Method of providing distributed operational control of a radio communication system

• US 6,295,491 B1
• Filed: 03/24/1995
• Issued: 09/25/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/1995
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Ayoub, Ramy P., Maher, John William, Fumarolo, Arthur L.
• Primary Examiner(s): LOUIS JACQUES, JACQUES H
• Application Number:
  US08/427,514
• Time in Patent Office: 2,377 Days
• Field of Search: 395/500, 395/200.09, 395/200.08, 395/600, 395/615, 395/800, 395/182.04, 395/200.1, 395/182.02, 395/601, 395/612, 395/620, 395/183.19, 395/613, 395/611, 395/614, 395/616, 395/200.18, 395/200.2, 395/200.11, 395/200.02, 455/33.1, 455/54.1, 455/5.1, 455/53.1, 455/56.1, 455/33.2, 455/88, 455/67.1, 379/58-63, 370/310, 370/327, 370/332, 370/349, 370/360, 370/428, 370/464, 340/825.03
• US Class Current: 701/33
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: Y10S 707/99945 Object-oriented database structure processing

Abstract

A radio communication system (100) has distributed operational control. Multiple autonomously operable computer workstations (120) are linked to a radio communication database (175) via a computer network (130). A local database (211), corresponding to a view of the radio communication database (175), is stored on each computer system (120). A radio system console operator interface (206) is configured according to information in the local database (211), and is operated to perform operational control of a portion of the radio communication system (100). Data consistency of the information stored in the local database (211) is automatically maintained.

Claims

1. In a radio communication system, a method of providing distributed operational control comprising the steps of:

linking a plurality of autonomously operable computer systems to a radio communication database via a computer network;

at a particular computer system selected from the plurality of autonomously operable computer systems;

storing data in a local database corresponding to a view of the radio communication database;

storing, in a radio system control module, a radio system personality profile corresponding to the local database;

automatically maintaining consistency between the local database and the radio communication database;

retrieving version information for the radio system personality profile stored in the radio system control module;

updating the radio system personality profile in the radio system control module according to the local database when the version information retrieved for the radio system personality profile is not consistent with information stored on the local database;

configuring a radio system console operator interface according to the local database; and

operating the radio system console operator interface to perform operational control of a portion of the radio communication system through the radio system control module.

2. In a radio communication system, a method of providing distributed operational control comprising the steps of:

linking a plurality of autonomously operable computer systems to a radio communication database via a computer network;

at a particular computer system selected from the plurality of autonomously operable computer systems;

storing data in a local database corresponding to a view of the radio communication database;

automatically maintaining consistency between the local database and the radio communication database, including the steps of;

processing, by the particular computer system, a validate configuration request message;

retrieving version information from the local database in response to the validate configuration request message; and

storing an updated view of the radio communication database in the local database when the version information is not consistent with information stored on the radio communication database;

configuring a radio system console operator interface according to the local database; and

operating the radio system console operator interface to perform operational control of a portion of the radio communication system.

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising the step of soliciting operator permission before storing the updated view of the radio communication database.

4. The method of claim 2, further comprising the steps of:

monitoring to detect a triggering event that potentially affects synchronization between the local database and the radio communication database; and

issuing the validate configuration request message upon occurrence of the triggering event.

5. In a radio communication system having a plurality of autonomously operable computer systems linked to a radio communication database via a computer network, a method of providing distributed operational control at a particular computer system selected from the plurality of autonomously operable computer systems, the method comprising the steps of:

at the particular computer system;

storing a local database having data corresponding to a view of the radio communication database;

storing a radio system personality profile, corresponding to the local database, in a radio system control module for the radio communication system;

retrieving information for the radio system personality profile stored in the radio system control module;

updating the radio system personality profile in the radio system control module according to the local database when the information retrieved for the radio system personality profile is not consistent with information stored on the local database;

configuring a radio system console operator interface according to the local database; and

operating the radio system console operator interface to perform operational control of at least a portion of the radio communication system through the radio system control module.

6. A method of providing distributed operational control a radio communication system, the method comprising the steps of:

providing a distributed control system having a plurality of autonomously operable computer systems networked to a radio communication database;

storing, by a particular computer system, data in a local database corresponding to a view of the radio communication database;

storing, in a radio system control module, a radio system personality profile corresponding to the local database;

configuring a radio system console operator interface on the particular computer system according to the local database;

operating the radio system console operator interface to perform operational control of at least a portion of the radio communication system through the radio system control module;

processing, by the particular computer system, a validate configuration request;

retrieving version information from the local database in response to the validate configuration request; and

storing an updated view of the radio communication database in the local database when the version information is not consistent with information stored on the radio communication database.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

retrieving version information for the radio system personality profile stored in the radio system control module; and

updating the radio system personality profile in the radio system control module according to the local database when the version information for the radio system personality profile is not consistent with information stored on the local database.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of providing a distributed control system comprises the steps of:

organizing the radio communication database on at least one server computer selected from the plurality of autonomously operable computer systems; and

operating a database server on the at least one server computer that accesses the radio communication database.

9. The method of claim 6, further comprising the steps of:

monitoring to detect a triggering event that potentially affects synchronization between the local database and the radio communication database; and

issuing the validate configuration request upon occurrence of the triggering event.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of storing, in a radio system control module, a radio system personality, comprises the step of programming control data within the radio system control module.

11. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of storing, by a particular computer system, a local database, comprises the steps:

retrieving data from at least a part of the radio communication database; and

forming the local database at least in part with data retrieved.