Personalised Heterogeneous Network Handover Alert Scheme
First Claim
1. A method of providing an alert in a communications system comprising a plurality of wireless local area networks and a wide area network, said alert being provided to a mobile communications device associated with a user identity, wherein said mobile communications device is capable of operating in two modes of communication, one mode being associated with a local area network of said communications system, the other mode being associated with the wide area network of said communications system, the method comprising:
- determining the presence of another wireless network within which said mobile communications device operates using a different mode of communication;
generating a handover request for performing a heterogeneous network handover either to or from a wireless local area network associated with a subscriber other than the user of the mobile communications device; and
generating a personalized alert associated with a heterogeneous network handover event on said mobile communications device.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A communications system comprising a plurality of local area networks (LAN) within a wide area network (WAN). The mode of communication used in said LANs differs from the mode of communication within said WAN. One of the LANs comprises a home LAN which is associated with a user identity (e.g. a subscriber for that LAN in the communications system). The user identity is directly or indirectly also associated with a wide area network. The invention provides a method of configuring an alert to devices operated by other user identities which have performed a handover operation either into or from said home network of the subscriber. The alert is configured by said subscriber (e.g., by a user identity of the home network) either as a default to all ‘visitors’ or in dependence on one or more of the other user identities. In this way, each user identity visiting the subscriber'"'"'s home network receives an alert which is capable of being specific to the visitor. The subscriber may select the form of alert to be provided to another user based individually on the other user'"'"'s identity in the communications network or for a group of users. The method thus enables alerts to distinguish different users or groups of users. The form of alert provided may over-ride any personal preferences configured for the mobile communications devices of the visiting users.
27 Citations
35 Claims
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1. A method of providing an alert in a communications system comprising a plurality of wireless local area networks and a wide area network, said alert being provided to a mobile communications device associated with a user identity, wherein said mobile communications device is capable of operating in two modes of communication, one mode being associated with a local area network of said communications system, the other mode being associated with the wide area network of said communications system, the method comprising:
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determining the presence of another wireless network within which said mobile communications device operates using a different mode of communication; generating a handover request for performing a heterogeneous network handover either to or from a wireless local area network associated with a subscriber other than the user of the mobile communications device; and generating a personalized alert associated with a heterogeneous network handover event on said mobile communications device. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19)
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20. A communications system comprising a plurality of wireless local area networks and one or more wide area networks and a mobile communications device associated with a user identity, wherein said mobile communications device is capable of operating in two modes of communication, one mode being associated with a local area network of said communications system, the other mode being associated with a wide area network of said communications system, communications system comprising;
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in said mobile communications device; means for determining the presence of another wireless network within which said mobile communications device operates using a different mode of communication; means for determining one or more criteria for requesting handover to said alternative wireless network are met; means for generating a handover request for performing a heterogeneous network handover either to or from a wireless local area network associated with a subscriber other than the user of the mobile communications device; and means for generating a personalized alert associated with a heterogeneous network handover event on said mobile communications device. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 34)
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21. A mobile communications device associated with a user identity, wherein said mobile communications device is capable of operating in two modes of communication, one mode being associated with a local area network of a communications system, the other mode being associated with a wide area network of said communications system, the mobile communications device comprising;
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means for determining the presence of another wireless network within which said mobile communications device operates using a different mode of communication; means for determining one or more criteria for requesting handover to said alternative wireless network are met; means for generating a handover request for performing a heterogeneous network handover either to or from a wireless local area network associated with a subscriber other than the user of the mobile communications device; and means for generating a personalized alert associated with a heterogeneous network handover event on said mobile communications device.
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22. A communications system, comprising a plurality of wireless local area networks, and a wireless wide area network, wherein each local area network is capable of providing an alert to a plurality of communications devices, wherein each said communications device is capable of operating in a first mode within a local area network and a second mode Within said wide area network and of handing over between at least one of said local area networks and said wide area network, the communications system further comprising:
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means to send and receive communications to users'"'"' mobile communications devices in said local area networks and said wide area network, means to process handover requests received from a user'"'"'s mobile communications device when said mobile communications device seeks to perform a handover in either direction between said wide area network and a said wireless local area network associated with a subscriber; means to identify a local area network associated with said handover request; means to determine an identity for the user of the mobile communications device; means to communicate said identity to the router for said local area network associated with said handover request;
means to determine if an alert to be communicated to said mobile communications device has been configured on said router, and if so, to communicate said alert to said device,wherein the form of said alert to said user identity is determined by said subscriber and stored at a location accessible to said router for said subscriber'"'"'s local area network.
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- 28. A mobile communications device capable of adopting two modes of wireless communication in a communications system, one of said modes being associated with a wide area network, the other of said modes being associated with a local area network, wherein the device further comprises means to request and perform a handover between said two modes of communication when both on and off-hook, and wherein when said device generates a request to handover between said local area and wide area networks, said request event causes an alert to be provided to a user of said device, wherein the mode of the alert has been configured by a different user, whose identity is associated with said local area network between which said handover has been requested.
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35. A signal communicated from a router associated with a local area network in a communications system comprising a plurality of wireless local area networks and a wireless wide area network, wherein the signal is received by a mobile communications device operated by a user in said communications system, said mobile communications device being capable of performing a handover between at least one said local area networks and said wide area network, and said device further comprises means to send and receive communications in a communications mode used by said local area networks and a communications mode used by said wide area network, wherein
said signal enables an alert to be generated by said mobile communications device to alert the user to the fact that a handover to or from the local area network has been performed or requested, the mode of the alert having been determined by a user associated with said local area network.
Specification