Research in Motion Corporation

Blackberry Corporation

Tom Nagy

Leonardo Salomone

Arjuna Sivasithambaresa

Matt Milardovic

Rudy Eugene Rawlins

Michael Peter Montemurro

Michael Montemuro

Method and apparatus for scanning a radio frequency band in a mobile communication device without knowing regulatory information. A processor of the mobile communication device utilizes a wireless transceiver to scan the RF band using a passive scan operation on an RF channel having a passive scan status. During the passive scan operation, the processor attempts to decode an information frame on the RF channel. In response to successfully decoding an information frame, the processor changes the passive scan status of the RF channel to an active scan status, and causes an active scan operation to be performed on the RF channel having the active scan status. The scanning process may continue until the regulatory information for the RF band is received.

Methods and apparatus for scanning radio frequency bands in wireless local area networks

A system and method are provided for monitoring the quality of a communication session with a mobile device. Should the communication session degrade, rather than dropping the communication session the user of a device communicating with the mobile device is prompted to wait while an attempt is made to improve the quality of the communication session. Similarly if the user of the mobile device moves out of a coverage area, rather than dropping the communication session the user of the device communicating with the mobile device is prompted to wait until a new communication session can be established.

Soliciting first party in communication session to maintain call when degradation of connection to second party is anticipated

In a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), roaming from one access point to another by a mobile station without interruption to network service may be facilitated by frequently performing background scans to find neighboring access points while the mobile station is associated to the WLAN. Frequent background scanning, however, depletes battery life. By dynamically adjusting the background scanning interval during the mobile station's association to the WLAN, the mobile station's immediate need for network connectivity performance may be met, while simultaneously prolonging battery life. For example, by using a shorter background scanning interval during a telephone conversation, network connectivity performance may be maintained throughout the call. Longer background scanning intervals may be used during periods when interruptions to network connectivity may be better tolerated.

Adjustment of background scanning interval based on network usage

Methods and apparatus for use in reducing power consumption in battery-powered mobile communication devices in wireless local area networks (WLANs) are described. In one illustrative example, a mobile device in a WLAN is configured to normally refrain from receiving broadcast messages so that it may remain in a low power mode of operation. A network server is configured to convert broadcast messages into unicast messages for receipt by the mobile device only if the message or protocol type of the broadcast message is one in which the mobile device needs to process. As the mobile device is still configured to receive unicast messages, it will receive and decode such a unicast message and process the broadcast information within it accordingly. Advantageously, battery power is conserved at the mobile device.

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Waterloo, Canada

Leonardo Salomone