WO2005039112A1

WO2005039112A1 - Automated network selection and association

Info

Publication number: WO2005039112A1
Application number: PCT/IB2004/052096
Authority: WO
Inventors: Amjad Soomro; Atul Garg
Original assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics NV
Current assignee: Koninklijke Philips NV
Priority date: 2003-10-16
Filing date: 2004-10-14
Publication date: 2005-04-28
Anticipated expiration: 2006-04-16

Abstract

An apparatus and method for a communications device to specify communication and networking requirements and, based on these requirements, to select one of a communication network and wireless device from available networks and wireless devices. The present invention accepts at least one of five sets of input parameters: Mobility; Communication Requirements; Network Environment; Personal/Account Information; and Cost. Given at least one of these sets of parameters, a communication device, modified according to the present invention, such as a mobile device searches the environment for other devices and networks meeting these parameters, displays them to the user and accepts selection input from the user, or alternatively, automatically makes one of a network and wireless device selection. The device attempts to make a connection if the attempt succeeds, the user continues interaction with the selected one of a network and wireless device. If the attempt fails, then another one of a network and wireless device is selected and the process of connecting repeated

Description

AUTOMATED NETWORK SELECTION AND ASSOCIATION

This invention provides a system and method of selecting, associating and using services of a network at a location. An algorithm for selecting one network from a plurality of available networks is given. Currently, mobile devices requiring connectivity with external devices or networks are designed to use one type of wireless network chosen by a user. Typically, a wireless network is designed to offer services primarily of one type: for example, voice or data. For mobile voice applications, Global System for Mobile communication (GSM), Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) or Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) technologies are commonly used. For local area data networking, IEEE 802.11 standard networks, for example, are used by PCs and similar devices to exchange data over the network. Recently, mobile wireless technologies have advanced to offer more than one type of service. For example, voice networks are now capable of transferring data and, similarly, data centric networks, for example, IEEE 802.11, have been upgraded to carry audio, video and voice. At the same time, there are multiple emerging wireless technologies that offer similar and competing capabilities to transport data and multimedia traffic. For example, IEEE 802.15 Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN) can carry both data and multimedia traffic. In the unlicensed wireless spectrum, both IEEE 802.11 and IEEE 802.15 provide these services, among other technologies. Thus, technological advances have made it feasible to include support for more than one wireless technology in a mobile device. Therefore, a user with some requirements to communicate over the air will be offered and would have access to different technologies to meet his/her requirements. Also, different or identical wireless networking technologies can now be offered by more than one vendor at one location in the same or different frequency bands. Therefore, there is a need in the art for a system and method that enables a user to use a communications device to specify communication and networking requirements and, based on these requirements, a communication network or wireless device from available networks and wireless devices is selected by the communications device either automatically or by accepting user selection input. In a preferred embodiment, the system and the method of the present invention accepts at least one of five input parameters: Mobility; Communication Requirements; Network Environment; Personal/Account Information; and Cost. Given at least one of these parameters, a communication device modified according to the present invention, such as a mobile device, searches the environment for networks meeting these parameters, displays them to the user and accepts selection input from the user, or alternatively, makes a network selection itself. The device attempts to make a connection and if the attempt succeeds, the user continues interaction with the selected network. If the attempt fails, then another network is selected and the process of connecting repeated. A modification for accomplishing the method of the present invention can be easily integrated into wireless mobile devices that support multiple protocols. The foregoing and other features and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following, more detailed description of preferred embodiments as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the various views. FIG. 1 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a wireless networking environment whereto embodiments of the present invention are to be applied; FIG. 2 illustrates an example of mobile hardware device that can be used to perform the present invention. FIG. 3 is a flow chart illustrating the operation steps accomplished by a mobile device searching and selecting a network in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. It is to be understood by persons of ordinary skill in the art that the following descriptions are provided for purposes of illustration and not for limitation. An artisan understands that there are many variations that lie within the spirit of the invention and the scope of the appended claims. Unnecessary detail of known functions and operations may be omitted from the current description so as not to obscure the present invention. FIG. 1 illustrates a representative network whereto embodiments of the present invention are to be applied. As shown in FIG. 1, a mobile device 100 searches for a wireless link to another wireless device 101 or wireless network 102 or to a network 103 or to a free network 105 through which to communicate to another device or system. A key principle of the present invention is to provide a mechanism to search for such networks and, based on user requirements and constraints, present available networks to the user for selection by the user or, make a selection on behalf of the user. Then, attempts to connect to the selected network are made. The selection and attempt to connect are repeated until either a successful connection is made or there are not more networks to attempt connection with. Referring to FIG. 2, the mobile device may include a system 20 with an architecture that is illustrated in the block diagram of FIG. 2. The mobile device may include a receiver 21, a demodulator 22, a memory 23, a control processor 24, a network selection and association logic circuit, a timer 26, a modulator 27, a transmitter 28, and user interface 29. The exemplary system 20 of FIG 2 is for descriptive purposes only. Although the description may refer to Terms commonly used is describing particular mobile devices, the description and concepts equally apply to other processing systems, including systems having architectures dissimilar to that shown in FIG. 2. In operation, the receiver 21 and the transmitter 28 are coupled to an antenna (not shown) to convert received signals and transmit desired data into corresponding digital data via the demodulator 22 and the modulator 27, respectively. The network selection and association logic circuit 25 operates under the control of the control processor 24 to process signals received by the receiver 21 in search of networks meeting the user parameters, whose requirements can be at least one of input by the user via the user interface 29 and pre-stored in the memory 23. When a predetermined time has passed, the various networks determined from the search are ranked according to the degree to which each meets the user requirements and are presented to the user via the user interface 29 for selection or are automatically tried, from best fit to worst fit, for connection with the mobile device until one is successfully connected to or there are no more to be tried. The timer 26 is used to time-out an attempt to connect, or, alternatively, a number of connection attempts when the attempt to connect fails. Each type of network that can be connected to by the mobile device will have a connection protocol that determines how and for how long or for how many attempts a connection is attempted. In a preferred embodiment, these connection parameters are stored in the memory 23 and can be updated by download or interactively from the user interface. In a preferred embodiment, the system and the method of the present invention accepts at least one of the following five input parameters, stored in the memory 23, input by the user via the user interface 29, sensed by the device, or downloaded to the device:

