7SIGNAL Awarded Patent for Wi-Fi Roaming Management
7SIGNAL®, the leader in enterprise Wireless Network Monitoring (WNM), has been issued U.S. patent number 10,638,409 for Wi-Fi roaming management. The patent covers 7SIGNAL’s approach to using its Mobile Eye™ software on a wireless device to detect, assess and improve the performance of clients as they move from one Wi-Fi access point or to a cellular network.
As mobile devices’ physical locations change, they may roam between Wi-Fi access points, Wi-Fi networks, and cellular networks. If this process is not monitored, user experience, and data transfer may suffer with poor or lost connectivity.
The 7SIGNAL process is designed to continuously monitor a device (i.e. laptop, smartphone, tablet, scanner, picker or wearable computing device) as it moves between access points and networks. To do this, Mobile Eye software is installed on the device. The application runs in the background while the user performs unrelated tasks, and it collects meta data on the wireless device’s network connection along with the performance of other access points within the device’s range.
The Wi-Fi roaming management patent also describes a methodology that detects when a wireless device’s connection is poor. The application can direct the wireless network interface to change connection to a more desirable one based on performance metrics or other operator preferences.
“By proactively identifying roaming issues and managing behavior, our Mobile Eye™ product helps ensure a seamless and positive end-user experience,” said Russ Wangler, CTO at 7SIGNAL. “No other solution on the market is able to monitor wireless roaming from the end point like we can.”
Wi-Fi roaming management is the company’s 14th global patent.