Scanning for a wireless device
View Patent ↗A system and method are disclosed to achieve improvements in scanning that can be implemented by a wireless device. A method to control scanning performed by a mobile unit includes detecting the presence or absence of audio for transmission from the mobile unit. A performance of a scan can be deferred depending on the detection of the presence or absence of audio.
1. A method to control scanning performed by a mobile unit, the method comprising:
detecting a presence or absence of voice audio for transmission from the mobile unit;
following a request to initiate a scan, deferring initiation of performance of the scan for up to a predetermined time period while detecting a substantially continuous presence of the voice audio;
in response to detecting the absence of the voice audio for transmission from the mobile unit during the deferring and prior to expiration of the predetermined time period, initiating performance of the scan; and
initiating the performance of the scan in response to expiration of the predetermined time period during the substantially continuous presence of the voice audio.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the voice audio comprises voice audio input into the mobile unit for transmission, the detecting further comprising monitoring the voice audio by a voice activity detector and providing a voice activity indication signal indicating the presence of the voice audio, the initiation of the performance of the scanning being deferred in response to the voice activity indication signal.
3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the initiation of the performance of the scanning is deferred for up to the predetermined time period in response to the voice activity indication signal indicating the substantially continuous presence of the voice audio input.
4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined time period is programmable.
5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
periodically issuing a scan request during a call session to initiate the performance of the scan; and
employing results of the performance of the scanning to control handover from a first radio technology to a second radio technology, which is different from the first radio technology, implemented by the mobile unit.
6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the scan request is provided to initiate the performance of the scan according to communications protocol implemented in the first radio technology.
7. The method of claim 5 , wherein the call session comprises a voice over internet protocol call session.
8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the first radio technology comprises one of wireless local area network (WLAN) technology and a wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN) technology, and the second radio technology comprises one of a global system for mobile (GSM) wireless communication technology and a personal communication system (PCS) wireless communication technology.
9. A system to control scanning by a mobile unit, comprising:
a wireless transceiver of the mobile unit, the wireless transceiver comprising a scan engine;
a scan control component programmed to provide a scan control request to the scan engine for initiating a scan by the wireless transceiver that is synchronized with periods of voice silence during a call session of the mobile unit via an application program interface of an operating system of the mobile unit.
10. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a voice activity detector programmed to monitor outgoing audio from the mobile unit and to detect the periods of voice silence in the outgoing audio during the call session, the voice activity detector providing a voice activity indication signal indicating a presence or an absence of voice audio during the call session.
11. The system of claim 10 , wherein the scan control component further comprises a synchronization component programmed to synchronize the scanning responsive to the voice activity indication signal such that the scan control component provides the scan control request to initiate scanning by the wireless transceiver during the periods of voice silence.
12. The system of claim 9 , wherein the wireless transceiver comprises at least a first wireless transceiver that employs a first radio technology and a second wireless transceiver that employs a second radio technology, the system further comprising a mobility manager programmed to issue the scan control request and to control roaming between the first radio technology and the second radio technology based on results from the scanning.
13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the first radio technology comprises one of wireless local area network (WLAN) technology and a wireless metropolitan area network (WMAN) technology, and the second radio technology comprises one of a global system for mobile (GSM) wireless communication technology and a personal communication system (PCS) wireless communication technology.
14. The system of claim 9 , further comprising a timing component configured to defer the scan control request from the scan control component scanning for up to a predetermined time period in response to detection of a substantially continuous presence of voice audio during the call session.
15. A mobile unit comprising:
a first wireless transceiver configured to communicate using a first radio technology;
a second wireless transceiver configured to communicate using a second radio technology, which is different from the first radio technology;
a scan control component programmed to determine periods of voice silence corresponding to a lack of outgoing voice audio in a communication signal from the mobile unit based on a comparison of at least one extracted feature associated with the communication signal relative to at least one threshold, and to synchronize scanning performed by the first wireless transceiver with the periods of voice silence during a call session implemented by the mobile unit.
16. The mobile unit of claim 15 , further comprising a timing component configured to defer scanning performed by the first wireless transceiver for up to a predetermined length of time in response to detecting a substantially continuous presence of voice audio being input for transmission from the first wireless transceiver the during the call session.
17. The mobile unit of claim 15 , further comprising a mobility manager programmed to control handover from the first radio technology to the second radio technology based at least in part on the scanning performed by the first wireless transceiver.
18. The mobile unit of claim 15 , wherein the at least one extracted feature associated with the communication signal comprises an outgoing voice packet rate, and wherein the at least one threshold comprises a outgoing voice packet threshold, the scan control component being programmed to determine a period of voice silence based on the outgoing voice packet rate being less than the outgoing voice packet threshold.