System and method for wireless network offloading

• US 20110320588A1
• Filed: 05/25/2011
• Published: 12/29/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 01/28/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Greg Raleigh
• Original Assignee: Headwater Partners I LLC (Greg Raleigh)
• Inventors: Raleigh, Gregory G.
• Granted Patent: US 8,635,335 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/224
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0247 based on conditions of the access network or the infrastructure network central resource management H04W28/16
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/0846 between network providers, e.g. operators selecting a network or a communication service H04W40/18
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/008375 based on historical data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/1446 wherein at least one of the networks is unlicensed
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information

Abstract

Wireless offloading provides tools to a service provider to encourage or direct a subscriber to offload from a first network, e.g., a cellular network, to a second network, e.g., a Wi-Fi network. The cellular service provider can use network data to determine wireless offloading priorities for cellular subscribers on an individual or group basis. The cellular service provider may use wireless network data it has and/or wireless network data it learns about networks from the wireless devices (which may obtain Wi-Fi network data from beacon frames of Wi-Fi networks or active scanning and which may report to the cellular service provider). Each wireless device can be given scanning assignments to ensure that the reporting task is shared among subscribers or adjusted to fill in gaps in data. With the network data, the cellular service provider is capable of generating useful prioritized network lists for wireless devices, either individually or as a group. Preferences can be encouraged in the form of incentive offers to subscribers to, e.g., offload from the cellular network to a Wi-Fi network. Incentive offers can include offers to lower service costs or provide additional or improved services.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

identifying one or more alternative wireless networks;

obtaining current performance data on the one or more alternative wireless networks;

obtaining historical performance data on the one or more alternative wireless networks from a network element;

characterizing the performance state of each of the one or more alternative wireless networks based on the current performance data and on the historical performance data;

applying rules involving the performance state characterization to determine whether to switch from a first wireless network to a particular wireless network of the one or more alternative wireless networks; and

switching an end user device from a first wireless network to the particular wireless network in response to the application of the rules.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first wireless network is a cellular network, and wherein the particular wireless network is a WiFi network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising recommending to a user of the end user device to switch to the particular wireless network, and receiving a switch request from the user.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising changing a charging rate for using the first wireless network or a charging rate for using the particular wireless network to motivate a user of the end user device to switch to the particular wireless network.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising accessing a user preference to determine whether to switch automatically to the particular wireless network.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising controlling one of a plurality of services operating on the end user device to switch to the particular wireless network.

7. The method of claim 1,

wherein the end user device performs the obtaining the current performance data, and

further comprising sending the current performance data to the network element.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the network element uses the current performance data to generate the historical performance data.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the network element maintains a database of performance data entries from multiple end user devices.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the performance data includes a time stamp.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein the performance data includes geo-location data.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the network element characterizes the performance state.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the end user device characterizes the performance state.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the end user device applies the rules to determine whether to switch.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the network element applies the rules to determine whether to switch.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the rules include considering performance state information of the first wireless network.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the rules includes determining whether the performance state exceeds a minimum performance level.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the minimum performance level is based on service needs of the end user device.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the rules includes accounting for historical performance of each of the one or more alternative wireless networks.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the rules includes accounting for device location.

21. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the rules includes accounting for velocity of the device.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the rules includes accounting for service category.

23. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the rules includes accounting for the particular service.

24. The method of claim 1, wherein the applying the rules includes comparing the performance state of each of the one or more alternative wireless networks against a performance state of the first wireless network.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the obtaining the current performance data is performed by a persistent end user device on each of the one or more alternative wireless networks.

26. The method of claim 1, wherein the network element provides the rules to the end user device.

27. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing an indication to the user of the performance state of the particular wireless network.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the historical performance data includes historical outage data.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein the network element sends an incentive offer to switch to a user of the end user device.

30. The method of claim 1, further comprising instructing the end user device to characterize at least one of the one or more alternative wireless networks based on the amount of historical performance data collected.

31. A method comprising:

obtaining, by a server, wireless-network performance data from a plurality of end user devices;

generating, by the server, a prioritized network list from the wireless-network performance data; and

provisioning, by the server, the prioritized network list to a particular end user device.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein the wireless-network performance data includes economic-performance data.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein the wireless-network performance data includes network-performance data.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein the wireless-network performance data includes temporal data.

