A method (100) for managing resource usage across domains in a communication network is disclosed. The communication network comprises a radio access domain, a core domain and a transport domain providing connectivity between the radio access domain and the core domain. The method comprises receiving from the core domain an indication of load status of gateway nodes in the core domain (110), receiving from the transport domain an indication of load status of transport resources in the transport domain (120), normalising across the core and transport domain a cost of using resources in each domain (130), calculating, on the basis of the normalised costs, optimal chains of resources in the core and transport domains for providing a service from different radio access nodes to different possible Access Point Names (APNs) (140), and sending to the core and transport domains information about the calculated optimal resource chains (150). Also disclosed are methods for managing resource usage in a core domain, a transport domain and a radio access domain of a communication network, together with cross domain, core domain, transport domain and radio access domain control elements.

A radio station (2) transmits or receives, to or from a radio terminal (1) in a second cell (23, 24), a CP message containing a NAS message or an RRC message or both, when a predetermined condition is satisfied. The second cell (23, 24) uses a RAT different from that of the first cell, and is used in addition and subordinate to the first cell. The predetermined condition relates to at least one of: (a) a content or type of the CP message; (b) a type of a signalling radio bearer used to transmit the CP message; (c) a transmission cause of the CP message; and (d) a type of a core network associated with the NAS message. It is thus, for example, possible to contributing to efficient transmission of control plane (CP) messages in a radio architecture that provides interworking of two different Radio Access Technologies (RATs).

A multi-band network node has selectable backhaul/fronthaul configurations. Network nodes provide multi-band operation to take advantage of higher Internet speeds and to support lower latency (> 2 Gbps, < 4 ms latency) applications. A greater Wi-Fi device count (capacity) is supported by implementing communication over additional bands. Increased bandwidth is made available between connected nodes by selectively combining backhaul throughputs. Hardware quality-of-service (QoS) is provided by splitting traffic flows for low latency and data applications. Network coverage is extended by dynamic assignment of backhaul connections and by configuring unused backhauls as fronthauls.

A communication method includes receiving, by a first terminal device, first information sent by a second terminal device. The first information includes information indicating a second beam selected by the second terminal device. The communication method also includes sending, by the first terminal device, (1) identification information of the second terminal device, or (2) identification information and the first information, to a network device. The first terminal device is a cluster head node, and the second terminal device is a member node of a cluster to which the first terminal device belongs.

To provide a low latency near RT RIC, some embodiments separate the RIC's functions into several different components that operate on different machines (e.g., execute on VMs or Pods) operating on the same host computer or different host computers. Some embodiments also provide high speed interfaces between these machines. Some or all of these interfaces operate in non-blocking, lockless manner in order to ensure that critical near RT RIC operations (e.g., datapath processes) are not delayed due to multiple requests causing one or more components to stall. In addition, each of these RIC components also has an internal architecture that is designed to operate in a non-blocking manner so that no one process of a component can block the operation of another process of the component. All of these low latency features allow the near RT RIC to serve as a high speed IO between the E2 nodes and the xApps.

Techniques for traffic steering are disclosed. A first signal characteristic of a first connection between an electronic device and a first wireless communications network is determined. A second signal characteristic of a second connection between the electronic device and a second wireless communications network is also determined. Based on the first signal characteristic and the second signal characteristic, the electronic device is prevented from attempting to establish the second connection until one or more establishment criteria are met.

Techniques for traffic steering are disclosed. A first signal characteristic of a first connection between an electronic device and a first wireless communications network is determined. A second signal characteristic of a second connection between the electronic device and a second wireless communications network is also determined. Based on the first signal characteristic and the second signal characteristic, the electronic device is prevented from attempting to establish the second connection until one or more establishment criteria are met.

A network controller is provided for use with a client device. The network controller includes a memory and a processor configured to execute instructions stored on the memory. The instructions when executed by the processor cause the network controller to set a value of a steering delay based on a steering trigger type, transmit a steering request to steer the client device from a first BSS ID to a second BSS ID, determine whether the client device has steered from the first BSS ID to the second BSS ID during the steering delay measured from the transmission of the steering request, and in response to a determination that the client device has not steered from the first BSS ID to the second BSS ID during the steering delay, increase the value of the steering delay by an increase amount and again transmit the steering request.

This application discloses a load relocation method, apparatus, and a system. The method includes determining, by a communications network entity, a target access management entity for load relocation; and sending, to an access network entity, an identifier of an original access management entity and an identifier of the target access management entity or an address of the target access management entity with respect to the access network entity. The access network entity sends a message from UE to the target access management entity based on the identifier of the original access management entity carried in the message from the UE. In the foregoing solution, signaling overheads in a load relocation process are reduced and load relocation efficiency is improved.

Method and apparatus for load balancing in a Cloud-radio access network (C-RAN) are disclosed. A method includes receiving control plane (CP) data associated with a user from a core network or a remote access point; and dispatching the CP data to a first user equipment (UE) virtualized network function component (VNFC) based on a first route.