Mobility and/or Access Selection Between Cells

Abstract

There is provided a method, performed by a network node, for steering of access between cells. The method comprises receiving ( 1301 ), from user equipment, a report indicating failure to access a cell, also referred to as a rejecting cell, due to internal reasons of another network node, also referred to as a rejecting network node, serving the rejecting cell. The method also comprises steering ( 1302 ) the access of the user equipment between cells by modifying at least one offloading parameter and/or threshold based on the report indicating failure to access the rejecting cell due to internal reasons of the rejecting network node serving the rejecting cell. With this new type of report the network can modify offloading parameter(s) and/or threshold(s) in a more suitable way since the network has more information available.

1 - 53 . (canceled) 
     
     
         54 . A method, performed by user equipment, for enabling steering of access between cells, wherein said method comprises the steps of:
 receiving an indication of a rejection to access a cell, also referred to as a rejecting cell, due to internal reasons, independent of radio channel conditions, of a network node serving the rejecting cell; and   sending to another network node serving an available cell, different from the rejecting cell, a report indicating failure to access the rejecting cell due to internal reasons, independent of radio channel conditions, of the network node serving the rejecting cell.   
     
     
         55 . The method of  claim 54 , wherein the step of sending the report indicating the failure to access the rejecting cell enables modifying, based on the report, at least one offloading parameter and/or threshold used for steering of access of the user equipment between the available cell and a neighbouring cell. 
     
     
         56 . The method of  claim 54 , wherein said method is performed in connection with offloading from a source cell to a target cell, wherein the rejecting cell is a rejecting target cell, and wherein the source cell and the target cell belong to the same radio access network, or the source cell and the target cell belong to different radio access networks. 
     
     
         57 . The method of  claim 56 , wherein the source cell and the target cell belong to different radio access networks of different radio access technologies. 
     
     
         58 . The method of  claim 57 , wherein one of the different radio access networks is a cellular radio access network and the other one is a Wireless Local Area Network, WLAN. 
     
     
         59 . The method of  claim 58 , wherein the cellular radio access network is a 3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP, cellular radio access network. 
     
     
         60 . The method of  claim 54 , wherein the indication of rejection to access the rejecting cell is an indication of a rejection that is due to load conditions in the network node serving the rejecting cell. 
     
     
         61 . The method of  claim 54 , wherein the network node serving the available cell is different from a source network node hosting a source cell from which offload towards the rejecting cell was originated. 
     
     
         62 . The method of  claim 54 , wherein the network node serving the available cell is the same as a source network node hosting a source cell from which offload towards the rejecting cell was originated. 
     
     
         63 . The method of  claim 54 , wherein the report indicating the failure to access the rejecting cell comprises an indication of a cause of the rejection. 
     
     
         64 . The method of  claim 63 , wherein the indication of the cause of the rejection indicates at least one of the following:
 overload, or load-dependent rejection reason;   unsupported bearer/service type, or a rejection cause indicating that the requested data service cannot be provided;   outage, or a rejection cause due to inability to send to or receive data traffic from the rest of the network;   transport network failure, or a rejection cause due to issues on the transport network   user equipment not allowed in target cell, or a rejection cause due to the fact the user equipment cannot be admitted; and   an operator-configured value provided at the time of rejection.   
     
     
         65 . The method of  claim 54 , wherein the report indicating failure to access the rejecting cell further comprises at least one of the following:
 latest measurements collected before offload to target cell;   identity of target cell where the rejection was experienced;   identity of source cell serving the user equipment before offload to target cell;   identity of the cell where the user equipment re-established connection after having been rejected by the target cell;   time from occurrence of the rejection to the time the failure report is signaled from the user equipment; and   bearer identifiers for bearers supported before offload to target cell.   
     
     
         66 . A method, performed by a network node, for steering of access between cells, wherein said method comprises the steps of:
 receiving, from a user equipment, a report indicating failure to access a cell, also referred to as a rejecting cell, due to internal reasons, independent of radio channel conditions, of another network node, also referred to as a rejecting network node, serving the rejecting cell; and   steering the access of the user equipment between cells by modifying at least one offloading parameter and/or threshold based on the report indicating failure to access the rejecting cell due to internal reasons of the rejecting network node serving the rejecting cell.   
     
     
         67 . The method of  claim 66 , wherein the step of steering the access of the user equipment between cells is performed between a cell served by the network node and one or more neighbouring cells, and the step of steering the access of the user equipment between the cell served by the network node and the one or more neighbouring cells comprises modifying an offloading parameter and/or threshold in the offload policy to the one or more neighbouring cells. 
     
