Network-based intelligent radio access control

• US 9,544,842 B2
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Issued: 01/10/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/06/2012
• 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, Blackburn, Alan, Noriega, Dimas R.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sabouri, Mazda
• Application Number:
  US13/707,535
• Publication Number:
  US 20140162649A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,496 Days
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service

Abstract

Concepts and technologies are described herein for a network-based radio access control. According to one aspect disclosed herein, a radio access technology selection system enables an intelligent multi-radio access control that can select one or more radio access technologies that is best-suited for one or more target mobile devices based upon network conditions, policies, user profiles, and/or other information. The radio access technology selection system also informs the target mobile device(s) of one or more networks that utilize the selected radio access technology. In this manner, the radio access technology selection system can steer traffic to various networks operating in accordance with different radio access technologies to improve user experience, especially in network traffic congested areas, and to efficiently leverage network resources for mobile telecommunications and WI-FI networks.

Claims

1. A radio access technology selection system comprising:

a network database repository comprising historic network load information associated with a historic network load experienced by a plurality of radio access networks to which a target mobile device is capable of connecting, the plurality of radio access networks operating in accordance with a plurality of radio access technologies;

a processor; and

a memory comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising

identifying, based upon the historic network load information, network load trends for at least a portion of the plurality of radio access networks,

determining, based upon the network load trends, a first time during which there is predicted to be a favorable network load capable of supporting communications associated with the target mobile device,

determining, based upon the network load trends, a second time during which there is predicted to be a non-favorable network load incapable of supporting communications associated with the target mobile device,

receiving a policy,

receiving current network load information from the plurality of radio access networks to which the target mobile device is capable of connecting,

identifying a first application, executable by the target mobile device, that requires connectivity to at least one of the plurality of radio access networks,

identifying a second application, executable by the target mobile device, that requires connectivity to at least one of the plurality of radio access networks,

selecting, for the first application, a first radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the first time during which there is predicted to be the favorable network load capable of supporting communications with the target mobile device, the second time during which there is predicted to be the non-favorable network load incapable of supporting communications associated with the target mobile device, the policy, and the current network load information,

selecting, for the second application, a second radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the first time during which there is predicted to be the favorable network load capable of supporting communications with the target mobile device, the second time during which there is predicted to be the non-favorable network load incapable of supporting communications associated with the target mobile device, the policy, and the current network load information,

generating a network selection directed to the target mobile device, the network selection instructing the target mobile device to connect to the first radio access network for using the first application and to connect to the second radio access network for using the second application, and

sending the network selection to the target mobile device.

2. The radio access technology selection system of claim 1, wherein the policy comprises conditions under which to select each of the plurality of radio access networks.

3. The radio access technology selection system of claim 2, wherein the conditions comprise network load thresholds for each of the plurality of radio access networks, the network load thresholds each identifying a maximum network load for one of the plurality of radio access networks.

4. The radio access technology selection system of claim 3, wherein:

selecting, for the first application, the first radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the policy and the current network load information comprises selecting, for the first application, the first radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon a first network load of the first radio access network determined from the current network load information being less than the maximum network load for the first radio access network as specified by a first network load threshold for the first radio access network; and

selecting, for the second application, the second radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the policy and the current network load information comprises selecting, for the second application, the second radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon a second network load of the second radio access network determined from the current network load information being less than the maximum network load for the second radio access network as specified by a second network load threshold for the second radio access network.

5. The radio access technology selection system of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise receiving a user profile associated with a user of the target mobile device;

and wherein;

selecting, for the first application, the first radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks is further based upon the user profile; and

selecting, for the second application, the second radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks is further based upon the user profile.

6. The radio access technology selection system of claim 5, wherein the conditions define priorities for a plurality of service tiers with respect to each of the plurality of radio access networks, and the user profile specifies a service tier of the plurality of service tiers associated with a service account of the user, the service tier being defined in a service agreement.

7. The radio access technology selection system of claim 6, wherein:

selecting, for the first application, the first radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the policy, the current network load information, and the user profile comprises selecting, for the first application, the first radio access network based upon the service tier providing priority to the user to connect to the first radio access network via the target mobile device; and

selecting, for the second application, the second radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the policy and the current network load information comprises selecting, for the second application, the second radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon a second network load of the second radio access network determined from the current network load information being less than the maximum network load for the second radio access network as specified by a second network load threshold for the second radio access network.

8. The radio access technology selection system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of radio access technologies comprise a WI-FI technology and a mobile telecommunications technology.

