Wireless network supporting extended coverage of service

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9295022-B2
Application number	US-201213475045-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 18, 2012
Priority date	May 18, 2012
Publication date	Mar 22, 2016
Grant date	Mar 22, 2016

Abstract

A communications access point may provide access to a wireless communications network to a user device located at a first location. The communications access point may determine that the user device is moving from the first location to a second location where access to the wireless network is limited or not available. In response to the determination, the communications access point may provide access to the wireless network at the second location by extending a coverage area of the wireless network.

First claim

We claim:

1. A method comprising:
providing access to a wireless communications network to a user device at a first location;
determining an event for a user associated with the user device based on content of communications generated from user input;
predicting, by a computing device and based on the determined event, that the user device will move to a second location;
determining that the user device will not have access to the wireless communications network at the second location; and
providing, by the computing device, access to the wireless communications network to the user device at the second location by extending a coverage area of the wireless communications network.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the providing access to the wireless communications network at the first location comprises a communications access point providing, in a first wireless coverage area, access to the wireless communications network,
the providing access to the wireless communications network at the second location comprises the communications access point providing, in a second wireless coverage area different from the first wireless coverage area, access to the wireless communications network, and
the extending the coverage area of the wireless communications network comprises extending the first wireless coverage area to form the second wireless coverage area by changing a direction of the communications access point.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the access to the wireless communications network provided at the first location is provided by a first communications access point,
the access to the wireless communications network provided at the second location is provided by a second communications access point different from the first communications access point, and
the extending the coverage area of the wireless communications network comprises transmitting an instruction to the user device to transfer service from the first communications access point to the second communications access point.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the wireless communications network comprises a first wireless communications network and a second wireless communications network different from the first wireless communications network, and wherein:
the access to the wireless communications network provided at the first location corresponds to a first coverage area of the first wireless communications network, and
the access to the wireless communications network provided at the second location corresponds to a second coverage area of the second wireless communications network.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the access to the wireless communications network provided at the first location is provided in a first wireless coverage area, the method further comprising:
determining whether the first location is within a predetermined distance from a boundary of the first wireless coverage area,
wherein the predicting that the user device will move to the second location is also based on a determination that the first location is within the predetermined distance from the boundary of the first wireless coverage area.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content of communications generated from user input comprises content posted by the user onto a social media account of the user.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the content of communications generated from user input comprises content on an electronic calendar of the user.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first location is within a first wireless coverage area, and wherein the second location is within a second wireless coverage area different from the first wireless coverage area, the method further comprising:
determining first location density information for the first wireless coverage area; and
determining second location density information for the second wireless coverage area,
wherein the providing access to the wireless communications network at the first location comprises providing access to the wireless communications network in the first wireless coverage area based on the first location density information, and
wherein the providing access to the wireless communications network at the second location comprises providing access to the wireless communications network in the second wireless coverage area based on the second location density information.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the access to the wireless communications network provided at the first location is provided at a first time, and
the access to the wireless communications network provided at the second location is provided at a second time later than the first time.

10. A method comprising:
providing, at a first time, access to a wireless communications network to a plurality of user devices respectively located at a plurality of first locations;
determining an event for a user associated with a first user device of the plurality of user devices based on content of communications generated from user input;
predicting, by a computing device and based on the determined event, that the first user device of the plurality of user devices will move to a second location;
determining that the first user device will not have access to the wireless communications network at the second location; and
providing, at a second time later than the first time, access to the wireless communications network to the first user device at the second location by extending a coverage area of the wireless communications network.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein:
the providing access to the wireless communications network at the first time comprises a communications access point providing, in a first wireless coverage area, access to the wireless communications network,
the providing access to the wireless communications network at the second time comprises the communications access point providing, in a second wireless coverage area different from the first wireless coverage area, access to the wireless communications network, and
the extending the coverage area of the wireless communications network comprises extending the first wireless coverage area to form the second wireless coverage area by changing a direction of the communications access point.

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein:
the access to the wireless communications network provided at the first time is provided by a first communications access point,
the access to the wireless communications network provided at the second time is provided by a second communications access point different from the first communications access point, and
the extending the coverage area of the wireless communications network comprises transmitting an instruction to the first user device to transfer service from the first communications access point to the second communications access point.

13. The method of claim 10 , wherein the wireless communications network comprises a plurality of wireless communications networks, the method further comprising:
selecting one of the plurality of wireless communications networks available at the second location,
wherein the extending the coverage area of the wireless communications network comprises transmitting an instruction to the first user device to transfer service to the selected one of the plurality of wireless communications networks.

14. The method of claim 10 , wherein the wireless communications network comprises a first wireless communications network and a second wireless communications network different from the first wireless communications network, and wherein:
the access to the wireless communi

Assignees

• Bevan Frances
• Markowitz David
• Rekstad Michael
• Sim Jae
• Stone Christopher
• Comcast Cable Comm Llc

Inventors

• Bevan Frances
• Markowitz David
• Rekstad Michael
• Sim Jae
• Stone Christopher

Classifications

• H04W48/18

  Selecting a network or a communication service · CPC title

• H04W4/028

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W16/28 Primary

  using beam steering · CPC title

• H04W52/143

  Downlink power control · CPC title

• H04W4/008

  Electricity · mapped topic