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

• US 9,491,678 B2
• Filed: 09/04/2013
• Issued: 11/08/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/04/2013
• 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.), 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
• Application Number:
  US14/018,045
• Publication Number:
  US 20150065133A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,161 Days
• Field of Search: 455/436
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 associated with an 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 access point device;

based on an analysis of the network load data associated with the access point device of a first radio access network, updating information, resulting in updated information, indicative of a device steering criterion to adjust a user equipment of a number of user equipment that are to be steered from the access point device to a network device of a second radio access network, wherein the information comprises signal strength threshold data, related to the signal strength threshold, to facilitate steering of the user equipment based on a distance between the user equipment and the access point device; and

in response to determining a second signal strength associated with the user equipment satisfies the signal strength threshold, facilitating, based on the mapping of the network load data, a transmission of the updated information to the user equipment via the access point device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the signal strength threshold data represents a threshold of a strength of a signal transmitted from the access point device to one of the user equipment.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the updating comprises decreasing the threshold, in response to determining that congestion within the first radio access network has decreased.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the updating comprises increasing the threshold, in response to determining that congestion within the first radio access network has increased.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the facilitating the transmission comprises broadcasting the information via a system information block message comprising message data that is employable by one of the user equipment to facilitate cell selection.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the network load data is first network load data and the updating comprises updating the information based on second network load data associated with access point devices that are deployed within a defined distance from the access point device.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the network load data is first network load data and the updating comprises updating the information based on second network load data associated with the network device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the updating comprises updating the information based on distribution data indicative of a distribution of target radio access point devices having respective coverage areas that overlap with a coverage area of the access point device.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the updating comprises updating the information based on distribution data indicative of a distribution of the user equipment within a coverage area of the access point device.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the second radio access network comprises a wireless local area network.

11. A method, comprising:

storing, by a user equipment comprising a processor, signal strength data associated with a signal strength measurement performed by the user equipment during communications with an access point device;

receiving, by the user equipment, network load data associated with the 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 a proximity of the user equipment to the access point device and based on the signal strength, wherein the corresponding signal strength and the signal strength threshold are user equipment steering criteria, 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; and

based on the determining the corresponding signal strength, 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 in response to the corresponding signal strength being determined to satisfy the signal strength threshold.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the access point device is a first radio access point device of a first radio access network, the facilitating comprises facilitating network selection to determine a second radio access network comprising a second radio access point device and the method further comprises:

based on policy data, determining, by the user equipment, a first portion of data that is to be communicated via the first radio access point device and a second portion of the data that is to be communicated via the second radio access point device.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

facilitating, by the user equipment, a transmission of query data to a network load management device, wherein the query data is indicative of a request for the user equipment steering criteria and the receiving is in response to the facilitating the transmission.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein signal strength threshold data represents a threshold of a strength of a signal received by the user equipment from the access point device and the analyzing comprises comparing the signal strength threshold data with received signal strength data that represents the strength of the signal received by the user equipment from the access point device.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the access point device is a first access point device of a first radio access network, the radio access network is a second radio access network, and the facilitating comprises:

in response to determining, based on the comparing, that the strength of the signal is less than the threshold, facilitating a connection of the user equipment to a second access point device of the second radio access network and a disconnection of the user equipment from the first access point device.

16. The method of claim 11, wherein the facilitating comprises performing a first portion of the network selection, wherein a second portion of the network selection is performed via a device coupled to the user equipment.

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

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

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 based on a proximity of the user equipment to the first access point device, and 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; and

providing the device steering criterion data to the user equipment, via the first access point device, in response to a signal strength associated with the user equipment meeting the signal strength threshold.

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

directing the device steering criterion data via a cell broadcast message.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the device steering criterion data represents a threshold of a strength of a signal transmitted from the first access point device to one of the user equipment.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein a number of the user equipment is increased in response to determining, based on the load data, that the first radio access network is congested.