Access prioritization for private LTE radio service

A system, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• and
• a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium containing instructions which, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:
• receive, at a network device of a private Long Term Evolution (LTE) network operating in a Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum, a first functional group associated with a user equipment (UE);
• assign, to the first functional group, a first priority to access a first cell of the private LTE network, the first priority being different than a second priority of the first functional group to access a second cell of the private LTE network and a third priority of a second functional group to access the second cell;
• map the first functional group to a second cell identifier of the second cell and the second priority to access the second cell;
• map the second functional group to the first cell identifier of the first cell and a fourth priority to access the first cell, the fourth priority being different than the first priority;
• map the second functional group to the second cell identifier of the second cell and the third priority to access the second cell, the third priority being different than the second priority;
• receive, at the network device, a traffic load of the first cell of the private LTE network;
• determine, for the first functional group, an access priority for the UE to access the first cell, the access priority being based on the first priority to access the first cell and the traffic load;
• and
• provide the access priority to a CBRS access point (AP) which controls access to the first cell, wherein the access priority indicates to the CBRS AP a cell-specific priority with which the UE is allowed to access the first cell.

A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, including instructions configured to cause a data processing apparatus to:

• receive, at a network device of a private Long Term Evolution (LTE) network operating in a Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS) spectrum, a first functional group associated with a user equipment (UE);
• assign, to the first functional group, a first priority to access a first cell of the private LTE network, the first priority being different than a second priority of the first functional group to access a second cell of the private LTE network and a third priority of a second functional group to access the second cell;
• map the first functional group to a second cell identifier of the second cell and the second priority to access the second cell;
• map the second functional group to the first cell identifier of the first cell and a fourth priority to access the first cell, the fourth priority being different than the first priority;
• map the second functional group to the second cell identifier of the second cell and the third priority to access the second cell, the third priority being different than the second priority;
• receive, at the network device, a traffic load of the first cell of the private LTE network;
• determine, for the first functional group, an access priority for the UE to access the first cell, the access priority being based on the first priority to access the first cell and the traffic load;
• and
• provide the access priority to a CBRS access point (AP) which controls access to the first cell, wherein the access priority indicates to the CBRS AP a cell-specific priority with which the UE is allowed to access the first cell.