Apparatus and method for providing a microzone mobile communication system within a cellular telephone system
First Claim
1. A microzone mobile communication system which operates in local areas on cellular channels in the same frequency band as a cellular telephone system which is available in said local areas, said microzone mobile communication system comprising:
- a plurality of fixed stations for providing communications links for said microzone system;
a cellular monitoring receiver located within one of said local areas for scanning channels of said cellular telephone system, and for monitoring the interference potential of each of said scanned channels;
a control unit for coupling at least one of said fixed stations to a public service telephone network, said control unit being responsive to said monitoring for allocating cellular channels prior to a communication request to said microzone mobile communication system based on said monitoring of said interference potential; and
a portable terminal which accesses said microzone mobile communication system on one of said allocated cellular channels in response to a communication request when said portable terminal is within said local area.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A mobile communication system permits a mobile terminal to operate in a microzone system which services a local area and to also operate in a cellular telephone system which is available in the local area. The microzone telephone system uses the same frequency band and channels of the cellular telephone system and includes a monitoring receiver which monitors the channels within that frequency band and makes those channels which are less likely to interfere with the cellular telephone system available to the microzone system. The microzone system includes a portable terminal which is capable of accessing the cellular system and, when in range of the microzone system, capable of accessing the microzone system on idle ones of the cellular channels which have been made available to the microzone system.
-
Citations
7 Claims
-
1. A microzone mobile communication system which operates in local areas on cellular channels in the same frequency band as a cellular telephone system which is available in said local areas, said microzone mobile communication system comprising:
-
a plurality of fixed stations for providing communications links for said microzone system; a cellular monitoring receiver located within one of said local areas for scanning channels of said cellular telephone system, and for monitoring the interference potential of each of said scanned channels; a control unit for coupling at least one of said fixed stations to a public service telephone network, said control unit being responsive to said monitoring for allocating cellular channels prior to a communication request to said microzone mobile communication system based on said monitoring of said interference potential; and a portable terminal which accesses said microzone mobile communication system on one of said allocated cellular channels in response to a communication request when said portable terminal is within said local area. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6)
-
-
7. A method for communicating in a microzone mobile communication system which operates in a local area and utilizes channels within the same frequency band as those of a cellular telephone system which is available in said local area, comprising the steps of:
-
scanning the channels of said cellular telephone system with a cellular monitoring receiver located within said local area and included in said microzone mobile communication system; monitoring each of said scanned channels for potential interference; identifying channels whose use in said local area is less apt to interfere with channels used by said cellular telephone system based on said monitoring of potential interference; allocating, prior to a communication request, said identified channels to said microzone mobile communication system; selecting one or more idle channels from said allocated channels in response to a communication request; and communicating on said microzone mobile communication system using said one or more selected channels.
-
Specification