WO2015058781A1

WO2015058781A1 - Dynamic access selection policy in cellular/non-cellular access system

Info

Publication number: WO2015058781A1
Application number: PCT/EP2013/071936
Authority: WO
Inventors: Tuija Helena Hurtta
Original assignee: Nokia Solutions And Networks Oy
Priority date: 2013-10-21
Filing date: 2013-10-21
Publication date: 2015-04-30

Abstract

Dynamic access selection policy in cellular/non-cellular access system There are provided measures for realizing a dynamic access selection policy in a cellular/non-cellular access system. Such measures exemplarily comprise provision of current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access (such as a 3GPP access network, e.g. GERAN, UTRAN or E-UTRAN) and non-cellular access (such as a trusted/untrusted non-3GPP access network, e.g. WiFi or WiMAX) from a policy control entity to an access selection entity, and establishment of an access selection rule for the at least one communication entity on the basis of the current location information of at least one communication entity by the access selection entity, said access selection rule defining preference of cellular access or non-cellular access for the at least one communication entity.

Description

Title Dynamic access selection policy in cellular/non-cellular access system Field

The present invention relates to a dynamic access selection policy in a cellular/non- cellular access system. More specifically, the present invention exemplarily relates to measures (including methods, apparatuses and computer program products) for realizing a dynamic access selection policy in a cellular/non-cellular access system.

Background

In current communication systems according to 3GPP specifications, it is (increasingly) envisaged that a communication entity such as a user equipment (UE) is capable of establishing network connections via different accesses or access networks. Specifically, a communication entity such as a user equipment (UE) may be capable of accessing a communication system via cellular access and/or non-cellular access, wherein the cellular access may be provided by a 3GPP access network, such as e.g. GERAN, UTRAN or E- UTRAN, and the non-cellular access may be provided by a (trusted/untrusted) non-3GPP access network, such as e.g. WiFi or WiMAX. In such cellular/non-cellular access system, an accordingly enabled communication entity may be offloaded from the cellular access to the non-cellular access so as to save capacity via the cellular access, e.g. when there is a high load via the cellular access. Namely, operators may prefer that users access the system e.g. via WiFi rather than via cellular access in some locations. This could be the case e.g. in crowded areas (e.g. train stations and airports). According to 3GPP specifications, a corresponding access selection policy in such cellular/non-cellular access system is typically realized by an access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF) which resides in a core network part of the communication system. In this regard, the ANDSF gives e.g. rules for access selection to UEs. With these rules, the UEs can e.g. select the most suitable access (e.g. WiFi or cellular) either for all data transfer or for certain applications/services. Thereby, traffic steering may be realized.

In order to ensure efficient traffic steering in view of currently prevailing conditions, it is desirable that the access selection policy is realized dynamically using current location information of communication entities.

Accordingly, there is a demand for realizing a dynamic access selection policy in a cellular/non-cellular access system using current location information of communication entities.

Summary

Various exemplary embodiments of the present invention aim at addressing at least part of the above issues and/or problems and drawbacks.

Various aspects of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are set out in the appended claims. According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising obtaining, from a policy control entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and establishing, by an access selection entity, an access selection rule for the at least one communication entity on the basis of the obtained current location information, said access selection rule defining preference of cellular access or non-cellular access for the at least one communication entity.

According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method comprising acquiring, from a gateway entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and providing, from a policy control entity to an access selection entity, the acquired current location information of the at least one communication entity. According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising an interface configured to communicate with at least another apparatus, a memory configured to store computer program code, and a processor configured to cause the apparatus to perform: obtaining, from a policy control entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and establishing, by an access selection entity, an access selection rule for the at least one communication entity on the basis of the obtained current location information, said access selection rule defining preference of cellular access or non-cellular access for the at least one communication entity.

According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising an interface configured to communicate with at least another apparatus, a memory configured to store computer program code, and a processor configured to cause the apparatus to perform: acquiring, from a gateway entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and providing, from a policy control entity to an access selection entity, the acquired current location information of the at least one communication entity.

According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for obtaining, from a policy control entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and means for establishing, by an access selection entity, an access selection rule for the at least one communication entity on the basis of the obtained current location information, said access selection rule defining preference of cellular access or non-cellular access for the at least one communication entity. According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for acquiring, from a gateway entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and means for providing, from a policy control entity to an access selection entity, the acquired current location information of the at least one communication entity. According to an exemplary aspect of the present invention, there is provided a computer program product comprising computer-executable computer program code which, when the program code is executed (or run) on a computer or the program is run on a computer (e.g. a computer of an apparatus according to any one of the aforementioned apparatus- related exemplary aspects of the present invention), is configured to cause the computer to carry out the method according to any one of the aforementioned method-related exemplary aspects of the present invention. The computer program product may comprise or may be embodied as a (tangible) computer-readable (storage) medium or the like, on which the computer-executable computer program code is stored, and/or the program is directly loadable into an internal memory of the computer or a processor thereof. Further developments and/or modifications of the aforementioned exemplary aspects of the present invention are set out in the following.

By way of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, a dynamic access selection policy in a cellular/non-cellular access system could be realized using current location information of communication entities.

