U.S. patent application number 12/426263 was filed with the patent office on 2010-04-29 for location reporting satellite paging system with optional blocking of location reporting.
Invention is credited to Denzil Willoughby Chesney, MUNDI FOMUKONG.
Application Number | 20100105363 12/426263 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 23009601 |
Filed Date | 2010-04-29 |
United States Patent
Application |
20100105363 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
FOMUKONG; MUNDI ; et
al. |
April 29, 2010 |
LOCATION REPORTING SATELLITE PAGING SYSTEM WITH OPTIONAL BLOCKING
OF LOCATION REPORTING
Abstract
A location reporting paging communication system comprising
space satellites, ground stations and a remote receiving unit
adapted to resolve a global position from signals transmitted from
a communication transmitter. The subscriber in possession of the
remote receiving unit updates the paging network with global
positioning information. A caller paging a subscriber in possession
of the remote receiving unit may request the global location of the
remote receiving unit. The paging network could divulge or block
such information from a caller depending on the requirements of the
subscriber.
Inventors: |
FOMUKONG; MUNDI; (Los
Angeles, CA) ; Chesney; Denzil Willoughby; (Los
Angeles, CA) |
Correspondence
Address: |
MUNDI FOMUKONG
10853 ROSE AVE., # 49
WLA
CA
90034
US
|
Family ID: |
23009601 |
Appl. No.: |
12/426263 |
Filed: |
April 19, 2009 |
Related U.S. Patent Documents
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Application
Number |
Filing Date |
Patent Number |
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10414348 |
Apr 15, 2003 |
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12426263 |
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09265236 |
Mar 8, 1999 |
6560461 |
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10414348 |
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08905674 |
Aug 4, 1997 |
5918159 |
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09265236 |
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Current U.S.
Class: |
455/414.1 ;
455/456.1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W 8/10 20130101; H04W
84/022 20130101; H04B 7/18567 20130101; H04W 84/025 20130101; H04W
8/16 20130101 |
Class at
Publication: |
455/414.1 ;
455/456.1 |
International
Class: |
H04M 3/42 20060101
H04M003/42 |
Claims
1. A method for limiting access to the location information of a
first resource comprising: (a) granting permission to at least a
second and third resource to access the location of the first
resource upon verification of the access status of the first
resource; (b) acquiring and providing the location of said first
resource to said at least second or third resource; (c) specifying
that said access status indicates that only said at least third
resource should be inhibited from accessing the location
information of said first resource; (d) using the specified
information of (c) to limit said at least third resource from
accessing the location information of said at least first
resource.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein said at least second resource is
granted access to the location information of said at least first
resource when said at least third resource has been denied
access.
3. A communication system comprising: (a) a unit or component that
is able to communicate with a network to establish the location of
a mobile remote unit within the system; (b) a list of communication
resources within the system that are preauthorized to access said
mobile remote unit location information from the system; (c) said
communication system able to inhibit at least one communication
resource selected from said list from accessing said mobile remote
unit location information while allowing other resources selected
from said list to access the location of said mobile remote unit
during the same time, wherein the mobile remote unit continuously
able to establish its location within the system.
4. The system of claim 3 further including a control unit having
line access and means to limit access to said mobile remote unit
location information to selected line access.
5. The system of claim 3, wherein said mobile remote unit is
capable of limiting the provision of its location information to at
least one network resource selected from said list while allowing
other resources selected from said list to access its location
information during said time.
6. A communication system comprising: (a) a unit that is able to
communicate with a network to establish the location information of
a mobile handset; (b) at least a first communication resource that
is pre-authorized to always receive the location information of the
mobile handset upon request; (c) at least a second communication
resource that is pre-authorized to receive the location of the
mobile handset depending on the status of a privacy profile feature
of said mobile handset at the time of request; (d) a component that
is able to provide the location information of the mobile handset
to said first and second pre-authorized communication resources;
and (e) the system able to use said privacy profile feature to
accept or deny the location information of the mobile handset to
said second pre-authorized communication resource, wherein
accepting or denying said location information is independent of
whether positioning the mobile handset is allowed within the
system.
7. The system of claim 6, wherein said mobile handset is able to
process satellite information to assist in establishing its
location information.
