US20030134636A1
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Method, system, and apparatus for a mobile station to sense and select a wireless local area network (WLAN) or a wide area mobile wireless network (WWAN)
Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC
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Filing: 2002-01-17
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2022-01-17
Abstract
Abstract A method, system and apparatus for internetworking WWAN and WLAN are disclosed. More specifically, a method, system, and apparatus for a mobile station to sense and select a WLAN or a WWAN are disclosed. A mobile station may communicate according to an 802.xx wireless local area network air interface protocol via WLAN logic or according to a wireless wide area network air interface protocol via WWAN logic. The mobile station detects RF energy in the 802.xx spectrum and, in response to the energy detection, determines whether there is an 802.xx WLAN capable of servicing the mobile station by performing a scanning operation. If there is an 802.xx WLAN capable of servicing the mobile station, the mobile station selects the WLAN logic so that it may communicate via an air interface. Under some embodiments, WWAN has information identifying the areas in which capable WLANs operate and the WWAN provisions the mobile station with at least a subset of such information. The mobile station uses such area-identifying information to determine whether to perform the RF energy detection operation. The information may be cell ids, or GPS information.
Inventors
- 👤 Rangamani Sundar
- 👤 Murali Aravamudan
- 👤 Shamim Naqvi
- 👤 Prakash Iyer
- 👤 Kumar Vishwanathan
- 👤 Gurudutt Pai
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-06 01:44
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04W; H04W48/00; H04W48/18; H04L; H04L65/00; H04L65/1066; H04L65/1073; H04L65/1101; H04L65/1104; H04L65/60; H04L65/65; H04L67/00; H04L67/01; H04L67/04; H04L69/00; H04L69/18; H04W24/00; H04W8/00; H04W8/02; H04W80/00; H04W80/08; H04W80/10; H04W84/00; H04W84/02; H04W84/04; H04W84/10; H04W84/12; H04W88/00; H04W88/02; H04W88/06
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 24
Claim 1
Independent Claim
132 words
1 . A method of selecting an air interface protocol for a mobile station to use, wherein the mobile station includes (a) logic to communicate according to an 802.xx wireless local area network air interface protocol (WLAN logic), (b) logic to communicate according to a wireless wide area network air interface protocol (WWAN logic), and (c) logic to select one of the WLAN logic and the WWAN logic to communicate on an air interface, the method comprising: the mobile station detecting RF energy in the 802.xx spectrum; in response to the energy detection step, determining whether there is an 802.xx WLAN capable of servicing the mobile station by performing a scanning operation; and if there is an 802.xx WLAN capable of servicing the mobile station, the mobile station selecting the WLAN logic.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
132 words
1 . A method of selecting an air interface protocol for a mobile station to use, wherein the mobile station includes (a) logic to communicate according to an 802.xx wireless local area network air interface protocol (WLAN logic), (b) logic to communicate according to a wireless wide area network air interface protocol (WWAN logic), and (c) logic to select one of the WLAN logic and the WWAN logic to communicate on an air interface, the method comprising: the mobile station detecting RF energy in the 802.xx spectrum; in response to the energy detection step, determining whether there is an 802.xx WLAN capable of servicing the mobile station by performing a scanning operation; and if there is an 802.xx WLAN capable of servicing the mobile station, the mobile station selecting the WLAN logic.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
31 words
2 . The method of claim 1 wherein the scanning operation is a passive scanning operation in which the mobile station searches for a beacon frame broadcast by a 802.xx WLAN.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
34 words
3 . The method of claim 1 wherein the scanning operation is an active scanning operation in which the mobile station transmits probe request frames and waits for probe responses from the 802.xx WLAN.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
22 words
4 . The method of claim 2 wherein the beacon frame includes a SSID identifying an access point of the 802.xx WLAN.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
22 words
5 . The method of claim 3 wherein the probe response includes a SSID identifying an access point of the 802.xx WLAN.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
57 words
6 . The method of claim 4 wherein the mobile station compares the SSID within the beacon frame with a set of SSIDs to determine if the SSID within the beacon frame is within the set of SSIDs and if so determining that the 802.xx WLAN sensed is a valid 802.xx WLAN to service the mobile station.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
57 words
7 . The method of claim 5 wherein the mobile station compares the SSID within the probe response with a set of SSIDs to determine if the SSID within the probe response is within the set of SSIDs and if so determining that the 802.xx WLAN sensed is a valid 802.xx WLAN to service the mobile station.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
21 words
8 . The method of claim 6 wherein the mobile station and the 802.xx WLAN authenticate the identity of each other.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
