System for communicating messages via a forward overhead control channel

• US 5,873,043 A
• Filed: 12/18/1996
• Issued: 02/16/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 12/18/1996
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Numerex Corporation (Sierra Wireless Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Cellemetry, LLC (Sierra Wireless Incorporated)
• Inventors: Comer, Edward Irby
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost, Dwayne D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEGREE, TRACY MICHELLE
• Application Number:
  US08/769,142
• Time in Patent Office: 790 Days
• Field of Search: 455/458, 455/515, 455/31.3, 455/422, 455/426, 455/466, 455/434, 340/825.44, 340/311.1, 370/328, 370/329, 370/349, 370/389, 370/913, 370/394, 370/912, 370/471, 370/343, 370/474
• US Class Current: 455/458
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 51/58 Message adaptation for wireless communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 370/913 Wireless or radio

Abstract

A system for communicating multiple page messages or pages via a forward overhead control channel (FOCC) of a cellular network control channel to a cellular-compatible receiving device and combining the data obtained from each received page to form an aggregate message comprising a data sequence. A cellular communications device operating in a normal state responds to a page received via the FOCC by comparing the received page to one or more masks maintained in its memory. If the received page contains a predetermined characteristic and matches a corresponding mask maintained by the receiving device, then it responds by transitioning from a normal state to a receive device identifier state. In the receive device identifier state, the cellular communications device monitors the FOCC for a page having a special identifier assigned to that device. Each received page is compared to a mask corresponding to the special identifier and maintained in memory of the selected device. In response to a match, the cellular communications device transitions from the receive device identifier state to a receive data state and operates to monitor the FOCC for pages containing commands. In the receive data state, the cellular communications device can respond to pages containing commands by accepting data values for each received command page and combining the data values to form a data sequence.

Claims

1. A method for communicating with a selected one of a plurality of cellular communications devices by sending multiple pages via a cellular network control channel of a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system, comprising the steps of:

monitoring the cellular network control channel for one of the pages having a specific identifier assigned to the selected cellular communications device in response to receiving one of the pages having a predetermined characteristic;

monitoring the cellular network control channel for pages containing a command in response to receiving the page having the specific identifier; and

responsive to receiving pages containing the command, combining data from each of the pages to form an aggregate data message containing a sequence of the data.

2. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of:

monitoring the cellular network control channel for one of the pages containing another command in response to receiving the command pages;

verifying the data sequence of the aggregate data message in response to receiving the page containing the other command.

3. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of discarding the data sequence in the event that a verification term of the other command page does not match a verification value calculated with the data of the data sequence.

4. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of discarding the data sequence in the event that the other command page is not received within a certain maximum time period.

5. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of discarding the data sequence in the event that a time period between any pair of received command pages exceeds a certain maximum time period.

6. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of discarding the data sequence in response to receiving more than a predetermined number of pages containing the command while monitoring the cellular network control channel.

7. The method of claim 2 further comprising the step of responding to the verification of the data sequence by operating on the data sequence in accordance with the command.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the data combining step comprises ordering the data of each received command page based on the arrival of the corresponding command page at the selected cellular communication device.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the data combining step comprises ordering each received command page in sequential order based on a numerical value contained in each command page.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving one of the pages having a predetermined characteristic comprises the steps of:

comparing at least a portion of the received page having the predetermined characteristic to a mask stored in memory of each cellular communications device; and

accepting the page in the event that the portion of the page matches the mask.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the page having the predetermined characteristic is formatted to represent at least a portion of a telephone number (MIN).

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of receiving one of the pages having a specific identifier comprises comparing at least a portion of the received page having the specific identifier to one of a set of masks stored in memory of the selected cellular communications device;

and

accepting the page in the event that the least a portion of the page matches one of the set of masks.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of monitoring the cellular network control channel for one of the pages having a specific identifier assigned to the selected cellular communications device comprises:

monitoring the cellular network channel for a certain time period after receiving one of the pages having the predetermined characteristic; and

terminating the monitoring step in the event that the certain time period expires without receiving one of the pages having the specific identifier.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the command defines an action to load busy idle bit (BIB) data values, and the data sequence comprises BIB data.

15. The method of claim 1, wherein the command defines an action for the selected cellular communications device to set a predetermined time for a timer device connected to the selected cellular communications device, and the data sequence comprises timing data values corresponding to the predetermined time.