8. The system of claim 6, wherein said mobile handset is able to
process earth based transmitter information to assist in
establishing its location information.
9. The system of claim 6, wherein said first pre-authorized
communication resource is adapted to never be denied access to the
location information of the mobile handset.
10. The system of claim 9, wherein said first pre-authorized
communication includes one or more emergency and network related
location enabled applications and/or services.
11. The system of claim 6, wherein said second pre-authorized
communication resource is adapted to be denied access to the
location information of the mobile handset depending on the status
of said privacy feature.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein said second pre-authorized
communication resource includes one or more subscriber or user
pre-authorized location enabled applications and/or services.
13. The system of claim 6, wherein said unit, component, override,
first and second and pre-authorized communication resource are
remote from said mobile handset.
Description
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
[0001] This application is a divisional of U.S. application Ser.
No. 10/414/348, filed Apr. 15, 2003, which is also a continuation
of U.S. application Ser. No. 09/265,236 filed Mar. 8, 1999 issued
as U.S. Pat No. 6,560,461, which in turn is a continuation-in-part
of U.S. application Ser. No. 08/905,674, filed Aug. 4, 1997 issued
as U.S. Pat. No 5,918,159. This application is related to PCT
Application US 98/19270. These related applications are
incorporated herein by reference.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
[0002] The field of the invention is telecommunication services and
systems, specifically such services and systems that have the
ability to locate a remote unit using a telecommunication
network.
[0003] Today, portable mobile telecommunication devices such as
cellular telephones, pagers and other handheld information
receiving devices are utilized by a greater cross section of the
population since they are relatively inexpensive to acquire.
Normally information from a communication source is transmitted to
a subscriber in possession of a handheld communication information
receiving device at a remote global location. The caller or source
of information dials a number and a communication channel is set up
for communication with a remote receiving unit such as a handheld
communication device. Currently there is no infrastructure in place
whereby a caller may request the location of the remote receiving
unit from the network. The caller or communication source cannot
determine where a message is sent.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0004] The present invention is directed to a communication system
using a network of signal transmitting and receiving units and
remote receiving units. Information about the location of the
remote receiving units is employed by the system.
[0005] In a first separate aspect of the present invention, a
network of signal transmitting and receiving units and at least one
positioning transmitter for transmitting positioning information
communicate with a remote receiving unit. The remote receiving unit
is capable of selectively providing secured and accessible remote
receiving unit position information to the network of signal
transmitting and receiving units.
[0006] In a second separate aspect of the present invention, the
foregoing aspect further includes a terrestrial control station and
terrestrial signal transmitting and receiving stations and/or
satellite signal transmitting and receiving stations.
[0007] In a third separate aspect of the present invention, a
network of signal transmitting and receiving units includes means
for determining that the location of a remote receiving unit is
requested. A means for locating the signal transmitting and
receiving unit in the network which is able to communicate with the
remote receiving unit is employed with a means for reporting the
location of that unit.
[0008] In a fourth separate aspect of the present invention, the
positioning information of a remote receiving unit is provided to a
network of signal transmitting and receiving units with the
information selectively secured by the remote receiving unit from
inquiry to the network. The remote receiving unit may be capable of
communication with at least one positioning transmitter and capable
of two way communication with the network of signal transmitting
and receiving units to disclose a global location to the network.
The network may include satellite units and terrestrial units.
[0009] In a fifth separate aspect of the present invention, a
method for divulging or blocking the location of a remote receiving
unit associated with a network is contemplated. The method includes
receiving authorization at the network to block or divulge the
location from the remote receiving unit, receiving a request at the
network for the location of a remote receiving unit, identifying
the source of the request if required, transmitting the request and
the identification of the source of the request by the network to
the remote receiving unit for authorization and responding to the
request according to the authorization. A sensory signal may be
transmitted from the remote receiving unit until transmitting the
positional information is successfully completed.
[0010] In a sixth separate aspect of the present invention, a
method for updating a network of signal transmitting and receiving
units about the positional information for a remote receiving unit
includes providing positional information about the remote
receiving unit to the remote receiving unit, comparing the
positional information with pre-selected active areas stored in the
remote receiving unit and generating a sensory signal at the remote
receiving unit if the comparison is negative. The network may be
updated with the positional information of the remote receiving
unit.
