System and method for using a cellular telephone in a mobile vehicle
AssigneeLufthansa Technik AG
InventorsHenry Starke, Andrew Muirhead
Life of this patent
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Abstract
A system for connecting a cellular phone located in a mobile vehicle such as an aircraft, land vehicle, water craft or space craft to a stationary mobile telephone network includes a mobile radio base station on board the mobile vehicle that converts mobile radio data into IP data and transmits the IP data via an IP connection to a ground station where the IP data are converted back into mobile radio data and provided to a stationary mobile radio network.
Claims18
A system for connecting a cellular telephone located in a mobile vehicle to a stationary mobile radio network, comprising:
- at a stationary position, (a) a device for transmitting and receiving IP data to and from a corresponding device of the mobile vehicle, (b) a device for converting the IP data into mobile radio data and conversely, and (c) a device for transmitting and receiving the mobile radio data to and from the stationary mobile radio network;
- and
- on board the mobile vehicle, (d) a device for transmitting and receiving IP data to and from a ground station, (e) at least one mobile radio base station, configured to generate at least one local mobile radio pico cell, wherein the local mobile radio pico cell does not depend on a position of the vehicle relative to a ground based stationary mobile radio network, and (f) a device for converting the mobile radio data into the IP data and conversely and for transmitting and receiving the mobile radio data to and from the radio base station,
- wherein the mobile vehicle is out of range of the stationary mobile radio network, and
- wherein the mobile radio data is at least one of (i) GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), (ii) UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) data and (iii) digital mobile radio data converted from analog speech data.
A method for connecting a cellular phone located in a mobile vehicle to a stationary mobile radio network, comprising:
- (a) logging-in the cellular phone at a local mobile radio cell which is formed by a mobile radio base station arranged on board the vehicle;
- (b) converting the mobile radio data into IP data and conversely;
- (c) transmitting or receiving the IP data to or from a ground station;
- (e) converting the IP data into mobile radio data and conversely;
- and
- (f) transmitting or receiving the mobile radio data to or from the stationary mobile radio network,
- wherein the local mobile radio cell does not depend on a position of the vehicle relative to a ground based stationary mobile radio network,
- wherein the mobile vehicle is out of range of the stationary mobile radio network, and
- wherein the mobile radio data is at least one of (i) GSM (Global System for Mobile communications), (ii) UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) data and (iii) digital mobile radio data converted from analog speech data.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.