Radio interoperability system and method

• US 20070064630A1
• Filed: 03/08/2006
• Published: 03/22/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions Connectivity Incorporated (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: CML Emergency Services, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Olivier, Pierre, Roberts, Douglas
• Granted Patent: US 7,676,228 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/278
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 Inter-networking arrangements

Abstract

A method, system and memory are provided for enabling interoperability. A communication session between different communication systems, such as radio systems, operating using different protocols is initiated by receiving a scenario identifier from one of the user devices. An interoperability server receives the scenario identifier and accesses interoperability data to obtain the connection information corresponding the scenario matching the scenario identifier. The data includes scenarios for communication sessions and the connections required for each scenario. Once the interoperability server obtains the connection information, the communication session is initiated.

Claims

1. A method of initiating communication between a plurality of communication systems, at least two of the communication systems using different communication protocols, the method comprising:

maintaining interoperability data defining a plurality of scenarios, each scenario defining a mode of interoperability between a respective set of communication systems of the plurality of communication systems, at least one communication system in the respective set being a two-way radio system;

receiving a selection of a particular one of the scenarios;

in response to receiving the selection, automatically initiating establishment of a communication session between the communication systems of the respective set of communication systems of the particular one of the scenarios.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein each of the plurality of communication systems is selected from the group consisting of a radio system, a dispatch system, a PSTN, a public IP (Internet Protocol) network, an IP telephone network, an IP radio system and any combination thereof.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one scenario comprises communication with at least one gateway, the gateway enabling a respective communication system to communicate over a packet network and configured to convert signals received from a packet network into a protocol of a respective communication system and converting signals to be transmitted from the communication system into a packet protocol.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one scenario comprises communication with at least one user device selected from the group consisting of a telephony unit, a radio unit, an IP (Internet Protocol) radio unit, an IP telephony unit and a workstation.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection is received using at least one of (Dual Tone Multi-Frequency) encoding, IVR (Interactive Voice Response) technology and speech recognition technology.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a request to perform a function selected from the group consisting of activating a predefined connection;

deactivating a predefined connection;

defining a connection;

defining a gateway;

managing users;

defining schedules for one-time connections; and

defining schedules for recurring connections.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a PIN (Personal Identification Number) and verifying that the PIN is valid before initiating establishment of the communication session.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein maintaining interoperability data comprises maintaining a database consisting of the scenarios, connection information related to the scenarios and scenario identifiers, each scenario identifier identifying one of the scenarios.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the selection is received over a packet network.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein receiving a selection comprises receiving a scenario identifier from one of the communication systems.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the scenario identifier is sent by a user device in the communication system.

12. An interoperability system for enabling interoperability between a plurality of communication systems having at least two different communication protocols and in communication with a packet network, at least one of the communication systems being a two-way radio system, the interoperability system comprising:

an interoperability server in communication with the packet network, the interoperability server configured to receive a selection of a particular scenario and initiate establishment of a communication session corresponding to the particular scenario,

wherein the particular scenario is selected from interoperability data defining a plurality of scenarios, each scenario comprising a mode of interoperability between a respective selected set of communication systems of the plurality of communication systems.

13. The interoperability system of claim 12, wherein the plurality of communication systems is selected from the group consisting of a radio network, a PSTN, a public IP (Internet Protocol) network, an IP telephone network, an IP radio system and any combination thereof.

14. The interoperability system of claim 12, wherein the interoperability data is a database.

15. The interoperability system of claim 12, wherein the interoperability data comprises the scenarios, connection information for each scenario and a scenario identifier for each scenario.

16. The interoperability system of claim 15, wherein the connection information is selected from the group consisting of gateway IP addresses;

gateway numbers;

gateway names;

radio patch names;

radio patch numbers; and

signalling protocols.

17. The interoperability system of claim 12, wherein the interoperability server is located on a distributed call management module.

18. The interoperability system of claim 12, wherein the interoperability data is located on the interoperability server.

19. The interoperability system of claim 12, wherein any communication system that uses a protocol other than packet protocol is in communication with the packet network through a gateway that converts signals from the protocol of the communication system into packet protocol for sending over the packet network and converts signals from the packet protocol into the protocol of the communication system for sending over the communication system.

20. The interoperability system of claim 19, further comprising the gateway(s).

21. The interoperability system of claim 12, wherein the interoperability system is accessible through the packet network by a remote workstation and a user at the remote workstation is able to perform functions selected from the group consisting of:

activate a predefined connection;

deactivate a predefined connection;

define a connection;

define a gateway;

manage users;

define schedules for one-time connections; and

define schedules for recurring connections.

22. A memory for storing data for access by an application program being executed on an interoperability server, comprising:

an interoperability data structure stored in said memory, the data structure including information resident in a database used by said application program and including;

a plurality of scenario identifier data objects comprising a scenario identifier for each of a plurality of scenarios, each scenario consisting of connections required for a respective communication session between at least two user devices from at least two different communication systems, at least one of the two communication systems being a two-way radio system, and having at least two different communication protocols;

a plurality of scenario interconnection data objects, each scenario connection data object comprising connection information for the respective communication session.

23. The memory of claim 22, wherein the connection data objects are selected from a group consisting of a device type;

a signalling protocol;

a logical name of a gateway;

a gateway number;

an IP (Internet Protocol) address for a gateway; and

an IP address for a user device.

24. The memory of claim 22, wherein the scenario identifier data objects each comprise a string of digits and/or characters and/or symbols.

25. The memory of claim 22, wherein the scenario data objects comprise any combination of connections between a plurality of radio units, IP radio units, telephone units, IP telephony units, and workstations.