Technique for load balancing between cellular network subscriptions in a router having both short range and cellular communication interfaces
US9730106B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignee
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Jul 19, 2012 |
| Grant date | Aug 8, 2017 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Oct 1, 2032 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
- CPC primaryH04W88/16
- WIPO fieldDigital communication
- WIPO sectorElectrical engineering
Abstract
A WLAN router connected via a cellular network (e.g. LTE) to the Internet is disclosed; a plurality of SIMs (subscriptions), each associated with a user of the router, may be plugged into the router (or soft SIMs used); simultaneous Internet access for a plurality of users is achieved, even if the WLAN router does only have one TX/RX equipment, by the following features: the WLAN router—when receiving a portion of network traffic for a user—determines the subscription that the portion is associated with and updates a data usage quota for the subscription accordingly by an amount of data corresponding to said portion; thereafter, it is decided whether future network traffic for that subscription shall be transmitted over the same network connection or another subscription's network connection based on the updated data usage quota; thus, the router carries out load balancing between the subscriptions.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.