CLIAMS:We claim:
1. A method of providing mobile coverage based direction information to a user, said method comprises:
fetching at least one of a start location, a destination location and a mobile service provider information as a user query from said user by a routing server;
identifying a plurality of routes between said start location and the destination location by said routing server;
selecting a first shortest route from said identified plurality of routes by said routing server;
identifying mobile coverage information of said mobile service provider along said selected first shortest route by said routing server;
displaying route information to said user on said mobile service provider providing coverage along said selected first shortest route by said routing server;
checking mobile coverage information on next shortest route in said plurality of identified routes on said service provider not providing coverage on at least one point in said selected first shortest route by said routing server; and
displaying a failure message on said service provider not providing complete coverage along any of said plurality of identified routes by said routing server.
2. The method as in claim 1, wherein said identifying mobile coverage information is identified based on tower location information.
3. The method as in claim 2, wherein said identifying mobile coverage information based on tower location information further comprises:
fetching tower location information corresponding to said mobile service provider along said route being considered by said routing server, from a database;
identifying a first tower location along said route by said routing server from said starting location;
identifying next tower location of said mobile service provider by said routing server along said route;
checking whether tower locations for said mobile service provider are available till said destination location by said routing server; and
confirming coverage along said route on said tower location for said mobile service provider being available till said destination location by said routing server.
4. The method as in claim 3, wherein said database comprises information on routes between different locations and tower information of multiple service providers.
5. The method as in claim 4, wherein said tower information of multiple service providers is dynamically updated with said database.
6. A routing server, said routing server further configured for:
fetching at least one of a start location, a destination location and a mobile service provider information as a user query from said user;
identifying a plurality of routes between said start location and the destination location;
selecting a first shortest route from said identified plurality of routes;
identifying mobile coverage information of said mobile service provider along said selected first shortest route;
displaying route information to said user on said mobile service provider providing coverage along said selected first shortest route;
checking mobile coverage information on next shortest route in said plurality of identified routes on said service provider not providing coverage on at least one point in said selected first shortest route; and
displaying a failure message on said service provider not providing complete coverage along any of said plurality of identified routes.
7. The routing server as in claim 6, wherein said routing server is further configured to identify said mobile coverage information based on tower location information.
8. The routing server as in claim 7, wherein said routing server is configured to identify said mobile coverage information based on tower location information by:
fetching tower location information corresponding to said mobile service provider along said route being considered, from a database in memory module using an analyzer module;
identifying a first tower location along said route from said starting location using said analyzer module;
identifying next tower location of said mobile service provider along said route using said analyzer module;
checking whether tower locations for said mobile service provider are available till said destination location using said analyzer module; and
confirming coverage along said route on said tower location for said mobile service provider being available till said destination location using said analyzer module.
9. The routing server as in claim 8, wherein said routing server is further configured to store information on routes between different locations and tower information of multiple service providers in said database.
10. The routing server as in claim 9, wherein said routing server is further configured to dynamically update said tower information of multiple service providers with said database using said routing server.
Dated: 15th May 2013 Signature:
Vikram Pratap Singh Thakur (Patent Agent)

,TagSPECI:
FORM 2
The Patent Act 1970
(39 of 1970)
&
The Patent Rules, 2005

COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
(SEE SECTION 10 AND RULE 13)

TITLE OF THE INVENTION

Coverage Based Direction Finding
APPLICANT:

Name Nationality Address
Alcatel Lucent France 3 avenue Octave Greard 75007 Paris

The following specification particularly describes and ascertains the nature of this invention and the manner in which it is to be performed:-

TECHNICAL FIELD
[001] The embodiments herein relate to route tracking and, more particularly, to mobile coverage based route tracking.

BACKGROUND
[002] In the past decade, the meteoric rise of internet has allowed the travelers to take a variety of approaches to navigate between a trip’s origin and destination. Travelers usually find the graphic content of a map which shows the shortest path between origin and destination. For example, Google map navigation is one of the applications which are generally used for this purpose. Further, the use of mobile phones has tremendously increased such that everyone tries to use them everywhere even during the journey. One of the major challenges while using mobile phones during journey is signal strength. Depending on various factors like proximity to a tower, obstructions such as buildings/trees etc., the signal strength may vary. Generally, a stronger mobile phone signal is easy to obtain in an urban area, though urban areas do have some dead zones. Dead zones are usually areas where mobile phone service is not available because the signal between the handset and mobile site antenna is blocked. When the mobile phone moves out of range of wireless network, automatically an active call is dropped. Or else, when the user is at a location where no coverage is available, he cannot make or receive calls or other network related services such as messages, internet and so on; which is inconvenient to the user/traveler. None of the existing direction tracking systems provides means to obtain information on mobile network coverage along a selected path; instead, they provide only direction information between a selected origin and destination places.

