A network and method of operating a network of wireless service providers adapted to interact with a plurality of omni-modal wireless products within a given geographic area in a manner to permit the wireless service providers to “borrow” radio frequencies from other wireless service providers within the same geographic region. As a cellular service provider in a given region finds that one of its service areas or cells has become nearly or fully loaded, frequency could be borrowed from a competitor, such as a PCS provider serving the same region. Selected omni-modal wireless product users in the overloaded area would be told to switch their omni-modal to the “leased” frequency but to use the non-PCS communications protocol appropriate to the type of service desired by the user. Implementation of this method broadly within a given geographic region will have the effect of insuring that the available radio spectrum is used to its maximum capacity to serve the needs of the wireless users on a real time basis.
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0. 25. A method, performed by a first wireless service provider operating within a given geographic region, for ensuring that radio spectrum available within the given geographic region is used efficiently, thereby enabling the first wireless service provider to better serve the communication needs of a user having a frequency agile wireless device, the method comprising:
establishing an agreement or relationship with a second wireless service provider operating within the given geographic region, wherein, under the agreement or relationship, the second wireless service provider agrees to allow the first wireless service provider to temporarily borrow radio spectrum licensed to the second wireless service provider so that the first wireless service provider can provide a communication service to the user; and
temporarily borrowing radio spectrum licensed to the second wireless service provider under the terms of the agreement or relationship.
0. 55. In an environment where a first wireless service provider operating within a given geographic area has been allocated a first portion of the radio frequency spectrum and a second wireless service provider operating within the given geographic area has been allocated a second portion of the radio frequency spectrum, a method performed by the first wireless service provider for ensuring that, within the given geographic region, the radio frequency spectrum is used efficiently, the method comprising:
receiving from the second wireless service provider permission to use the second portion of the radio frequency spectrum allocated to the second wireless service provider to provide service to a user having a frequency agile wireless device;
receiving a request for service transmitted to the first wireless service provider from the user's frequency agile wireless device; and
using the second portion of the radio frequency spectrum to provide the requested service to the user.
0. 35. A method, performed by a first wireless service provider operating within a given geographic region, for ensuring that radio spectrum available within the given geographic region is used efficiently, thereby enabling the first wireless service provider to better serve the communication needs of a user having a frequency agile wireless device, the method comprising:
establishing an agreement or relationship with a second wireless service provider operating within the given geographic region, wherein, under the agreement or relationship, the second wireless service provider agrees that, under pre-determined conditions, it will temporarily transfer to the first wireless service provider a right to use radio spectrum licensed to the second wireless service provider to provide service to the user of the first wireless service provider; and
accepting, from the second wireless service provider, the transfer of the temporary right to use radio spectrum allocated to the second wireless service provider.
0. 45. A method, performed by a first wireless service provider operating within a given geographic region, for ensuring that radio spectrum available within the given geographic region is used efficiently so as to serve a service need of a customer of the first wireless service provider, wherein the customer has a frequency agile wireless device, the method comprising:
establishing an agreement with a second wireless service provider operating within the given geographic region, wherein, under the agreement, the second wireless service provider agrees to allow the first wireless service provider to use radio spectrum allocated to the second wireless service provider to provide service to customers of the first wireless service provider;
receiving a request for service transmitted to the first wireless service provider from the customer's frequency agile wireless device; and
using a portion of the radio spectrum allocated to the second wireless service provider to provide the service requested by the customer.
0. 86. A method for operating a radio spectrum market to promote the efficient use of radio spectrum by a plurality of wireless networks operating in overlapping geographic areas and to whom corresponding portions of the radio spectrum have been licensed, respectively, by a governmental authority, for exclusive use and/or control by each wireless network of the corresponding portion of the radio spectrum to provide wireless services to a plurality of subscribers of the corresponding wireless network having wireless access devices capable of accessing the corresponding wireless network using radio spectrum appropriate to the corresponding wireless network and allowing subscribers to select the wireless network for access based on operating information relating to the wireless services offered by the network and wherein the method comprises the steps of
establishing a business arrangement among two or more of the wireless networks participating in the market under which the right to use licensed radio spectrum may be transferred from one wireless network to another wireless network participating in the business arrangement;
conveying operating information to the access devices relating to the wireless services offered by each wireless network; and
periodically transferring the right to use radio spectrum, licensed to one of the wireless networks, to a second wireless network pursuant to the business arrangement for expanding the capacity of the second wireless network to grant access to the subscribers of the second wireless network using the transferred radio spectrum in response to more subscribers choosing to access the second wireless network based on the operating information conveyed to the access devices regrading the second wireless network.
0. 76. A method for participating in a radio spectrum market to promote the efficient use of radio spectrum by a first wireless network and a plurality of other wireless networks operating in overlapping geographic areas and to whom corresponding portions of the radio spectrum have been licensed, respectively, by a governmental authority, for exclusive use and/or control by each wireless network wherein a portion of the radio spectrum licensed to each wireless network is used for network control to provide wireless services to a plurality of subscribers of the corresponding wireless network having wireless access devices capable of accessing the corresponding wireless network using radio spectrum appropriate to the corresponding wireless network and wherein the method comprises the steps of
establishing a business arrangement with one or more of the other wireless networks participating in the market under which the right to use licensed radio spectrum may be transferred from one wireless network to another wireless network participating in the business arrangement; and
performing at least one of the following steps:
i. periodically transferring the right to use radio spectrum, licensed to the first wireless network and not used for wireless network control, to a second wireless network pursuant to the business arrangement for expanding the capacity of the second wireless network to grant access to the subscribers of the second wireless network using the transferred radio spectrum, and
ii. periodically accepting a transfer of the right to use radio spectrum, licensed to a second wireless network and not used for wireless network control, to the first wireless network pursuant to the business arrangement for expanding the capacity of the first wireless network to grant access to the subscribers of the first wireless network using the transferred radio spectrum.
