Microsoft Technology Licensing, LLC

Microsoft Corporation—one Microsoft Way

Neil A Deason

Amer A Hassan

Carl S Olivier

Roy D Kuntz

Subramanian Chandrasekaran

Techniques for location source ranking for determining device location are described. A location source generally refers to a source of position information (e.g., GPS coordinates, latitude and longitude, street addresses, and so forth) that can be used to determine a geographical location of a device. According to one or more embodiments, location sources and/or combinations of location sources can be ranked based on various criteria. Thus, when a location is requested for a particular device, a highest ranking available location source or combination of location sources can be selected to determine a location of the device. Location source rankings, for instance, can be maintained on a client device and/or via a remote location-related service. According to various embodiments, a location of a device can be determined to enable emergency assistance to be provided at the location.

Location source ranking for determining device location

Techniques for policies for selecting sources for resource strings are described. Generally, a resource string refers to a set of characters that can be used to initiate communication with a particular resource. According to one or more embodiments, techniques discussed herein enable resource strings to be determined at different locations, e.g., geographic locations. In at least some embodiments, string source policies are implemented that specify parameters for selecting a source from which to obtain resource strings. According to one or more embodiments, string profiles are implemented that specify resource strings that correspond to particular resources and/or types of resources.

Policies for selecting sources for resource strings

The present invention extends to methods, systems, and computer program products for admitting calls based on endpoint locations. Embodiments of the invention can be used to map (e.g., IP) subnets of an enterprise to the location where the subnets are managed in the network. A call admission control decision is then based on the subnets where endpoints (e.g., IP nodes) are currently located (as opposed to where users that use the endpoints are homed at). Embodiments of the invention can use just in time location detection. That is, endpoint locations can be detected just before a bandwidth policy decision is made. Detecting locations just before a bandwidth policy decision increases the likelihood of making an appropriate bandwidth policy decision.

Admitting calls based on endpoint locations

Described herein are embodiments for setting, managing, and monitoring connection policies for a plurality of network paths from a first endpoint to a second endpoint. In embodiments, a set of candidate addresses from a first endpoint and a set of candidate addresses from a second endpoint are received. Each candidate address of the first endpoint is paired with each candidate address of the second endpoint to create a plurality of candidate address pairs. Each candidate address pair has an associated network path. The network path is the route by which data flows to and from the various endpoints. Once all network paths between each candidate address pair have been determined, a connection policy is set for each network address pair and the associated network path.

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Kirkland, WA, United States of America

Neil A Deason