Method and apparatus for selecting a service provider
First Claim
1. An intelligent roaming method for enabling a mobile station to select a best service provider from a plurality of service providers, said mobile station having a database for storing a plurality of identifier codes corresponding with the plurality of service providers, said intelligent roaming method comprising the steps of:
- locating a first channel and a second channel transmitted by a first service provider and a second service provider respectively based upon signal strength measurements, each channel containing one of the stored identifier codes;
evaluating channel information associated with the first channel and channel information associated with the second channel to select a channel for supporting a call;
determining a status of an overlap flag associated with the stored identifier codes of the first channel and the second channel, the overlap flag indicating whether the mobile station is located on an edge of a coverage area of one of the service providers; and
selecting a service provider based upon the status of the overlap flags and the selected channel.
5 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A mobile station and an intelligent roaming method for selecting a best service provider from a plurality of service providers. The mobile station includes a database for storing a plurality of identifier codes that correspond with the plurality of service providers. The database also has an overlap flag added to each of the stored identifier codes. The mobile station uses the intelligent roaming procedure to locate a first channel and a second channel broadcast by the service providers, where each channel contains one of the stored identifier codes and at least one of the located and stored identifier codes has an overlap flag that is set. The intelligent roaming procedure evaluates channel information associated with the first channel and channel information associated with the second channel to select a best channel for supporting a call. Thereafter, the mobile station selects the best service provider by utilizing the selected channel.
-
Citations
24 Claims
-
1. An intelligent roaming method for enabling a mobile station to select a best service provider from a plurality of service providers, said mobile station having a database for storing a plurality of identifier codes corresponding with the plurality of service providers, said intelligent roaming method comprising the steps of:
-
locating a first channel and a second channel transmitted by a first service provider and a second service provider respectively based upon signal strength measurements, each channel containing one of the stored identifier codes; evaluating channel information associated with the first channel and channel information associated with the second channel to select a channel for supporting a call; determining a status of an overlap flag associated with the stored identifier codes of the first channel and the second channel, the overlap flag indicating whether the mobile station is located on an edge of a coverage area of one of the service providers; and selecting a service provider based upon the status of the overlap flags and the selected channel. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. An intelligent roaming method for enabling a mobile station to select a best service provider from a plurality of service providers, said intelligent roaming method comprising the steps of:
-
locating a channel having one of the identifier codes, said channel transmitted by one of the plurality of service providers; storing channel information associated with the located channel when the overlap flag has been set, said channel information stored in temporary memory; locating a subsequent channel having one of the identifier codes, said subsequent channel broadcasted from a second of the plurality of service providers; evaluating channel information associated with the located subsequent channel and said channel information currently stored in the temporary memory to select a channel; replacing the channel information currently stored in the temporary memory with the channel information associated with the located subsequent channel if the selected channel is the located subsequent channel; determining a state of an overlap flag associated with an identifier code of the subsequent channel; and selecting the best service provider based upon the status of the overlap flag and the stored channel information. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A method for selecting a service provider from a plurality of service providers for utilization by a mobile station having a database, said method comprising the steps of:
-
storing a plurality of identifier codes in the database, said plurality of identifier codes corresponding with the plurality of service providers; adding an overlap flag to each of the stored identifier codes, where the overlap flag indicates whether the mobile station is located on an edge of a coverage area of one of the service providers; locating a channel having one of the identifier codes, said channel broadcasted from a first of the plurality of service providers; storing channel information associated with the located channel when the overlap flag has been set, said channel information stored in temporary memory; locating a subsequent channel having one of the identifier codes, said subsequent channel broadcasted from a second of the plurality of service providers; evaluating channel information associated with the located subsequent channel and said channel information currently stored in the temporary memory to select a channel; replacing the channel information currently stored in the temporary memory with the channel information associated with the located subsequent channel if the selected channel is the located subsequent channel; restoring the channel information last stored in the temporary memory; and selecting the service provider by utilizing the restored channel information. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. A mobile station comprising:
-
a database for storing a plurality of identifier codes associated with a plurality of service providers, each identifier code having an overlap flag for indicating whether the mobile station is located on an edge of a coverage area of one of the service providers; a receiver for locating transmitted channels having one of the identifier codes from one of the plurality of service providers; a temporary memory for storing channel information associated with the located channels; and a processor for evaluating channel information associated with the located channels stored in the temporary memory to select a channel for supporting a call based upon a status of the overlap flags. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24)
-
Specification