Apparatus, system and method for priority call management

• US 20070225012A1
• Filed: 03/24/2006
• Published: 09/27/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Original Assignee: Kyocera Corporation
• Inventors: Chang, Henry, Kalhan, Amit, Dunn, Doug
• Granted Patent: US 8,126,468 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/452.200
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/11 Identifying congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/12 Avoiding congestion; Recovering from congestion
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 47/245 using preemption
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/144 over a different radio air interface technology
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/22 for handling the traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]

Abstract

In response to detecting a call attempt for a priority call on the originating wireless network by an initiating access terminal, at least one active call having a priority level less than the priority call is transferred to an alternate technology wireless network. If a call attempt is placed when a transfer threshold has been exceeded, candidate transferring terminals are identified based on multi-mode capabilities and network conditions. One or more of the candidate transferring terminals engaged in calls that have a priority level less than the priority call are transferred from the originating wireless network to the alternate technology wireless network when the transfer threshold is exceeded.

Claims

1. A method for managing calls, the method comprising:

detecting a call attempt for a priority call on an originating wireless network by an access terminal; and

transferring, when a transfer threshold is exceeded, an active call between a transferring terminal and the originating wireless network to an alternate technology wireless network in response to the detected priority call attempt, the active call having a first priority level, the priority call having a second priority level higher greater than the first priority level.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the transfer threshold is based on a capacity of the originating wireless network.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the transferring terminal from a plurality of active access terminals based on communication capabilities of the transferring access terminal.

4. The method of claim 3, further comprising:

retrieving the communication capabilities from a database.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the database is a home location register (HLR).

6. The method of claim 4, wherein the database is an authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) server.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

identifying the transferring terminal from a plurality of active access terminals based on network conditions determined by the transfer access terminal.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

obtaining network conditions from at least one access terminal of the plurality of access terminals;

storing the network conditions in memory; and

retrieving the network conditions from memory before identifying the transferring terminal.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the obtaining the network conditions comprises:

requesting the network conditions from the transferring access terminal when update conditions related to the transfer threshold are detected.

10. A wireless network controller configured to transfer an active call with a transfer access terminal from an originating wireless network to an alternate technology wireless network in response to detecting a priority call attempt for a priority call having a priority level higher than a priority level of the active call when a transfer threshold is exceeded.

11. The wireless network controller of claim 10, wherein the transfer threshold is based on a capacity of the originating wireless network.

12. The wireless network controller of claim 10, the controller further configured to identify the transferring terminal from a plurality of active access terminals based on communication capabilities of the transferring terminal.

13. The wireless network controller of claim 12, the controller further configured to retrieve the communication capabilities from a database.

14. The wireless network controller of claim 13, wherein the database is a home location register (HLR).

15. The wireless network controller of claim 13, wherein the database is an authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) server.

16. The wireless network controller of claim 10, the controller further configured to identify the transferring terminal from a plurality of active access terminals based on network conditions determined by the transfer access terminal.

17. The wireless network controller of claim 16, the controller further configured to request the network conditions from the transferring access terminal in response to detecting update conditions related to the transfer threshold.

18. A wireless network configured to transfer an active call with a transfer access terminal from the originating wireless network to an alternate technology wireless network in response to detecting a priority call attempt for a higher priority call on the originating wireless network by another access terminal when a transfer threshold is exceeded.

19. The wireless network of claim 18, wherein the transfer threshold is based on a capacity of the originating wireless network.

20. The wireless network of claim 19, the wireless network further configured to identify the transferring terminal from a plurality of active access terminals based on communication capabilities of the transferring access terminal and on network conditions.