WO2015199531A1

WO2015199531A1 - A system and method for selecting a network for establishing connection to a device

Info

Publication number: WO2015199531A1
Application number: PCT/MY2015/050038
Authority: WO
Inventors: Mohamed Ramli RAMLI; Nazarudin MASHUDI; Nuzli MOHAMAD ANAS; Wahidah Hashim
Original assignee: Mimos Berhad
Priority date: 2014-06-23
Filing date: 2015-05-28
Publication date: 2015-12-30
Also published as: MY185537A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a system for monitoring and switching a network (20) for ensuring connection quality. The system comprises a data collector (11) for gathering connection parameters of a plurality of networks (20), a network engine (12) for receiving the connection parameters of the plurality of networks (20) and determining the performance of the plurality of networks (20) wherein the performance is indicated by a network criterion which is generated by a hysteresis engine (13). A routing database (14) is provided for comparing the network criterion of the plurality of networks (20) and determining the network (20) for establishing connection. A switching engine (15) switches the network (20) for establishing connection to the device (30) according to the network criterion.

Description

A SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SELECTING A NETWORK FOR

ESTABLISHING CONNECTION TO A DEVICE

Technical field of the invention

The present invention relates to the field of network connection, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a system and method for constantly monitoring the network for switching a network for ensuring connection quality. Background of the invention

Wireless communication networks are widely employed to provide access to services such as video, messaging, broadcasting and so on, besides the traditional telephony service. End users are now able to stay connected most of the time due to the advancement in mobile communication technology. The dependence on the accessibility to network connection, as a result, has become prevalent even in high mobility scenario or critical situation. Internet service, for example, is essential in high speed train and security and defence forces for dissemination of information at an instant.

However, due to high mobility condition, end users would not be able to acquire a consistent and reliable connection to wireless networks. In conventional scenario where a mobile device is only connected to one registered service provider, connection may not be available due to limitation of geographical network coverage which is dependent on the service provider's network infrastructure. Another challenge for connection in high mobility scenarios is the frequent interruptions which may be encountered between end users and the network service provider. Furthermore, whenever the signal conditions are weak, network service may not be available and connection may be diverted to other low data rate services, for example from 3G or High Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) to General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) or Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) network. Since the signal transmission under high speed scenarios will inevitably experience serious deterioration, it is imperative to develop key dynamic routing and network switching techniques for such scenarios.

In conventional methods of network selection, such as fuzzy logic, inferences and rule-based approaches are utilized which increases system complexity before decision is made. Current devices of the end users are limited to only single point-to-point protocol (PPP) which is lacking in network selection efficiency since at a time only one physical connection can be operated and to monitor other network condition current network has to be disconnected. Since the signal transmission under high mobility scenarios will inevitably experience serious deterioration, it is imperative to develop an efficient network selection operation for such scenarios.

A number of prior arts have disclosed the method and technology for switching network. United States Patent Publication No. 2014/0105069 A1 disclosed a system and method for providing mobile network management using multiple wireless modems so that a plurality of parameters relating to a plurality of wireless networks can be received and monitored. However, the disclosed system requires physical wireless modems for connecting to a plurality of networks which poses additional burden for providing the hardware and size reduction of the device is further limited.

United States Patent No. 7,653,392 B2 disclosed methods and systems for a client device to discover and obtain the parameters of a heterogeneous wireless network via a fuzzy logic operation, within a plurality of heterogeneous wireless networks. The operation with regards to the heterogeneous wireless networks also requires additional physical facilities to support the functions which add to the burden of the device. International Patent Publication No. WO 2013/147587 disclosed a method for seamless policy based network discovery, selection and switching for a user device connection. The method relies on the selection policy information which includes one or more rules including the network type, network priority and validity time condition. The rule-based approaches of this prior art, however, involves a complicated system to arrive at a decision on a network for connection. It is therefore a need to provide a system and method which is able to monitor connection parameters from a plurality of networks while in communication with the plurality of networks and switch the network for establishing connection according to the connection parameters for maintaining continuous network operations.

Summary of the invention

It is an objective of the present invention to provide a system and method for constantly monitoring and switching a network when necessary to ensure the quality of connection.

It is another objective of the present invention to provide a system and method for dynamic switching of the network connection to a device which is constantly shifting location.

It is also an objective of the present invention to provide a pseudo network interface for communicating with a plurality of networks so that the connection parameters can be monitored. It is a further objective of the present invention for mapping the connection parameters to a network criterion for determining the performance of the networks.

