Traffic Steering Policy Generation Using Radio Capability Indications
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Solution Overview
Problem
Legacy Access Network Discovery and Selection Function (ANDSF) mechanisms fail to effectively steer traffic in highly heterogeneous network environments, leading to inefficient resource utilization and degraded user experience due to lack of awareness of advanced radio access technologies like LTE-U and LAA, resulting in suboptimal network selection and interference issues.
Innovation Solution
A method and network device that receive radio capability indications from terminal devices to generate and transmit traffic steering policies, incorporating network operator strategies, user subscription information, and service provider strategies, to prioritize and direct traffic across various radio access networks, including LTE-U, LAA, and LWA, ensuring more flexible and resource-efficient traffic distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If legacy ANDSF mechanisms are used for traffic steering, then traffic distribution between LTE and WLAN is supported, but traffic steering in highly heterogeneous network environments fails due to lack of awareness of advanced radio access technologies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent changes the parameters of traffic steering policies to include radio capability information and network capability information. The network device receives radio capability indication from the terminal device, generates traffic steering policies based on these capabilities, and transmits updated policies that enable adaptive traffic distribution across heterogeneous networks including LTE-U, LAA, and LWA technologies.
2Productivity
If traffic steering is performed without radio capability indication, then simple policy transmission is maintained, but resource utilization becomes inefficient due to suboptimal network selection
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements preliminary action by having the terminal device detect and report its radio capabilities and the network device detect and provide network capabilities before traffic steering policies are generated. This preliminary capability exchange enables the network device to generate optimized traffic steering policies that maximize resource utilization efficiency across heterogeneous networks.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If legacy ANDSF mechanisms are used, then implementation simplicity is maintained, but interference issues occur due to inability to differentiate between different radio access technologies
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by enabling the network device to differentiate between various radio access technologies (LTE-U, LAA, LWA, WLAN) through radio capability indication and network capability information. The traffic steering policies are customized for each specific radio technology and network scenario, allowing optimized traffic distribution that minimizes interference between different access networks.
Data Source
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AI summary
The present disclosure provides a method (200) in a network device for traffic steering. The method (200) comprises: receiving (S210) from a terminal device a radio capability indication indicating one or more radio capabilities of the terminal device and one or more radio capabilities of radio access networks as detected by the terminal device; generating (S220) a traffic steering policy based on the radio capability indication; and transmitting (S230) the traffic steering policy to the terminal device.