Method and equipment for accessing a telecommunication network

• US 7,430,604 B2
• Filed: 02/20/2001
• Issued: 09/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/24/2000
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Balogh, Peter
• Primary Examiner(s): Vaughn, Jr.; William C.
• Assistant Examiner(s): Shingles; Kristie D
• Application Number:
  US09/785,518
• Publication Number:
  US 20010023446A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,779 Days
• Field of Search: 709/225, 709/220, 709/221, 709/229, 709/227, 709/217, 455/437, 455/222.1, 455/432.1, 455/434, 455/435.2, 455/436, 455/552.1, 455/553.1, 370/332, 370/338
• US Class Current: 709/229
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service

Abstract

A method for accessing a network in a telecommunication system which includes at least one terminal and a plurality of networks. Information sets describing settings needed to access networks and their resources are stored in the terminal. The terminal scans for information about available networks. Available information sets are determined by comparing the information about available networks to the stored information sets. At least one network is accessed based on the settings defined in the available information sets.

Claims

1. A method for accessing a wireless local area network in a telecommunications system, the system including at least one terminal and a plurality of networks, the method comprising:

storing information sets describing settings used to access wireless local area networks and their associated resources in the at least one terminal;

scanning for information related to names of available wireless local area networks using the at least one terminal;

determining available information sets by comparing the information related to names of available wireless local area networks to the stored information sets; and

accessing at least one wireless local area network based on settings described in the available information set,

wherein the storing stores network names of wireless local area networks associated with the stored information sets, the scanning sends network identity requests and searches for network identity responses, and the determining available information sets determines the available information sets by comparing the stored network names to the scanned information related to names of available wireless local area networks;

wherein the stored information sets comprise channel settings indicating whether at least one of (i) a used radio channel is automatically or manually selected and (ii) whether the stored information sets comprise operation mode settings indicating whether a used operation mode is an ad-hoc mode or an infrastructure mode.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

informing a user of the terminal about the available information sets;

receiving a user'"'"'s selection of one of the available information sets; and

accessing at least one wireless local area network based on the settings described in the available information set selected by the user.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the stored information sets are stored separately for each wireless local area network on a smart card.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

storing network identifiers representing a group of network names using wildcard characters in the stored information sets; and

determining the available information sets by comparing the stored network identifiers to the scanned information related to names of available wireless local area networks.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the information set comprises at least one of the following:

DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) settings, TCP/IP (Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) settings, Proxy settings, or domain logon and work-group settings.

6. A terminal comprising:

a transceiver configured to communicate with a wireless local area network;

a memory configured to store information sets describing settings used to access wireless local area networks and their resources;

a scanner configured to scan for information relating to the identification of names of available wireless local area networks;

a processor configured to determine available information sets by comparing the information related to names of available wireless local area networks to information sets stored in the memory,

wherein the stored information sets comprise channel settings indicating at least one of (i) whether a used radio channel is automatically or manually selected and (ii) whether the stored information sets comprise operation mode settings indicating whether a used operation mode is an ad-hoc mode or an infrastructure mode,

wherein the processor is further configured to access at least one wireless local area network based on the settings described in one or more of an available information set,

wherein the memory is further configured to store names of wireless local area networks belonging to the stored information sets,

the scanner is arranged to scan by sending network identity requests and searching for network identity responses, and

the processor is further configured to determine available information sets by comparing the network names stored in the memory to the scanned information identifying the names of the available wireless local area networks, and

wherein the terminal is configured to select at least one of (i) the used radio channel based on channel settings of the available information sets and (ii) an ad-hoc mode or an infrastructure mode based on the operation mode settings of the available information sets.

7. The terminal of claim 6, further comprising:

user interface means for informing a user of the terminal about the available information sets and letting the user select one of the available information sets; and

wherein the access means are configured to access at least one wireless local area network based on the settings described in the one information set the user has accepted.

8. The terminal of claim 6, wherein the stored information sets are stored as network-specific profiles on a smart card that may be accessed by the terminal.

9. The terminal of claim 6, wherein the information set comprises at least one of the following:

DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) settings, TCP/IP (Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) settings, Proxy settings, or domain logon and work-group settings.

10. A terminal comprising:

a transceiver configured to communicate with a wireless local area network;

at least one memory device configured to store information sets describing settings used to access wireless local area networks and their resources;

at least one scanner configured to scan for information related to the identifying names of available wireless local area networks;

at least one determination module configured to determine available information sets by comparing the information related to names of available wireless local area networks to information sets stored by the at least one memory device; and

at least one access device configured to access at least one wireless local area network based on settings described in one or more of the available information sets,

wherein the at least one memory device is arranged to store names of the wireless local area networks belonging to the stored information sets, the at least one scanner is configured to perform the scanning by sending network identity requests and searching for network identity responses, and the at least one determination module is configured to determine the available information sets by comparing the stored network names to the scanned information identifying the names of the available wireless local area networks;

wherein the stored information sets comprise channel settings indicating at least one of (i) whether a used radio channel is automatically or manually selected and (ii) whether the stored information sets comprise operation mode settings indicating whether a used operation mode is an ad-hoc mode or an infrastructure mode, and

wherein the terminal configured to select at least one of (i) the used radio channel based on channel settings of the available information sets and (ii) an ad-hoc mode of an infrastructure mode based on the operation mode settings of the available information sets.

11. The terminal of claim 10, further comprising:

at least one user interface configured to inform a user of the terminal about the available information sets and letting the user select one of the available information sets,

wherein the at least one access device is arranged to access at least one wireless local area network based on the settings described in the one information set the user has accepted.

12. The terminal of claim 10, wherein the stored information sets are stored as network-specific profiles on a smart card that may be accessed by the terminal.

13. The terminal of claim 10, wherein the information set comprises at least one of the following:

DHCP (Dynamic Host Control Protocol) settings, TCP/IP (Transport Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) settings, Proxy settings, or domain logon and work-group settings.

14. An apparatus comprising:

a memory configured to store information sets relating to settings used to access wireless local area network and their resources, including information relating to names of the wireless local area networks,

wherein the stored information sets comprise channel settings indicating at least one of (i) whether a used radio channel is automatically or manually selected and (ii) whether the stored information sets comprise operation mode settings indicating whether a used operation mode is an ad-hoc mode or an infrastructure mode; and

a control unit configured to;

arrange scanning of information related to identifying names of available wireless local area networks at least by sending network identify requests and searching for network identity responses;

determine available information sets by comparing the information related to names of available wireless networks to information sets stored in the memory and by comparing the stored network names to the scanned information identifying the names of the available wireless local area networks; and

arrange access to at least one wireless local area network based on setting described in one or more of the available information sets,

wherein the terminal configured to select at least one of (i) the used radio channel based on channel settings of the available information sets and (ii) an ad-hoc mode of an infrastructure mode based on the operation mode settings of the available information sets.

15. An apparatus according to claim 14, further comprising a user interface configured to inform a user of the apparatus about the available information sets and to allow the user to select one of the available information sets,

wherein the control unit is further configured to access at least one wireless local area network based on settings relating to said one of the available information sets selected by the user.

16. An apparatus according to claim 14, wherein the memory comprises a smart card that accessible by the control unit, said smart card being configured to store the information sets as network-specific profiles therein.