0. 65. A method for participating in a radio spectrum market to promote the efficient use of radio spectrum by a first wireless network and a plurality of other wireless networks operating in overlapping geographic areas using communication protocols which may differ and to whom corresponding portions of the radio spectrum have been licensed, respectively, by a governmental authority, for exclusion use and/or control by each wireless network to provide wireless services to a plurality of subscribers of the corresponding wireless network having wireless access devices capable of accessing the corresponding wireless network using radio spectrum and a communication protocol appropriate to the corresponding wireless network and wherein the method comprises the steps of
establishing a business arrangement between the first wireless network and one or more of the other wireless networks participating in the market under which the right to use licensed radio spectrum may be transferred from one wireless network to another wireless network participating in the business arrangement; and
performing at least one of the following steps:
i. periodically transferring the right to use radio spectrum, licensed to the first wireless network, to a second wireless network pursuant to the business arrangement for expanding the capacity of the second wireless network to grant access to the subscribers of the second wireless network using the transferred radio spectrum and the communication protocol employed by the second wireless network, and
ii. periodically accepting a transfer of the right to use radio spectrum, licensed to a second wireless network, to the first wireless network pursuant to the business arrangement for expanding the capacity of the first wireless network to grant access to the subscribers of the first wireless network using the transferred radio spectrum and the communication protocol employed by the first wireless network.
0. 1. A radio frequency management system for reallocation of radio spectrum among a plurality of wireless communication networks using differing radio frequency modulation protocols and differing radio frequencies to communicate with a plurality of frequency and protocol agile portable radio devices each of which is responsive to portable radio device control signals to change its operating frequency and modulation protocol, comprising
capacity detection means for generating a frequency request signal upon determining that a first wireless communication network operating using a first radio frequency spectrum allocated to said first wireless communication network and using a first modulation protocol, is at or near full capacity,
frequency reallocating means responsive to a frequency request signal for reassigning temporarily radio spectrum from a second wireless communication network operating using a second radio frequency spectrum allocated to said second wireless communication network and different from said first radio frequency spectrum and using second modulation protocol, to the first communication network determined by said capacity detection means to be at or near fill capacity, and
means for causing portable radio control signals in at least some of the frequency and protocol agile portable radio devices to change their operating frequency and modulation protocol to permit the portable radio devices so changed to communicate over the temporarily reassigned radio spectrum.
0. 2. A radio frequency management system as defined in
a frequency agile radio transceiver operating at any one frequency of a plurality of radio frequencies appropriate for each of the plurality of wireless communication networks, said one frequency selected in response to a frequency control signal,
a digital interface circuit for interconnecting said frequency agile radio transceiver with external digital signal processing devices to allow digital signal information to be sent and received over said frequency agile radio transceiver,
protocol agile operating circuit means for operating said frequency agile radio transceiver and said digital interface circuit in accordance with any one modulation protocol of a plurality of modulation protocols, said one modulation protocol selected in response to a protocol control signal, and
adaptive control means for determining which wireless communications networks are available at a given location and time, for accessing a selected wireless communication network and for generating the frequency control signal and the protocol control signal in response to a user defined criteria to cause the device to communicate with the selected wireless communication network using a frequency and modulation protocol suitable for transmission of said digital signal information over said selected wireless communications network.
0. 3. The radio frequency management system defined in
0. 4. The radio frequency management system as defined in
0. 5. The radio frequency management system as defined in
0. 6. The radio frequency management system as defined in
0. 7. The radio frequency management system as defined in
0. 8. The radio frequency management system as defined in
the cost of using the wireless communication network,
the quality of the transmission link connecting said frequency agile transceiver and the selected wireless communication network,
prior experience with specific wireless communication networks,
the potential of being dropped from the network, or
the security of the radio transmission link connecting said frequency agile transceiver and the selected wireless communication network.
0. 9. The radio frequency management system as defined in
0. 10. The radio frequency management system as defined in
0. 11. The radio frequency management system as defined in
0. 12. The radio frequency management system as defined in
0. 13. A method for reallocation of radio frequency spectrum among a plurality of wireless communication networks at least some of which may be available and operating at a given time and location using differing radio frequency modulation protocols and over differing radio frequencies to communicate with a plurality of frequency and protocol agile portable radio devices each of which is responsive to portable radio device control signals to change its operating frequency and modulation protocol, comprising the steps of
generating a frequency request signal upon determining that a first wireless communication network is at or near full capacity,
reassigning temporarily in response to said frequency request signal radio spectrum from a wireless communication network utilizing less of its normally assigned radio frequency to the communication network determined to be at or near full capacity, and
causing portable radio control signals in at least some of the frequency and protocol agile portable radio devices to change their operating frequency and transmission protocol to permit the portable radio devices so changed to communicate over the temporarily reassigned radio spectrum.
