Providing an overlay network using multiple underlying networks

• US 9,736,704 B1
• Filed: 12/23/2013
• Issued: 08/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: Fox, Nicholas Charles, Jain, Arvind
• Primary Examiner(s): Ghowrwal, Omar
• Assistant Examiner(s): Brockman, Angel
• Application Number:
  US14/139,481
• Time in Patent Office: 1,331 Days
• Field of Search: 370252
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/16 Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences

Abstract

A system and method for providing an overlay network is provided. The overlay network comprises a database of underlying wireless networks provided by various carriers. Location information, an associated time and wireless network performance parameters of a plurality of wireless networks are collected from a plurality of client devices. The system and method aggregates the performance parameters based on geographic area and a time window. The performance parameters are analyzed to determine a best performing wireless network within each geographic area during the time window. The best performing wireless network is then assigned as a default wireless network for the geographic area during the time window and stored in the database defining the overlay network. The database is then provided to the plurality of client devices to provide a default wireless network for the plurality of client device to attach to when in that geographic area during the time window.

Claims

1. A method of providing an overlay wireless network, the method comprising:

receiving, by a processor and from a plurality of client devices, location information and wireless network performance parameters of wireless networks available to the plurality of client devices;

associating, by the processor, the received location information and the received wireless network performance parameters with a timestamp;

aggregating, by the processor, the received wireless network performance parameters based on the received location information and the associated timestamp for each of the wireless networks available to the plurality of client devices;

quantizing, by the processor, the wireless network performance parameters to a plurality of geographic areas based on the associated location information and to an at least one time window within each of the plurality of geographic areas based on the associated timestamp, the at least one time window corresponding to at least one period of time during a day;

analyzing, by the processor, the quantized wireless network performance parameters to determine a default wireless network within each of the plurality of geographic areas and the at least one time window;

building, by the processor, a database searchable based on the plurality of geographic areas and the at least one time window within each of the plurality of geographic areas; and

assigning, by the processor, the determined default wireless network within each of the plurality of geographic areas and the at least one time window,

wherein the wireless network performance parameters comprise at least one from among a signal strength, call failure statistics, or data performance of the wireless networks.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a request for the default wireless network, the request includes location information from an individual client device and an individual associated timestamp;

searching the database based on the received location information from the individual client device and the individual associated timestamp to obtain the default wireless network within a specific geographic location of the plurality of geographic areas and a specific time window of the at least one time window, the specific geographic area including a location indicated by the location information and the specific time window including a time indicated by the individual associated timestamp; and

sending the default wireless network to the individual client device.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

determining primary use locations for each individual client device of the plurality of client devices based on the received location information;

determining a default wireless network for the primary use locations based on the received wireless network performance parameters; and

sending the default wireless network for the primary use locations to each individual client device of the plurality of client devices.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the default wireless network for the primary use locations are stored locally at the individual client device of the plurality of client devices.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the timestamp is received from the plurality of client devices.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the determination of the default wireless network comprises:

determining which individual wireless network within a single geographic area and a single time window has a superior signal strength; and

assigning the individual wireless network with the superior signal strength as the default wireless network within the single geographic area during the single time window.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the data performance is based on data throughput of the wireless networks available to the plurality of client devices.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the data performance is determined by placing a test phone call to a test service and measuring a data throughput of the test phone call.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein

a first wireless network is determined to be the default wireless network for a first geographic area of the plurality of geographic areas within a first time window of the at least one time window, and

a second wireless network is determined to be the default wireless network for the first geographic area during a second time window of the at least one time window.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising:

receiving a first request for the default wireless network, the first request including first location information indicating a location within the first geographic area from a first individual client device and a first individual associated timestamp indicating a time within the first time window;

searching the database based on the received first location information and the first individual associated timestamp to obtain the default wireless network;

sending the first wireless network to the first individual client device;

receiving a second request for the default wireless network, the second request including second location information indicating a location within the first geographic area from a second individual client device and a second individual associated timestamp indicating a time within the second time window;

searching the database based on the received second location information and the second individual associated timestamp to obtain the default wireless network; and

sending the second wireless network to the second individual client device.

