Method for exploitation of voice inactivity to increase the capacity of a time division multiple access radio communications system

In a radio telephony system having a controlling station and a plurality of controlled stations, each controlled station transmitting and receiving information bursts to and from the controlling station, the bursts being transmitted on radio carrier frequencies divided into information channels for carrying the information bursts and control channels for carrying control messages controlling the transmission of the information bursts between stations, each channel having a predetermined sequence of carrier frequency time slots, a method for transmitting the information bursts from a selected one of the controlled stations to the controlling station comprising:

• detecting at the controlled station an information burst;
• transmitting, from the controlled station to the controlling station, an information channel allocation request in a first selected control channel slot;
• receiving in a second control channel slot, from the controlling station at the controlled station, a control message for identifying an information channel for transmitting the burst;
• and
• transmitting in the selected information channel, from the controlled station to the controlling station, the information burst.

A method of implementing TDMA communications between a plurality of user stations, including at least one mobile station, and a base station, said method comprising the steps of:

• establishing, at the base station a pool of available traffic transmission channels, each traffic transmission channel comprising a time slot in a repeating time division multiple access frame at a predetermined carrier frequency;
• receiving at the base station a request for assignment of a traffic transmission channel, from a mobile station;
• in response to receipt of the request at the base station, searching for an available traffic transmission channel from the pool of available traffic transmission channels;
• in response to location of an available traffic transmission channel at the base station, transmitting an identification of the located channel to the user station, removing the located channel from the pool of available traffic channels and
• receiving an information burst in the located and identified traffic transmission channel of the repeating time division multiple access frame from the user station.