Terrestrial repeater system for use with craft-mounted base stations

• US 7,715,853 B1
• Filed: 08/15/2005
• Issued: 05/11/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 04/01/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Cingular Wireless II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Hirvela, George O., Frerking, Melvin D., Shively, David G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Urban; Edward
• Assistant Examiner(s): Alam; Fayyaz
• Application Number:
  US11/204,337
• Time in Patent Office: 1,730 Days
• Field of Search: 455/7, 455/11.1, 455/12.1, 455/13.1, 455/15, 455/17, 370/315, 370/316, 370319-323
• US Class Current: 455/456.4
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 7/18506 Communications with or from aircraft, i.e. aeronautical mobile service

Abstract

A craft-mounted repeater system processes signal properties (e.g., signal strength) between terrestrial (ground-based) wireless networks and mobile users that are aboard crafts (e.g., airplanes and/or ships) equipped to allow the user'"'"'s mobile communications device to communicate at departure and at arrival of the craft. An onboard craft-mounted non-translating in-band only repeater system is a provided that increases the terrestrial mobile network signal levels inside the aircraft or ship to allow passengers to communicate with a terrestrial cellular communications system.

Claims

1. A system that facilitates mobile communications on a craft, comprising:

a communications component that facilitates communication of non-translated signals between a mobile terminal of a user aboard the craft and a terrestrial communications system, the communications component receives signals from the mobile terminal and facilitates non-translated communication of the signals between the mobile terminal and the terrestrial communications system while the craft is in at least one of an arrival mode or departure mode; and

a control component that at least one of enables or disables the communications component in response to the craft being in at least one of arrival mode or departure mode, the control component at least one of transmits a startup notification message when communications are being enabled or transmits a shutdown notification message when communications are being disabled.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the craft is an airplane and the non-translated signals carry voice communications during the arrival mode and the departure mode.

3. The system of claim 1, the control component interfaces to a craft control system and processes one or more craft control signals associated with the craft control system, the control component controls the communications component as a function of the one or more craft control signals.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the departure mode includes at least one of before or within a predetermined time span of liftoff.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the arrival mode includes at least one of within a predetermined time span of touchdown or thereafter.

6. A ship that employs the system of claim 1.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications component is controlled based upon a GPS (Global Positioning System) signal.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications component is controlled based upon one or more trigger signals received from a control system of the craft.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications component comprises a repeater that communicates the non-translated signals, the non-translated signals are voice signals.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications component operates in-band.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the communications component facilitates communications with a wireless network that comprises at least one of cellular, PCS (Personal Communications Service), Wi-Fi, WiMax, AWS (Advance Wireless Services), 700 MHz, or WCS (Wireless Communications Service).

12. A system that facilitates mobile communications on an aircraft, comprising:

a communications component that facilitates communication of non-translated voice signals between a mobile terminal of a user aboard the aircraft and a terrestrial communications system while the aircraft is in at least one of an arrival mode or departure mode, the communications component is in direct communication with the terrestrial communications system; and

a control component that interfaces to an aircraft control system and processes one or more aircraft control signals associated with the aircraft control system, the control component at least one of enables or disables the communications component based on the one or more aircraft control signals, and wherein the control component at least one of transmits a startup notification message when the communications component is being enabled or transmits a shutdown notification message when the communications component is being disabled.

13. The system of claim 12, wherein the communications component includes a repeater that directly communicates the non-translated voice signals.

14. The system of claim 12, wherein the communications component accommodates at least one of GSM, CDMA, UMTS, or TDMA communications.

15. The system of claim 12, wherein the communications component facilitates in-band only communication of the non-translated voice signals.

16. A system that facilitates mobile communications on a craft, comprising:

a craft-mounted non-translating repeater subsystem that facilitates in-band communication of non-translated voice signals between a mobile terminal of a user aboard the craft and a terrestrial communications system, the craft-mounted non-translating repeater subsystem increases signal levels of the terrestrial communications system inside the craft and facilitates the in-band communication of non-translated voice signals between the mobile terminal and the terrestrial communications system while the craft is in at least one of an arrival mode or departure mode; and

a control system that interfaces to a craft control system and processes one or more craft control signals associated with the craft control system, the control system at least one of enables or disables the craft-mounted non-translating repeater subsystem while the craft is in at least one of the arrival mode or departure mode, and wherein the control system at least one of transmits a startup notification message when the craft-mounted non-translating repeater subsystem is being enabled or transmits a shutdown notification message when the craft-mounted non-translating repeater subsystem is being disabled.

