System and method of communications
First Claim
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1. A communications system for a mobile vehicle, comprising:
- a) a vehicle mounted communications module for operating communications hardware used by said vehicle to communicate with a dispatch station; and
b) a logic module, containing a set of user-defined parameters, said parameters including signal strength, range, bandwidth, vehicle class, and a location of a vehicle along route segments that said vehicle travels, and coverage area polygons mapped and assigned to represent a two-dimensional coverage area of a particular communication method along route segments that said vehicle travels, said logic module checking available networks for said vehicle, determining if the location of said vehicle is within one of said coverage area polygons and selecting the communication method used by said vehicle for communication with the dispatch station from the available networks for said vehicle and at least partially based on if said vehicle is also within one of said coverage area polygons, and wherein each vehicle class is able to communicate with the dispatch station via two or more communication methods, and selecting the communication method used by said vehicle is at least partially based on a vehicle class of the vehicle and switches communications methods dynamically as required by the set of user defined parameters as required by a vehicle operator.
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Abstract
The present invention relates to a system and method of providing communications for a mobile vehicle, comprising: a) providing the vehicle with the ability to communicate using a number of different communications methods; b) establishing a list of parameters, said list of parameters defining a set of criteria for determining the preferred attributes of the communications method to be used at any given time; and c) selecting a communications method based on said list of parameters.
11 Citations
17 Claims
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1. A communications system for a mobile vehicle, comprising:
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a) a vehicle mounted communications module for operating communications hardware used by said vehicle to communicate with a dispatch station; and b) a logic module, containing a set of user-defined parameters, said parameters including signal strength, range, bandwidth, vehicle class, and a location of a vehicle along route segments that said vehicle travels, and coverage area polygons mapped and assigned to represent a two-dimensional coverage area of a particular communication method along route segments that said vehicle travels, said logic module checking available networks for said vehicle, determining if the location of said vehicle is within one of said coverage area polygons and selecting the communication method used by said vehicle for communication with the dispatch station from the available networks for said vehicle and at least partially based on if said vehicle is also within one of said coverage area polygons, and wherein each vehicle class is able to communicate with the dispatch station via two or more communication methods, and selecting the communication method used by said vehicle is at least partially based on a vehicle class of the vehicle and switches communications methods dynamically as required by the set of user defined parameters as required by a vehicle operator. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A method of providing communications for a mobile vehicle, comprising:
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a) providing an ability to communicate with a dispatch station using a number of different communications methods; b) establishing a set of user-defined parameters, said parameters including signal strength, range, bandwidth, vehicle class, and coverage area polygons mapped and assigned to represent a two-dimensional coverage area of a particular communication method along route segments that the mobile vehicle travels; c) checking available networks for said vehicle; d) determining, by the mobile vehicle, if the location of said vehicle is also within one of said coverage area polygons; and e) selecting the communications method for communication with a dispatch station from the available networks for said vehicle and at least partially based on the results of said determining, wherein each vehicle class is able to communicate with the dispatch station via two or more communication methods, and said selecting is at least partially based on a vehicle class of the vehicle and switches communications methods dynamically as required by the set of user defined parameters as required by a vehicle operator. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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Specification