A patent application from Google suggests your phone could invite bids from networks before every call, rather than be tied to one provider (Image: USPTO)
In the same week Google tied globally to Deutsche Telekom’s T-Mobile network, a patent application suggests it is planning to rid users of the need to choose a single network at all.
The patent describes a system where instead of always connecting to one network, a phone, laptop or other wireless device invites all available networks to bid for your business. The was filed in March 2007 and published today.
Devices using the system would send networks a description of their requirements – for example, a phone call or access to the internet – and receive back bids with a per-minute cost, or flat rate, at which those needs could be met.
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Users can either manually accept the bid that looks best to them, or have the phone choose one automatically, based on pre-programmed criteria.
The patent does not specify connection technologies – so it could apply to any wireless technologies, such as GSM, 3G, Wi-Fi or planned “white space” spectrum freed up by the demise of analogue TV transmissions.
“We file patent applications on a variety of ideas that our employees come up with. Some of those ideas later mature into real products or services, some don’t,” a Google spokesman told Â鶹´«Ã½.
