KR20120098923A - Method and system for group call - Google Patents

Abstract

The method 300 and system 100 for performing the group call are described herein. The method comprises the steps of defining a PTT group 116 in the originating unit 118 (310), wherein the PTT group has a plurality of members, at least some of the members being required members, and members of the PTT group Generating 312 an invitation message comprising the identifiers thereof. The invitation message may be for initiating a group call. The method may also include receiving 318 a session initiation message when at least each of the necessary members of the PTT group are available to perform the group call.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR GROUP CALL}

The present invention relates to a group call, and more particularly, to a method for setting up such a group call.

Existing communication systems allow group calls to be made. For example, push-to-talk over cellular (PoC) systems allow direct connection calls to be made between multiple users of PoC mobile units. To make such calls, the user can select a group of callers or create a group containing the identifiers of the desired callers. The user can then activate the PoC call for the members of the group. If members of the group are available, the members of the group can receive the sender's initial transmission, and users can alternately transmit over the established traffic channel.

However, if one or more of the members of the group are not available, the sender's initial transmission may not be received by all members. For example, some of the members of the selected group may turn off their radio, may be on another call, or may be out of range of the network. Moreover, the sender may not know which of the members is not available and thus who did not receive his transmission. This disadvantage is not acceptable when an important message is to be delivered to a plurality of predetermined individuals. In order to ensure that important individuals are available for group calls, the caller may need to initiate several one-to-one private calls and inform the private call recipients of the urgent group call in advance.

A method and system for performing group calls are described herein. The method may include defining a push-to-talk (PTT) group at the originating unit, wherein the PTT group has a plurality of members, at least some of which are required members. The method also generates an invitation message comprising identifiers of members of the PTT group, wherein the invitation message is for initiation of a group call, and each of the required members of the PTT group members initiate the group call. And receiving a session initiation message when available to perform.

The method may further comprise receiving a session failure message at the originating unit when at least one of the necessary members is not available to perform the group call. Instructions indicating the availability of members of the PTT group may be provided via a user interface at the originating unit. The method may further comprise receiving the session failure message at the originating unit after a predetermined timeout period.

The method may also include sending the invitation message to members of the PTT group, and monitoring the availability status of at least some of the PTT group members when the invitation message is sent. . In addition, the network communicating with the originating unit may monitor the availability status of the members of the PTT group, and the method may further comprise storing the availability status of the members of the PTT group in the network. . In one example, storing the availability status of the members of the PTT group in the network comprises at least storing the availability status of the members of the PTT group until the availability of each of the required members is determined. Can be.

In one configuration, at least some of the members of the PTT group may pre-register with the network prior to sending the invitation message. In another configuration, the group call may be performed via a PoC network.

Other methods and systems for group calling are described herein. The method may comprise receiving an invitation message from an originating mobile unit at a network station, the invitation message identifying a plurality of members for a group call, some of which are required members. The method also includes determining availability of members for the group call, generating a group call initiation message if at least each of the necessary members is available for the group call, and receiving the group call initiation message. Transmitting to the originating mobile unit.

In one example, the determining of the availability of members for the group call may comprise sending the received invitation message from the network station to some of the members or a pre-registration log comprising an identifier of some of the members. Determining the availability of the members by checking. The method may also include generating a session failure message if at least one of the necessary members cannot participate in the group call, and sending the session failure message to the originating mobile unit. The network station may also store at least an indication of the availability status of the group members until the availability of the required group members is determined. In one example, the network station may be part of a PoC network.

Also described herein are mobile units capable of performing group calls in a PTT network. The mobile unit may comprise a user interface that enables a user to define a PTT group, the PTT group comprising a plurality of members, some of which are required members. The mobile unit can also include a processor coupled to the user interface. The processor generates an invitation message for members of the PTT group (the invitation message is for initiation of a group call), and a session initiation message when each of the required members of the group can make the group call. May be operative to receive.

In one configuration, the processor may be further operable to receive a session failure message when at least one of the necessary members cannot perform the group call. The user interface may also be a display, which may provide an indication that may indicate availability of members of the group when the session failure message is received. The mobile unit may also include a transceiver coupled to the processor. The transceiver may receive a session initiation message from a network and initiate the group call in response to receiving the session initiation message. In one example, the PTT network in which the mobile unit can operate may be a PoC network.

The present invention allows the call originator of a group call to be sure that at least important members of the group can receive messages, and can also provide the call originator with the status of one or more members of the group.

