WO2016070932A1

WO2016070932A1 - Identifying which access points are in the coverage area of a ran node

Info

Publication number: WO2016070932A1
Application number: PCT/EP2014/074058
Authority: WO
Inventors: Irina-Mihaela BALAN; Richard Waldhauser; Janne Petteri Tervonen
Original assignee: Nokia Solutions And Networks Oy
Priority date: 2014-11-07
Filing date: 2014-11-07
Publication date: 2016-05-12

Abstract

There is provided a method comprising collecting, by a user equipment, mobility history information, wherein the user equipment is connected to or camping on a first cell of a first network while the user equipment is associated with an access point of a second network, the mobility history information comprising a first information element comprising information related to the cell of the first network and a second information element comprising information related to the access point of the second network, and providing, by the user equipment, the mobility history information to a network node.

Description

IDENTIFYING WHICH ACCESS POINTS ARE IN THE COVERAGE AREA OF A RAN NODE

The present application relates to a method, apparatus and system and in particular but not exclusively, network operator assisted connectivity over a second network.

A communication system can be seen as a facility that enables communication sessions between two or more entities such as user terminals, base stations and/or other nodes by providing carriers between the various entities involved in the communications path. A communication system can be provided for example by means of a communication network and one or more compatible communication devices. The communications may comprise, for example, communication of data for carrying communications such as voice, electronic mail (email), text message, multimedia and/or content data and so on. Non-limiting examples of services provided comprise two-way or multi-way calls, data communication or multimedia services and access to a data network system, such as the Internet.

In a wireless communication system at least a part of communications between at least two stations occurs over a wireless link. Examples of wireless systems comprise public land mobile networks (PLMN), satellite based communication systems and different wireless local networks, for example wireless local area networks (WLAN). The wireless systems can typically be divided into cells, and are therefore often referred to as cellular systems.

A user can access the communication system by means of an appropriate communication device or terminal. A communication device of a user is often referred to as user equipment (UE). A communication device is provided with an appropriate signal receiving and transmitting apparatus for enabling communications, for example enabling access to a communication network or communications directly with other users. The communication device may access a carrier provided by a station, for example a base station of a cell, and transmit and/or receive communications on the carrier.

The communication system and associated devices typically operate in accordance with a given standard or specification which sets out what the various entities associated with the system are permitted to do and how that should be achieved. Communication protocols and/or parameters which shall be used for the connection are also typically defined. An example of attempts to solve the problems associated with the increased demands for capacity is an architecture that is known as the long-term evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) radio-access technology. The LTE is being standardized by the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). The various development stages of the 3GPP LTE specifications are referred to as releases. The aim of the standardization is to achieve a communication system with, inter alia, reduced latency, higher user data rates, improved system capacity and coverage, and reduced cost for the operator.

In a first aspect there is provided a method comprising collecting, by a user equipment, mobility history information, wherein the user equipment is connected to or camping on a first cell of a first network while the user equipment is associated with an access point of a second network, the mobility history information comprising a first information element comprising information related to the cell of the first network and a second information element comprising information related to the access point of the second network and

providing, by the user equipment, the mobility history information to a network node.

The method may comprise collecting mobility history information when at least one trigger occurs: the trigger comprising any one of, the user equipment changes from connected to idle mode, the user equipment changes from idle to connected mode, the user equipment changes the cell to which it is connected, the user equipment changes the ceii on which it is camping and the association with the access point of the second network changes.

Mobility history information may comprise a duration between a first trigger and a second trigger.

The first information element may comprise at least one of an identifier of the cell of the first network and an area identifier.

The second information element may comprise at least one of an identifier of the at least one access point of the second network and an operator identifier of second network.

The mobility history information may comprise information indicating if the mobility history information has been previously provided to a network node.

The first information element may comprise information indicating if the user equipment was camping on or connected to the first network.

The first network node may be a network node of the first network.

The first network node may be a base station or a mobility management entity. In a second aspect there is provided a method comprising receiving, at a first network node, mobility history information, wherein the mobility history information comprises a first information element comprising information relating to a cell of a first network to which a user equipment was connected or on which the user equipment was camping while the user equipment was associated with at least one access point of the second network and a second information element comprising information relating to the at least one access point of the second network.

The method may comprise detecting if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node and adding, if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node, the access point to an access point list of the first network node.

The method may comprise, if the access point of the second network is not within the coverage area of the first network node, providing mobility history information to a second network node.

The method may comprise, if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node, providing mobility history information to at least a second network node.

The second network node may be one of a base station and a core network element.

The method may comprise receiving mobility history information from the user equipment or a third network node.

The trigger may comprising any one of, the user equipment changes from connected to idle mode, the user equipment changes from idle to connected mode, the user equipment changes the cell to which it is connected, the user equipment changes the cell on which it is camping and the association with the access point of the second network changes.

