Method, Apparatus and System

• US 20150271077A1
• Filed: 03/19/2015
• Published: 09/24/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/20/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks OY (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Mustajarvi, Jari Pekka, Riegel, Maximllian
• Granted Patent: US 9,742,677 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0002 by adapting the transmission rate
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0009 by adapting the channel coding H04L1/1812 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5692 Selection among different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/125 by balancing the load, e.g. traffic engineering
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service

Abstract

There is provided a method including estimating bit rate information for first traffic if the first traffic were to be routed between a user equipment which is attached to a first network and a network access point of a second network and determining if the first traffic is to be routed between the user equipment and the network access point in dependence on the estimated bit rate information.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

estimating bit rate information for first traffic if said first traffic were to be routed between a user equipment which is attached to a first network and a network access point of a second network; and

determining if said first traffic is to be routed between said user equipment and said network access point in dependence on said estimated bit rate information.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein estimating bit-rate information comprises estimating a modulation and channel coding for said first traffic if said first traffic were to be routed between the user equipment which is attached to the first network and the network access point of the second network.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein estimating said modulation and channel coding comprises using condition information of a link between the user equipment and the network access point of the second network.

4. A method according to claim 3, wherein the link condition information comprises at least one of received radio signal power and received radio signal quality.

5. A method according to claim 1 comprising estimating the bit rate information in dependence on load information of the second network, wherein the load information of the second network comprises at least one of available backbone capacity and available channel percentage of the second network.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein

said determining comprises one of determining the first traffic to be routed between said user equipment and said network access point of the second network when the estimated bit rate information is higher than a first threshold or higher than an achieved bit rate between the user equipment and the first network;

and

determining the proportion of the first traffic with respect to a second traffic to be routed between said user equipment and said network access point of the second network when the estimated bit rate information is higher than the first threshold or higher than an achieved bit rate between the user equipment and the first network.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein said determining comprises causing the first traffic to be routed between the user equipment and said network access point of the second network until an achieved bit rate between the user equipment and the second network is lower than a second threshold for a first time period.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein said determining comprises causing the first traffic to be routed between the user equipment and a network access point of the first network for at least a second time period, wherein the second time period is inversely proportional to the amount of time the first traffic was previously routed between the user equipment and the network access point of the second network.

9. An apparatus, comprising:

at least one processor and at least one memory including computer code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer code configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to perform at least the following;

estimating bit rate information for first traffic if said first traffic were to be routed between a user equipment which is attached to a first network and a network access point of a second network; and

determining if said first traffic is to be routed between said user equipment and said network access point in dependence on said estimated bit rate information.

10. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the determining bit rate information comprises estimating a modulation and channel coding for said first traffic if said first traffic were to be routed between the user equipment which is attached to the first network and the network access point of the second network.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the estimating modulation and channel coding comprises using condition information of a link between the user equipment and the network access point of the second network.

12. A method according to claim 11, wherein the link condition information comprises at least one of received radio signal power and received radio signal quality.

13. An apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the at least one memory and the computer code are further configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus to perform:

determining the bit rate information in dependence on load information of the second network, wherein the load information of the second network comprises at least one of available backbone capacity and available channel percentage of the second network.

14. An apparatus according to claim 9 wherein the apparatus is provided in one of the network access point of the second network or a network element of the second network.

15. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions which when executed are configured to cause an apparatus to perform the following:

estimating bit rate information for first traffic if said first traffic were to be routed between a user equipment which is attached to a first network and a network access point of a second network; and

determining if said first traffic is to be routed between said user equipment and said network access point in dependence on said estimated bit rate information.