Patent ID: 9225849
Filing Date: 2015-12-29
Classification: H04L,H04M,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method for steering a subscriber between access networks, the method comprising: at a first policy and charging rules function (PCRF) that serves a first access network: identifying a subscriber of the first access network as a candidate subscriber for steering to a second access network that is served by a second PCRF; faking a user attachment to the second access network by querying the second PCRF to determine whether the candidate subscriber is allowed access to the second access network, wherein the first PCRF represents to the second PCRF that the candidate subscriber is requesting access to the second access network, and wherein querying the second PCRF comprises sending a credit control request (CCR) message to the second PCRF via an S9 interface that connects the first PCRF and the second PCRF; receiving a credit control answer (CCA) message from the second PCRF via the S9 interface as confirmation that the candidate subscriber is allowed access to the second access network; steering the candidate subscriber to the second access network; and offloading the candidate subscriber from the first access network to the second access network; wherein the first access network is of a different type than the second access network; and wherein the first access network comprises a long term evolution (LTE) network and the second access network comprises a Wi-Fi access network.