method and apparatus for the local gateway assignment in a wireless network

摘要

A local gateway assignment capability is depicted and described herein. In a wireless service provider network, the local gateway assignment capability enables a local gateway, rather than a core gateway, to be selected to serve a user request for an APN. The local gateway and core gateway may be a Local-GGSN (L-GGSN) and a GGSN, respectively, where the L-GGSN is associated with an SGSN and provides local traffic offloading for the GGSN and where the GGSN provides a gateway for the core network portion of the wireless service provider network. A DNS element or other device is configured to determine an SGSN-specific APN in response to receiving a DNS Request from an SGSN. A DNS element is configured to identify, using an SGSN-specific APN associated with an SGSN, an L-GGSN associated with the SGSN, and to provide an indication of the L-GGSN to the SGSN from which the DNS Request is received, thereby enabling the user associated with the DNS Request to use the L-GGSN rather than the GGSN.