     
         68 . The method of  claim 66 , wherein the method is performed in connection with offloading from a source cell to a target cell, wherein the rejecting cell is a rejecting target cell, and wherein the source cell and the target cell belong to the same radio access network, or the source cell and the target cell belong to different radio access networks. 
     
     
         69 . The method of  claim 68 , wherein the source cell and the target cell belong to different radio access networks of different radio access technologies. 
     
     
         70 . The method of  claim 69 , wherein a first radio access network is a cellular radio access network and a second radio access network is a Wireless Local Area Network, WLAN. 
     
     
         71 . The method of  claim 70 , wherein the cellular radio access network is a 3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP, cellular radio access network. 
     
     
         72 . The method of  claim 66 , wherein the step of steering the access of the user equipment between cells comprises avoiding offloading to the rejecting cell for a specific time window or avoiding offloading to the rejecting cell on specific services for a specific time window. 
     
     
         73 . The method of  claim 66 , wherein the report indicating failure to access a cell indicates a failure that is due to load conditions in the network node serving the rejecting cell. 
     
     
         74 . The method of  claim 66 , wherein the network node performing the method is a network node that is available to the user equipment after the user equipment has been rejected to access the rejecting cell served by the rejecting network node. 
     
     
         75 . The method of  claim 66 , wherein the network node performing the method is different from a source network node hosting a source cell from which offload towards the rejecting cell was originated. 
     
     
         76 . The method of  claim 66 , wherein the network node performing the method is the same as a source network node hosting a source cell from which offload towards the rejecting cell was originated. 
     
     
         77 . The method of  claim 76 , wherein the network node receives the report via an intermediate network node. 
     
     
         78 . The method of  claim 66 , wherein the network node uses information in the report to build statistics on failure events and to modify offloading policies accordingly. 
     
     
         79 . The method of  claim 78 , wherein the statistics on failure events are reported to an operation and maintenance system for optimization of network configuration. 
     
     
         80 . A user equipment configured to enable steering of access between cells,
 wherein the user equipment is configured to receive an indication of rejection to access a cell, also referred to as a rejecting cell, due to internal reasons, independent of radio channel conditions, of a network node serving the rejecting cell; and   wherein the user equipment is configured to send to another network node serving an available cell, different from the rejecting cell, a report indicating failure to access the rejecting cell due to internal reasons, independent of radio channel conditions, of the network node serving the rejecting cell.   
     
     
         81 . The user equipment of  claim 80 , wherein the user equipment is configured to send the report indicating failure to access the rejecting cell to enable modifying at least one offloading parameter and/or threshold used for steering of access of the user equipment between the available cell and neighbouring cell(s) based on the report. 
     
     
         82 . The user equipment of  claim 80 , wherein the user equipment is configured to operate in connection with offloading from a source cell to a target cell, and wherein the rejecting cell is a rejecting target cell, and wherein the source cell and the target cell belong to the same radio access network, or the source cell and the target cell belong to different radio access networks. 
     
     
         83 . The user equipment of  claim 82 , wherein the user equipment is configured to operate in connection with offloading from a source cell to a target cell, and wherein the source cell and the target cell belong to different radio access networks of different radio access technologies. 
     
     
         84 . The user equipment of  claim 83 , wherein one radio access network is a cellular radio access network and another radio access network is a Wireless Local Area Network, WLAN. 
     
     
         85 . The user equipment of  claim 84 , wherein the cellular radio access network is a 3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP, cellular radio access network. 
     
     
         86 . The user equipment of  claim 80 , wherein the user equipment is configured to receive the indication as an indication of a rejection that is due to load conditions in the network node serving the rejecting cell. 
     
     
         87 . The user equipment of  claim 80 , wherein the user equipment comprises at least one processor and a memory, said memory comprising instructions, which when executed on at least one processor cause the at least one processor to enable the steering of access between cells. 
     
     
         88 . A network node configured to steer access between cells,
 wherein the network node is configured to receive, from user equipment, a report indicating failure to access a cell, also referred to as a rejecting cell, due to internal reasons, independent of radio channel conditions, of another network node, also referred to as a rejecting network node, serving the rejecting cell; and   wherein the network node is configured to modify at least one offloading parameter and/or threshold used for steering the access of the user equipment between cells based on the report indicating failure to access the rejecting cell due to internal reasons of the rejecting network node serving the rejecting cell.   
     
