System and method for improved band-channel scanning and network switching

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9942900-B1
Application number	US-201414552080-A
Country	US
Kind code	B1
Filing date	Nov 24, 2014
Priority date	Nov 24, 2014
Publication date	Apr 10, 2018
Grant date	Apr 10, 2018

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed that includes receiving connectivity information from a plurality of client devices connect to a network associated with a plurality of base stations; storing the connectivity information in one or more memories; determining a first location of a first device that desires to connect to a base station associated with the network; identifying a set of candidate bands and channels for connection to the base station based on the first location and the connectivity information; and transmitting the set of candidate bands and channels to the first device.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, at a server, connectivity information from a plurality of client devices connected to a network associated with a plurality of base stations;
storing, at the server, the connectivity information in one or more memories;
determining a future location of a first device;
identifying, by the server, a set of candidate bands and channels for connection to the network via a base station of the plurality of base stations by the first device at the determined future location and based on the connectivity information; and
transmitting, from the server, the identified set of candidate bands and channels to the first device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein, for a particular device connected to the network, the connectivity information includes one or more of: a location of the particular device, an identifier for a base station to which the particular device is connected, and a frequency band and channel of the connection between the particular device and the base station.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
aggregating the connectivity information stored in one or more memories based on location information.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the set of candidate bands and channels is prioritized based on network load.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first device attempts to connect to the network based on attempting to connect to bands and channels included in the identified set of candidate bands and channels.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein
the plurality of client devices comprises the first device, and
identifying the set of candidate bands and channels comprises identifying one or more bands and channels to which other devices of the plurality of client devices are connected to the network at the future location.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the future location is based on aggregated GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinates received by the server from the first device.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein identifying the set of candidate bands and channels is based on comparing GPS coordinates of the first device to GPS coordinates of base stations on the network to determine which particular base station to which the first device desires to connect at the future location.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the future location comprises calculating a predicted future location based on past locations of the first device as the future location of the first device.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
aggregating past locations of the first device into time windows based on timestamps associated with the past locations of the first device,
wherein the determining the future location comprises selecting a past location from the aggregated past locations as the future location from a time window corresponding to a current time.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the future location comprises estimating the future location based on known movements of the first device.

12. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions that, when executed by a processor, cause a computer system to perform the steps of:
receiving connectivity information from a plurality of client devices connected to a network associated with a plurality of base stations;
storing the connectivity information in one or more memories;
determining a future location of a first device;
receiving a request of the first device to connect to the network;
responsive to receiving the request, identifying a set of candidate bands and channels for connection to the network via a base station of the plurality of base stations by the first device at the determined future location and based on the connectivity information; and
transmitting the identified set of candidate bands and channels to the first device.

13. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein, for a particular device connected to the network, the connectivity information includes one or more of: a location of the particular device, an identifier for a base station to which the particular device is connected, and a frequency band and channel of the connection between the particular device and the base station.

14. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the instructions, when executed by a processor, further cause a computer system to:
aggregating the connectivity information stored in one or more memories based on location information.

15. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the set of candidate bands and channels is prioritized based on network load.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the first device attempts to connect to the network based on attempting to connect to bands and channels included in the identified set of candidate bands and channels.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein identifying the set of candidate bands and channels comprises identifying one or more bands and channels to which other devices are connected to the network at the future location.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 12 , wherein the future location is based on aggregated GPS (Global Positioning System) coordinates received by the server from the first device.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 18 , wherein identifying the set of candidate bands and channels is based on comparing GPS coordinates of the first device to GPS coordinates of base stations on the network to determine which particular base station to which the first device desires to connect.

20. A client device configured to connect to a network that is associated with a plurality of base stations, the client device comprising:
a radio access interface configured to access one or more base stations;
a memory storing instructions; and
a processor that executes the instruction to:
transmit a request of the client device to a server, the request indicating a desire to connect to the network associated with the plurality of base stations;
receiving, from the server and via the wireless network, a set of candidate bands and channels for connection to the network associated with the plurality of base stations, the set of candidate bands and channels having been identified by the server (i) based on a predicted future location of the client device and connectivity information from a plurality of client devices connected to a cellular network associated with the plurality of base stations and (ii) without regard to any information received by the client device from any of the plurality of base stations;
scan for an available base station of the plurality of base stations using the received set of candidate bands and channels; and
responsive to locating an available base station of the plurality of base stations, attempt to connect to the available base station.

21. The client device of claim 20 , wherein the set of candidate bands and channels is prioritized based on network load.

22. The client device of claim 20 , wherein the predicted future location of the client device is based on aggregate GPS coordinates transmitted by the client device to the server.

23. The client device of claim 20 , wherein, for a particular device of the plurality of client devices, the connectivity information

Assignees

• Google Inc
• Google Llc

Inventors

• Liu Junda
• Tan Weihua
• Agrawal Shishir Kumar

Classifications

• H04W64/00

  Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management · CPC title

• H04W48/18 Primary

  Selecting a network or a communication service · CPC title

• H04W48/14

  using user query {or user detection} · CPC title

• H04W64/006

  with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination · CPC title

• H04W72/0453 Primary

  Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA · CPC title