Offloading Traffic of a User Equipment Communication Session from a Cellular Communication Network to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN)

• US 20160198364A1
• Filed: 08/09/2013
• Published: 07/07/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/09/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: SCHWARZBAUER, Hanns Juergen, REDANA, Simone, HWANG, Woonhee, KOSKINEN, Jussi-Pekka, KOSKELA, Jarkko Tuomo
• Granted Patent: US 10,111,135 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/10 Flow control between communication endpoints
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/14 Reselecting a network or an air interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/1446 wherein at least one of the networks is unlicensed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic
• 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

Abstract

A User Equipment including at least one processor, and at least one memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor, wherein the at least one memory and the instructions are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the User Equipment at least: to conduct a processing for deciding whether or not it is acceptable to divert at least a part of a communication traffic of a communication currently conducted by the User Equipment with a first communication network to a second communication network, in case the decision is that it is not acceptable, to prepare a report indicating that the diversion of the communication traffic to the second communication network is not conducted, and to cause a transmission of the report to the first communication network.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising

at least one processor,

and

at least one memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor, wherein

the at least one memory and the instructions are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least:

to conduct a processing for deciding whether or not it is acceptable to divert at least a part of a communication traffic of a communication currently conducted with a first communication network to a second communication network,

in case the decision is that it is not acceptable, to prepare a report indicating that the diversion of the communication traffic to the second communication network is not conducted, and

to cause a transmission of the report to the first communication network.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the instructions are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least

to receive and process a request from the first communication network to divert at least a part of the communication traffic of a communication currently conducted with the first communication network to the second communication network,

wherein the processing for deciding whether or not it is acceptable to divert at least a part of the communication traffic is triggered by the request.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processing for deciding whether or not it is acceptable to divert at least a part of the communication traffic is based on at least one of

a determination of usage conditions for the second communication network based on collected usage information, the usage conditions comprising at least one of coverage, performance, and operator identity of the second communication network,

a determination of a mobility situation of a communication element conducting the communication with the first communication network,

a determination of a type of communication traffic affected by the diversion,

a determination of local requirements related to a running application or communication of the communication element conducting the communication with the first communication network,

a determination of user preferences related to a communication with another communication network being different to the first communication network, and

a determination of a policy setting related to an access network discovery and selection function in the communication element conducting the communication with the first communication network.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, wherein the report indicating that the diversion of the communication traffic to the second communication network is not conducted further comprises a cause code indicating a reason for the decision that the diversion is not acceptable, wherein the cause code is derived from a result of at least one of the determinations.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the instructions are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least

to determine a timer value to be set for postponing or stopping a transmission of a request from the first communication network to divert at least a part of the communication traffic of a communication currently conducted with the first communication network to the second communication network after transmitting the report, wherein the determining of the timer value is conducted on the basis of one of

a mobility behavior of a communication element conducting the communication with the first communication network,

an availability of communication possibilities with the second communication network,

an estimation of a time period required for completing a running application or communication not to be affected by a diversion of traffic to the second communication network, and

user preferences or policy settings related to a communication with another communication network being different to the first communication network,

wherein the report indicating that the diversion of the communication traffic to the second communication network is not conducted further comprises an indication of the determined timer value.

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the at least one memory and the instructions are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least

to repeat, at a predetermined time after the report is transmitted to the first communication network, the processing for deciding whether or not it is acceptable to divert at least a part of a communication traffic of a communication currently conducted with a first communication network to a second communication network,

in case the result of the decision in the repeated processing is that it is acceptable to divert at least a part of the communication traffic to the second communication network, to prepare a changing report indicating that the diversion of the communication traffic to the second communication network is acceptable due to a change in the communication condition having led to the report that the diversion of the communication traffic to the second communication network is not conducted, and

to cause an unsolicited transmission of the changing report to the first communication network.

7. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the apparatus is comprised in a communication element comprising a user equipment or

terminal device capable to communicate at least with the first communication network, wherein the first communication network is a wireless cellular communication network controlled by a communication network control element and the second communication network is a wireless local area network controlled by a local communication network control element or access point.

8. A method comprising

conducting a processing for deciding whether or not it is acceptable to divert at least a part of a communication traffic of a communication currently conducted with a first communication network to a second communication network,

in case the decision is that it is not acceptable, preparing a report indicating that the diversion of the communication traffic to the second communication network is not conducted, and

causing a transmission of the report to the first communication network.

