EP0488823A1
Expired / Lapsed
EP
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Broadcasting of packets in an RF system
Assignee: Motorola Solutions Inc
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Filing: 1991-12-02
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Granted: —
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Expires: 2011-12-02
Abstract
Abstract An RF communication system contains a control module (22) which communicates with a plurality of user modules (20) that are each connected to at least one user device (24). The system provides a means for packet communications in which traditional destination addressed packets (34) are communicated to the specified destination point (24) or user module (20) while also permitting information (52) intended for a plurality of user modules (20) to be broadcast simultaneously to all user modules (20) using a broadcast protocoal (46). The probability of each UM (20) receiving the broadcast packet (46) is enhanced by the transmission by the control module (22) of each broadcast packet (46) over at least several of its directional antennas (A1-A6) and preferably repeated over each antenna (A1-A6) a number of times (R). Packets of data (34) which are longer than a predetermined number of bytes (L) are broken into packet fragments (46).
Inventors
- 👤 Dale Robert Buchholz
- 👤 Hungkun J. Chang
- 👤 William K. Doss
- 👤 Brian Wesselman
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
EP
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-05 02:13
CPC Classifications
H; H04; H04L; H04L12/00; H04L12/02; H04L12/16; H04L12/18; H04L12/189; H04W; H04W4/00; H04W4/06
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 10
Claim 1
Independent Claim
142 words
A radio frequency (RF) system wherein information (52) is communicated by packets (46) between a control module (22) and user modules (20), the system characterized by: said control module (22) including multiple directional antennae (A1-A6) each oriented to cover a different segment of a 360° horizontal pattern; means (30) coupled to said control module (22) for determining (at steps 70-76) whether to transmit a received packet (34 or 46) as a broadcast packet (46) to said user modules (20); means (30) responsive to said determining means for labeling (at step 81) each broadcast packet (46) with a predetermined code (50) in a header (48) of said broadcast packet (46) generated by said control module (22); and means (30) coupled to said control module (22) for sequentially transmitting (at step 82) each broadcast packet (46) on more than one of said antennae (A1-A6).
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
24 words
The system according to claim 1 wherein said transmitting means (30) transmits each broadcast packet (46) on each of said multiple directional antennae (A1-A6).
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
92 words
The system according to claim 1 further characterized by means (30) for converting (at steps 100-110) a received packet (34) longer than L bytes into a series of packet fragments (46), said labeling means labeling (at step 81) each packet fragment (46) to be broadcast with a code (51) in the header (48) of each packet fragment (46) identifying the number (N) of packet fragments (46) containing the original received packet (34) and the number (51) of each specific packet fragment (46) relative to the total number (N) of packet fragments (46).
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
32 words
The system according to claim 1 further characterized by means (30) for transmitting each broadcast packet (46) on each of said more than one antenna (A1-A6) a predetermined number of times (R).
Claim 5
Independent Claim
148 words
A method for selectively broadcasting packets (46) in a radio frequency (RF) system in which information (52) is communicated by packets (46) between a control module (22) and user modules (20), the control module (22) including multiple directional antennae (A1-A6) each oriented to cover a different segment of a 360° horizontal pattern, the method characterized by the steps of: determining (at steps 70-76) whether to transmit an original packet (34 or 46) received by the control module (22) as a broadcast packet (46) to the user modules (20); responsive to a determination to transmit a receive packet (34 or 46) as a broadcast packet (46), labeling (at step 81) each such broadcast packet (46) with a predetermined code (50) in its header (48) identifying it as a broadcast packet (46); and sequentially transmitting (at step 82) each broadcast packet (46) on more than one of the antennae (A1-A6).
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method according to claim 5 wherein said transmitting step (82) is further characterized by transmitting each broadcast packet (46) on each of said directional antennae (A1-A6).
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
32 words
The method according to claim 5 further characterized by the step (82) of transmitting each broadcast packet (46) a multiple of times (R) on said more than one of the antennae (A1-A6).
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
71 words
The method according to claim 5 further characterized by the steps (100-110) of generating a plurality of packet fragments (46) each containing a portion of the original received packet (34) if the original received packet (34) is greater than L bytes, and identifying the total number (N) of packet fragments (46) and the individual number (51) assigned to each packet fragment (46) in a header (48) in each packet fragment (46).
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
130 words
A radio frequency (RF) system wherein a user module (20) communicates information (52) by packets (46) over a radio frequency (RF) channel to a control module (22), the user module (20) characterized by: means (30) for receiving (at step 58) data (42) from a user device (24) connected to the user module (20); means (30) for generating (at steps 100-110) packets (46) that contain said data (42); means (30) for determining (at step 62) if each packet (46) should be identified as a broadcast packet; means (30) responsive to said determining means for labeling (at step 64) each broadcast packet (46) with a flag (50) in its header (48); and means (30) for transmitting (at step 66) each generated packet (46) over said RF channel to the control module (22).
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
122 words
The user module (20) according to claim 9 wherein said receiving means (30) receives data packets (34) from the user device (24), and includes: means (30) for generating (at steps 106 and 108) packet fragments (46) that each contain a portion of said data packet (34) when said data packet (34) is greater than L bytes, means (30) for making each packet fragment (46) as belonging to a group of packet fragments (46) corresponding to the received data packet (34), means (30) for determining if each data packet (34) is a broadcast type of packet, and means (30) responsive to said data packet determining means for labeling each corresponding packet fragment (46) with a predetermined broadcast flag (50) in its header (48).
References Cited (Backward Citations)
WO1989011126A1
Cited
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