Patent ID: 8812051
Filing Date: 2014-08-19
Classification: B29D,E05D,E05Y,G02B,G06F,G06G,G06T,G09G,H04B,H04M,H04N,H04W,H05K,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A wireless communication device, comprising: a display to provide graphical information to a user; a cellular telephony module to access at least one cellular network; a wireless communication module to access at least one non-cellular network; an antenna configured to be in wireless communication with a plurality of compatible and currently accessible communication networks, the plurality of compatible and currently accessible communication networks comprising the at least one cellular network and at least one non-cellular network; a power source and power control module operable to provide power to the device; and a mobile network selector operable to perform one of the following sets of operations: provide, by the display, to a user of the wireless communication device, for an identified compatible and currently accessible communication network, network information comprising one or more of network speed, network reliability, network performance, network bandwidth, network throughput, and data transmission cost and receive, from the user for wireless communications by the wireless communication device, a selected compatible and currently accessible communication network from among the plurality of compatible and currently accessible communication networks; receive, from the user, a selection of at least one of a preferred network characteristic to be used in selecting, for wireless communications by the wireless communication device, a compatible and currently accessible communication network from among the plurality of compatible and currently accessible communication networks; and provide, by the display, to the user, an indicator of which network characteristic was selected by the user to be used by the mobile network selector in selecting, for wireless communications by the wireless communication device, a compatible and currently accessible communication network from among the plurality of compatible and currently accessible communication networks; and wherein the at least one non-cellular network is defined by one of the following protocols: Wimax, WiFi™, and Bluetooth™, wherein the at least one cellular network is defined by at least one of the following radio data communication protocols: HIPERMAN, iBurst, EDGE Evolution, EV-DO, Flash-OFDM, 1G, 2G, 2.5G, 2.75G, 3G, pre-4G, 4G, 5G, UMTS W-CDMA, and UMTS-TDD; and wherein the mobile network selector compares network state information for each of the compatible, currently accessible wireless network with at least one data transmission resource requirement for an application, service, transaction, and/or user preference, based on predetermined rules and determines if one or more of the compatible, currently accessible networks can satisfy the at least one data transmission resource requirement, wherein the at least one data transmission resource requirement comprises multiple requirements ranked hierarchically in order of importance, such that, if a highest ranked requirement is satisfied, but a second highest ranked requirement is not satisfied, by a selected compatible and currently accessible network, the selected compatible and currently accessible network is eligible for selection and wherein the at least one data transmission requirement comprises one or more of data transmission speed required for adequate performance, network reliability required for adequate performance, total network resources consumed or to be consumed, network performance, and network data usage cost per unit.