Granted Patent B2

US 12,621,632 · App. 18/378,455 · Granted May 5, 2026

Inventor: Daniel C. Jensen (Olathe, KS)

Assignee: T-MOBILE INNOVATIONS LLC

H04W4/024H04W4/90H04W64/003H04W8/02

Abstract

Claims (42)

1 . A method for determining a distance to a cellular coverage area, the method comprising:

determining that a user device is at a location that is outside a coverage area provided by a home carrier;

determining an absence of any roaming carriers to provide coverage to the user device at the location;

determining a precise location of the user device; and

using the precise location, determining a distance from the user device to a location where coverage is provided, wherein determining the precise location of the device further comprises using latitude and longitude coordinate pairs on a map, wherein each latitude and longitude coordinate pair forms a vertex of a hexagon.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user device utilizes a global positioning system (GPS) to determine the precise location.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein determining the absence of any roaming carriers further comprises scanning a local file on the user device.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the coverage is provided by the 4 . home carrier or the roaming carrier.

5 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:

determining that the user device is attempting to make an emergency call;

determining that there are not any emergency-only carriers that can provide coverage to the user device at the location;

determining the precise location of the user device; and

using the precise location, determining a distance from the user device to a location where coverage is provided by an emergency-only carrier.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the map is generated by a network component associated with the home carrier and is stored on the user device.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the map comprises all of the coverage areas in the United States.

8 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user device displays a direction and the distance to a nearest coverage area.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the user device is capable of communicating using 4G or 5G.

10 . A system for determining a distance to a cellular coverage area, the system comprising:

one or more processors; and

one or more computer storage hardware devices storing computer-usable instructions, that, when used by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

determine that a user device is at a location that is outside a coverage area provided by a home carrier;

determine an absence of any roaming carriers to provide coverage to the user device at the location;

determine a precise location of the user device; and

using the precise location, determine the distance from the user device to a location where coverage is provided, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to partition telecommunication service data into a plurality of hexagons that represent a plurality of areas within a defined geographic area, each hexagon in the plurality of hexagons being associated with a corresponding data set for a corresponding area within the plurality of areas.

11 . The system of claim 10 , wherein the coverage comprises one of:

the home carrier, the roaming carrier, or an emergency-only carrier.

12 . The system of claim 10 , further comprising generating and causing display of a graphical user interface on the user device, the graphical user interface displaying the plurality of hexagons that partition the defined geographic area into the plurality of areas.

13 . A method for providing cluster data to a user device for determining a distance from the user device to a cellular coverage area, the method comprising:

receiving telecommunication service data within a defined geographic area;

identifying a first plurality of data sets in the telecommunication service data that correspond to coverage provided by a home carrier;

identifying a second plurality of data sets in the telecommunication service data that correspond to coverage provided by a roaming carrier;

generating a plurality of clusters within the defined geographic area using metrics obtained from the first plurality of data sets and the second plurality of data sets; and

sending a map comprising the plurality of clusters to the user device on a telecommunications network, the map comprising the plurality of clusters used by the user device to determine a distance from the user device to a cellular coverage area.

14 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising generating the map comprising the plurality of clusters.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the map comprising the plurality of clusters is used by the user device to display a direction and the distance to the cellular coverage area on the user device.

16 . The method of claim 15 , wherein the cellular coverage area comprises one of: the home carrier, the roaming carrier, or an emergency-only carrier.

17 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising identifying a third plurality of data sets in the telecommunication service data that correspond to coverage provided by a non-roaming carrier.

18 . The method of claim 13 , further comprising;

identifying updated data sets in the telecommunication service data that correspond to coverage provided by one or more of the home carrier or the roaming carrier;

generating a plurality of clusters within the defined geographic area using the metrics obtained from the updated data sets;

generating an updated map; and

sending the updated map to the user device.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (21)