Systems, methods and devices for traffic offloading
Wireless communication traffic can be offloaded from a user equipment (UE) to two wireless points of access. For example, user equipment (UE) is connected to a radio access network (RAN) using a radio access technology (RAT) such as a long term evolution (LTE) network. The UE can determine which network capabilities are available for traffic offloading and adapt to the capabilities presented. In one embodiment, the UE can determine whether the network supports three different configurations and configure traffic offloading to operate within the network conditions: (1) RAN rules without access network detection and selection function (ANDSF), (2) ANDSF in conjunction with RAN rules or (3) enhanced ANDSF with RAN assistance.
1. At least one non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations comprising:
receive, from an evolved packet core (EPC) of a wireless wide area network (WWAN), offload information indicating one or more first packet data network (PDN) connections authorized for offload to a wireless local area network (WLAN) and one or more second PDN connections restricted from offload to the WLAN;
receive radio access network (RAN) assistance information through radio resource control (RRC) signaling from the WWAN;
determine, based on a comparison of the RAN assistance information with offload rules, to offload traffic to the WLAN; and
in response to the determination to offload traffic, offload the one or more first PDN connections to the WLAN.
2. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the offload information corresponds to a specific WWAN radio access technology.
3. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the offload information is based on subscription data corresponding to the UE.
4. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the offload rules comprise access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF) rules including at least one of an inter-system routing policy (ISRP) rule and an inter-access point name (APN) routing policy (IARP) rule, and wherein the ANDSF rules comprise one or more threshold conditions and an offload preference indicator (OPI) condition.
5. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4 , wherein the one or more threshold conditions is associated with a WWAN threshold provided by the RAN assistance information, and wherein the processor is further configured to evaluate the one or more threshold conditions by comparing the WWAN threshold with a corresponding measured value.
6. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 4 , wherein a first threshold condition of the one or more threshold conditions is associated with a first WLAN threshold provided in the RAN assistance information, and wherein the processor is further configured to evaluate the first threshold condition by comparing the first WLAN threshold with a corresponding value received from the WLAN.
7. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 6 , wherein a second threshold condition of the one or more threshold conditions is associated with a second WLAN threshold provided by the ANDSF, and wherein the processor is further configured to evaluate the second threshold condition by comparing the second WLAN threshold provided by the ANDSF with a corresponding value received from the WLAN.
8. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 7 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive, through the RRC signaling, a third WLAN threshold associated with the second threshold condition, and wherein the processor is further configured to replace the second WLAN threshold with the third WLAN threshold so as to evaluate the second threshold condition by comparing the third WLAN threshold with a corresponding value received from the WLAN.
9. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the RAN assistance information comprises at least one of a WWAN threshold and a WLAN threshold.
10. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 9 , wherein the WWAN threshold is selected from a first group comprising a reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold, a common pilot channel (CPICH) per chip over total noise power density (Ec/No) threshold, and reference signal received quality (RSRQ) threshold; and
wherein the WLAN threshold is selected from a second group comprising a beacon received signal strength indicator (RSSI) threshold, a backhaul data rate threshold, and a basic service set (BSS) load threshold.
11. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 1 , wherein the WWAN comprises a third generation partnership project (3GPP) network.
12. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 11 , wherein the WLAN comprises a non-3GPP network.
13. A user equipment (UE) configured for access network selection and traffic steering, the UE comprising:
memory configured to store radio access network (RAN) assistance parameters;
a processor configured to:
process the RAN assistance parameters to identify a wireless local area network (WLAN) for traffic offload;
receive a first radio resource control (RRC) signal indicating a first packet data network (PDN) connection that is allowed to be offloaded from a wireless wide area network (WWAN) to the WLAN; and
select the first PDN connection for communication through the WLAN;
receive a second RRC signal indicating a second PDN connection that is restricted from offload from the WWAN to the WLAN; and
select the second PDN connection for communication only through the WWAN.
14. The UE of claim 13 , further comprising:
a first wireless interface to communicate through a wireless wide area network (WWAN); and
a second wireless interface to communicate through a wireless local area network (WLAN).
15. The UE of claim 13 , wherein the RAN assistance parameters comprise at least one of a WWAN threshold and a WLAN threshold.
16. The UE of claim 15 , wherein the WWAN threshold is selected from a first group comprising a reference signal received power (RSRP) threshold, a common pilot channel (CPICH) per chip over total noise power density (Ec/No) threshold, and reference signal received quality (RSRQ) threshold; and
wherein the WLAN threshold is selected from a second group comprising a beacon received signal strength indicator (RSSI) threshold, a backhaul data rate threshold, and a basic service set (BSS) load threshold.
17. An evolved packet core (EPC) of a wireless wide area network (WWAN), comprising:
memory configured to store offload information;
a processor configured to:
generate the offload information indicating one or more first packet data network (PDN) connections authorized for offload from the WWAN to a wireless local area network (WLAN) and one or more second PDN connections restricted from offload to the WLAN;
communicate the offload information to a user equipment (UE); and
communicate radio access network (RAN) assistance information through radio resource control (RRC) to the UE, the RAN assistance information including rules to determine whether to perform traffic offloading to the one or more first PDN connections authorized for offload from the WWAN to the WLAN.
18. The EPC of claim 17 , wherein the RAN assistance information comprises at least one of a WWAN threshold and a WLAN threshold.