Brief description of the drawings

In the following, the present invention will be described in greater detail by way of non- limiting examples with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which

Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a first example of methods according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a second example of methods according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention,

Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a third example of methods according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a procedural sequence according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention,

Figure 5 shows a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a procedure of location information retrieval in a basic scenario according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention,

Figure 6 shows a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a procedure of location information retrieval per user category according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention,

Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a procedure of location information retrieval per system area according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention,

Figure 8 shows a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a procedure of location information retrieval in terms of relevance for an access selection rule according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and Figure 9 shows a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a structure of apparatuses according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

Detailed description of drawings and embodiments of the present invention The present invention is described herein with reference to particular non-limiting examples and to what are presently considered to be conceivable embodiments of the present invention. A person skilled in the art will appreciate that the invention is by no means limited to these examples, and may be more broadly applied. It is to be noted that the following description of the present invention and its embodiments mainly refers to specifications being used as non-limiting examples for certain exemplary network configurations and deployments. Namely, the present invention and its embodiments are mainly described in relation to 3GPP specifications being used as non- limiting examples for certain exemplary network configurations and deployments. As such, the description of exemplary embodiments given herein specifically refers to terminology which is directly related thereto. Such terminology is only used in the context of the presented non-limiting examples, and does naturally not limit the invention in any way. Rather, any other network configuration or system deployment, etc. may also be utilized as long as compliant with the features described herein.

In particular, the present invention and its embodiments may be applicable in any communication system with cellular access and non-cellular access, wherein communication entities are capable of accessing the communication system via the cellular access and/or the non-cellular access. For example, the cellular access may be provided by a 3GPP access network, such as e.g. GERAN, UTRAN or E-UTRAN, and the non-cellular access may be provided by a (trusted/untrusted) non-3GPP access network, such as e.g. WiFi or WiMAX. For example, the present invention and its embodiments may be applicable in a correspondingly configured LTE/LTE-A communication system. Hereinafter, various embodiments and implementations of the present invention and its aspects or embodiments are described using several variants and/or alternatives. It is generally noted that, according to certain needs and constraints, all of the described variants and/or alternatives may be provided alone or in any conceivable combination (also including combinations of individual features of the various variants and/or alternatives).

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, in general terms, there are provided measures and mechanisms for (realizing) a dynamic access selection policy in a cellular/non-cellular access system could be realized using current location information of communication entities.

In the following, various methods and procedures according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described with reference to Figures 1 to 8. The thus described methods and procedures mainly relate to the functionality of an access selection entity (which may also be referred as a traffic steering entity), which is exemplified herein by an access network discovery and selection function (ANDSF) or an ANDSF element, and the functionality of a policy control entity (which may also be referred as a policy decision entity), which is exemplified herein by a policy and charging rules function (PCRF) or a PCRF element. In this description, a user equipment (UE) is adopted as a non-limiting example of a communication entity. Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a first example of methods according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. As shown in Figure 1 , a method according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention relates to the functionality of a policy control entity. Such method comprises an operation (1 1 10) of acquiring, from a gateway entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and an operation (1 120) of providing, from the policy control entity to an access selection entity, the acquired current location information of the at least one communication entity.

As shown in Figure 1 , a method according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention relates to the functionality of an access selection entity. Such method comprises an operation (1210) of obtaining, from a policy control entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and an operation (1220) of establishing an access selection rule for the at least one communication entity on the basis of the obtained current location information, said access selection rule defining preference of cellular access or non-cellular access for the at least one communication entity.

As shown by a dashed arrow, the access selection entity may request current location information of at least one communication entity (for all or selected UEs) from the policy control entity, and the policy control entity may provide the requested current location information of at least one communication entity (which is acquired in advance) to the access selection entity, i.e. perform the providing operation 1 120, upon such request. Similarly, the policy control entity may perform both the acquiring operation 1 1 10 and the providing operation 1 120 upon such request from the access selection entity (in this case, in the example of Figure 1 , the dashed arrow illustrating such request would be located above the acquiring operation 1 1 10 instead of in-between the acquiring operation 1 1 10 and the providing operation 1 120).

Accordingly, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access is used as a criterion for traffic steering, i.e. a traffic steering policy, in terms of access selection of the at least one communication entity.

Accordingly, the access selection policy, e.g. an ANDSF, is provided with (or retrieves) current UE location information, which could relate to all (available or operative) UEs in the communication system or a subset thereof, i.e. selective UEs out of all (available or operative) UEs in the communication system. The current UE location information can be obtained either on a periodic basis or upon request or upon a location change of the at least one communication entity. In order to continuously ensure up-to-date location information, the current UE location information can be obtained from any conceivable communication network entity (e.g. originating from an access system/network) and be updated upon a change of UE location (e.g. a change of cell identifier, routing area identifier, location area code (LAC), tracking area identifier or geographical location information (e.g. geographical coordinates), or the like in case of cellular access, a MAC address of an access point or the like in case of a non-cellular access, etc.). The UE location information may be, but is not limited to, any one or any combination of the above-mentioned parameters.

Using such available UE location information, the access selection policy, e.g. an ANDSF, can detect when certain UEs are located in a certain location/area. Thus, the access selection policy, e.g. an ANDSF, is enabled to establish an access selection rule for at least one UE of accordingly detected UEs for which corresponding information is present, i.e. to define preference of cellular access or non-cellular access for the UE in question in the certain area of the communication system. Namely, an appropriate access selection rule can be established for each UE residing at a location within (or related to) an area for which specific load information is available (e.g. an area known/expected to be crowded or highly loaded).

As an example, for all UEs with a location in a certain area known/expected to be crowded (e.g. a train station or an airport), i.e. to be highly loaded with respect to cellular access, the access selection policy, e.g. an ANDSF, can establish access selection rules to prefer non-cellular access such as WiFi over cellular access.

As described below, the access selection policy, e.g. an ANDSF, can also establish access selection rules selectively for certain users (UEs). As an example, the access selection policy, e.g. an ANDSF, can establish access selection rules to prefer non-cellular access such as WiFi over cellular access to bronze subscribers and access selection rules to prefer cellular access over non-cellular access such as WiFi to gold (and silver) subscribers in the same area (when assuming that gold subscribers are users of highest ranking, followed by silver and bronze subscribers). In this regard, the access selection policy, e.g. an ANDSF, may be supported/assisted by the policy control function, e.g. a PCRF, as explained below.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the access selection rule can relate to (or be part of) an inter-system mobility policy (ISMP) or an inter-system routing policy (ISRP) of/from/by the ANDSF.

