Wlan-lte interface selection
AssigneeBritish Telecommunications public limited company
InventorsSimon RINGLAND, Francis SCAHILL, Richard EVENDEN
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A wireless router having a WiFi wireless network and including a small cell for routing LTE cellular data to a mobile network core is configured to monitor connected mobile devices and determine whether each mobile device should be connect to the hub using WiFi or LTE in accordance with the current utilization of the WiFi network and the current utilization of the LTE small cell. Since the small cell data traffic is encrypted in a data tunnel to the mobile network core, the network identity information of the device's WiFi interface and the device's LTE interface is determined by consulting an address mapping store in the cellular mobile network core.
Claims7
A method for selecting a data communication interface to be used by a mobile device having at least a wireless local area network interface connected to a wireless local area data network and a cellular network interface connected to a cellular data network, the method comprising:
- by a wireless access point device:
- determining an identifier associated with a local wireless network adaptor of the mobile device;
- retrieving, from the mobile device, a subscriber identity associated with a subscriber module of the mobile device;
- accessing a server located in the cellular data network to determine a network address identifier associated with the mobile device, using the retrieved subscriber identity;
- associating the determined network address identifier with the mobile device including storing a mapping containing:
- the identifier associated with the wireless network adapter of the mobile device,
- the network address identifier associated with the mobile device connected to the cellular data network, and
- the subscriber identity associated with the subscriber module of the mobile device;
- determining first network operation parameters of the wireless local area data network;
- determining second network operation parameters of the cellular network interface of the mobile device;
- selecting one of the wireless local area network interface or the cellular network interface in accordance with the determined first and second network operation parameters;
- and
- causing the mobile device to use the selected one of the wireless local area network interface or the cellular network interface for any existing and new data sessions,
- wherein, in response to processing of the wireless access point device, the mobile device is operable to use the selected one of the wireless local area network interface or the cellular network interface and disconnect from the non-selected one of the wireless local area network interface or the cellular network interface.
A data network system for selecting a data communication interface to be used by a mobile device having at least a wireless local area network interface connected to a wireless local area data network and a cellular network interface connected to a cellular data network, the system comprising:
- a wireless access point comprising:
- a wireless local area network interface;
- a mobile device identity information store;
- means for determining, from the mobile device, an identifier associated with a local wireless network adaptor of the mobile device;
- means for retrieving a subscriber identity associated with a subscriber module of the mobile device;
- means for accessing a server located in the cellular data network to determine a network address identifier associated with the mobile device, using the retrieved subscriber identity;
- means for associating the determined network address identifier with the mobile device including storing in a data store a mapping containing:
- the identifier associated with the local wireless network adapter of the mobile device,
- the network address identifier associated with the mobile device connected to the cellular data network;
- and
- the subscriber identity associated with the subscriber module of the mobile device;
- means for determining first network operation parameters of the wireless local area data network;
- means for determining second network operation parameters of the cellular network interface of the mobile device;
- a controller for selecting one of the wireless local area network interface or the cellular network interface in accordance with the determined first and second network operation parameters;
- and
- means for causing the mobile device to use the selected one of the wireless local area network interface or the cellular network interface for any existing and new data sessions,
- wherein in response to the causing means, the mobile device is operable to use the selected one of the wireless local area network interface or the cellular network interface and disconnect from the non-selected one of the wireless local area network interface or the cellular network interface.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.