Patent · US Active

System and method for offloading data in a communication system

US9049046B2 · kind B2 · utility

10Cited by
41References
21Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateJul 10, 2011
Grant dateJun 2, 2015
Priority date
Expiry dateJul 10, 2031

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04W40/24
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

A method is provided in one example embodiment and includes communicating an in-band message packet from a first network element; receiving a response to the in-band message from a second network element, the response contains tunnel identification binding data that identifies a tunnel on a backhaul link on which traffic from a user equipment can flow; and receiving instructions from the second network element to offload a received data packet from the backhaul link. In particular instances, the in-band message is set to loopback when the in-band message is sent from the first network element. In other embodiments, the tunnel identification binding data is provided in the payload of the in-band message when the in-band message is sent from the first network element. In other examples, the method can include receiving an assigned Internet protocol (IP) address of the user equipment in the response to the in-band message.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.