[0011] In a seventh separate aspect of the present invention a
method for transmitting a message to a remote receiving unit by a
network of signal transmitting and receiving units includes
configuring the message to include the addresses of at least
selected signal transmitting and receiving units of the network and
transmitting the message to a series of signal transmitting and
receiving units of the network in series. The units with a selected
address beams the message to the corresponding coverage areas. The
message is then reconfigured to eliminate the address of the
receiving signal transmitting and receiving unit before it is
re-transmitted to a subsequent signal transmitting and receiving
unit.
[0012] In an eighth separate aspect of the present invention, any
of the foregoing aspects are contemplated to be combined.
[0013] Thus, it is an object of the present invention to provide an
improved communication network. Other and further objects and
advantages will appear hereafter.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0014] FIG. 1 shows a global satellite paging network.
[0015] FIG. 2 shows a block diagram of the remote receiving unit,
or pager.
[0016] FIG. 3 shows a flow chart illustrating the operation of a
paging network control station each time a caller request for the
global position of a remote receiving unit.
[0017] FIG. 4 is a flow chart illustrating the operation of a
remote receiving unit when a global position is resolved in an
attempt to determine if the remote receiving unit is out of their
paging area.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
[0018] The present system will consist of satellites [2] in space,
communicating with earth based stations [4] and the remote
receiving unit [8] which may variously be referred to as a call
receiver or pager. Ground based transmitters [10] will be employed
to transmit pages to the remote receiving unit [8]. Terrestrial
network control stations [6], will be employed to effectively
control the activities of the entire global paging network. The
system will be developed such that a remote receiving unit
operating under an existing paging systems will work. Thus, a
network of signal transmitting and receiving unit is developed.
[0019] Upon subscribing to a paging network a subscriber selects
global areas (pre-selected paging areas) where they wish to receive
paging messages. The pre-selected areas, pager ID, paging protocol
and other relevant information of the remote receiving unit are
stored in the data library of a paging control station [6] for all
pagers utilizing the paging network. The remote receiving unit [8],
will periodically resolve a global position from signals
transmitted from satellites and earth based communication means.
The resolved global position will be periodically utilized to
update the network each time a user is out of their paging area or
each time the paging network requests a remote receiving unit to
disclose their global position. This will enable the paging network
to know the exact global location of a remote receiving unit
whenever the need arises. Messages received for a remote receiving
unit are processed by the network and transmitted to the global or
active area of the remote receiving unit.
[0020] To initiate a page, a caller or communication source may use
any regular communication device such as a telephone, personal
computer to access the paging network. The caller may add specific
codes to a paging message to enable the paging network to disclose
the global position of the remote receiving unit after the message
is transmitted. The caller's message is firstly processed by the
local telephone switching office [9] before transmission to the
paging control station [6]. The paging control station [6] will be
employed to control all the activities of the network. Upon
receiving a paging message, a paging control station decodes the
message for relevant information such as pager ID and determines if
a caller requires the global position of the pager. Other relevant
information such as the paging protocol of the remote receiving
unit, pre-selected or preferred worldwide areas to receive pages
and the current active area of the remote receiving unit are
retrieved from the paging control station's data library. The
paging control station [6] validates the current active area of the
remote receiving unit with the pre-selected areas to receive pages.
If the current active area of the remote receiving unit is valid
and within a pre-defined time interval the message is transmitted
to the remote receiving unit. If the current active area is invalid
(remote receiving unit is out of pre-selected paging area) the
message is not transmitted to the remote receiving unit and the
caller is notified. In instances where the current active area of
the remote receiving unit is valid but the remote receiving unit
has not updated the network with its current position over a
pre-defined time period, the paging control station will encode the
message such that a request will be placed for the remote receiving
unit to update its current active global position. As each
subscriber of the paging network can only travel a limited distance
by air, land or sea within a pre-defined time interval, the paging
network, based upon when a remote receiving unit last updated their
global location will select appropriate earth based stations and
space satellites to transmit the message to the remote receiving
unit at specified worldwide locations. The remote receiving unit
upon receiving this signal will disclose their global location.
