OPTIMIZED SYSTEM SELECTION USING LOCATION ESTIMATION

• US 20120129487A1
• Filed: 05/18/2011
• Published: 05/24/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/24/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Rao, Bharath Narasimha, Chaudhary, Madhusudan, Anantharaman, Karthik
• Granted Patent: US 8,929,888 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A current location of a mobile system in a wireless network can be determined by using information provided by a base station in communication with the mobile system. The information can include a system identifier (SID) table and a local time offset (LTM_OFF) value and a daylight savings time (DAYLT) value. The SID table is used to provide a mobile country code (MCC) associated with a country in which the mobile device is located. The LTM_OFF value is used to provide a range of longitude values in which the mobile device is located. The current location of the mobile device is based upon at least the range of longitude values and the current country. The current location is used to build an optimized scan list that is used, in turn, to identify and acquire access to the preferred system by a mobile device.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

in a wireless communication network,

receiving information corresponding to a location of a mobile system;

using the location information to identify a preferred system; and

acquiring service associated with the preferred system.

2. The method as recited in claim 1, wherein the using the location information to identify the preferred system comprises:

accessing a tagged GEO Locate Table, the GEO Locate Table including at least one GEO tagged with corresponding location information;

indexing the tagged GEO Locate Table with the location information corresponding to the acquired service; and

identifying the preferred system in accordance with the indexing.

3. The method as recited in claim 2, wherein the GEO Locate Table includes at least a system identifier (SID), a corresponding GEO identifier, a device location, a channel number, and a Preferred Roaming List (PRL) indicator indicating that the SID is provisioned in a PRL stored in the mobile system.

4. The method as recited in claim 3, wherein the identifying the preferred system in accordance with the indexing comprises:

receiving a first channel number from the GEO Locate Table associated with the SID matching the location information.

5. The method as recited in claim 4, wherein the identifying the preferred system in accordance with the indexing comprises:

receiving a second channel number from the PRL associated with the SID matching the location information.

6. The method as recited in claim 5, further comprising:

building an optimized scan list in accordance with the first and second channel numbers. and

using the scan list to acquire the preferred system.

7. The method as recited claim 6, further comprising;

scanning the optimized scan list to acquire access to the preferred system.

8. A wireless mobile system, comprising:

a wireless interface, the wireless interface configured for wirelessly communication with a wireless base station;

a memory device, the memory device arranged to store data, the data including at least a preferred roaming list (PRL); and

a processor, the processor coupled to the wireless interface and the memory device, the processor arranged to acquire access to a preferred system by,

receiving information corresponding to a location of a mobile system,

using the location information to identify a preferred system, and

acquiring service associated with the preferred system.

9. The wireless mobile system, as recited in claim 8, wherein the location information is used to identify the preferred system by accessing a tagged GEO Locate Table, the GEO Locate Table including at least one GEO tagged with corresponding location information, indexing the tagged GEO Locate Table with the location information corresponding to the acquired service, and identifying the preferred system in accordance with the indexing.

10. The wireless mobile system, as recited in claim 9, wherein the GEO Locate Table includes at least a system identifier (SID), a corresponding GEO identifier, a device location, a channel number, and a Preferred Roaming List (PRL) indicator indicating that the SID is provisioned in a PRL stored in the mobile system.

11. The wireless mobile system, as recited in claim 10, wherein the preferred system is identified by receiving a first channel number from the GEO Locate Table associated with the SID matching the location information and receiving a second channel number from the PRL associated with the SID matching the location information.

12. The wireless mobile system, as recited in claim 11, wherein the processor builds an optimized scan list using the first and second channels and scans the optimized scan list to acquire access to the preferred system.

13. Non-transitory computer readable medium for storing program code executable by a processor in a wireless mobile system in a wireless communication network, comprising:

computer code for receiving information corresponding to a location of a mobile system;

computer code for using the location information to identify a preferred system; and

computer code for acquiring service associated with the preferred system.

14. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 13, wherein the using the location information to identify the preferred system comprises:

computer code for accessing a tagged GEO Locate Table, the GEO Locate Table including at least one GEO tagged with corresponding location information;

computer code for indexing the tagged GEO Locate Table with the location information corresponding to the acquired service; and

computer code for identifying the preferred system in accordance with the indexing.

15. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 14, wherein the GEO Locate Table includes at least a system identifier (SID), a corresponding GEO identifier, a device location, a channel number, and a Preferred Roaming List (PRL) indicator indicating that the SID is provisioned in a PRL stored in the mobile system.

16. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 15, wherein the identifying the preferred system in accordance with the indexing comprises:

computer code for receiving a first channel number from the GEO Locate Table associated with the SID matching the location information; and

computer code for receiving a second channel number from the PRL associated with the SID matching the location information.

17. The computer readable medium as recited in claim 16, further comprising:

computer code for building an optimized scan list in accordance with the first and second channel numbers. and

using the scan list to acquire the preferred system.

18. The computer readable medium as recited claim 17, further comprising;

computer code for scanning the optimized scan list to acquire access to the preferred system.

19. A wireless network, comprising:

a base station; and

a mobile system, wherein the mobile system acquires access to a preferred system by,

receiving information corresponding to a location of a mobile system,

using the location information to identify a preferred system, and

acquiring service associated with the preferred system.

20. The wireless network as recited in claim 19, wherein the mobile device uses the location information to identify the preferred system by,

accessing a tagged GEO Locate Table, the GEO Locate Table including at least one GEO tagged with corresponding location information,

indexing the tagged GEO Locate Table with the location information corresponding to the acquired service, and

identifying the preferred system in accordance with the indexing.

21. The wireless network as recited in claim 20, wherein the accuracy of the current location is enhanced by retrieving GPS based base station location information from a paging channel and using the GPS based base station location information to enhance the accuracy of the current location.

22. The wireless network as recited in claim 21, wherein the GPS based base station information includes at least a base station latitude (BASE_LAT) and a base station longitude (BASE_LONG).

23. The wireless network as recited in claim 22, wherein the GEO Locate Table includes at least a system identifier (SID), a corresponding GEO identifier, a device location, a channel number, and a Preferred Roaming List (PRL) indicator indicating that the SID is provisioned in a PRL stored in the mobile system.

24. The wireless network as recited in claim 23, wherein the mobile system identifies the preferred system by, receiving a first channel number from the GEO Locate Table associated with the SID matching the location information and receiving a second channel number from the PRL associated with the SID matching the location information.

25. The wireless network as recited in claim 24, wherein the mobile device builds an optimized scan list in accordance with the first and second channel numbers, uses the scan list to acquire the preferred system and scans the optimized scan list to acquire access to the preferred system.