Patent ID: 9380495
Filing Date: 2016-06-28
CPC Classification: H04W

Claim Text:
1. A method of offloading data from a cellular network to a WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) in a wireless communication system supporting multi Radio Access Network, the method performed by a base station and comprising: receiving, from a first user equipment, a first neighboring cell report message including a first WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network) AP (Access Point) identifier searched by the first user equipment in a coverage of a corresponding WLAN AP; receiving, from a second user equipment, a second neighboring cell report message including a second WLAN AP identifier searched by the second user equipment in a coverage of a corresponding WLAN AP, wherein the first user equipment and the second user equipment communicate with one another without being connected to the WLAN; checking if the first WLAN AP identifier is identical to the second WLAN AP identifier; when the first WLAN AP identifier is identical to the second WLAN AP identifier, transmitting, to a specific WLAN AP indicated by the first and the second WLAN identifiers, an offloading indication message indicating the specific WLAN AP is to process data traffic between the first user equipment and the second user equipment via a local transmission method; and transmitting, to the first user equipment and the second user equipment, an offloading command message commanding the first user equipment and the second user equipment to communicate with one another via the local transmission method through the specific WLAN AP.