Method and system for access gateway selection

• US 8,059,557 B1
• Filed: 07/14/2008
• Issued: 11/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 07/14/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Singh, Anil, Bhan, Ashish, Sigg, Jason P., Shah, Maulik K., Singh, Jasinder Pal
• Primary Examiner(s): MARCELO, MELVIN C
• Application Number:
  US12/172,693
• Time in Patent Office: 1,219 Days
• Field of Search: 370/252, 370/340
• US Class Current: 370/252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/06 between gateways and public network devices

Abstract

Methods and systems are defined that support, in a radio access network, measuring the latency between the radio access network and each respective access gateway of a plurality of access gateways. From these measurements, a list of access gateways, rank ordered from lowest to highest latency, is created. If the radio access network receives an incoming call indication designating that an associated incoming call is latency-sensitive, the radio access network will preferably assign the incoming call to an access gateway that is one with a measured respective round trip latency less than or equal to a median measured respective round trip latency. Additionally, the radio access network maintains a profile for at least some wireless communication devices that use its services. When the radio access network receives an incoming call indication for a wireless communication device, the radio access network preferably determines, from the wireless communication device'"'"'s profile, if the wireless communication device has a history of heavy network usage. If the wireless communication device has a history of heavy network usage, the radio access network preferably assigns the incoming call to an access gateway that is one with a measured respective round trip latency greater than or equal to the median measured respective round trip latency.

Claims

1. A method performed by a radio access network (RAN), wherein the RAN comprises a base transceiver station (BTS), wherein the RAN selects an access gateway to serve a wireless communication device (WCD), and wherein the RAN maintains a profile associated with the WCD containing a representation of network usage history of the WCD, the method comprising:

for each access gateway of a plurality of access gateways, measuring a respective round trip latency between the RAN and the access gateway;

performing a comparison of the measured respective round trip latencies, wherein performing the comparison comprises rank ordering, from lowest to highest latency, the plurality of access gateways based on their measured respective round trip latencies;

receiving, at the BTS, an incoming call indication from the WCD associated with an incoming call from the WCD;

based at least on the comparison of the measured respective round trip latencies and the representation of network usage history of the WCD, selecting as the access gateway one of the plurality of access gateways that has a measured respective round trip latency greater than or equal to a median measured respective round trip latency of the plurality of access gateways; and

assigning the incoming call from the WCD to the selected access gateway.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a second incoming call indication associated with a second incoming call from a second WCD, including a designation that the second incoming call from the second WCD is latency-sensitive;

determining, from the designation, that the second incoming call from the second WCD is latency-sensitive;

based on the determination that the second incoming call is latency-sensitive, selecting a second access gateway with a second measured respective round trip latency less than or equal to the median measured respective round trip latency of the plurality of access gateways; and

assigning the second incoming call from the second WCD to the second access gateway.

3. The method of claim 2,

wherein selecting the second access gateway further comprises selecting, as the second access gateway, one with a lowest measured respective round trip latency in the rank order.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the incoming call from the WCD is a push to talk call.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the incoming call from the WCD is a voice over internet protocol call.

6. The method of claim 1,

wherein the representation of network usage history of the WCD indicates that the WCD has used at least one file sharing application, and

wherein selecting the access gateway further comprises, based on the WCD'"'"'s profile indicating that the WCD has used at least one file sharing application, selecting as the access gateway one with a measured respective round trip latency greater than or equal to a median measured respective round trip latency of the plurality of access gateways.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein the WCD'"'"'s profile contains a network usage threshold, and

wherein selecting the access gateway based on the representation of network usage history of the WCD comprises (i) determining, from the representation of network usage history of the WCD, that the WCD'"'"'s network usage has exceeded the network usage threshold in the WCD'"'"'s profile, and (ii) based on the determination, selecting as the access gateway one with a measured respective round trip latency greater than or equal to a median measured respective round trip latency of the plurality of access gateways.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

measuring the WCD'"'"'s network usage at a deep packet inspection (DPI) function; and

incorporating the measurements of the WCD'"'"'s network usage from the DPI into the WCD'"'"'s profile.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein measuring the respective round trip latency between the RAN and the access gateway comprises:

making periodic measurements of the respective round trip latency between the RAN and the access gateway; and

storing representations of the periodic measurements of the respective round trip latency between the RAN and the access gateway.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, based on a time of day, access gateways to include in the plurality of access gateways.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the RAN is in a communication network, wherein the communication network is of a type selected from the group consisting of a Code Division Multiple Access network, a Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access network, and a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System network.

12. A radio access network (RAN) comprising:

a central processing unit (CPU);

a memory storing a profile associated with a wireless communication device (WCD), the profile containing a representation of network usage history of the WCD;

a base transceiver station (BTS) having at least one antenna radiating to define at least one wireless coverage area; and

machine instructions stored in the memory and executable by the CPU to perform the steps of;

for each access gateway of a plurality of access gateways, measuring a respective round trip latency between the RAN and the access gateway;

storing, in the memory, representations of the measured respective round trip latencies;

receiving, at the BTS, an incoming call indication from the WCD, wherein the incoming indication is associated with an incoming call from the WCD, and wherein the WCD uses the at least one wireless coverage area to communicate with the BTS;

performing a comparison of the measured respective round trip latencies, wherein performing the comparison of the measured respective round trip latencies comprises rank ordering, from lowest to highest latency, the plurality of access gateways based on their measured respective round trip latencies;

based at least on the comparison of the measured respective round trip latencies and the representation of network usage history of the WCD, selecting an access gateway with a measured respective round trip latency greater than or equal to a median measured respective round trip latency of the plurality of access gateways; and

assigning the incoming call from the WCD to the selected access gateway.

13. The RAN of claim 12, wherein the machine instructions are further executable by the CPU to perform the steps of:

receiving a second incoming call indication, associated with a second incoming call from a second WCD, including a designation that the second incoming call from the second WCD is latency-sensitive;

determining, from the designation, that the second incoming call from the second WCD is latency-sensitive;

based on the determination that the second incoming call is latency-sensitive, selecting a second access gateway with a second measured respective round trip latency less than or equal to the median measured respective round trip latency of the plurality of access gateways; and

assigning the second incoming call from the second WCD to the second access gateway.

14. The RAN of claim 12, wherein the machine instructions are further executable by the CPU to perform the steps of:

receiving network usage measurements of the WCD from a deep packet inspection (DPI) function; and

incorporating the network usage measurements from the DPI into the profile record for the WCD.

15. The RAN of claim 12,

wherein the representation of network usage history of the WCD in the WCD'"'"'s profile indicates that the WCD has used at least one file sharing application, and

wherein selecting the access gateway further comprises selecting, based on the WCD'"'"'s profile indicating that the WCD has used at least one file sharing application, as the access gateway one with a measured respective round trip latency greater than or equal to a median measured respective round trip latency of the plurality of access gateways.

16. The RAN of claim 12,

wherein the WCD'"'"'s profile contains a network usage threshold,

wherein selecting the access gateway further comprises (i) determining, from the representation of network usage history of the WCD, that the WCD'"'"'s network usage has exceeded the network usage threshold in the WCD'"'"'s profile, and (ii) selecting, based on the determination, as the access gateway one with a measured respective round trip latency greater than or equal to a median measured respective round trip latency of the plurality of access gateways.

17. The RAN of claim 12, wherein the machine instructions are further executable by the CPU to perform the step of:

determining, based on a time of day, access gateways to include in the plurality of access gateways.