WO2013184110A1 - Optimized wifi network discovery using bluetooth low-energy - Google Patents

Optimized wifi network discovery using bluetooth low-energy Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2013184110A1
WO2013184110A1 PCT/US2012/041164 US2012041164W WO2013184110A1 WO 2013184110 A1 WO2013184110 A1 WO 2013184110A1 US 2012041164 W US2012041164 W US 2012041164W WO 2013184110 A1 WO2013184110 A1 WO 2013184110A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
transceiver
wireless network
access point
low energy
network access
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/US2012/041164
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Basavaraj Patil
Markus Isomaki
Gabor Bajko
Original Assignee
Nokia Corporation
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Nokia Corporation filed Critical Nokia Corporation
Priority to PCT/US2012/041164 priority Critical patent/WO2013184110A1/en
Publication of WO2013184110A1 publication Critical patent/WO2013184110A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/0005—Control or signalling for completing the hand-off
    • H04W36/0055—Transmission or use of information for re-establishing the radio link
    • H04W36/0066—Transmission or use of information for re-establishing the radio link of control information between different types of networks in order to establish a new radio link in the target network
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W48/00—Access restriction; Network selection; Access point selection
    • H04W48/08—Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery
    • H04W48/14—Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery using user query or user detection
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/08—Reselecting an access point
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W8/00—Network data management
    • H04W8/005—Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W88/00—Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices
    • H04W88/02—Terminal devices
    • H04W88/06—Terminal devices adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W88/00—Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices
    • H04W88/08—Access point devices
    • H04W88/10—Access point devices adapted for operation in multiple networks, e.g. multi-mode access points

Definitions

  • Devices are increasingly configured with multiple radio interfaces, each of which may operate using a different radio access technology.
  • user equipment such as a smart phone and the like, may have a cellular radio interface for coupling to a cellular base station, a Wi-Fi radio interface for accessing wireless local area networks, a Bluetooth radio interface for coupling to another device via a Bluetooth connection, and the like.
  • These multimode user devices may even activate all of the radio interfaces, operating via each of the radio access technologies.
  • wireless access points such as multimode access points, are also being configured with multiple radio interfaces, each of which may operate using a different radio access technology.
  • multimode access points are being implemented as home base stations serving small cells, such as femtocells and picocells. These multimode access points allow network operators to offload traffic from the macrocells associated with the cellular network to smaller cells associated with the multimode access points/home base stations.
  • the method may include scanning, at a user equipment configured with at least a first low energy wireless transceiver and a first wireless network transceiver, for a beacon from a second low energy wireless transceiver at a target wireless network access point, wherein the target wireless network access point further includes a second wireless network transceiver; detecting, at the user equipment including the first low energy wireless transceiver, the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver; and obtaining, at the user equipment from a connection between the first and second low energy transceivers, information about at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point including the second wireless network transceiver to determine whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point, wherein the first and second low energy transceivers comprises a wireless technology different from the first wireless network transceiver used with an established connection with a serving wireless network access point.
  • an apparatus may include at least one processor; and at least one memory including code, which when executed by the at least one processor provides operations comprising: scanning, at a user equipment configured with at least a first low energy wireless transceiver and a first wireless network transceiver, for a beacon from a second low energy wireless transceiver at a target wireless network access point, wherein the target wireless network access point further includes a second wireless network transceiver; detecting, at the user equipment including the first low energy wireless transceiver, the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver; and obtaining, at the user equipment from a connection between the first and second low energy transceivers, information about at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point including the second wireless network transceiver to determine whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point, wherein the first and second low energy transceivers comprises a wireless technology different from the first wireless network transceiver used with an
  • a computer-readable medium may include code which when executed by at least one processor provides operations comprising: scanning, at a user equipment configured with at least a first low energy wireless transceiver and a first wireless network transceiver, for a beacon from a second low energy wireless transceiver at a target wireless network access point, wherein the target wireless network access point further includes a second wireless network transceiver; detecting, at the user equipment including the first low energy wireless transceiver, the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver; and obtaining, at the user equipment from a connection between the first and second low energy transceivers, information about at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point including the second wireless network transceiver to determine whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point, wherein the first and second low energy transceivers comprises a wireless technology different from the first wireless network transceiver used with an established connection with a
  • the apparatus may include means for scanning, at a user equipment configured with at least a first low energy wireless transceiver and a first wireless network transceiver, for a beacon from a second low energy wireless transceiver at a target wireless network access point, wherein the target wireless network access point further includes a second wireless network transceiver; means for detecting, at the user equipment including the first low energy wireless transceiver, the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver; and means for obtaining, at the user equipment from a connection between the first and second low energy transceivers, information about at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point including the second wireless network transceiver to determine whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point, wherein the first and second low energy transceivers comprises a wireless technology different from the first wireless network transceiver used with an established connection with a serving wireless network access point.
  • the scanning may comprise the user equipment scanning with the first low energy wireless transceiver for the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver, wherein the wireless technology is different from the second wireless network transceiver.
  • the first and second wireless network transceivers may each comprise a WiFi transceiver, and wherein the first and second low energy transceivers each comprise at least one of a Bluetooth transceiver and a Bluetooth low energy transceiver.
  • At least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point may be transferred over the connection between the first low energy transceiver at the user equipment and the second low energy transceivers at the target wireless network access point, when the first wireless network transceiver at the user equipment carries an active session over the established connection with the serving wireless network access point.
  • the scanning for the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver at the target wireless network access point may occur, when the first wireless network transceiver at the user equipment carries an active session over the established connection with the serving wireless network access point.
  • the obtaining may further comprise querying information representative of the at least one characteristic of a target wireless network served by the target wireless network access point over the connection, based on at least an internet protocol version six, between the first low energy transceiver at the user equipment and the second low energy transceiver at the target wireless network access point.
  • the user equipment may determine, based on the obtained information representative of the at least one characteristic, whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point or to continue searching for another candidate access point for a potential handover.
  • FIG. 1 depicts an example of a system configured for low energy transceiver network discovery, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments
  • FIG. 2 depicts an example of a process for low energy transceiver network discovery, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments
  • FIG. 3 depicts another example of a process for low energy transceiver network discovery, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments
  • FIG. 4 depicts an example of an access point, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • FIG. 5 depicts an example of a radio, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • Local area network access points which are also referred to as hotspots, have been deployed on a widespread basis in recent years.
  • smart phones, tablets, and many other types of user equipment have local area wireless network capability, such as WiFi, in addition to cellular, Bluetooth, and other technologies.
  • WiFi local area wireless network capability
  • WiFi it has become a commonly used technology for Internet connectivity and data service.
  • a user may set a preference on the user equipment to use WiFi connectivity over a cellular connection, when a WiFi network is available. This may be due in part to cost, i.e., the cost of data service over cellular may be more expensive as compared to the cost of data service over a wireless local area network access, such as WiFi.
  • WiFi networks may provide higher speed broadband connectivity to the Internet, when compared to cellular networks.
  • the user equipment may scan for a signal, such as a WiFi beacon. Scanning for the availability of a local wireless area network consumes power (e.g., the WiFi transceiver is activated to allow reception of beacons transmitted by local wireless area network access points).
