Patent · US Expired

Method for improving communication coverage in multi-cell communication systems using location information

US6161015A · kind A · utility

25Cited by
12References
8Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 28, 1998
Grant dateDec 12, 2000
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 28, 2018

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04W64/00
  • WIPO fieldDigital communication
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for improving the communication coverage in a multi-cell communication system (100) which employs neighbor cell lists. A cell site (114) provides a communication unit (128) within its cell (112) with communication and a neighbor cell list. The neighbor cell list (200) informs the communication unit of other cells which are possible hand-off targets. When the fixed network equipment (FNE) detects that a particular communication unit (128) has entered another cell and/or needs to hand-off its communication to another cell site but has been denied, the cell site (114) sends the communication unit the neighbor cell list related to the new cell. With a new neighbor cell list (300), the communication unit (128) can now attempt to maintain its communication by handing-off to cells unknown before. In this manner the effective communication coverage of the system is improved.

Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.