US 7,257,404 B1Granted

Neighborhood cordless service call handoff

AssigneeAT&T Corp.

InventorsAlbert Chow, Jinman Kim, Spencer Wang, Wenchu Ying

Life of this patent

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Abstract

A method and apparatus for providing telephone call hand offs between a local cordless service and a different wireless cellular service such as a macro-cellular service. The local cordless service may be configured such that a mobile telephone equipped subscriber may place or receive calls for a fixed rate, for example, per month without having to pay radio frequency air time charges any time they are located within their selected subscribed-to zones. If the subscribed-to zones are adjacent to one another and the mobile subscriber roams from one zone to another, the subscriber may continue their free call uninterrupted and without paying air time charges. However, when the subscriber roams outside their subscribed-to zones they may be switched from the present local cordless services to conventional personal communications services and pay air time charges.

Claims2

Dependent claims

A method for handing off a call between a mobile station and a first, anchor base station to a second, target base station, the first base station associated with a local cordless service and the second base station associated with a macro-cellular service, said first anchor and second target base stations being connected to a line side of a same digital communications switch, and said method comprising:

the first, anchor base station sending a call handoff request to the second, target base station, wherein the handoff request includes at least one of a priority list of base stations served by a network service platform and an identifier of the mobile station, and wherein the first, anchor base station sending a call handoff request to the second, target base station includes:
the first, anchor base station sending the call handoff request to said network server platform (NSP);
the NSP checking for channel availability of other base stations as set forth in a priority list of base stations, wherein the second, target base station is defined as the base station of highest priority having channel availability;
the NSP sending the handoff request to the second, target base station;
the second, target base station connecting with the mobile station, simultaneous with a connection between said mobile station and said first, anchor base station via said line side of said digital communications switch;
and
the first, anchor base station releasing a connection with the mobile station.

4 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Facts

Application: 10/914,110Filed 9 Aug 2004 · continuation
Priority: 30 Dec 1998
Granted: 14 Aug 2007
Term ends: Not estimatedThe source records don’t support an estimate.

Classification3 codes

H04W 36/00835
Determination of parameters used for hand-off, e.g. generation or modification of neighbour cell lists: determination of neighbour cell lists
H04W 84/16
Small scale networks; Flat hierarchical networks: wPBX [Wireless Private Branch Exchange]
H04W
Wireless communication networks

Family

Application09/223,316Parent of this division · filed 30 Dec 1998
Application10/119,153Parent of this continuation · filed 10 Apr 2002
US 6,546,253 B1Parent of this division · filed 8 Apr 2003
US 6,778,832 B1Parent of this continuation
Application10/119,153Parent of this division
US 7,257,404 B1This patent

From the US filing history. Foreign family members aren’t listed.