Computing device with wireless network selection feature

• US 10,143,018 B2
• Filed: 04/05/2013
• Issued: 11/27/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 06/27/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Sheriff, Irfan, O'Neill, Thomas G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao, Kwang B
• Assistant Examiner(s): Castaneyra, Ricardo
• Application Number:
  US13/857,301
• Publication Number:
  US 20140003342A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,062 Days
• Field of Search: 370328, 370331, 370332, 370310, 3703102, 370338, 370252, 370230, 370465, 370329, 37039521, 37039541, 370254, 370232, 370235, 4554321
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/24 Reselection being triggered by specific parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

In one implementation, a computer-implemented method includes transmitting data over a first wireless connection with a first wireless access point; detecting, by the computing device, a wireless signal from a second wireless access point; accessing, for an account that is associated with a data service, information that identifies a portion of a budget for the account that has already been spent, wherein the budget identifies an amount of data that is available for transmission over a period of time in association with the account; determining whether the account currently has a budget deficit based on a comparison of i) the portion of the budget that has been spent and ii) a usage pattern; determining whether to switch to a second wireless connection with the second wireless access point; and establishing the second wireless connection as a result of the determining.

Claims

1. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting, by a computing device, data over a first wireless connection with a first wireless access point during a data communication session;

detecting, by the computing device, a wireless signal from a second wireless access point while the computing device is transmitting data over the first wireless connection with the first wireless access point during the data communication session;

in response to detecting the wireless signal from the second wireless access point, determining, by the computing device, whether an account of the computing device is currently running or is likely to run a deficit relative to a budget, wherein the budget corresponds to an amount of data that is available for transmission over a period of time;

in response to detecting the wireless signal from the second wireless access point, determining, by the computing device, whether an estimated level of data packet loss for the second wireless access point is greater than or equal to a threshold level of data packet loss, wherein the estimated level of data packet loss being greater than or equal to the threshold level of data packet loss indicates that a second wireless connection with the second wireless access point has at least a threshold likelihood of being a low quality connection;

based on (i) when the estimated level of data packet loss is determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold level of data packet loss and (ii) whether the account of the computing device is currently running or is likely to run the deficit relative to the budget, determining, by the computing device, that the computing device should switch from the first wireless connection with the first wireless access point to the second wireless connection with the second wireless access point; and

establishing, by the computing device, the second wireless connection as a result of the determining that the computing device should switch from transmitting data over the first wireless connection with the first wireless access point to the second wireless connection with the second wireless access point.

2. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein the first wireless access point and the second wireless access point are part of different wireless networks.

3. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the first wireless access point is part of a mobile data network and the second wireless access point is part of a WiFi network.

4. The computer-implemented method of claim 3, wherein the mobile data network includes one or more of:

a 3G wireless network, a 4G long term evolution (LTE) wireless network, and a 4G WiMAX wireless network.

5. The computer-implemented method of claim 2, wherein the first wireless access point is part of a fee-based wireless network that charges users for access to the fee-based wireless network and the second wireless access point is part of a free wireless network that does not charge users for access to the free wireless network.

6. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying, by the computing device, connection information that describes one or more parameters associated with a potential wireless connection with the second wireless access point;

determining, by the computing device and without the computing device transmitting data packets to the second wireless access point after detecting the wireless signal, a quality indicator for the second wireless access point based on the connection information, wherein the quality indicator indicates an estimated level of quality associated with the potential wireless connection with the second wireless access point; and

wherein the determination of whether to switch from the first wireless connection to the second wireless connection is further based on the quality indicator.

7. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the connection information comprises a received signal strength of the wireless signal from the second wireless access point.

8. The computer-implemented method of claim 7, further comprising:

accessing, by the computing device for the second wireless access point, a profile that correlates received wireless signal strengths for the second wireless access point with quality indicators for the second wireless access point; and

wherein the quality indicators for the second wireless access point are determined based on the profile for the second wireless access point.

9. The computer-implemented method of claim 8, further comprising:

collecting, by the computing device over a second period of time before the computing device transmits data over the first wireless connection with the first wireless access point, statistics for the second wireless access point, wherein the statistics identify the quality indicators and received signal strengths for the second wireless access point at intervals during the second period of time; and

generating at least a portion of the profile for the second wireless access point using the collected statistics.

10. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

identifying, by the computing device, a current geographic location of the computing device; and

wherein the connection information comprises the current geographic location.

11. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, further comprising:

identifying, by the computing device, current time information when the computing device detects the wireless signal from the second wireless access point, wherein the time information includes one or more of;

a current time, a current week, a current day of the week, a current month, a current day of the month, and a current day of the year; and

wherein the connection information comprises the current time information.

12. The computer-implemented method of claim 6, wherein the quality indicator comprises the estimated level of data packet loss for the second wireless access point that is determined based on the connection information.

13. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining, by the computing device, a likely quality level of communication with the second wireless access point; and

wherein determining that the computing device should switch from the first wireless connection with the first access point to the second wireless connection with the second wireless access point is further based on a determination of the likely quality level of communication with the second wireless access point.

14. The computer-implemented method of claim 1, wherein establishing the second wireless connection further comprises:

prompting, by the computing device, a user for input or consent before establishing the second wireless connection as a result of the determining that the computing device should switch from the first wireless connection with the first wireless access point to the second wireless connection with the second wireless access point; and

establishing, by the computing device, the second wireless connection based on the input or consent from the user.