The mobility history information may comprise information indicating if the mobility history information has been previously provided to a network node. The network node may be the first network node or another network node.

The first network node may be a network node of the first network.

The first network node may be a base station or a mobility management entity.

The method may comprise providing said mobility history information via a core network.

The method may comprise requesting said mobility history information from a user equipment.

In a third aspect there is provided an apparatus, said apparatus comprising means for collecting, by a user equipment, mobility history information, wherein the user equipment is connected to or camping on a first cell of a first network while the user equipment is associated with an access point of a second network, the mobility history information comprising a first information element comprising information related to the cell of the first network and a second information element comprising information related to the access point of the second network and means for providing, by the user equipment, the mobility history information to a network node.

The apparatus may comprise means for collecting mobility history information when at least one trigger occurs: the trigger comprising any one of, the user equipment changes from connected to idle mode, the user equipment changes from idle to connected mode, the user equipment changes the cell to which it is connected, the user equipment changes the cell on which it is camping and the association with the access point of the second network changes.

The first information element may comprise at least one of an identifier of the cell of the first network and an area identifier. The second information element may comprise at least one of an identifier of the at least one access point of the second network and an operator identifier of second network.

The first network node may be a network node of the first network.

The first network node may be a base station or a mobility management entity.

In a fourth aspect there is provided an apparatus, said apparatus comprising means for receiving, at a first network node, mobility history information, wherein the mobility history information comprises a first information element comprising information relating to a cell of a first network to which a user equipment was connected or on which the user equipment was camping while the user equipment was associated with at least one access point of the second network and a second information element comprising information relating to the at least one access point of the second network.

The apparatus may comprise means for detecting if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node and adding, if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node, the access point to an access point list of the first network node.

The apparatus may comprise means for, if the access point of the second network is not within the coverage area of the first network node, providing mobility history information to a second network node.

The apparatus may comprise means for, if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node, providing mobility history information to at least a second network node.

The second network node may be one of a base station and a core network element. The apparatus may comprise means for receiving mobility history information from the user equipment or a third network node.

The first network node may be a network node of the first network.

The first network node may be a base station or a mobility management entity.

The apparatus may comprise means for providing said mobility history information via a core network.

The apparatus may comprise means for requesting said mobility history information from a user equipment.

In a fifth aspect there is provided an apparatus, said apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer code configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to: collect, by a user equipment, mobility history information, wherein the user equipment is connected to or camping on a first cell of a first network while the user equipment is associated with an access point of a second network, the mobility history information comprising a first information element comprising information related to the cell of the first network and a second information element comprising information related to the access point of the second network and provide, by the user equipment, the mobility history information to a network node.

The apparatus may be configured to collect mobility history information when at least one trigger occurs: the trigger comprising any one of, the user equipment changes from connected to idle mode, the user equipment changes from idle to connected mode, the user equipment changes the cell to which it is connected, the user equipment changes the cell on which it is camping and the association with the access point of the second network changes.

The first network node may be a network node of the first network.

The first network node may be a base station or a mobility management entity.

In a sixth aspect there is provided an apparatus, said apparatus comprising at least one processor and at least one memory including computer code for one or more programs, the at least one memory and the computer code configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to receive, at a first network node, mobility history information, wherein the mobility history information comprises a first information element comprising information relating to a cell of a first network to which a user equipment was connected or on which the user equipment was camping while the user equipment was associated with at least one access point of the second network and a second information element comprising information relating to the at least one access point of the second network.

The apparatus may be configured to detect if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node and adding, if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node, the access point to an access point list of the first network node.

The apparatus may be configured to, if the access point of the second network is not within the coverage area of the first network node, provide mobility history information to a second network node.

The apparatus may be configured to, if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node, provide mobility history information to at least a second network node.

The apparatus may be configured to receive mobility history information from the user equipment or a third network node.

The trigger may comprising any one of, the user equipment changes from connected to idle mode, the user equipment changes from idle to connected mode, the user equipment changes the cell to which it is connected, the user equipment changes the celt on which it is camping and the association with the access point of the second network changes. The mobility history information may comprise information indicating if the mobility history information has been previously provided to a network node. The network node may be the first network node or another network node.

The first network node may be a network node of the first network.

The first network node may be a base station or a mobility management entity.

The apparatus may be configured to provide said mobility history information via a core network.

The apparatus may be configured to request said mobility history information from a user equipment.

In a seventh aspect there is provided a computer program embodied on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, the computer program comprising program code for controlling a process to execute a process, the process comprising the method of any of the first and/or second aspects.

In an eighth aspect there is provided a computer program product for a computer, comprising software code portions for performing the steps the method of the first and/or second aspects when said product is run on the computer.

In a ninth aspect there is provided a system, said system comprising a user equipment, said user equipment comprising an apparatus according to the third and/or fifth aspect and a network node, said network node comprising an apparatus according to claim fourth and/or sixth aspect.

