Measurement, collection, distribution and reporting of atmospheric data

• US 20080019299A1
• Filed: 02/28/2006
• Published: 01/24/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cingular Wireless II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Borges, Mark, Lekutai, Gaviphat
• Granted Patent: US 7,856,228 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: G01K 2203/00 Application of thermometers in cryogenics
• CPC Class Codes: G01W 1/02 Instruments for indicating weather conditions by measuring two or more variables, e.g. humidity, pressure, temperature, cloud cover or wind speed G01W1/10 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/12 specially adapted for proprietary or special-purpose networking environments, e.g. medical networks, sensor networks, networks in vehicles or remote metering networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

For improved reliability and relevancy of reporting of atmospheric condition data, faster access to the data, and more geographically granular collection of data, data pertaining to atmospheric conditions is measured at network towers, collected, managed, distributed and presented according to a requested service. Weather data is measured and collected at a granularity greater than previously existing systems by communicatively coupling and generally co-locating weather or atmospheric measuring instruments to existing mobile network towers, and collecting and distributing the data as part of enhanced services for end users. Accordingly, when weather data is collected from the measuring instruments placed on network towers according to the present invention, and aggregated at one or more servers, the weather data may be distributed to end users of the communications networks with greater relevancy. Any of the voice/data, control and broadcast channels of an applicable mobile communications network may be utilized.

Claims

1. A communications network structure for transmitting communications data to and/or from portable devices, comprising:

a transceiver for at least transmitting data to one or more portable devices communicatively coupled to the transceiver;

a frame for elevating and stabilizing said transceiver element; and

at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument located on, at or near said frame that measures an atmospheric condition associated with the atmosphere surrounding the communications network structure and transmits the measured data to at least one atmospheric condition recording device located on, at or nearby the frame.

2. A communications network structure according to claim 1, wherein said at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument includes a thermometer.

3. A communications network structure according to claim 1, wherein said at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument includes at least one of an anemometer, an aerometer, a web bulb thermometer, a thermometer, a barometer, a ceilometer and a pollution measuring instrument.

4. A communications network structure according to claim 1, wherein said frame comprises a plurality of supports, and said at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument is attached to at least one support of said plurality of supports.

5. A communications network structure according to claim 4, wherein said at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument is elevated a predetermined distance relative to the ground to avoid boundary layer effects.

6. A communications network structure according to claim 5, wherein said frame is a frame of a mobile communications network tower structure, and said at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument is elevated at least 10 meters relative to the ground.

7. A method for collecting weather condition data in a mobile communications network comprising a plurality of communications network structures, comprising:

providing at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument at or near each of said plurality of communications network structures;

for each of said plurality of communications network structures,

measuring with said at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument at least one atmospheric condition associated with the atmosphere surrounding the respective communications network structure;

based on said measuring, storing weather condition data by at least one atmospheric condition data recording device located at or nearby the communications network structure; and

transmitting said weather condition data to at least one weather station node of the mobile communications network.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein said measuring includes measuring temperature with a thermometer.

9. A method according to claim 7, wherein said measuring includes at least one of measuring wind speed with an anemometer, measuring air density or weight with an aerometer, measuring dew point temperature with a web bulb thermometer, measuring barometric pressure with a barometer, measuring cloud cover/height with a ceilometer, and measuring phytotoxic air pollution with a bryometer.

10. A method according to claim 7, wherein said providing includes attaching said at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument to at least one support of said plurality of communications network structures.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein said providing includes elevating said at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument to a predetermined distance relative to the ground to avoid boundary layer effects.

12. A method according to claim 7, further comprising transmitting said weather condition data to at least one intermediate weather measurement recording device prior to transmitting said weather condition data to the at least one weather station node.

13. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for performing measurement, storage and transmission of data according to claim 7.

14. A method for displaying weather condition data via a portable device connected to a wireless communications wide area network, comprising:

connecting said portable device to the wireless communications wide area network;

determining the closest communications network structure of a plurality of communications network structures to which said portable device is physically located; and

receiving weather condition data, measured at said closest communications network structure and stored at a weather station node of the wireless communications wide area network, by said portable device via at least one of a control channel, a voice channel, an SMS broadcast and a broadcast channel of said wireless communications wide area network; and

displaying said weather condition data via a display of said portable device.

15. A method according to claim 14, further comprising activating a weather service of the portable device by the user of the portable device, thereby initiating said determining, receiving and displaying.

