Method and system for adjusting inter-scan period of a mobile station

• US 20070008941A1
• Filed: 06/23/2005
• Published: 01/11/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 06/23/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola Mobility, Inc. (Lenovo Group Ltd.)
• Inventors: Narasimha, Murali, Aerrabotu, Naveen
• Granted Patent: US 7,839,814 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/322 by location data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/328 by altitude
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/362 Conditional handover
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point

Abstract

A method and system for adjusting the inter-scan period of a mobile station (102) is provided. The method includes storing (404) the location information of a first wireless node, which is in a service area of a wireless access point of a first wireless network that is servicing a second wireless network. Further, the method includes receiving (406) second location information pertaining to a second wireless node that is servicing the second wireless network. The method further includes determining (408) a distance between the first and second wireless nodes. Further, the method includes enabling (412) the scanning for the first wireless network, based on the distance between a cellular cell that includes the MS and a cellular cell that includes an access point of the first wireless network.

Claims

1. A method of a mobile station (MS) for adjusting periodicity of scanning for a first wireless network, having at least one wireless access point, based on information of a second wireless network having a plurality of wireless nodes, the method comprising:

storing first location information of a first wireless node, being in a service area of a wireless access point of the first wireless network, servicing the second wireless network;

receiving second location information of a second wireless node servicing the second wireless network;

determining a distance between the first and second wireless nodes; and

scanning for the first wireless network in response to determining that the distance between the first and second wireless nodes is no greater than a predetermined threshold value.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein storing first location information comprises:

storing latitude and longitude information of the first wireless node.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving second location information comprises:

receiving latitude and longitude information of the second wireless node.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

recording a serving frequency for the at least one wireless access point, serving the first wireless network, in the MS; and

scanning for the serving frequency for the wireless access point serving the first wireless network.

5. A method of a mobile station (MS) for adjusting periodicity of scanning for a first wireless network, having at least one wireless access point, based on information of a second wireless network having a plurality of wireless nodes, the method comprising:

storing first identification information of wireless nodes, detectable at a first location within proximity of an access point of the first wireless network, servicing the second wireless network;

receiving second identification information of wireless nodes, detectable at a second location, servicing the second wireless network;

comparing the first identification information and the second identification information; and

selecting an inter-scan period for scanning the first wireless network in response to comparing the first identification information and the second identification information.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein storing first identification information comprises:

storing wireless network identifiers of the wireless nodes, detectable at the first location.

7. The method of claim 5, wherein receiving second identification information comprises:

receiving wireless network identifiers of the wireless nodes, detectable at the second location, the MS being present at the second location.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein comparing the first identification information and the second identification information comprises:

determining a degree of overlap between the first identification information and the second identification information.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein determining the degree of overlap comprises:

counting number of elements common to the first identification information and the second identification information.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein selecting an inter-scan period comprises:

calculating the inter-scan period for the MS, the inter-scan period decreasing with increase in the degree of overlap, the inter-scan period and the degree of overlap being related by an inverse exponential relationship.

11. The method of claim 5, further comprising:

recording a serving frequency for the at least one wireless access point, serving the first wireless network, in the MS; and

scanning for the serving frequency for the wireless access point serving the first wireless network.

12. A mobile station (MS) adjusting periodicity of scanning for a first wireless network, based on information of a second wireless network having a plurality of wireless nodes, the MS comprising:

a storage module configured for storing a first identification information of wireless nodes, detectable at a first location within proximity of an access point of the first wireless network, servicing the second wireless network;

a receiver configured for receiving a second identification information of wireless nodes, detectable at a second location, servicing the second wireless network;

a processor configured for performing at least one of comparing the first and the second identification information and selecting an inter-scan period for scanning the first wireless network in response to comparing the first identification information and the second identification information; and

a scanner configured for scanning for the first wireless network.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein information of the second wireless network comprises one or more of a group comprising latitude information, longitude information, wireless network identifier, wireless network signal strength information, transmit frequency information, transmit signal strength information, transmit power level information, synchronization information, convolutional encoder tail sequence information, serving frequency information, a Pseudo-random Noise (PN) offset, one or more pilot PN codes, a PN short code, and a PN sequence.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the storage module is further configured for recording a serving frequency for the at least one wireless access point, serving the first wireless network.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the second information is stored in the storage module.

16. The system of claim 12 wherein each of the first and second identification information comprises one of a group consisting of a set of beacon signals and a set of pilot signals.

17. The system of claim 12, wherein the first wireless network is a wireless local area network, the second wireless network is a wide area network and the wireless nodes are access nodes of the second wireless network.

18. The system of claim 12, wherein the first wireless network is a wireless local area network, the second wireless network is a cellular network and the wireless nodes are cell sites of the second wireless network.