Radio resource control (RRC) protocol for cell selection and traffic steering for integrated WLAN/3GPP radio access technologies
First Claim
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1. User Equipment (UE) comprising:
- a first component to connect to a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) using licensed frequency spectrum;
a second component to connect to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) using unlicensed frequency spectrum; and
processing circuitry to;
receive, from the WWAN, assistance information including policies that relate to selection of secondary communication cells that are formed over the WLAN, the assistance information including;
a prioritized list of WLAN access points to which the UE should connect, andminimum signal quality thresholds associated with the WLAN access points;
select a particular secondary communication cell based on the assistance information and based on information specific to the UE;
transmit an indication of the selected particular secondary communication cell, the indication being transmitted via radio resource control (RRC) layer signaling, to an evolved NodeB (eNB) associated with the WWAN;
receive acknowledgement, from the eNB, of the selected particular secondary communication cell; and
route traffic over the secondary communication cell based on the reception of the acknowledgement.
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Abstract
An integrated WLAN/WWAN Radio Access Technology (RAT) architecture is described in which signaling used to control the integration of the WLAN/WWAN architecture is performed over the Radio Resource Control (RRC) plane. The integrated architecture may allow for User Equipment (UE) assistance in cell selection and traffic steering. In particular, UE-assisted RRC signaling is described for managing inter-RAT session transfers and secondary cell (SCell) selection.
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Citations
25 Claims
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1. User Equipment (UE) comprising:
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a first component to connect to a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) using licensed frequency spectrum; a second component to connect to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) using unlicensed frequency spectrum; and processing circuitry to; receive, from the WWAN, assistance information including policies that relate to selection of secondary communication cells that are formed over the WLAN, the assistance information including; a prioritized list of WLAN access points to which the UE should connect, and minimum signal quality thresholds associated with the WLAN access points; select a particular secondary communication cell based on the assistance information and based on information specific to the UE; transmit an indication of the selected particular secondary communication cell, the indication being transmitted via radio resource control (RRC) layer signaling, to an evolved NodeB (eNB) associated with the WWAN; receive acknowledgement, from the eNB, of the selected particular secondary communication cell; and route traffic over the secondary communication cell based on the reception of the acknowledgement. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. An integrated access point including:
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a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point; and an evolved NodeB (eNB) that provides an air interface for a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN), the eNB being coupled to the WLAN access point via a low latency interface and the eNB including processing circuitry to; identify one or more secondary cells, associated with the WLAN access point, to which User Equipment (UE) can connect to offload data from the WWAN to the WLAN; transmit assistance information to the UE, the assistance information including policies that relate to selection of the one or more secondary cells, the assistance information including; a prioritized list of WLAN access points, including the WLAN access point, to which the UE should connect, and minimum signal quality thresholds associated with the WLAN access points; transmit an indication, via radio resource control (RRC) layer signaling, of the one or more secondary cells, to the UE; receive a selection, from the UE, of one or the one or more secondary cells; and transmit, to the UE and based on the selection received from the UE, an indication to activate the one of the one or more secondary cells. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. User Equipment (UE) comprising:
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a first component to connect to a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN); a second component to connect to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN); and processing circuitry to; receive, from a network device associated with the WWAN, assistance information including policies that relate to traffic steering between the WWAN and the WLAN, the assistance information including; a prioritized list of WLAN access points to which the UE should connect, and minimum signal quality thresholds associated with the WLAN access points; determine, based on the assistance information and based on an environment of the UE, a preference relating to traffic steering between the WWAN and the WLAN; transmit, via radio resource control (RRC) layer signaling and to the network device, an indication of the determined preference; receive, via RRC layer signaling from the network device, instructions for performing traffic steering; and steering traffic between the WWAN and the WLAN based on the received instructions. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. An integrated access point including:
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a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point; and an evolved NodeB (eNB) that provides an air interface for a Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN), the eNB being coupled to the WLAN access point via a low latency interface and the eNB including processing circuitry to; provide, to User Equipment (UE) associated with the eNB, policies that relate to traffic steering between the WWAN and the WLAN, the policies including; a prioritized list of WLAN access points, including the WLAN access point, to which the UE should connect, and minimum signal quality thresholds associated with the WLAN access points; receive, from the UE, a traffic steering preference made by the UE; and determine, based on the received traffic steering preference from the UE, a traffic steering decision; and transmit, to the UE, the determined traffic steering decision. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25)
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Specification