Cell broadcast for smart traffic steering across radio technologies with improved radio efficiency

• US 10,820,244 B2
• Filed: 01/11/2019
• Issued: 10/27/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Cui, Zhi, Brisebois, Arthur Richard, Chen, Ye, Henderson, Thomas W., Spatafora, Vince, Tong, Yonghui, Zelmer, Donald E.
• Primary Examiner(s): Shaheed, Khalid W
• Application Number:
  US16/245,852
• Publication Number:
  US 20190159094A1
• Time in Patent Office: 655 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0865 of different Radio Access Technologies [RATs], e.g. LTE or WiFi
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0027 for a plurality of data sessions of end-to-end connections, e.g. multi-call or multi-bearer end-to-end data connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0094 Definition of hand-off measurement parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/30 by measured or perceived connection quality data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/302 due to low signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/08 Access point devices

Abstract

Traffic associated with user equipment that are coupled to a first radio access network is steered to a second radio access network based on an adaptable signal strength criterion. The signal strength criterion is related to real-time network load conditions of the first radio access network and can be broadcasted from a serving access point to the user equipment. Moreover, the signal strength criterion facilitates steering, to the second radio network, traffic associated with user equipment that are located closer to a cell edge of the first radio access network before steering traffic associated with user equipment are located further away from the cell edge. In addition, based on the network congestion within the first radio access network, the signal strength criterion is modified to adjust the number of user equipment that are steered to the second radio network.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

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

mapping network load data, representative of a network load associated with a first access point device, to a first signal strength to determine a signal strength threshold, wherein the signal strength threshold corresponds to a classification value generated as a function of a mapping of an input attribute vector associated with the first access point device;

based on a type of network associated with a second access point device, determining device steering criterion data that is employable to steer communication data associated with a user equipment from the first access point device to the second access point device, wherein the user equipment is selected based on the network load associated with the first access point device;

based on a subscriber class associated with the user equipment, customizing an unstructured supplementary service data message to be sent to the user equipment, wherein the customizing comprises limiting an amount of the load data to be sent to the user equipment; and

in response to an analysis of the network load data, updating device steering data to adjust the user equipment to be steered to the second access point device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the signal strength threshold represents a threshold of a strength of a signal transmitted from the first access point device to one of a number of the user equipment that are to be steered from the first access point device to network equipment.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the updating comprises decreasing the signal strength threshold in response to determining that congestion of network equipment via a radio access network, associated with the first access point device, has decreased.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the updating comprises increasing the signal strength threshold in response to determining that congestion of network equipment via of a radio access network, associated with the first access point device, has increased.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that a second signal strength associated with the user equipment satisfies a defined function with respect to the signal strength threshold, and wherein the updating the device steering data is based on an indication that the user equipment is farther from the first access point device than a number of other user equipment.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

facilitating a transmission of the device steering data to the user equipment via the first access point device, and wherein the signal strength threshold is based on a previously used signal strength threshold.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the previously used signal strength threshold is assigned to macro network devices of a macro network.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the previously used signal strength threshold is assigned to network equipment via a Wi-Fi network.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the previously used signal strength threshold is assigned to femto network equipment via a femto network.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein mapping the network load data comprises mapping the device steering data based on distribution data indicative of a distribution of a number of user equipment, comprising the user equipment, within a coverage area of the first access point device as a function of time.

11. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a user equipment comprising a processor, network load data and signal strength data associated with a first access point device;

determining, by the user equipment, a corresponding signal strength in relation to the network load data, wherein the corresponding signal strength comprises a signal strength threshold selected to facilitate a network selection based on user equipment steering criterion, and wherein the signal strength threshold corresponds to a classification value generated as a function of a mapping of an input attribute vector associated with the access point device;

based on a type of network associated with a second access point device, receiving, by the user equipment, user equipment steering criterion data, associated with the user equipment steering criterion, that is employable to steer communication data associated with the user equipment from the first access point device to the second access point device; and

based on a subscriber class associated with the user equipment, receiving, by the user equipment, a customized unstructured supplementary service data message, wherein the customized unstructured supplementary service data message comprises less than a full amount of the network load data.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the network load data corresponds to a category associated with a throughput of the first access point device.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the signal strength threshold is associated with a signal strength range.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

comparing signal strength threshold data representative of a threshold of a strength of a signal received by the user equipment from the first access point device with received signal strength data that represents the strength of the signal received by the user equipment from the second access point device.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, by the user equipment, that the corresponding signal strength satisfies the signal strength threshold, wherein the receiving comprises receiving the signal strength data via a system information block message.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

facilitating, by the user equipment, the network selection to determine a radio access network that is to be employed by the user equipment for communication.

17. A non-transitory machine-readable medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

based on load data representing a network load associated with a first access point device, selecting communication data, associated with a user equipment, to be steered from the first access point device to a second access point device;

based on a type of network associated with the second access point device, determining device steering criterion data that is employable to steer the communication data from the first access point device to the second access point device;

based on a subscriber class associated with the user equipment, customizing an unstructured supplementary service data message to be sent to the user equipment, wherein the customizing comprises limiting an amount of the load data to be sent to the user equipment; and

selecting a signal strength threshold to facilitate a steering of the communication data from the first access point device to the second access point device, wherein the signal strength threshold corresponds to a classification value generated as a function of mapping an input attribute vector associated with the second access point device.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

providing device steering data to the user equipment; and

directing the device steering data via a cell broadcast message to the user equipment.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

transmitting a system information block message as a peer-to-peer message to the user equipment.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

transmitting the signal strength threshold and the load data, via a short message service, to the user equipment.