METHOD AND DEVICE FOR MANEUVERING TALK GROUPS TO A NEW CHANNEL

• US 20140233447A1
• Filed: 02/19/2013
• Published: 08/21/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 02/19/2013
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: OFIR, GABI, ELMALEH, AHARON, KLITEYNIK, DMITRY
• Granted Patent: US 8,982,763 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/312
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0009 for a plurality of users or terminals, e.g. group communication or moving wireless networks user group management H04W4/08; processing of subscriber group data H04W8/186
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0016 Hand-off preparation specially adapted for end-to-end data sessions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/06 Reselecting a communication resource in the serving access point
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/45 for Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-to-Talk over cellular [PoC] services

Abstract

A process for communicating with a plurality of push-to-talk (PTT) devices in a wireless network of PTT devices includes, at a first one of the PTT devices, responsive to detecting a change in selected channel, via a channel selector input, from the first channel to a second channel while a PTT input is activated: transmitting, to other PTT devices in a first talkgroup on the first channel, a notification that further transmissions by the PTT device will be made in the second channel, switching the transmitter from the first channel to the second channel, and transmitting further communications to the one or more other PTT devices in a second talkgroup on the second channel.

Claims

1. A push-to-talk (PTT) device comprising:

a transmitter;

a receiver;

a channel selector input that selects a first channel on which to transmit communications with respect to a first talkgroup;

a PTT input that activates transmission of a PTT signal from the device to a particular talkgroup, as a function of the channel selector, when activated; and

a processor configured to, responsive to detecting a change in selected channel, via the channel selector input, from the first channel to a second channel while the PTT input is activated;

transmit, to one or more other PTT devices in the first talkgroup on the first channel via the transmitter, a notification that further transmissions by the PTT device will be made in the second channel;

switch the transmitter from the first channel to the second channel; and

transmit communications to the one or more other PTT devices on the second channel via the transmitter.

2. The PTT device of claim 1, further comprising a display, a microphone, and a speaker.

3. The PTT device of claim 1, wherein the channel selector input is a rotatable channel selector knob.

4. The PTT device of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to transmit, on the first channel via the transmitter, a plurality of notifications that further transmissions by the PTT device will be made in the second channel prior to switching the transmitter from the first channel to the second channel.

5. The PTT device of claim 1, wherein the PTT device operates in a direct mode, and transmits the notification directly to the one or more other PTT devices.

6. The PTT device of claim 1, wherein the PTT device operates in a trunked mode, and transmits the notification indirectly to the one or more other PTT devices via a fixed network repeater device operating in a trunked mode.

7. The PTT device of claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to request the second channel via a request sent to the fixed network repeater device, via the transmitter on one of the first channel and a control channel associated with the fixed network repeater device, the fixed network repeater device transmitting a corresponding new call notification in one or both of the second channel and the control channel.

8. The PTT device of claim 1, wherein the PTT device operates in a conventional mode, and transmits the notification indirectly to the one or more other PTT devices via a fixed network repeater device operating in a conventional mode.

9. The PTT device of claim 1, wherein the PTT device operates in a broadband mode and the first and second channels are logical channels transmitted over a same physical link.

10. The PTT device of claim 1, wherein the notification is transmitted to each one of the one or more other PTT devices in the first talkgroup.

11. The PTT device of claim 1, wherein the notification is transmitted to a subset of each one of the one or more other PTT devices in the first talkgroup, the subset determined via one of:

a manual selection of radio IDs at the PTT device, a manual selection of a subordinate talkgroup at the PTT device, and a manual selection of a profile from a codeplug at the PTT device.

12. The PTT device of claim 1, wherein the notification is transmitted in one of an embedded or dedicated signaling space on the first channel.

13. The PTT device of claim 1, wherein the notification is transmitted in a voice traffic portion of the first channel via user-plane stealing.

14. A method of communicating with a plurality of push-to-talk (PTT) devices in a wireless network of PTT devices, the method comprising, at a first one of the PTT devices:

responsive to detecting a change in selected channel, via a channel selector input, from the first channel to a second channel while a PTT input is activated;

transmitting, to one or more other PTT devices in a first talkgroup on the first channel, a notification that further transmissions by the PTT device will be made in the second channel;

switching the transmitter from the first channel to the second channel; and

transmitting further communications to the one or more other PTT devices in a second talkgroup on the second channel.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising transmitting, on the first channel, a plurality of notifications that further transmissions by the PTT device will be made in the second channel prior to switching the transmitter from the first channel to the second channel.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the PTT device operates in a direct mode, and transmits the notification directly to the one or more other PTT devices.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the PTT device operates in a trunked mode, and transmits the notification indirectly to the one or more other PTT devices via a fixed network repeater device operating in a trunked mode.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising the PTT device requesting the second channel via a request sent to the fixed network repeater device, via one of the first channel and a control channel associated with the fixed network repeater device, the fixed network repeater device transmitting a corresponding new call notification in one or both of the second channel and the control channel.

19. The method of claim 14, wherein the notification is transmitted to a subset of each one of the one or more other PTT devices in the first talkgroup, the subset determined via one of:

a manual selection of radio IDs at the PTT device, a manual selection of a subordinate talkgroup at the PTT device, and a manual selection of a profile from a codeplug at the PTT device.

20. The method of claim 14, wherein the notification is transmitted in a voice traffic portion of the first channel via user-plane stealing.