A method may comprise providing, by a user equipment, mobility history information to a network node, wherein the user equipment is associated with a first cell of a first network while the user equipment is associated with an access point of a second network, the mobility history information comprising a first information element comprising information related to the cell of the first network and a second information element comprising information related to the access point of the second network. In the above, many different embodiments have been described. It should be appreciated that further embodiments may be provided by the combination of any two or more of the embodiments described above.

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram of an example communication system comprising a base station and a plurality of communication devices;

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram, of an example mobile communication device;

Figure 3 shows a flowchart for use in identifying which APs are in the coverage area of a RAN node;

Figure 4 shows a flowchart of a method for use in identifying which APs are in the coverage area of a RAN node;

Figure 5 shows a message flow diagram;

Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram of an example control apparatus;

Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram of an apparatus;

Figure 8 shows a schematic diagram of an apparatus;

Figure 9 shows a schematic diagram of an example communication system;

Before explaining in detail the examples, certain general principles of a wireless communication system and mobile communication devices are briefly explained with reference to Figures 1 to 2 to assist in understanding the technology underlying the described examples.

In a wireless communication system 100, such as that shown in figure 1 , mobile communication devices or user equipment (UE) 102, 104, 105 are provided wireless access via at least one base station or similar wireless transmitting and/or receiving node or point. Base stations are typically controlled by at least one appropriate controller apparatus, so as to enable operation thereof and management of mobile communication devices in communication with the base stations. The controller apparatus may be located in a radio access network (e.g. wireless communication system 100) or in a core network (CN) (not shown) and may be implemented as one centra! apparatus or its functionality may be distributed over several apparatus. The controller apparatus may be part of the base station and/or provided by a separate entity such as a Radio Network Controller. In Figure 1 control apparatus 108 and 109 are shown to control the respective macro level base stations 106 and 107. The control apparatus of a base station can be interconnected with other control entities. The control apparatus is typically provided with memory capacity and at least one data processor. The control apparatus and functions may be distributed between a plurality of control units. In some systems, the control apparatus may additionally or alternatively be provided in a radio network controller.

LTE systems may however be considered to have a so-called "fiat" architecture, without the provision of RNCs; rather the (e)NB is in communication with a system architecture evolution gateway (SAE-GW) and a mobility management entity (MME), which entities may also be pooled meaning that a plurality of these nodes may serve a plurality (set) of (e)NBs. Each UE is served by only one MME and/or S-GW at a time and the (e)NB keeps track of current association. SAE-GW is a "high-level" user plane core network element in LTE, which may consist of the S-GW and the P-GW (serving gateway and packet data network gateway, respectively). The functionalities of the S-GW and P-GW are separated and they are not required to be co-located.

In Figure 1 base stations 108 and 107 are shown as connected to a wider communications network 113 via gateway 112. A further gateway function may be provided to connect to another network.

The smaller base stations 118, 118 and 120 may also be connected to the network 1 13, for example by a separate gateway function and/or via the controllers of the macro level stations. The base stations 116, 118 and 120 may be pico or femto level base stations or the like. In the example, stations 116 and 1 18 are connected via a gateway 1 1 1 whilst station 120 connects via the controller apparatus 108. In some embodiments, the smaller stations may not be provided. Smaller base stations 116, 118 and 120 may be part of a second network, for example WLAN and may be WLAN APs.

A possible mobile communication device will now be described in more detail with reference to Figure 2 showing a schematic, partially sectioned view of a communication device 200. Such a communication device is often referred to as user equipment (UE) or terminal An appropriate mobile communication device may be provided by any device capable of sending and receiving radio signals. Non-limiting examples comprise a mobile station (MS) or mobile device such as a mobile phone or what is known as a 'smart phone', a computer provided with a wireless interface card or other wireless interface facility (e.g., USB dongie), personal data assistant (PDA) or a tablet provided with wireless communication capabilities, or any combinations of these or the like. A mobile communication device may provide, for example, communication of data for carrying communications such as voice, electronic mail (email), text message, multimedia and so on. Users may thus be offered and provided numerous services via their communication devices. Non-limiting examples of these services comprise two-way or multi-way calls, data communication or multimedia services or simply an access to a data communications network system, such as the Internet, Users may also be provided broadcast or multicast data. Non-limiting examples of the content comprise downloads, television and radio programs, videos, advertisements, various alerts and other information.

The mobile device 200 may receive signals over an air or radio interface 207 via appropriate apparatus for receiving and may transmit signals via appropriate apparatus for transmitting radio signals. In Figure 2 transceiver apparatus is designated schematically by block 206. The transceiver apparatus 206 may be provided for example by means of a radio part and associated antenna arrangement. The antenna arrangement may be arranged internally or externally to the mobile device.