SUMMARY

[003] In view of the foregoing, an embodiment herein provides a method of providing mobile coverage based direction information to a user, said method comprises fetching at least one of a start location, a destination location and a mobile service provider information as a user query from said user; identifying a plurality of routes between said start location and the destination location; selecting a first shortest route from said identified plurality of routes; identifying mobile coverage information of said mobile service provider along said selected first shortest route; displaying route information to said user on said mobile service provider providing coverage along said selected first shortest route; checking mobile coverage information on next shortest route in said plurality of identified routes on said service provider not providing coverage on at least one point in said selected first shortest route; and displaying a failure message on said service provider not providing complete coverage along any of said plurality of identified routes.
[004] Embodiments further disclose a system for providing mobile coverage based direction information to a user, said system further configured for fetching at least one of a start location, a destination location and a mobile service provider information as a user query from said user using a routing server; identifying a plurality of routes between said start location and the destination location using said routing server; selecting a first shortest route from said identified plurality of routes using said routing server; identifying mobile coverage information of said mobile service provider along said selected first shortest route using said routing server; displaying route information to said user on said mobile service provider providing coverage along said selected first shortest route using said routing server; checking mobile coverage information on next shortest route in said plurality of identified routes on said service provider not providing coverage on at least one point in said selected first shortest route using said routing server; and displaying a failure message on said service provider not providing complete coverage along any of said plurality of identified routes using said routing server.
[005] These and other aspects of the embodiments herein will be better appreciated and understood when considered in conjunction with the following description and the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES
[006] The embodiments herein will be better understood from the following detailed description with reference to the drawings, in which:
[007] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of the coverage based direction tracking system, as disclosed in the embodiments herein;
[008] FIG. 2 is a block diagram that shows various components of the routing server, as disclosed in the embodiments herein; and
[009] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram that shows steps involved in the process of mobile coverage based direction tracking, as disclosed in the embodiments herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0010] The embodiments herein and the various features and advantageous details thereof are explained more fully with reference to the non-limiting embodiments that are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and detailed in the following description. Descriptions of well-known components and processing techniques are omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscure the embodiments herein. The examples used herein are intended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which the embodiments herein may be practiced and to further enable those of skill in the art to practice the embodiments herein. Accordingly, the examples should not be construed as limiting the scope of the embodiments herein.
[0011] The embodiments herein disclose a mobile coverage based direction tracking system by combining mobile coverage information with direction information. Referring now to the drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 through 3, where similar reference characters denote corresponding features consistently throughout the figures, there are shown embodiments.
[0012] FIG. 1 illustrates a block diagram of the coverage based direction tracking system, as disclosed in the embodiments herein. The system comprises a plurality of user devices 101 and a routing server 102. The routing server 102 possesses information on direction between various locations; preferably in the form of a map. In a preferred embodiment, the routing server 102 possesses information on mobile coverage availability of one or more mobile service providers in the locations covered by the map. In another embodiment, the location information, direction information and the mobile coverage information may be merged to create a single database.
[0013] The user may access the routing server 102 from the user device 101 and request for service. The user device 101 may establish a connection with the routing server 102 using suitable means such as GPRS. The user device 102 may be any device such as mobile phone, laptop, desktop, tablet PC and so on which is capable of establishing a connection with the routing server 102 for exchange of data. In various other embodiments¸ the user may access services of the routing server 102 by accessing a corresponding website or using a dedicated application that may be installed on the user device 101.
[0014] The routing server 102 fetches information on starting point, destination point and mobile service provider for the user. Further the routing server 102 processes the received user request and identifies a shortest route/direction between the queried locations. Further, the routing server 102 checks, based on configured information, coverage of the user’s mobile service provider in the fetched route/direction. If coverage is available throughout the route, the routing server 102 displays the results i.e. the route information to the user. If the routing server 102 identifies that the user’s mobile service provider does not offer coverage throughout or at some point in the identified route, the server checks for next shortest route. This process is repeated until the routing server 102 identifies a route with full coverage or else till all routes are checked for coverage information. If the routing server 102 identify that the user’s mobile service provider does not use full coverage in any of the identified routes, then a failure message may be displayed to the user.
[0015] FIG. 2 is a block diagram that shows various components of the routing server, as disclosed in the embodiments herein. The routing server 102 further comprises a processing module 201, a parser module 202, an analyzer module 203, a memory module 204 and an interface module 205. The interface module 205 is used to establish communication with the user devices 101 and other external devices such as mobile service provider servers for exchange of data.
