Method and apparatus for providing a dial tone to a telephone within a wireless local loop system
First Claim
1. A method for generating a dial tone within a wireless local loop signal transmission system subject to possible load conditions, said wireless local loop signal transmission system having a base station and a remote station, said method comprising the steps of:
- receiving signals at the remote station representative of whether a load condition exists within the wireless local loop signal transmission system;
detecting a handset of the remote station being taken off-hook; and
if a load condition does not exist, outputting a simulated dial tone through the handset of the remote station substantially immediately; and
if a load condition does exist, waiting until receipt of a signal indicating that the wireless local loop signal transmission system is no longer subject to the load condition while outputting no audible signal through the hand set of the remote station then, if the handset is still off-hook, selecting an additional delay period of time then waiting the additional period of time following receipt of the signal indicating that the wireless local loop signal transmission system is no longer subject to the load condition before outputting the simulated dial tone through the handset of the remote station.
0 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The wireless local loop system employs cellular technology to provide telephone service to fixed telephones of remote stations having otherwise conventional handsets. The remote station emulates a conventional public switched telephone network by providing an artificial dial tone from the handset of the remote station, after the handset is taken off-hook. The artificial dial tone is locally generated by the remote station. The system, however, delays providing the dial tone if the system is busy, i.e. if the system is under a load condition. To this end, the system monitors load levels and transmits signals to the remote stations indicating load conditions. A remote station, prior to granting at dial tone to the user, receives the load condition signals, determines whether the system is currently under load and, if so, defers the dial tone. Hence, if the system is under a load condition, such that no lines or frequency channels are available, the user is not presented a dial tone until a line or channel becomes available. By deferring the dial tone until a line or channel is available, the wireless local loop system more effectively emulates a PSTN.
-
Citations
36 Claims
-
1. A method for generating a dial tone within a wireless local loop signal transmission system subject to possible load conditions, said wireless local loop signal transmission system having a base station and a remote station, said method comprising the steps of:
-
receiving signals at the remote station representative of whether a load condition exists within the wireless local loop signal transmission system; detecting a handset of the remote station being taken off-hook; and if a load condition does not exist, outputting a simulated dial tone through the handset of the remote station substantially immediately; and if a load condition does exist, waiting until receipt of a signal indicating that the wireless local loop signal transmission system is no longer subject to the load condition while outputting no audible signal through the hand set of the remote station then, if the handset is still off-hook, selecting an additional delay period of time then waiting the additional period of time following receipt of the signal indicating that the wireless local loop signal transmission system is no longer subject to the load condition before outputting the simulated dial tone through the handset of the remote station. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
-
-
12. An apparatus for generating a dial tone within a wireless local loop signal transmission system subject to possible load conditions, said wireless local loop signal transmission system having a base station and a remote station, said apparatus comprising:
-
means for receiving signals at the remote station representative of whether a load condition exists within the wireless local loop signal transmission system; means for detecting a handset of the remote station being taken off-hook; means for selecting a time delay; means, operative to a detection that the handset has been taken off-hook when a load condition does not exist, for outputting a simulated dial tone through the handset of the remote station substantially immediately; and means, operative to a detection that the handset has been taken off-hook when a load condition does exist, for waiting until receipt of a signal indicating that the wireless local loop signal transmission system is no longer subject to the load condition while outputting no audible signal through the hand set of the remote station then, if the handset is still off-hook, controlling the means for selecting a delay to select an additional delay period of time then waiting the additional period of time following receipt of the signal indicating that the wireless local loop signal transmission system is no longer subject to the load condition before outputting the simulated dial tone through the handset of the remote station. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
-
-
21. An apparatus for generating a dial tone within a wireless local loop signal transmission system subject to possible load conditions, said wireless local loop signal transmission system having a base station and a remote station, said apparatus comprising:
-
a load condition signal reception unit; a handset off-hook detection unit; a simulated dial tone generation unit; a delay unit; and a control unit, operative in response to a detection by the off-hook detection unit that the handset has been taken off-hook and reception by the load condition signal reception unit of a signal indicating that a load condition does not exist, for controlling the dial tone generation unit to output a simulated dial tone through the handset of the remote station substantially immediately, and further operative in response to a detection by the off-hook detection unit that the handset is still off-hook and reception of a signal by the load condition signal reception unit that a load condition no longer exists, for waiting until receipt of a signal indicating that the wireless local loop signal transmission system is no longer subject to the load condition while outputting no audible signal through the hand set of the remote station then, if the handset is still off-hook, for triggering the delay unit to generate an additional delay period of time following receipt of the signal indicating that the wireless local loop signal transmission system is no longer subject to the load condition before then controlling the dial tone generation unit to output the simulated dial tone through the handset of the remote station following the additional delay time. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29)
-
-
30. A method for generating a dial tone within a wireless local loop signal transmission system subject to possible load conditions, said wireless local loop signal transmission system having a base station and a remote station, said method comprising the steps of:
-
determining whether a load condition exists within the wireless local loop signal transmission system by employing a power control feedback system to determine whether a total power transmitted by the base station of the system exceeds a predetermined threshold; detecting a handset of the remote station being taken off-hook; and if a load condition does not exist, outputting a simulated dial tone through the handset of the remote station substantially immediately; and if a load condition does exist, waiting until the wireless local loop signal transmission system is no longer subject to the load condition while outputting no audible signal through the hand set of the remote station then, if the handset is still off-hook, outputting the simulated dial tone through the handset of the remote station. - View Dependent Claims (31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
-
Specification