A mobile device is typically provided with at least one data processing entity 201 , at least one memory 202 and other possible components 203 for use in software and hardware aided execution of tasks it is designed to perform, including control of access to and communications with access systems and other communication devices. The data processing, storage and other relevant control apparatus can be provided on an appropriate circuit board and/or in chipsets. This feature is denoted by reference 204. The user may control the operation of the mobile device by means of a suitable user interface such as key pad 205, voice commands, touch sensitive screen or pad, combinations thereof or the like. A display 208, a speaker and a microphone can be also provided. Furthermore, a mobile communication device may comprise appropriate connectors (either wired or wireless) to other devices and/or for connecting external accessories, for example hands-free equipment, thereto.

The communication devices 102, 104, 105 may access the communication system based on various access techniques, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), or wideband CDMA (WCDMA). Other non-limiting examples comprise time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA) and various schemes thereof such as the interleaved frequency division multiple access (IFDMA), single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) and orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA), space division multiple access (SOMA) and so on.

An example of wireless communication systems are architectures standardized by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). A latest 3GPP based development is often referred to as the long term evolution (LTE) of the Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) radio-access technology. The various development stages of the 3GPP specifications are referred to as releases. More recent developments of the LTE are often referred to as LTE Advanced (LTE-A). The LTE employs a mobile architecture known as the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN). Base stations of such systems are known as evolved or enhanced Node Bs (eNBs) and provide E-UTRAN features such as user plane Radio Link Control/Medium Access Control/Physical layer protocol (RLC/MAC/PHY) and control plane Radio Resource Control (RRC) protocol terminations towards the communication devices. Other examples of radio access system comprise those provided by base stations of systems that are based on technologies such as wireless local area network (WLAN) and/or WiMax (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access). A base station can provide coverage for an entire cell or similar radio service area.

The following relates to enhancements for multi-RAT (Radio Access Technologies) interworking, for example radio access network (RAN) interworking between a wireless local area network (WLAN) and a cellular communication network, such as a 3GPP network. Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) may deploy Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), which may be carrier-grade, as a complementary system to cellular networks. Network-controlled traffic steering between cellular and WLAN systems may improve network performance and user experience.

In RAN interworking, such as 3GPP and WLAN interworking, both network selection, at the start of a new connection, and traffic routing, during an existing connection, may be supported and governed by rules. These rules may be RAN defined rules or ANDSF (Access Network Discovery and Selection Function) rules. RAN interworking may rely on various thresholds, which may be part of RAN assistance information. The thresholds may be used by the UE when evaluating offloading/onloading conditions, using, rules as discussed above. Offloading describes the attempt to move traffic from a first network, such as a cellular communication network, to a second network, e.g. WLAN, and onloading describes the attempt to move traffic from the second network to the first network. RAN may also configure (via ANDSF or broadcast signalling) a list of permitted WLAN networks where the UE can offload to. The above definitions for offload and onload are based on the understanding that normal radio services will be handled through a network that the mobile operator has full control over, for example, a radio access network (RAN). The definitions for onload and offload may differ depending on the networks involved.

It may be beneficial for a RAN node to know which and how many WLAN access points (APs) are located within its coverage. The RAN-assisted WLAN interworking as standardized in Rel- 12 by the RAN2 WG works without any feedback from UE side to the RAN nodes about recognized APs. Therefore, getting additional information about the amount and identity of APs within the coverage of the cell is valuable information for the RAN node, e.g. for optimizing the thresholds leading to on/offloading of traffic to the WLAN and/or for estimating how successful such offloading could be.

In the case where there is an interface between the RAN node and WLAN AP and/or Controller, the RAN node needs to know which APs are under its coverage in order to establish communication to these, e.g. in order to query information about the quantity and quality of the offloading.

Figure 3 shows a flowchart of a method for use in identifying which APs are in the coverage area of a RAN node. The method comprises, in a first step S1 , collecting, by a user equipment, mobility history information, wherein the user equipment is connected to or camping on a first cell of a first network while the user equipment is associated with an access point of a second network. The mobility history information comprises a first information element comprising information related to the cell of the first network and a second information element comprising information related to the access point of the second network. In a second step S2, the method comprises providing, by the user equipment, the mobility history information to a network node when the user equipment is connected to the network node.

It is proposed that a UE collects or tracks detailed UE based mobility history information listing how long the UE was associated with the WLAN AP, and the WLAN AP identity, while it was connected to and/or camping on a particular cell at a particular RAN node. The UE can also track mobility history information where the WLAN AP remains the same and the cell to which the UE is connected to or camping on changes.

Mobility history information may be collected when at least one trigger occurs; the trigger comprising any one of, the user equipment changes from connected to idle mode, the user equipment changes from idle to connected mode, the user equipment changes the cell to which it is connected, the user equipment changes the cell on which it is camping and the association with the access point of the second network changes.

The mobility history information comprises a duration between a first trigger and a second trigger.

