Multi-Radio Management Entity for WiFi Cellular QoS
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current wireless communication systems face challenges in maintaining a stable and reliable network environment, particularly in managing multi-radio connectivity, ensuring quality of service (QoS) equivalence across WiFi and cellular networks, and balancing traffic load, while providing privileged access and session continuity for mobile subscribers.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of a multi-radio management entity (MRME) and LTE-CPE, which manages radio resources, performs admission control, ensures QoS equivalence, and balances traffic across WiFi and cellular networks by establishing connections, preempting existing connections, and signaling QoS parameters, using DHCP and IPv6 Neighbor Discovery options to maintain session continuity and enforce rate-limiting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If multi-radio connectivity is provided to mobile subscribers, then network capacity and service versatility are improved, but network stability and QoS management become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments resource management by creating a dedicated Multi-Radio Management Entity (MRME) that handles WiFi and cellular networks separately but coordinated. The MRME divides management functions into admission control, QoS equivalence signaling, and traffic distribution, allowing independent optimization of each radio access technology while maintaining overall system coordination.
Solution Approach 2:
The MRME acts as an intermediary between the WiFi network and cellular network, mediating resource allocation and QoS management. It receives service requests, determines appropriate network selection, and coordinates with both networks to provide unified QoS guarantees, thereby simplifying the complexity for individual network components.
2Reliability
If QoS equivalence is ensured across WiFi and cellular networks, then service reliability is improved, but signaling overhead and system complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements universal QoS management by creating a unified QoS framework that works across both WiFi and cellular networks. The MRME provides multi-functional QoS signaling that handles admission control, resource reservation, and service guarantee across different radio access technologies using standardized procedures, reducing the need for separate QoS mechanisms for each network type.
3Productivity
If traffic is distributed based on policy across multiple networks, then network load balancing is improved, but control complexity and policy management overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies preliminary action by establishing policy-based traffic distribution rules in advance through the MRME. Admission control decisions are made beforehand based on pre-configured policies, service requirements, and network conditions. The MRME pre-allocates resources and determines traffic routing paths before actual data transmission, reducing real-time control complexity while maintaining efficient load balancing.
Data Source
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AI summary
A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes providing a multi-radio connectivity service to a mobile subscriber, and managing the multi-radio connectivity service for the mobile subscriber. The managing can include: providing admission control; providing privileged subscriber access at a plurality of WiFi access points; providing signaling for quality of service (QoS) equivalence across a WiFi network and a mobile network; and distributing certain traffic based on a policy.