Radio trunking system with transceivers and repeaters using special channel acquisition protocol
First Claim
1. In a trunking radio transceiver of the type which (a) in an idle mode scans plural channels to detect a pre-assigned calling sequence of N received signals S1-SN during respectively corresponding time periods T1-TN, (b) in a wait mode scans said plural channels to detect and acquire a non-used one of said channels, and (c) in a ready mode stays tuned to such detected calling/acquired channel C and permits transceiver communications thereon, an improvement comprising:
- means for transmitting in said wait mode on said detected non-used channel C a calling sequence of M signals s1-sM during respectively corresponding time periods t1-tM which collectively occur during a time less than said T1 time period, said sequence s1-sM identifying at least one other called transceiver.
4 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
An arrangement for establishing communication between a first mobile radio transceiver and a second mobile radio transceiver through a repeater over a radio frequency channel selected from a plurality of such channels. A repeater distinguishes between two-tone signalling sequences and four-tone signalling sequences by determining the arrival rate over some predefined interval of a received signalling sequence. The repeater transmits a busy signal to alert mobile stations seeking to acquire a channel that the repeater is busy. The repeater interrupts the transmitted busy signal during a portion of the four-tone signalling sequence but not the two-tone signalling sequence to help prevent two-tone mobile stations from falsing on four-tone signalling sequences. The arrangement is thus made compatible with both two-tone signalling and four-tone signalling formats. A calling mobile transceiver may specify the length of signalling transmitted by the repeater, so that the mobile transceiver can cause the repeater to transmit signalling for a duration longer than the mobile transceiver itself would require.
65 Citations
40 Claims
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1. In a trunking radio transceiver of the type which (a) in an idle mode scans plural channels to detect a pre-assigned calling sequence of N received signals S1-SN during respectively corresponding time periods T1-TN, (b) in a wait mode scans said plural channels to detect and acquire a non-used one of said channels, and (c) in a ready mode stays tuned to such detected calling/acquired channel C and permits transceiver communications thereon, an improvement comprising:
means for transmitting in said wait mode on said detected non-used channel C a calling sequence of M signals s1-sM during respectively corresponding time periods t1-tM which collectively occur during a time less than said T1 time period, said sequence s1-sM identifying at least one other called transceiver. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5)
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6. A radio repeater for repeating operations in a trunked radio communication system, said repeater comprising:
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receiver means for detecting the presence of a channel busy signal and of a sequence of P channel acquisition protocol signals s1-sP which may occur on the incoming side of a communications channel during corresponding time periods t1-tP; and transmitter means for regenerating and transmitting a corresponding sequence of P channel acquisition protocol signals s1-sP on the outgoing side of said communications channel during time periods T1-TP where T1 is greater than the combined duration of t1-tP. - View Dependent Claims (7)
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8. A system for establishing communication between a first radio transceiver and a second radio transceiver through a repeater and over a radio communication channel selected from a plurality of such communication channels, said system comprising:
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(A) a first type of radio transceiver including first channel locating means for locating an unused one of the radio channels; and first transmitting means for transmitting a radio signal including a first type of called-transceiver identifying signal to a repeater on the unused channel located by the first channel locating means; (B) a second type of radio transceiver including second channel locating means for locating an unused one of the radio channels; and second transmitting means for transmitting a radio signal including a second type of called-transceiver identifying signal to the repeater on the unused channel located by the second channel locating means; and (c) a repeater including receiving means for receiving the radio signals transmitted by said first and second transmitting means; third transmitting means for transmitting a busy signal upon receipt by said receiving means of radio signals transmitted by any of said first and said second transmitting means; and testing means for determining if a called-transceiver identifying signal received by said receiving means is of said second type, said third transmitting means temporarily interrupting the transmission of said busy signal if said testing means determines said second type of called-transceiver identifying signal has been received. - View Dependent Claims (9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15)
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16. A system for selectively dedicating a communication channel to one of a plurality of radio transceivers, said system comprising:
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a first type of radio transceiver including at least first signalling means for producing a radio signal including a first type of called transceiver identifying signal; a second type of radio transceiver including at least second signalling means for producing a radio signal including a second type of called transceiver identifying signal different from said first identifying signal; at least one radio frequency communication channel for conveying information via radio signals; and channel dedicating means, selectively transmitting signals on said communication channel, for dedicating said communication channel to one of said first and said second type of radio transceivers, said dedicating means including means for applying a busy signal to said communication channel in response to radio signals transmitted by any of said first and second type radio transceiver, said channel dedicating means temporarily interrupting the application of said busy signal to said channel for a first predetermined time interval after applying said busy signal thereto in response to the occurrence of a second type of called transceiver identifying signal. - View Dependent Claims (17, 18, 19)
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20. A method for selectively dedicating a communication channel to one of a plurality of type of radio transceivers, comprising the steps of:
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selectively producing a radio signal modulated with a first type of called transceiver identifying signal different from said first type of identifying signal with a second type of radio transceiver; selectively producing a radio signal modulated with a second type of called transceiver identifying signal different from said first type of identifying signal with a second type of radio transceiver; applying a busy signal to a communication channel in response to radio signals transmitted by any first and second types of radio transceivers; testing whether said second type of called-transceiver identifying signal has occurred; and after said applying step, temporarily interrupting the application of said busy signal to said channel for a predetermined time interval if said testing reveals said second type of called transceiver identifying signal has occurred.
