Method and system for offering a femtocell to a subscriber

• US 8,577,332 B1
• Filed: 03/17/2010
• Issued: 11/05/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 03/17/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Quint, Joe B., Khanna, Aseem, Pierce, Matthew J., Linnemeyer, Thomas J.
• Primary Examiner(s): Sams, Matthew
• Assistant Examiner(s): HERRERA, DIEGO D
• Application Number:
  US12/725,716
• Time in Patent Office: 1,329 Days
• Field of Search: 705/1.1, 705/345, 455/456.1, 455/456.3, 455/406, 455/446, 455/422.1
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8016 based on quality of service [QoS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 15/8033 location-dependent, e.g. business or home
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/24 Accounting or billing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/20 Selecting an access point

Abstract

A method and system for offering a femtocell to a subscriber. The method includes a computer system making a first determination that a level of wireless performance experienced by a mobile station of a subscriber at a given location is less than a threshold level. The method further includes the computer system making a second determination that the given location is location associated with a billing address of the subscriber. The method then includes, in response to the first and second determinations, the computer system initiating a process of offering a femtocell to the subscriber.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

a computer system making a first determination that a level of wireless performance experienced by a mobile station of a subscriber at a given location is less than a threshold level;

the computer system making a second determination that the given location is a location associated with a billing address of the subscriber;

in response to the first and second determinations, the computer system initiating a process of offering to provide a femtocell to the subscriber.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein making the first determination that the level of wireless performance at a given location is less than the threshold level comprises:

for each of a plurality of mobile events of the mobile station of the subscriber, the computer system determining a location where the mobile event occurred;

based on the determined locations of the mobile events, the computer system identifying mobile events that occurred at the given location;

the computer system analyzing the mobile events that occurred at the given location to determine the level of wireless performance experienced by the mobile station at the given location.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the plurality of mobile events comprises mobile events selected from the group consisting of phone calls, text messages, and data usage.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the location where the mobile event occurred comprises the computer system determining the location where the mobile event occurred based on a triangularization calculation.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying mobile events that occurred at the given location comprises:

identifying an area surrounding the given location; and

treating mobile events that occurred within the area as mobile events that occurred at the given location.

6. The method of claim 2, wherein identifying mobile events that occurred at a given location comprises:

identifying a grid section that overlays the given location; and

treating mobile events that occurred in the grid section as mobile events that occurred at the given location.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein identifying mobile events that occurred at a given location further comprises:

identifying an area of a given radius around the given location;

identifying each grid section that overlaps with the area; and

treating mobile events that occur in the identified grid sections as mobile events that occurred at the given location.

8. The method of claim 2, wherein analyzing the mobile events that occurred at the given location to determine a level of wireless performance experienced by the mobile station at the given location comprises:

determining a number of negative mobile events that occurred at the given location;

determining a number of total mobile events that occurred at the given location;

determining a ratio of negative mobile events to total mobile events; and

treating the ratio as the level of wireless performance experienced by the mobile station at the given location.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the negative mobile events comprise at least one of a blocked call event, a dropped call event, and a roaming event.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein determining a number of negative mobile events that occurred at the given location comprises filtering out mobile events that occurred due to a network aberration.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein the threshold level is a percentage of negative mobile events that occurred at the given location compared to total mobile events that occurred at the given location.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the threshold level is associated with a high propensity to leave a wireless service provider, and wherein the high propensity is a propensity greater than 25%.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein initiating a process of offering to provide a femtocell to the subscriber comprises the computer system flagging a profile of the subscriber with a flag, wherein the flag serves to indicate that the subscriber is a candidate to which to offer to provide a femtocell.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the process comprises a communication to the subscriber, wherein the communication is selected from the group consisting of an email message, a text message, a phone call, and a letter sent via postal mail.

15. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

after the computer system initiating a process of offering to provide a femtocell to the subscriber, offering to provide the femtocell to the subscriber.

16. A method comprising:

a computer system making a first determination that a level of wireless performance experienced by a mobile station of a subscriber at a given location is less than a first threshold level;

the computer system making a second determination that the given location is a location associated with a billing address of the subscriber;

the computer system making a third determination that a value of the subscriber to a wireless service provider is above a second threshold level; and

in response to the first, second, and third determinations, the computer system initiating a process of offering to provide a femtocell to the subscriber.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the second threshold level is a given marketing treatment value.

18. A system for offering a femtocell to a subscriber, the system comprising:

a position-determining module;

an analysis module; and

a femtocell-offering module,

wherein the position-determining module is configured to, for each of a plurality of mobile events of a mobile station of a given subscriber, determine a location where the mobile event occurred,

wherein the analysis module is configured to (i) make a first determination that a level of wireless performance experienced by a mobile station of a subscriber at a given location is less than a threshold level and (ii) make a second determination that the given location is a location associated with a billing address of the subscriber,

wherein the femtocell-offering module is configured to initiate a process of offering to provide a femtocell to the subscriber responsive to the first and second determinations.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the position-determining module, the analysis module, and the femtocell-offering module each comprise at least one processor.

20. The system of claim 18, wherein the position-determining module, the analysis module, and the femtocell-offering module share a processor.