EP0908027A2 - Improvements in or relating to a method and apparatus for using duality and also a system for communicating digital information - Google Patents
Improvements in or relating to a method and apparatus for using duality and also a system for communicating digital informationInfo
- Publication number
- EP0908027A2 EP0908027A2 EP97933240A EP97933240A EP0908027A2 EP 0908027 A2 EP0908027 A2 EP 0908027A2 EP 97933240 A EP97933240 A EP 97933240A EP 97933240 A EP97933240 A EP 97933240A EP 0908027 A2 EP0908027 A2 EP 0908027A2
- Authority
- EP
- European Patent Office
- Prior art keywords
- slot
- telephone
- base station
- communications
- remote unit
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Withdrawn
Links
Classifications
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W84/00—Network topologies
- H04W84/02—Hierarchically pre-organised networks, e.g. paging networks, cellular networks, WLAN [Wireless Local Area Network] or WLL [Wireless Local Loop]
- H04W84/10—Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks
- H04W84/16—WPBX [Wireless Private Branch Exchange]
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04B—TRANSMISSION
- H04B1/00—Details of transmission systems, not covered by a single one of groups H04B3/00 - H04B13/00; Details of transmission systems not characterised by the medium used for transmission
- H04B1/06—Receivers
- H04B1/16—Circuits
- H04B1/1607—Supply circuits
- H04B1/1615—Switching on; Switching off, e.g. remotely
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes
- H04W52/02—Power saving arrangements
- H04W52/0209—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices
- H04W52/0212—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave
- H04W52/0216—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes
- H04W52/02—Power saving arrangements
- H04W52/0209—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices
- H04W52/0212—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave
- H04W52/0219—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave where the power saving management affects multiple terminals
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W68/00—User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
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- H—ELECTRICITY
- H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
- H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
- H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes
- H04W52/02—Power saving arrangements
- H04W52/0209—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices
- H04W52/0225—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices using monitoring of external events, e.g. the presence of a signal
- H04W52/0245—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices using monitoring of external events, e.g. the presence of a signal according to signal strength
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- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02D—CLIMATE CHANGE MITIGATION TECHNOLOGIES IN INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES [ICT], I.E. INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES AIMING AT THE REDUCTION OF THEIR OWN ENERGY USE
- Y02D30/00—Reducing energy consumption in communication networks
- Y02D30/70—Reducing energy consumption in communication networks in wireless communication networks
Definitions
- the present application is directed in general to systems and methods for communicating in telephone systems and in particular to systems and methods for using portable, wireless telephones integrated with a land-based wired telephone system.
- the telephone industry has experienced tremendous growth in the last few years, driven in part by the availability of relatively inexpensive cellular telephone service.
- telephone subscribers use portable, battery-powered, handheld telephone instruments to communicate via RF links with a network of base stations which interface the signals on the RF links into the land-based public telephone network.
- a cellular configuration is generally used in which a particular base station uses certain frequencies to communicate with portable telephones within its "cell" and adjacent base stations use other frequencies to communicate with telephones within their cells.
- the same frequencies may be used in both cells so long as neither the base station nor the telephones in one cell generate signals of sufficient power to carry into the other cell. In this way, a limited number of frequencies can be re-used in a non-conflicting pattern which provides telephone service throughout a particular geographic area.
- the telephone may have to switch frequencies (or "hop" to a new channel) during the middle of an on-going call to avoid broadcasting into a non-adjacent cell which is using the same frequency for a different call.
- PBX Private Business Exchange
- the portable telephones are tied to a base unit which integrates the RF communications of the cellular system with the public land-based telephone system and not directly with the business person's own PBX. Effectively, such a solution in an office environment yields two independent telephone systems not well tied into each other or coordinated in any way. Additionally, the external structure of the building housing the office may make impractical the transmission of typical cellular RF signals to and from conventional base stations.
- a solution to the desire to permit workers to roam within a particular geographic space, such as an office building or a portion of an office building, yet permit such workers to continue to be reachable by the telephone system and to permit the workers to utilize the advantages of the telephone system is to integrate a wireless system with a PBX.
- incoming calls to workers can be directed by the wireless system to the worker wherever that person may be within the operating range of the system.
- the roaming worker will be able to readily place telephone calls both within and without the office as readily as if sitting at his own desk on the hard-wired system.
- the roaming worker would also have the benefit of all of the features of the PBX (such as a personalized repertory dialer, special access to restricted circuits, etc.) no matter where the worker may be located within the office.
- a wireless-PBX system would include a portable telephone unit which is easy to use, lightweight and has an extended battery life.
- the latter two desires are somewhat at odds with each other inasmuch as battery life often has a direct relation to the size (and weight) of a battery. Accordingly, it is often important in the design of portable units that they be as power-efficient as possible.
- control channels are used to communicate with the control portions of the portable units to coordinate the use of voice frequencies and to perform an analog of typical central office functions (e.g., dialing a number, ringing the portable unit, etc.).
- central office functions e.g., dialing a number, ringing the portable unit, etc.
- voice channels there may no longer be a need for a control channel as there are no more control tasks to be performed until one of the voice channels again becomes available.
- Figure 1 is a simplified functional block diagram illustrating an embodime nt of the system of the present invention.
- Figure 2 is a timing diagram showing the relationship of frames and slots which may be used within the communication system of the present invention.
- Figure 3 is a timing diagram showing the timing of control and communications channels in a system of the prior art.
- Figure 4 is a timing diagram showing the timing of control and communication channels and the timing of receive and transmission portions of a communication frame which may be used in the present invention.
