Guaranteed talk permit with forced audio in a dispatch communication network

• US 7,769,404 B1
• Filed: 05/02/2007
• Issued: 08/03/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2007
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Nextel Communications (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Nextel Communications (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Choksi, Ojas, Manroa, Arun
• Primary Examiner(s): Dao; Minh D
• Application Number:
  US11/743,384
• Time in Patent Office: 1,189 Days
• Field of Search: 455/518, 455/418, 455/552.1, 455/500, 455/507, 455/519, 455/520, 370/296, 370/352
• US Class Current: 455/518
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/4061 Push-to services, e.g. push-to-talk or push-to-video
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/45 for Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-to-Talk over cellular [PoC] services

Abstract

Systems and methods for supporting dispatch communications with guaranteed talk permit and forced audio are provided. The systems and methods can include servers and communication units that operate according to the Push-to-Talk over Cellular (PoC) standard. A user of a communication unit can select a guaranteed talk permit with forced audio answer mode, and provide an indication of the answer mode to a PoC server. When the PoC server does not support a guaranteed talk permit with forced audio answer mode, this indication can be for a manual answer mode. Alternatively, the indication can be for a guaranteed talk permit with forced audio answer mode. In this case, a terminating communication unit is contacted during the dispatch communication setup even when the communication setup request is set to manual answer override.

Claims

1. A method for supporting a dispatch communications, the method comprising the acts of:

receiving, by a terminating communication unit, a selection of a guaranteed talk permit with a forced audio answering mode for dispatch communications;

providing a dispatch communication answering mode to a dispatch server;

receiving a dispatch communication request; and

automatically responding, by the terminating communication unit, to the dispatch communication request.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the dispatch communication answering mode provided to the dispatch server is a manual answer answering mode.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the dispatch communication answering mode provided to the dispatch server is the guaranteed talk permit with forced audio answering mode.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein when the dispatch communication request indicates a manual answer override mode, the dispatch server forwards the dispatch communication request to the terminating communication unit.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the dispatch call request is a session initiation protocol (SIP) INVITE message.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the response by the terminating communication unit is a SIP 200 OK message.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising the act of:

receiving audio by the terminating communication unit after automatically responding to the dispatch communication request.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising the act of:

outputting a notification that the dispatch communication is successfully setup.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising the acts of:

receiving, by an originating communication unit via one or more dispatch servers, the automatically generated response from the terminating communication unit;

outputting, by the originating communication unit, an indication that a call setup procedure is successful; and

receiving a floor grant message.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein dispatch communications are conducted in accordance with the Push-to-Talk over Cellular (PoC) standard.

11. A method for supporting a dispatch communications, the method comprising the acts of:

receiving, by a terminating dispatch server, an answering mode selection of guaranteed talk permit with forced audio for a terminating communication unit;

receiving a dispatch communication request; and

providing the dispatch communication request to the terminating communication unit.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the terminating dispatch server provides the dispatch communication request to the terminating communication unit independent of an answering mode indicated in the received dispatch communication request.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the dispatch communication request indicates a manual answer override mode.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the dispatch call request is a session initiation protocol (SIP) INVITE message.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the response by the terminating communication unit is a SIP 200 OK message.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising the acts of:

receiving a response to the dispatch communication request from the terminating communication unit; and

receiving audio by the terminating communication unit after receiving the response from the terminating communication unit.

17. The method of claim 11, further comprising the act of:

outputting, by the terminating communication unit, a notification that the dispatch communication is successfully setup.

18. The method of claim 11, further comprising the acts of:

receiving, by an originating communication unit via one or more dispatch servers, the response from the terminating communication unit;

outputting, by the originating communication unit, an indication that a call setup procedure is successful; and

receiving, by the originating communication unit, a floor grant message.

19. The method of claim 11, wherein dispatch communications are conducted in accordance with the Push-to-Talk over Cellular (PoC) standard.

20. A communication unit, comprising:

a transceiver;

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the transceiver and memory, the processor comprising

answering mode setting logic that receives a guaranteed talk permit with forced audio answering mode selection;

answering mode notification logic that provides an indication of a dispatch communication answering mode to a dispatch server;

answering mode determination logic that determines a set answering mode when a dispatch communication request is received; and

call setup response logic that automatically responds to the dispatch communication request when the guaranteed talk permit with forced audio answering mode is selected.

21. The communication unit of claim 20, wherein the answering mode notification logic determines whether the dispatch server supports the guaranteed talk permit with forced audio answering mode, and selects the indication based on the determination.

22. The communication unit of claim 21, wherein the selected indication provided by the answering mode notification logic is a manual answer answering mode.

23. The communication unit of claim 21, wherein the selected indication provided by the answering mode notification logic is a guaranteed talk permit with forced audio answering mode.