Access network discovery and selection

1. A user equipment (UE) to identify access networks, the UE comprising:

communication circuitry to:

receive access network assistance information from an evolved node B (eNB) of a radio access network (RAN) or an access point of a wireless local area network (WLAN); and

network selection and traffic routing circuitry coupled with the communication circuitry to:

compare the access network assistance information to a threshold value that is associated with an access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF) policy;

compare a threshold from the access network assistance information or the ANDSF policy to values measured by the UE; and

selectively activate the ANDSF policy and identify a preferred access network based at least in part on the comparison of the access network assistance information to the threshold value,

wherein:

the communication circuitry is to transmit data over the preferred access network,

wherein the network selection and traffic routing circuitry includes at least one local UE RAN rule and is to allow the local UE RAN rule to override the ANDSF policy based at least in part on a determination by the UE that an estimated throughput for a first network is greater than an estimated throughput for a second network; a determination by the UE that quality of service (QoS) requirements of applications active on the UE are less than a minimum QoS threshold of the ANDSF policy; or a flag pre-configured in the UE or received from the network.

2. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the access network assistance information includes at least a first value and a second value and the communication circuitry comprises:

RAN communication circuitry to receive the first value from an eNB of a RAN; and

WLAN communication circuitry to receive the second value from an access point of a WLAN,

wherein the RAN communication circuitry and the WLAN communication circuitry are implemented on a common chipset.

3. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the network selection and traffic routing circuitry includes an ANDSF client and the network selection and traffic routing circuitry is to prevent the ANDSF client from considering an access network based at least in part on the comparison of the access network assistance information to the threshold value or based on the comparison of the threshold from the access network assistance information or the ANDSF policy to values measured by the UE.

4. The UE of claim 3 , wherein the network selection and traffic routing circuitry is to dynamically determine the threshold value based at least in part on quality of service (QoS) requirements of applications active on the UE.

5. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the network selection and traffic routing circuitry is to allow the local UE RAN rule to override the ANDSF policy based at least in part on the determination by the UE that an estimated throughput for a first network is greater than an estimated throughput for a second network.

6. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the network selection and traffic routing circuitry is to allow the local UE RAN rule to override the ANDSF policy based at least in part on the determination by the UE that the quality of service (QoS) requirements of applications active on the UE are less than a minimum QoS threshold of the ANDSF policy.

7. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the network selection and traffic routing circuitry is to allow the local UE RAN rule to override the ANDSF policy based at least in part on the flag pre-configured in the UE or received from the network.

8. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the access network assistance information includes a network load, a parameter based on network load, signal strength threshold, maximum achievable throughput, average access delay, or quality of service (QoS) support.

9. One or more tangible computer-readable media having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed cause a user equipment (UE) to:

obtain access network assistance information from an evolved node B (eNB) of a radio access network (RAN) or an access point of a wireless local area network (WLAN);

compare the access network assistance information to a UE local threshold value;

compare a threshold from the access network assistance information to a value measured by the UE;

filter available access network options to an access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF) client based at least in part on the comparisons;

identify a preferred access network based at least in part on the filtered available access network options;

transmit data over the preferred access network;

receive an ANDSF policy including an ANDSF policy threshold; and

selectively activate the ANDSF policy based at least in part on a comparison of the access network assistance information to the ANDSF policy threshold.

10. The one or more media of claim 9 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the UE to dynamically determine the threshold value based at least in part on resources desired by applications active on the UE.

11. The one or more media of claim 9 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the UE to replace default thresholds in the ANDSF policy with up-to-date thresholds obtained as part of the access network assistance information.

12. A user equipment (UE) to identify access networks, the UE comprising:

communication circuitry to:

receive an access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF) policy from an ANDSF server;

receive a steering policy from an access network; and network selection and traffic routing circuitry coupled with the communication circuitry to:

identify a preferred access network based at least in part on the ANDSF policy and the steering policy;

wherein the communication circuitry is to:

transmit data over the preferred access network,

wherein the ANDSF policy includes a first list of available access networks with associated priority values and the steering policy includes a second list of available access networks with associated priority values.

13. The UE of 12 , wherein the network selection and traffic routing circuitry is to allow the ANDSF policy to override the steering policy for access networks that are covered under a subscription policy of the UE.

14. The UE of claim 12 , wherein the network selection and traffic routing circuitry is to identify access networks appearing on both the first and second lists of available access networks and to identify the preferred access network based at least in part on combined priority scores of the access networks appearing on both the first and second lists of available access networks.

15. One or more tangible computer-readable media having instructions, stored thereon, that when executed cause a user equipment (UE) to:

receive a first list of available access networks from an access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF) server;

receive a steering policy from an access network;

compare at least one of a steering policy or an access command to the first list of available access networks;

identify a preferred access network based at least in part on the comparison of the steering policy to the first list of available access networks; and

transmit data over the preferred access network,

wherein the steering policy includes a second list of available access networks.

16. The one or more media of claim 15 , wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the UE to limit the identification of the preferred access network to access networks appearing on both the first and second lists of available access networks.