Apparatus and methods for conducting group calls in wireless communications systems

Claim 2

In a wireless communications system including a plurality of distributed transceiver units, each of which are operative to communicate with terminals over a plurality of communications channels, a method of conducting a group call comprising the steps of: transmitting a group call origination message from an originating terminal; receiving the group call origination message at a transceiver unit; transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message addressed to a group of terminals from the transceiver units responsive to the received group call origination message, the transmitted group call traffic channel designation message designating a common traffic channel; and communicating among terminals of the group of terminals via the plurality of distributed transceiver units over the designated common traffic channel, wherein said step of communicating comprises the steps of: communicating between one of the terminals and first transceiver unit during a group call; and then communicating between the one terminal and a second transceiver unit during the group call, without a handoff.

Claim 3

A method according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of transceiver units comprises a plurality of radio heads of a private wireless communications system.

Claim 4

A method according to claim 1 , wherein said step of communicating comprises the step of conducting half-duplex communications among the terminals over the common traffic channel.

Claim 5

A method according to claim 1 , wherein the common traffic channel comprises a series of slots on a carrier frequency band.

Claim 6

A method according to claim 1 , wherein said step of communicating comprises the step of communicating among terminals of the group of terminals without requiring paging a terminal in the group of terminals.

Claim 7

A method according to claim 1 , wherein said step of transmitting a group call origination message comprises the step of transmitting the group call origination message responsive to a user input at the originating terminal.

Claim 8

A method according to claim 1 , wherein said step of transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message comprises the step of transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message over a control channel.

Claim 9

A method according to claim 7 , wherein said step of communicating comprises the steps of: transmitting data from one of the group of terminals; receiving the transmitted data at a transceiver unit; and transmitting the received data from the plurality of transceiver units over the common traffic channel.

Claim 10

A method according to claim 8 , wherein said step of transmitting the received data from the plurality of transceiver units is followed by the steps of: transmitting a release message from the plurality of transceiver units over the common traffic channel; and then monitoring the control channel for a new group call traffic channel designation message at the terminals in response to receipt of the transmitted release message at the terminals.

Claim 11

A method according to claim 9 , wherein said step of monitoring the control channel is followed by the step of transitioning to a sleep mode if a predetermined time interval elapses without receipt of a new group call traffic channel designation message.

Claim 12

A method according to claim 10 , wherein said step of transmitting a release message comprises the step of transmitting a release message indicating the predetermined time interval.

Claim 13

A method according to claim 9 , wherein said step of transmitting a release message is followed by the steps of: transmitting a group call origination message from one terminal of the group of terminals; receiving the group call origination message at a transceiver unit; transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message addressed to the group of terminals, the group call traffic channel designation message identifying a second common traffic channel; and resuming communications among terminals of the group over the second common traffic channel.

Claim 14

A method according to claim 12 , wherein the first and second channels are the same channel.

Claim 15

A method according to claim 9 , wherein said step of transmitting the received data is preceded by the transmitting a group call confirm message identifying the originating terminal from the plurality of transceiver units over the common traffic channel.

Claim 16

A method according to claim 14 , wherein said step of transmitting data from one of the group of terminals comprises the step of transmitting data from the terminal identified in the group call confirm message.

Claim 17

A method according to claim 7 , wherein the control channel comprises a series of slots on a carrier frequency band, and wherein said step of transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message comprises the step of transmitting the group call traffic channel designation message in a single slot assigned to the control channel.

Claim 18

A method according to claim 1 , wherein slots assigned to control channels make up a hyperframe comprising a plurality of superframes, and wherein said step of communicating is preceded by the step of monitoring a set of periodically occurring slots in a plurality of subframes within a superframe for traffic channel designation messages.

Claim 19

A method according to claim 17 , wherein said step of monitoring comprises the step of monitoring a group call paging subchannel of the control channel.

Claim 20

In a wireless communications system including a plurality of distributed transceiver units, each of which are operative to communicate with terminals over a plurality of communications channels, a method of conducting a group call comprising the steps of: transmitting a group call origination message from an originating terminal; receiving the group call origination message at a transceiver unit; transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message addressed to a group of terminals from the transceiver units over a single slot of a control channel responsive to the received group call origination message, the transmitted group call traffic channel designation message designating a common traffic channel; and communicating among terminals of the group of terminals via the plurality of distributed transceiver units over the designated common traffic channel, wherein the group call origination message and the group call traffic channel designation message are addressed based on Temporary Mobile System Identification (TMSI) values assigned by the wireless communications system.

Claim 21

In a wireless communications system including a plurality of distributed transceiver units, each of which are operative to communicate with terminals over a plurality of communications channels, a method of conducting a group call comprising the steps of: transmitting a group call origination message from an originating terminal; receiving the group call origination message at a transceiver unit; transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message addressed to a group of terminals from the transceiver units over a single slot of a control channel responsive to the received group call origination message, the transmitted group call traffic channel designation message designating a common traffic channel; and communicating among terminals of the group of terminals via the plurality of distributed transceiver units over the designated common traffic channel, wherein the group call origination message and the group call traffic channel designation message are addressed based on Temporary Mobile System Identification (TMSI) values assigned by the wireless communications system.

Claim 22

A method according to claim 19 : wherein said step of transmitting a group call origination message is preceded by communicating TMSI fields to terminals served by the wireless communications system to thereby assign TMSI values to the terminals, such that the assigned TMSI values represented by the communicated TMSI fields are constrained to be less than or equal to a maximum value represented by a least significant portion of a TMSI field; wherein the group call origination message includes: a caller field including the least significant portion of TMSI field communicated to the originating terminal combined with a control bit indicating whether the call origination message is requesting a group call; a callee field representing a TMSI value assigned to a terminal of the group of terminals; and wherein said group call traffic channel designation message includes a callee field including the TMSI value assigned to the terminal of the group of terminals combined with the control bit from the group call origination message.

Claim 25

A method according to claim 21 , wherein said step of communicating comprises the step of conducting half-duplex communications among the terminals over the common traffic channel.

Claim 26

A method according to claim 21 , wherein the common traffic channel comprises a series of slots on a carrier frequency band.

Claim 27

A method according to claim 21 , wherein said step of communicating comprises the step of communicating between the terminal and the plurality of other terminals in a group call originated by one of the other terminals without receiving a page at the terminal.

Claim 28

A method according to claim 21 , wherein said step of receiving is preceded by the step of transmitting a group call origination message from the terminal.

Claim 29

A method according to claim 25 , wherein said step of transmitting a group call origination message comprises the step of transmitting the group call origination message responsive to a user input at the terminal.

Claim 30

A method according to claim 26 , wherein said step of transmitting a group call origination message comprises the step of transmitting the group call origination message responsive to user actuation of a push-to-talk (PTT) device.

Claim 31

A method according to claim 21 , wherein said step of receiving a group call traffic channel designation message comprises the step of receiving a group call traffic channel designation message over a control channel.

Claim 32

A method according to claim 28 , wherein said step of communicating comprises the steps of: receiving data over the common traffic channel; and then receiving a release message over the common traffic channel; and then monitoring the control channel for a new group call traffic channel designation message.

Claim 33

A method according to claim 29 , wherein said step of monitoring the control channel comprises the steps of: monitoring the control channel at a first rate for no greater than a predetermined interval following receipt of a release message over the common traffic channel; and then monitoring the control channel at a second rate less than the first rate if the predetermined interval lapses without receipt of a new group call traffic channel designation message.

Claim 34

A method according to claim 30 , wherein said means for receiving a release message comprises means for receiving a release message indicating the predetermined time interval.

Claim 35

A method according to claim 30 , wherein the control channel comprises a series of slots on a carrier frequency band, and wherein said step of receiving a group call traffic channel designation message comprises the step of receiving the group call traffic channel designation message in a single slot assigned to the control channel.

Claim 36

A method according to claim 28 , wherein slots assigned to the control channel make up a hyperframe comprising a plurality of superframes, and wherein said step of receiving is preceded by the step of monitoring slots of the control channel that make up a plurality of subframes within each superframe.

Claim 37

A method according to claim 33 , wherein said step of monitoring comprises the step of monitoring a group call paging subchannel of the control channel.

Claim 38

A method according to claim 21 , wherein said step of communicating comprises the step of receiving a group call confirm message identifying an originating terminal over the designated common traffic channel.

Claim 39

A method according to claim 35 , wherein said step of communicating further comprises the step of transmitting data over the common traffic channel if the received group call confirm message identifies the terminal.

Claim 42

A method according to claim 37 , wherein the system communicates TMSI fields to terminals served by the wireless communications system to thereby assign TMSI values to the terminals, such that the assigned TMSI values represented by the communicated TMSI fields are constrained to be less than or equal to a maximum value represented by a least significant portion of a TMSI field, and wherein the group call origination message includes: a caller field including the least significant portion of TMSI field communicated to the originating terminal combined with a control bit indicating whether the call origination message is requesting a group call; a callee field representing a TMSI value assigned to a terminal of the group of terminals; and wherein said group call traffic channel designation message includes a callee field including the TMSI value assigned to the terminal of the group of terminals combined with the control bit from the group call origination message.

Claim 43

A wireless communications system, comprising: means for receiving a group call origination message from an originating terminal; means, responsive to said means for receiving a group call origination message, for transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message addressed to a group of terminals in response to receipt of the group call origination message, the transmitted group call traffic channel designation message designating a common traffic channel; and means, responsive to the common traffic channel, for communicating among terminals of the group of terminals via a plurality of transceiver units over the designated common traffic channel, wherein said means for communicating comprises means for communicating between one of the terminals and a first transceiver unit during a group call and then communicating between the one terminal and a second transceiver unit, without an intervening handoff.

Claim 44

A wireless communications system, comprising: means for receiving a group call origination message from an originating terminal; means, responsive to said means for receiving a group call origination message, for transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message addressed to a group of terminals in response to receipt of the group call origination message, the transmitted group call traffic channel designation message designating a common traffic channel; and means, responsive to the common traffic channel, for communicating among terminals of the group of terminals via a plurality of transceiver units over the designated common traffic channel, wherein said means for communicating comprises means for communicating between one of the terminals and a first transceiver unit during a group call and then communicating between the one terminal and a second transceiver unit, without an intervening handoff.

Claim 45

A system according to claim 39 , wherein said means for receiving a group call origination message, said means for transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message and said means for communicating among terminals comprise a plurality of distributed transceiver units.

Claim 46

A system according to claim 40 , wherein said plurality of transceiver units comprises a plurality of radio heads.

Claim 47

A system according to claim 40 , wherein said means for receiving a group call origination message, said means for transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message and said means for communicating among terminals further comprises: a cellular radio exchange connected to each of said plurality of distributed transceiver units; and a mobility server connected to said cellular radio exchange.

Claim 48

A system according to claim 39 , wherein said means for communicating comprises means for conducting half-duplex communications among the terminals over the designated common traffic channel.

Claim 49

A system according to claim 39 , wherein the common traffic channel comprises a series of slots on a carrier frequency band.

Claim 50

A system according to claim 39 , wherein said means for communicating among terminals comprises means for communicating among terminals of the group responsive to receipt of the group call origination message without a preceding paging of a terminal in the group of terminals.

Claim 51

A system according to claim 39 , wherein said means for transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message comprises means for transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message over a control channel.

Claim 52

A system according to claim 46 , wherein said means for communicating comprises: means for receiving data transmitted from one of the group of terminals over the designated common traffic channel at a transceiver unit of a plurality of distributed transceiver units; and means, responsive to said means for receiving data, for transmitting the received data from the plurality of transceiver units over the common traffic channel.

Claim 53

A system according to claim 47 , further comprising means for transmitting a group call confirm message identifying the originating terminal over the designated common traffic channel before the data transmitted from the originating terminal is transmitted over the common traffic channel.

Claim 54

A system according to claim 47 : wherein said means for receiving data from the one terminal comprises means for receiving a release message transmitted from the one terminal of the group of terminals over the common traffic channel; and wherein said means for transmitting the received data comprises means, responsive to said means for receiving a release message, for transmitting a release message from the plurality of transceiver units over the common traffic channel.

Claim 55

A system according to claim 49 , wherein said means for transmitting a release message comprises means for transmitting a release message indicating a predetermined time interval for which terminals of the group should monitor the control channel for a new group call traffic channel designation message.

Claim 56

A system according to claim 46 , wherein slots assigned to the control channel make up a hyperframe comprising a plurality of superframes, and wherein said means for transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message comprises means for transmitting group call traffic designation messages in periodically occurring slots of the control channel that make up a plurality of subframes within a superframe.

Claim 57

A system according to claim 51 , wherein said means for transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message comprises means for transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message over a group call paging subchannel of the control channel.

Claim 58

A system according to claim 39 , wherein said means for transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message comprises means for transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message in a single slot assigned to a control channel.

Claim 59

A wireless communications system, comprising: means for receiving a group call origination message from an originating terminal; means, responsive to said means for receiving a group call origination message, for transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message addressed to a group of terminals in response to receipt of the group call origination message in a single slot assigned to a control channel, the transmitted group call traffic channel designation message designating a common traffic channel; and means, responsive to the common traffic channel, for communicating among terminals of the group of terminals via a plurality of transceiver units over the designated common traffic channel, wherein the group call traffic channel designation message is addressed based on a Temporary Mobile System Identification (TMSI) assigned to a terminal.

Claim 60

A wireless communications system, comprising: means for receiving a group call origination message from an originating terminal; means, responsive to said means for receiving a group call origination message, for transmitting a group call traffic channel designation message addressed to a group of terminals in response to receipt of the group call origination message in a single slot assigned to a control channel, the transmitted group call traffic channel designation message designating a common traffic channel; and means, responsive to the common traffic channel, for communicating among terminals of the group of terminals via a plurality of transceiver units over the designated common traffic channel, wherein the group call traffic channel designation message is addressed based on a Temporary Mobile System Identification (TMSI) assigned to a terminal.

Claim 61

A system according to claim 54 , further comprising means for communicating TMSI fields to terminals such that the assigned TMSI values represented by the communicated TMSI fields are constrained to be less than or equal to a maximum value represented by a least significant portion of a TMSI field; wherein the group call origination message includes: a caller field including the least significant portion of TMSI field communicated to the originating terminal combined with a control bit indicating whether the call origination message is requesting a group call; a callee field representing a TMSI value assigned to a terminal of the group of terminals; and wherein said group call traffic channel designation message includes a callee field including the TMSI value assigned to the terminal of the group of terminals combined with the control bit from the group call origination message.

Claim 62

A terminal for use in wireless communications system including a plurality of distributed transceiver units, each of which are operative to communicate with terminals over a plurality of communications channels, the terminal comprising: means for receiving a group call traffic channel designation message addressed to the terminal, the received group call traffic channel designation message designating a common traffic channel over which the terminal can communicate with other terminals via the distributed plurality of transceiver units; and means, responsive to said means for receiving, for communicating with a plurality of other terminals via the plurality of transceiver units over the designated common traffic channel, including means for communicating between the terminal and a first transceiver unit during a group call and for then communicating between the terminal and a second transceiver unit during the group call, without a handoff.

Claim 63

A terminal for use in wireless communications system including a plurality of distributed transceiver units, each of which are operative to communicate with terminals over a plurality of communications channels, the terminal comprising: means for receiving a group call traffic channel designation message addressed to the terminal, the received group call traffic channel designation message designating a common traffic channel over which the terminal can communicate with other terminals via the distributed plurality of transceiver units; and means, responsive to said means for receiving, for communicating with a plurality of other terminals via the plurality of transceiver units over the designated common traffic channel, including means for communicating between the terminal and a first transceiver unit during a group call and for then communicating between the terminal and a second transceiver unit during the group call, without a handoff.

Claim 64

A terminal according to claim 56 , wherein the common traffic channel comprises a series of slots on a carrier frequency band.

Claim 65

A terminal according to claim 56 , wherein said means for communicating comprises means for communicating with a plurality of other terminals over the common traffic channel responsive to the received group call traffic channel designation message without receiving a page.

Claim 66

A terminal according to claim 56 , further comprising means for transmitting a group call origination message responsive to a user input.

Claim 67

A terminal according to claim 59 , wherein further comprising a push-to-talk (PTT) device operative to receive the user input.

