Abstract:
According to a current user location, at least one favorable user location in the vicinity of a respective current user location for a mobile terminal is, as a suggestion for changing location, determined from communications requests for at least one respective application and from available network services in the vicinity of the current user location by virtue of the fact that, in favorable locations, network services can be more efficiently and/or economically used.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
       [0001]    This application is the US National Stage of International Application No. PCT/EP2005/052659, filed Jun. 9, 2005 and claims the benefit thereof. The International Application claims the benefits of German application No. 102004031132.3 DE filed Jun. 28, 2004, both of the applications are incorporated by reference herein in their entirety. 
     
    
     FIELD OF INVENTION 
       [0002]    The invention relates to a method and arrangement in which a favorable selection of a location with improved network access or possibly an associated change of location makes it possible for a user of a mobile terminal to use network services in a more efficient and/or more cost-effective way. 
       BACKGROUND OF INVENTION 
       [0003]    Previously what is referred as a handover between different networks or parts of networks has occurred spontaneously, e.g. according to signal strength, and/or at the instigation of a user. 
       SUMMARY OF INVENTION 
       [0004]    An underlying object of the invention now involves specifying a method and an arrangement for determining at least one suggestion for a change of location for a user of a mobile terminal so that it is made possible for him to use network services in a more efficient or more cost-effective way. 
         [0005]    In accordance with the invention the object is achieved by the features of the independent claims. The dependent claims relate to advantageous embodiments of the method in accordance with the invention and to the inventive device. 
         [0006]    The invention essentially involves, depending on a respective current user location, on communication requirements of at least one relevant application and on available network services in the vicinity of the current user location, determining at least one favorable user location in the vicinity of a relevant current user location for a mobile terminal as a suggestion for a change of location, with more efficient and more cost-effective use being able to be made of network services in favorable locations. 
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING 
       [0007]    The invention will be explained in greater detail below with reference to a sole drawing of an exemplary embodiment of a mobile terminal in accordance with the present invention. 
     
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF INVENTION 
       [0008]    A mobile terminal M, through a built-in method or through services of a mobile radio network, provides the application App with an implementation of the following units or interfaces:
       A unit or interface User, to inform the user of the terminal about a suggested change of location, for example via the display of the terminal.   A unit or interface Handover, with which a handover of the unit or interface Data mentioned below to another mobile radio network, e.g. from GSM to WLAN, can be initiated, or with which the terminal M can inform an application about such a handover.   A unit or interface Data, with which the application can exchange data with the Internet for example.   A unit or interface Pos, with which the application can determine the current geographical position of the terminal.   A unit or interface NetCaps, with which the application can request the characteristics of the mobile network currently able to be reached via the terminal M, for example its bandwidth, costs or quality-of-service characteristics.   A unit or interface NetServices, with which the application, depending on the current position of the user, can request the mobile user services available in the vicinity, for example. GSM, UMTS, WLAN, LAN, Bluetooth, locally or from a server, location information about these services as well as the capabilities of these network services.       
 
         [0015]    The stated functionality of the stated interfaces can in this case be implemented locally at the terminal or in a distributed architecture at a number of terminals of the user and/or corresponding components (servers) in the network. 
         [0016]    If the application App now wishes to perform a data transfer, it executes the following:
       1. The application App uses the unit or interface NetCaps, to check whether the capabilities of a network available at the current location are sufficient for undertaking the data transfer. If necessary the application App requests via the unit or interface User a confirmation from the user, for example when the corresponding data transfer would be possible at the current location but would be very expensive.   2. If a change of location is necessary or desired, the application App requests via the unit or interface Pos the current position of the terminal, and then executes the following steps 3.8; if not it continues directly with step 6.   3. Using the unit or interface NetServices, the application App requests the network services possible in the vicinity and, depending on the requirements for the data transfer, possible preferences of the user etc., determines one or more locations to be suggested to the user as a new location.   4. The application App outputs these locations via the unit or interface User and suggests that the user move to a WLAN hotspot for example.   5. As soon as the user has reached this location or another suitable location, the application App recognizes this from the position information supplied on the unit or interface Pos and/or from the network services available via the unit or interface NetCaps.   6. The application App initiates via the unit or interface Handover a handover into the mobile radio network available at the new location with the desired capabilities or is informed by the unit or interface Handover by a built-in method of the terminal that such a handover has been undertaken.   7. The application App performs a data transfer using the unit or interface Data.   8. The application App informs the user via the unit or interface User after the end of the data transfer that he can leave the location, and where necessary causes a corresponding change of network via the unit or interface Handover.       
 
