Autonomous and heterogeneous network discovery and reuse

• US 20060221901A1
• Filed: 04/01/2005
• Published: 10/05/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Four Batons Wireless LLC (Two Gold Capital LLC)
• Original Assignee: Telcordia Incorporated, Toshiba America Research Inc (Toshiba Corporation)
• Inventors: Yaqub, Raziq, Zhang, Tao
• Granted Patent: US 7,505,433 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/00835 Determination of neighbour cell lists
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/008375 based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information

Abstract

In some embodiments, a method is disclosed involving a mobile device discovery and use of target wireless networks which are at least partly within a coverage area of another wireless network which provides location information which includes: acquiring data from a plurality of said target wireless networks; acquiring location information from said another wireless network; mapping said data from said plurality of said target wireless networks with said location information; and selecting one of said plurality of target wireless networks based on said mapped data.

Claims

1. A method of a mobile station autonomous discovery of target networks and data regarding the target networks within a heterogeneous network having wireless cell areas, comprising the steps of:

after entering into a cell area, acquiring data from at least one target network;

mapping said data in relation to the cell area; and

storing said mapped data for retention even after leaving the cell area.

2. The method of claim 1, further including the step of using data from said list to determine where target networks are when said mobile station re-enters said cell area.

3. The method of claim 1, further including said cell area having a plurality of WLANs and said list being populated with data from said plurality of WLANs.

4. The method of claim 3, further including the step of selecting the most suitable WLAN from said list of a plurality of WLANs.

5. The method of claim 1, further including the step of performing pre-authentication with the target network.

6. The method of claim 1, further including the step of obtaining a local IP address from a target network upon entering into said cell area.

7. The method of claim 1, further including using said data acquired by autonomous discovery to support proactive handover actions, and including selecting the most suitable WLAN from said list of acquired target networks.

8. The method of claim 1, further including having a plurality of WLANs inside said cell area and said list of known networks mapped with location data received from said network having wireless cell areas.

9. The method of claim 1, further including the steps of entering into a subsequent cell area, acquiring data from at least one a target network within said subsequent cell area,

maintaining a list of acquired target networks within said subsequent cell area, and

retaining said list upon exiting said subsequent cell area, whereby said list includes data from a plurality of cell areas.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said mobile station performs proactive handover actions with a selected candidate network, including the steps of anticipating the need for a handover, selecting the most suitable network from said list of acquired target networks, based on predetermined criteria using available data from said list, and thereafter handing over to said selected candidate network on a as needed basis.

11. The method of claim 1, further including monitoring WLAN broadcasts and storing parameters mapped with LAI and/or CGI in said list.

12. The method of claim 1, further including having said data that is acquired include signal strength and time of acquisition.

13. The method of claim 1, further including the steps of:

a) recording a recent history of movements of said mobile station;

b) recording the WLANs traversed in the movement pattern from a first cell area to subsequent cell areas;

c) storing data about recorded WLANs specifically mapped with LAI and/or CGI;

d) down selecting the most suitable candidate network;

e) acquiring a local IP address from said down selected most suitable candidate network;

f) performing pre-authentication with said selected network;

g) making said selected network available for a prospective handover; and

h) recording a log of performance of networks used.

14. The method of claim 13, further including the steps of a user of said mobile station selecting priority parameters for the selection of a candidate network from the available candidate networks, and storing in said mobile station said user selected priority parameters.

15. The method of claim 14, further including the steps of sorting data in said list based on user'"'"'s preferred selection criteria and assigning priority selection weights to sorted data such that preferred selection criteria data has greater selection weights than non-preferred selected criteria data.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of selecting an SSID based on user selected priority parameters.

17. A method of a mobile station autonomously discovering the existence of target networks and data regarding the target networks in a heterogeneous network having wireless cell areas, comprising the steps of:

upon entering into a cell area, acquiring data from a plurality of target networks;

storing a list of acquired target networks; and

selecting a target network from a plurality of target networks within said cell area, including selecting a target WLAN based on weights assigned to WLANs.

18. The method of claim 17, further including selecting a target WLAN in accordance with probability P_j which is calculated as follows:

$p_j=\frac{W_j}{\underset{i=1}{\overset{k}{\sum <br><br>}}<br><br>W_i}$

where W=assigned weight value, P_j=probability, k=number of WLANS within said mobile station'"'"'s current cell area, W_i=the weight assigned to WLAN i, and W_j=the weight assigned to WLAN j.

19. A method of a mobile device discovery and use of target wireless networks which are at least partly within a coverage area of another wireless network which provides location information, comprising the steps of:

acquiring data from a plurality of said target wireless networks;

acquiring location information from said another wireless network;

mapping said data from said plurality of said target wireless networks with said location information; and

selecting one of said plurality of target wireless networks based on said mapped data.

20. The method of claim 19, further including having at least some of said target wireless networks operated by a same entity as the owner and operator of said another wireless network or by another entity having a roaming agreement with said same entity.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein said target wireless networks include WLANs, and said acquiring of data from at least one of said target wireless networks includes receiving WLAN broadcasts from said WLANs.

22. The method of claim 19, wherein said another wireless network includes a plurality of base stations which each wirelessly transmit within a particular cell area.