Location assisted service capability monitoring

摘要

A digitally stored map can indicate the signal quality for each of the map's regions. A device can determine its location, speed, and direction using global positioning system (GPS) and other sensors. Based on this information, the mobile device can predict a field of locations within which the device will probably be located within a specified future time frame. Based on both the information indicating signal quality and the probable future field of locations, the device can estimate a moment at which the device will probably begin to suffer from low-quality or absent signal. Using this prediction, the device can proactively perform a variety of anticipatory remedial actions. For example, the device can begin allocating a greater portion of currently available wireless network communication bandwidth to the reception of data packets that represent content that is being streamed to the device, so that the device can proactively buffer those packets.

主权项

1. A method of obtaining relevant wireless network communication signal quality map data, the method comprising:
detecting, at a mobile device, that the mobile device is traveling along a particular path; in response to detecting that the mobile device is traveling along the particular path, determining one or more regions, of a plurality of regions of a map, that are intersected by the particular path; wirelessly downloading to the mobile device, from a server, a set of one or more map tiles that correspond to the one or more regions that are intersected by the particular path; wherein the set of one or more map tiles:
excludes map tiles that do not correspond to the one or more regions that are intersected by the particular path; andare based at least in part on measurements that the server received from two or more mobile devices of a plurality of mobile devices, the measurements indicating qualities of network communication signals within the one or more regions that are intersected by the particular path; and based on at least in part on the measurements, sending one or more notifications to one or more applications.