Methods and apparatus for communicating data via a cellular mobile radiotelephone system

• US 6,154,648 A
• Filed: 11/12/1997
• Issued: 11/28/2000
• Est. Priority Date: 03/11/1994
• 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): Gelin, Jean A
• Application Number:
  US08/969,146
• Time in Patent Office: 1,112 Days
• Field of Search: 455/426, 455/432, 455/435, 455/412, 455/410, 455/456, 455/458, 379/106.1
• US Class Current: 455/426.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/12 using downlink control channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• 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: H04W 68/12 Inter-network notification
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/40 for selective distribution or broadcast
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/022 One-way selective calling networks, e.g. wide area paging
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals

Abstract

A system for communicating data via a cellular network control channel of a cellular mobile radiotelephone system (CMR). A data message system for communicating data collected from remote data sources includes sets of reporting devices, at least one mobile switching center (MSC) of a CMR system, and a data collection system connected to said MSC via a first communications link. Each recording device monitors a remote data source to obtain selected data and thereafter transmits a data message containing the selected data. The data collection system stores the data messages and processes the selected data. The data message system is equipped to process data messages of varying lengths, through the use of an expandable data message structure. A paging acknowledgment system is also provided for communicating both (1) paging messages and (2) acknowledgment messages to confirm reception of the paging messages. A communications system transmits data messages corresponding to the paging message via a communications link. The data message contains the type of data that is normally supplied with a conventional paging message and an acknowledgment code that uniquely identifies said data message. The communications system confirms reception of the data message by comparing the acknowledgment code of the acknowledgment message to the acknowledgment codes associated with the paging messages. The communications system is equipped to process acknowledgment messages of varying lengths, through the use of an expandable data message structure.

Claims

1. In or for a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system having an array of cells for communicating with cellular mobile radiotelephones within coverage areas of said 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;

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 said coverage areas of said array of cells; and

a data collection system for collecting said selected data in response to receiving said data message from said MSC via a first communications link, said data message formatted as a call origination signal transmitted by one of the cellular mobile radiotelephones when said cellular mobile radiotelephone originates a cellular telephone call for communication via said CMR system;

wherein said call origination signal comprises a mobile telephone number data field and an expandable electronic serial number (ESN) data field, thereby enabling the data message system to communicate data messages comprising selected data of varying sizes.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data message system is operative to determine that the expandable ESN data field contains an expanded set of selected data by recognizing a predetermined data sequence within said ESN data field.

3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the expandable ESN data field comprises an ESN data field and an ESN2 data field.

4. The apparatus of claim 3, wherein said predetermined data sequence corresponds to at least a portion of said ESN data field and said selected data corresponds to at least a portion of said ESN2 data field.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the data message system is operative to determine that the expandable ESN data field contains an expanded set of selected data by recognizing the status of a predetermined flag bit within said data message.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the expandable ESN data field comprises an ESN data field and an ESN2 data field.

7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein at least a portion of said selected data corresponds to at least a portion of said ESN data field and another portion of said selected data corresponds to at least a portion of said ESN2 data field.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said data collection system is operative to transmit said data message to a data processing system via a second communications link, said data processing system being operative to process said selected data of said data message.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said data message comprises said selected data and a predetermined identifying characteristic which uniquely identifies a certain one of said data reporting devices that transmits said data message to said MSC.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein said predetermined identifying characteristic corresponds to at least a portion of said mobile telephone number data field and said selected data corresponds to at least a portion of said expandable ESN data field.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said data reporting device generates a status signal representing the occurrence of an event in the environment of said corresponding remote data source, said data reporting device responsive to said status signal to transmit said data message to said MSC.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said data reporting device monitors said cellular network control channel to detect a stream of busy idle bits for a predetermined time period, each of said busy idle bits indicating whether a cellular source has initiated a cellular communication with said MSC via said cellular network control channel, determines the level of communications for said cellular network control channel based upon the status of said busy idle bits, and transmits said data message to said MSC when said level for said communications is below a certain minimum threshold.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said data reporting device conducts predetermined operations in response to receiving command signals from said MSC via said cellular network control channel.

14. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein a selected one of said data reporting devices transmits said data message to said MSC via said cellular network control channel in response to receiving one of said command signals via said cellular network control channel.

15. The apparatus of claim 13, wherein a selected one of said data reporting devices monitors said corresponding remote data source and obtains said selected data for a certain monitoring time period in response to receiving one of said command signals via said cellular network control channel.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein said data reporting devices includes a clock that outputs a clock signal upon expiration of a time interval, said data reporting device operative to transmit a certain data message containing said stored selected data to said MSC via said cellular network control channel in response to said clock signal.

17. In or for a cellular mobile radiotelephone system (CMR) having an array of cells for communicating with cellular mobile radiotelephones within coverage areas of said array of cells, a paging acknowledgment system for communicating paging messages and acknowledgments to confirm reception of said paging messages, said paging acknowledgment system comprising:

a communications system, responsive to said paging messages, for preparing data messages corresponding to said paging messages and transmitting said data messages via a radiopaging communications path;

a plurality of remote communications devices for receiving said data messages via said radiopaging communications path, each of said data messages containing an address that uniquely identifies one of said remote communications devices, each of said remote communications devices responsive to a selected one of said data messages containing its associated address for transmitting via a cellular network control channel of said CMR system an acknowledgment message that confirms reception of said selected data message, said acknowledgment message formatted to correspond to a call origination signal transmitted by one of the cellular mobile radiotelephones when said cellular mobile radiotelephone originates a cellular telephone call for communication via said CMR system;

at least one mobile switching center (MSC) for receiving said acknowledgment message via said cellular network control channel from each of said remote communications devices; and

said communications system further operative to receive said acknowledgment message from said MSC via a first communications link and to process said acknowledgment message to determine whether said acknowledgment message corresponds to a particular one of said data messages;

wherein said call origination signal comprises a mobile telephone number data field and an expandable electronic serial number (ESN) data field, thereby enabling the paging acknowledgment system to communicate acknowledgment messages comprising operation data of varying sizes.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the paging acknowledgment system is operative to determine that the expandable ESN data field contains an expanded set of operation data by recognizing a predetermined data sequence within said ESN data field.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the expandable ESN data field comprises an ESN data field and an ESN2 data field.

20. The apparatus of claim 19, wherein said predetermined data sequence corresponds to at least a portion of said ESN data field and said operation data corresponds to at least a portion of said ESN2 data field.

21. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the paging acknowledgment system is operative to determine that the expandable ESN data field contains an expanded set of operation data by recognizing a predetermined flag bit within the acknowledgment message.

22. The apparatus of claim 21, wherein the expandable ESN data field comprises an ESN data field and an ESN2 data field.

23. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein at least a portion of said operation data corresponds to at least a portion of said ESN data field and another portion of said operation data corresponds to at least a portion of said ESN2 data field.

24. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said communications system, responsive to a determination that said acknowledgment message corresponds to said particular data message, outputs a confirmation message to a paging party who initiated one of said paging messages corresponding to said particular data message, said confirmation message supplying verification of reception of said selected data message by said remote communications device.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein each of said data messages corresponds to one of said paging messages and comprises said address that uniquely identifies a selected one of said remote communications devices, an acknowledgment code that uniquely identifies said corresponding paging message, and paging data supplied by a paging party who initiated said corresponding paging message and intended for communication to a user associated with said selected remote communications device, and said acknowledgment message comprises said acknowledgment code and said operation data supplied by said user and intended for communication to said paging party.

26. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said acknowledgment code corresponds to at least a portion of said mobile telephone number data field and said operation data corresponds to at least a portion of said expandable ESN data field.