16. The method of claim 1, wherein the command defines an action for the selected cellular communications device to accept data values contained in a certain portion of each page containing the command, and to provide the data sequence comprising the data values to a device external to the selected cellular communications device.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the page containing a command comprises digits of a telephone number (MIN), the command page having a format comprising certain digits of the telephone number that represent the predetermined characteristic, other digits of the telephone number that represent data values and a remaining digit of the telephone number that identifies the action associated with the command.

18. The method of claim 1 further comprising the steps of verifying the data provided by a predetermined number of pages containing the command by calculating a verification value in response to receiving a page containing another command, the calculation comprising the steps of:

summing each digit pair for the data of each page containing the command to produce a hex value-sum of all pages containing the command;

exclusive-oring the second least significant digit pair of the first page containing the command with the hex-value sum of all pages containing the command to produce a exclusive-or'"'"'ed sum;

converting the exclusive-or'"'"'ed sum into a decimal value to provide a calculated verification value; and

comparing the calculated verification value to a verification term contained in the page containing another command.

19. A method for communicating with a selected one of a plurality of cellular communications devices by sending multiple pages via a cellular network control channel of a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system, comprising the steps of:

monitoring for pages on the forward control channel (FOCC) of the cellular network control channel;

comparing each received page to a first mask corresponding to a predetermined characteristic to determine if the received page has a portion that matches the predetermined characteristic;

in the event that the received page has a portion that matches the first mask, then monitoring the FOCC for one of the pages having a specific identifier assigned to the selected cellular communications device,

comparing each received page to a second mask corresponding to the specific identifier to determine if the received page has a portion that matches the specific identifier;

in the event that one the received pages matches the second mask, then monitoring the FOCC for pages containing a command; and

responsive to receiving a predetermined number of pages containing the command, accepting data from each of the predetermined number of pages to form an aggregate data message containing a sequence of the data.

20. The method of claim 19 further comprising the steps of:

monitoring the FOCC for one of the pages containing a command corresponding to a verification action in response to receiving the predetermined number of pages;

verifying the data of the aggregate data message in response to receiving the verification page; and

operating on the data in accordance with the command in response to verifying the data sequence.

21. The method of claim 20 further comprising the step of discarding the data in the event that one of the following events arises:

(1) a verification value of the verification page does not match a verification term calculated with the combined data of the data sequence, and (2) the verification page is not received within a certain predefined time period.

22. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of discarding the data in the event that a time period between any pair of received command pages exceeds a certain maximum time period.

23. The method of claim 19 further comprising the step of discarding the data in response to receiving more than a predetermined number of pages containing the command while monitoring the cellular network control channel.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the page having the predetermined characteristic is formatted to represent at least a portion of a telephone number (MIN);

and

the page containing a command formatted to represent at least a portion of another telephone number, the page comprising certain digits that represent the predetermined characteristic, other digits that represent data values and a remaining digit that identifies the action associated with the command.

25. A method for communicating a message by sending a predetermined sequence of pages to a selected one of a plurality of cellular communications devices via a cellular network control channel of a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system, comprising the steps of:

operating in a normal state, each cellular communications device operative to monitor for pages on the cellular network control channel in the normal state;

transitioning from the normal state and entering a receive device identifier state (COMIN_-- RCV_-- DEVID state) in response to receiving one of the pages having a predetermined characteristic and matching a first mask (COMIN-12) stored by each cellular communications device, each cellular communications device operative in the receive device identifier state to monitor the cellular network control channel for pages containing a specific identifier assigned to the cellular communications device;

transitioning from the receive device identifier state and entering the receive data state (COMIN_-- RCV_-- DATA state) in response to receiving one of the pages having the specific identifier and matching any one of a plurality of second masks assigned to a selected cellular communications device, the selected cellular communications device operative in the receive data state to monitor the cellular network control channel for pages containing commands;

receiving data in response to receiving a predetermined number of pages containing a command while the selected cellular communications device is in the receive data state (COMIN_-- RCV_-- DATA state) , each command page having a portion that matches the first mask and a least significant digit representing one of the commands;

transitioning from the receive data state (COMIN_-- RCV_-- DATA state) and entering the verification state (COMIN_-- VERIFY state) after the selected cellular communications device receives the predetermined number of command pages and in response to receiving one of the pages having a portion that matches the first mask and a least significant digit representing a verification command;

verifying the received data while the selected cellular communications device is in the verification state by comparing a verification term of the verification command page with a value calculated based on the data provided by the command page; and

operating on the received data in accordance with the command in response to verifying the received data.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein one of the pages containing the command is formatted to represent a telephone number (MIN) having a set of digits in the format ABCDEddddx, wherein a portion of the digits correspond to the predetermined characteristic (ABCDE), another portion of the digits corresponds to data, and a remaining least significant digit represents the command.