It is also an objective of the present invention for analyzing the connection quality of a plurality of network in a hysteresis manner.

The present invention relates to a system for selecting a network for establishing connection to a device. The system comprises a data collector for gathering information of connection parameters of a plurality of networks, a network engine for receiving the connection parameters of the plurality of networks and determining the performance of the plurality of networks, a hysteresis engine for implementing hysteresis modelling on the connection parameters to generate a network criterion, and a switching engine for switching the network for establishing connection to the device according to the performance of the plurality of networks.

The present invention further relates to a method for selecting and switching a network for establishing connection to a device, comprising gathering information by a data collector, wherein the information comprises the connection parameters of a plurality of networks, receiving the connection parameters of the plurality of networks and mapping the connection parameters and generating a network criterion based on a hysteresis model to determine the performance of the plurality of networks by a network engine, and switching the network for establishing connection to the device by a switching engine according to the performance as determined by the network engine.

Brief description of the drawings

Figure 1 is a diagram showing a system for selecting and switching connecting networks according to the present invention.

Figure 2 is a diagram showing a device connected to a plurality of networks via a pseudo network interface according to the present invention.

Figure 3 is a flow diagram showing a method for switching networks which comprises generating a network criterion and switching a network for connection according to the present invention.

Figure 4 is a flow diagram showing a method for generating a network criterion from a plurality of networks according to the present invention. Figure 5 is a flow diagram showing a method for selecting and switching a network for establishing connection according to the present invention.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiments

The present invention will now be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.

The present invention relates to a system (10) for selecting and switching a network (20) for establishing connection to a device (30). With reference to Figure 1 , the system (10) according to the present invention comprises a data collector (1 1 ) for gathering connection parameters of a plurality of networks (20). In a preferred embodiment, the connection parameters include but not limited to signal level, data rate, and link speed.

A network engine (12) in the system (10) is connected to the data collector (1 1 ) for receiving the connection parameters of the plurality of networks (20) which will be used for determining the performance of the plurality of networks (20). The network engine (12) is further connected to a hysteresis engine (13) for implementing hysteresis modelling on the connection parameters to generate a network criterion as an indication of the performance of the plurality of networks (20). Hysteresis is the modelling of the dependence of the network not only on its current network condition but also on its best condition. In a preferred embodiment, the system (10) further comprises a routing database (14) which is connected to the network engine (12) for receiving the network criterion of the plurality of networks (20) so that a comparison can be made among the plurality of networks (20) to determine which network connection should be established.

A switching engine (15) connected to the routing database (14) switches the network (20) for establishing connection to the device (30) according to the performance, and more specifically the performance is indicated as a network criterion as determined by the network engine (12). The network criterion is a pre-defined sets of characteristic desired for a network to be connected. The switching engine (15) establishes a connection between the selected network (20) and the device (30).

In a preferred embodiment, the system (10) of the present invention is implemented in the form of a pseudo network interface which keeps the plurality of networks (20) in communication with the system (10). The pseudo network interface is created by a software daemon and resides in the device (30). The pseudo network interface is capable of connecting to multiple universal subscriber identity (USIM), each associated with subscriber identification. Typically, the subscriber identification is provided in a standardized format such as international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI). The type of networks (20) which may be used for establishing connection includes but not limited to a wireless network which include wireless local area network (WLAN) with the example of Wifi and WiMax, and cellular networks with the example of General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), 3G, High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HDPA), High Speed Packet Access (HSPA), and 4G. The preferred wireless network for the present invention is a cellular network for which the accessibility is provided by a service provider.

Figure 2 shows that the plurality of networks being in communication with the system (10) of the present invention which is the pseudo network interface. In a preferred embodiment, each of the plurality of networks (20) is provided by a service provider via a universal subscriber identity (USIM) which is associated with an International mobile subscriber identity module (IMSI). In a preferred embodiment, the pseudo network interface maintains simultaneous communication with the plurality of networks (20) via point to point protocol (PPP) so that the connection parameters of the plurality of networks (20) can be monitored readily without delay.

The present invention also relates to a method for selecting a network (20) for establishing connection to a device (30). According to Figure 3, the method of the present invention comprises the general steps of initializing the device (30) and network (20)(1 1 1 ), generating a network criterion for each network (20)(1 12), and switching network (20) within the plurality of networks (20)(1 13).

