US7936708B2
Active / In Force
US
⏱️ 1.3 years remaining
Device, system, and method of wireless network selection and handover
Assignee: Intel Corp
•
Filing: 2008-02-26
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Granted: 2011-05-03
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Expires: 2028-02-26
Abstract
Abstract Device, system, and method of wireless network selection and handover. A multi-transceiver wireless device includes: at least first and second co-located wireless transceivers; one or more firmware modules to handle network selection of at least one of the first and second wireless transceivers based on one or more commands received from one or more drivers when the multi-transceiver wireless device is in full-power mode; and a manageability engine to handle network selection of at least one of the first and second wireless transceivers when the multi-transceiver wireless device is in reduced-power mode.
Inventors
- 👤 Vijay Sarathi Kesavan
- 👤 Kapil Sood
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 08:07
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04W; H04W36/00; H04W36/0005; H04W36/0083; H04W36/00835; H04W48/00; H04W48/18; H04W52/00; H04W52/02; H04W52/0209; H04W52/0225; H04W52/0229; H04W88/00; H04W88/02; H04W88/06; Y; Y02; Y02D; Y02D30/00; Y02D30/70
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 27
Claim 1
Independent Claim
129 words
A multi-transceiver wireless device comprising: at least first and second co-located wireless transceivers; one or more firmware modules to handle network selection of at least one of the first and second wireless transceivers based on one or more commands received from one or more drivers when the multi-transceiver wireless device is in full-power mode; and a manageability engine to handle network selection of at least one of the first and second wireless transceivers when the multi-transceiver wireless device is in reduced-power mode, wherein the manageability engine is to receive a context from the one or more drivers substantially immediately prior to entering the reduced-power mode, the context comprising one or more of connection context, application context, TCP/IP context, a plurality of context parameters, and substantially an entire mobility context.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
129 words
A multi-transceiver wireless device comprising: at least first and second co-located wireless transceivers; one or more firmware modules to handle network selection of at least one of the first and second wireless transceivers based on one or more commands received from one or more drivers when the multi-transceiver wireless device is in full-power mode; and a manageability engine to handle network selection of at least one of the first and second wireless transceivers when the multi-transceiver wireless device is in reduced-power mode, wherein the manageability engine is to receive a context from the one or more drivers substantially immediately prior to entering the reduced-power mode, the context comprising one or more of connection context, application context, TCP/IP context, a plurality of context parameters, and substantially an entire mobility context.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
33 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the manageability engine comprises: a client-side information service module to query an information server for a list of one or more available wireless networks.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
37 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 2 , wherein the manageability engine comprises: a network selection module to select a wireless network from the list of one or more available wireless networks received from the information server.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
98 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 3 , wherein the manageability engine comprises: a smart triggers module to query Media Access Control (MAC)/Physical (PHY) link layer properties for at least one of the first and second wireless transceivers, to determine a quality of a wireless communication link, and to generate one or more smart triggers if the link quality crosses a threshold value, wherein the network selection module is to determine whether or not to switch the multi-transceiver wireless device from a first wireless network to a second wireless network based on the one or more smart triggers.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
98 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 3 , wherein the manageability engine comprises: a smart triggers module to estimate a power consumption parameter associated with at least one of the first and second wireless transceivers, and to generate one or more smart triggers if reduced power consumption is estimated to result from switching from a first wireless network to a second wireless network, wherein the network selection module is to determine whether or not to switch the multi-transceiver wireless device from the first wireless network to the second wireless network based on the one or more smart triggers.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
48 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 3 , wherein the network selection module is to determine whether or not to switch the multi-transceiver wireless device from a first wireless network to a second wireless network based on one or more handover commands received from a wireless network operator.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
45 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 3 , wherein the network selection module is to determine whether or not to switch the multi-transceiver wireless device from a first wireless network to a second wireless network based on a user policy stored in the manageability engine.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
47 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 3 , wherein the network selection module is to determine whether or not to switch the multi-transceiver wireless device from a first wireless network to a second wireless network based on a wireless network operator policy stored in the manageability engine.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
52 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 3 , wherein the network selection module is to determine whether or not to switch the multi-transceiver wireless device from a first wireless network to a second wireless network based on a wireless network operator policy delivered by the wireless network operator to the manageability engine.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
41 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 3 , wherein the manageability engine comprises: a network switching module to disconnect the first wireless transceiver from a first wireless network and then to connect the second wireless transceiver to a second wireless network.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
41 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 3 , wherein the manageability engine comprises: a network switching module to connect the second wireless transceiver to a second wireless network and then to disconnect the first wireless transceiver from a first wireless network.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
29 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the one or more firmware modules comprise: a unified firmware module able to control the first and second wireless transceivers.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
76 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the manageability engine comprises a smart triggers module to generate one or more smart triggers based on one or more properties associated with at least one of the first and second wireless transceivers, and a network selection module to determine whether or not to switch the multi-transceiver wireless device from a first wireless network to a second wireless network based on the one or more smart triggers.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
61 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the manageability engine is to transfer updated context to the one or more drivers substantially immediately subsequent to exiting reduced-power mode, wherein the updated context comprises one or more of: updated connection context, updated application context, updated TCP/IP context, a plurality of updated context parameters, and substantially an updated entire mobility context.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
37 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 1 comprising said one or more drivers, wherein the one or more drivers comprise a unified multi-transceiver driver able to manage wireless communication links of the first and second wireless transceivers.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
27 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 15 , comprising: a unified Application Programming Interface (API) to interface between the unified multi-transceiver driver and one or more applications.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
51 words
The multi-transceiver wireless device of claim 1 , wherein the multi-transceiver wireless device comprises a device selected from the group consisting of: a laptop computer, a notebook computer, a tablet computer, a cellular phone, a handheld device, a wireless communication device, a wireless communication station, and a Personal Digital Assistant device.
