Dealer-locator service and apparatus for mobile telecommunications system
First Claim
1. A mobile telecommunications system for serving a plurality of geographical areas wherein a plurality of business locations of a service provider are located in a plurality of the geographical areas, the system comprising:
- at least one mobile communications station;
a plurality of base stations, each for communicating with mobile communications stations in a different one of the geographical areas;
means responsive to a communication from one mobile communications station and identifying the service provider, for determining which one of the plurality of base stations is presently communicating with the one mobile communications station;
means responsive to the determination of the one base station, for determining which one of the plurality of business locations is within a vicinity of the one base station; and
means responsive to the determination of the business location, for at least one of (a) reporting the determined business location to the one mobile communications station, and (b) extending the communication from the one mobile communications station to the determined business location.
13 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A dealer-locator service is provided to mobile telephones (40) in a mobile telecommunications system (FIG. 1). When a mobile telephone initiates a call to the dealer-locator service, a mobile telephone switching office (MTSO 41) identifies the one of a plurality of base stations (20-23) through which the call is made. A dealer-locator service apparatus (43-45) then uses this base-station identification, rather than the telephone number of the calling mobile telephone, to look up in a dealer-locator database (300-301) the one of a plurality of business locations (30-33, 50-52) of the dealer that is in the vicinity of the identified base station, and hence in the vicinity of the calling mobile telephone. The apparatus then reports the address of the one business location to the caller, and optionally also causes the MTSO to connect the call to a telephone number of the one business location. The dealer-locator database may be programmed by individually calling the dealer-locator service from each dealer business location via a mobile telephone that is positioned at that dealer business location and supplying that location'"'"'s address and phone number. The apparatus records the identity of the base station through which the call was made along with the supplied information in the database.
182 Citations
30 Claims
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1. A mobile telecommunications system for serving a plurality of geographical areas wherein a plurality of business locations of a service provider are located in a plurality of the geographical areas, the system comprising:
at least one mobile communications station; a plurality of base stations, each for communicating with mobile communications stations in a different one of the geographical areas; means responsive to a communication from one mobile communications station and identifying the service provider, for determining which one of the plurality of base stations is presently communicating with the one mobile communications station; means responsive to the determination of the one base station, for determining which one of the plurality of business locations is within a vicinity of the one base station; and means responsive to the determination of the business location, for at least one of (a) reporting the determined business location to the one mobile communications station, and (b) extending the communication from the one mobile communications station to the determined business location. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4)
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5. A dealer locator apparatus for a mobile communications system that includes at least one mobile communications station and a plurality of base stations each for communicating with mobile communications stations in a different geographical area, for serving a plurality of business locations of a service provider located in a plurality of the geographical areas, the apparatus comprising:
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means responsive to a communication from one mobile communications station and identifying the service provider, for determining which one of the plurality of base stations is presently communicating with the one mobile communications station; means responsive to the determination of the base station, for determining which one of the plurality of business locations is within a vicinity of the one base station; and means responsive to the determination of the business location, for at least one of (a) causing the determined business location to be reported to the one mobile communications station, and (b) causing the communication from the one mobile communications station to be extended to the determined business location. - View Dependent Claims (6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of effecting a dealer-locator service in a mobile communications system that includes at least one mobile communications station and a plurality of base stations each for communicating with mobile communications stations in a different geographical area, wherein a plurality of business locations of a service provider are located in a plurality of the geographical areas, the method comprising the steps of:
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in response to a communication from one mobile communications station and identifying the service provider, for determining which one of the plurality of base stations is presently communicating with the one mobile communications station; in response to the determination of the base station, determining which one of the plurality of business locations is within a vicinity of the one base station; and in response to the determination of the business location, at least one of (a) causing the determined business location to be reported to the one mobile communications station, and (b) causing the communication from the one mobile communications station to be extended to the determined business location. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12)
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13. A mobile telephone system for serving a plurality of geographical areas wherein a plurality of business locations of at least one service provider are located in a plurality of the geographical areas, each business location having at least one of (a) an address and (b) a telephone number associated therewith, the system comprising:
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at least one mobile telephone; a plurality of base stations each located in a different corresponding geographical area and providing wireless call connections to mobile telephones that are presently located in the corresponding geographical area; a dealer-locator service apparatus; a switching center connected to the plurality of base stations and to the dealer-locator service apparatus, responsive to receipt of a first call from one mobile telephone identifying the dealer-locator service, for determining an identity of the base station through which the first call was received, and extending the first call to the dealer-locator service apparatus; means in the dealer-locator service apparatus, responsive to the extended first call, for determining, from the identity of the base station through which the first call was received, which one of the business locations is within a vicinity of the base station through which the first call was received; and means in the dealer-locator service apparatus, responsive to the determination of the one of the business locations, for at least one of (a) reporting the address of the one of the business locations through the extended first call to the one mobile telephone, and (b) causing the switching center to redirect the extended first call to the telephone that is associated with the one of the business locations. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18)
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19. A dealer-locator service apparatus for a mobile telephone system that includes at least one mobile telephone, a plurality of base stations each located in a different corresponding geographical area and providing wireless call connections to mobile telephones that are presently located in the corresponding geographical area, and a switching center connected to the plurality of base stations that responds to receipt of a first call from one mobile telephone identifying the dealer-locator service by determining an identity of the base station through which the first call was received and extending the first call to the dealer-locator service apparatus, for serving a plurality of business locations of at least one service provider that are located in a plurality of the geographical areas and wherein each business location has at least one of an address and a telephone number associated therewith, the dealer-locator service apparatus comprising:
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means responsive to the extended first call, for determining, from the identity of the base station through which the first call was received, which one of the business locations is within a vicinity of the base station through which the first call was received; and means responsive to the determination of the one of the business locations, for at least one of (a) reporting the address of the one of the business locations through the extended first call to the one mobile telephone, and (b) causing the switching center to redirect the extended first call to the telephone that is associated with the one of the business locations. - View Dependent Claims (20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A dealer-locator service for a mobile telephone system that includes at least one mobile telephone, a plurality of base stations each located in a different corresponding geographical area and providing wireless call connections to mobile telephones that are presently located in the corresponding geographical area, and a switching center connected to the plurality of base stations that responds to receipt of a first call from one mobile telephone identifying the dealer-locator service by determining an identity of the base station through which the first call was received and extending the first call to the dealer-locator service apparatus, wherein a plurality of business locations of at least one service provider are located in a plurality of the geographical areas and each business location has at least one of an address and a telephone number associated therewith, the dealer-locator service comprising the steps of:
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receiving from the switching center the extended first call; in response to the received extended first call, determining, from the identity of the base station through which the first call was received, by the switching center, which one of the business locations is within a vicinity of the base station through which the first call was received; and in response to the determination of the one of the business locations, at least one of (a) reporting the address of the one of the business locations through the extended first call to the one mobile telephone, and (b) causing the switching center to redirect the extended first call to the telephone that is associated with the one of the business locations. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30)
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Specification