Position-dependent connectivity management

• US 8,315,646 B2
• Filed: 08/28/2008
• Issued: 11/20/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 06/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Elektrobit Wireless Communications OY (Bittium Oyj)
• Original Assignee: Elektrobit Wireless Communications OY (Bittium Oyj)
• Inventors: Karjalainen, Antti
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost, Dwayne
• Assistant Examiner(s): Rideout, William F
• Application Number:
  US12/937,738
• Publication Number:
  US 20110039579A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,545 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3, 455/456.4, 455/456.5, 455/456.6, 455/440, 455/426.1, 455/422.1, 455/552.1, 455/552.2, 455/421
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/04 based on user or terminal location or mobility data, e.g. moving direction, speed
• 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 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A method for communication to/from a multimode terminal operable to communicate via multiple alternative communication technologies. Each region definition indicates a region name and one or more of the communication technologies and/or operating modes plus an activation range and a deactivation range for the communication technologies and/or operating modes. The multimode terminal determines its position and retrieves a stored region definition relating to the region closest to the multimode terminal'"'"'s determined position. It then compares its determined position with the activation range and a deactivation range of the retrieved region definition. Based on said comparison, the multimode terminal activates and deactivates the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes indicated by the retrieved region definition.

Claims

1. A method for communication with a multimode terminal operable to receive or determine position estimates for the multimode terminal and to communicate via multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes, the method comprising:

utilizing a user interface application whose execution in the multimode terminal generates a user interface for creating and storing one or more region definitions, wherein each region definition includes a name of the region and a list of at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes plus an activation range and a deactivation range for the at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes;

determining a position of the multimode terminal;

retrieving a stored region definition relating to the region closest to the position of the multimode terminal;

comparing the position of the multimode terminal with the activation range and deactivation range of the retrieved region definition;

activating and deactivating at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes indicated by the retrieved region definition based on the comparison; and

implementing a time hysteresis, wherein said activation of at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes takes place only after the multimode terminal has been inside the activation range for a first predetermined period of time, and deactivation of at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes takes place only after the multimode terminal has been outside the deactivation range for a second predetermined period of time.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein at least one of the region definitions indicates a set of applications for the one or more of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes indicated by the region definition, and the method further comprises automatically starting the indicated set of applications.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein at least one of the region definitions indicates a set of application tasks for at least one application in the indicated set of applications, and the method further comprises automatically starting the indicated set of application tasks.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein the act of deactivating each of the one or more multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes is preceded by checking if any active application uses the communication technology and/or operating mode to be deactivated, and preparing such applications for smooth deactivation.

5. A method according to claim 1 wherein, for any of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes, the deactivation range is larger than the activation range.

6. A multimode communication device, comprising:

a memory for storing applications and data;

a processor for executing the stored applications;

an input/output section for providing a user interface;

reception/transmission circuitry for providing a communication interface to one or more communication networks, wherein the reception/transmission circuitry communicates via multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes; and

positioning means to receive or determine position estimates for the multimode communication device, the memory comprising a user interface application, execution by the processor of which, generates a user interface to create and store one or more region definitions, wherein each region definition includes a name of the region and a list of at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes plus an activation range and a deactivation range for the at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes, the memory further comprising an activation/deactivation application, execution of which, directs the processor to perform the following operations;

determination of a position of the multimode communication device;

retrieval of a stored region definition relating to a region closest to the position of the multimode communication device;

comparison of the position of the multimode communication device with the activation range and deactivation range of the retrieved region definition;

activation and deactivation of at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes indicated by the retrieved region definition based on the comparison; and

implementation of a time hysteresis, wherein said activation of at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes takes place only after the multimode terminal has been inside the activation range for a first predetermined period of time, and deactivation of at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes takes place only after the multimode terminal has been outside the deactivation range for a second predetermined period of time.

7. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium comprising encoded instructions for a multimode communication device, which multimode communication device comprises:

a memory for storing applications and data;

a processor for executing the stored applications;

an input/output section for providing a user interface;

reception/transmission circuitry for providing a communication interface to one or more communication networks, wherein the reception/transmission circuitry communicates via multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes; and

positioning means to receive or determine position estimates for the multimode communication device, wherein the memory comprises one or more region definitions, wherein each region definition indicates a name of the region and a list of at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes plus an activation range and a deactivation range for the at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes, wherein the encoded instructions comprise an activation/deactivation application, execution of which, directs the processor of the multimode communication device to perform the following operations;

determination of a position of the multimode communication device;

retrieval of a stored region definition relating to a region closest to the position of the multimode communication device;

comparison of the position of the multimode communication device with the activation range and deactivation range of the retrieved region definition; and

activation and deactivation of at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes indicated by the retrieved region definition based on the comparison; and

implementation of a time hysteresis, wherein said activation of at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes takes place only after the multimode terminal has been inside the activation range for a first predetermined period of time, and deactivation of at least one of the multiple alternative communication technologies and/or operating modes takes place only after the multimode terminal has been outside the deactivation range for a second predetermined period of time.