  • low energy radio access network transceiver technologies such as Bluetooth Low-energy (BT-LE) may be used in some exemplary embodiments disclosed herein to allow a user equipment to discover wireless local area network access point and corresponding wireless local area networks.
  • BT-LE Bluetooth Low-energy
  • the subject matter disclosed herein may use a low energy radio access transceiver, such as Bluetooth Low-energy (BT-LE) and the like, to scan for a wireless local area network access point, such as a WiFi network access point, which also includes a BT-LE transceiver.
  • a user equipment may include a cellular transceiver, a wireless local area network transceiver (e.g., WiFi transceiver), and low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver.
  • the user equipment may configure its BT-LE transceiver to discover a beacon transmitted by a BT-LE transceiver configured in the WiFi wireless local area network access point. Because the BT-LE transceiver consumes less energy than a typical WiFi wireless local area network access point, the low energy transceiver/BT-LE interface may use less power, when compared to scanning for a WiFi beacon of the WiFi network access point.
  • the user equipment may have an established connection, such as for example a VoIP (voice over internet protocol) call, via a wireless local area network access point, such as a WiFi network access point.
  • a wireless local area network access point such as a WiFi network access point.
  • the user equipment may maintain that established connection to the wireless local area network access point, while using the other radio access technology, such as the low energy radio access network transceiver (e.g., the BT-LE transceiver) to discover other wireless local area network access points.
  • the user equipment may use the BT-LE connection to obtain information about the wireless local area network access point (e.g., information related . to internet protocol (IP) address version, realm information, a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), wide area network (WAN) metrics, connection capability, and the like).
  • IP internet protocol
  • FQDN fully qualified domain name
  • WAN wide area network
  • the user equipment may handover to the discovered wireless local area network access point (e.g., when a value, such as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a target access point is better than the SNR of a currently, serving access point).
  • the user equipment may configure its low energy, BT-LE transceiver to discover another link implemented using another radio access technology, such as the wireless local area network access point or WiFi link, and to obtain information about the wireless local area network access point to allow the user equipment to handover from a first wireless local area network access point to another, discovered wireless local area network access point, when the need arises to change acess points.
  • a value such as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a target access point is better than the SNR of a currently, serving access point.
  • the user equipment may configure its low energy, BT-LE transceiver to discover another link implemented using another radio access technology, such as the wireless local area network access point or WiFi link, and to obtain information about the wireless local area network access
  • the access point change procedure may, in some implementations, save time and prevent a break (e.g., disconnection) of an ongoing session, when compared to a user equipment using a single interface and/or network access technology to discover and to communicate with the WiFi network at any given time.
  • the wireless local area network access point may be configured to include, as noted, at least a wireless local area network access transceiver (e.g., WiFi) and a low energy transceiver (e.g., a BT-LE transceiver).
  • the low energy radio access network transceiver at the user equipment may be implemented as BT-LE, although other low energy radio access network transceiver technologies may be used as well.
  • BT-LE low energy radio access network transceiver may be configured to operate in a mode characterized by low duty cycles and small bursts to further reduce power consumption, although other modes of operation may be used as well.
  • the user equipment may include a connection manager to control the low energy transceiver, such as the BT- LE transceiver implemented therein, to control scanning performed by the transceiver while discovering wireless local area network access points, and/or to control obtaining information about the discovered (or target) wireless local area network/WiFi access points.
  • the wireless local area network access point such as a WiFi network access point
  • the user equipment (or a connection manager therein) may configure its low energy/BT-LE transceiver to discover an access point by scanning for a beacon emitted by a low energy/BT-LE transceiver at the WiFi network access point and then obtain information about the WiFi network access point (via a low energy/BT-LE transceiver connection) to enable a possible handover to a target WiFi network access point.
  • the information about the WiFi network access point typically obtained via a WiFi connection in accordance with, for example, IEEE 802.1 1 u, Hotspot 2.0 may be obtained via a low energy/BT-LE transceiver connection to the WiFi network access point.
  • the user equipment may query for network information by establishing an internet protocol (IP) connection (e.g., an IP version 6 connection over the BT-LE link) and then obtain the WiFi network access point information over the IP connection, although network information may be obtained directly over the BT-LE link using data frames exchanged in a query/response mechanism between the user equipment and the network access point.
  • IP internet protocol
  • a BT-LE master at the WiFi network access point may be configured with information about the WiFi network access point. This information may include the SSID and other information that may be obtained by the user equipment in accordance with a protocol, such as IEEE 802.1 1 u, Hotspot 2.0. However, this information may also be obtained over via a BT-LE link between the BT-LE master at the WiFi network access point and the user equipment.
  • a protocol such as IEEE 802.1 1 u, Hotspot 2.0.
  • this information may also be obtained over via a BT-LE link between the BT-LE master at the WiFi network access point and the user equipment.
  • the user equipment including the connection manager may analyze the information (which is obtained via the BT-LE link(s)) about the WiFi network and then determine whether to activate the WiFi interface and attach to the WiFi network (or the network access point serving that WiFi network) or whether it wants to handover from a WiFi network (where it is currently coupled) to another, target WiFi network (or serving network access point) recently discovered by the scanning performed by the user equipment's low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver.
  • the user equipment may, as noted, configure its low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, to scan for BT-LE beacons transmitted by a wireless local area network access point, such as a beacon transmitted by a WiFi transceiver at the wireless local area network access point.
  • a WiFi transceiver at the user equipment may remain powered off until awakened by a connection manager at the user equipment to couple to another access point, such as a WiFi network access point, discovered by scanning using the low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, at the user equipment.
  • FIG. 1 depicts a system 100 according to some exemplary embodiments.
  • System 100 may include one or more user equipment, such as user equipment 114A-B, one or more base stations, such as base station 1 1 OA, one or more wireless access points, such as wireless access point 1 10B and 1 10C.
  • the wireless access points 1 10B-C are configured to each include at least one low energy transceiver, such as BT-LE, and the user equipment 1 14B is also configured to include at least one low energy transceiver, such as BT-LE.
  • the base station 1 10A may serve a cell, such as macrocell 1 12A; wireless access point 1 10B may serve a small cell, such as a picocell or a femtocell 112B; wireless access point 1 10C may serve femtocell 112C.
  • FIG. 1 depicts a specific quantity and configuration of base stations, cells, wireless access points, and user equipment, other quantities and configurations may be implemented as well.
  • base station 1 1 OA and/or wireless access points 110B-C may have wired and/or wireless backhaul links to other network nodes, such as a mobility management entity 199, other base stations, a radio network controller, a core network, a serving gateway, and the like.
  • network nodes such as a mobility management entity 199, other base stations, a radio network controller, a core network, a serving gateway, and the like.
  • user equipment 114A-B may be implemented as a user equipment and/or a stationary device.
  • the user equipment 1 14A-B are often referred to as, for example, mobile stations, mobile units, subscriber stations, wireless terminals, tablets, smart phones, or the like.
  • a user equipment may be implemented as, for example, a wireless handheld device, a wireless plug-in accessory, or the like.
