Apparatuses and methods for handovers between heterogeneous networks
A mobile communication device is provided with a plurality of processing logic units. A first processing logic unit is configured to connect the mobile communication device to a first wireless network for wireless transceiving via a first link. A second processing logic unit is configured to determine whether a second link to a second wireless network is available in response to detecting a low performance condition of the first link. Particularly, the first wireless network and the second wireless network are heterogeneous networks. A third processing logic unit is configured to hand over the mobile communication device from the first wireless network to the second wireless network in response to a transceiving rate of the second link being greater than a first value.
Latest HTC CORPORATION Patents:
- METHOD FOR CONTROLLING SHOOTING PARAMETERS OF CAMERA AND TRACKING DEVICE
- HANDHELD CONTROLLER
- Virtual reality system and object detection method applicable to virtual reality system
- MICRO-MOTION SENSING DEVICE AND SENSING METHOD THEREOF
- Method for interacting with virtual world, host, and computer readable storage medium
This Application claims priority of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/522,045, filed on Aug. 10, 2011, and the entirety of which is incorporated by reference herein.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION1. Field of the Invention
The invention generally relates to handovers in the field of wireless communications, and more particularly, to apparatuses and methods for handovers between heterogeneous networks to improve the performance of wireless transceiving.
2. Description of the Related Art
With growing demand for ubiquitous computing and networking, various wireless technologies have been developed, such as the Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) technology, Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) technology, General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) technology, Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution (EDGE) technology, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) technology, Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA-2000) technology, Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access (TD-SCDMA) technology, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX) technology, Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, Time-Division LTE (TD-LTE) technology, and others. For user convenience and flexibility, most Mobile Stations (MSs) nowadays are equipped with more than one wireless communication module for supporting different wireless technologies. However, each wireless technology has its own features, such as bandwidth, average coverage, and service rate, etc. Particularly, the bandwidth and coverage provided to an MS by a wireless network may vary according to the location conditions of the MS and/or the time condition.
Take an MS operating in either an Android or a Windows system, which supports WiFi and WCDMA technologies, for example. The MS always selects a WiFi network over a WCDMA network, even if the signal quality of the WiFi network is bad while the signal quality of the WCDMA network is fair/good. That is, the MS is configured to stay connected with the WiFi network with bad signal quality, regardless of the availability of the WCDMA network with fair/good signal quality. In such circumstances, even browsing a web page may take a long time, and accordingly, the user may experience a serious delay of wireless connectivity. Thus, to improve the performance of wireless transceiving, it is desirable to provide smart handovers between heterogeneous networks.
BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTIONIn one aspect of the invention, a mobile communication device is provided. The mobile communication device comprises a first processing logic unit, a second processing logic unit, and a third processing logic unit. The first processing logic unit is configured to connect the mobile communication device to a first wireless network for wireless transceiving via a first link. The second processing logic unit is configured to determine whether a second link to a second wireless network is available in response to detecting a low performance condition of the first link, wherein the first wireless network and the second wireless network are heterogeneous networks. The third processing logic unit is configured to hand over the mobile communication device from the first wireless network to the second wireless network in response to a transceiving rate of the second link being greater than a first value.
In another aspect of the invention, a method for a mobile communication device to handover between a plurality of heterogeneous networks is provided. The method comprises the steps of connecting to a first wireless network for wireless transceiving via a first link, determining whether a second link to a second wireless network is available in response to detecting a low performance condition of the first link, wherein the first wireless network and the second wireless network are heterogeneous networks, and handing over the mobile communication device from the first wireless network to the second wireless network in response to a transceiving rate of the second link being greater than a first value.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a mobile communication device is provided. The mobile communication device comprises a first processing logic unit, a second processing logic unit, a third processing logic unit, and a fourth processing logic unit. The first processing logic unit is configured to connect the mobile communication device to a first wireless network for wireless transceiving via a first link. The second processing logic unit is configured to scan for a nearby second wireless network with a current signal quality, wherein the first wireless network and the second wireless network are heterogeneous networks. The third processing logic unit is configured to apply a condition check on the current signal quality of the second wireless network according to a result of whether the mobile communication device was previously connected to the second wireless network prior to being connected to the first wireless network. The fourth processing logic unit is configured to hand over the mobile communication device from the first wireless network to the second wireless network in response to passing of the condition check.
In still another aspect of the invention, a method for a mobile communication device to handover between a plurality of heterogeneous networks is provided. The method comprises the steps of connecting to a first wireless network for wireless transceiving via a first link, scanning for a nearby second wireless network with a current signal quality, wherein the first wireless network and the second wireless network are heterogeneous networks, applying a condition check on the current signal quality of the second wireless network according to a result of whether the mobile communication device was previously connected to the second wireless network prior to being connected to the first wireless network, and handing over the mobile communication device from the first wireless network to the second wireless network in response to passing of the condition check.
Other aspects and features of the present invention will become apparent to those with ordinarily skill in the art upon review of the following descriptions of specific embodiments of the mobile communication devices and the methods for a mobile communication device operating as an MS to handover between a plurality of heterogeneous networks.
