The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
May. 12, 1998
Filed:
Jul. 24, 1995
Mark Steven Frank, Phoenix, AZ (US);
Daniel Richard Tayloe, Phoenix, AZ (US);
Dariusz Andrzej Blasiak, Chicago, IL (US);
Motorola, Inc., Schaumburg, IL (US);
Abstract
A subscriber unit (26) communicates with a satellite communication system (10) that projects cells. The satellites (12) and cells move relative to the earth. During every other TDMA frame, a subscriber unit (26) measures the signal strength of all candidate hand-off beams. The signal strength of the current beam is compared to the signal strength of the candidate hand-off beams. When the signal strength of the current beam is not the strongest, a counter is incremented (108). A hand-off is requested to the beam with the greatest signal level when the counter exceeds a predetermined threshold. Accordingly, only after the current antenna beam has not been the strongest beam for a certain period of time, is a hand-off requested. A different counter threshold is used for candidate hand-off beams from other satellites (12).