Patent ID: 9742928
Date: 2017-08-22
CPC Classifications: H04L,H04M,H04W

Claim:
1. A method for offloading communication traffic from a cellular communication network to a wireless local area network (WLAN), comprising: by a user equipment (UE) in communication with the cellular communication network: receiving information from the cellular communication network regarding one or more WLANs in the vicinity of the UE, wherein the information comprises charging data regarding a first WLAN of the one or more WLANs; receiving one or more rules from the cellular communication network regarding whether to offload communication traffic from the cellular communication network to a particular WLAN based on charging data relating to the particular WLAN; detecting the first WLAN; determining whether to offload communication traffic from the cellular communication network to the first WLAN based at least in part on the one or more rules; determining that the charging data regarding the first WLAN indicates that a charging rate associated with the first WLAN based at least in part on the one or more rules; displaying on a display of the UE a request for user authorization to offload communication traffic from the cellular communication network to the first WLAN, wherein displaying the request is in response to a charging rate indicated by the charging data; and receiving, via an input device of the UE, an instruction to offload the communication traffic from the cellular communication network to the first WLAN, wherein the instruction is responsive to the request for user authorization.