Method for selecting an air interface using an access list on a multi-mode wireless device

Abstract

Application-specific access lists are provided for a multimode mobile wireless device. The multimode mobile device has an access list for each wireless technology. Typically, these technology specific access lists are standard for each technology, and are provided by a service provider or the manufacturer of the multimode mobile device. For each application the multimode wireless device is a likely to operate, an application-specific access list is generated. The application-specific access list ranks the wireless technologies according to its relative desirability for the application. In this way, when the multimode mobile device request an application, the application-specific access list may be used to efficiently acquire a network preferred for that particular application. The application-specific access lists may be updated from time to time as applications are added or changed, as technology specific access lists are updated, or as geographic location changes.

1 . A method for selecting an air interface on a multi-mode wireless device capable of communicating over a plurality of air interfaces, the method comprising: 
 accessing a plurality of technology specific access lists, each technology specific access list defining networks for a respective wireless technology;    ranking the networks according to application specific criteria, the networks selected from a plurality of wireless technologies; and    generating a set of application specific access lists based on the ranking.    
   
   
       2 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 requesting an application;    selecting the application specific access list corresponding to the application;    searching the selected application specific access list to find an active network; and    acquiring the active network.    
   
   
       3 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising storing the set of application specific access lists on the multi-mode wireless device.  
   
   
       4 . The method of  claim 3  wherein the storing the set of application specific access lists further comprises downloading the set of application specific access lists using an over an air interface.  
   
   
       5 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising storing the plurality of technology specific access lists on a remote server.  
   
   
       6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the ranking the networks comprises: 
 assigning each of the networks a priority based on its suitability for a particular application; and    storing the priority in a data structure.    
   
   
       7 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising selecting networks based on suitability for a particular application.  
   
   
       8 . The method of  claim 1  further comprising: 
 determining a geographic region of the multi-mode wireless device; and    selecting networks according to the determined geographic region.    
   
   
       9 . The method of  claim 8  wherein the determining the geographic region comprises utilizing GPS.  
   
   
       10 . The method of  claim 8 , further comprising acquiring a network.  
   
   
       11 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the set of application specific access lists include at least one of a voice list, a data list, a high-speed data list, a low speed data list, a security list, a mobility list, and a voice-over-IP list.  
   
   
       12 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the plurality of technology specific access lists include at least one of cdma2000 1×, 1×EV-DO, GPRS, GSM, GPRS, PHS, WiMax, and WLAN.  
   
   
       13 . A multi-mode wireless device comprising: 
 a processor coupled to a memory;    at least one wireless transceiver coupled to the processor for communicating over a plurality of wireless technologies;    programming stored on the memory and executed by the processor for performing the method of: 
 accessing a plurality of technology specific access lists, each technology specific access list defining networks for a respective wireless technology;  
 ranking the networks according to application specific criteria, the networks selected from the plurality of wireless technologies; and  
 generating a set of application specific access lists based on the ranking.  
   
   
   
       14 . The device of  claim 13 , wherein the method further comprises: 
 requesting an application;    selecting the application specific access list corresponding to the application;    searching the selected application specific access list to find an active network; and    acquiring the active network.    
   
   
       15 . The device of  claim 13 , wherein the ranking the networks comprises: 
 assigning each of the networks a priority based on its suitability for a particular application; and    storing the priority in a data structure.    
   
   
       16 . The device of  claim 13 , wherein the method further comprise selecting networks based on suitability for a particular application.  
   
   
       17 . The device of  claim 13 , wherein the method further comprising: 
 determining a geographic region of the multi-mode wireless device; and    selecting networks according to the determined geographic region.    
   
   
       18 . An access list in computer readable format stored on a computer readable medium, the access list comprising: 
 a first entry identifying a first network selected according to application operating requirements; and    a second entry identifying a second network selected according to the application operating requirements.    
   
   
       19 . The access list of  claim 18 , wherein the first network and the second network operate according to different wireless technologies.  
   
   
       20 . The access list of  claim 18 , wherein the first network and the second network are ranked according to a priority.  
   
   
       21 . The access list of  claim 18 , wherein the predefined application operating requirements are defined for a specific application.  
   
   
       22 . The access list of  claim 18 , wherein the access list is stored in a memory of a multi-mode wireless device.  
   
   
       23 . The access list of  claim 18 , wherein the access list is stored in a memory of a server.  
   
   
       24 . The access list of  claim 18 , wherein the access list is in the form of a transmission packets.