Secure network-routed voice processing

• US 7,187,941 B2
• Filed: 11/14/2002
• Issued: 03/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 11/14/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Northrop Grumman Systems Corporation (Northrop Grumman Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Northrop Grumman Corporation
• Inventors: Siegel, Neil G.
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah; Charles
• Assistant Examiner(s): Daniel, Jr.; Willie J.
• Application Number:
  US10/295,744
• Publication Number:
  US 20040203799A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,573 Days
• Field of Search: 455/11.1, 455/561, 455/550.1, 455/445, 455/518, 455/519, 455/521, 455/517, 455/520, 455/3.05, 455/404.1, 370/276, 370/280, 379/88.17, 379/88.29, 379/418
• US Class Current: 455/519
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 45/00 Routing or path finding of packets in data switching networks routing or path finding in wireless networks H04W40/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0428 wherein the data content is protected, e.g. by encrypting or encapsulating the payload
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/00 Communication routing or communication path finding
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/02 Communication route or path selection, e.g. power-based or shortest path routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/248 Connectivity information update
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 40/30 for proactive routing
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/18 Self-organising networks, e.g. ad-hoc networks or sensor networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 Inter-networking arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/18 between terminal devices

Abstract

Systems and methods are provided for routing voice communications through a mobile communication system having a self-contained infrastructure, such as a two-way radio communication system. The voice communications are transmitted as digitized voice packets over radio frequency links. The digitized voice packets contain one or more destination addresses in addition to other routing information. Routers receive the digitized voice packet and extract the routing information. The routing information is used in conjunction with a member router database to determine where to route the digitized voice packets.

Claims

1. A wireless communication system comprising:

a plurality of mobile communication units, each mobile communication unit being operative to convert speech patterns to a voice message and wirelessly transmit the voice message to one or more other mobile communication units, the plurality of mobile communication units being configured as a self-contained mobile network infrastructure, at least one of the plurality of mobile communication units comprising an integrated router that comprises a router database defining connections to members of the self-contained mobile network infrastructure, such that the router receives the voice message from at least one of the plurality of mobile communication units, extracts routing information comprising a member list of intended recipients of the voice message from the voice message, removes the intended recipients of the voice message that are connected to the router from the member list, and transmits the voice message to the intended recipients of the voice message that are connected to the router, and routes the voice message to at least one additional router if there are remaining intended recipients in the member list.

2. The system of claim 1, the plurality of mobile communication units comprising a plurality of two-way radio devices with integrated routers being operative to route voice packets between two-way radio devices that are beyond the line of sight transmission capabilities of the two-way radio devices.

3. The system of claim 1, the router adapted to route voice messages to at least one of different radio types and similar radio types having at least one of different frequency hopping schemes and different cryptographic variable sets.

4. The system of claim 1, the router being communicatively coupled to a plurality of other routers integrated into respective mobile communication units of the plurality of mobile communication units, the router determines an optimal routing path for the voice messages through the plurality of other routers based on transmission range of the mobile communication unit and at least one parameter.

5. The system of claim 4, the at least one parameter being at least one of time, priority, router location, mobile communication unit location, bandwidth and load sharing.

6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a configuration manager that provides the router with configuration information, the router utilizing the configuration information to create a router database defining connections between the plurality of mobile communication units and at least one router in the network.

7. The system of claim 6, the configuration manager employs a network definition defining members of the network and member parameters defining at least one of member type, member communication parameters and member security parameters in generating the configuration information.

8. The system of claim 6, the router performing administrative updates periodically to update the router database to determine if at least one of new members have entered the network, if current members have moved, and a current location of other routers.

9. The system of claim 1, the voice message being digitized voice packets that contain routing information in headers of the digitized voice packets, the router determines an optimal routing path based on the router database and information in the headers.