Figure 2 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a second example of methods according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

In a method at the policy control entity, as shown in Figure 2, operations 21 10 and 2120 correspond to the operations 1 1 10 and 1 120 of Figure 1 , and reference is made to the above description of Figure 1 for details in this regard. In a method at the access selection entity, as shown in Figure 2, the operations 2210 and 2220 correspond to the operations 1210 and 1220 of Figure 1 , and reference is made to the above description of Figure 1 for details in this regard. Also, the requesting functionality from the access selection entity to the policy control entity may be similar to that described in connection with Figure 1 .

As shown in Figure 2, a method according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, which relates to the access selection entity, additionally comprises an operation (2200) of issuing the established access selection rule for the at least one communication entity from the access selection entity to the at least one communication entity, respectively. For example, such issuance of the access selection rule may comprise transmission thereof from the access selection entity, e.g. an ANDSF, to the policy control entity, e.g. a PCRF, which may then forward the access selection rule towards the at least one communication entity. Similarly, such issuance of the access selection rule may comprise transmission thereof from the access selection entity, e.g. an ANDSF, directly to the at least one communication entity, i.e. UE, via a corresponding interface such as an ANDSF-UE interface. Accordingly, each access selection rule can be provided to the respective UE so as to instruct the UE to act accordingly in terms of system/network access.

Figure 3 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a third example of methods according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

In a method at the policy control entity, as shown in Figure 3, operations 31 10 and 3120 correspond to the operations 1 1 10 and 1 120 of Figure 1 , and reference is made to the above description of Figure 1 for details in this regard. In a method at the access selection entity, as shown in Figure 3, the operations 3210 and 3230 correspond to the operations 1210 and 1220 of Figure 1 or the operations 2210 and 2220 of Figure 2, and reference is made to the above description of Figures 1 and 2 for details in this regard. Although not shown in Figure 3, the method at the access selection entity may also comprise an operation of issuing the access selection rule corresponding to the operation 2230 of Figure 2, and reference is made to the above description of Figure 2 for details in this regard. Also, the requesting functionality from the access selection entity to the policy control entity may be similar to that described in connection with Figure 1.

As shown in Figure 3, a method according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, which relates to the access selection entity, additionally comprises an operation (3220) of managing load information for at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access in a certain area of the communication system. Then, the access selection rule for the at least one communication entity is established in operation 3230 on the basis of the obtained current location information and the managed load information.

For example, load information may be congestion information, while the present invention is not limited to such kind of load information but can adopt any kind of information being indicative of the load or any conceivable load index for at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access in a certain area of the communication system. For a cellular access, the load information, such as e.g. congestion information, may be configured/provided per cell, per routing area, location area, tracking area, or the like. For a non-cellular access, the load information, such as e.g. congestion information, may be configured/provided per access point, e.g. per MAC address of an access point, or the like. For example, as indicated in Figure 3 for illustrative purposes only, such load information management may be based (at least partly) on load information provision by the policy control entity. Namely, as shown in Figure 3, a method according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, which relates to the policy control entity, additionally comprises an operation (3130) of acquiring load information for at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access in a certain area of the communication system, and an operation (3140) of providing, from the policy control entity to the access selection entity, the acquired load information. Although Figure 3 exemplarily illustrates that the load information acquisition and provision is accomplished after the location information acquisition and provision, it is noted that the acquisition and provision of the location information and the load information are independent from each other so that these operations may be realized in any arbitrary order or, at least partly, parallel or simultaneous to each other. The acquiring operation 3130 and/or the providing operation 3140 at the policy control entity may be performed either periodically or on demand, i.e. upon request from the access selection rule. That is, although not shown in Figure 3, the access selection entity may request load information from the policy control entity, and the policy control entity may provide the requested load information to the access selection entity, i.e. perform the providing operation 3140, upon such request. Similarly, the policy control entity may perform both the acquiring operation 3130 and the providing operation 3140 upon such request from the access selection entity (i.e. the request could be located prior to the acquiring operation 3130 instead of in-between the acquiring operation 3130 and the providing operation 3140). For example, such request for load information may be combined or associated with a request for current location information (as indicated by a dashed arrow in Figure 3), and these two requests may be transmitted commonly or separately (possibly, at the same time or shortly after each another), or the request for load information may be transmitted upon obtaining the (associated) current location at the access selection request.

Accordingly, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access and available load information for at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access in a certain area of the communication system can be used as criteria for traffic steering, i.e. a traffic steering policy, in terms of access selection of the at least one communication entity.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, load information for cellular access in a certain area of the communication system, i.e. load information for a radio access network (RAN) or radio access technology (RAT), may be provided from the cellular domain (RAN/RAT) to the policy control entity, e.g. the PCRF, either by signaling (e.g. via the GGSN/PGW or via an operation and management entity) or by adding such load information to user plane packets (e.g. forwarded via the GGSN/PGW). Namely, RAN/RAT load information may be provided via the Gx interface or reference point, i.e. the GW-PCRF interface or reference point. As mentioned above, the RAN/RAT load information may be configured/provided per cell, per routing area, location area, tracking area, or the like. According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, obtaining location information at the access selection entity according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention may comprise an operation of requesting the current location information of the at least one communication entity from a policy control entity, and an operation of receiving the requested current location information of the at least one communication entity from the policy control entity. Similarly, acquiring location information at the policy control entity according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention may comprise an operation of receiving a request for the current location information of the at least one communication entity from the access selection entity, and an operation of reporting the requested current location information of the at least one communication entity to the access selection entity.

