SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR MATCHING CAPABILITIES OF ACCESS POINTS WITH THOSE REQUIRED BY AN APPLICATION

• US 20130095880A1
• Filed: 12/06/2012
• Published: 04/18/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: TZAMALOUKAS, Assimakis
• Granted Patent: US 9,185,678 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/525
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/63 Routing a service request depending on the request content or context
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/12 WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks]

Abstract

A system and method uses a communication request and/or historical data collected by one or more devices to identify whether to fulfill the request using ad hoc networking or access points. If an access point is determined to be used, the system and method attempts to identify those access points that can best fulfill the request and then attempts to use such access points to fulfill the request.

Claims

1-24. -24. (canceled)

25. A method of responding to a request to access a network, the method comprising:

receiving data from an electronic device, the data based on substantially current conditions of the moving vehicle and including at least a location of the moving vehicle;

identifying a trajectory for the moving vehicle, the trajectory based on at least the location of the moving vehicle;

identifying predicted road segments associated with the moving vehicle, the predicted road segments based on at least the location of the moving vehicle and the identified trajectory;

identifying a correspondence between the predicted road segments, the identified trajectory and at least one entry in a database, the at least one entry in a database comprising one or more wireless network access points previously identified by a plurality of moving vehicles; and

selecting at least one of the identified wireless network access points, based on the identified correspondence, to attempt to access a wireless network via the selected wireless network access point.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein the received data further includes at least one of a type of day and time of day.

27. The method of claim 25 wherein identifying the trajectory for the moving vehicle is based on at least one of predicting the trajectory along the currently-traveled road and driving directions previously provided to the electronic device.

28. The method of claim 27 wherein identifying the trajectory for the moving vehicle is based on a series of two or more locations.

29. The method of claim 25 further comprising transmitting, to the electronic device, an access point identifier for each of the selected wireless network access points.

30. The method of claim 25 further comprising transmitting, to the electronic device, an access point identifier and a quality level for each of the selected wireless network access points.

31. The method of claim 30 wherein the selecting at least one of the identified wireless network access points is based on a quality level for the selected wireless network access point most closely corresponding to a quality level associated with the request.

32. The method of claim 30 wherein the selecting at least one of the identified wireless network access points is based on a quality level for the selected wireless network access point exceeding a predetermined quality level.

33. The method of claim 25 wherein selecting at least one of the identified wireless network access further comprises selecting at least one of the identified wireless network access points for a current road segment where the electronic device is currently located.

34. The method of claim 25 wherein selecting at least one of the identified wireless network access further comprises selecting at least one of the identified wireless network access points for an upcoming road segment where the electronic device is going to be located.

35. A computer program product comprising a non-transitory computer useable medium having computer readable program code embodied therein for responding to a request to access a network, the computer program product comprising computer readable program code devices configured to cause a computer system to:

receive data from an electronic device, the data based on substantially current conditions of the moving vehicle and including at least a location of the moving vehicle;

identify a trajectory for the moving vehicle, the trajectory based on at least the location of the vehicle;

identify predicted road segments associated with the moving vehicle, the predicted road segments based on at least the location of the moving vehicle and identified trajectory;

identify a correspondence between the predicted road segments, the identified trajectory and at least one entry in a database, the at least one entry in a database comprising one or more wireless network access points previously identified by a plurality of moving vehicles; and

select at least one of the identified wireless network access points, based on the identified correspondence, to attempt to access a wireless network via the selected wireless network access point.

36. The computer program product of claim 35 wherein the received data further includes at least one of a type of day and time of day.

37. The computer program product of claim 35 wherein identifying the trajectory for the moving vehicle is based on at least one of predicting the trajectory along the currently-traveled road and driving directions previously provided to the electronic device.

38. The computer program product of claim 37 wherein identifying the trajectory for the moving vehicle is based on a series of two or more locations.

39. The computer program product of claim 35 further comprising transmitting, to the electronic device, an access point identifier for each of the selected wireless network access points.

40. The computer program product of claim 35 further comprising transmitting, to the electronic device, an access point identifier and a quality level for each of the selected wireless network access points.

41. The computer program product of claim 40 wherein the selecting at least one of the identified wireless network access points is based on a quality level for the selected wireless network access point most closely corresponding to a quality level associated with the request.

42. The computer program product of claim 40 wherein the selecting at least one of the identified wireless network access points is based on a quality level for the selected wireless network access point exceeding a predetermined quality level.

43. The computer program product of claim 35 wherein selecting at least one of the identified wireless network access further comprises selecting at least one of the identified wireless network access points for a current road segment where the electronic device is currently located.

44. The computer program product of claim 35 wherein selecting at least one of the identified wireless network access further comprises selecting at least one of the identified wireless network access points for an upcoming road segment where the electronic device is going to be located.