Network selection control method and user terminal

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9572087-B2
Application number	US-201514874162-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 2, 2015
Priority date	Apr 5, 2013
Publication date	Feb 14, 2017
Grant date	Feb 14, 2017

Abstract

A network selection control method according to a first aspect is a method of controlling a network selection operation for selecting an access network in which traffic of a user terminal is exchanged from among a cellular RAN and a wireless LAN. The network selection control method comprises: a step A of transmitting, by the cellular RAN, RAN assistance information utilized for the network selection operation; a step B of receiving, by the user terminal, the RAN assistance information; and a step C of performing, by the user terminal, the network selection operation based on the RAN assistance information. The RAN assistance information includes predetermined information for determining whether or not the selection of the wireless LAN is permitted. The predetermined information is associated with a load status of the cellular RAN.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A user terminal, comprising:
a controller containing at least one processor and at least one memory, and configured to execute an specific operation in which the user terminal communicates data using a wireless local area network (WLAN) while the user terminal has a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a cellular base station, wherein
the controller is further configured to execute processes of:
receiving a WLAN measurement configuration from the cellular base station, the WLAN measurement configuration including WLAN identifiers;
measuring WLAN received signal strengths for WLANs based on the WLAN measurement configuration;
prioritizing the WLANs based on the WLAN received signal strengths;
transmitting a report including a prioritized list of WLAN identifiers of the WLANs in order of priority, to the cellular base station; and
after transmitting the report, receiving a configuration, based on said report, to perform the specific operation from the cellular base station.

2. An apparatus, comprising:
at least one processor and at least one memory, the at least one processor configured to execute an specific operation in which the user terminal communicates data using a wireless local area network (WLAN) while the user terminal has a radio resource control (RRC) connection with a cellular base station, wherein
the at least one processor is further configured to execute processes of:
receiving a WLAN measurement configuration from the cellular base station, the WLAN measurement configuration including WLAN identifiers;
measuring WLAN received signal strengths for WLANs based on the WLAN measurement configuration;
prioritizing the WLANs based on the WLAN received signal strengths;
transmitting a report including a prioritized list of WLAN identifiers of the WLANs in order of priority, to the cellular base station; and
after transmitting the report, receiving a configuration, based on said report, to perform the specific operation from the cellular base station.

Assignees

• Kyocera Corp

Inventors

• Nagasaka Yushi
• Chang Henry

Classifications

• H04B17/328

  Reference signal received power [RSRP]; Reference signal received quality [RSRQ] · CPC title

• H04W48/06 Primary

  based on traffic conditions · CPC title

• H04W36/38

  by fixed network equipment · CPC title

• H04W48/08

  Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery (signalling during connection H04W76/00) · CPC title

• H04W36/0022

  for transferring data sessions between adjacent core network technologies · CPC title