Virtual dynamic cellular infrastructure based on coordinate information

• US 6,839,542 B2
• Filed: 07/22/2002
• Issued: 01/04/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 07/22/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Google Technology Holdings LLC (Alphabet Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Motorola, Inc. (Motorola Solutions, Inc.)
• Inventors: Napoles, Adrian, Sibecas, Salvador, Eaton, Eric Thomas
• Primary Examiner(s): Corsaro, Nick
• Application Number:
  US10/200,846
• Publication Number:
  US 20040203342A1
• Time in Patent Office: 897 Days
• Field of Search: 455/11.1, 455/41.2, 455/456.2, 455/41.3, 455/445, 455/456.1, 455/418, 455/419, 455/420, 455/414.2, 370/338, 370/901, 370/908, 370/315, 370/320, 370/389, 370/397, 370/399
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/2606 Arrangements for base station coverage control, e.g. by using relays in tunnels
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/20 based on geographic position or location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/246 Connectivity information discovery
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/30 for proactive routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/04 adapted for relaying to or from another terminal or user

Abstract

A wireless communication system (100) having portable communication devices (102, 104, and 106) capable of establishing direct terminal (102)-to-terminal (104) communication (108 and 110) and indirect terminal (102)-to-terminal (104) communication (112, 118 and 114, 116) through another terminal (106) without having a fixed base station. A portable communication device (106) used as a terminal is capable functioning as a router for communication (112, 118 and 114, 116) between other portable devices (102 and 104) in the system. While functioning as a router, the portable device (106) is capable establishing and maintaining a separate direct communication (302 and 304) with another portable communication device (306). A wireless communication system(600) utilizing predetermined cell- and location-specific communication parameters (808) and non-repeating propagation patterns (1200) for portables communication devices in the system for establishing communications.

Claims

1. A method for a first portable communication device of a plurality of portable communication devices located at a first location in a wireless communication system to establish communication with a second portable communication device of the plurality of portable communication devices located at a second location, each of the plurality of portable communication devices having a positioning system receiver receiving current location information from a positioning system and having a transceiver for communication at a particular frequency band, the method comprising steps of:

transmitting a first message to the second portable communication device;

if the second portable communication device has received the first message, receiving a first acknowledgment from the second portable communication device;

otherwise, searching for a third portable communication device of the plurality of portable communication devices;

if the third portable communication device is unavailable, indicating the second portable communication device is unreachable;

otherwise, instructing the third portable communication device to function as a first router;

transmitting the first message to the third portable communication device;

instructing the third portable communication device re-transmit the first message as a first repeat message to the second portable communication device; and

,

determining if the second portable communication device has received the first repeat message.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of determining if the second portable communication device has received the first message further comprises a step of receiving an acknowledgement of the message reception from the second portable communication device.

3. The method according to claim 2, wherein the acknowledgement comprises a time of reception, a location of the second portable communication device, and a message path.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the step of transmitting the first message to the second portable communication device further comprises a step of using a first appropriate path if the second location is known by the first portable communication device.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the wireless communication system has a plurality of cells assigned geographically, each of the plurality of cells having a predetermined geographical area and a predetermined set of communication parameters.

6. The method according to claim 5, further comprising steps of:

determining a first cell in which the first portable electronic communication device based upon the first location wherein the first cell has a first geographical area and a first set of communication parameters; and

configuring a first transceiver of the first portable communication device compatible with the first set of communication parameters.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the step of transmitting the first message to the second portable communication device further comprises a step of transmitting the first message having an identification of the second portable communication device using the first set of communication parameters.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the step of searching for the third portable communication device is limited within the first cell.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein the step of determining if the second portable communication device has received the first repeat message further comprises steps of:

if the second portable communication device has received the first repeat message, receiving a second acknowledgement from the second portable communication device through the third portable communication device; and

,

otherwise, instructing the third portable communication device to search for a fourth portable communication device of the plurality of portable communication devices located in a second cell adjacent to the first cell.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the step of instructing the third portable communication device to search for the fourth portable communication device further comprises steps of:

determining if the fourth portable communication device is available;

if the fourth portable communication device is unavailable, indicating the second portable communication device is unreachable;

otherwise, configuring the fourth portable communication device as a second router;

instructing the fourth portable communication device re-transmit the first repeat message as a second repeat message to the second portable communication device; and

,

determining if the second portable communication device has received the second repeat message.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the step of determining if the second portable communication device has received the second repeat message further comprises steps of:

if the second portable communication device has received the second repeat message, receiving a third acknowledgement from the second portable communication device through the fourth portable communication device then through the third portable communication; and

,

otherwise, indicating the second portable communication device is unreachable.

