US Patent 8059557 Method and system for access gateway selection

Methods and systems are defined that support, in a radio access network, measuring the latency between the radio access network and each respective access gateway of a plurality of access gateways. From these measurements, a list of access gateways, rank ordered from lowest to highest latency, is created. If the radio access network receives an incoming call indication designating that an associated incoming call is latency-sensitive, the radio access network will preferably assign the incoming call to an access gateway that is one with a measured respective round trip latency less than or equal to a median measured respective round trip latency. Additionally, the radio access network maintains a profile for at least some wireless communication devices that use its services. When the radio access network receives an incoming call indication for a wireless communication device, the radio access network preferably determines, from the wireless communication device's profile, if the wireless communication device has a history of heavy network usage. If the wireless communication device has a history of heavy network usage, the radio access network preferably assigns the incoming call to an access gateway that is one with a measured respective round trip latency greater than or equal to the median measured respective round trip latency.