MOBILE DEVICE NETWORK SELECTION

• US 20100184440A1
• Filed: 01/22/2009
• Published: 07/22/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 01/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Microsoft Technology Licensing LLC (Microsoft Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Microsoft Corporation
• Inventors: Mao, Zhihong, Lapinski, Grzegorz, Pall, Attila, Bozic, Kresimir, Stevenson, Dan, Goggin, Stephen, Teodosiu, Dan
• Granted Patent: US 8,781,479 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/437
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service

Abstract

The described implementations relate to automatic network selection in relation to wireless mobile devices. One method can be applied to a mobile device that has both Wi-Fi and cellular capabilities. The method can attempt to identify Wi-Fi network availability for the mobile device. This method also evaluates whether to configure the mobile device to accomplish data communication over an identified Wi-Fi network or a cellular network.

Claims

1. A computer-readable storage media having instructions stored thereon that when executed by a computing device cause the computing device to perform acts, comprising:

obtaining location information relating to a mobile device;

checking for network information that is associated with the location information; and

,

automatically selecting a network for data communication for the mobile device based upon the network information.

2. The computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the obtaining comprises one of:

obtaining absolute location information and obtaining relative location information.

3. The computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the obtaining comprises receiving a unique identification from at least one cell tower.

4. The computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the obtaining comprises calculating an absolute location from global positioning system (GPS) data or from assisted GPS data.

5. The computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the checking comprises accessing a datastore that maps the location information and the network information.

6. The computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the automatically selecting comprises automatically selecting a Wi-Fi network that is available based upon the location information rather than an available cellular network as the data communication network.

7. The computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the automatically selecting is further based upon predefined network selection criteria that are ranked by a user of the mobile device.

8. The computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein the automatically selecting comprising automatically selecting the data communication network from a plurality of available Wi-Fi networks and at least one available cellular network.

9. The computer-readable storage media of claim 1, wherein in an instance that a Wi-Fi network is selected as the data communication network, further comprising determining a Wi-Fi signal strength for the mobile device.

10. The computer-readable storage media of claim 9, wherein the determining is based upon a previously recorded signal strength of the selected Wi-Fi network.

11. A method, comprising:

attempting to identify Wi-Fi network availability for a mobile device that has both Wi-Fi and cellular capabilities; and

,

evaluating whether to configure the mobile device to accomplish data communication over an identified Wi-Fi network or a cellular network.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the attempting comprises at least one action from a group consisting of:

detecting Wi-Fi beacons that indicate a presence of an available Wi-Fi network, determining a relative location of the mobile device and mapping the relative location to previously identified Wi-Fi networks associated with the relative location; and

determining an absolute location of the mobile device and mapping the absolute location with previously identified Wi-Fi networks associated with the absolute location.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the attempting comprises periodically activating the Wi-Fi capability of the mobile device and checking for Wi-Fi network beacons.

14. The method of claim 11, wherein the evaluating is weighted by one or more network selection criteria that are ranked by a user of the mobile device.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising causing the mobile device to be configured to accomplish the data communication based upon the evaluating.

16. A mobile device, comprising:

a datastore that maps locations and networks that are available at the locations; and

,

a connection control module configured to automatically select an individual network from the datastore for data communication based upon a present location of the mobile device.

17. The mobile device of claim 16, further comprising a wireless location learning module configured to search for new Wi-Fi networks.

18. The mobile device of claim 17, further comprising a location support module to obtain location information associated with an individual new Wi-Fi network.

19. The mobile device of claim 18, wherein the wireless location learning module is configured to send information about the individual new Wi-Fi network and associated location information to the datastore for mapping.

20. The mobile device of claim 16, further comprising a network synchronization module for updating the datastore with network availability information that was not obtained by the mobile device.