Telephony System

• US 20100056142A1
• Filed: 08/26/2008
• Published: 03/04/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 08/26/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Christopher Ricci
• Original Assignee: Christopher Ricci
• Inventors: Ricci, Christopher
• Granted Patent: US 8,140,061 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/435.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/16 Communication-related supplementary services, e.g. call-transfer or call-hold
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/105 PBS [Private Base Station] network H04W84/12 - H04W84/16 take precedence

Abstract

A telephony system includes a base station and a registration station in communication with the base station. The registration station further includes a base station transceiver for communicating with the base station using a first telecommunications standard, a handset transceiver for communicating with handsets in the vicinity of the registration station, and a registration program that automatically registers handsets in the vicinity of the registration station using a second wireless telecommunications standard.

Claims

1. A telephony system comprising:

a base station; and

a registration station in communication with the base station, the registration station further comprising;

a base station transceiver for communicating with the base station using a first telecommunications standard;

a handset transceiver for communicating with handsets in the vicinity of the registration station; and

a registration program that automatically registers handsets in the vicinity of the registration station using a second wireless telecommunications standard.

2. The telephony system of claim 1 wherein the handset is able to communicate with the base station directly when not in the vicinity of the registration station.

3. The telephony system of claim 1 wherein the handset transceiver is a cell phone so that a user can dial and receive calls using a cellular network or the telephony system.

4. The telephony system of claim 1 further comprising a plurality of additional base stations that may be interconnected with each other and the base station to cover a wide geographic area.

5. The telephony system of claim 1 wherein the registration station is connected to the base station by a fixed line connection.

6. The telephony system of claim 1 wherein the registration station is connected to the base station by a wireless connection.

7. The telephony system of claim 1 wherein the first telecommunications standard operates at a frequency higher than those frequencies used by cellular radiofrequency telephones.

8. The telephony system of claim 1 wherein the first telecommunications standard operates at a frequency higher than 3 GHz.

9. The telephony system of claim 1 wherein the first telecommunications standard operates at a frequency higher than 10 GHz.

10. The telephony system of claim 1 wherein the first wireless telecommunications standard is the IEEE 802.16 standard.

11. The telephony system of claim 1 wherein the first wireless telecommunications standard is the IEEE 802.20 standard.

12. The telephony system of claim 1 wherein the first wireless telecommunications standard provides high-bandwidth communication over relatively long distances.

13. The telephony system of claim 1 wherein the second wireless telecommunications standard is selected from the group consisting of BLUETOOTH®

, 802.11b, 802.11g.

14. The telephony system of claim 1 wherein the registration system provides additional content selected from the group consisting of video, music, and messaging.

15. The telephony system of claim 1 wherein the registration system provides additional functions selected from the group consisting of conferencing, call forwarding, and call waiting.

16. A telephony system comprising:

(i) a base station transmitting and receiving signals according to a first wireless telecommunications standard; and

(ii) a registration station in communication with the base station, the registration station further comprising;

(a) a base station transceiver for communicating with the base station using the first wireless telecommunications standard;

(b) a handset transceiver for communicating with handsets in the vicinity of the registration station using a second wireless telecommunications standard; and

(c) a registration facility that;

automatically registers a handset as it enters the vicinity of the registration station;

notifies the base station that the handset is present; and

routes calls from the base station to the handset.

17. The telephony system of claim 16 wherein the registration facility forwards a plurality of telephone numbers to the base station.

18. The telephone system of claim 17 wherein the telephone numbers are selected from the group consisting of a home telephone number, an office telephone number, and a cellular telephone number.

19. The telephony system of claim 16 further comprising a plurality of additional base stations wherein the plurality of additional base stations is interconnected with each other and with the base station to form a network covering a wide geographic area.

20. The telephony system of claim 16 wherein the registration facility automatically registers a handset by receiving a unique hardware identification from the handset.

21. The telephony system of claim 20 wherein the unique hardware identification is a network address.

22. The telephony system of claim 20 wherein the unique hardware identification is a BLUETOOTH®

identification code.

23. The telephony system of claim 22 wherein automatic registration is be facilitated using the discovery mode in BLUETOOTH®

.

24. The telephony system of claim 16 wherein the first wireless telecommunications standard is the same as the second wireless telecommunications standard.

25. The telephony system of claim 16 wherein the first wireless telecommunications standard is different to the second wireless telecommunications standard.

26. The telephony system of claim 16 wherein the registration facility maintains a mapping of telephone numbers to a handset, so that each handset pre-registered with the registration station will receive calls directed to a plurality of telephone numbers.

27. The telephony system of claim 26 wherein the plurality of telephone number is selected from the group consisting of an office number, a home number, a personal cell phone number, and an office cell phone number.

