Patent ID: 8780720

Claim:
An apparatus for RAN aware traffic shaping control, comprising: a processor configured to receive a plurality of control/signaling messages and to determine cell/sector location awareness therefrom; said processor further configured to measure a location crowding factor based upon said control/signaling messages, said location crowding factor comprising a count of a number of connected subscribers in a cell/sector; said processor further configured to monitor a delay sensitivity metric based upon said control/signaling messages and also based upon a plurality of traffic data packets; a database configured to store a plurality of base station profiles, said base station profiles distinguishing feature/capacity differences among different base stations in a hybrid RF network utilizing a plurality of cellular communication standards; a classification and shaping interface in communication with said database, and configured to receive said traffic data packets and to perform application/subscriber flow identification/classification; and a policy element interface in communication with said classification and shaping interface and configured to access standard policy elements; said processor further configured to receive cell load metrics comprising a signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio and a ratio of RF frame arrival rate to a predetermined possible RF frame rate under low load conditions; and said processor further configured to control traffic prioritization based on the location crowding factor, delay sensitivity metric, base station profiles, standard policy elements, and cell load metrics.