Patent · US Expired

Seamless hand-off for air-to-ground systems

US6393281B1 · kind B1 · utility

46Cited by
8References
27Claims
0Family size

Assignee

Inventors

Key dates

Filing dateMay 26, 1995
Grant dateMay 21, 2002
Priority date
Expiry dateMay 26, 2015

Classification

  • Technology area (CPC H)Electricity
  • CPC primaryH04B7/18506
  • WIPO fieldTelecommunications
  • WIPO sectorElectrical engineering

Abstract

Seamless hand-off of air-to-ground telephony calls is achieved autonomously within an aircraft by using one of at least two radio links to search for additional ground stations. The search for candidate ground stations for hand-off is expedited by eliminating ground stations exhibiting zero or negative Doppler effects. Other values indicating quality of the link corresponding to the channel over which the search is conducted is compared with the quality of the call and an alternate call is established using the call identification code previously established for the call in progress. The hand-off of the call may then be easily conducted by transferring the voice signal to the channel over which the search was conducted. This is preferably done at a time when the transmission quality of the two channels would be approximately the same or the quality improved on the channel to which hand-off is made.

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