Apparatus and method for dynamic call based user ID

• US 9,137,645 B2
• Filed: 05/31/2012
• Issued: 09/15/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/31/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Namm, Joseph C., Weidner, Michael N.
• Primary Examiner(s): Kincaid, Lester
• Assistant Examiner(s): Gu, Andy
• Application Number:
  US13/485,264
• Publication Number:
  US 20130324095A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,202 Days
• Field of Search: 455/416
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/403 Arrangements for multi-party communication, e.g. for conferences data switching systems for conference H04L12/18; arrangements for connecting several subscribers to a common circuit, i.e. affording conference facilities H04M3/56; television conferencing systems H04N7/15
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services

Abstract

A dynamic call based user ID allows subscriber units to be shared amongst a plurality of users or used for a plurality of roles/uses. A voiced call sign is transmitted by a calling subscriber unit to a targeted subscriber unit. A pattern in the voice transmission of the calling unit is detected, and the voiced call sign is compared to a list of pre-stored call signs. When a match between stored calls signs and the current call sign occurs, the calling subscriber unit saves the current call sign. Fixed network equipment (FNE) then associates the saved current call sign with a subscriber unit ID (SUID) of the calling unit. The dynamic association between the call sign and the SUID allows the subscriber unit to be shared amongst different users and for different uses/roles.

Claims

1. A method for a group call in a communication system, the method comprising:

initiating a group call voice transmission in response to a trigger being pressed at a calling subscriber unit;

in response to initiating the call, detecting a speech pattern including a voice call sign in the group call voice transmission, wherein the voice call sign identifies a current user and a current use of the calling subscriber unit;

comparing the detected voice call sign to a list of pre-stored voice call signs to determine that the detected voice call sign matches at least one in the list of pre-stored voice call signs;

in response to determining a match, saving the detected voice call sign as the current voice call sign at the calling subscriber unit;

associating the current voice call sign of the calling subscriber unit with a subscriber unit ID (SUID) at a Fixed Network Equipment (FNE), the FNE being an infrastructure element of the communication system;

and initiating another group call by a different user using the same subscriber unit based on a second pre-stored voice call sign.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein detecting the voice call sign comprises detecting a speech pattern in the group call voice transmission, the speech pattern being either a subscriber unit-to-subscriber unit pattern or a subscriber unit pattern.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of pre-stored voice call signs comprises a configurable list stored in either the calling subscriber unit or the FNE.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the list of pre-stored voice call signs comprise phonetic representations of the voice call signs and the comparing comprises comparing the detected voice call sign to phonetic representation of stored voice call signs within the list of pre-stored call signs.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

changing to a different call sign to establish a new call using the same calling subscriber unit having the same SUID.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving the group call voice at a targeted subscriber unit;

detecting the speech pattern including a voice call sign in the voice transmission at the targeted unit;

determining, in response to the speech pattern being detected, when the detected voice call sign matches a current voice call sign of the targeted subscriber unit;

acknowledging receipt of the call by the targeted unit in response to determining a match between the current voice call sign and the detected voice call sign;

buffering audio received by targeted unit;

responding to the call by the targeted subscriber unit; and

alerting the targeted unit if the call is being missed.

7. The method of claim 6, further comprising:

in response to the targeted unit being alerted to the call that is being missed, patching or regrouping the targeted unit with the calling unit to establish the call.

8. A communication system, comprising:

a plurality of subscriber units comprising at least one calling subscriber unit (SU) and at least one targeted subscriber unit (SU) communicating via talkgroups, wherein the at least one calling SU is configured to

initiate a group call voice transmission in response to a trigger being pressed at the at least one calling SU,

detect a speech pattern comprising a voice call sign in the group call voice transmission,

compare the voice call sign to a list of pre-determined voice call signs to determine that the detected voice call sign matches at least one in the configurable list of voice call signs,

save the voice call signs as the current voice call sign in response to determining a match; and

a fixed network equipment (FNE) configured to dynamically associate the current voice call sign to a subscriber unit ID (SUID), such that different current voice call signs can be associated with the SUID, thereby enabling the calling subscriber unit to be shared by a plurality of users and for a plurality of uses; and

wherein the at least one calling SU is further configured to initiate another group call by a different user using the same subscriber unite based on a second pre-stored voice call sign.

9. The communication system of claim 8, wherein the at least one calling SU detects the speech pattern using speech recognition to determine a subscriber unit pattern or a subscriber unit-to-subscriber unit pattern.

10. The communication system of claim 9, wherein the configurable list of voice call signs comprises phonetic representations of voice call signs and the detected voice call sign is compared to the phonetic representations to detect a match.

11. The communication system of claim 10, wherein if more than one voiced call sign match occurs, the first voiced call sign is established as the call sign of the at least one calling SU.

12. The communication system of claim 11, wherein if more than one voiced call sign match occurs, the second call sign match is determined to be the at least one targeted SU.

13. The communication system of claim 10, wherein if only one call sign match is detected in the voice sample, that call sign is determined to be the at least one targeted SU.

14. The communication system of claim 8, wherein the calling SU is alerted when a call is missed by the targeted SU.

15. The communication system of claim 14, wherein the targeted subscriber is patched or regrouped by the FNE to wirelessly connect the targeted SU to the calling SU when the calling SU is not affiliated to the same talkgroup.