Sprint Spectrum L.p.

Srikanth Pulugurta

Siddharth S Oroskar

Maulik K Shah

Anoop Kumar Goyal

In one aspect, an exemplary method involves a WCD: (i) determining a likelihood of roaming, wherein the likelihood of roaming indicates a likelihood that the WCD will be handed off from a preferred coverage area to a non-preferred coverage area; and (ii) using the likelihood of roaming as a basis for managing an active set of the WCD. In particular, the WCD may manage its active set by setting at least one active-set parameter affecting the number of active sectors in an active set of the WCD, and then maintaining its active set according to the setting of the at least one active-set parameter. According to an exemplary embodiment, a WCD will make an effort to increase the number of sectors in its active set when the likelihood of roaming is greater, and vice versa.

Active set management based on the likelihood of a mobile station roaming

Methods and systems are disclosed herein that may be used to share transmit-power information between mobile stations. An exemplary method involves a first mobile station: (i) determining a verified transmit power (VTP) for the first mobile station; (ii) using the VTP to generate a transmit-power message, wherein the transmit-power message is usable to determine an initial transmit power (ITP) for the second mobile station; and (iii) the first mobile station sending the transmit-power message to at least the second mobile station. For instance, the first mobile station may set the ITP for the second mobile station equal to the VTP for the first mobile station, and include an indication of the ITP in the transmit-power message. Alternatively, the first mobile station may calculate the ITP for the second mobile station by adjusting its VTP according to the ratio of the distance between the second mobile station and the serving base station, and the distance between the first mobile station and the serving base station.

Determination of initial transmit power based on shared transmit-power information

Methods and systems are provided for transitioning an active communication session of a mobile station from being conducted over a communication path that includes a source base station to being conducted over a communication path that includes a target base station, without terminating the communication session. A wireless communication device situated within a source coverage area of a source base station operates as a clone of the mobile station that is situated within a source coverage area of the source base station and also within a target coverage area of the target base station. The transition involves the clone relaying the communication session between the source base station and the mobile station; meanwhile, the target base station (i) establishes an air-interface connection with the mobile station and (ii) detects a handoff-completion trigger, and responsively serves the mobile station over the air-interface connection with respect to the communication session.

Methods and systems for transitioning a communication session from a source base station to a target base station without terminating the session

When a roaming wireless communication device seeks to originate a communication, the device may originate the communication in a roaming system because the device has not yet run a next scheduled scan for a more preferred, home, system. In the disclosed method, the device may evaluate a current distance from where the device was located when it successfully communicated to a home system and may further evaluate a current duration from that successful communication. If the distance is threshold short and perhaps further if the duration is threshold short, then the device may originate the communication in the home system without having detected the home system through a scheduled rescan. Further, to help expedite origination, the device may set its origination power at the power that it used for the last successful communication.

Method and apparatus for origination based on distance and duration

Disclosed is a method and apparatus for managing transmission of messages such as SMS messages. A device will determine based on access probe count history whether to transmit a message on a reverse access channel or on a reverse traffic channel, and the device will transmit the message accordingly.

Management of message transmission in a wireless communication device

A method and system for reducing latency by anticipating responsive data communications is described. When the user of a first mobile station receives a message sent from a second mobile station, the user of the first mobile station may responsively reply. If, before the reply is sent, the second mobile station releases its network radio link and goes dormant, the reply may be delayed as the radio link is set up again after the reply is sent. To reduce this latency, the first mobile station may monitor its user's actions and, upon an indication that the user intends to soon reply to the earlier received message, the first mobile station may send a signal into the network which causes the second mobile station to maintain its radio link or to set up a new radio link if it has gone dormant.

Method and device for reducing latency by anticipating responsive data communications

A first serving system that serves a first serving area receives a request to connect a call to a mobile station having a last reported location corresponding to a border area. The border area is proximal to a second service area that is served by a second serving system. The first serving system pages the mobile station in a first paging zone in the first service area. If the probability of successfully paging the mobile station in a second paging zone in the second service area is sufficiently high, the first serving system may also have the mobile station paged in the second paging zone by transmitting an inter-system page request to the second serving system. To determine the probability, the first serving system may look up a historical success rate for successfully paging in the second paging zone mobile stations having last reported locations corresponding to the border area.

