Telecommunications – Radiotelephone system – Emergency or alarm communication
Reexamination Certificate
1999-09-23
2002-06-18
Chin, Vivian (Department: 2682)
Telecommunications
Radiotelephone system
Emergency or alarm communication
C455S521000, C455S522000, C455S439000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06408172
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to telecommunications systems and methods for placing emergency calls within a cellular network, and specifically to placing emergency calls within a cellular network depending upon the battery state of the mobile station.
2. Background and Objects of the Present Invention
Cellular telecommunications is one of the fastest growing and most demanding telecommunications applications. Today it represents a large and continuously increasing percentage of all new telephone subscriptions around the world. A standardization group, European Telecommunications Standards Institute (ETSI), was established in 1982 to formulate the specifications for the Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) digital mobile cellular radio system.
With reference now to
FIG. 1
of the drawings, there is illustrated a GSM Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN), such as wireless network
10
, which in turn is composed of a plurality of areas
12
, each with a Mobile Services Switching Center (MSC)
14
and an integrated Visitor Location Register (VLR)
16
therein. The MSC/VLR areas
12
, in turn, include a plurality of Location Areas (LA)
18
, which are defined as that part of a given MSC/VLR area
12
in which a mobile station (MS)
20
may move freely without having to send update location information to the MSC/VLR area
12
that controls the LA
18
. Each Location Area
18
is divided into a number of cells
22
. Mobile Station (MS)
20
is the physical equipment, e.g., a car phone or other portable phone, used by mobile subscribers to communicate with the wireless network
10
, each other, and users outside the subscribed network, both wireline and wireless.
The MSC
14
is in communication with at least one Base Station Controller (BSC)
23
, which, in turn, is in contact with at least one Base Transceiver Station (BTS)
24
. The BTS
24
is the physical equipment, illustrated for simplicity as a radio tower, that provides radio coverage to the geographical part of the cell
22
for which it is responsible. It should be understood that the BSC
23
may be connected to several BTSs
24
, and may be implemented as a stand-alone node or integrated with the MSC
14
. In either event, the BSC
23
and BTS
24
components, as a whole, are generally referred to as a Base Station System (BSS)
25
.
With further reference to
FIG. 1
, the PLMN Service Area or wireless network
10
includes a Home Location Register (HLR)
26
, which is a database maintaining all subscriber information, e.g., user profiles, current location information, International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) numbers, and other administrative information. The HLR
26
may be co-located with a given MSC
14
, integrated with the MSC
14
, or, alternatively, can service multiple MSCs
14
, the latter of which is illustrated in FIG.
1
.
The VLR
16
is a database containing information about all of the MSs
20
currently located within the MSC/VLR area
12
. If an MS
20
roams into a new MSC/VLR area
12
, the VLR
16
connected to that MSC
14
will request data about that MS
20
from its home HLR database
26
(simultaneously informing the HLR
26
about the current location of the MS
20
). Accordingly, if the user of the MS
20
then wants to make a call, the local VLR
16
will have the requisite identification information without having to reinterrogate the home HLR
26
. In the aforedescribed manner, the VLR and HLR databases
16
and
26
, respectively, contain various subscriber information associated with a given MS
20
.
The ability of the MS
20
to make and maintain calls depends upon the battery state. When the battery is depleted, the call is dropped. Presently, when a mobile subscriber makes an emergency call, the battery status is not supplied to the emergency center. Therefore, if the call is dropped due to the low battery charge, the emergency operator will not know the reason.
It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide a battery status indicator during an emergency call setup.
It is a further object of the present invention to allow a handover to be performed to a reduced power cell for an emergency call when the battery status indicator indicates low battery charge.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is directed to telecommunications systems and methods for providing a battery status indicator associated with a calling mobile station (MS) during an emergency call. The battery status indicator is transmitted to the emergency center as a new parameter or as a modified existing parameter, such as cell ID. The emergency center can provide special handling for such calls, such as displaying the low battery indicator to the emergency operator. In addition, the cellular network serving the MS can handover the call to a cell with lower power demands in order to prolong the battery life of the mobile station.
REFERENCES:
patent: 4622544 (1986-11-01), Bially et al.
patent: 5870685 (1999-02-01), Flynn
patent: 5974327 (1999-10-01), Agrawal et al.
patent: 6044249 (2000-03-01), Chandra et al.
patent: 6052574 (2000-04-01), Smith, Jr.
patent: 6072784 (2000-06-01), Agrawal et al.
patent: 6148190 (2000-11-01), Bugnon et al.
patent: 6192245 (2001-02-01), Jones et al.
Alperovich Vladimir
Borg Gunnar
Chin Vivian
Ericsson Inc.
Jenkens & Gilchrist P.C.
Nguyen Duc
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