[0021] As a user travels from city to city or country to country,
the remote receiving unit will periodically resolve a global
position from signals transmitted from satellites and earth based
communication means. This information will be utilized by the
remote receiving unit or user in possession of the remote receiving
unit to update the current active area held by the paging network
for that remote receiving unit. Also, the remote receiving unit
will store this information in its memory such that future resolved
global positions could be validated against this information to
ensure that the active area currently held and utilized by the
paging network to transmit pages to the remote receiving unit is
not outdated.
[0022] Once a control station determines where a message will be
sent, the control station determines the best possible way to
transmit the message. With a knowledge of the geographical
distribution of all earth based satellite transmitters [4], ground
base transmitter stations [10] and space satellites [2], the paging
control station [6] will encode a message such that the sequence of
transmission of the message will be included. The ID of all the
ground stations or space satellites that will be employed in the
message transmission chain will be encoded in a chronological order
and the message will be routed to the first ground station. This
station could be an earth station that transmits directly to
satellite [4], or a ground based transmitter [10]. For example,
after a paging control station encodes a message and determines
which stations (earth or satellite) should transmit the message,
the message is routed to the first earth station. The first earth
station could either transmit the message directly to satellite or
beam the message to their coverage area. Subsequent stations that
receive the message decode the message and determine if other
stations are required to transmit the message. If other stations
are required to transmit the message the current station re-encodes
the message so as to eliminate itself from the message transmission
chain before retransmitting the message to the next station. By
re-encoding the message an earth station or satellite station will
prevent subsequent stations involved in the message transmission
chain to retransmit the message back to that station. If an earth
station or satellite determines it is required to broadcast a
message, the message is beamed to the area covered by that station.
The transmission chain continues until the last station broadcasts
the message and acknowledges with a status signal which is sent
back to the paging control station. Upon receiving this signal, the
ground control station can alert the caller that the message was
successfully sent. Therefore, with a knowledge of the geographical
distribution of the paging network's earth and satellite
transmitters, and a knowledge of the current active area of a
remote receiving unit, a ground control paging station could
effectively encode a caller's message to include all satellite and
earth based stations that will be employed in the message
transmission chain. This will eventually minimize the risk of a
satellite or earth based transmitter from being overloaded.
[0023] Once a paging control station [6] receives a message from a
caller, the control station, determines if the caller requested the
global position of the remote receiving unit. The control station
then verifies from its data library if the positioning disclosure
feature for that remote receiving unit has not been blocked by the
subscriber. Each remote receiving unit will have a special code
whereby if identified in a caller's paging information, will allow
the paging control station to disclose the remote receiving unit
global position. If such a code is not detected in a callers
message and the caller requested the global location of a remote
receiving unit, the caller will be immediately notified that their
request was not authorized by the subscriber using the remote
receiving unit. A subscriber may change their positioning
disclosure code at anytime and reveal such information only to
individuals who could acquire information regarding their global
whereabouts from the paging network. The paging network will only
override the users request and disclose a subscribers global
position only in an emergency circumstance. Also the network
operation could be such that a network might disclose all locations
whenever a call is placed to a subscriber and subscribers may opt
not to have their location disclosed.
[0024] If the positioning disclosure feature is blocked for any
call, a message is sent to the caller indicating that the
subscriber does not wish their current global position disclosed.
If the positioning disclosure feature is active, the control
station retrieves the coordinates of the remote receiving unit
global position and encodes that information before transmission to
the caller. Such information may describe the latitude and
longitude of the subscriber including a more simplified information
such as the country, city or town were the message was sent. The
steps carried out by the control station during this process are
best illustrated in step 1, FIG. 3. In this illustration, the
paging control station upon receiving a paging message decodes the
message and checks if the message includes a request for the remote
receiving unit global position. If such information is not required
the message is processed normally. If the remote receiving unit
global position is required and the positioning disclosure code is
detected, the remote receiving unit positioning information is
retrieved from the data bank of the paging control station. If the
information retrieved from the paging control station's databank is
unavailable or out of date, a request could be made that the remote
receiving unit disclose its current position. If the control
station establishes that the positioning disclosure feature is
blocked for that message, the caller is immediately notified with
the appropriate message. If the remote receiving unit positioning
disclosure feature for the message in process is active, the
positioning information of the remote receiving unit is processed
and transmitted to the caller and the caller's message is processed
for dispatch to the remote receiving unit as previously
disclosed.
