# US 2021/0243676 A1 · System and method of managing data connections to a communication network using tiered devices > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 2021/0243676 A1 - Document ID: US20210243676A1 - Status: Published application - Kind: A1 - Application number: 16/779,389 - Filed: 2020-01-31 - Published: 2021-08-05 - Earliest claimed: 2020-01-31 - Assignees: Dell Products L.P. - Applicants: Dell Products, LP - Inventors: Jace W. Files; Liam B. Quinn; Abu S. Sanaullah - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US20210243676A1 ## CPC - H04W 48/06: based on traffic conditions - H04W 28/082: among bearers or channels - H04W 28/16: Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service] - H04W 40/22: using selective relaying for reaching a BTS [Base Transceiver Station] or an access point - H04W 48/16: Discovering, processing access restriction or access information - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract An information handling system comprising a processor and memory executing an evolved packet core to initiate a tiered communication network access policy by detecting the type of access point connections of an endpoint device to the communication network determining a tier assigned to the endpoint device, and determining communication channel availability, and conducting load balancing based on the tier assignment and to determine a communication channel among a plurality of communication channels to allow access. The evolved packet core to determine which access points within the network to facilitate particular endpoint device tiers of connection and reallocate endpoint device access to such an access point based on a number of endpoint devices coupled to the access point, the tier assigned to each of the endpoint devices, and network slice requirements for each endpoint device. ## Claims ### Claim 1 An information handling system, comprising: a processor; a memory; an evolved packet core to initiate a tiered communication network access policy by: detecting the connection of an endpoint device to the communication network via one of a plurality of access points; receiving data descriptive of a tier assigned to the endpoint device; and determining if a communication channel is available on the communication network for the endpoint device to use; and a load balancing module to: based on the tier assigned to the endpoint device, determine which communication channel among a plurality of communication channels to allow the endpoint device to access the communication network with; and determine which, among the plurality of access points within the network to facilitate the endpoint device to communicatively coupled to the communication network; and reallocate endpoint device access to the one of the plurality of access points based on: a number of endpoint devices communicatively coupled to the communication network via any of the access points of the plurality of access points; the tier assigned to each of the endpoint devices; and network slice requirements for each endpoint device. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The information handling system of claim 1, wherein, when the evolved packet core determines that a communication channel is available, the evolved packet core assigns the endpoint device to a communication channel and updates a look-up table maintained on the memory that contains data identifying the endpoint device and its associated assigned tier. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the load balancing module, subsequent to conducting a load balancing process, further determines whether a communication channel is available for the endpoint device to communicatively couple to and, where there is no communication channel to couple to, the load balancing module determines whether the tier of the endpoint device is less than or equal to any connected endpoint devices. ### Claim 4 (depends on 3) The information handling system of claim 3, wherein, when the load balancing module determines that the tier of the endpoint device is not less than or equal to any connected endpoint devices, the load balancing module drops from the communication network a lower-tiered connected endpoint device. ### Claim 5 (depends on 3) The information handling system of claim 3, wherein, when the load balancing module determines that the tier of the endpoint device is less than or equal to any connected endpoint device, the load balancing module determines whether another access point is available for the endpoint device to be communicatively coupled to. ### Claim 6 (depends on 1) The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the plurality of communication channels comprises a 5G mm wave communication channel, a public 4G long term evolution (LTE) communication channel, a private 4G LTE communication channel, a citizens broadband radio service (CBRS) communication channel, a private WiFi communication channel, and a public WiFi communication channel. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the slice requirements for each endpoint device includes communication network low latency requirements, access point proximity requirements, communication network bandwidth requirements, and communication network security requirements. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The information handling system of claim 1, wherein the load balancing module, subsequent to conducting a load balancing process, further determines: whether a communication channel is available for the endpoint device to communicatively couple to; where there is no communication channel to couple to, the load balancing module determines whether the tier of the endpoint device is less than or equal to any connected endpoint devices; when the load balancing module determines that the tier of the endpoint device is less than or equal to any connected endpoint device, the load balancing module determines whether another access point is available for the endpoint device to be communicatively coupled to; and where there is no additional access point available for the endpoint device to be communicatively coupled to, the load balancing module determines whether a private WiFi channel is available for the endpoint device to connect to. ### Claim 9 (depends on 8) The information handling system of claim 8, wherein, when the load balancing module determines that a private WiFi channel is not available for the