Methods and apparatus to access network connectivity information using predicted locations

• US 8,594,061 B2
• Filed: 06/22/2010
• Issued: 11/26/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/22/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Malikie Innovations Limited (Key Patent Innovations Limited)
• Original Assignee: Blackberry Limited
• Inventors: Kennedy, Richard Howard, McCann, Stephen, Steer, David, Purnadi, Rene Waraputra
• Primary Examiner(s): Zhou, Yong
• Application Number:
  US12/820,883
• Publication Number:
  US 20110310865A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,253 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/3461 Preferred or disfavoured areas, e.g. dangerous zones, toll or emission zones, intersections, manoeuvre types, segments such as motorways, toll roads, ferries
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/26 Resource reservation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/32 by location or mobility data, e.g. speed data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/322 by location data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Example methods and apparatus to access network connectivity information based on predicted future locations of wireless terminals are disclosed. A disclosed example method involves predicting at least one future location of a wireless terminal. The example method also involves requesting at least first and second network connectivity information sets for connecting to at least one access network providing wireless communication coverage at the at least one future location. The first network connectivity information is associated with a first geographic location, and the second network connectivity information is associated with a second geographic location.

Claims

1. A method to retrieve network connectivity information based on a predicted future location of a wireless terminal, the method comprising:

predicting at least one future location of a mobile wireless access point configured to connect to a wireless terminal and access networks to enable the wireless terminal to connect to the access networks via the mobile wireless access point; and

sending a request from the mobile wireless access point to a database storing temporal ranges during which network connectivity information is valid in different geographic areas, the request requesting at least first and second network connectivity information sets for connecting the wireless terminal to the mobile wireless access point to provide the wireless terminal with wireless communication coverage while traveling to the at least one future location, the first network connectivity information associated with a first geographic location, and the second network connectivity information associated with a second geographic location.

2. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the database is located in an external network relative to the access networks.

3. A method as defined in claim 2, wherein the database is a television white space database.

4. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the requesting of the at least first and second network connectivity information sets is performed by sending the request before the wireless terminal is in the first or second geographic locations.

5. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the access networks are white space networks.

6. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the predicting of the at least one future location of the mobile wireless access point is performed based on at least one of a traveling speed of the mobile wireless access point or a direction of travel of the mobile wireless access point.

7. A method as defined in claim 1, wherein the first network connectivity information set includes network connectivity requirements to avoid interfering with at least one other device operating in the same frequency channels over which the mobile wireless access point is capable of connecting with the wireless terminal.

8. A method as defined in claim 7, wherein the at least one other device is a licensed device registered to operate in the first geographic location using at least one of the same frequency channels.

9. A method as defined in claim 1, further comprising selecting one of the first network connectivity information or the second network connectivity information based on which of the first and second network connectivity information requires a least quantity of connection configuration changes while traveling to the at least one future location.

10. A method as defined in claim 9, wherein the quantity of connection configuration changes comprises changes to a frequency channel to be used between the wireless terminal and the mobile wireless access point.

11. A tangible machine readable medium having instructions stored thereon that, when executed, cause a machine to perform the method of claim 1.

12. An apparatus to retrieve network connectivity information based on a predicted future location of a wireless terminal, the apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to;

predict at least one future location of a mobile wireless access point configured to connect to a wireless terminal and access networks to enable the wireless terminal to connect to the access networks via the mobile wireless access point; and

send a request from the mobile wireless access point to a database storing temporal ranges during which network connectivity information is valid in different geographic areas, the request to request at least first and second network connectivity information sets for connecting the wireless terminal to the mobile wireless access point to provide the wireless terminal with wireless communication coverage while traveling to the at least one future location, the first network connectivity information associated with a first geographic location, and the second network connectivity information associated with a second geographic location.

13. An apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the database is located in an external network relative to the access networks.

14. An apparatus as defined in claim 13, wherein the database is a television white space database.

15. An apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to request the at least first and second network connectivity information sets by sending the request before the wireless terminal is in the first or second geographic locations.

16. An apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the access networks are white space networks.

17. An apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the processor is configured to predict the at least one future location of the mobile wireless access point based on at least one of a traveling speed of the mobile wireless access point or a direction of travel of the mobile wireless access point.

18. An apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the first network connectivity information set includes network connectivity requirements to avoid interfering with at least one other device operating in the same frequency channels over which the mobile wireless access point is capable of connecting with the wireless terminal.

19. An apparatus as defined in claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to select one of the first network connectivity information or the second network connectivity information based on a quantity of connection configuration changes while traveling to the at least one future location.

20. An apparatus as defined in claim 19, wherein the processor is to give channel availability duration a higher priority over signal strength when selecting one of the first network connectivity information or the second network connectivity information.