Apparatus and method for selecting TTY/TDD baudot code-capable vocoders in a wireless mobile network

A wireless network comprising:

• a plurality of base transceiver stations capable of communicating with mobile stations located in a coverage area of said wireless network, wherein a first one of said plurality of base transceiver stations comprises an apparatus for assigning a vocoder associated with said base station to process call traffic associated with a first mobile station, wherein said apparatus comprises:
• a connection network capable of connecting a plurality of vocoders to a plurality of channel elements, each of said plurality of channel elements capable of processing forward channel messages transmitted to said first mobile station and reverse channel messages received from said first mobile station;
• and
• a controller capable of receiving a control message transmitted by said first mobile station and extracting from said control message a data value suitable for indicating if said first mobile station is capable of transmitting and receiving TTY/TDD Baudot code data traffic, wherein said controller causes said connection network to connect a first channel element processing forward and reverse channel messages associated with said first mobile station to a first selected vocoder capable of processing TTY/TDD Baudot code data traffic if said data value indicates said first mobile station is capable of transmitting and receiving TTY/TDD Baudot code data traffic.

For use in a base station of a wireless network that is capable of communicating with mobile stations located in a coverage area of the wireless network, a method of assigning a vocoder associated with the base station to process call traffic associated with a first mobile station, the method comprising the steps of:

• receiving a control message transmitted by the first mobile station;
• extracting from the control message a data value suitable for indicating if the first mobile station is capable of transmitting and receiving TTY/TDD Baudot code data traffic;
• and
• if the data value indicates that the first mobile station is capable of transmitting and receiving TTY/TDD Baudot code data traffic, connecting a first channel element processing forward and reverse channel messages associated with the first mobile station to a first selected vocoder capable of processing TTY/TDD Baudot code traffic.