Location based idle mobile frequency selection

• US 8,738,071 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2010
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 12/02/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cellco Partnership, Inc. (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Wohld, Adam Harold
• Primary Examiner(s): Agosta, Steve D
• Application Number:
  US12/958,936
• Publication Number:
  US 20120142343A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,272 Days
• Field of Search: 455/418, 455/432.1, 455/435.2, 455/435.3, 455/436, 4554561-457, 455/550.1, 455/558, 370/310.2, 370/328, 370/338
• US Class Current: 455/550.1
• 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 72/02 Selection of wireless resources by user or terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A mobile network sector is served via at least an antenna and a mobile network base station transceiver to provide communications with a mobile station. The mobile station includes a mobile station antenna and a location determination device for identifying a geographic location of the mobile station. A transceiver in the mobile station is configured to transmit and receive signals to and from the mobile network base stations, via the mobile station antenna. A microprocessor controls the transmission and reception of the mobile communication signals and communicates with the location determination device. A spatial database identifies geographic positions related to sectors of mobile network base stations. The microprocessor compares the geographical location of the mobile station with the geographic positions of the mobile sectors to determine a preferred mobile network sector and redirect the transceiver to tune to a particular channel supported by the preferred mobile network sector.

Claims

1. A mobile station comprising:

a location determination device identifying a geographic location of the mobile station;

at least one mobile station antenna electrically linked to the location determination device;

a mobile transceiver electrically linked to the at least one antenna, the mobile transceiver configured to transmit and receive mobile communication signals to and from a mobile network system divided into mobile network sectors via the at least one antenna;

a microprocessor electronically linked to the mobile transceiver to control the transmission and reception of the mobile communication signals and communicating with the location determination device; and

a spatial database electronically linked to the microprocessor, and storing data identifying at least one or more geographic positions and geographic regions related to one or more of the mobile network sectors,

wherein the microprocessor is configured to;

determine that the mobile station has switched to an idle mode; and

in response to determining that the mobile station has switched to the idle mode and independent of any communication signal of the mobile network system, start a process to compare the geographic location of the mobile station identified by the location determination device with the one or more geographic positions in the spatial database to determine a preferred channel of one of the mobile network sectors and redirect the mobile transceiver to the preferred channel; and

wherein at least one of;

the location determination device;

identifies the geographic location of the mobile station in response to determining that the mobile station has switched to the idle mode and prior to the determining the preferred channel of one of the mobile network sectors, and

wherein the identification comprises taking a measurement of the geographic location of the mobile station in response to determining that the mobile station has switched to the idle mode;

or

the microprocessor in redirecting the mobile transceiver;

determines whether the mobile transceiver is currently tuned to the preferred channel supported by the one of the mobile network sectors, and

causes the mobile transceiver to tune to the preferred channel only upon determining that the mobile transceiver is not currently tuned to the preferred channel.

2. The mobile statin of claim 1, wherein the mobile transceiver is configured to be tuned to a RF signal based on the preferred channel.

3. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the location determination device includes a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver.

4. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein:

the location determination device is configured to identify the geographic location by latitude and longitude.

5. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein each entry in the spatial database identifying one of the plurality of geographic positions of a respective one of the mobile network sectors includes a series of geographical coordinates defining a boundary of the respective mobile network sector.

6. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the mobile station does not connect to the mobile network system to determine the preferred channel.

7. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein a geographic coordinate for each position of a mobile network sector identifies a coordinate for the center of the sector area.

8. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the microprocessor is further configured to:

determine whether the mobile transceiver is currently tuned to the determined preferred channel; and

cause the mobile transceiver to tune to the determined preferred channel only upon determining that the mobile transceiver is not currently tuned to the preferred channel.

9. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the microprocessor is configured to start the process and determine the preferred channel every time the mobile station is determined to have switched to the idle mode.

14. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein:

the comparing the geographic location of the mobile station with the one or more geographic positions in the spatial database determines a set of the mobile network sectors; and

the microprocessor is further configured to;

rank the mobile network sectors of the determined set of mobile network sectors by proximity to the geographic location of the mobile station;

determine whether a signal is received from the top ranked mobile network sector on a channel associated with the top ranked mobile network sector; and

select the retrieved channel as an idle channel for the mobile station upon determining that the signal is received from the top ranked mobile network sector on the associated channel.

15. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the microprocessor is further configured to:

receive an update for the spatial database via over-the-air messaging; and

update the spatial database based on the received update.

16. The mobile station of claim 1, wherein the microprocessor is further configured to identify the geographic location of the mobile station using the location determination device in response to determining that the mobile station has switched to the idle mode and prior to determining the preferred channel of one of the mobile network sectors.

17. The mobile station of claim 16, wherein the microprocessor causes the location determination device to take a measurement of the geographic location of the mobile station in response to determining that the, mobile station has switched to the idle mode.

10. A method comprising the steps of:

determining that a mobile station, operating in a mobile network system divided into mobile network sectors, has switched to an idle mode; and

in response to determining that the mobile station has switched to the idle mode and independent of any communication signal of the mobile network system, starting a process for location based roaming of the mobile station in the mobile network system comprising steps of;

identifying a geographic location of the mobile station using a location determination device in the mobile station;

wherein the mobile station stores a spatial database containing data identifying a plurality of geographic positions associated with a plurality of the mobile network sectors;

retrieving, from the spatial database, data identifying a subset of the plurality of geographic positions of the mobile network sectors;

comparing, with a microprocessor located in the mobile station, the identified geographic location of the mobile station to data identifying the subset of the plurality of geographic positions of the mobile network sectors;

determining a preferred mobile network sectors, from the plurality of mobile network sectors, based on the comparison step;

redirecting a mobile station transceiver to a channel supported by the determined preferred mobile network sectors; and

wherein at least one of;

the step of identifying the geographic location of the mobile station;

is performed in response to determining that the mobile station has switched to the idle mode and prior to the determining the preferred mobile network sector, and

comprises causing the location determination device to take a measurement of the geographic location of the mobile station in response to determining that the mobile station has switched to the idle mode, or the redirecting the mobile station transceiver further comprises;

determining whether the mobile station transceiver is currently tuned to a channel supported by the determined preferred mobile network sector, and

causing the mobile station transceiver to tune to a channel of the determined preferred mobile network sector only upon determining that the mobile station transceiver is not currently tuned to a channel of the determined preferred mobile network sector.

11. The method of claim 10, further comprising the steps of:

upon a failure to acquire the geographic location, scanning, using the mobile station transceiver, a plurality of mobile network channels until an appropriate identifier is found;

tuning the mobile station transceiver to the mobile network channel having the appropriate identifier; and

continually attempting the identifying step until the geographic location is acquired.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the identifying, retrieving, comparing and determining steps are all performed on the mobile station without communicating with the mobile network system.

13. An article of manufacture, comprising:

instructions for causing a programmable mobile station to implement the steps of the method of claim 10; and

a non-transitory machine readable storage medium bearing the instructions.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the microprocessor is configured to start the process and determine the preferred mobile network sector every time the mobile station is determined to have switched to the idle mode.