1. Mobility Parameter This parameter indicates the speed of the mobile device. As an example only, three classes of mobility are identified: • static; • walking; and, • driving. This parameter can be manually entered by the user via the user interface 29 or the system can automatically determine it for the user. In a preferred embodiment, mobility determination is accomplished by using data from at least one of GPS (global positioning system), taking input from a car speedometer or a pedometer, or by some other comparable means. 2. Communication Requirements This parameter indicates the type of information that the user wishes to be transported, its requirements and its destination. The types of information are: • data ( high or low priority); • voice; • audio; • video. The data communication requirements are given in terms of mean data rate and its delay and latency tolerance levels. The data destination requirements include whether only intranet connectivity or internet connectivity is desired. An historical record of past transmission requirements is kept and stored in memory 23, in a preferred embodiment, and the user can peruse this history and select from it using the user interface 29, or can input new transport requirements via the interface 29. Transport requirements can be selected automatically by the device as well.

3. Network Environment The information that may be collected by the system as a result of its search of the environment includes: 1) Frequency Channel Number; 2) The load on the channel; 3) IEEE 802.11 network information, including - a. Basic Service Set Identifier (BSSID), b. Beacon Interval, c. Capabilities ( a, g, h, I, etc.), and d. Optional feature information; 4) Received signal strength; 5) Distance to the destination device; 6) Other primary users present; 7) The network type including - a. CDMA, b. IEEE 802.il, c. IEEE 802.15 (including Bluetooth), d. HIPERLAN/2, e. GSM, and f. CDMA2000.

4. Personal/Account Information The information in this category includes previously established user accounts and coordinates with the historical record of prior network connections stored in memory 23. It also includes security identification/requirements of the user and comprises: 1) Identification keys (either stored previously or entered by the user); 2) Pre-established account information with network provider; 3) Network security requirements; and 4) User network preferences. 5) Cost The information in this category includes the cost objectives of the user. For example, a user may only want to use low cost network operating in unlicensed bands while another user may be willing to pay premium price for a network operating in exclusively licensed band. In a preferred embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 3, the method of the present invention performs the following steps:

