Reducing service acquisition time when a user device is powered up

• US 8,838,098 B2
• Filed: 09/27/2011
• Issued: 09/16/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/27/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Amazon.com, Inc.)
• Inventors: Edara, Kiran K.
• Primary Examiner(s): Eisner, Ronald
• Application Number:
  US13/246,832
• Publication Number:
  US 20130079001A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,085 Days
• Field of Search: 4554321-434, 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 4554561-457, 4554351-4353, 340/539.13, 340988-996, D10/104.2
• US Class Current: 455/434
• 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 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 52/0254 detecting a user operation or a tactile contact or a motion of the device
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Methods and systems for reducing service acquisition time of a user device are disclosed. A method includes receiving a request to turn off the user device, obtaining network information for a future destination of the user device, and powering off the user device. The method further includes utilizing the network information for the future destination of the user device to reduce service acquisition time when the user device is powered on.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a user device, a request to at least partially power down the user device;

providing, by the user device, data pertaining to a future destination of the user device to a server;

receiving, by the user device, network information for the future destination from the server;

storing, by the user device, the network information for the future destination in a local store of the user device;

performing at least a partial power-down of the user device; and

when the user device is returned to a power-on state, searching, by the user device, for an available network using the network information in the local store of the user device, wherein searching for the available network excludes searching for a last registered network.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the data pertaining to the future destination of the user device to the server comprises:

prompting a user to specify the future destination; and

sending the future destination to the server, the future destination identifying at least one of a destination country, a destination city or a destination airport.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the data pertaining to the future destination of the user device to the server comprises:

identifying a current location of the user device, the current location indicating a likely future destination of the user device; and

sending the current location of the user device to the server.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein providing the data pertaining to the future destination of the user device to the server comprises:

obtaining the data pertaining to the future destination of the user device based on at least one of a boarding pass scanned by the user, calendar information stored on the user device, and electronic messages stored on the user device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

prior to providing the data pertaining to the future destination of the user device to the server, determining that the user device is presently located at an airport based on GPS coordinates.

6. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

allowing a user to select a reduced acquisition time option for travel activity;

upon receiving the request to at least partially power down the user device, determining that the reduced acquisition time option was selected, and determining whether the user device is currently located at a transportation facility.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the network information for the future destination identifies at least one of a roaming network available at the future destination, a frequency band, a frequency, a cell identifier, or a radio access technology (RAT).

8. The method of claim 1 wherein searching for the available network further excludes searching for at least one of a home network, a higher priority network, one or more bands, one or more frequencies, or one or more radio access technologies.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

upon finding the available network, connecting to the available network, and sending network information for the available network to the server.

10. The method of claim 1 wherein the server is any one of a service provider server, or a content provider server.

11. A method comprising:

receiving, by a server computer, a message of a user device, the message comprising data pertaining to a future destination of the user device;

searching, by the server computer, a data store for network information corresponding to the future destination of the user device; and

responsive to finding the network information for the future destination, providing, by the server computer, the network information for the future destination to the user device, wherein the provided network information comprises instructions to refrain from searching for a last registered network of the user device.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the data pertaining to the future destination of the user device is specified by a user of the user device and identifies at least one of a destination country, a destination city, or a destination airport of the user.

13. The method of claim 11 wherein:

the data pertaining to the future destination of the user device identifies a current location of the user device, the current location indicating an airport gate; and

the method further comprises identifying a flight associated with the airport gate using a current date and time, and identifying a destination of the identified flight.

14. The method of claim 11 wherein the network information for the future destination identifies at least one of a roaming network available at the future destination, a frequency band, a frequency, a cell identifier, or a radio access technology (RAT).

15. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

receiving network information for a current location of the user device; and

storing the network information for the current location of the user device in the data store.

16. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

updating contents of the data store using coverage maps of a plurality of network operators.

17. A user device comprising:

a memory to store network information associated with a plurality of locations; and

a processing device, coupled to the memory, to receive a request to at least partially power down the user device, to obtain network information for a future destination of the user device in response to the received request, to perform at least a partial power-down of the user device, and to utilize the network information for the future destination to reduce service acquisition time when powering the user device back on.

18. The user device of claim 17 wherein the request comprises data pertaining to the future destination of the user device.

19. The user device of claim 18 wherein the processing device is to obtain the data pertaining to the future destination of the user device using at least one of prompting a user to specify the future destination, identifying a current location of the user device, the current location indicating a likely future destination of the user device, prompting the user to scan a boarding pass, searching a user calendar, or searching electronic messages of the user.

20. The user device of claim 17 wherein the processing device is further to determine that the user device is presently located at an airport upon receiving the request to at least partially power down the user device.

21. The user device of claim 17 wherein the network information for the future destination identifies at least one of a roaming network available at the future destination, a frequency band, a frequency, a cell identifier, or a radio access technology (RAT).

22. The user device of claim 17 wherein the processing device is to utilize the network information for the future destination by finding an available network at the future destination of the user device when the user device is powered back on, wherein finding the available network excludes searching for at least one of a last registered network, a home network, a higher priority network, one or more bands, one or more frequencies, or one or more radio access technologies.

23. The user device of claim 22 wherein the processing device is further to connect to the available network at the future destination, and to send network information for the available network to a server.

24. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including instructions that, when executed by a processing system of a server computer, cause the processing system to perform operations, comprising:

receiving, by the processing system, a power-off message of a user device, the power-off message comprising data pertaining to a future destination of the user device;

searching, by the processing system, a data store for network information corresponding to the future destination of the user device; and

responsive to finding the network information for the future destination, providing, by the processing system, the network information for the future destination to the user device.

25. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24 wherein the data pertaining to the future destination of the user device identifies at least one of a destination country, a destination city, a destination airport of the user, or a current location of the user device, the current location indicating an airport gate.

26. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24 wherein the network information for the future destination identifies at least one of a roaming network available at the future destination, a frequency band, a frequency, a cell identifier, or a radio access technology (RAT).

27. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 24 wherein the operations further comprise:

receiving network information for a current location of the user device; and

storing the network information for the current location of the user device in the data store.