Selecting a radio node for data traffic offloading

An evolved node B (eNode B) operable to determine when a user equipment (UE) offloads data traffic to a wireless local area network (WLAN) node in a cell of a communications network, the eNode B having circuitry configured to:

• receive, from a WLAN access point (AP) via a network manager (NM) of the communications network, a WLAN AP status report indicating a status of one or more WLAN APs in the cell;
• communicate, to the UE, measurement control information identifying a target WLAN AP based on the status of the one or more WLAN APs for the UE to take selected measurements of the targeted WLAN AP;
• receive, from the UE, a measurement report of the targeted WLAN AP that includes information of the selected measurements;
• and
• communicate a steering command to the UE, wherein the steering command indicates a radio node for the UE to direct selected data traffic to.

A product including a non-transitory storage medium having stored thereon instructions that are adapted to be executed to implement a method of selecting a wireless local access network (WLAN) access point (AP) in a communications network to offload data traffic of a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

• receiving, at the UE, measurement control information from an evolved node B (eNode B) identifying a target WLAN AP for the UE to take selected measurements of the target WLAN AP;
• communicating, from the UE, a measurement report to the eNode B of the targeted WLAN AP that includes information of the selected measurements;
• and
• receiving, at the UE, data traffic steering command information from the eNode B, wherein the data traffic steering command information indicates a WLAN AP for the UE to direct data traffic to.