Wireless Signal Quality Indicator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016112883-A1
Application number	US-201414517273-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 17, 2014
Priority date	Oct 17, 2014
Publication date	Apr 21, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Techniques for wireless signal quality indicator are described. According to various implementations, various attributes of a wireless signal are detected. Attributes of the wireless signal are processed to ascertain a quality of the wireless signal. Based on an ascertained signal quality, indicia of the signal quality can be exposed.

First claim

1 . A system comprising:
at least one processor; and one or more computer-readable storage media including instructions stored thereon that, responsive to execution by the at least one processor, cause the system perform operations including: determining a signal strength value for a wireless signal used to communicate data between a client device and a wireless base station; detecting errors in the data; adjusting the signal strength value based on the errors detected in the data to characterize a signal quality of the wireless signal; ascertaining an upload signal quality and a download signal quality for the data communicated via the wireless signal; and outputting a signal quality indicator based on the adjusted signal strength value including a graphical indication of the signal quality and which indicates the upload signal quality relative to the download signal quality.

2 . A system as recited in claim 1 , wherein the signal strength value comprises a received signal strength indicator (RSSI) value for the wireless signal, and wherein said adjusting comprises reducing the RSSI value based on the errors.

3 . A system as described in claim 1 , wherein the errors are detected via a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) performed on the data, and wherein the signal strength value is reduced based on the number of detected CRC errors.

4 . A system as described in claim 1 , wherein the errors are detected via forward error correction (FEC) performed on the data, and wherein the signal strength value is reduced based on the number of detected FEC errors.

5 . A system as described in claim 1 , wherein the errors comprise one or more of soft forward error correction (FEC) errors or hard FEC errors detected via FEC.

6 . A system as described in claim 1 , wherein the errors are detected based on a number of retransmissions detected for transmission of the data, and wherein the signal strength value is reduced based on the number of detected retransmissions.

7 . A system as described in claim 1 , wherein said outputting comprises adjusting a visual indication of the signal strength value to generate the graphical indication of the signal quality.

8 . A system as described in claim 1 , wherein said outputting includes a notification of the signal quality from a network-based service to a client device.

9 . A system as described in claim 1 , wherein the operations further include outputting a signal strength indicator that distinguishes the signal strength value from the signal quality.

10 . (canceled)

11 . A system as described in claim 1 , wherein said adjusting the signal strength value comprises reducing the signal strength value based on an adjustment value calculated based on the errors detected in the data.

12 . A system as described in claim 11 , wherein the adjustment value is calculated by:
ascertaining a quantity of the errors detected in the data; and determining the adjustment value by comparing the quantity of errors to one or more error thresholds defined for different quantities of errors detected in wireless signal.

13 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
determining a signal strength value for a wireless signal used to communicate data between a client device and a wireless base station; adjusting the signal strength value based on errors detected in the data; and outputting a signal quality indicator based on the adjusted signal strength value and a signal strength indicator based on the signal strength value, the signal quality indicator visually indicating a signal quality value of the wireless signal relative to the signal strength value of the wireless signal.

14 . A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 13 , wherein the errors are detected via one or more of a cyclical redundancy check (CRC) performed on the data, or forward error correction (FEC) decoding performed on the data.

15 . A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 13 , wherein the errors are detected based on a number of retransmissions of at least some of the data.

16 . A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 13 , wherein the signal quality indicator indicates that the signal quality value is different than the signal strength value.

17 . A computer-implemented method as recited in claim 13 , wherein said adjusting and said outputting are performed responsive to receiving an indication of a user selection of a selectable control for outputting the signal quality indicator.

18 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
detecting errors in data communicated via a wireless signal; characterizing a signal quality of the wireless signal based on the detected errors and independent of a signal strength of the wireless signal; and outputting an indication of the signal quality.

19 . A computer-implemented method as described in claim 18 , wherein said characterizing comprises:
calculating an adjustment value based on the errors detected in the wireless signal; and adjusting a default signal quality value based on the adjustment value to obtain a signal quality value that indicates the signal quality of the wireless signal.

20 . A computer-implemented method as described in claim 18 , wherein said characterizing comprises characterizing a separate download signal quality and upload signal quality of the wireless signal, and wherein the indication of the signal quality includes separate indicators for the download signal quality and the upload signal quality.

21 . A system as described in claim 1 , wherein the indicia of the upload signal quality relative to the download signal quality includes separate indicators for the upload signal quality and the download signal quality.

Assignees

• Microsoft Corp

Inventors

• Hassan Amer A
• Jefremov Andrei

Classifications

• H04L1/0045

  Arrangements at the receiver end · CPC title

• H04B17/23

  Indication means, e.g. displays, alarms, audible means · CPC title

• H04L1/203

  Details of error rate determination, e.g. BER, FER or WER · CPC title

• H04L1/0036 Primary

  arrangements specific to the receiver · CPC title

• H04L1/1829

  Arrangements specially adapted for the receiver end · CPC title