Techniques for Establishing a Communication Handoff Threshold Using User Feedback

• US 20140269619A1
• Filed: 05/27/2014
• Published: 09/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 05/27/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Relay Inc. (Publicis Groupe SA)
• Original Assignee: Bandwidth Inc.
• Inventors: Stimpson, Jesse, Surface, Charlie, Cook, Adam
• Granted Patent: US 8,948,134 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/331
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/00837 Determination of triggering parameters for hand-off
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/365 by manual user interaction

Abstract

Examples are disclosed for user feedback to enable a handoff profile for a dual-mode hybrid mobile device. In some examples communication link handoff logic may be executed by the processor component to receive user feedback during a test voice call mediated with a call server, the user feedback pertaining to one or more Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication link parameters for the communication link between the hybrid mobile device and the call server. The communication link parameters are correlated with a call quality threshold based on the user feedback and a handoff profile is established for the hybrid mobile device based on the call quality thresholds, the handoff profile operative to establish criteria for switching the VoIP communication link to a communication link over a different network.

Claims

1. At least one machine-readable medium comprising a set of instructions that in response to being executed on a computing device cause the computing device to:

simulate one or more Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication link parameters pertaining to perceived quality of a simulated VoIP communication link;

solicit user feedback for the one or more VoIP communication link parameters;

receive user feedback for the one or more VoIP communication link parameters;

correlate each of the one or more VOIP communication link parameters with a call quality threshold based on the user feedback; and

create a handoff profile for a hybrid mobile device based on the call quality thresholds, the handoff profile operative to establish criteria for switching a VoIP communication link on a VoIP network to an alternate communication link on an alternate network or an alternate access point on voice calls made or received by a hybrid mobile device capable of making and receiving voice calls on the VoIP network and the alternate network.

2. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, the computing device comprising the hybrid mobile device.

3. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, the computing device comprising a web-server communicable with a web-browser executing on a client computer device.

4. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, the handoff profile comprising threshold values for each of the communication link parameters.

5. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, the communication link parameters comprising one or more of received signal strength, jitter, latency, packet loss, link speed, and link throughput.

6. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, comprising instructions that in response to being executed on the computing device cause the computing device to:

initiate a handoff of the VoIP communication link to an alternate communication link using the alternate network or the alternate access point when at least one call quality parameter value currently associated with the VoIP communication link crosses its threshold in the handoff profile.

7. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, comprising instructions that in response to being executed on the computing device cause the computing device to:

initiate a handoff of the VoIP communication link to an alternate communication link using the alternate network or the alternate access point when two or more of the call quality parameter values currently associated with the VoIP communication link are sufficiently close to the corresponding call quality parameter thresholds in the handoff profile.

8. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, comprising instructions that in response to being executed on the computing device cause the computing device to:

update, in a call server, the handoff profile of the hybrid mobile device based on the most recent user feedback data.

9. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, comprising instructions that in response to being executed on the computing device cause the computing device to:

update, in the hybrid mobile device, the handoff profile of the hybrid mobile device based on the most recent user feedback data.

10. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, comprising instructions that in response to being executed on the computing device cause the computing device to:

separately vary each of the one or more VoIP communication link parameters pertaining to the perceived quality of the test voice call until negative user feedback indicative of unsatisfactory voice call quality is received.

11. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, comprising instructions that in response to being executed on the computing device cause the computing device to:

vary multiple of the one or more VoIP communication link parameters pertaining to the perceived quality of the test voice call simultaneously until negative user feedback indicative of unsatisfactory voice call quality is received.

12. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, the user feedback comprising one or more of activation of one or more input/output (I/O) devices of the hybrid mobile device, interaction with a graphical user interface (GUI) element displayed on a touch sensitive display of the hybrid mobile device, or activation of one or more sensors of the hybrid mobile device.

13. The at least one machine-readable medium of claim 1, the alternate communication link comprising a mobile communication link and the alternate network comprising a mobile network.

14. An apparatus, comprising:

a processor component;

communication link handoff (CLH) logic to be executed by the processor component to;

simulate one or more Voice-over Internet Protocol (VoIP) communication link parameters pertaining to perceived quality of a simulated VoIP communication link;

solicit user feedback for the one or more VoIP communication link parameters;

receive user feedback for the one or more VoIP communication link parameters;

correlate each of the one or more VOIP communication link parameters with a call quality threshold based on the user feedback; and

create a handoff profile for a hybrid mobile device based on the call quality thresholds, the handoff profile operative to establish criteria for switching a VoIP communication link on a VoIP network to an alternate communication link on an alternate network or an alternate access point on voice calls made or received by a hybrid mobile device capable of making and receiving voice calls on the VoIP network and the alternate network.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, the apparatus comprising the hybrid mobile device.

16. The apparatus of claim 14, the apparatus comprising a web-server communicable with a web-browser executing on a client computer device.

17. The apparatus of claim 14, the handoff profile comprising threshold values for each of the communication link parameters.

18. The apparatus of claim 14, the communication link parameters comprising one or more of received signal strength, jitter, latency, packet loss, link speed, and link throughput.

19. The apparatus of claim 14, the communication link handoff (CLH) logic to be executed by the processor component to:

initiate a handoff of the VoIP communication link to an alternate communication link using the alternate network or the alternate access point when at least one call quality parameter value currently associated with the VoIP communication link crosses its threshold in the handoff profile.

20. The apparatus of claim 14, the communication link handoff (CLH) logic to be executed by the processor component to:

initiate a handoff of the VoIP communication link to an alternate communication link using the alternate network or the alternate access point when two or more of the call quality parameter values currently associated with the VoIP communication link are sufficiently close to the corresponding call quality parameter thresholds in the handoff profile.

21. The apparatus of claim 14, the communication link handoff (CLH) logic to be executed by the processor component to:

update, in a call server, the handoff profile of the hybrid mobile device based on the most recent user feedback data.

22. The apparatus of claim 14, the communication link handoff (CLH) logic to be executed by the processor component to:

update, in the hybrid mobile device, the handoff profile of the hybrid mobile device based on the most recent user feedback data.

23. The apparatus of claim 14, the communication link handoff (CLH) logic to be executed by the processor component to:

separately vary each of the one or more VoIP communication link parameters pertaining to the perceived quality of the test voice call until negative user feedback indicative of unsatisfactory voice call quality is received.

24. The apparatus of claim 14, the communication link handoff (CLH) logic to be executed by the processor component to:

vary multiple of the one or more VoIP communication link parameters pertaining to the perceived quality of the test voice call simultaneously until negative user feedback indicative of unsatisfactory voice call quality is received.

25. The apparatus of claim 14, the user feedback comprising one or more of activation of one or more input/output (I/O) devices of the hybrid mobile device, interaction with a graphical user interface (GUI) element displayed on a touch sensitive display of the hybrid mobile device, or activation of one or more sensors of the hybrid mobile device.

26. The apparatus of claim 14, the alternate communication link comprising a mobile communication link and the alternate network comprising a mobile network.