Claim 19
Independent Claim
115 words
A system comprising: a manageability engine to manage network selection and network switching for a multi-radio hardware module during a reduced-power mode of a host of said multi-radio hardware module, wherein the manageability engine comprises: a client-side information service module to query an information server for a list of one or more available wireless networks; a network selection module to select a wireless network from the list of one or more available wireless networks received from the information server; and a network switching module to disconnect a first radio of the multi-radio hardware module from a first wireless network and to connect a second radio of the multi-radio hardware module to a second wireless network.
Claim 20
Independent Claim
115 words
A system comprising: a manageability engine to manage network selection and network switching for a multi-radio hardware module during a reduced-power mode of a host of said multi-radio hardware module, wherein the manageability engine comprises: a client-side information service module to query an information server for a list of one or more available wireless networks; a network selection module to select a wireless network from the list of one or more available wireless networks received from the information server; and a network switching module to disconnect a first radio of the multi-radio hardware module from a first wireless network and to connect a second radio of the multi-radio hardware module to a second wireless network.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
88 words
The system of claim 18 , wherein the network selection module is to determine whether or not to switch from the first wireless network to the second wireless network based on one or more of: a handover command received from a wireless network operator; a user policy stored in the manageability engine; a wireless network operator policy stored in the manageability engine; a wireless network operator policy delivered by the wireless network operator to the manageability engine; and one or more smart triggers generated by the manageability engine.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
62 words
The system of claim 19 , wherein the manageability engine comprises: a smart triggers module to query Media Access Control (MAC)/Physical (PHY) link layer properties for at least one of the first and second wireless transceivers, to determine a quality of a wireless communication link, and to generate the one or more smart triggers if the link quality crosses a threshold value.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
62 words
The system of claim 18 , wherein the manageability engine comprises a smart triggers module to estimate a power consumption parameter associated with at least one of the first and second wireless transceivers, and to generate the one or more smart triggers if reduced power consumption is estimated to result from switching from the first wireless network to the second wireless network.
Claim 24
Independent Claim
125 words
A method comprising: during a full-power mode of a host of a multi-transceiver hardware module, operating a first component to handle network selection of at least one of first and second wireless transceivers of the multi-transceiver hardware module; during a reduced-power mode of the host of the multi-transceiver hardware module, operating a second component to handle network selection of at least one of the first and second wireless transceivers of the multi-transceiver hardware module; and substantially immediately subsequent to exiting the reduced-power mode, transferring updated context from the second component to the first component, wherein the updated context comprises one or more of updated connection context, updated application context, updated TCP/IP context, a plurality of updated context parameters, and substantially an updated entire mobility context.
Claim 25
Independent Claim
125 words
A method comprising: during a full-power mode of a host of a multi-transceiver hardware module, operating a first component to handle network selection of at least one of first and second wireless transceivers of the multi-transceiver hardware module; during a reduced-power mode of the host of the multi-transceiver hardware module, operating a second component to handle network selection of at least one of the first and second wireless transceivers of the multi-transceiver hardware module; and substantially immediately subsequent to exiting the reduced-power mode, transferring updated context from the second component to the first component, wherein the updated context comprises one or more of updated connection context, updated application context, updated TCP/IP context, a plurality of updated context parameters, and substantially an updated entire mobility context.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
50 words
The method of claim 22 , comprising: substantially immediately prior to entering the reduced-power mode, transferring context from the first component to the second component, wherein the context comprises one or more of connection context, application context, TCP/IP context, a plurality of context parameters, and substantially an entire mobility context.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
57 words
The method of claim 22 , comprising: generating one or more smart triggers based on one or more properties for at least one of the first and second wireless transceivers; and determining whether or not to switch the host from a first wireless network to a second wireless network based on the one or more smart triggers.
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USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 2014-05-02 | 2014-11-01 | 2015-05-03 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 2018-05-02 | 2018-11-01 | 2019-05-03 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 2022-05-02 | 2022-11-01 | 2023-05-03 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |