Distributed telemetry method and system

Details Distributed telemetry method and system Distributed telemetry method and system

2001-03-07

2003-05-20

Trost, William (Department: 2683)

Telecommunications

Radiotelephone system

Zoned or cellular telephone system

C455S414200, C455S466000, C455S456500, C340S870070, C340S539230, C340S870110, C340S870280

Reexamination Certificate

active

06567661

ABSTRACT:

FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method and system for effecting distributed telemetry that utilises a mobile radio infrastructure.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Communication infrastructures suitable for mobile users (in particular, though not exclusively, cellular radio infrastructures) have now become widely adopted. Whilst the primary driver has been mobile telephony, the desire to implement mobile data-based services over these infrastructures, has led to the rapid development of data-capable bearer services across such infrastructures. This has opened up the possibility of many Internet-based services being available to mobile users.
By way of example,
FIG. 1
shows one form of known communication infrastructure for mobile users providing both telephony and data-bearer services. In this example, a mobile entity
20
, provided with a radio subsystem
22
and a phone subsystem
23
, communicates with the fixed infrastructure of GSM PLMN (Public Land Mobile Network)
10
to provide basic voice telephony services. In addition, the mobile entity
20
includes a data-handling subsystem
25
interworking, via data interface
24
, with the radio subsystem
22
for the transmission and reception of data over a data-capable bearer service provided by the PLMN; the data-capable bearer service enables the mobile entity
20
to communicate with a service system
40
connected to the public Internet
39
. The data handling subsystem
25
supports an operating environment
26
in which applications run, the operating environment including an appropriate communications stack.
More particularly, the fixed infrastructure
10
of the GSM PLMN comprises one or more Base Station Subsystems (BSS)
11
and a Network and Switching Subsystem NSS
12
. Each BSS
11
comprises a Base Station Controller (BSC)
14
controlling multiple Base Transceiver Stations (BTS)
13
each associated with a respective “cell” of the radio network. When active, the radio subsystem
22
of the mobile entity
20
communicates via a radio link with the BTS
13
of the cell in which the mobile entity is currently located. As regards the NSS
12
, this comprises one or more Mobile Switching Centers (MSC)
15
together with other elements such as Visitor Location Registers
32
and Home Location Register
32
.
When the mobile entity
20
is used to make a normal telephone call, a traffic circuit for carrying digitised voice is set up through the relevant BSS
11
to the NSS
12
which is then responsible for routing the call to the target phone (whether in the same PLMN or in another network).
With respect to data transmission to/from the mobile entity
20
, in the present example three different data-capable bearer services are depicted though other possibilities exist. A first data-capable bearer service is available in the form of a Circuit Switched Data (CSD) service; in this case a full traffic circuit is used for carrying data and the MSC
32
routes the circuit to an InterWorking Function IWF
34
the precise nature of which depends on what is connected to the other side of the IWF. Thus, IWF could be configured to provide direct access to the public Internet
39
(that is, provide functionality similar to an IAP—Internet Access Provider IAP). Alternatively, the IWF could simply be a modem connecting to a PSTN; in this case, Internet access can be achieved by connection across the PSTN to a standard IAP.
A second, low bandwidth, data-capable bearer service is available through use of the Short Message Service that passes data carried in signalling channel slots to an SMS unit which can be arranged to provide connectivity to the public Internet
39
.
A third data-capable bearer service is provided in the form of GPRS (General Packet Radio Service which enables IP (or X.25) packet data to be passed from the data handling system of the mobile entity
20
, via the data interface
24
, radio subsystem
21
and relevant BSS
11
, to a GPRS network
17
of the PLMN
10
(and vice versa). The GPRS network
17
includes a SGSN (Serving GPRS Support Node)
18
interfacing BSC
14
with the network
17
, and a GGSN (Gateway GPRS Support Node) interfacing the network
17
with an external network (in this example, the public Internet
39
). Full details of GPRS can be found in the ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) GSM 03.60 specification. Using GPRS, the mobile entity
20
can exchange packet data via the BSS
11
and GPRS network
17
with entities connected to the public Internet
39
.
The data connection between the PLMN
10
and the Internet
39
will generally be through a firewall
35
with proxy and/or gateway functionality.
Different data-capable bearer services to those described above may be provided, the described services being simply examples of what is possible.
In
FIG. 1
, a service system
40
is shown connected to the Internet
40
, this service system being accessible to the OS/application
26
running in the mobile entity by use of any of the data-capable bearer services described above. The data-capable bearer services could equally provide access to a service system that is within the domain of the PLMN operator or is connected to another public or private data network.
With regard to the OS/application software
26
running in the data handling subsystem
25
of the mobile entity
20
, this could, for example, be a WAP application running on top of a WAP stack where “WAP” is the Wireless Application Protocol standard. Details of WAP can be found, for example, in the book “Official Wireless Application Protocol” Wireless Application Protocol Forum, Ltd published 1999 Wiley Computer Publishing. Where the OS/application software is WAP compliant, the firewall will generally also serve as a WAP proxy and gateway. Of course, OS/application
26
can comprise other functionality (for example, an e-mail client) instead of, or additional to, the WAP functionality.
The mobile entity
20
may take many different forms. For example, it could be two separate units such as a mobile phone (providing elements
22
-
24
) and a mobile PC (data-handling system
25
) coupled by an appropriate link (wireline, infrared or even short range radio system such as Bluetooth). Alternatively, mobile entity
20
could be a single unit such as a mobile phone with WAP functionality. Of course, if only data transmission/reception is required (and not voice), the phone functionality
24
can be omitted; an example of this is a PDA with built-in GSM data-capable functionality whilst another example is a digital camera (the data-handling subsystem) also with built-in GSM data-capable functionality enabling the upload of digital images from the camera to a storage server.
Whilst the above description has been given with reference to a PLMN based on GSM technology, it will be appreciated that many other cellular radio technologies exist and can typically provide the same type of functionality as described for the GSM PLMN
10
.
Recently, must interest has been shown in “location-based”, “location-dependent”, or “location-aware” services for mobile users, these being services that take account of the current location of the user (or other mobile party). The most basic form of this service is the emergency location service whereby a user in trouble can press a panic button on their mobile phone to send an emergency request-for-assistance message with their location data appended. Another well known location-based service is the provision of traffic and route-guiding information to vehicle drivers based on their current position. A further known service is a “yellow pages” service where a user can find out about amenities (shops, restaurants, theatres, etc.) local to their current location. The term “location-aware services” will be used herein to refer generically to these and similar services where a location dependency exists.
Location-aware services all require user location as an input parameter. A number of methods already exist for determining the location of a mobile user as represented by

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