Features which are considered new are described in detail in the appended claims. The claimed invention can best be understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference numerals designate like elements.
1 illustrates an example of a communication system capable of performing a PTT group call.
2 illustrates an example of a mobile unit and a network station capable of participating in a group call.
3 illustrates an example of a method of performing a group call.

As required, while detailed embodiments of the claimed invention are disclosed herein, it is to be understood that the disclosed embodiments are exemplary only, and may be implemented in various forms. Accordingly, the specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not limiting, but merely as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching those skilled in the art to variously utilize the claimed invention in virtually all properly specified structures. Should be. Also, the terms and phrases used herein are not limiting, but are intended to provide an understandable description.

As used herein, the term "one" is defined as one or more. As used herein, the term "plurality" is defined as two or more than two. As used herein, the term "other" is defined as at least a second or more. As used herein, the terms "comprising" and / or "comprising" are defined as including (ie, open language). As used herein, the term "coupled" is defined as being connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically. The term "mobile unit" may be any component or group of components capable of receiving and / or transmitting communication signals. A "sending unit" or "sending mobile unit" may mean an apparatus for initiating or starting a communication session.

"PTT group" may mean at least three mobile units capable of communicating with each other via PTT communication, and at least one of the mobile units may simultaneously transmit a message to each of the other mobile units. In addition, "group call" is defined as a PTT communication session that includes a PTT group. "Necessary member" refers to a member of a PTT group that needs to participate in order for the group call including the PTT group to be initiated. A "session start message" can be defined as any message indicating that a group call can be made. Alternatively, a "session failure message" can mean any message indicating that a group call cannot be made.

A "PoC" network may be defined as a cellular or interconnect network that supports PTT communication. A "network station" can refer to any infrastructure component that can assist in wireless communication between mobile units. The term "processor" may be defined as any component or group of components that includes any suitable combination of hardware and software that can perform any of the processes described herein. A “user interface” can be any component or group of components that can provide information in a human or machine readable or understandable form.

Methods and systems for performing group calls are described herein. The method includes defining a PTT group at an originating unit, the PTT group may have a plurality of members, at least some of the members may be required members, and identifiers of members of the PTT group Generating an invitation message. The invitation message may be for initiating a group call. The method may also include receiving a session initiation message when at least each of the necessary members of the PTT group are available to perform the group call. This process may allow the call originator of a group call to ensure that at least important members of the group can receive messages and also provide the call originator with the status of one or more members of the group.

Referring to FIG. 1, the system 100 may include a communication network 110 that may include one or more network stations 112, such as base stations capable of communicating with a plurality of mobile units 114. At least three of the mobile units 114 may form a PTT group 116, and at least one of the mobile units 114 in the PTT group 116 act as an originating unit 118. In one configuration, network 110 may support PTT communication, and in more specific examples, network 110 may support PoC communication.

As described below, the originating unit 118 can generate an invitation to other mobile units 114 of the PTT group 116 to initiate a group call. The network 110 may then send a session initiation message to the originating unit 118 based on the availability of other mobile units 114 to initiate the group call. Although the above process is performed over a network, those skilled in the art will appreciate that this idea can be implemented in a systemless asynchronous communication environment.

Referring to FIG. 2, an example of an originating unit 118 is shown. The configuration shown here can be applied to other mobile units 114 as well. An example of a network station 112 is also shown in FIG. In one configuration, the originating unit 118 may include a user interface 150, a transceiver 152, and a processor 154 that may be coupled to both the user interface 150 and the transceiver 152. Other suitable components can be used as the user interface 150, but as an example user interface 150 can include a display.

In another configuration, network station 112 may include transceiver 160, memory 162, and a processor 164 that may be coupled to both transceiver 160 and memory 162. In addition, the memory 162 may be part of the processor 164 or may be a separate unit under the control of the processor 164. A description of the operation of these components is provided below.

Referring to FIG. 3, a method 300 of group call is shown. 1 and 2 to describe the method 300, it is understood that the method 300 may be implemented in any other suitable system using any other suitable components. Moreover, the steps of method 300 are not limited to the specific order in which they are presented in the figures. In addition, the method 300 may have more or fewer steps than shown in the figure.

In step 310, a PTT group may be defined at the originating unit, where the PTT group has a plurality of members, at least some of which are required members. In step 312, an invitation message is generated that includes the identifiers of the members of the PTT group, and the invitation message may be for initiation of the group call. In step 314, an invitation message may be sent to the members of the PTT group, and as shown in step 316, the availability status of at least some of the members of the PTT group may be monitored when the invitation message is sent.