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21. A method for establishing communication between a first radio transceiver and a second radio transceiver through a repeater and over a radio channel
selected from a plurality of such channels, said method comprising: -
locating an unused one of the radio channels with a radio transceiver; transmitting a called transceiver identifying signal having at least one predetermined characteristic parameter from the radio transceiver to a repeater over the located unused channel; receiving transmissions of the radio transceiver at the repeater; transmitting a busy signal from the repeater beginning at the time a transmission of the radio transceiver is received; testing said received transmission to determine if it has said predetermined characteristic parameter at the repeater; and temporarily interrupting the transmission of said busy signal by the repeater beginning after said time of reception in response to the results of said test if such test reveals the received transmission has the predetermined characteristic parameter.
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22. A method for communication between radio transceivers through a repeater and over a communication channel selected from a plurality of such channels, comprising the steps of:
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searching for an unused channel; transmitting from the repeater simultaneous busy and acquisition signal when said searching step locates an unused communication channel; transmitting sequentially from a radio transceiver a series of signals each having a first predetermined duration and containing information identifying at least one other radio transceiver; regenerating with said repeater the first of said signals simultaneously with said busy signal for a period on excess of said first predetermined duration, and thereafter successively regenerating the other of said signals without continuous occurrence of said busy signal; receiving each of said regenerated signals with said radio transceiver; and re-initiating said busy signal transmission at a second predetermined time after regeneration of the last signal in said series, thereby indicating that said communication channel has been successfully acquired and dedicated.
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23. A method for communication between radio transceivers through a repeater and over a communication channel selected from a plurality of such channels, said method comprising the steps of:
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(1) searching for an unused channel with a radio transceiver; (2) transmitting from the repeater simultaneous busy and acquisition signals on an unused communication channel located by said searching step (1); (3) transmitting sequentially from the radio transceiver a plurality of signal tones containing information identifying at least one other radio transceiver; (4) successively retransmitting said plurality of signal tones with said repeater; (5) simultaneously with said retransmitting step (4), transmitting said busy signal with said repeater during at least the retransmitting of said first tone and temporarily ceasing to transmit said busy tone thereafter; and (6) re-starting said busy signal transmission a predetermined time after of the last signal tone is retransmitted by said retransmitting step (4). - View Dependent Claims (24)
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25. A method for communicating between radio transceivers through a repeater and over a communications channel, comprising the steps of:
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(1) transmitting a collect signal from a radio transceiver for a duration predetermined by the radio transceiver; (2) receiving said collect signal transmitted by said transmitting step (1) through a repeater; (3) transmitting from a repeater a regenerated version of the collect signal received by said receiving step (2) for a controlled duration; (4) determining at the repeater the duration of the signal transmitted by said transmitting step (1) in response to the collect signal received by said receiving step (2); (5) controlling, at the repeater, the duration of the regenerated version of the collect signal transmitted by said transmitting step (3) to be a fixed predetermined duration if the duration determined by said determining step (4) is less than a first predetermined duration; and (6) controlling, at the repeater, the duration of the regenerated version of the collect signal transmitted by said transmitting step (3) to be approximately equal to the duration determined by said determining step (4) if said determined duration exceeds said first predetermined duration. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 33)
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32. (c) subsequent to said transmitting step (3), transmitting regenerated version of the further called transceiver identifying signal received by said transmitting step (b);
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(d) transmitting from the repeater a busy signal during said transmitting step (3); (e) interrupting said busy signal transmission during at least a portion of said transmitting step (c); and (f) a predetermined time after said regenerated version of said further called transceiver identifying signal transmitted by said transmitting step (c) terminates once again, transmitting said busy signal with said repeater.
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34. A system for communicating between radio transceivers through a repeater over a communications channel, said system comprising:
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at least one radio transceiver including means for transmitting a collect signal for a duration predetermined by the radio transceiver; and a repeater including means for receiving signals transmitted by said radio transceivers, means for regenerating and transmitting versions of said received signals, means for determining the duration of collect signals received by said receiving means, and means for controlling the duration of transmitted regenerated versions of received collect signals to be a predetermined fixed duration if the duration determined by said determining means is less than a first predetermined duration and to be approximately equal to the duration determined by said determining means if said determined duration is at least equal to said first predetermined duration.
