Extended cellular telephony protocol

• US 20060039349A1
• Filed: 08/23/2004
• Published: 02/23/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/23/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: WSOU Investments, LLC (WSOU Holdings, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Alcatel-Lucent SA (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Battaglia, Frederic, Samuel, Louis G., Sizer, Theodore
• Granted Patent: US 8,249,106 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/351
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/02 including a Bluetooth interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for transmitting voice packet data over a selected one of a first network in which multiple devices belonging to a defined set communicate with each other according to a first protocol and a second network in which multiple devices communicate with each other according to a second protocol, different from the first protocol. The method includes establishing at least one radio bearer between at least two devices in the first network according to the first protocol, receiving at least one voice packet that conforms to the second protocol, modifying the at least one voice packet to conform to the first and the second protocols, and transmitting the at least one modified voice packet using the at least one radio bearer.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting voice packet data over a selected one of a first network in which multiple devices belonging to a defined set communicate with each other according to a first protocol and a second network in which multiple devices communicate with each other according to a second protocol, different from the first protocol, the method comprising:

establishing at least one radio bearer between at least two devices in the first network according to the first protocol;

receiving at least one voice packet that conforms to the second protocol;

modifying the at least one voice packet to conform to the first and the second protocols; and

transmitting the at least one modified voice packet using the at least one radio bearer.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving the at least one voice packet that conforms to the second protocol comprises receiving at least one voice packet that conforms to a cellular telephony protocol.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein modifying the at least one voice packet to conform to the first and second protocols comprises appending at least one header to the at least one voice packet.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein appending the at least one header to the at least one voice packets comprises appending a header comprising at least one of a protocol discriminator, a message type indicator, and a radio bearer type indicator.

5. The method of claim 1, comprising mapping the radio bearer to a wireless communication link that conforms to the second protocol based upon the at least one modified voice packet.

6. A method for transmitting voice packet data over a selected one of a piconet in which multiple Bluetooth-enabled devices within a defined set communicate with each other by exchanging messages with a master device within the set using a Bluetooth protocol and a cellular wireless network in which mobile units and base stations exchange messages according to a cellular telephony protocol, the method comprising:

establishing at least one radio bearer between at least two devices in the piconet according to the Bluetooth protocol;

receiving at least one voice packet that conforms to the cellular telephony protocol;

modifying the at least one voice packet to conform to the Bluetooth and the cellular telephony protocols; and

transmitting the at least one modified voice packet using the at least one radio bearer.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein establishing the radio bearer comprises establishing the radio bearer in an Industrial, Scientific, Medical (ISM) band at about 2.4 GHz.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein receiving the at least one voice packet that conforms to the cellular telephony protocol comprises receiving the at least one voice packet using at least one of a mobile unit and a base station.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein modifying the at least one voice packet to conform to the Bluetooth and cellular telephony protocols comprises appending at least one header to the at least one voice packet.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein appending the at least one header to the at least one voice packets comprises appending a header comprising at least one of a protocol discriminator, a message type indicator, a radio bearer type indicator, and a cellular control type indicator.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein appending the header comprises a pending a header comprising at least one of a protocol discriminator field value of 0x4 and a message type indicator field value of 0x1F.

12. The method of claim 6, comprising mapping the radio bearer to a wireless communication link that conforms to the cellular telephony protocol based upon the at least one modified voice packet.

13. A method for receiving voice packet data over a selected one of a first network in which multiple devices belonging to a defined set communicate with each other according to a first protocol and a second network in which multiple devices communicate with each other according to a second protocol, different from the first protocol, the method comprising:

receiving at least one voice packet that conforms to the first protocol;

determining whether the at least one voice packet conforms to the first and the second protocols;

processing the at least one voice packet according to the first protocol in response to determining that the at least one voice packet does not conform to the second protocol; and

processing the at least one voice packet according to the first and second protocols in response to determining that the at least one voice packet conforms to the first and the second protocols.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein receiving the at least one voice packet comprises receiving the at least one voice packet over a radio bearer according to the first protocol.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein processing the at least one voice packet according to the first and second protocols comprises reading the at least one voice packet from the radio bearer according to the first protocol.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein processing the at least one voice packet comprises processing the at least one voice packet according to the second protocol.

17. The method of claim 13, wherein determining whether the at least one voice packet conforms to the first and second protocols comprises determining whether the at least one voice packet conforms to the first and second protocols based upon at least one header in the at least one voice packet.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein determining whether the at least one voice packet conforms to the first and second protocols based upon at least one header in the at least one voice packet comprises determining whether the at least one voice packet conforms to the first and second protocols based upon at least one of a protocol discriminator, a message type indicator, a radio bearer type indicator, and a cellular control type indicator.