- Figure 5 is a schematic view of the interior of a building showing possible locations of persons and telephone base stations positioned therein.
- Figure 6 is a frequency assignment table illustrating the use of carrier frequencies within an embodiment of the present invention.
- Figure 7 is a pictorial diagram of a base station housing and plural antennas in one aspect of the present invention.
- Figure 8 is a timing diagram showing a frame which may be used in the communications portions between the base stations and the portable telephones in the present invention.
- Figure 9 is a diagram showing an exemplary chart of the output of a correlator which may be used in the present invention.
- Figure 10 is a simplified functional block diagram illustrating another embodiment of the system of the present invention.
- a telephone system using the present invention may include a switch 10 which is connected to plural lines or trunks of a standard telephone network such as the public telephone network in the United States.
- the switch 10 is also connected to plural land-based telephones 14 via wires or similar non-propagating media.
- the switch 10 may also be connected through a Base Station Interface Unit (“BSIU") 16 to one or more base stations 18 through a base station connector 20.
- BSIU Base Station Interface Unit
- Each base station 18 includes means for wireless communications with plural portable telephones 22, as described further below.
- the switch performs as a standard telephone switching unit such as a PBX, a PABX, key-system or the like and functionally interconnects telephones 14 with the public telephone network.
- a switch 10 could be a switching unit such as the unit sold by Harris Corporation as the "Harris 20/20".
- Harris Corporation as the "Harris 20/20”.
- it may have many features available to assist the telephone user with his calls including memory dialing, call forwarding, voice mail answering and delivery, and the many other features common on modern telephone switches.
- One of the tasks accomplished by the switch is the mapping of in-bound or intercom telephone calls to a desired telephone instrument and the provision of
- the switch 10 When a call is to be connected between portable telephone 22 and another telephone, the switch 10 operates to direct the voice circuit to the BSIU 16, which in turn directs the voice circuit to a selected base station 18, which in turn sends information regarding the voice message on the voice circuit to the desired portable telephone 22 via a wireless link 24.
- telephone voice circuits can be either analog or digital.
- the telephone lines arriving from the telephone network may be analog fines.
- the switch 10 may route the analog voice circuits arriving from the telephone network to the land based telephones 14 in either analog or digital modes. If a digital switch is being used, the switch 10 may first convert the voice information arriving from the analog telephone network to a series of digital bits and communicate those bits by conventional means to the land-based telephones 14. Communications arriving from a digital land-based telephone 14 destined for the telephone network 12 may be transmitted from the telephone 14 to the switch 10, converted to an equivalent analog signal and impressed on the fines from the telephone network 12.
- the present invention is not limited to use with only analog switches or only digital switches and the inventive concepts disclosed herein may readily be implemented in association with either analog or digital switches.
- the present invention limited to use with a PBX or similar "stand-alone" equipment but may be applied to any telephone system or sub-system in which it is desired to integrate a wireless telephone with other telephones, wireless or landbased.
- the switch 10 may itself communicate with the "external" telephone network 12 through any conventional means, not limited to wired systems, such as via microwave links.
- the descriptions of a preferred embodiment may describe a particular signal within a switch 10 as being a digital signal or an analog signal, the invention is not limited to systems having only such signals, the description being merely illustrative and not limiting.
- Analog telephone calls from the telephone network 12 destined for one of the portable telephones 22 may be converted to a digital form within the switch 10 and are passed to the BSIU 16.
- the digital information from the call may be combined with similar digital information from other calls and passed via the communication finks 20 to the base station 18 then handling the call.
- the base station 18 may communicate the digital information from the telephone call to the desired portable telephone 22.
- the present system is a telephone system, there exists a return path for the telephone call which simply reverses the flow described above to provide the digital form of the voice applied at the portable telephone 22 through the base station 18 and the BSIU 20 to the appropriate line from the telephone network 12. If the telephone network line is an analog line, the digital form of the return signal will be converted to the analog form for impression on the telephone network line 12.
- a voice message may be thought of as continuous, the digital form of such a message does not need to be a continuous stream of digital bits. Rather, if the digital equipment is sufficiently fast, clusters of digital bits representing the voice signal may be transmitted together followed by a period of time before another cluster of bits must again be sent. If the series of clusters of digital bits arrives within a certain latency period between clusters when the digital signal is converted back to analog, a user listening to the received analog signal cannot detect the fact that the voice message was transmitted in separate portions.
- the present invention utilizes this fact to permit multiple portable telephones to simultaneously time-share a single frequency or channel between a base station 18 and a portable telephone 22.
- plural portable telephones may share a single frequency.
- a particular frequency or carrier
- the portable telephone may expect to receive its digital messages in slot 2, the slot repeatedly occurring as one of eight slots.
- the portable telephone 22 receives the digital data in the slot 2 as shown in Figure 2.
- Seven slots after the end of the first slot 2 a second slot 2 arrives, again bearing digital data for the specified portable telephone 22.
- Each slot can deliver plural digital bits of data.
- the portable telephone 22 will receive the digital form of the voice message at a sufficient rate that the analog form of the message may be reconstructed accurately by a digital-to-analog conversion at the portable telephone 22.
- the length of time which may pass before consecutive slots must be received to avoid a loss of data depends upon how many bits are sent at one time and the frequencies of the sounds within the voice message in a well known relationship.
- a typical telephone message is two-way and thus, two slots are needed for a telephone call, one for the passage of the digital signal to the portable telephone 22 and the other for the passage of the digital signal from the portable telephone 22.
