Cellular telephone with datagram and dispatch operation

A method of providing communication of voice or data or voice and data messages in a cellular radio telephony system having a plurality of remote stations for communicating through a radio frequency interface with a plurality of base stations, said base stations being connected as nodes to a local area network and connected through a switching center to a switched telephone network, there being at least one radio frequency interface for each cell of said cellular system, the method comprising:

• receiving registrations through said radio frequency interfaces from said remote stations at corresponding ones of said base stations, said registrations identifying said remote stations for access to said local area network or to said switched telephone network;
• recording said registrations at said corresponding base stations;
• receiving a message from a registered remote station;
• routing said message alternately to said local area network or to said switched telephone network based on said recorded registration.

A method of providing communication of voice or data or voice and data messages in a cellular radio telephony system having a plurality of remote stations for communicating through a radio frequency interface with a plurality of base stations, said base stations being interconnected by a local area network, there being at least one radio frequency interface for each cell of said cellular system, the method comprising:

• receiving registrations through said radio frequency interfaces from said remote stations at corresponding ones of said base stations;
• recording said registrations at said corresponding base stations;
• receiving a message for communication to one or more remote stations and, associated with said message, an identification of said remote stations to which said message is to be communicated;
• transmitting said message and said associated remote station identification to each of said base stations using said local area network;
• at each base station, comparing said associated station identification to said recorded remote station registrations;
• and
• if said associated station identification matches a recorded remote station registration, transmitting said message to the corresponding registered remote station through said corresponding radio frequency interface.

A cellular radio telephony system for communication of voice or data messages between remote stations, a public switched telephone network, and a public data network comprising:

• a plurality of base stations, each base station having at least one radio frequency interface to said remote stations for each cell in said cellular system, each radio frequency interface comprising a forward radio channel for communications from the base station to the remote station and a reverse radio channel for communications from the remote station to the base station;
• a mobile switching center coupled to said public switched telephone network and in direct communication with each of said base stations, said mobile switching center capable of directly routing a message from one of said base stations to another of said base stations independent of said public switched telephone network;
• and
• a local area network interconnecting the plurality of base stations, said local area network allowing at least one of said base stations to communicate with another of said base stations independent of said public switched telephone network.

A method of providing dispatch operations in a cellular telephone system comprising the steps of:

• receiving a dispatch setup message at a first base station over a reverse radio channel from a dispatch initiator, said dispatch setup message including an identifier for a dispatch pool, said dispatch pool includes a plurality of mobile stations, and an identifier for each mobile station to be included in the dispatch pool, said mobile stations including a first mobile station registered with said first base station and a second mobile station registered with a second base station;
• storing the dispatch pool in a memory in said first base station, said dispatch pool including said dispatch pool identifier and said mobile station identifiers;
• transmitting said dispatch pool to said second base station over a local area network, said local area network inter-connecting said first and second base stations;
• storing said dispatch pool in a memory in said second base station;
• receiving a dispatch transaction message at said base station from said dispatch initiator over a reverse radio channel, said dispatch transaction message comprising a voice traffic burst and said dispatch pool identifier;
• comparing said received dispatch pool identifier recovered from said transaction message with said dispatch pool identifier previously stored in said first base station memory;
• determining that said first mobile station is registered in said first base station and is a member of said dispatch pool;
• transmitting said voice traffic burst to said first mobile station;
• determining whether said second mobile station is registered in said first base station;
• transmitting over said local area network a message containing said dispatch pool identifier and said voice traffic burst to said second base station;
• comparing said dispatch pool identifier with said dispatch pool identifier previously stored in said second base station memory;
• determining that said second mobile station is registered in said second base station;
• and
• transmitting said voice traffic burst to said second mobile from said second base station via a forward radio channel.