1. A mobile device 100 scans 301 a medium and collects information about the networks 102, 103, 104, 105 and wireless devices 101 that are accessible and usable from the device and, in an alternative embodiment, the information about networks and wireless devices available in an area can be pre-stored in mobile device memory so that the mobile device can read this information from the memory 304 knowing its current location using GPS 310, for example; 2. Mobility parameters, communication requirements, personal/account/user preference information and cost considerations for accessing a network or a wireless device are provided to the mobile device as network and wireless device selection criteria, provision being any one of pre-stored on-board the mobile device and down-loaded to the mobile device 305 306; 3. A set of networks and wireless devices is generated from the collected accessible and usable networks 102, 103, 104, 105 and wireless devices 101 that are compatible with and satisfy provided communications requirements 303; 4. The set of networks 102, 103, 104, 105 and wireless devices 101 generated in step

(3) is optionally displayed or communicated to the user 307 of the mobile device 100 via the user interface 29; 5. From the set of networks 102, 103, 104, 105 and wireless devices 101 generated in step (3), one of a network and wireless device is selected 307, by one of a user input via the user interface 29 or automatic selection by the mobile device 100; 6. The mobile device 100 attempts to establish connection with the selected one of a network and wireless device 308; and 7. If the attempt to connect fails, then step (5) et seq. is repeated to select another network. While the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications may be made, and equivalents may be substituted for elements thereof without departing from the true scope of the present invention. In addition, many modifications may be made to adapt the teaching of the present invention to a particular situation without departing from its central scope. Therefore it is intended that the present invention not be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed as the best mode contemplated for carrying out the present invention, but that the present invention include all embodiments falling within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

What is claimed is:

1. A method for network selection and association, comprising: providing a mobile device adapted for accessing a plurality of networks and wireless devices; scanning a medium by the mobile device to create a set of networks and wireless devices comprising each network and wireless device that is accessible by the mobile device; and associating by the mobile device with at most one of a network and wireless device of said set of networks and wireless devices that is usable by the mobile device.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the scanning step further comprises the step of collecting network and wireless device information for each network and wireless device of said set of networks and wireless devices.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said associating step is performed at least once for each network and wireless device of said set of networks and wireless devices until one of a connection is established with said each network and wireless device and the associating step has been performed for each network and wireless device of said set of networks and wireless devices

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said associating step further comprises the step of first selecting by one of a user of the mobile device and automatically by the mobile device, one of a network and wireless device of said set of networks and wireless devices that is usable by the mobile device (303) for associating with by the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said associating step is performed once for each network and wireless device of said set of networks and wireless devices until one of a connection is established with one of said network and wireless device and the associating step has been performed for each network and wireless device of said set of networks and wireless devices.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of: receiving by the mobile device communication requirements that define networks and wireless devices accessible by the mobile device; and wherein, said scanning step further comprises the step of selecting a set of networks and wireless devices accessible by the mobile device as those scanned networks that satisfy the received communication requirements.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said associating step further comprises the step of selecting, by one of a user (of the mobile device and automatically by the mobile device, one of a network and a wireless device of said set of networks and wireless devices.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said associating step is performed at least once for each network and wireless device of said set of networks and wireless devices until one of a connection is established with said network and the associating step has been performed for each network and wireless device of said set of networks and wireless devices.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the step of: receiving by the mobile device communication requirements that define networks and wireless devices accessible by the mobile device; and wherein, said scanning step further comprises the step of selecting a set of networks and wireless devices accessible by the mobile device as those scanned networks and wireless devices that satisfy the received communication requirements.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein said receiving step further comprises receiving communication requirements comprising at least one of: type of information to be transported selected from the group consisting of data, voice, audio and video; and destination specification selected from the group consisting of intranet connectivity and internet connectivity.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said data requirements are expressed in terms of mean data rate, delay level and latency tolerance level.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein: said receiving step further comprises the step of receiving at least one set of parameters that define networks and wireless devices usable by the mobile device, said at least one set of parameters selected from the group consisting of mobility parameters, personal/account user preference information, and cost; and said scanning step further comprises the step of limiting the set of networks and wireless devices that are accessible by the mobile device to those that match the received at least one set of parameters, i.e., to the subset of accessible networks and wireless devices that are usable by the mobile device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said associating step further comprises the step of selecting, by one of a user of the mobile device and automatically by the mobile device, one of a network and a wireless device of said set of networks and wireless devices.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein said associating step is performed once for each network and wireless device of said set of networks and wireless devices until at least one of a connection is established with said at least one network and wireless device and the associating step has been performed for each network and wireless device of said set of networks and wireless devices.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein said mobility parameters comprise a static class, a walking class, and a driving class.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein said mobility parameters are derived from at least one reading of a speed indication, said speed indication comprising speedometer reading, pedometer reading, and global position system reading.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein said cost information includes cost objectives of each user comprising select a low cost network in unlicensed bands and pay a premium price for network operating in exclusively licensed band.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein said personal/account information for each user comprises at least one of pre-established account information with network provider, network preferences, security identification keys, and network security requirements.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising the steps of providing a non- volatile memory on-board the mobile device; and recording in the non- volatile memory - the received communication requirements, the received at least one set of parameters comprising mobility parameters, personal/account user preference information, and cost, and as personal/account information each network connection made by the association step.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising the step of: providing a user interface integral to the mobile device; wherein, said receiving step further comprises the steps of i. receiving said communication requirements via said provided user interface, ii. receiving said parameters via said provided user interface ; and wherein, said step of first selecting further comprises iii. displaying said set of networks via said user interface; and iv. accepting a user selection of said at least one network and wireless of said set of networks and wireless devices via said user interface.