- the base unit uses a particular protocol to inform the portable telephones 22 which slots are to be used for a particular telephone call and to ensure that all of the communicating portable telephones are synchronized (to avoid having two portable telephone transmitting at exactly the same time which would usually destroy the signals being transmitted by both.)
- the first slots of a frame are used for sending voice signals from the base station to the various portable telephones then being controlled by it.
- an 9 slot frame of the prior art may use the first slot (CON) as a control slot (for sending control messages from the base unit to the stations, etc.), the next four slots for voice signals going from the base station to the portable telephone (Tl, T2, T3, T4) and the last four slots for voice signals going from the portable telephones to the base station (RI, R2, R3, R4).
- the first slot of a frame may be used as a control slot; however, in contrast to the prior art, the remaining slots are divided into two half-slots with the base station transmitting in the first half-slot and the base station receiving (portable telep hone sending) in the second half-slot of each slot.
- the use of the present invention is particularly beneficial in reducing power consumption by a portable telephone. It is known in the prior art to reduce the power supplied to the communication portions of a portable telephone when the communication portions are not expected to be needed. Thus, for example that in the prior art system of Figure 3, a portable telephone could reduce the power to its communication portions in all but three slots, i.e., the slots when it is scheduled to transmit, to receive and to communicate within the control slot.
- the communication portions of the portable telephone are required to be fully energized only during one slot (as explained below, the portable telephone of the present invention may not need to monitor the communication channel (or slot) while it is engaged in a telep hone call.
- the present invention reduces the relatively inefficient periods during which power is being brought up and reduced from the communications circuits in addition to reducing the need to power up such circuits at all during fewer slots per frame.
- the control channel can be used to establish timing for the frames of the communications system and for communicating control information between the base station and the portable telephones.
- the base station can transmit data informing particular portable telephones which slots and frequencies to use for their voice data or informing a particular telephone how to react to certain user entries of the telephones keypad.
- the system may provide a period of time during which any portable telephone seeking a voice circuit may transmit its request for such a circuit and/or may transmit other administrative data or functional requests of the base station or PBX.
- Figure 5 the ability of a system of the present invention to provide continuous coverage of an area may be illustrated on an outline of a typical floor of an office space 50.
- a number of walls 52 divide the space into individual rooms 54 and corridors 56.
- Base Stations BS 1 and BS 2 can be placed within the office space 50 to provide telephone coverage throughout.
- the number and location of Base Stations depends upon the amount of telephone traffic expected and the configuration of the space to be covered.
- the space may be a portion of a single floor of a building, multiple floors of a building, multiple buildings, and/or external space associated with the buildings.
- the portable telephone selects a Base Station with which to communicate and sends the user's request for a voice circuit to the selected Base Station during one of the control slots associated with that Base Station.
- the Base Station determines which slots and frequencies are available and returns a message to the portable telephone identifying the slot and frequency to be used by the portable telephone as a voice channel.
- the portable telephone may then transmit the subscriber number of the telephone to be dialed or request some other function of the telephone system.
- Stations within the system may have associated with it a frequency to be used for its control channel.
- the portable telephone may scan those frequencies known to be assigned as control channels to determine which control channel signal is received with the highest signal strength, signal to noise ratio, and/or any other metric of signal quality. The control channel signal with the best quality having been selected, the portable telephone will then initiate contact with the Base Station sending that signal via the control channel.
- portable telephones PTl and PT3 may be expected to communicate with Base Station 1, if that base station has an available channel, because that base station is closer than any other, otherwise portable telephones PTl and PT2 may be expected to communicate with Base Station 2.
- portable telephone PT4 may be expected to communicate with (and obtain a voice channel from) communicate with Base Station 2 for the same reasons.
- the base station with which PT3 and PT5 would communicate cannot be readily determined from the outline of the space of Figure 5.
- portable telephone PT5 is physically closer to Base Station 2 than to Base Station 1; however, the direct path between the portable telephone PT5 and Base Station 2 is through a wall.
- Base Stations 1 or Base Station 2 might be where portable telephone PT5 lands.
- the assignment of portable telephones to particular base stations is dynamic and takes into account local variations in the signals communicated between the portable telephone and the base station.
- incoming and outgoing telephone calls can be handled with practically the same processes at the portable telephone, the difference being only that the incoming telephone calls are preceded by a "Ring" signal.
- the present invention may use the same protocol in the portable telephone for both incoming and outgoing calls.
- the user of the portable telephone may be moving about the office. As the user moves, he will at some time move away from the base station controlling the call.
- the portable telephone monitors the quality of the communications between the portable telephone and the base station and, upon the degradation of the signal below predetermined criteria, reselects its base station and requests that the call be moved to a new channel (or slot/frequency combination, explained below) at the base station then having the best communications with the portable telephone.
- a portable telephone at the location designated PTl within the space may be expected to initially use the nearest base station BS1 (assuming that BSl has an available channel).
- the signal between the portable telephone and its controlling base station may degrade sufficiently to cause the portable telephone to seek a new communication path.
- the portable telephone may be expected to select the nearest base station, now BS2, and obtain a voice channel from the newly selected base station.
- the portable telephone need njQt switch base stations merely because the user moves his location and another base station becomes closer and/or more direct. Rather, to avoid unnecessary hopping from one channel to another, the portable telephone of the present invention may continue to stay with its present base station so long as the quality of the voice communication remains acceptable.
