Communication system and method

• US 20060045063A1
• Filed: 08/26/2004
• Published: 03/02/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: HM Electronics Incorporated
• Original Assignee: HM Electronics Incorporated
• Inventors: Stanford, Thomas H., Hoeptner, Scott C.
• Granted Patent: US 7,920,539 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/345
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2643 using time-division multiple access [TDMA] H04B7/2615, H04B7/2618 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/16 WPBX [Wireless Private Branch Exchange]

Abstract

A system and method is disclosed for allowing communications between a base station and a group of mobile transceivers in a communications network used for a merchant facility.

Claims

1. A communication system for use by a merchant facility, comprising:

a base station;

a group of mobile transceivers, sharing a single radio link with the base station to simultaneously communicate in a wireless, digital, full-duplex communication manner with each other; and

wherein the radio link is a time division multiplex arrangement.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the time division multiplex radio link is TDMA and TDD communication between the base station and the group of mobile transceivers.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein a time slot of the TDMA arrangement is allocated for broadcast of mixed audio information obtained from all transmitting mobile transceivers.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the same information is transmitted during two separate TDMA time slots, and at two different frequencies and received and a determination made as to the most reliable information of the two time slots.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the radio link arrangement is frequency hopping spread-spectrum and TDD communication between the base station and the group of mobile transceiver.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the base station routes communication between at least one mobile transceiver used by a facility service person and a service point used by a customer.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the base station routes communication between one mobile transceiver and all other mobile transceivers.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the base station causes a selection of a mobile transceiver and causes the making of a full duplex connection with any one other mobile transceiver to establish a private communication isolated from other communication links.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the initiating mobile transceiver controls the communication link such that the initiating mobile transceiver can disconnect the communication link at any time.

10. The system of claim 8, wherein either the initiating mobile transceiver or the selected mobile transceiver can disconnect the communication link at any time.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the base station causes routing of audio from any mobile transceiver to a secondary speaker at a remote location and electrically coupled to the base.

12. The system of claim 1, further including an external device coupled to the base station for generating audio messages and transmitting said audio messages to the base station;

and further including means for audio routing and control functions transacted between said external device and the base station for use within the base station and transmission to the mobile transceivers; and

means for receiving controls and status from mobile transceivers transacted between the base station and the external device.

13. The system of claim 1, wherein analog voice signals or digital data or both are communicated between the base station and at least one mobile transceiver.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the external device, is a computer for providing said digital data.

15. The system of claim 12, further including means for providing said digital data.

16. The system of claim 1, wherein at least one mobile transceiver is connected as receive only to the base station and receives all other communications as a group broadcast.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein said at least one mobile transceiver can also connect full duplex for transmission to the base station or to other mobile transceiver or both.

18. The system of claim 1, wherein all communications are encrypted to prevent unauthorized communications.

19. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile transceivers provide audible voice messages to give status to the mobile transceiver service person.

20. The system of claim 1, wherein the base station includes at least two antennas mounted apart for purposes of receiving and transmitting and wherein the base station makes a decision as to which antenna to use based on signal strength at the beginning a receive time slot.

21. The system of claim 1, wherein the mobile transceivers include at least two antennas for purposes of receiving and transmitting that are mounted apart from one another wherein the mobile transceiver decides which antenna to use based on signal strength at the beginning a receive time slot.

22. A communication system for use by a merchant facility, comprising:

a base station;

a service point;

a group of mobile transceivers, sharing a single radio link with the base station to simultaneously communicate in a wireless, digital, full-duplex communication manner with each other; and

wherein the service point includes a speaker and a microphone disposed physically at a remote location and connected to the base station for purposes of communicating with a customer.

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the radio link is a TDMA and TDD communication between the base station and the group of mobile transceivers.

24. The system of claim 23, wherein a time slot of said TDMA method is allocated for broadcast of mixed audio information obtained from the remote microphone location and all transmitting mobile transceivers.

25. The system of claim 22, wherein the radio link is frequency hopping spread-spectrum and TDD communication between the base station and the group of mobile transceivers.

26. The system of claim 22, wherein the base station routes communication between a mobile transceiver, all other mobile transceivers, and the speaker and microphone coupled to the base station.

27. The system of claim 22, wherein the base station causes communication to be routed between a mobile transceiver and all other mobile transceivers while excluding the speaker and microphone coupled to the base station.

