Two-way pager for providing communication of alphanumeric messages over the GSM/GPRS network
First Claim
1. A two-way pager for communicating over a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM/GPRS) network, the pager comprising:
- a front-end component for transmitting GSM/GPRS responses to and receiving GSM/GPRS messages from the GSM/GPRS network;
an antenna electrically coupled to the front-end component for radiating radio frequency waves and for receiving radio frequency waves;
a communications driver component which converts a GSM/GPRS message received by the front-end component which is formatted in accordance with a GSM/GPRS standard into a pager message, a data processing component which receives the pager message from and outputs pager answers to the communications driver component, the data processing component comprising a processor which processes the pager message and generates a pager response to the pager message, the pager response being converted by the communications driver into a GSM/GPRS response formatted in accordance with the GSM/GPRS standard and output to the front-end component for transmission overt he GSM/GPRS network, the data processing component comprising a memory device and other data to be used by the processor which stores code to be executed by the processor, and a user interface component which enables a user of the pager to interface with the data processing component, the user interface comprising an input device which enables a user to enter input data into the user interface component, the user interface component comprising a display which enables information received by the user interface component from the data processing component to be displayed to the user, the user interface component comprising an alert device which provides an alert indication when a GSM/GPRS message is received by the pager;
wherein each GSM/GPRS message received by the pager includes one or more steering codes, said steering code of the message indicates that a reply to the message must include a response from the user, and said data processing component is further operable to recognize the steering code and to force the reply to the message to include the response identified by the steering code.
1 Assignment
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention provides a communication system for transmitting messages from one or more dispatcher stations to and from one or more stand-alone, two-way pagers via a relatively low bit rate radio frequency communication channel, namely, the short message service (SMS) of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM/GPRS) cellular telephone network. The paging system of the present invention utilizes a communications protocol which allows a dispatcher station and a pager of the paging system to communicate over the GSM/GPRS network in a predetermined manner. When the dispatcher station sends a message to a pager of the present invention, the message may contain steering codes which inform the pager of the manner in which the message is to be treated. For example, if the message is time-critical, the pager is notified by the steering code that a response to the message must be transmitted within a predetermined time interval. If the pager does not transmit a response within the predetermined time interval, the pager is not allowed to respond to the message. The steering codes may also indicate whether or not the user of the pager must respond with a preprogrammed answer. If the steering code indicates that the user must respond with a preprogrammed answer which has been previously stored in the memory of the pager, the only response the user is allowed to transmit is one of the preprogrammed answers. Otherwise, the user may transmit a different type of response, such as, for example, a message which the user types in using the alphanumeric keypad of the pager.
-
Citations
41 Claims
-
1. A two-way pager for communicating over a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM/GPRS) network, the pager comprising:
-
a front-end component for transmitting GSM/GPRS responses to and receiving GSM/GPRS messages from the GSM/GPRS network;
an antenna electrically coupled to the front-end component for radiating radio frequency waves and for receiving radio frequency waves;
a communications driver component which converts a GSM/GPRS message received by the front-end component which is formatted in accordance with a GSM/GPRS standard into a pager message, a data processing component which receives the pager message from and outputs pager answers to the communications driver component, the data processing component comprising a processor which processes the pager message and generates a pager response to the pager message, the pager response being converted by the communications driver into a GSM/GPRS response formatted in accordance with the GSM/GPRS standard and output to the front-end component for transmission overt he GSM/GPRS network, the data processing component comprising a memory device and other data to be used by the processor which stores code to be executed by the processor, and a user interface component which enables a user of the pager to interface with the data processing component, the user interface comprising an input device which enables a user to enter input data into the user interface component, the user interface component comprising a display which enables information received by the user interface component from the data processing component to be displayed to the user, the user interface component comprising an alert device which provides an alert indication when a GSM/GPRS message is received by the pager;
wherein each GSM/GPRS message received by the pager includes one or more steering codes, said steering code of the message indicates that a reply to the message must include a response from the user, and said data processing component is further operable to recognize the steering code and to force the reply to the message to include the response identified by the steering code. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
-
-
9. A method for utilizing a two-way pager to communicate over the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM/GPRS) network, the method comprising the steps of:
-
transmitting GSM/GPRS responses from the pager to the GSM/GPRS network;
receiving GSM/GPRS messages in the pager transmitted from the GSM/GPRS network;
converting the GSM/GPRS messages which are formatted in accordance with a GSM/GPRS standard into pager messages; and
processing the pager messages and generating pager responses to the pager messages, the pager responses being converted by the processor into GSM/GPRS responses formatted in accordance with the GSM/GPRS standard and transmitted by the pager over the GSM/GPRS network;
wherein each GSM/GPRS message received by the pager includes one or more steering codes, said steering code of the message indicates that a reply to the message must include a response from the user, and said processor is further operable to recognize the steering code and to force the reply to the message to include the response identified by the steering code. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
-
-
15. A two-way pager for communicating over a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM/GPRS) network, the pager comprising.
