EP0169726B1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Portable telephones
Assignee: Thales Research and Technology UK Ltd
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Filing: 1985-07-23
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Granted: 1991-02-06
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Expires: 2005-07-23
Abstract
No abstract record available.
Inventors
- 👤 Peter Jacques Munday
- 👤 Keith Rex Thrower
- 👤 Trevor Michael Gill
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-24 12:29
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04W; H04W8/00; H04W8/02; H04W8/06; H04M; H04M11/00; H04M11/02; H04M11/022; H04W84/00; H04W84/02; H04W84/10; H04W84/16; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S379/00; Y10S379/913
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 15
Claim 1
Independent Claim
323 words
A communications system for use in conjunction with an existing cellular radio telecommunications network (1), having a network control (5), and a plurality of base stations (7) each servicing a cell, said system comprising a plurality of gateway devices (9, 15, 16), each gateway device comprising a transmitter, a receiver, a memory (24), and control means (28) for providing two-way communication with said network control either via a base station (7) or via a land line link, and a plurality of portable telephones (11), each having a memory (46) for an identification number and a transmitter (40) and a receiver (50), operative when said portable telephone is in an "on" state, to provide two-way radio communication on a plurality of fixed channels at low power with said transmitter and receiver of any said gateway device (9, 15, 16) within range, each said portable telephone (11), when in said "on" state and in the vicinity of a said gateway device (9,15, 16), being operative to transmit its identification number from its memory (46) to said gateway device (9, 15, 16), said control means (28) of said gateway device being operative to store said identification number in said memory (24) of said gateway device, and to transmit said identification number to said network control, said control means (28) of the gateway device (9, 15, 16) thereafter being operative as a control for the portable telephone for setting up, and handing off, calls for the portable telephone (11), all communications between a portable telephone and the gateway device, while the portable telephone is in an "on" state, being carried out on a single fixed channel of said plurality of channels which is different from the channel used for two-way communication with the base station (7) or via a land line link, said portable telephone (11) and gateway device (9, 15, 16) only being operable together as a conventional terminal of said existing cellular radio telecommunications network.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
323 words
A communications system for use in conjunction with an existing cellular radio telecommunications network (1), having a network control (5), and a plurality of base stations (7) each servicing a cell, said system comprising a plurality of gateway devices (9, 15, 16), each gateway device comprising a transmitter, a receiver, a memory (24), and control means (28) for providing two-way communication with said network control either via a base station (7) or via a land line link, and a plurality of portable telephones (11), each having a memory (46) for an identification number and a transmitter (40) and a receiver (50), operative when said portable telephone is in an "on" state, to provide two-way radio communication on a plurality of fixed channels at low power with said transmitter and receiver of any said gateway device (9, 15, 16) within range, each said portable telephone (11), when in said "on" state and in the vicinity of a said gateway device (9,15, 16), being operative to transmit its identification number from its memory (46) to said gateway device (9, 15, 16), said control means (28) of said gateway device being operative to store said identification number in said memory (24) of said gateway device, and to transmit said identification number to said network control, said control means (28) of the gateway device (9, 15, 16) thereafter being operative as a control for the portable telephone for setting up, and handing off, calls for the portable telephone (11), all communications between a portable telephone and the gateway device, while the portable telephone is in an "on" state, being carried out on a single fixed channel of said plurality of channels which is different from the channel used for two-way communication with the base station (7) or via a land line link, said portable telephone (11) and gateway device (9, 15, 16) only being operable together as a conventional terminal of said existing cellular radio telecommunications network.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
92 words
A system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each said gateway device (9,15,16) to the cellular radio telecommunications network comprises either a mobile cellular radio telephone (9) capable of handling one call at a time, to which remote access is restricted to a said portable telephone (11) having a predetermined or one of a set of predetermined identification numbers which are stored in said memory (24) of said gateway device (9), or a multi-channel cellular radio unit (15, 16) capable of handling a plurality of calls into said network (1) in parallel.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
160 words
A system as claimed in claim 2, wherein at least one said gateway device (9,15,16) is a multi-channel cellular radio unit (15, 16) which comprises a first receiver/transmitter (20) adapted to simultaneously communicate with a plurality of said portable telephones (11) each over a predetermined one of said fixed channels, a second receiver/transmitter (26) adapted to communicate, via a radio link, with said cellular radio telecommunications network (1), or via a land line link with the cellular radio telecommunications network (1), a multiplexer (30) for multiplexing the received signals from said second transmitter/ receiver (26) and passing the output to said first transmitter/receiver (20) for transmission on said fixed channels to the respective portable telephones (11), a demultiplexer (22) for demultiplexing the signal received by the first transmitter/ receiver (20) and passing the signals to said second transmitter/receiver (26), and control means (28) for controlling the operation of said transmitter/ receivers (20, 26) and said multiplexer (30) and demultiplexer (22).