27. The apparatus of claim 25, wherein said communications system is further operative to assign said acknowledgment code to each of said data messages and to output said acknowledgment code to a memory storage device for storage as a stored acknowledgment code.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein said communications system determines whether said acknowledgment message corresponds to said particular data message by comparing said acknowledgment code contained in said acknowledgment message to said stored acknowledgment code associated with said particular data message.

29. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein each of said remote communications devices monitors said cellular network control channel to detect a stream of busy idle bits for a predetermined time period, each of said busy idle bits indicating whether a cellular source has initiated a cellular communication with said MSC via said cellular network control channel during a particular time interval, determines the level of communications for said cellular network control channel based upon the status of said busy idle bits, and transmits said acknowledgment message to said MSC when said level for said communications is below a certain minimum threshold.

30. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein said remote communications devices include a clock that outputs a clock signal upon expiration of a time interval, said remote communications devices responsive to said clock signal to transmit said acknowledgment message to said MSC.

31. In or for a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system for communicating with cellular mobile radiotelephones within coverage areas of said array of cells, a method for communicating data collected from a plurality of remote data sources, comprising the steps of:

monitoring the operation of each of said remote data sources to obtain selected data;

transmitting a data message containing said selected data via a cellular network control channel to a mobile switching center (MSC) of said CMR system, said data message formatted to correspond to a call origination signal transmitted by one of the cellular mobile radiotelephones when said cellular mobile radiotelephone originates a cellular telephone call to communicate via said CMR system, said call origination signal comprising a mobile telephone number data field and an expandable electronic serial number (ESN) data field, thereby enabling the transmission of data messages comprising selected data of varying sizes; and

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, said data message comprising said selected data and a predetermined identifying characteristic that uniquely identifies a cellular communications device that transmits said data message to said MSC, said predetermined identifying characteristic corresponding to at least a portion of said mobile telephone number data field and said selected data corresponding to at least a portion of said expandable ESN data field.

32. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of transmitting a predetermined data sequence within said expandable ESN data field to indicate that said expandable ESN data field contains an expanded set of selected data.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the expandable ESN data field comprises an ESN data field and an ESN2 data field, the method further comprising the steps of storing the predetermined data sequence within at least a portion of the ESN data field and storing the selected data within at least a portion of the ESN2 data field.

34. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of transmitting a predetermined flag bit within said data message to indicate that said expandable ESN data field contains an expanded set of selected data.

35. The method of claim 34, wherein the expandable ESN data field comprises an ESN data field, an ESN2 data field, and an ESN flag bit data field, the method further comprising the steps of storing a binary zero value or a binary one value within the ESN flag bit data field, storing at least a portion of the selected data within at least a portion of the ESN data field, and storing another portion of the selected data within at least a portion of the ESN2 data field.

36. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of transmitting said data message from said data collection system to a data processing system via a second communications link, said data processing system being operative to process said selected data of said data message.

37. The method of claim 31, wherein said monitoring step comprises:

monitoring said selected data for one of said remote data sources; and

recording said selected data during at least one predetermined time period.

38. The method of claim 37, wherein said monitoring step further comprises adding to said selected data a time tag indicating the relative time for the start of each of said predetermined time period.

39. The method of claim 31, further comprising the steps of:

monitoring said cellular network control channel for a predetermined time period to detect a stream of busy idle bits, each of said busy idle bits indicating whether a cellular source has initiated a cellular communication with said MSC via said cellular network control channel during a particular time interval;

calculating the level of communications for said cellular network control channel based upon the status of said busy idle bits; and

delaying said step of transmitting said data message to said MSC until said level of said communications is below a certain minimum threshold.

40. The method of claim 31, further comprising the step of conducting predetermined operations in response to receiving command signals from said MSC via said cellular network control channel.

41. The method of claim 40, further comprising the step of transmitting said data message to said MSC via said cellular network control channel in response to receiving one of said command signals.

