Method and apparatus for locating a wireless local area network in a wide area network
First Claim
1. A wireless communications device, comprising:
- means for creating a signal attribute pattern for a first communications network by capturing a value of at least one attribute of at least one reference signal transmitted by a second communications network when the wireless communications device is in the vicinity of the first communications network;
means for storing the signal attribute pattern; and
means for determining whether the wireless communications device is currently in the vicinity of the first communications network by comparing a current value of the at least one attribute from one or more reference signals received from the second communications network to the value of the at least one attribute in the stored signal attribute pattern.
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Accused Products
Abstract
The disclosure is directed to a mobile communication device that measures characteristics or attributes of a first communications network that vary according to physical location within that first communications network to create a fingerprint, or signature, of a location within the first communications network. When the fingerprint of the current location of the mobile device is created it can be compared to a known fingerprint associated with a second communication network to determine the mobile device'"'"'s proximity to the second communications network. For example, the first communications network may be a CDMA wide area wireless communication network and the second communications network may be a 802.11 wireless LAN.
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Citations
44 Claims
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1. A wireless communications device, comprising:
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means for creating a signal attribute pattern for a first communications network by capturing a value of at least one attribute of at least one reference signal transmitted by a second communications network when the wireless communications device is in the vicinity of the first communications network; means for storing the signal attribute pattern; and means for determining whether the wireless communications device is currently in the vicinity of the first communications network by comparing a current value of the at least one attribute from one or more reference signals received from the second communications network to the value of the at least one attribute in the stored signal attribute pattern. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A wireless communications device, comprising:
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memory configured to store a signal attribute pattern for a first communications network; and a processor configured to create the signal attribute pattern for the first communications network by capturing a value of at least one attribute of at least one reference signal transmitted by a second communications network when the wireless communications device is in the vicinity of the first communications network, and to determine whether the wireless communications device is currently in the vicinity of the first communications network by comparing a current value of the at least one attribute from one or more reference signals received from the second communications network to the value of the at least one attribute in the signal attribute pattern stored in the memory. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22)
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23. A wireless communications device, comprising:
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memory configured to store a signal attribute pattern for each of a plurality of wireless local area networks dispersed through a wide area network; and a processor configured to create the signal attribute pattern for each wireless local area network by capturing a value of at least one attribute of at least one reference signal transmitted by the wide area network when the wireless communications device is in the vicinity of the wireless local area network, and to determine whether the wireless communications device is currently in the vicinity of one of the wireless local area networks by comparing a current value of the at least one attribute from one or more reference signals received from the wide area network to the value of the at least one attribute in the signal attribute pattern stored in the memory. - View Dependent Claims (24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44)
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29. A non-transitory computer readable medium embodying a program of instructions executable by a computer to perform a method of communications for a wireless communications device, the method comprising:
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creating a signal attribute pattern for a first communications network by capturing a value of at least one attribute of at least one reference signal transmitted by a second communications network when the wireless communications device is in the vicinity of the first communications network; storing the signal attribute pattern in memory; processing one or more reference signals received from the second communications network; and determining whether the wireless communications device is currently in the vicinity of the first communications network by comparing a current value of the at least one attribute from the one or more reference signals from the second communications network to the value of the at least one attribute in the signal attribute pattern stored in memory. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31)
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32. A method of communications for a wireless communications device, comprising:
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creating a signal attribute pattern for a first communications network by capturing a value of at least one attribute of at least one reference signal transmitted by a second communications network when the wireless communications device is in the vicinity of the first communications network; storing the signal attribute pattern in memory; receiving one or more reference signals from the second communications network; and determining whether the wireless communications device is in the vicinity of the first communications network by comparing a current value of the at least one attribute from the one or more reference signals from the second communications network to the value of the at least one attribute in the signal attribute pattern stored in memory. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38)
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Specification