Techniques for selecting network protocols

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11838822-B2
Application number	US-202217846482-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 22, 2022
Priority date	Nov 25, 2020
Publication date	Dec 5, 2023
Grant date	Dec 5, 2023

Abstract

This disclosure describes techniques for selecting network protocols using heatmaps. For instance, a system may receive radio frequency information from one or more sources located within an environment. The system may then generate heatmaps using the radio frequency information, where the heatmaps represent characteristics associated with different network protocols. The characteristics may include signal strengths, throughputs, data packet drop rates, data packet retry rates, and/or the like for various locations within the environment. A user device may then receive the heatmaps from the system. Using a location of the user device and the heatmaps, the user device may determine to communicate using a network protocol from the different network protocols. The user device may then establish a connection using the network protocol.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving network data representing radio frequency (RF) information associated with one or more networks;
receiving location data indicative of a location of a client device associated with the network;
generating, based at least in part on a first portion of the network data and the location data, first heatmap data associated with a first network protocol;
generating, based at least in part on a second portion of the network data and the location data, second heatmap data associated with a second network protocol;
providing the first heatmap data to the client device; and
providing the second heatmap data to the client device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the first network protocol includes a Wi-Fi Protocol; and
the second network protocol includes Fifth Generation (5G) Cellular Network Protocol.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the RF information includes a first characteristic associated with the first network protocol at the location within an environment and a second characteristic associated with the second network protocol at the location within the environment;
the first characteristic comprises at least one of:
a first signal strength associated with the first network protocol;
a first throughput associated with the first network protocol;
a first data packet drop rate associated with the first network protocol; or
a first data packet retry rate associated with the first network protocol; and

the second characteristic comprises at least one of:
a second signal strength associated with the second network protocol;
a second throughput associated with the second network protocol;
a second data packet drop rate associated with the second network protocol; or
a second data packet retry rate associated with the second network protocol.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location data represents a first location associated with the client device, further comprising:
receiving sensor data associated with the client device;
determining, based at least in part on the location data and the sensor data, a second location at which the client device will be located at a future time;
generating, based at least in part on the second location, third heatmap data associated with the first network protocol;
generating, based at least in part on the second location, fourth heatmap data associated with the second network protocol;
sending the third heatmap data to the client device; and
sending the fourth heatmap data to the client device.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining, based at least in part on the first heatmap data, the second heatmap data, and the location data, that the first network protocol is more optimal than the second network protocol for the client device to communicate;
generating recommendation data indicating the first network protocol; and
sending the recommendation data to the client device.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the first heatmap data to the client device includes sending an identifier associated with downloading the first heatmap data to the client device.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining that the client device connected to a specific hub device in an environment of the client device,
wherein the first heatmap data and the second heatmap data are provided to the client device based at least in part on the client device connecting to the specific hub device.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein providing the client device with the first heatmap data includes exchanging, via the one or more networks and with the client device, at least one of an Extensible Markup Language (XML) file populated with the first heatmap data or a JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) file populated with the first heatmap data.

9. A system comprising:
one or more processors; and
one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform operations of:
receiving network data representing radio frequency (RF) information associated with one or more networks;
receiving location data indicative of a location of a client device associated with the network;
generating, based at least in part on a first portion of the network data and the location data, first heatmap data associated with a first network protocol;
generating, based at least in part on a second portion of the network data and the location data, second heatmap data associated with a second network protocol;
providing the first heatmap data to the client device; and
providing the second heatmap data to the client device.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein:
the first network protocol includes a Wi-Fi Protocol; and
the second network protocol includes Fifth Generation (5G) Cellular Network Protocol.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein:
the RF information includes a first characteristic associated with the first network protocol at the location within an environment and a second characteristic associated with the second network protocol at the location within the environment;
the first characteristic comprises at least one of:
a first signal strength associated with the first network protocol;
a first throughput associated with the first network protocol;
a first data packet drop rate associated with the first network protocol; or
a first data packet retry rate associated with the first network protocol; and

the second characteristic comprises at least one of:
a second signal strength associated with the second network protocol;
a second throughput associated with the second network protocol;
a second data packet drop rate associated with the second network protocol; or
a second data packet retry rate associated with the second network protocol.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the location data represents a first location associated with the client device, and wherein the operations further comprise:
receiving sensor data associated with the client device;
determining, based at least in part on the location data and the sensor data, a second location at which the client device will be located at a future time;
generating, based at least in part on the second location third heatmap data associated with the first network protocol;
generating, based at least in part on the second location, fourth heatmap data associated with the second network protocol;
sending the third heatmap data to the client device; and
sending the fourth heatmap data to the client device.

13. The system of claim 9 , the operations further comprising:
determining, based at least in part on the first heatmap data, the second heatmap data, and the location data, that the first network protocol is more optimal than the second network protocol for the client device to communicate;
generating recommendation data indicating the first network protocol; and
sending the recommendation data to the client device.

14. The system of claim 9 , wherein providing the first heatmap data to the client device includes sending an identifier associated with downloading the first heatmap data to the client device.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein:
the system includes one or more devices in a cloud provider network; or
the system includes one or more control-plane devices associated with a data center.

16. A method comprising:
receiving network data representing radio frequency (RF) information associated with one or more networks;
receiving

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Gundavelli Srinath
• Gandhi Indermeet
• Murthy Shree
• Smith Malcolm Muir
• Henry Jerome

Classifications

• H04W36/322

  by location data · CPC title

• H04W36/304

  due to measured or perceived resources with higher communication quality · CPC title

• H04W36/32 Primary

  by location or mobility data, e.g. speed data · CPC title

• H04W36/30

  by measured or perceived connection quality data · CPC title

• H04W84/12

  WLAN [Wireless Local Area Networks] · CPC title