     
         89 . The network node of  claim 88 , wherein the network node is configured to steer the access of the user equipment between a cell served by the network node and neighbouring cell(s), and the network node is configured to modify an offloading parameter and/or threshold in the offload policy to the neighbouring cell(s). 
     
     
         90 . The network node of  claim 88 , wherein the network node is configured to operate in connection with offloading from a source cell to a target cell, wherein the rejecting cell is a rejecting target cell, and wherein the source cell and the target cell belong to the same radio access network, or the source cell and the target cell belong to different radio access networks. 
     
     
         91 . The network node of  claim 90 , wherein the source cell and the target cell belong to different radio access networks of different radio access technologies. 
     
     
         92 . The network node of  claim 91 , wherein a first radio access network is a cellular radio access network and a second radio access network is a Wireless Local Area Network, WLAN. 
     
     
         93 . The network node of  claim 92 , wherein said cellular radio access network is a 3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP, cellular radio access network. 
     
     
         94 . The network node of  claim 88 , wherein the network node is configured to steer the access of the user equipment between cells by avoiding offloading to the rejecting cell for a specific time window or avoiding offloading to the rejecting cell on specific services for a specific time window. 
     
     
         95 . The network node of  claim 88 , wherein the network node is configured to receive a report indicating a failure that is due to load conditions in the network node serving the rejecting cell. 
     
     
         96 . The network node of  claim 88 , wherein the network node is a network node that is available to the user equipment after the user equipment has been rejected to access the rejecting cell served by the rejecting network node. 
     
     
         97 . The network node of  claim 88 , wherein the network node is different from a source network node hosting a source cell from which offload towards the rejecting cell was originated. 
     
     
         98 . The network node of  claim 88 , wherein the network node is a source network node hosting a source cell from which offload towards the rejecting cell was originated. 
     
     
         99 . The network node of  claim 88 , wherein the network node comprises at least one processor and a memory, said memory comprising instructions, which when executed on at least one processor cause the at least one processor to steer the access between cells. 
     
     
         100 . The network node of  claim 88 , wherein the network node is a base station or access point. 
     
     
         101 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program comprising instructions, which when executed by at least one processor of a user equipment configured for operation in a radio access network, cause the at least one processor to:
 process a indication received by the user equipment, including determining that the received indication indicates that cell access by the user equipment to a cell in the radio access network was rejected, said cell also referred to as a rejecting cell, where the rejection is due to reasons internal to a network node serving the rejecting cell and not due to radio channel conditions; and   send a report, for another network node serving an available cell, different from the rejecting cell, wherein the report indicates failure to access the rejecting cell due to internal reasons, independent of radio channel conditions, of the network node serving the rejecting cell.   
     
     
         102 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing a computer program comprising instructions, which when executed by at least one processor of a network node configured for operation in a radio access network, cause the at least one processor to:
 process a received report indicating a failure by a user equipment to access a network cell, said cell referred to as a rejecting cell, where the rejection is not due to radio channel conditions and instead is due to reasons internal to a network node serving the rejecting cell, said network node referred to as a rejecting network node; and   modify, based on the received report, at least one offloading parameter and/or threshold used for steering access of the user equipment between cells based on the report.   
     
     
         103 . A user equipment for enabling steering of access between network nodes, wherein the user equipment comprises:
 a receiver configured to receive an indication of rejection to access a cell, also referred to as a rejecting cell, due to internal reasons, independent of radio channel conditions, of a network node serving the rejecting cell; and   a processing circuit operatively associated with the receiver and configured to:
 produce a report indicating failure to access the rejecting cell due to internal reasons, independent of radio channel conditions, of the network node serving the rejecting cell; and 
 send the report, via a transmitter included in the user equipment, to another network node serving an available cell, different from the rejecting cell. 
   
     
     
         104 . A network node for steering of access of user equipment between network nodes, wherein the network node comprises:
 a receiver configured to receive a report, originating from user equipment, indicating failure to access a cell, also referred to as a rejecting cell, due to internal reasons, independent of radio channel conditions, of another network node, also referred to as a rejecting network node, serving the rejecting cell; and   a processing circuit operatively associated with the receiver and configured to modify, based on the report, at least one offloading parameter and/or threshold used for steering access of the user equipment between cells of different network nodes.   
     
     
         105 . A network node configured for serving a cell in a radio access network, communication circuitry configured for communicating wirelessly with a user equipment; and
 processing circuitry operatively associated with the communication circuitry and configured to:
 reject a user equipment access to the cell, based on reasons internal to the network node and independent of radio channel conditions with respect to the user equipment; and 
 send to the user equipment, via the communication circuitry, an indication of the rejection.