means for receiving and transmitting signals over the GSM/GPRS network, the signals transmitted corresponding to GSM/GPRS responses being transmitted by the pager over the GSM/GPRS network, the signals received corresponding to GSM/GPRS messages being received by the pager from the GSM/GPRS network, the GSM/GPRS messages and GSM/GPRS responses being formatted in accordance with a GSM/GPRS standard, means for converting each GSM/GPRS messages from the GSM/GPRS standard format into a respective pager message; -
means for processing the pager messages to generate pager responses, the processing means converting each generated pager response into a GSM/GPRS response formatted in accordance with the GSM/GPRS standard, means for storing code to be executed by the processing means and other data to be used by the processing means, and means for providing a user interface to enable a user to interface with the pager, the interface means comprising an input means for receiving input entered by the user, the interface means comprising a display which enables information to be displayed to the user, the interface means comprising an alert means for providing an alert indication to the user, said alert indication indicating when a GSM/GPRS message is received by the pager;
wherein each GSM/GPRS message received by the pager includes one or more steering codes, said steering code of the message indicates that a reply to the message must include a response from the user, and said processor means are further operable to recognize the steering code and to force the reply to the message to include the response identified by the steering code. - View Dependent Claims (16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
-
22. A two-way pager for communicating over a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network using the Short Message Service (SMS) thereof, said pager comprising:
-
an antenna for receiving signals representative of a plurality of messages from the SMS of a GSM network and for transmitting signals representative of a respective plurality of replies to the SMS of the GSM network;
circuitry, electrically connected to and operable with said antenna, for converting received signals into message data representative of a message of the plurality of messages and for converting reply data representative of the respective plurality of replies to the plurality of messages into signals for transmission, wherein the message data representative of a message of the plurality of messages includes output information intended for a user and a steering code;
an input device for receiving input from a user;
a display for visually presenting the output information to a user; and
,a data processing unit, communicatively connected to and operable with said circuitry, for processing received message data and for forming;
reply data, said data processing unit being communicatively connected to and operable with said input device for receiving user input therefrom and for processing user input, said data processing unit being communicatively connected to and operable with said display for causing the display of the output information on said display;
wherein the steering code of the message indicates that a reply to the message must include a response from the user, and said data processing unit is further operable to recognize the steering code and to force the reply to the message to include the response identified by the steering code. - View Dependent Claims (23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32)
-
-
33. A method of operating a two-way pager to communicate over a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network using the Short Message Service (SMS) thereof, said method comprising the steps of:
-
receiving signals representative of a message from the SMS of a GSM network;
converting the received signals representative of the message into message data, the message data of the message including output information;
intended for a user and a steering code indicating that a reply to the message must include a response from the user;
displaying the output information to the user;
forcing the reply to the message;
receiving user input in response to the message;
forming reply data representative of a reply to the message based on the received user input;
converting the formed reply data into signals representative of a reply to the message for transmission; and
,transmitting the signals representative of the reply to the SMS of the GSM network, wherein the reply includes a response identified by the steering code. - View Dependent Claims (34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41)
-
Specification