- the portable telephone may evaluate any characteristic of the communications channel between the portable telephone and the base station. It has been found efficient in the present invention to use the voice quality estimate typically provided by a vocoder in the transmission circuit as an estimate of signal quality. The use of this estimate for control of hopping is particularly efficient because most vocoder circuits already develop the estimate as part of their volume control operation and thus this use avoids the need for another circuit or processing function.
- the portable telephone In the standby mode (no on-gong voice communications), the portable telephone may estimate signal quality based on the quality of the control channel from the base station. If the signal quality degrades to a predetermined criteria, the portable telephone may switch to the control channel of another base station.
- This technique may prevent a transient effect which can occur when a call is initiated or received by a portable telephone just before the signal quality in fact degrades to below the level needed for seeking a hop.
- the portable telephone may not have obtained sufficient useful call quality data on the communications channel to accurately initiate a base station/frequency-slot switch.
- the system of the present invention attempts to increase the probability that the portable telephone will use the best base station nearby. By remaining in a given voice channel so long as the channel has acceptable communications, the portable unit typically does not need to monitor the control channel during a telephone call.
- the portable unit may deenergize its communication circuits except during the slot in which it is communicating. Upon the end of a slot, the portable unit can deenergize its communications circuits and set a timer to reenergize such circuits immediately before the next occurrence of the assigned slot. In the time periods between the slots, the portable telephone continues to convert any digital voice data received from the forward channel (the channel from the base station to the portable telephone) from digital to analog form for application to the telephone's speaker (or earpiece) and to accumulate digital information corresponding to any audio inputs (or user keypad entries) received during the time period between slots.
- the forward channel the channel from the base station to the portable telephone
- a slot or channel may be considered to be a particular slot/frequency combination. In a system having eights slots per frame, there are eight channels or communication opportunities available per frame, each "opportunity" including a forward communication and a reverse (from the portable telephone to the base unit) communication.
- each base station has eight slots under its control.
- Each of the slots is independent of the other slots within a frame and each slot may be at any of the channel frequencies used within the system.
- slot 1 (generally the control channel, but see below) may be the control channel operating a particular frequency, f6.
- base station B also had three voice communications on-going, one portable telephone using frequency fl3 on slot 3, another using frequency £2 on slot 6 and still another using frequency f3 on slot 7.
- Each of the slots starts a predetermined time after the start of the frame.
- the portable unit when a portable telephone is instructed by the base station to "use slot 6, frequency £", the portable unit knows that it will receive forward voice data on frequency £2 the predetermined period of time associated with slot 6 after the beginning of each frame and that it is to send its reverse data on frequency f2 during the appropriate time within slot 6.
- any of the assigned frequencies may be used in any slot at any base station. Accordingly, there are no assignments of frequencies or sets of frequencies to particular base stations.
- This feature of the present invention provides considerable ease in installing the system, a replacement base station or a new base station. In addition, this feature of the present invention provides considerable flexibility of the system to respond to highly mobile users and shifting service demands through the geography of a given system.
- a base station scans the channels assigned to the system to determine available slot/frequency combinations. By tuning to each of the assigned frequencies during its non-used slots, the base station can determine which slot/frequency combinations are not being used within its range and can assign one of those available slot/frequency combinations when a new voice channel is requested by a portable telephone. Significantly, the available slot/frequency combination data is done by each base station on a local basis. Because of the limited range of the base stations and the portable telephones, the fact that a particular slot/frequency combination is being used within the system does not necessarily mean that it cannot be used elsewhere in the system.
- base station A can assign one of the portable telephones being controlled by it to use slot 5 and frequency f9 and the same slot and frequency can be used in a relatively remote base station area such as in base station N of the system of Figure 6.
- frequency/slot combinations can be used and reused multiple times throughout the system of the present invention, providing substantial capability for a system to handle many simultaneous telephone calls.
- the system of the present invention may use the monitoring of the system during unused slots to determine whether a slot/frequency combination is available to it.
- the base station cannot detect the on-going use of a particular slot/frequency, that slot/frequency may be considered "available" despite the fact that a relatively remote portable telephone and base station are using the same slot/frequency combination.
- the portable telephone being controlled by that base station may receive interference from the "remote" use of the same slot/frequency combination.
- the portable telephone is monitoring the quality of the voice signal being communicated during its assigned slot, such interference if it occurred would cause the portable telephone to initiate a hop to another frequency/slot combination at the same or another base station.
- the capacity of the system to carry telephone calls may be improved by the use of disappearing control channels at each of the base stations.
- the base station When all of the non-control channels are being used for on-going telephone calls, the base station is free to assign its control channel as a voice channel.
- the portable telephone with that call has no further need to use the control channel of the base station. If all of the "normal" voice channels are filled and only the control channel remains at a base station, once the base station assigns that channel as a voice channel, there simply is no need for a control channel at that base station so long as all the channels remain occupied with voice communications.
- any portable telephones desiring a new voice channel within the geographic area serviced by a base station which has given up its control channel will automatically not detect the base station as being available and will select another base station with which to communicate on its control channel.
- power reduction is an important consideration in the design of the portable telephones.
- power is reduced when a portable telephone is in a "stand-by" mode. In this mode, the portable telephone is energized but voice communications are not occurring, principally while awaiting a new telephone call or for the user to place his next telephone call.
- a portable telephone in accordance with one aspect of the present invention does not monitor every frame of the communications but rather monitors every Nth frame and upon completion of the monitoring, reducing power to the communications circuits and setting a timer to re-power the communication circuits after the passage of N-1 frames.
- the series of N frames is called a "superframe". In this way, communication power consumption is reduced substantially, yet the telephone remains available to "answer" calls and to readily place calls upon user request.