28. The telephony system of claim 26 wherein the registration facility disables the mapping, although still storing the telephone numbers, when the handset is removed from the vicinity of the registration station.

29. The telephony system of claim 28 wherein the mapping is enabled when the handset re-enters the vicinity of the registration station.

30. The telephony system of claim 26 wherein the registration facility communicates with a call routing program in the base station to inform the base station that calls for any of the registered numbers are to be forwarded to the registration station when the handset is within the vicinity of the registration station.

31. The telephony system of claim 26 wherein the registration facility allows a user to send all calls directed to the plurality of telephone numbers to voicemail.

32. The telephony system of claim 26 wherein the registration facility allows the user to route calls directed to different numbers of the plurality of telephone numbers to different voicemail messages.

33. A system comprising:

a network;

a router coupled to the network, the router being configured to communicate with a cellular service provider to provide internet phone connectivity to a mobile phone when it is in a fixed location.

34. The system of claim 33 wherein the coupling between the network and the router is selected from the group consisting of a hard wired connection and a wireless connection.

35. The system of claim 33 further comprising a wireless connection coupled to the router, the wireless connection using the same frequency band as a cell phone.

36. The system of claim 35 wherein the wireless connection is selected from the group consisting of BLUETOOTH®

and WiFi.

37. The system of claim 35 wherein the wireless connection has a range and wherein the wireless connection is capable of connecting to a cell phone within the range.

38. The system of claim 37 wherein the router is configured to receive a broadcast of a hardware identification of the cell phone within the range.

39. The system of claim 37 wherein the router is configured to access the cellular service provider and set the routing information for calls directed to the cell phone within the range to be routed to the router.

40. The system of claim 39 wherein the router is configured to access the cellular service provider and reset the call routing information to normal cell phone connectivity through the cellular service provider when the cell phone within the range moves out of the range.

41. The system of claim 37 wherein the router communicates with the cell phone within the range on the same frequency as a cellular service provider associated with the cell phone.

42. The system of claim 37 wherein the router acts as a mini cellular tower localized within a fixed location.

43. The system of claim 42 wherein the fixed location is mobile.

44. The system of claim 43 wherein the mobile fixed location is selected from a group consisting of an automobile, a train, an airplane, and a ship.

45. A cellular telephone network comprising:

a broadband network;

a router coupled to the broadband network;

the router capable of redirecting a telephone call directed to a cell phone to an IP address; and

a device coupled to the broadband network and having the IP address, the device being capable of completing the redirected telephone call.

46. The cellular telephone network of claim 45 wherein the broadband network is coupled to the Internet.

47. The cellular telephone network of claim 46 wherein the redirected telephone call passes through the Internet.

48. The cellular telephone network of claim 45 wherein the device is capable of delivering full Web content to the cell phone.

49. The cellular telephone network of claim 45 wherein the router includes a mapping facility that associates a virtual land line telephone number with a handset registered with the router.

50. The cellular telephone network of claim 49 wherein when the handset is associated with a pre-registered group, and wherein when a call directed to the virtual land line is received, the virtual land line and all handsets associated with the pre-registered group that are also within a range of the router will ring.

51. The cellular telephone network of claim 50 wherein the pre-registered group is a family living in a home having a land line telephone number.

52. The cellular telephone network of claim 50 wherein the call is forwarded to a network-based answering machine when none of the pre-registered group is within range of the router.

53. The cellular telephone network of claim 50 wherein the call is forwarded to members of the pre-registered group in sequence in accordance with pre-defined rules when none of the pre-registered group is within range of the router.

54. The cellular telephone network of claim 49 wherein when a call directed to the handset is received, the virtual land line will ring and the handset will ring if it is within a range of the router.

55. The cellular telephone network of claim 45 wherein when the router receives a call directed to a cell phone that is not within a range of the router, the router will redirect the call to a voice mail.

56. The cellular telephone network of claim 45 wherein a virtual land line is associated with a pre-registered group of cell phones and wherein the router will redirect a call directed to the virtual land line if none of the pre-registered group of cell phones is within a range of the router.

57. A method of providing high bandwidth telephony services in a local environment, the method comprising:

(i) communicating with a base station remote from the local environment using a first wireless telecommunications standard;

(ii) detecting a handset entering the local environment;

(iii) communicating with the handset using a second wireless telecommunications standard;

(iv) automatically registering the detected handset;

(v) notifying the base station that the handset is present; and

(vi) routing calls from the base station to the handset.

58. The method of claim 57 further comprising:

(vii) detecting when the handset leaves the local environment;

(viii) de-registering the handset; and

(ix) notifying the base station that the handset is no longer present.

59. The method of claim 57 routing calls from the base station to the handset includes routing calls through a high bandwidth connection and a local router.

60. The method of claim 59 further comprising:

using the re-broadcast feature of the local router to increase the area that is accessible.