SYSTEMS, METHODS AND DEVICES FOR CONVERGENT COMMUNICATIONS USING REMOTE KEYING

• US 20110243064A1
• Filed: 03/31/2010
• Published: 10/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 03/31/2010
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: By Light Professional IT Services, Inc.
• Original Assignee: By Light Professional IT Services, Inc.
• Inventors: Adelman, Jeffrey Michael, Marker, Melvin Warren, McManus, Craig Edward, Bowser, Michael E.
• Application Number:
  US12/751,592
• Publication Number:
  US 20110243064A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/053 remote terminal provisioning, e.g. of applets
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2203/1016 Telecontrol
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42 Systems providing special services or facilities to subscribers specially adapted for wireless communication networks H04W4/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Systems, devices and methods for convergence of a variety of communication sources are presented. More particularly, embodiments relate to a radio communications gateway device and associated methods, that is lightweight, small, portable, secure, and useful for converging communications via handheld radios and telephonic devices to an interne protocol network having a variety of different available media. The device preferably has a weight under 15 pounds and sufficient interconnectability to be field-useful in a variety of situations.

Claims

1. A keying module for facilitating communications via in-band signaling, comprising:

a tone-generation component configured to generate at least one Dual-Tone Multi-Frequency (DTMF) tone;

a status component that manages a portion of the connection between a radio device and a telephonic device;

a network communications component configured to communicate with the at least one radio device via a network.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the tone-generation component further comprises at least one of a keying component or an un-keying component.

3. The device of claim 2, wherein tone-generation component comprises both a keying component and an un-keying component, and the keying component and un-keying component are re-programmable to generate a plurality of different DTMF tones.

4. The device of claim 1, wherein the status component is configured to send periodically a keep-alive signal while a communication channel is open.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the status component sends the keep-alive signal every sixty seconds.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the keep-alive signal comprises a C tone followed by a different tone.

7. The device of claim 1, wherein the network communications component initiates a connection with the radio device in response to an input from a user.

8. The device of claim 1, wherein the tone-generation component comprises at least one microprocessor or microcontroller.

9. The device of claim 8, wherein the at least one microprocessor or microcontroller generates a D tone followed by a different tone in response to a user input.

10. The device of claim 1, further comprising a push-to-talk button configured to allow a user to control the keying module and the radio device without operating the telephonic device.

11. The device of claim 1, wherein the telephonic device is one of a cell phone or a traditional telephone.

12. A method for facilitating communications, comprising:

engaging in a communication session between a telephonic device and a radio device connected via a network;

periodically generating a keep-alive tone to keep the communication session between the telephonic device and radio device active;

terminating the communication session between the telephonic device and radio device by omitting the keep-alive signal.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising initiating communication by generating at least one DTMF tone to key the radio device connected via the radio network.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the step of initiating communication further comprises receiving an input from a push button.

15. The method of claim 12, further comprising the step of indicating the opportunity for responsive communication by generating at least one DTMF tone to un-key the radio device connected via the radio network.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one DTMF un-key tone comprises a D tone followed by a different tone.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of indicating further comprises receiving an input from a push button.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein the keep-alive tone is generated every sixty seconds while the communication session is active.

19. The method of claim 12, carried out on a re-programmable device.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the device is capable of being re-programmed such that at least one tone comprises changing at least one of the tone and the periodicity of the tone.

21. A radio communications gateway device, comprising:

a housing comprising a plurality of types of integrated connectors, the connectors including at least two telephony port connectors, at least one general-purpose serial port connector, at least four network port connectors, and at least four radio interface port connectors;

wherein each of the connectors is configured to facilitate communication signals;

at least one processor;

the at least one processor configured to execute instructions recorded in a memory, such that a first communications medium interfacing with one type of connector can communicate with a second communications medium interfacing with a second type of connector;

a monitoring component for facilitating communication via in-band signaling;

wherein the housing fits within one rack unit.

22. The device of claim 21 in which the radio communications gateway device weighs less than 15 pounds.

23. The device of claim 21 in which the monitoring component receives and processes dual-tone multi-frequency tones.

24. The device of claim 23 wherein the device is configured to provide an interface between a packet-based and a non-packet-based communications medium.

25. The device of claim 23 in which the housing fits within a rack unit having a height of about 1.75 inches and a width of about 23 inches or less.

26. The device of claim 23, further comprising a radio-telephony interface comprising an impedance-matching circuit and an amplification circuit.

27. The device of claim 26 in which the radio-telephony interface further comprises an isolation circuit for isolating a ground terminal configured to be attached to a radio.

28. The device of claim 21 in which the instructions comprise a LINUX-based operating system.

29. The device of claim 28 in which the instructions further comprise a virtual machine configured to run a WINDOWS-based operating system.

30. The device of claim 28 in which the instructions further comprise a Web server component configured to operate on the LINUX-based operating system and to provide a user interface that presents an abstraction of a radio control interface.

31. A method for facilitating radio communications, comprising:

receiving at least one dual-tone multi-frequency tone to facilitate in-band signaling between a telephonic device and a radio network;

transmitting a command represented by the at least one tone as at least one data packet;

monitoring the connection between a packet-based network and a radio network; and

periodically receiving a keep-alive signal while communication is ongoing.

32. The method of claim 31 in which the at least one control tone comprises at least one of a key tone or an un-key tone.

33. The method of claim 31, further comprising closing the connection between the telephonic device and the radio network if the keep-alive signal is not detected for a preset timeout period.

34. A method of manufacturing a radio communications gateway device, comprising:

providing a housing comprising a plurality of types of integrated connectors, the connectors including at least two telephony port connectors, at least one general-purpose serial port connector, at least four network port connectors, and at least four radio interface port connectors;

wherein each of the connectors is configured to facilitate communication signals;

providing at least one processor, the at least one processor configured to execute instructions recorded in a memory, such that a first communications medium interfacing with one type of connector can communicate with a second communications medium interfacing with a second type of connector;

providing a monitoring component for facilitating in-band signaling;

wherein the housing fits within one rack unit; and

wherein the radio communications gateway device weighs less than 15 pounds.