INTERNET PROTOCOL RADIO DISPATCH SYSTEM AND METHOD
First Claim
1. A distributed dispatch control system configured to use a packet network in providing audio and signaling connectivity to a plurality of audio devices, the system comprising:
- a plurality of distributed call management modules, each distributed call management module being adapted to serve a respective audio device and each distributed call management module having a respective group address for said audio device;
each distributed call management module configured to convert audio and signaling from the respective audio device into packets for distribution through the packet network using the respective group address for receipt by a distributed call management modules monitoring the group address; and
each distributed call management module configured to;
receive packets addressed to the at least one selected group address and convert such packets to audio and signaling for distribution to the audio device,wherein each distributed call management module is configured to perform arbitration functions for the audio device that the distributed call management module is serving by;
receiving one or more acceptances of a received call from respective audio devices, at least one of the respective audio devices comprising operator workstations;
selecting at least one of the operator workstations to handle the call; and
granting access to transmit audio data received from the served audio device to the selected operator workstation.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A method and system for dispatching calls using a packet network is disclosed. The use of distributed call management modules, enables various communication systems, such as RF and PSTN systems, to communicate with each other over the IP network. Audio devices from the various communication systems are each assigned an IP multicast group. Distributed call management modules convert signals from the audio devices into IP packets and transmit the IP packets to designated IP multicast groups over the IP network.
88 Citations
49 Claims
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1. A distributed dispatch control system configured to use a packet network in providing audio and signaling connectivity to a plurality of audio devices, the system comprising:
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a plurality of distributed call management modules, each distributed call management module being adapted to serve a respective audio device and each distributed call management module having a respective group address for said audio device; each distributed call management module configured to convert audio and signaling from the respective audio device into packets for distribution through the packet network using the respective group address for receipt by a distributed call management modules monitoring the group address; and each distributed call management module configured to; receive packets addressed to the at least one selected group address and convert such packets to audio and signaling for distribution to the audio device, wherein each distributed call management module is configured to perform arbitration functions for the audio device that the distributed call management module is serving by; receiving one or more acceptances of a received call from respective audio devices, at least one of the respective audio devices comprising operator workstations; selecting at least one of the operator workstations to handle the call; and granting access to transmit audio data received from the served audio device to the selected operator workstation. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28)
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29. A distributed call management module for use in a radio dispatch system, said distributed call management module comprising:
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an audio processing engine for converting an audio signal from an audio device to a packet signal; a call and management processing engine for directing the packet signal to a multicast group address; and a packet processor for encoding the packet signal as multicast packets and for decoding multicast packets from the packet network, said packet processor configured to send and receive packets over the packet network, wherein each distributed call management module is configured to perform arbitration functions for the audio device that the distributed call management module is serving by; receiving a call from the served audio device; communicating audio data of the call from the served audio device to the group address; receiving one or more acceptances of the call from respective audio devices, at least one of the respective audio devices comprising operator workstations; selecting one of the operator workstations to handle the call; granting access to transmit audio data received from the served audio device to the selected operator workstation; and denying access to transmit audio data to the other accepting operator work stations. - View Dependent Claims (30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36)
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37. A method of dispatching a call between audio devices, said audio devices being connected to a packet network, said method comprising:
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assigning multicast group addresses to each audio device; receiving a call from the served audio device; communicating audio data of the call from the served audio device to the group address; receiving one or more acceptances of the call from respective audio devices, at least one of the respective audio devices comprising operator workstations; selecting one of the operator workstations to handle the call; granting access to transmit audio data received from the served audio device to the selected operator workstation; denying access to transmit audio data to the other accepting operator work stations, converting a call from a first audio device to packets; and transmitting the packets to the multicast group address of the first audio device. - View Dependent Claims (38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47)
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48. A distributed dispatch control system configured to use a packet network in providing audio and signaling connectivity to a plurality of audio devices, the system comprising:
a plurality of distributed call management modules, each distributed call management module being adapted to serve a respective audio device and each distributed call management module having a respective group address for each audio device, wherein each distributed call management module is configured to; convert audio and signaling from the respective audio device into packets for distribution through the packet network using the respective group address for receipt by any distributed call management module monitoring the group address; reconfigure the respective audio device without system interruption; add an additional audio device without system interruption; and restart without restarting the entire dispatch system wherein a failure of a distributed call management module only affects the behavior of that particular distributed call management module.
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49. A distributed dispatch control system, configured to use a packet network in providing audio and signaling connectivity to a plurality of audio devices, the system comprising:
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a plurality of distributed call management modules, each distributed call management module being adapted to serve a respective audio device and each distributed call management module having a respective group address for each audio device, wherein each distributed call management module is configured to; convert audio and signaling from the respective audio device into packets for distribution through the packet network using the respective group address for receipt by any distributed call management modules monitoring the group address; receive packets addressed to the at least one selected group address and convert such packets to audio and signaling for distribution to the audio device, perform arbitration functions for the audio device that the distributed call management module is serving by; receiving one or more acceptances of a received call from respective audio devices, each of the respective audio devices comprising operator workstations; performing arbitration according to preset rules to determine which caller is granted access; performing a pre-emption of the caller designated by the arbitration by designating a different caller with higher priority access, wherein priorities for callers on a channel are set by an administrative interface.
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Specification