System and Method of Offloading Traffic to a Wireless Local Area Network

• US 20130242965A1
• Filed: 03/14/2013
• Published: 09/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: MEYLAN, Arnaud, KAPOOR, Rohit, HORN, Gavin Bernard
• Granted Patent: US 10,098,028 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0231 based on communication conditions dynamic wireless traffic scheduling definition based on channel quality criteria H04W72/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/00837 Determination of triggering parameters for hand-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0085 Hand-off measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/10 adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for offloading traffic from a cellular network to a wireless local area network (WLAN) are described. One example method generally includes receiving, from a serving base station, a request to measure one or more WLAN access points (APs), determining one or more metrics for the WLAN APs, comparing the metrics for the WLAN APs to a threshold, and reporting metrics for at least a first AP of the WLAN APs if the metrics for the first AP exceed the threshold.

Claims

1. A method for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

determining if a serving base station supports wireless local area network (WLAN) and radio access network (RAN) interworking; and

based upon the determination, determining whether to access the serving base station before associating or exchanging transmissions with a WLAN access point (AP).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining comprises determining if the serving base station indicates over the BCCH if WLAN and RAN interworking is enabled in this cell of the serving base station.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the indication comprises one or more of

an indication of support WLAN and RAN interworking

an identifier of one or more WLAN APs;

or

an indication of timing of advertisements for one or more WLAN APs; and

the determination comprises determining of the indication is present.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the one or more WLAN APs are identified by a Network Access Identifier Home Realm (NAIHR), a service set identifier (SSID), a basic SSID (BSSID), a homogeneous extended SSID (HESSID), or 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) cellular network information

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing the serving base station and receiving from the serving base station, a request to measure the WLAN AP.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing the serving base station and identifying the WLAN AP as part of the access procedures.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the determining whether to access the serving base station before associating or exchanging transmissions with the WLAN AP, comprises determining whether a policy indicates to access the serving base station before associating or exchanging transmissions with the WLAN AP.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the policy comprises policy from a core network (CN).

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the policy indicates a type of traffic for which to access the serving base station first

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the type of traffic comprises one or more Internet protocol (IP) flows, bearer, or access point name (APN) traffic.

11. An apparatus for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

means for determining if a serving base station supports wireless local area network (WLAN) and radio access network (RAN) interworking; and

means for determining whether to access the serving base station before associating or exchanging transmissions with a WLAN access point (AP) based upon a result of determining if a serving base station supports wireless local area network (WLAN) and radio access network (RAN) interworking.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for determining comprises means for determining if the serving base station indicates over the BCCH if WLAN and RAN interworking is enabled in this cell of the serving base station.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the indication comprises one or more of

an indication of support WLAN and RAN interworking

an identifier of one or more WLAN APs;

or

an indication of timing of advertisements for one or more WLAN APs; and

the determination comprises determining of the indication is present.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the one or more WLAN APs are identified by a Network Access Identifier Home Realm (NAIHR), a service set identifier (SSID), a basic SSID (BSSID), a homogeneous extended SSID (HESSID), or 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) cellular network information

15. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising means for accessing the serving base station and receiving from the serving base station, a request to measure the WLAN AP.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, further comprising means for accessing the serving base station and identifying the WLAN AP as part of the access procedures.

17. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the means for determining whether to access the serving base station before associating or exchanging transmissions with the WLAN AP, comprises means for determining whether a policy indicates to access the serving base station before associating or exchanging transmissions with the WLAN AP.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the policy comprises policy from a core network (CN).

19. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the policy indicates a type of traffic for which to access the serving base station first

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein the type of traffic comprises one or more Internet protocol (IP) flows, bearer, or access point name (APN) traffic.

21. An apparatus for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising:

at least one processor configured to determine if a serving base station supports wireless local area network (WLAN) and radio access network (RAN) interworking and, based upon the determination, determine whether to access the serving base station before associating or exchanging transmissions with a WLAN access point (AP); and

a memory coupled with the at least one processor.

22. A computer program product for wireless communications by a user equipment (UE), comprising a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon for:

determining if a serving base station supports wireless local area network (WLAN) and radio access network (RAN) interworking; and

based upon the determination, determining whether to access the serving base station before associating or exchanging transmissions with a WLAN access point (AP).