0. 14. A method as defined in
operating a frequency agile radio transceiver at any one frequency of a plurality of radio frequencies appropriate for each of the plurality of wireless communication networks, said one frequency selected in response to a frequency control signal,
interconnecting said frequency agile radio transceiver with external digital signal processing devices to allow digital signal information to be sent and received over said frequency agile radio transceiver,
operating said frequency agile radio transceiver in accordance with any one modulation protocol of a plurality of modulation protocols, said one modulation protocol selected in response to a protocol control signal, and
determining which wireless communications networks are available at a given location and time and accessing a selected wireless communication network by generating the frequency control signal and the protocol control signal in response to a user defined criteria to cause the device to communicate with the selected wireless communication network using a frequency and modulation protocol suitable for transmission of said digital signal information over said selected wireless communications network.
0. 15. The method as defined in
0. 16. The method as defined in
0. 17. The method as defined in
0. 18. The method as defined in
0. 19. The method as defined in
0. 20. The method as defined in
the cost of using the wireless communication network,
the quality of the transmission link connecting said frequency agile transceiver and the selected wireless communication network,
prior experience with specific wireless communication networks,
the probability of being dropped from the network, or
the security of the radio transmission link connecting said frequency agile transceiver and the selected wireless communication network.
0. 21. The method as defined in
0. 22. The method as defined in
0. 23. A radio frequency management system for providing information useful in selecting among a plurality of wireless communication networks having different and variable operating characteristics and accessed by a plurality of portable radio devices each of which is capable of accessing any of the plurality of wireless communication networks comprising:
wireless communication network monitoring means for monitoring the current network load of each of the plurality of wireless communication networks;
processing means connected with said network monitoring means for receiving a signal indicative of said current network load and for generating a signal representing current operational characteristics of each of the wireless communications networks in response thereto;
network information transmission means connected with said processing means for receiving said signal and for transmitting said operational characteristics for each of the plurality of wireless communication networks to each of the plurality of portable radio devices thereby allowing each of the portable wireless devices to selectively access one of said plurality of wireless communications networks in response to said operational characteristics.
0. 24. The system of
0. 26. The method of
receiving a request for service transmitted to the first wireless service provider from the user's frequency agile wireless device; and
using the borrowed radio spectrum to provide the service requested by the user.
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receiving a request for service transmitted to the first wireless service provider from the user's frequency agile wireless device; and
using a portion of the radio spectrum licensed to the second wireless service provider to provide the service requested by the user after accepting, from the second wireless service provider, the transfer of the temporary right to use the radio spectrum portion.
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More than one reissue application has been filed for the reissue of U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,621 issued on application Ser. No. 08/709,112 filed Sep. 6, 1996 which is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/167,002 filed Dec. 15, 1993. The reissue applications are application Ser. No. 09/392,676 filed Sep. 8, 1999, now RE38,787, and application Ser. No. 10/737,670 (the present application), both of which are divisional reissues of U.S. Pat. No. 5,761,621. The present application claims the benefit of application Ser. Nos. 08/167,002; 08/709,112 and 09/392,676.
This invention relates generally to frequency and protocol agile, wireless communication devices and systems adapted to enable voice and/or data transmission to occur using a variety of different radio frequencies, transmission protocols and radio infrastructures.
Many communication industry experts believe that a personal information revolution has begun that will have as dramatic an impact as did the rise of personal computers in the 1980's. Such experts are predicting that the personal computer will became truly “personal” by allowing virtually instant access to information anytime or anywhere. There exists no consensus, however, on the pace or form of this revolution.
For example, the wireless communication industry is being fragmented by the emergence of a substantial number of competing technologies and services including digital cellular technologies (e.g. TDMA, E-TDMA, narrow band CDMA, and broadband CDMA), geopositioning services, one way and two-way paging services, packet data services, enhanced specialized mobile radio, personal computing services, two-way satellite systems, cellular digital packet data (CDPD) and others. Fragmenting forces within the wireless communication industry have been further enhanced by regulatory actions of the U.S. government. In particular, the U.S. government is preparing to auction off portions of the radio spectrum for use in providing personal communication services (PCS) in a large number of relatively small contiguous regions of the country. The U.S. government is also proposing to adopt regulations which will encourage wide latitude among successful bidders for the new radio spectrum to adopt innovative wireless technologies.
Until the market for wireless communication has experienced an extended “shake-out” period it is unlikely that a clear winner or group of winners will become apparent. Any portable unit which is capable of interacting with more than one service provider or radio infrastructure would obviously have advantages over a portable unit which is capable of accessing only a single service provider. Still better would be a portable unit which could be reprogrammed to interact with a variety of different service providers. Previous attempts to provide such multi modal units have produced a variety of interesting, but less than ideal, product and method concepts.
Among the known multi-modal proposals is a portable telephone, disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,042 to Gillig et al., which is adapted to operate with either a conventional cordless base station or cellular base station. U.S. Pat. No. 5,179,360 to Suzuki discloses a cellular telephone which is capable of switching between either an analog mode of operation or a digital mode of operation. Yet another approach is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,985,904 to Ogawara directed to an improved method and apparatus for switching from a failed main radio communication system to a backup communication system. Still another proposal is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,122,795 directed to a paging receiver which is capable of scanning the frequencies of a plurality of radio common carriers to detect the broadcast of a paging message over one of the carriers serving a given geographic region. In U.S. Pat. No. 5,239,701 to Ishii there is disclosed a radio receiver which is responsive to an RF signal containing a plurality of channel frequencies, each having broadcast information, and a circuit for producing a wide band version of the received RF signal and a circuit for producing a narrow band version of the received RF signal.
