Expanding the scope of coverage of wireless cellular telephone systems into regions beyond the cellular array areas by proliferating the installation of transmission repeaters into automobiles that may be randomly driven within these regions

• US 20040203706A1
• Filed: 07/25/2002
• Published: 10/14/2004
• Est. Priority Date: 07/25/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Malik, Nadeem, Dietz, Timothy Alan, Kobrosly, Walid
• Granted Patent: US 7,003,261 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/422.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/302 due to low signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user

Abstract

If RF transmission repeater units could be mounted in as many automobiles as possible, particularly automobiles owned by drivers residing in low population regions, the likelihood would increase that there could be established wireless transmission paths between a wireless telephone unit and cellular array base stations, including a set of at least one automobile mounted repeater unit intermediate and independent of said wireless telephone unit and said base station. With enough automobiles with mounted repeaters travelling in the remoter regions, there would be a reasonable likelihood that such sequential sets of repeaters connecting to base towers of adjacent cellular arrays could be randomly established. The situation could occur that two or more alternate paths could be establishable between a cellular telephone and cell base stations via two different sets of repeaters. In such a case, as set forth hereinafter in greater detail, there are likely to be different cell base stations, each for a different path. In such a case, any conflict could be resolved by selecting the path having the best transmission attributes. This conflict could readily be resolved through conventional cellular telephone system technology that switches moving cell phones within cellular array areas that “hand-off” or switch a moving cell phone as it moves from conventional cell to cell. This hand-off is based upon attributes like signal-to-noise ratio or strength of signal.

Claims

1. In a wireless cellular telephone system including an array of cellular areas, each including a base station:

a wireless transmission path between a wireless telephone unit and one of said base stations including at least one randomly moving repeater unit intermediate and independent of said wireless telephone unit and said base station.

2. The wireless cellular telephone system of claim 1 further including an implementation for randomly incorporating said moving repeater unit into said transmission path.

3. The wireless cellular telephone system of claim 2 wherein said mobile repeater unit is mounted in a moving automotive vehicle.

4. The wireless cellular telephone system of claim 3 wherein said telephone unit is a mobile wireless telephone unit.

5. The wireless cellular telephone system of claim 4 further including:

an implementation providing at least one alternate wireless transmission path between said wireless telephone unit and one of said base stations including at least one mobile repeater unit intermediate and independent of said wireless telephone unit and one of said base stations; and

means for selecting the transmission path having the best transmission attributes.

6. The wireless cellular telephone system of claim 5 wherein said best transmission attributes are based upon the signal-to-noise ratio of the transmission.

7. The wireless cellular telephone system of claim 4 wherein said wireless transmission path includes a plurality of said mobile repeater units intermediate said wireless telephone unit and base station.

8. The wireless cellular telephone system of claim 5 wherein one of said wireless transmission paths includes a plurality of said mobile repeater units intermediate said wireless telephone unit and base station.

9. A method of wireless cellular telephone transmission between a wireless telephone and one of a plurality of base stations, each respectively in one of a corresponding array of cellular areas comprising:

providing a plurality of randomly moving independent repeater units between said wireless telephone and said one base station; and

incorporating at least one of said repeater units into the path of said wireless transmission intermediate said wireless telephone unit and said one base station.

10. The method of wireless cellular telephone transmission of claim 9 including the step of mounting said repeater units in randomly moving automotive vehicles.

11. The method of wireless cellular telephone transmission of claim 10 wherein said wireless telephone unit is mobile.

12. The method of wireless cellular telephone transmission of claim 11 further including the steps of:

providing at least one alternate wireless transmission path between said wireless telephone unit and one of said base stations including at least one mobile repeater unit intermediate and independent of said wireless telephone and one of said base stations; and

selecting the transmission path having the best transmission attributes.

13. The method of wireless cellular telephone transmission of claim 12 wherein said best transmission attributes are based upon the signal-to-noise ratio of the transmission.

14. The method of wireless cellular telephone transmission of claim 11 wherein said wireless transmission path includes a plurality of said mobile repeater units intermediate said wireless telephone unit and base station.

15. The method of wireless cellular telephone transmission of claim 12 wherein one of said wireless transmission paths includes a plurality of said mobile repeater units intermediate said wireless telephone unit and base station.

16. A computer program having code recorded on a computer readable medium for establishing wireless cellular telephone transmission between a wireless telephone and one of a plurality of base stations, each respectively in one of a corresponding array of cellular areas, said program comprising:

means for providing a plurality of randomly moving independent repeater units between said wireless telephone and said one base station; and

means for linking said wireless telephone via an intermediate sequential set of said repeater units to said one base station.

17. The computer program of claim 16 wherein said moving repeater units are mounted in moving automotive vehicles.

18. The computer program of claim 17 wherein said wireless telephone is mobile.

19. The computer program of claim 18 further including:

means for dynamically linking at least one alternate sequential set of said repeater units to a base station; and

means for selectively linking said wireless telephone to a base station via a transmission path including an intermediate one of said sequential sets of repeater units having the best transmission attributes.

20. The computer program of claim 19 wherein said best transmission attributes are based upon the signal-to-noise ratio of the transmission.

21. The computer program of claim 18 wherein said wireless transmission path includes a plurality of said mobile repeater units intermediate said wireless telephone unit and base station.

22. In cellular telephone systems having arrays of cellular areas with a base station in each area, a method of expanding the scope and usage of the system into regions beyond the cellular areas of the system comprising:

offering economic incentives to drivers of automotive vehicles to mount repeaters in the vehicles;

mounting said repeaters on numbers of vehicles so great that there is a substantial likelihood that randomly driven vehicles with repeaters will be in the regions beyond the cellular areas of the system; and

establishing a transmission path between a mobile wireless telephone in said regions beyond and a base station in a cellular area via a sequential set of at least one of said repeaters mounted in said randomly driven vehicles.

23. The method of claim 22 further including the steps of:

providing at least one alternate wireless transmission path between said mobile wireless telephone unit and one of said base stations including a sequential set of at least one repeater mounted in said randomly driven vehicles; and

selecting the transmission path having the best transmission attributes.

24. The method of claim 23 wherein said best transmission attributes are based upon the signal-to-noise ratio of the transmission.

25. The method of claim 22 wherein said wireless transmission path includes a plurality of said mobile repeater units intermediate said wireless telephone unit and base station.