Methods and systems for automatic creation of talkgroups based on received signal strength indicator (RSSI)

• US 9,743,257 B2
• Filed: 06/12/2014
• Issued: 08/22/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/12/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Motorola Solutions, Inc.
• Inventors: Jurzak, Pawel
• Primary Examiner(s): Trinh, Tan H
• Application Number:
  US15/125,628
• Publication Number:
  US 20170134912A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,167 Days
• Field of Search: 455518, 455519, 455445, 455517, 455 412, 455 411, 455501, 455436, 455452, 455521, 455520, 4554563, 455 902, 455463, 4554221, 455416, 455509, 370328, 370203, 370347, 370254, 709217, 709206
• CPC Class Codes: H04B 17/318 Received signal strength
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/10 Push-to-Talk [PTT] or Push-On-Call services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/40 for selective distribution or broadcast

Abstract

Disclosed herein are methods and systems for automatic creation of talkgroups based on received signal strength indicator (RSSI). In one embodiment, a first mobile radio broadcasts a talkgroup invite and receives responses from other mobile radios. The first mobile radio selects one or more of those other mobile radios based at least in part, for each received response, on one or both of (i) an invite-RSSI value included in the response and associated with receipt of the invite by the mobile radio from which the response was received and (ii) a response-RSSI value associated with receipt by the first mobile radio of the response. The first mobile radio establishes a talkgroup that includes itself and the one or more selected other mobile radios, and communicates as a participant in the established talkgroup.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

a first mobile radio broadcasting a talkgroup invite;

the first mobile radio receiving respective talkgroup-invite responses from one or more other mobile radios;

the first mobile radio selecting one or more of the other mobile radios based

on an invite-received-signal-strength-indicator of the talkgroup invite (invite-RSSI) value included in the talkgroup-invite response and associated with receipt of the talkgroup invite by the respective other mobile radio from which the talkgroup-invite response was received; and

the first mobile radio establishing a talkgroup that includes the first mobile radio and the one or more selected other mobile radios;

the first mobile radio communicating as a participant in the established talkgroup; and

wherein selecting one or more of the other mobile radios based at least in part on the one or more received invite-RSSI values comprises only selecting mobile radios whose invite-RSSI values indicate receipt of the talkgroup invite at or above an RSSI threshold.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein broadcasting the talkgroup invite comprises broadcasting the talkgroup invite on a base-station downlink frequency or a dedicated direct-mode channel.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the received invite-RSSI values comprise RSSI-measurement indicators, the method further comprising:

the first mobile radio comparing the RSSI-measurement indicators to the RSSI threshold; and

the first mobile radio only identifying mobile radios whose RSSI-measurement indicators meet or exceed the RSSI threshold as being mobile radios whose invite-RSSI values indicate receipt of the talkgroup invite at or above the RSSI threshold.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the received invite-RSSI values comprise Boolean indicators reflecting whether the corresponding mobile radios received the talkgroup invite at or above the RSSI threshold, the method further comprising:

the first mobile radio only identifying mobile radios whose Boolean indicators are true as being mobile radios whose invite-RSSI values indicate receipt of the talkgroup invite at or above the RSSI threshold.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the talkgroup invite comprises the RSSI threshold.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more selected other mobile radios make up a proper subset of the mobile radios whose invite-RSSI values indicate receipt of the talkgroup invite at or above the RSSI threshold.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein selecting one or more of the other mobile radios based at least in part on the one or more received invite-RSSI values further comprises only selecting mobile radios that satisfy one or more additional talkgroup qualifications.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the talkgroup invite specifies one or more of the additional talkgroup qualifications.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more additional talkgroup qualifications include one or more of agency identifier, subscriber type, current talkgroup, altitude, and a list of one or more whitelisted subscriber identifiers.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein one or both of the RSSI threshold and one or more of the additional talkgroup qualifications are modifiable via a user interface of the first mobile radio.

11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

the first mobile radio presenting via a user interface a plurality of identifiers of mobile radios whose invite-RSSI values indicate receipt of the talkgroup invite at or above the RSSI threshold; and

the first mobile radio receiving via the user interface one or more user selections of one or more of the presented identifiers,

wherein selecting one or more of the other mobile radios based at least in part on the one or more received invite-RSSI values comprises selecting the one or more mobile radios corresponding to the received one or more user selections.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the talkgroup that includes the first mobile radio and the one or more selected other mobile radios comprises adding the one or more selected other mobile radios to a current talkgroup of the first mobile radio.

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising the first mobile radio measuring the respective response-RSSI values.

14. The method of claim 1, carried out in response to the first mobile radio receiving a command to enter an emergency mode.

15. A system comprising a first mobile radio, the first mobile radio comprising:

a first communication interface;

a first processor; and

first data storage containing first instructions executable by the first processor for causing the first mobile radio to carry out a set of first-mobile-radio functions, the set of first-mobile-radio functions including;

broadcasting a talkgroup invite;

receiving respective talkgroup-invite responses from one or more other mobile radios;

selecting one or more of the other mobile radios based on

an invite-received-signal-strength-indicator (invite-RSSI) value included in the talkgroup-invite response and associated with receipt of the talkgroup invite by the respective other mobile radio from which the talkgroup-invite response was received; and

establishing a talkgroup that includes the mobile radio and the one or more selected other mobile radios; and

communicating as a participant in the established talkgroup;

wherein selecting one or more of the other mobile radios based at least in part on the one or more received invite-RSSI values comprises only selecting mobile radios whose invite-RSSI values indicate receipt of the talkgroup invite at or above an RSSI threshold.

16. The system of claim 15, further comprising the one or more other mobile radios, each other mobile radio comprising:

a respective other communication interface;

a respective other processor; and

respective other data storage containing respective other instructions executable by the respective other processor for causing the respective other mobile radio to carry out a set of other-mobile-radio functions, the set of other-mobile-radio functions including;

monitoring an air interface for talkgroup invites;

receiving the broadcast talkgroup invite from the first mobile radio and responsively sending to the first mobile radio a corresponding talkgroup-invite response that includes a corresponding invite-RSSI value associated with receipt of the talkgroup invite by the corresponding other mobile radio; and

communicating as a participant in the established talkgroup.

17. The system of claim 16, wherein the other communication interface comprises a first receiver and a second receiver, wherein monitoring the air interface for talkgroup invites comprises using the second receiver to monitor the air interface for talkgroup invites.