System for integrating an airborne wireless cellular network with terrestrial wireless cellular networks and the public switched telephone network

• US 20070021117A1
• Filed: 07/24/2006
• Published: 01/25/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/1992
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Gogo LLC (GOGO Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Aircell LLC (GOGO Incorporated)
• Inventors: Liu, Dandan, Cruz, Joseph, Jochim, Kenneth, Varadachari, Anand, Saroka, Harold, McKenna, Daniel
• Granted Patent: US 7,751,815 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/431
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/007 specially adapted for indoor communication
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/246 specially adapted for base stations
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/28 Adaptation for use in or on aircraft, missiles, satellites, or balloons
• CPC Class Codes: H01Q 1/32 Adaptation for use in or on road or rail vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18508 with satellite system used as relay, i.e. aeronautical mobile satellite service
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/15 Setup of multiple wireless link connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/005 Moving wireless networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/06 Airborne or Satellite Networks space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185

Abstract

The present non-terrestrial feature transparency system spoofs the Air-to-Ground Network and the ground-based cellular communication network into thinking that the wireless subscriber devices have no special considerations associated with their operation, even though the wireless subscriber devices are located on an aircraft in flight. This architecture requires that the non-terrestrial feature transparency system on board the aircraft replicate the full functionality of a given wireless subscriber device, that has a certain predetermined feature set from a ground-based wireless service provider, at another wireless subscriber device located within the aircraft. This mirroring of wireless subscriber device attributes enables a localized cell for in-cabin communication yet retains the same wireless subscriber device attributes for the air-to-ground link. The Air-to-Ground Network transmits both the subscriber data (comprising voice and/or other data) as well as feature set data between the Aircraft in-Cabin Network and the ground-based cellular communication network to thereby enable the wireless subscriber devices that are located in the aircraft to receive consistent wireless communication services in both the terrestrial (ground-based) and non-terrestrial regions.

Claims

1-78. -78. (canceled)

79. A system for providing wireless communication services to a plurality of wireless subscriber devices that are located in an aircraft, comprising:

aircraft network means, located in said aircraft, for generating radio frequency communication signals to communicate with at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices that are located in said aircraft;

air-to-ground network means for radio frequency communications between said aircraft and a ground-based communications network having at least one transceiver located on the ground; and

aircraft interface means for interconnecting said aircraft network means and said air-to-ground network means to establish communications between said plurality of wireless subscriber devices and said ground-based communications network.

80. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 79 wherein said aircraft network means comprises:

aircraft cellular communication means for establishing at least one cell site to communicate with at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices.

81. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 80 wherein said aircraft cellular communication means comprises:

at least one base station means, each of which establishes a cell site to communicate with at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices.

82. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 81 wherein said air-to-ground network means comprises:

wireless subscriber device means, connected to said at least one base station means and responsive to receipt of radio frequency communication signals from a one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices, for emulating operation of said one wireless subscriber device in communicating with said ground-based communications system.

83. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 79 wherein said air-to-ground network means comprises:

transmitter means for generating air-to-ground radio frequency signals for transmission to said at least one transceiver located on the ground;

receiver means for receiving ground-to-air radio frequency signals received from said at least one transceiver located on the ground; and

antenna means located on an external surface of said aircraft for exchanging said air-to-ground and ground-to-air radio frequency signals between said transmitter and said receiver means and said at least one transceiver located on the ground.

84. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 79 wherein said air-to-ground network means comprises:

transmitter means for generating ground-to-air radio frequency signals for transmission to said aircraft;

receiver means for receiving air-to-ground radio frequency signals received from said aircraft; and

antenna means located on the ground for exchanging said air-to-ground and ground-to-air radio frequency signals between said aircraft and said at least one transceiver located on the ground.

85. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 79 wherein said air-to-ground network means comprises:

ground station controller means for providing mobility management and hand over management for subscriber traffic from said plurality of wireless subscriber devices.

86. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 85 wherein said air-to-ground network means further comprises:

a plurality of mobile switching system means for interconnecting said communications from at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices with conventional Voice and Data switching systems.

87. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 79 wherein said aircraft network means comprises:

aircraft cellular communication means for establishing at least one wireless LAN-based cell site to communicate via data-based communications with at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices.

88. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 87 wherein said aircraft interface means comprises:

data concentrator means for converting a plurality of said data-based communications received from said plurality of wireless subscriber devices to an aggregate data stream.

89. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 88 wherein said aircraft interface means further comprises:

a plurality of ground-based base station means for communicating with at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices; and

data router means for disaggregating said aggregate data stream into a plurality of data streams and delivering each of said plurality of data streams to at least one of said plurality of ground-based base station means.

90. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 79 wherein said aircraft interface means comprises:

radio frequency management means for managing at least one radio frequency attribute of said system for providing wireless communication services from the set of radio frequency attributes including;

the in-cabin radio frequency environment which controls wireless subscriber device access to services;

the EMI/RFI environment by commanding the wireless subscriber devices to the lowest necessary radio frequency power and a radio frequency scheme for signaling and traffic which does not cause interference to operations in the ground-based communication network.

91. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 79 wherein said aircraft interface means comprises:

in-cabin call termination means for providing a signaling termination for each call from a one of said wireless subscriber devices that are located in the aircraft to provide protocol management of signaling to both said ground-based communications network and said wireless subscriber devices.

92. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 91 wherein said in-cabin call termination means comprises:

first aircraft interface channel means for providing a radio frequency interface to the wireless subscriber devices to provide a pseudo base station with transparent handset signaling, to mimic the operation of the ground-based base station means to the wireless subscriber devices; and

second aircraft interface channel means for providing a radio frequency interface to the ground-based base station means to provide mirrored handset signaling to mimic the operation of the wireless subscriber devices to the ground-based base station means.

93. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 92 wherein said in-cabin call termination means comprises:

spoofing means for spoofing the wireless subscriber devices by intelligently removing and replacing selected network signaling information in the protocol management.

94. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 79 wherein said aircraft interface means comprises:

in-cabin call disabling means for disabling operation of selected ones of said wireless subscriber devices that are located in the aircraft.

95. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 79 wherein said aircraft interface means comprises:

channel means for exchanging both subscriber traffic and at least one of network signaling and administrative data on separate concurrently available logical channels between said aircraft network means and said ground-based communications network.

96. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 95 wherein said air-to-ground network means comprises:

data concentrator means for converting the subscriber traffic and signaling channels received from said ground-based communications network to an aggregate data stream.

97. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 96 wherein said aircraft interface means comprises:

data disaggregator means for converting the aggregate data stream received from said air-to-ground network means into subscriber traffic and signaling channels for said aircraft network.

98. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 95 wherein said aircraft interface means further comprises:

call management means for maintaining call data, relating to said wireless subscriber devices that are generating a data stream comprising said subscriber traffic and signaling channels;

wherein said air-to-ground network means further comprises;

a plurality of ground-based base station means for communicating with at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices via said data stream; and

handoff management means, responsive to initiation of a call handoff from a first one of said ground-based base station means to a second one of said ground-based base station means, for redirecting transmission of said data stream from said first ground-based base station means to said second ground-based base station means.

99. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 98 wherein said aircraft interface means further comprises:

call management data handoff means for forwarding said call data, relating to said wireless subscriber devices that are generating said subscriber traffic and signaling channels, to said second ground-based base station means.

100. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 95 wherein said aircraft interface means comprises:

data concentrator means for converting the individual traffic and signaling channels received from said plurality of wireless subscriber devices to an aggregate data stream.

101. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 100 wherein said air-to-ground network means further comprises:

a plurally of ground-based base station means for communicating with at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices; and

data router means for disaggregating said aggregate data stream into a plurality of data streams and delivering each of said plurality of data streams to at least one of said plurality of ground-based base station means.

102. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 79 wherein said air-to-ground network means further comprises:

a plurally of mobile switching center means for interconnecting said communications from at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices with conventional Voice and Data switching systems.

103. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 79 wherein said air-to-ground network means comprises:

transmitter means for generating aircraft-to-satellite radio frequency signals for transmission to said at least one transceiver located on the ground via at least one satellite;

receiver means for receiving satellite-to-aircraft radio frequency signals received from said at least one satellite; and

antenna means located on an external surface of said aircraft for exchanging said aircraft-to-satellite and satellite-to-aircraft radio frequency signals between said transmitter and said receiver means and said at least one satellite.

104. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 79 wherein said aircraft interface means comprises:

authentication means for verifying the identity of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices.

105. The system for providing wireless communication services of claim 104 wherein said aircraft interface means comprises:

authorization means for determining a set of services that each of said plurality of wireless communication devices is authorized to receive.

127. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 102 wherein said step of communicating via an aircraft interface comprises:

converting the individual traffic and signaling channels received from said plurality of wireless subscriber devices to an aggregate data stream.

128. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 127 wherein said step of communicating via an air-to-ground network further comprises:

communicating via a plurality of ground-based base stations with at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices; and

disaggregating said aggregate data stream into a plurality of data streams and delivering each of said plurality of data streams to at least one of said plurality of ground-based base stations.

106. A method for providing wireless communication services to a plurally of wireless subscriber devices that are located in an aircraft, comprising:

communicating, via an aircraft network located in said aircraft that generates radio frequency communication signals, with at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices that are located in said aircraft;

communicating, via an air-to-ground network that generates radio frequency communications between said aircraft and a ground-based communications network having at least one transceiver located on the ground; and

interconnecting said aircraft network and said air-to-ground network to establish communications between said plurality of wireless subscriber devices and said ground-based communications network.

107. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 106 wherein said step of communicating via an aircraft network comprises:

establishing at least one cell site to communicate with at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices.

108. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 107 wherein said step of establishing comprises:

operating at least one base station, each of which establishes a cell site to communicate with at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices.

109. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 106 wherein said step of communicating via an air-to-ground network comprises:

emulating a wireless subscriber device, connected to said at least one base station and responsive to receipt of radio frequency communication signals from a one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devise, operation of said one wireless subscriber device in communicating with said ground-based communications system.

110. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 109 wherein said step of communicating via an air-to-ground network comprises:

generating, in a transmitter, air-to-ground radio frequency signals for transmission to said at least one transceiver located on the ground;

receiving, in a receiver, ground-to-air radio frequency signals received from said at least one transceiver located on the ground; and

exchanging via an antenna located on an external surface of said aircraft said air-to-ground and ground-to-air radio frequency signals between said transmitter and said receiver and said at least one transceiver located on the ground.

111. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 109 wherein said step of communicating via an air-to-ground network comprises:

generating, in a transmitter, ground-to-air radio frequency signals for transmission to said aircraft;

receiving, in a receiver, air-to-ground radio frequency signals received from said aircraft; and

exchanging via an antenna located on the ground said air-to-ground and ground-to-air radio frequency signals between said transmitter and said receiver and said aircraft.

112. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 106 wherein said step of communicating via an air-to-ground network comprises:

operating a ground station controller to provide mobility management and hand over management for subscriber traffic from said plurality of wireless subscriber devices.

113. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 112 wherein said step of communicating via an air-to-ground network further comprises:

interconnecting, via a plurality of mobile switching systems, said communications from at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices with conventional Voice and Data switching systems.

114. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 106 wherein said step of communicating via an aircraft network comprises:

establishing at least one wireless LAN-based cell site to communicate via data-based communications with at least one of said plurally of wireless subscriber devices.

115. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 114 wherein said step of communicating via an aircraft interface comprises:

converting a plurality of said data-based communications received from said plurality of wireless subscriber devices to an aggregate data stream.

116. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 115 wherein said step of communicating via an air-to-ground network further comprises:

communicating via a plurality of ground-based base stations with at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices; and

disaggregating said aggregate data stream into a plurality of data streams and delivering each of said plurality of data streams to at least one of said plurality of ground-based base stations.

117. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 106 wherein said step of communicating via an aircraft interface comprises:

managing at least one radio frequency attribute of said system for providing wireless communication services from the set of radio frequency attributes including;

the in-cabin radio frequency environment which controls wireless subscriber device access to services;

the EMI/RFI environment by commanding the wireless subscriber devices to the lowest necessary radio frequency power; and

a radio frequency scheme for signaling and traffic which does not cause interference to operations in the ground-based communication network.

118. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 106 wherein said step of communicating via an aircraft interface comprises:

providing a signaling termination for each call from a one of said wireless subscriber devices that are located in the aircraft to provide protocol management of signaling to both said ground-based communications network and said wireless subscriber devices.

119. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 118 wherein said step of providing a signaling termination comprises:

providing a first radio frequency interface to the wireless subscriber devices to provide a pseudo base station with transparent handset signaling, to mimic the operation of the ground-based base stations to the wireless subscriber devices; and

providing a second radio frequency interface to the ground-based base stations to provide mirrored handset signaling to mimic the operation of the wireless subscriber devices to the ground-based base stations.

120. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 119 wherein said step of providing a first radio frequency interface comprises:

spoofing the wireless subscriber devices by intelligently removing and replacing selected network signaling information in the protocol management.

121. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 106 wherein said step of communicating via an aircraft interface comprises:

disabling operation of selected ones of said wireless subscriber devices that are located in the aircraft.

122. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 106 wherein said step of communicating via an aircraft network comprises:

exchanging both subscriber traffic and at least one of network signaling and administrative data on separate concurrently available logical channels between said aircraft network and said ground-based communications network.

123. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 122 wherein said step of communicating via an air-to-ground network comprises:

converting the subscriber traffic and signaling channels received from said ground-based communications network to an aggregate data stream.

124. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 116 wherein said step of communicating via an aircraft interface comprises:

converting the aggregate data stream received from said air-to-ground network into subscriber traffic and signaling channels for said aircraft network.

125. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 122 wherein said step of communicating via an aircraft interface further comprises:

maintaining call data relating to said wireless subscriber devices that are generating a data stream comprising said subscriber traffic and signaling channels;

wherein said step of communicating via an air-to-ground network further comprises;

communicating via a plurality of ground-based base stations, with at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices via said data stream; and

redirecting, in response to initiation of a call handoff from a first one of said ground-based base stations to a second one of said ground-based base stations, transmission of said data stream from said first ground-based base station to said second ground-based base station.

126. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 125 wherein said step of communicating via an aircraft interface further comprises:

forwarding said call data relating to said wireless subscriber devices that are generating said subscriber traffic and signaling channels, to said second ground-based base station.

129. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 106 wherein said step of communicating via an air-to-ground network further comprises:

interconnecting, via a plurality of mobile switching centers, said communications from at least one of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices with conventional Voice and Data switching systems.

130. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 122 wherein said step of communicating via an air-to-ground network comprises:

generating, in a transmitter, aircraft-to-satellite radio frequency signals for transmission to said at least one transceiver located on the ground via at least one satellite;

receiving, m a receiver, satellite-to-aircraft radio frequency signals received from said at least one satellite; and

exchanging, via an antenna located on an external surface of said aircraft, said aircraft-to-satellite and satellite-to-aircraft radio frequency signals between said transmitter and said receiver and said at least one satellite.

131. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 106 wherein said step of interconnecting comprises:

verifying the identity of said plurality of wireless subscriber devices.

132. The method for providing wireless communication services of claim 131 wherein said step of interconnecting further comprises:

determining a set of services that each of said plurality of wireless communication devices is authorized to receive.