Wireless terminal and base station switching method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11076332-B2
Application number	US-201716469005-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 29, 2017
Priority date	Dec 13, 2016
Publication date	Jul 27, 2021
Grant date	Jul 27, 2021

Abstract

A wireless terminal that: for previous communications between the wireless terminal and base stations, stores as a communication history at least position information for the wireless terminal and information pertaining to each base station; acquires the position information for the wireless terminal and, on the basis of the position information for the wireless terminal and the stored communication history, derives from multiple base stations at least a connection subject base station to be used in data communication and a connection standby base station, which is the base station having the next highest connection priority after the connection subject base station; and performs data communication when a trial connection with the connection subject base station has succeeded, and switches the connection subject base station to be used in data communication to the connection standby base station when communication with the connection subject base station is interrupted.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A wireless terminal that is capable of performing communication with a plurality of base stations, the wireless terminal comprising:
a storage configured to store a communication history having at least location information on the wireless terminal and information on the plurality of base stations, wherein the information on the plurality of base stations includes a communication interruption history of the plurality of base stations; and
a processor coupled to the storage and configured to:
acquire the location information on the wireless terminal;
select at least a connection target base station for data communication and a connection standby base station from among the plurality of base stations, based on the acquired location information on the wireless terminal and the communication history, the connection target base station having the highest priority for connection, and the connection standby base station having the second highest priority for connection among the plurality of base stations;
establish the data communication with the connection target base station;
in response to the data communication with the connection target base station being interrupted, switch to establish the data communication with the connection standby base station; and
in response to receiving a signal from one of the plurality of base stations, which has experienced a communication interruption according to the communication interruption history, select said one base station as the connection standby base station or as a connection standby candidate base station that has the next highest priority for connection relative to the connection standby base station.

2. The wireless terminal according to claim 1 ,
wherein the priority of the connection target base station and the connection standby base station is defined by a number of times the plurality of the base stations are allocated for communication with the wireless terminal.

3. The wireless terminal according to claim 1 ,
wherein the connection target base station and the connection standby base station are selected from an “n” subset of the plurality of base stations having n communication histories (n is an integer that is equal to or greater than 2), in which a distance based on the acquired location information on the wireless terminal and the location information on the wireless terminal in the communication history is equal to or below a threshold.

4. The wireless terminal according to claim 3 ,
wherein the location information on the wireless terminal has a latitude, a longitude, and an altitude indicating a location of the wireless terminal, and
wherein the processor derives the distance with a preference for the altitude instead of the latitude and the longitude.

5. The wireless terminal according to claim 1 ,
wherein the communication history includes information on an amount of data communication with each of the plurality of base stations, and
the priority of the connection subject base station and the connection standby base station is defined by the amount of data communication.

6. The wireless terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
in response to establishing the data communication with the connection target base station, update the communication history of the connection target base station in the storage.

7. The wireless terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
in response to failing to establish the data communication with the connection target base station, select the connection standby base station as the connection target base station.

8. The wireless terminal according to claim 1 ,
wherein the connection standby candidate base station is selected from an “n” subset of the plurality of base stations having n communication histories (n is an integer that is equal to or greater than 2), in which a distance based on the acquired location information on the wireless terminal and the location information on the wireless terminal in the communication history is equal to or below a threshold.

9. The wireless terminal according to claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to:
detect a communication interruption to the data communication with the connection target base station, and
switch to establish the data communication with one of the plurality of base stations, which has experienced a communication interruption according to the communication interruption history and which has a lower priority than the connection target base station and the connection standby base station.

10. The wireless terminal according to claim 1 ,
wherein the communication history includes information on a number of times the data communication is interrupted between the wireless terminal and the plurality of base stations.

11. A base station switching method in a wireless terminal that is capable of performing communication with a plurality of base stations, the base station switching method comprising:
storing a communication history having at least location information on the wireless terminal and information on the plurality of base stations, wherein the information on the plurality of base stations includes a communication interruption history of the plurality of base stations;
acquiring the location information on the wireless terminal;
selecting at least a connection target base station for data communication and a connection standby base station from among the plurality of base stations, based on the acquired location information on the wireless terminal and the communication history, the connection target base station having the highest priority for connection, and the connection standby base station having the second highest priority for connection among the plurality of base stations;
establishing the data communication with the connection target base station;
in response to the data communication with the connection target base station being interrupted, switching to establish the data communication with the connection standby base station; and
in response to receiving a signal from one of the plurality of base stations, which has experienced a communication interruption according to the communication interruption history, selecting said one base station as the connection standby base station or as a connection standby candidate base station that has the next highest priority for connection relative to the connection standby base station.

12. A wireless terminal that is capable of performing communication with a plurality of base stations, the wireless terminal comprising:
a storage configured to store a communication history having at least location information on the wireless terminal and information on the plurality of base stations, wherein the information on the plurality of base stations includes a communication interruption history of the plurality of base stations; and
a processor coupled to the storage and configured to:
acquire the location information on the wireless terminal;
select at least a connection target base station for data communication and a connection standby base station from among the plurality of base stations, based on the acquired location information on the wireless terminal and the communication history, the connection target base station having the highest priority for connection, and the connection standby base station having the second highest priority for connection among the plurality of base stations;
establish the data communication with the connection target base station;
in response to the data communication with the connection target base station being interrupte

Assignees

• Panasonic Corp

Inventors

• Kato Osamu
• Shimizu Noriyuki
• Yoshino Masaaki
• Shingu Hideki

Classifications

• H04W72/56

  based on priority criteria · CPC title

• H04W36/322

  by location data · CPC title

• H04W36/36 Primary

  by user or terminal equipment · CPC title

• H04W36/08

  Reselecting an access point · CPC title

• H04W88/06

  adapted for operation in multiple networks {or having at least two operational modes}, e.g. multi-mode terminals · CPC title