9. A method comprising:

storing, by a radio access technology selection system, in a network database repository, historic network load information associated with a historic network load experienced by a plurality of radio access networks to which a target mobile device is capable of connecting, the plurality of radio access networks operating in accordance with a plurality of radio access technologies;

identifying, by the radio access technology selection system, based upon the historic network load information, network load trends for at least a portion of the plurality of radio access networks;

determining, by the radio access technology selection system, based upon the network load trends, a first time during which there is predicted to be a favorable network load capable of supporting communications associated with the target mobile device;

determining, by the radio access technology selection system, based upon the network load trends, a second time during which there is predicted to be a non-favorable network load incapable of supporting communications associated with the target mobile device;

receiving, at the radio access technology selection system, a policy;

receiving, at the radio access technology selection system, current network load information from the plurality of radio access networks to which the target mobile device is capable of connecting;

identifying, by the radio access technology selection system, a first application, executable by the target mobile device, that requires connectivity to at least one of the plurality of radio access networks;

identifying, by the radio access technology selection system, a second application, executable by the target mobile device, that requires connectivity to at least one of the plurality of radio access networks;

selecting, by the radio access technology selection system, for the first application, a first radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the first time during which there is predicted to be the favorable network load capable of supporting communications with the target mobile device, the second time during which there is predicted to be the non-favorable network load incapable of supporting communications associated with the target mobile device, the policy and the current network load information;

selecting, by the radio access technology selection system, for the second application, a second radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the first time during which there is predicted to be the favorable network load capable of supporting communications with the target mobile device, the second time during which there is predicted to be the non-favorable network load incapable of supporting communications associated with the target mobile device, the policy, and the current network load information;

generating, by the radio access technology selection system, a network selection directed to the target mobile device, the network selection instructing the target mobile device to connect to the first radio access network for using the first application and to connect to the second radio access network for using the second application; and

sending, by the radio access technology selection system, the network selection to the target mobile device.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the policy comprises conditions under which to select each of the plurality of radio access networks.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the conditions comprise a network load threshold for each of the plurality of radio access networks, the network load threshold identifying a maximum network load for a corresponding one of the plurality of radio access networks.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising receiving a user profile associated with a user of the target mobile device and wherein:

selecting, for the first application, the first radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks is further based upon the user profile; and

selecting, for the second application, the second radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks is further based upon the user profile.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the conditions define priorities for a plurality of service tiers with respect to each of the plurality of radio access networks, and the user profile specifies a service tier of the plurality of service tiers associated with a service account of the user, the service tier being defined in a service agreement.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of radio access technologies comprise a WI-FI technology and a mobile telecommunications technology.

15. A computer-readable storage medium comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

causing to be stored in a network database repository, historic network load information associated with a historic network load experienced by a plurality of radio access networks to which a target mobile device is capable of connecting, the plurality of radio access networks operating in accordance with a plurality of radio access technologies;

identifying, based upon the historic network load information, network load trends for at least a portion of the plurality of radio access networks;

determining, based upon the network load trends, a first time during which there is predicted to be a favorable network load capable of supporting communications associated with the target mobile device;

determining, based upon the network load trends, a second time during which there is predicted to be a non-favorable network load incapable of supporting communications associated with the target mobile device;

receiving a policy specifying conditions under which to select each radio access technology of the plurality of radio access technologies utilized by the plurality of radio access networks to which the target mobile device is capable of connecting;

receiving a user profile associated with a user of the target mobile device;

collecting current network load information from the plurality of radio access networks to which the target mobile device is capable of connecting;

identifying a first application, executable by the target mobile device, that requires connectivity to at least one of the plurality of radio access networks;

identifying a second application, executable by the target mobile device, that requires connectivity to at least one of the plurality of radio access networks;

selecting, for the first application, a first radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the first time during which there is predicted to be the favorable network load capable of supporting communications associated with the target mobile device, the second time during which there is predicted to be the non-favorable network load incapable of supporting communications associated with the target mobile device, the policy, the current network load information, and the user profile;

selecting, for the second application, a second radio access network of the plurality of radio access networks based upon the first time during which there is predicted to be the favorable network load capable of supporting communications with the target mobile device, the second time during which there is predicted to be the non-favorable network load incapable of supporting communications associated with the target mobile device, the policy, and the current network load information;

generating a network selection directed to the target mobile device, the network selection instructing the target mobile device to connect to the first radio access network for using the first application and to connect to the second radio access network for using the second application; and

sending the network selection to the target mobile device.

16. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the plurality of radio access technologies comprises Universal Mobile Telecommunications Service, Long-Term Evolution, and WI-FI.

17. The computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the user profile specifies a service tier of a service account associated with the target mobile device and a device type of the target mobile device, and the conditions specify a maximum network load for each of the plurality of radio access networks and a preferred radio access network that the target mobile device is to preferably connect based upon the service tier, wherein the service tier is defined in a service agreement.