[0025] A communication source may request the unit to disclose its
position to one or more communication targets. Upon receiving this
signal the caller may be alerted and location information of the
unit may be selectively or fully relayed to the respective
communication targets. In instances where a communication source
does not have direct access to obtain a subscriber's location from
the communication network, the source may poll for the location of
a remote unit by including specific information which when received
by the remote receiving unit will reveal the identity of the source
and a request for the location of the remote unit. The remote unit
may either accept or decline to this request by transmitting
specific information back to the paging network which will reveal
or block the location to the caller.
[0026] In another scenario a remote unit may disclose location
information to a communication target such as a remote computer or
terminal via the network. In this situation a user selects or
specifies the destination ID of the communication target, which may
be a computer or terminal address. The location of the remote unit
is resolved and transmitted to the communication target via the
network with the appropriate information if available. In a
distress situation a subscriber may use this feature to alert the
network with location and relevant distress information which when
received by the network could enable the dispatch of an emergency
team to that location. Other service industries may utilize the
network to allow for certain types of information that are location
dependent disclosed to their site. For instance a caller driving on
a highway and in full view of an accident may simply disclose that
information through the input panel and the appropriate authority
could be notified of such an event happening at that location. In a
rainy, foggy or highly congested traffic area a subscriber in
possession of this unit may relay such an event to the appropriate
authority. Furthermore, subscribers may use this feature at any
time to log their locations at their home computer or any relevant
Internet site by selecting or specifying the appropriate ID or
address for location information dispatch.
[0027] For positioning, the remote receiving unit will be
pre-programmed to periodically resolve a position from signals
transmitted from satellites and earth based communication means. At
least the remote receiving unit should have the means to provide
the paging network with positioning information. Some of the
satellites and earth based transmitters used to transmit paging
information could be employed to transmit referenced positioning
signals to the remote receiving unit. Alternatively the Global
Positioning System well known in the art as GPS could also be
utilized by the remote receiving unit to resolve a global position.
However the remote receiving unit should have a means to resolve a
global position from L-band signals transmitted from at least one
satellite, depending on the resolving technique employed. GPS is
currently being used to provide worldwide positioning information
to mobile users around the globe. Such positioning information has
an accuracy of about one hundred meters and could further be
improved to an accuracy of five meters if referenced signals from
ground based transmitters are utilized in the resolving process. A
fully operational Global Positioning System includes up to 24
satellites dispersed around six circular orbits. The dispersion and
inclination of the satellites is such that at least three or more
satellites are readily visible from most parts on the earth
surface. In a typical example, for a remote receiving unit to
resolve a global position, the remote receiving unit need to solve
for two variables of position, latitude and longitude. The
satellites, equipped with atomic clocks act as a beacon and
transmit signals that tell the remote receiving unit where it is
and what time the signal was sent. From this information, a remote
receiving unit can determine how far it is from the satellite by
comparing the time sent with the time received and multiplying by
the speed of light (distance=velocity*time). Since there is a bias
between the GPS time and the user's time, a third variable time
will be required. Having three satellites in view at any point in
time, a remote receiving unit will be able to solve for latitude,
longitude and time. For three dimensional positioning a fourth
variable and satellite will be required. Upon resolving a global
position the remote receiving unit could update the network with
its present global location or the remote receiving unit could
alert a user when they are out of their active or preselected
global areas to receive pages.
[0028] The remote receiving unit (FIG. 2) will receive messages
transmitted from satellites and terrestrial based transmitters
through the transceiver [101]. The connecting circuitry [102] of
the remote receiving unit, controlled by the CPU [108], will route
satellite based signals via 202 to the satellite receiving means
[103] and terrestrial based signals via 203 to the terrestrial
receiving means [104]. The connecting circuitry may include a
filter arrangement and a switch that will allow L-band or satellite
frequencies to pass via 202 and terrestrial or Ultra High
Frequencies to pass via 203. This signals could either be paging
message signals or global positioning signals. Therefore depending
on the pre-loaded protocols and initialization data, the CPU will
drive the connecting circuitry [102], satellite receiving means
[103], terrestrial receiving means [104] to scan and process
specific frequencies.
