Patent Description:
The accelerated adoption of smartphones, tablets and cloud computing has resulted in the rapid growth of global mobile data traffic. Projections indicate that a <NUM>-fold increase in mobile data traffic may be expected by <NUM>, compared to <NUM>, with data traffic reaching arate of <NUM> exabytes per month. The scaling of network capacity through deployment of additional base stations and the implementation of new technology may be of limited effectiveness in dealing with this growth since mobile data pricing tends to remain relatively fiat.

One approach to this problem involves offloading of data traffic from the mobile wireless cellular- network, for example a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) network, to a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN). In this scenario, a wireless mobile device, for example User Equipment (UE), which is served by a cell base station, for example an evolved Node B (eNB), may offload some or all of the data traffic to an available WLAN access point (AP), A mechanism is needed, however, for eNBs to determine the relative traffic loading of WLAN APs that may be available for such offloading, to ensure efficient and reliable operation of the system so that the objectives of mobile data offload are achieved.

Further background information can be found in the following documents:.

Features and advantages of embodiments of the claimed subject matter will become apparent as the following Detailed Description proceeds, and upon reference to the Drawings, wherein like numerals depict like parts, and in which:.

Although the following Detailed Description will proceed with reference being made to illustrative embodiments, many alternatives, modifications, and variations thereof will be apparent to those skilled in the art.

There is provided a system according to appended claim <NUM>, a method according to appended claim <NUM> and a computer-readable storage medium according to claim <NUM>. Generally, this disclosure provides devices, systems and methods for provisioning of WLAN traffic load measurements to 3GPP wireless cellular networks, for example an LTE or LTE-A network. WLAN offloading is a technique for load balancing where traffic from a relatively overloaded eNB may be offloaded to one of a number of underlying WLAN APs. The selection of the WLAN AP for offloading may be facilitated by the provisioning, to the eNB, of relatively current traffic load measurements associated with the APs such that a relatively less loaded AP may be selected. Since a direct communication link between APs and eNBs does not exist, traffic load measurements may be reported over a path through the network hierarchy from the AP to a WLAN element manager (EM) and up to a network manager (NM). The NM may then transmit the traffic load measurements down through a 3GPP domain manager (DM) and further to the eNBs in that domain.

<FIG> illustrates a top level system diagram <NUM> of one example embodiment consistent with the present disclosure. A wireless network is shown to include cell coverage areas Cell A <NUM> and Cell B <NUM> which may be served by an eNB <NUM>. In another example embodiment, eNB <NUM> may provide coverage to two sectors, Cell A <NUM> and Cell B <NUM>. Any number of WLAN APs <NUM> may be located or overlain in the network area of Cell A <NUM> or Cell B <NUM>. A UE <NUM> may typically be configured to transmit voice and data traffic to and from the eNB <NUM>. In some instances, however, for example under increased traffic conditions, the eNB <NUM> may offload some or all of the data traffic from the UE <NUM> to one or more of the WLAN APs <NUM>. Network manager <NUM> may be configured to communicate with both the WLAN APs and die eNBs in the network, for example through domain managers, to provide WLAN AP traffic load measurements to the eNBs, to monitor the data offloading performance and to ensure increased efficiency and reliability of the system operation, as will be described in greater detail below.

While this is a simplified example, for illustration purposes, it will be appreciated that in practice any configuration of eNBs, UEs and WLAN APs of various types may be deployed and may provide coverage extending to any number or areas, regions or sectors. The wireless network may comply with, or otherwise be compatible with the IEEE <NUM> WLAN network standard, the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) and/or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) based wireless network standard, including current, previous and future versions of that standard. These standards may include, for example, <NPL>," and <NPL>.

<FIG> illustrates a block diagram <NUM> of one example embodiment consistent with the present disclosure. The network manager (NM) <NUM> is shown to include an IRP manager <NUM>, also known as an operations support system (OSS). An IRP manager or OSS is typically a computer system and/or software application configured to provide and facilitate network management and support functions to network operators or providers. These support functions may include performance monitoring and fault detection. The IRP manager <NUM> may be configured to communicate with the 3GPP eNBs <NUM> through a 3GPP domain manager (DM) <NUM> which may include a 3GPP element manager <NUM>. 3GPP domain manager <NUM> may be configured to provide both element and domain management function for a sub-network, while 3GPP element manager <NUM> may be configured to provide a set of end-user functions for management of a set of related types of network elements, for example 3GPP eNBs <NUM>.

