Method and apparatus to determine a wireless network coverage and responsiveness

• US 10,440,675 B2
• Filed: 02/12/2014
• Issued: 10/08/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Empirix Incorporated (Empirix Holdings I, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Empirix Incorporated (Empirix Holdings I, Inc.)
• Inventors: Socaciu, Michael V., Ivanyi, Tibor, Turner, Laslo
• Primary Examiner(s): Cosme, Natasha W
• Application Number:
  US14/178,826
• Publication Number:
  US 20150230109A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,064 Days
• Field of Search: 455423, 379 101
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/06 Testing, supervising or monitoring using simulated traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Aspects of the invention may involve systems and methods. In an embodiment, a method to determine wireless network coverage and responsiveness may be described. The method may include wirelessly transmitting test data to determine wireless connectivity and transmission quality; determining a quality of the wireless transmission of the test data; determining a location of the wireless device during the wireless transmission of the test data; updating a log with the location of the wireless device, a time of day of the wireless transmission, and the quality of the wireless transmission; and transmitting the log to a central server.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

transmitting wirelessly, at a first location of a wireless device and by the wireless device, a first wireless transmission of test data to determine wireless connectivity and transmission quality of a call;

determining, by the wireless device, a quality of the first wireless transmission at the first location;

updating, by the wireless device, a log with the first location of the wireless device, a time of day of the first wireless transmission, and the quality of the first wireless transmission at the first location, to yield an updated log;

transmitting, by the wireless device, the updated log to a central server;

receiving, at a second location of the wireless device and by the wireless device, connection failure data of a second transmission of the test data, the connection failure data indicating the transmission quality of the call is below a threshold;

determining, by the wireless device, that the wireless device has traveled a specified, preselected distance from the second location, to yield a distance trigger;

transmitting, upon triggering the distance trigger at a third location which is at least the specified, preselected distance from the second location, and by the wireless device, a third transmission of the test data, to yield third transmission test results; and

transmitting, by the wireless device, the connection failure data and the third transmission test results to the central server when a connection to the central server becomes available.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein transmissions of test data are further based on a passing of a specified interval of time.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein location of the wireless device is determined based on global positioning satellites (GPS), multilateration of two or more base stations, or a connected wireless access point.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein each transmission of test data comprises transmission of SIP, HTTP, or RTP formatted data.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein each transmission of test data comprises:

initiating a telephone call to a specified telephone number;

or

initiating a non-voice data transmission to the central server.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by the wireless device, network status data, the network status data being determined by data received from a plurality of wireless devices.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

displaying an indicator indicating a status of a network based on the network status data.

8. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

displaying an indication, on the wireless device, that the call will have degraded quality or the call will drop based on a current trajectory of the wireless device and the network status data.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

displaying, on the wireless device, a network coverage map based on the network status data.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the network coverage map is based on at least one of:

wireless network geographic coverage, wireless network coverage based on time of day, or real-time network coverage.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the wireless device receives and transmits data using at least one of:

WiFi, 3G, 4G, LTE, UMTS, WiMAX, or GSM.

12. A method for determining wireless network coverage and responsiveness, the method comprising:

transmitting a software application to a mobile device, wherein the software application causes the mobile device to perform the steps of claim 1.

13. A method comprising:

receiving, by one or more processors, first test data transmitted wirelessly from a wireless device at a first location;

determining, by the one or more processors, one or more quality measurements of the first test data;

transmitting, by the one or more processors, the one or more quality measurements to the wireless device;

receiving, by the one or more processors, log data from the wireless device, the log data comprising data recorded at at least two locations by the wireless device, the at least two locations being separated by a specified, preselected distance;

generating, by the one or more processors, connection failure data from the wireless device, wherein;

the connection failure data includes the at least two locations, and

the at least two locations comprises a second location where a of transmission of second test data failed and a third location where a transmission of third test data was successfully,

the third test data was transmitted upon triggering transmission due to traveling the specified, preselected distance from the second location; and

calculating, by the one or more processors, wireless network coverage based on the log data and the connection failure data.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

calculating wireless network responsiveness based on the log data received from the wireless device.

15. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

pushing a request to transmit test data to the wireless device.

16. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting network coverage data to the wireless device based on the wireless network coverage.

17. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

transmitting a current network status indicator to one or more wireless devices in a geographic area.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the current network status indicator is one of:

network congestion issue or network congestion issue resolved.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the current network status indicator is one of:

red, yellow, or green.

20. The method of claim 13, wherein the wireless network coverage is calculated based on areas of congestion based on time of day or a geographic range of the wireless network coverage.

21. A system comprising:

a processor; and

a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising;

transmitting wirelessly, at a first location of a wireless device and by the wireless device, a first wireless transmission of test data to determine wireless connectivity and transmission quality of a call;

determining, by the wireless device, a quality of the first wireless transmission at the first location;

updating, by the wireless device, a log with the first location of the wireless device, a time of day of the first wireless transmission, and the quality of the first wireless transmission at the first location, to yield an updated log;

transmitting, by the wireless device, the updated log to a central server;

receiving, at a second location of the wireless device and by the wireless device, connection failure data of a second transmission of the test data, the connection failure data indicating the transmission quality of the call is below a threshold;

determining, by the wireless device, that the wireless device has traveled a specified, preselected distance from the second location, to yield a distance trigger;

transmitting, upon triggering the distance trigger at a third location which is at least the specified, preselected distance from the second location, and by the wireless device, a third transmission of the test data, to yield third transmission test results; and

transmitting, by the wireless device, the connection failure data and the third transmission test results to the central server when a connection to the central server becomes available.

22. The system of claim 21, wherein the third transmission further relies upon a time trigger, the time trigger being a predefined amount of time between the second transmission and the third transmission.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the third transmission is not transmitted until both the time trigger and the distance trigger have been met.

24. The system of claim 21, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

receiving a current network status.

25. The system of claim 24, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

displaying a state of a network based on the current network status and a current location of the wireless device.

26. The system of claim 24, the non-transitory computer-readable storage medium having additional instructions stored which, when executed by the processor, cause the processor to perform operations comprising:

displaying a notification that a call will have degraded quality or the call will drop based on a current trajectory of the wireless device and the current network status.