  • user equipment may include a processor, a computer-readable storage medium (e.g., memory, storage, and the like), a radio access mechanism, and/or a user interface.
  • the user equipment may take the form of a wireless telephone, a computer with a wireless connection to a network, or the like.
  • the user equipment 1 14A-B may be implemented as multi-mode user devices configured to operate using a plurality of radio access technologies.
  • user equipment 1 14B may be configured to operate using a plurality of radio access technologies including one or more of the following: Long Term Evolution (LTE), wireless local area network (WLAN) technology, such as 802.11 WiFi and the like, Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy (BTLE), and any other radio access technologies.
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • WLAN wireless local area network
  • BTLE Bluetooth low energy
  • the user equipment 1 14B may be configured to have established connections to access points using the plurality of the radio access technologies.
  • user equipment 114B may couple to cellular base station 110A based on a cellular standard, such as LTE and couple to wireless access point 110B based on WiFi.
  • user equipment 1 14B may scan for other wireless access points, such as wireless local area network access point 110C, using a low energy transceiver, such as BT-LE, rather than scan for the other wireless access points using a higher energy transceiver, such as WiFi.
  • a low energy transceiver such as BT-LE
  • the base station 1 10A may, in some exemplary embodiments, be implemented as an evolved Node B (eNB) type base station, although other types of radio access points may be implemented as well.
  • base station 1 10A may be configured in accordance with standards, including the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards, such as 3GPP TS 36.201 , Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Long Term Evolution (LTE) physical layer; General description, 3GPP TS 36.21 1 , Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E- UTRA); Physical channels and modulation, 3GPP TS 36.212, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Multiplexing and channel coding, 3GPP TS 36.213, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer procedures, 3GPP TS 36.214, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer procedures, 3GPP TS 36.214, Evolved Universal Terrestria
  • system 100 may include access links, such as links 122A-B.
  • the access links 122A may include a downlink 116A for transmitting to the user equipment 1 14A and an uplink 126A for transmitting from user equipment 1 14A to the base station 1 1 OA.
  • the downlink 116A may comprise a modulated radio frequency carrying information, such as user data, radio resource control (RRC) messages, location information, and the like, to the user equipment 114A
  • the uplink 126A may comprise a modulated radio frequency carrying information, such as user data, RRC messages, location information, measurement reports associated with handovers, and the like, from the user equipment 114A to base station 11 OA.
  • Access links 122B may include downlink 116B for transmitting from the wireless access point 1 OB to user equipment 1 14B, and uplink 126B for transmitting from user equipment 1 14B to the wireless access point 11 OB.
  • the downlink 116A and uplinks 126A may, in some exemplary embodiments, each represent a radio frequency (RF) signal.
  • the RF signal may, as noted above, include data, such as voice, video, images, Internet Protocol (IP) packets, control information, and any other type of information and/or messages.
  • IP Internet Protocol
  • the RF signal may use OFDMA.
  • OFDMA is a multi-user version of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). In OFDMA, multiple access is achieved by assigning, to individual users, groups of subcarriers (also referred to as subchannels or tones).
  • the subcarriers are modulated using BPSK (binary phase shift keying), QPSK (quadrature phase shift keying), or QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation), and carry symbols (also referred to as OFDMA symbols) including data coded using a forward error-correction code.
  • BPSK binary phase shift keying
  • QPSK quadrature phase shift keying
  • QAM quadrature amplitude modulation
  • carry symbols also referred to as OFDMA symbols
  • OFDMA symbols carry symbols including data coded using a forward error-correction code.
  • the wireless access points 110B-C may, in some exemplary embodiments, be implemented to serve small cells 112B-C. Moreover, wireless access points 110B-C may be configured to operate with a plurality of radio access technologies including LTE, WiFi, BT-LE, and/or any other wireless local area network standards. In some exemplary embodiments, the wireless access points 110B-C may be implemented as a home evolved node B (HeNB) base station serving cells 112B-C, which covers a structure or a predefined area, such as a home, an office building, and the like.
  • HeNB home evolved node B
  • FIG. 2 depicts an example of a process 200 for low energy transceiver scanning, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. The description of process 200 also refers to FIG. 1.
  • user equipment 1 14B may scan for one or more beacons transmitted, at 204, by one or more wireless network access points, such as network access point 1 10B, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • user equipment 1 14B (or connection manager therein) may configure a low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, to scan for beacons transmitted by wireless network access points, such as WiFi wireless local area network access points.
  • the beacons may be transmitted as BT-LE beacons by a low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, at the wireless network access points.
  • wireless network access points 1 10B-C may each include a WiFi transceiver and a low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, configured to transmit a low energy BT-LE beacon, as depicted at 204.
  • a WiFi transceiver and a low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, configured to transmit a low energy BT-LE beacon, as depicted at 204.
  • the user equipment 114B may detect the BT-LE beacons transmitted, at 204, by WiFi wireless local area network access point 1 10B, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • user equipment 114B may proceed to establish, at 208, a connection to the network access point 11 OB over a low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • a low energy transceiver such as a BT-LE transceiver
  • user equipment 1 14B may query, at 210, the network access point 1 1 OB for information, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • This information may include information about the network access point 10B, such as WiFi network information, WiFi network identifier (e.g., a service set identifier (SSID), and the like.
  • the network access point 110B may respond with information about the network access point 11 OB, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • the connection manager at the user equipment may evaluate the received information to determine whether to connect to access point 1 1 OB, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • the response may enable user equipment 14B to establish, based on the received information, a connection (e.g., a WiFi connection) to the network access point 1 10B, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • a connection e.g., a WiFi connection
  • FIG. 3 depicts another example of a process 300 for low energy transceiver scanning, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • the description of process 300 also refers to FIG. 1 .
  • Process 300 is similar to process 200 in some respects but includes an active session via an established connection to network access point 0C.
  • the user equipment 114B may, at 302, have an established connection to a source (or serving) wireless local area network access point, such as a source network access point 110C. This connection may be configured as a WiFi connection.
  • a source (or serving) wireless local area network access point such as a source network access point 110C.
  • This connection may be configured as a WiFi connection.
  • user equipment 1 4B may scan for other low energy transceiver beacons transmitted, at 308, by the low energy transceiver at one or more other wireless network access points, such as target network access point 1 10B.
  • the user equipment 1 14B (or connection manager therein) may detect, at 310, the transmitted BT-LE beacon from the WiFi network serviced by WiFi wireless local area network access point 1 1 OB.
  • user equipment 114B may proceed to establish, at 312, a connection to the network access point 11 OB over a low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • a low energy transceiver such as a BT-LE transceiver
  • user equipment 1 14B may query, at 314, the network access point 1 10B for information, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • This information may include characteristics about the WiFi network, such as information about the network access point 1 10B, WiFi network information, WiFi network identifier (e.g., a service set identifier (SSID), and the like.
