Wireless Communication Device Capable of Efficient Network Search

Abstract

A wireless communication device is disclosed that is capable of performing efficient network searching. Specifically, by utilizing its location information and accessing stored cell information, the device can streamline searching. Further, if a full search is to be performed, the device receives information from multiple radio access technologies together, and processes the received information digitally in order to search the individual radio access technologies. In addition, the device is capable of performing efficient 4G searches by setting its RF module to capture information of multiple raster points simultaneously within a search band, and shifting the search band so as not to duplicatively search raster points.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A wireless communication device, comprising:
 a radio module configured to transmit information to, and receive information from a wireless communication environment;   a location module configured to attempt to determine a location of the wireless communication device;   a memory for storing a plurality of detected cells, together with corresponding cell information; and   a controller module configured to initiate a coordinated network search by selecting a first cell from among the plurality of stored cells based on the location of the wireless communication device and controlling the radio module based on the cell information of the first cell.   
     
     
         2 . The wireless communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the memory further stores locations of each of the plurality of detected cells. 
     
     
         3 . The wireless communication device of  claim 2 , wherein the controller module is configured to determine, based on the locations of the stored plurality of detected cells, a set of local cells from among the stored plurality of detected cells by comparing the locations of each of the stored plurality of cells to the location of the wireless communication device. 
     
     
         4 . The wireless communication device of  claim 3 , wherein the set of local cells are cells whose distance from the wireless communication device, based on the locations of each of the stored plurality of cells and the location of the wireless communication device, does not exceed a predetermined threshold. 
     
     
         5 . The wireless communication device of  claim 1 , further comprising a sorting module,
 wherein the controller module is configured to select a plurality of candidate cells from among the stored plurality of cells, the plurality of candidate cells including the first cell, and   wherein the sorting module is configured to sort the plurality of candidate cells based on a parameter.   
     
     
         6 . The wireless communication device of  claim 1 , wherein the stored plurality of detected cells include cells that have provided communication service to the wireless communication device. 
     
     
         7 . The wireless communication device of  claim 6 , wherein the stored plurality of detected cells include cells that were discovered from a network search and did not provide communication service to the wireless communication device. 
     
     
         8 . The wireless communication device of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 an analog-to-digital converter; and   a mixing module,   wherein the radio module has a center frequency and a bandwidth so as cause the radio module to receive a combined analog signal from the wireless communication environment, the combined analog signal including a first analog signal of a first radio access technology and a second analog signal of a second radio access technology,   wherein the analog-to-digital converter is configured to convert the combined analog signal to a combined digital signal, the combined digital signal including a first digital signal representative of the first analog signal and a second digital signal representative of the second analog signal, and   wherein the mixing module is configured to digitally extract the first digital signal and the second digital signal from the combined digital signal.   
     
     
         9 . The wireless communication device of  claim 8 , wherein the mixing module includes:
 a first mixer configured to digitally mix the combined digital signal with a center frequency of the first radio access technology to generate a first mixed signal; and   a second mixer configured to digitally mix the combined digital signal with a center frequency of the second radio access technology to generate a second mixed signal.   
     
     
         10 . The wireless communication device of  claim 9 , wherein the first mixer is configured to extract the first digital signal by filtering the first mixed signal, and
 wherein the second mixer is configured to extract the second digital signal by filtering the second mixed signal.   
     
     
         11 . The wireless communication device of  claim 8 , further comprising a searching module configured to search the first radio access technology based on the extracted first digital signal and to search the second radio access technology based on the extracted second digital signal. 
     
     
         12 . The wireless communication device of  claim 11 , wherein the searching module is configured to search the second radio access technology based on information obtained during the search of the first radio access technology. 
     
     
         13 . The wireless communication device of  claim 8 , wherein the mixing module is configured to detect a first radio access technology base station in parallel with a second radio access technology base station based on the combined digital signal, and
 wherein the bandwidth of the receiver is set such that synchronization signals of multiple radio access technologies on a same center frequency are covered.   
     
     
         14 . A method for performing a coordinated search for a viable cell within a wireless communication environment by a wireless communication device, the method comprising:
 storing a plurality of detected cells together with corresponding cell information of the plurality of detected cells, each cell information including a location;   determining whether a location of the wireless communication device is available;   performing a first sorting a subset of the plurality of detected cells upon determining that the location of the wireless communication device is available, or a second sorting of the plurality of detected cells upon determining that the location of the wireless communication device is not available, so as to generated a sorted cell list; and   searching each of the cells of the sorted cell list in order until a viable cell is discovered or until the search has exhausted the sorted cell list.   
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the first sorting includes acquiring the location of the wireless communication device. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , further comprising selecting the subset of the plurality of detected cells by comparing the acquired location of the wireless communication device to the locations of each of the plurality of detected cells,
 wherein the subset of the plurality of detected cells includes cells from among the plurality of detected cells whose locations are within a predetermined distance from acquired location of the wireless communication device.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the second sorting sorts the plurality of cells based on an elapsed time since connection with the wireless communication device. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 14 , wherein the sorted cell list is generated with cells on a same or similar center frequency grouped together. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 14 , further comprising performing a full network search after the sorted cell list has been exhausted without discovering the viable cell. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the full network search includes first searching a center frequency of a last cell for non-stored cells.