Following step 316, there are at least two options. For example, at step 318, a session initiation message may be received when each of the necessary members of the PTT group is available to make a group call. Alternatively, as shown in step 320, a session failure message may be received at the originating unit when at least one of the necessary members is not available to perform the group call. Further, in step 322, an indication indicating the availability of members of the PTT group may be provided via the user interface at the originating unit.

For example, referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, in the originating unit 118, the user may create the PTT group 116 via the user interface 150 or the like. This PTT group 116 may include contacts that a user wishes to contact via a PTT group call. The PTT group 116 may be a predefined group created by the user or a group created at the moment the user wants to initiate a group call. At least some of the members of the PTT group 116 may be necessary members for which the user needs their participation to proceed with the group call. Any suitable number of all members of the PTT group 116 may be necessary members, including all or some of them. The user of the originating unit 118 may specify which members should be the required members or may be automatically assigned based on certain rules.

Once the PTT group 116 is selected, the processor 154 of the originating unit 118 may generate an invitation message that includes the identifiers of the members of the PTT group 116. This invitation message may be for initiation of a PTT group call. The transceiver 152 of the originating unit 118 may then send the invitation message to the transceiver 160 of the network station 112. Upon reception, processor 164 of network station 112 may determine the availability of members of PTT group 116.

In one configuration, the transceiver 160 of the station 112 may send an invitation message to the mobile units 114 of the members of the PTT group 116. Mobile units 114 capable of participating in the group call may respond to the invitation message, and processor 164 of station 112 may monitor the received responses and maintain their log in memory 162 or the like. .

As another example, one or more of the mobile units 114 may be associated with the network 110, such that the mobile units 114 may send availability information before sending the invitation message from the originating unit 118. 110). In particular, these mobile units 114 may transmit information regarding their availability on a predetermined schedule to receive transmissions from the network 110 or from any other suitable source. Thus, processor 164 may have already stored the availability of certain mobile units 114 in memory 162, and an invitation message may not need to be sent to these units 114. Indeed, the availability of these mobile units 114 may be sent to the originating unit 118 before the user wants to set up a group call. Thus, it may not be necessary to send an invitation message that includes the identifier of these specific mobile units 114.

For clarity and without limitation, an example will be provided below where the user of originating unit 118 wants to initiate a PTT group call with three contacts. Of these three members, two may be required. One of these mobile units 114 has pre-registered with the network 110, and it can also be assumed that this unit 114 is available to participate in the PTT group call and is designated as the required member. Thus, it is not necessary to send an invitation message to this pre-registered unit 114.

However, network station 112 may send an invitation message to mobile units 114 that are not pre-registered. Continuing this example, one of these units 114 belonging to the remaining necessary member may not be available to currently participate in the PTT group call. For example, this necessary member may be involved in another call or other transfer, may be out of communication range, or turn off its unit 114. The remaining members of the PTT group, ie the only unneeded members of the mobile unit 114 may respond to the invitation message.

At this point, processor 164 of station 112 may determine that one required member (ie, a pre-registered member) and one unneeded member are available to participate in the PTT group call. Processor 164 may store the availability of these two units 114 in memory 162. In one example, the state of these two units 114 may continue to be stored until at least all the required members are available.

The processor 164 may continue to periodically contact required members who are not currently available for at least a period of time. If the unit 114 of the required member eventually responds, the processor 164 of the station 112 may generate a session initiation message, and the transceiver 160 may send it to the originating unit 118. In one configuration, such a session initiation message may be generated and sent when each of the necessary members of the PTT group is available to make a group call. That is, an initiation message can be generated even if one of the members of the PTT group, that is, a member that is not needed, cannot participate in the call. Then, when the session initiation message is received, the user of originating unit 118 may initiate the group call.

However, if the mobile unit 114 of the remaining necessary member does not respond, the processor 164 of the station 112 may generate a session failure message, and the transceiver 160 may send it to the originating unit 118. have. This session failure message may be generated after a certain number of invitation messages have been sent to the non-responsive unit 114 or after a certain amount of time. Upon receipt, the user of originating unit 118 may later attempt another group call if desired.

