Motorola Corporation

Richard Lawrence Astrom

Randy Lee Turcotte

Rodrigo Ibanez-Meier

Keith Andrew Olds

James P Redden

Sergio Aguirre

Norbert Kleiner

Brian Michael Daniel

Michael William Krutz

Douglas Roy Tomren

Alvin William Sheffler

James Powers Redden

A method (,) and apparatus (,) combines a terminal blockage profile for a ground-to-satellite terminal with satellite location and motion data for one or more satellites (,) in a satellite communication system (,) to predict an impending service outage or impairment on a real-time or near real-time basis and reports such impending outages or impairments, and the expected duration thereof, to the terminal operator. The prediction of an impending outage or impairment also can include analysis of information concerning atmospheric conditions in the vicinity of the terminal location as well as other potential sources of a service outage or impairment.

Method and apparatus for predicting impending service outages for ground-to-satellite terminal in a satellite communication system

A method and apparatus predicts a ground-to-satellite terminal's (16) percentage of successful communication linkage time to at least one satellite of a communication system in response to a terminal blockage profile (410), as created from the location of an antenna of the terminal, and a satellite blockage profile (412). The prediction may also be based upon a weather model data base (358) corresponding to the area where the terminal is located.

Method and apparatus for predicting service availability for a

A method and apparatus for responding to a blockage environment (50) in a communication system includes creating (158, 163) a terminal blockage profile and/or a satellite blockage profile with respect to terminal antenna (19) and responding (200) to the terminal blockage profile and/or the satellite blockage profile to prevent fading and/or blocking of communication pathways (15, 18) between one or more satellites (12) and the terminal (16).

Method and apparatus to respond to a blockage environment in a

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

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Gilbert, AZ, United States of America

Richard Lawrence Astrom