[0029] Satellite signals are processed by the satellite receiving
means [103]. This unit will process global positioning satellite
signals and satellite message signals. The satellite receiving unit
will include satellite signal amplifiers, mixers and filters that
will convert the L band global positioning and message signals
received from the connecting circuit [102] to an appropriate level
for efficient processing by the decoding circuit [105]. The
satellite receiving means circuitry is well known by any one well
skilled in the art. The operation of this unit is controlled by the
microprocessor or CPU [108] via 206.
[0030] The CPU determines the appropriate intermediate frequencies
and output signals that will be generated by the satellite
receiving unit [103]. This is based on the initialization
parameters pre-loaded in the ROM [110] of the remote receiving
unit. The CPU controls the satellite receiving unit via 206, and
the output signals produced by the satellite receiving unit [103]
are routed via 205 to the decoder [105] for intelligence extraction
and error correction. Decoder [105] is controlled by the CPU [108]
via 209. Transmission of data directly by Decoder [105] or Decoder
[106] to the CPU input port via 210 is determined by the CPU. If
the CPU determines satellite messages are of high priority Decoder
[105] is signaled via 209 to transmit data directly to the CPU via
210 and Decoder [106] is signaled via 213 to temporary hold its
data. Decoder [106] will store its data in the Temporary Store
[107] via 211 for later retrieval by the CPU. If terrestrial based
signals are of a higher priority Decoder [105] is signaled to
temporary hold its data. Again each decoder could be equipped with
a store eliminating the use of the Temporary Store [107]. If a
decoder is not equipped with storage means, the decoder could
download its data via 211 to the temporary data storage while the
other decoder will transmit directly to the CPU via 210. If
multiple decoders are required to decode multiple satellite and
earth based signals (message and positioning signals), the CPU
could again determine when each decoder should transmit it's data
to the CPU's input port, with each decoder equipped with the
appropriate storage means to temporarily hold it's data until such
transmit instruction is received from the CPU.
[0031] Terrestrial based signals will be processed by the
terrestrial receiving means [104]. This UHF or VHF signals will be
routed by the connecting circuitry [102] via 203 to the terrestrial
receiver [104]. Again, the terrestrial receiving unit will include
Ultra High Frequency (UHF) or Very High Frequency (VHF) amplifiers,
filters and down converting circuitry to process the signal from
203 to an appropriate level for efficient processing by decoder
[106]. Direct transmission of data from decoder 2 [106] to the CPU
via 210 will be controlled by the CPU. The operation of this part
of the receiver will be similar to the satellite receiving end.
Therefore, the CPU [108] will control the operation of the
connecting circuitry, the satellite and terrestrial receiving
means. The CPU [108] will have the ability to determine exactly
when a satellite or terrestrial message or positioning signal is
received and processed.
[0032] Once the CPU completes processing data from a decoder [106,
107], the CPU retrieves data from the temporary data storage [107]
for processing. As previously stated multiple decoders could be
employed. In this situation each decoder will have the ability to
store or hold its data temporarily or use the temporary storage
[107] until signaled by the CPU to transmit data directly via 210.
Relevant communication links will be added to interface the newly
added decoders to the CPU [108], satellite receiving unit [103],
and the terrestrial receiving unit [104]. With this technique all
message and positioning signals transmitted from either satellite
or earth based communication means will be eventually decoded and
processed by the CPU, with rarely any message being lost or
corrupted in this process.
[0033] To conserve receiver power, the CPU could be preprogrammed
so as to control the connecting circuitry [102], the satellite
receiving module [103], and the terrestrial receiving module [104],
to process positioning signals periodically. in this situation only
paging messages (voice and alphanumeric) will be allowed to pass,
while positioning information signals will be periodically blocked.
If a paging message received requires the remote receiving unit to
disclose its current global location, the CPU [108] upon detecting
this request will allow the remote receiving unit to resolve a
global position from satellite and earth based referenced signals
before resuming operation normally.