The UE can collect a list of cells it is connected to or camping on and WLAN APs it has been associated to while it was connected to/camping on these cells. This list may be proceeded all the time independently of RAT changes. It may be marked whether an entry has been reported to a 3GPP node. Entries may not be deleted due to such a reporting. To keep the amount of storage required at the UE to reasonable limits, operators can set a maximum for the number of entries. Upon achieving the maximum number of list entries the UE may overwrite the oldest existing entry. In another implementation, the UE may overwrites the oldest entry of entries that have already been reported to 3GPP first, and only in the case that no reported entries are available, the UE may begin overwriting the oldest list entry that has not yet reported to 3GPP.

The list can also contain the state the UE was in, i.e. whether the UE was idle or connected (RRCJdle or RRC_connected). The information may also contain an area identifier (tracking area index (TAI) or location area index (LAI)/routing area code (RAC)).

The enhanced mobility history information may look like the list shown in table 1 below.

Duration Cell AP identifiers 3GPP state Area identifier Reported to 3GPP WLAN in cell identifier operator identifier tl GCI1 Connected TAI1 TRUE won t2 GCI1 BSSID1 + SS!Dl idle TA!l FALSE WOI2

+ HESS!Dl

t3 GCI1 BSS1D2 + 5SID2 + Idle TAI1 FALSE WOI2

HESSID2

t4 GCI2 B5SID2 r SSID2 + Idle TA!l FALSE WOI3

HESSID2

t5 GCI3 BSS1D3 + SSID3 + Idle TAI2 FALSE WOI3

HESS1D3

t6 GCI4 BSS1D4 + SSID4 connected LA!l FALSE WOI4

+ HESSID4

Table 1

Access point information may comprise basic service set identity (BSSID), service set identifier (SSID) and/or homogeneous extended service set identifier (HESSID). Associations with WLAN APs that are advertised as being suitable for offload by the 3GPP side (e.g. via ANDSF or RAN rules) may determine entries in the list.

The WLAN Operator Identifier (WOl) indicates if the WLAN AP the UE is connected to is operator owned or only operator controlled. This information may be of interest for the RAN node and be used as further input for offload decisions. Examples of WOl may be but are not limited to: Roaming Consortium, NAI, Operator friendly name. As an WLAN AP can only be controlled by one entity, a change in WOl will not trigger a new entry (as this is covered already by the WLAN AP change).

The identification of the cell may comprise global cell identification (GCI). GCI is an umbrella term that covers different unique cell identifiers. The definition and name of these unique cell identifiers may be RAT specific, i.e. it may depend on whether the cell is an E-UTRAN cell, a UTRAN cell or a GSM cell. For example the GCI for E-UTRAN constitutes of the sequence of the PLMN-ID and the Cell-ID. The GCI for E-UTRAN a bit string with a size of 28 bits. The GCI for UTRAN looks the same as for E-UTRAN. For GSM the GCI is a sequence of the PLMN- ID, location area code (LAC) and Cell-ID. The latter two are bit strings with a size of 16 bits each. These elements may be defined using any suitable definition.

It is be possible to retrieve the node IDs from the Cell-ID of the GCI entries. Therefore, it's sufficient for the table entries to have an area identifier. Such an area identifier may, for example, be a TAI, a LAI {+ RAG, if existing) or a RAC alone (if existing), depending on the RAT. The area identifier is known to the UE in connected mode due to dedicated signaling and/or reading this information from the broadcast channel of the cell. When the UE is in idle mode the area identifier can be read from the broadcast channel of the cell where the UE is camping on.

Figure 4 shows a flowchart of a method for use in identifying which APs are in the coverage area of a RAN node. The method comprises, at step T2, receiving, at a first network node, mobility history information, and wherein the mobility history information comprises a first information element comprising information relating to a cell of a first network to which a user equipment was connected or on which the user equipment was camping while the user equipment was associated with an access point of the second network and a second information element comprising information relating to the access point of the second network. The method may comprise adding, if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node, the access point to an access point list of the first network node. The method may comprise, at step T3, providing mobility history information to a second network node. At step T1 , the method may comprise receiving mobility history information from the user equipment or a third network node

The UE can indicate the presence of mobility history information to the RAN node for example when it is establishing a new connection to a cell of this RAN node. The UE may provide this information upon receiving a corresponding request from this RAN. This step may utilize existing UE information procedure.

Once the UE becomes connected to a 3GPP cell, the mobility history information can be delivered to a first network node.

Figure 5 shows a flowchart of an example message flow between a UE 505 and a network node 506, e.g. RNC or eNB, using a standardized mechanism to transfer UE Information and a RAN node. A UE 505 becomes connected to a RAN node 506 and has mobility history information. The UE 505 sends a RCConnectionRequest 510 and receives a RRC ConnectionSetupRRCConnectionSetup message 520. The UE 505 sends a RRCConnectionSetupComplete message 530 which may contain an indicator that mobility history information is available. When the RAN node 506 wants to retrieve the mobility history information from the UE 505, the node 506 may send a UE Information Request message 540 and receive a UEInformationResponse message 550 from the UE 505.

