MOBILE DEVICE AND METHOD FOR AUTOMATIC CONNECTIVITY, DATA OFFLOADING AND ROAMING BETWEEN NETWORKS

• US 20130007853A1
• Filed: 06/30/2011
• Published: 01/03/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Intel Corporation
• Inventors: Gupta, Vivek, Canpolat, Necati
• Granted Patent: US 8,590,023 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 726/5
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0823 using certificates cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for entity authentication involving certificates H04L9/3263
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/162 at the data link layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/062 Pre-authentication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/069 using certificates or pre-shared keys
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/02 Processing of mobility data, e.g. registration information at HLR [Home Location Register] or VLR [Visitor Location Register]; Transfer of mobility data, e.g. between HLR, VLR or external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

Embodiments of a mobile device and methods automatically connecting to a Wi-Fi Hotspot 2.0 are generally described herein. In some embodiments, subscription information for one or more service providers (SP) that operate Wi-Fi networks is stored in a subscription data object of the mobile device. The subscription information includes home service provider information, policy information and pre-provisioned credentials. The mobile device may be configured to determine, without user interaction, if the subscription information is applicable to an available Wi-Fi network and perform without user interaction, an extensible authentication protocol (EAP) based authentication using the pre-provisioned credentials with the available Wi-Fi network to establish a Wi-Fi connection with the available Wi-Fi network. This automatic connectivity may allow a mobile device to roam across Wi-Fi hotspots of Wi-Fi networks and offload traffic to Wi-Fi networks.

Claims

1. A method of automatically connecting to a Wi-Fi hotspot, the method comprising:

storing subscription information for one or more service providers (SP) that operate Wi-Fi networks in a subscription data object of the mobile device, the subscription information including home service provider information, policy information and pre-provisioned credentials;

determining, without user interaction, if the subscription information is applicable to an available Wi-Fi network; and

when the subscription information is applicable to an available Wi-Fi network, the method includes performing, without user interaction, an extensible authentication protocol (EAP) based authentication using the pre-provisioned credentials with the available Wi-Fi network to establish a Wi-Fi connection with the available Wi-Fi network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the home service provider information identifies a home service provider, the home service provider being a service provider that the mobile device has a subscription agreement with, and

wherein determining comprises:

determining, based on the home service provider information and the policy information, whether the mobile device has a subscription agreement with a service provider of an available Wi-Fi network, or

determining whether the home service provider has a roaming agreement with the available Wi-Fi network.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the home service provider information identifies a friendly name, a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) and a service provider network access identifier (NAI) realm for the home service provider.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the Wi-Fi hotspot is a Wi-Fi Hotspot 2.0 operating in accordance with a Hotspot 2.0 specification,

wherein the mobile device is a Hotspot 2.0 enabled device, and

wherein the subscription information comprises pre-provisioned subscription information for automatic connection to the Hotspot 2.0.

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the policy information includes a roaming partner list indicating the hotspot service providers that the home service provider has a roaming agreement with.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein for each hotspot service provider on the roaming partner list, the subscription data object includes a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) and priority information.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the policy information further includes a service provider blacklist, the service provider blacklist indicating hotspot service providers with which the home service provider does not have a roaming agreement,

wherein the mobile device is configured to refrain from establishing a Wi-Fi connection with hotspot service providers identified in the service provider blacklist, and

wherein the service provider blacklist identifies the FQDN for each blacklisted hotspot service provider.

8. The method of claim 7 further comprising roaming from a currently connected Wi-Fi network to a hotspot of another Wi-Fi network operated by either the home service provider or a hotspot service provider on the roaming partner list;

and

refraining from roaming to a hotspot operated by a service provider on the service provider blacklist.

9. The method of claim 5 further comprising performing roaming from a currently connected Wi-Fi network to a base station of a cellular network using pre-provisioned credentials for the cellular network.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein the pre-provisioned credentials are unified credentials and comprise a digital certificate for EAP-TLS (transport-layer security) authentication.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein the mobile device is a single-mode device with Wi-Fi network capability but without cellular-network capability, and

wherein the digital certificate is an X.509 configured certificate that is based on public/private key pair.

12. The method of claim 5 wherein the mobile device is a dual-mode device having both Wi-Fi network capability and cellular-network capability, and

wherein the pre-provisioned credentials comprise a subscriber-identity module (SIM) for either an EAP-AKA (Authentication and Key Agreement) or an EAP-SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) authentication.

13. The method of claim 5 wherein the pre-provisioned credentials comprise a user name and password, for use with server-side certificates, for either EAP-Tunneled Transport Layer Security (EAP-TTLS) or EAP-Flexible Authentication via Secure Tunneling (EAP-FAST) authentication.

14. The method of claim 2 further comprising:

discovering and selecting available Wi-Fi networks at a current location of the mobile device;

determining if the mobile device is pre-provisioned for automatic connectivity for any one or more of the available Wi-Fi networks based on the subscription information; and

when the mobile device is pre-provisioned for connectivity to more than one of the available Wi-Fi networks, the method includes selecting a preferred of the available Wi-Fi networks based on priority information in the subscription data object.

15. The method of claim 14 when the mobile device is not pre-provisioned for any of the available Wi-Fi networks, the method includes:

performing a subscription provisioning process to generate pre-provisioned subscription information; and

storing the pre-provisioned subscription information in the subscription data object.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the subscription information is stored in the mobile device by downloading the subscription information in accordance with either an open-mobile alliance (OMA) device management (DM) (OMA-DM) technique or a Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) Extensible Markup Language (XML) (SOAP-XML) technique.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein performing the subscription provisioning process includes connecting to a sign-up server and signing up for a subscription agreement with a Wi-Fi network service provider.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein identifying available Wi-Fi networks at the current location comprises:

determining the current location of the mobile device based on a geo-location, a cellular identifier or a WLAN identifier;

retrieving, without user interaction, a list of one or more preferred Wi-Fi networks available at the current location from the subscription data object; and

automatically performing, without user interaction, the EAP based authentication using the pre-provisioned credentials with a selected one of the available Wi-Fi networks to establish the Wi-Fi connection.

19. The method of claim 5 wherein the policy information further includes policy parameters that indicate one or more of locations, dates and times for which certain of the subscription information is valid.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein the mobile device is a dual-mode mobile device for communicating with a Wi-Fi network and a cellular network, and

wherein the method further includes offloading traffic from a cellular network to the Wi-Fi network after the connection to the Wi-Fi network is established.

21. A mobile device configured for Wi-Fi hotspot automatic connectivity comprising:

memory to store subscription information for one or more service providers (SP) that operate Wi-Fi networks in a subscription data object, the subscription information including home service provider information, policy information and pre-provisioned credentials;

processing circuitry to determine without user interaction, if the subscription information is applicable to an available Wi-Fi network,

wherein when the subscription information is applicable to an available Wi-Fi network, the processing circuitry is configured to perform without user interaction, an extensible authentication protocol (EAP) based authentication using the pre-provisioned credentials with the available Wi-Fi network to establish a Wi-Fi connection with the available Wi-Fi network.

22. The mobile device of claim 21 wherein the home service provider information identifies a home service provider, the home service provider being a service provider that the mobile device has a subscription agreement with, and

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine based on the home service provider information and the policy information, whether the mobile device has a subscription agreement with a service provider of an available Wi-Fi network, or whether the home service provider has a roaming agreement with the available Wi-Fi network,

wherein the home service provider information identifies a friendly name, a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) and a service provider network access identifier (NAI) realm for the home service provider, and

wherein the policy information includes a roaming partner list indicating the hotspot service providers that the home service provider has a roaming agreement with.

23. The mobile device of claim 22 further configured to:

discover and select available Wi-Fi networks at a current location of the mobile device;

determine if the mobile device is pre-provisioned for automatic connectivity for any one or more of the available Wi-Fi networks based on the subscription information; and

when the mobile device is pre-provisioned for connectivity to more than one of the available Wi-Fi networks, the select a preferred of the available Wi-Fi networks based on priority information in the subscription data object.

24. The mobile device of claim 23, wherein the mobile device is a dual-mode mobile device for communicating with a Wi-Fi network and a cellular network, and

wherein the mobile device is further configured to offload traffic from a cellular network to the Wi-Fi network after the connection to the Wi-Fi network is established.

25. A method for automatic connectivity for Wi-Fi hotspots comprising:

pre-provisioning a mobile device with subscription information for one or more service providers (SP) that operate Wi-Fi networks, the subscription information including home service provider information, policy information and pre-provisioned credentials;

configuring the mobile device to determine, without user interaction, if the subscription information is applicable to an available Wi-Fi network; and

configuring the mobile device to perform without user interaction, an extensible authentication protocol (EAP) based authentication using the pre-provisioned credentials with the available Wi-Fi network to establish a Wi-Fi connection with the available Wi-Fi network when the subscription information is applicable to an available Wi-Fi network.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the home service provider information identifies a friendly name, a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) and a service provider network access identifier (NAI) realm for the home service provider, and

wherein the policy information includes a roaming partner list indicating the hotspot service providers that the home service provider has a roaming agreement with.

27. The method of claim 26 wherein for each hotspot service provider on the roaming partner list, the subscription data object includes a fully-qualified domain name (FQDN) and priority information, and

wherein the policy information further includes a service provider blacklist, the service provider blacklist indicating hotspot service providers with which the home service provider does not have a roaming agreement,

wherein the mobile device is configured to refrain from establishing a Wi-Fi connection with hotspot service providers identified in the service provider blacklist, and

wherein the service provider blacklist identifies the FQDN for each blacklisted hotspot service provider.