Reducing mobile device roaming

• US 8,270,966 B1
• Filed: 02/27/2009
• Issued: 09/18/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 02/27/2009
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Communications Company LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Vargantwar, Sachin R., Shetty, Manoj, Khanka, Bhagwan Singh, Singh, Jasinder Pal
• Primary Examiner(s): Corsaro, Nick
• Assistant Examiner(s): PATEL, MAHENDRA R
• Application Number:
  US12/394,348
• Time in Patent Office: 1,299 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/401, 455/433, 455/432.1, 455/437, 455/445, 455/413, 455/432.2, 379/114.28, 379/114.29, 380/248
• US Class Current: 455/423
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/06 Registration at serving network Location Register, VLR or user mobility server

Abstract

A method, system, and computer-readable media are provided for reducing mobile device roaming. A set of transition mobile-network attributes are captured by an idle mobile device before switching from a roaming network to a home network. A collection of transition mobile-network attributes are used to generate transition-based data. Active mobile-network attributes are compared to the transition-based data and used to recognize when the mobile device is within an area that can receive one or more services from the home network.

Claims

1. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method for reducing mobile device roaming when the mobile device is in an idle mode while utilizing a roaming network, the method comprising:

determining that a home network of the mobile device is available to provide one or more services to the mobile device;

based on the determination that the home network is available to provide the one or more services to the mobile device, capturing one or more transition mobile-network attributes that are parameters of the roaming network in association with the mobile device at or near the time that the home network is determined to be available to provide the one or more services to the mobile device, the one or more transition mobile-network attributes comprising at least one of a location data that indicates a location of the mobile device or a network data associated with the roaming network that indicates a noise data, a signal strength data, a system identification, a network identification, an interference data, a pilot strength data, or a combination thereof; and

utilizing the one or more transition mobile-network attributes to generate one or more transition-based data that characterize the one or more transition mobile-network attributes, wherein each of the one or more transition-based data comprises a most recent transition mobile-network attribute or a collection of transition mobile-network attributes that are aggregated or averaged over a time period.

2. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1 further comprising recognizing an operation mode of the mobile device, wherein the operation mode comprises at least one of an idle mode or an active mode.

3. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1 further comprising monitoring one or more available networks to establish a connection with the home network at least one of periodically, continuously, or based on the occurrence of an event.

4. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1, wherein the one or more transition mobile-network attributes comprise one or more of active set pseudo noise data, active set pseudo noise signal strength data, neighbor set pseudo noise data, neighbor set pseudo noise signal strength data, system identification data, network identification data, location data, pilot strength data, and interference data.

5. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 1 further comprising recognizing that the mobile phone is operating in the idle mode.

6. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method for reducing mobile device roaming when the mobile device is in an active mode while utilizing a roaming network, the method comprising:

referencing one or more active mobile-network attributes, wherein the active mobile-network attributes are associated with parameters of the mobile device and the roaming network when the mobile device is using the roaming network for an active call;

referencing one or more stored transition-based data, each of the transition-based data comprising a calculation of a set of transition mobile-network attributes, wherein each of the transition mobile-network attributes is associated with parameters of the mobile device and the roaming network before the mobile device previously roaming in an idle mode switched from the roaming network to a home network, each of the transition mobile-network attributes comprising at least one of a location data that indicates a location of the mobile device or a network data associated with the roaming network that indicates a noise data, a signal strength data, a system identification, a network identification, an interference data, a pilot strength data, or a combination thereof; and

comparing the one or more active mobile-network attributes to the corresponding transition-based data to determine whether the active mobile-network attributes match the transition based data at least to an extent; and

based on the comparison, recognizing that the mobile device is within an area that can receive one or more services from the home network.

7. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein the active mobile-network attributes comprise one or more of active set pseudo noise data, active set pseudo noise signal strength data, neighbor set pseudo noise data, neighbor set pseudo noise signal strength data, system identification data, network identification data, location data, pilot strength data, and interference data.

8. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein the one or more active mobile-network attributes are referenced at least one of periodically, continuously, or based on the occurrence of an event.

9. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein the one or more transition-based data is stored on the mobile device, a server, or a combination thereof.

10. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein the transition-based data comprising a collection of a set of transition mobile-network attributes, is captured over a predetermined period.

11. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, further comprising performing a handoff of the active call from the roaming network to the home network.

12. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 6, wherein handoff of the active call from the roaming network to the home network comprises a hard handoff or a soft handoff.

13. One or more non-transitory computer-readable media having computer-executable instructions embodied thereon that, when executed, perform a method for reducing mobile device roaming, the method comprising:

capturing one or more transition mobile-network attributes that are parameters of a roaming network being used by the mobile device in idle mode in accordance with a determination that a home network of the mobile device is available to provide one or more services to the mobile device;

utilizing the one or more transition mobile-network attributes to obtain one or more transition-based data that characterize the one or more transition mobile-network attributes, the one or more transition mobile-network attributes comprising at least one of a location data that indicates a location of the mobile device or a network data associated with the roaming network that indicates a noise data, a signal strength data, a system identification, a network identification, an interference data, a pilot strength data, or a combination thereof;

storing the one or more transition-based data;

initiating an active phone call via the mobile phone using the roaming network;

referencing the one or more stored transition-based data and one or more corresponding active mobile-network attributes, wherein the active mobile-network attributes are associated with parameters of the mobile device and the roaming network when the mobile device is on the active phone call using the roaming network;

recognizing that at least a portion of the one or more stored transition-based data match at least to an extent the one or more corresponding active mobile-network attributes; and

based on the recognition, transferring the mobile device on the active phone call from the roaming network to the home network.

14. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the active mobile-network attributes comprises one or more of active set pseudo noise data, active set pseudo noise signal strength data, neighbor set pseudo noise data, neighbor set pseudo noise signal strength data, system identification data, network identification data, location data, pilot strength data, and interference data.

15. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the transition mobile-network attributes comprises one or more of active set pseudo noise data, active set pseudo noise signal strength data, neighbor set pseudo noise data, neighbor set pseudo noise signal strength data, system identification data, network identification data, location data, pilot strength data, and interference data.

16. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the one or more transition-based data comprise at least one of a combination, a comparison, and an average of transition mobile-network attributes captured over a predetermined time period.

17. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the one or more active mobile-network attributes are referenced at least one of periodically, continuously, or based on the occurrence of an event.

18. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 13, wherein the mobile device on the active phone call is transferred from the roaming network to the home network via a hard handoff or a soft handoff.