Methods and apparatus for supporting group communications
First Claim
1. A method of operating a group communications device, the method comprising:
- operating said group communications device to operate in an idle mode of operation during a first period of time, the step of operating in an idle mode of operation including;
transmitting a device resource request in response to a received user resource request; and
operating said group communications device in a suppress mode of operation during a second period of time, the step of operating said group communications device in said suppress mode of operation including;
suppressing a received user resource request.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Group communications methods and apparatus are described. In particular, methods for granting a mobile device access to a communications resource, e.g., the right to transmit data, associated with a group are described. User requests for the communications resource are suppressed by the corresponding mobile device, for periods during which the communications resource has been granted to another mobile device. A mobile device may store a suppressed user request so that a resource request signal may be transmitted after the communications resource has been released by the mobile device that was previously granted the resource. In this manner requests that cannot be granted are not transmitted, increasing communications efficiency as compared to systems where requests are not suppressed at the mobile devices. A priority scheme is used in some embodiments to determine whether or not a request should be suppressed while another device has been granted the communications resource.
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Citations
28 Claims
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1. A method of operating a group communications device, the method comprising:
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operating said group communications device to operate in an idle mode of operation during a first period of time, the step of operating in an idle mode of operation including;
transmitting a device resource request in response to a received user resource request; and
operating said group communications device in a suppress mode of operation during a second period of time, the step of operating said group communications device in said suppress mode of operation including;
suppressing a received user resource request. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
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21. A communications device suitable for use in performing a group communications operation, said communications device including:
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a receiver for receiving communication signals;
a transmitter for transmitting communications signals;
an input device for receiving user resource requests; and
a control means for controlling the operation of said communications device in a plurality of modes of operation including a first mode of operation wherein the control means causes a device resource request to be transmitted in response to a received user resource request and a second mode of operation wherein the control means suppresses received user resource requests. - View Dependent Claims (22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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Specification