9-14. -14. (canceled)

15. An apparatus comprising

at least one processor,

and

at least one memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor, wherein

the at least one memory and the instructions are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least:

to cause a transmission of a request to a communication element communicating with a first communication network to divert at least a part of the communication traffic of a communication currently conducted with the first communication network to a second communication network,

to receive and process a report from the communication element indicating that a diversion of the communication traffic to the second communication network is not conducted,

to set and store a status of the communication element from which the report is received to a status indicating that it is not acceptable to divert at least a part of the communication traffic of the communication currently conducted with the first communication network to the second communication network, and

to postpone or stop, for a specified time period, a transmission of a further request to divert at least a part of the communication traffic of a communication currently conducted with the first communication network to the second communication network to the communication element for which the status is set.

16. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the at least one memory and the instructions are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least

to monitor, on the basis of the received report, a communication condition towards the second communication network, and

to use the result of the monitoring for preparing the request to a communication element communicating with the first communication network to divert at least a part of the communication traffic of a communication currently conducted with the first communication network to the second communication network.

17. The apparatus according to claim 16, wherein the at least one memory and the instructions are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least

to increment a counter for each received report indicating that a diversion of the communication traffic to the second communication network is not conducted,

to check whether the counter exceeds a threshold within a predetermined time, and

in case the threshold is exceeded within the predetermined time, to inform an operation and maintenance element about a possible failure of the second communication network.

18. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the report comprises information indicating a reason that the diversion is not conducted, the reason being based on at least one of

usage conditions for the second communication network based on collected usage information, the usage conditions comprising at least one of coverage, performance, and operator identity of the second communication network,

a mobility situation of the communication element conducting the communication with the first communication network,

a type of communication traffic affected by the diversion,

local requirements related to a running application or communication of the communication element conducting the communication with the first communication network,

user preferences related to a communication with another communication network being different to the first communication network, and

a policy setting related to an access network discovery and selection function in the communication element conducting the communication with the first communication network.

19. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the at least one memory and the instructions are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least

to set the specified time period for which a transmission of a further request to the communication element to divert at least a part of the communication traffic of a communication currently conducted with the first communication network to the second communication network is postponed or stopped to a default value, wherein the default value is preset or configurable.

20. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the at least one memory and the instructions are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least

to receive and process a timer information included in the received report, the timer information indicating a timer value to be set for postponing or stopping the transmission of the request after receiving the report, wherein the timer value is based on one of

a mobility behavior of the communication element conducting the communication with the first communication network,

an availability of communication possibilities with the second communication network,

an estimation of a time period required for completing a running application or communication not to be affected by a diversion of traffic to the second communication network, and

user preferences or policy settings related to a communication with another communication network being different to the first communication network,

and

to set the specified time period for which a transmission of a further request to the communication element to divert at least a part of the communication traffic of a communication currently conducted with the first communication network to the second communication network is postponed or stopped to the timer value indicated in the timer information.

21. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the at least one memory and the instructions are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least

to receive and process, with an unsolicited transmission after the report is received from a communication element, a changing report from the communication element whose status is set to the status indicating that it is not acceptable to divert at least a part of the communication traffic of the communication currently conducted with the first communication network to the second communication network, the changing report indicating that the diversion of the communication traffic to the second communication network is acceptable due to a change in the communication condition having led to the report that the diversion of the communication traffic to the second communication network is not conducted,

to re-set and store the status of the communication element from which the changing report is received, and

to allow a transmission of a further request to divert at least a part of the communication traffic of a communication currently conducted with the first communication network to the second communication network to the communication element for which the status is re-set.

22. The apparatus according to claim 15, wherein the apparatus is comprised in a communication network control element of the first communication network, wherein the communication network control element is configured to communicate with the communication element comprising a user equipment or terminal device, wherein the first communication network is a wireless cellular communication network and the second communication network is a wireless local area network controlled by a local communication network control element or access point.

23. A method comprising

causing a transmission of a request to a communication element communicating with a first communication network to divert at least a part of the communication traffic of a communication currently conducted with the first communication network to a second communication network,

receiving and processing a report from the communication element indicating that a diversion of the communication traffic to the second communication network is not conducted,

setting and storing a status of the communication element from which the report is received to a status indicating that it is not acceptable to divert at least a part of the communication traffic of the communication currently conducted with the first communication network to the second communication network, and

postponing or stopping, for a specified time period, a transmission of a further request to divert at least a part of the communication traffic of a communication currently conducted with the first communication network to the second communication network to the communication element for which the status is set.

31. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium bearing computer program code embodied therein for use with a computer, the computer program code comprising code for performing the method of claim 23.

24-30. -30. (canceled)

32-33. -33. (canceled)