27. The method of claim 25, wherein each cellular communications device includes non-volatile memory containing the first mask (COMIN_-- 12 mask) and at least one of the second masks (MIN mask).

28. The method of claim 25 further comprising the step of discarding the data in the event that any one of the following events occurs:

(1) a verification value of the verification command page does not match a verification term calculated with the combined data of the data sequence;

(2) the verification command page is not received within a certain predefined time period;

(3) a time period between any pair of received command pages exceeds a certain maximum time period; and

more than a predetermined number of pages containing the command is received while the selected cellular communications device is monitoring the cellular network control channel.

29. The method of claim 25, wherein the page having the predetermined characteristic is formatted to represent at least a portion of a telephone number (MIN) for the CMR system;

and

the command page is formatted to represent a telephone number having a plurality of digits, wherein certain digits of the telephone number represent the predetermined characteristic, other digits of the telephone number that represent data values and a remaining digit of the telephone number that identifies the action associated with the command.

30. In or for a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system having an array of cells, a data message system for communicating selected data collected from a plurality of remote data sources, said data message system comprising:

a plurality of data reporting devices, each of said data reporting devices operative for monitoring a corresponding one of said remote data sources to obtain said selected data and for transmitting a data message containing said selected data, said data message formatted to correspond to an identification signal that is transmitted by a cellular radiotelephone when said cellular radiotelephone first identifies itself to said CMR system;

a mobile switching center (MSC) for receiving said data message via a cellular network control channel from each of said data reporting devices operating within coverage areas of said array of cells; and

data collection system for collecting said selected data in response to receiving said data message from said MSC via a first communications link;

said MSC further operative to transmit pages via the cellular network control channel, wherein selected pages contain a data set that forms a portion of a data sequence;

said data reporting devices further operative to monitor the cellular network control channel for one of the pages having a specific identifier assigned to a selected one of the data reporting devices in response to receiving one of the pages having a predetermined characteristic,

said selected data reporting device operative to monitor the cellular network control channel for pages containing a command in response to receiving the page having the specific identifier, and responsive to receiving a predetermined number of pages containing the command, said selected data reporting device further operative to accept the data set from each of the predetermined number of pages to form an aggregate data message containing the data sequence.

31. The system of claim 30 wherein the selected data reporting device monitors the FOCC for one of the pages containing a command corresponding to a verification action in response to receiving the predetermined number of pages, verifies the data sequence of the aggregate data message in response to receiving the verification page, and processes the data sequence in accordance with the command in response to verifying the data sequence.

32. The system of claim 31 wherein the selected data reporting device discards the data in the event that (1) a verification value of the other command page does not match a verification term calculated with the combined data of the data sequence or (2) the verification command page is not received within a certain predefined time period.

33. The system of claim 31 wherein the selected data reporting device discards the data in the event that a time period between any pair of received command pages exceeds a certain maximum time period.

34. The system of claim 31 wherein the selected data reporting device discards the data in response to receiving more than a predetermined number of pages containing the command while monitoring the cellular network control channel.

35. The system of claim 30, wherein the page having the predetermined characteristic is formatted to represent at least a portion of a telephone number (MIN) for the CMR system;

and

the page containing the command is formatted to represent a telephone number having a plurality of digits, certain digits of the telephone number that represent the predetermined characteristic, other digits of the telephone number that represent data values and the remaining digit of the telephone number that identifies the action associated with the command.

36. A method for communicating with a plurality of cellular communications devices by sending a multiple pages via a cellular network control channel of a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system, comprising the steps of:

monitoring the cellular network control channel for one of the pages having a predetermined characteristic;

monitoring the cellular network control channel for pages containing a command in response to receiving the page having the predetermined characteristic; and

responsive to receiving pages containing the command, combining data from each of the predetermined number of pages to form an aggregate data message containing a sequence of the data.