  • SSID service set identifier
  • the network access point 1 1 OB may respond with the information about the network access point 11 OB, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • the connection manager at the user equipment may evaluate the received information to determine whether to handover (e.g., connect, initiate a handover, and the like) to access point 11 OB, or keep looking for an access point which it can handover to, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • the response may enable user equipment 1 14B to establish, based on the received information, a connection, such as a WiFi connection (rather than a BT-LE connection) to the network access point 1 10B, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
  • FIG. 4 depicts an example implementation of an access point 400, which may be implemented at 1 10A-C.
  • the access point may include one or more antennas 420 (e.g., one or more of a BT-LE antenna, a WiFi antenna, an LTE antenna, or a combination thereof) configured to transmit via a downlink and configured to receive uplinks via the antenna(s) 420 and/or transmit beacons.
  • the access point may further include a plurality of radio interfaces 440 coupled to the antenna 420.
  • the radio interfaces may correspond to a plurality of radio access technologies including, LTE, WLAN, Bluetooth, BT-LE, near field communications (NFC), radio frequency identification (RFID), ultrawide band (UWB), ZigBee, and the like.
  • the access point may further include a processor 430 for controlling the access point 400 and for accessing and executing program code stored in memory 435.
  • the radio interface 440 may further include other components, such as filters, converters (e.g., digital-to-analog converters and the like), mappers, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) module, and the like, to generate symbols for a transmission via one or more downlinks, to receive symbols (e.g., via an uplink), and/or to transmit beacons.
  • the access point 400 may include a low energy controller 450. In some implementations, low energy controller 450 may perform one or more of the operations described herein with respect to the wireless access points 1 10A-C.
  • FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of a radio, such as a user equipment 500.
  • the user equipment 500 may include one or more antennas 520 (e.g., one or more of a BT-LE antenna, a WiFi antenna, an LTE antenna, or a combination thereof) for receiving a downlink and transmitting via an uplink and/or receiving a beacon.
  • the user equipment 500 may also include a plurality of radio interfaces 540 coupled to the antenna 520.
  • the radio interfaces may correspond to a plurality of radio access technologies including, LTE, WLAN, Bluetooth, BT-LE, NFC, RFID, UWB, ZigBee, and the like.
  • the radio interfaces 540 may include other components, such as filters, converters (e.g., digital-to-analog converters and the like), symbol demappers, signal shaping components, an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) module, and the like, to process symbols, such as OFDMA symbols, carried by a downlink or an uplink and/or to detect beacons.
  • the user equipment 500 may further include at least one processor, such as processor 530, for controlling user equipment 500 and for accessing and executing program code stored in memory 535.
  • the user equipment may include a connection manager 550. In some exemplary embodiments, the connection manager 550 may perform one or more of the operations described herein with respect to user equipment.
  • the base stations and user equipment (or one or more components therein) and/or the processes described herein can be implemented using one or more of the following: a processor executing program code, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), an embedded processor, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or combinations thereof.
  • ASIC application-specific integrated circuit
  • DSP digital signal processor
  • FPGA field programmable gate array
  • These various implementations may include implementation in one or more computer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor, which may be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device.
  • These computer programs also known as programs, software, software applications, applications, components, program code, or code
  • machine-readable medium refers to any computer program product, computer-readable medium, computer-readable storage medium, apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks, memory, Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machine instructions.
  • PLDs Programmable Logic Devices
  • systems are also described herein that may include a processor and a memory coupled to the processor.
  • the memory may include one or more programs that cause the processor to perform one or more of the operations described herein.

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Abstract

Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, may be provided for scanning for a beacon from a second low energy wireless transceiver at a target wireless network access point, wherein the target wireless network access point further includes a second wireless network transceiver; detecting the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver; and obtaining information about at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point including the second wireless network transceiver to determine whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point, wherein the first and second low energy transceivers comprises a wireless technology different from the first wireless network transceiver used with an established connection with a serving wireless network access point.

Description

OPTIMIZED WIFI NETWORK DISCOVERY USING BLUETOOTH LOW-ENERGY
FIELD
[001] The subject matter described herein relates to wireless communications.
BACKGROUND
[002] Devices are increasingly configured with multiple radio interfaces, each of which may operate using a different radio access technology. For example, user equipment, such as a smart phone and the like, may have a cellular radio interface for coupling to a cellular base station, a Wi-Fi radio interface for accessing wireless local area networks, a Bluetooth radio interface for coupling to another device via a Bluetooth connection, and the like. These multimode user devices may even activate all of the radio interfaces, operating via each of the radio access technologies. Indeed, wireless access points, such as multimode access points, are also being configured with multiple radio interfaces, each of which may operate using a different radio access technology. Moreover, some of the multimode access points are being implemented as home base stations serving small cells, such as femtocells and picocells. These multimode access points allow network operators to offload traffic from the macrocells associated with the cellular network to smaller cells associated with the multimode access points/home base stations.
SUMMARY
[003] Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided for network discovery. In one aspect there is provided a method. The method may include scanning, at a user equipment configured with at least a first low energy wireless transceiver and a first wireless network transceiver, for a beacon from a second low energy wireless transceiver at a target wireless network access point, wherein the target wireless network access point further includes a second wireless network transceiver; detecting, at the user equipment including the first low energy wireless transceiver, the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver; and obtaining, at the user equipment from a connection between the first and second low energy transceivers, information about at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point including the second wireless network transceiver to determine whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point, wherein the first and second low energy transceivers comprises a wireless technology different from the first wireless network transceiver used with an established connection with a serving wireless network access point.
[004] In some exemplary embodiments, there may be provided an apparatus. The apparatus may include at least one processor; and at least one memory including code, which when executed by the at least one processor provides operations comprising: scanning, at a user equipment configured with at least a first low energy wireless transceiver and a first wireless network transceiver, for a beacon from a second low energy wireless transceiver at a target wireless network access point, wherein the target wireless network access point further includes a second wireless network transceiver; detecting, at the user equipment including the first low energy wireless transceiver, the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver; and obtaining, at the user equipment from a connection between the first and second low energy transceivers, information about at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point including the second wireless network transceiver to determine whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point, wherein the first and second low energy transceivers comprises a wireless technology different from the first wireless network transceiver used with an established connection with a serving wireless network access point.
[005] In some exemplary embodiments, there may be provided a computer- readable medium. The computer-readable medium may include code which when executed by at least one processor provides operations comprising: scanning, at a user equipment configured with at least a first low energy wireless transceiver and a first wireless network transceiver, for a beacon from a second low energy wireless transceiver at a target wireless network access point, wherein the target wireless network access point further includes a second wireless network transceiver; detecting, at the user equipment including the first low energy wireless transceiver, the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver; and obtaining, at the user equipment from a connection between the first and second low energy transceivers, information about at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point including the second wireless network transceiver to determine whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point, wherein the first and second low energy transceivers comprises a wireless technology different from the first wireless network transceiver used with an established connection with a serving wireless network access point.
[006] In some exemplary embodiments, there may be provided yet another apparatus. The apparatus may include means for scanning, at a user equipment configured with at least a first low energy wireless transceiver and a first wireless network transceiver, for a beacon from a second low energy wireless transceiver at a target wireless network access point, wherein the target wireless network access point further includes a second wireless network transceiver; means for detecting, at the user equipment including the first low energy wireless transceiver, the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver; and means for obtaining, at the user equipment from a connection between the first and second low energy transceivers, information about at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point including the second wireless network transceiver to determine whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point, wherein the first and second low energy transceivers comprises a wireless technology different from the first wireless network transceiver used with an established connection with a serving wireless network access point.