42. The method of claim 40, further comprising the steps of:

outputting an instruction signal in response to receiving one of said command signals from said MSC via said cellular network control channel; and

monitoring said remote data source in response to said instruction signal to obtain said selected data for a certain monitoring time period.

43. The method of claim 31, wherein said step of transmitting said data message to said MSC comprises:

outputting a clock signal upon expiration of a time interval; and

transmitting one of said data messages to said MSC via said cellular network control channel in response to said clock signal.

44. The method of claim 43, further comprising the step of synchronizing said time interval of said clock signal to a certain time in response to receiving another one of said command signals from said MSC via said cellular network control channel.

45. In or for a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system for communicating with cellular mobile radiotelephones within coverage areas of said array of cells, a method for communicating acknowledgment messages to confirm reception of paging messages, each of said paging messages generated by a paging party for communication to a paged party, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving a particular one of said paging messages from said paging party;

preparing a data message in response to receiving said particular paging message, said data message corresponding to said particular paging message;

transmitting said data message via a radiopaging communications path;

preparing an acknowledgment message in response to receiving said data message via said radiopaging communications path, to confirm reception of said data message, said acknowledgment message formatted to correspond to a call origination signal transmitted by a cellular mobile radiotelephone when said cellular mobile radiotelephone originates a cellular telephone call to communicate via said CMR system, said acknowledgment message comprising an acknowledgment code, that uniquely identifies said corresponding paging message, and operation data supplied by said paged party and intended for communication to said paging party, said call origination signal comprising a mobile telephone number data field and an expandable electronic serial number (ESN) data field, thereby enabling the communication of acknowledgment messages comprising operation data of varying sizes, said acknowledgment code corresponding to at least a portion of said mobile telephone number data field and said operation data corresponding to at least a portion of said expandable ESN data field;

transmitting said acknowledgment message via a cellular network control channel of said CMR system to a mobile switching center (MSC); and

processing said acknowledgment message to determine whether one of said acknowledgment messages corresponds to said data message.

46. The method of claim 45, further comprising the step of transmitting a predetermined data sequence within said expandable ESN data field to indicate that said expandable ESN data field contains an expanded set of operation data.

47. The method of claim 46, wherein the expandable ESN data field comprises an ESN data field and an ESN2 data field, the method further comprising the steps of storing the predetermined data sequence within at least a portion of the ESN data field and storing the operation data within at least a portion of the ESN2 data field.

48. The method of claim 45, further comprising the step of transmitting a predetermined flag bit within the acknowledgment message to indicate that said expandable ESN data field contains an expanded set of operation data.

49. The method of claim 48, wherein the expandable ESN data field comprises an ESN data field, an ESN2 data field, and an ESN flag bit data field, the method further comprising the steps of storing a binary zero value or a binary one value within the ESN flag bit, storing at least a portion of the operation data within at least a portion of the ESN data field and storing another portion of the operation data within at least a portion of the ESN2 data field.

50. The method of claim 45, further comprising the step of outputting a confirmation message in response to determining that said acknowledgment message corresponds to said data message, said confirmation message supplying verification of reception of said data message.

51. The method of claim 50, wherein said data message comprises an address that uniquely identifies a selected remote communications unit for receiving said data message, said acknowledgment code, and paging data supplied by a paging party who initiated said corresponding paging message and intended for communication to said paged party.

52. The method of claim 45, wherein said step transmitting said acknowledgment message comprises:

monitoring said cellular network control channel for a predetermined time period to detect a stream of busy idle bits, each of said busy idle bits indicating whether a cellular source has initiated a cellular communication with said MSC via said cellular network control channel during a particular time interval;

calculating the level of communications for said cellular network control channel based upon the status of said busy idle bits; and

delaying said step of transmitting said acknowledgment message to said MSC until said level for said predetermined time period is below a certain minimum threshold.

53. The method of claim 45, wherein said step of transmitting said acknowledgment message comprises:

outputting a clock signal upon expiration of a time interval; and

transmitting said acknowledgment message in response to said clock signal.