COMPUTER IMPLEMENTED SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR OFFLOADING TRAFFIC

• US 20150282027A1
• Filed: 03/17/2015
• Published: 10/01/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Tech Mahindra Limited
• Original Assignee: Tech Mahindra Limited
• Inventors: Venkataraman, Hrishikesh, Bauskar, Prashant, Joshi, Avinash
• Granted Patent: US 9,642,056 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 28/0284 detecting congestion or overload during communication monitoring arrangements H04L43/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0865 of different Radio Access Technologies [RATs], e.g. LTE or WiFi
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/24 Negotiating SLA [Service Level Agreement]; Negotiating QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/1446 wherein at least one of the networks is unlicensed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic

Abstract

The embodiment of the present invention provides a computer implemented network centric system and method for real-time traffic offloading belonging to a plurality of subscribers from a cellular network to a Wi-Fi network. When the cellular network utilization is greater than certain threshold and if there is capacity available in the Wi-Fi network, then the present invention classifies the subscribers based on subscriber and network parameters and offloads them to the Wi-Fi network using adaptive dichotomic methodology. The proposed invention also analyzes any external interrupts with the pre-determined trigger rules and accords them highest priority for offload.

Claims

1. A computer implemented network centric system for real-time traffic offloading belonging to a plurality of subscribers from a cellular network to a Wi-Fi network, said system comprising:

a system processor configured to receive rules and possessing functional elements to provide system processing commands;

a repository configured to store a predetermined set of rules, a predefined cellular network threshold value, a predefined Wi-Fi network buffer value, predetermined trigger rules, a near-static parameters with respect to plurality of subscribers;

a cellular network utilization determiner configured to determine a total cellular network utilization value from the cellular network;

a Wi-Fi network capacity determiner configured to determine a Wi-Fi network available capacity from the Wi-Fi network;

an offload decision making module configured to cooperate with the system processor, said repository to receive the predefined cellular network threshold value and the predefined Wi-Fi network buffer value, the cellular network utilization determiner to receive the total cellular network utilization value and the Wi-Fi network capacity determiner to receive the Wi-Fi network available capacity from the Wi-Fi network, wherein the offload decision making module comprises of

a cellular comparator configured to receive the total cellular network utilization value and compare the cellular network utilization value with the predefined cellular network threshold value;

a Wi-Fi comparator configured to compare the Wi-Fi network available capacity and Wi-Fi network buffer value and compute a Wi-Fi network residual capacity;

a request generator configured to co-operate with cellular comparator and Wi-Fi comparator to generate a subscriber selection request;

a trigger module configured to cooperate with the system processor, repository to receive the predetermined trigger rules and further configured to analyze the interrupts and select a type-B subscribers from the plurality of subscribers based on occurrence of predetermined trigger rules;

a subscriber selection module cooperating with the system processor, the repository to receive the near-static parameters, the request generator to receive the subscriber selection request for the type-A subscribers and the trigger module to receive the type-B subscribers, said subscriber selection module comprising;

a parameter identifier configured to identify near-static and dynamic parameters of the type-A and the type-B subscribers;

a subscriber identifier configured to cooperate with the parameter identifier and further configured to select a type-C subscribers based on the near-static and the dynamic parameters using adaptive dichotomy representation; and

an offloading module configured to cooperate with the processor and the subscriber identifier to receive the type-C subscribers and further configured to offload traffic corresponding to the type-C subscribers to the Wi-Fi network.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the Wi-Fi comparator in the offload decision module is configured to receive the Wi-Fi network available capacity, compute a Wi-Fi network residual capacity by subtracting the predefined Wi-Fi network buffer value from the Wi-Fi network available capacity and compare whether the Wi-Fi network residual capacity is greater than zero.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the request generator configured to cooperate with the cellular comparator and the Wi-Fi comparator and generate a subscriber selection request if said total cellular network utilization value is greater than the predefined cellular network threshold value and the Wi-Fi network residual capacity is greater than zero.

4. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the subscriber selection module is configured to compare the total traffic of the type-B subscribers with Wi-Fi network residual capacity and further configured to send the type-B subscribers based on said comparison to the offloading module if the overall traffic of the type-B subscribers is less than or equal to the Wi-Fi network residual capacity.

5. The system as claimed in claim 1 wherein the subscriber selection module is configured to compare the total traffic of the type-B subscribers with Wi-Fi network residual capacity and further configured to send the type-B subscribers based on said comparison to the parameter identifier for further classification according to adaptive dichotomic representation if the overall traffic of the type-B subscribers is greater than the Wi-Fi network residual capacity.

6. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the subscriber identifier comprises:

a computing unit configured to compute the total traffic of the selected set of subscribers and the Wi-Fi network residual capacity;

a comparator configured to compare the total traffic of the selected set of subscribers and the Wi-Fi network residual capacity;

a classifier configured to classify the set of subscribers into atleast two sets of subscribers with different priorities, if the Wi-Fi network residual capacity is greater than zero; and

a selector configured to select at least one subscriber for offload from classified sets using adaptive dichotomic methodology.

7. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the subscriber selection module provides highest priority to the type-B subscribers for offloading.

8. A computer implemented network centric method for real-time traffic offloading belonging to a plurality of subscribers from a cellular network to a Wi-Fi network, said method comprising:

receiving rules and possessing functional elements to provide system processing commands;

storing a predetermined set of rules, a predefined cellular network threshold value, a predefined Wi-Fi network buffer value, predetermined trigger rules, a near-static parameters with respect to plurality of subscribers;

determining a total cellular network utilization value from the cellular network;

determining a Wi-Fi network available capacity from the Wi-Fi network;

comparing said total cellular network utilization value with the predefined cellular network threshold value;

comparing the Wi-Fi network available capacity with the predefined Wi-Fi network buffer value to obtain a Wi-Fi network residual capacity;

generating a subscriber selection request for a type-A subscribers if said total cellular network utilization value is greater than the predefined cellular network threshold value and the Wi-Fi network residual capacity is greater than zero;

analyzing external interrupts and selecting a type-B subscribers from the plurality of subscribers based on the analyzed external interrupts and the predetermined trigger rules;

sending a list of type-B subscribers either for offloading or for identifying the parameters;

identifying near-static and dynamic parameters of the type-A and the type-B subscribers;

selecting a type-C subscribers based on the near-static and the dynamic parameters using adaptive dichotomy representation; and

offloading traffic corresponding to the type-C subscribers to the Wi-Fi network.

9. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the step of selecting a type-C subscriber comprises:

computing the total traffic of the selected set of subscribers and the Wi-Fi network residual capacity;

comparing the total traffic of the selected set of subscribers and the Wi-Fi network residual capacity;

classifying the set of subscribers into atleast two sets of subscribers with different priorities, only when the Wi-Fi network residual capacity is greater than zero; and

selecting atleast one subscriber for offload from classified sets using adaptive dichotomic methodology.

10. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the step of sending the list of type-B subscribers comprises:

comparing the total traffic of the type-B subscribers with Wi-Fi network residual capacity;

sending the list of the type-B subscribers based on said comparison for offloading if the overall traffic of the type-B subscribers is less than or equal to the Wi-Fi network residual capacity; and

sending the list of the type-B subscribers based on said comparison for identifying the parameters and classifying according to adaptive dichotomic representation if overall traffic of the type-B subscribers is greater than the Wi-Fi network residual capacity.

11. The method as claimed in claim 8, wherein the step of selecting the set of subscribers using adaptive dichotomic methodology comprising steps of:

i. identifying the near-static and dynamic parameters of the subscribers;

ii. classifying the subscribers into at least two prioritized sets and labeling any of the two sets as high and low;

iii. determining the resulting Wi-Fi network residual capacity;

iv. selecting for offload, all the subscribers from high priority set

a. if the Wi-Fi network residual capacity equals the total traffic of all subscribers in high priority, then marking for offload, all the subscribers from high priority set and stopping the methodology;

b. else if the Wi-Fi network residual capacity is greater than the total traffic of all subscribers in high priority, then marking all the subscribers in high priority set for offload and further sub-classifying the subscribers within low priority set as high and low, selecting all the subscribers of high priority within low priority set for offload if the total traffic of the subscribers in high priority is less than Wi-Fi network residual capacity else the subscribers within the high priority of the low priority set are further selected for offload by repeating the steps ii to iv;

c. else if the Wi-Fi network residual capacity is less than the total traffic of all subscribers in high priority, then classifying the subscribers within high priority further as high as low and selecting all subscribers of high priority within the high priority set for offload if the total traffic of selected subscribers is less than the Wi-Fi network residual capacity else, the subscribers within the high priority set are further selected for offload by repeating the steps ii to iv; and

reiterating the steps ii-iv till Wi-Fi network cannot take any more traffic or all the subscribers in the cellular network are offload to Wi-Fi network.