- all or many of the remote devices attempt to communicate with the base station's control channel at approximately the same time, colliding with each other's messages and permitting few or none to successfully communicate with the base unit.
- the portable units attempt to communicate with the base station by transmitting during a particular time period during and timed from the beginning of the control channel slot. If more than one portable telephone attempts to transmit simultaneously, neither may be successful.
- the problems associated with collisions on the control channel can be particularly troublesome immediately after system turn on or reset when all of the portable telephones may attempt to re-establish contact with the base stations.
- a portable telephone of the present invention uses a number assigned to it to determine in which frame of a superframe to attempt to contact the base station's control channel.
- the number assigned to the portable telephone may be programmed into one of its memories or may be input by way of DIP switches which can be read by the microprocessor within the telephone or any similar semipermanent (or permanent) method.
- the base station indicates in the control channel the position of each frame within the superframe. For example, if a superframe consists of 32 frames in a particular system, the control channel communication would include an indication that the successive frames numbered from 1 to 32.
- Portable telephones may divide the assigned number by a modulus number, usually the number of frames in a superframe, and attempt to access the control channel during the frame having the number equal to the modulus remainder. For example if a portable telephone has been assigned the number 179 in a system having 32 frames per superframe, that portable would attempt to communicate with a base unit during the 19th frame of the superframe (i.e.., 179 modulus 32 leaves a remainder of 19). Note that there is no need for each portable telephone to have a unique number so long as the numbers are assigned in a fashion which spreads the attempted accesses to the control channel over the entirety of the superframe.
- a fallback contention scheme can be used such as the scheme used in "slotted aloha" systems in which each colliding portable telephone waits a random period of time before attempting to access the control channel in the expectation that the randomness of the period will eliminate or reduce further collisions.
- telecommunications systems that electromagnetic signals transmitted from one device often do not travel directly to a receiver but follow various paths bouncing from one object or surface to another until received. Multipath is a particularly significant problem inside a building where a signal will bounce off walls, penetrate through walls and bounce off other surfaces until received.
- the various multipath signals combine and interfere with each other so that the received signal is usually plural copies of the original signal arriving at different phases with various cancellations within the waveform.
- the receiver contains logic circuits which select the antenna having the best signal, accepting the signal from that antenna and rejecting the other signals.
- the receiver's circuitry attempts to combine the signals appearing at the diverse antennas. Usually in the prior art, the latter systems have provided better reception but at a cost of increased complexity and circuitry.
- each base station 70 may include plural antennas 72 associated therewith.
- the portable telephone first communicates with the base station.
- the portable telephone includes within the preamble a predetermined bit pattern which the base unit uses to test the reception on each of its antennas (four in the system of Figure 7).
- the base station then uses the best antenna to receive the rest of the communication from the portable telephone. During the same slot, the base station has an opportunity to communicate forward data to the portable station and will use the same antenna to transmit such data as it just used to receive data from the portable unit. Because the base station transmit portion of the communication to the portable telephone immediately follows the receipt of a communication from the portable telephone and an evaluation of the best antenna to be used, it is unlikely that the portable station has changed its position such that the previously selected antenna is no longer the best one to be used between the base station and the telephone.
- the base station can use the same antenna evaluation and selection for each of its slots during a frame. Thus, it is entirely possible that the base station would select a different antenna to be used for each successive slot.
- the antennas may be switched while still measuring their signal quality.
- the delays inherent in the switching chain and the delays in the measurement of the received RF signal permit testing to continue for some period of time after an antenna has been commanded to be switched out of the communication.
- the advantage of such a technique is the ability to test more signal data without having to dedicate more of the preamble to antenna diversity functions.
- the antenna selection system may select the two best antennas for a given slot, using the best antenna for transmission to the portable telephone later in the slot and evaluating the two best antenna for attenuation setting evaluation. If the signals received at the two best antennas exceed a predetermined figure of merit, an antenna can be added to the signal path during the next frame. On the contrary, if the two best signals are weaker than a predetermined figure of merit, the attenuation may be removed in the next frame. In this way, the dynamic range of the reception may be enhanced as the attenuation is selectively added or removed based on the strength of the two signals.
- the use of the signals from two antennas is not meant to be limiting to the invention and more signals may be used if desired, at an increased processing burden.
- the figure of merit may be related to the strength of the two signals, individually or combined in a desired manner, or to any other characteristic of the received signals.
- a base station of the present invention may be housed in a housing 76 of any suitable configuration, and desirably of a configuration which blends well into typical office decor.
- the base station 70 may include plural independently attached antennas 74 which can be pivotally moved from a position nestled along the side of the housing 76 (as seen with respect to the antenna 72a) or perpendicular thereto (as seen with respect to the antenna 72).
- the antenna 72 may be attached to the housing through any conventional means which permits rotation about a pivot 74 while maintaining electrical contact between the antenna and the circuits within the housing 76.
- the antenna may be attached to the housing by other conventional means which permits individual alignment such as by a ball and socket arrangement (not shown) which would permit rotation about more than a single axis.
- a ball and socket arrangement (not shown) which would permit rotation about more than a single axis.
- the antennas 72 of the base station 70 may be aligned in any manner which increases the ability of the base station 70 to communicate with the portable telephones.
- the base station and the portable telephones may be designed to use vertical polarization. If the base station is mounted on a ceiling, all of the antennas 72 may be swung down to the vertical to provide an orientation which matches the system design. If the base station is affixed to a vertical wall, the bottom set of antennas may be left alongside the housing 76 while the two top antennas may be swung out 180 degrees to a vertically-upward position. Similarly, the antennas may be placed independently in any position relative to the housing 76 which increases signal throughput to a portable telephone to adjust for anomalous RF propagation conditions in the geographic area near the base station 70.
