Intelligent Routing of Network Packets on Telecommunication Devices

• US 20140185519A1
• Filed: 12/31/2012
• Published: 07/03/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: T-Mobile USA, Inc. (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Zhang, Hongliang, Tapia, Pablo, McDiarmid, Mark
• Granted Patent: US 9,609,575 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0018 based on latency requirement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/308 Route determination based on user's profile, e.g. premium users
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/248 Connectivity information update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 in wireless communication networks

Abstract

A telecommunication device configured to select one of a plurality of network connectivities of the telecommunication device to use for transmission of a network packet is described herein. The telecommunication device may select the network connectivity based on user routing criteria, connectivity metrics, or transmission times. The user routing criteria may be dynamically updated during a communication or connection, affecting selection of the network connectivity for further network packets. The network connectivities may be respectively associated with different network operators. Also, the telecommunication device may select a first network connectivity for transmitting a first network packet and a second network connectivity for transmitting a second network packet. Further, the telecommunication device may select a first network connectivity for uplink communications and a second network connectivity for downlink communications.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving, by a telecommunication device, a network packet from an application of the telecommunication device;

selecting, by the telecommunication device, a network connectivity from a plurality of network connectivities based at least in part on user routing criteria and connectivity metrics, the plurality of network connectivities being respectively associated with a plurality of network operators; and

transmitting, by the telecommunication device, the network packet using the selected network connectivity.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the selecting further comprises determining a score for each network connectivity by applying the user routing criteria to the connectivity metrics associated with that network connectivity.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein determining the score further comprises applying the user routing criteria to attributes of the network packet.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a user of the telecommunication device does not subscribe to service plans associated with the network operators.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising transmitting a first network packet and a second network packet using different network connectivities respectively associated with different network operators.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the different network operators are used for the first and second network packets because of a change to the user routing criteria or the connectivity metrics.

7. A method comprising:

receiving, by a telecommunication device, a plurality of network packets associated with a logical connection;

transmitting, by the telecommunication device, a first of the network packets using a first network connectivity selected based at least in part on first user routing criteria and first connectivity metrics; and

transmitting, by the telecommunication device, a second of the network packets using a second network connectivity selected based at least in part on second user routing criteria and second connectivity metrics.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the first connectivity metrics or second connectivity metrics include a network protocol, a network availability, a network performance, a quality of service (QoS), a power consumption, a network bandwidth profile, a cost, or a security level.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the first connectivity metrics and the second connectivity metrics differ from each other.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the difference between the first connectivity metrics and the second connectivity metrics results from a change of a location of the telecommunication device.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein the first user routing criteria or the second user routing criteria include a network performance, a QoS, a cost, a power consumption at a lowest bandwidth, an available bandwidth given specific performance requirements, a packet delivering efficiency, a security level, a user preference for an operator, or a combination of criteria.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the first user routing criteria or the second user routing criteria are default user routing criteria, suggested user routing criteria, user routing criteria automatically generated based on user-provided preferences, or user routing criteria specific to a location.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising dynamically updating the first user routing criteria or the second user routing criteria in real-time based on user-provided preferences, on criteria received from a network operator, or on criteria received from a host service.

14. The method of claim 7, wherein the first user routing criteria and the second user routing criteria are different user routing criteria, the second user routing criteria being generated responsive to user-provided preferences.

15. The method of claim 7, wherein the first network connectivity or the second network connectivity is one of a WiFi network connectivity, a LTE network connectivity, a HSPA+ network connectivity, a Bluetooth network connectivity, or an infrared network connectivity.

16. The method of claim 7, wherein the first network connectivity and the second network connectivity are different network connectivities.

17. The method of claim 7, wherein the first network connectivity and the second network connectivity are associated with a same network operator.

18. The method of claim 7, further comprising at least one of selecting the first network connectivity based at least in part on attributes of the first network packet or selecting the second network connectivity based at least in part on attributes of the second network packet.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the attributes of the first network packet or the attributes of the second network packet include a network protocol, a QoS profile, a packet size, a destination address, a bandwidth demand, a service class, or a security level.

20. The method of claim 7, further comprising transmitting third network packets simultaneously over first and second network connectivities.

21. A telecommunication device comprising:

a processor;

one or more wireless communication transceivers configured to communicate with a plurality of networks; and

a packet routing module configured to be operated by the processor to receive a network packet from an application of the telecommunication device, the packet routing module including;

a network selection module to determines network latencies respectively associated with the networks and to select one of the networks based at least in part on user routing criteria and the network latencies, and

a transmission module to route the network packet for transmission to the selected one of the networks.

22. The telecommunication device of claim 21, wherein the network selection module determines the network latencies by transmitting messages to a destination associated with the network packet over the networks, receiving responses to the messages, and, for each message-response pair, calculating a difference between a message transmission time and a response reception time.

23. The telecommunication device of claim 21, wherein the network selection module selects the one of the networks based at least in part on the user routing criteria, the network latencies, connectivity metrics, and attributes of the network packet.

24. The telecommunication device of claim 21, wherein the network packet is associated with a logical connection, a session, or a flow, and the network selection module determines the network latencies once for a plurality of network packets associated with the logical connection, the session, or the flow.

25. One or more tangible computer-readable media having stored thereon a plurality of executable instructions configured to program a telecommunication device to perform operations comprising:

selecting a first network connectivity for uplink communications based at least in part on user routing criteria and connectivity metrics;

transmitting a network packet using the first network connectivity;

selecting a second network connectivity for downlink communications based at least in part on the user routing criteria and the connectivity metrics; and

receiving a network packet using the second network connectivity.

26. The one or more tangible computer-readable media of claim 25, wherein the connectivity metrics include a network protocol, a network availability, a network performance, a quality of service (QoS), a power consumption, a network bandwidth profile, a cost, or a security level.

27. The one or more tangible computer-readable media of claim 25, wherein the user routing criteria include a network performance, a QoS, a cost, a power consumption at a lowest bandwidth, an available bandwidth given specific performance requirements, a packet delivering efficiency, a security level, a user preference for an operator, or a combination of criteria.