While multi-modal in some regard, each of the technologies disclosed in the above listed patents is highly specialized and limited to a specific application. The systems disclosed are clearly non-adaptive and are incapable of being easily reconfigured to adapt to different transmission protocols or different radio infrastructures. Recently, Motorola has announced beta testing of a system called “MoNet” which will allegedly allow users to operate on whatever wireless network happens to be available using protocol and frequency agile radio modems. The MoNet technology will be integrated in both networks and mobile devices and will permit first time users to fill out an electronic application, transmit it, and receive a personal ID to allow the user to operate on any of several mobile networks yet receive just one bill. Another provider of an open system is Racotek of Minneapolis, Minn. which offers client server architecture designed to be portable across different mobile devices, host platforms, and radio infrastructures.
While the limited attempts to deal with the fragmentation of the wireless communication industry have had some merits, no one has yet disclosed a truly self adaptive, omni-modal wireless product which enables an end user to access conveniently various wireless services in accordance with a selection process which is sufficiently under the control of the end user.
A fundamental objective of the subject invention is to overcome the deficiencies of the prior art by providing a truly omni-modal wireless system and method which is adaptive to the selectivity variable desires of the end user and is reconfigurable to allow maximum utilization of the total radio frequency spectrum assigned in any given geographic are for wireless communication.
Another more specific object of the subject invention in the provision of multiple portable product in the hands of plural individual users wherein each portable product would be capable of utilizing any one of the wireless data services within a given geographic area based on a user determined criteria such as: (1) the cost of sending a data message, (2) the quality of transmission link (signal strength, interference actual or potential), (3) the potential for being bumped off of the system (is service provider at near full capacity), (4) the security of transmission, (5) any special criteria which the user could variably program into his omni-modal wireless product based on the user's desires or (6) any one or more combinations of the above features that are preprogrammed, changed or overridden by the user.
Another object of the subject invention is to provide plural omni-modal wireless products which would allow for adaptive service provider selection based on user experience with specific service providers.
A more specific object of the subject invention is to provide plural omni-modal wireless products which would have the effect of inducing intense competition for customers among various wireless data service providers based on quality of service and price by allowing the user to easily and conveniently identify the service providers that best meet the user's performance requirements.
Another object of the invention is to provide a network of omni-modal wireless products and service providers which is designed to provide the most business and profit making potential to the service providers who best meet the varying demands of the greatest number of omni-modal wireless product users.
Still another objective of the subject invention is to promote and encourage introduction of innovative technology which will satisfy the desires of end users to receive the best possible quality wireless service at the lowest possible cost by promoting real time adaptive price and service competition among cell service providers.
Another objective of the subject invention is to allow wireless service providers to broadcast electronically as part of any “handshaking” procedure with a omni-modal wireless product information such as (1) rate information and (2) information regarding system operating characteristics such as percent of system capacity in use and/or likelihood of being dropped.
Still another objective of the subject invention is to create a user oriented source enrollment and billing service in the wireless data market by establishing uniform standard for “handshakes” to occur between cell service providers and omni-modal wireless products.
A more specific object of this invention is to provide a network of wireless service providers adapted to interact with a population of omni-modal wireless products within a given geographic area in a manner to permit the wireless service providers to “borrow” radio frequencies from other wireless service providers within the same geographic region. As a cellular service provider in a given region finds that one of its service areas or cells has become nearly or fully loaded, frequency could be borrowed from a competitor, such as a PCS provider serving the same region. Selected omni-modal wireless product users in the overloaded area would be told to switch their omni-modal to the “leased” frequency but to use the non-PCS communications protocol appropriate to the type of service desired by the user. Implementation of this method broadly within a given geographic region will have the effect of insuring that the available radio spectrum is used to its maximum capacity to serve the needs of the wireless users on a real time basis.
These objects, and others which will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon review of the specification, are achieved in the present invention by an omni-modal radio circuit implemented by a standard radio computing chip or chipset which can serve as a computer (special or general purpose), or as an interface to a general purpose personal computer. The chip preferably includes a modem and associated processing circuits. So that it can perform at least basic processing functions such as displaying data, accepting input, etc., the chip may also incorporate at least a basic microprocessor. The processor may provide only predetermined functions, accessible through a standard applications programming interface, or in more advanced designs the processor can run other software or firmware added by the product maker. Exemplary processor functions of the chip include radio network interface control (call placement, call answering), voice connection, data transmission, and data input/output. The chip can be used to implement a variety of omni-modal devices and can provde computing resources to operate fundamental communications programs.
A preferred embodiment of a standardized radio processing circuit 1 is shown in
In terms of the preferred functional and operational characteristics of circuit 1, it is particularly significant that this circuit provides a multi-modal or omni-modal communications capability. That is, circuit 1 can be adjusted by the user, or automatically under stored program control, to transfer information over at least two different radio communications networks, and preferably all networks available in a particular area within the frequency range of the transceiver of circuit 1.
Examples of radio communications networks which circuit 1 may be designed to use include commercial paging networks; the U.S. cellular telephone network or Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS); alternative cellular telephone network standards such as the European standard; digitally modulated radiotelephone systems operating under various encoding techniques such as TDMA, CDMA, E-TDMA, and BCDMA; Cellular Digital Packet Data (CDPD); Enhanced Specialized Mobile Radio (ESMR); ARDIS; Personal Cellular Systems (PCS); RAM; global positioning systems; FM networks which transmit stock prices or other information on subcarriers; satellite-based networks; cordless landline telephones (such as 49 Mhz and particularty 900 Mhz systems); and wireless LAN systems. Preferably, circuit 1 is also designed to use the landline/public switched telephone network (PSTN).