endpoint device to connect to, the load balancing module communicatively couples the endpoint device to a public LTE channel. ### Claim 10 A method of managing data connections to a communication network; comprising: initiating a tiered communication network access policy by: detecting the connection of one of a plurality of endpoint devices to the communication network via one of a plurality of access points; receiving data descriptive of a tier assigned to the endpoint device; determining if a communication channel is available on the communication network for the endpoint device to use; based on the tier assigned to the endpoint device, determining which communication channel among a plurality of communication channels to allow the endpoint to access the communication network with; and determining which, among the plurality of access points within the network to facilitate the endpoint device to communicatively coupled to the communication network; and reallocating endpoint access to the one of the plurality of access points based on: a number of endpoint devices communicatively coupled to the communication network via any of the access points of the plurality of access points; the tier assigned to each of the endpoint devices; and slice requirements for each endpoint device. ### Claim 11 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, further comprising assigning the endpoint device to a communication channel and updating a look-up table that contains data identifying the endpoint device and its associated assigned tier when it is determined that a communication channel is available. ### Claim 12 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, further comprising determining whether a communication channel is available for the endpoint device to communicatively couple to subsequent to conducting a load balancing process and, where there is no communication channel to couple to, determining whether the tier of the endpoint device is less than or equal to any connected endpoint devices. ### Claim 13 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, further comprising dropping from the communication network a lower-tiered connected endpoint device when it is determined that the tier of the endpoint device is not less than or equal to any connected endpoint devices. ### Claim 14 (depends on 12) The method of claim 12, further comprising determining whether another access point is available for the endpoint device to be communicatively coupled to when it is determined that the tier of the endpoint device is less than or equal to any connected endpoint device. ### Claim 15 (depends on 10) The method of claim 10, further comprising, subsequent to conducting a load balancing process: determining whether a communication channel is available for the endpoint device to communicatively couple to; and determining whether the tier of the endpoint device is less than or equal to any connected endpoint devices where there is no communication channel to couple to; determining whether another access point is available for the endpoint device to be communicatively coupled to when it is determined that the tier of the endpoint device is less than or equal to any connected endpoint device; and determining whether a private WiFi channel is available for the endpoint device to connect to when it is determined that there is no additional access point available for the endpoint device to be communicatively coupled to. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The method of claim 15, further comprising communicatively coupling the endpoint device to a public LTE channel when it is determined that a private WiFi channel is not available for the endpoint device to connect to. ### Claim 17 An information handling system, comprising: a processor; a memory; an evolved packet core to initiate a tiered communication network access policy by: detecting the connection of a plurality of endpoint devices to the communication network via a plurality of access points; receiving data descriptive of a tier assigned to each of the endpoint devices; and determining if a communication channel is available on the communication network for each of the endpoint devices to use; a network slicing module to form a plurality of virtualized logical networks associated with the evolved packet core; and a load balancing module to: based on the tier assigned to each of the plurality of endpoint devices and the virtualized logical network that each of the plurality of endpoint devices is coupled to, determine which communication channel among a plurality of communication channels to allow the endpoint devices to access the communication network with; and determine which, among the plurality of access points within the network to facilitate the endpoint devices to communicatively coupled to the communication network; and reallocate endpoint device access to the one of the plurality of access points based on: a number of endpoint devices communicatively coupled to the communication network via any of the access points of the plurality of access points; the tier assigned to each of the endpoint devices; and virtualized logical network requirements for each of the plurality of endpoint devices. ### Claim 18 (depends on 17) The information handling system of claim 17, wherein, when the evolved packet core determines that a communication channel is available, the evolved packet core assigns the endpoint device to a communication channel and updates a look-up table maintained on the memory that contains data identifying the endpoint device and its associated assigned tier. ### Claim 19 (depends on 17) The information handling system of claim 17, wherein the load balancing module, subsequent to conducting a load balancing process, further determines whether a communication channel is available for the endpoint device to communicatively couple to and, where there is no communication channel to couple to, the load balancing module determines whether the tier of the endpoint device is less than or equal to any connected endpoint devices. ### Claim 20 (depends on 17) The information handling system of claim 17, wherein the load balancing module cycles through each connection to the evolved packet core by each of the plurality of endpoint devices and reallocates those connections in order to optimize a data throughput, a connection reliability, and a data bandwidth, for each of the plurality of endpoint devices.