[007] In some exemplary embodiments, one of more variations may be made as well as described in the detailed description below and/or as described in the following features. The scanning may comprise the user equipment scanning with the first low energy wireless transceiver for the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver, wherein the wireless technology is different from the second wireless network transceiver. The first and second wireless network transceivers may each comprise a WiFi transceiver, and wherein the first and second low energy transceivers each comprise at least one of a Bluetooth transceiver and a Bluetooth low energy transceiver. At least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point may be transferred over the connection between the first low energy transceiver at the user equipment and the second low energy transceivers at the target wireless network access point, when the first wireless network transceiver at the user equipment carries an active session over the established connection with the serving wireless network access point. The scanning for the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver at the target wireless network access point may occur, when the first wireless network transceiver at the user equipment carries an active session over the established connection with the serving wireless network access point. The obtaining may further comprise querying information representative of the at least one characteristic of a target wireless network served by the target wireless network access point over the connection, based on at least an internet protocol version six, between the first low energy transceiver at the user equipment and the second low energy transceiver at the target wireless network access point. The user equipment may determine, based on the obtained information representative of the at least one characteristic, whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point or to continue searching for another candidate access point for a potential handover.
[008] The above-noted aspects and features may be implemented in systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles depending on the desired configuration. The details of one or more variations of the subject matter described herein are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Features and advantages of the subject matter described herein will be apparent from the description and drawings, and from the claims.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[009] In the drawings, [010] FIG. 1 depicts an example of a system configured for low energy transceiver network discovery, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments;
[01 1] FIG. 2 depicts an example of a process for low energy transceiver network discovery, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments;
[012] FIG. 3 depicts another example of a process for low energy transceiver network discovery, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments;
[013] FIG. 4 depicts an example of an access point, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments; and
[014] FIG. 5 depicts an example of a radio, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
[015] Like labels are used to refer to same or similar items in the drawings.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
[016] Local area network access points, which are also referred to as hotspots, have been deployed on a widespread basis in recent years. For example, smart phones, tablets, and many other types of user equipment have local area wireless network capability, such as WiFi, in addition to cellular, Bluetooth, and other technologies. In the case of WiFi, it has become a commonly used technology for Internet connectivity and data service. Often, a user may set a preference on the user equipment to use WiFi connectivity over a cellular connection, when a WiFi network is available. This may be due in part to cost, i.e., the cost of data service over cellular may be more expensive as compared to the cost of data service over a wireless local area network access, such as WiFi. Moreover, WiFi networks may provide higher speed broadband connectivity to the Internet, when compared to cellular networks. To couple to a local wireless area network, the user equipment may scan for a signal, such as a WiFi beacon. Scanning for the availability of a local wireless area network consumes power (e.g., the WiFi transceiver is activated to allow reception of beacons transmitted by local wireless area network access points).
[017] However, to reduce energy usage associated with scanning for the wireless local area network access point, low energy radio access network transceiver technologies, such as Bluetooth Low-energy (BT-LE), may be used in some exemplary embodiments disclosed herein to allow a user equipment to discover wireless local area network access point and corresponding wireless local area networks.
[018] In some exemplary embodiments, the subject matter disclosed herein may use a low energy radio access transceiver, such as Bluetooth Low-energy (BT-LE) and the like, to scan for a wireless local area network access point, such as a WiFi network access point, which also includes a BT-LE transceiver. For example, a user equipment may include a cellular transceiver, a wireless local area network transceiver (e.g., WiFi transceiver), and low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver. In this example, the user equipment may configure its BT-LE transceiver to discover a beacon transmitted by a BT-LE transceiver configured in the WiFi wireless local area network access point. Because the BT-LE transceiver consumes less energy than a typical WiFi wireless local area network access point, the low energy transceiver/BT-LE interface may use less power, when compared to scanning for a WiFi beacon of the WiFi network access point.
[019] In some exemplary embodiments, the user equipment may have an established connection, such as for example a VoIP (voice over internet protocol) call, via a wireless local area network access point, such as a WiFi network access point. When this is the case, the user equipment may maintain that established connection to the wireless local area network access point, while using the other radio access technology, such as the low energy radio access network transceiver (e.g., the BT-LE transceiver) to discover other wireless local area network access points. Moreover, the user equipment may use the BT-LE connection to obtain information about the wireless local area network access point (e.g., information related . to internet protocol (IP) address version, realm information, a fully qualified domain name (FQDN), wide area network (WAN) metrics, connection capability, and the like).
[020] Once discovered, the user equipment may handover to the discovered wireless local area network access point (e.g., when a value, such as the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of a target access point is better than the SNR of a currently, serving access point). As such, the user equipment may configure its low energy, BT-LE transceiver to discover another link implemented using another radio access technology, such as the wireless local area network access point or WiFi link, and to obtain information about the wireless local area network access point to allow the user equipment to handover from a first wireless local area network access point to another, discovered wireless local area network access point, when the need arises to change acess points. The access point change procedure may, in some implementations, save time and prevent a break (e.g., disconnection) of an ongoing session, when compared to a user equipment using a single interface and/or network access technology to discover and to communicate with the WiFi network at any given time. In some exemplary embodiments, the wireless local area network access point may be configured to include, as noted, at least a wireless local area network access transceiver (e.g., WiFi) and a low energy transceiver (e.g., a BT-LE transceiver).
[021] In some exemplary embodiments, the low energy radio access network transceiver at the user equipment may be implemented as BT-LE, although other low energy radio access network transceiver technologies may be used as well. BT-LE low energy radio access network transceiver may be configured to operate in a mode characterized by low duty cycles and small bursts to further reduce power consumption, although other modes of operation may be used as well. Moreover, the user equipment may include a connection manager to control the low energy transceiver, such as the BT- LE transceiver implemented therein, to control scanning performed by the transceiver while discovering wireless local area network access points, and/or to control obtaining information about the discovered (or target) wireless local area network/WiFi access points.
[022] For example, the wireless local area network access point, such as a WiFi network access point, may also include a BT-LE transceiver. The user equipment (or a connection manager therein) may configure its low energy/BT-LE transceiver to discover an access point by scanning for a beacon emitted by a low energy/BT-LE transceiver at the WiFi network access point and then obtain information about the WiFi network access point (via a low energy/BT-LE transceiver connection) to enable a possible handover to a target WiFi network access point.
