Mobile communication device providing N-way communications through a plurality of communication services

• US 7,522,572 B2
• Filed: 05/18/2006
• Issued: 04/21/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2006
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies General IP PTE Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Broadcom Corporation (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Karaoguz, Jeyhan
• Primary Examiner(s): Le; Danh C
• Application Number:
  US11/419,149
• Publication Number:
  US 20070195743A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,069 Days
• Field of Search: 370/338, 370/328, 370/310, 455/550.1, 455/552.1
• US Class Current: 370/338
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/08 Protocols for interworking; Protocol conversion
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/125 Details of gateway equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/126 Interworking of session control protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/00 Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/06 adapted for operation in multiple networks or having at least two operational modes, e.g. multi-mode terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/00 Interfaces specially adapted for wireless communication networks

Abstract

A system and method, in a mobile communication device, providing N-way communication through a plurality of communication services. Various aspects of the present invention provide a mobile communication device comprising a user interface and at least one communication interface module adapted to perform a first communication with a first communication device through a first communication service and perform a second communication with a second communication device through a second communication service. At least one module may be adapted to receive outgoing information from the user interface and to receive first information from the first communication device through the first communication service. The at least one module may also combine at least the received outgoing information and the received first information and transmit such combined information to the second communication device through the second communication service.

Claims

1. A mobile communication device comprising:

at least one user interface module adapted to interface between the mobile communication device and a user of the mobile communication device;

at least one communication interface module adapted to;

perform a first communication with a first communication device through a first communication service; and

perform a second communication with a second communication device through a second communication service simultaneously with the first communication; and

at least one module adapted to;

receive outgoing information through the at least one user interface module;

receive, through the at least one communication interface module, first information transmitted from the first communication device through the first communication service;

combine at least the received outgoing information and the received first information; and

transmit, through the at least one communication interface module, at least the combined information to the second communication device through the second communication service.

2. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the received outgoing information and the received first information each comprise audio information; and

the at least one module is adapted to combine at least the received outgoing information and the received first information by, at least in part, combining respective non-encoded audio signals corresponding to audio information of the received outgoing information and audio information of the received first information.

3. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the at least one module is adapted to

decode the received first information;

and

combine at least the received outgoing information and the received first information by, at least in part, combining a signal associated with the decoded received first information and a signal associated with the received outgoing information.

4. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one module comprises an analog signal combiner; and

the at least one module is adapted to combine at least the received outgoing information and the received first information by, at least in part, utilizing the analog signal combiner to combine a first analog signal corresponding to the received outgoing information and a second analog signal corresponding to the received first information.

5. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one module comprises a digital signal combiner; and

the at least one module is adapted to combine at least the received outgoing information and the received first information by, at least in part, utilizing the digital signal combiner to combine a first digital signal corresponding to the received outgoing information and a second digital signal corresponding to the received first information.

6. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the received outgoing information and the received first information each comprise audio information; and

the at least one module is adapted to combine at least the received outgoing information and the received first information by, at least in part, combining respective encoded audio signals corresponding to audio information of the received outgoing information and audio information of the received first information.

7. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one module comprises a transcoder adapted to transcode the first received information from a first type of encoding to a particular type of encoding; and

the at least one module is adapted to combine at least the received outgoing information and the received first information by, at least in part, combining the received outgoing information with the first received information encoded with the particular type of encoding.

8. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one module comprises an encoder adapted to encode the received outgoing information with a particular type of encoding;

the at least one module comprises a transcoder adapted to transcode the first received information from a first type of encoding to the particular type of encoding; and

the at least one module is adapted to combine at least the received outgoing information and the received first information by, at least in part, combining the received outgoing information encoded with the particular type of encoding with the first received information encoded with the particular type of encoding.

9. The mobile communication device of claim 8, wherein:

the transcoder is adapted to transcode between a first plurality of selectable types of encoding and a second plurality of selectable types of encoding; and

the at least one module is further adapted to;

select the first type of encoding from the first plurality of selectable types of encoding and select the particular type of encoding from the second plurality of selectable types of encoding; and

control the transcoder to transcode the received first information from the first type of encoding to the particular type of encoding.

10. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the received outgoing information and the received first information each comprise audio information; and

the at least one module is adapted to combine at least the received outgoing information and the received first information by, at least in part, combining a packet stream associated with the received outgoing information and a packet stream associated with the received first information.

11. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein:

the at least one module comprises a data packet multiplexer; and

the at least one module is adapted to combine at least the received outgoing information and the received first information by multiplexing a first data packet stream associated with the received first information and a second data packet stream associated with the received outgoing information.

12. The mobile communication device of claim 11, wherein audio information in the first data packet stream is encoded with a first type of encoding, and audio information in the second data packet stream is encoded with a second type of encoding different from the first type of encoding.

13. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the first communication service and the second communication service are associated with different respective cellular telephone communication services.

14. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the first communication service is associated with a cellular telephone communication service, and the second communication service is associated with a computer network communication service.

15. The mobile communication device of claim 1, wherein the first communication service is associated with communicating voice conversation information over a cellular telephone network, and the second communication service is associated with communicating VoIP over a computer network.

16. In a mobile communication device (“

MCD”

), a method for providing N-way communication through a plurality of communication services, the method comprising;

establishing a first communication link between the MCD and a first communication service;

establishing a second communication link between the MCD and a second communication service while the first communication link is established;

receiving outgoing information through a user interface;

receiving, from a first communication device, first information communicated through the first communication service;

combining at least the received outgoing information and the received first information; and

transmitting the combined information to a second communication device through the second communication service.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the received outgoing information and the received first information each comprise audio information; and

combining at least the received outgoing information and the received first information comprises combining respective non-encoded audio signals corresponding to audio information of the received outgoing information and audio information of the received first information.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising decoding the received first information, and wherein combining at least the received outgoing information and the received first information comprises combining a signal associated with the decoded received first information and a signal associated with the received outgoing information.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein combining at least the received outgoing information and the received first information comprises combining a first analog signal corresponding to the received outgoing information and a second analog signal corresponding to the received first information.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein combining at least the received outgoing information and the received first information comprises combining a first digital signal corresponding to the received outgoing information and a second digital signal corresponding to the received first information.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein combining at least the received outgoing information and the received first information comprises combining respective encoded audio signals corresponding to audio information of the received outgoing information and audio information of the received first information.

22. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

encoding a first audio signal corresponding to audio information of the received outgoing information; and

encoding a second audio signal corresponding to audio information of the received first information.

23. The method of claim 16, further comprising transcoding the first received information from a first type of encoding to a particular type of encoding, and wherein combining at least the received outgoing information and the received first information comprises combining the received outgoing information with the first received information encoded with the particular type of encoding.

24. The method of claim 16, further comprising:

encoding the received outgoing information with a particular type of encoding; and

transcoding the first received information from a first type of encoding to the particular type of encoding; and

wherein combining at least the received outgoing information and the received first information comprises combining the received outgoing information encoded with the particular type of encoding with the received first information encoded with the particular type of encoding.

25. The method of claim 24, further comprising:

selecting the first type of encoding from a plurality of selectable types of encoding;

selecting the particular type of encoding from a plurality of selectable types of encoding; and

controlling transcoding of the received first information from the first type of encoding to the particular type of encoding.

26. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the received outgoing information and the received first information each comprise audio information; and

combining at least the received outgoing information and the received first information comprises combining a packet stream associated with the received outgoing information and a packet stream associated with the received first information.

27. The method of claim 16, wherein combining at least the received outgoing information and the received first information comprises multiplexing a first data packet stream associated with the received first information and a second data packet stream associated with the received outgoing information.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein audio information in the first data packet stream is encoded with a first type of encoding, and audio information in the second data packet stream is encoded with a second type of encoding different from the first type of encoding.

29. The method of claim 16, wherein the first communication service and the second communication service are associated with different respective cellular telephone communication services.

30. The method of claim 16, wherein the first communication service is associated with a cellular telephone communication service, and the second communication service is associated with a computer network communication service.

31. The method of claim 16, wherein the first communication service is associated with communicating voice conversation information over a cellular telephone network, and the second communication service is associated with communicating VoIP over a computer network.