Claim 68

A terminal according to claim 56 , wherein said means for receiving a group call traffic channel designation message comprises means for receiving a group call traffic channel designation message over a control channel.

Claim 69

A terminal according to claim 61 , further comprising: means for receiving a release message over the common traffic channel; and means, responsive to said means for receiving a release message, for responsively monitoring the control channel for a new group call traffic channel designation message.

Claim 70

A terminal according to claim 61 , wherein slots assigned to the control channel make up a hyperframe comprising a plurality of superframes, and further comprising means for monitoring slots of the control channel that make up a plurality of subframes within each superframe.

Claim 71

A terminal according to claim 63 , wherein said means for monitoring comprises means for monitoring a paging subchannel of the control channel.

Claim 72

A terminal according to claim 56 , wherein said means for communicating comprises means for receiving a group call confirm message identifying an originating terminal over the designated common traffic channel.

Claim 73

A terminal according to claim 65 , wherein said means for communicating further comprises means for transmitting data over the common traffic channel if the received group call confirm message identifies the terminal.

Claim 74

A terminal for use in wireless communications system including a plurality of distributed transceiver units, each of which are operative to communicate with terminals over a plurality of communications channels, the terminal comprising: means for receiving a group call traffic channel designation message addressed to the terminal over a control channel, the received group call traffic channel designation message designating a common traffic channel over which the terminal can communicate with other terminals via the distributed plurality of transceiver units; means, responsive to said means for receiving, for communicating with a plurality of other terminals via the plurality of transceiver units over the designated common traffic channel; means for receiving a release message over the common traffic channel; and means, responsive to said means for receiving a release message, for responsively monitoring the control channel for a new group call traffic channel designation message, wherein said means for monitoring the control channel comprises means for monitoring the control channel at a first rate for no greater than a predetermined interval following receipt of a release message over the common traffic channel, and for then monitoring the control channel at a second rate less than the first rate if the predetermined interval ends without receipt of a new group call traffic channel designation message.

Claim 75

A terminal for use in wireless communications system including a plurality of distributed transceiver units, each of which are operative to communicate with terminals over a plurality of communications channels, the terminal comprising: means for receiving a group call traffic channel designation message addressed to the terminal over a control channel, the received group call traffic channel designation message designating a common traffic channel over which the terminal can communicate with other terminals via the distributed plurality of transceiver units; means, responsive to said means for receiving, for communicating with a plurality of other terminals via the plurality of transceiver units over the designated common traffic channel; means for receiving a release message over the common traffic channel; and means, responsive to said means for receiving a release message, for responsively monitoring the control channel for a new group call traffic channel designation message, wherein said means for monitoring the control channel comprises means for monitoring the control channel at a first rate for no greater than a predetermined interval following receipt of a release message over the common traffic channel, and for then monitoring the control channel at a second rate less than the first rate if the predetermined interval ends without receipt of a new group call traffic channel designation message.

Claim 76

A terminal according to claim 67 wherein said means for receiving a release message comprises means for receiving a release message indicating the predetermined time interval.

Claim 77

A terminal according to claim 67 , wherein a control channel comprises a series of slots on a carrier frequency band, and wherein said means for receiving a group call traffic channel designation message comprises means for receiving a group call traffic channel designation message in a single slot assigned to the control channel.

Claim 78

A terminal according to claim 69 , wherein said means for receiving a group call traffic channel designation message comprises means for receiving a traffic channel designation addressed to the terminal based on a Temporary Mobile System Identification (TMSI) assigned to the terminal.

Claim 79

A terminal according to claim 70 , wherein the wireless communications system communicates TMSI fields to terminals served by the wireless communications system to thereby assign TMSI values to the terminals, such that the assigned TMSI values represented by the communicated TMSI fields are constrained to be less than or equal to a maximum value represented by a least significant portion of a TMSI field, wherein the group call origination message includes a caller field including the least significant portion of TMSI field communicated to the originating terminal combined with a control bit indicating whether the call origination message is requesting a group call and a callee field representing a TMSI value assigned to a terminal of the group of terminals, and wherein said group call traffic channel designation message includes a callee field including the TMSI value assigned to the terminal of the group of terminals combined with the control bit from the group call origination message.