Cell phones that communicate over a network of other cell phones as well as base stations
First Claim
1. A method for a requesting cell phone to communicate with a base station when the requesting cell phone is outside a coverage area of the base station, comprising:
- generating a request to communicate with the base station, the request comprising an identifier of the requesting cell phone;
transmitting the request to a repeater cell phone;
listening for a response from the base station relayed through the repeater cell phone; and
upon receiving the response, transmitting data to the repeater cell phone for the repeater cell phone to relay to the base station.
3 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A method for a requesting cell phone includes (1) generating a request to communicate with a base station, (2) transmitting the request to a repeater cell phone, and (3) upon receiving a response to the request, transmitting data to the repeater phone for relay to the base station. A method for the repeater phone includes (1) upon receiving the request, appending its identifier in a repeater phone list in the request, (2) transmitting the request to the base station or another repeater phone, (4) upon receiving the response to the request, relaying the response to the requesting phone, and (5) relaying data between the requesting phone and the base station. A method for the base station includes (1) upon receiving the request, transmitting the response through the last repeater phone in the list and (2) communicating with the requesting phone through the repeater phones in the list.
28 Citations
20 Claims
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1. A method for a requesting cell phone to communicate with a base station when the requesting cell phone is outside a coverage area of the base station, comprising:
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generating a request to communicate with the base station, the request comprising an identifier of the requesting cell phone;
transmitting the request to a repeater cell phone;
listening for a response from the base station relayed through the repeater cell phone; and
upon receiving the response, transmitting data to the repeater cell phone for the repeater cell phone to relay to the base station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
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7. A method for a repeater cell phone to relay data between a requesting cell phone and a base station when the requesting cell phone is outside a coverage area of the base station, comprising:
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listening for a request comprising an identifier of a requesting cell phone that wishes to communicate with the base station;
upon receiving the request, appending an identifier of the repeater cell phone in a list of repeater cell phones;
determining when the repeater cell phone is within the coverage area of the base station;
when the repeater cell phone is in the coverage area of the base station, transmitting the request to the base station; and
when the repeater cell phone is not in the coverage area of the base station, transmitting the request to another repeater cell phone. - View Dependent Claims (8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13)
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14. A method for a base station to communicate with a requesting cell phone outside of a coverage area of the base station, comprising:
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listening for a first request from the requesting cell phone to communicate with the base station, the first request comprising an identifier of the requesting cell phone and a first list of repeater cell phones that have relayed the request to the base station; and
transmitting a response to the request through a last repeater cell phone in a second list of repeater cell phones included in the response. - View Dependent Claims (15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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Specification