[023] Moreover, the information about the WiFi network access point typically obtained via a WiFi connection in accordance with, for example, IEEE 802.1 1 u, Hotspot 2.0 may be obtained via a low energy/BT-LE transceiver connection to the WiFi network access point. For example, once the user equipment connects to a BT-LE interface at the WiFi network access point, the user equipment may query for network information by establishing an internet protocol (IP) connection (e.g., an IP version 6 connection over the BT-LE link) and then obtain the WiFi network access point information over the IP connection, although network information may be obtained directly over the BT-LE link using data frames exchanged in a query/response mechanism between the user equipment and the network access point. A BT-LE master at the WiFi network access point may be configured with information about the WiFi network access point. This information may include the SSID and other information that may be obtained by the user equipment in accordance with a protocol, such as IEEE 802.1 1 u, Hotspot 2.0. However, this information may also be obtained over via a BT-LE link between the BT-LE master at the WiFi network access point and the user equipment. In any case, the user equipment including the connection manager may analyze the information (which is obtained via the BT-LE link(s)) about the WiFi network and then determine whether to activate the WiFi interface and attach to the WiFi network (or the network access point serving that WiFi network) or whether it wants to handover from a WiFi network (where it is currently coupled) to another, target WiFi network (or serving network access point) recently discovered by the scanning performed by the user equipment's low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver.
[024] In some exemplary embodiments, the user equipment (or the connection manager therein) may, as noted, configure its low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, to scan for BT-LE beacons transmitted by a wireless local area network access point, such as a beacon transmitted by a WiFi transceiver at the wireless local area network access point. In some exemplary embodiments, a WiFi transceiver at the user equipment may remain powered off until awakened by a connection manager at the user equipment to couple to another access point, such as a WiFi network access point, discovered by scanning using the low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, at the user equipment.
[025] Before providing additional examples of implementations of the low energy transceiver scanning for network discovery, the following provides an exemplary system framework, although other frameworks may be used as well.
[026] FIG. 1 depicts a system 100 according to some exemplary embodiments. System 100 may include one or more user equipment, such as user equipment 114A-B, one or more base stations, such as base station 1 1 OA, one or more wireless access points, such as wireless access point 1 10B and 1 10C. In some exemplary embodiments, the wireless access points 1 10B-C are configured to each include at least one low energy transceiver, such as BT-LE, and the user equipment 1 14B is also configured to include at least one low energy transceiver, such as BT-LE. The base station 1 10A may serve a cell, such as macrocell 1 12A; wireless access point 1 10B may serve a small cell, such as a picocell or a femtocell 112B; wireless access point 1 10C may serve femtocell 112C.
[027] Although FIG. 1 depicts a specific quantity and configuration of base stations, cells, wireless access points, and user equipment, other quantities and configurations may be implemented as well.
[028] Moreover, base station 1 1 OA and/or wireless access points 110B-C may have wired and/or wireless backhaul links to other network nodes, such as a mobility management entity 199, other base stations, a radio network controller, a core network, a serving gateway, and the like.
[029] In some exemplary embodiments, user equipment 114A-B may be implemented as a user equipment and/or a stationary device. The user equipment 1 14A-B are often referred to as, for example, mobile stations, mobile units, subscriber stations, wireless terminals, tablets, smart phones, or the like. A user equipment may be implemented as, for example, a wireless handheld device, a wireless plug-in accessory, or the like. In some exemplary embodiments, user equipment may include a processor, a computer-readable storage medium (e.g., memory, storage, and the like), a radio access mechanism, and/or a user interface. For example, the user equipment may take the form of a wireless telephone, a computer with a wireless connection to a network, or the like.
[030] In some exemplary embodiments, the user equipment 1 14A-B may be implemented as multi-mode user devices configured to operate using a plurality of radio access technologies. For example, user equipment 1 14B may be configured to operate using a plurality of radio access technologies including one or more of the following: Long Term Evolution (LTE), wireless local area network (WLAN) technology, such as 802.11 WiFi and the like, Bluetooth, Bluetooth low energy (BTLE), and any other radio access technologies. Moreover, the user equipment 1 14B may be configured to have established connections to access points using the plurality of the radio access technologies. For example, user equipment 114B may couple to cellular base station 110A based on a cellular standard, such as LTE and couple to wireless access point 110B based on WiFi. In this example, user equipment 1 14B may scan for other wireless access points, such as wireless local area network access point 110C, using a low energy transceiver, such as BT-LE, rather than scan for the other wireless access points using a higher energy transceiver, such as WiFi.
[031] The base station 1 10A may, in some exemplary embodiments, be implemented as an evolved Node B (eNB) type base station, although other types of radio access points may be implemented as well. When the evolved Node B (eNB) type base station is used, base station 1 10A may be configured in accordance with standards, including the Long Term Evolution (LTE) standards, such as 3GPP TS 36.201 , Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Long Term Evolution (LTE) physical layer; General description, 3GPP TS 36.21 1 , Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E- UTRA); Physical channels and modulation, 3GPP TS 36.212, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Multiplexing and channel coding, 3GPP TS 36.213, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer procedures, 3GPP TS 36.214, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA); Physical layer - Measurements, and any subsequent additions or revisions to these and other 3GPP series of standards (collectively referred to as LTE standards). The base station 1 1 OA may also be configured to serve macrocell 1 12A using a WLAN technology, such as WiFi (e.g., the IEEE 802.1 1 series of standards), and any other radio access technology capable of serving macrocell 1 12A.
[032] In some exemplary embodiments, system 100 may include access links, such as links 122A-B. The access links 122A may include a downlink 116A for transmitting to the user equipment 1 14A and an uplink 126A for transmitting from user equipment 1 14A to the base station 1 1 OA. The downlink 116A may comprise a modulated radio frequency carrying information, such as user data, radio resource control (RRC) messages, location information, and the like, to the user equipment 114A, and the uplink 126A may comprise a modulated radio frequency carrying information, such as user data, RRC messages, location information, measurement reports associated with handovers, and the like, from the user equipment 114A to base station 11 OA. Access links 122B may include downlink 116B for transmitting from the wireless access point 1 OB to user equipment 1 14B, and uplink 126B for transmitting from user equipment 1 14B to the wireless access point 11 OB.
[033] The downlink 116A and uplinks 126A may, in some exemplary embodiments, each represent a radio frequency (RF) signal. The RF signal may, as noted above, include data, such as voice, video, images, Internet Protocol (IP) packets, control information, and any other type of information and/or messages. For example, when LTE is used, the RF signal may use OFDMA. OFDMA is a multi-user version of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM). In OFDMA, multiple access is achieved by assigning, to individual users, groups of subcarriers (also referred to as subchannels or tones). The subcarriers are modulated using BPSK (binary phase shift keying), QPSK (quadrature phase shift keying), or QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation), and carry symbols (also referred to as OFDMA symbols) including data coded using a forward error-correction code. The subject matter described herein is not limited to application to OFDMA systems, LTE, LTE- Advanced, or to the noted standards, specifications, and/or technologies. Furthermore, the downlink 1 16B and uplink 126B may be configured using standards and/or technologies similar to those noted with respect to downlink 1 16A and uplink 126A, although downlink 116B and uplink 126B may use a different standards or technologies as well. In addition, each access link may be unidirectional or bidirectional. [034] The wireless access points 110B-C may, in some exemplary embodiments, be implemented to serve small cells 112B-C. Moreover, wireless access points 110B-C may be configured to operate with a plurality of radio access technologies including LTE, WiFi, BT-LE, and/or any other wireless local area network standards. In some exemplary embodiments, the wireless access points 110B-C may be implemented as a home evolved node B (HeNB) base station serving cells 112B-C, which covers a structure or a predefined area, such as a home, an office building, and the like.
