SELF-ADAPTIVE COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK SELECTION

• US 20140128070A1
• Filed: 11/06/2013
• Published: 05/08/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 11/06/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Spreadtrum Communications USA
• Original Assignee: Spreadtrum Communications USA
• Inventors: Jin, Yi, Chen, Xianliang, NI, Jinjin, Sun, Xiang
• Granted Patent: US 9,699,719 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/435.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems

Abstract

A public land mobile network (PLMN) selection procedure may be generated that, when implemented, disables at least one resource of a particular mobile device to prevent a scan of particular ones of PLMNS that exhibit supported access technologies, and/or supported frequency bands of supported access technologies, incompatible with a preferred operation of the particular mobile terminal.

Claims

1. A method for generating a public land mobile network (PLMN) selection procedure, comprising:

identifying, by a mobile terminal, a plurality of PLMNs each operably configured to provide coverage within at least a portion of a particular geography;

determining, by the mobile terminal, a supported access technology, and supported frequency bands of the supported access technology, of each of the plurality of PLMNs; and

generating, by the mobile terminal, the PLMN selection procedure that, when instantiated by the mobile terminal, disables at least one of a software resource and a hardware resource of the mobile terminal to prevent a scan of particular ones of the plurality of PLMNS that exhibit supported access technologies, and supported frequency bands of supported access technologies, incompatible with a preferred operation of the mobile terminal.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

comparing an access technology configuration of each one of the plurality of PLMNs against an access technology configuration of the mobile terminal; and

identifying the particular ones of the plurality of PLMNs that are incompatible with the preferred operation of the mobile terminal.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

identifying a discrepancy between a first access technology configuration of a particular PLMN, specified within an identity module of the mobile terminal, and a second access technology configuration of the particular PLMN, specified within a local resource list of the mobile terminal, the first specified access technology configuration including incomplete configuration information of the particular PLMN;

instantiating the PLMN selection procedure; and

implementing, based on the local resource list, a selection scan of PLMN-specific supported access technologies, and supported frequency bands of corresponding PLMN-specific supported access technologies, that are compatible with the preferred operation of the mobile terminal.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

instantiating the PLMN selection procedure; and

implementing a selection scan of PLMN-specific supported access technologies, and supported frequency bands of corresponding PLMN-specific supported access technologies, that are compatible with the preferred operation of the mobile terminal.

5. The method of claim 4, further comprising at least one of:

ceasing supply of power to the hardware resource to disable the hardware resource; and

terminating at least one computer-implemented algorithm associated with the software resource to disable the software resource.

6. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

identifying, based on the selection scan and from the plurality of PLMNs, a plurality of preferred PLMNs;

identifying a priority level of each one of the plurality of preferred PLMNs; and

selecting a most significant PLMN of the plurality of preferred PLMNs for establishing a communication connection with the mobile terminal.

7. The method of claim 4, further comprising:

identifying, based on the selection scan, a preferred PLMN selected from the plurality of PLMNs; and

establishing a communication connection between the preferred PLMN and the mobile terminal.

8. A computer-implemented method, comprising:

searching, by a mobile multimode user equipment (MMUE) and in response to a predetermined event, a resource list that identifies a plurality of public land mobile networks (PLMNs), and that specifies an access technology configuration of each one of the plurality of PLMNs;

comparing, by the MMUE and based on the searching, an access technology configuration of the MMUE against the access technology configuration of each one of the plurality of PLMNs to identify ones of the plurality of PLMNs that exhibit at least one supported access technology in common with the MMUE;

selecting, by the MMUE and based on the comparing, at least one PLMN, from the ones of the plurality of PLMNs, as a candidate network to serve the MMUE within a particular geographic region; and

implementing a PLMN selection procedure that scans supported access technologies, and supported frequency bands of supported access technologies, of the at least one PLMN, that are compatible with the MMUE, and that disables a resource of the MMUE operably configured to scan supported access technologies, and supported frequency bands of supported access technologies, of the at least one PLMN that are incompatible with a preferred operation of the MMUE.

9. The method of claim 8, further comprising at least one of:

disabling a hardware resource of the MMUE by ceasing supply of power to the hardware resource; and

disabling a software resource of the MMUE by terminating at least one computer-implemented algorithm associated with the software resource.

10. The method of claim 8, further comprising searching the resource list in response to a power-on event of the MMUE.

11. The method of claim 8, further comprising searching the resource list in response to a cell camp-on event of the MMUE where the MMUE obtained service of a particular PLMN within the particular geographic region.

12. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving an updated resource list from the at least one PLMN;

modifying the resource list to reflect changes thereto; and

storing the modified resource list in a local memory of the MMUE.

13. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

identifying a discrepancy between particular PLMN configuration information identified based on the PLMN selection procedure and associated PLMN configuration information within the resource list;

modifying the resource list to correct for the discrepancy; and

storing the modified resource list in a local memory of the MMUE.

14. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

receiving an updated resource list from an online resource different than the at least one PLMN;

modifying the resource list to reflect changes thereto; and

storing the modified resource list in a local memory of the MMUE.

15. The method of claim 8, further comprising:

identifying one or more access technology configuration properties of the at least one PLMN that are absent from the resource list;

modifying the resource list to reflect changes thereto; and

storing the modified resource list in the local memory of the mobile device.

16. A multimode mobile device, comprising:

a plurality of communication interfaces each operably configured to communicate with at least one public land mobile network (PLMN) according to a particular access technology;

at least one memory cache configured to store a data list that specifies an access technology configuration of the mobile device, and an access technology configuration of each of a plurality of PLMNs, the plurality of PLMNs each operably configured to provide network coverage within at least a portion of a particular geographic region; and

a controller coupled to each one of the plurality of communication interfaces and the at least one memory cache, the controller operably configured to at least implement a PLMN selection process that disables at least one of a software resource and a hardware resource of the multimode mobile device to prevent a scan of particular ones of the plurality of PLMNS that exhibit supported access technologies, and supported frequency bands of supported access technologies, incompatible with a preferred operation of the multimode mobile device.

17. The device of claim 16, wherein the controller is configured to disable the hardware resource by ceasing supply of power to the hardware resource, and to disable the software resource by terminating at least one computer-implemented algorithm associated with the software resource.

18. The device of claim 16, further comprising a display, wherein the controller module is configured to instantiate a graphical user interface for presentation on the display, the graphical user interface configured to:

enable user-selection between an automatic and manual resource list update function;

enable user-selection between a computer network and computer network and mobile network resource list update function; and

enable user-selection to disable a roaming list update function.

19. The device of claim 16, wherein the controller is further configured to disable a particular communication interface of the mobile device during a camp-on event, where the mobile device obtained service of a particular PLMN within the particular geographic region.

20. The device of claim 16, wherein the controller is further configured to instantiate the PLMN selection process and implement a selection scan of PLMN-specific supported access technologies, and supported frequency bands of corresponding PLMN-specific supported access technologies, that are compatible with the preferred operation of the mobile device.