10. A two-way radio communication system comprising:

a plurality of two-way radio devices operative to convert speech patterns to digitized voice packets and wirelessly transmit digitized voice packets over at least one radio frequency link, the plurality of two-way radio devices being configured as a self-contained mobile network infrastructure;

a router having a processor and a memory, the memory stores a router database defining members within communication range of the router, the router having a routing algorithm that extracts routing information comprising a member list of intended recipient destination two-way radio devices of the digitized voice packets from the digitized voice packets and utilizes the extracted routing information and router database to determine an optimal routing path from a plurality of routing paths to the destination two-way radio devices for the digitized voice packets, the routing algorithm reconfiguring the optimal routing path and removing members within communication range of the router from the member list, transmitting the digitized voice packets to the destination two-way radio devices that are within the communication range of the router and routing the digitized voice packets to at least one additional router if there are remaining intended recipients of the digitized voice packets in the member list.

11. The system of claim 10, the plurality of two-way radio devices comprising a plurality of half-duplex line-of-sight two-way radio devices with integrated routers.

12. The system of claim 11, the plurality of half-duplex line-of-sight two-way radio devices operative to transmit data information and priority information in addition to digitized voice packets.

13. The system of claim 10, the router having a plurality of different ports that provide connections to two-way radio communication links through different two-way radio devices.

14. The system of claim 13, the different two-way radio devices comprising at least one different radio type having different communication parameters and having different security parameters.

15. The system of claim 10, the router having a routing path algorithm that determines a routing path for the voice packets based on at least one of time, priority, router location, mobile communication unit location, bandwidth and load sharing.

16. The system of claim 10 the router having an algorithm for receiving configuration information to create a router database defining connections between routers and two-way radio devices in the network, the router using the router database and information in the digitized voice packets to route the digitizes voice packets to at least one desired destination.

17. The system of claim 10, the router having an algorithm that performs administrative updates to update the router database, the router path algorithm dynamically updating router information in the digitized voice packet with an expected optimal path based on updates to the router database.

18. The system of claim 10, the digitized voice packets being one of Voice Over Internet Protocol packets and Network Voice Protocol packets.

19. A half duplex two-way radio communication system having a self-contained infrastructure defining a mobile network, the system comprising:

a plurality of half-duplex two-way radio devices operative to convert speech patterns to voice messages and having integrated means for routing digitized voice packets between the plurality of two-way radio devices;

means for configuring the integrated means for routing to provide the means for routing with a router database defining connections between members in the network;

means for updating the router database based on changes in the network;

means for determining an optimal routing path from a plurality of routing paths based on the router database and routing information in the digitized voice packets, the routing information including a member list of intended recipients of the digitized voice packets, the means for determining also providing to the digitized voice packets new routing information and removing members from the member list based on members connected to the means for routing; and

means for retransmitting the digitized voice packets to the members connected to the means for routing and for routing the digitized voice packets to at least one additional means for routing if there are remaining intended recipients of the digitized voice packets on the member list.

20. A method for communicating voice messages within a two-way radio communication system, the method comprising:

a first mobile communication unit receiving a voice message from a second mobile communication unit of the two-way radio communication system;

the first mobile communication unit extracting routing information from the voice message, the routing information comprising a member list of intended recipients of the voice message;

the first mobile communication unit determining an optimal routing path based on routing information and a router database defining member connections within the two-way radio communication system and connections to mobile communication units within the range of the first mobile communication unit;

the first mobile communication unit modifying the routing information in the voice message based on the determined optimal path and removing recipients of the voice message in the member list that are within the range of the first mobile communication unit; and

the first mobile communication unit retransmitting the voice message including the modified routing information to at least one other mobile communication unit in the two-way radio communication system within the range of the first mobile communication unit according to the determined optimal path, and to at least one additional mobile communication unit if there are remaining intended recipients of the voice message in the member list.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising dynamically updating the router database based on member changes in the two-way radio communication system.

22. The method of claim 20, further comprising receiving configuration information having at least one parameter defining a network of members of the two-way radio communication system and generating the router database based on the configuration information.

23. The method of claim 20, the voice message being processed as at least one digitized voice packet having a header portion containing the routing information.