MOBILE DEVICE-BASED BANDWIDTH THROTTLING

• US 20130012161A1
• Filed: 09/13/2012
• Published: 01/10/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 11/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Google Inc. (Alphabet Inc.)
• Inventors: RUBIN, Andrew E., GREENWALT, Robert J. III
• Granted Patent: US 8,437,736 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/406
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/20 Traffic policing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/29 using a combination of thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/02 Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/10 Flow control between communication endpoints
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 72/535 based on resource usage policies
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

Methods, systems, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on a computer storage medium, for implementing mobile device-based bandwidth throttling. In one aspect, a method includes receiving policy from a wireless carrier that specifies one or more data usage thresholds allotted by the wireless carrier for data transferred over a wireless carrier network during a predetermined period of time, determining an amount of data that has been transferred by the mobile device over the wireless carrier network during the predetermined period of time, determining that the amount exceeds one or more of the data usage thresholds, and throttling the bandwidth of a mobile device over the wireless carrier network based on determining that the amount exceeds one or more of the data usage thresholds.

Claims

1. A computer storage medium encoded with a computer program, the program comprising instructions that if executed by one or more computers cause the one or more computers to perform operations comprising:

receiving a policy from a wireless carrier that specifies one or more data usage thresholds allotted by the wireless carrier for data transferred over a wireless carrier network during a predetermined period of time;

determining an amount of data that has been transferred by the mobile device over the wireless carrier network during the predetermined period of time;

determining (i) that the amount exceeds one or more of the data usage thresholds and (ii) that the amount exceeds a predetermined minimum notification amount; and

throttling the bandwidth of a mobile device over the wireless carrier network based on determining (i) that the amount exceeds one or more of the data usage thresholds, and (ii) that the amount exceeds a predetermined minimum notification amount.

2. The medium of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise displaying representations of the amount and the data usage thresholds.

3. The medium of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

determining that the amount is within a predetermined range of one or more of the data usage thresholds; and

providing a warning for display based on determining that the amount is within the predetermined range.

4. The medium of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

determining that the amount is trending to exceed one or more of the data usage thresholds within the predetermined period of time; and

providing a warning for display based on determining that the amount is trending to exceed the one or more of the data usage thresholds.

5. The medium of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

determining that the predetermined period of time has elapsed; and

unthrottling the bandwidth of the mobile device over the wireless carrier network.

6. The medium of claim 1, wherein the policy comprises a Fair Access Policy for the wireless carrier.

7. The medium of claim 1, wherein the operations comprise:

providing a control for display that allows a user of the mobile device to purchase an updated policy;

determining that the user has selected the control; and

receiving the updated policy based on determining that the user has selected the control.

8. A computer-implemented method comprising:

receiving a policy from a wireless carrier that specifies one or more data usage thresholds allotted by the wireless carrier for data transferred over a wireless carrier network during a predetermined period of time;

determining an amount of data that has been transferred by the mobile device over the wireless carrier network during the predetermined period of time;

determining (i) that the amount exceeds one or more of the data usage thresholds and (ii) that the amount exceeds a predetermined minimum notification amount; and

throttling the bandwidth of a mobile device over the wireless carrier network based on determining (i) that the amount exceeds one or more of the data usage thresholds, and (ii) that the amount exceeds a predetermined minimum notification amount.

9. The method of claim 8, comprising displaying representations of the amount and the data usage thresholds.

10. The method of claim 8, comprising:

determining that the amount is within a predetermined range of one or more of the data usage thresholds; and

providing a warning for display based on determining that the amount is within the predetermined range.

11. The method of claim 8, comprising:

determining that the amount is trending to exceed one or more of the data usage thresholds within the predetermined period of time; and

providing a warning for display based on determining that the amount is trending to exceed the one or more of the data usage thresholds.

12. The method of claim 8, comprising:

determining that the predetermined period of time has elapsed; and

unthrottling the bandwidth of the mobile device over the wireless carrier network.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein the policy comprises a Fair Access Policy for the wireless carrier.

14. The method of claim 8, comprising:

providing a control for display that allows a user of the mobile device to purchase an updated policy;

determining that the user has selected the control; and

receiving the updated policy based on determining that the user has selected the control.

15. A system comprising:

one or more processors; and

a computer-readable medium coupled to the one or more processors having instructions stored thereon which, if executed by the one or more processors, cause the system to perform operations comprising;

receiving policy from a wireless carrier that specifies one or more data usage thresholds allotted by the wireless carrier for data transferred over a wireless carrier network during a predetermined period of time;

determining an amount of data that has been transferred by the mobile device over the wireless carrier network during the predetermined period of time;

determining (i) that the amount exceeds one or more of the data usage thresholds and (ii) that the amount exceeds a predetermined minimum notification amount; and

throttling the bandwidth of a mobile device over the wireless carrier network based on determining (i) that the amount exceeds one or more of the data usage thresholds, and (ii) that the amount exceeds a predetermined minimum notification amount.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the operations comprise displaying representations of the amount and the data usage thresholds.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the operations comprise:

determining that the amount is within a predetermined range of one or more of the data usage thresholds; and

providing a warning for display based on determining that the amount is within the predetermined range.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the operations comprise:

determining that the amount is trending to exceed one or more of the data usage thresholds within the predetermined period of time; and

providing a warning for display based on determining that the amount is trending to exceed the one or more of the data usage thresholds.

19. The system of claim 15, wherein the operations comprise:

determining that the predetermined period of time has elapsed; and

unthrottling the bandwidth of the mobile device over the wireless carrier network.

20. The system of claim 15, wherein the policy comprises a Fair Access Policy for the wireless carrier.