         [0025]    Further especially advantageous embodiments of the invention are specified below: 
         [0026]    The stated method is not executed by the individual applications but by a new component CapManager. The component CapManager collects the requirements of all applications with regard to data transfer, executes the above method and informs the application if a network service with the required capabilities is available. 
         [0027]    The requirements regarding transmission capacity are not determined by the application App itself but by the mobile terminal, for example as a result of the protocol used, the number of bytes exchanged or further information derived from the specific protocols and exchanged messages. If the terminal recognizes that a more extensive data transfer may possibly have to be undertaken, it executes the above method autonomously and stops the corresponding applications for the appropriate length of time if necessary. 
         [0028]    The above-mentioned method is integrated with a route planner or vehicle navigation system. This enables the planned route to be taken into account in step 3. Likewise a navigation system often has facilities for global positioning and can thus implement the above-mentioned unit or interface Pos. Similarly communication with the user can for example take place via the vehicle navigation system via the unit or interface User. 
         [0029]    The unit or interface NetServices will as a rule be implemented using central directory services. In addition such a directory can be maintained in the mobile terminal itself. Information about locations, services and their characteristics is constantly entered into this directory, so that, in the course of time, information is collected about locations frequented by the user. 
         [0030]    The method is implemented so that it can also work in off-line mode. In this case the directories needed are held in the terminal and the terminal then informs its user about the next WLAN hotspot even without a network connection. 
         [0031]    The application App is executed on a server in the network and informs the terminal through a corresponding message, e.g. through an SMS, about an impending data transfer. 
         [0032]    Instead of a precise geographical position, the position is determined roughly on the basis of characteristics of the data network currently used, for example on the basis of a GSM cell identification, a subnet mask of the IP network or on the basis of a MAC address or a network identification of a WLAN access point. 
         [0033]    A further option is a peer-to-peer approach, in which information about locations, services and their characteristics is exchanged directly or via a server for example between mobile terminals. 
         [0034]    The examples given here focus on wireless LANs, the stated methods can however easily be used to also direct a user for example into a UMTS cell with greater bandwidth. In such cases not only requirements of the end user but also requirements of the network operator are included in the method. For example it can be sensible for a network operator to direct an end user into a less heavily loaded network cell. 
         [0035]    The stated invention can for example be implemented with a PocketPC, which has a built-in e-mail client, a GRPS connection, a GPS system and a WLAN card. 
         [0036]    The e-mail client communicates with an e-mail server in the network and can request from the latter an e-mail to be loaded. If the size of the e-mail exceeds a certain threshold value, the e-mail client requests the position via the GPS system and submits an inquiry via GPRS to a server in the network, which returns a list of the WLAN access points in the immediate vicinity of the terminal. This list is suggested by the e-mail client to the user. The user can now decide whether to begin the download immediately—at higher cost for example—or whether to move to a location with WLAN access. As soon as WLAN access is established, the e-mail client recognizes this and begins to transmit the e-mail. 
         [0037]    A typical example of an application of the invention is a mobile user who is on the move with his automobile and with a navigation system. An application in the communication system of the vehicle can assume a state in which the transmission of a larger data volume is sensible, e.g. the download of a large e-mail with attachments. However such a download is often only possible relatively slowly and/or at high cost using typical mobile radio networks such as GSM, and also UMTS. 
         [0038]    The communication system can now use the navigation system to suggest to the driver of the vehicle to drive or to alter his route accordingly—he does not absolutely have to stay at this location—to a location at which a fast and low-cost download via wireless LAN (WLAN) is possible. After the driver has driven to such a hotspot, a faster and more cost-effective download of the e-mail is possible. 
         [0039]    In this context it should be pointed out that the assumption is being made of a rapid growth of publicly accessible WLAN hotspots. For example Deutsche Telekom is looking into the idea of equipping public payphones with WLAN access points.