In this regard, reference is made to Figure 5 which shows a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a procedure of location information retrieval in a basic scenario according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. In this example arrangement, the ANDSF represents an example of an access selection entity, the PCRF represents an example of a policy control entity, and the GW represents an example of a gateway entity.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, the requested current location information can relate to a specified set of communication entities, and the access selection rule can be established for at least one of the specified set of communication entities. Accordingly, the access selection entity, e.g. the ANDSF, can establish the access selection rule selectively for certain UEs rather than for all (available or operative) UEs. Such UE-selective operation is effective for reducing an amount of signaling (i.e. signaling overhead), since only UE location information for the requested UEs is to be provided - via the network/system - to the access selection entity, e.g. the ANDSF.

Such UE selection may be based on various parameters or criteria. For example, the UE selection may be based on user category or categories and/or UE location or area. With such UE-selective location information, the access selection entity, e.g. the ANDSF, can detect when certain users are in a certain location or area and can establish e.g. access selection rules preferring WiFi access over cellular access selectively to these users (UEs).

As a first example, the specified set of communication entities (UEs) can include communication entities (UEs) associated with at least one specific user (or subscriber) category. That is, UE location can be requested to be provided only for UEs associated with a specific user category out of one or more predefined user categories. Accordingly, it is possible to request location information only for certain user categorie(s) (e.g. bronze subscribers). To this end, the access selection entity, e.g. the ANDSF, informs the policy control entity e.g. the PCRF, on the user categorie(s) for which location information is requested. The policy control entity, e.g. the PCRF, can know the categories of users (UEs) and can request UE location information only for relevant user categorie(s). Besides some sort of ranking of users (from the perspective of the operator), user categories can also refer to any UE-based parameter or criterion suitable for some sort of distinction (e.g. length of time of network dis-/connection, subscription/contract details (e.g. guaranteed QoS), preceding traffic volume, or the like). Signaling amount (overhead) can thus be reduced when it is set/known in advance that an access selection rule (or policy) is to be adopted for UEs of a specific user category only (due to any arbitrary reason). In this regard, reference is made to Figure 6 which shows a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a procedure of location information retrieval per user category according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. In this example arrangement, the ANDSF represents an example of an access selection entity, the PCRF represents an example of a policy control entity, and the GW represents an example of a gateway entity. As a second example, the specified set of communication entities (UEs) can include communication entities (UEs) currently located in a specific area of the communication system. This specific area may for example be the same as or a part of the certain area of the communication system, for which the load information is managed (so that any user residing in an area known or expected to be crowded or loaded can be specifically addressed in terms of access selection rules accordingly). That is, UE location can be requested to be provided only for UEs located in a specific area of the communication system out of (all areas of) the entire communication system. Accordingly, it is possible to request location information only for certain users in a certain location/area. To this end, the access selection entity, e.g. the ANDSF informs the policy control entity, e.g. the PCRF, on the location/area for which location information is requested. The policy control entity, e.g. the PCRF, can request this information from the access network (e.g. a gateway entity such as PGW/GGSN). If users are in cellular access, the PGW/GGSN can request information from the MME/SGSN by giving the location, and the MME/SGSN can report to the PGW/GGSN when information on users in the location changes. If users are in non-cellular access, the PGW/GGSN can know and report the requested information itself. Signaling amount (overhead) can thus be reduced when it is set/known in advance that an access selection rule (or policy) is to be adopted for UEs in a specific location/area only (due to any arbitrary reason).

In this regard, reference is made to Figure 7 which shows a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a procedure of location information retrieval per system area according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. In this example arrangement, the ANDSF represents an example of an access selection entity, the PCRF represents an example of a policy control entity, and the GW represents an example of a gateway entity. In the procedure of Figure 7, signaling between ANDSF and PCRF, i.e. via the ANDSF- PCRF interface, is effected on a location basis, i.e. per location or (piece/item of) location information. As mentioned above, signaling of the load information for a cellular access may be effected per cell, per routing area, location area, tracking area, or the like, and signaling of the load information for a non-cellular access may be effected per access point, e.g. per MAC address of an access point, or the like.

As a third example, current location information of communication entities (UEs) may be requested and/or reported in view of a specific service used by these UEs. In particular, it may be differentiated whether or not the service used by a UE is applicable for preferred access selection in accordance with an access selection rule. Thereby, it may be decided for which users it makes sense to perform location information retrieval and/or access selection rule establishment for traffic steering purposes, thereby saving resources. For example, if an IMS APN or an emergency APN is in use, the user is preferred to utilize cellular access (but not non-cellular access) due to the nature of the related service. Namely, for IMS services such as voice, it is typically recommended to use cellular access rather than non-cellular access such as WiFi. As PDN connections/bearers which carry traffic for IMS services have a specific Access Point Name (e.g. IMS APN, emergency APN, etc.), the IMS service may be identified/recognized on the basis of the APN in use. The PCRF typically knows which APNs are in use, and thus which services are in use, by users. If a user has e.g. IMS APN or emergency APN in use, it does not make sense to send a policy in the form of an access selection rule to prefer WiFi over cellular to this user, for example. The PCRF could then decide not to send location information of this user to the ANDSF.

Accordingly, the requested and/or received current location information of the at least one communication entity may relate to communication entities using a service for which preferred access selection in accordance with an access selection rule is applicable, and/or a method at the access selection entity may further comprise an operation of obtaining an indication of a service used by the at least one communication entity from the policy control entity. When such indication indicates that the service used by at least one communication entity is a service for which preferred access selection in accordance with an access selection rule is not applicable, an access selection rule is not required for the at least one communication entity, and thus establishing and issuing of such access selection rule may be omitted at/by the access selection entity. Similarly, a method at the policy control entity may further comprise an operation of determining whether a service used by the at least one communication entity is a service for which preferred access selection in accordance with an access selection rule defining preference of cellular access or non-cellular access is applicable, wherein the current location information of the at least one communication entity may be acquired from the gateway entity and/or reported to the access selection entity only when the service is determined to be a service for which preferred access selection in accordance with an access selection rule is applicable, and/or the reporting may comprise indicating the service used by the at least one communication entity to the access selection entity. In this regard, reference is made to Figure 8 which shows a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a procedure of location information retrieval in terms of relevance for an access selection rule according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. In this example arrangement, the ANDSF represents an example of an access selection entity, the PCRF represents an example of a policy control entity, and the GW represents an example of a gateway entity.

