Patent Application
20080096545
The present invention will be more fully understood and appreciated from the following detailed description, taken in conjunction with the drawings in which:
The present invention relates to wireless voice communication over free RF channels. Whereas conventional walkie-talkie devices that use free RF channels are limited to short range communication, the present invention uses a series of intermediate receiver/transmitter cells to provide for long range communication.
Reference is now made to
Each receiver/transmitter cell Cm is equipped with a positioning device, such as a global positioning system (GPS) device, that identifies the position of Cm and the positions of all active receiver/transmitter cells C1-C8 that are within the limited range of Cm. If Cm receives a voice message intended for a telephone at destination D, Cm relays the message, via TDMA, to the telephone, if D is within the limited range of Cm. Otherwise, if D is not within the range of Cm, then Cm relays the message, via TDMA, to a receiver/transmitter cell Cn that is closer to D than is Cm. Using shorthand notation, either Cm→D or else Cm→Cn, where Cn is closer to D that is Cm. If D is not within range of Cm, and if there are no active cells Cn closer to D than is Cm, the Cm uses the dual mode capability of TDMA to send the message to destination D using analog transmission.
If there are several candidate cells Cn that are closer to D than is Cm, then Cm may select (i) the candidate cell Cn that is closest to D, (ii) the first candidate cell Cn that is identified by Cm as being closer to D than is Cm, or (iii) the first candidate cell Cn that is identified as being closer to D by a prescribed amount, such as 5 miles, than is Cm, if such a cell Cn exists.
Shown in
Reference is now made to
At step 250 the cell determines if it is able to locate another active cell that is closer to D than is P. If so, then at step 260 the cell relays the message to an active cell at a position Q that is closer to D than is P, via TDMA. The cell at position Q then follows steps 210-260. If destination D is not within range of the cell, and if the cell cannot locate an active cell that is closer to D than is P, then at step 270 the cell uses the dual mode capability of TDMA to handoff the message for relay to its destination D using analog transmission.
It will be appreciated that the positions of telephones A and B, and the positions of the receiver/transmitter cells are generally moving and not stationary.
Reference is now made to
Cell 300 includes a positioning system 350 for identifying the position of cell 300, and for identifying positions of other cells, such as cells 320 and 340. Cell 300 also includes a router 360 for determining to which node within range of cell 300 should cell 300 relay the received message. If destination D is within range for cell 300, then router 360 indicates that cell 300 should relay the received message to its final destination, D. Otherwise, if destination D is not within range for cell 300, then router 360 indicates that cell 300 should relay the received message to another cell, such as cell 340, which is closer to the destination, D, than is cell 300.
The method and system illustrated in
In reading the above description, persons skilled in the art will realize that there are many apparent variations that can be applied to the methods and systems described. Thus, in addition to voice communication, the present invention applies to other forms of peer-to-peer digital communication, including inter alia text messaging, music, photo and video communication, and interactive games.
It may also be appreciated that the present invention is not restricted to TDMA transmission, and applies to any digital transmission technology that can achieve a significant gain over analog transmission capacity, including the spread spectrum code division multiple access (CDMA) technology, which also splits the radio frequencies. The present invention also applies inter alia to narrowband analog mobile-phone services (NAMPS), and global system for mobile communications technologies.
In the foregoing specification, the invention has been described with reference to specific exemplary embodiments thereof. It will, however, be evident that various modifications and changes may be made to the specific exemplary embodiments without departing from the broader spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims. Accordingly, the specification and drawings are to be regarded in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense.