[0016] The processing module 201 processes data fetched by the interface module 205 and checks whether it is user query or tower information sent by the associated mobile service providers. If the fetched information is the tower information sent by the associated mobile service providers, then the processing module 201 sends the data to the memory module 204, where it is stored. If the fetched data is a user query, the interface module 205 sends the fetched information to the parser module 202; which in turn parses the fetched data and sends to the analyzer module 203.
[0017] The analyzer module 203 identifies the origin and destination locations and user’s service provider’s information from the fetched user query. Further, the analyzer module 203 searches in databases associated with the memory module 204 and fetches route information between the queries locations. Further, the analyzer module 203 checks coverage information for the traced routes starting from the shortest route and displays final result i.e. shortest route between the queried locations with mobile coverage availability, to the user. In various embodiments, the results may be provided to the user in the form of graphical display, voice navigation and so on.
[0018] FIG. 3 is a flow diagram that shows steps involved in the process of mobile coverage based direction tracking, as disclosed in the embodiments herein. When the user has to check for route information between two locations with mobile coverage information, the user accesses the routings server 102 from the user device 101 and provides origin and destination location information and user’s mobile service provider information. The routing server 102 fetches (301) these inputs and performs a search using information stored in the memory module 204 to identify (302) between the two queried locations. Further, the routing server 102 fetches (303) tower information of the service provider along the identified route.
[0019] Further, using the fetched tower information, the routing server initially fetches (304) an extreme tower location along the identified route. Extreme tower location may refer to a first tower in the identified route. In addition to the tower location, the routing server may also consider the area covered by the tower i.e. area where coverage is offered by each tower.
[0020] Further, the routing server 102 checks (305) whether a next tower location is available from location of the initially identified extreme tower location along the identified route. This process is repeated until tower location is tracked till the destination location. If tower location is tracked till the destination location along the shortest route identified, the route is displayed (307) to the user.
[0021] If the routing server 102 couldn’t locate a tower next to an identified tower along the identified route, it checks (308) whether a nearest tower location is available. This tower may not be in the identified shortest route. If a nearest tower location is found, then the routing server 102 identifies (302) a shortest route from the location of the identified shortest route. This process is continued until the complete route information is obtained with selected mobile coverage information. If for any of the identified routes the routing server couldn’t obtain full mobile coverage information or else if no route is found with full coverage, then the routing server 102 sends a failure message in response to the query; which is then displayed (309) to the user. In another embodiment, two or more mobile service providers may agree to share resources. In this scenario, when the routing server 102 identifies that coverage information for the selected service provider is not available at any point in the route being considered, it may check whether the selected service provider has agreement with any other service providers which has coverage at that point and may provide route information accordingly. In an embodiment, the information regarding resource sharing agreements between different service providers also may be fetched and stored in databases in the memory module 204. The various actions in method 300 may be performed in the order presented, in a different order or simultaneously. Further, in some embodiments, some actions listed in FIG. 3 may be omitted.
[0022] The embodiments disclosed herein can be implemented through at least one software program running on at least one hardware device and performing network management functions to control the network elements. The network elements shown in Fig. 1 include blocks which can be at least one of a hardware device, or a combination of hardware device and software module.
[0023] The embodiment disclosed herein specifies a system for route/direction tracking. The mechanism allows mobile coverage information based route tracking, providing a system thereof. Therefore, it is understood that the scope of the protection is extended to such a program and in addition to a computer readable means having a message therein, such computer readable storage means contain program code means for implementation of one or more steps of the method, when the program runs on a server or mobile device or any suitable programmable device. The method is implemented in a preferred embodiment through or together with a software program written in e.g. Very high speed integrated circuit Hardware Description Language (VHDL) another programming language, or implemented by one or more VHDL or several software modules being executed on at least one hardware device. The hardware device can be any kind of device which can be programmed including e.g. any kind of computer like a server or a personal computer, or the like, or any combination thereof, e.g. one processor and two FPGAs. The device may also include means which could be e.g. hardware means like e.g. an ASIC, or a combination of hardware and software means, e.g. an ASIC and an FPGA, or at least one microprocessor and at least one memory with software modules located therein. Thus, the means are at least one hardware means and/or at least one software means. The method embodiments described herein could be implemented in pure hardware or partly in hardware and partly in software. The device may also include only software means. Alternatively, the invention may be implemented on different hardware devices, e.g. using a plurality of CPUs.
[0024] The foregoing description of the specific embodiments will so fully reveal the general nature of the embodiments herein that others can, by applying current knowledge, readily modify and/or adapt for various applications such specific embodiments without departing from the generic concept, and, therefore, such adaptations and modifications should and are intended to be comprehended within the meaning and range of equivalents of the disclosed embodiments. It is to be understood that the phraseology or terminology employed herein is for the purpose of description and not of limitation. Therefore, while the embodiments herein have been described in terms of preferred embodiments, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments herein can be practiced with modification within the spirit and scope of the claims as described herein.