Managing vendor credits during load balancing
View Patent ↗A computer-implemented method of using vendor credits to achieve load balancing in a communications network is described. Network traffic operating under a first carrier of the communications network is monitored. Initial load balancing triggers are set, by which network traffic of the first carrier is offloaded to a second carrier. It is determined whether the initial load balancing triggers have been met. It is also determined whether a vendor credit of the first carrier is available when the initial load balancing triggers have been met. One or more devices of the first carrier are offloaded to the second carrier when a vendor credit of the first carrier is available.
1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media with computer-readable instructions embodied thereon, that when executed by a computing device, perform a method of using vendor credits to achieve load balancing in a communications network, the method comprising:
monitoring incoming network traffic operating under a first carrier of the communications network, wherein the first carrier operates at a first spectrum;
establishing initial load balancing triggers by which to offload network traffic of the first carrier to a second carrier, wherein the second carrier operates at a second spectrum;
determining, via the processor, whether the initial load balancing triggers have been met;
reducing the initial load balancing triggers when the initial triggers are not met;
determining, via the processor, whether a vendor credit of the first carrier is available when either the initial load balancing triggers or the reduced initial load balancing triggers have been met;
identifying one or more devices of the first carrier that are configured to communicate over either the first spectrum or the second spectrum;
and
offloading the identified one or more devices of the first carrier to the second carrier when the vendor credit of the first carrier is available.
2. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , wherein the initial load balancing triggers comprise one or more of amount of usage, a number of users, and a quality of service criterion of network traffic.
3. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , further comprising: optimizing the initial load balancing triggers to maximize use of a bandwidth of the first carrier when the vendor credit of the first carrier is not available.
4. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , wherein reducing the initial load balancing triggers when the initial triggers are not met comprises reducing a threshold of the initial load balancing triggers, via a base transceiver station (BTS) of a telecommunications network.
5. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 1 , wherein reducing the initial load balancing triggers when the initial triggers are not met comprises reducing a threshold of the initial load balancing triggers, via a radio access network (RAN) of the communications network.
6. The one or more computer-readable storage media of claim 5 , wherein the RAN comprises an enhanced Node B (eNode B).
7. A computer-implemented method of load balancing between multiple carriers in a network using a computing system having memory, processor, and data storage components, the computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving incoming network traffic operating under a first carrier of the network;
establishing initial load balancing triggers to move the network traffic from the first carrier to a second carrier;
determining, via the processor, whether the initial load balancing triggers have been met;
reducing the initial load balancing triggers when the initial triggers are not met;
determining, via the processor, whether a vendor credit from the second carrier to the first carrier is available when the initial load balancing triggers or the reduce initial load balancing triggers have been met; and
moving one or more devices from the first carrier to the second carrier when the vendor credit from the second carrier to the first carrier is available.
8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the initial load balancing triggers comprise one or more of amount of usage, a number of users, and a quality of service criterion.
9. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the moving one or more devices continues until the vendor credit from the second carrier to the first carrier is completely used.
10. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further comprising:
moving one or more devices from the first carrier to an nth carrier when a vendor credit from the nth carrier to the first carrier is available, wherein n is a positive integer.
11. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , further comprising:
adjusting one or more of the initial load balancing triggers to maximize use of a bandwidth of the first carrier when the vendor credit from the second carrier to the first carrier is not available.
12. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein reducing the initial load balancing triggers when the initial triggers are not met comprises:
reducing a threshold of the initial load balancing triggers when the initial load balancing triggers are not met.
13. The computer-implemented method of claim 7 , wherein the network comprises a telecommunications network.
14. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , further comprising:
monitoring vendor credits that are available to the first carrier from one or more other carriers, via a base transceiver station (BTS) of the telecommunications network.
15. The computer-implemented method of claim 13 , further comprising:
monitoring vendor credits that are available to the first carrier from one or more other carriers, via an enhanced Node B (eNode B) of the telecommunications network.
16. A computer-implemented method of load balancing between multiple carriers in a telecommunications network using a computing system having memory, processor, and data storage components, the computer-implemented method comprising:
receiving incoming network traffic operating under a first carrier of the telecommunications network;
identifying one or more user devices operating at a first bandwidth level of the first carrier that are capable of operating at a second bandwidth level of a second carrier;
determining, via the processor, that one or more load balancing triggers have been met pertaining to the received incoming network traffic operating under the first carrier;
reducing the initial load balancing triggers when the initial triggers are not met;
determining, via the processor, that a vendor credit is available from the second carrier to the first carrier when the initial load balancing triggers or the reduced initial load balancing triggers are met; and
moving some of the identified one or more user devices from the first carrier to the second carrier in order to use the available vendor credit from the second carrier to the first carrier.
17. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , further comprising:
monitoring, via a base transceiver station (BTS), a load of the first carrier and a load of the second carrier.
18. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , further comprising:
monitoring, via a base transceiver station (BTS), vendor credits that are available to the first carrier from one or more other carriers.
19. The computer-implemented method of claim 16 , further comprising:
moving one or more devices from the first carrier to an nth carrier when a vendor credit is available from the nth carrier to the first carrier, wherein n is an integer.
20. The computer-implemented method of claim 19 , wherein the one or more devices moved from the first carrier to an nth carrier operate at a bandwidth level of the nth carrier.