The IRP manager <NUM> may also be configured to communicate with the WLAN APs <NUM> through a WLAN element manager (EM) <NUM>. WLAN element manager <NUM> may be configured to provide both element and domain management function for a sub-network and to provide a set of end-user functions for management of a set of related types of network elements, for example WLAN APs <NUM>.

The 3GPP domain manager <NUM> and the WLAN domain manager <NUM> may be configured to provide a type <NUM> interface <NUM> to the network manager <NUM>, which may be a standardized interface, while providing a type <NUM> interface <NUM> to the eNBs <NUM> and WLAN APs <NUM>, which may be a proprietary interface. IRP manager <NUM> may be configured to communicate with an IRP Agent <NUM> residing in WLAN element manager <NUM> via type <NUM> interface <NUM>. Any message translation that may be required between these two types of interfaces may be performed by the WLAN mapping function (WMF) module <NUM>. WLAN element manager <NUM> may also include an Access Controller module <NUM> configured to manage and interface with the WLAN APs <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates a block diagram <NUM> of another example embodiment consistent with the present disclosure. WLAN element manager <NUM> is shown to include access controller <NUM>, logging module <NUM>, log file <NUM>, WMF module <NUM> and IRP agent <NUM>, the operations of which will be explained in greater detail below. In some embodiments, access controller <NUM> may further include a timer module <NUM> and a polling module <NUM>, while IRP agent may further include a reporting module <NUM>.

The polling module <NUM> may be configured to poll the WLAN AP to request traffic load data. The polling may be triggered by the expiration of a timer at periodic intervals provided by timer module <NUM>. The periodic intervals may be configurable or otherwise programmable based on traffic load management requirements of the eNBs. Logging module <NUM> may be configured to receive and log the requested traffic load data, for example in log file <NUM>. Reporting module <NUM> may be configured to generate a traffic load report for transmission to network manager <NUM>. The traffic load report is based on the logged traffic load data which may include indicators of channel utilization and available admission capacity as described below in connection with <FIG> and <FIG>. The traffic load report may be transmitted in response to a polling request from the NM <NUM>.

The WMF module may be configured to map or translate the traffic load data from a WLAN standard interface format to a 3GPP standard interface format. The traffic load data may be incorporated into one or more data elements associated with a management information base (MIB) message transmitted to the NM via a standardized interface, for example type <NUM> interface <NUM>.

The IRP manager <NUM> of the NM <NUM> may be configured to poll the WLAN EM <NUM>, for example using a polling module, to request the traffic load reports. In some embodiments, the IRP manager <NUM> may also be configured with a notification handler to accept/receive unpolled traffic load reports from the WLAN EM <NUM>. The IRP manager <NUM> may further be configured with a communications module to transmit the traffic load reports to the 3GPP DM <NUM> for subsequent transmission to the 3GPP eNBs to be used for determination of candidates of WLAN APs for data traffic offloading.

<FIG> illustrates a data structure <NUM> associated with one example embodiment consistent with the present disclosure. The WLAN element manager <NUM> may be configured to receive an MIB message that includes a Dot11CountersEntry <NUM> that provides a dot11Channel Utilization <NUM> data element and a dot11AvailableAdmissionCapacity <NUM> data element from a WLAN AP. These data elements <NUM>, <NUM> may be configured to indicate data traffic load associated with a WLAN AP.

As further illustrated in <FIG>, the dot11Channel Utilization <NUM> data element may be configured by the AP as a counter to indicate the percentage of time, over a given period, during which the medium was busy as sensed by the AP using either a physical or virtual carrier sense mechanism. The dot11Channel Utilization <NUM> may be normalized to a value of <NUM>. The dot11AvailableAdmissionCapacity <NUM> data element may be configured by the AP as a counter to indicate a remaining amount of time available in the medium via explicit admission control. The dot11AvailableAdmissionCapacity <NUM> may be expressed in units of <NUM> microseconds.

