Method and apparatus for offloading data

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9532269-B2
Application number	US-201214391945-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 11, 2012
Priority date	Apr 11, 2012
Publication date	Dec 27, 2016
Grant date	Dec 27, 2016

Abstract

A method, apparatus and computer program product are provided for enabling efficient allocation of discovery resources for device to device communications. An example method may comprise establishing a cellular network connection to an access point. The method may further comprise establishing a local area network connection to a user equipment. Additionally, the method may comprise either receiving offloaded data for the user equipment from the access point via the cellular network connection and relaying the offloaded data to the user equipment via the local area network connection, or receiving offloaded data for the access point from the user equipment via the local area network connection and relaying the offloaded data to the access point via the cellular network connection. Similar and related example methods, example apparatuses, and example computer program products are also provided.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
establish a cellular network connection to an access point;
establish a local area network connection to at least one of a plurality of user equipments with data to be offloaded;
receive data for the at least one of the plurality of user equipments from the access point via the cellular network connection, and relay the data to the at least one of the plurality of user equipments via the local area network connection to the at least one of the plurality of user equipments; and
receive data for the access point from the at least one of the plural of user equipments via the local area network connection established with the at least one of the plurality of user equipments, and relay the data to the access point via the cellular network connection,
wherein communications to or from the at least one of the plurality of user equipments to be offloaded are prioritized by the apparatus, and
wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
receive a probe request from at least one of the plurality of user equipments, wherein the probe request comprises an indication of offloading capability of the of at least one of the plurality of user equipments;
provide for transmission of a probe response to the at least one of the plurality of user equipments; and

establish a local area network connection to the at least one of the plurality of user equipments based at least in part on the probe request.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
receive identification information associated with at least one of the plurality of user equipments from the access point via the cellular network connection; and
establish local area network connection to the at least one of the plurality of user equipments based at least in part on the received identification information.

3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
provide for transmission of a confirmation request to the access point, wherein the confirmation request comprises a request to confirm the offloading capability of at least one of the plurality of user equipments; and
receive a confirmation response from the access point wherein the confirmation response comprises an indication of the offloading capability of the at least one of the plurality of user equipments.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further arranged to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
provide for transmission of a beacon message, wherein the beacon message comprises an indication of offloading capability;
receive a response to the beacon message from at least one of the plurality of user equipments, wherein the response comprises an indication of offloading capability of the at least one of the plurality of user equipments; and
establish a local area network connection to the at least one of the plurality of user equipments based at least in part on the response to the beacon message.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the apparatus comprises a router.

6. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
establish a cellular network connection to an access point;
establish a local area network connection to a dual mode router; and
receive, at the apparatus, first offloaded cellular network data from the dual mode router via the local area network connection and transmit, from the apparatus, second offloaded cellular network data to the dual mode router via the local area network connection,
wherein the first offloaded cellular network data is received by the dual mode router via a cellular network connection to the access point, the second offloaded cellular network data is transmitted by the dual mode router via the cellular network connection to the access point, and the first and second offloaded cellular network data are prioritized by the dual mode router over other communications, and
wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
provide for transmission of a probe request, wherein the probe request comprises an indication of offloading capability;
receive a probe response from a dual mode router, wherein the probe response comprises an indication of offloading capability of the dual mode router; and
establish the local area network connection to the dual mode router based at least in part on the probe response.

7. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
receive a request for offloading information from the access point; and
provide for transmission of a report comprising offloading information to the access point.

8. The apparatus of claim 7 , wherein the offloading information comprises at least one of a media access control address, a non access stratum identifier, and local area network access capability.

9. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
receive identification information associated with a dual mode router from an access point via the cellular network connection; and
establish the local area network connection to the dual mode router based at least in part on the received identification information.

10. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
provide for transmission of an offloading request message to the access point;
receive identification information associated with at least one neighboring dual mode routers in response to the offloading request message; and
establish a local area network connection to one of the at least one dual mode routers based at least in part on the received identification information.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein providing for transmission of the offloading request message and receiving identification information are performed via signaling, and wherein the signaling comprises at least one of radio resource control signaling and a media access control communication element.

12. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are further configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to:
receive a beacon message from a dual mode router, wherein the beacon message comprises an indication of offloading capability of the dual mode router; and
establish the local area network connection to the dual mode router in response to receiving the beacon message.

13. The apparatus of claim 6 , wherein the apparatus comprises a user equipment or a mobile terminal.

14. An app

Assignees

• Hong Wei
• Wei Na
• Wang Haiming
• Zeng Erlin
• Bai Wei
• Sun Pengfei
• Broadcom Corp

Inventors

• Hong Wei
• Wei Na
• Wang Haiming
• Zeng Erlin
• Bai Wei
• Sun Pengfei

Classifications

• H04W76/02

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W28/085 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W36/22

  for handling the traffic · CPC title

• H04W76/023

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W28/082 Primary

  among bearers or channels · CPC title