Dynamic binding of service on bearer

• US 8,676,187 B2
• Filed: 02/08/2012
• Issued: 03/18/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/08/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Sreenivas, Giridhar, Ionescu, Alexandru Catalin
• Primary Examiner(s): Cumming, William D
• Application Number:
  US13/369,251
• Publication Number:
  US 20120315889A1
• Time in Patent Office: 769 Days
• Field of Search: 455/422.1, 713/157, 713/155, 713/164, 713/176, 713/189, 713/193, 726/3, 726/12, 726/26, 726/27, 726/1, 705/1, 705/7, 705/8, 705/10, 705/11, 705/14, 705/22, 705/26, 705/28, 705/30, 705/37, 705/51, 705/400, 705/80, 705/54, 380/233, 380/277, 700/297
• US Class Current: 455/422.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

Methods that facilitate automatic selection of service bearers in a mobile based on user-initiated policies and service-provider-initiated policies set forth in a policy document are described herein. The mobile device initially receives a policy document from either the mobile device manufacturer or the service provider before the mobile device is provisioned on a communications network. The mobile device user and the service provider may make subsequent changes to the policy document. When a user-initiated policy change conflicts with a service-provider-initiated policy, the user-initiated policy change is disregarded in favor of the service-provider-initiated policy. The mobile device automatically selects an appropriate bearer based at least on the availability of service bearers in the current environment and the policies set forth in the policy document.

Claims

1. A method in a mobile device for updating a policy document to reflect changes to one or more policies for selecting an appropriate service bearer to carry mobile device traffic, comprising:

receiving, on the mobile device, a policy document that is provided by a service provider,

wherein the policy document contains one or more policies for selecting an appropriate service bearer to carry mobile device traffic;

receiving, on the mobile device, one or more updates to the policy document, wherein the one or more updates are user-initiated or service-provider-initiated;

determining whether each update to the policy document is user-initiated or service-provider-initiated;

for one or more updates that are determined to be service-provider-initiated, modifying the policy document to reflect the service-provider-initiated updates; and

for one or more updates that are determined to be user-initiated;

determining whether a user-initiated update is permitted by the service provider;

for one or more user-initiated updates that are determined to be permitted by the service provider, modifying the policy document to reflect the user-initiated update; and

for one or more user-initiated updates that are determined not to be permitted by the service provider, disregarding the user-initiated update.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing an indication that the updates have been disregarded on the mobile device.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the indication includes a visual indication on a mobile device screen.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the indication includes a haptic indication on the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 3 wherein disregarding the user-initiated updates further includes disregarding only the user-initiated updates that conflict with one or more policies set forth by the service provider and modifying the policy document to reflect one or more user-initiated updates that do not conflict with policies set forth by the service provider.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the user-initiated update is not permitted by the service provider if the user-initiated update conflicts with a service-provider policy included in the policy document that is not subject to modification by users.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, on the mobile device, a request from the service provider for a list of user-initiated updates made to the policy document.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, on the mobile device, service-provider-initiated updates responsive to the user-initiated updates.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, on the mobile device, service-provider-initiated updates on a periodic basis.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the policy document includes, for each of one or more service bearers, policies associated with IMS registration, network type, network congestion, priority, service plan, applications, and permissibility of user-initiated updates.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the appropriate service bearer is one of WiFi, ultra-wideband, ZIGBEE, infrared, Global System for Mobile (GSM), Third Generation mobile telecommunications network (3G), Fourth Generation mobile telecommunications network (4G), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced General Packet Radio Service (EGPRS), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and Long Term Evolution (LTE).

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions for automatically selecting an appropriate service bearer to carry mobile device traffic, the instructions, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to:

receive, on the mobile device, a policy document containing one or more policies for selecting an appropriate service bearer to carry mobile device traffic;

parse, on the mobile device, the received policy document to extract one or more policies related to appropriate bearer selection;

detect, on the mobile device, the availability of one or more service bearers capable of carrying mobile traffic;

determine the appropriate bearer to carry the mobile device traffic, wherein the determination is based at least in part on the one or more policies extracted from the policy document and the detected availability of the one or more service bearers; and

if the determined appropriate service bearer is different from a current service bearer, switch the mobile device from the current service bearer to the determined appropriate service bearer.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to detect a congestion level of at least one of the one or more service bearers and determine the appropriate service bearer based at least in part on the one or more detected congestion levels.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein switching the mobile device from the current service bearer to the determined appropriate service bearer further causes the processor to provide an indication of the service bearer switch on the mobile device.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein the indication of the bearer switch is a visual indication on a mobile device screen or a haptic indication on the mobile device.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12, further comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause the processor to repeat at least the parsing, the detecting, and the determining responsive to receiving an update to at least one policy of the policy document.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 wherein the appropriate service bearer is one of WiFi, ultra-wideband, ZIGBEE, infrared, Global System for Mobile (GSM), Third Generation mobile telecommunications network (3G), Fourth Generation mobile telecommunications network (4G), General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced General Packet Radio Service (EGPRS), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and Long Term Evolution (LTE).

18. A computing system that updates a policy document to reflect changes to one or more policies for selecting an appropriate service bearer to carry mobile device traffic, the computing system comprising:

a memory storing computer-executable instructions of;

a policy document management component configured to receive a policy document containing one or more policies for selecting an appropriate service bearer to carry mobile device traffic; and

a policy handler component configured to;

parse the received policy document to extract one or more policies related to appropriate bearer selection;

detect the availability of one or more service bearers capable of carrying mobile traffic;

determine the appropriate bearer to carry the mobile device traffic, wherein the determination is based at least in part on the one or more policies extracted from the policy document and the detected availability of the one or more service bearers; and

if the determined appropriate service bearer is different from a current service bearer, switch the mobile device from the current service bearer to the determined appropriate service bearer; and

a processor for executing the computer-executable instructions stored in the memory.

19. The computing system of claim 18, further comprising an IP for Multimedia System (IMS) stack utilized in communicating with at least one of the service bearers.

20. The computing system of claim 18 wherein at least one of the policy document and policy handler are compatible with the Android®

platform.