The invention can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The following description is of the best-contemplated mode of carrying out the invention. This description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense. It should be understood that the embodiments may be realized in software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof.
The non-cellular network 130 may be a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), a Bluetooth Personal Area Network (BT PAN), ZigBee Wireless PAN (ZigBee WPAN), or others, implemented as an extension of wired local area networks and may be able to provide the last few meters of connectivity between a wired network and mobile or fixed devices. As shown in
The mobile communication device 110 may also be referred to as a Mobile Station (MS), Mobile Terminal (MT), or User Equipment (UE). For example, the mobile communication device 110 may be a mobile phone (also known as a cellular or cell phone), a smart phone, a laptop computer with wireless communications capability, or others. The mobile communication device 110 may comprise two wireless modules (not shown) for performing the functionality of wireless transceiving to and from the cellular network 120 and the non-cellular network 130. To further clarify, each wireless module may comprise a Baseband unit (not shown) and a Radio Frequency (RF) unit (not shown). The Baseband unit may contain multiple hardware devices to perform baseband signal processing, including analog to digital conversion (ADC)/digital to analog conversion (DAC), gain adjusting, modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, and so on. The RF unit may receive RF wireless signals, convert the received RF wireless signals to baseband signals, which are processed by the Baseband unit, or receive baseband signals from the Baseband unit and convert the received baseband signals to RF wireless signals, which are later transmitted. The RF unit may also contain multiple hardware devices to perform radio frequency conversion. For example, the RF unit may comprise a mixer to multiply the baseband signals with a carrier oscillated in the radio frequency of the wireless communications system, wherein the radio frequency may be 2.4 GHz utilized in WiFi systems, or 900 MHz, 1900 MHz, or 2100 MHz utilized in WCDMA systems, or may be 900 MHz, 2100 MHz, or 2.6 GHz utilized in LTE systems, or others depending on the RAT in use. Also, the mobile communication device 110 may comprise a controller module (not shown) for controlling the operation of the two wireless modules and other functional components, such as a display unit and/or keypad serving as a Man-Machine Interface (MMI), a storage unit storing the program codes of applications, or others. Alternatively, the two wireless modules may negotiate with each other for coordinating the respective operations thereof, without any mediator, e.g., the controller module.
Specifically, the mobile communication device 110 is capable of performing smart handovers between the cellular network 120 and the non-cellular network 130 for obtaining wireless services with fair transceiving rates.
It is noted that, before performing the smart handover method of
Subsequent to step S910, if so, the mobile communication device 110 further determines whether a link to the cellular network 120 is available and whether the speed of the link to the cellular network 120 is greater than the speed of a GPRS link (step S920). Specifically, the mobile communication device 110 may first perform an attachment procedure to register to the cellular network 130, and a link to the cellular network 120 is available if the registration is successful. The speed of the link to the cellular network 120 may be determined according to the system information broadcasted by the cellular network 120, and in general, the speed of a GPRS link is up to 80 Kbps for downlink and 20Kbps for uplink with Coding Scheme 4 (CS-4). In another embodiment, if the type of wireless service in use requires a higher data rate, the mobile communication device 110 may instead determine, in step S920, whether the speed of the link to the cellular network 120 is greater than (or equal to) the speed of a WCDMA link, an HSPA link, or an LTE link.
If a link to the cellular network 120 is available and the speed of the link is greater than the speed of a GPRS link, then the mobile communication device 110 conducts handover from the non-cellular network 130 to the cellular network 120 (step S930), and then disconnects with the non-cellular network 130 and enters the “Cellular-connected” state. In another embodiment, before step S930, the mobile communication device 110 may prompt the user to confirm whether to proceed to perform handover from the non-cellular network 130 to the cellular network 120, and only proceed to step S930 when the user confirms the decision. Subsequent to steps S910 and S920, if not, the mobile communication device 110 stays in the “WiFi-associated” state and waits for the next periodic check on the speed of the link to the AP 131.
It is noted that, before performing the smart handover method of
While the invention has been described by way of example and in terms of preferred embodiment, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited thereto. Those who are skilled in this technology can still make various alterations and modifications without departing from the scope and spirit of this invention.
Use of ordinal terms such as “first”, “second”, “third”, etc., in the claims to modify a claim element does not by itself connote any priority, precedence, or order of one claim element over another or the temporal order in which acts of a method are performed, but are used merely as labels to distinguish one claim element having a certain name from another element having a same name (but for use of the ordinal term) to distinguish the claim elements.
Claims
1. A mobile communication device, comprising:
- a first processing logic unit configured to connect the mobile communication device to a first wireless network for wireless transceiving via a first link;
- a second processing logic unit configured to determine whether a second link to a second wireless network is available in response to detecting a low performance condition of the first link, wherein the first wireless network and the second wireless network are heterogeneous networks; and
- a third processing logic unit configured to hand over the mobile communication device from the first wireless network to the second wireless network in response to a transceiving rate of the second link being greater than a first value.
2. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the low performance condition of the first link is obtained according to a transceiving rate of the first link or a signal quality of the first wireless network.
3. The mobile communication device of claim 2, wherein the low performance condition of the first link indicates that the transceiving rate of the first link is lower than a second value or the signal quality of the first wireless network is lower than a predetermined threshold.
4. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the first wireless network is a non-cellular network and the second wireless network is a cellular network.
5. The mobile communication device of claim 4, wherein the non-cellular network is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Bluetooth Personal Area Network (BT PAN), or ZigBee Wireless PAN (ZigBee WPAN).
6. A method for a mobile communication device to handover between a plurality of heterogeneous networks, comprising:
- connecting to a first wireless network for wireless transceiving via a first link;
- determining whether a second link to a second wireless network is available in response to detecting a low performance condition of the first link, wherein the first wireless network and the second wireless network are heterogeneous networks; and
- handing over the mobile communication device from the first wireless network to the second wireless network in response to a transceiving rate of the second link being greater than a first value.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the low performance condition of the first link is detected according to a transceiving rate of the first link or a signal quality of the first wireless network.
8. The method of claim 7, wherein the low performance condition of the first link indicates that the transceiving rate of the first link is lower than a second value or the signal quality of the first wireless network is lower than a predetermined threshold.
9. The method of claim 6, wherein the first wireless network is a non-cellular network and the second wireless network is a cellular network.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the non-cellular network is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Bluetooth Personal Area Network (BT PAN), or ZigBee Wireless PAN (ZigBee WPAN).
11. A mobile communication device, comprising:
- a first processing logic unit configured to connect the mobile communication device to a first wireless network for wireless transceiving via a first link;
- a second processing logic unit configured to scan for a nearby second wireless network with a current signal quality, wherein the first wireless network and the second wireless network are heterogeneous networks;
- a third processing logic unit configured to apply a condition check on the current signal quality of the second wireless network according to a result of whether the mobile communication device was previously connected to the second wireless network prior to being connected to the first wireless network; and
- a fourth processing logic unit configured to hand over the mobile communication device from the first wireless network to the second wireless network in response to passing of the condition check.
12. The mobile communication device of claim 11, wherein the step of handing over the mobile communication device further comprises:
- connecting to the second wireless network via a second link; and
- disconnecting with the first wireless network.
13. The mobile communication device of claim 11, wherein the condition check comprises:
- determining whether the current signal quality of the second wireless network is greater than a predetermined threshold, if the mobile communication device was not previously connected to the second wireless network prior to being connected to the first wireless network; and
- determining whether the current signal quality of the second wireless network is greater than the sum of a previous signal quality of the second wireless network, which was obtained when the mobile communication device was previously connected to the second wireless network prior to being connected to the first wireless network, and a margin value for eliminating a ping-pong effect.
14. The mobile communication device of claim 11, wherein the first wireless network is a cellular network and the second wireless network is a non-cellular network.
15. The mobile communication device of claim 14, wherein the non-cellular network is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Bluetooth Personal Area Network (BT PAN), or ZigBee Wireless PAN (ZigBee WPAN).
16. A method for a mobile communication device to handover between a plurality of heterogeneous networks, comprising:
- connecting to a first wireless network for wireless transceiving via a first link;
- scanning for a nearby second wireless network with a current signal quality, wherein the first wireless network and the second wireless network are heterogeneous networks;
- applying a condition check on the current signal quality of the second wireless network according to a result of whether the mobile communication device was previously connected to the second wireless network prior to being connected to the first wireless network; and
- handing over the mobile communication device from the first wireless network to the second wireless network in response to passing of the condition check.
17. The method of claim 16, wherein the step of handing over the mobile communication device further comprises:
- connecting to the second wireless network via a second link; and
- disconnecting with the first wireless network.
18. The method of claim 16, wherein the condition check comprises:
- determining whether the current signal quality of the second wireless network is greater than a predetermined threshold, if the mobile communication device was not previously connected to the second wireless network prior to being connected to the first wireless network; and
- determining whether the current signal quality of the second wireless network is greater than the sum of a previous signal quality of the second wireless network, which was obtained when the mobile communication device was previously connected to the second wireless network prior to being connected to the first wireless network, and a margin value for eliminating a ping-pong effect.
19. The method of claim 16, wherein the first wireless network is a cellular network and the second wireless network is a non-cellular network.
20. The method of claim 19, wherein the non-cellular network is a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Bluetooth Personal Area Network (BT PAN), or ZigBee Wireless PAN (ZigBee WPAN).
Type: Application
Filed: Aug 8, 2012
Publication Date: Feb 14, 2013
Applicant: HTC CORPORATION (Taoyuan City)
Inventors: Hsi-Kun CHEN (Taoyuan City), Peter CHOU (Taoyuan City)
Application Number: 13/569,901
International Classification: H04W 36/30 (20090101); H04W 36/14 (20090101);