<FIG> illustrates a flow diagram <NUM> of an example embodiment consistent with the present disclosure. At operation <NUM>, the WLAN EM <NUM> waits for the expiration of a timer. At operation <NUM>, the WLAN EM <NUM> polls one or more of the WLAN APs <NUM> for traffic load data. At operation <NUM>, the WLAN EM <NUM> receives traffic load data from one or more of the WLAN APs <NUM>. At operation <NUM>, the WLAN EM <NUM> logs the AP traffic load data. At operation <NUM>, the WLAN EM <NUM> determines if there is a need to report the data, for example if a polling request was received from the NM <NUM> or if a notification timer expired. At operation <NUM>, the traffic load report is transmitted from the EM <NUM> to the NM <NUM>. At operation <NUM>, the traffic load report is transmitted from the NM <NUM> to the eNB <NUM>, for example through the DM <NUM>. The eNB may determine which APs are in the vicinity of a UE and then, based on the traffic load report, select a subset of those closer APs which are relatively less loaded to be offload candidates for the UE. At operation <NUM>, a candidate AP for offloading is transmitted from the eNB <NUM> to the UEs <NUM>.

<FIG> illustrates a flowchart of operations <NUM> of another example embodiment consistent with the present disclosure. At operation <NUM>, a WLAN AP is polled to request traffic load data from the WLAN AP. The polling is triggered at periodic intervals by a timer. At operation <NUM>, the requested traffic load data is received. At operation <NUM>, the received traffic load data is logged to a log file. At operation <NUM>, a traffic load report is generated based on the logged traffic load data. At operation <NUM>, the traffic load report is transmitted to a network manager. The network manager may subsequently transmit the traffic load report to an eNB which may then select, based on the traffic load report, one or multiple WLAN APs with lower traffic load as candidates for offloading.

Embodiments of the methods described herein may be implemented in a system that includes one or more storage mediums having stored thereon, individually or in combination, instructions that when executed by one or more processors perform the methods. Here, the processor may include, for example, a system CPU (e.g., core processor) and/or programmable circuitry. Thus, it is intended that operations according to the methods described herein may be distributed across a plurality of physical devices, such as processing structures at several different physical locations. Also, it is intended that the method operations may be performed individually or in a subcombination, as would be understood by one skilled in the art. Thus, not all of the operations of each of the flow charts need to be performed, and the present disclosure expressly intends that all subcombinations of such operations are enabled as would be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.

The storage medium may include any type of tangible medium, for example, any type of disk including floppy disks, optical disks, compact disk read-only memories (CD-ROMs), compact disk rewritables (CD-RWs), digital versatile disks (DVDs) and magneto-optical disks, semiconductor devices such as read-only memories (ROMs), random access memories (RAMs) such as dynamic and static RAMs, erasable programmable read-only memories (EPROMs), electrically erasable programmable read-only memories (EEPROMs), flash memories, magnetic or optical cards, or any type of media suitable for storing electronic instructions.

"Circuitry", as used in any embodiment herein, may comprise, for example, singly or in any combination, hardwired circuitry, programmable circuitry, state machine circuitry, and/or firmware that stores instructions executed by programmable circuitry. An app may be embodied as code or instructions which may be executed on programmable circuitry such as a host processor or other programmable circuitry. A module, as used in any embodiment herein, may be embodied as circuitry. The circuitry may be embodied as an integrated circuit, such as an integrated circuit chip.

Claim 1:
A system, comprising:
a wireless local area network, WLAN, element manager, EM, (<NUM>) comprising:
a polling module (<NUM>) to poll a WLAN access point, AP, (<NUM>) said polling to request traffic load data from said WLAN AP (<NUM>);
a timer module (<NUM>) to trigger said polling module (<NUM>) to poll at periodic intervals, wherein said periodic interval for polling is configured based on traffic load management requirements of an evolved node B, eNB (<NUM>);
a logging module (<NUM>) to receive and log said requested traffic load data; and
an integration reference point, IRP, agent (<NUM>) comprising a reporting module (<NUM>) to generate a traffic load report based on said logged traffic load data for transmission to a network manager;
the network manager, NM, (<NUM>) that operates as an entity that receives said traffic load report from said WLAN EM and conveys said traffic load report to the eNB, (<NUM>).