15. A computer-implemented method comprising:

transmitting, by a computing device, data over a first wireless connection with a first wireless access point during a data communication session;

detecting, by the computing device, a wireless signal from a second wireless access point while the computing device is transmitting data over the first wireless connection with the first wireless access point during the data communication session;

in response to detecting the wireless signal from the second wireless access point, determining, by the computing device, whether at least a portion of a budget for an account of the computing device is currently available for use, wherein the budget corresponds to an amount of data that is available for transmission over a period of time;

in response to detecting the wireless signal from the second wireless access point, determining, by the computing device, whether an estimated level of data packet loss for the second wireless access point is greater than or equal to a threshold level of data packet loss, wherein the estimated level of data packet loss being greater than or equal to the threshold level of data packet loss indicates that a second wireless connection with the second wireless access point has at least a threshold likelihood of being a low quality connection;

based on (i) when the estimated level of data packet loss is determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold level of data packet loss and (ii) whether the at least the portion of the budget is currently available for use, determining, by the computing device, that the computing device should switch from the first wireless connection with the first wireless access point to the second wireless connection with the second wireless access point; and

establishing, by the computing device, the second wireless connection as a result of the determining that the computing device should switch from transmitting data over the first wireless connection with the first wireless access point to the second wireless connection with the second wireless access point.

16. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein:

when none of the budget is determined to currently be available for use by the computing device, determining, by the computing device, that the computing device should switch from using the first wireless connection to using the second wireless connection; and

establishing, by the computing device, the second wireless connection in response to the determination to switch from using the first wireless connection to using the second wireless connection.

17. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, wherein the first wireless access point is part of a fee-based wireless network that charges users for access to the fee-based wireless network and the second wireless access point is part of a free wireless network that does not charge users for access to the free wireless network.

18. The computer-implemented method of claim 15, further comprising:

determining, by the computing device, a likely quality level of communication with the second wireless access point; and

wherein determining that the computing device should switch from the first wireless connection with the first access point to the second wireless connection with the second wireless access point is further based on a determination of the likely quality level of communication with the second wireless access point.

19. A computing device comprising:

a wireless network interface that is programmed to transmit data over a first wireless connection with a first wireless access point during a data communication session, to detect a wireless signal from a second wireless access point while transmitting data over the first wireless connection with the first wireless access point during the data communication session;

in response to detecting the wireless signal from the second wireless access point, a budget management unit that is programmed to access a budget repository and to determine whether an account of the computing device is currently running or is likely to run a deficit relative to a budget, wherein the budget corresponds to an amount of data that is available for transmission over a period of time;

in response to detecting the wireless signal from the second wireless access point, a packet loss estimation unit that is programmed to determine whether an estimated level of data packet loss for the second wireless access point is greater than or equal to a threshold level of data packet loss, wherein the estimated level of data packet loss being greater than or equal to the threshold level of data packet loss indicates that a second wireless connection with the second wireless access point has at least a threshold likelihood of being a low quality connection;

based on (i) when the estimated level of data packet loss is determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold level of data packet loss and (ii) whether the account of the computing device is currently running or is likely to run the deficit relative to the budget, a determination unit that is programmed to determine that the computing device should switch from transmitting data over the first wireless connection with the first wireless access point to the second wireless connection with the second wireless access point; and

a wireless connection manager that is programmed to establish the second wireless connection based on the determination by the determination unit.

20. The computing device of claim 19, wherein the first wireless access point is part of a fee-based wireless network that charges users for access to the fee-based wireless network and the second wireless access point is part of a free wireless network that does not charge users for access to the free wireless network.

21. The computing device of claim 19, wherein the wireless network interface is further programmed to identify a received signal strength, at the computing device, of the wireless signal from the second wireless access point;

and

wherein the packet loss estimation unit is further programmed to determine the estimated level of data packet loss for the second wireless access point based on the signal strength for the second wireless access point, wherein the estimated level of data packet loss is determined without the computing device having transmitted any data packets to the second wireless access point since the wireless signal from the second wireless access point was detected.

22. The computing device of claim 19, wherein:

the packet loss estimation unit is further programmed to determine a likely quality level of communication with the second wireless access point; and

the determination unit is further programmed to determine whether to switch from transmitting data over the first wireless connection to the second wireless connection based on a determination of the likely quality of level of communication with the second wireless access point.

23. A computer-implemented method in which data is transmitted over a first wireless connection by a computing device with a first wireless access point during a data communication session comprising:

detecting, by a server, a wireless signal from a second wireless access point for the computing device while data is transmitted over the first wireless connection by the computing device with the first wireless access point during the data communication session;

in response to detecting the wireless signal from the second wireless access point, determining, by the server, whether an account of the computing device is currently running or is likely to run a deficit relative to a budget, wherein the budget corresponds to an amount of data that is available for transmission over a period of time;

in response to detecting the wireless signal from the second wireless access point, determining, by the server, whether an estimated level of data packet loss for the second wireless access point is greater than or equal to a threshold level of data packet loss, wherein the estimated level of data packet loss being greater than or equal to the threshold level of data packet loss indicates that a second wireless connection with the second wireless access point has at least a threshold likelihood of being a low quality connection; and

based on (i) when the estimated level of data packet loss is determined to be greater than or equal to the threshold level of data packet loss and (ii) whether the account of the computing device is currently running or is likely to run the deficit relative to the budget, determining, by the server, that the computing device should switch from the first wireless connection with the first wireless access point to the second wireless connection with the second wireless access point.