19. A method for receiving voice packet data over a selected one of a piconet in which multiple Bluetooth-enabled devices within a defined set communicate with each other by exchanging messages with a master device within the set using a Bluetooth protocol and a cellular wireless network in which mobile units and base stations exchange messages according to a cellular telephony protocol, the method comprising:

receiving at least one voice packet that conforms to the Bluetooth protocol;

determining whether the at least one voice packet conforms to the Bluetooth and the cellular telephony protocols;

processing the at least one voice packet according to the Bluetooth protocol in response to determining that the at least one voice packet does not conform to the cellular telephony protocol; and

processing the at least one voice packet according to the Bluetooth and cellular telephony protocols in response to determining that the at least one voice packet conforms to the Bluetooth and cellular telephony protocols.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein receiving the at least one voice packet comprises receiving the at least one voice packet over a radio bearer according to the Bluetooth protocol.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein processing the at least one voice packet according to the Bluetooth and cellular telephony protocols comprises reading the at least one voice packet from the radio bearer based upon the Bluetooth protocol.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein processing the at least one voice packet comprises processing the at least one voice packet based upon the cellular telephony protocol.

23. The method of claim 19, wherein determining whether the at least one voice packet conforms to the Bluetooth and cellular telephony protocols comprises determining whether the at least one voice packet conforms to the Bluetooth and cellular telephony protocols based upon at least one header in the at least one voice packet.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein determining whether the at least one voice packet conforms to the Bluetooth and cellular telephony protocols based upon at least one header in the at least one voice packet comprises determining whether the at least one voice packet conforms to the Bluetooth and cellular telephony protocols based upon at least one of a protocol discriminator, a message type indicator, a radio bearer type indicator, and a cellular control type indicator.

25. A method for wireless telecommunications using a first network in which multiple devices belonging to a defined set communicate with each other according to a first protocol and a second network in which multiple devices communicate with each other according to a second protocol, different from the first protocol, the method comprising:

detecting a first device for sending and receiving messages according to the first protocol;

determining whether the first device is configured to send and receive messages according to the first and second protocols; and

forming a wireless telecommunications link between the first device and a second device configured to send and receive messages according to the second protocol, the wireless telecommunications link comprising a portion that operates according to the first protocol and a portion that operates according to the second protocol.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein detecting the first device comprises detecting the first device based upon at least one of a paging message and an access request.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein determining whether the first device is configured to send and receive messages according to the first and second protocols comprises determining whether the first device is configured to send and receive messages according to the first and second protocols based upon a header comprising at least one of a protocol discriminator, a message type indicator, a radio bearer type indicator, and a cellular control type indicator.

28. The method of claim 25, wherein forming the wireless telecommunications link between the first device and the second device comprises forming a random access channel between the first device and the second device.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein forming a wireless telecommunications link between the first and the second device comprises providing at least one of a cell identification value and a common pilot channel value.

30. A method for wireless telecommunications using a piconet in which multiple Bluetooth-enabled devices within a defined set communicate with each other by exchanging messages with a master device within the set using a Bluetooth protocol and a cellular wireless network in which mobile units and base stations exchange messages according to a cellular telephony protocol, the method comprising:

detecting a first device for sending and receiving messages according to the Bluetooth protocol;

determining whether the first device is configured to send and receive messages according to the Bluetooth and cellular telephony protocols; and

forming a random access channel between the first device and a second device configured to send and receive messages according to the cellular telephony protocol, the random access channel comprising a portion that operates according to the Bluetooth protocol and a portion that operates according to the cellular telephony protocol.

31. The method of claim 30, wherein detecting the first device comprises detecting the first device based upon at least one of a paging message and an access request.

32. The method of claim 31, wherein determining whether the first device is configured to send and receive messages according to the Bluetooth and cellular telephony protocols comprises determining whether the first device is configured to send and receive messages according to the Bluetooth and cellular telephony protocols based upon a header comprising at least one of a protocol discriminator, a message type indicator, a radio bearer type indicator, and a cellular control type indicator.

33. The method of claim 31, wherein forming the random access channel between the first device and the second device comprises forming the random access channel between a mobile unit and a base station.

34. The method of claim 31, wherein forming the random access channel between the first and the second device comprises providing at least one of a cell identification value and a common pilot channel value.