Recommendations for reducing data consumption based on data usage profiles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9887894-B2
Application number	US-201213721023-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 20, 2012
Priority date	Jan 27, 2012
Publication date	Feb 6, 2018
Grant date	Feb 6, 2018

Abstract

Embodiments profile users based on data usage of installed applications and provide recommendations for reducing data usage. A computing device or cloud service determines a plurality of applications installed on the computing device. Data usage patterns associated with each of the determined plurality of applications are identified. The data usage patterns describe data usage over a network for at least one of the determined plurality of applications. One or more recommendations for reducing data usage are defined based on the identified data usage patterns. Some embodiments recommend switching applications, uninstalling applications, or disabling particular network connections.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
determining a plurality of applications installed on a computing device;
identifying data usage patterns associated with one or more of the determined plurality of applications, the data usage patterns simultaneously displaying data usage over at least one or more cellular networks and one or more Wi-Fi networks, the simultaneous displaying comprising displaying the data usage by the one or more of the determined plurality of applications over the one or more cellular networks and the one or more Wi-Fi networks in a single display;
predicting future data usage by the one or more of the determined plurality of applications by comparing identified data usage patterns with one or more predefined application data usage profiles;
ranking the determined plurality of applications based on the predicted future data usage; and
defining one or more recommendations for the one or more of the determined plurality of applications to reduce data usage based on the one or more predefined application data usage profiles and the ranking, the one or more recommendations including recommending a reduction of data usage of at least one of the one or more cellular networks or the one or more Wi-Fi networks.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein comparing the identified data usage patterns with the one or more predefined application data usage profiles comprises identifying a data usage profile of the one or more predefined application data usage profiles based on an application identifier associated with an application of the one or more of the determined plurality of applications.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the data usage patterns comprises assigning a predefined application data usage profile to the one or more of the determined plurality of applications, by selecting the predefined application data usage profile from the predefined one or more application data usage profiles after the comparison.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more predefined application data usage profiles include application identifiers associated with the one or more predefined data usage profiles, the one or more predefined application data usage profiles assigned to the determined plurality of applications by matching the application identifiers to application identifiers associated with the one or more of the determined plurality of applications.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein defining the one or more recommendations comprises suggesting at least one mobile operator other than a current mobile operator.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying the data usage patterns comprises inferring the data usage patterns based on data usage statistics associated with the one or more of the determined plurality of applications, wherein at least one of the one or more of the determined plurality of applications is executed on a device other than the computing device.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein comparing the identified data usage patterns with the one or more predefined application data usage profiles comprises matching the data usage patterns of the determined plurality of applications with the one or more predefined application data usage profiles based on a type of the one or more of the determined plurality of applications.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein defining the one or more recommendations comprises suggesting at least one alternative service for data communication, the suggested alternative service matching at least one of the one or more predefined application data usage profiles.

9. A system comprising:
a memory and a processor associated with a computing device, wherein the processor is programmed to:
determine a plurality of applications installed on the computing device;
identify a first data usage statistics associated with the determined plurality of applications, the identified first data usage statistics simultaneously displaying data usage over at least one or more cellular networks and one or more Wi-Fi networks by the determined plurality of applications, the simultaneous displaying comprising displaying the data usage by the determined plurality of applications over the one or more cellular networks and the one or more Wi-Fi networks in a single display;
compare the identified first data usage statistics of the determined plurality of applications with a second data usage statistics associated with one or more predefined application data usage profiles;
predict future data usage by the determined plurality of applications based on the comparison;
rank the determined plurality of applications based on the predicted future data usage; and
define one or more recommendations for one or more of the determined plurality of applications to reduce data usage based on the ranking of the determined plurality of applications, the one or more recommendations including recommending a reduction of data usage of at least one of the one or more cellular networks or the one or more Wi-Fi networks.

10. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is programmed to define the one or more recommendations by recommending uninstallation of at least one of the determined plurality of applications upon predicting that the future data usage will exceed threshold values associated with a data usage plan.

11. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is programmed to define the one or more recommendations by recommending exchanging a first one of the determined plurality of applications for a second, different application.

12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is programmed to define the one or more recommendations by recommending at least one mobile operator other than a current mobile operator.

13. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is programmed to identify data usage patterns by comparing the identified data usage statistics with data usage statistics associated with the one or more predefined application data usage profiles.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the processor is programmed to identify the data usage patterns by inferring the data usage patterns based on the data usage statistics associated with the determined plurality of applications.

15. The system of claim 9 , wherein defining the one or more recommendations comprises suggesting at least one alternative service for data communication, the suggesed alternative service matching at least one of the one or more predefined application data usage profiles.

16. The system of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further programmed to assign the one or more predefined application data usage profiles to the determined plurality of applications, by selecting at least one application data usage profile from the one or more predefined application data usage profiles after the comparison.

17. One or more computer storage media having computer-executable instructions, which on execution by at least a processor perform operations, comprising:
determining a plurality of applications installed on a computing device;
identifying data usage patterns associated with the determined plurality of applications, the data usage patterns simultaneously displaying data usage over at least one or more cellular networks and one or more Wi-Fi networks, the simultaneous displaying comprising displaying the data usage by the determined plurality of applications over the one or more cellular networks and the one or more Wi-Fi networks in a single display;
ranking the determined plurality of applications based on the identified data usage patterns; and
defining one or more reco

Assignees

• Microsoft Corp
• Microsoft Technology Licensing Llc

Inventors

• Zalmanovitch Gil
• Scott Gregory James
• Guday Shai
• Kwok Alec Garvin
• Jiang Yue
• Ma Kenneth Vincent

Classifications

• H04M15/83

  Notification aspects · CPC title

• H04M15/58

  based on statistics of usage or network monitoring · CPC title

• H04L12/1435

  volume-based · CPC title

• H04M15/8044

  Least cost routing · CPC title

• H04M15/60

  based on actual use of network resources · CPC title