28. The system of claim 22, further including a secondary speaker, and wherein the base station causes the audio to be routed from the microphone coupled to the base station and/or audio received from any mobile transceiver to a secondary speaker at a remote location and electrically coupled to the base station.

29. The system of claim 22, further including a secondary speaker, and wherein the base station causes the presence of a customer to be detected at a service point so that when detected, the base station opens a broadcast communication connection and routes audio to the mobile transceivers and a secondary speaker or both, when appropriately enabled.

30. The system of claim 29, wherein communication between the service point speaker and microphone has priority over other communications, and the base station terminates other mobile transceiver communications as necessary to allow communication with at least one mobile transceiver.

31. The system of claim 29, wherein in response to customer presence detection, communication between the service point speaker and microphone can be routed by the base station to at least one mobile transceiver without the need for the service person at the mobile transceiver to take any physical action in order to respond;

and, when the customer is no longer detected, the connection to the mobile transceiver automatically returns to the standby “

listen”

condition without any physical intervention of the mobile transceiver service person.

32. The system of claim 29, wherein the customer presence detection generates a logic signal that is available to be used for other unspecified purposes external to the base station.

34. The system of claim 32, wherein the radio link is TDMA and TDD communication between the base station means and the group of mobile transceivers.

35. The system of claim 34, wherein a time slot of said TDMA method is allocated for broadcast of mixed audio information obtained from the first remote microphone location and all transmitting mobile transceivers, and a second time slot of said TDMA method is allocated for broadcast of mixed audio information obtained from the second remote microphone location and all transmitting mobile transceivers.

50. The system of claim 22, wherein the radio link is a direct-sequence spread-spectrum and TDD communication between the base station and the group of mobile transceivers.

33. A communication system for use by a merchant facility, comprising:

base station means;

a first service point;

a second service point;

a group of mobile transceivers, sharing a single radio link with the base station means to simultaneously communicate in a wireless, digital, full-duplex communication manner with each other;

wherein the first service point includes a first speaker and a first microphone disposed physically at a remote location and connected to the base station means for purposes of communicating with a first service point; and

wherein the second service point includes a second speaker and a second microphone disposed physically at another remote location and connected to the base station means for purposes of communicating with a second service point.

36. The system of claim 33, wherein the radio link is frequency hopping spread-spectrum and TDD communication between the base station means and the group of mobile transceivers.

37. The system of claim 33, wherein the base station means causes the detection of the presence of a customer at the first service point so that when detected, the base station means opens a first broadcast communication connection and routes audio from the first service point to the mobile transceivers assigned;

and wherein the base station means causes the detection of the presence of a customer at the second service point so that when detected, the base station means connects a second broadcast communication link and routes audio from the second service point to the mobile transceivers assigned to the second service point.

38. The system of claim 37, further including first and second speakers, and wherein the base station means routes audio from the first and second service points to the mobile transceivers assigned and respective first and second speakers, or both of them, when enabled.

39. The system of claim 37, wherein said base station means includes a main base station and a slave base station.

40. The system of claim 37, wherein communication between the speaker and microphone from each service point has priority over other communications and the base station terminates other mobile transceiver communications as necessary to allow communication of each service point with at least one mobile transceiver.

41. The system of claim 37, wherein in response to customer presence detection at the first service point, communication between the first speaker and first microphone can be routed by the base station to at least one mobile transceiver without the need for the service person at the mobile transceiver to take any physical action in order to respond;

and, when the customer is no longer detected, the connection to the mobile transceiver automatically returns to the standby “

listen”

condition without any physical intervention of the mobile transceiver service person.

42. The system and method of claim 37, wherein the customer presence detection from either or both service points generates a logic signal that is available to be used for other unspecified purposes external to the base station means.

43. The system and method of claim 37, wherein in response to a customer presence detection at the second service point, communication between the second service point speaker and microphone can be routed by the base station means to at least one mobile transceiver without the need for the service person at the mobile transceiver to take any physical action in order to respond;

and, when the customer is no longer detected, the connection to the mobile transceiver automatically returns to the standby “

listen”

condition without any physical intervention of the portable terminal user.

44. The system and method of claim 33, wherein mobile transceiver service persons communicating with the first service point are isolated from mobile transceivers communicating with the second service point.

45. The system of claim 33, wherein mobile transceivers enable a mobile transceiver service person to connect with either one of the two service points, and to switch between the two different service point connection communication links.

46. The system of claim 39, wherein the main base station causes communications to be routed between a mobile transceiver communicating with the first service point and all other mobile transceivers excluding the first service point;

and, the slave base station causes communications to be routed between a mobile transceiver communicating with the second service point and all other mobile transceivers excluding the second service point.

