Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (publ)

Matthieu Lachance

Michel Desgagne

Cellular telephone systems may have to handle high rate data calls that utilize multiple full rate channels within a frequency. It is important to increase the availability of the system for these high rate data calls while maintaining the quality of the radio links within the cellular radio network. A first sort is performed to find full rate channels that meet a requested call service type below the operator allowed cost threshold related to the radio conditions. Using the previously sorted FR channels, a second sort is performed to find the multi-full rate channel combinations that meet a requested call service rate. The call is then assigned to the found channel combination with the lowest cost. Otherwise, the system reduces the requested service rate of the call and attempts to place the call into a multi-full rate channel combination channel again. If the call has reached the minimum acceptable service rate, the system reduces an existing high rate call, and attempts to place the call into a multi-full rate channel combination. Additional functionality allows the system to perform intra-cell or intra-frequency hand-offs.

Multi-full rate channel assignment for a cellular telephone system

A system and method for wide area item tracking. An item identifier for a tracked item is detected in a handling zone within a cellular network. A mobile station associated with the handling zone transmits a signal containing the item identifier and a zone identifier over an air interface of the cellular network. Upon receipt of the signal, data correlating the item identifier and the handling zone is stored in a database. Subsequently, a request for the current location of the tracked item is received, and the stored correlation data is retrieved to determine the current handling zone for the tracked item. The cell location of the handling zone is then determined. In one implementation, the mobile station transmits a registration signal, permitting the cellular network to determine in which cell the handling zone is currently located, and data associating the handling zone with the current cell is stored. Then, in response to the location request, the association data is retrieved to determine the current cell. In another implementation, the mobile station is paged and the page return signal is used to identify the current cell, which can be converted into geographical location data using a look-up table.

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Outremont, Canada

Matthieu Lachance