As another feature, the omni-modal circuit 1 may perform local positioning calculations to accurately determine its location by monitoring precisely synchronized timing signals which may be broadcast by cell sites for this purpose. If such timing signals were provided, the omni-modal circuit 1 could receive the signals, determine the relative time delay in receiving at least three such signals from different transmitter locations, and triangulate to determine the distance of the omni-modal circuit to each of the transmitters. If the omni-modal circuit 1 is installed in a vehicle, this information may be used to determine the location of the vehicle.
As will be seen, for each system which can be accessed by circuit 1, appropriate cross connections are provided between the radio circuit or landline interface, as selected, and voice or data sources and destinations. The appropriate cross connections are established under program control and include conversions between digital and analog signal forms at appropriate points in cases where a signal in one form is to be transmitted using a method for which a different signal form is appropriate. The operating parameters of the transceiver may be optimized by a digital signal processor for either voice or data transmission.
In addition, a library of command, control and data transmission protocols appropriate for each supported system may be included in circuit 1, and the device can implement the correct protocols by consulting a lookup table during transmissions to obtain the data channel protocols appropriate to the system selected. In another embodiment, the library of command, control, and data transmission protocols may be replaced, or supplemented, by information transmitted over the radio frequencies to the device by the carrier, or information downloaded from a hardwired connection to another device. Flash memory, EEPROMs, or non-volatile RAM can be used to store program information, permitting replacement or updating of the operating instructions used by the device.
As examples, the library functions accessible by the device (and also by external devices which may call the library functions) may include the following: Select RF modulation frequency; select RF modulation protocol; select data formatting/conditioning protocol; transmit data in input stream using selected network and protocol; select output; select input; select data/voice mode; answer call; generate DTMF tones and transmit on selected network; scan for control channels/available system; obtain cost information for current selected system; obtain cost information for all systems; obtain operating quality information for current system; obtain operating quality information for all systems; request transmission channel in system; obtain signal strength for current channel; obtain signal strength for all active systems; and initiate a transmission on the selected network.
Voice grade channel output 26 is connected to analog detector-demodulator 18 and digital output 28 is connected to digital demodulator 20. Analog detector-demodulator 18 and digital demodulator 20 are selectively connected to receiver mixer 10 through switch 14. Receiver mixer 10 is connected to both local oscillator 12 and diplexer 4. Diplexer 4 is connected to antenna 2. These components provide radio frequency receive circuitry that allows selective reception and demodulation of both analog and digitally modulated radio signals.
Voice grade channel input 30 is connected to analog modulator 22 and digital input 32 is connected to digital modulator 24. Analog modulator 22 and digital modulator 24 are selectively connected to transmit mixer 8 through switch 16. Transmit mixer 8 is connected to both local oscillator 12 and amplifier 6. Amplifier 6 is connected to diplexer 4 and diplexer 4 is connected to antenna 2. These components comprise radio frequency transmit circuitry for selective transmission of analog or digitally modulated radio signals.
The operation of the omni-modal radio communication RF circuit shown in
Diplexer 4 allows antenna 2 to receive broadcast radio signals and to transmit the received signals to the demodulators 18 and 20, and to allow modulated radio signals from modulators 22 and 24 to be transmitted over antenna 2. Diplexer 4 is designed so that signals received from amplifier 6 will be propagated only to antenna 2, while signals received from antenna 2 will only be propagated to receiver mixer 10. Diplexer 4 thus prevents powerful signals from amplifier 6 from overloading and destroying receiver mixer 10 and demodulators 18 and 20.
The receive path of the omni-modal RF circuit comprises receiver mixer 10, which is connected to, and receives an input signal from, diplexer 4. Receiver mixer 10 also receives a reference frequency from local oscillator 12. Receiver mixer 10 converts the signal received from diplexer 4 to a lower frequency signal and outputs this intermediate frequency on output line 36 to switch 14. Switch 14 is connected through control line 38 to a microprocessor (not shown). Control line 38 selectively controls switch 14 to pass the intermediate frequency signal on output line 36 to either analog detector-demodulator 18 or to digital demodulator 20. This selection is controlled based upon the type of signal currently being received. For example, if the omni-modal circuit 1 is tuned to an analog communication system, switch 14 would be connected to analog detector demodulator 18. If, however, the omni-modal circuit 1 is receiving a digital modulated signal, switch 14 would be in a state to allow an intermediate frequency on output line 36 to be transmitted to digital demodulator 20.
Analog detector demodulator 18 receives analog signals through switch 14 from receiver mixer 10 on output line 36. Analog detector demodulator converts the RF modulated signal received as an intermediate frequency into a voice grade channel or VGC. The voice grade channel may comprise an audio frequency spectrum going from approximately 0 Hz to approximately 4 KHz. Analog detector demodulator 18 it designed for demodulation of analog radio frequency signals. For example, analog detector demodulator would be capable of demodulating a frequency modulated (FM) radio signals. Analog detector demodulator 18 may also be capable of demodulating amplitude modulated (AM) radio signals.
Digital demodulator 20 is designed to demodulate digital signals received from receiver mixer 10 through switch 14. Digital demodulator 20 is designed to demodulate digital signals such as, for example, pulse code modulation (PCM), time division multiple access (TDMA), code division multiple access (CDMA), extended time division multiple access (E-TDMA) and board band code division multiple access (BCDMA) signals. The output 28 from digital demodulator 20 could consist of a digital bit stream.
