Mobile telecommunication system having an auxiliary routing arrangement

Claim 2

A mobile telecommunication system comprising: at least one base station comprising: plural radio channel units, each adapted to operate at a respective unique frequency, and at least one auxiliary radio channel unit adapted to operate at each of the respective unique frequencies; at least one mobile telephone unit adapted for radio communication on at least one of the respective unique frequencies; and at least one mobile telephone switch connected to said at least one base station, said at least one mobile telephone switch comprising: means for monitoring a traffic handling capacity of said plural radio channel units, means for deactivating one of said plural radio channel units when the traffic handling capacity of the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units ceases or falls below a predetermined level for a given period of time, and means for activating said at least one auxiliary radio channel unit to replace the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units and to operate at a frequency of operation of the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units.

Claim 3

A mobile telecommunication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the means for monitoring switches off a radio transmitter function of the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units when the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units is replaced by said auxiliary radio channel unit.

Claim 4

A mobile telecommunication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein: the means for monitoring monitors a set-up of each call in the at least one mobile telephone switch and stores information concerning unsuccessful attempts to set up a call for any one of said plural radio channel units, and the stored information is used by the monitoring means to make a determination as to whether or not said any one of said plural radio channel units should be replaced by said auxiliary radio channel unit.

Claim 5

A mobile telecommunications system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the at least one mobile telephone switch further comprises: a transmitter for sending a fault message to a central control station when the traffic handling capacity of a radio channel unit ceases or falls below a predetermined level for a given period of time.

Claim 6

A mobile telecommunications system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units is automatically reactivated when the traffic handling capacity of the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units has been restored.

Claim 7

A mobile telecommunications system as claimed in claim 5, wherein the deactivated one of said radio channel units is automatically reactivated in a predetermined period of time after the traffic handling capacity of the deactivated one of said radio channel units has been restored, wherein the activation of said at least one auxiliary radio channel unit is effected automatically in a predetermined period of time after the deactivation of the deactivated one of said radio channel units, and wherein all of the predetermined periods of time are adjustable within a predetermined range.

Claim 8

A mobile telecommunication system as claimed in claim 6, wherein the predetermined range within which all of the predetermined periods of time are adjustable is from 0 to 60 seconds.

Claim 9

A mobile telecommunication system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising: means to activate/deactivate at least one of said plural radio channel units from a central control station either manually or automatically.

Claim 10

A mobile telecommunication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the number of auxiliary radio channel units allocated to said at least one base station is in proportion to a capability of a central control station to effect repair of the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units.

Claim 11

A mobile telecommunication system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the number of auxiliary radio channel units allocated to said at least one base station is in proportion to probability that one of said plural radio channel units will become faulty or will cease to handle traffic.

Claim 12

A mobile telecommunications system as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a telephone network.

Claim 13

The mobile telecommunications system according to claim 1, wherein said plural radio channel units comprise plural separate radio channel units.

Claim 14

A mobile telecommunication system comprising: a plurality of base stations, each of said base stations being allocated a number of radio frequencies and comprising: plural separate radio channel units, wherein a separate radio channel unit is provided for each of the allocated radio frequencies, and at least one auxiliary radio channel unit which is adapted for operation at any one of the allocated radio frequencies; a plurality of mobile telephone units adapted for radio communication on at least one of the allocated radio frequencies; and a mobile telephone switch connected to said plurality of base stations, said mobile telephone switch comprising: means for monitoring a traffic handling capacity of said plural separate radio channel units of said plurality of base stations, means for deactivating any one of said plural separate radio channel units of respective one of said of base stations when the traffic handling capacity of the deactivated one of said plural separate radio channel units ceases or falls below a predetermined level for a given period of time, and means for activating said at least one auxiliary radio channel unit of the respective one of said plurality of base stations to replace the deactivated one of said plural separate radio channel units and to operate at a frequency of operation of the deactivated one of said separate radio channel units.

Claim 15

A mobile telecommunication system comprising: a plurality of base stations, each of said base stations being allocated a number of radio frequencies and comprising: plural separate radio channel units, wherein a separate radio channel unit is provided for each of the allocated radio frequencies, and at least one auxiliary radio channel unit which is adapted for operation at any one of the allocated radio frequencies; a plurality of mobile telephone units adapted for radio communication on at least one of the allocated radio frequencies; and a mobile telephone switch connected to said plurality of base stations, said mobile telephone switch comprising: means for monitoring a traffic handling capacity of said plural separate radio channel units of said plurality of base stations, means for deactivating any one of said plural separate radio channel units of respective one of said of base stations when the traffic handling capacity of the deactivated one of said plural separate radio channel units ceases or falls below a predetermined level for a given period of time, and means for activating said at least one auxiliary radio channel unit of the respective one of said plurality of base stations to replace the deactivated one of said plural separate radio channel units and to operate at a frequency of operation of the deactivated one of said separate radio channel units.

Claim 16

A mobile telecommunications system as claimed in claim 13, wherein said mobile telephone switch is adapted to send a fault message to a central control station when the traffic handling capacity of one of said plural radio channel units ceases or falls below a predetermined level for a given period of time.

