Secure network-routed voice multicast dissemination

• US 20040095900A1
• Filed: 11/14/2002
• Published: 05/20/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Inventors: Siegel, Neil G.
• Granted Patent: US 7,801,133 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 61/5069 for group communication, multicast communication or broadcast communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/00 Communication routing or communication path finding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 Inter-networking arrangements

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for routing voice communications to groups in a voice communication system. The voice communication system can be a mobile communication system having a plurality of members grouped as logical networks and/or unit task organizations. One or more routers are provided in the system. The one or more routers extract routing information from received voice messages. The routing information is used with a router database to determine which identified group to route the digitized voice packets. The one or more routers can be adapted to receive and route voice communications to different radio types across different logical networks.

Claims

1. A wireless voice communication system comprising:

a plurality of mobile communication units that wirelessly transmit voice messages, at least a portion of the plurality of mobile communication units being grouped into at least one unit task organization; and

a router that receives the voice messages from at least one of the plurality of mobile communication units and extracts routing information from the voice messages, the routing information being used in conjunction with a router database, that defines logical network groupings and unit task organization groupings, to transmit the voice message to members in the at least one unit task organization.

2. The system of claim 1, the plurality of mobile communication units being a plurality of two-way radio devices.

3. The system of claim 2, the two-way radio devices being line-of-sight radio devices.

4. The system of claim 1, the at least one task unit organization formed of mobile communication units associated with a plurality of different logical networks.

5. The system of claim 1, at least one of the plurality of mobile communication units being a different radio type having one of different frequency hopping schemes and different cryptographic variable sets.

6. The system of claim 1, the voice message being transmitted in a multicast transmission to only members in a selected unit task organization.

7. The system of claim 1, the router determines at least one routing path for the voice messages based on at least one of time, priority, router location, mobile communication unit location, bandwidth and load sharing.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a configuration manager that disseminates configuration information to the router, the configuration information defining logical networks, unit task organizations and equipment parameters, the router utilizing the configuration information to create a router database defining communication requirements and routing connections for routing the voice messages.

9. The system of claim 8, the configuration manager provides logical network groupings and task organization groupings and converts the logical network groupings and task organization groupings to physical network groupings and task organization groupings.

10. The system of claim 9, the configuration manager provides a network operational database and a set of management information blocks using the physical network groupings and task organization groupings, the network operational database defining logical network grouping connections and task organization grouping connections and the management information blocks having data for reconfiguring the router database.

11. The system of claim 8, further comprising a graphical user interface that allows a user to group members into logical networks and unit task organizations and provides information to the configuration manager relating to the groupings.

12. The system of claim 1, the router performs administrative updates to update the router database and determine if new members have entered the system.

13. A two-way radio communication system comprising:

a plurality of two-way radio devices that wirelessly transmit digitized voice packets over at least one radio frequency link; and

a router that contains a router database defining logical network groupings of members and task organization groupings of members, the router having a routing algorithm that extract routing information from the digitized voice packets and utilizes the extracted routing information and router database to transmit the digitized voice packets to a plurality of destination two-way radio devices based on the groupings.

14. The system of claim 13, the plurality of two-way radio devices being a plurality of half-duplex line-of-sight two-way radio devices.

15. The system of claim 14, the plurality of half-duplex line-of-sight two-way radio devices operative to transmit data information and priority information in addition to digitized voice packets.

16. The system of claim 13, the router having a plurality of different ports that provide connections to different two-way radio communication links through different two-way radio devices, the different two-way radio devices being members of different logical networks.

17. The system of claim 13, the different two-way radio devices being at least one of different radio types, having different communication parameters and having different security parameters.

18. The system of claim 13, the router having a routing path algorithm that determines a routing path for the voice packets based on at least one of time, priority, router location, mobile communication unit location, bandwidth and load sharing.

19. The system of claim 13, the router having an algorithm that receives configuration information and generates a router database defining logical network groupings, unit task organization groupings, and router connections to two-way radio devices in the system, the router using the router database with information in the digitized voice packets to route the digitize voice packets.

20. The system of claim 13, the router having an algorithm that performs administrative updates to the router database to determine if new members have entered the system.

21. The system of claim 13, the digitized voice packets being one of Voice Over Internet Protocol packets and Network Voice Protocol packets.

22. A half duplex two-way radio communication system comprising:

a plurality of half-duplex two-way radio devices having means for wirelessly transmitting digitized voice packets;

means for grouping the plurality of half duplex two-way radio devices into logical networks and task unit organizations;

means for routing the digitized voice packets;

means for configuring the means for routing to provide the means for routing with a router database defining member groups;

means for updating the router database based on changes in the system; and

means for determining routing paths based on the router database and routing information in the digitized voice packets.

23. A method for transmitting voice messages within a two-way radio communication system, the method comprising:

grouping members of a two-way radio communication system into logical networks and unit task organizations;

receiving a voice message from a member of the two-way radio communication system;

extracting routing information from the voice message; and

transmitting voice messages to a group based on the grouping of the two-way radio communication system and the extracted routing information.

24. The method of claim 23, the transmitting voice messages to a group comprising transmitting voice messages in a multicast transmission to members grouped in a unit task organization, the members also being grouped in at least one different logical network.

25. The method of claim 23, further comprising performing administration routines to update the member groupings based on member changes in the two-way radio communication system.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising providing configuration information defining membership groupings of the two-way radio communication system and generating a router database utilizing the configuration information, the router database being used in transmitting voice messages to a group.

27. The method of claim 23, the voice message being processed as at least one digitized voice packet having a header portion containing routing information.