17. The system of claim 16, further comprising a picocell subsystem that facilitates craft communications between the craft-mounted repeater subsystem and the mobile terminal.

18. The system of claim 16, further comprising an antenna that breaches an outer surface of the craft and facilitates communications to the terrestrial communication system, and wherein the craft is an aircraft.

19. The system of claim 18, further comprising a dummy RF load that is switched into service to absorb unwanted RF signals that enter the aircraft via the antenna.

20. The system of claim 16, further comprising a rules engine that processes a rule based on at least one of data associated with the craft or a signal associated with the craft.

21. The system of claim 16, wherein the mobile terminal is a cellular telephone.

22. An application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) that comprises the system of claim 16.

23. A method of providing mobile communications on a craft, comprising:

receiving in-band communications of voice signals from a mobile communications device of a user aboard the craft;

processing the in-band voice signals as non-translating voice signals;

enabling direct communication of the non-translating voice signals to a terrestrial communications system while the craft is in at least one of an arrival mode or departure mode;

disabling direct communication of the non-translating voice signals to the terrestrial communications system while the craft is not in at least one of the arrival mode or departure mode;

transmitting a startup notification message when the direct communication of the non-translating voice signals is being enabled; and

transmitting a shutdown notification message when the direct communication of the non-translating voice signals is being disabled.

24. The method of claim 23, further comprising an act of switching on a base station when the craft reaches a predetermined location.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the location is one of a terminal for an aircraft or a dock for a ship.

26. The method of claim 23, further comprising an act of controlling a signal level of the voice signals.

27. The method of claim 23, further comprising an act of receiving terrestrial-generated voice signals through a craft surface and reradiating the terrestrial-generated voice signals throughout an interior of the craft.

28. The method of claim 23, further comprising an act of processing non-voice signals to configure a defined operations period, which non-voice signals include at least one of a GPS signal, an air speed indicator signal, an altitude signal, or a cabin-generated signal.

29. The method of claim 23, wherein the acts of enabling direct communications and disabling direct communications are based on predetermined location data.

30. The method of claim 23, further comprising an act of turning a craft-mounted repeater at least one of on or off, the craft-mounted repeater facilitates the act communicating the non-translated voice signals.

31. The method of claim 23, further comprising an act of turning a craft-mounted base station at least one of on or off, the craft-mounted base station facilitates the act receiving the in-band voice signals from the mobile communications device.

32. The method of claim 23, further comprising an act of switching in or switching out an RF load to absorb unwanted interference signals.

33. The method of claim 23, further comprising an act of receiving and processing terrestrial voice signals on the craft for reception by the mobile communications device.

34. A system that facilitates mobile communications on an electromagnetically shielded craft, comprising:

a craft-mounted communications component that facilitates communication between a mobile terminal of a user aboard the electromagnetically shielded craft and a terrestrial cellular communications system;

a non-translating repeater associated with the craft-mounted communications component that increases a signal level associated with the terrestrial cellular communications system inside of the electromagnetically shielded craft;

a first antenna located inside the electromagnetically shielded craft that facilitates communication between the mobile terminal and the craft-mounted communications component;

a second antenna that breaches an outer surface of the electromagnetically shielded craft and facilitates communication between the craft-mounted communications component and the terrestrial cellular communications component; and

a control component that monitors one or more triggers associated at least one of the electromagnetically shielded craft or usage of the craft-mounted communications component, the control component enables the non-translating repeater when the electromagnetically shielded craft is in at least one of an arrival mode or a departure mode and disables the non-translating repeater otherwise, and wherein the control component generates a startup notification message when the non-translating repeater is being enabled and generates a shutdown notification message when the non-translating repeater is being disabled.

35. The system of claim 34, the control component monitors usage of the craft-mounted communications component and inserts a user registration request in a queue when a number of available communication channels is exceeded.

36. The system of claim 34, the control system records at least one of data or signals associated with the craft-mounted communications component.