9. A system of providing an overlay network, the system comprising:

a plurality of client devices, each individual client device of the plurality of client devices configured to;

determine location information of the individual client device;

collect wireless network performance parameters from wireless networks available to the individual client device; and

upload the wireless network performance parameters and the location information to a service hosting a database defining the overlay network, the database is configured to be searchable based on a geographic area during a time window specifying a period of time during a day in the geographic area; and

a server running the service, the server configured to;

receive the wireless network performance parameters and the location information uploaded by the individual client device;

associate a timestamp with the wireless network performance parameters and the associated location information uploaded from the individual client device;

aggregate the wireless network performance parameters based on the location information and the associated timestamp;

quantize the aggregated wireless network performance parameters into the geographic area during the time window;

analyze the wireless network performance parameters to determine a default wireless network within the geographic area during the time window; and

assign the default wireless network to the database at the geographic area during the time window,

wherein the wireless network performance parameters comprise at least one from among a signal strength, call failure statistics, or data performance of the wireless networks.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein the server is further configured to provide access to the database from the plurality of client devices.

11. The system of claim 9, further comprising a requesting client device of the plurality of client devices, and the server, in response to the requesting client device, is configured to:

receive a request for the default wireless network, the request includes location information from the requesting client device and timestamp associated with the request;

searching the database based on the received location information from the requesting client device and the timestamp associated with the request to obtain the default wireless network for a specific geographic area and a specific time window, specific geographic area including a location indicated by the received location information, and the specific time window including a time indicated by the timestamp; and

sending the default wireless network to the requesting client device.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the requesting client device remains on the default wireless network while the requesting client device remains in the geographic area.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the requesting client device only switches to a different wireless network if the requesting client device is idle.

14. The system of claim 11, wherein the requesting client device includes a real-time network attach algorithm that selects a different wireless network if the default wireless network is performing poorly.

15. A non-transitory computer readable storage device for providing an overlay network, the computer readable storage device having computer executable instructions for performing the steps of:

receiving, from a plurality of client devices, location information and wireless network performance parameters of wireless networks available to the plurality of client devices;

associating the received location information and the received wireless network performance parameters with a timestamp;

aggregating the received location information, the received wireless network performance parameters and the associated timestamp such that the received wireless network performance parameters are associated with the received location information and the associated timestamp for each of the wireless networks available to the plurality of client devices;

quantizing the wireless network performance parameters to a plurality of geographic areas based on the associated location information and to an at least one time window within each of the plurality of geographic areas, based on the associated timestamp, the at least one time window corresponding to at least one period of time during a day;

analyzing the quantized wireless network performance parameters to determine a default wireless network within each of the plurality of geographic areas and the at least one time window;

building a searchable database based on the plurality of geographic areas and the at least one time window within each of the plurality of geographic areas; and

assigning the determined default wireless network within each of the plurality of geographic areas and the at least one time window,

wherein the wireless network performance parameters comprise at least one from among a signal strength, call failure statistics, or data performance of the wireless networks.

16. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 15, further comprising instructions for performing the steps of:

receiving a request for the default wireless network within the individual geographic area and the individual time window, the request includes location information from an individual client device and an individual associated timestamp;

searching the database based on the received location information from the individual client device and the individual associated timestamp to obtain the default wireless network within a specific geographic location of the plurality of geographic areas and a specific time window of the at least one time window, the specific geographic area including a location indicated by the location information and the specific time window including a time indicated by the individual associated timestamp; and

sending the default wireless network to the individual client device.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 15, further comprising instructions for performing the steps of:

determining primary use locations for each individual client device of the plurality of client devices based on the received location information;

determining a default wireless network for the primary use locations based on the received wireless network performance parameters; and

sending the default wireless network for the primary use locations to each individual client device of the plurality of client devices.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage device of claim 15, wherein the wireless network performance parameters comprise a signal strength of the wireless networks available to the plurality of client devices.