The transmit circuitry of the omni-modal RF circuit will now be described in detail. Analog voice grade channel signals can be received over analog input 30 which is connected to analog modulator 22. Analog modulator 22 acts to modulate the received voice grade channel onto an intermediate frequency signal carrier. Analog modulator 22 would be capable of modulating frequency modulation (FM) or amplitude modulation (AM) signals, for example.
As can be seen in
Digital input can be received by the transmit portion of the RF modulator circuitry through digital input 32. Digital input 32 is connected to digital modulator 24 which acts to modulate the received digital data onto an intermediate frequency RF carrier. Digital modulator 24 may preferably be capable of modulating the signal into a PCM, TDMA, E-TDMA, CDMA and BCDMA format. The output 44 of digital modulator 24 is connected to switch 16. Switch 16 can be controlled through control line 40 to select the digital modulated signal on output 44 and to selectively transmit that signal to transmit mixer 8.
Transmit mixer 8 is connected to programmable local oscillator 12 which is capable of generating frequencies that cover the frequency spectrum of the desired communication systems. Transmit mixer 8 operates in a manner well known in the art to convert the intermediate frequency signal received from switch 16 to a radio frequency for transmission over a radio communication system. The output of transmit mixer 8 is connected to amplifier 6. Amplifier 6 acts to amplify the signal to insure adequate strength for the signal to be transmitted to the remote receiving station. Amplifier 6 may be connected to control circuitry to allow the power output of amplifier 6 to be varied in accordance with control signals received from the control circuitry. The output of amplifier 6 is connected to diplexer 4 and, as described above, to antenna 2.
Microprocessor 110 is connected to memory 112 and operates to control the input circuitry as well as the programmable local oscillator 12 and switches 14 and 16 shown in FIG. 1A. Memory 112 can contain both data storage and program information for microprocessor 110. Microprocessor 110 may be any suitable microprocessor such as an Intel 80X86 or Motorola 608X0 processor. Memory 112 contains a program that allows microprocessor 110 to selectively operate the voice processing circuitry, data processing circuitry and switches to select the appropriate transmission channel for the communication signal currently being processed. In this manner, microprocessor 110 allows omni-modal circuit 1 to selectively operate on a plurality of radio communication systems.
As can be seen in
If switch 122 is changed to its alternate state, voice processing input 144 will be connected to digital to analog converter 106. Digital to analog converter 106 is connected to digital input 128 which, referring to
As noted above, omni-modal circuit 1 is capable of transmitting data over a plurality of radio frequency communication systems. As can be seen in
As is readily apparent from the above discussion,
Circuit 1 is designed to facilitate product differentiation by companies making use of circuit 1 as a standard building block for radio voice and/or data communications devices. For example, each manufacturer may provide specialized interface features for the user, and specialized hardware controls appropriate for various user groups. Circuit 1 is particularly advantageous in facilitating these goals in that it provides microprocessor 110 and memory 112 that allow manufacturers to customize the operation of the circuit with little or no additional components. Furthermore, circuit 1 could be pre-programmed with a series of primitives that would allow a manufacturer to quickly and easily integrate the complex features of the device into a use friendly consumer product.
Referring next to
As shown in
The advanced cellular phone of
Also shown in
The personal communicator computing circuitry 302 includes display 304, microprocessor 306, memory 308, input device 316, data interface jack 310 and RJ-11 jack 312. As can be seen in
The personal communicator computing circuitry 302 acts to allow the user to interface and process data in a manner known to those of skill in the art. For example, display 304 may include an LCD display panel and may be color or black and white. Microprocessor 306 may include an Intel 80X86 microprocessor or any other microprocessor manufactured by Intel or Motorola or other computer processing chip manufacturers. Memory 308 includes random access memory (RAM) and read-only memory (ROM) necessary for the functioning of the computing device. Input device 316 may be a keyboard or a pen-based interface or other interface including voice recognition that allows for data to be input to the personal communicator computing circuitry 302. Microprocessor 306 is interfaced through data interface jack 310 to data input 114 and data output 116 of the omni-modal circuit. This allows the personal communicator computing circuitry 302 to transmit data using the omni-modal circuit 1. Also, as seen in
In one particularly preferred embodiment of the invention, the omni-modal circuit 1 can transmit data over a landline telephone line using RJ-11 jack 312 and modem 124 shown in FIG. 1B. The microprocessor 306 of the personal communicator computing device would transmit data through data interface jack 310 and data input 114 to the omni-modal circuit 1. The omni-modal circuit 1, would receive the data at the data processing circuitry 118 and transmit the data through data output 150 and modem input 156 to modem 124 shown in FIG. 1B. Modem 124 would then modulate the data onto a voice grade channel and transmit the modulated data signal on modem output 154 through switch 120 and data input 152 to data processing circuitry 118. The data processing unit may then transmit the data over data output 116 and into microprocessor 306 through interface jack 310 shown in FIG. 3. The microprocessor 306 may then route the data trough auxiliary data output line 314 to RJ-11 jack 312. In this manner, the personal communicator computing circuitry 302 is able to send data over standard landline telephone lines without the use of a second additional modem. The modem in the omni-modal circuit 1 serves two functions allowing the personal communicator user to send data through his standard landline wall jack or over a wireless network depending on the availability of each at the time the user desires to send the data.
Also shown in
The capabilities of the omni-modal circuit 1 facilitate its use in a device as shown in
Referring next to
The combination telephone/pager device shown in
In
Key pad 602 allows a user to provide information to microprocessor 110 for operating the dual mode device. For example, the user may operate the key pad to indicate that a certain call should be made on the cordless telephone network and not on the cellular network. To the contrary, the user may specify that the cellular network was to be used by operating the key pad 602 to so indicate.