In this example, the PCRF may for example decide not to request location reporting for a user using a service which is not applicable for preferred access selection in accordance with an access selection rule, such as a UE currently using an IMS APN or an emergency APN, and thus refrain from reporting the location information for such UE, thereby inhibiting the ANDSF to establish an access selection rule for the UE. The PCRF may alternatively or additionally inform the ANDSF about usage of such inapplicable service (e.g. an IMS service, and emergency service, etc.) when reporting location information of the UE. Thereby, the ANDSF may device to refrain from establishing an access selection rule for the UE using such inapplicable service (despite the availability of its location information).

It is noted that determination of the APN in use is described as a non-limiting example for determining the used service of a UE, but any other technique could be equally adopted in this regard.

It is to be noted that the aforementioned UE selection approaches could also be combined. Namely, besides establishing an access selection rule (or policy) for UEs with a specific user category (irrespective of their location) or for UEs with a specific location (irrespective of their user category), an access selection rule (or policy) could also be established for UEs with a specific user category, which are located at a specific location. Also, an access selection rule may be established for UEs using a specific service, irrespective of having a specific user category and/or being located at a specific location.

Figure 4 shows a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a procedural sequence according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. In this example arrangement, the ANDSF represents an example of an access selection entity, the PCRF represents an example of a policy control entity, the PGW/GGSN represents an example of a gateway entity, and the UE represents an example of a communication entity. As shown in Figure 4, an example of a procedure according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention comprises the following sequence of operations. In a first operation, the ANDSF informs a PCRF that it wants to receive UE location information, i.e. the ANDSF requests current UE location information (for all or selected UEs) from the PCRF. In a second operation, the PCRF informs a PGW/GSSN (i.e. an access network/system) that it wants to receive UE location information, i.e. the PCRF requests current UE location information from the PGW/GGSN (in accordance with the request from the ANDSF). In a third operation, the PGW/GGSN provides (or reports) the requested current UE location information to the PCRF. In a fourth operation, the PCRF provides (or reports) the requested current UE location information (as obtained from the PGW/GGSN) to the ANDSF after obtaining the same from the PGW/GGSN. Based thereon, the ANDSF establishes an access selection rule (or policy) for each UE in question and, in a fifth operation, issues (or sends) the established access selection rule (or policy) to the corresponding UE, respectively. Bay way of the thus received access selection rule (or policy), the UE is steered or instructed to use a preferred access, and may thus operator accordingly based thereon, i.e. re-/establish a corresponding network connection via the preferred access or access network.

In the context of UE location retrieval, the PGW/GGSN can retrieve the requested UE location information locally and/or remotely. For example, when the UE in question is already in WiFi access, the PGW/GGSN knows the UE location information and can locally retrieve the same. For example, when the UE is already in cellular access, the PGW/GGSN does not know the UE location information but can request and obtain the UE location information from a MME/SGSN (as indicated by operations 2a and 2b).

Accordingly, an interface or reference point is defined between the ANDSF and the PCRF, via which a request for UE location information and a report/transmission of UE location information can be exchanged, according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention.

It is to be noted that the above example of a procedural sequence merely represents a non-limiting example adopted for illustrative purposed, while the present invention and its embodiments are equally applicable in/for other procedural sequence as well as in/for other underlying network/system deployments or architectures. More specifically, retrieving of UE location information via PCRF and PGW/GGSN is exemplarily described above, while it is also possible that e.g. the ANDSF or the PCRF obtains UE location information from other nodes (e.g. GMLC, HSS, etc.), or the UE may also itself provide its UE location information to the ANDSF e.g. in a specific location.

Generally, the current location information referred to above may equally be cellular location information, at least when the communication entity in question is currently in cellular access, or non-cellular location information, at least when the communication entity in question is currently in non-cellular access. Examples of cellular location information may comprise e.g. a cell identifier, a routing area identifier, a tracking area identifier, LAC, geographical location information (e.g. geographical coordinates), or the like. Examples of non-cellular location information may comprise e.g. a MAC address of an access point, HESSID, SSID, BSSID, or the like.

By virtue of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as evident from the above, a dynamic access selection policy in a cellular/non-cellular access system could be realized using current location information of communication entities. Stated in different words, exemplary embodiments of the present invention proposes a mechanism for access selection of communication entities in a cellular/non-cellular access system, in which location information is utilized for establishing dynamic access selection rules (or realizing dynamic ANDSF functionality). Accordingly, traffic steering, i.e. a traffic steering policy (in the form of an access selection rule), may be adopted, which is configured per location.

By way of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, traffic steering may be realized, especially efficient traffic steering in view of currently prevailing conditions. Namely, communication entities such as user equipments (UEs), i.e. users, in specific locations may be steered to use a preferred access, i.e. an operator-preferred access (of a cellular network/system operator), namely a non-cellular access such as WiFi or WiMAX instead of a cellular access in crowded areas.

By way of exemplary embodiments of the present invention, up-to-date location information may be ensured and/or signaling amount (overhead) may be reduced by a UE-selective approach and/or the like. Further effects achievable by way of exemplary embodiments of the present invention are derivable from the above description accordingly.

The above-described methods, procedures and functions may be implemented by respective functional elements, processors, or the like, as described below.

