Radio access technology selection in a heterogeneous network

1. A user equipment (UE) in a multiple radio access technology (multi-RAT) heterogeneous network (HetNet) that is operable to provide node-selection measurement information to a central controller, the UE having computer circuitry configured to:

determine the node-selection measurement information at the UE for a plurality of nodes in the multi-RAT HetNet;

communicate the node-selection measurement information from the UE to the central controller; and

receive a multi-RAT HetNet node grouping assignment for the UE from the central controller based on the node-selection measurement information; and

wherein the central controller is further configured to determine the multi-RAT HetNet node grouping assignments for a plurality of UEs in the multi-RAT HetNet.

2. The computer circuitry of claim 1 , wherein the UE is further configured to associate with one or more multi-RAT HetNet node based on the multi-RAT HetNet node grouping assignment.

3. The computer circuitry of claim 1 , wherein the node-selection measurement information is determined using a data rate, an effective data rate of a wireless local area network (WLAN) in the multi-RAT HetNet, or a signal to noise ratio (SNR) or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the UE relative to one or more nodes in the multi-RAT HetNet.

4. The computer circuitry of claim 3 , wherein the effective data rate of the WLAN is received from one or more WLAN RATs.

5. The computer circuitry of claim 3 , wherein the UE is assigned to a same multi-RAT HetNet node grouping assignment as UEs with similar SNR, SINR, or effective data rates.

6. A central controller operable in a multiple radio access technology (multi-RAT) heterogeneous network (HetNet) that is configured to provide a grouping assignment to a user equipment (UE), the central controller having computer circuitry configured to:

receive data rate information from the UE for communication with nodes in the multi-RAT HetNet;

determine a multi-RAT HetNet node grouping assignment for the UE based on the data rate information; and

communicate the multi-RAT HetNet node grouping assignment from the central controller to the UE in the multi-RAT HetNet to configure the UE to associate with nodes in the multi-RAT HetNet node grouping assignment; and

wherein the central controller is further configured to determine the multi-RAT HetNet node grouping assignments for a plurality of UEs in the multi-RAT HetNet.

7. The computer circuitry of claim 6 , further configured to determine a signal to noise ratio (SNR) or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) of the UE relative to the nodes in the multi-RAT HetNet.

8. The computer circuitry of claim 7 , wherein the multi-RAT HetNet node grouping assignment is based on a range of the SINR or SNR for the UE relative to the nodes in the multi-RAT HetNet.

9. The computer circuitry of claim 6 , further configured to:

receive grouping measurement information from the UE for communication of the UE with nodes in the multi-RAT HetNet; and

determine the data rate information based on grouping measurement information received from the UE.

10. The computer circuitry of claim 6 , wherein the grouping assignment is based on a near-neighbor only grouping algorithm.

11. The computer circuitry of claim 6 , wherein each UE is assigned to one or more multi-RAT HetNet groups based on a data rate of the UE relative to the nodes in the multi-RAT HetNet.

12. The computer circuitry of claim 11 , further configured to determine the multi-RAT HetNet node grouping assignments for a plurality of UEs based on the number of UEs in the multi-RAT HetNet and the relative SNR or SINR distributions across the multi-RAT HetNet.

13. The computer circuitry of claim 6 , further configured to update the multi-RAT HetNet node grouping assignment for the UE at a defined time or upon an arrival or a departure of a UE from the multi-RAT HetNet.

14. A node in a multiple radio access technology (multi-RAT) heterogeneous network (HetNet) that is operable to provide a node-grouping assignment to a user equipment (UE), the node having computer circuitry configured to:

receive throughput information for throughput between the UE and nodes in the multi-RAT HetNet;

determine a grouping assignment for the UE in the multi-RAT HetNet based on the throughput information; and

communicate the grouping assignment from the node to the UE in the multi-RAT HetNet to configure the UE to associate with one or more nodes in the grouping assignment; and

wherein the node is further configured to determine grouping assignments for a plurality of UEs in the multi-RAT HetNet.

15. The computer circuitry of claim 14 , wherein the computer circuitry is further configured to:

receive updated throughput information from the UE in the multi-RAT HetNet;

update the grouping assignment based on the updated throughput information; and

communicate the updated grouping assignment from the node to the UE in the multi-RAT HetNet.

16. The computer circuitry of claim 14 , wherein the node is further configured to determine a plurality of group assignments for the UE in the multi-RAT HetNet based on the throughput information.

17. The computer circuitry of claim 14 , wherein the node communicates the throughput information of the UE to another node in the multi-RAT HetNet.

18. The computer circuitry of claim 17 , wherein the throughput information is determined based on a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) or signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the UE relative to one or more nodes in the multi-RAT HetNet.

19. The computer circuitry of claim 14 , wherein the SINR, SNR or data rate is equalized for each grouping assignment of the UE in the multi-RAT HetNet.

20. The computer circuitry of claim 14 , the node further configured to:

receive throughput information from another node in the multi-RAT HetNet; and

determine the grouping assignment using the throughput information from the other node in the multi-RAT HetNet.

21. The computer circuitry of claim 14 , wherein the node is further configured to partition a plurality of UEs into a selected number of groups.

22. The computer circuitry of claim 14 , wherein the node is further configured to set access permissions for a group of UEs to access a node in the multi-RAT HetNet.

23. The computer circuitry of claim 22 , wherein the access permissions are restricted when there is significant mismatch between the throughput information of the UE and a throughput information of other UEs.

24. A method for providing node-selection measurement information to a node, comprising:

determining the node-selection measurement information at the UE for a plurality of nodes in the multi-RAT HetNet, wherein the node-selection measurement information is based on data throughput between the UE and the plurality of nodes;

communicating the node-selection measurement information from the UE to a node in the multi-RAT HetNet;

receiving a node-selection grouping permission from the node in the multi-RAT HetNet; and

determining a multi-RAT HetNet node to associate with based on the node-selection grouping permission.

25. The method of claim 24 , further comprising determining the node-selection grouping permission using a range of the node-selection measurement information, wherein the node-selection measurement information is selected from a data rate, a signal to noise ratio (SNR), or a signal to interference plus noise ratio (SINR) values of the UE relative to one or more nodes in the multi-RAT HetNet.

26. The method of claim 24 , further comprising associating a plurality of nodes in the multi-RAT HetNet.

27. The method of claim 24 , further comprising receiving the node-selection grouping permission via unicast or broadcast RRC signaling.

28. The method of claim 24 , further comprising comparing the node-selection measurement information of the UE with the node-selection measurement information of other UEs.

29. The method of claim 24 , further comprising reporting a signal to noise ratio (SNR) measurement, a signal plus interference to noise ratio (SINR) measurement, or a measured data rate for each of the plurality of nodes to determine the signal throughput to enable the node selection grouping permission to be determined.