Voice hub processing

• US 20040097235A1
• 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 Corporation
• Inventors: Siegel, Neil G.
• Granted Patent: US 7,333,826 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/445
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/06 Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/45 for Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-to-Talk over cellular [PoC] services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/186 Processing of subscriber group data

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for routing voice communications to groups in a voice communication system using a voice hub system. The voice hub system allows a user to group communication devices into one or more logical networks and/or unit task organizations. The user can then select one or more of the communications groupings to transmit and receive voice communications. A user can change the communication grouping selections automatically changing the communication group that the voice hub system is transmitting and receiving voice messages.

Claims

1. A wireless voice communication system comprising:

a plurality of mobile communication units that wirelessly transmit voice messages, the plurality of mobile communication units being grouped into a plurality of communication groups; and

a voice hub system operative to provide selectability of voice message communications with at least one selected communication group of the plurality of communication groups, the voice hub system operative to automatically provide voice message communications between the voice hub system and the at least one selected communication group upon completion of a communication group selection; and

a router that routes the voice messages between the voice hub system and the at least one selected communication group.

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

3. The system of claim 1, at least one of the plurality of communication groups having radios of a different radio type having one of different frequency hopping schemes and different cryptographic variable sets.

4. The system of claim 1, the voice message being transmitted to only members in the at least one selected communication group.

5. The system of claim 1, the plurality of communication groups being at least one of a unit task organization group and a logical network group.

6. The system of claim 1, the voice hub system operative to allow a user to configure mobile communication devices into unit task organization groups and logical network groups.

7. The system of claim 6, at least one unit task organization group comprising a group of mobile communication devices across a plurality of logical networks.

8. The system of claim 1, further comprising a voice hub processing system that disseminates configuration information to the router, the configuration information defining logical network groups and unit task organization groups, 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 voice hub processing system 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 voice hub processing system 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.

11. The system of claim 1, further comprising an organization selector that selects between at least one communication group to communicate voice messages with over a voice transmitter.

12. The system of claim 1, 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 voice hub system relating to the groupings, the voice hub system stores the groupings in a database.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising a graphical user interface that allows a user to select between the plurality of communication groups from a menu for voice communication between the voice hub system and the selected communication group, the selected communication group being one of a single user and a group of users.

14. A voice hub system for providing voice communication with communication groups of a two-way radio system, comprising:

a voice hub processing module operative to group two-way radio systems into a plurality of communication groups and provide selectabilty of at least one of the plurality of communication groups for voice communications;

a hand set coupled to a voice transmitter that transmits and receives voice communications from the voice hub system and at least one selected communication group of the plurality of communication groups; and

a router that contains a router database defining routing connections with the plurality of communication groups, the router having a routing algorithm that extracts routing information from the voice communications and utilizes the extracted routing information and router database to route the voice communications between the voice hub system and the two-way radios of the at least one selected communication group.

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

16. The system of claim 14, the voice hub processing module comprising an algorithm residing on a computer.

17. The system of claim 14, 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.

18. The system of claim 14, the router being a wireless router that routes voice communications between the voice hub system and radio devices across different logical networks.

19. The system of claim 14, the plurality of communication groups being at least one of a unit task organization group and a logical network group.

20. The system of claim 14, further comprising a graphical user interface that allows a user to group members into logical networks and unit task organizations and disseminate configuration information associated with the groupings to the router.

21. The system of claim 14, further comprising a graphical user interface that allows a user to select between the plurality of communication groups for voice communication between the voice hub system and the selected communication group.

22. The system of claim 14, 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 voice communication to route the voice communications.

23. The system of claim 14, the voice communications being converted to digitized voice packets during routing, the digitized voice packets being one of Voice Over Internet Protocol packets and Network Voice Protocol packets.

24. A voice hub system that provides voice communication with communication groups of a two-way radio system, comprising:

means for grouping two-way radio systems into a plurality of communication groups;

means for selecting at least one of the plurality of communication groups for voice communications;

means for automatically disseminating configuration information based on the groupings, the configuration information used to route voice messages between the voice hub system and the selected communication group;

means for transmitting and receiving voice messages at the voice hub system with the selected communication group.

25. The system of claim 24, the plurality of groupings comprising logical network groups and task unit organization groups.

26. The system of claim 25, at least one unit task organization group comprising a group of two-way radio devices across a plurality of logical networks.

27. A method for transmitting voice messages to communication groups in a two-way radio system from a voice hub system, the method comprising:

grouping members of a two-way radio communication system into a plurality of communication groups;

generating configuration information based on member groupings;

transmitting the configuration information to at least one router, the at least one router generating a router database based on the configuration information; and

selecting at least one communication group of the plurality of communication groups to transmit and receive voice communications at the voice hub system.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising generating a group selection screen operative to allow a user to select at least one communication group from the plurality of communication groups.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising transmitting voice messages from the voice hub system to a selected communication group, the voice messages routed to the two-way radios in the group using information in the message and the router database.

30. The method of claim 29, the transmitting voice messages comprising transmitting voice messages in a multicast transmission to members grouped across different logical networks.

31. The method of claim 29, the voice messages being processed as at least one digitized voice packet having a header portion containing routing information.

32. The method of claim 29, the communication groups comprising logical network groups and unit task organization groups.