Hand-over control between wireless fidelity (wifi) systems and long term evolution (lte) systems

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016014664-A1
Application number	US-201414327825-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Jul 10, 2014
Priority date	Jul 10, 2014
Publication date	Jan 14, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A Long Term Evolution (LTE) User Equipment (UE) stores a WiFi over LTE communication priority as a current communication priority, and in response, wirelessly exchanges user data through a WiFi access point. The LTE UE also wirelessly receives and processes LTE service enhancement data from an LTE access point. In response to processing the LTE service enhancement data, the LTE UE stores an LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority. In response to the LTE over WiFi communication priority, the LTE UE wirelessly exchanges additional user data through the LTE access point using an LTE service enhancement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of operating a Long Term Evolution (LTE) User Equipment (UE) comprising:
storing a WiFi over LTE communication priority as a current communication priority, and in response, wirelessly exchanging user data through a WiFi access point; in response to exchanging the user data through the WiFi access point, wirelessly receiving and processing LTE service enhancement data from an LTE access point; in response to processing the LTE service enhancement data, storing an LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority; and in response to the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority, wirelessly exchanging additional user data through the LTE access point using an LTE service enhancement.

2 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
wirelessly receiving the LTE service enhancement data in response to exchanging the user data through the WiFi access point comprises wirelessly reading an available carrier aggregation service for the UE from an LTE System Information Block responsive to WiFi signal strength being below an LTE scan threshold;
storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to processing the LTE service enhancement data comprises storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to the available carrier aggregation service for the UE; and
wirelessly exchanging the additional user data through the LTE access point using the LTE service enhancement comprising wirelessly exchanging the additional user data using the available carrier aggregation service.

3 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
wirelessly receiving the LTE service enhancement data in response to exchanging the user data through the WiFi access point comprises wirelessly reading an available beamforming service for the UE from an LTE System Information Block responsive to WiFi signal strength being below an LTE scan threshold;
storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to processing the LTE service enhancement data comprises storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to the available beamforming service for the UE; and
wirelessly exchanging the additional user data through the LTE access point using the LTE service enhancement comprising wirelessly exchanging the additional user data using the available beamforming service.

4 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
wirelessly receiving the LTE service enhancement data in response to exchanging the user data through the WiFi access point comprises wirelessly reading an available Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) service for the UE from an LTE System Information Block responsive to WiFi signal strength being below an LTE scan threshold;
storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to processing the LTE service enhancement data comprises storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to the available MIMO service for the UE; and
wirelessly exchanging the additional user data through the LTE access point using the LTE service enhancement comprising wirelessly exchanging the additional user data using the available MIMO service.

5 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
wirelessly receiving the LTE service enhancement data in response to exchanging the user data through the WiFi access point comprises wirelessly reading carrier aggregation Quality of Service (QoS) from an LTE System Information Block responsive to WiFi signal strength being below an LTE scan threshold;
storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to processing the LTE service enhancement data comprises storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to the carrier aggregation QoS above a WiFi-to-LTE handover threshold; and
wirelessly exchanging the additional user data through the LTE access point using the LTE service enhancement comprising wirelessly exchanging the additional user data using a carrier aggregation service.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
wirelessly receiving the LTE service enhancement data in response to exchanging the user data through the WiFi access point comprises wirelessly reading beamforming Quality of Service (QoS) from an LTE System Information Block responsive to WiFi signal strength being below an LTE scan threshold;
storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to processing the LTE service enhancement data comprises storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to the beamforming QoS above a WiFi-to-LTE handover threshold; and
wirelessly exchanging the additional user data through the LTE access point using the LTE service enhancement comprising wirelessly exchanging the additional user data using a beamforming service.

7 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
wirelessly receiving the LTE service enhancement data in response to exchanging the user data through the WiFi access point comprises wirelessly reading Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) Quality of Service (QoS) from an LTE System Information Block responsive to WiFi signal strength being below an LTE scan threshold;
storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to processing the LTE service enhancement data comprises storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to the MIMO QoS above a WiFi-to-LTE handover threshold; and
wirelessly exchanging the additional user data through the LTE access point using the LTE service enhancement comprising wirelessly exchanging the additional user data using a MIMO service.

8 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
wirelessly receiving the LTE service enhancement data in response to exchanging the user data through the WiFi access point comprises wirelessly querying an LTE access point for carrier aggregation service data for the UE responsive to WiFi signal strength being below an LTE query threshold;
storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to processing the LTE service enhancement data comprises storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to the carrier aggregation service data for the UE; and
wirelessly exchanging the additional user data through the LTE access point using the LTE service enhancement comprising wirelessly exchanging the additional user data using the available carrier aggregation service.

9 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
wirelessly receiving the LTE service enhancement data in response to exchanging the user data through the WiFi access point comprises wirelessly querying an LTE access point for beamforming service data for the UE responsive to WiFi signal strength being below an LTE query threshold;
storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to processing the LTE service enhancement data comprises storing the LTE over WiFi communication priority as the current communication priority in response to the beamforming service data for the UE; and
wirelessly exchanging the additional user data through the LTE access point using the LTE service enhancement comprising wirelessly exchanging the additional user data using the available beamforming service.

10 . The method of claim 1 wherein:
wir

Assignees

• Sprint Communications Co

Inventors

• Singh Jasinder Pal
• Oroskar Siddharth
• Shah Maulik K

Classifications

• H04W72/542

  using measured or perceived quality · CPC title

• H04W36/30 Primary

  by measured or perceived connection quality data · CPC title

• H04W36/14

  Reselecting a network or an air interface · CPC title

• H04W36/304

  due to measured or perceived resources with higher communication quality · CPC title

• H04W36/1446

  wherein at least one of the networks is unlicensed · CPC title