[035] FIG. 2 depicts an example of a process 200 for low energy transceiver scanning, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. The description of process 200 also refers to FIG. 1.
[036] At 202, user equipment 1 14B may scan for one or more beacons transmitted, at 204, by one or more wireless network access points, such as network access point 1 10B, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. For example, user equipment 1 14B (or connection manager therein) may configure a low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, to scan for beacons transmitted by wireless network access points, such as WiFi wireless local area network access points. The beacons may be transmitted as BT-LE beacons by a low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, at the wireless network access points. For example, wireless network access points 1 10B-C may each include a WiFi transceiver and a low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, configured to transmit a low energy BT-LE beacon, as depicted at 204.
[037] At 206, the user equipment 114B (or connection manager therein) may detect the BT-LE beacons transmitted, at 204, by WiFi wireless local area network access point 1 10B, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. When this is the case, user equipment 114B may proceed to establish, at 208, a connection to the network access point 11 OB over a low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. Once the low energy transceiver connection is established, user equipment 1 14B may query, at 210, the network access point 1 1 OB for information, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. This information may include information about the network access point 10B, such as WiFi network information, WiFi network identifier (e.g., a service set identifier (SSID), and the like. At 212, the network access point 110B may respond with information about the network access point 11 OB, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. At 216, the connection manager at the user equipment may evaluate the received information to determine whether to connect to access point 1 1 OB, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. At 214, the response may enable user equipment 14B to establish, based on the received information, a connection (e.g., a WiFi connection) to the network access point 1 10B, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
[038] FIG. 3 depicts another example of a process 300 for low energy transceiver scanning, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. The description of process 300 also refers to FIG. 1 . Process 300 is similar to process 200 in some respects but includes an active session via an established connection to network access point 0C.
[039] In some exemplary embodiments, the user equipment 114B may, at 302, have an established connection to a source (or serving) wireless local area network access point, such as a source network access point 110C. This connection may be configured as a WiFi connection. At 304, user equipment 1 4B may scan for other low energy transceiver beacons transmitted, at 308, by the low energy transceiver at one or more other wireless network access points, such as target network access point 1 10B. In some exemplary embodiments, the user equipment 1 14B (or connection manager therein) may detect, at 310, the transmitted BT-LE beacon from the WiFi network serviced by WiFi wireless local area network access point 1 1 OB. When this is the case, user equipment 114B may proceed to establish, at 312, a connection to the network access point 11 OB over a low energy transceiver, such as a BT-LE transceiver, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. Once the low energy transceiver connection is established, user equipment 1 14B may query, at 314, the network access point 1 10B for information, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. This information may include characteristics about the WiFi network, such as information about the network access point 1 10B, WiFi network information, WiFi network identifier (e.g., a service set identifier (SSID), and the like. At 316, the network access point 1 1 OB may respond with the information about the network access point 11 OB, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. At 318, the connection manager at the user equipment may evaluate the received information to determine whether to handover (e.g., connect, initiate a handover, and the like) to access point 11 OB, or keep looking for an access point which it can handover to, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments. At 320, the response may enable user equipment 1 14B to establish, based on the received information, a connection, such as a WiFi connection (rather than a BT-LE connection) to the network access point 1 10B, in accordance with some exemplary embodiments.
[040] FIG. 4 depicts an example implementation of an access point 400, which may be implemented at 1 10A-C. The access point may include one or more antennas 420 (e.g., one or more of a BT-LE antenna, a WiFi antenna, an LTE antenna, or a combination thereof) configured to transmit via a downlink and configured to receive uplinks via the antenna(s) 420 and/or transmit beacons. The access point may further include a plurality of radio interfaces 440 coupled to the antenna 420. The radio interfaces may correspond to a plurality of radio access technologies including, LTE, WLAN, Bluetooth, BT-LE, near field communications (NFC), radio frequency identification (RFID), ultrawide band (UWB), ZigBee, and the like. The access point may further include a processor 430 for controlling the access point 400 and for accessing and executing program code stored in memory 435. The radio interface 440 may further include other components, such as filters, converters (e.g., digital-to-analog converters and the like), mappers, a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) module, and the like, to generate symbols for a transmission via one or more downlinks, to receive symbols (e.g., via an uplink), and/or to transmit beacons. The access point 400 may include a low energy controller 450. In some implementations, low energy controller 450 may perform one or more of the operations described herein with respect to the wireless access points 1 10A-C.
[041] FIG. 5 depicts a block diagram of a radio, such as a user equipment 500. The user equipment 500 may include one or more antennas 520 (e.g., one or more of a BT-LE antenna, a WiFi antenna, an LTE antenna, or a combination thereof) for receiving a downlink and transmitting via an uplink and/or receiving a beacon. The user equipment 500 may also include a plurality of radio interfaces 540 coupled to the antenna 520. The radio interfaces may correspond to a plurality of radio access technologies including, LTE, WLAN, Bluetooth, BT-LE, NFC, RFID, UWB, ZigBee, and the like. The radio interfaces 540 may include other components, such as filters, converters (e.g., digital-to-analog converters and the like), symbol demappers, signal shaping components, an Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) module, and the like, to process symbols, such as OFDMA symbols, carried by a downlink or an uplink and/or to detect beacons. The user equipment 500 may further include at least one processor, such as processor 530, for controlling user equipment 500 and for accessing and executing program code stored in memory 535. The user equipment may include a connection manager 550. In some exemplary embodiments, the connection manager 550 may perform one or more of the operations described herein with respect to user equipment.
[042] The subject matter described herein may be embodied in systems, apparatus, methods, and/or articles depending on the desired configuration. For example, the base stations and user equipment (or one or more components therein) and/or the processes described herein can be implemented using one or more of the following: a processor executing program code, an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a digital signal processor (DSP), an embedded processor, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), and/or combinations thereof. These various implementations may include implementation in one or more computer programs that are executable and/or interpretable on a programmable system including at least one programmable processor, which may be special or general purpose, coupled to receive data and instructions from, and to transmit data and instructions to, a storage system, at least one input device, and at least one output device. These computer programs (also known as programs, software, software applications, applications, components, program code, or code) include machine instructions for a programmable processor, and may be implemented in a high-level procedural and/or object-oriented programming language, and/or in assembly/machine language. As used herein, the term "machine-readable medium" refers to any computer program product, computer-readable medium, computer-readable storage medium, apparatus and/or device (e.g., magnetic discs, optical disks, memory, Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs)) used to provide machine instructions and/or data to a programmable processor, including a machine-readable medium that receives machine instructions. Similarly, systems are also described herein that may include a processor and a memory coupled to the processor. The memory may include one or more programs that cause the processor to perform one or more of the operations described herein.
[043] Although some of the examples described herein refer to the use of specific technologies, such as BT-LE, WiFi, and the like, the subject matter described herein is not limited to those technologies, and, as such, can be used with other radio technologies as well.
