network or LTE advanced network.

14. The wireless mobile device of claim 11, wherein the ANDSF rules comprise inter-system mobility policy (ISMP) rules, inter-system routing policy (ISRP) rules or inter-APN routing policy (IARP) rules.

15. The wireless mobile device of claim 11, wherein to obtain the ANDSF rules further comprises obtaining the ANDSF rules from a 3GPP network provider.

16. The wireless mobile device of claim 11, wherein to obtain the ANDSF rules further comprises pre-provisioning the ANDSF rules in the UE.

17. The wireless mobile device of claim 11, wherein to connect to the non-3GPP network further comprises using WLAN link control protocol (WLCP) to establish WLAN connections and release connections from the 3GPP network for the PDN connections to offload.

18. A method for offloading cellular traffic to wireless local area network (WLAN) traffic, the method comprising:

receiving WLAN offload configuration data;

receiving WLAN identifiers describing available wireless local area network access points (WLAN APs) for offload of data connections;

determining WLAN parameters for received WLAN identifiers;

receiving network provider rules that reference cellular parameters and the WLAN parameters;

evaluating the network provider rules based on the cellular parameters and WLAN parameters to;

determine a set of access networks available for use;

determine whether to connect to a WLAN AP in the set of access networks available for use; and

when connecting to a WLAN AP, determine which data connections to offload to the WLAN AP.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the network provider rules are access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF) rules that include the cellular parameters and the WLAN parameters.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein determining WLAN parameters further comprises receiving WLAN parameters thresholds from a second protocol layer of a user equipment (UE) that is lower than a first protocol layer that evaluates the network provider rules.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein determining WLAN parameters comprises a comparison with a threshold performed in the second protocol layer.

22. The method of claim 20, wherein determining WLAN parameters comprises a value and a threshold determined by the second protocol layer, and a comparison between the value and a threshold is performed in the first protocol layer as part of the evaluating network provider rules.

23. The method of claim 20, wherein the second protocol layer is a radio resource control (RRC) layer, packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer, radio link control (RLC) layer or medium access control (MAC) layer.

24. The method of claim 20, wherein the second protocol layer is an access stratum layer.

25. The method of claim 20, wherein the first protocol layer is ANDSF.