12. A method for a first portable communication device of a plurality of portable communication devices located at a first location in a first cell of a plurality of cells to establish communication with a second portable communication device of the plurality of portable communication devices located at a second location in a second cell wherein each of the plurality of portable communication devices having a positioning system receiver receiving location information from a positioning system and having a transceiver for communication at a particular frequency band, wherein each of the plurality of cells is assigned to a predetermined geographical area, has a boundary defining the geographical area, has a central region round a center, a second region surrounding the center region and an outer region surrounding the second region within the boundary, and is divided into six sectors wherein each sector is adjacent to a different cell, the method comprising steps of:

acquiring a third portable communication device of the plurality of portable communication devices located within a first central region of the first cell;

instructing the third portable communication device to acquire a first set of up to three portable communication devices of the plurality of portable communication devices wherein each of the first set of up to three portable communication devices is located in a different sector of the first cell from each other;

acquiring a second set of up to three portable communication devices of the plurality of portable communication devices located in a first outer region of the first cell wherein each of the second set of up to three portable communication devices is located in a different sector of the first cell from each other and from the first set of up to tree portable communication devices;

transmitting a first message targeted for the second portable communication device along with an out-of-cell broadcast request to the third portable communication device and to the second set of up to three portable communication devices located in the first outer region;

instructing the third portable communication device to re-transmit the first message targeted for the second portable communication device along with the out-of-cell broadcast request to the first set of up to three portable communication devices located in the first outer region;

instructing the first and second sets of up to three portable communication devices upon reception of the out-of-cell broadcast request to re-transmit the first message to cells adjacent to each of the first and second sets of up to three portable communication devices; and

determining if the second portable communication device has received the first message.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the step of instructing the first and second sets of up to three portable communication devices to re-transmit the first message further comprises a step of using a predetermined non-repeating propagation pattern.

14. The method according to claim 12, wherein the step of instructing the first and second sets of up to three portable communication devices to re-transmit the first message further comprises using an appropriate propagation pattern if the location of the second portable communication device is known.

15. The method according to claim 12, wherein the step of determining if the second portable communication device has received the first message further comprises a step of receiving a first acknowledgement sent by the second portable device through one of portable communication devices of the first and second sets of portable communication devices if the second portable communication device has received the first message.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the first acknowledgement comprises a time of reception, a location of the second portable communication device, and a message path.

17. A method in a first portable communication device of a plurality of portable communication devices located at a first location in a first cell of a plurality of cells for establishing communication with a second portable communication device of the plurality of portable communication devices located at a second location in a second cell, the method comprising steps of:

determining whether a message originated by the first portable communication device exceeds a predetermined length;

if the message exceed the predetermined length, determining whether the second portable communication device is reachable before sending the message to the second portable communication device;

if the second portable communication device is determined to be reachable, transmitting the message using an appropriate propagation path by;

acquiring a third portable communication device of the plurality of portable communication devices located within a first central region of the first cell;

instructing the third portable communication device to acquire a first set of six portable communication devices of the plurality of portable communication devices wherein each of the six portable communication devices is located in a different sector of the outer region of the first cell from each other; and

instructing the first set of six portable communication devices to transmit the message to a second set of six portable communication device of the plurality of portable communication devices, each of the second set of six portable communication devices located in a central region of a different cell adjacent to the first cell;

indicating the message is leaving the first cell; and

determining if the second portable communication device has received the message.

18. The method according to claim 17, wherein the step of determining whether the second portable communication device is reachable further comprises a step of transmitting a locator message using a predetermined non-repeating propagation pattern.

19. The method according to claim 17, wherein the step of determining whether the second portable communication device is reachable further comprises a step of transmitting a locator message using a dynamic cell coordinate based propagation pattern referenced to the first cell.

20. The method according to claim 17, wherein:

each of the plurality of portable communication devices has a positioning system receiver receiving location information from a positioning system and has a transceiver for communication at a particular frequency band, and

each of the plurality of cells is assigned to a predetermined geographical area, has a boundary defining the geographical area, a central region around a center, a second region surrounding the center region, and an outer region surrounding the second region within the boundary, and is divided into six sectors wherein each sector is adjacent to a different cell.

21. The method according to claim 20, wherein the step of instructing the third portable communication device to acquire the first set of six portable communication device, further comprises steps of:

if less than six portable communication devices are available located in a different sector of the first cell, acquiring the available portable communication devices; and

instructing the available portable communication devices to modify propagation patterns to cover all cells adjacent to the first cell.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the step of instructing the available portable communication devices to modify propagation patterns further comprises step of restricting the propagation patterns.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the step of restricting the propagation patterns further comprises a step of specifying allowed sectors for the message to propagate.