- the timing diagram of Figure 8 depicts the functional composition of one-half a slot of the present invention.
- the time slot may include plural bits of information, 240 bits are used in one embodiment of the present invention.
- the first portion of the slot comprises a preamble, which may include sufficient synchronization bits to permit the receiver to acquire the signal before the data is received.
- Following the preamble may be a "unique word", i.e., a predetermined set of bits which are always found at the same location in a slot. By use of a unique word at a known position within the slot, the receiver is able to synchronize its frame clock to that of the transmitter.
- the data bits may include digital voice data, control data, command data, or the like (generally referred to herein as "application” data).
- application data
- CRC checksum or CRC may be included to assist the receiver in ascertaining that it has received the message correctly.
- any type of known validation scheme may be used within the communications, including checksums, check bits, folding checksums, error correction bits, etc., realizing that there is a tradeoff between the number of bits dedicated to message validity versus the data throughput of the system.
- the four antenna selection fields are included. Note that because the antenna selection bits occupy a portion of the message which is conventionally used for recovering symbol timing, symbol recovery by the base station may be degraded unless other measures are undertaken.
- One such measure could be to increase the size of the preamble relative to the data portion of the message or to increase the overall length of the message. Both these options entail a reduction in the data bandwidth of the system. In one aspect of the present invention, neither bandwidth reducing measure is taken but a novel method of recovering the symbol timing is used.
- the symbol timing can be obtained from the output of a correlator through which the signal is applied.
- the received signal may be sampled to provide plural samples for each symbol.
- each symbol of the input signal is sampled ten times at the output of the correlator.
- the magnitude of the correlator output at any one time corresponds to probability that the center of the received symbol is at that time.
- the total of the samples is obtained and compared to the total of all the other samples, with the greatest total indicating the sample most likely to correspond with the center of the symbol.
- the receiver may calculate the following equation:
- this aspect of the present invention uses the entire slot to determine symbol timing and then uses that determination to extract each of the symbols.
- the incoming message may be stored in dynamic memory while the symbol timing is being extracted; however, the symbol timing determination may begin upon initial receipt of the message and need not await receipt of the entire slot.
- the receiver of the present invention may use a "moving window" correlator to find the unique word. There is no need in the present invention for a threshold correlator.
- the correlator examines finite portions of the incoming signal having a length of an entire slot to determine where the unique word is most likely to be. Once the correlator has determined the most likely location, the processor of the receiver may make a bit for bit inspection to the recovered slot to determine whether each bit of the assumed unique word is present in the incoming message. If the unique word is found, the receiver may then set up all of its framing around the unique word, as it is predetermined where the unique word appears within a frame.
- a system of the present invention may include a common clock pulse which is sent periodically to all the base stations.
- the clock pulse may be derived from any relatively stable source such as from typical switch used in association with the base stations.
- PCM Pulse Coded Modulation
- one of the PCM slots between the base station and the switch may be periodically programmed to carry a synchronization (or reset) pulse which is received by all base stations and used to synchronize its clock and the communication frames derived therefrom.
- the use of a single stable clock helps assure data alignment and reduces the hardware costs as the base stations may not need an expensive oscillator if provided with an accurate clock from the switch.
- the portable telephones may use a relatively inexpensive, and relatively less accurate, on-board reference clock in the present invention by frequency correcting the reference clock using the received RF carrier from the base station (which, in turn, is locked onto the accurate clock, such as the PCM clock, from the switch).
- a system may include a protocol in which the remote unit, upon the initiation of the user, may invoke a bit-error-rate ("BER") test of the communications between the remote unit and a base station.
- This BER test may include the transmission by the remote unit, the base station or both of pseudo-random sequences. Both the base unit nd the remote may use the receipt of such sequences to determine the BER and (in the case of the base station) may report the BER to the remote unit for display to the user.
- the displayed BER information is very useful to system installers to determine and/or verify system coverage and performance.
- This aspect of the present invention is not limited to BER measurements and a system of the present invention may send signals and take signal measurements of any predetermined characteristic of the RF signal, such as signal strength.
- messages between the base stations and the portable telephones may include a system identifier which has been programmed into the portable telephones.
- the system identifier may then be placed in the messages, for example in the preamble.
- Portable telephones and base stations may then examine the system identifier and if it does not match the system identifier associated with the receiver may ignore the message entirely.
- two totally separate systems may exist side-by-side to each other covering portions of the same geographic areas.
- the portable telephones may be programmed to operate on more than one installed system and would thereby be free to roam from one system to another.
- persons may be provided with portable telephones which varied in their abilities to be accessed from various geographic areas by changing the system identifications which are authorized for particular portable telephones.
- the portable telephones of the present invention may be used on multiple wireless systems without requiring the user to initiate any action other than to energize his remote unit. (The administrator of each system providing access to the portable telephone must configure the system to accept the portable telephone.) This feature is particularly useful in installations in which different systems operate in different locations within the same (or nearby) business campus. In such an installation, the user may travel from one area of the location to another, in which a wholly different wireless system has been installed, and still have full use of his portable telephone, including the personal features associated with that user.
- the wireless system of the present invention automatically ignores unauthorized portable telephones and the portable telephones do not attempt to use the base stations and communications channels being used by the "foreign" system.
- the system of the present invention may also be used simultaneously as a pager system and a telephone system.
