NETWORK SELECTION USING CURRENT AND HISTORICAL MEASUREMENTS

• US 20170222901A1
• Filed: 04/17/2017
• Published: 08/03/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Williammee, Brian Clair, Jain, Arvind
• Granted Patent: US 10,153,955 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0242 Determining the position of transmitters to be subsequently used in positioning G01S5/0289 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 15/16 Combinations of two or more digital computers each having at least an arithmetic unit, a program unit and a register, e.g. for a simultaneous processing of several programs coordinating program control therefor G06F9/52; in regulating and control system G05B
• CPC Class Codes: G06F 16/9537 Spatial or temporal dependent retrieval, e.g. spatiotemporal queries
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/5692 Selection among different networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0813 characterised by the conditions triggering a change of settings
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/12 Discovery or management of network topologies
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/142 using statistical or mathematical methods
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/04 Processing captured monitoring data, e.g. for logfile generation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0811 by checking connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0888 Throughput
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/16 Threshold monitoring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/00 Access restriction access security to prevent unauthorised access H04W12/08; Network selection; Access point selection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/085 Access point devices with remote components

Abstract

A method including: receiving network performance parameters of a plurality of data networks, the network performance parameters being collected by individual client devices of a plurality of client devices; receiving location data indicating a geographic location of the individual client devices when the network performance parameters were collected, the received location data being associated with respective network performance parameters; selecting, from the received location data, a subset of the received location data associated with network performance parameters of a first data network of the plurality of data networks; calculating a geographic location of a first access point of the first data network based on at least one geographic location indicated by the subset of the received location data; and building a database entry indicating the calculated geographic location of the first access point

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, at one or more processors, network performance parameters of a plurality of data networks, the network performance parameters being collected by individual client devices of a plurality of client devices;

receiving, at the one or more processors, location data indicating a geographic location of the individual client devices when the network performance parameters were collected, the received location data being associated with respective network performance parameters;

selecting, by the one or more processors and from the received location data, a subset of the received location data associated with network performance parameters of a first data network of the plurality of data networks;

calculating, by the one or more processors, a geographic location of a first access point of the first data network based on at least one geographic location indicated by the subset of the received location data; and

building, by the one or more processors, a database entry indicating the calculated geographic location of the first access point.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating the geographic location of the first access point is based, at least in part, on the network performance parameters of the first data network associated with the subset of the received location data.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating the geographic location of the first access point comprises combining the at least one geographic location indicated by the subset of the received location data, the combining being weighted based, at least in part, on the network performance parameters of the first data network associated with the subset of the received location data.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, at the one or more processors, a key associated with the received network performance parameters, the key uniquely identifying an individual access point of an individual data network.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting comprises selecting all location data associated with a signal strength measurement for the first access point as the subset of the received location data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating the geographic location of the first access point comprises calculating a geometric average of the at least one geographic location indicated by the subset of the received location data.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the calculating the geographic location of the first access point comprises calculating a centroid position of the at least one geographic location indicated by the subset of the received location data.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting the subset of the received location data comprises excluding, from the subset of the received location data, location data associated with network performance parameters of the first data network that fail to meet one or more predefined criteria.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein

the network performance parameters of the first data network include a signal strength measurement of the first data network, and

the excluding comprises excluding, from the subset of the received location data, location data associated with a signal strength measurement below a threshold.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein

the database entry includes the calculated geographic location of the first access point associated with corresponding network performance parameters of the first data network, and

the method further comprises:

determining a distance between the geographic location of the individual client devices indicated by the received location data and the calculated geographic location of the first access point;

comparing the determined distance to a threshold distance; and

removing, from the corresponding network performance parameters of the first access point, performance parameters received from individual client devices where the determined distance is greater than the threshold distance.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein

the threshold distance is a variable parameter, and

the method further comprises:

determining a value of the threshold distance by;

determining if a sample size of the network performance parameters remaining after removing the network performance parameters is large enough to be statistically significant; and

increasing the threshold distance in response to the sample size being determined to not be statistically significant.

12. A server comprising:

a memory; and

one or more processors configured to execute program instructions stored on the memory, the program instructions being configured to, when executed by the one or more processors, control the server to;

receive network performance parameters of a plurality of data networks, the network performance parameters being collected by individual client devices of a plurality of client devices;

receive location data indicating a geographic location of the individual client devices when the network performance parameters were collected, the received location data being associated with respective network performance parameters;

select, from the received location data, a subset of the received location data associated with network performance parameters of a first data network of the plurality of data networks;

calculate a geographic location of a first access point of the first data network based on at least one geographic location indicated by the subset of the received location data; and

build a database entry indicating the calculated geographic location of the first access point.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the program instructions are configured to control the server to calculate the geographic location of the first access point by:

combining the at least one geographic location indicated by the subset of the received location data, the combining being weighted based, at least in part, on the network performance parameters of the first data network associated with the subset of the received location data

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the program instructions are configured to control the server to select the subset of the received location data by:

excluding, from the subset of the received location data, location data associated with network performance parameters of the first data network that fail to meet one or more predefined criteria.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein

the network performance parameters of the first data network include a signal strength measurement of the first data network, and

the excluding comprises excluding, from the subset of the received location data, location data associated with a signal strength measurement below a threshold.

16. The system of claim 12, wherein

the database entry includes the calculated geographic location of the first access point associated with corresponding network performance parameters of the first data network, and

the program instructions are further configured to, when executed by the one or more processors, control the server to:

determine a distance between the geographic location of the individual client devices indicated by the received location data and the calculated geographic location of the access point;

compare the determined distance to a threshold distance; and

remove, from the corresponding network performance parameters of the first access point, performance parameters received from the individual client devices where the determined distance is greater than the threshold distance.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein

the threshold distance is a variable parameter, and

the program instructions are further configured to, when executed by the one or more processors, control the server to:

determine a value of the threshold distance by;

determining if a sample size of the network performance parameters remaining after removing the network performance parameters is large enough to be statistically significant; and

increasing the threshold distance in response to the sample size being determined to not be statistically significant.

18. A non-transitory computer readable storage device having computer executable instructions for:

receiving network performance parameters of a plurality of data networks, the network performance parameters being collected by individual client devices of a plurality of client devices;

receiving location data indicating a geographic location of the individual client devices when the network performance parameters were collected, the received location data being associated with respective network performance parameters;

selecting, from the received location data, a subset of the received location data associated with network performance parameters of a first data network of the plurality of data networks;

calculating a geographic location of a first access point of the first data network based on at least one geographic location indicated by the subset of the received location data; and

building a database entry indicating the calculated geographic location of the first access point.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the instructions for calculating the geographic location of the first access point comprise instructions for combining the at least one geographic location indicated by the subset of the received location data, the combining being weighted based, at least in part, on the network performance parameters of the first data network associated with the subset of the received location data.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 18, wherein the instructions for selecting the subset of the received location data comprise instructions for excluding, from the subset of the received location data, location data associated with network performance parameters of the first data network that fail to meet one or more predefined criteria.