Radio Network Assignment and Access System

• US 20120230300A1
• Filed: 03/09/2012
• Published: 09/13/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 04/23/2003
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: THISS Technologies Pte Ltd. (Touchpoint Group Holdings, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: THISS Technologies Pte Ltd. (Touchpoint Group Holdings, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hammersla, Richard Harold, Hart, Nicholas Richard, Goerke, Thomas Earle, Meulman, Christopher Boyce, Cirillo, Nicholas Antony
• Granted Patent: US 8,335,515 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/335
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18539 Arrangements for managing radio, resources, i.e. for establishing or releasing a connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

A communications system includes remote stations coupled to a central station by a network. The system includes the network, the central station establishes a list of information about available network resources and publishes the list for the remote station. The system includes the remote stations, which identify a set of said published resources needed to establish the connection, notify the central station about the identified resources, and seize the set of identified resources to thereby establish the connection. The central station updates the list of available resources to thereby reflect the seizing of the set, and communicates the updated list to the remote stations.

Claims

1. A method of establishing a radio connection for satellite communications in a system that comprises remote stations coupled to a central station by a satellite network, wherein different remote stations are located in different geographic areas, the method being performed by a remote station in a geographic area and comprising:

receiving, from the central station, information about available satellite network resources for one or more geographic areas;

identifying satellite resources needed to establish the radio connection, wherein identifying comprises;

determining a current geographic position of the remote station;

referencing a database of geographic areas using the geographic position to identify the geographic area with which the remote station is associated; and

referencing the information using the geographic area to establish which satellite network resources are available to the remote station;

seizing satellite network resources needed to establish the radio connection; and

receiving, from the central station, an updated version of the information that has been updated to reflect seizing of the satellite network resources.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the information is published by the central station for receipt by the remote station.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the information about available network resources comprises identification of outbound and inbound channels, availability of channel capacity, and energy density of channels in the geographic areas.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein a size of at least one of the geographic areas changes;

and

wherein receiving the information comprises receiving, from the central station, amended information about available network resources that reflects a change in the size of the at least one of the geographic areas.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the database of geographic areas is stored on the remote station when the remote station is manufactured.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote station receives the database of geographic areas before it is determined to establish the connection.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the remote station receives the database of geographic areas after it is determined to establish the connection.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the information is received using one of CDMA and TDMA modulation.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the satellite communication system comprises:

remote stations coupled to central stations via one or more satellites, wherein the remote station is configured to switch between operation with the central station and any other said central station for which the remote station can receive incoming communications.

11. The method of claim 1, wherein:

the information is divided into at least one of static and dynamic information; and

an updated version of the information comprising static information is received less frequently than an updated version of the information comprising dynamic information.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the static information comprises, in regard to inbound and outbound channels that are allocated for use in a resource domain, at least one of frequency, timeslot, code sequence, turbo-coding rate, modulation type, and Grade of Service.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the dynamic information comprises information regarding a current status of a channel including at least one of channel free, channel busy, and channel unavailable.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the updated version of the information indicates the success or otherwise of the seizing of the satellite network resources, thereby also indicating whether any collision occurred between a seizure from the remote station and another seizure from another remote station.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein:

the satellite network resources needed to establish the connection comprises identifying an inbound CDMA channel characterized by a frequency and a code.

5. (canceled)

16-23. -23. (canceled)

24. A remote station configured to establish a radio connection in a satellite communication system that comprises remote stations coupled to a central station by a satellite network, wherein different remote stations are located in different geographic areas, the remote station being in a geographic areas, the remote station comprising circuitry to:

receive, from the central station, information about available satellite network resources for one or more geographic areas;

identify satellite network resources needed to establish the radio connection, wherein identifying comprises;

determining a current geographic position of the remote station;

referencing a database of geographic areas using the geographic position to identify the geographic area with which the remote station is associated; and

referencing the information using the geographic area to establish which satellite network resources are available to the remote station;

seize the satellite network resources needed to establish the radio connection; and

receive, from the central station, an updated version of the information that has been updated to reflect seizing of the satellite network resources.

25. The remote station of claim 24, wherein the information is published by the central station for receipt by the remote station.

26. The remote station of claim 24, wherein the information about available satellite network resources comprises identification of outbound and inbound channels, availability of channel capacity, and energy density of channels in the geographic areas.

27. The remote station of claim 24, wherein a size of at least one of the geographic areas has changed;

and

wherein receiving the information comprises receiving, from the central station, amended information about available network resources that reflects a change in the size of the at least one of the geographic areas.

28. The remote station of claim 24, wherein the database of geographic areas is stored on the remote station when the remote station is manufactured.

29. The remote station of claim 24, wherein the remote station is configured to receive the database of geographic areas before it is determined to establish the radio connection.

30. The remote station of claim 24, wherein the remote station is configured to receive the database of geographic areas after it is determined to establish the radio connection.

31. The remote station of claim 24, wherein the information is received using one of code division multiple access (CDMA) and time division multiple access (TDMA) modulation.

32. The remote station of claim 24, wherein the satellite communication system comprises:

remote stations coupled to central stations via one or more satellites; and

wherein the remote station is configured to switch between operation with the central station and any other central station for which the remote station can receive incoming communications.

33. The remote station of claim 24, wherein:

the information comprises at least one of static and dynamic information; and

an updated version of the information comprising static information is received less frequently than an updated version of the list of information comprising dynamic information.

34. The remote station of claim 33, wherein the static information comprises, in regard to inbound and outbound channels that are allocated for use in a resource domain, at least one of frequency, timeslot, code sequence, turbo-coding rate, modulation type, and Grade of Service.

35. The remote station of claim 33, wherein the dynamic information comprises information regarding a current status of a channel including at least one of channel free, channel busy, and channel unavailable.

36. The remote station of claim 24, further comprising circuitry to:

receive, from the central station, an acknowledgment indicating no collision between a notification sent from the remote station and another notification sent from another remote station;

wherein seizing is performed following receipt of the acknowledgment.

37. The remote station of claim 36, wherein:

identifying the satellite network resources needed to establish the radio connection comprises identifying an inbound code division multiple access (CDMA) channel characterized by a frequency and a code; and

the acknowledgment comprises a PPP acknowledgment.