21 words
9 . The method of claim 7 wherein the mobile station and the 802.xx WLAN authenticate the identity of each other.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
55 words
10 . The method of claim 1 wherein the WWAN has information identifying the areas in which capable WLANs operate and wherein the WWAN provisions the mobile station with at least a subset of such information, and wherein the mobile station uses such area-identifying information to determine whether to perform the RF energy detection operation.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
34 words
11 . The method of claim 10 wherein the area-identifying information is cell ids and wherein the mobile station compares the cell id information in which it is operating with the provisioned cell ids.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
34 words
12 . The method of claim 10 wherein the area-identifying information is geographical positioning satellite (GPS) information and wherein the mobile station determines its GPS coordinates and compares it against the provisioned GPS information.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
74 words
13 . The method of claim 1 wherein the mobile station compares the RF energy value with a threshold value and wherein the mobile station detects the RF energy of the WWAN and compares said RF energy of the WWAN with a predetermined value and wherein the comparisons of the RF energy values with corresponding thresholds is used by the mobile station in selecting whether to communicate with the 802.xx WLAN and the WWAN.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
55 words
13 . The method of claim 1 wherein the WWAN has information identifying the areas in which capable WLANs operate and wherein the WWAN provisions the mobile station with at least a subset of such information, and wherein the mobile station uses such area-identifying information to determine whether to perform the RF energy detection operation.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
27 words
14 . The method of claim 10 wherein the area-identifying information includes information identifying WLANs other than that used by a service plan of the mobile station.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
24 words
15 . The method of claim 14 wherein the information identifying WWANs includes information identifying WLANs of enterprises accepting service of the mobile station.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
23 words
16 . The method of claim 10 wherein the mobile station is provisioned with the area information via SMS messages from the WWAN.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
30 words
17 . The method of claim 10 wherein the provisioning of area information in response to the multimode mobile station causing location update messages to a HLR of the WWAN.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
102 words
18 . A multimode mobile station, comprising first air interface logic to communicate according to an 802.xx wireless local area network air interface protocol; second air interface logic to communicate according to a wireless wide area network air interface protocol; logic to sense RF energy in the 802.xx spectrum; logic, responsive to the sensing logic, to determine whether there is an 802.xx WLAN capable of servicing the multimode mobile station by performing a scanning operation; and logic, responsive to the determining logic, to select the first air interface logic if there is an 802.xx WLAN capable of servicing the multimode mobile station.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
102 words
18 . A multimode mobile station, comprising first air interface logic to communicate according to an 802.xx wireless local area network air interface protocol; second air interface logic to communicate according to a wireless wide area network air interface protocol; logic to sense RF energy in the 802.xx spectrum; logic, responsive to the sensing logic, to determine whether there is an 802.xx WLAN capable of servicing the multimode mobile station by performing a scanning operation; and logic, responsive to the determining logic, to select the first air interface logic if there is an 802.xx WLAN capable of servicing the multimode mobile station.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
56 words
19 . A wireless communication system, comprising: a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless wide area network (WWAN), including at least one MSC; a multimode mobile station including logic to determine whether to communicate according to an air interface protocol for the WLAN or to communicate according to an air interface protocol for the WWAN.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
56 words
19 . A wireless communication system, comprising: a wireless local area network (WLAN), a wireless wide area network (WWAN), including at least one MSC; a multimode mobile station including logic to determine whether to communicate according to an air interface protocol for the WLAN or to communicate according to an air interface protocol for the WWAN.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
65 words
20 . The system of claim 19 wherein the WWAN includes logic to provide information to the multimode mobile station to inform the mobile station of geographic areas of WLANs, and wherein the logic to determine utilizes said information to determine whether to communicate according to the air interface protocol for the WLAN or to communicate according to the air interface protocol for the WWAN.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
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