[044] Although a few variations have been described in detail above, other modifications or additions are possible. In particular, further features and/or variations may be provided in addition to those set forth herein. Moreover, the implementations described above may be directed to various combinations and subcombinations of the disclosed features and/or combinations and subcombinations of several further features disclosed above. In addition, the logic flow depicted in the accompanying figures and/or described herein does not require the particular order shown, or sequential order, to achieve desirable results. Other embodiments may be within the scope of the following claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED:
1. A method comprising:
scanning, at a user equipment configured with at least a first low energy wireless transceiver and a first wireless network transceiver, for a beacon from a second low energy wireless transceiver at a target wireless network access point, wherein the target wireless network access point further includes a second wireless network transceiver;
detecting, at the user equipment including the first low energy wireless transceiver, the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver; and
obtaining, at the user equipment from a connection between the first and second low energy transceivers, information about at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point including the second wireless network transceiver to determine whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point, wherein the first and second low energy transceivers comprises a wireless technology different from the first wireless network transceiver used with an established connection with a serving wireless network access point.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the scanning comprises the user equipment scanning with the first low energy wireless transceiver for the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver, wherein the wireless technology is different from the second wireless network transceiver.
3. A method as in claims 1 -2, wherein the first and second wireless network transceivers each comprise a WiFi transceiver, and wherein the first and second low energy transceivers each comprise at least one of a Bluetooth transceiver and a Bluetooth low energy transceiver.
4. A method as in claims 1-3 further comprising:
transferring the at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point over the connection between the first low energy transceiver at the user equipment and the second low energy transceivers at the target wireless network access point, when the first wireless network transceiver at the user equipment carries an active session over the established connection with the serving wireless network access point.
5. A method as in claims 1 -4 further comprising:
scanning for the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver at the target wireless network access point, when the first wireless network transceiver at the user equipment carries an active session over the established connection with the serving wireless network access point.
6. A method as in claims 1 -5, wherein the obtaining further comprises: querying information representative of the at least one characteristic of a target wireless network served by the target wireless network access point over the connection, based on at least an internet protocol version six, between the first low energy transceiver at the user equipment and the second low energy transceiver at the target wireless network access point.
7. A method as in claims 1-6 further comprising: determining, at the user equipment based on the obtained information representative of the at least one characteristic, whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point or to continue searching for another candidate access point for a potential handover.
8. An apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory including code, which when executed by the at least one processor provides operations comprising:
scanning, at a user equipment configured with at least a first low energy wireless transceiver and a first wireless network transceiver, for a beacon from a second low energy wireless transceiver at a target wireless network access point, wherein the target wireless network access point further includes a second wireless network transceiver;
detecting, at the user equipment including the first low energy wireless transceiver, the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver; and
obtaining, at the user equipment from a connection between the first and second low energy transceivers, information about at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point including the second wireless network transceiver to determine whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point, wherein the first and second low energy transceivers comprises a wireless technology different from the first wireless network transceiver used with an established connection with a serving wireless network access point.
9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the scanning comprises the user equipment scanning with the first low energy wireless transceiver for the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver, wherein the wireless technology is different from the second wireless network transceiver.
10. An apparatus as in claims 8-9, wherein the first and second wireless network transceivers each comprise a WiFi transceiver, and wherein the first and second low energy transceivers each comprise at least one of a Bluetooth transceiver and a Bluetooth low energy transceiver.
11. An apparatus as in claims 8-10 further comprising:
transferring the at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point over the connection between the first low energy transceiver at the user equipment and the second low energy transceivers at the target wireless network access point, when the first wireless network transceiver at the user equipment carries an active session over the established connection with the serving wireless network access point.
12. An apparatus as in claims 8-11 further comprising:
scanning for the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver at the target wireless network access point, when the first wireless network transceiver at the user equipment carries an active session over the established connection with the serving wireless network access point.
13. An apparatus as in claims 8-12, wherein the obtaining further comprises:
querying information representative of the at least one characteristic of a target wireless network served by the target wireless network access point over the connection, based on at least an internet protocol version six, between the first low energy transceiver at the user equipment and the second low energy transceiver at the target wireless network access point.
14. An apparatus as in claims 8-13 further comprising:
determining, at the user equipment based on the obtained information representative of the at least one characteristic, whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point or to continue searching for another candidate access point for a potential handover.
15. A computer-readable medium including code which when executed by at least one processor provides operations comprising:
scanning, at a user equipment configured with at least a first low energy wireless transceiver and a first wireless network transceiver, for a beacon from a second low energy wireless transceiver at a target wireless network access point, wherein the target wireless network access point further includes a second wireless network transceiver;
detecting, at the user equipment including the first low energy wireless transceiver, the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver; and
obtaining, at the user equipment from a connection between the first and second low energy transceivers, information about at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point including the second wireless network transceiver to determine whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point, wherein the first and second low energy transceivers comprises a wireless technology different from the first wireless network transceiver used with an established connection with a serving wireless network access point.
16. The computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the scanning comprises the user equipment scanning with the first low energy wireless transceiver for the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver, wherein the wireless technology is different from the second wireless network transceiver.
17. A computer-readable medium as in claims 15-16, wherein the first and second wireless network transceivers each comprise a WiFi transceiver, and wherein the first and second low energy transceivers each comprise at least one of a Bluetooth transceiver and a Bluetooth low energy transceiver.
18. A computer-readable medium as in claims 15-17 further comprising: transferring the at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point over the connection between the first low energy transceiver at the user equipment and the second low energy transceivers at the target wireless network access point, when the first wireless network transceiver at the user equipment carries an active session over the established connection with the serving wireless network access point.
19. A computer-readable medium as in claims 15-18 further comprising: scanning for the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver at the target wireless network access point, when the first wireless network transceiver at the user equipment carries an active session over the established connection with the serving wireless network access point.
20. A computer-readable medium as in claims 15-19, wherein the obtaining further comprises:
querying information representative of the at least one characteristic of a target wireless network served by the target wireless network access point over the connection, based on at least an internet protocol version six, between the first low energy transceiver at the user equipment and the second low energy transceiver at the target wireless network access point.
21. An computer-readable medium as in claims 15-20 further comprising: determining, at the user equipment based on the obtained information representative of the at least one characteristic, whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point or to continue searching for another candidate access point for a potential handover.
22. An apparatus comprising:
means for scanning, at a user equipment configured with at least a first low energy wireless transceiver and a first wireless network transceiver, for a beacon from a second low energy wireless transceiver at a target wireless network access point, wherein the target wireless network access point further includes a second wireless network transceiver; means for detecting, at the user equipment including the first low energy wireless transceiver, the beacon from the second low energy wireless transceiver; and
means for obtaining, at the user equipment from a connection between the first and second low energy transceivers, information about at least one characteristic of the target wireless network access point including the second wireless network transceiver to determine whether to handover to the second wireless network transceiver at the target wireless network access point, wherein the first and second low energy transceivers comprises a wireless technology different from the first wireless network transceiver used with an established connection with a serving wireless network access point.
PCT/US2012/041164 2012-06-06 2012-06-06 Optimized wifi network discovery using bluetooth low-energy WO2013184110A1 (en)

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