- the portable telephones may receive an alphanumeric message for their displays and the ringer can be energized to alert the user of the message.
- the mobile station When used as a pager, the mobile station does not complete a telephone call to the user at the portable telephone but merely uses the existing communication system to forward the pager message.
- the remote units used in a combination pager/telephone wireless system may be the same for all users, or optionally, some of the units used exclusively for paging may be reduced- cost units lacking the voice communications capability.
- installation of the system of the present invention may be made relatively easy by its architecture.
- the switch may be a digital switch having associated therewith a BSIU 16 capable of communicating with the base stations 18 through a communication means 20.
- the communication means 20 may be as simple as two sets of twisted wires, two of the wires being used for transmission of data to the base station 16 and two of the wires being used for transmission of data to the BSIU 16.
- the transmission of data on the four wires can be made using a protocol known as E-l to handle the plural digital messages which may be simultaneously occurring on each pair of wires.
- the four wires could also carry power and ground references to the base stations so that integration of the base station into a buildings electrical wiring is not necessary.
- a base station 18 can be mounted on any convenient surface, such as a wall or ceiling, and four wires carried between the base station 18 and the BSIU 16.
- PROM Power-up Programmable Read Only Memory
- the base station 18 may boot itself using the PROM upon the application of power from the communication means 20 or from the available electrical wiring. Once the base station 18 has booted, it may then send a message to the BSIU requesting a download of the system unique data and configuration. Because the base station 18 does not have frequencies assigned and operates primarily on an evaluation of signal strength rather than telephone location, no extensive programming of the base station is generally necessary. This lack of programming necessity makes installation of the system easier and provides for automatic resumption of service after a power failure or surge. In still another embodiment of the present invention as depicted in Figure 10
- a switch 10 used in the present invention need not be a digital switch as described above but may be a conventional analog switch which interconnects the public telephone network 12 to the system.
- a Base Station Interface Apparatus (“BSIA") 90 may be used to interface between the digital wireless system and a conventional analog switch 10.
- the BSIA provides the wireless system (the base stations 18 and portable telephones 22) with all of the functions of the BSIU described with respect to Figure 1.
- the BSIA of the alternative system of Figure 10 converts all of the digital communications to and from the portable telephones to conventional analog communications and may convert function requests from the portable telephones 22 into standard switch (e_.g., PBX) protocols and signalling.
- the BSIA 90 may cause some of the functions to be implemented directly by the portable telephones by appropriately programming the portable telephones 22 (as explained below) to take specific, PBX-related actions in response to specified user inputs.
- the BSIA may be configured and controlled through a standard personal computer 91 or similar computing device which may be removably attached to the BSIA 90 when desired.
- the personal computer could be connected, for example, when the system administrator wanted to make configuration changes, initiate tests or gather data regarding the system's performance.
- Software within the personal computer 91 would typically include software for: System Configuration, Uploading, Analysis of Performance Statistics and Alarms, and Downloading of New Programs to the BSIA and base stations.
- New or updated programming for the base stations may readily and conveniently be implemented by downloading such programs into the BSIA for communication to the base stations (or through the BSIU in systems such as in Figure 1).
- BSIA basic programming for the base stations
- BSIU basic BSIU
- reprogramming of new and improved features does not require removal or access to the base stations, resulting in significant savings for personnel in maintaining installed systems.
- the BSIA may also include the capability for the portable telephone user to execute macro commands by simple, brief keying actions.
- the BSIA may provide signals necessary for the protocol to the switch to be readily implemented by a single keystroke on the portable telephone. For example, if a certain function in the switch required the successive transmission of the DTMF signals for the numbers 1, 2 and 3, a single function key on the portable telephone could be used to signal the BSIA that the exemplary function was desired.
- the BSIA in turn, would cause the DTMF signals for the numbers 1, 2 and 3 to be successively transmitted to the switch.
- the switch receives the DTMF signals, understands that the requested function is desired and performs the actions conventionally necessary to perform the requested function.
- a set of macros may be programmed into the BSIA, some of which are portable telephone dependent, so that the same key on different telephones may cause different signals to be sent to the switch. Still further, differing sets of macros may be developed for different types of switches to accommodate the differences in the switch protocols and the appropriate set downloaded into the BSIA during installation.
- the portable telephone may include a display which can be programmed from the switch (through the base station) to customize features for the various telephones within a system.
- message may be sent from the switch to the telephone to provide certain features within the telephone and may control the appearance of the display on the telephone.
- the display of the telephone can be made to resemble the keypad and switches of a conventional land- based telephone.
- the switch may make the switches of one telephone operate wholly different functions than the switches at other telephones and may cause the telephone displays to show different images indicative of the functions programmed.
- the top switch on one telephone could be used for a "hold” feature and on a different telephone could be used for a "transfer” feature.
- the display on the first telephone could be commanded to display "hold” within or near the image of the switch on the telephone's display while the second telephone could be commanded to display "transfer” at the same location on the display. Changes to the display and features of the various portable telephones used in the system can be readily made centrally using the switch and the command structure of the present invention.
- each telephone could change its appearance and functions responsively to the user code and the same telephone would have different features depending upon the security level or service level of the user.
- the display may use both the familiar alphanumeric messages of present cellular telephones and icons, i.e., graphical images which suggest and represent certain states and actions such as "e-mail waiting", battery strength, speaker volume level, line status, etc.
- An embodiment of the present invention may also be configured to utilize one or more user interface characteristics described below to make the remote units easier to use.