16. A method according to claim 14, wherein said determining, receiving and displaying occurs at the request of the user of said portable device for such weather condition data.

17. A method according to claim 14, wherein said receiving includes receiving said weather condition data by the portable device periodically.

18. A method according to claim 14, wherein said receiving includes receiving said weather condition data by the portable device based at least partially on a dynamic determination of network bandwidth availability.

19. A method according to claim 14, wherein said receiving includes receiving temperature data, the temperature data measured at the closest network tower and stored at a weather station node of the wireless communications wide area network, by said portable device via at least one of a control channel, a voice channel, an SMS broadcast and a broadcast channel of said wireless communications wide area network.

20. A method according to claim 14, wherein said portable device is a cell phone.

21. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 14.

22. A communications network structure in a network comprising a plurality of mobile communications network tower structures, the communications network structure for transmitting communications data to and from portable devices connected to the network, comprising:

a transceiver element for transmitting and receiving the communications data via the network;

a frame structure for elevating and stabilizing said transceiver element; and

at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument located on, at or near said tower frame that measures an atmospheric condition associated with the atmosphere surrounding the communications network structure and transmits the measured data to at least one atmospheric condition recording device located on, at or nearby the frame structure.

23. A tower structure according to claim 22, wherein said at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument includes a thermometer.

24. A tower structure according to claim 22, wherein said at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument includes at least one of an anemometer, an aerometer, a web bulb thermometer, a thermometer, a barometer, a ceilometer and a pollution measuring instrument.

25. A tower structure according to claim 22, wherein said frame structure comprises a plurality of supports, and said at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument is attached to at least one support of said plurality of supports.

26. A tower structure according to claim 25, wherein said at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument is elevated a predetermined distance relative to the ground to avoid boundary layer effects.

27. A tower structure according to claim 26, wherein said at least one atmospheric condition measuring instrument is elevated at least 10 meters relative to the ground.

28. A method for displaying weather condition data via a portable device, comprising:

connecting the portable device to a communications network structure when the portable device is within communications range of the communications network structure;

receiving weather condition data, measured at said communications network structure and stored at a weather station server communicatively coupled to said communications network structure, by said portable device via at least one of a control channel, a voice channel, an SMS broadcast and a broadcast channel; and

displaying said weather condition data via a display of said portable device.

29. A method according to claim 28, further comprising activating a weather service of the portable device by the user of the portable device, thereby initiating at least said receiving and displaying.

30. A method according to claim 28, wherein said connecting, receiving and displaying occur at the request of the user of said portable device for such weather condition data.

31. A method according to claim 28, wherein said receiving includes receiving said weather condition data by the portable device periodically.

32. A method according to claim 28, wherein said receiving includes receiving said weather condition data by the portable device based at least partially on a dynamic determination of the priority of the weather condition data relative to other tasks being performed at the same time.

33. A method according to claim 28, wherein said receiving includes receiving temperature data, the temperature data measured at the communications network structure and stored at the weather station server, by said portable device via at least one of a control channel, a voice channel, an SMS broadcast and a broadcast channel.

34. A method according to claim 28, wherein said portable device is a cell phone.

35. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 28.

36. A method for displaying weather condition data, comprising:

connecting a first portable device to a second portable device via a communications network;

requesting, by the first portable device, weather condition data pertaining to the second portable device, the weather condition data having been measured at a communications network structure of the communications network near the second portable device, stored at a weather station server of the communications network;

receiving, by the first portable device, the requested weather condition data from the second portable device via at least one of a control channel, a voice channel, an SMS broadcast and a broadcast channel of the communications network; and

displaying said weather condition data via a display of the first portable device.

37. A method according to claim 36, further comprising:

waiting for a user of the second portable device to authorize said receiving of the requested weather condition data prior to initiating said receiving step.

38. A method according to claim 36, wherein said requesting and receiving occur automatically after said connecting.

39. A method according to claim 36, further comprising activating a weather service of the first portable device by the user of the first portable device, thereby initiating at least said requesting, receiving and displaying.

40. A method according to claim 36, wherein said requesting includes requesting, by the first portable device, temperature data stored on the second portable device, the temperature data having been measured at a communications network structure of the communications network near the second portable device, stored at a weather station server of the communications network, and transmitted to the second portable device via the communications network.

41. A method according to claim 36, wherein said portable device is a cell phone.

42. A computer readable medium comprising computer executable instructions for performing the method of claim 36.