37. The method of claim 36 further comprising the steps of:

monitoring the cellular network control channel for one of the pages containing another command in response to receiving the command pages;

verifying the data sequence of the aggregate data message in response to receiving the page containing the other command.

38. The method of claim 37 further comprising the step of discarding the data sequence in the event that a verification term of the other command page does not match a verification value calculated with the combined data of the data sequence.

39. The method of claim 37 further comprising the step of discarding the data sequence in the event that the other command page is not received within a certain maximum time period.

40. The method of claim 37 further comprising the step of discarding the data sequence in the event that a time period between any pair of received command pages exceeds a certain maximum time period.

41. The method of claim 37 further comprising the step of discarding the data sequence in response to receiving more than a predetermined number of pages containing the command while monitoring the cellular network control channel.

42. The method of claim 37 further comprising the step of responding to the verification of the data sequence by operating on the data sequence in accordance with the command.

43. The method of claim 36, wherein the data combining step comprises ordering the data of each received command page based on the arrival of the corresponding command page at the selected cellular communication device.

44. The method of claim 36, wherein the data combining step comprises ordering each received command page in sequential order based on a numerical value contained in each command page.

45. The method of claim 36, wherein the step of receiving one of the pages having a predetermined characteristic comprises the steps of:

comparing at least a portion of the received page having the predetermined characteristic to a mask stored in memory of each cellular communications device; and

accepting the page in the event that the portion of the page matches the mask.

46. The method of claim 45, wherein the page having the predetermined characteristic is formatted to represent at least a portion of a unique telephone number (MIN).

47. The method of claim 36, wherein the page containing a command comprises a telephone number (MIN) having a plurality of digits, the command page having a format comprising certain digits that represent the predetermined characteristic, other digits that represent data values and a remaining digit that identifies the action associated with the command.

48. The method of claim 36 further comprising the steps of verifying the data provided by a predetermined number of pages containing the command by calculating a verification value in response to receiving a page containing another command, the calculation comprising the steps of:

summing each digit pair for the data of each page containing the command to produce a hex value-sum of all pages containing the command;

exclusive oring the second least significant digit pair of the first page containing the command with the hex-value sum of all pages containing the command to produce a exclusive-or'"'"'ed sum,

converting the exclusive-or'"'"'ed sum into a decimal value to provide a calculated verification value; and

comparing the calculated verification value to a verification term contained in a page containing another command.

49. For a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system, a method for communicating data between an mobile switching center (MSC) and cellular communications devices operating within the scope of coverage for the CMR system, comprising the steps of:

transmitting a data message containing selected data via a reverse overhead control channel (RECC) of a cellular network control channel to an MSC of said CMR system, said MSC operative to receive said data message and to send multiple pages via the forward overhead control channel (FOCC) of the cellular network control channel;

transmitting said data message from said MSC to a data collection system via a first communications link, said data collection system operative to collect said selected data in response to said data message;

monitoring the FOCC for one of the pages having a predetermined characteristic;

monitoring the FOCC for pages containing a command in response to receiving the page having the predetermined characteristic; and

responsive to receiving a predetermined number of pages containing the command, accepting data from each of the predetermined number of pages to form an aggregate data message containing a sequence of the data.

50. The method of claim 49 further comprising the steps of:

monitoring the FOCC for one of the pages containing a command corresponding to a verification action in response to receiving the predetermined number of pages;

verifying the data sequence of the aggregate data message in response to receiving the verification page; and

operating on the data sequence in accordance with the command in response to verifying the data sequence.

51. The method of claim 49, wherein the page having the predetermined characteristic is formatted to represent at least a portion of a telephone number (MIN);

and

the page containing a command is formatted as a telephone number having a plurality of digits, certain digits that represent the predetermined characteristic, other digits that represent data values and a remaining digit that identifies the action associated with the command.

52. The method of claim 49, wherein the step of monitoring the cellular network control channel for one of the pages having a specific identifier assigned to the selected cellular communications device comprises:

monitoring the cellular network channel for a certain time period after receiving one of the pages having the predetermined characteristic; and

terminating the monitoring step in the event that the certain time period expires without receiving one of the pages having the specific identifier.