Adaptive rate of congestion indicator to enhance intelligent traffic steering
AssigneeAT&T Mobility II LLC
InventorsThomas W. Henderson, Hongyan Lei
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Traffic associated with user equipment that are served by a first radio access network is steered to a second radio access network based on a rate of congestion criterion. Network load is monitored by an access point to determine rate of congestion data associated with the access point. As an example, the rate of congestion represents a change in network load of the access point over a defined time period. The rate of congestion data is then transmitted to one or more neighboring access points that can utilize the rate of congestion data to facilitate traffic steering, load balancing, and/or neighbor relationship management.
Claims20
A system, comprising:
- a processor;
- and
- a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
- receiving rate of congestion data that represents a speed of change in congestion for data traffic communicated between an access point device and a network device of a communication network during a defined time interval, wherein the rate of congestion data comprises a first classification value indicative of a first increase in the data traffic during the defined time interval, or a second classification value indicative of a second increase in the data traffic during the defined time interval;
- receiving a data flow associated with a user equipment;
- and
- based on the rate of congestion data that represents the speed of the change in the congestion for the data traffic during the defined time interval, determining whether to steer the data flow to the access point device, comprising steering the data flow to the access point device in response to determining that a third increase in the data traffic during the defined time interval corresponds to the first classification value.
A method, comprising:
- determining, by a first access point device comprising a processor, rate of congestion data indicative of a rate of change of a network load associated with the first access point device and a network device of a network during a specified period of time, wherein the rate of congestion data comprises a first classification value indicative of a first fractional increase in the network load during the specific period of time, or a second classification value indicative of a second fractional increase in the network load during the specific period of time;
- and
- directing, by the first access point device, the rate of congestion data, indicative of the rate of the change of the network load during the specified period of time, to a second access point device to facilitate a steering of a data flow associated with a user equipment that is served by the second access point device, wherein the steering comprises facilitating communication of the data flow via the first access point device in response to determining that a third fractional increase in the network load during the specific period of time corresponds to the first classification value.
A machine-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:
- receiving rate of congestion data that represents a speed of change in congestion for data traffic communicated between an access point device and a network device of a wireless network during a defined time period, wherein the rate of congestion data comprises a first classification indicative of a first amount increase in the data traffic during the defined time period, and a second classification indicative of a second amount increase in the data traffic during the defined time period;
- and
- based on the rate of congestion data that represents the speed of the change in the congestion for the data traffic during the defined time period, determining whether to route a data flow associated with a user equipment to the access point device, comprising directing the data flow to the access point device in response to a determination that a third amount increase in the data traffic during the defined time period corresponds to the first classification.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.