One particularly preferred embodiment of a dual mode device may be programmed to allow for automatic selection of either a cellular communications network or a cordless telephone landline network. This is particularly advantageous in that a cordless telephone landline network is often considerably cheaper to access than is a cellular telephone network. Therefore, if the device will automatically access a cordless telephone network whenever one available, and use the cellular network only we absolutely necessary, the user can achieve substantial savings while still having a single, portable, communications unit that operates over a large geographic area. If the user requests service while within his home, for example, the cordless telephone system would be used and the user would be charged a minimal amount. If the user were to place a call while away from his home a greater charge would be incurred. The user, however, would use the same communications equipment regardless of where the service was used, and the service selection would appear transparent to the user.
Although FIG. 6A and the above discussion focus on a dual mode cellular/cordless landline telephone, it should be understood that the a device in accordance with the present invention may include the ability to access additional communication systems. For example, it may be desirable to have a device substantially as shown in
Referring next to
The omni-modal radio communication card 701 also has an external RJ-11 data jack 712. The external RJ-11 data jack 712 allows omni-modal communications card 701 to transmit data over a telephone landline circuit using a common RJ-11 interface cable. Omni-modal communications card 701 includes a modem 124 in
Therefore, the radio communications card 701 serves as a modem to the personal computer and a separate modem card or external modem is not necessary in order to transmit data over a landline jack. The microprocessor 110 in the omni-modal circuit card 701 allows the circuitry to select either landline transmission via external RJ-11 jack 712 or cellular radio transmission through antennae 2. This may be accomplished for example through an analog switch circuit as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,972,457, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.
The omni-modal circuit 1 of the present invention can be used to implement a system as described above. Referring to
In addition to functions directly related to radio communications and modulation, the library may desirably include other functions which enable desirable computing features. For example, data displaying, electronic mail storage, retrieval, and composition, and other computing functions may be included in the library. In addition, if a high powered processor is provided, the library may be expanded to include substantial operating system functions so that circuit 1 can be used to construct full-fledged personal computers and personal communicators capable of running third party applications programs.
As described above, circuit 1 will be capable of utilizing any one of the wireless data services within a given geographic area. The selection of the service to be used can be made manually by the user, or can be selected automatically. Referring to
Information about the costs and services offered by carriers in the area will be made available to the omni-modal circuit 1 for use in this competitive selection process, either through pre-programming by the user or selling organization or by transmission of the information in a manner described elsewhere herein.
The carrier may be selected by any one of the characteristics of the available competing carriers. For example, a given user may be price sensitive, and wish to always employ the lowest cost transmission method. Another user may have time-critical communications needs (e.g. securities trading or news reporting) and may prefer the most reliable or the highest speed transfer regardless of price.
In determining the cost of a particular transmission, circuit 1 preferably first determines the type and quantity of data to be transmitted. For example, if the user has selected a function of transmitting a file or an electronic mail message, circuit 1 will determine the length of the message, and file. This information is then used in determining the projected cost of transmitting the data on each system. For example, for a short E-mail message, the expected cost for an AMPS cellular system will be the cost of making a one-minute call. For a packet radio system, the expected cost will be the length of the message divided by the number of characters per packet, times the cost per packet. As long as the basis for carrier charges is provided to circuit 1, the cost factors relevant for any particular message can be calculated. Thus, circuit 1 can intelligently predict relative costs of transmitting over various networks and can operate with a low-cost preference dependent on characteristics of an individual message. Different low-cost transmission modes are appropriately selected for messages having different characteristics.
A more sophisticated approach than pure low-cost selection allows the user to assign weights to different competitive factors (price, signal clarity, transmission speed or other factors) depending on the individual preferences and needs of the user. Based on the assigned weights, the circuit then calculates a “score” for each available system and selects the system with the highest score. As an example, a user may instruct the circuit to select carriers based 60% on the ratio of the lowest price to the price of the particular carrier and 40% on normalized signal strength. If the cost to send the message on System I is $0.50 (signal strength 2), the cost on System II is $0.60 (signal strength 4), the cost on System III is $0.85 (signal strength 5) and the cost on System IV is $0.50 (signal strength 1) circuit 1 would calculate scores of:
Particularly desirable selection algorithms may also take multiple factors into account by employing branching algorithms to select the carrier. For example, one multistage selection process based on multiple criteria would operate as follows. Initially, systems which are incapable of performing the desired function would be eliminated from consideration. For example, if the use wants to place a voice call, data-only systems would not be considered. As another example, if the user wants to send a fax to a customer and a given network has no capability of transmitting fax information to a specified telephone number, that system would not be considered for the proposed task. Next, among the systems available, circuit 1 may predict the lowest cost route based on a formula accounting for the message length and the costs of the available systems, including consideration of any long-distance surcharges implied by the destination of the information transfer. Finally, users may also prefer that circuit 1 automatically avoid selecting carries which are suffering performance degradations because of capacity limits, or which have a particularly weak signal at the location of the user. In this way, if the carrier which would otherwise be preferred will not be able to provide a fast, accurate information transfer at the time from the user's location, the carrier that is the “next best” according to the primary programmed selection criteria (cost in this example) may be automatically selected. A tradeoff between signal quality and cost may also be arbitrated by the weighting method described above.
Preferably, any one or combination of the above selection criteria is available in the circuit 1 and the selection criteria can be selected, programmed, changed or overridden by the user. Adaptive service provider selection may be implemented based on user experience. That is, the information transmission track record of circuit 1 with a particular service provider (e.g. error rate, dropped connections, transmission time) can be stored and updated, and this information can be used as a weighted factor in selecting service providers. In this way, service providers providing poor services can be avoided in cases where more desirable alternatives are available.