Claim 17

A mobile telecommunications system as claimed in claim 13 or claim 14, wherein the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units is automatically reactivated in a predetermined period of time after the traffic handling capacity of the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units has been restored, wherein the activation of said at least one auxiliary radio channel unit is effected automatically in a predetermined period of time after deactivating the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units, and wherein all of the predetermined periods of time are adjustable within a predetermined range.

Claim 18

A mobile telecommunication system comprising: a central control station; a plurality of base stations, each of the base stations being allocated plural radio frequencies and comprising: plural separate radio channel units, wherein a separate radio channel unit is provided for each of the plural allocated radio frequencies, and a plurality of auxiliary radio channel units which are adapted for operation at any one of the plural allocated radio frequencies of a respective base station, a number of auxiliary radio channel units allocated to a base station being in proportion to at least one of a probability that one of said plural separate radio channel units will become faulty or cease to handle traffic and a capability of the central control station to effect repair of one of said plural separate radio channel units which becomes faulty or ceases to handle traffic; a plurality of mobile telephone units adapted for radio communication on at least one of the plural allocated radio frequencies; and at least one mobile telephone switch including monitoring means, said monitoring means comprising: means for monitoring a set-up of each call, means for storing information concerning unsuccessful attempts to set-up a call for any one of said plural separate radio channel units, means for automatically deactivating one of said plural separate radio channel units of one of said plurality of base stations after a predetermined number of unsuccessful attempts to set-up a call on the deactivated one of said plural separate radio channel units has been stored by the means for storing, and means for activating an auxiliary radio channel unit of the respective base station of the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units, the activated auxiliary radio channel unit operating at a frequency of operation of the deactivated one of said plural separate radio channel units, wherein a fault message is sent to the central control station by said at least one mobile telephone switch when the deactivated one of said plural separate radio channel units is deactivated, and wherein the deactivated one of said plural separate radio channel units is automatically reactivated when a traffic handling capacity of the deactivated one of said plural separate radio channel units has been restored.

Claim 19

A mobile telecommunication system comprising: a central control station; a plurality of base stations, each of the base stations being allocated plural radio frequencies and comprising: plural separate radio channel units, wherein a separate radio channel unit is provided for each of the plural allocated radio frequencies, and a plurality of auxiliary radio channel units which are adapted for operation at any one of the plural allocated radio frequencies of a respective base station, a number of auxiliary radio channel units allocated to a base station being in proportion to at least one of a probability that one of said plural separate radio channel units will become faulty or cease to handle traffic and a capability of the central control station to effect repair of one of said plural separate radio channel units which becomes faulty or ceases to handle traffic; a plurality of mobile telephone units adapted for radio communication on at least one of the plural allocated radio frequencies; and at least one mobile telephone switch including monitoring means, said monitoring means comprising: means for monitoring a set-up of each call, means for storing information concerning unsuccessful attempts to set-up a call for any one of said plural separate radio channel units, means for automatically deactivating one of said plural separate radio channel units of one of said plurality of base stations after a predetermined number of unsuccessful attempts to set-up a call on the deactivated one of said plural separate radio channel units has been stored by the means for storing, and means for activating an auxiliary radio channel unit of the respective base station of the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units, the activated auxiliary radio channel unit operating at a frequency of operation of the deactivated one of said plural separate radio channel units, wherein a fault message is sent to the central control station by said at least one mobile telephone switch when the deactivated one of said plural separate radio channel units is deactivated, and wherein the deactivated one of said plural separate radio channel units is automatically reactivated when a traffic handling capacity of the deactivated one of said plural separate radio channel units has been restored.

Claim 20

A mobile telecommunications system as claimed in claim 16, wherein the mobile telecommunication system is a mobile trunked telecommunication system.

Claim 21

In a mobile telecommunications system for communication, the improvement comprising: at least one base station comprising: plural radio channel units, each operating at a respective unique frequency, at least one auxiliary radio channel unit adapted to operate at each of the respective unique frequencies of said plural radio channel units; and at least one mobile telephone switch connected to said at least one base station, said at least one mobile telephone switch comprising: means for monitoring a traffic handling capacity of said plural radio channel units, means for deactivating one of said plural radio channel units when the traffic handling capacity of the deactivated one of sad plural radio channel units ceases or falls below a predetermined level for a predetermined period of time, and means for activating said at least one auxiliary radio channel unit to replace the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units and to operate at a frequency of operation of the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units.

Claim 22

In a mobile telecommunications system for communication, the improvement comprising: at least one base station comprising: plural radio channel units, each operating at a respective unique frequency, at least one auxiliary radio channel unit adapted to operate at each of the respective unique frequencies of said plural radio channel units; and at least one mobile telephone switch connected to said at least one base station, said at least one mobile telephone switch comprising: means for monitoring a traffic handling capacity of said plural radio channel units, means for deactivating one of said plural radio channel units when the traffic handling capacity of the deactivated one of sad plural radio channel units ceases or falls below a predetermined level for a predetermined period of time, and means for activating said at least one auxiliary radio channel unit to replace the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units and to operate at a frequency of operation of the deactivated one of said plural radio channel units.