Dynamic channel assignment in a communication system

Claim 3

The method of claim 1 wherein said step of assessing further comprises the step of assessing the signal strength of a signal transmitted by said subscriber.

Claim 4

The method of claim 1 wherein said step of assigning further comprises the step of assigning the said one of said plurality of fixed base-stations to transmit a corresponding downlink signal to the subscriber.

Claim 5

The method of claim 1 wherein said step of assigning is performed transparently to the subscriber.

Claim 8

The method of claim 5 wherein said second base-station need not communicate to the subscriber unit on said downlink path of said channel.

Claim 9

The method of claim 5 wherein said step of assigning said second base-station to receive further comprises the step of assigning reception of said uplink path back to said first base-station when said relative quality assessed by said first base-station exceeds the relative quality assessed by said second base-station.

Claim 10

The method of claim 5 wherein said step of assigning said second base-station to receive said uplink path is performed transparently to the subscriber unit.

Claim 13

The method of claim 9 wherein said second base-station need not communicate to the subscriber unit on said downlink path of said first channel.

Claim 14

The method of claim 9 wherein said step of assigning said second base-station to receive further comprises the step of assigning reception of said uplink path back to said first base-station when said relative quality assessed by said first base-station exceeds the relative quality assessed by said second base-station.

Claim 15

The method of claim 9 wherein said step of assigning said second base-station to receive said uplink path is performed transparently to the subscriber unit.

Claim 16

The method of claim 9 wherein said first channel is one of a first subset of channels within a set of allocated channels.

Claim 17

The method of claim 13 wherein said second channel is one of a second subset of channels within said set of allocated channels.

Claim 18

The method of claim 14 wherein there are no common channels within the first subset of channels and the second subset of channels.

Claim 19

A radiotelephone system having dynamic communication assignment, the radiotelephone system having at least two base-stations capable of communication to a subscriber unit, the at least two base-stations interconnected via a switch, the radiotelephone system comprising: means, at at least the two base-stations, for measuring the quality of an uplink signal transmitted by the subscriber unit; means, at the switch, for evaluating said quality of said uplink signal measured by each of said at least two base-stations; means, at the switch, for assigning one of said at least two base-stations to only receive said uplink signal based on said evaluated quality means, at the switch, for assigning the second of said at least two base-stations to communicate with the subscriber unit on a corresponding downlink path.

Claim 20

A radiotelephone system having dynamic communication assignment, the radiotelephone system having at least two base-stations capable of communication to a subscriber unit, the at least two base-stations interconnected via a switch, the radiotelephone system comprising: means, at at least the two base-stations, for measuring the quality of an uplink signal transmitted by the subscriber unit; means, at the switch, for evaluating said quality of said uplink signal measured by each of said at least two base-stations; means, at the switch, for assigning one of said at least two base-stations to only receive said uplink signal based on said evaluated quality means, at the switch, for assigning the second of said at least two base-stations to communicate with the subscriber unit on a corresponding downlink path.

Claim 21

The radiotelephone system of claim 16, wherein said means for measuring the quality of an uplink signal transmitted by the subscriber unit further comprises means for measuring the signal strength of said uplink signal.

Claim 22

The radiotelephone system of claim 16, wherein said means for measuring the quality of an uplink signal transmitted by the subscriber unit further comprises means for measuring the bit error rate (BER) of said uplink signal.

Claim 23

A radiotelephone system having dynamic channel assignment, the radiotelephone system having a plurality of cells each having predetermined coverage areas, at least one of the cells acting as an umbrella cell having a plurality of micro-cells, at least two micro-cells having common coverage area with the corresponding predetermined coverage area of the umbrella cell, each cell and micro-cell having a base-station within its coverage area to provide radiotelephone system coverage for its corresponding coverage area, each base-station coupled to one another via a switch, the radiotelephone system comprising: means for communicating, on a first base-station corresponding to a first micro-cell, to a subscriber unit on both an uplink and downlink path of a first channel; means for measuring, at said first base-station corresponding to said first micro-cell, at at least a second base-station corresponding to at least a second micro-cell and at a third base-station corresponding to the umbrella cell, the quality of said uplink path of said first channel; means for assigning said second base-station to only receive said uplink path of said first channel when said quality measured by the second base-station exceeds the quality measured by the first base-station and the third base-station; and means for initiating, at the switch, a transfer of communication from the first base-station to the third base-station on a second channel when said relative quality assessed by the third base-station exceeds the relative quality assessed by the first base-station and the second base-station.

Claim 24

A radiotelephone system having dynamic channel assignment, the radiotelephone system having a plurality of cells each having predetermined coverage areas, at least one of the cells acting as an umbrella cell having a plurality of micro-cells, at least two micro-cells having common coverage area with the corresponding predetermined coverage area of the umbrella cell, each cell and micro-cell having a base-station within its coverage area to provide radiotelephone system coverage for its corresponding coverage area, each base-station coupled to one another via a switch, the radiotelephone system comprising: means for communicating, on a first base-station corresponding to a first micro-cell, to a subscriber unit on both an uplink and downlink path of a first channel; means for measuring, at said first base-station corresponding to said first micro-cell, at at least a second base-station corresponding to at least a second micro-cell and at a third base-station corresponding to the umbrella cell, the quality of said uplink path of said first channel; means for assigning said second base-station to only receive said uplink path of said first channel when said quality measured by the second base-station exceeds the quality measured by the first base-station and the third base-station; and means for initiating, at the switch, a transfer of communication from the first base-station to the third base-station on a second channel when said relative quality assessed by the third base-station exceeds the relative quality assessed by the first base-station and the second base-station.

Claim 25

The radiotelephone system of claim 19 wherein said means for measuring the quality of said uplink path of said first channel further comprises means for measuring the signal strength of said uplink path of said first channel.

Claim 26

The radiotelephone system of claim 19 wherein said means for determining if either of said second or third base-stations should communicate to the subscriber unit further comprises means for determining at least one cell-type determination factor.

Claim 27

The radiotelephone system of claim 19 wherein said means for determining if either of said second or third base-stations should communicate to the subscriber unit further comprises means for comparing the quality measured by said first, second, and third base-station.

Claim 28

The radiotelephone system of claim 22 wherein said means for initiating a transfer of communication further comprises means for assigning, via the first base-station, said subscriber unit to handoff communication from said first base-station on a first channel to said third base-station on a second channel when said quality measured by the third base-station exceeds the quality measured by the first base-station and the second base-station.