METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING TRAFFIC STEERING IN WIRELESS COMMUNICATION SYSTEM

• US 20160353324A1
• Filed: 01/26/2015
• Published: 12/01/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: LEE, Jaewook, JUNG, Sunghoon
• Granted Patent: US 9,980,175 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0865 of different Radio Access Technologies [RATs], e.g. LTE or WiFi
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0958 based on metrics or performance parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/14 Reselecting a network or an air interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/10 using broadcasted information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/20 Manipulation of established connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A method and apparatus for performing traffic steering from 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) to wireless local area network (WLAN) in a wireless communication system is provided. A user equipment (UE) receives parameters for evaluating traffic steering from 3GPP to a specific WLAN, and attempts to acquire attributes which correspond to the parameters and are configured for evaluating traffic steering from 3GPP to the specific WLAN. If at least one of the attributes is not acquired for the specific WLAN, the UE evaluates traffic steering from 3GPP to other WLAN excluding the specific WLAN.

Claims

1. A method for performing, by a user equipment (UE), traffic steering from 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) to wireless local area network (WLAN) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

receiving, by the UE, parameters for evaluating traffic steering from 3GPP to a specific WLAN;

attempting, by the UE, to acquire attributes which correspond to the parameters and are configured for evaluating traffic steering from 3GPP to the specific WLAN; and

if at least one of the attributes is not acquired for the specific WLAN, evaluating, by the UE, traffic steering from 3GPP to other WLAN excluding the specific WLAN.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameters for evaluating traffic steering are received via a dedicated signaling or broadcast signaling.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the dedicated signaling is a radio resource control (RRC) connection reconfiguration message.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the dedicated signaling is a system information block (SIB) type 17.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the parameters for evaluating traffic steering include at least one of parameters for the 3GPP or parameters for the specific WLAN.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the parameters for the 3GPP includes at least one of a reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold, a reference signal received quality (RSRQ) threshold, a 3GPP radio access network (RAN) load threshold, or an indication to steer traffic to or from WLAN.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the parameters for the specific WLAN include at least one of a WLAN signal power threshold, a WLAN signal quality threshold, WLAN load threshold, or a WLAN wide area network (WAN) metric.

8. A method for performing, by a user equipment (UE), traffic steering from 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) to wireless local area network (WLAN) in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

receiving, by the UE, radio access network (RAN) assistance information including an indication indicating whether the RAN assistance information is allowed to be ignored or not;

attempting, by the UE, to acquire attributes related to the RAN assistance information for evaluating traffic steering from 3GPP to WLAN; and

determining whether to evaluate traffic steering from 3GPP to WLAN for the RAN assistance information based on the indication.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the indication indicates the RAN assistance information is allowed to be ignored when the UE is not capable of acquiring attributes related to the RAN assistance information due to UE'"'"'s capability or due to the WLAN not providing the attributes.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein it is determined that the traffic steering from 3GPP to WLAN for the RAN assistance information is not evaluated, if the indication indicates the RAN assistance information is allowed to be ignored and the attributes related to the RAN assistance information are not acquired.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein it is determined that the traffic steering from 3GPP to WLAN for the RAN assistance information is evaluated, if the indication indicates the RAN assistance information is allowed to be ignored and the attributes related to the RAN assistance information are acquired.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein it is determined that the traffic steering from 3GPP to WLAN for the RAN assistance information is evaluated, if the indication indicates the RAN assistance information is not allowed to be ignored.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the WLAN is not considered as a target access network if the attributes related to the RAN assistance information are not acquired.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein the RAN assistance information includes at least one of parameters for the 3GPP or parameters for the WLAN.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the RAN assistance information is received via dedicated signaling or broadcast signaling.