Systems and methods for providing wireless communications for data and voice communications

• US 7,890,137 B2
• Filed: 12/28/2009
• Issued: 02/15/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/07/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Shopify Incorporated
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Specht, Philip Russell
• Primary Examiner(s): Beamer; Temica M
• Application Number:
  US12/647,647
• Publication Number:
  US 20100103879A1
• Time in Patent Office: 414 Days
• Field of Search: 455/556.1, 455/557, 455/554.1, 455/552.1, 455/554, 370/338
• US Class Current: 455/556.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 12/2898 Subscriber equipments DSL modems H04M11/062; cable modems H04L12/2801
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 7/0069 comprising a residential gateway, e.g. those which provide an adapter for POTS or ISDN terminals
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices

Abstract

A wireless communications system that provides communication for a plurality of communication devices. The wireless communications system includes an interface including a local exchange carrier (LEC) connection port, a subscriber connection port and a wireless connection port. The wireless communications system includes a wireless terminal connected to the interface that provides wireless data and voice connectivity over a wireless network.

Claims

1. A system for providing voice communications and data communications received from a wireless communications network to a plurality of communications devices, the system comprising:

a wireless terminal being in wireless communication with a cellular station of the wireless communications network; and

a network interface coupled to the wireless terminal, wherein;

the network interface includes a voice device connection port and a data device connection port;

the network interface is configured to receive the voice communications and the data communications from the wireless terminal;

the network interface is configured to provide the voice communications received from the wireless terminal to the voice device connection port;

the network interface is configured to provide the data communications received from the wireless terminal to the data device connection port;

the voice device connection port is configured to allow a voice device to be physically coupled to the network interface by way of the voice device connection port; and

the data device connection port is configured to allow a data device to be physically coupled to the network interface by way of the data device connection port.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the voice device connection port of the network interface includes a telephone jack.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the data device connection port of the network interface includes an Ethernet jack.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the data device connection port of the network interface includes a digital subscriber line (DSL) hardware port.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the network interface further comprises a wireless device connection port.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the network interface further comprises a wireless router in communication with the wireless device connection port.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the network interface is a backup subsystem for a wire-line connection, whereby call flow is routed through the network interface from/to the wireless communications network if call flow through the wire-line connection is interrupted.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless terminal includes a voice transmission portion for sending/receiving voice communications to/from a cellular station of the wireless communications network, the voice transmission portion comprising:

a voice transmissions antenna for sending/receiving voice communications to/from the cellular station of the wireless communications network; and

a wireless voice connectivity device connected to the voice transmissions antenna for providing/receiving voice communications to/from the wireless communications network by way of the voice transmissions antenna and configured to provide voice communications received from the voice transmissions antenna to the network interface for delivery to the plurality of communication devices.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the wireless terminal includes a data transmission portion for sending/receiving data communications to/from a cellular station of the wireless communications network, the data transmission portion comprising:

a data transmissions antenna for sending/receiving data communications to/from the cellular station of the wireless communications network; and

a wireless data connectivity device connected to the data transmissions antenna for providing/receiving data communications to/from the wireless communications network by way of the data transmissions antenna and configured to provide data communications received from the data transmissions antenna to the network interface for delivery to the plurality of communication devices.

10. The system of claim 9, wherein:

the data transmission portion further includes an intermediate device connected to the wireless data connectivity device for receiving the data communications from the wireless data connectivity device; and

the intermediate device is selected from the group of intermediate devices consisting of a router and a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP).

11. A wireless terminal for providing voice communications and data communications received from a wireless communications network to a plurality of communications devices, the terminal comprising:

a data transmission portion for sending/receiving data communications to/from a cellular station of the wireless communications network, the data transmission portion including;

a data transmissions antenna for sending/receiving data communications to/from a cellular station of the wireless communications network; and

a wireless data connectivity device connected to the data transmissions antenna for providing/receiving data communications to/from the wireless communications network by way of the data transmissions antenna and configured to provide data communications received from the data transmissions antenna to the network interface for delivery to the plurality of communication devices; and

a voice transmission portion for sending/receiving voice communications to/from a cellular station of the wireless communications network, the voice transmission portion including;

a voice transmissions antenna for sending/receiving voice communications to/from the cellular station of the wireless communications network; and

a wireless voice connectivity device connected to the voice transmission antenna for providing/receiving voice communications to/from the wireless communications network by way of the voice transmissions antenna and configured to provide voice communications received from the voice transmissions antenna to the network interface for delivery to the plurality of communication devices.

12. The wireless terminal of claim 11, wherein the data transmission antenna and the voice transmission antenna are the same.

13. The wireless terminal of claim 11, further comprising a processor, the processor including the wireless data connectivity device and the wireless voice connectivity device.

14. The wireless terminal of claim 11, wherein the wireless data connectivity device is selected from the group of wireless connectivity devices consisting of a digital subscriber line multiplexer (DSLAM) device and an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) device.

15. The wireless terminal of claim 11, wherein:

the data transmission portion further includes an intermediate device connected to the wireless data connectivity device for receiving the data communications from the wireless data connectivity device; and

the intermediate device is selected from the group of intermediate devices consisting of a router and a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP).

16. A method for providing voice communications and data communications to a plurality of communications devices, the method comprising:

a wireless terminal receiving voice communications and data communications from a cellular station of a wireless communications network;

a network interface, having a voice device connection port and a data device connection port, receiving the voice communications and the data communications from the wireless terminal;

the network interface providing the voice communications received from the wireless terminal to a voice device physically coupled to the network interface by way of the voice device connection port; and

the network interface providing the data communications received from the wireless terminal to a data device physically coupled to the network interface by way of the data device connection port.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the wireless terminal receiving voice communications from the cellular station of the wireless communications network includes the wireless terminal receiving voice communications via a voice transmission portion of the wireless terminal;

the voice transmission portion has a voice transmission antenna receiving the voice communications from the cellular station; and

the voice transmission portion has a wireless voice connectivity device receiving the voice communications from the voice transmission antenna.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein:

the wireless terminal receiving data communications from the cellular station of the wireless communications network includes the wireless terminal receiving data communications via a data transmission portion of the wireless terminal;

the data transmission portion has a data transmission antenna receiving the data communications from the cellular station; and

the data transmission portion has a wireless data connectivity device receiving the data communications from the data transmission antenna.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising:

the wireless terminal providing the data communications received from the cellular station of the wireless communications network to the network interface, including;

an intermediate device of the wireless terminal receiving the data communications from the wireless data connectivity device for providing the data communications to the network interface;

wherein the intermediate device is selected from the group of intermediate devices consisting of a router and a dynamic host configuration protocol (DHCP).

20. The method of claim 16, wherein the network interface operates as a backup subsystem for a wire-line connection, whereby call flow is routed through the network interface from/to the wireless communications network if call flow through the wire-line connection is interrupted.