21. An apparatus for one of network and wireless device selection and association , comprising: a mobile device being adapted for wireless access with a plurality of networks and wireless devices; wherein, said mobile device includes means for scanning a medium to create a set of networks and wireless devices comprising each network and wireless device that is accessible by the mobile device, and means for associating by the mobile device with at most one of said set of networks and wireless devices that is usable by the mobile device; wherein, the medium is scanned (for accessible wireless networks and wireless devices and the mobile device associates with at most one accessible wireless network and wireless device that is usable by the mobile device.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein: said means for scanning comprise: i. a receiver to receive a signal broadcast over the medium by a wireless network and a wireless device, ii. a demodulator to the receiver to demodulate the received signal, iii. a network selection logic device configured for selecting the wireless network and the wireless device as an accessible wireless network based on the demodulated signal, and iv. a control processor that invokes the network selection logic to examine the demodulated signal and create a set of networks and wireless devices comprising each accessible wireless network and wireless device.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein: said means for associating comprise: v. a network association logic device configured for determining whether to associate with an accessible wireless network and an accessible wireless device of the set of networks and wireless devices that is usable by the mobile device based on the demodulated signal; vi. a control processor that invokes the network association logic device to examine the demodulated signal from at least one accessible wireless network and wireless device of the set of networks and wireless devices, to determine if said at least one wireless network and wireless device is a usable wireless network and wireless device, respectively by the mobile device, and based on one of user input or automatic selection to format an association request; vii. a modulator to modulate said association request; viii. a transmitter to transmit said modulated association request to said accessible and usable wireless network.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein said means for associating further comprise a user interface for display of and user selection of an accessible and usable wireless network and wireless device.

25. The apparatus of claim 21, further comprising: a set of communication requirements that define networks accessible by the mobile device; and said network selection logic is further configured to select a network and a wireless device that satisfies the set of communication requirements.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said communication requirements comprise: type of information to be transported selected from the group consisting of data, voice, audio and video; and destination specification selected from the group consisting of intranet connectivity and internet connectivity.

27. The apparatus of claim 26, wherein said data requirements are expressed in teπns of mean data rate, delay level and latency tolerance level.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising: at least one set of parameters that define networks usable by the mobile device, said at least one set of parameters selected from the group consisting of mobility parameters, personal/account user preference information, and cost; wherein said network selection and association logic is further configured to associate with one of a network and wireless device that satisfies said at least one set of parameters.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said mobility parameters comprise a static class, a walking class, and a driving class.

30. The method of claim 28, wherein said mobility parameters are derived from at least one reading of a speed indication, said speed indication comprising speedometer reading, pedometer reading, and global position system reading.

31. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said cost information includes cost objectives of each user comprising select a low cost network in unlicensed bands and pay a premium price for network operating in exclusively licensed band.

32. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein said personal/account information for each user comprises pre-established account information with network provider, network preferences, security identification keys, and network security requirements.

33. The apparatus of claim 28, further comprising: a non-volatile memory on-board the mobile device; and the control processor is further configured to store in the non- volatile memory - i. the communication requirements, ii. the at least one set of parameters, and iii. as personal/account information for each network connection that results from a transmitted association request.

34. The apparatus of claim 33, wherein said control processor is further configured to extract network and wireless device information for each network and wireless device of said set of accessible networks and wireless devices and store said network and wireless device information in said non-volatile memory