- an embodiment of the present invention may include a user protocol in which the user may either dial the digits of telephone number to be dialed and then press an action key (such as a "CALL" key) or may first press the action key followed by the digits of the telephone number to be dialed.
- the first method resembles the user protocol currently common in cellular telephone systems and the second method resembles the protocol commonly used in present cordless telephones.
- the user may be provided with the option of using either protocol.
- the user may press an action key twice to redial the last telephone number dialed.
- the user may press a "CALL" key twice, the first time obtaining dial tone and the second time redialing the previously dialed number.
- the use of a single key assists the user by not requiring search on the keypad for different keys to indicate Call and Redial functions.
- incoming telephone calls may be redirected on an ad hoc basis by the user of a remote unit.
- the remote unit may indicate the incoming call by a standard method such as by ringing or vibrating.
- the remote unit may display the telephone number or extension of the calling party.
- the user may respond to the incoming call by either: pressing a "Call" key to answer the call; pressing a "Clear” key to mute the ringing and leave the call unanswered; or, pressing an "End""key to have the call automatically redirected to another unit such as another telephone, a message recording system, or a voice mail system.
- the keyboard of a remote unit may be electronically locked so that only a limited number of keys my be used.
- a user may input a predetermined key sequence to lock the telephone from all use (except the unlocking functions) or to lock the telephone to a restricted state.
- the restricted state the user may be permitted to use three keys, an "Unlock” key which restores full functions, a "Power” key to turn the remote unit off, and a "Call" key to answer incoming telephone calls.
- the remote unit in the restricted state the remote unit may be freely carried about without concerns for inadvertent or unauthorized depressions of the keys.
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- Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
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Abstract
Description
Claims
Applications Claiming Priority (6)
Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
---|---|---|---|
US08/671,727 US5995492A (en) | 1996-06-28 | 1996-06-28 | Method and apparatus for using duality to remotely communicate |
US671727 | 1996-06-28 | ||
US08/671,896 US6097704A (en) | 1996-06-28 | 1996-06-28 | System for communicating digital information between a base unit and plural mobile units |
US671896 | 1996-06-28 | ||
CA002259654A CA2259654A1 (en) | 1996-06-28 | 1997-06-30 | Method and apparatus for using duality and also a system for communicating digital information |
PCT/US1997/011473 WO1998000983A2 (en) | 1996-06-28 | 1997-06-30 | Method and apparatus for using duality and also a system for communicating digital information |
Publications (1)
Publication Number | Publication Date |
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EP0908027A2 true EP0908027A2 (en) | 1999-04-14 |
Family
ID=27170920
Family Applications (1)
Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
---|---|---|---|
EP97933240A Withdrawn EP0908027A2 (en) | 1996-06-28 | 1997-06-30 | Improvements in or relating to a method and apparatus for using duality and also a system for communicating digital information |
Country Status (6)
Country | Link |
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EP (1) | EP0908027A2 (en) |
JP (1) | JP2000514612A (en) |
CN (1) | CN1225781A (en) |
AU (1) | AU3647397A (en) |
IL (1) | IL127606A0 (en) |
WO (1) | WO1998000983A2 (en) |
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Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
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US7539507B2 (en) * | 2003-11-21 | 2009-05-26 | Qualcomm Incorporated | Peer-to-peer communications |
KR101798421B1 (en) | 2016-07-26 | 2017-11-16 | 한국해양과학기술원 | Transmission channel slot determination method based on node ID in a time division multiple access |
CN109120326B (en) * | 2018-10-23 | 2021-07-30 | 深圳中科讯联科技股份有限公司 | Wireless voice concurrent transmission method, device and system |
Family Cites Families (6)
Publication number | Priority date | Publication date | Assignee | Title |
---|---|---|---|---|
US4797947A (en) * | 1987-05-01 | 1989-01-10 | Motorola, Inc. | Microcellular communications system using macrodiversity |
DE69225259T2 (en) * | 1991-02-22 | 1998-08-20 | Sony Corp | Time duplex transceiver |
EP0565127B1 (en) * | 1992-04-10 | 2003-01-08 | Nec Corporation | Method for a TDMA mobile unit frequency synthesizer having power saving mode during transmit and receive slots |
GB9316951D0 (en) * | 1993-08-14 | 1993-09-29 | Macnamee Robert J G | Radio communication systems |
EP0989697B1 (en) * | 1993-09-30 | 2004-06-30 | Skyworks Solutions, Inc. | Multiple antenna home base for digital cordless telephones |
US5444696A (en) * | 1993-10-29 | 1995-08-22 | Pacific Communication Sciences, Inc. | Frame structure using consecutive slot assignments for mobile communications |
-
1997
- 1997-06-30 CN CN97196570A patent/CN1225781A/en active Pending
- 1997-06-30 EP EP97933240A patent/EP0908027A2/en not_active Withdrawn
- 1997-06-30 IL IL12760697A patent/IL127606A0/en unknown
- 1997-06-30 WO PCT/US1997/011473 patent/WO1998000983A2/en active Application Filing
- 1997-06-30 JP JP10504416A patent/JP2000514612A/en not_active Ceased
- 1997-06-30 AU AU36473/97A patent/AU3647397A/en not_active Abandoned
Non-Patent Citations (1)
Title |
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See references of WO9800983A2 * |
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WO1998000983A3 (en) | 1998-05-07 |
WO1998000983A2 (en) | 1998-01-08 |
CN1225781A (en) | 1999-08-11 |
IL127606A0 (en) | 1999-10-28 |
AU3647397A (en) | 1998-01-21 |
JP2000514612A (en) | 2000-10-31 |
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