Method and system for handover in cellular wireless using route programming and training processes

• US 8,559,955 B2
• Filed: 04/16/2012
• Issued: 10/15/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/19/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Handforth, Martin, Duxbury, Guy, Marcanti, Larry
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehrpour, Melody
• Application Number:
  US13/448,155
• Publication Number:
  US 20120258717A1
• Time in Patent Office: 547 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566, 455/436, 455/466, 455/435.1, 455/437, 455/445, 455/439, 455/453, 455/513, 455/442, 455/430, 370/338, 370/392, 370/331
• US Class Current: 455/436
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/322 by location data

Abstract

A method and system for managing handover where a database that receives location information about a moving object includes information regarding which base station is used in a current radio link connection and which base stations were used from historic radio link connections. Using the base station radio link history of the object and an electronic map, a processor selects which physical path the moving object is using. Upon matching the object'"'"'s path with a history of path routes on the list, the processor will apply an optimized handoff sequence to the moving object. The optimized route can be derived from an algorithm that processes previous historical data from moving objects traveling on the same route.

Claims

1. A method of optimizing a managed handover technique within a radio cellular environment, said method comprising:

a mobile station performing a training sequence and identifying base stations to use during travel along a path, the training sequence including;

determining an identification of the mobile station traveling along the path, said mobile station having no previous history of base station connectivity;

as said mobile station establishes a connection with a base station, associating, based upon said base station being used by said mobile station, said identification with a known route selected from a database having stored maps of more than one said known route including a list of base stations along each said known route;

as said mobile station disconnecting from said base station and connecting to a subsequent base station, said mobile station storing historical information regarding said base station and said subsequent base station;

said mobile station comparing said base station and said subsequent base station to said list of base stations along said known route in order to identify one or more of said known routes that include both said base station and said subsequent base station;

said mobile station repeating said storing and comparing steps for further subsequent base stations, until only one of said known routes remains and corresponds to said path traveled by said mobile station;

said mobile station determining whether a direction of travel of said mobile station along said path is forward or reverse along said known route that corresponds to said path;

said mobile station identifying one of said stored maps from said database that correlates to both said direction of travel and said known route remaining that corresponds to said path traveled; and

said mobile station assigning a preferred sequence of base stations corresponding to said one of said stored maps for all further connections with said mobile station along said path.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said preferred sequence of base stations is derived from long term historical data for travel of said mobile station along one or more said path.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said preferred sequence of base stations is derived from an arbitrary visual inspection of geographical maps that include available routes traveled by said mobile station and available base stations.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said preferred sequence of base stations is derived from algorithms to calculate the optimized sequence.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said preferred sequence of base stations is derived by a centralized database that tracks network throughput, each base station throughput, and each mobile station throughput while managing base station connectivity to reduce data throughput congestion.