Listen verification method and system for cellular phones

A cellular phone system comprising:

• a plurality of cell units positioned so that signals transmitted by a first cell unit can be received by a second cell unit;
• a receiver in the second cell unit for causing the second cell unit to receive transmissions from the first cell unit;
• measurement apparatus in the second cell unit for measuring communication quality of the transmission received from the first cell unit, wherein the measurement includes a baseline measurement and a current performance measurement;
• baseline memory for storing the baseline measurement;
• current performance memory for storing the current performance measurement;
• a comparator coupled to the current performance memory and to the baseline memory to signal an alarm if the current performance memory differs from the baseline memory by more than a preselected amount.

In a cellular phone system having a plurality of cell units and a master controller for controlling operation of the plurality of cell units, a method for monitoring communication quality comprising the steps of:

• storing baseline data reflecting communication quality for each of the plurality of cell units;
• selecting each cell unit in turn one at a time;
• using the selected cell unit to listen for signals from other cell units;
• measuring the communication quality of the other cell units using the selected cell unit;
• recording the measured communication quality for each of the other cell units, wherein the recorded measurement is associated with an identification of the cell unit that was measured;
• sending the recorded information to the master controller for storage;
• comparing the recorded information to the baseline data;
• and
• signaling an alarm when the comparison step indicates a significant change between the recorded information and the baseline data.

A method of controlling a cellular phone system comprising the steps of:

• installing the cellular phone system having n cell units;
• sequentially selecting each of the n cell units
• placing the selected cell unit in a listen verification mode for a first time, wherein the listen verification mode causes the selected cell unit to generate communication quality data;
• recording the communication quality data for each of the n-cell units in a baseline performance memory;
• operating the cellular system without any cell units in a listen verification mode;
• sequentially selecting each of the n cell units;
• determining if any calls ongoing on the selected cell unit can be interrupted;
• placing the selected cell unit in a listen verification mode for a second time;
• recording the communication quality data for each of the n cell units in a current performance memory;
• comparing the baseline performance memory with the current performance memory;
• and
• generating an alarm signal if the comparison indicates a change greater than a predefined threshold value.