While in the foregoing exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described mainly with reference to methods, procedures and functions, corresponding exemplary embodiments of the present invention also cover respective apparatuses, network nodes and systems, including both software and/or hardware thereof.

Respective exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described below referring to Figure 9, while for the sake of brevity reference is made to the detailed description of respective corresponding configurations/setups, schemes, methods and functionality, principles and operations according to Figures 1 to 8.

Figure 9 shows a schematic diagram illustrating an example of a structure of apparatuses according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention. In Figure 9, the solid line blocks are basically configured to perform respective operations as described above. The entirety of solid line blocks are basically configured to perform the methods and operations as described above, respectively. With respect to Figure 9, it is to be noted that the individual blocks are meant to illustrate respective functional blocks implementing a respective function, process or procedure, respectively. Such functional blocks are implementation-independent, i.e. may be implemented by means of any kind of hardware or software, respectively. The lines interconnecting individual blocks are meant to illustrate an operational coupling there-between, which may be a physical and/or logical coupling, which on the one hand is implementation-independent (e.g. wired or wireless) and on the other hand may also comprise an arbitrary number of intermediary functional entities not shown.

Further, in Figure 9, only those functional blocks are illustrated, which relate to any one of the above-described methods, procedures and functions. A skilled person will acknowledge the presence of any other conventional functional blocks required for an operation of respective structural arrangements, such as e.g. a power supply, a central processing unit, respective memories or the like. Among others, memories are provided for storing programs or program instructions for controlling the individual functional entities to operate as described herein. As indicated in Figure 9, according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, any apparatus 10 may comprise at least one processor 1 1 and at least one memory 12 (and possibly also at least one interface 13), which may be connected by a bus 14 or the like, respectively. An accordingly constituted apparatus may be (part of) any communication entity, communication network entity, a respective function, or the like, as described above.

The processor 1 1 and/or the interface 13 of the apparatus 10 may also include a modem or the like to facilitate communication over a (hardwire or wireless) link, respectively. The interface 13 of the apparatus 10 may include a suitable transceiver coupled to one or more antennas or communication means for (hardwire or wireless) communications with the linked or connected device(s), respectively. The interface 13 of the apparatus 10 is generally configured to communicate with at least one other apparatus.

The memory 12 of the apparatus 10 may store respective programs assumed to include program instructions or computer program code that, when executed by the respective processor, enables the respective electronic device or apparatus to operate in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of the present invention. For example, the memory 12 of the apparatus 10 may store UE location information and/or load information and access selection rules (or policies), at least when the apparatus relates to an access selection entity, for example.

In general terms, respective devices/apparatuses (and/or parts thereof) may represent means for performing respective operations and/or exhibiting respective functionalities, and/or the respective devices (and/or parts thereof) may have functions for performing respective operations and/or exhibiting respective functionalities.

In view of the above, the thus illustrated apparatus 10 is suitable for use in practicing the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as described herein. When in the subsequent description it is stated that the processor (or some other means) is configured to perform some function, this is to be construed to be equivalent to a description stating that a (i.e. at least one) processor or corresponding circuitry, potentially in cooperation with computer program code stored in the memory of the respective apparatus, is configured to cause the apparatus to perform at least the thus mentioned function. Also, such function is to be construed to be equivalently implementable by specifically configured circuitry or means for performing the respective function (i.e. the expression "processor configured to [cause the apparatus to] perform xxx-ing" is construed to be equivalent to an expression such as "means for xxx-ing").

The thus illustrated apparatus 10 may represent a (part of a) an access selection entity such as an ANDSF or ANDSF element, or the like, according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and it may be configured to perform a procedure and/or exhibit a functionality as described in any one of Figures 1 to 8 (for the access selection entity and/or the ANDSF).

In this case, the apparatus 10 or its processor 1 1 (possibly together with computer program code stored in the memory 12), in its most basic form, is configured to obtain, from a policy control entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and establish, by an access selection entity, an access selection rule for the at least one communication entity on the basis of the obtained current location information, said access selection rule defining preference of cellular access or non- cellular access for the at least one communication entity.

The thus illustrated apparatus 10 may represent a (part of a) policy control entity such as a PCRF or PCRF element, or the like, according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, and it may be configured to perform a procedure and/or exhibit a functionality as described in any one of Figures 1 to 8 (for the policy control entity and/or the PCRF).

In this case, the apparatus 10 or its processor 1 1 (possibly together with computer program code stored in the memory 12), in its most basic form, is configured to acquire, from a gateway entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non- cellular access, and provide, from a policy control entity to an access selection entity, the acquired current location information of the at least one communication entity.

As mentioned above, any apparatus according to exemplifying embodiments of the present invention may be structured by comprising respective means for performing corresponding operations, procedures and/or functions. For example, such means may be implemented/realized on the basis of an apparatus structure, as exemplified in Figure 9, i.e. by one or more processors 1 1 , one or more memories 12, one or more connectors 13, or any combination thereof.

Referring to Figures 1 to 3, an apparatus according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, which relates to an access selection entity, may comprise means for obtaining current location information of at least one communication entity, and means for establishing an access selection rule for the at least one communication entity on the basis of the obtained current location information.

Referring to Figures 1 to 3, an apparatus according to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, which relates to a policy control entity, may comprise means for acquiring current location information of at least one communication entity, and means for providing the acquired current location information of the at least one communication entity to an access selection entity.

For further details regarding the operability/functionality of the individual apparatuses, reference is made to the above description in connection with any one of Figures 1 to 8, respectively.

According to exemplarily embodiments of the present invention, any one of the processor, the memory and the interface may be implemented as individual modules, chips, chipsets, circuitries or the like, or one or more of them can be implemented as a common module, chip, chipset, circuitry or the like, respectively.

