Telecommunications – Transmitter and receiver at same station – Radiotelephone equipment detail
Reexamination Certificate
1999-06-28
2002-01-29
Le, Thanh Cong (Department: 2683)
Telecommunications
Transmitter and receiver at same station
Radiotelephone equipment detail
C455S422100, C455S424000, C455S426100, C455S553100, C455S557000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06343220
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to telecommunication systems and, more specifically, to multi-mode telecommunication terminal devices arranged for accessing a plurality of different telecommunication systems or networks.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Due to the deregulation of the telecommunications market, at present telecommunication services such as telephony are provided by a number of different operators using the same and/or separate telecommunication networks.
Wireline telephone communication is mainly provided by the established telecommunication operators via the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Besides wireline communication these operators also provide wireless or mobile communication over special radio telecommunication networks such as the well known analogue cellular radio telephone networks designated AMPS, ETACS, NMT-450 and NMT-900 which have been deployed throughout the world, and/or digital radio cellular systems such as designated IS-54B in North America and the pan-European Global System for Mobile telecommunications (GSM). New operators mainly provide public telecommunication services over such cellular radio telecommunication systems. These systems, and others, are described, for example, in the book titled “Cellular Radio Systems”, by Balston et al., published by Artech House, Norwood, Mass., 1993.
A special form of radio telecommunication is called cordless communication, ranging from simple residential cordless telephones to business cordless systems capable of serving hundreds or even thousands of cordless communication units across (large) offices, production halls etc. Analogue cordless telephones are designated CT0, CT1 and CT1+. Digital cordless systems are designated CT2, CT2-CAI, CT3, PHS and DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications). CT3, PHS and DECT use TDMA (Time Division Multiple Access) as their transmission technique, whereas CT2 operates under FDMA (Frequency Division Multiple Access). Besides these access techniques, in particular in North America, spread spectrum access is used for cordless communication. CDMA (Code Division Multiple Access) is another digital access technique which can be used for cordless communication. An elaborated discussion on DECT can be found in a paper by D. Akerberg, “Novel Radio Access Principles Useful for the Third Generation Mobile Radio Systems”, The Third IEEE International Symposium on Personal, Indoor and Mobile Radio Communication, Boston Mass., Oct. 19-21, 1992.
In particular the digital cordless telecommunication systems have been proven to be very suitable for providing telecommunication services over Cable TeleVision (CaTV) networks and to provide a type of Personal Communication Services (PCS) or also called Cordless Terminal Mobility (CTM). This is basically a mobile telecommunication service that covers a whole town or city. Customers of this service are able to carry their mobile communication units (e.g. telephone handsets) with them and can make calls in the coverage area of the service. It will be appreciated that such new telecommunication systems provide new operators an excellent opportunity to operate telecommunication services over other networks than the PSTN such as CaTV networks, power cables, etc. and, of course, through the air.
In future, a user will subscribe to those telecommunication systems which best meet his/her demands for communication and, of course, with such operator providing the most attractive price and/or grade of service, for example. Accordingly, a particular user can have a PSTN subscription from operator X, a GSM subscription from operator Y and a CTM subscription from operator Z, for example.
Although there is trend to integration of, for example, radio telephone terminals arranged for multi-mode operation, such as disclosed by GB-A-2,225,512, i.e. a single radio telephone terminal capable of accessing a particular network operating in accordance with a particular mode, such as GSM or DECT, in practice among subscribers there will be a need to access a particular network or telecommunication system or mode using either one of the single mode telecommunication subscriber terminals available to him/her. This, for example, to always benefit from the most cost effective mode of communication in a particular case.
Besides the subscribers, it is also very advantageous for operators to have an opportunity to force subscribers to use a particular network or system (i.e. mode) for example in case of network problems, to levitate the use of a particular network during busy hours in such network, etc.
International patent application WO 95/23485 discloses a so-called “multi-mode communication system”, comprising a base unit having transceiver and control means to place telephone calls according to any of the known radio communication standards such as GSM, PCH, AMPS, NMT450, CT1/CT2/CT3 etc. Communication through either one of these radio protocols can be established from a cordless or cellular handset connecting to the base unit. The base unit has several built-in radio transceiver and control means for connection to the different radio telecommunication networks, rendering the unit relatively expensive and technically complex.
EP-A-0,660,628 and WO 94/17639 disclose radio telephone equipment for connecting a cellular (GSM) telephone terminal to the fixed telephone network (PSTN). Accordingly, services such as handsfree calling, provided by the cellular telephone, can be used with the wired network. The equipment (e.g. an adapter) can connect the cellular phone by a wired or wireless linkon and may also be integrated into the cellular phone. However, access of the cellular network from a different wireless communication system or equipment such as a cordless subscriber terminal, for example, is not disclosed nor suggested.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
It is an object of the present invention to present a cost effective and easy to implement solution for an integral provision of telecommunication modes and services provided to a subscriber via a plurality of wired and wireless networks.
It is a further object of the present invention to present a cost effective and easy to implement solution for an integral provision of telecommunication modes and services provided to a subscriber over a plurality of networks operated by the same or a plurality of separate operators.
According to the present invention there is provided a multimode telecommunication terminal device, comprising a plurality of interfaces for accessing a plurality of wired and/or wireless telecommunication networks from a plurality of subscriber telecommunication terminal units, and control means operatively connected to these interfaces, the control mean comprise switching means. The terminal device according to the invention is characterized in that the switching means operatively interconnect the interfaces to provide access to the plurality of wireless networks via corresponding wireless subscriber terminal units operatively connected to a corresponding interface.
The multi-mode telecommunication terminal device of the invention provides the interconnection at the subscriber end of several telecommunication networks, such as but not limited to wireline networks, cellular radio communication networks and cordless telecommunication networks.
Access to the wireless networks is advantageously provided using the radio transceiver and control means available in the several subscriber radio terminal units (e.g. mobile and/or portable radio telephones) if connected to the corresponding interface of the multi-mode telecommunication terminal device.
The present invention provides interconnection of networks at the subscribers' end, such that calls from and towards the subscriber end are routed through the several networks or telecommunications systems available to a user.
With the device according to the invention, the operators need not to develop or invest in (additional) switching and transceiver and radio control means at the network sides in order to ac
Burns Doane Swecker & Mathis L.L.P.
Cong Le Thanh
Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)
Woldetatios Yemane
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