Airspan Networks Inc.

Alcatel USA Sourcing, L.p.

Airspan Communications Corporation

Richard M Lamkin

Gavin J Meakes

Guy A Cooper

Jonathan A Thompson

Martin Lysejko

Jonathan F Nethercott

Nicholas John David Forbes

Dale Kenneth Burrell

The present invention provides a digit handling system and digit handling method for a subscriber terminal of a wireless telecommunications system, the subscriber terminal being arranged to have an item of telecommunications equipment connected thereto and being connectable to a central terminal of the wireless telecommunications system via a radio resource to enable a call to be routed between the item of telecommunications equipment and an exchange coupled to the central terminal. The digit handling system comprises a detector for detecting when the item of telecommunications equipment enters an off-hook state, a dial tone generator for generating a fake dial tone to the item of telecommunications equipment upon detection of the off-hook state, and a radio manager, responsive to detection of the off-hook state, for seeking acquisition of a communication channel of the radio resource over which to pass call data. Further, a switching element is provided for controlling the routing of digits through the subscriber terminal, the switching element being arranged to pass to a storage digits received from the item of telecommunications equipment following the detection of the off-hook state. A digit regenerator is then responsive to an indication that the communication channel has been acquired, to regenerate each digit stored in the storage and to output the regenerated digits over the radio resource to the central terminal. The switching element is arranged, upon determination that the storage contains no further digits, to route any further digits received from the item of telecommunications equipment for output over the radio resource to the central terminal without being stored in the storage. This approach provides a particularly efficient technique for the handling of digits generated by the item of telecommunications equipment following that equipment entering an off-hook state.

Handling of dialled digits in a wireless telecommunications system

The present invention provides a telecommunications system comprising an interface mechanism for passing signalling events between a central terminal and a subscriber terminal within the telecommunications system. The interface mechanism comprises a signalling element within the central terminal for receiving a first signalling event for transmission to the subscriber terminal and for referencing a stored set of messages to determine a first signalling message to encode the first signalling event for transmission to the subscriber terminal. Further, it comprises a signalling manager within the subscriber terminal for receiving the first signalling message from the central terminal, and for referencing said stored set of messages to decode the first signalling message to determine the first signalling event. The signalling manager is arranged to receive a second signalling event for transmission to the central terminal and to encode the second signalling event as a predetermined signalling message from said stored set of messages, a parameter of the predetermined signalling message being arranged to contain information identifying the type of the second signalling event.

Transmission of signalling information between a central terminal and a subscriber terminal of a telecommunications system

The present invention provides a wireless telecommunications system comprising an interface mechanism for establishing a wireless link between a central terminal and a subscriber terminal within said wireless telecommunications system. The interface mechanism comprises a radio port manager within the central terminal for configuring the central terminal to receive an acquisition request message from a subscriber terminal on a radio slot associated with the radio port manager, and a radio port slave within the subscriber terminal for receiving an invitation message inviting the subscriber terminal to acquire the wireless link on said radio slot, and for issuing the acquisition request message to said radio port manager. The radio port manager is responsive to receiving the acquisition request message to grant the subscriber terminal access to the radio slot.

Establishing a wireless link between a central terminal and a subscriber terminal of a wireless telecommunications system

The present invention provides a wireless telecommunications system comprising an interface mechanism for allocating a radio slot for a wireless link between a central terminal and a subscriber terminal within said wireless telecommunications system. At least one frequency channel is provided to support wireless links between the central terminal and the subscriber terminal, and a frequency channel is arranged to provide a plurality of radio slots. The interface mechanism comprises a radio manager, responsive to an indiction that a call is to be established, for issuing an allocation request message to a radio slave within the central terminal requesting that radio slave to allocate a radio slot for the call. Further, a radio slave, associated with a frequency channel, is provided to be responsive to receipt of the allocation request message from the radio manager, to reference a record identifying available radio slots within the frequency channel in order to select, if available, a radio slot within that frequency channel for allocation to the call, and to issue a response message to the radio manager indicating that a radio slot has been selected.

Allocating channels for a wireless link between a central terminal and a

The present invention provides a central terminal (10), and method of operation of such a central terminal (10), for managing calls between a telephone exchange (500) connectable to the central terminal (10) and a plurality of subscriber terminals (520), the central terminal being arranged to communicate with the subscriber terminals (520) via wireless links (515). According to the invention, the central terminal (10) comprises a call manager (560) for receiving a call from the telephone exchange (500) or from subscriber terminals (520), and for generating a call instance to represent said call, the call instance having a plurality of attribute fields to store attributes defining the call, at least one attribute being provided by the call. Further, the central terminal (10) comprises a storage unit arranged to store a matrix of interrelated data elements, accessible by the call instance, for enabling other attributes of the call to be determined from said at least one attribute provided by the call, the call instance being arranged to store these other attributes within the appropriate attribute fields of the call instance.

Call instance representation of a call for call management in a wireless

The present invention provides a central terminal, and method of operation of such a central terminal, for logging calls to or from a plurality of subscriber terminals that are arranged to communicate with the central terminal via wireless links, each subscriber terminal being arranged to support one or more lines to subscriber telecommunications equipment. The central terminal comprises a call manager for receiving a call, and for generating a call instance to represent said call, the call instance having a plurality of attribute fields to store attributes defining the call. The central terminal further comprises a call logger for storing a call log of data identifying predetermined attributes of said calls, the call logger being arranged to receive a number of the attributes stored in the call instance for inclusion in the call log.

Call logging in a wireless telecommunications system

The present invention provides a central terminal (10), and method of operation of such a central terminal (10), for routing calls between a telephone exchange (18) connectable to the central terminal (10) and a plurality of subscriber terminals (20), the central terminal (10) being arranged to communicate with the subscriber terminals (20) via wireless links (515), and each subscriber terminal (20) being arranged to support one or more lines (525) to subscriber telecommunications equipment. According to the invention, the central terminal (10) comprises a storage unit arranged to store a phone number list (535) associating phone numbers for said subscriber telecommunications equipment with corresponding of said lines (525) to subscriber telecommunications equipment.

Call routing in a wireless telecommunications system

A subscriber station of a wireless telecommunications system includes a transmitter/receiver (24) for wireless communication with a central station and for processing signals for transmission and/or received signals. The transmitter/receiver (24) is connected via a link (408) to a supply unit (30) for connection to one or more telephone lines for user telecommunications equipment. The link (408) carries telephone call data for one or more telephone lines and subscriber station control data in accordance with an internal protocol. The internal protocol control data comprises operational status parameters of the subscriber station. The provision of internal protocol control data including operation status parameters on a link between the transmitter/receiver and the supply unit thus provides a point of access for monitoring the operational status of the subscriber station.

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East Molesey, United Kingdom

Richard M Lamkin