According to exemplarily embodiments of the present invention, a system may comprise any conceivable combination of the thus depicted devices/apparatuses and other network elements, which are configured to cooperate as described above. In general, it is to be noted that respective functional blocks or elements according to above-described aspects can be implemented by any known means, either in hardware and/or software, respectively, if it is only adapted to perform the described functions of the respective parts. The mentioned method steps can be realized in individual functional blocks or by individual devices, or one or more of the method steps can be realized in a single functional block or by a single device.

Generally, any method step is suitable to be implemented as software or by hardware without changing the idea of the present invention. Such software may be software code independent and can be specified using any known or future developed programming language, such as e.g. Java, C++, C, and Assembler, as long as the functionality defined by the method steps is preserved. Such hardware may be hardware type independent and can be implemented using any known or future developed hardware technology or any hybrids of these, such as MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor), CMOS (Complementary MOS), BiMOS (Bipolar MOS), BiCMOS (Bipolar CMOS), ECL (Emitter Coupled Logic), TTL (Transistor-Transistor Logic), etc., using for example ASIC (Application Specific IC (Integrated Circuit)) components, FPGA (Field-programmable Gate Arrays) components, CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device) components or DSP (Digital Signal Processor) components. A device/apparatus may be represented by a semiconductor chip, a chipset, or a (hardware) module comprising such chip or chipset; this, however, does not exclude the possibility that a functionality of a device/apparatus or module, instead of being hardware implemented, be implemented as software in a (software) module such as a computer program or a computer program product comprising executable software code portions for execution/being run on a processor. A device may be regarded as a device/apparatus or as an assembly of more than one device/apparatus, whether functionally in cooperation with each other or functionally independently of each other but in a same device housing, for example.

Apparatuses and/or means or parts thereof can be implemented as individual devices, but this does not exclude that they may be implemented in a distributed fashion throughout the system, as long as the functionality of the device is preserved. Such and similar principles are to be considered as known to a skilled person.

Software in the sense of the present description comprises software code as such comprising code means or portions or a computer program or a computer program product for performing the respective functions, as well as software (or a computer program or a computer program product) embodied on a tangible medium such as a computer-readable (storage) medium having stored thereon a respective data structure or code means/portions or embodied in a signal or in a chip, potentially during processing thereof.

The present invention also covers any conceivable combination of method steps and operations described above, and any conceivable combination of nodes, apparatuses, modules or elements described above, as long as the above-described concepts of methodology and structural arrangement are applicable.

In view of the above, there are provided measures for realizing a dynamic access selection policy in a cellular/non-cellular access system. Such measures exemplarily comprise provision of current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access (such as a 3GPP access network, e.g. GERAN, UTRAN or E-UTRAN) and non-cellular access (such as a trusted/untrusted non-3GPP access network, e.g. WiFi or WiMAX) from a policy control entity to an access selection entity, and establishment of an access selection rule for the at least one communication entity on the basis of the current location information of at least one communication entity by the access selection entity, said access selection rule defining preference of cellular access or non-cellular access for the at least one communication entity.

Even though the invention is described above with reference to the examples according to the accompanying drawings, it is to be understood that the invention is not restricted thereto. Rather, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention can be modified in many ways without departing from the scope of the inventive idea as disclosed herein. List of acronyms and abbreviations

3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project

ANDSF Access Network Discovery and Selection Function

APN Access Point Name

BSSID Basic Service Set identifier E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN

EDGE Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution

GERAN GSM/EDGE Radio Access Network

GGSN Gateway GPRS Support Node

GMLC Gateway Mobile Location Center

GPRS General Packet Radio Service

GSM Global System for Mobile Communication

HESSID Homogeneous Extended Service Set Identifier

HSS Home Subscriber Server

IMS Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem

ISMP Inter-System Mobility Policy

ISRP Inter-System Routing Policy

LAC Location Area Code

LTE Long Term Evolution

LTE-A Long Term Evolution Advanced

MAC Medium Access Control

MME Mobility Management Entity

PCRF Policy and Charging Rules Function

PDN Packet Data Network

PGW Packet Data Network Gateway

QoS Quality of Service

RAN Radio Access Network

RAT Radio Access Technology

SPR Subscriber Profile Repository

SSID Service Set identifier

UE User Equipment

UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

UTRAN UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network

WiMAX Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access

Claims

1. A method comprising

obtaining, from a policy control entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and

establishing, by an access selection entity, an access selection rule for the at least one communication entity on the basis of the obtained current location information, said access selection rule defining preference of cellular access or non-cellular access for the at least one communication entity.

2. The method according to claim 1 , further comprising

issuing the established access selection rule for the at least one communication entity from the access selection entity to the at least one communication entity, respectively.

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the current location information of the at least one communication entity is obtained on a periodic basis or upon request or upon a location change of the at least one communication entity.

4. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3, the obtaining further comprising

requesting the current location information of the at least one communication entity from the policy control entity, and

receiving the requested current location information of the at least one communication entity from the policy control entity.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the requested current location information relates to a specified set of communication entity and the access selection rule is established for at least one of the specified set of communication entities.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein

said specified set of communication entity includes communication entities associated with at least one specific user category, and/or said specified set of communication entity includes communication entities currently located in a specific area of the communication system.

7. The method according to any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein

said requested and/or received current location information of the at least one communication entity relates to communication entities using a service for which preferred access selection in accordance with an access selection rule is applicable, and/or

said method further comprises obtaining an indication of a service used by the at least one communication entity from the policy control entity.

8. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein

said current location information is cellular location information of the at least one communication entity, at least when the at least one communication entity is currently in cellular access, or non-cellular location information of the at least one communication entity, at least when the at least one communication entity is currently in non-cellular access.

9. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 8, further comprising

managing load information for at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access in a certain area of the communication system,

wherein the access selection rule for the at least one communication entity is established on the basis of the obtained current location information and the managed load information.