Claim 5
Independent Claim
28 words
A system as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 3, further comprising at least one gateway device (13, 14) to a public switched telephone network (3).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
87 words
A system as claimed in claim 4, wherein said gateway device (13, 14) to the public switched telephone network (3) comprises either a private telephone (13) connected to its own telephone line, said private telephone comprising a radio transmitter/receiver for communication with a portable telephone (11), remote access to such a private telephone being restricted to a portable telephone having a predetermined or one of a set of predetermined identification numbers, or a PABX (14) including a radio transmitter/receiver for communication with at least one portable telephone.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
51 words
A system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the private telephone (13) and/or PABX (14), are further provided with means for automatically making a call to the network control when a portable telephone enters its service area so as to register the identification number of the telephone with the network control.
Claim 8
Independent Claim
38 words
A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, further comprising means (17) for making a paging call to a portable telephone (11) the identification number of which is not currently registered with the network control.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
209 words
A communications system for use in conjunction with a cellular radio telecommunications network (1) having a network control (5), a plurality of base stations (7) and switching centres (5) with a standard communications protocol, a plurality of subscribers each having a portable telephone (11), said system comprising a plurality of distributed gateway devices (9,15,16) each defining a service area and having a transmitter/ receiver operative to communicate with said base stations (7) or said switching centres of said cellular radio telecommunications network in accordance with said standard protocol, and with said portable telephones by means of at least one channel, which is different from the channel used for communication with the base station or the switching centre, each said telephone having a memory (46) containing a subscriber identification number which is transmitted over a channel to a said gateway device (9, 15, 16) when the telephone enters said service area of that gateway device and is registered via the gateway device (9, 15, 16) with said network control (1) of said cellular radio telecommunications network to establish the location of the portable telephone subscriber for receipt of calls, said portable telephone and gateway device only being operable together as a conventional terminal of said existing cellular radio telecommunications network.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
209 words
A communications system for use in conjunction with a cellular radio telecommunications network (1) having a network control (5), a plurality of base stations (7) and switching centres (5) with a standard communications protocol, a plurality of subscribers each having a portable telephone (11), said system comprising a plurality of distributed gateway devices (9,15,16) each defining a service area and having a transmitter/ receiver operative to communicate with said base stations (7) or said switching centres of said cellular radio telecommunications network in accordance with said standard protocol, and with said portable telephones by means of at least one channel, which is different from the channel used for communication with the base station or the switching centre, each said telephone having a memory (46) containing a subscriber identification number which is transmitted over a channel to a said gateway device (9, 15, 16) when the telephone enters said service area of that gateway device and is registered via the gateway device (9, 15, 16) with said network control (1) of said cellular radio telecommunications network to establish the location of the portable telephone subscriber for receipt of calls, said portable telephone and gateway device only being operable together as a conventional terminal of said existing cellular radio telecommunications network.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
28 words
A system as claimed in claim 8, further comprising means (17) for issuing a paging call to a subscriber whose number is not currently registered with the network.
Claim 12
Independent Claim
50 words
A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein the plurality of fixed channels between the portable telephones (11) and the gateway devices (9, 13, 14, 15, 16) are provided by time division multiplexing at a single frequency, as separate frequencies, or by code division multiple access.
Claim 13
Independent Claim
48 words
A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein each said portable telephone (11) further comprises a channel control means (56) for setting the receiver and/or transmitter to a channel, a microphone (42) and dialling means (44) associated with said transmitter, and an earpiece (54).
Claim 14
Independent Claim
36 words
A system as claimed in any one of the preceding claims, wherein at least one of the fixed channels is a control channel to which the telephone is connected when idle or setting up a call.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
32 words
A system as claimed in claim 12, wherein the portable telephone is adapted to communicate with the gateway device from which it receives the strongest transmission on one of the control channels.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
WO1983002380A1
Cited
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