Selecting communication paths for application server queries of devices

A method comprising:

• receiving, at an agent and from an application server in a communication network, a query directed to a device in the communication network;
• selecting, at the agent, a communication path from a plurality of communication paths from the application server to the device, wherein the plurality of communication paths comprises at least one wireless sub-path over an air interface, and wherein the communication path is selected based on a data size of the query, a number of devices that are to receive the query, or a combination thereof, wherein selecting the communication path from the plurality of communication paths comprises selecting a user plane communication path in response to the query having the data size that is above a first threshold, wherein the query is a non-mission critical query, and wherein selecting the communication path from the plurality of communication paths comprises selecting the user plane communication path in response to the non-mission critical query having the data size that is above the first threshold and below a third threshold, and wherein selecting the communication path from the plurality of communication paths comprises selecting a non-cellular communication path in response to the non-mission critical query having the data size that is above the third threshold;
• and
• transmitting, from the agent, the query via the selected communication path.

An apparatus, comprising:

• network hardware configured to receive a query from an application server in a communication network, wherein the query is directed to a device in the communication network;
• computing hardware configured to select a communication path from a plurality of communication paths from the application server to the device, wherein the plurality of communication paths comprises at least one wireless sub-path over an air interface, and wherein the communication path is selected based on a data size of the query and a number of devices that are to receive the query, or a combination thereof, wherein selecting the communication path from the plurality of communication paths comprises selecting a control plane communication path in response to the query having the data size that is below a first threshold, and wherein selecting the control plane communication path comprises selecting a control plane communication path including a service capability exposure function (SCEF) in response to the number of devices receiving the query exceeding a second threshold;
• and
• wherein the network hardware is configured to transmit the query via the selected communication path.