Data communication protocol

• US 5,392,283 A
• Filed: 08/27/1993
• Issued: 02/21/1995
• Est. Priority Date: 08/27/1993
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Gilbert, John M., Feldman, Larry E., Bocci, Paul M.
• Primary Examiner(s): Hsu, Alpus
• Application Number:
  US08/113,022
• Time in Patent Office: 543 Days
• Field of Search: 370/60, 370/79, 370/81, 370/82, 370/83, 370/94.1, 370/94.2, 370/99, 370/110.1, 370/111, 370/112, 370/118, 379/88, 379/58, 379/63, 381/29, 381/31, 371/32, 371/33, 371/34, 455/38.1, 455/49.1, 455/53.1, 455/54.1, 455/56.1, 455/67.1, 455/68, 455/54.2
• US Class Current: 370/329
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0078 Avoidance of errors by organising the transmitted data in a format specifically designed to deal with errors, e.g. location forward error control, e.g. FEC, CRC H04L1/004; adaptive formatting H04L1/0006; mappings H04L27/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols

Abstract

A data communication protocol permits efficient and cost-effective transmission of control and ancillary messages among the components of a communication system infrastructure (200). Messages are organized into Infrastructure Control Words (300) with accompanying Format Identifiers (304), and interleaved with voice and data segments (707) to form message streams (700) that are transmitted from one infrastructure component, such as a base station (201), to another infrastructure component, such as a Digital Interface Unit (202).

Claims

1. In a radio communication system comprising a plurality of fixed devices, one of said plurality of fixed devices comprising an initiating device and another of said plurality of fixed devices comprising a receiving device, a method for transferring control information from the initiating device to the receiving device, the method comprising the steps of:

at the initiating device;

(a) providing a first operation instruction to be performed and corresponding data;

(b) selecting a first format from among a plurality of formats;

(c) organizing the first operation instruction to be performed and the corresponding data in accordance with the first format to provide a first data message;

(d) combining the first data message with a format indicator, where the format indicator identifies the first format to form a first word, the first word comprising at least one opcode, at least one operand, and at least one argument, wherein the opcode, the operand, and the argument are hierarchically related, with the opcode indicating a high level function, the operand providing a modifier for the opcode, and the argument providing a specific value for the operand;

(e) transmitting the first word to the receiving device.

2. The method in accordance with claim 1, wherein the selecting step (b) includes the step of selecting the first format based on how much of the corresponding data exists.

3. In a radio communication system comprising a plurality of fixed devices, one of said plurality of fixed devices comprising an initiating device and another of said plurality of fixed devices comprising a receiving device, a method for transferring control information from the initiating device to the receiving device, the method comprising the steps of:

at the initiating device;

(a) providing a first operation instruction to be performed and corresponding data;

(b) selecting a first format from among a plurality of formats;

(c) organizing the first operation instruction to be performed and the corresponding data in accordance with the first format to provide a first data message;

(d) combining the first data message with a format indicator, where the format indicator identifies the first format to form a first word, the first word comprising at least one opcode, at least one operand, and at least one argument, wherein the opcode, the operand, and the argument are hierarchically related, with the opcode indicating a high level function, the operand providing a modifier for the opcode, and the argument providing a specific value for the operand;

(e) transmitting the first word to the receiving device;

(f) providing a second operation instruction to be performed and corresponding data;

(g) selecting a second format from among the plurality of formats;

(h) organizing the second operation instruction to be performed and the corresponding data in accordance with the second format to provide a second data message;

(i) combining the second data message with a second format indicator, where the second format indicator identifies the second format to form a second word, the second word comprising at least one opcode, at least one operand, and at least one argument, wherein the opcode, the operand, and the argument are hierarchically related, with the opcode indicating a high level function, the operand providing a modifier for the opcode, and the argument providing a specific value for the operand;

(j) transmitting the second word to the receiving device.

4. In a radio communication system comprising a plurality of fixed devices, one of said plurality of fixed devices comprising an initiating device and another of said plurality of fixed devices comprising a receiving device, the initiating device coupled to the receiving device by means of a communication link having data packets being transported thereon, the data packets including voice information, a method for transferring control information from the initiating device to the receiving device, the method comprising the steps of:

at the initiating device;

(a) providing a first operation instruction to be performed and corresponding data;

(b) selecting a first format from among a plurality of formats;

(c) organizing the first operation instruction to be performed and the corresponding data in accordance with the first format to provide a first data message;

(d) combining the first data message with a format indicator, where the format indicator identifies the first format to form a first word, the first word comprising at least one opcode, at least one operand, and at least one argument, wherein the opcode, the operand, and the argument are hierarchically related, with the opcode indicating a high level function, the operand providing a modifier for the opcode, and the argument providing a specific value for the operand;

(e) transmitting the first word over the communication link to the receiving device.

5. The method in accordance with claim 4, wherein the transmitting step (e) includes the steps of:

(e1) providing a communication link access protocol;

(e2) using the communication link access protocol to interleave the first word with other data packets that are being transported over the communication link.