The RAN node may issue a request for sending the mobility history report any time while the UE is in connected mode. Since the RAN node has to request the enhanced mobility history information from the UE before receiving it, it is referred to in the text below as both receiving and requesting node. The requesting node is described as a RAN node by way of example only. The requesting node may be any suitable node which has an interested in the mobility history information, for example, a core network node such as MME. The MME (core network node) could request this information from the UE directly using NAS signalling messages when the UE is connected mode.

The RAN node can use the mobility history information received from UEs to know which APs are used for offloading while these UEs are connected to or camping on the cells of the RAN node.

When receiving this information, the receiving node can extract first the WLAN APs in its own coverage area and add these WLAN APS {if not present) to its own AP list.

The method may comprise providing said mobility history information to at least a second node. Parts of the mobility history information may identify visited/used APs while the UE was connected or camping at other RAN nodes. The visited/used APs may be distributed to these affected RAN nodes by the RAN node receiving the collected information. The distribution can be with or without core network involvement (for example via a direct interface between the RAN nodes) or with core network involvement.

The RAN node may forward the rest of the list (or any parts of the list or the complete list) to recognized neighbors (for example in its own RAT). In E-UTRAN this can be done using new X2 messages or by adding corresponding lEs to suitable existing messages. In UTRAN this can be done over the lur interface. The RAN node may, for example, forward the complete list to a MME or some other core network element which may use the information to build a network wide map which APs are in the coverage area of which cells/BTS. A network node (for example a core network node) may receive and collect mobility history information from multiple user equipments, which could be used for example for building a network wide map or table showing information about cells/base station coverage areas and about the access points located within those coverage areas.

For the nodes in the list which are not direct neighbors of the receiving node, at least three approaches can be used for delivering the remainder of the list (or parts of the list or the complete list).

The first approach may comprise propagating the information though the network using interfaces outside the CN (e.g. X2 interface in LTE). At each hop, the receiving node can check if there is any information about WLAN APs in its coverage and forward for example the remainder of the list to its direct neighbors. This approach has the advantage that it does not involve the CN but may be time consuming. If the UE has been in idle mode for a longer period of time, the UE report may trigger a lot of messages over these interfaces until reaching the nodes contained in the list.

In the second approach, the information may be sent and routed via the CN. The sending RAN node can put the information that has to be sent to a specific node in a container which is transparent to the CN and sends this container together with the necessary routing information to reach the target RAN node to the CN.

In a third approach, the CN may be involved. The mobility history information can be relayed to the MME/serving GPRS support node (SGSN)/operation and maintenance (OAM) and the MME/SGSN/OAM can distribute the appropriate WLAN AP information to specific RAN nodes. This approach may be used if the nodes in the mobility history information belong to another RAT compared to the one of the initial receiving RAN node, e.g. by sending RAN information management (RIM) based messages. This approach may require more intelligence in the CN/OAM but may be faster than the first approach, especially for long lists and for multi RAT history lists.

Advantageously, mapping between a RAN node/cell and WLAN AP can be done by the RAN nodes receiving that information, without forcing UEs to return from idle state when changing the cell they are camping on to report about the detected APs. It may be sufficient when this information is provided by the UEs when they return to connected mode, e.g. for issuing a service request.

Additionally, an indicator can be used by the UE to mark which part of the enhanced mobility history information has already been relayed to the network. Once the enhanced mobility history information has been transmitted to for example a RAN node, the UE may mark those entries with a TRUE value flag. The next time the UE sends the enhanced mobility history information, entries marked with TRUE may be omitted form the report. This has the advantage that the report size gets smaller and it may not generate further messages on X2 or CN to propagate information that has been already propagated.

The requesting node may indicate to the UE what parts of the history list it wants, e.g. full list or only the entries that have not been reported yet.

The method described above is a complementary mechanism to connected mode reporting (which may be incomplete as cell edge users may be offloaded to WLAN APs as soon as they enter the cell coverage and thus are in idle). The method works independently of connected mode reporting. The method may work with minimal CN involvement (depending on the contents of the history list).

It should be understood that each block of the flowchart of Figures 3 and 4 and any combination thereof may be implemented by various means or their combinations, such as hardware, software, firmware, one or more processors and/or circuitry.