Method and system for paging a mobile station

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for adjusting the paging-scheme settings of a switch in an effort to reduce the likelihood that a wireless device roams from a preferred to a non-preferred coverage area. One exemplary method involves: (i) a switch in a radio access network (RAN) determining that a wireless communication device (WCD) should be paged, wherein the WCD is operating in a preferred coverage area; (ii) the switch determining a likelihood of roaming for the first WCD, wherein the likelihood of roaming indicates the likelihood that the first WCD will be handed off from the preferred coverage area to a non-preferred coverage area; (iii) based at least in part on the likelihood of roaming, the switch adjusting at least one paging-scheme setting affecting attempts to page the WCD; and (iv) paging the WCD according to the at least one adjusted paging-scheme setting.

Paging scheme settings of switch based on likelihood of roaming

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for an access-provisioning node, which may help mobile stations utilize network resources more efficiently when accessing a radio access network. An exemplary method involves: (a) at an access-provisioning node installed in a coverage area of a radio access network, determining a verified transmit power for reverse-link communications from the system-information node to a base station in the radio access network, wherein the reverse link communications are carried out under a first wireless protocol; and (b) the access-provisioning node transmitting a transmit-power message under a second wireless protocol, wherein the second wireless protocol is a short-range wireless protocol, and wherein the transmit-power message comprises an indication of the verified transmit power for use by a mobile station to set an initial transmit power of the mobile station.

Access-provisioning node in a radio access network

Exemplary methods and systems are disclosed herein to adjust active-set parameters based on the remaining battery life of a mobile station, generally in order to conserve battery power when the battery is low. An exemplary method involves: (a) a mobile station determining a battery-power level of the mobile station; (b) the mobile station using the determined battery-power level as a basis for setting at least one active-set parameter affecting the number of active sectors in an active set of the mobile station; and (c) the mobile station maintaining the active set according to the at least one active-set parameter. In an exemplary embodiment, the mobile station may set a maximum number of active sectors that the mobile station can include in the active set and/or parameters affecting whether a sector is included in the active set.

Active set management based on mobile station battery power

A method and system in which a wireless communication device that is registered for service with a roaming carrier network engages in peer-to-peer communication, via the roaming carrier network, with a home carrier server to notify the home carrier server of the device's roaming status and location. The home carrier server then determines that no home carrier base station provides coverage at the reported location, and the home carrier server responsively reconfigures (e.g., directs or causes one or more entities to reconfigure) a nearby home carrier base station so as to provide coverage at the reported location. And the device then receives in response from the home carrier server a directive to register with and be served by the nearby home carrier base station instead and transitions to be served by the nearby home carrier base station.

Redirection of a roaming wireless communication device and nearby home base station to achieve home carrier service

Exemplary methods and systems may be used by a mobile station to request that a sector be removed from its active set, and by a radio access network (RAN) to facilitate such a request. An exemplary method involves (a) a mobile station receiving a congestion indicator in each active sector of an active set of the mobile station, wherein the congestion indicators are received from a RAN; (b) the mobile station using the received congestion indicators as a basis for selecting at least one high-congestion sector from the active set; and (c) the mobile station providing an indication of the at least one high-congestion sector to the RAN. Further, the mobile station may perform steps (b)-(c) in response to a determination that the battery power for the mobile station is below the threshold level.

Mobile-station-initiated removal of a high-congestion sector from the active set

A method, apparatus, and system in which a wireless communication device that is registered for service with a roaming carrier network engages in peer-to-peer communication, via the roaming carrier network, with a home carrier server to notify the home carrier server of the device's roaming status and location, and the device then receives in response from the home carrier server a directive to register with and be served by a nearby home carrier base station instead.

Growing community of inventors

Overland Park, KS, United States of America

Srikanth Pulugurta