/Patent Tracker
GooglePatent applicationNetworks & wirelessInterest 4/10

Google patents phone logic for choosing cell networks based on signal strength

Patent drawing
Patent drawing from the official filing.

This filing describes how a phone decides which mobile network to join by checking if the signal strength meets specific limits set by the carrier. It explains a method where the device avoids constantly searching for a better network if the current connection is strong enough and belongs to the user's home carrier.

Why it mattersThis improves battery life and connection stability by preventing phones from unnecessarily scanning for other networks when the current one is working well.

In the filing’s own words

This disclosure provides systems, methods, and apparatus, including computer programs encoded on computer-readable media, for a network selection by a user equipment (UE) in a wireless communication system. The UE obtains access-technology-specific signal-level criteria that include at least a first technology-specific signal-level threshold for a first access technology ( 1110). The UE selects one or more a public land mobile networks (PLMNs) that include one or more candidate cells having signal metrics satisfying network selection criteria that is based, at least in part, on the first technology-specific signal-level threshold for the first access technology ( 1120). The UE registers with a first PLMN of the one or more PLMNs that satisfy the network selection criteria ( 1130). The UE sets a condition for a subsequent network selection after the registering with the first PLMN ( 1140).

What exactly they claim (claim 1)

1. A method for network selection performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: obtaining operator controlled signal threshold criteria that include at least a first operator controlled signal threshold for a first access technology; selecting one or more public land mobile networks (PLMNs) that include one or more candidate cells having signal metrics satisfying network selection criteria that is based, at least in part, on the first operator controlled signal threshold for the first access technology; registering with a first PLMN of the one or more PLMNs; and refraining from triggering a periodic network selection attempt when the first PLMN is a Home PLMN (HPLMN) and current signal metrics of a serving cell of the first PLMN are equal to or higher than the first operator controlled signal threshold.

Facts

Company
Google (Google LLC)
Official title
NETWORK SELECTION WITH SIGNAL-LEVEL CRITERIA AND OPERATOR CONTROLLED SIGNAL THRESHOLD CRITERIA
Publication number
US20260323495A1
Application number
19119043
Filed
Nov 3, 2023
Published
Oct 15, 2026
Inventors
3
Claims
20

Classified under

H04W 48/18 Electricity & electronicsH04W 88/06 Electricity & electronics
Read the full filing (official PDF) ↗ Open in the Patent Tracker

More from Google in Networks & wireless

Summaries are simplified from the filing’s own abstract and first claim. A patent filing is not a product announcement.
Patent data and drawings: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Nebula is not affiliated with or endorsed by the USPTO.