System and method for providing mobility management and out-of-coverage indication in a conventional land mobile radio system

• US 10,548,108 B2
• Filed: 11/03/2017
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 06/30/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: E F Johnson Company (JVC Kenwood Corporation)
• Original Assignee: E F Johnson Company (JVC Kenwood Corporation)
• Inventors: Roy, Arindam, Trine, Linda, Jobe, Marshall
• Primary Examiner(s): Shah, Chirag G
• Application Number:
  US15/803,696
• Publication Number:
  US 20180077673A1
• Time in Patent Office: 816 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/0088 Scheduling hand-off measurements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/04 using triggered events
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a system and a method for providing mobility management and out-of-coverage indication in a conventional Land Mobile Radio (LMR) system. A radio provides its location and user group data to the disclosed system through its traffic channel when the channel is idle. Knowledge of the radio'"'"'s current location and user group data is used to provide dynamic call routing and data management within the disclosed system. The disclosed system and method may provide operability similar to that of a trunking system by providing mobility management and out-of-coverage indication while providing low-cost benefits through operation of a conventional system.

Claims

1. A system for providing mobility management and out-of-coverage indication in a project 25 conventional, non-trunking land mobile radio system without a dedicated control channel, the system comprising:

one or more project 25 conventional, non-trunking land mobile radio sites without the dedicated control channel and comprising;

a visitor location register in communication with a home location register via one or more traffic channels and not the dedicated control channel;

a site controller application to validate radio data received via the one or more traffic channels and not the dedicated control channel;

a channel controller application allocating one or more traffic channels for the project 25 conventional, non-trunking land mobile radio site and generating first representative data representing the allocation, the traffic channels each being assigned to a specific user group by the site controller application to enable radios affiliated by a network access code (NAC) with the specific user group to communicate, the radios communicating only by the one or more traffic channels and not by the dedicated control channel, and

wherein the channel controller application communicates the first representative data with a repeater, wherein the repeater retransmits signals associated with at least one of the one or more traffic channels, the repeater not having the dedicated control channel;

a project 25 conventional non-trunking radio transceiver (i) monitoring at least one traffic channel of the one or more traffic channels to detect activity, (ii) transmitting radio data to the project 25 conventional non-trunking land mobile radio site via at least one of the one or more traffic channels and not the dedicated control channel when the at least one of the one or more traffic channels is idle, and (iii) indicating that the project 25 conventional non-trunking radio transceiver is out-of-coverage if the project 25 conventional non-trunking radio transceiver does not detect activity on the at least one of the one or more traffic channels for an allotted amount of time.

2. The system of claim 1, further comprising:

wherein the home location register communicates with the visitor location register in each of the one or more project 25 conventional non-trunking land mobile radio sites;

a network management system to configure the system; and

a data router to transmit data within the system.

3. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the radio data comprises at least one of radio location data or radio user group data.

4. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the project 25 conventional non-trunking radio transceiver detects activity on the at least one traffic channel of the one or more traffic channels by receiving at least one of a voice communication or a data communication on the at least one traffic channel of the one or more traffic channels.

5. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the one or more project 25 conventional non-trunking land mobile radio sites further comprise a database configured to store radio data.

6. The system as set forth in claim 2, wherein the network management system is configured to set and change critical user group data of a critical user group, the critical user group data configured to determine allocation of a traffic channel for the one or more project 25 conventional non-trunking land mobile radio sites.

7. The system as set forth in claim 6, wherein the channel controller application of the one or more project 25 conventional non-trunking land mobile radio sites is configured to allocate a traffic channel for a group call based on the critical user group data even if an interested radio in the critical user group is not located in the one or more project 25 conventional non-trunking land mobile radio sites.

8. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the system is configured to verify operability of at least one project 25 conventional non-trunking radio transceiver.

9. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the system is configured to disable communication of at least one project 25 conventional non-trunking radio transceiver.

10. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the system is configured to determine if at least one project 25 conventional non-trunking radio transceiver is in communication with one or more of the project 25 conventional non-trunking land mobile radio sites.

11. The system as set forth in claim 1, wherein the project 25 conventional non-trunking land mobile radio system is in communication with a trunking land mobile radio system.

12. The system as set forth in claim 2, wherein the visitor location register, the network management system, and the home location register are further configured to detect a communication failure between any two of the visitor location register, the network management system, and the home location register.

13. The system as set forth in claim 12, wherein the visitor location register may communicate directly with at least one other visitor location register upon detection of the communication failure between the visitor location register and the home location register.

14. The system as set forth in claim 12, wherein the home location register may queue radio data upon detection of the communication failure between the home location register and the visitor location register.