WLAN Profile Scanning via Cellular Cell Location
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Solution Overview
Problem
WLAN client devices experience reduced battery life due to excessive power consumption during scanning for wireless local area networks, especially when multiple profiles are scanned, leading to increased time in sleep states and scanning cycles.
Innovation Solution
The client device prioritizes scanning for WLAN profiles based on cellular network cell location, scanning more frequently for profiles previously connected within the cell and less frequently for other profiles, using cell-specific records to manage sleep intervals and partition profiles into groups based on connection history.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the client device scans for all WLAN profiles sequentially, then the device can identify all possible networks, but the power consumption increases and battery life decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent segments the WLAN profiles into multiple groups based on priority levels. High-priority profiles are scanned more frequently and with higher probability, while low-priority profiles are scanned less frequently. This segmentation allows the device to focus scanning resources on the most important networks, reducing overall power consumption while maintaining reliable identification of critical networks.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements periodic scanning with variable intervals based on profile priority. Instead of uniform scanning, the device uses different sleep intervals for different profile groups, creating a periodic scanning pattern that adapts to network importance. This reduces the total scanning time and power consumption while ensuring high-priority networks are detected reliably.
2Reliability
If the device increases scanning frequency for all profiles, then network connectivity is maintained, but battery life is reduced due to increased power consumption
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local quality by assigning different scanning frequencies and priorities to different WLAN profiles based on their importance and historical connection data. High-priority profiles receive more scanning resources and shorter sleep intervals, while low-priority profiles receive fewer resources. This localized differentiation maintains connectivity for critical networks while conserving battery life overall.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent dynamically changes scanning parameters such as sleep interval duration and scanning probability based on profile priority and connection history. The system adjusts these parameters to optimize the balance between connectivity reliability and power consumption, extending battery life while maintaining necessary network connections.
3Reliability
If the device scans all profiles with equal frequency, then no profile is missed, but the scanning efficiency and power utilization are suboptimal
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces dynamic scanning behavior where the scanning frequency and probability for each profile group are adjusted based on priority levels and connection history. The system transitions from static equal-frequency scanning to dynamic adaptive scanning, improving efficiency by allocating more resources to high-priority profiles and fewer resources to low-priority profiles, while maintaining detection of all profiles over time.
Data Source
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AI summary
A wireless device (102, 900) capable of wireless local area network (WLAN) communications and cellular network communications stores profiles (930) of wireless local area networks. The device (102, 900) identifies in which cell (110, 116, 122) of a cellular network the device (102, 900) is currently located, and then scans more frequently for wireless local area networks matching profiles (930) to which, previously, the device (102, 900) has connected while located in the cell (110, 116, 122), than for wireless local area networks matching other profiles (930).