47. The system of claim 37, wherein the main base station causes communications to be routed between a mobile transceiver communicating with the first service point and only the other mobile transceivers that are in communication with the main base station and excluding the first service point;

and, the slave base station causes communications to be routed between a mobile transceiver communicating with the second service point and only the other mobile transceivers that are in communication with the slave base station and excluding the second service point.

48. The system of claim 39 wherein the main and slave base stations provide communication links to the respective first and second service points.

49. The system of claim 33, wherein the radio is direct-sequence spread-spectrum and TDD communication between the base station and the group of mobile transceivers.

51. The system of claim 33, wherein the radio link is a direct-sequence spread-spectrum and TDD communication between the base station and the group of mobile transceivers.

52. The system of claim 33, further including a slave base station, and wherein the first-mentioned and the slave base stations share a transceiver for communicating with the mobile transceivers.

53. A communication method for use by a merchant facility, comprising:

establishing a service point communication link between a service point and a base station;

establishing a wireless communication link between the base station and a service person using a mobile transceiver to link with the service point communication link to enable the service point and the service person to communicate for initiating a transaction; and

establishing a wireless communication link between the base station and another service person using another mobile transceiver to link with the communication link between the service point and the other service person so that both service people and the service point can communicate with one another simultaneously.

54. A communication method for use by a merchant facility, comprising:

establishing an service point communication link between a service point and a base station;

establishing a wireless communication link between the base station and a service person using a mobile transceiver to link with the service point communication link to enable the service point and the service person to communicate for initiating a transaction;

establishing a wireless communication link between the base station and another service person using another mobile transceiver to enable said another service person to broadcast a communication to other service persons independently of the communication between the service point and the service person; and

establishing broadcast communication links between the base station and other service person mobile transceivers to enable said other service person to communicate simultaneously with the other service persons.

55. A communication method for use by a merchant facility, comprising:

establishing a service point communication link between a service point and a base station;

establishing a wireless communication link between the base station and a service person using a mobile transceiver to link with the service point communication link to enable the service point and the service person to communicate for initiating a transaction; and

establishing a wireless independent communication link between at least two other service persons using other mobile transceivers to enable said other service persons to communicate with one another independently of the communication between the service person and the service point user.

56. A method of claim 55, where the establishing of the communication links includes TDMA and TDD communication between the base station and the group of mobile transceivers.

57. A method of claim 56, wherein the establishing of the communication links includes communicating analog voice signals or digital data or both.

58. A method of claim 57, further including providing audible voice messages at the mobile transceivers to provide status or instructions to the service person.

59. A method of claim 56, further including deciding which one of a plurality of antennas to use based on signal strength at the beginning of the receive time slot.

60. A method of claim 56, where the communication link is frequency hopping spread spectrum and TDD communication.

61. A method of claim 56, further including routing communication between a mobile transceiver, all other mobile transceivers, and the service point.

62. A method of claim 56, wherein the base station causes communication to be routed between a mobile transceiver and all other mobile transceivers while excluding the speaker and microphone coupled to the base station.

63. A method of claim 56, further including causing the presence of a customer to be detected, and establishing a broadcast communication link to be established in response to the customer being detected.

64. A method of claim 63, wherein in response to customer presence detection, communication between the service point speaker and microphone can be routed by the base station to at least one mobile transceiver without the need for the service person at the mobile transceiver to take any physical action in order to respond;

and, when the customer is no longer detected, the connection to the mobile transceiver automatically returns to the standby “

listen”

condition without any physical intervention of the mobile transceiver service person.

65. A method of claim 55, wherein the establishing of the links includes a data channel.

66. A method of claim 65, further including controlling data on the data channel.

67. A method of claim 65, further including establishing a link to an external data system.

68. A method of claim 55, further including repeating messages to the service point or other speakers when a customer is present.

69. A method of claim 55, further including initiating a speed team mode of operation.

70. A method of claim 55, further including registering a mobile transceiver with the base station.

71. A method of claim 55, further including generating a customer-present signal when a customer is present at the service point.

72. A method of claim 55, further including a second service point, establishing communication links between a mobile transceiver and either one of the service points selectively.

73. A method of claim 55, further including reducing inbound audio signals to the base station to help reduce feedback by using voice activated attenuation.

74. A method of claim 55, further including providing automatic volume control and noise cancellation.