Figure 4 shows in detail the process of generating a network criterion for each of the plurality of networks (20). The method is initiated by having the data collector (1 1 ) gathering connection parameters of each of the plurality of networks (20)(121 ). Then, the connection parameters of the plurality of networks (20) are received by the network engine (12) to determine the performance of each of the networks (20), wherein the connection parameters are mapped (122) according to a hysteresis model as implemented (123) by the hysteresis engine (13) to generate a network criterion. The network criterion generated is updated to the routing database (14)(124). The steps of gathering connection parameters and updating the network criterion to the routing database (14) are repeated periodically to monitor the parameters (125) of the plurality of networks (20).

The process of switching network (20) within the plurality of networks (20) is herein described in accordance to Figure 5. The process is carried out by a system provided in a pseudo network interface (131 ). The network criterion which is generated (132) by the network engine (12) are evaluated and compared (133) among the plurality of networks (20), so that the best network is selected by the routing database (14). If it is determined that no switching is required after compared by the routing database (14), the network engine (12) will continue in monitoring the connection parameters and generating the network criterion (132). If the best network selected is not the currently connected network, switching of the connected network is carried out. The switching of connected network involves configuring and selecting new network (20) by the routing database (14)(134), follows by disseminating new network information to the switching engine (15)(135). Switching of network is then performed by the switching engine (15)(136). The plurality of networks (20) is continually monitored so that the device (30) is always connected to a network with the most desired connection qualities. Although the present invention has been described in a specific embodiment as in the above description, it is understood that the above description does not limit the invention to the above given details. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modification may be made therein without departing from the principle of the invention or from the scope of the appended claims.

Claims

1 . A system (10) for selecting a network (20) for establishing connection to a device (30), comprising:

a data collector (1 1 ) for gathering connection parameters of a plurality of networks (20);

a network engine (12) for receiving the connection parameters of the plurality of networks (20) and determining the performance of the plurality of networks (20); and

a switching engine (15) for switching the network (20) for establishing connection to the device (30);

characterized in that the system (10) further comprises a hysteresis engine (13) connected to the network engine (12) for implementing hysteresis modelling on the connection parameters to generate a network criterion as an indication of the performance of the plurality of networks (20).

2. A system (10) for selecting a network (20) for establishing connection to a device (30) according to claim 1 , wherein the system (10) is implemented in the form of a pseudo network interface which resides in the device (30).

3. A system (10) for selecting a network (20) for establishing connection to a device (30) according to claim 2, wherein the pseudo network interface is in communication with the plurality of networks (20) via point-to-point protocol for receiving the connection parameters.

4. A system (10) for selecting a network (20) for establishing connection to a device (30) according to claim 3, wherein each of the plurality of networks is associated with a subscriber identification.

5. A system (10) for selecting a network (20) for establishing connection to a device (30) according to claim 1 , wherein the connection parameters include any one or a combination of signal level, data rate, and link speed.

6. A system (10) for selecting a network (20) for establishing connection to a device (30) according to claim 1 , wherein the system (10) further comprises a routing database (14) for comparing the network criterion of the plurality of networks (20) and determining the network (20) for establishing connection.

7. A method for selecting a network (20) for establishing connection to a device (30), comprising

gathering information by a data collector (1 1 ) wherein the information comprises the connection parameters of a plurality of networks (20)(121 );

receiving the connection parameters of the plurality of networks (20) and determining the performance of the plurality of networks (20) by a network engine (12); and

switching the network (20) for establishing connection to the device (30) by a switching engine (15) (136) according to the performance of the plurality of networks (20),

characterized in that the performance of the plurality of networks (20) is determined by implementing hysteresis modelling on the connection parameters to generate a network criterion (123) as an indication of the performance of the plurality of networks (20).

8. A method for selecting a network (20) for establishing connection to a device (30) according to claim 7, wherein the method further comprising comparing the plurality of networks (20) based on the generated network criterion by a routing database (14)(133).

9. A method for selecting a network (20) for establishing connection to a device (30) according to claim 8, wherein the method further comprising configuring and selecting a network (20) by the routing database (14)(134) for replacing the currently connected network.

10. A method for selecting a network (20) for establishing connection to a device (30) according to claim 7, wherein the gathering of information on the connection parameters of the plurality of networks (20) and determining performance of the plurality of networks (20) is performed periodically (125).