Apple Inc.

Nortel Networks Corporation

Srinivas Eswara

Wesley Ronald Erhart

Stewart Hodde Maxwell

Anthony D Bennett

Eric C Corum

Michael John McCarthy

Daniel Thomas Carter

Shalini Suresh Periyalwar

Stephen Bennett Elliott

Keith S Wilson

James Eric Wilson

Jill R Baumann

Regena Lee Richardson

Marcus C Leatham

An access gateway node couples a control node to an external data network, where the control node and access gateway node are for use in a wireless communications network. The access gateway node comprises a data function to route packets containing traffic data between the control node and the external data network. An interface to the control node enables exchange of control messages between the data function and a control function in the control node.

Providing a data function in an access gateway node

Disclosed is an apparatus for reducing the number of control signal channels required in a wireless communication system by using a umbrella control signal to initially communicate with an MS (mobile station) within the umbrella and to assign the MS to a traffic frequency corresponding to one of a plurality of antenna used to cover the area covered by said umbrella control signal. Logic is used in combination with measured relative signal strengths to determine the position of the MS relative to the reliable reception coverage area of each of the plurality of antennas before the assignment is made.

Narrow beam traffic channel assignment method and apparatus

The present invention incorporates information representing the location and movement of a mobile station in a wireless telecommunications network to manage and control hand-offs, reduce the risk of falsing, prioritize channel assignments and control the power level of channels.

Wireless communications management and control system using mobile station position and movement information

An adaptive power tiered cell includes inner and outer tiers. Each one of a plurality of communication channels for servicing mobile terminals operating within the cell is assigned to either the inner tier or the outer tier. When a switch of one of the channels assigned to serve mobile terminals operating in a first one of the inner and outer tiers to serving mobile terminals operating in the other one of the first and second tiers is detected, the inner at tier is re-sized such that a ratio of the area of the first tier to the area of the cell matches a ratio of the number of channels serving mobile terminals operating in the inner tier to the number of channels serving mobile terminals operating in the cell. To re-size the inner tier such that a ratio of the area of the inner tier to the area of the cell matches a ratio of the number of channels serving mobile terminals operating in the inner tier to the number of channels serving mobile terminals operating in the cell, a power level threshold value which defines an outer peripheral edge of the inner tier is adjusted.

Adaptive power level tiered cellular mobile communications systems

A Dynamic Frequency Association (&ldquo;DFA&rdquo;) techniques comprising fixed channel allocation (&ldquo;FCA&rdquo;) and distributed channel borrowing techniques using a segregation scheme is described. The DFA technique can be used autonomously to dynamically determine the best channels for a cell cluster. Additionally, a method of minimizing search delays at channel assignment by employing a channel usage history is disclosed. In one aspect, as in FCA, each cell is assigned its nominal channels, if any, from the available frequency spectrum, with a fixed radio assigned to each of these frequencies, respectively. Additionally, in accordance with the teachings of the present invention, each cell is equipped with one or more radios designated as &ldquo;DFA radios&rdquo;. In operation, idle DFA radios scan channels that may be borrowed in order to build a probability matrix. This enables the cell to determine which channels to use for traffic prior to actual channel request by a mobile. This reduces the search delay experienced in classic segregation schemes.

System and method of integrating dynamic frequency association with channel borrowing techniques

Growing community of inventors

Garland, TX, United States of America

Srinivas Eswara