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35. A system for establishing communication between a first radio station and a second radio station through a repeater and over a radio channel selected from a plurality of such channels, said system comprising:
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(A) a first radio station including first channel locating means for locating an unused one of the radio channels; and first transmitting means for transmitting a first identifying signal to a repeater on the unused channel located by the first channel locating means; (B) a second radio station including a second channel locating means for locating an unused one of the radio channels; and second transmitting means for transmitting a second identifying signal to the corresponding repeater on the unused channel located by the second channel locating means; and (C) a repeater including; receiving means for receiving the transmissions of said first second transmitting means; and third transmitting means for transmitting a busy signal in response to the received transmission of any of said first and said second transmitting means, said third transmitting means interrupting the transmission of said busy signal in response to the received second identifying signal.
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36. A system for selectively dedicating a communication channel to one of a plurality of sets of radio stations, said system comprising:
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at least one communications channel for conveying radio signals; a first radio station including at least first signalling means for applying to said communications channel a radio signal modulated with a first identifying signal; a second radio station including at least second signalling means for applying to said communications channel a radio signal modulated with a second identifying signal different from said first identifying signal; and channel dedicating means adapted for transmitting and receiving radio signals on said communication channel for dedicating said communication channel to one of said first and said second radio stations, said dedicating means including means for applying a busy signal to said communication channel in reponse to radio signals present on said communications channel, said channel edicating means temporarily interrupting the application of said busy signal to said channel for a first predetermined time interval in response to the second identifying signal.
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37. A system for establishing communication between radio stations over a communication channel selected from a plurality of such channels, comprising:
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means located at a first location for searching for an unused one of a plurality of channels; means located at said first location and connected to said searching means for transmitting a sequence of signal tones of a first predetermined duration containing information identifying at least one other radio station; transceiver means located at a second location remote to said first location for receiving said transmitted signal tones, for regenerating and retransmitting the first of said signal tones simultaneously with a busy signal for a period in excess of said first predetetermined duration, and for thereafter regenerating and retransmitting the rest of said signal tones without said busy signal; means located at said first location for receiving each of said regenerated, retransmitted signal tones; means located at said first location and connected to said receiving and said transmitting means for comparing the signal tones transmitted by said first location transmitting means with the signal tones received by said first location receiving means; and means located at said second location and connected to said transceiver means for re-initiating the transmission of said busy signal at a second predetermined time after regeneration of the last signal tone in said sequence.
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38. A method for establishing communication between a first radio station and second radio station through a repeater and over a radio channel selected from a plurality of such channels, said method comprising:
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locating an unused one of the radio channels with a first radio station; transmitting a radio signal modulated with a first identifying signal with the first radio station to a repeater over the located unused channel; receiving the radio signal transmitted by the first radio station with the repeater; transmitting a busy signal with the repeater in response to said received radio signal; testing at least one parameter of the received signal with the repeater; temporarily ceasing to transmit said busy signal with the repeater for a finite time period in response to the results of said test; and resuming transmission of said busy signal by said repeater after said finite time period has elapsed so long as said transmitted radio signal is still being received by said repeater.
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39. A method for communication between radio stations through a repeater and over a communication channel selected from a plurality of such channels, comprising the steps of:
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transmitting from a radio station over an unused communications channel, a sequence of signal tones each having a first predetermined duration, said sequence of signal tones containing information identifying at least one other radio station; receiving said plurality of transmitted signal tones with a repeater; regenerating and transmitting with said repeater the first of said plurality of transmitted signal tones simultaneously with a busy signal for a period in excess of said first predetermined duration, and for thereafter regenerating and transmitting the rest of said plurality of transmitted signal tones without said busy signal; receiving each of said regenerated, transmitted signal tones with said radio station; comparing the signal tones transmitted and received by said radio station; and initiating transmission of said busy signal with said repeater at a second predetermined time after regeneration of the last signal tone in said sequence if the transmitted and received signal tones match, thereby indicating to the radio station that said communication channel has been dedicated for its use.
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40. A system for establishing communication between radio transceivers through a repeater and over a communication channel selected from a plurality of such channels, said system comprising:
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means included in a radio transceiver for locating an unused one of a plurality of channels and for requesting use of said located unused channel; means included in a repeater for transmitting simultaneous busy and acquisition signals in response to said request for channel use; means included in said radio transceiver for successively transmitting a plurality of signals of first predetermined durations containing information identifying at least one other radio transceiver; means included in said repeater for receiving said transmitted signals and for regenerating the first of said signals simultaneously with said busy signal for a period in excess of its duration of receipt and thereafter further regenerating the other of said successive signals while suppressing transmission of said busy signal during at least a portion of such further regeneration; means included in said radio transceiver for receiving each of said regenerated signals; means included in said transceiver for comparing the signals transmitted by said radio transceiver with the signals received by said radio transceiver; and means included in said repeater for initiating the transmission of said busy signal at a second predetermined time after regeneration of the last signal in said succession.
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Specification