[0034] If a decoded message received by the CPU via 210 is voice or
alphanumeric, the CPU alerts the user either through the display
[114], alert means [116] or audio means [111] as to the presence of
a new message. Alphanumeric messages are displayed through the
display while voice messages are routed to the digital to analog
(D/A) converter [113], so that they are converted to their analog
format by the D/A converter. The analog signal is amplified by the
amplifier [112], and the amplified signal is used to drive the
audio means [111] (speaker or earphone). The memory means [115] is
used to store messages for future replay by the user. These
messages are first compressed by the CPU before storage in memory.
Prior to replay or redisplay the messages are decompressed.
[0035] Once a user subscribes to the global paging network, the
remote receiving unit is initialized. Relevant data such as the
paging protocols, frequencies, preferred paging locations and other
relevant data are down loaded into the ROM [110] of the remote
receiving unit. As the user travels from one global location to
another, this information will be used by the CPU to control the
actions of all modules of the remote receiving unit.
[0036] A remote receiving unit will have the ability to resolve a
global position from signals transmitted from satellites and earth
based communication means. Periodically, the remote receiving unit
will resolve a global position from these signals and compare it to
reference encoded global position coordinates pre-loaded in its ROM
[110]. If the CPU [108] establishes that the current global
position of the remote receiving unit is not within the user's
preferred location to receive pages, the user is immediately
alerted that they are out of their paging area and no paging
messages will be received. If the remote receiving unit current
active area to receive pages is not within the previously stored
active areas, the user is alerted to update the paging network with
their current active area. The network may also request the remote
receiving unit for its current global position. If such a message
is received the subscriber in possession of the remote receiving
unit is notified that an update of the network is required. The
remote receiving unit will scan for the strongest network
communicating channel via transceiver [101]. If such a link is
established, the remote receiving unit will automatically update
the network with its current global positioning coordinates. In
circumstances where the remote receiving unit does not find a
suitable network channel for direct communication, the remote
receiving unit will alert the user that no RF communicating channel
was found for automatic update of its current global position. In
this situation a user could update the network by calling in and
disclosing their current global coordinates resolved by the remote
receiving unit. If the user is required to update the network, the
remote receiving unit will periodically alert the user to update
the network until an input is received from the user through input
panel [109] via 220 indicating that the action has taken place. The
CPU [108] will store in its memory the current resolved global
position of the remote receiving unit as the current active area of
the remote receiving unit held by the paging network. This will
enable the CPU to determine when an active area update of the
paging network is required without waiting for the network to
request for such information. The actions undertaken by the remote
receiving unit during this processes are best illustrated in Step
2, FIG. 4. In this illustration, the remote receiving unit first
resolves a global position. Such a request might have been
initiated from the user through input panel [109], the paging
network or from within the remote receiving unit CPU. Upon
resolving a global position, the remote receiving unit validates
this position with the pre-selected areas to receive pages usually
stored in the ROM. If the pre-selected areas are valid, the remote
receiving unit further checks if its current active area to receive
pages is valid. If the remote receiving unit current active area to
receive pages is valid, the CPU checks if the paging network
requires the current global coordinates of the pager. If the
network does not require the remote receiving unit to update its
position, the remote receiving unit resumes operation normally. If
the current active area of the remote receiving unit is invalid or
the pre-selected area to receive pages is invalid or the network
had requested for the remote receiving unit global location, the
remote receiving unit searches for the strongest network
communication channel to transmit its current global position. If
such a channel is found the network is automatically updated. If no
such channel is found the user is alerted to update the network
with the current global coordinates resolved by the remote
receiving unit.
[0037] At any point in time a subscriber could use the remote
receiving unit or any relevant terrestrial communication device to
activate or deactivate their positioning disclosure feature from
the network. In the deactivated mode the network will not disclose
a subscriber's global location to a caller requesting that
information. A user may override the periodic global positioning
resolving feature of the remote receiving unit to obtain a current
global position through the input panel [109] at any time. Once the
CPU [108] resolves and makes this information available to the
user, the terrestrial receiving means [104], satellite receiving
means [103] and the connecting circuit [102] will be signaled to
resume operation normally. With the aid of the input panel [109]
and the display [114] relevant information such as current active
paging area, pre-selected areas, and the remote receiving unit
current global position will always be made available to a user
such that an update of the paging network could be done by a user
in possession of the remote receiving unit at any point in time and
at any global location without a request from the network.
* * * * *