Mobile Device Home Cell Detection via Traversed Path Comparison
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Solution Overview
Problem
Mobile devices face challenges in efficiently detecting home cells, such as femtocells and Wi-Fi access points, due to the lack of broadcast identification and limited neighbor cell information from macro cells, leading to increased battery consumption and reduced battery life during frequent and inefficient scanning.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that involves storing traversed paths by the mobile device to infer relative proximity to a target cell, allowing for optimized scanning by adjusting search frequency based on stored and current path comparisons, applicable to both same and different radio access technologies.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If mobile devices perform frequent scanning to detect home cells, then the detection reliability is improved, but battery consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by storing traversed paths and macro cell information in advance. When detecting home cells, the mobile device compares current macro cell sequences against stored paths to infer proximity to target cells, eliminating the need for continuous frequent scanning and reducing battery consumption while maintaining detection reliability
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces macro cell traversal paths as an intermediary element. Instead of directly scanning for home cells (which consumes high battery), the system uses macro cell sequences as mediators to indirectly infer the presence and proximity of target home cells, thereby reducing direct scanning frequency and energy consumption
2Speed
If mobile devices perform frequent scanning to detect home cells, then the detection speed is improved, but battery life is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The system performs preliminary actions by storing traversed paths and macro cell information in advance. When detecting home cells, the mobile device compares current macro cell sequences against stored paths to infer proximity to target cells, eliminating the need for continuous frequent scanning and reducing battery consumption while maintaining detection reliability
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of continuous scanning, the system implements periodic action by only initiating home cell detection when specific conditions are met (e.g., when the mobile device traverses a stored path sequence). This periodic, event-driven approach maintains detection capability while significantly extending battery life compared to continuous scanning
3Loss of information
If macro cells broadcast neighbor cell information, then the information completeness is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary information (macro cell identification and traversal sequence) from the complex neighbor cell broadcasting problem. Instead of requiring complete neighbor cell lists, the system extracts minimal path information that suffices for inferring home cell proximity, thereby reducing information overload and system complexity
Data Source
AI summary
A method for detecting a target cell by a mobile device, the method comprising storing traversed paths of the mobile device, the stored traversed paths each comprising information to identify cells in a sequence of cells traversed by the mobile device referenced to the target cell, compiling information identifying cells traversed by the device in real time to produce current path information, comparing the current path information to the stored traversed paths and inferring from the comparison a relative proximity of the mobile device to the target cell and adapting a search for the target cell based on the relative proximity.