35. The method of claim 31, wherein the wireless-network performance data includes geo-location data.

36. The method of claim 31, wherein the wireless-network performance data includes motion trace data.

37. The method of claim 31, wherein the particular one end user device is associated with the prioritized network list.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein the association is based on current device-specific data.

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the association is based on historical device-specific data.

40. The method of claim 37, wherein the association is based on account-specific data.

41. A server system comprising:

a network interface configured to obtain wireless network performance data from a plurality of end user devices;

a prioritized network list generation engine configured to generate a prioritized network list from the wireless network performance data; and

a prioritized network list provisioning engine configured to provision the prioritized network list to a particular end user device.

42. A method comprising:

receiving, by an end user device, a prioritized network list from a remote server, the end user device being identified to receive the prioritized network list based on a characteristic associated with the end user device;

identifying, by the end user device, available wireless networks, the available wireless networks being different than a current wireless network to which the end user device is currently connected;

using the prioritized network list to select one of the available wireless networks;

disconnecting from the current wireless network; and

connecting to the selected available wireless network.

43. The method of claim 42, wherein the characteristic is based on current device-specific data.

44. The method of claim 42, wherein the characteristic is based on historical device-specific data.

45. The method of claim 42, wherein the characteristic is based on account-specific data.

46. The method of claim 42, wherein the connecting to the selected available wireless network occurs automatically.

47. The method of claim 42, wherein the connecting to the selected available wireless network occurs in response to a user selection.

48. The method of claim 42, wherein the connecting to the selected available wireless network occurs based on user preferences.

49. The method of claim 42, further comprising providing a user of the end user device a notification including an incentive offer to incent the user to connect to one of the available wireless networks.

50. The method of claim 49, wherein the incentive offer includes an economic incentive.

51. The method of claim 49, wherein the incentive offer includes a network-performance incentive.

52. An end user device comprising:

a radio interface for receiving a prioritized network list from a remote server, the radio interface being identified to receive the prioritized network list based on a characteristic associated with the end user device;

a radio configured to identify available wireless networks, the available wireless networks being different than a current wireless network to which the end user device is currently connected;

a prioritized network selection engine for using the prioritized network list to select one of the available wireless networks; and

a network connection engine configured to initiate disconnection from the current wireless network and connection to the selected wireless network.

53. A method comprising:

monitoring, by an end user device at a particular location at a particular time of day, one or more available wireless networks to generate wireless-network performance data;

generating an available network characteristic scan report based on the wireless-network performance data, information regarding the particular location and information regarding the particular time of day; and

providing the available network characteristic scan report to a remote server.

54. The method of claim 53, wherein the monitoring initiates based on a schedule.

55. The method of claim 53, wherein the monitoring initiates in response to a request.

56. The method of claim 53, wherein the monitoring includes passive scanning.

57. The method of claim 53, wherein the monitoring includes active scanning.

58. The method of claim 57, wherein the monitoring includes active scanning if the end user device is plugged into a power source.

59. The method of claim 53, wherein the wireless-network performance data includes economic-performance data.

60. The method of claim 53, wherein the wireless-network performance data includes network-performance data.

61. An end user device comprising:

a network monitoring engine configured to monitor, at a particular location at a particular time of day, one or more available wireless networks to generate wireless-network performance data;

a reporting engine configured to generate an available network characteristic scan report based on the wireless-network performance data, information regarding the particular location and information regarding the particular time of day, and to provide the available network characteristic scan report to a remote server.

62. A method comprising:

connecting, by an end user device, to a cellular network;

identifying, by the end user device, one or more other available wireless networks;

providing a notification of an incentive offer to a user of the end user device, the incentive offer to incent the user to offload from the cellular network to one of the one or more other available wireless networks;

receiving an acceptance of the incentive offer; and

connecting to one of the one or more other available wireless networks in response to the acceptance.

63. The method of claim 62, wherein the incentive offer includes an economic incentive.

64. The method of claim 62, wherein the incentive offer includes a network-performance incentive.

65. The method of claim 62, wherein the receiving an acceptance includes receiving a selection from a user of one of the one or more other available wireless networks.

66. An end user device comprising:

at least one radio configured to connect to a cellular network, and to identify one or more other available wireless networks;

an incentivizing network selection engine for providing a notification including an incentive offer to a user of the end user device, the incentive offer to incent the user to offload from the cellular network to one of the one or more other available wireless networks;

a user interface configured to receive an acceptance of the incentive offer; and

a network connection engine configured to connect to one of the one or more other available wireless networks in response to the acceptance.