The market and consumer implications of the present invention are substantial, in that the circuits and methods of the present invention tend to introduce intense competition for customers among various wireless carriers. The present invention automatically identifies service provides that best meet the user's performance requirements. In this way, service providers that meet the varying demands of the most user will have a large market share and maintain full usage of their available frequency spectrum. The invention therefore allows the users to drive the market by creating price and service competition among carriers.
In addition, the omni-modal capability of the present invention facilitates a free market for the use of frequency spectrum. Circuit 1 can be activated to select a specified channel frequency, but may be activated to use command, control, and data protocols on that channel that are normally appropriate for different channels, if the carrier controlling the frequency has authorized another carrier to temporarily use the first carrier's channel. As an example, a local AMPS cellular telephone carrier may have open channels, which may be temporarily “rented” to a Specialized Mobile Radio (SMR) carrier which is experiencing heavy traffic on its assigned channels. The SMR carrier may then direct persons requesting SMR service to operate on the “rented” channel, but using SMR protocols rather than the AMPS protocols which would normally be appropriate to that channel. This method of operation maximizes the efficient use of available frequencies by allowing carries to shrink and expand the number of channels available based on current demand. During rush hours, when AMPS traffic is high, additional channels might be reallocated to AMPS by market forces; that is, the AMPS carrier will rent additional channels from under-utilized carries to provide the services desired by the public at that time. At other times, demand for other systems may increase, and AMPS or other carriers may rent their under-utilized bandwidth to carriers having a substantial demand. This might occur, for example, if a network providing status reporting services from remotely located equipment (vending machines, gas pumps, etc.) is designed to transmit a large volume of data during late night or early morning hours. If the remotely located equipment is provided with an omni-tunable device, the status report network can rent channels from other carries and use multiple channels to service its customers. In this way, economic incentives are established to ensure that airwave channels are assigned to their most productive use at all times, and the anti-competitive effects of carrier monopolies established by FCC channel assignments are reduced.
Referring to
Alternatively, individual carriers may broadcast pricing information on individual command channels. Pricing can be changed on a dynamic basis to maintain a desired system load level. In fact, in one preferred embodiment, an automated price negotiation can be performed in which the circuit 1 transmits an indication of the type and amount of information which is to be transmitted, and the carrier responds by quoting a price for the transmission. Such quotes can be obtained from multiple carriers and the lowest cost transmission mode can be selected, or the quoted prices can be factored into an equation that considers other factors in addition to price, as disclosed previously. As part of this scheme, radio carries may implement a dynamic demand curve evaluation program in which system load and profitability are constantly monitored. The evaluation program may also monitor the percentage of requested quotes which are not accepted. In this way, the radio carrier's system can dynamically adjust prices to maximum revenue to the carrier at all times, based on a real-time model of the current demand curve for airtime service in the area.
One method in which system information could be distributed to users is shown in FIG. 10. The process starts 1002 by contacting a selected service provider 1004. The service provider provides information to a central location as discussed above. Once the information for the first selected service provider is complete, the process determines if other service providers exist 1008. If other providers exist, the process 1004 and 1006 is repeated for each additional service provider. When service information is complied for all service providers, the process complies and formats the information into a standard reporting form the is understandable to all mobile units 1010. The process then determines the proper modulating frequency and protocol for the desired geographic area 1012 and broadcasts this information to all mobile users on the selected frequency and using the selected protocol 1014. Once the information has been broadcast to the users, the process ends 1016.
Referring next to
Once information has been acquired for all available service providers, the information is evaluated 1112. This evaluation could consist of a simple determination based on a single factor, or could include more complex calculations relating to weighting of given factors and qualities. The results of the evaluation are used to select a service provider to process the users pending request for services. A connection is established 1114 on the selected service provider, and the user's request is processed, after which the process ends 1116.
As can be seen in
The omni-modal circuit of the present invention can perform both page receiving and other functions, such as placing cellular telephone calls. However, since only a single transmitting and receiving circuit is provided, when the device is in use on a non-paging communications network such as an AMPS cellular telephone system, any pages directed to the device may not be received. The present invention provides a solution to this potential problem in which the paging system control is interconnected with other network(s) such as the local AMPS cellular system. It should be understood that while connection of the pager system to the AMPS system is shown as an example, such connections may be provided between any systems used by the omni-modal circuit 1 to achieve similar objectives.
Significantly, the paging system 1400 is connected to the cellular telephone network office 1402 by lines 1404 which permit transfer of operational and control information between the paging system 1400 and cellular telephone network office 1402. Because of the connection of lines 1404, the paging system can determine whether the omni-modal device 1 is engaged in a cellular call and will thus be unable to receive a page.
If delivery by the alternate network is not available, control transfers to block 1510 which imposes a time delay. The page information is stored, and after some appropriate period of time, control transfers to block 1506 and the pager system again attempts to determine whether the page can be transmitted by conventional means.
If the alternative network is able to deliver the page and this service is to be provided, control transfers from block 1508 to block 1512 and the page is transmitted over the alterative system. In the case of the AMPS system, the page information may be transmitted as a momentary interruption in an ongoing conversation, as information provided on a command channel, as subaudible information (e.g. in a band from 0 to 300 Hz), or by another appropriate method.
Leedom, Jr., Charles M., Sainton, Joseph B., Robinson, Eric J.
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