Motorola Corporation

Michael William Krutz

Daniel Richard Tayloe

James P Redden

William F Zancho

James William Bishop, Jr

Gregory B Vatt

Bradley B Bakke

David Terris

Richard Lawrence Astrom

David M Baum

Ralph Charles Gregg

Jeffrey S Crosbie

James Powers Redden

A dispatch system ( ) uses satellites ( ) to broadcast simultaneously to an individual remote unit ( ), to a select group of remote units ( ) or to all the remote units ( ). The dispatch system ( ) may assign a remote unit ( ) to a unique channel if there are enough available channels, or may assign the remote units ( ) to a shared channel when the number of available channels is limited. The remote units ( ) are given a unique control code or a shared control code. Based on the channel and the control code, the remote unit ( ) will be able to listen to the broadcast or ignore it.

Dispatch system and method of assigning a shared channel to remote units

A system for increasing call-handling capacity employs a multi-tier satellite network which includes one or more geosynchronous (GEO) satellites (,) and non-geosynchronous satellites (,). The GEO satellites (,) transfer non delay-sensitive data through the system, while the non-geosynchronous satellites (,) predominantly transfer delay-sensitive data through the system. In a preferred embodiment, a non-geosynchronous satellite (,) receives (,) a data packet, determines (,) whether or not the data packet is delay-sensitive, routes (,) a delay-sensitive data packet through the LEO network, and routes (,) a non delay-sensitive data packet to a GEO satellite (,).

Method and apparatus for increasing call-handling capacity using a multi-tier satellite network

Advanced subscriber outage notification methods (,) notify a user of a subscriber unit (,) that its call is going to be dropped. The subscriber unit (,), the satellite (,) or the mobile telecommunication system (,) first predicts whether an outage is going to occur and how much time there is before the outage. Second, the subscriber unit (,) notifies the user of the outage and the time remaining before the outage. Third, the subscriber unit (,) waits for whether the user wants to end the call. Next, the subscriber unit (,), the satellite (,) or the mobile telecommunication system (,) terminates the call if the user wants to end the call. Lastly, the mobile telecommunication system (,) drops the call once the time remaining before the outage expires.

Advanced subscriber outage notification methods

A communication system is established for providing dual-coverage areas using communication satellites, one or more terrestrial stations and one or more dual-coverage subscriber units (DCSU). The communication system determines when and where to establish dual-coverage areas. Dual-coverage areas are provided using separate beams from two or more satellites. The satellites can be located in a variety of orbits around the earth. DCSUs receive signals and process data from at least two satellites at one time. DCSUs can also transmit signals to at least two satellites at one time. Data packets which are missing from one channel are replaced by data packets on another channel. Path delays are compensated for on the transmit side to minimize processing requirements on the receive side.

Method and apparatus for reducing signal blocking in a satellite

Private Global Networks (PGNs) between communication terminals (110, 114, 116, 118) are established within a satellite communication system (100). Each PGN provides to its users a network of dedicated communication paths which have durations that exceed the duration of a particular call. A dedicated communication path is established by determining (416, 424) hand-off schedules for satellite-to-terminal links for both a source and destination terminal, and also by determining (428) satellite cross-link schedules necessary to maintain the dedicated path for a duration which exceeds the duration of a particular call.

Method and apparatus for providing private global networks in a

An emergency handoff method (50) reroutes or redirects communications from one channel in a cell (105) to another channel in the same cell (105) or a different cell (107). Handoff is initiated by a subscriber unit (SU) (100) when the SU (100) determines that an emergency handoff is needed. Once a new channel is needed, the SU (100) chooses a new, available channel to transfer its communication. After selecting an available channel, the SU (100) acquires the available channel. The servicing satellite which is providing the available channel then makes the constellation of satellites reroute or redirect the call data or the communication packets across the new channel to the SU (100).

Emergency handoff method of redirecting calls in a satellite

A method and apparatus for specialized call handling transmits (224) and receives (194) a specialized call request message, determines (196) a location of a remote communication unit (100, 110, 140) sending the specialized call request message, determines (200) at least one service center telephone number which the remote communication unit (100, 110, 140) may use to establish a specialized call, transmits (202, 206) a returned message to the remote communication unit (100, 110, 140) containing a selected service center telephone number, and sets up the specialized call (204, 232) using the selected service center telephone number.

Specialized call routing method and apparatus for a cellular

A communication network (10) includes a constellation (12) of mobile satellites (14) in low earth orbits and stationary gateways (24) near the surface of the earth. Data packets are routed through the network (10) using communication paths that change from moment to moment due to satellite movement. The routing paths are scheduled in advance (58) in response to predictable orbital satellite movement. The constellation (12) is configured so that only a minor amount of overlap in radio range exists between adjacent satellites (14). Gateways (24) include multiple, spaced apart antennas (30) that may be used to acquire arriving satellites (14'). When a gateway (24) has trouble quickly acquiring an arriving satellite (14'), an exception handoff time may be substituted for the scheduled normal handoff time at the gateway (24), departing satellite (14), and arriving satellite (14') involved.

Communication network with flexible handoff scheduling for mobile nodes

A cellular telecommunication system comprised of low-Earth orbiting satellites featuring allocation of communication channels among users in cells is disclosed. Each subscriber unit is programmed with an embedded class identifier. During periods when it is desirable to limit acquisition of a satellite to some restricted class or set of classes, such as periods of heavy use, the satellite broadcasts a list of inhibited class identifiers allowing only uninhibited classes access to the communication system. The method reduces thrashing by allowing access to users on a hierarchy class basis. The method uses both real time cell loading data and historical cell loading information based on previous experiences and can be programmed to limit access to emergency services in the case of natural disasters.

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Chandler, AZ, United States of America

Michael William Krutz