The method may be implemented on a mobile device as described with respect to figure 2 or control apparatus as shown in figure 6. Figure 6 shows an example of a control apparatus for a communication system, for example to be coupled to and/or for controlling a station of an access system, such as a RAN node, e.g. a base station or (e) node B, or a node of a core network such as an MME, or a server or host. The method may be implanted in a single control apparatus or across more than one control apparatus. The control apparatus may be integrated with or external to a node or module of a core network or RAN. In some embodiments, base stations comprise a separate control apparatus unit or module. In other embodiments, the control apparatus can be another network element such as a radio network controller or a spectrum controller. In some embodiments, each base station may have such a control apparatus as well as a control apparatus being provided in a radio network controller. The control apparatus 300 can be arranged to provide control on communications in the service area of the system. The control apparatus 300 comprises at least one memory 301 , at least one data processing unit 302, 303 and an input/output interface 304. Via the interface the control apparatus can be coupled to a receiver and a transmitter of the base station. The receiver and/or the transmitter may be implemented as a radio front end or a remote radio head. For example the control apparatus 300 can be configured to execute an appropriate software code to provide the control functions. An example of an apparatus 700 as shown in figure 7 comprises means 710 for collecting, by a user equipment, mobility history information, wherein the user equipment is connected to or camping on a first cell of a first network while the user equipment is associated with at least one access point of a second network, the mobility history information comprising a first information element comprising information related to the cell of the first network and a second information element comprising information related to the at least one access point of the second network. The apparatus comprises means 720 for providing, by the user equipment, the mobility history information to a network node when the user equipment is connected to the network node

Another example of an apparatus 800 is shown in figure 8 and comprises means 810 for receiving, at a first network node, mobility history information, and wherein the mobility history information comprises a first information element comprising information relating to a cell of a first network to which a user equipment was connected or on which the user equipment was camping while the user equipment was associated with at least one access point of the second network and a second information element comprising information relating to the at least one access point of the second network. The apparatus may comprise means 820 for receiving mobility history information from the user equipment or a third network node. The apparatus may comprise means 830 for providing said mobility history information to at least a second node.

Figure 9 shows a system in which embodiments may be implemented. The example system comprises a WLAN AP 916 within the coverage area 900 of a first ceil, a UE 905 and a RAN node 918. The RAN node may comprise apparatus 800. The UE may comprise apparatus 700. The apparatus of the system may be as described with respect to the system of figure 1 and device of figure 2.

It should be understood that the apparatuses may comprise or be coupled to other units or modules etc., such as radio parts or radio heads, used in or for transmission and/or reception. Although the apparatuses have been described as one entity, different modules and memory may be implemented in one or more physical or logical entities.

It is noted that whilst embodiments have been described in relation to 3GPP and WLAN, similar principles can be applied in relation to other cellular networks and wireless local area networks and to any other communication system where support operative assisted connectivity over another network is used. Therefore, although certain embodiments were described above by way of example with reference to certain example architectures for wireless networks, technologies and standards, embodiments may be applied to any other suitable forms of communication systems than those illustrated and described herein.

It is also noted herein that while the above describes example embodiments, there are several variations and modifications which may be made to the disclosed solution without departing from the scope of the present invention.

In general, the various embodiments may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects of the invention may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device, although the invention is not limited thereto. While various aspects of the invention may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The embodiments of this invention may be implemented by computer software executable by a data processor of the mobile device, such as in the processor entity, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. Computer software or program, also called program product, including software routines, applets and/or macros, may be stored in any apparatus- readable data storage medium and they comprise program instructions to perform particular tasks. A computer program product may comprise one or more computer-executable components which, when the program is run, are configured to carry out embodiments. The one or more computer-executable components may be at least one software code or portions of it

Further in this regard it should be noted that any blocks of the logic flow as in the Figures may represent program steps, or interconnected logic circuits, blocks and functions, or a combination of program steps and logic circuits, blocks and functions. The software may be stored on such physical media as memory chips, or memory blocks implemented within the processor, magnetic media such as hard disk or floppy disks, and optical media such as for example DVD and the data variants thereof, CD. The physical media is a non-transitory media. The memory may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The data processors may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment, and may comprise one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), application specific integrated circuits (ASIC), FPGA, gate level circuits and processors based on multi-core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples.

Embodiments of the inventions may be practiced in various components such as integrated circuit modules. The design of integrated circuits is by and large a highly automated process. Complex and powerful software tools are available for converting a logic level design into a semiconductor circuit design ready to be etched and formed on a semiconductor substrate.

The foregoing description has provided by way of non-limiting examples a full and informative description of the exemplary embodiment of this invention. However, various modifications and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. However, all such and similar modifications of the teachings of this invention will still fall within the scope of this invention as defined in the appended claims. Indeed there is a further embodiment comprising a combination of one or more embodiments with any of the other embodiments previously discussed.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A method comprising:

collecting, by a user equipment, mobility history information,

wherein the user equipment is connected to or camping on a first cell of a first network while the user equipment is associated with an access point of a second network;

the mobility history information comprising

a) a first information element comprising information related to the cell of the first network; and

b) a second information element comprising information related to the access point of the second network; and

2. A method according to claim 1 , comprising collecting mobility history information when at least one trigger occurs: the trigger comprising any one of the user equipment changes from connected to idle mode, the user equipment changes from idle to connected mode, the user equipment changes the cell to which it is connected, the user equipment changes the ceil on which it is camping and the association with the access point of the second network changes.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the mobility history information comprises a duration between a first trigger and a second trigger.

4. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the first information element comprises at least one of an identifier of the ceil of the first network and an area identifier.

5. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the second information element comprises an identifier of the access point of the second network and an operator identifier of second network.

6. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the mobility history information comprises information indicating if the mobility history information has been previously provided to a network node.

7. A method according to any preceding claim, wherein the first information element comprises information indicating if the user equipment was camping on or connected to the first network.

8. A method comprising:

receiving, at a first network node, mobility history information, wherein the mobiiity history information comprises

a) a first information element comprising information relating to a cell of a first network to which a user equipment was connected or on which the user equipment was camping while the user equipment was associated with at least one access point of the second network; and

b) a second information element comprising information relating to the at least one access point of the second network.

9. A method according to claim 8 comprising detecting if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node; and

adding, if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node, the access point to an access point list of the first network node.

10. A method according to claim 9 comprising, if the access point of the second network is not within the coverage area of the first network node, providing mobility history information to a second network node.

1 1. A method according to any one of claim 9 or claim 10 comprising: if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node, providing mobility history information to at least a second network node.

12. A method according to claim 10 or claim 11 , wherein the second network node is one of a base station and a core network element.

13. A method according to any one of claims 7 to 12 comprising: receiving mobility history information from the user equipment or a third network node.

14. A method according to any one of claims 7 to 13, wherein the first information element comprises at least one of an identifier of the cell of the first network and an area identifier.

15. A method according to any one of claims 7 to 14, wherein the second information element comprises at least one of an identifier of the at least one access point of the second network and an operator identifier of second network.

16. A method according to any one of claims 7 to 15 wherein the first network node is a network node of the first network.

17. A method according to any one of claims 7 to 16, wherein the first network node is a base station or a mobility management entity.

18. A method according to any one of claims 7 to 17 comprising: providing said mobility history information via a core network.

19. A method according to any one of claims 7 to 18 comprising requesting said mobility history information from a user equipment.

20. An apparatus, said apparatus comprising means for collecting, by a user equipment, mobility history information,

the mobility history information comprising:

means for providing, by the user equipment, the mobility history information to a network node.

21. An apparatus according to claim 20, comprising means for collecting mobility history information when at least one trigger occurs: the trigger comprising any one of the user equipment changes from connected to idle mode, the user equipment changes from idle to connected mode, the user equipment changes the cell to which it is connected, the user equipment changes the cell on which it is camping and the association with the access point of the second network changes.

22. An apparatus according to claim 21 , wherein the mobility history information comprises a duration between a first trigger and a second trigger.

23. An apparatus according to any one of claims 20 to 22, wherein the first information element comprises at least one of an identifier of the cell of the first network and an area identifier.

24. An apparatus according to any one of claims 20 to 23, wherein the second information element comprises an identifier of the access point of the second network and an operator identifier of second network.

25. An apparatus according to any one of claims 20 to 24 wherein the mobility history information comprises information indicating if the mobility history information has been previously provided to a network node.

26. An apparatus according to any one of claims 20 to 25, wherein the first information element comprises information indicating if the user equipment was camping on or connected to the first network.

27. An apparatus, said apparatus comprising means for receiving, at a first network node, mobility history information, wherein the mobility history information comprises

28. An apparatus according to claim 27 comprising means for detecting if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node; and

29. An apparatus according to claim 28 comprising means for, if the access point of the second network is not within the coverage area of the first network node, providing mobility history information to a second network node.

30. An apparatus according to any one of claim 28 or claim 29 comprising: means for, if the access point of the second network is within the coverage area of the first network node, providing mobility history information to at least a second network node.

31. An apparatus according to claim 29 or claim 30, wherein the second network node is one of a base station and a core network element.

32. An apparatus according to any one of claims 27 to 31 comprising: means for receiving mobility history information from the user equipment or a third network node.

33. An apparatus according to any one of claims 27 to 21 , wherein the first information element comprises at least one of an identifier of the cell of the first network and an area identifier.

34. An apparatus according to any one of claims 27 to 33, wherein the second information element comprises at least one of an identifier of the at least one access point of the second network and an operator identifier of second network.

35. An apparatus according to any one of claims 27 to 34 wherein the first network node is a network node of the first network.

36. An apparatus according to any one of claims 27 to 35, wherein the first network node is a base station or a mobility management entity.

37. An apparatus according to any one of claims 27 to 36 comprising: providing said mobility history information via a core network.

38. An apparatus according to any one of claims 27 to 37 comprising requesting said mobility history information from a user equipment.

39. A computer program comprising computer executable instructions which when run are configured to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 19.

40. A system comprising a user equipment, said user equipment comprising an apparatus according to claim 20 and a network node, said network node comprising an apparatus according to claim 27.