10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein

said access selection entity comprises an access network discovery and selection function or an access network discovery and selection function element, and/or

the policy control entity comprise a policy and charging rules function or a policy and charging rules function element, and/or

said access selection rule relates to an inter-system mobility policy or an inter- system routing policy.

1 1. A method comprising acquiring, from a gateway entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and

providing, from a policy control entity to an access selection entity, the acquired current location information of the at least one communication entity.

12. The method according to claim 1 1 , wherein the current location information of the at least one communication entity is acquired on a periodic basis or upon request or upon a location change of the at least one communication entity.

13. The method according to any one of claims 1 1 or 12, the acquiring further comprising receiving a request for the current location information of the at least one communication entity from the access selection entity, and

reporting the requested current location information of the at least one communication entity to the access selection entity.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the requested current location information relates to a specified set of communication entity and the access selection rule is established for at least one of the specified set of communication entities.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein

Said specified set of communication entity includes communication entities associated with at least one specific user category, and/or

said specified set of communication entity includes communication entities currently located in a specific area of the communication system.

16. The method according to any one of claims 13 to 15, further comprising

determining whether a service used by the at least one communication entity is a service for which preferred access selection in accordance with an access selection rule defining preference of cellular access or non-cellular access is applicable,

wherein the current location information of the at least one communication entity is acquired from the gateway entity and/or reported to the access selection entity only when the service is determined to be a service for which preferred access selection in accordance with an access selection rule is applicable, and/or the reporting comprises indicating the service used by the at least one communication entity to the access selection entity.

17. The method according to any one of claims 1 1 to 16, wherein

18. The method according to any one of claims 1 1 to 17, further comprising

acquiring load information for at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access in a certain area of the communication system, and

providing, from the policy control entity to the access selection entity, the acquired load information.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein

said load information for at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access in a certain area of the communication system comprises congestion information, and/or

said load information for cellular access in a certain area of the communication system is acquired by load information signaling from at least one of a gateway entity of a radio access network or radio access technology and an operation and management entity and/or by load information in user plane packets forwarded via a gateway entity of a radio access network or radio access technology.

20. The method according to any one of claims 1 1 to 19, wherein

said policy control entity comprise a policy and charging rules function or a policy and charging rules function element.

21. An apparatus comprising

an interface configured to communicate with at least another apparatus, a memory configured to store computer program code, and

a processor configured to cause the apparatus to perform: obtaining, from a policy control entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and

22. The apparatus according to claim 21 , wherein the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform:

23. The apparatus according to claim 21 or 22, wherein the processor is configured to cause the apparatus to obtain the current location information of the at least one communication entity on a periodic basis or upon request or upon a location change of the at least one communication entity.

24. The apparatus according to any one of claims 21 to 23, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform:

25. The apparatus according to claim 24, wherein the requested current location information relates to a specified set of communication entities, and the processor is configured to cause the apparatus establish the access selection rule for at least one of the specified set of communication entities.

26. The apparatus according to claim 25, wherein

27. The apparatus according to any one of claims 24 to 26, wherein

said processor is configured to cause the apparatus to perform obtaining an indication of a service used by the at least one communication entity from the policy control entity.

28. The method according to any one of claims 21 to 27, wherein

said current location information is cellular location information of the at least one communication entity, at least when said at least one communication entity is currently in cellular access, or non-cellular location information of said at least one communication entity, at least when said at least one communication entity is currently in non-cellular access.

29. The apparatus according to any one of claims 21 to 28, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform:

30. The apparatus according to any one of claims 21 to 29, wherein

31. An apparatus comprising an interface configured to communicate with at least another apparatus, a memory configured to store computer program code, and

a processor configured to cause the apparatus to perform:

acquiring, from a gateway entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and

32. The apparatus according to claim 31 , wherein the processor is configured to cause the apparatus to acquire the current location information of the at least one communication entity on a periodic basis or upon request or upon a location change of the at least one communication entity.

33. The apparatus according to any one of claims 31 or 32, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform:

receiving a request for the current location information of the at least one communication entity from the access selection entity, and

34. The apparatus according to claim 33, wherein the requested current location information relates to a specified set of communication entity, and the access selection rule is established for at least one of the specified set of communication entities.

35. The apparatus according to claim 34, wherein

36. The apparatus according to any one of claims 33 to 35, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform: determining whether a service used by the at least one communication entity is a service for which preferred access selection in accordance with an access selection rule defining preference of cellular access or non-cellular access is applicable,

37. The apparatus according to any one of claims 31 to 36, wherein

38. The apparatus according to any one of claims 31 to 37, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the apparatus to perform:

39. The apparatus according to claim 38, wherein

40. The apparatus according to any one of claims 31 to 39, wherein said access selection entity comprises an access network discovery and selection function or an access network discovery and selection function element, and/or

the policy control entity comprise a policy and charging rules function or a policy and charging rules function element.

41. An apparatus comprising

means for obtaining, from a policy control entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and

means for establishing, by an access selection entity, an access selection rule for the at least one communication entity on the basis of the obtained current location information, said access selection rule defining preference of cellular access or non- cellular access for the at least one communication entity.

42. An apparatus comprising

means for acquiring, from a gateway entity, current location information of at least one communication entity capable of accessing a communication system via at least one of cellular access and non-cellular access, and

means for providing, from a policy control entity to an access selection entity, the acquired current location information of the at least one communication entity.

43. A computer program product comprising computer-executable computer program code which, when the computer program code is executed on a computer, is configured to cause the computer to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10 or 1 1 to 20.

44. The computer program product according to claim 43, wherein the computer program product comprises a computer-readable medium on which the computer-executable computer program code is stored, and/or wherein the program is directly loadable into an internal memory of the processor.