System for communicating messages via a forward overhead control channel

A method for communicating with a selected one of a plurality of cellular communications devices by sending multiple pages via a cellular network control channel of a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system, comprising the steps of:

• monitoring for pages on the forward control channel (FOCC) of the cellular network control channel;
• comparing each received page to a first mask corresponding to a predetermined characteristic to determine if the received page has a portion that matches the predetermined characteristic;
• in the event that the received page has a portion that matches the first mask, then monitoring the FOCC for one of the pages having a specific identifier assigned to the selected cellular communications device,
• comparing each received page to a second mask corresponding to the specific identifier to determine if the received page has a portion that matches the specific identifier;
• in the event that one the received pages matches the second mask, then monitoring the FOCC for pages containing a command;
• and
• responsive to receiving a predetermined number of pages containing the command, accepting data from each of the predetermined number of pages to form an aggregate data message containing a sequence of the data.

A method for communicating a message by sending a predetermined sequence of pages to a selected one of a plurality of cellular communications devices via a cellular network control channel of a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system, comprising the steps of:

• operating in a normal state, each cellular communications device operative to monitor for pages on the cellular network control channel in the normal state;
• transitioning from the normal state and entering a receive device identifier state (COMIN.sub.-- RCV.sub.-- DEVID state) in response to receiving one of the pages having a predetermined characteristic and matching a first mask (COMIN-12) stored by each cellular communications device, each cellular communications device operative in the receive device identifier state to monitor the cellular network control channel for pages containing a specific identifier assigned to the cellular communications device;
• transitioning from the receive device identifier state and entering the receive data state (COMIN.sub.-- RCV.sub.-- DATA state) in response to receiving one of the pages having the specific identifier and matching any one of a plurality of second masks assigned to a selected cellular communications device, the selected cellular communications device operative in the receive data state to monitor the cellular network control channel for pages containing commands;
• receiving data in response to receiving a predetermined number of pages containing a command while the selected cellular communications device is in the receive data state (COMIN.sub.-- RCV.sub.-- DATA state) , each command page having a portion that matches the first mask and a least significant digit representing one of the commands;
• transitioning from the receive data state (COMIN.sub.-- RCV.sub.-- DATA state) and entering the verification state (COMIN.sub.-- VERIFY state) after the selected cellular communications device receives the predetermined number of command pages and in response to receiving one of the pages having a portion that matches the first mask and a least significant digit representing a verification command;
• verifying the received data while the selected cellular communications device is in the verification state by comparing a verification term of the verification command page with a value calculated based on the data provided by the command page;
• and
• operating on the received data in accordance with the command in response to verifying the received data.

In or for a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system having an array of cells, a data message system for communicating selected data collected from a plurality of remote data sources, said data message system comprising:

• a plurality of data reporting devices, each of said data reporting devices operative for monitoring a corresponding one of said remote data sources to obtain said selected data and for transmitting a data message containing said selected data, said data message formatted to correspond to an identification signal that is transmitted by a cellular radiotelephone when said cellular radiotelephone first identifies itself to said CMR system;
• a mobile switching center (MSC) for receiving said data message via a cellular network control channel from each of said data reporting devices operating within coverage areas of said array of cells;
• and
• data collection system for collecting said selected data in response to receiving said data message from said MSC via a first communications link;
• said MSC further operative to transmit pages via the cellular network control channel, wherein selected pages contain a data set that forms a portion of a data sequence;
• said data reporting devices further operative to monitor the cellular network control channel for one of the pages having a specific identifier assigned to a selected one of the data reporting devices in response to receiving one of the pages having a predetermined characteristic,
• said selected data reporting device operative to monitor the cellular network control channel for pages containing a command in response to receiving the page having the specific identifier, and responsive to receiving a predetermined number of pages containing the command, said selected data reporting device further operative to accept the data set from each of the predetermined number of pages to form an aggregate data message containing the data sequence.

A method for communicating with a plurality of cellular communications devices by sending a multiple pages via a cellular network control channel of a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system, comprising the steps of:

• monitoring the cellular network control channel for one of the pages having a predetermined characteristic;
• monitoring the cellular network control channel for pages containing a command in response to receiving the page having the predetermined characteristic;
• and
• responsive to receiving pages containing the command, combining data from each of the predetermined number of pages to form an aggregate data message containing a sequence of the data.

For a cellular mobile radiotelephone (CMR) system, a method for communicating data between an mobile switching center (MSC) and cellular communications devices operating within the scope of coverage for the CMR system, comprising the steps of:

• transmitting a data message containing selected data via a reverse overhead control channel (RECC) of a cellular network control channel to an MSC of said CMR system, said MSC operative to receive said data message and to send multiple pages via the forward overhead control channel (FOCC) of the cellular network control channel;
• transmitting said data message from said MSC to a data collection system via a first communications link, said data collection system operative to collect said selected data in response to said data message;
• monitoring the FOCC for one of the pages having a predetermined characteristic;
• monitoring the FOCC for pages containing a command in response to receiving the page having the predetermined characteristic;
• and
• responsive to receiving a predetermined number of pages containing the command, accepting data from each of the predetermined number of pages to form an aggregate data message containing a sequence of the data.