US Patent 10588051 Method and apparatus for offloading network traffic

A method of avoiding mass offloading of user devices, UE's (14), connected to a cellular network (15, 16) such as 3GPP LTE to a second wireless network such as a WLAN (6,8), the method comprising: an ANDSF server (12) broadcasting (in a SIB message, for example) a set of parameters representing offload thresholds to be applied by UE's in idle mode, and also additional information such as a bitmap indicating which of those parameters are also applicable to UE's in connected mode; and a user device, UE (14), receiving the set of parameters and the additional information, and deciding whether to migrate or not to the second network in dependence of whether it is in idle or connected mode, of the parameters and of the additional information.