Patent ID: 9661566
Date: 2017-05-23
CPC Classifications: H04W

Claim:
1. A method of operating a network entity within a radio access network of a communications network comprising the radio access network and a wireless network, the radio access network including a base station serving a user equipment (UE) and the wireless network including one or more wireless access points, the method comprising: selecting a set of available wireless access points from the one or more wireless access points based on network information associated with radio access network resources and wireless network resources, wherein said network information associated with radio access network resources comprises one or more of information relating to UE mobility, radio access network load, radio access network cell load, and radio access network radio link performance; generating wireless access point information associated with the characteristics of the set of available wireless access points for use by the UE in accessing an available wireless access point; and transmitting the wireless access point information via the base station to the UE, wherein: the step of generating wireless access point information further includes generating one or more rules or conditions for use by the UE in accessing a wireless access point from the set of wireless access points, and the transmitted wireless access point information includes the one or more rules or conditions for use by the UE in accessing the wireless access point from the set of wireless access point.