Method and apparatus for offering subscribers access to unused communications capacity in a cellular communications system
First Claim
1. A method for inviting subscribers of a cellular telephone system to use inefficiently utilized communications resources, comprising the steps of:
- measuring load on a selected internal or external cellular telephone system communications resource;
determining whether the measured load on the selected communications resource is less than a predetermined threshold;
responsive to an affirmative determination, broadcasting an offering message to cellular telephone system subscribers inviting use of the selected communications resource at a reduced charging rate;
granting subscribers who respond to the broadcast offering message access to the selected communications resource at the reduced charging rate; and
denying a requesting subscriber access to the selected communications resource at the reduced charging rate if a received subscriber request for access from the requesting subscriber does not include a specific indication that the subscriber request is responsive to the offering message.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The load on the communications resources of a cellular telephone system is monitored to detect instances of excess amounts of unused resource capacity. When such instances are detected, a message is transmitted to subscribers via the cellular system offering reduced charging rates for calls initiated in response to the offering message. The subscriber mobile stations are programmed to alert the subscriber to the broadcast of the offering message, after which the subscriber may initiate a reduced rate call. The mobile stations may further be programmed to automatically initiate the cellular call in response to receipt of the offering message, and to thereafter engage in the communication. Monitoring of communications resources external to the cellular system is also made, and an offering message is broadcast by the system in response to detection of excess amounts of unused external resource capacity, in response to which subscribers may initiate calls requesting reduced rate access to the resource.
106 Citations
40 Claims
-
1. A method for inviting subscribers of a cellular telephone system to use inefficiently utilized communications resources, comprising the steps of:
-
measuring load on a selected internal or external cellular telephone system communications resource; determining whether the measured load on the selected communications resource is less than a predetermined threshold; responsive to an affirmative determination, broadcasting an offering message to cellular telephone system subscribers inviting use of the selected communications resource at a reduced charging rate; granting subscribers who respond to the broadcast offering message access to the selected communications resource at the reduced charging rate; and denying a requesting subscriber access to the selected communications resource at the reduced charging rate if a received subscriber request for access from the requesting subscriber does not include a specific indication that the subscriber request is responsive to the offering message. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. A cellular communications system, comprising:
-
at least one load constrained communications resource; means for measuring loading on the load constrained communications resource; a control processing unit connected to receive measured loading values from the means for measuring, the processing unit operating; to compare the measured loading values with a threshold; responsive to the measured loading value being less than the threshold, generate a signal offering subscribers use of the load constrained communications resource; responsive to a received subscriber access signal, granting a responding subscriber access to the load constrained communications resource at a reduced charging rate; and responsive to the received subscriber access signal, denying the subscriber access to the load constrained communications resource at the reduced charging rate if the subscriber access signal does not include a specific indication that the subscriber access signal is responsive to the offering signal; and radio frequency communications means connected to the control processing unit for broadcasting the offering signal to subscribers and for carrying the responsive subscriber access signal from the responding subscriber to the control processing unit. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
-
-
25. A method for inviting subscribers of a cellular telephone system to use inefficiently utilized communications resources, comprising the steps of:
-
measuring load on a selected internal or external cellular telephone system communications resource; broadcasting an offering message to cellular telephone system subscribers inviting use of the selected communications resource at a reduced charging rate in the event the measured load is less than a predetermined threshold; granting subscribers access to the selected communications resource at a rate other than the reduced charging rate if an access request does not specifically indicate that it is being made in response to the broadcast offering message; granting subscribers who specifically indicate response to the broadcast offering message access to the selected communications resource at the reduced charging rate; and denying a requesting subscriber access to the selected communications resource at the reduced charging rate if the access request from the requesting subscriber does not include a specific indication that the access request is responsive to the offering message. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31)
-
-
32. A cellular communications system, comprising:
-
at least one load constrained communications resource; a mobile switching center including; means for measuring loading on the load constrained communications resource; means for generating a resource offering message if the measured loading is less than a predetermined threshold; and means for processing subscriber requests for access to the load constrained communications resource by granting the subscriber access to the load constrained communications resource at a reduced charging rate in response to a received subscriber request for access, wherein the means for processing denies the subscriber access to the load constrained communications resource at the reduced charging rate if the received subscriber request for access does not include a specific indication concerning being responsive to the resource offering message; and a mobile station including means responsive to receipt of the resource offering message for generating the subscriber request for access processed by the mobile switching center. - View Dependent Claims (33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40)
-
Specification