Supervised cellular reporting network

• US 5,884,184 A
• Filed: 05/01/1996
• Issued: 03/16/1999
• Est. Priority Date: 05/01/1996
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Eliezer Arie Sheffer
• Original Assignee: Eliezer Arie Sheffer
• Inventors: Sheffer, Eliezer Arie
• Primary Examiner(s): Bost, Dwayne D.
• Assistant Examiner(s): LEGREE, TRACY MICHELLE
• Application Number:
  US08/641,520
• Time in Patent Office: 1,049 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404, 455/521, 455/403, 455/507, 455/455, 455/450, 455/451, 455/452, 379/39, 379/37, 379/40, 379/42-47, 379/49, 379/50, 340/506, 340/507, 340/517-521, 340/526-529, 340/534, 340/511, 340/508, 340/522, 340/825.31, 340/825.32, 340/825.36, 340/825.44
• US Class Current: 455/521
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/18 Monitoring during normal operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/309 Measuring or estimating channel quality parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports

Abstract

The present invention provides an independent supervised communications network which interfaces with an existing cellular telecommunications network by utilizing locally unused cellular frequencies to report information from a premise to a central monitoring facility. This invention utilizes an input device associated with the premise for providing one or more status messages to a transceiver module. The transceiver module may be a modified cellular telephone which is operable in one of three modes; supervision, event and wait. The cellular phone modifications are primarily software changes which provide a logic routine for scanning and selecting an available forward control channel based on a comparison of preselected criteria with measured characteristics and determining a reverse control channel corresponding to the selected forward control channel. The transceiver module transmits the message to the message processor over a predetermined duration, either periodically if the message is a supervision message or continuously if the message is an event message. The message processor, placed at a site proximate to a predetermined cellular site, receives and decodes the messages transmitted from the transceiver module and transmits the messages to a central monitoring facility.

Claims

1. A communications network which utilizes cellular telecommunications network technology for reporting information from a premises to a central monitoring facility, comprising:

an input device associated with said premises for providing one or more messages;

a cellular transceiver module operable with said input device for receiving said one or more messages from said input device and transmitting said one or more messages on a preselected reverse control channel;

a message processor placed at a predetermined site for receiving and decoding said one or more messages transmitted from said cellular transceiver module, and transmitting said one or more messages to said central monitoring facility; and

wherein said preselected reverse control channel has a corresponding forward control channel, said corresponding forward control channel having a signal strength below a predetermined threshold.

2. A network as recited in claim 1 wherein said predetermined threshold is within the range of -115 to -125 dBm.

3. A communications network which utilizes cellular telecommunications network technology for reporting information from a premises to a central monitoring facility, comprising:

an input device associated with said premises for providing one or more messages;

a cellular transceiver module operable with said input device for receiving said one or more messages from said input device and transmitting said one or more messages on a preselected reverse control channel;

a message processor placed at a predetermined site for receiving and decoding said one or more messages transmitted from said cellular transceiver module, and transmitting said one or more messages to said central monitoring facility; and

wherein said preselected reverse control channel has a corresponding forward control channel, and wherein said corresponding forward control channel is adjacent in frequency to one or more adjacent forward control channels, said one or more adjacent forward control channels having a signal strength below a predetermined threshold.

4. A network as recited in claim 3 wherein said predetermined threshold is within the range of -75 to -85 dBm.

5. A method of communicating information from a premises to a central facility using cellular telecommunications frequencies, comprising the steps of:

interfacing a transceiver module associated with said premises with an input device;

scanning a plurality of forward control channels using said transceiver module and measuring a set of preselected characteristics associated with said forward control channels;

selecting a usable forward control channel based on a comparison of said preselected characteristics associated with said forward control channel to a predetermined criteria, wherein said step of selecting said forward control channel includes the step of initially selecting one or more forward control channels from said plurality of forward control channels, said initially selected one or more forward control channels having a signal strength remaining below a preselected threshold, and the step of eliminating said initially selected forward control channels if adjacent in frequency to a forward control channel having a signal strength of a preselected value or higher, and the step of randomly selecting one of said one or more remaining said plurality of forward control channels;

transmitting a message to a message processor for decoding the content of said message; and

determining a reverse control channel corresponding to said selected forward control channel for transmission of said message to said central facility.