Regardless of whether a session initiation message or session failure message is received at the originating unit 118, the user of the originating unit 118 may be provided an indication of the availability of the members of the PTT group. For example, if a member of the PTT group is determined to be currently available, that contact may be colored in a particular color when displayed on the display of unit 118. This color may reflect the availability of the contact. Similarly, other colors may be used to indicate that a particular contact cannot currently participate in a PTT group call. If the availability of this contact is changed, the color of this contact can be updated to indicate that this contact can join the current call. Any given mobile unit 114 may provide the user of originating unit 118 with reasons why a particular member is not available, such as being out of coverage, turned off, or currently involved in another call. Symbols, patterns, or different colors may also be displayed.

Although the above method has been described as being performed in network 110, it should be understood that it may be performed in a systemless asynchronous communication environment. In this type of scenario, multiple handsets can communicate with each other without the support of a network. In this example, the originating unit 118 can send the invitation message directly to the mobile units 114 of the PTT group and determine if members of the PTT group are available for the group call.

While various embodiments of the invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent that the invention is not so limited. Various modifications, changes, variations, substitutions and equivalents will occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.

Claims (19)

As a way to make group calls,
Defining a push-to-talk group at the originating unit, wherein the PTT group has a plurality of members, at least one of the members being a required member and at least one other member not being required; ;
Generating an invitation message comprising identifiers of members of the PTT group, wherein the invitation message is for initiation of a group call; And
If the at least one or more of the required members of the PTT group members are all available to perform the group call, the session initiation message is received even if the at least one other member that is not needed cannot participate, and the PTT group Not receiving a session initiation message if all of the at least one or more of the necessary members of the members are not available
How to perform a group call comprising a. 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving a session failure message at the originating unit when at least one of the necessary members is not available to perform the group call. 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising providing an indication indicative of the availability of members of the PTT group via a user interface at the originating unit. 3. The method of claim 2, further comprising receiving the session failure message at the originating unit after a predetermined timeout period. The method of claim 1,
Sending the invitation message to members of the PTT group; And
Monitoring the availability status of at least some of the members of the PTT group when the invitation message is sent
Method of performing a group call further comprising. 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the network in communication with the originating unit monitors the availability status of members of the PTT group, and the method further comprises storing availability status of members of the PTT group in the network. How to perform a group call. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein storing the availability status of the members of the PTT group in the network comprises storing the availability status of the members of the PTT group at least until the availability of each of the required members is determined. The group call method further comprising a step. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein at least some of the members of the PTT group pre-register with the network prior to sending the invitation message. The method of claim 1, wherein the group call is performed through a push-to-talk over cellular network. As a way to make group calls,
Receiving an invitation message from an originating mobile unit at a network station, the invitation message identifying a plurality of members for a group call, wherein some of the members are necessary members and others are not necessary members -;
Determining availability of members for the group call;
If all of the necessary members are available for the group call, a group call initiation message is generated even if one or more of the other members that are not needed cannot participate, and all of the necessary members of the PTT group members are available. Otherwise, not generating a group call initiation message; And
If the group call initiation message is generated, sending the group call message to the originating mobile unit;
How to perform a group call comprising a. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein determining the availability of members for the group call comprises sending the received invitation message from the network station to some of the members or including an identifier of some of the members. Determining the availability of the members by examining a pre-registration log. The method of claim 10,
Generating a session failure message if at least one of the necessary members is unable to participate in the group call; And
Sending the session failure message to the originating mobile unit
Method of performing a group call further comprising. 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising storing an indication of the availability status of the group members, at least until the availability of the required group members is determined. 11. The method of claim 10, wherein said network station is part of a PoC network. A mobile unit capable of performing a group call in a PTT network,
A user interface that enables a user to define a PTT group, the PTT group comprising a plurality of members, some of which are required members; And
A processor coupled to the user interface
Including,
The processor
Generate an invitation message for members of the PTT group, the invitation message for initiation of a group call;
Receive a session initiation message when each of the required members of the group is able to perform the group call
Operable mobile unit. The mobile unit of claim 15, wherein the processor is further operable to receive a session failure message when at least one of the necessary members is unable to perform the group call. 17. The mobile unit of claim 16, wherein the user interface is a display, the display providing an indication indicating availability of members of the group when the session failure message is received. 16. The mobile unit of claim 15, further comprising a transceiver coupled to the processor, the transceiver receiving a session initiation message from a network and initiating the group call in response to receiving the session initiation message. The mobile unit of claim 15, wherein the PTT network is a PoC network.

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