Facilitation of mobility management across various radio technologies

• US 9,826,436 B2
• Filed: 09/29/2014
• Issued: 11/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cui, Zhi, Fung, Liza, Liu, Cheng, Pandey, Vinod, Smith, Jr., Paul Edward
• Primary Examiner(s): Sloms, Nicholas
• Assistant Examiner(s): HAMPTON, TARELL A
• Application Number:
  US14/500,518
• Publication Number:
  US 20160095019A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,149 Days
• Field of Search: None
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/64 using an overlay routing layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0011 for data sessions of end-to-end connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems

Abstract

A more efficient network can be achieved using software-defined networking to configure routing tables to route data traffic to and from proper cells. User equipment address data and network device internet protocol address data can be utilized to define locators specific to a user equipment device in relation to various network devices. For instance, broadcasted network address data representative of a mobile device identifier address can be received by a first network device from the mobile device, wherein the mobile device identifier address comprises network address data related to an internet protocol address of a second network device, the first network device can determine a third network device capable of a communication with the mobile device, and the communication with the mobile device can be routed by the first network device to the third network device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a software-defined network device comprising a processor, from a mobile device, broadcasted network address data representative of a mobile device identifier address, wherein the mobile device identifier address comprises network address data related to an internet protocol address of a first network device other than the software-defined network device;

determining, by the software-defined network device, a second network device other than the software-defined network device capable of a communication with the mobile device;

updating, by the software-defined network device, a mobility status associated with the mobile device, wherein the updating comprises updating a first speed of the mobile device in relation to the first network device and updating a second speed of the mobile device in relation to the second network device based on a change in speed of the mobile device;

based on the updating the mobility status and a condition associated with a distance of the mobile device to the first network device, prompting, by the software-defined network device, the mobile device to communicate with the second network device; and

in response to the updating, routing, by the software-defined network device, the communication with the mobile device to the second network device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating, by the software-defined network device, location data representative of a location of the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the location is a first location, and wherein the updating comprises adding location data representative of a second location of the mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

updating, by the software-defined network device, network address data associated with the second network device.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to the mobile device communication being determined to have been routed to the second network device, removing, by the software-defined network device, network address data associated with the first network device.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the broadcasted network address data comprises receiving address data associated with network devices.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the communication with the mobile device comprises packet data representative of packets.

8. A software-defined network device, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

receiving broadcasted network address data representative of a mobile device identifier address from a mobile device, wherein the mobile device identifier address comprises network address data related to a first internet protocol address of a first network device;

receiving broadcasted network address data related to a second internet protocol address of a second network device;

determining a condition related to a handoff of a communication between the first network device and the mobile device has been satisfied, wherein the condition is related to a first range of the mobile device in relation to the first network device and a second range of the mobile device in relation to the second network device;

generating first speed data associated with a first speed of the mobile device in relation to the first network device;

generating second speed data associated with a second speed of the mobile device in relation to the second network device; and

in response to the determining the condition has been satisfied, the generating the first speed data, and the generating the second speed data, terminating the communication between the first network device and the mobile device.

9. The software-defined network device of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

in response to the determining the condition has been satisfied, facilitating the communication between the second network device and the mobile device.

10. The software-defined network device of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

updating the network address data associated with the first network device.

11. The software-defined network device of claim 10, wherein the updating comprises deleting the network address data associated with the first network device.

12. The software-defined network device of claim 9, wherein the operations further comprise:

updating the network address data associated with the second network device.

13. The software-defined network device of claim 12, wherein the updating comprises adding the network address data associated with the second network device.

14. The software-defined network device of claim 8, wherein the operations further comprise:

updating mobility status data associated with the second speed of the mobile device in relation to the second network device.

15. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a software-defined networking device, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

receiving first broadcasted network address data representative of a mobile device identifier address from a mobile device, wherein the mobile device identifier address comprises network address data related to a first internet protocol address of a first network device, and wherein the mobile device identifier address is representative of a first communication between the mobile device and the first network device;

receiving second broadcasted network address data related to a second internet protocol address of a second network device within a range of the mobile device;

receiving first speed data associated with a first speed of the mobile device in relation to the first network device;

receiving second speed data associated with a second speed, different from the first speed, of the mobile device in relation to the second network device;

generating a communication handoff condition associated with range data representative of a distance between the mobile device, the first network device, and the second network device; and

in response to the receiving the first speed data, the second speed data, and the communication handoff condition being determined to have been satisfied, initiating a second communication between the second network device and the mobile device, and terminating the first communication between the mobile device and the first network device.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

updating mobile device address data associated with the second communication between the second network device and the mobile device.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the updating comprises updating mobile device location data associated with a location of the mobile device.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the mobile device location data comprises the range data.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the operations further comprise:

terminating the communication between the mobile device and the first network device in response to the communication handoff condition being determined to have been satisfied.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the operations further comprise:

deleting the network address data related to the first internet protocol address of the first network device in response to the communication handoff condition being determined to have been satisfied.