Reliable continuously operating fixed cellular terminal

• US 6,349,199 B1
• Filed: 02/12/1998
• Issued: 02/19/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 02/12/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Original Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Armantrout, Jeffrey A.
• Primary Examiner(s): CONTEE, JOY KIMBERLY
• Application Number:
  US09/022,511
• Time in Patent Office: 1,468 Days
• Field of Search: 455/517, 455/510, 455/433, 455/435, 455/503, 455/557, 455/465, 455/423, 455/424, 455/425, 455/67.1, 455/67.7, 455/113, 455/550, 455/575, 379/27, 379/32, 379/1
• US Class Current: 455/67.11
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/14 WLL [Wireless Local Loop]; RLL [Radio Local Loop]

Abstract

A cellular terminal adapted to connect a telephone communication device to a cellular telephone network, which terminal includes a transmitter periodically sending a registration signal to the network and a receiver receiving acknowledgement signals sent by the cellular telephone network in response to the registration signals. A counter records the number of consecutive acknowledgement signals not timely received by the cellular terminal (incrementally increasing each time a signal is not timely received, and resetting to zero when a signal is received), with corrective action being initiated to reestablish proper connection between the cellular terminal and the cellular telephone network when the number recorded by the counter exceeds a selected threshold number. Continuous verified interaction of the cellular terminal and cellular telephone network is provided by (1) sending periodic registration messages from the cellular terminal to the cellular telephone network, (2) sending acknowledgement signals from the network to the terminal in response to registration messages, (3) counting the number of consecutive acknowledgement signals not timely received by the cellular terminal, and (4) initiating correction of a failure of interaction of the cellular terminal and cellular telephone network when the counted number of consecutive acknowledgement signals not timely received reaches a selected threshold number. Corrective action may be initiated by signalling an error condition to a user of the fixed cellular terminal and/or by generating an instruction signal causing the fixed cellular terminal to reset.

Claims

1. A cellular terminal adapted to wirelessly connect a telephone communication device to a cellular telephone network, said terminal comprising:

a transmitter periodically sending a signal to the network;

a receiver receiving acknowledgement signals sent by the cellular telephone network in response to the signals;

a counter for recording the number of consecutive acknowledgement signals not timely received by the cellular terminal; and

means for generating an instruction signal causing the cellular terminal to be reset when the number recorded by the counter exceeds a selected number by causing the terminal to carry out operations of a power on reset of the terminal.

2. The cellular terminal of claim 1 wherein said generating means further generates a signal indicating an error condition to a user of the cellular terminal.

3. The cellular terminal of claim 1 further comprising means for changing said selected number.

10. The cellular terminal of claim 1, wherein said means for generating an instruction signal causing the cellular terminal to be reset when the number recorded by the counter exceeds a selected number causes power to said terminal to be turned off and then on.

13. The cellular terminal of claim 1, wherein an interval between the transmitter sending the signal to the network is established by the network, the cellular terminal further comprising means for establishing the selected number based on the interval between the transmitter sending the signal to the network.

4. A fixed cellular terminal adapted to continuously connect a non-mobile telephone communication device to a cellular telephone network, said terminal comprising:

a transmitter periodically sending a registration signal to the network in accordance with instructions received when initially connecting to the network;

a receiver receiving acknowledgement signals sent by the network in response to the registration signals;

means for recording whether an acknowledgement signal is received at the cellular terminal in response to a sent registration signal;

a counter incrementally increased when the recording means records that an acknowledgement signal was not received, said counter being reset to zero when said recording means records that an acknowledgement signal is received; and

means for generating an instruction signal causing the cellular terminal to be reset when the counter exceeds a threshold by causing the terminal to carry out operations of a power on reset of the terminal.

5. The fixed cellular terminal of claim 4 further comprising means for configuring said threshold.

6. The fixed cellular terminal of claim 4 wherein said means for generating an instruction signal causing the cellular terminal to be reset when the counter exceeds a threshold further generates a signal indicating an error condition to a user of a telephone communication device connected to the fixed cellular terminal.

11. The fixed cellular terminal of claim 4, wherein said means for generating an instruction signal causing the cellular terminal to be reset when the number recorded by the counter exceeds a threshold causes power to said terminal to be turned off and then on.

14. The fixed cellular terminal of claim 4, wherein an interval between the transmitter periodically sending a registration signal to the network is established by the instructions received when initially connecting to the network, the fixed cellular terminal further comprising means for establishing the threshold based on the interval between the transmitter sending the registration signal to the network.

7. A method for providing continuous verified interaction of a cellular terminal with a cellular telephone network, comprising the steps of:

sending periodic registration messages from the cellular terminal to the cellular telephone network;

sending acknowledgement signals from the network to the terminal in response to registration messages;

counting the number of consecutive acknowledgement signals not timely received by the cellular terminal in response to said registration messages sent by the cellular terminal; and

resetting the cellular terminal to reestablish proper interaction of the cellular terminal and the cellular telephone network when the counted number of consecutive acknowledgement signals not timely received by the terminal in response to said registration messages reaches a selected number by causing the terminal to carry out operations of a power on reset of the terminal.

9. The method of claim 7, further comprising sending a signal to the user indicating a failure of interaction of the cellular terminal and the cellular telephone network when the counted number of consecutive acknowledgement signals not timely received by the terminal in response to said registration messages reaches a selected number.

12. The method of claim 7, wherein said resetting the cellular terminal to reestablish proper interaction of the cellular terminal and the cellular telephone network when the counted number of consecutive acknowledgement signals not timely received by the terminal in response to said registration messages reaches a selected number comprises turning power to said terminal off and then on.

8. A method for providing continuous verified interaction of a cellular terminal with a cellular telephone network, comprising the steps of:

sending periodic registration messages from the cellular terminal to the cellular telephone network;

fixing the time interval between periodic registration messages in response to instructions received from the cellular network when first establishing interaction between the cellular terminal and the cellular telephone network;

sending acknowledgement signals from the network to the terminal in response to registration messages;

counting the number of consecutive acknowledgement signals not timely received by the cellular terminal in response to said registration messages sent by the cellular terminal; and

resetting the cellular terminal to reestablish proper interaction of the cellular terminal and the cellular telephone network when the counted number of consecutive acknowledgement signals not timely received by the terminal in response to said registration messages reaches a selected number.

15. The method of claim 8, further comprising establishing the selected number based on the time interval between the periodic registration messages.