Vodafone Group Plc.

Vodafone IP Licensing Limited

Vodafone Intellectual Property Licensing Limited

Alan Law

Paul Edwards

Toby Proctor

Allan Bartlett

Peter Howard

Walter Gottfried Bindrim

Andrew Dunkin

Jonathon Batkin

Nikolaos Lioulis

Roger Beck

Mai Tran Le

Jose Luis Carrizo Martinez

Santiago Tenorio

Ricardo Batista

Naomi Lopez

Toby Protecter

Systems and methods for controlling the activation of a hotspot function of a User Equipment (UE) device. Methods are provided for assessing the suitability of a UE to act as a hotspot dependent on parameters such as quality of data connection, battery life, and use of the UE by the user. Where multiple UEs are in proximity to each other a comparison of the suitability of each UE may be made and only the most suitable devices activated.

Systems and methods for enabling hotspot functionalityah

A scheduler for a cellular telecommunications network is provided having a first base station corresponding to a first cell and serving a cell area, the scheduler being adapted to: identify mobile devices located at the edge of the cell area; obtain resource usage information of mobile devices located at the edge of neighboring cell areas; and, allocate resource blocks for data transmission based on the location of the mobile devices and the received resource usage information, wherein those data transmissions with a high priority indication and which are for mobile devices located at the edge of the cell area are allocated with a higher priority than those data transmissions with a high priority indication and which are for mobile devices not located at the edge of the cell area. An associated method and computer readable storage medium are also provided.

Coordination and QoS scheduling

A system for distributing a radio frequency (RF) signal using a data cable system includes a method and apparatus with components that receive the RF signal, determine the passband of the data cable system, spread the RF signal within the passband as a spread signal, insert the spread signal into the cable system, extract the spread signal from the data cable system as an extracted signal, convert the extracted signal to a transmission frequency as a converted signal, and transmit the converted signal.

Radio frequency distribution with spreading

Configuring a cellular telecommunications network base station repeater for use at a particular location includes performing data collection activity at the location to obtain an indication of the transmit frequency of a nearby base station of the cellular telecommunications network. The repeater is then set to amplify received signals at that frequency. By only amplifying this particular frequency, the repeater can provide cellular telecommunications coverage at a location (for example a basement) where coverage might not otherwise be available by amplifying only the relevant frequency. This is in contrast to amplifying indiscriminately a wide range of frequencies, which can interfere with other radio transmissions.

Configuration of base station repeater

A system for distributing radio frequency signals using a data cable system includes a method and components that receive a radio frequency (RF) signal, identify at least one unoccupied channel on the data cable system, convert the RF signal to the frequency associated with an unoccupied channel as a converted signal, insert the converted signal into the cable, extract the converted signal from the cable as an extracted signal, convert the extracted signal to a transmission frequency as a transmission signal, and transmit the transmission signal at the transmission frequency.

Radio frequency signal distribution using data cable system

A mobile telecommunications network includes a radio access network with base stations and one or more additional access points. An access point is connected to a network core by an IP transport broadband connection. The access point is configured to appear to a mobile terminal as a conventional base station&#x2014;that is, for example, it communicates with the mobile terminal using GSM or UMTS transport protocols and does not require any modification to a standard GSM or UMTS mobile terminal. Arrangements are disclosed which monitor the quality of the broadband connection between the access point and the network core and which cause the mobile terminal to handover to a neighboring base station in the event that the quality of the broadband connection becomes too poor for the class of communication between the mobile terminals registered with the access point to be performed satisfactorily.

Controlling the use of access points in a telecommunication system

A mobile telecommunications network includes a radio access network comprising base stations and one or more additional access points. An access point is connected to a network core by an IP transport broadband connection. The access point is configured to appear to the mobile terminal as a conventional base station&#x2014;that is, for example, it communicates with the mobile terminal using GSM or UMTS transport protocols and does not require any modification to a standard GSM or UMTS mobile terminal. Access Points may not be under the direct control of the network provider, and so are more susceptible to security threats. The described system allows the network provider to verify that the access point through which a mobile terminal is about to communicate is a legitimate and trusted base station and/or is at a particular location. Differential charging may be performed in dependence upon a subscriber's location.

Growing community of inventors

Basingstoke, United Kingdom

Alan Law